"Please, allow me."

Sabine took the catch on the door of Hagrid's cabin in her slim hand and studied it for a moment, then tapped it with her wand. The lock immediately broke. "He's quite a simple man, is he not?" With a smirk, Sabine temporarily pocketed the device and opened the door.

Apparently so. The whole cottage seemed to be built for someone a great deal larger than the average human being, and Sabine concluded that Rubeus Hagrid must be a very tall, very fat man. Nevertheless, the place held a strange, rustic appeal- if one did not intend to stay there long.

Severus stepped across the threshold, the doorway looming over him creating an odd sensation. It was rare that he entered a dwelling specifically created for someone taller than himself. His lip curled slightly in a distasteful sneer... Hagrid's idea of decorum was not his own, no matter the Master's questionable (but practical) preferences. He would prefer to spend as little time in this place as possible.

Though it was rather intriguing, the musty smell of a place long left empty, dust and cobwebs beginning to gather about the large room. He was drawn to a rough table beside the massive bed, a large book lying atop it. Severus reached for the book with his long hands, freeing it from the confines of cobwebs that trailed gracefully down from the oil lamp that had at some point left burns and oil stains in the wood of the table.

Acknowledging whatever Sabine had said with a half-nod and a vague "Hmm," Severus turned his attention once more to the worn, leather-bound book in his hands. He ran a palm over the expansive, unmarked cover – the book was large, and appeared hand-fashioned from the tanned leather and coarse, creased parchment. He untied the twine that bound it and opened Hagrid's diary.

Even to the seasoned spy, it felt strange, flipping through another man's journal… Particularly because Severus himself did not keep one, and therefore had only a vague idea of what to expect. But with Hagrid away on his envoy to the north, and with time for their search running out, it seemed Severus had no choice but to poke his aquiline nose into places it would not normally belong.

Fortunately, the journal contained mainly a running recitation of daily events, and notes about the well-being of a series of unfortunate creatures. It struck Severus as amusingly morbid that he could find a practical use for each animal, were it to die. An especially long entry caught his eye; and he paused in his skimming to read it in full, focusing on the untidy scrawl with great concentration.

"Went out into the forest to visit Grawp today. Hes comin along just fine. Looks like hell be ready to come up to the castle any day now. It was good of Dumbledore to let Grawpy stay on, after he found out and all… Great man, Dumbledore. Itd be awful if those ruddy Death Eaters got their filthy hands on him…"

Here Severus paused, absently rubbing his own hands and casting a thoughtful expression out the window toward the woods.

"Hes gettin so polite now, hed listen to them for sure…"

Severus stopped reading, pressing a hand to his face. "Oh, you can't be serious…"He'd suspected the "object" might be a person… But did it have to be Grawp? Really, now…

A large stone fireplace, the shelves that held the crude, cracked dishes, and the enormous tables and chairs- all were thoroughly examined by Sabine as the lady snooped shamelessly about the tiny house. Her efforts left her empty-handed, however- the person who occupied this place obviously had little class or refinement, and a very small taste for literature, as there were no books to be spoken of in the place that she had seen.

Looking up from a large padlocked trunk, Sabine saw that her friend was looking thoughtfully out of the window, and that he had found a manuscript of some kind. She approached him quietly and moved to his side, her eyes darting back and forth as she struggled to read the primitive script.

"What is a Grawp?" she asked when she was finished, looking imploringly up at Severus.

For a long moment, Severus toyed with the idea of telling her that a Grawp was a rare type of mutated unicorn that resided only in the forests of Britain and feasted on the flesh of softshell crabs and flobberworms... But in the end, he decided - mercifully - to offer the bewildered woman the truth.

"Grawp is Hagrid's half-brother, a pure giant. He keeps the brute tied up in the forest. The only people within Hogwarts that are aware are Hagrid, the Headmaster, myself, and now you, though at times I suspect that Potter and his friends may know more than they should. At last report, Grawp was 'learnin' to behave himself,'" He drawled, mimicking Hagrid's rough speech - rather cruelly, his conscience told him. He ignored it thoroughly. "However, judging by the state of that portion of the forest, perhaps he has lost whatever manners he might have gained. We shall have to go to investigate, and find a way to safeguard the creature from the Dark Lord's minions." My fellow minions.

For the umpteenth time black eyebrows raised and furrowed, their owner looking very puzzled indeed until the explanation began to dawn on her. "Potter and..." she muttered under her breath. Oh- Harry Potter- she had met him at Grimmauld Place and taught him a lesson or two. The legacy surrounding him had only been explained to her in brief. "If this... Grawp... is a threat," Sabine reflected slowly, the ridiculous size of the place finally making complete sense, "Wouldn't Mr. Hagrid have figured it out by now?" The words even sounded idiotic to her as they left her mouth. Obviously the gentleman in question wasn't the brightest sort.

Severus sneered. "Hagrid was expelled from school for raising a monstrous spider, an Acromantula, that he called Aragog. I have reason to believe that spider still resides in the forest, under Hagrid's eye, and he considers it to be harmless. Five years ago, a student of mine reported to me that Hagrid was keeping a baby dragon, a Norwegian Ridgeback, in his hut. The dragon was named Norbert and apparently possessed a teddy bear. Two years ago, Hagrid taught his class how to care for what he affectionately termed "Blast-Ended Skrewts." The things were an illegal cross-breed, product of the professor's own meddling;" He said the word "professor" with an emphatic sneer, "And possessed a stinger at one end, flamethrowers at the other and a sucking mouth somewhere in the middle. He considered these creatures, I am told, adorable." He raised a brow at Sabine. "How dangerous do you think he would consider his own half-brother, giant or not?"

Sabine's jaw dropped significantly, was noticed and closed after a moment and respectively tightened as her entire facial composition twitched.

"This man is allowed to teach? Well, we'll just have to investigate, like you said," she confirmed, shaking her head and going to the window. "I am almost beginning to doubt some of the decisions made by Professor Dumbledore with regards to his employees."

Severus nodded, closing the book and returning it to its exact location almost without thinking... Force of habit. "Dumbledore has a habit of giving people a second chance." He commented vaguely, his tone quiet. "Take Lupin, for example." He added. "I had to brew the Wolfsbane for him the entire year, when he taught Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"I don't know," Sabine sighed, turning from her spot at the windowsill to watch Severus replace the journal. She had, of course, never met either man, and so had little right to pass judgment, but something nagged at her until she was forced to wrap up her thought.

"Second chances are all very well and good, but the well-being of the children must always come first." She sighed. "Am I wrong?"

Severus blinked slowly, and then ignored the comment, deciding that it had not been directed at him. Turning, he cast his gaze about the cottage, searching for anything else that might prove relevant, and then returned it to Sabine. "Are you free to accompany me into the forest?"

"Hmm?" Sabine had been caught up in her own thoughts, and her eyes snapped back to Severus from the fireplace upon which she had focused them on. "The forest? Oh. Yes. Of course." She nodded in a satisfied manner and followed her counterpart as he effectively billowed out of the door. "At any rate, at least we're a bit further down the road than when we started, right? …Right? Severus."

He was ignoring her, instead opting to stare at the forest as though he were examining it from a bird's eye view. For now, he was devoted to devising the most efficient way to reach their goal, with as little inconvenience to the both of them as possible.

"Severus." Sabine had been repeating her demands for his attention for several minutes, and was growing very impatient indeed. "Answer me, you."

"Remove your robes."

She immediately went quiet.

He turned his head to sneer at her. "The forest will be a hazard to your wardrobe. I am concerned for the material, you understand."

Clearing her throat skeptically, Sabine nodded and untied the belt of her robes, which covered a rather old-fashioned and dully-coloured skirt-and-blouse ensemble.

Once the two of them had discarded their more ornate articles for the simplicity of muggle clothing and replaced Hagrid's lock, they traipsed off to the forest- that was, stalked in the case of Severus and paced in the case of Sabine, who was not experiencing for the first time a severe lack of comparative physical stamina. Behind them on the barrel beside the door was left an impeccably folded set of black robes and a haphazardly strewn set of the same in plum, saved from the worry of wrinkles by an excess of starch.

To Severus, the forest was nothing new. He had explored most of it, been lost within it, almost been eaten one or thrice. As said, nothing new. For Sabine, however, who had grown up far from the forest terrain, it was a land of mystery, wonder, and revolt. Mostly revolt, after about ten minutes had passed.

"Oh, good God," she muttered. About half a foot above those blasphemous lips was a tangled mess composed primarily of black hair, old leaves and tree branch. What joy! She snarled at her own carelessness, reaching up to pick at the entanglement.

Mother always told you to pin your hair tighter, she scolded herself. What with it constantly falling in your face… and now look! Just pray that Severus doesn't notice you…no…no! Turn back around! Oh, damn.

Now he walked back towards her, wearing an irritatingly amused expression and a pair of newly quirked eyebrows.

She despised him.

"Miss Trefethen, I always assumed that only insects were so easily trapped in spider webs."

She despised him even more.

"I see no such web," she replied with annoyance as she attempted to free herself. She was somewhat aided in her attempts by the skillful fingers of the Potions Master, who had in a matter of moments freed her enough to move.

"I do," he replied simply, offering his least charming smirk possible before turning and continuing on his way.

She paused. She tentatively reached her hand up. She stroked her hair.

Or what would have been hair.

She was touching web.

"Wretched!" she spat, retrieving her hairpins from the ground and hurling them away from her in disgust. Useless things they were now!

Severus seemed uncharacteristically alarmed. "Sabine!" he snapped shortly. "I'll not have you loose your temper. For all you know…"

There could be a large amount of small, furry pixies in the general vicinity of the place she had chosen to dispose of her pins.

The doxies were understandably upset, and chased the unlikely pair viciously down one of the animal trails. Or rather, Sabine was chased and Severus was all too happy to watch as a dozen disgruntled fey-creatures caused his friend to clamor down the path, shrieking and stumbling and followed shortly by the swarm, then by the casually strolling Master.

Cursing Snape and everything involved with him, Sabine was driven round a bend in hopes of evading her pursuers. The effort was fairly fruitful; the doxies were at least distracted enough to go in another direction. Unfortunately Sabine's grace chose to leave her at that moment, and also leave her face-down in a small bog.

Damn Snape. Damn that tree root. Damn everything. And damn Snape.

Snape entered the small clearing just as his counterpart was removing herself from the muck, clapping his hands slowly and unenthusiastically. "I would like to compliment you on a marvelous production, Sabine. Brava."

He then proceeded to walk carefully around to the other side of the swamp.

"You wait!" the woman muttered as she rose from the mud and dirt, trying in vain to remove as much of the mess from her clothing as possible. "One day you'll do something hideously moronic and I'll be there to cheer you on." After that vow, Sabine caught up to the other professor and halfheartedly wiped a tiny amount of mud onto his robes, which he wiped off effortlessly before fixing her with a mild glower.

"I'll do no such thing," he argued, raising his nose in the air and quickening his pace.

"Will. Where does this giant live, anyway?" Sabine changed the subject quickly as Snape began to form another grimace.

"I have reason to believe that he is kept at the foot of one of these trails," Severus explained with an extraordinary amount of relative patience. "Although your idiocy has brought us wildly off of my preferred course, we will encounter him eventually. I believe we should stun him on sight."

Something in this bit of information seemed off to Sabine, but she had not the time to voice her concern.

Brushing a bit of foliage out of their path, her companion stopped and pointed. Ahead was a massive object that gave the appearance of a large boulder - or, it would have, if it hadn't been wearing clothing. The giant was slumped, its strangely small head drooping onto its chest. Its breathing was surprisingly shallow, though every so often it would release a snorting grunt or a long snore. Severus looked at the thing and voiced a derisive comment. "Charming."

He met Sabine's eyes again and aimed his wand.

"Extremely," she agreed acerbically, eying the large lump. It was somehow less impressive than she had imagined. Then, with a nod, she raised her wand, gave the giant a wry smile and waited to take the lead of her companion.

Severus raised his wand, looking at her, and then cried in a forceful voice,

"Stupefy!"

Can giants be stunned? Sabine asked herself, the reason for her worry beforehand dropping on her like a ton of bricks.

The giant slumped a bit more, allowing Severus a brief moment of triumph before another, earth-shaking snore issued forth. The Master blinked slowly, then scowled. "That did not go well." Raising his wand, he tried again.

"STUPEFY!"

No. No, they can't.

Grawp groaned in his sleep, then sat up, blinking blearily and looking around. His beady eyes, small in comparison to the rest of him, fixed on the witch and wizard with a look of bestial shrewdness. "Oh, bloody hell..." Severus muttered. "Any ideas?" He hissed urgently to Sabine from the corner of his mouth.

For once, Sabine was at a loss. "Can he be reasoned with?" she wondered meekly. Reason she could deal with. Sixteen-foot teenagers, not so much.

Already feeling stupid enough for having attempted to stun the giant - and it was he, Severus Snape, that so coveted the Defense Against the Dark Arts job! Idiot! In any case. He took a slow breath, the drawing in and exhalation of which took about ten seconds, which was just enough time for Grawp to decide whether or not he wanted to kill them. As the giant rose, Severus took a step back.

Offering reason to a creature with a brain that primitive would be an even greater exercise in futility, he reflected, and his firm hand closed over the woman's wrist.

"Come with me." He commanded. "Quickly."

As the giant stared at them and began his stomping quest to crush the little people, Severus all but dragged Sabine into the thick of the wood.

But he really had no plan. All their flight was doing was buying them both time to think.

Unfortunately, dense, dark forest combined with pursuit by a giant is not conducive to thought. The Master braced his hand against a tree trunk, bringing them to an abrupt halt, and glanced over his shoulder, seeing the ominous shaking of foliage.

Foliage.

"...Could we trap him?"

"Wait. What?"

Sabine looked wide-eyed- and, honestly, slightly frightened. The giant population in America was next to zero (if one discounted Alaska and Arizona, and Sabine had certainly never been to either extreme) and, frankly, she was fairly certain she had been ill the morning that her Defence class covered them.

There was no time to think, though, because suddenly, once again, her weak legs were expected to keep up with a much stronger, faster entity. When she was finally permitted to stop she doubled over and panted heavily for about five or ten seconds, then shifted her eyes up and sighed loudly to feed her brain whatever air it still needed.

Trap him? Trap him, trap him. Straightening up, Sabine gave a critical eye to the surroundings. "I'm open to suggestions as to how we should do such a thing, brilliance personified. Perhaps a tree might be put in his way, but what good would that do?"

Severus pondered for a moment, his sensitive hears hearing the distant crash of snapping timber grow closer, and the more immediate sound of the woman's labored breathing beside him. Unconscious, his eyes still fixed on the waving treetops and the occasional glimpse of leathery, greyish skin, he removed his viselike grip from Sabine's wrist and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I believe there is a deep cavern beyond that stand of pines. If he can be lured in, perhaps the entrance can be blocked and concealed until the danger has passed."

I'm rather of the opinion that the danger is going on right now... The voice in his head insisted as the lumbering footsteps grew closer.

"Good God, will you make me run again?" Unfortunately, Sabine saw little other option. She would just have to learn to breathe as she moved. Her eyes flitting from the aforementioned stand of trees and back to Snape, she bit her lip. "When he nears still more, we'll make a break for it."

Glancing down at the woman once more, Severus was acutely aware of the exhaustion and dismay on her features as the possibility of running again presented itself. The quick rise and fall of her chest belied labored breathing, and he reasoned that, if allowed to make the attempt of escaping on her own power, the proud creature would collapse.

"Good God, woman." He snapped. "Where are you from?"

And, without waiting for an answer to the demanding question, he bent and hauled the thin woman off the ground by her waist, tossing her over his shoulder with slight effort and setting off into the forest. Now if he could just keep her from putting up a fuss…

She really was not heavy at all…

The woman leaned over once again, sighing and allowing herself to breathe heavily, as embarrassing as it was. Of course, she could hardly compare to the Great and Powerful Snape. Wondrous man, with his lightening speed and powerful legs! Jerk. She wasn't used to being dragged around like a toy, nor was she to being chased by large probably deadly creatures.

Naturally, she was a bit miffed when the question came, and straightened up to look the man shrewishly in the eye. "Excuse me-"

And she was thrown over his shoulder like a decidedly not-so-effeminate wrap. "Severus Snape! Put me down! Abuse! Harassment!" These words were hissed, however, in such a manner as could only make them audible to the presuming teacher.

"Shut up, woman!" He snapped, and dropped her unceremoniously to the forest floor, however careful he was to ensure that she landed solidly on her feet. "One would imagine I was carrying you off to ravage you, with the fuss you put up. Would you rather I had left you behind to amuse the adolescent giant? Or had you forgotten that small, innocuous detail?"

Fixing her with a steely glare, he turned about, pacing the area and muttering. After a moment, he extended a single long finger in the direction of a dark shape, covered and fringed about with thorny foliage. "The cave is in there, and easily enough sealed off by magic. The question now becomes, how do we lure him in?" Silent for a moment, he glanced about before his eyes settled once more on Sabine.

"Live bait?"

"Shut up, Snape!" Sabine insisted huffily, patting down her robes and muttering unintelligibly to herself while he looked around. Honestly, the presumption of the man astounded her. "I wouldn't put raping and pillaging past you," was one of her comments placed under the breath.

"Live bait?"

Looking up with slightly wild eyes, Sabine found her throat running dry as she rasped her answer. "I refuse. I won't. Good God, Severus, there is no way you are going to put me in front of that beast and hope to snatch me away before it can impale me or decapitate me or...whatever it does to poor innocent women who just wanted to goddamn help in the first place."

I wouldn't put raping and pillaging past you."

Severus caught the barely audible comment, his ego torn confusingly between rage and amusement. Deciding that now was not the time to deal with that unusual blend of emotions, he ignored it, but did not forget. There would be time enough to address that later, if the matter came up again.

"I am well aware that you just wanted to goddamn help," he snapped, not abandoning the sarcasm in his impatience - the words came out in a perfect mockery of her American accent. But he tempered his anger, knowing that in the time granted them, there was little else he could do.

"Sabine," he said, his voice as quiet as was possible in the racket of the forest, "You trust me."

It was not a question. The woman had proven it long before this; he could only hope that trust would extend to the dangerous stunt he was about to execute at her expense.

Sputtering for a moment in Sabine-ish fashion, the coltish lady finally stood still, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she stared at Snape.

She trusted him. The statement hit her softly but meaningfully, and she immediately replied: "Yes." Well, that was a given. She did trust him, but Sabine was given to trust almost anyone. After a moment's thought on this matter, she let out a very childish: "Fine!" and crossed her arms. "What would you have me do?"

Placing a firm hand on each of her shoulders, he guided her out into the middle of the path, directly before the concealed cave, and ordered, "Stay."

Raising his wand, he created a soft, shimmering line, thick and strong, but invisible to the eye that did not seek it. Which was exactly his intention.

Darting behind a tree, Severus observed the giant's approach. Grawp slowed as he saw Sabine, standing, apparently unarmed and alone on the path, and the quickened his pace as the most peculiar expression of confused anger crossed his ugly features. Not paying attention to where his feet were going, as was his wont, the giant found his huge feet caught and then tangled in the taut, serpentine line of magic, and toppled forward headfirst, directly for the cave.

Well, a slight misjudgment... Severus thought vaguely, as he launched himself onto the path. There was, of course, no time for the woman to leave the range of the falling giant's trajectory, and so she found herself tackled by over six feet of grade-A, English Potions Master.

"Umf." Severus commented, and sat up, aiming his wand at the cave just Grawp stumbled in, sealing it shut with a magical shield.

"My apologies." He commented, and offered the woman his assistance in rising to her feet, not actually meeting her eyes.

Now, what Sabine dearly longed to do was sit and pout, then inform Severus that he sucked. As it was, her voice and facial expressions were restricted first by the breathlessness that came with being bowled over, then with having six feet of Prime Professor atop of her, and finally with the aftershock of having once had said chunk of meat upon her person.

Anyway, she felt that such a situation called for a more dignified commentary. "I scorn you and your hand," she spat disdainfully, attempting to rise and failing. With yet another sigh, she grasped the bone-white fingers offered down to her and pulled herself up. "For no other reason than my admiration for your ability to cast a Sealing Charm in mere seconds combined with the rebellion of my calf muscles do I allow you to touch me," she informed him sharply, before turning to look longingly towards the castle. Or, where the castle might be if they could actually, you know, see it.

"I demand that you return me at once."

Severus smirked as the woman, unable to rise on her own, grudgingly accepted her hand. At her grousing demand, he extended the same pale hand in the direction of Hogwarts main.

"Ladies first." He remarked with a slight sneer. The expression was relatively kind, as sneers go. Though, he knew well, it would be counterproductive to both of them if he allowed her to lead the way in trust, so he kept close enough by her side to guide their steps safely back to the edge of the forest.

Glancing dubiously at her muddy attire (his, he knew, was not much better), Severus indicated the spot outside Hagrid's hut wherein they had stashed their outer garments. "Would you like to retrieve your robes, or just return for them later?" He asked in a voice of mild amusement, one brow ever so slightly raised.

Biting her lip gently, Sabine raised her chin as she walked and tried to assume an air of false dignity. For one she was filthy- entirely covered in mud. For another she had made a fool, idiot and all-around silly ass of herself that day, and thusly the very best thing to do was remain entirely silent.

After approximately three minutes, she began to complain loudly about the day's happenings and refused to stop until they had parked themselves in front of Mr. Hagrid's home. For a moment she thought, and then sighed exasperatedly. Her belongings would be muddied beyond her wish if she attempted to wear them over her clothing now.

"I will return for them at a later time," she said stiffly. "For now, I would take eight human lives for a bath and a cup of coffee. Goodnight, Severus." Thus dismissing him, she turned on her heel and walked with unnecessary quickness towards the castle.

Severus endured the woman's ceaseless complaining with more patience than was common, his jaw tensing every so often and his spine rigid with the controlled urge to shake her senseless. Granted, she had experienced a trying day, but honestly... He wished wholeheartedly that she had determined to remain in that state of stony silence that had begun the hike.

He observed her quick footsteps as she faded into the fog, and then followed. He would greatly appreciate a hot shower, a cup of coffee, and a healthy dose of brandy. Quick as he had been within the woods, the professor's wiry frame was not what it had once been.