Chapter 2

"Fool Me Twice…"

Lexie shook her head, scolding herself, as she had so many times since that night. But no matter, tonight was a new night… same old mission. She slinked into a side street and took up her usual post, just inside a doorway on the side of one of the dilapidated buildings that lined Knockturn. She still cradled her elbow of her bad arm. It was still terribly sore. The Mediwizards had mended the bone and tendons back into place… but the trauma of having it ripped from her socket remained long after it had been healed.

It was a relatively pleasant evening. The late August air was heavy and humid. She loosened the tie of her traveling cloak, as she felt herself getting too warm for the heavy black fabric. She leaned against the doorway and continued to wait. Almost an hour later, there was still no sign of her mark. She knew he was out tonight, she had been alerted by the Ministry. But where was he? Suddenly she got a guilty pang in her stomach… according to policy, she was supposed to apparate to the forest area, outside of the school anytime that Snape left. However, she'd taken to just waiting for him in Knockturn and saving herself an extra trip. "What if he's gone somewhere else tonight?" she thought worriedly.

She stepped out of the doorway and glanced along the street, searching for him. Sometimes he was more difficult to pick out than others. She checked her watch and huffed a sigh of frustration. He was out, but she didn't know where he was… Sophie would have her head if he did something wrong tonight.

"Waiting for someone?" asked a deep velvety voice from behind her. Lexie jumped and turned around to see where the voice had come from. It seemed to be one of the walls speaking to her for no one was in sight.

"Who's there?" she asked boldly.

A shadow shifted and Severus Snape moved away from the wall. "Well, I should think you would know who I am by now." He said strolling nonchalantly toward her, his black boots clopping rhythmatically on the bricks. His hands were inside his cloak, she couldn't see where he was keeping his wand, that was never a good sign…

"Afterall," he said, making his way behind her like a lion stalks around it's prey. "You've been following me for months… certainly you know who I am…" he stopped in front of her. There was barely a foot of space between them. "The question is…" he began, looking from her feet, up to her face slowly then locking his eyes onto hers. "Who are you?" his voice was deathly soft and dangerous, letting her know that he was not playing around.

When she didn't answer immediately, he circled behind her again and stopped. "Or… better yet… why are you following me?" he leaned in and breathed the words through her dark curls into her ear.

She could feel his breath, warm on her neck and his lips brushing her earlobe. Shivers ran through her, giving her goosebumps all over. Instinctively, she lulled her head to the side, as he did not draw his face away. He let his hands come to rest on her hips as soft as if a firefly had landed on them.

But suddenly, the gentle demeanor he'd dawned, disappeared and was replaced by a frightening one. He wrenched her around roughly, "Speak!" he said, his eyes narrowed and brow furrowed.

Lexie was at a loss for words and so startled by his hot-cold behavior she'd forgotten exactly what her story was supposed to be should she ever happen to make the forbidden contact with him. She stumbled to find her first word, "I… I'm…" she scrambled to come up with a way out of this sticky situation. "Jane. Jane Doe." She finally spit out. "And… I'm not following you."

"Liar!" he hissed as, in one swoop, he'd grabbed her around her neck and pinned her against the wall. His grip was as strong as a vice as his fingers locked onto her and she felt her feet lift off the ground

She felt the blood leaving her face, her eyes felt as though they might pop out of her head and every breath was painfully difficult to draw in. She clawed at his fingers, trying to pry them away from her windpipe with no success, his grip was tighter than ever.

"Listen to me girl…" Snape said, his face only inches away from hers. "I know when I'm being lied to…" he said as though he had a sneakoscope up his sleeve, "Now tell the truth." He said warningly.

Lexie said nothing… partially because she couldn't think of anything to say, partially because she couldn't speak with his hand wrapped so tightly around her throat that she could physically feel it bruising under his grip.

He let go so suddenly, she crumbled to the ground, coughing, choking and sucking breath in as fast as she could. He grabbed her by the front of her robes and stood her up against the wall again. "Perhaps…" he said softly, "You need a bit more incentive…" With that, he took his left hand and brought it down onto her bad shoulder and grasped a hold of it tightly.

Lexie shrieked in pain and nearly collapsed again but he had a grip on her other arm and his body was pressed right against hers. She bit her lip and choked back tears as her shoulder trembled in agony.

"Now then… let's try again, shall we? Why are you following me?"

Lexie bit her lip and shook her head, unable to speak.

"There are… other ways… of extracting information you know? Curses… potions…" he trailed off, gripping her shoulder once again.

She knew what he was talking about, the Cruatius and Veritaserum. But until he sprung for one of those, she'd maintain her silence.

"Why are you following me!" He shouted in her face. He sneered and breathed out heavily through his nose, "I won't ask again…"

Lexie again, shook her head. Snape clamped his hand back around her neck and threw her from him so that she crashed into the opposite wall of the alley. He swished over immediately to stand over her. He pointed an accusing finger in her face. "I don't know who you're working for… but I'm warning you… unless you're prepared to deal with alternate means of obtaining answers to my questions… stop giving me reason to question you… stop shadowing me."

Lexie sat, trembling, on the ground as he swished his cloak and was gone in an instant.