Chapter 9

Friday had finally come… and brought the end of Lexie's first week at Hogwarts with it. This, without a doubt, had been the longest first week of school Lexie had ever experienced. Not only had she received two detentions, the second of which she was supposed to be serving this evening, but she'd landed herself with a stack of homework which she was sure would've filled the Quiddich stadium.

Today was a triple dose of Snape for Lexie. She had double Potions with him, last thing on Fridays. "What a way to end the week… with Snape giving us a mountain of homework just in time to ruin the weekend." She thought wryly. Then later, she'd see him for detention.

Lexie and her roommates behaved themselves through Snape's boring lecture on more antidotes and managed to escape without any further detentions. The bell rang and the class scrambled to pack away their thing as Snape shouted out their homework before they could escape. Just as Lexie swung her bag over her shoulder, Snape spoke again. "Miss Bane – stay after please."

Lexie's heart sank. OK, so she was supposed to be finding out as much about Snape as she could; but she couldn't shake the fact that he was just plain old unpleasant to be around. She doubted she liked spending time with him anymore than any of his students did. She stood around until the last student had filed out.

Snape was standing behind his desk, looking menacing as usual as he shuffled through a large stack of parchment. He didn't look quite like himself. Lexie had been watching Snape for some time now and every time she'd seen him, he'd always looked quite put together in her opinion. Though he wore his hair chin-length, it was always neat and well kept. She'd heard some of the other students comment that his hair was rather greasy, however, she didn't find that. To her it looked shiny and freshly washed. His attire was always black, however today he looked rather disheveled. His robes weren't quite as neatly pressed as usual. Moreover, she could see deep dark bags under his black eyes, characteristic of lack of sleep. But the most curious thing was the way he was moving. When Snape went someone he glided. He swished gracefully, purposefully and swiftly; today however, he was moving gingerly and not standing quite as tall.

He didn't look up as he spoke to her. "You will serve your detention tomorrow evening instead of tonight. I have an appointment in town. Be here at the same time tomorrow and do not be late."

"An appointment?" Lexie blurted out. She'd never had a teacher cancel detention on her for anything, and she'd certainly had her share of detentions.

Snape sighed audibly. "Yes. That will be all." He said, an obvious hint that she was to leave before his patience ran out.

Lexie shrugged and left. What difference did it make if she did the detention tonight or tomorrow? Anyway, it freed up tonight to sneak into Hogsmead to meet with Sophie to tell her all about her first week.

So Lexie set off to the owlery to send Sophie a letter, asking her if they could meet at the Hogshead pub in Hogsmead around 10 p.m. she penned the letter quickly then chose a large, tawny owl, which fluttered down onto her forearm gracefully, to deliver it. She tied the letter to his leg and sent him off through the window, watching him fly away into the distance.

"Well, there's nothing left to do until I get a response from Sophie, so… I might as well go and have dinner." Lexie mused. And with that, she set off for the great hall.

Upon arriving in the entrance hall, Lexie was surprised to find Dru hovering just outside the doorway… alone. Lexie frowned. "This is odd." She thought to herself.

She walked up to Dru, who looked like a deer in the headlights. "Hey." She greeted her roommate.

"Oh, Lexie… hi." Dru replied. "Hey, you haven't seen Natasha have you?" she asked.

"What? I was just about to ask you the same thing…" Lexie said, puzzled.

Dru was getting increasingly panicky. She began wringing her hands nervously and looked around from side to side, as though hoping that Natasha would glide into the room at any moment. But she didn't.

Lexie pursed her lips and took another glance around the entrance hall. She shrugged. Having not gotten along with Natasha particularly well for the duration of the week, Lexie didn't think she'd miss her half as much as Dru would. "C'mon… let's go eat dinner." she said turning Dru by the shoulders and steering her into the candlelit great hall.

After dinner, Lexie had a bad time shaking Dru off. With Natasha missing in action, Dru had no one to look to for instruction and thus was following Lexie around like a lost puppy. Lexie and her newfound shadow returned to their dormitory only to find a letter lying on Lexie's desk. Apparently someone had accepted the letter for her at some other location in the castle, as there were no windows in the dungeon common room, and had it delivered to her dormitory. She looked at the letter suspiciously, silently fearing that someone had intercepted it and read it. She bit her lip. "At least there wasn't anything incriminating in that letter…" she thought to herself. "I'll have to be more careful… no more letter sending to deliver information to Sophie." She resigned.

She looked over her shoulder to find Dru standing about five feet behind her, staring, and still wringing her hands. "You've got a letter?" she said nervously. Her voice was airy and quivering. Lexie could tell that Dru was only making conversation in hopes that she, Lexie wouldn't leave her alone.

Lexie sighed. "Yeah…" she ripped it open and flopped down on her bed, leaving Dru standing in the middle of the room.

The letter was from Sophie and Lexie was relieved to see that she hadn't written back anymore than necessary. The letter contained two letters – OK. No signature, nothing other than an affirmative answer to Lexie's request to meet her in the Hogshead later that evening.

"Hm…" she said, sitting back up and swinging her legs immediately back onto the cold hardwood floor. She looked at her watch. 8:30. She had to meet Sophie at 10… "Hey Dru…"

"Yeah?" Dru replied eagerly.

"I.. uh… have to reply to this." She said, folding the letter back up.

"Well – I'll go with you!" Dru said anxiously.

"Um… Oh jeez… I forgot, I have my detention with Snape tonight as well. I have to be there at 9." She lied fluently. "You'll be OK until Natasha gets back right?" Lexie asked, uncertainly.

Dru nodded, but her lip was trembling.

"Good grief!" Lexie thought. "This girl is completely helpless without Natasha…" she actually felt a little bit sorry for her. It must be hampering to be that dependant on someone else; needing someone else to tell you what your every move should be.

"Listen, go down to the common room… there were a bunch of people down there when we came through. Take your homework and hang out for a while, until I get back. OK?" Lexie asked.

Dru nodded again and then went to gather her books. She took orders well, even when she didn't like what they were.

Lexie waited until she had gone before changing into a pair of black pants, boots and a hooded sweatshirt. She then picked her heavy black traveling cloak out of her trunk and set off for the secret passageway out of the school. True, she thought, it was rather early. She could be in Hogsmead by a little after nine… but that gave her some time to get situated and be sure that she wasn't seen.

So out of the school she slipped. She made her way carefully across the grounds and into the forest. Twenty minutes later she emerged into Hogsmead. She looked up and down the main street. There were people about, but no one that she knew, so far. She put her hood up and headed down the cobblestone street, trying to remain discreet.

Upon reaching the pub, Lexie risked a peek in the window. Sophie wasn't there yet. Lexie glanced at her watch again. It was only a quarter past nine.

"Shit." Lexie cursed under her breath, backing up against the wall. As was instinct to her, she slipped around the corner, into the alleyway, into the shadows to try to decide what to do. There were large wooden crates stacked up beside her and across the way, a dumpster. Lexie felt a chill run down her spine. This alley was frighteningly similar to the alley in which Snape had attacked her a month ago.

It was as though she could feel his presence in the alley with her... standing behind her, his hand brushing her hip, his breath on her neck, his lips whispering into her ear. She shivered. No one had ever evoked that sort of reaction from her, not even past boyfriends. "Stop it!" she scolded herself. "Remember how he acted after that seduction was over." Her rational side commented. She drew in a deep breath and tried to make her ear and neck stop tingling.

Just then she heard muffled voices coming from around the corner, behind the Hogshead pub. Against her better judgment, she decided to get a bit closer. She'd seen the horror movies, whenever you heard a noise in a dark alley, you never, ever went any closer – because if you did… well, it just always ended badly. However, she inched along the wall anyway, as quietly as possible, careful not to give her position away. The closer she got, she could tell that the voices were having some sort of argument. A bit closer… one voice was male, the other female. But why were they having an argument behind a bar? She'd heard plenty of couples arguing inside of bars, that wasn't anything out of the ordinary. If she could just get a bit closer, she could have the right angle to see what they were up to.

She craned her neck around the corner. What she saw was beyond belief. There, in the shadows was Severus Snape. The moon gave just enough illumination to shed light on his distinct features. His arms were against the wall, trapping a young woman in between them. She had her head turned, but her delicate bony hand reached up to touch his face. He jerked away angrily.

"I said enough! I have not asked you here to have a snogging session!" he snapped.

Lexie's eyebrows knitted together. Who was he with?

"Right, right… I know. I thought I made it clear… I'll do anything you want me to… Professor…" said the sultry voice.

Lexie's eyes almost popped out of her head as she saw her roommate Natasha turn her head and look up into Snape's eyes. Lexie's jaw dropped. This was unbelievable!

"Joining the Death Eaters is not something to enter into lightly." Snape said seriously.

"I understand!" Natasha said, her voice still deep and smoky. "And I told you that I want to do it." She said, her voice straining to convince him of her position. "It's something I've always wanted…" she said, dropping her eyes to look him up and down before locking stares with him again. "Amongst other things…" she said, trailing a finger down his chest.

"You realize that there are extensive, difficult initiation tasks to complete prior to initiation? And the consequences for failing to complete these tasks are… severe." He said, ignoring her wandering hand.

"I told you, I'll do anything to be with you." Natasha said, running her hand through his hair.

Snape grabbed her hand, slammed it against the wall and pinned it there. "This is not an invitation to become my mistress Miss Zaizen. Our meeting is over. I will inform you as to the Death Eaters decision regarding your induction. Until that time, I ask that you speak of this meeting to no one."

"Whatever you say sir." Natasha said dreamily.

Snape sighed, irritated, then released her. "Now get back to the school and into bed."

"Bed… right…" Natasha breathed. She gave one last look at Snape, then slunk away into another alley.

Snape sighed again. He ran his fingers through his hair. He looked livid. He looked as though he wanted to throw something. "One down, two to go." He said through clenched teeth. With a swish of a cloak, Snape turned and began stalking down the alley toward her.

Lexie's heart jumped up into her throat. "Shit!" she swore under her breath as she tiptoed as fast as she could down the alley. She slid down into a crouching position next to the cold, damp, stone wall, making herself as small as possible. She closed her eyes and said a small prayer, begging God not to let him find her here in an alley, spying on him again.

But Snape was apparently too preoccupied with his irritation to notice her sitting on the ground next to the dumpster as he swished past her at top speed. Lexie drew in a huge breath of relief. She sat there, panting as though she'd just run a mile. The thought of Snape catching her again… she got to her feet. As she made her way around the corner back to the entrance of the pub, she felt her knees shaking underneath her.

She usually didn't drink, especially hard liquor, but this was call for a relaxer. She went to the bartender and ordered a double firewiskey. She went to a table in the back and sat down. She took a deep swig of the dark copper liquid. It burned her tongue, cheeks and throat, the whole way down to her stomach. She dug in her cloak pocket and found a pack of cigarettes; another thing she rarely resorted to. She tapped the end with her wand and watched it spark to life. She inhaled deeply and tried to organize her thoughts for the moment Sophie arrived.