French in Italics because my editor nor I could translate.
One more run to go… half a run… almost there…
Frizz could see people leaving the cafe after a leisurely lunch as she speed toward them, her knees aching from the strain. Her legs felt as if they were about to collapse.
Frizz ducked lower. She had to go faster, lunch was well over and Severus could have already left- probably had. The line of people leaving the cafe was thinning more and more as it emptied its contents onto the slope.
Frizz pointed her skis into snowplough a few meters up the slope so she could see over the heads of the crowd, searching for his unique black hair.
There! That was him, just boarding off over the slope. Off course it was, Severs and Toni where the only ones that could wear a short-sleeved top in minus 10 degrees Celsius.
Frizz uncrossed her skis and pelted down after him. It would take a lot to catch him – if she could do it at all.
She flew over the crown of the hill, she couldn't see Severus, but there was only one way to go and she would have to hope that there were no turn offs further on. She hadn't been over this side of the mountain before, and she didn't know what to expect.
Breathing hard, her knees about to collapse, Frizz still kept going. She knew she couldn't be going that fast as there were people passing her without effort, but to her it felt like she could go to the moon and back in seconds.
"Severus!" she shouted as she spun round the corner- there he was at the front of the lift queue.
Bollocks! She would never get to him, and even if she did, he wouldn't be able to get out of the queue, and she wouldn't get in it because she didn't have the right lift pass.
"Severus!"
"Severus!"
No reply, he didn't even glance at her.
Suddenly the cold washed over Frizz again.
That's it, Frizz thought, one thing to do. Harry, Toni and Hermione are in trouble, I know it.
Frizz made a bee line for the lift hut. She flicked her skis off and ran in, just as Severus prepared to sit on the lift.
There was a board covered in tons of little levers and knobs, and a huge red button in the centre.
Frizz looked around frantically and hit the small green button in the top left of the board (A/N My Story will not be cliché!). She heard a prolonged whirring noise then a loud bang and the lift wobbled and jolted, then stopped.
The skiers were looking around quite worriedly as Frizz jumped out of the shack and ran for Severus.
"Severus!" he looked around and spotted her looking quite puzzled.
"What are you doing, you fool! If you had wanted to talk you just had to ask, that was extremely dramatic and unnecessary."
"I was trying but..." Frizz couldn't get much further as an angry Frenchman cut across her.
"What are you doing pissing about with the lift? You stupid little girl, you've exploded the interior of the mechanism, this lift will be out of service for a week, and I won't get paid, plus I'll have to pay for buses to get these people back to their resort!" the man was red in the face, drowning Frizz in spit.
"I'm sorry, so sorry," Frizz stammered, as the man raged and threw his arms about.
"What's going on?" Severus shouted over him.
"I'm being reprimanded for breaking the lift," Frizz yelled back as Severus climbed over the rope barrier and made his way towards them.
"Leave this to me," he said, stopping in front of them. Severus turned to the Frenchman and flung his arm around his shoulders, "Let's talk about this my good man," he began to say, steering the man to the back of the hut.
Frizz followed, wondering what the hell Severus was up to.
"Wait a minute," Severus said, bringing the man to a halt behind the back of the hut. He turned to Frizz, "What's going on? I didn't think you were the type to break a lift to catch up with someone."
"It's just something weird's going on."
"With Potter, Toni and Hermione around what do you expect?"
"No, even weirder than usual. There was frost on Harry's window, and Toni and Hermione's door knob!"
"Please don't say you did this to tell me that! It's the middle of winter- of course there is going to be frost around, you imbecile!"
"But it isn't cold enough for frost," Frizz cut across Severus in his tirade of insults, "and I was just getting off the lift and I heard two men talking- they said they were told to find you, and they mentioned some guy named Lucius Malfoy,"
At that name Severus stopped looking irritated and gave her his full attention, "and they said something about you were going to be punished for a betrayal to some dark dude."
"Why didn't you mention that before, you idiot! Didn't betrayal and "Dark Dudes" sound slightly more important than frost on a door knob?!"
"Well, I thought it was a bit weird, they all sounded like they were on crack to me. I thought this Lucius character sounds like a pimp! What would you think if someone said 'I want to be around when I see what happens to him,'- it just sounds really dirty!"
Severus looked at her like she was insane and opened his mouth to answer, but was distracted by the pudgy French man waving his arms around shouting French profanities.
"Fine," sighed Severus, "There isn't much I can do now."
He turned to the French man and pointed a wooden stick at him. "Obliviate," shouted Snape, waving the stick around.
"What the fuck are you doing?" asked Frizz hoarsely.
"Never you mind," Severus told her. He then addressed the Frenchman "You will go back to your hut and announce that thee has been a small glitch in the system, but the lift is now fine – nothing to worry about. You will then forget that you ever saw us – compris?"
"Severus, I don't think he is going to do what you say just because you're waving a stick at him..."
"Oh don't worry, he will," and with that the Frenchman turned around and headed back into his little shack.
Frizz opened her mouth.
"Come here," Severus said, as he faced Frizz and grabbed her by her shoulders.
"Whoa!" shouted Frizz, staggering backyards as the shack's intercom crackled to life, "I don't like you in that way!"
"It's not like that," said Severus livid, "Shrink your ego a bit!" He pointed his sick at the lift, "Reparo!"
"What the hell are you doing now?" demanded Frizz.
"No time now, just accept it and move on, come." And with that Severus grabbed hold of Frizz's arm and suddenly she was starring at Number two... Harry's apartment.
"What...ha...who..woo..." Frizz stammered, doing a marvellous impression of a goldfish.
"As I said, no time. I suspect something I've suspected for a while... all those letters, those damn owls- that's what did it. But at least I had the sense to take my wand while he wasn't looking. I knew he would find me here eventually, but not this soon. Stupid Potter, it's all his fault. Everything is his fault," Severus muttered to himself.
"Severus," said Frizz, touching him on the shoulder – this was a dream after all so she could risk decapitation.
"Alright, I have a plan."
"Great," said Frizz, trying to sound enthusiastic and wondering what the heck they were supposed to be aiming for with this plan anyway.
"All you have to do is stay outside, unnoticed and out of trouble. Only come in if I call you, then all you have to do is grab the nearest one out of Hermione and Toni and get out of there. I'll handle Potter and Malfoy."
"Okay, simple enough."
"It sounds it, but I must warn you, they may kill you. Are you willing to risk that? This isn't a dream, Frizz." The look Severus gave her told Frizz he was being serious, warning her, "You don't have to do this if you don't dare." Frizz had never heard Severus's voice so soft.
"No, I can do it," Frizz nodded.
"Okay, then I'm going to ask you to drink this," Severus produced a vial from his inside his trouser pocket, "Don't be shocked."
Frizz took the vial and downed it.
"Is this alcohol to make me less scared or something?" There was a tingling at the back of Frizz's head.
"Just ignore the pain," Severus said. Frizz looked at him inquisitively, but couldn't ask him about it before she collapsed on the floor. Her skin felt like it was boiling, bubbling, burning off her skin. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
The pain began to subside, and Frizz straightened up. She had grown, she could look Severus in the eye without having to look up now. Frizz felt her trousers slipping down and grabbed at them; she looked down to see what was wrong.
Her hands were white and long. Her slender fingers ended in masculine nails. Frizz peered under her shirt to find out what was wrong with her hips. She gasped, they seemed to have shrunk. They were white and slender and... very manly.
Frizz pulled at her waist band to see how much room there was and quickly shut her trousers as she saw how loose her underwear was and what was under them.
"What have you done to me?" Frizz demanded.
"You are now a perfect replica of me."
"Yep, all over."
"If you didn't want to see you shouldn't have looked down there."
"I didn't know I was going to have gonads!"
"You seem to assume I'm happy about you looking at my penis."
"What? How can this be yours? And for that matter why do I have one anyway?"
"It's a this special liquid I've used, you now look exactly the same as me – bar your clothes, now I come to think of it – we'd better change those too. Lucius won't be fooled if I stumble in wearing a pink bobble hat and bright orange trousers."
"But how..."
"I'll explain to you when we get time, now go look in Toni's room for clothes – while I figure out the rest of the plan."
"Why Toni's r still oom ?– she isn't that skinny."
"No – but a lot of the people she brings home are – they're bound to have left something that will fit you in your current state, and make it black or you'll never pass for me."
"But how am I supposed to change?"
"It's quite easy, Frizz."
"No... I mean... this underwear is the wrong size," Frizz started to whisper "I can see everything."
"Well, as you loudly pointed out earlier, you don't like me, and as I am eloquently admitting now, I don't swing your way."
"Fine," grumbled Frizz, "I'll be right back and I will try not to look."
Frizz pushed open Toni and Hermione's door and made her way in. It was weird being so high above the ground.
She pushed her way into Toni's room and searched through the mess. She found some black skinny jeans, a leather jacket that didn't do up and some black converses in roughly Severus's size.
Frizz made her way back out. Severus's mouth dropped open.
"I don't dress like that," he explained angrily.
"There was nothing else, and shouldn't you be more worried about Harry than what I'm wearing?"
"We would know if something had happened."
"How?
"Trust me we would know, but I think the time is running out.
I have a plan, just stay out here, and when I shout for you come in. I'll call you Severus by the way, and if they point wands at you don't be scared – just make a sarcastic comment and it'll be fine."
"That's not reassuring – I'm not in a hurry to die Severus."
"Neither am I, but I promise you, Frizz, if they've hurt Harry I'll kill them all."
And with a quick glance to make sure Frizz couldn't be seen Severus opened the door and stepped inside, drawing his wand.
"Severus, how nice of you to join us," came the elegant drawl of Lucius Malfoy.
Yay, I'm quite fond of this chapter, much fun. I especially like the third from last line, it was so fantastic I made myself excited. (I'm just joking – my ego isn't that big)
Anyway – I know this is a bit late but – better late than never.
Thank you again to all my fantastic reviewers, you actually have the ability to make my week, thank you.
Applause to my beautiful editor, and to Frizz, who despite the random magic and emotions thrown at her in this chapter, still managed to keep her head.