Rachel left the grounds to call Aton, as the magical interference blocked technology. It was one in the morning in California, but with any luck Aton would still be up. And she needed to talk to her Beta.

"Hello?"

"Aton, hey. It's Rachel. I'm so glad you're still up."

"Yeah, you know me – still quite the night owl. What's up? Is something wrong?"

He sounded a little nervous…probably afraid his family time was gonna be cut short.

"A lot has…" she trailed off. "Look, I'm not sure where to begin, so I'll just start by telling you about a guy named Tom."

She told him everything…Voldemort, possible BSD attacks, Harry Potter and his band of merry pals who kept getting themselves nearly killed, and finally told him about the job she had just accepted.

"Wow."

Rachel waited a minute for Aton to continue, but apparently that was all she was gonna get.

"Well, that's pretty much everything. Umm, I've just sent Pascale and John all of this as an email, but I wanted to actually talk to you about it. You guys have a choice to make, and I want you to consider carefully. If you want to follow me over here, you will not be permitted to enter the castle or even step onto the grounds, except in case of emergency. So I will understand if you choose not to come."

Rachel heard Aton exhale a loud, irritated breath and knew what was coming. "And before you start arguing, Albus doesn't want Voldemort discovering that there are Garou at Hogwarts, so he was quite firm on that point. It's also why he's asked me to pretend to be a witch. At least I'll still be able to shift to lupus – Albus suggested that I appear to be an animagus. It's comforting that he seems to understand that I have to have wolf-time. There's actually a forest, though, and only part of it is on the school grounds. Ooh, there's also that abandoned house in Hogsmeade that the 'werewolf' stayed in. I see no reason why you guys couldn't stay there or in the forest, if you wanted to, but I would have to discuss that possibility with Albus."

Barely pausing for breath, Rachel continued. "Oh, and I have to make myself a 'wand', and I'd appreciate it if you could help me out. I want to appear to be able to do summoning charms, because I think that would be the most useful power to give it. I can make my own fetish, of course, but if you have any ideas about what kind of spirit to bind into it, I'd appreciate your Theurgey insight. And also, as you're the boss-man while I'm gone, I want to remind you never to hang up on Pascale. There are consequences."

Aton chuckled. "I remember. I'll think about your 'wand', and I'll talk to the guys in the morning. Is there a time I should call you back or do you want me to send you an email?"

"Yeah, just send me an email, since my phone doesn't work on the school grounds…too much magical energy in the area. I assume Robert works because I awakened his spirit, so he's not normal technology."

"Will do, Rachel. In that case, you should hear from us tomorrow."

"Very cool. Well, I should let you go before Pascale comes storming into you apartment demanding to talk to me," she said wryly.

"True, then you'd never get back. Rachel, are you certain this is what you want? Have you thought this through properly?" Aton asked seriously.

Though she'd expected the question, she really had no answer for it. "Not really, but it's what I've chosen to do. And I believe it's the right thing to do. It may be the first snap decision I've made in a decade; blame Pascale for nagging me to be more spontaneous. And is that pounding I hear on your door?"

Aton groaned. "Yes, either it's Pascale or burglars have started knocking before they break in. I'd best let you go. We'll get back to you soon, okay?"

"Sure thing, Aton. Either way, I'll talk to you soon."

"Yeah, I know. Bye Rachel."

"Goodbye." Rachel hung up the phone and started back up the path toward the castle. She wasn't sure whether to hope they'd decide to come. She'd be living in the castle, pretending to be a witch; even if they were right next door they could barely be a pack. It would be difficult for all of them.

Done, everything was done. Her things had been transported for her, and the house elves had her rooms made up and everything put away in a few hours. Her bedroom, aside from the new four-poster bed, looked like it had simply been moved from her apartment. The familiar mixture of Celtic and Japanese design was more comforting than she had expected it to be. The message was clear – here, in this room, you are home. It was perfect. You'd never guess you were in the dungeon, Rachel thought. Why then had Albus suggested she stay elsewhere?

"Are you certain you wish to live in the dungeons? There are other, more habitable, sections of the castle with adequate space for your classroom and living quarters."
"Again, yes, I'm certain. I have my reasons. Will my presence in the dungeon upset Professor Snape though? I've been told he can be quite unpleasant."
Albus favored Rachel with a sly grin. "Well, my dear, I leave that for you to discover. If you're certain this is where you wish to be, the rooms I have in mind for you are this way…"

Absently, she wondered what that grin had been about. Something about it was slightly unnerving, like he knew something that she didn't. It happened too frequently for her comfort; she was not used to people that were more intuitive than she was. If he truly didn't know why she'd chosen the dungeons, though, at least she knew one thing that he didn't. From what she'd heard of Hogwarts' houses, she had no doubt that both Darcy and Leah would be sorted into Slytherin, and Rachel wanted to keep an eye on them, assuming her mother allowed them to attend Hogwarts, of course.

So…she just needed call her apartment complex to give her 30 days' notice, talk to her mother, and set up her dojo. The calls would have to wait until it was morning in California, and she really wanted to put off the call to her mother for as long as humanly possible…at least for a day or two, anyway, when she could have a good discussion outline organized, and she couldn't set up her dojo until she had supplies.

Albus had promised that he could acquire everything she needed and have it sent down to her by early evening, and that the house-elves would be happy to help her set everything up. Rachel was relieved that she wouldn't have to do it all by herself. It would be nice to have help spreading out the mats, at least. And they could apparently set up the charms to ensure that the temperature would be uniform throughout the room. And while Rachel thought it very odd to have a roaring fire in her dojo, she knew that the cold and damp of the dungeon would not be conducive to flexibility.

Until then, she figured, she might as well explore the castle.

Rachel explored for the rest of the morning and the entire afternoon, except for the quick jog off-grounds to call her apartment complex, but didn't think she'd seen even a quarter of the castle. Nor had she seen a living soul. She hadn't really expected to, since Albus had told her that the entire staff was on holiday or off running errands for him. But the non-living souls she'd encountered, those had been surprising. Rachel was determined to get even with Peeves for dumping the bucket of water, bucket included, on her head. The creature had darted off – do poltergeists dart? – cackling about 'gettin' one over on the new Yank.' Sir Nicholas had been pleasant, but the Bloody Baron was a bit creepy. Of course, when she'd told him that her sisters would almost certainly be in his House, he had perked up and was a bit friendlier, giving her a tour of the dungeons. 'A courtesy to Hogwarts' new professor,' he'd called it. She hadn't corrected him, but Albus had agreed to her request that her title would be 'Sensei', rather than Professor.

By the time Rachel returned to her rooms, her supplies and dinner had been delivered. When she finished eating, the tray disappeared and several house elves popped into the dojo. Four were wearing Hogwarts tea towels, but the fifth was wearing horribly mismatched clothes – a maroon sweater, plaid shorts, one orange sock, and one hot pink sock. Overall, the 'ensemble' was very nearly painful to look at. It seemed that Ron hadn't exaggerated about Dobby. Well, she thought, time to meet, greet and get to work…

Severus Snape was not, at this particular moment, pleased with his life. Not that he usually was, he thought to himself, but he usually wasn't bleeding from God only knew how many cuts and suffering from after-effects of Cruciatus. Thus far, focusing on getting to his rooms so he could take one or two very strong potions had kept him on his feet. He'd barely had the strength to apparate back, and he'd had to rest by the gate for a few minutes before he thought he could make it to the castle. But the Headmaster had been kind enough to send a carriage out to bring him back. Very little escaped the old man's notice, Snape thought with a grimace.

That was precisely why Severus had decided not to go to Dumbledore until he had mended a bit. Albus would not be fooled by his claim that he was merely tired and wished to rest, would not grant his wish to be left alone, and would eventually order him to the hospital wing. If he could just get to his rooms and properly ward the door, his day could not get worse than it already was. Meddlesome, bossy…was that music coming from his dungeons?

No one should be down here, he thought as he followed the sound of pulsing music. Irritation and confusion gave him a second, well, third…perhaps fourth wind, and he moved quickly and silently through corridors following the sound. As he grew near to the sound, Severus began to make out words…

Just paint your face and shadow smile
Slipping me away from you
Oh it doesn't matter how you hide
Find you if we're wanting to
So slide back down and close your eyes
Sleep awhile - you must be tired

When every night I burn
Every night I call your name
Every night I burn
Every night I fall again

It didn't sound like any of the trash he'd heard idiot children listening to on the Wizarding Wireless, but it could hardly be a muggle recording. Fortunately, that wouldn't play on the school grounds. Perhaps this was simply a new group?

Every night I burn
Scream the animal screams
Every night I burn
Dream the crow black dream

The music, if it could be called that – 'animal scream' was a fair description, really – was coming from what should have been an empty room, but light was coming from the open doorway. Severus crept toward the door and peered inside the room, and then his eyes widened in shock. He'd been gone only a week and already there was a new classroom set up! What was the old man up to, he wondered.

Every night I burn
Screaming the animal scream
Every night I burn
Dreaming the crow-black dream. Yeah, yeah

But it was not an average classroom. The décor was drastically different from the rest of the castle. Japanese? Yes, there appeared to be several Japanese weapon displays and there were some new paintings. Three of them depicted some sort of fighting; one painting was entirely hand-to-hand combat, which appeared to be getting ugly, the second had a mixture of hand to hand and weapon fighting, and the third looked to be some sort of organized sword-fight. It was the only painting with onlookers; it appeared to be some sort of match. The paintings on the far wall were too far away to see properly, but they seemed quite still. Perhaps the occupants of the far paintings were participating in the fighting in the nearer ones.

Dreaming the crow-black dream…

As the song wound down…thank Merlin…Severus continued his perusal of the room. There appeared to be cushions of some sort covering the floor, and the room's sole occupant was performing some sort of fighting routine on a cushion near the center of the room. He, no definitely a she, Severus thought appreciatively as he momentarily caught her profile, was moving so quickly that a few of her kicks looked blurry. She must be the instructor, he thought as – blast! – another song began…and it was shaping up to be just as annoying as the last.

It was time to find out exactly who this woman was and what was going on. It appeared as though Albus was adding some sort of muggle fighting course to the curriculum. If that was the case, Severus was determined that the new teacher would be properly cowed before the night was over. He folded his arms, pushed the still-throbbing pain to the back of his mind, adopted his best glare, and cleared his throat. She stopped mid-kick at the sound. Excellent…

Rachel had finished setting up her dojo but she was still pretty wound up. She hoped a nice, relaxing, and hopefully exhausting kata would do the trick. She had soaked up a lot of information in the past few days, she thought as she popped The Crow Soundtrack into Robert's CD-ROM drive and programmed her preferred song order into it. It was simply unreal that all her things had already been brought over. It just floored her that Dumbledore had been able to arrange it all so quickly. Sure, she understood his desire to keep her there and get her settled in as soon as possible. After all, she had to be prepared for a possible BSD attack; yeah, that was just fabulous. She'd start again in the morning, learning every inch of the castle, and then she'd move on to learning every inch of the grounds, alternating between homid and lupus.

But still, V was truly insane if he thought he could just recruit Spirals. They would turn on him sooner or later, probably sooner, and no single wizard, powerful or no, could stand up to even two or three packs of Garou, let alone an army of them – if he could even successfully convince them that they wanted to help him. But…if he did succeed, and if he gave them the tools and information to attack this school, may Gaia help them all. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. As Robert Smith began to sing, Rachel closed her eyes and allowed the music and the movement to take her.

She'd barely gotten into full swing when someone cleared his throat…loudly. Rachel straightened up and turned toward the door…

And her jaw dropped. All she could think was, 'Well hello tall, dark and broody.' This had to be Snape. With the hair and the complexion and the dressed all in black and…and Nine Inch Nails playing in the background…it was a little creepy. He was like a cross between Trent Reznor and Eric Draven…well, a slightly older Trent/Eric, but still…yummy. She hadn't been prepared for him to be sexy; the description had been all 'bad teeth, bad hair, scary nose, and freakishly pale.' Wait; was that what Dumbledore's smile had been about? Did he know Snape was her type? Rachel took a deep breath and tried to focus her thoughts. They really were darting all over the place. He looked very irritated – the music was probably too loud – but he also looked exhausted and…he was in a lot of pain and trying to cover it up, and was that blood she smelled?

"Robert, turn the music down," Rachel muttered as she stepped closer to the man who was glowering at her.

She should probably introduce herself, but that could come later. He really looked hurt, and if she could smell the blood from halfway across the room, he had definitely been bleeding far more than was good for him. She walked toward him quickly, "Are you okay?"

"Am I…"

He looked shocked. Well, from what she'd heard most people thought he was shit, so why should he expect concern?

"I'm sorry, the music was turned up pretty loud. Do you need to sit down? You look exhausted…"

She reached out toward him. Dumbledore had asked her to keep a low profile – the teachers didn't need to know that she wasn't a witch…and if she used Mother's Touch, he'd know it hadn't been any kind of spell. She hadn't made her 'wand' yet, and there wasn't a single spell that worked as well or as quickly as the Garou healing touch anyway, but Dumbledore had told her that he trusted Severus Snape completely, so Rachel figured she could too. And actually, odds were good that Snape himself had been the one to send Dumbledore the warning that V was attempting to recruit Spirals.

"Who are you? And what, pray tell, are you doing here?" Severus asked silkily and dangerously, as he caught Rachel's hand before it could reach his face. The shocked look had disappeared; in its place was a cold, frighteningly empty mask.

But Rachel wasn't daunted. She'd laughed at scarier things than him. And he was hiding it even better now, but she could still see the pain behind his eyes. And she tried to ignore the way the silky smoothness of his voice did funny, melty things to her insides. She held eye contact as she turned her hand and interlaced her fingers with his to heal him. She watched him carefully, as the sudden lack of pain could be enough of a shock to cause a short blackout to those who weren't expecting it.

Indeed, Severus Snape's eyes grew wide and then rolled back in his head, but Rachel caught him and lowered him carefully to the ground.