Disclaimer: yes, it is still the same author I am ripping off. Thank Merlin for her imagination!
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Chapter five: Secretive Seers
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Sarah climbed up the ladder, and found herself in a dimly lit circular room. There was an old lady standing by the trapdoor. Sarah did not see any bangles, and she was not dramatically draped in shawls either. She was a little plump, short and wore a very humble dark grey dress. Her pearlywhite hair was gathered up in a knot, not unlike McGonagall's.
« Hello my dear, I am Sybilll Trelawney, but of course you already know that don't you, Sarah», she said in a very mellow voice.
She gestured for Sarah to follow and led her to a small table in the center of the room. On the table there were two cups, a small teapot, and a tray of cucumber sandwiches. Trelawney sat down, and so did Sarah.
« I decided to to wait for lunch until you came. I hope sandwiches are all right?»
« How...» but Sarah did not even phrase the question in her mind, before Trelawney answered her.
« Well, you slept through breakfast and lunch, and I assumed that you would not have lunch in Severus' quarters»
Trelawney offered her a sandwich, and Sarah took it.
« But how did you know I was going to come here? I didn't even know I was going to come here?!»
« The same way you knew that Severus would come for you» she smiled
Sarah wished she would call him Snape instead, his first name made her feel uneasy somehow.
« Why are you uneased by my calling him Severus? It is the boy's name after all.»
« Had she somehow heard?» Sarah thought to herself.
« Oh I could sense it yes, much like you could sense the thoughts of that snake of his. Sabine, is it?»
Sarah gaped.
« Close you mouth child, thats not very ladylike» Trelawney looked at her and waited.
Sarah pulled herself together and closed her mouth. « Much better dear. Tea?»
Trelawney poured hot tea for both of them while saying « I made jasmine tea for us, isn't that your favorite?»
Sarah clenched her jaws so she wouldn't gape again, but nodded.
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« Now then. I am glad you finally felt ready to come up here. It is high time we discussed your gift of Sight».
Sarah thought of something, and heard a voice saying mockingly « Use you inner eye to see the future»
« No, child, sight is not reading tealeaves, or crystallgazing. True, they might be meager ways to help interpet visions, but true Sight is being able to communicate with your soul. You see, souls have their own means of communication, when we are earthbound however, this voice is often drowned out by all the disturbances around of. All newborns have this ability until they learn to speak and slowly forget how to listen. We can all hear our own soul's voice, which in effect are our thoughts, but we loose the abillity to hear others. Sight is not magic, all humans, magical and non magical alike, intially have this capability and could in theory learn how to listen. Witches and wizards find this easier to learn, as they have already accepted the fact that the world is not as solid and straightforward as it seems. To some, like you and I, knowing how to listen comes naturally. It is a unique gift passed down only from mother to daughter».
Trelawney offered her another sandwich, and knowing what Sarah was wondering, she went on.
« Yes, your mother could See, and so could her mother before her. This is not something that spontaneously appears. Every single Seer alive today can follow a direct bloodline back to the very first of us, Tiresias. This she passed on to her daughter, and she passed it on to hers, until you and I.
Not to forget your sister of course, who will pass it on to her own daughters. Infact your sister's Sight is very strong, even if she does not realise that she has it».
Sarah nodded. This was true. She had always had good instincts, but Roxanna's were uncanny. Which is why she had never been able to lie to her sister, because she spot a lie over the phone from across two continents. This explained alot about her sister. Like why she had felt she would make a good psychiatrist, which she would, once she finally graduated. Then a small wave of bitter sibling rivalry washed over Sarah. Again Roxanna had bested her.
« There is no need for you to feel inadequate, Sarah. You're a witch, and it will be much easier for you to hone your Sight up to, and maybe even beyond, Roxy's. Besides I believe her Sight saved your life once, remember?» Sarah nodded bitterly. She rememered all too well.
To her relief, Trelawney let the subject be, no doubt because she knew how unwilling Sarah was to talk about it.
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« Before your unbinding, you could hear more clearly than you can now, yes?»
Sarah, who had just taken a bite of her sandwich, nodded. Ever since her magic was unleashed, everything was a blur of foggy dreams and daily headaches.
« Let me explain. The binding chams that were placed on you did not bind your Sight, for as I have already explained, it is not really magic. However it did narrow and restrict your channels of communication. So that you only occationally could hear another soul. However now that you are unbound, your channels have been burst open, and chaos reigns. The reason for this is quite simple. It is the equivalent of talking to one person, and having a hundred people talking to you at once. The more souls you can hear, the harder it is to hear anything at all. In our future lunches together, I will teach you how to focus on one soul at a time»
Sarah's thoughts went back to Sabine, and how she could hear her.
« Yes, dear, all living things have a soul and a voice, but you will soon find that familiars and other magical creatures, choose to speak to us more often than other animals.»
« Is it because they know we can hear them?» Sarah asked eagerly.
« Indeed, child» Trelawney smiled, « Minerva told me you were smart, I'm glad to see that she was right. Of course, that girl is hardly ever wrong.»
Sarah thought of how old Trelawney must be, to consider McGonagall a girl.
« I am old enough to know that age is of no consequence», Trelawney smiled, and poured some more tea for them both.
« She is not the only one that thinks so either. Severus spent half the morning in Albus' office, bragging about that potion you made. No, my dear, I will not stop calling him Severus, and I believe he would be glad if you called him by his first name as well.» She was glaring at Sarah now.
« I most certainly will not!» Sarah said, and blushed at the mere thought.
« Suit yourself dear, but I still say that he would be most pleased to hear you call him Severus. Now I have things to do, and so do you. Do join me for lunch when you feel like it.»
Sarah nodded and got up after Trelawney, who was now already at the trap door. She waited until Sarah had climbed down, then went back into her room.
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The second Sarah stepped off the latter, she remembered a part of greek mythology she had once read. She climbed back up and was again greeted by Trelawney at the top.
« You were wondering...?», she said and actually let Sarah ask the question before she answered it.
« What you said about the priestess Tiresias. I am sure that I have read that her only daughter Manto, only had sons...», Sarah announced. « That is the myth. In truth she had two daughters. Now go on, Remus is wondering were you are», Trelawney answered and waved her off.
It was close to dinner now, and Sarah, who was still wearing her clothes from yesterday, went to shower and change. On her way, it dawned on her that Snape had indeed been bragging about her potion to Dumbledore. She actually jumped from joy, and ran all the way back to her room. She could not wait to tell Lupin!
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Sarah and Lupin ate their dinner in a rush, then took the bigger half of a chocolate gateau and a jug of meade with them, and headed for Sarah's room, where they could talk more freely.
Snape watched them leave. They often did this, vanishing off to have dessert in private. It seemed over the few months Sarah had been there, they had become inseparable, spending every moment of their free time together. He wondered if there was something going on between them and a hint of jealousy growled inside him.
Back in Sarah's room, they were sitting crossed legged on cushions in front of the fire in her living room, having cake. The two loveseats were just as uncomfortable to sit on, as they were sickening to look at, and Sarah hadn't had the time to even think about redecorating the room.
She eagerly told him all about her potions lesson, and how she had fallen asleep at the table and woke up in Snape's room. « And what a room!» she rambled on about the window under the lake and the books.
« ...and all the books! My God! Books everywhere!» she exclaimed, and in her excitement she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him so hard he spilled some of his meade.
« I am telling you Remus, I could just move in there today and happily spend the rest of my life, sitting in the windowseat, reading his books!»
«So basically what you are saying is that you would like nothing more than to go live with Snape?!» he teased her. She punched him in the shoulder. She had developed a habit of doing this, but he did not mind.
« Don't be silly! You now what I mean. It was the room and all the books that caught my fancy, not... not HIM! He is cranky, snarky, and strange. Sure he is brilliant, and he has a weird sense of humor, but weird in a good way, sort of, but still...he is too competitive and he never brushes his hair out of his face, so all you see when you talk to him is a mass of black hair and that huge nose, and you never really get to see his face, do you? And those eyes...»
« Sarah, you're babbling...», Lupin said. He raised an eyebrow and grinned widely.
« Well, I... oh shut the hell up Remus, and stop giving me that look!»
« What look?», Lupin said as innocently as a new born baby.
« That... nevermind», she sighed and went on tellling him about Sabine, after which he had made a comment about her « petting his snake», and started giggling. She punched him again but a little harder this time. It did not make him stop giggling though. She ignored it and told him about meeting Sybill instead. He agreed that she could be a little eerie at times.
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«Sirius is coming today», he suddenly remembered. « oh, is it your 'time of the month' again?», Sarah teased him.
« Sarah, you know I hate it when you call it that.»
« And Remus, you know that is the very reason why I keep saying it» it was now his turn to punch her in the arm, although he did it much gentler than she normally did.
Sarah growled at him. He growled back.
« Come on lets go see if he has arrived yet» he got up and pulled her up with him.
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Sirius would come to Hogwarts around full moon every month to fill in for Lupin. He always showed up two, three days earlier and stayed until a couple of days after the full moon. Sometimes he would pop in for the weekend, claiming that London was just too boring.
These visits were always memorable, especially if he was there during a weekend, when she had more time to spend with them.
They nearly always ended up utterly backwards drunk. Which nearly always resulted in the three of them being half dead at the breakfast table the next morning. In fact, the last time they had gone down to Hagrid's, and had not emerged from their rooms until dinnertime.
But on the actual night there was full moon, Sirius would change alongside with Lupin, into that big black shaggy dog, and they would roam the woods until dawn. Sarah could not come with them, for even though Lupin, thanks to the wolfsbane potion, kept his mind when he changed and was harmless, the woods were not safe for humans at night, specially not her, seeing as she didnt know nearly enough magic yet to be able to defend herself, and as she could not transform into an animal,
it would have been impossible for her to keep up with them anyway.
« You need to become an animagus, Sarah», Sirius had said again and again, « in the summer, when you have no more lessons. I can start teaching you if you want».
The first time he had suggested it, Sarah had complained that it would take years.
« Years?!», Sirius had exclaimed, « it took us four months. Where do you get years from?».
« I dont know...», Sarah had replied, and an idea was already forming in her head.
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Secretly she had talked to McGonagall about this, and for the past couple of months she had spent as much time as she could, learning how to become an Animagus.
McGonagall had explained to her that since she was a metamorph, and could already alter the cellular structure of body at will, she would master it a lot quicker and easier than other humans, but she still hadn't. Initally she had hoped she would make it in time for Lupin's birthday, but March 10th came and went without her being able to transform yet.
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Just as Sarah and Lupin came out of her room, Sirius was coming down the corridor to fetch them.
« What have you two been up to in there?!» he said in a mock shocked voice.
« Milady» he bowed deep before her, and kissed her hand. He could be very flirty at times, but Sarah had the feeling he was like that with all girls, so she didn't really like it. He was a bit too full of himself for her taste.
« Shall we?» he said as he took both of their arms into his and escorted them out of the castle and towards Hagrid's.
On their way, they filled Sirius in on the latest happenings at Hogwarts and just as they were knocking on Hagrid's door, Lupin said « and wait till you hear what Miss Sarah was doing this morning»
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Sirius was on the floor, hardly able to breathe, he was laughing so hard. Lupin was giggling again too. Hagrid had thankfully been too mature to find it the least bit amusing. She was glad to have at least one person on her side. Hagrid poured her some more wine, as they tried to ignore Sirius, who was now whiping tears from his eyes and murmuring « She petted Snivellus' snake» before roaring with laughter again.
Hagrid shook his head, « Honestly! Will you two stop acting like a couple of first years!», but they didn't stop laughing for at least another ten minutes and throughout the night they would every now and then put their heads together and giggle quietly.
After a few hours and a couple of bottles of wine, Sarah and Hagrid were drunk enough to giggle with them.
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It was almost three in the morning and on the table there where four empty winebottles, and one empty bottle of Hagrid's homebrew. As they got up to leave, Sarah could not even see straight, let alone stand on her feet. « Not to worry little sister», Lupin said and made to pick her up.
It was few weeks ago when Lupin had all of a sudden started calling her 'little sister', and as much as Sarah loved that he did, it still tasted bittersweet to her.
Sadly he was drunker than she was, so when he tried to lift her, they toppled to the floor in pile of arms and legs.
« I think you have to carry us both», Lupin said to Sirius, still lying spreadeagle of the floor and laughing. « Oh no! I have carried your drunken arse up to that castle far too many times. You will just have to walk up on your own», Sirius said and swooped Sarah up in his arms.
Lupin dragged himself up, still laughing and without Sarah weighing him down, he managed to find his balance, shaky as it may have been.
Sirius carried her all the way back to her room and put her on the bed. Being too drunk themselves, Lupin and Sirius decided why bother walking any further when her bed was big enough for the three of them. They threw themselves down on each side of her, and all three of them fell asleep instantly.
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Sarah woke up at the crack of dawn, crushed between a snoring Sirius and Lupin growling in his sleep. She didn't mind them sleeping in her bed. It wasn't the first time they had shared a bed and she knew that neither of them would ever try any funny business. She was still too tipsy to feel hungover, and decided to get up. She slid carefully out of bed and took some clothes with her into the bathroom. She would call her sister today.
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Snape was sitting alone at the breakfast table, reading one of his books. So far he was the only one there. It was after all Sunday morning and most of the school would probably not start coming to breakfast for at least another hour. He liked this. It meant that he could wake up slowly over his morning coffee in private, and be gone by the time the great hall started filling up.
He saw Sarah in the entrance hall. She was dressed in muggle clothes and did not come in to the great hall, but went straight out and was headed for the gates. It was an unusally cold morning, and he found it odd that she was sneaking out of the castle at this early hour. He made a split second decition, cast a disillusionment charm on himself and followed her.
He kept well back, and followed her out of the castle grounds and down the path to Hogsmeade. He soon figured out that she was certainly not headed there, because they reached a fork in the road and she turned left, instead of right, which would have led her to Hogsmeade. She had now been walking for over an hour and they were far from Hogwarts. She stopped. So did he, holding his breath, afraid of being caught. Then she put a white string in each ear, and continued walking.
They reached the outskirts of a small muggle village. She didnt venture far into the village but settled on a bench overlooking a fountain, and took a out a small device from her pocket. She pulled out one of the strings from her ear, and was soon talking into the small device.
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She spoke in a language he didn't know, but every now and then she would say a phrase or two in english and sometimes he would catch the names "Sirius" and "Remus", but never his own.
He was leaning against a fence not too far behind her. He couldn't see her face, but he could tell she was happy about something because she sounded excited and kept laughing.
He felt a right git, standing like this, hiding and spying on her, but she was after all his student, and she had ventured far beyond the safe boundries of Hogwarts. It was his job to keep an eye on her, and make sure she didnt get into any trouble. At least that is what he kept telling himself.
Finally she said « You have no idea how wonderful it was to hear your voice, I miss you so much. I love you », then she stopped talking and put the tiny device back in her pocket.
He wondered whose voice it had been wonderful to hear. « Who was it that she missed? That she... loved...?» At this last thought, jealousy flaired up inside him again, then setteled down when he realised she was gone.
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«Where was she?», he hadn't noticed her get up, but just before he had the chance to worry, she came out of the bakery across the street. She was holding two rather large cups, and had a paperbag clenched between her teeth. « Two cups? Is she meeting someone here» he thought.
She sat back down on the bench. Sipped one of the cups quietly for a while, then said into the air, « Professor, if you don't come and join me soon your coffee will get cold»
Snape was mortified! «Had she known he was there all along?»
He wanted to apparate back up to the castle, but he couldn't, she already knew he was there. He made himself visible again, and made his way towards her. His mind was racing to find a pretext. He was so utterly embarrased.
«Miss Kessler... I was just..I was trying to...», he was desperate to give her an excuse, a reason, any reason as to why he was there, but one glance into her eyes and his mind was blank.
Sarah just smiled at him, handed him the other cup and motioned for him to sit down.
« There's no need to explain Professor, I'm sure you have your reasons»
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He sat down next to her, examining the cup she had given him. It was twice the size of any cup he had ever seen, and was made of thick brown paper. It had a lid, with a tiny hole in it.
« The lid is to keep the coffee warm longer, and the hole is what we drink through» she explained, noticing his bepuzzlement.
« I am sure you are wondering what I am doing so far out of bounds?».
There was that earnest, unconditional smile of hers again. The same smile that she gave him when he had first introduced himself to her. He couldn't look at her, and focused on the water fountain instead.
« Dammit, stop smiling at me like that! Don't you know what does to me?»
« I come here about once in a while to call my sister. As you know with all the magic at Hogwarts and the various charms keeping it hidden, muggle appliances, such as telephones don't work while I'm within the reach of the spells. So I have to come here, which is the closest muggle town I know of. You see, owls are great and all, but there is something different with actually hearing the voice of someone you love and miss».
« Her sister! She had been talking to her sister!», he was unable to hold back his smile, « Of course she would say 'I love you' to her sister! Who dosen't love their sister?»
« But still its not safe to sneak out of the castle like that, Miss Kessler, not telling anyone where you go», his voice was a bit harsh, trying to hide the humiliation of being caught. « What if something happened to you?», he said in a now softer and earnestly worried tone
« I wasn't sneaking anywhere, I have spoken to Albus about my weekly trips and he is fine with it. He knows where I go and when to expect me back. Croissant, Professor?» she offered him a pastry from the paperbag. He accepted. « How did you know I was..», he started to ask, but she answered before he even finished his sentence.
«The same way I knew you where hiding in the shadows on the first night we met, remember? I felt your presence».
He had forgotten about that, the night he came to her, he had been standing there looking at her, certain that she was oblivious to his presence. Then she had looked straight at him and asked if he going to speak to her, or just stand there and stare. He remembered that she had been expecting him.
« As powerful as your disillusionment charm is, it does not conceal your soul you know, merely your body» she said in an all knowing voice.
« Merlin! You sound just like Trelawney, woman!»
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They laughed at this, and afterwards he no longer felt embarassed. It just felt so good, sitting here with her. Having her all to himself, outside of the dungeons, not having two think about the two mutts, Lupin and Black coming to take her away.
« I actually met Sybill yesterday, it was amazing! I had just left your dungeon, took a wrong turn and found myself at the foot of her ladder, and it turned out she had been expecting me! She had lunch ready and even my favorite kind of tea.»
« Well now you know what I felt, the night I came for you, expecting you would be shocked, but finding you had been waiting for me. I think you surprised me more than I surprised you that night», he said, « It was eerie, coming in to your living room and seeing the two cups and the fresh pot of jasmine tea.», he took a sip of coffee, « is that your favorite kind of tea?»
She was sitting facing him now, one leg curled up under her. « Yes it is, why?»
« Just curious», he smiled.
« She is going to help me develop and controll my skills» she nugded him while saying « soon not even the most accomplished occlumens can keep me out». « Miss Kessler, do you really think you can do what even the Dark Lord could not?», he was teasing her now.
« Is that a challenge Professor? Because you should know that I never back down from a challenge»
«Not even if I dared you to kiss me?» he thought.
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« Professor? Speaking of challenges... you never told me what you thought of my potion?» she knew already what he thought of it, Trelawney had told her that, but she wanted to hear it from him.
« Potion? Miss Kessler, what on earth are you talking about?»
She gave him a light push « Stop teasing me, and tell me how I did»
He made a very grim face « I'm sorry Miss Kessler, I must say I was very disappointed after I tested your potion.» «What!? WHY?!», that was not what she had expected him to say at all.
« I was disappointed because I could find nothing wrong with it, sadly it was flawless.»
« Didn't I ask you to stop teasing me?» she almost shouted, but with a smile.
«Oh I'm not teasing, I rather enjoy being able to tell off my students. I am after all a cranky old git, who dosen't even alphabatize his stock, am I not?», he didn't look at her, merely took a sip of his coffee and smiled to himself.
She was quiet. Somewhat embarassed to find out that he had infact heard her calling him that, and also trying to find a suitable comeback. Finally she said « Come now, Professor, you're not old...»
« Are you insinuating that I am a cranky git?», he pretended to be mad.
« Oh not at all, I am telling you that you are one», she grinned at him.
In the same fake angry voice he said, « Thats it! 50... ah.. blasted! You don't have a house!».
Sarah chuckled, « Thats right, I don't, and you can't give me detention either, because I'm not technically a student, am I? Your weapons are useless against me».
She smirked at him.
« Don't you smirk at me! That is my smirk!»
« Well, I guess you win this round, Miss. Kessler», he said with a smile, and made a mental note to take 10 points off the first gryffindor he saw.
She lept up and made an overly dramatic victory round around the fountain. Bowing, and neeling, shaking invisible hands, doing cartwheels. A few muggles who where passing by, looked at her and shook their heads. She didn't care. She finished her one lap, and came to sit with him again.
« Was it really...flawless?», she was serious now. «Yes, and I am quite proud of you.»
In her delight, she hugged him and said, « Well like master, like apprentice I guess» .
He had been completely caught off guard by her hug, and was almost blushing.
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«Oh no! I've lost track of time!» she had checked her watch and was shocked to see at it was almost 11 o'clock. « I told Albus I'd be back for lunch. Come on! It'll take us almost two hours just to walk back»
« Relax, Miss Kessler, you forget I am here. We can apparate back in time for lunch, unless you wish to leave now of course»
She sat down again, « I wouldn't mind staying here a bit longer» she said carefully, « Unless you want to go back now, Professor?»
« I find I am rather comfortable here» he said and smiled. Then he again noticed the white string she had in her ear. « What is that?»
« This?»She pulled out the string and took another small black device out of her pocket, « it's an mp3 player» « A what now?» he was a halfblood and had some knowledge of the muggle world, but it had been more than twenty years since he had lived amongst muggles.
« It is a device to play music with, let me show you» she gave him one of the strings, which he now saw had a kind of plug at the end « Put this in your ear» he did as she said. Then she pushed a few buttons, and he could hear music coming out of it. « Amazing!» he muttered
«Yes isn't it? To imagine this tiny little device can contain up to 30,000 songs! It needs to be charged with electricity to work though, but as we don't have that at Hogwarts, I've put some charms on it to make it work without. I did the same to my phone» she said and pulled out the thing she had been talking to earlier. Telephones he knew about, but they had certainly evolved since the last time he had used one. There was no dialer, no wires, and it was small enough to fit into the palm of is hand.
He could sense the traces of the chams she had put on it. « This is complex magic, Miss Kessler»
« I found them in a charms book I borrowed from the library, I did have to do it quite a few times to get it right, but I think I did it alright in the end», she gave a humble smile.
They sat on the bench, with one earplug each, listening to her music. He found he liked her taste in music, it was complex and varied, like her.
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« Miss, Kessler, what were you doing with the Whomping Willow the other day?», he asked after about an hour of blissfull silence.
A few days before Snape had returned to the castle around five in the morning. He had been out on an assignment. As he walked up the path to the castle, he had noticed Sarah out on the grounds.
She had seemingly been teasing the willow, only to duck and jump out of the way as it's annoyed branches tried to whip her away. At the time he had been too exhausted, and had a nasty cut on his cheek that needed attending to. So he hadn't bothered going up to her to see what she was up to.
In the days to come he had pondered upon it, but could not even guess what on earth she had been doing.
He removed the earplug. She did the same and put her mp3 back into her coat pocket.
« I've been training martial arts since I was a kid. With all the recent events in my life, I forgot all about it. Then I figured I better start again, before I loose the skill, and Minerva has been badgering me to improve my physique before... Well, most of all, its just for fun. It feels great to completely empty yourself of all that built up energy», she explained, not at all surprised that he had seen her.
She had felt him there, but had been too preoccupied with dodging the willows attacks to turn and greet him.
« Martial arts? Isn't that some obscure muggle dueling styles from the far east?»
« I wouldnt call it obscure. It's a common skill amongst muggles today. There are courses and schools devoted to it all over the world, and anyone, from small children to old people, can take the classes if they want. It is actually quite popular», she said, happy that he had ignored her little slip.
« And diving head first into the Whomping Willow... is that just a random act of insanity, or does it serve a purpose?», he asked with a cheeky little sneer.
« I need an opponent, don't I? The willow is like trying to dodge a hundred swords at once. As you might have noticed that day, Professor, I'm out of shape and need the practice. That session wasn't too bad, but the previous one left me with a bruise the size of a quaffle on my shoulder».
Again they drifted into their usual comfortable silence. Sarah leaned back with a content sigh.
Her cheeks were a bit flushed and as he looked at her, she gave him a tranquil smile.
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« How is it that you call the entire staff, even the headmaster, by their first names, yet you call me 'Professor'?», he suddenly blurted, and deep down dreaded her reply.
She sat up and tried not to sound sarcastic as she said: « maybe because everyone else calls me Sarah, yet you insist on calling me 'Miss. Kessler'»
Snape didn't say anything for a couple of minutes, and Sarah was starting to worry that she had somehow managed to offend him with her reply.
Then he turned to her. « It's nearly lunchtime, would you like to head back... Sarah?».
She beamed at him, «Perhaps we should, Albus knows where I am, but he's probably wondering where you are».
Snape nodded, « Yes, we probably should, before the knitters start talking», he said in an ominus voice. « The knitters?», Sarah looked at him.
« Oh, you know. Aurora, Irma, Poppy and Pomona», he said as he got up.
« Oh the knitters!», Sarah got it now. Sinistra, Pince, Pomfrey and Sprout were almost always huddled together in the staffroom, knitting and dishing out the latest in gossip and rumours, not at all concerned with the amount of actual truth in them.
Sarah was cracking up. « The knitters! That's just brilliant...».
They went up the road a little, so that they would not be spotted and apparated back to the Hogwarts gates.
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« WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?»
They had run into Sirius and Lupin on the path up to the castle.
« I have been soo worried about you! We woke up, and you were gone. Gone. Gone. Gone! ». Sirius was clearly overdramatizing, he was grinning the whole time, while pretending to be angry at her.
« Are you still drunk...?», Sarah wondered.
« Don't! you! ever! run of like that again, or it'll be detention for a year, Missy», Lupin was waving his finger at her. « Oh shut up, Remus! Your mother hen impersonation stinks», Sarah said and punched him. He laughed, then grabbed her hand, « Come on lunchtime» and pulled her with towards the entrance hall.
« Wait! You two go ahead, I just need a quick word with Professor Snape and then I'll come join you»
She waited till they were gone, then walked back to Snape.
« Thank you for a perfect morning, Pro-», she stopped and almost blushed as she whispered, « I mean, thank you, Severus», before she turned and hurried off to catch up with Lupin and Sirius.
ooo
Snape didn't move for a few minutes. He wanted to remember this moment and was glad that Sarah didn't turn back to see him grinning like an idiot. He was finally Severus to her.
That was for him the perfect end to what he too felt had been a perfect morning.