Disclaimer: dude, I am sick of these retarded disclaimers... I am more losing money by writing this than making it. think of all that time wasted that could be spent studying or working...
ooooo
Chapter six: 'Familie Kesslers Buch der Zaubersprüche & Buch der Zaubertränke', and a broken broom
ooo
ooo
The staffroom at Hogwarts was, in effect, the knot that tied the entire castle together. Situated right above the entrance hall, it was the first room you came upon when you came up the stairs.
Armchairs and sofas all mismatched and random, were scattered around the room in groups. A long table seating twenty was placed in front of the windows and the chairs around it were all a random mix of colors, styles, and materials.
All in all it looked like whoever had decorated the castle, assuming that anyone had, had taken whatever was left over from the other rooms and just thrown it all in there.
Now what really made this room practical, was its many doors. Like the doors in the headmasters office, they were ports each leading to a specific part of the castle.
Apart from the main entrance on the first floor, one door led to the faculty floor, where the staff quarters were. One to the guest wing. There where four doors, each leading to a house common room, another one to the dungeons and one to Trelawney's tower. One led to the kitchens, and one to the hall where the gargoyle guarding the Headmaster's office was, and finally there was one that had been locked for so long that none of the current staff knew where it led to, including Dumbledore and Trelawney, who had been there the longest.
These doors were the most direct route around the castle, especially on days where the stairs were particularly restless.
ooo
It was in this room Sarah was sitting, head buried in advanced transfiguration notes that McGonagall had given her. She was so deeply focused that she neither sensed nor heard Sirius enter the room.
Not until he snatched the papers out of her hand, wondering what had her so enthralled did she even notice she was not alone. Sarah reacted with incredible speed, and snatched the papers back before he even had a chance to read a single word.
« Private love letters?», he asked with his usual slightly cocky smile.
« Yes», she said and stuffed them into her bag. « Who would send you a love letter?», he teased.
Sarah pulled out her charms book instead and flipped to the chapter she was reading.
« I have been able to ensnare one or two hearts in my life», she said without bothering to look up at him.
Sirius crouched down infront of her and slowly pushed her book away.
One look into that perfect face and those amazing silver eyes, and Sarah almost forgot everything she had just read.
« I'm sure you've broken more than a couple of hearts before», he said slowly. Too slowly and suggestively for her liking. She focused back on her book.
« Remus is in Hogsmeade with the students», she said.
He lifted her legs, sat down and put her legs on his lap. All the while complaining about Lupin not being there.
« Well, that's what happens when you show up unannounced on a Hogsmeade weekend. There's hardly anyone here. Apparently Honeydukes is launching some new butterbeer filled cauldron cake, or something like that, and even the first and second years have been permitted to go».
« Well, let's go join them», he suggested. Sarah shook her head, « and give up on the chance of having the entire castle to myself all day? You can go, but I'm staying here».
« Then I'm staying here with you»
« Are you sure? I am probably the only one here, and I plan to study», she muttered while jotting down something in her book. He responded by summoning a copy of the Daily Prophet from across the room.
ooo
An hour later, Sirius had finished the paper long ago, and was just watching Sarah read. Boredom was slowly driving him insane. « Let's go to Hogsmeade».
« I told you. You go ahead, I'm busy», she said, still devoted to her book.
« I have my broom with me, let's go flying»
« No. I want to finish the next chapter, besides I don't even know how to fly»
« What do you mean, you don't know how to fly?», he asked in earnest surprise.
« I mean I don't know how to fly, as in the only thing I've ever used a broom for, is sweeping the floor...»
«Oooh... that's right you're a muggle...I mean you were raised as one...Sarah, do you know what this means? This means we have to teach you to fly!»
«NO! You are not getting me up in the air on nothing more than a stick of wood», she said and a shiver went down her spine as she remembered the last and only time she had been on a broom.
Sirius gave her a mischevious smile and tapped her book with his wand. It transformed into a brown mouse that squeaked and ran off.
« What the hell?!», Sarah shrieked. Not because she feared mice, but her charms book, filled with her precious notes, had just scurried off into a tiny hall in the wall.
« It's just temporary. The spell will wear off in five or six hours and then you can summon it back to you. Meanwhile, I can teach you how to fly»
Again Sarah downright refused, « I'm really, really scared of flying», she grudgingly admitted, and told him about the frenzied flight with Snape.
« But you can trust me. I'll be on the broom with you the whole time. We won't go too high up and not fast either. It'll be fun. I promise».
ooo
A lot of persuation later, Sarah and Sirius were on the quidditch field.
He got on the broom behind her, put one arm around her waist and gripped the broom with the other.
Sarah was gripping the broomhandle so tightly that her knuckles were white.
After making sure Sarah was ready, he kicked off gently and let the broom hover in the air, a couple of feet above the ground. They circled the field slowly, and already Sarah was feeling a fluttering in her gut. He took his time, and explained step by step how she could control the broom to change speed and direction.
Gradually he increased their altitude and speed, and it was not too long before they were soaring around over the grounds. The butterflies in Sarahs stomach had long ago transformed into eagles.
She still didn't feel at all comfortable on the broom, but this was a slightly more enjoyable ride than the one Snape had taken her on.
« You're doing great!», Sirius shouted to her. He had both arms around her now, and had given Sarah a go at handling the broom. Sarah did not agree.
Then, Sirius did the unthinkable. He took control of the broom, and flew slowly towards the ground. About three- four feet above it he jumped off. « I think you're ready for a solo ride», he said and smacked her butt, to accelerate her.
« What?! No!», Sarah screamed, but she was already zooming across the grounds on her own.
Panickstruck, she tried to slow the broom down, but her mind was a blank and instead she made it go faster. « Sirius!», she screamed, and dissappeared amongst the trees at the edge of the forbidden forest.
Sirius heard a couple more screams, followed by a loud crash and swearing so loud that it could wake the dead. « Oh, bugger!»
He ran in the direction Sarah had vanished and was soon met by a furious Sarah coming out of the forest. Luckily for her, she had only crashed a couple of yards beyond the first row of trees.
She was cluthing his broom, there was a rip in her robes, revealing a bleeding gash on her leg and one could have almost sworn that steam was rising from her head.
« Are you alright?», Sirius asked, half laughing and half worried.
« Am I alright?! You bloody piece of half trashed slug vomit! How could you do that to me?!», she roared and broke his broom over her knee. « I trusted you!», she started hitting him with the bushy end part of the broom. « Lying, no-good, crude, vile, closet-Slytherin. I'd shove this broom up your arse, but you're so sick you'd probably enjoy it!», she screamed and threw the broken broom at him and went back up to the castle, growling profanities under her breath.
ooo
She went to the Hospital Wing to get Pomfrey to heal the cuts and bruises she had gotten. The cuts were healed with a flick of a wand, but Pomfrey was out of foxglove balm for her bruises, and sent her down to Snape to get more.
When she came in to his office, she was still too upset to notice that he actually seemed happy to see her. He handed her a jar, and she put her leg up on a chair, pulled up her robe, and started rubbing the thick yellow paste on the massive red bruise on her thigh. She was still growling slightly. He asked what had happened to her.
« Sirius goddamn Black!», she snarled, and breifly told him what Sirius had done.
« That does sound like their type of humor», he said, and Sarah noted the faintest hint of bitterness behind it. Just then someone knocked on the office door.
« If that's him, don't tell him I'm here. If I see him right now, I'll probably beat the crap out of him», Sarah whispered. The devilish grin that Snape replied with said it all.
« Severus, please...».
Snape opened the door only enough to see who it was. Sure enough it was Sirius, saying that Pomfrey had told him Sarah was there. « She left», Snape said and slammed the door in his face.
The grateful smile that Sarah gave him, was worth ten beaten up Sirius'.
Sarah dropped down on the chair and proceeded to rub balm on a couple of more beginning bruises.
« I thought you were chaperoning the kids today», she said.
« Are you mad? And miss having the entire castle to myself, without a single one of those whiny little brats running around. I switched turns with Minerva, she was all too eager to try that new cake anyway», he said.
« This is really amazing!», Sarah digressed as she noticed the red marks that normally would have turned purple over the next couple of days slowly vanish. « You have to teach me this one».
Snape nodded and said he could teach her next Friday.
« Right, I better get out of your way», Sarah said and got up. Snape didn't protest, and the mountain of essays on his desk explained why.
Hoping to evade Sirius, she left his office through the door leading to the Slytherin common room, and from there she took the door leading to the staff room. From there she headed for her room, sore and aching all over her body.
ooo
Back in her study, Sarah went back to a little project she was working on in her rare and few spare moments, translating the two books she had taken with her from her family vault.
The first second she had spotted them it had been their titles that had caught her attention.
Sarah knew enough German to know they were the Kessler family spellbook and potions book.
Unfortunately she didn't know near enough to understand half of what was written in there.
This was driving her out of her mind, because the books looked ancient, and were thousands of pages thick, so she just knew that they would be filled with incredible things. Things that she did not have access to. Not yet at least.
After a while the fire in her study turned green, and Sirius poped his head in.
« I'm sorry...», he said and made puppydog eyes at her. « Piss off!».
« If you don't forgive me, I'll just go back to London then», he said sulkingly. Then he waited, probably expecting her to object in some way, but after minutes of Sarah ignoring him, he gave up and vanished out of the flames.
Sarah murmured further more inaudiable profanities and continued with the gargantuant task of translating her book.
She was undisturbed for hours, until she felt a familiar burning deep inside, and just then someone knocked on her door. She knew it was Snape.
« You forgot your bag in my office», he said as she opened. He handed it to her, and said goodbye, before she even had a chance to thank him for bringing it.
« Hey, wait! Can you read German?», she called after him. He turned and came back to her, « Sadly no. Why do you ask?». Sarah told him about the books.
« Why don't you just cast a translation charm on them?», he said condescendingly
« But I haven't even hear-»
«Oh, for merlin's sake!», he snapped and brushed past her in to the room. « Where are the damn books?». She pointed to the study, and even Snape could see that she did not approve of him snapping at her like she was one of the students.
So he did something very unlike him. He brushed his hair back from his face, looked her straight in the eyes, and apologised to her. And he was even sincere about it.
« Forgive me Sarah, I tend to forget that you have only been here a few months, and expect you to know as much as any other adult at this school. It feels like you have always been around, and you have come so far already. It slips my mind that you are just starting to learn magic ».
« I feel that way too, like this has been my home for ages», she said, astounded by his apology.
Snape traced the cover of one of the books with his wand, and the writing started glowing, before it vanished and reappeared in english.
« The Kessler family potions book?», he read and seemed somewhat lured by the title.
« Do you see why I wanted it translated. The other is the family spell book. They look like they've been in the family for tens of genetrations».
« Thought you didn't know German?», he said.
« I know a little. My grandfather made a couple of feeble attempts to teach us, but personally I was more intrested in learningother languages like Japanese and French»
Snape started to say something, but a cry from the fireplace cut him off.
« Saraaaaah... Saraaaaaaaaaah...», Sirius' voice said from the green flames, but he was nowhere to be seen. « this is your concience speaking... you muuust forgive Sirius... he is a great guy, and he really diggs you, and he is really...really soooorryyyyy...».
Then Sirius' laughing head poked out in the flames, « Oohh.. she has company...». He called back to someone on his own side of the connection.
« Didn't you say you would leave?», Sarah muttered, refusing to look at him.
« I have your charms book...», he said and held it out to her like a peace offering.
Sarah looked at Snape, « Excuse me one moment, Professor». She went down on her knees infront of the fire, took the book from Sirius and smacked him in the head with it while shouting:
'LEAVE', 'ME', 'ALONE'.
Out of the fire came thuds from the book hitting Sirius and a few yelps of pain, followed by the unmistakable sound of Lupin laughing.
Sarah got up as the green fire vanished. « He is such an arrogant arse!», she muttered as she put the charms book away and brushed some ash off her robes.
Behind her Snape was quietly thinking that when ever he thought he couldn't possibly like her more than he did, she took it to a whole new level.
« Do you have time to teach me that translation charm?», she asked, and slammed the huge heavy spellbook on the table. He nodded. « Who cares about bloody essays anyway?»
ooo
ooo
It was Monday and also the first day of the Easter holiday. More than half the students had left on Saturday, so the halls, that were usually buzzing with noise, were silent and almost deserted.
« Sugar quills» Sarah said and went up to Dumbledores office.
He had sent her a note, asking her to come to his office. He had something he wanted to discuss with her. She knocked and went in.
« Sarah, come in, sit down.» he was as usual in an unaturally good mood. « Good morning Albus» and then to her amazement she noticed that Snape was here too, sitting in one of the two chair in front of Dumbledores desk.
« Good morning Professor» she said to him.
It was almost a month since their perfect morning, and even though she had started calling him Severus, it was only when they were alone.
Otherwise she called him Professor.
Snape found that he did in fact prefer this. It made it even more intimate and personal when she said his name. Like it was their little secret. « Good morning Miss Kessler»
« Sarah, Severus and I have a little surprise for you. Shall I? Or would you like to tell her?» Dumbledore looked at Snape, who gestured for him to go ahead.
« As you know, if you want a proper job in the wizarding world, you must at least have taken your O.W.Ls. I know that we didn't plan on this yet, but you see, Severus here has been telling me how far you have come in your potions studies. We have dicussed it, and he has signed you up for your O.W.L exam in June»
Sarah was dumbstruck « He...» and turned to Snape, « you did WHAT!?» she glared at Snape, who glared back. Dumbledore who was looking from one to the other had noticed something, and it amused him greatly.
« Ah, but there is more, I have also talked to your other teachers, and they too agree, that with a little extra effort, you are ready to try for all your O.W.Ls, and get the whole thing over with, if you wish to of course...»
« May I have the day to think about it and give you my answer tomorrow?» she asked Dumbledore.
« Yes of course, my dear, take your time, but I think I will be needing your answer, by the end of the month».
Sarah excused herself politely and left. Snape excused himself too and sped after her.
Leaving Dumbledore alone in his office smiling at what he had noticed. «There was definitely something there» he thought.
Snape caught up with Sarah. He took her hand and forced her to stop.
«Sarah... I thought you would be happy about this?»
« Happy!? Severus! How could you? I am nowhere near ready for that exam!»
« Don't be silly girl! You already understand potions better than half of the sixth years I teach!», he snapped at her, then calmly added « if it was not for the fact that you have to have your O.W.Ls first, I would have signed you up for the N.E.W.T level. Sarah you can do this, I know you can!»
« But Severus...» she almost whispered. « No! No buts! You can do this, you are the most talented student I've ever had. Now, you don't have lessons this week do you?»
« No, but i do have plans with Minerva after dinner»
« That's hours away, come on, join me for tea in my room?» he took her with him without waiting for her answer.
He had never asked her to come to his room before. He had wanted to for a long time, but he had not been able to get up the nerve to ask.
As much as she made him feel like a man for the first time in many years, she also managed to reduce him to feeling like a clumsy, insecure schoolboy again.
ooo
In his room, they lost all track of time, and spend half the day just discussing her exams.
«Severus, please understand what I am trying to say», she was lying on his sofa. Her head against the armrest and her legs on his lap. Sabine curled up on her stomach.
« I am a very competitive person. Its just not enough for me to just pass my exams. I must get top marks, it's just the person I am. If I don't get an O, I'll never be able to stop thinking about it. Specially in potions, because it's my favorite subject.»
« Sarah, listen to me», he dared himself touch her, but didn't, « I know what you mean, I'm like that myself, but I guarantee you that you can do it. In fact if you don't get an Outstanding, I'll...».
She gently placed Sabine on the floor and sat up, «You'll what?». She was so close to him, all he wanted to do was to take her in his arms and kiss her.
« I'll give you a thousand galleons, how's that?»
To his surprise, she shifted and sat on his lap, « That O is worth much more to me than that».
« Ten thousand galleons, a million, anything! Name your price! Just take that blasted exam!»
Sarah couldn't help but smile, «Do you really have that much confidence in me?»
« What do you what in return then? If I do get an O?».
He smiled at her, « Oh not much, a kiss on the cheek, and a 'thank you' will suffice, when you get that O».
« If I do take the exam, will you give me unlimited access to your books, so I can prepare?», she asked and carefully brushed a lock of hair out of his eyes.
« Sarah, you already have unlimited access to my books, to anything in here».
« Even you?», she blurted without thinking.
« What? What do you mean?», suddenly his insides were burning.
«Nevermind, you know, I am starving, do you want to go to dinner?», she got up from his lap looking very flustered.
He most certainly did not want to go to dinner.
He wanted her to tell him what she meant. « Sarah...» he started, but she cut him off, « You know what, Severus, I think I will take that exam. Now, are you coming or not?», she was already in the doorway, waiting for him. Giving him a look that clearly said: Drop it!
« Yes» he got up, and went with her.
ooo
« Can I really borrow some of your books?» she asked while they walking.
« You can borrow all of them, If you want, you can come back with me after dinner and take some»
« Oh but I have that appointment with Minerva, remember?»
« What are you and McGonagall up to? Every time you show up late on Fridays, it is always because you have had an 'appointment with Minerva'»
« I can't tell you that, Severus, not yet»
He stopped, « Sarah, you know you can trust me ?».
She was a bit a head of him now, she stopped too and walked back to where he was. « Yes, and I do trust you! But isn't a girl allowed her little secrets?»
« But you don't trust me like you trust Black and Lupin» he said bitterly.
She took his hand, and with a gentle smile said, « Severus, I trust you just as much as I trust Remus, and even more than I trust Sirius».
This was only half true, because there was no one she trusted as much as she trusted Lupin.
« ...besides, none of them know this either. Severus please, just let me have my little secret and when the time comes. I promise you'll be the first I tell. But please no more questions ok?». She gave him a stern look he could have sworn she must have learned from McGonagall, and started towards the great hall again.
ooo
The truth was the next full moon was the first week of May, and Sarah was determined to be ready by then. It had already taken her a bit longer than McGonagall had first expected it would, considering her metamorph genes, and now she was sick of it.
She already managed to actually transform, but that was the easy part. The difficult part was getting you body to accept the transformation, so that it would not automatically try to change back to human form.
So far, the longest Sarah had managed to stay in animal shape, was a couple of hours, which was no where near good enough. The strain would always prove too much for her body and it would drain of energy far too quickly.
McGonagall had forbidden her to transform until she improved her physical stamina, which was why Sarah had during the last month, gotten up at four am almost every morning to train for a few hours, and had even, almost, quit smoking.
ooo
When she arrived in the great hall, she was surprised to find Sirius sitting with Lupin.
She was still mad at him. When he had come for the full moon the previous week, she had not said so much as a hello to him, despite his numerous apologies.
Sarah went to the table, grabbed an apple and said something about being too busy for dinner, before leaving the hall again. She went back to her own room, and stretched out on her bed with more transfiguration notes, on how to make your body accept the change, from McGonagall.
ooo
It wasn't long before she heard a scratching noise on the bedroom door, and the black dog came trotting in.
« how the hell did you get in here?», she grumbled before remembering that Lupin knew her password.
Sirius put his paws up on the bed and nudged her with his snout, while making the biggest, saddest puppy eyes imaginable.
« Oh, sod off! I don't even like dogs!», she half lied. He put his tail between his legs and started whimpering, loud and heartbreaking.
« Stop snivelling! I thought we were friends, that I could actually trust you», she said and pushed him off the bed.
He replied with a loud bark, and jumped on her, pushing her back on the bed. Then he started wagging his tail and rubbing his snout against her nose.
« Stop it, dammit get off me», she said, and the anger in her voice was slowly cracking.
Sirius started licking her face. « Stop... eww... please.. stop...Sirius..no, get away..stop that», she was pleading, and now you could hear how she was struggling not to laugh.
He only responded by becoming more eager, wagging his tail even faster.
« Alright, alright, I forgive you! », she cried in surrender. If she had thought it would make him stop, she was mistaken. For a now very happy Sirius, sat down on all four and continued licking her face and neck like crazy. Not only did the rough dog tounge feel disgustingly cold, but it tickled.
« Stop licking me!», she finally screamed, in between manic fits of laughter.
« Sarah...?»
McGonagall was standing in the bedroom door, looking slightly bewildered. Apparently the sight of Sarah lying on her bed with Sirius in animagus form stitting on top of her, could be interpeted in many ways. Wrong ways.
« Your door was open, we have plans remember?», McGonagall said, still trying to pretend she hadn't walked in on something that looked rather private.
Sarah pushed Sirius off. « I'll just wash my face and we can go» she said and went to wash away the slobber all over her.
« Shame on you...!», McGonagall whispered to Sirius as soon as Sarah was out of the room.
He cocked his head to one side and gave her a rather confused look, before setting off towards his own room.
ooo
When Sarah returned to her quarters several hours later, she found both Lupin and Sirius, sitting at her table playing exploding snap. The moment she came in, Sirius came over to her and gave her a crushing hug.
« What are you doing here?», she asked.
« I got bored, and figured its easter anyway, why not come and stay the week», he said.
« I figured that much... but why are you here, now? It's past midnight»
« Well, we were going to Hogsmeade and wanted you to come along. We figured how much time could it possibly take with McGonagall, whatever you were doing, and decided to wait for you. Now what the bloody hell took you so long? What are you and Minerva up to..?»
« We are brewing a powerful lovepotion, to ensnare you two sorry mutts, and as much as I would love to hang out, I am tired, I have a very long day ahead of me tomorrow, so if you please?», she was holding the door open for them. They gave her a kiss and a hug, and left.
Finally, now she could get back to business. She locked and warded the door, and transformed. Then she settled on the floor, and went to sleep.
ooo
But the next morning she found, to her disappointment, that during the night she had changed back into a human. She washed up, ran down to breakfast, winked at Snape, sat down between the boys, took a large gulp of orange juice, took two bites of toast, grabbed an apple, and sped back to her room. She hadn't even been at the table for five minutes, and had not said a word.
It was the same at lunch, she came in, took one bite of her food, grabbed some fruit, and was gone.
Finally at dinner she decided she needed a proper meal, and took her time.
«You look exhausted! What have you been doing all day?»
« Can't tell you, its a secret» she finished the last of her pie, gave them both a kiss and was gone.
She locked her door behind her and transformed again. She had stayed transformed all day, only changing back to come to meals. She settled down infront of the fire and went to sleep. Tired from a very long day.
The next morning, she was again disappointed to find that she had changed back during the night.
«This would not do»
She had to get so comfortable in animal form that even when she was sleeping, her body would not change back without her wanting to. Only then would she show herself.
She went down to the kitchens and brought back a basket of appropriate food, then she notified McGonagall about where she would be, changed the password to her door, locked and warded it and even had a house elf temporaily close off the connection to her fires, so that no one could floo-powder in to see her.
ooo
When she didn't show up for any meals all of Wednesday or Thursday, Sirius, Lupin and Snape were all a bit worried about her, even though McGonagall had assured them that she knew what Sarah was up to, and that she was perfectly fine.
Lupin had been rather hurt and annoyed when he found out she had changed her password, and Snape had stopped by at least ten times and knocked on her door.
ooo
ooo
Finally, Friday morning she woke up, and looked down at her body. She gave a scream of joy, and jumped up. This made made an awful lot of noise, so she changed back to human form, took a long warm shower, got dressed, scribbled something on a piece of paper, pocketed it and went down to breakfast.
There was a great cheer from Sirius and Lupin when they saw her enter the great hall. She waved at them, but headed for Snape's end of the table.
She gave him the folded piece of parchment without a word, went to McGonagall and whispered, «I did it», winked at Dumbledore, who was after all the headmaster and knew what was going on, then she went to sit with the boys.
« Lovely morning isn't it?» she beamed at them.
« Where on earth did you disappear to? We haven't seen you since Tuesday!», Lupin complained.
« I have been working on a little surprise», she gave him a pat on the cheek.
« And you couldn't tell us where you went because...», « Because that's half the surprise, isn't it?» she said and patted Sirius' cheek this time.
On the opposite side of the table, Snape discreetly opened the small piece of parchment.
It just said, 'I always keep my promises. Meet me at the far side of the great lake after dark'.
After dinner, the three dropped in at Hagrid's, where bottles of wine and homebrew were emptied at record pace, while the level of laughter reached an all time high.
Of course, a somewhat nervous Sarah tried to keep her own level of alchohol inntake to a minium and just nursed the same glass of wine for hours.
Finally the sun set and darkness enveloped the castle grounds. Feeling that the three men were too drunk to notice, she pretended to go to the bathroom, but instead slipped out the back door.
Confident that the huge black cloak she had on kept her camoflaged, she hurried over to the lake, and found a spot to sit and wait for Snape.
As it grew darker, and she became certain that Sirius, Lupin and Hagrid were too drunk to come looking for her, she transformed, and just as she did, she saw a small light coming out of the entrance hall, headed towards her. She withdrew into the shadows of the trees and waited.
ooo
«Sarah?»
Snape heard someting move behind him and turned around. In the light from his wand he saw a black horse, its coat and mane shimmering in the starlight.
« Where the ruddy hell is she?»
«Sarah?» the horse neighed and wrinsked, «Sarah?» Where the hell are you?».
He turned and started walking further along the shore.
« You know...for someone as brilliant as you are Severus... you're pretty daft!»
« Sarah!» he turned back around, and there she was standing behind him, where the horse had stood, but the horse was no where to be seen.
«Oh come on! Surely you get it now!» she peered at him.
Slowly it dawned on him... She was the horse?»
« Sarah, you're an animagus!» the look of shock on his face was alone worth all the efforts she had put into this. « Bloody hell SARAH! When? How?»
« This is what I've been doing with McGonagall, this is why I've been late for our sessions»
« And the reason you vanished off the face of the earth for nearly three days?» He asked her.
« Yes, I didn't want to show anyone before I had fully mastered it, so I locked myself up in my room and decided not to leave until I had.»
« Isn't that pushing yourself a little too hard, Sarah? I was worried about you, I came to your door, I don't know how many times, but you didn't open»
« Well how could I have opened the door? I was a horse!» and with this she transformed back into the black arab mare and started sprinting around him in circles.
« Sarah, you are amazing! Truly amazing!»
The horse walked up to him, and nudged him. He stroked her neck and mane, it was every bit as beautiful as Sarah was. Once again she turned human, and they sat down on the shore. He blew out the light at the end of his wand and they just sat there, enjoying the darkness around them.
ooo
She had her cloak on, but they still huddled up under his.
They talked a little, when ever one of them felt the need, but must of all there was no need to talk. They were beyond that somehow.
After a while, she put her head on his shoulder, and took his hand. It said more than hours of conversation could have. He kissed her head. «Thank you for letting me be the first to see you»
She kissed his cheek, « I did promise, didn't I?».
He leaned back and pulled her with him. He was now lying on his back, and she rested her head on his chest. He had one hand under his head, and with the other, he was playing with her hair. Stroking it and carefully curling it around his long slender fingers.
« I can hear your heart» she said and yawned.
« You can have it if you want»