Late Arrivals and Lifetime Rivals: Snape's Worst Halloween

Chapter 20: Ready To Strike

Severus Snape stood near the door to his office in the dungeons. He did not sit in his green armchair as he waited for Professor Vector to arrive. He had learned in the past that by doing so, in this particular costume, he would not be able to get up.

If, by chance, he remained stuck, the Dark Lord would be extremely displeased with him for not showing up to the party.

Severus Snape was costumed as a basilisk. The same costume as last year that he purchased last minute at a sales bin in a muggle costume shop.

He wore his usual black robes and a stuffed snake costume with glistening material for snake skin and bright sequins over the robes. Might I remind you from the last party, that it was so badly sewn that he looked more like a dinosaur stuffed animal popular with small muggle children. (The dinosaur's name begins with a "B.")

The costume, which we have already established was not well-made, was finished off with a stuffed, scaly tail that trailed for at least a foot. For a man that was at least 6'2" the costume was fairly wide as he was tall. Snape estimated that when taken off, the costume weighed nearly as much as he did.

Snape's eyes, nose, and mouth were barely visible. He had worn the costume for only ten minutes and already the strands of his own black hair were sweaty and clung to the parts of his face that were seen. His hair had not gotten caught in his mouth yet, but the night was young.

A huge stuffed snake head sat atop Professor Snape's own head. It was much larger than the snake body portion of the costume. Two red pieces of cloth rested on the large bugged out eyes of the basilisk head. A large, red forked tongue that almost completely covered Snape's actual face (which was now part of the snake's head) spilled forth from right under the red felt eyes from his triangular, white-clothed teeth.

Snape waddled to the door of his office and stepped out sideways to wait for Vector in the hallway.

The "basilisk" stood still and its neck sneered at the shocked stares it viewed on the faces of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

However, the "basilisk" was not entirely sure that the three Slytherins recognized their Head of House.