Chapter Eighteen: He Went Quietly Into That Good Night

Snape was dressed in a black flowing parka, scowling at all he beheld as he trudged through the deep drifts of snow. Not helping his mood at all were Tigris and Rose skipping behind him wearing only light jackets. He mournfully watched his breath escape in clouds as he conjured up some fire to keep himself warm. His scowl deepened at the frivolity of it all.

~Curses! Why must I be on outdoor supervision when there's virtually no one left to supervise? Except for stupid Potter and his cronies… and those two~ He cast a wary glance back to his entourage, who smiled brightly and waved in response. ~God, I hate them. Just a little drop of poison… no one would miss them… except for that damn Potter. Curses! He ruins everything.~

"Don't you just love winter Snape?" Rose called out to him.

"That's Professor Snape." He automatically corrected her and added a mark to his scorecard. Just one more infringement and he could give her detention again.

"Let's build a snowman!" Tigris cheered.

"Your hands are bare!" He growled at them.

"All the better for building with!" She countered.

"All the better for getting frostbite with." He muttered under his breath.

"Ugh. Grumpy and sour as usual." Rose sighed. "Well, I have a cure for that. Snowball fight!"

She quickly scooped and compacted a fair sized pile of snow and lobbed it at Snape. Because he was skinny, wretched, and already weighed down by his parka, he lost his balance and fell over as the snowball smushed into his chest.

"Argh! I am stuck in the snow!" He growled.

"Now let's bury him in the snow like they do on the beach with sand!" Tigris laughed.

"Okay!" Rose agreed.

"No!" Snape disagreed.

"Democracy wins!" Tigris stuck her tongue out at him as she shoved a large pile of snow on top of him. He was too skinny to resist.

"No! Stop it!" His face was turning red with rage, or perhaps from the cold snow.

"But you'll like it!" Rose smiled, piling on more snow and packing it down.

"No I will not! Get this God forsaken snow off of me or so help me, I'll-"

"There!" Tigris interrupted, planting a red flag on the mound of snow. "I christen thee Mt. Crghghhhllrgheghme." She butchered the French language.

"Wait, he needs a friend. He doesn't have any." Rose shared her brain thought with Tigris.

"Good point." Tigris nodded sagely.

"I'm right here! Stop talking about me! I hate you!" He screamed beginning to foam at the mouth - anger level turning orange.

"Fine then! We're only making a head." Tigris put her hands on her hips.

"Your friend doesn't get a body." Rose clarified. The girls made a rough, lumpy snowman head, gave it eyes of rock and an idiotic smile of twigs.

Snape's face turned purple and his anger level suddenly hit red. Then, his palette returned to its normal sallow shade and he gazed up at the sky in an almost catatonic way. In truth he had retreated into his mind. He was now full of perfect clarity and purpose as he entertained one single thought: Revenge! This went way beyond house points. It was now a matter of killing those damn ragamuffin girls.

~Oh…I'll get them. Oh yes. Get them good. They'll see… They'll all see! James, and Sirius and Potter and etc.~

He began to create a small pocket of open space near his left hand by slowly wiggling his fingers. Patiently, oh so patiently, he began the agonizing task of digging his left hand to his pocket to retrieve his wand. But Severus Snape was no stranger to long-term revenge. After all, he had waited all through his schooling career until eleven years after the birth of Harry Potter to be able to exact his revenge on James… through his son. This would be a cakewalk.

"We'll name your friend Baron Von Somethingcrap!" Rose cackled.

"We're banned from naming animals, but they never said anything about inanimate objects!" Tigris flaunted their loophole.

~A little more… just a little more…~ Snape was nearing his coat pocket.

"Hey girls, what are you doing?" Professor Summersong hailed as she approached leading what appeared to be a hamster ball on a leash.

"Nothing ~ !" The two chorused, standing quickly in front of what was visible of Snape.

"My, what a charming snowman!" Professor Summersong beamed.

"That's Baron snowman to you!" Rose looked incensed.

Professor Summersong herself looked quite charming in her powder pink parka, fluffy white boots and pair of fuzzy white earmuffs to complete the look. On closer inspection, Rose realized there were claws sticking out of the boots so that they resembled bear feet. She laughed.

"Those are cute faux fur boots!"

Profesor Summersong laughed nervously.

"Yes. Faux fur."

Now Snape could have called for help at this point. However he was too far inside of himself planning his revenge to notice that Summersong was there. Besides, he wouldn't have been able to bear the humiliation of being at the mercy of little children… from Canada no less.

~Curses!~ he thought and dug faster.

"What's Onion Cop doing in this hamster ball?" Tigris inquired, having noticed the beastie floating around inside the magnetic ball. The ball was full of acid and Onion Cop twirled and whirled around playfully. The ball turning forced him to swim against the current, so he was able to get his exercise.

"He was looking a little pudgy, so I decided to take him out for some exercise. Apparently students have been feeding their essays to him as an excuse to avoid handing them in. Poor little guy… he's been getting too much fibre." Onion Cop started chewing on his tail.

"Awwwww." Tigris and Rose smiled at the hideous monster.

"Argh! Professor Summersong! Please come back!" They suddenly heard a voice call from afar. Turning around they noticed a short balding man trapped up to his neck in a snowdrift nearly on the other side of the grounds. Professor Summersong sighed and rolled her eyes.

"It looks like my new ministry toadie is having some difficulties. I'll be right back, please look after Onion Cop for me." She set out to rescue the painfully short ministry employee from his snowbound prison.

"Yay! It's our favorite nephew!" Tigris lifted the ball to look at the beast.

"Let's make snow trenches for him to roll in!" Rose suggested.

"Snow trenches of ice!"

Using a heat spell they melted the snow to build Onion Cop such an array of tunnels and slides as had never been seen before. For once, the two friends did not look like ogres and instead seemed like normal, happy children. Well… five year old children, but what did you expect from them? Watching their protégé zooming around the veritable amusement park they had constructed, it was easy to see them swell with pride. With such a joyous mood descending upon them, it was clear to all that something bad was about to happen.

That something was Peeves. He zoomed out over the field and, seeing happiness, had to destroy it. Much like Snape.

"Ha ha ha ha!" He cackled. "Looks like it's time for a game." He stuck out his tongue rudely, warming up his ghostly face muscles.

"Ugh! What are you doing here?" Rose eyed the prankster in disgust as he floated down to them.

"Nothing. Just wanted to play a game with you." He said bashfully.

"Really?" Tigris perked up. "What game would you like to play?"

Peeves' face split into an evil grin.

"A friendly game of croquet!" He accented the word "croquet" by striking Onion Cop's magnetic hamster ball with a ghostly croquet mallet, sending it soaring.

"Peeves!" Rose yelled in outrage.

"Onion Cop!" Tigris shrieked as their beloved protégé sailed through the air.

"Gaaaaaaaak!" Onion Cop screamed as the ball plummeted to earth. The hamsterball struck the icy surface of the lake, smashing through, and sank into its murky depths.

"Nooooo! The two girls cried.

Suddenly, the ball, propelled by buoyancy, bobbed back up to the surface with Onion Cop inside, unharmed.

"Onion Cop!" Tigris' face lit up.

"You're in SO much trouble!" Rose rounded on Peeves as Tigris hurried towards the lake to retrieve Onion Cop. "You're just lucky nothing bad-"

Suddenly there was a deep rumbling from beneath the ice and the water in the small hole became choppy and white.

"What the-" Rose began, but she was cut off again as the surface of the lake began cracking.

"Gaaaakkk!" Onion Cop howled as his hamsterball sploshed around in the churning water.

Then, in a freezing spray the gaint squid smashed through the ice and descended on Onion Cop, swallowing him whole before anyone could do anything. Then with a tiny splash, the squid returned to the bottom of the lake. There was a stunned silence.

"Onion Cop…" Tigris breathed.

"Peeves, I'm going to kill you!" Rose roared. Peeves only cackled.

"I'm already dead stupid!" He waggled his bottom at her.

"Then I'll do it again! Ignis Globulus!" Rose screamed firing off a large ball of flame at the poltergeist. Peeves easily dodged the flame, laughing.

Their bout was interrupted when the giant squid once again suddenly floated up to the surface of the lake, this time dead.

"Whoa. That's some bitchin' heart burn." Peeves giggled and flew away.

Tigris and Rose looked skyward.

"Damn yooouuu!" They cried shaking their fists in the air.

"Immobilus!"

The two were suddenly frozen in place. A triumphant and pissed beyond belief Snape stormed up to them, grabbing them by the backs of their shirts.

"You…you two…" He seethed, boiling with rage. "Now I shall have my revenge."

There was a long pause. Then some more pauses. Having not thought this far ahead, Snape had no idea what to do next. After all, he won so infrequently.

Dropping them in the snow, Snape stormed up to their snowman, spat on it, kicked it over, and then stormed off in the direction of the castle.

"But we have to guard him." Tigris whined, still paralyzed from the neck down.

Professor Summersong, followed by her ministry toadie, rushed up to Rose and Tigris' prone forms. Casting the counter-curse on them, she then breathlessly asked,

"What happened girls?"

Watery-eyed, Tigris and Rose explained the whole situation surrounding Onion Cop's demise.

"Damn that Peeves! He's so damn destructive!" Summersong cursed more than necessary.

"Something must be done." Rose said darkly.

"For Onion Cop's sake. As well as the squid's, I suppose." Tigris added.

"Alright girls, I like the way you think. As of today we're starting an extra-curricular Dark Arts project." She smiled evilly. The two girls, instantly catching on, smiled back.

"That doesn't sound like something a good guy would do." The ministry toadie piped up.

"Oh! We're just going to write an angry letter to the school safety committee." Professor Summersong said in an innocent voice. "Followed by a legal petition to our Member of Assembly." She had forgotten he was there. He smiled at this reassurance.

"Oh, okay. That sounds safe and reasonable."

The three women cackled with glee. It would be an angry letter indeed.