Snape was waiting for Ivan. He could hear the boy's heartbeat as he walked through the dungeon halls. He had neither 'hunted' nor spied, nor done anything remotely in line with his vampiric nature for at least three years. He intended to allow himself to relax his strictures tonight. This outlet for his displeasure over being unable to castigate students as much as he wanted, for all their imbecilic actions, was timely. Fifteen melted cauldrons in the last month had tested the limits of his patience.
The heartbeat was getting closer. He usually ignored them, the drums. It was usually quite easy, unless he was extraordinarily stressed. This sense was one reason he was adept at finding students out of bed. It was hard to pinpoint exact locations unless they were injured, but a racing heart meant fear or late night excursion with amorous intentions, not studying or sleeping. This heartbeat was getting louder and moving. It could only be Ivan, and it was strong and steady, even a bit fast, perhaps showing some anxiety with its speed.
Snape curled his lip in what might have been a smile. How nice of the boy to whet his appetite, to remind him that the red mist was always there; even if he ignored and occluded it to the point of nonexistence. Perhaps he'd let it out tonight, just a bit. Some revenge for this interruption of his day to day existence. After all, a lack of leftovers was the worst that could happen.
As soon as the student had closed the door a spell flew from Snape's wand. "Infurnus!"
Ivan moved out of the way barely in time as the spell hit the doorknob, which melted.
"What the hell! You almost hit me! Are you trying to kill me?" Ivan looked at the professor, irate and in disbelief at the danger he was being put in.
"Even if you had not moved, the spell would not have hit you. No, I was not trying to kill you with that spell, merely prevent you from leaving."
Ivan looked at Snape smarmily. Snape eyed him with curiosity, hoping the boy would at least provide some amount of mental stimulation if he put on the pretense that he might be able to win. He could have cast the spells nonverbally after all, eliminating the chance for the child to even attempt a counter spell. No, Snape truly hoped Ivan would put up a fight.
"I know the right spell to fix that, Meldus." Ivan pointed his wand at the door as Snape flicked his own wand in amusement. The melted blob of metal became a doorknob again. Snape didn't even bat an eyelash but just flicked his wand again in his folded arms.
"Congratulations, you know the correct spell. I'm in complete awe of your ability Mr. Johnson, but it would not have worked if I had kept the wards around the door up. Do you think me so inept? Besides, there are many spells that are far beyond your capability. Hetia." Snape once again pointed his wand at the doorknob, but nothing seemed to happen.
"Nice spell, it did absolutely nothing."
"Not all spells have visible effects. By all means, try to leave." Said the Potion's Master with an arched eyebrow.
Ivan walked to the door and hesitated, but at Snape's satisfied look tried to open it. As soon as his hand touched the knob he jumped back in pain, his hand covered in burns. The doorknob was as hot as melted iron. He muttered a spell and water sprouted from his wand, cooling his hand.
Snape watched with amusement and Ivan glared at him. Caught up in the moment Ivan didn't even realize he hadn't been told what he was doing for detention, didn't ask why he was being goaded into attempting to escape, or why he was being trapped to begin with. His pride had taken care of that, and it would be his undoing tonight.
"I don't need to undo the spell to leave! Reducto!" Ivan shot a spell at the door, but a blue flash dissipated it before it hit its target. A blue-green wall two inches thick shone for an instant before disappearing.
"Did I not tell you about the shields moments ago? Impudent boy." Snape huffed in amusement as the child glared at the offending piece of metal.
Ivan turned and pointed his wand at Snape who merely raised a brow and with a quick arcing movement of his wand ended that fantasy prematurely. The wand flew into Snape's waiting hand.
"Hey that's mine!" cried Ivan, reaching for his wand. Snape just looked at him like he was a fly while Ivan glared back. "You know living in an orphanage, I learned to fight before I came to Hogwarts, I can fight you without a wand."
"Are you implying that you are fast enough to dodge spells?"
"I've dodged bullets." Spewed Ivan before he could stop himself.
If that wasn't telling of the boy's proclivities, Snape didn't know what was. There were few reasons to dodge bullets in the small town Ivan was from, besides criminal activity.
"Well then it is fortunate for me that I grew up in the muggle world as well, for one it means I actually know what bullets are. I am probably the only wizard here who knows how to fight without a wand, vulgar as it is. I had to learn at numerous points in my life. Do you really believe you can outwit me, fight me?! Or are you intelligent enough to doubt your own prowess?" As Snape talked he opened a drawer in his desk and put both wands inside, locking it with a whispered password. Ivan stood still in the middle of the room, looking around as subtly as one who has no training in stealth can. Which was to say noticeably.
Snape pulled out his chair and sat back down at his desk to grade papers. Ivan's eyes went to the shelves of ingredients and without even looking up Snape's voice echoed throughout the dungeon.
"The desk cannot be destroyed by any potion you could make-"
Ivan ignored Snape and tried to grab a pot of powder that seemed to smoke continuously. The jar didn't budge, but still he put his hand in and scooped out some of the powder, face scrunched up with pain as his hand heated up.
Snape sighed "-as the ingredients for a potion potent enough are not available here."
Ivan flung the powder at the desk anyway and it sizzled down the side, heating up the wood. Ivan grinned but his smile faltered when he noticed Snape's complete lack of concern. He watched the wood as it heated to cherry red, but failed to ignite. Snape brushed a bit of the powder off his hand as if the pain was a mere nuisance and continued grading papers.
"Did you really think the tables in a potions classroom could be destroyed by anything other than utter catastrophe? As you can see we are both trapped in here as there are no other exits that one can access without a wand. We either fight, or talk." Snape said without looking up while continuing to grade papers.
He didn't notice Ivan pull something out of his pocket and roll it toward the desk, at least that's what Ivan thought. In actuality he did not care. The small homemade firework exploded and all the papers blew away, though nothing seemed to be damaged.
The professor looked at Ivan, who was grinning from ear to ear.
"Think about when you asked me if I was trying to kill you."
Snape's calm and measured request filled Ivan with dread, and he pondered a moment before responding carefully. "You said that you weren't trying to kill me."
Snape raised an eyebrow. "I believe my comment was longer than that."
Ivan thought for a second on the Potions Master's words before his eyes grew wide.
"With that spell."
Snape nodded as Ivan swelled with anger and the confidence of youth. "You can't kill me without a wand, I'm younger than you and have more stamina for hand to hand!" He yelled stridently as he looked about, hoping to find something he had missed, but Snape just nodded again.
"That is true,"
Ivan relaxed.
"But do not forget the last detail about the potion from earlier. It forces creatures to reveal their true form."
Ivan froze as he remembered. He had forgotten in his panic, now he watched as Snape pulled a potion out from his robe, opened the bottle and threw its contents into the air.
The potion turned to mist as it fell, settling around Snape. It sank into his skin and for a moment nothing happened. There was a flash, the tell tale sign of a glamour breaking. Snape took a breath and then his features began to change. His skin took on the same complexion he had from that morning's fiasco, his ears grew pointed, fangs sprouted, claws appeared, and his eyes regained that slight reddish hue.
He turned and set the empty potion bottle on a shelf behind the blackboard, and as he did Ivan could see what the glamour had hid. Holes in the back of his robes where wings had once been, but the proof of their existence remained. Snape looked Ivan directly in the eyes as his next words fell from his lips like a hangman's noose from a gallows.
"I had no time to eat anything at dinner except a salad." Snape said, stepping out slowly from behind the desk. Ivan grew almost as pale as Snape, then looked at him with a pleading hopeful look in his eyes
"You can't. Dumbledore would…"
"Dumbledore's not here." Snape said under his breath as he regarded the trembling Ivan. "And I am quite capable of fabricating an accident. You should not have crossed me."
"Y-you can't."
"What did I say earlier? Ah yes, I could and I would, now in the present...?"
Ivan trembled and backed up, quiet.
"Since you are obviously incapable of thought I shall answer. I can, and I will." Snape smirked at the trembling boy, the fear was so strong that he could smell it. He sniffed the air slowly, a mild gnawing in his stomach sending pleasure shooting up his spine with the knowledge he could eat tonight, really eat. It had been so long since he had anything other than that potion. Years. His veins and stomach ached constantly, his potion prevented starvation, insanity, bloodlust, but that was it. Tonight, he might actually be able to lessen that ever present emptiness that was his undead body. Ivan was barely old enough to have any flavor, but still.
"Hmmm, I am-"
Before Snape could finish Ivan threw himself across the room, sliding over the desk to grab Snape by the neck, choking him.
Snape looked at the child as if he was a minor annoyance as he strode further away from the desk, leaving the boy reaching upward, twisting awkwardly to keep his hold now that he didn't have the height of the desk to help him.
"I don't have to breathe, you know." Snape commented before Ivan could completely cut off his vocal capacity.
Ivan immediately changed tactics and backed off to circle.
As he did Snape could see the confusion on the boy's face. There had been numerous opportunities Snape'd had to attack him back. Why would a fighter give up an opportunity for a quick win? The young boy didn't understand that to the experienced, a fight was to be savored, as much as a meal would be.
Snape stepped out into the center of the room opposite the inexperienced boy.
"You're going to fight me? Good, if foolish."
Ivan looked startled, wondering why a Snape would want him to fight.
"Getting your heart racing, around a vampire?" Severus observed smoothly, sending shivers up the boy's back.
Ivan ran toward Snape to send a right hook at him. Snape grabbed the arm just after the inside of the elbow, and repeated the process with his left when Ivan tried for a left hook as well. Snape moved hip to hip and put his leg between Ivan's, turning himself as if dancing.
Ivan found himself falling and then on the ground, stunned, with Severeus standing above him.
Snape smirked as he allowed Ivan to jump up. The boy rushed to the table where Snape had laid the large knives and picked one up. Some of the few objects he had not deigned to freeze in place.
Snape's smirk vanished as he ducked under the flash of metal.
"You will have to do better than that. And do be careful, those are worth more than all your school supplies together." He drawled out.
Snape decided on his modus operandi for fights based on a multitude of things. Familiarity, risk, possible outcomes, danger, challenge. He was often silent when he was in a challenging battle, when he had something to lose. Banter was for when the outcome didn't really matter, or when he had time, or knew what buttons to push. There were very few wizards Snape would consider his equal in a duel.
This wasn't a duel however, it wasn't even a fight. It was entertainment.
Ivan smiled and threw two more knives before picking up that last two, the biggest, and running at Snape. Snape dodged the first two knives, then swayed from side to side like a snake to dodge the mad swipes. Ivan was beginning to sweat from his exaggerated attacks while Snape barely moved to avoid the blades. The boy made a final attempt and threw the blade at Snape's left making him dodge right while he kicked out with his foot.
To avoid the kick that would knock him further off balance and afford his attacker more opportunity, Snape instinctively moved left, into the knife. To minimize damage he twisted, pulling his hand up to block the blade so the sharp edge hit that instead of a major artery or vein.
One and a half fingers fell to the floor.
The battle stopped as they twitched once and both combatants regarded the severed digits on the stone.
"Pity, they had only just grown back this morning. Nothing Pomfrey, or a meal, won't fix." Snape commented as if this were a normal occurrence. It wasn't, but Pomona had needed assistance with the venomous tentacula, which was teething, again. As it could kill Pomona, Snape had been chosen to hold it for pruning so it wouldn't end up hating the Herbology Professor. It was quite fine if it hated him after all, most people did. Adding a plant to that long list wouldn't make a difference.
Snape ignored the flabbergasted Ivan and picked up the digits, walking over to the shelf with them in his good hand. He reached to the back, muttering counter charms, and pulled out a jar filled with fingers. He uncorked it and dropped the new additions in.
While Snape's back was turned, Ivan rushed at him from behind. Severus Snape didn't even turn as he caught the blade in his hand, ignoring the very deep cut.
"Why aren't you in Slytherin? Sneaking up on me like that you should be, don't you agree?" Said Severus as he yanked the knife from Ivan's grasp.
Ivan did the last thing he could think of. He kneed Snape in the side and then pushing him sideways, kicked Snape in the groin.
Snape bent over in pain and fell heavily to the floor.
Ivan grinned.
"The bigger they are, the harder they fall." He said triumphantly.
"Is that a compliment on my prowess as a man, an insult about my height, or a remark on my rank as a Potions Master?" Snape managed to bite out the question though he was still on the ground.
Ivan frowned and kicked him in the gut. He brought back his leg to kick him harder, but with a sudden breeze and a blur of movement Snape was just… gone.
All the torches in the room flashed out, as did the fireplace. Ivan tried to look around but it was pitch black.
A silky voice emanated from the darkness. "I am sorry that our fight must end so soon, but I believe you have been scared enough… you smell strongly of sweat."
Ivan wheeled in the darkness, pivoting in place, hands balled into fists in front of his face.
"I really don't want my room smelling overly of salt and hormones… or my meal tasting of them."
Two red eyes appeared in the darkness before disappearing again. A disdainful sniff sounded in the room amidst Ivan's fearful hyperventilating breaths.
"Perhaps some oregano will cover some of your stench… it encourages blood flow after all. Although it's usually ingested. " A voice informed Ivan from right behind him as a long slender hand closed on his shoulder.
The reverberations of an unheard scream shook the castle all the way to the Headmaster's quarters. Albus merely rolled over in his sleep, a pained look on his face from an obviously unpleasant dream which vanished as the scream did.
The next morning the students were surprised to see Severus Snape at breakfast. He rarely came, and he even more rarely looked wide awake at that hour of the morning. McGonagall was surprised too because Severus had told her that he would be up late all this week working on a new potion. She was more surprised to see that he was sipping wine.
"Wine with breakfast Severus?" McGonagall asked, curiosity mitigating her disapproval mildly.
"No Minerva, I am drinking a new potion I made last night. Not the one I told you about, but one that I concocted for myself alone. It enhances my senses, strengthens the body, and tastes heavenly." Replied Snape as he took another sip. McGonagall looked impressed, a personalized potion that did all that And tasted good? That was impressive, extremely so if you added that it was invented in 6 hours or less.
"What have you decided to name it Severus?" She asked curiously. Snape held up the glass and turned it, looking at the light that barely shone through the dark red liquid.
He surprised McGonagall one more time, and smiled.
"I think I will call it… Ivanessence."