The Web Wizard

Tara returned to her quarters feeling flustered. She looked in the mirror and it looked like she had been in a wind storm. She brushed the strands of damp hair out of her face and noticed the blush in her cheeks. She looked almost feverish, and there was something about her eyes. Henry brushed her legs, and then slamming his muscular, feline body, he meowed at her.

"Hey Henry, what's going on?" she asked him, reaching down to massage his shoulders. Henry loved a deep tissue massage; Tara was convinced he worked out at some sort of cat gym. Henry began sniffing her hand, investigating what she had been doing for the night.

"What do you think of that Snape guy?" Tara asked him. Henry looked at her and said "yak," answering her. "Maybe I should ask Dumbledore to translate that..." she said, and sat down heavily on her bed, and rubbed her face in her hands. Had that really almost happened? What was up with that? She closed her eyes and pictured the scene again...she was at the piano, he was beside her facing the other way, and was it her imagination or did they almost kiss? She didn't think it was her imagination but maybe she was putting too much into this. Or maybe not.

Maybe she had too much wine and wasn't remembering things accurately. It was certainly possible. She rose and got ready for bed and fell fast asleep.

Morning came soon enough and she had a bit of a wine headache. She wished she had some of that hangover cure Snape had whipped up that one day...oh Snape. Blurry memories came forth again and she brushed them away, and got out of bed. She grabbed a Diet Pepsi and went to check her e-mail. A list of stuff to do from Dumbledore, a message from her mom that all was well and was she planning on coming for Thanksgiving, which was only 3 weeks away, and happy Halloween. Oh yes, it was Halloween, wasn't it? There was going to be a big celebration at Hogwarts' and she was to be a part of it. She'd better get going...

She felt pretty strange about the evening before and decided to avoid you-know-who as much as possible. She avoided eye contact at breakfast, and made her way outside for her morning smoke and didn't go to her normal alcove, just to make sure he didn't find her. He did anyway, but she hurried away, acting like she didn't see him.

She went about her duties and had to speak to some of the classes. One student fired a zillion questions at her - all very intelligent ones. Her name was Hermione Granger, and she was a bit precocious but Tara could see that the girl was the brightest in her class. After class, she came to talk to Tara some more, and was fascinated by the world of computer and Internet technology.

"You know, if I ever need a helper, would you be interested?" Tara asked. Hermione's eyes lit up and she smiled. "I would love to help you! When could I learn more?"

"Whenever you want. I'm pretty easy to find," she told her. Hermione smiled, then looked up, over Tara's head, and her smile disappeared.

"I wouldn't agree with that."

Tara turned around to find herself face to face with Snape. He looked a little bit less intimidating, at least for him, and he looked into Tara's eyes and she felt like lightening had just struck her. She turned back to Hermione.

"I'll come talk to you later on, if that's okay," she said to Tara.

"Sure. I'll make it fun."

"I love to learn...."

"I know, I can tell," Tara said, and reached out to squeeze the young girl's hand. They exchanged smiles, and Hermione gathered up her books and walked out to her next class. Tara turned back to Snape.

"What's up?" Tara asked.

"Just wondering how you are today, that's all."

"I'm fine. A little hung over, but fine. Did you get that situation last night handled?"

Snape made a face, "Yes, it cost the Slytherin House 50 points, but yes, I took care of the situation. I trust you will be at the feast tonight?"

"Of course."

He looked pleased, which was strange; he never seemed happy about anything to Tara. Always moody and brooding about everything. She wondered if she should suggest Prozac or if that worked on magical people. It certainly worked for her. "I will see you then," he said and turned, his cloak stirring up a breeze. A wave went over Tara then, and she didn't hear the young student who was behind her, saying her name. A tap on her shoulder brought her back, and she turned to find herself facing a boy with bright red hair. He had several siblings with the same red hair; the Weasleys.

"Hi. Ron, right?" Tara asked. He nodded.

"How can I get that e-mail thing?" he asked.

"Ask me and I'll come and set it up and show you how to use it," Tara said.

"Okay, can you come later on?"

"I think I can arrange that." The boy smiled and thanked her. She was finding that she was a webmaster and a systems administrator all wrapped into 1. The IT person. Sigh. It was tough because if anything went wrong, she had to fix it immediately. Most was because the users were newbies, and were simply not used to using this technology. She made a mental note to talk to Dumbledore about teaching a class - perhaps after the winter holiday - a computer orientation course; something like Computers 101. It would certainly make her life easier!

That night, she donned her favorite royal blue cloak and made her way to the banquet. To her delight, the hall had jack-o'lanterns floating in the air. She got her digital camera out and took many photos. The air was festive; it almost felt like Christmas. Seth joined her after the dinner. After the younger students went off to their dorms, the tables were cleared and there was dancing for the sixth and seventh year students and the faculty if they so chose. Minerva offered to take pictures so that Tara could dance a bit. She and Seth were dancing together to a slow song; Tara was never much for dancing. But it was great fun. They sat down and drank some ale that Hagrid had brewed in his house. It was quite good but strong!

"May I have this next dance?" Tara looked up to see Snape extending his hand to her, his eyes blazing. Tara turned quickly to Seth who looked as surprised as she did. He nudged her and nodded.

"Um, sure. I'll be back," she said, handing her mug to Seth. The song was a tango and Tara had no idea whatsoever how to dance to this.

"I don't know how to tango, I don't really know how to dance at all--" she started.

"Don't worry. Just follow my lead," Snape muttered, and suddenly, she was being spun, and her body strangely responded in ways she didn't know she was capable of. The other dancers cleared the floor and encircled them, cheering as Snape masterfully led her into a passionate tango. Tara was wide eyed and didn't understand how her body seemed to know what it was doing; it was as if she was just along for the ride. She was amazed at how her partner moved; but she knew he was agile just the way he would burst into rooms, but had no idea how graceful. He twirled and dipped her, spinning her body into his, and then spun her back out again. The dance ended with her being dipped low, parallel to the floor, their faces barely an inch apart. A sharp tingle went through her body as she felt his breath brush her face. She could smell his earthy, spicy scent, strangely reminiscent of cloves of all things, intermingled with other pleasant scents. Did he secretly have a penchant for clove cigarettes? Or perhaps mulled wine? Involuntarily, she inhaled deeply. Then he suddenly stood her up and everyone was wildly cheering. Tara clapped a hand over her mouth and looked at Snape who half smiled and nodded in approval. She searched the crowd for Seth who was looking a little uncomfortable, obviously forcing a smile, trying not to look angry. Uh oh. When wizards were mad at their girlfriends, did they turn them into things?

The crowd cleared away and Snape led her back to sit with Seth.

"Thank you. She's quite a dancer; you're a lucky man," Snape said, releasing Tara's hand. Seth mumbled an almost unintelligible thank you. Snape strode away and Tara was speechless. She felt like she was positively on fire and she fanned herself. What a workout!

"You said you can't dance," he said, almost accusingly.

"I can't! I couldn't do that again if I tried," she said and scowled. How in the hell had she done it? She always regarded herself with 'two left feet' as the expression goes. It was as if...oh do you suppose he could have..."Are there spells for such things?" she asked.

"There are spells for practically everything," Seth said with a sigh. "He probably did put a spell on you so you could dance." The rest of the evening with Seth was more than a little awkward. Tara did her best to be nice despite how troubled she was feeling; the poor guy had come all the way from London to be with her that night, and she had ended up setting the crowd on fire by Tango-ing with Snape! She had several of the faculty members come up to her and tell her how fantastic the 'show' was and it was great to have a muggle around to show them their different art forms. Tara didn't bother to explain what had happened; that she had never danced a single step of a tango in her life. She wondered how Snape knew--but the answer came to her. The Internet. He had been spending a lot of time on the Internet, and it had information on just about anything in the muggle world, a mouse click away. And he was a fast learner.

Minerva brought over her camera to her at the end of the evening. "I got some great shots of you and the Professor," she commented. "You two were magnificent!" Tara frowned. She'd have to delete those right away. Minerva leaned in close and clutched Tara's hand. "Is something going on between you two?" she dared. Tara shook her head, "No--he actually put a spell or something on me--I can't dance at all," she stammered. Minerva was about to say that Tara hadn't answered the question, but thought better or it. She just smiled and gave Tara a knowing look, and said goodnight.

When Tara got back to her quarters, she downloaded the pictures to her computer. The pictures of the decorated hall and students came out great; her digital camera made her web work that much easier. Minerva did a good job at taking pictures; Tara had given her a 5 minute crash course in how to take photos, and she seemed to have a good eye for it. There was one shot of her dancing close with Seth, and Snape was in the background scowling at them. Then she came to the ones of the tango, which were incredible. Tara was surprised to see an obvious expression of sheer joy on her face in those pictures. Minerva must have figured out how to use the zoom because she got the a close up shot at the end of their dance where their noses were almost touching. The look on both of their faces was obvious passion. Oh my...

"Damned ale..." Tara said, blaming Hagrid's potent ale. No, stop kidding yourself. It wasn't just the ale. She rubbed her face with her hands, then stood up. Time to go to bed, she told herself and began getting ready. She laid awake for hours, and grabbed a book on database administration. That usually put her out, but she could not sleep at all. She finally drifted off around 5 but since she had to be up by 6, it didn't do her much good. She thought about sending a message to Dumbledore that she was going to stay in that day, but she had made arrangements to start teaching Hermione how to troubleshoot a PC. She sighed and gave up, swinging her long legs out of bed.

"Who needs sleep? Well you're never gonna get it. Who needs sleep? Tell me what's that for? Who needs sleep? Be happy with what you're getting-there's a guy who's been awake since the second world war..." she sang, quoting a Barenakedladies song. She moved her mouse to see the full screen shot of she and Snape from the night before.

"What was that?" Tara jumped. Snape was standing in her room, still in what looked like what he had slept in. Black silk and a black robe drawn around him.

"You could have knocked," Tara said, stepping in front of the monitor so he might not see what was on the screen.

"I did. You were busy singing and didn't hear me, so I--"

"Unlocked the door by magic. Okay. Kind of like when you made me dance last night?"

Snape looked down at the floor for a moment. "Guilty. But it was fun, wasn't it?"

"I didn't know you knew the meaning of the word," she said, forgetting about the picture on the computer. She took a Diet Pepsi out of the refrigerator, and sat down on her bed. She took a long pull from her soda and sighed.

"How can you drink that this early in the day?" Snape asked, grimacing.

"Some muggles like coffee. I never did. I like this. So what brings you here?"

"Oh, I just wanted to thank you again for the dance..." his voice trailed off as he noticed the photo on Tara's computer screen. Tara turned and flushed crimson. Oh shit!

"Nice," he said, his face expressionless, He looked into her eyes.

"Um, well, I didn't get much sleep so I'd better get with it here..."

"Why is that? Were you with your young man?"

"Man, you are nosy aren't you? None of your business," she snapped, frowning at him. "I have to get showered and all of that."

"I do too, I'll go now."

"Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out," she said, frustrated.

He turned and shot her a dark look, then left, closing the door behind him. What could she do? He came in and she thought she had locked the door, but even if she had, he could still get in with his magic. Violation of privacy, big time. She wondered what could be done, but then dismissed it. He was pretty harmless...except when he put a dance spell on her...but that was rather fun...she had to admit. Fun in a dangerous way!