The Werewolf Prank

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Chapter Two: Rising to the Bait (Severus)

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The bell for supper had sounded some time before the last of the chomping cabbages nestled in their new homes outside. Professor Sprout dismissed Severus and Black with a short lecture on the virtues of cooperation. She might have been right that, through teamwork, he and Black had probably completed their assigned task more quickly. Even in his thoroughly frozen and exhausted state, though, Severus would gladly have given up dinner in exchange for simply being left alone. It did not seem productive to say so, however, so he nodded and mumbled a respectful, "Yes, Ma'am" before heading out to the greenhouse in which he had left his bag of books. He would need to hurry through dinner to squeeze out some time in the library, which closed ridiculously early in his view. There was a big Charms essay he had been putting off writing for which he needed to look up some references.

Severus, his book bag slung over an aching shoulder, walked quickly towards the castle. Black, he now saw, had met up with a group of people along the way and was standing near the entrance. The Gryffindor Quidditch team, back from a practice, Severus surmised, noticing the brooms some of them were carrying. They all seemed to be greeting Black enthusiastically, doubtless for his role in preventing the hexing of James. Despite his eagerness to get away from the cold and the windblown snow that had begun to fall after sunset, Severus slowed his steps, grateful for the concealment the dark color of his school robes and coat afforded him in the shadow of the castle. Attempting to get into the castle past that group, alone and with no teachers around, would not have been a wise move.

To his relief, the party soon headed inside. Hastening his steps again, he followed them into the warmth and light of Great Hall. Severus, as was his habit, slipped into an empty seat at the end of the Slytherin table. A group of third year girls sitting nearby regarded him without enthusiasm before returning to their conversation. Under cover of the commotion that ensued at the Gryffindor table with the arrival of the team, he thought he might actually escape the notice of his roommates, with whom he preferred to deal later.

Severus haphazardly piled some food on his plate and pulled out a ratty old notebook and ballpoint pen. As he wolfed down some lukewarm pot roast with pumpkin juice, he flipped through to find the notes he had made for his essay. He started scribbling down the titles of the books he might want to quote-his time in the library would be limited, thanks to his little escapade.

"Snape!" The loud voice of Richard Flint, sixth year Slytherin prefect, broke through his concentration. Looking up, he saw Richard standing across the table from him, together with his cousin Jason Belby, and, naturally, Sean Quigley. Jonathan Bulstrode must still be stuffing his face, Severus thought uncharitably. It looked like he would have to deal with his roommates now.

Setting his pen down on the notepad, he responded quietly, "Flint."

"I hear you had a spot of trouble in Herbology today, Snape," Flint said with a supercilious smile.

"Yes," Snape agreed curtly. He had failed his housemates, but he was d@mned if he'd apologize or make excuses for himself. He didn't owe them a thing, he told himself fiercely.

"Just a spot of friendly advice, mate," said Quigley, his round, freckled face smug. "If you spent any time at all with your nose not in a book, you might actually learn how to use those fancy hexes of yours." Flint and his cousin Jason snickered appreciatively at Quigley's wit.

"If either of you two spent any time on academics, instead of following Quigley here around, perhaps you would not have had so much difficulty learning the charm for prolonging a spell's effects," Severus said. He had spent the better part of an evening in their dormitory earlier that week, trying to teach them just that. Quigley had picked it up, but of course, he needed to keep his nose clean before the match, every bit as much as Potter did. "Surely you'd know how to use it."

"You could still use some target practice, Snape," Quigley opined. "I hear you nearly broke a pane in the greenhouse."

"I would like to see you try to aim anything, much less a series of two linked spells, at a target as you are being hit by a Blasting Curse," he replied coldly.

"Is that what Black used? I heard it knocked you clean off your chair and several feet across the room!" said Belby, clearly enjoying this detail. Severus did not dignify his remark with a response.

"Perhaps you should have tried that on Potter," Belby persisted. Now there was a bright suggestion, Severus thought, curling his lip.

"Be my guest. Even you must know some spell capable of knocking Potter off his feet, after six years of magical education," Snape said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb. "He's sitting right over there."

Belby's fair face flushed red with anger, and he took a step towards Snape.

"Drop it, Jase," Flint said warningly to his cousin, who stopped, but gave Severus a look that spoke volumes. "This is not the time or place, Snape."

"My point is that a Blasting Curse, or any other random dueling spell he might try, is useless," Severus explained. "The idea was to render Potter incapable of playing Saturday."

"An idea that did not work," Quigley said. Severus shrugged his shoulders.

"There's always outplaying him. I'm sure you'll manage to aim a few Bludgers his way," Severus said. Probably true, that. Quigley was a natural flier, and, though perhaps an inch shorter than Severus, he was twice as wide. He had been around Quidditch since infancy, as he came from a long line of professional players, whom he was expected to join upon finishing Hogwarts.

"It's not as easy as it looks," Quigley said, looking somewhat mollified.

"Indeed," Severus agreed. Quigley would probably catch the double meaning. He was actually the least thick of Severus's roommates, despite the muscle-bound appearance.

"Well, you will all have to excuse me," he added, rising and picking up his things, "I really must get to the library before it closes, to bury my nose in a pile of books."

"You do that, Snape," Belby grunted. "It's all you're good for." Severus ignored him pointedly, nodding politely to Quigley as he left. A mixed result, he decided. Quigley seemed... neutral, about the situation. On the other hand, Belby was definitely angry. Severus reminded himself to check his bedclothes carefully before getting into bed at night. Belby had a lamentably juvenile affinity for the Zonko's line of joke products.

After an afternoon spent digging in the frozen ground, the stairs seemed longer than Severus remembered, as he trudged tiredly up one flight after another. Once at the library, Severus dropped his bag at an empty table and headed for the Advanced Charms section, his list in hand. Returning to his table with a pile of books, he began rifling through the top one in search of a quotation he remembered reading last week.

As he scribbled in his notebook, he heard someone pull up a chair. Turning, he found himself face to face with Lily Evans, who had just seated herself right next to him. The sight of her, as always, gave his mood a lift, but tonight there was a dangerous light in her lovely green eyes.

"Thought you'd wait until after I'd left the room, did you?" she whispered angrily, her eyes flashing. He didn't bother to deny it; he had dreaded seeing the disappointment that was now clearly visible in her eyes.

"Hello, Lily," he said awkwardly.

"Don't you hello me, Severus," she replied vehemently. "I can't believe you tried to hex Potter, just like that. What had he done to you?"

"Nothing recently, he's been keeping his nose clean for Saturday's match," Snape admitted reluctantly.

"You're as bad as he is!" she said angrily. Even curled downwards in disapproval, they were lovely lips, Snape thought, then brought his mind back to the conversation.

"Considerably worse, I'm afraid," Severus contradicted her, knowing full well that she was not criticizing his poor planning.

"If this had been his plan, he would never have missed me, since he would have had someone watching his back. Did have, in fact," he added regretfully. His sally was rewarded when one corner of her lip twitched upwards, just for a moment.

"I can't believe you're joking about this. He could have been seriously hurt!" Lily exclaimed earnestly.

"Who told you that?" Severus asked, surprised.

"I heard the spell nearly broke a window in the greenhouse!" Lily added. "Pettigrew was telling the story in our Common Room."

"Pettigrew!" Severus snorted dismissively. "No, I was just upholding the fine Slytherin tradition of the pre-Quidditch Eyebrow Growing Hex."

Lily gave him a long look.

"A Slytherin tradition," she said, finally. Severus wished he could have those words back. Though, really, if he could call back any words he had said to her, those would not be his first choice... I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her. Slytherin House had other, uglier, traditions. Was she remembering them? He waited, not even daring to breathe.

"That would never come close to breaking a magically reinforced window, Severus," Lily said skeptically. Snape almost smiled in his relief. She had merely noted the incompleteness of his story.

"Quite right," Snape agreed. "My charm for prolonging the effects of other spells, though, appears to make quite the bang if the first spell misfires. I hadn't realized that until today."

"The one you showed me last week?" Lily's face lit up with curiosity. Apparently, Lily could forget a traditional Quidditch hex, if it there was some new Charms theory to consider. "I wonder why... I'll need to think about it."

For the first time that night, she seemed to really look at Severus. Taking in his windblown appearance and piles of books, she commented, "You look truly fagged out. Is that the Charms essay you're working on?"

Severus nodded. "Yes, I hadn't gotten to it. If I can pull all the quotations I need, I should be able to throw it together tomorrow night."

Lily glanced at her wristwatch. "You've got your work cut out for you. I'll leave you to it; the library will be closing in about fifteen minutes. Try to get some sleep, tonight at least, will you?" she said with a laugh as she rose to leave.

"Good night, Lily," Severus said.

She waved and turned away, her mane of red hair describing an arc as she did, before settling in a coppery fall down her back. As he followed her slender form out of the library with his eyes, Severus noticed that Potter, too, was eyeing her, an unpleasant look on his face. At some point during the conversation, he had installed himself at a table across the room, together with Black and Pettigrew. Black kicked Potter under their table and said something, too quietly for Severus to hear, but the looks they both shot him were not friendly. Severus picked up his forgotten Charms book and attacked his essay.

The pile of books had dwindled some, though not enough, when Madam Pince announced the library was closing for the night. As she headed back into the stacks to eject any students who might have missed her announcement, Severus hastily copied out the quotation he had just found, and then stuffed his notebook and pen back into his bag. He stood up and slung his bag onto his shoulder, before gathering up the library books in his arms to bring up to Madam Pince's desk for reshelving.

He had only taken a step or two when a movement out of the corner of his eye attracted his attention. Glancing over, he realized Potter was coming straight at him, wand out. Cursing himself inwardly for his stupid inattention to his surroundings, he reached quickly into his robe for his wand. The books he had been holding fell to the floor with a series of bangs. They echoed in the vaulted ceiling of the reading room together with the laughter of several students whose attention had been attracted by the noise.

"Nice idea, lousy timing, mate!" he heard Black exclaim, as he stepped between Severus and Potter, shielding him from a possible attack with his body.

As Black hissed urgently at Potter, he lowered his wand. Severus took his hand back out of his robe and sank to his knees to pick up the books he had dropped, resolutely ignoring the sniggers and catcalls around him.

Surreptitiously, he watched Potter and Black exchange some words, interspersed with laughter and hostile looks in his direction. Then Potter rejoined Pettigrew, who was, predictably, looking at Severus and laughing loudly. Severus gritted his teeth and returned to the task of collecting the dropped books. There was no point to hurrying. He could see Potter and Pettigrew getting into the queue of students wishing to check out a book.

Looking around for Black, Severus saw that he now looked rather glum. He was talking to the blonde Ravenclaw from their NEWT Charms class. She, supercilious as ever, seemed to be arguing with him. Severus curled his lip, enjoying Black's evident displeasure. As if on cue, they both turned to look at Severus. The girl turned back and said something, before permitting Black to put his arm around her waist and laughing at his reply. Severus turned away, his face heating. It was bad enough to know that he was an object for the amusement of Black and his newest girlfriend, without compounding his own humiliation by ensuring that they knew he was aware of their derision.

He waited for a group of chattering Hufflepuff girls before getting up and walking to the desk. Madam Pince had returned by this time, and was checking out books for the departing students. Potter and Pettigrew checked out their books and walked to the doorway near Black, who was now leaning closely over the giggling Ravenclaw.

"Er, Padfoot?" Potter said. "Sorry to bother you now, mate, but we've got to go find Moony - remember?"

That was their asinine nickname for Lupin, Severus knew. Presumably because, unlike them, he could sometimes be seen actually trying to think, rather than running his mouth off or hexing people just for the fun of it. So they did indeed have some plans to join Lupin. Black's little slip was looking more and more worthy of an investigation.

"Students are not allowed to check out so many books!" Madam Pince said sharply.

Snape turned his attention back quickly to the librarian. In his absorption with Potter's activities, he had not noticed that it was now his turn.

"Sorry, Madam Pince, I just need to check out these two," he said, indicating the top two books. The Hufflepuff girls had stopped uncertainly near the doorway, clearly unwilling to push past Potter and his friends.

"Out! OUT!" the librarian shouted at them all, before handing Snape back his two books. He stuffed them into his bag and followed the girls. The Ravenclaw, Severus saw, had joined a chattering group of friends. Further down the hallway stood Potter, Black, and Pettigrew.

"S'alright," Black was saying, his back to Severus. "You're right, we've got to find Moony. Though first I need a good, long shower, after all that digging."

"You're not the only one," Potter replied, looking pointedly at Severus, who had just stepped into the hallway. Black spun around, wand out. Severus cursed inwardly. To get to the staircase that led back down to the Entrance Hall, and from there, the dungeons, he needed to pass by Potter. Not a good idea, that. Or stand near the entrance to the library, hoping they would tire of their little game and go away. He stopped, and glared defiantly at Potter, uncomfortably aware that Black had him in his sights, and that there was absolutely nothing he could do to defend himself.

"Hey, Snivelly!" Potter continued, "D'you reckon you'll finally take a shower tonight? Only we were hoping all that rolling in the dirt might have inspired you..."

Black, and the rest of Potter's audience, started laughing. He didn't care, Severus reminded himself, as a feeling of helpless anger twisted his stomach.

"Don't hold your breath, Prongs," Black said loudly. "He spent the whole time trying to wipe his grease off on me. I'll bet he hasn't been this clean for months."

Snape stood, gazing stonily at Potter. He could feel his face heating, which only made him angrier. Pettigrew laughed, and they all turned to go up the stairs. Black turned back for a moment and smirked in Severus's direction, before following the others. They were really going up, he noted. To take a long shower....

Severus walked down the hall past the steps to Gryffindor, shaking with anger. So the thuggish threesome really was heading out later, after Black's shower. Perfect, Snape decided. Forget waiting for another night, he was not going to sit still for more of their little games any longer than he had to. If Black's little slip-up during detention had been a lame attempt to get him injured by the Willow, he would know inside of the next thirty minutes, and no one would be the wiser. Pretty boy probably needed more time than that for his shower. Then he would probably wait until after nine, to avoid being seen going in the wrong direction as everyone else hurried back to their dormitories by curfew.

If the story proved true, he would see what happened. If the Perfect Prefect was right there inside... inside what, the tree? a cave? a tunnel? At worst, he would doubtless report Severus for being out of bounds. More detentions, and the loss of points would surely incense his roommates -- big loss, that -- if not, Severus could hide and wait for the others.

He walked on to the stairway down, and was soon walking down the broad marble staircase that lead from the first floor down to the entrance hall. It was empty. Not even any of the numerous apparitions of Hogwarts were in sight. That settled it. Ignoring the steps down to the dungeons, he ran to the front doors and opened them a crack, just enough to slip through, before sliding into the shadows cast by the great stone arch that surrounded the tall oaken doors to the castle.

The light of the full moon shining overhead washed the snow-covered grounds with a slivery light, creating a scene of eerie beauty. Severus shivered, and not just from the cold. But the light was also cursed inconvenient. It would surely increase his chances of being seen. How Potter and his cronies seemed to manage to sneak out without ever being caught was a mystery he would dearly like to solve for himself.

He still had his bag, he realized. That would not do... ah yes. He could hide it in the shrubs near the greenhouses. This would also be a good place to find a long stake he might use to try out Black's little hint. But there was a wide swath of well-lit open lawn between him and the greenhouses.

As he considered his options, a bank of clouds moved across the face of the moon. Without further hesitation, Severus set out at a dead run for the nearest greenhouse. Keeping in its shadow in case the moon came out again, he sneaked around to the bushes he remembered Professor Sprout clipping earlier in the day. Carefully avoiding the dangerous-looking thorns, he slid his bag underneath a bush, and looked around for a handy stake. Sure enough, one of the bushes was tied to one.

Drawing his wand, he whispered "Accio stake!" and the stake pulled itself up out of the ground and flew into his waiting hand.

From here, Severus could see the Willow, its branches free of snow and waving crazily with no relation to the cold, steady wind that was making Severus's eyes water. The moon was back, bathing the open slope between the greenhouses and the willow in its light. Severus looked up, and saw the approach of another bank of clouds. He waited impatiently for it to obscure the moon, before running down the slope towards the Whomping Willow. As he neared it, he threw himself down onto his stomach. It would not do to be seen as he looked around for the knot Black had mentioned.

His precaution came just in time -- the light of the moon again illuminated the scene. The Willow, clearly sensing his presence, creaked loudly and lashed its lower branches in his direction, but he had stopped just out of their reach. Crawling around it, he saw that there was, indeed, a large knot on the tree. He extended his stake towards it, and realized that it would not quite reach. Before his better sense could dissuade him, he lunged forward on his knees and stabbed the stake into the tree, before dropping and rolling away, his arms protecting his face.

Looking back, however, he saw with glee that, indeed, the tree was suddenly frozen. And, between the gnarled roots at the base of the tree, there now yawned a gaping hole. Remaining on the ground, he watched the hole for some time, waiting for a sign that Lupin was under the tree, and had seen him. When several minutes passed, he slid over to the hole and lit his wand tip. The opening sloped downwards, and nothing further could be seen. Severus slid head first down the slope and found himself in a tunnel. He stood up, as much as the low ceiling allowed; he remained bent nearly double.

It was empty as far as Severus could see, which was quite a long way. Apparently, the tunnel led somewhere, which was the best scenario for him. If he could sneak out of the other end undetected, he could hide himself from both Lupin and the others who were coming later, and see what they got up to. Though, if Lupin was waiting at the other end, he would see Snape coming if he kept the light. With a muttered incantation, the glow of his wand tip changed to a dim, focused beam of light. He trained it carefully on the ground in front of him as he proceeded deeper into the tunnel.