Mist and Vapors

The fruit wriggled and giggled under his fingertips until it finally turned into a large handle. With a look of longsuffering, he opened the door to Hogwarts' kitchen.

Inside, several of the house elves looked up with expectant smiles when they saw someone come in - smiles that quickly faded as they realized who exactly it was that had just entered their domain.

The hustle and bustle in the room came to an abrupt halt as the elves stared at the forbidding, black-clad figure before them. They slowly drew around him in a wide half-circle.

A small, familiar creature stepped hesitantly forward.

"Is there something Professor Snape is wanting, sir?" she asked, her ears folded back and her eyes opened wide. "Is Gwinny offending Sir somehow? I swears I isn't touching anything in Master Snape's office, not anything at all."

The Potions master looked down at the obviously terrified elf, and cleared his throat. "Erm, I actually came down here to... apologize," he said in a voice that sounded strangely strangled.

If he had expected an appreciative reaction to that announcement, he was disappointed.

"Sir come down here to do what?" Gwinny asked, her eyebrows screwing together in obvious disbelief. "Is Master Snape feeling all right?"

"I'm feeling fine, thank you," he replied stonily.

"Gwinny must not be hearing right, then." She stuck a finger in her ear, and twisted it vigorously. "Professor Snape is coming to say that...?"

"... that I would ask you to consider looking after my quarters again. - Not my office, though," he added sharply.

Gwinny's lip had begun to quiver. "But Master Snape says that Gwinny have to stay out of his rooms. Says that I - messes things up." Tears were streaming down her face now.

"I spoke too hastily, and I regret what I said," he said stiffly.

Gwinny's face broke out into a tremulous smile. "Professor Snape is wanting Gwinny?"

"Yes," the words came out through clenched teeth. "I do."

"Yes, Sir, of course, Sir. I will be taking the best care of Professor Snape's quarters. Make Professor so very comfortable. Is Sir hungry at all? A cup of nice chamomile tea before bed, maybe? And a few biscuits?"

Severus decided that in the interest of public relations it might be wise to accept. Within seconds, he was ensconced at a small, round table, a cup of steaming tea and a plate of dainties in front of him.

It wasn't the most relaxing meal he had ever had. All the elves crowded at a respectful distance around the table, still wide-eyed and in silence, as if they could not quite believe their eyes. Every once in a while, one would murmur something to another, too low to be overheard. Other times, they would silently pass a plate of yet another delectable offering through the crowd, to add to the growing array on the table. Other than that, he could have heard a pin drop.

As soon as he could politely do so, he rose from the table, and brushed a few crumbs off his robe. He couldn't wait to get out of there.

A path opened through the crowd, back to the entry door. He walked through it rather self-consciously. At the entry, he turned around. Gwinny was still at the head of the crowd that was now waiting to see him out.

"Thank you. There is one more thing..."

"Yes, sir?" "What, Professor Snape?" "Elves be happy to help, sir." Many voices murmured at once, and he could see small smiles on their faces. At least his foray into getting back into the elves' good graces seemed to have worked.

"You have heard about what happened in the dungeon this afternoon?"

"Yes, sir. Gwinny be so sorry about that. That was not very nice at all. Whoever did that is ought to be ashamed of himself." Her eyes were now filling with tears of sympathy.

"Would you tell me immediately if you see anything out of the usual at all? Anybody who is where he shouldn't be, any unusual visitors - and I especially want you to look out for a rat."

The house elves looked at one another in consternation. "A rat, sir?"

"Yes. The person that I suspect may be responsible is a wizard who can transform into a rat. This rat might have a silver or very light colored front paw. The right one. If you see it, tell me right away. This is very important. If you notice anything out of the ordinary, I want to know about it. If for some reason I am not available, tell the Headmaster or Professor McGonagall."

"Yes, sir." "We tells Professor Snape if we sees anything." "Thank you, sir."

With many bows, they finally ushered him out of the door. While the door was still closing, he could hear a babble of excited voices break out on the other side. He grimly smiled - it seemed he had given the elves something to talk about for a long time.

With a sigh of relief, he returned to his quarters - one more thing to tick off his list. He had already talked to Argus Filch and his cat, and they would be on the look-out as well. The Headmaster had spread the word to the portraits. At this point, he didn't know what else he could do. He replaced the wards after entering and got ready for bed.

.-.-.-

The next day, as he had expected, Dumbledore called yet another meeting after dinner.

"As I am sure everyone has heard, someone did a lot of damage to the Potions dungeon and stunned a student." He looked at Severus Snape from beneath bushy white eyebrows. "As not everyone might know, Severus has been receiving threats for a while now. We do have reason to believe that the same person is responsible for both." A murmur of voices rose in the room. "I therefore must ask you to be even more vigilant than usual. I know we were all hoping that there would be no more unpleasantness now that the war is over, but it seems that that was too much to wish for." He sighed. "Severus, how hard will it be to replace the lost inventory?"

"I'm planning a trip for tomorrow to purchase the most necessary items for the next month or two. The rest I will replace over time. The most valuable ingredients were locked in my office, so the losses to the school should not run too high."

"Shouldn't someone go with Professor Snape? Or go instead of him?" Hannah spoke up. "Isn't it dangerous for him to be out alone?"

Severus glared in her direction. "Miss Hannigan," he snarled, "I assure you I am quite capable of taking care of myself."

"She has a point, Severus," Dumbledore said mildly. "Why don't you take someone with you? It couldn't possibly hurt to have someone watch your back, could it now?"

Snape was looking daggers at the two of them. At least Lupin was still incapacitated, as he would have not put it past the werewolf to volunteer for such an assignment simply to spite him. "I will be perfectly all right on my own. You may as well have someone escort me from the minute I get up until the minute I go to bed, because walking down a dark corridor here is probably at least as dangerous as a trip to Diagon Alley at the moment. "

"Well, I suppose you have a point, too." Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled at him over the top of his half-moon glasses. "That wouldn't be too practical, would it?"

"No, it most certainly would not." Severus said emphatically. "So, is that all then?"

"Not quite."

He turned to the rest of the group. "Severus believes the person in question might be Peter Pettigrew. I don't have to tell you what that means."

Sibyll Trelawney's hand flew up to her mouth as she let out a little scream. "I knew it! I saw something terrible was going to happen..."

"Oh, compose yourself, Sibyll," Flitwick said in an aggravated, squeaky voice. "We will just have to be extra careful to make sure that nothing terrible does happen, won't we?"

He leaned back, muttering to himself.

Hannah raised her hand again.

"Yes, Miss Hannigan."

"If there is a Death Eater threatening faculty, and a student has been attacked, shouldn't the parents be told?"

"Oh really, Hannah," Minerva McGonagall spoke up, looking at her with pinched lips and piercing eyes. "You act like this is the first time anything has happened. Students get hurt all the time - Quidditch accidents, pranks gone awry...if we didn't tell the parents when a Basilisk petrified several students, why on earth would we tell them now? Why worry them needlessly when there is nothing they can do about it anyways? After all, no one was really injured. This is Hogwarts' business. And as Remus said before, I don't think whoever is doing this is out to hurt the students."

Severus felt Hannah's eyes on him again as he leaned back in his chair. No, he thought, his mouth turning down at the corner, he is out to hurt me.

-.-.-.

When nothing happened during the next couple of weeks, Hannah slowly allowed herself to stop worrying a bit. Maybe whoever had been after Severus had decided to change his mind.

Then, one day in the middle of October, she was just getting ready for bed when there was a knock on the door. Quickly throwing on a robe, she hesitated on her side of the door - she wasn't expecting anyone.

"Who is it?" she called.

"Your father," a familiar, overly-hearty voice said from the other side.

She abruptly jerked the door open.

"What are you doing here?" she said, her face hardening.

"Well, that is a nice welcome," Frank Hannigan jeered. "I thought you would be glad to see me."

Hannah looked at him impassively. "What do you want?"

"Do I need a reason to come check on my only daughter?"

"Actually, yes, you do," she said harshly. "I repeat, what do you want?"

"May I come in?"

After a moment, she stepped out of the way to let him through.

"Now, what do you want?"

Hannigan sat down in one of her armchairs, and placidly started picking at his finger nails.

"Oh, nothing. Tell me, how are things going?"

"Fine." Hannah leaned against the wall, arms crossed.

"Enjoying your new job?"

"Yes."

"Do you get along well with your colleagues?"

"For the most part."

"Is that old hag McGonagall still Dumbledore's second-in-command?"

"I'm sure you know that already."

"How about Flitwick? How is the old rascal?"

"Just fine."

"How about Severus Snape? Do you know him well?"

For a moment her eyelids flickered. She sank down into a chair. "Why would you care?"

"Oh, Severus and I go back a ways. Tell me, what is he up to these days?"

Hannah obstinately shook her head. "Why would I tell you?"

"Oh, sweetheart, come on, no reason to get bent out of shape. Listen, I just need a small favor. But first of all - do you know that he is a Death Eater?" He leaned forward, and looked up at her with an air of expectancy. He obviously had expected a strong reaction - his face took on a tight-lipped expression when the wary look on her face didn't change.
"I am aware that he was a Death Eater, yes," Hannah said cautiously.

"And that doesn't bother you?" he asked incredulously.

"Just tell me what you want."

"Oh, nothing much. Just that if you find out anything about what he is doing and what he is up to, you let me know. I promise I will make it worth your while. And you might be helping all of Wizardom in the process."

"You want me to spy on him?" Hannah asked in disbelief.

"Well, you don't need to put it so crudely," the Auror said unctuously. "Just a little exchange of information. Just keep an eye out."

"Father, I consider Severus Snape a friend. And even if I didn't like him, I wouldn't do such a thing. I would never betray the trust of those that hired me like that."

Her father's florid face turned redder than ever, and he rose out of his chair. "Friend? Don't tell me that little slimeball has managed to fool you into thinking he is anything but wizarding scum of the worst kind! Do you know what he did? Do you know how many people he has hurt, tortured, and killed? Wouldn't all the people who died because of him love to hear you say that - 'I like Severus Snape... I consider him a friend...'" He repeated her words in a nasty, sing-song voice.

Hannah stood up as well, her hands white-knuckled. "I don't think anything that he had to do could possibly be more barbaric than what you did to him. He was hurt and defenseless."

"So Dumbledore told you, did he? I was just giving that Slytherin scum a taste of his own medicine. He deserved to suffer."

"No one deserves to be treated like that."

"Yes. He did. He deserved to suffer like he made others suffer. How can you just dismiss the fact that he was one of the bunch that killed Lyddie?" His voice grew progressively louder. "Don't you remember what they did to her?"

"We know who killed her. It wasn't Severus Snape."

"He would have, if he had been there!" Hannigan was shouting now.

"He would not have even been out of Hogwarts at the time!" Hannah paused to take a deep breath. "I think you had better leave now." She pointed to the door.

"Fine." Hannigan fairly spat the word in her face. "You choose your side. Think it over. I will give you two days."

"I don't need two days. Just leave me alone."

He walked to the entrance, ignoring what she had said. "If you choose to side with that Death Eater, I no longer have a daughter," he hissed before closing the door.

"So what?" Hannah murmured bitterly to herself. "I haven't had a father in a long time."

.-.-.-

At the other end of the dark corridor, Severus Snape watched in cold anger as Frank Hannigan came out of Hannah's quarters. Less than a minute after the man had entered the castle, the Potions master had heard from a house elf, a portrait, and one of the ghosts about the arrival of the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. His eyes narrowed to mere slits as he watched Hannigan turn around and say something to his daughter before forcefully closing the door and disappearing in the opposite direction.

Well, well, well. Hadn't talked to her father in years, had she? He noiselessly followed Hannigan down the corridor. Right now, he just needed to make sure that Hannigan left without incident. He would deal with the man's daughter later.