A Cloud Before the Moon

Chapter 4

Letha immediately began to climb off him, apologizing profusely. "I am SO sorry, I really am; I didn't mean to. . . ."

Catching his breath, Snape interrupted her, hissing, "Are you insane? Did you chase them away so you could finish the job and kill me?"

Letha was now standing, and offered him a hand, which he ignored. "Insane? Well," she joked feebly, "you might say I'm out of my tree." Snape glared at her. It would have been quite a menacing glare, if he were not soaked in mud.

"I don't recall having asked for any assistance.".

"Right," Letha nodded. "You were doing so well on your own." She continued hastily. "Honestly, there was nothing you COULD have done. I just can't stand bullies."

"Well, isn't that nice", he sneered. Wonderful, he thought. When Lucius finds out I was 'rescued' by a little girl, I'll never live it down. He regarded her with disgust. "Go away! You've ruined everything!"

"Have I? What have I ruined?"

"None of your business!" he snapped.

"Oh, I see. You really don't have to be so rude." Imperturbably, she retrieved the book that had gone flying when he was knocked over, and held it out to him. He snatched it from her hand wordlessly and began brushing it off.

"Do you live near here?" she asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

She shrugged. "'Cause I'm nosy?"

He rolled his eyes. "If you must know, that is my family's manor," he told her with some measure of pride, pointing at a rather large, ugly, rundown structure in the distance. Calling it a 'manor' was a bit of a stretch.

"Well then, surely you must know some good hideout in the woods where you could read in peace."

Snape shook his head slowly. "I don't really know. I don't spend much time out of doors."

Looking at him, that much was obvious. "See, I've only been here two weeks and I've found this great spot - well - never mind." She wondered if she should offer to show him the hidden hollow she had found in the woods, but hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, unmistakably loud and graceless, she started running. "Follow me!" she called out behind her. Severus Snape was no fool - he did not need to be asked twice.

She found the narrow opening to her underground hideaway, well covered with vine-choked foliage, and pushed aside the debris to allow them entrance. After she crept in and he'd followed her down, she re-arranged their camouflage. They listened anxiously to the thundering human 'hoofbeats' above them, which eventually died away.

Letha sat down, and Snape followed suit. He took out his wand and waved it over the book to clean it up better. Letha conjured a length of cloth and handed it to him. "You might want to wipe your face,", she ventured. As he cleaned off what he could, she asked him what he was reading. He did not answer. "It has something to do with the Dark Arts, doesn't it? Everyone says you know an awful lot about Dark Magic."

He looked at her suspiciously, eyes glittering. "What is your point?"

She shrugged. "Well, it's just - that's okay with me. It's probably full of interesting stuff. I'm sure it's a LOT more fascinating than Professor Binns' class, say. "

He nodded and showed her the book. "You would be surprised how many famous witches and wizards got where they did with the help of Dark Magic."

She shook her head. "No."

"It's true!" he said earnestly.

"I don't doubt it," she responded. "I meant no, I wouldn't be surprised".

"I see." Another awkward silence followed.

"By the way," she said hesitantly, "I'm Letha Faraday. You're Severus Snape, right?"

"Mm," he grunted.

"I thought you were one of Malfoy's cronies. Aren't those two creeps supposed to be your friends, or something?"

"What of it?" he said irritably. "Unlike you, I do not care to associate with mudbloods, like that ugly girl you're always with at Hogwarts."

Letha yelled at him, "Don't you EVER call my friend a 'Mudblood'!"

Snape grimaced, then regarded the red-faced girl in front of him with amusement. She was rather short and scrawny, with a thick disheveled ponytail of golden-brown hair, but her pale blue eyes had a steely glint to them. "You feel obliged to defend the mistreated, to stand up for the underdog, do you?" he said mockingly.

"I'm serious! I really find the word offensive, and you shouldn't use it."

"I'd hate to offend you," he said smoothly, "but let us examine the facts. Have you learned about Marcolia Sheepshanks, the heroine of the Goblin Uprising?"

"Sure. There's a huge portrait of her in the Ravenclaw common room."

"Well," he continued, "she believed that marrying a mudblood befouled a wizard's bloodline, far worse than marrying a Muggle, in fact. She thought all children of non-wizard parentage who showed signs of magical tendencies should be put to death immediately."

Letha stared at him. "I don't believe THAT. Why would she be admired and considered a hero if she said that?"

"It's true," he said. "She wrote a book about it. My father has one of the few copies that weren't destroyed by the Ministry. He thinks it's brilliant."

She caught and held his black eyes, which were now glittering, whether with spite or excitement about the topic, she was not sure. "And what do you think about that, Severus?"

"I think," he responded slowly, "that she makes some interesting points."

Over the next few weeks, without any intentions of doing so, Severus and Letha often found themselves at the hollow, hotly debating one issue or another, or speculating about the future. They found little to agree on, it seemed, but the arguments were always engrossing.