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another-snape-story · 5 years

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First Acquaintances

Chapter II

You arrived at the place in the end of July to sort some issues, as Headmaster’s letter recommended. The trip was tiring enough; you never liked trains. Well, you surely could tolerate a one-hour jaunt, especially when the scenery offered a picturesque view, but definitely not longer. A cart ride in the heat didn’t add gayety to the mumpish disharmony of your mood either.

The castle showed in sight. It looked magnificent, one couldn’t deny. Maybe it wasn’t that bad you came here? The time will show anyway.

You sighed with relief once your feet touched the solid ground. No one seemed to bother meeting you – the Viaduct Courtyard was empty. Not the kind of a welcoming you’d expect. Great, what would you say?

Looking around you spotted a tall black figure standing in the shade of an arch. Once your eyes met, the man left his shelter and leisurely walked up you. So he was waiting for you? Good. Now you were not to waste a whole day, searching for Headmaster’s office in a huge building, which – it was typical of the places like this – surely had a couple of secrets.

“Good afternoon, sir,” you greeted him first, officially restrained as befits good manners.

“Afternoon,” answered a low deep voice. Although it was impossible for a sound to have such a distinctive attribute as color, you felt his voice was as dark as the man’s appearance itself. “Follow me, Headmaster is aware of your arrival and awaiting you.”

The man didn’t look friendly, but making friends wasn’t your purpose at the moment. Your escort asked no questions, neither did you. You walked along the corridors and staircases in a complete silence, without sharing a single word; but not that it made you feel uncomfortable.

“Sherbet Lemon,” the same deep voice lacking on any emotions broke the silence, once you approached a huge statue of golden griffin standing within a high arched recess in the stone wall. It was amusing to hear these words suddenly coming from the person with such a serious expression on his face, and your lips twitched in an attempt to suppress a grin.

The griffin turned around, revealing another staircase leading somewhere upwards. The tall man all in black let you go first and trod after you.

“Nice to meet you!” an old wizard in silver gown greeted you with an amiable smile showing from under his long white beard. “Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,” he introduced himself and laughed faintly. “Although it’s obvious enough, I don’t consider it an excuse not to serve the decencies!”

You smiled politely, wishing to get to business as soon as possible. If this playful manner was his usual style of interaction, now it wasn’t a surprise the other man never smiled at all.

“You already know Professor Snape?” Dumbledore stretched a hand in his direction.

“No, actually,” you turned your head to see him; this was the second time you looked him in the eyes. Black they were, would you ever question this?

“I’m afraid we had no time for formalities,” he didn’t take his eyes off you. His gaze was impassive (same as his voice you already grew fond of), but you felt like he could see you through.

“Severus…” the older man sighed disappointed. “What an impression would you make on our new colleague!”

“If there’s nothing else I can do for you, Headmaster, I assume you have something more important to discuss, so it would be tactful if I left you alone now?”

“Sure, you may go, Severus,” Dumbledore sighed again.

The man Headmaster called Severus nodded slightly and disappeared behind the door. A few hours passed before you could do the same. During this time, you’ve had four cups of tea, which seemed to stream out of your ears, if you took another sip. Your new boss explained you your duties and answered all the questions, which popped up in the course of your conversation, unless you found the information comprehensive enough to start working. So you signed the contract, and from now on there was no way back for you.

Once in the corridor again, you tried to recall which direction would bring you to the main entrance, where it all started. Good you didn’t talk to Professor Snape as he led you here, taking your time to study the surroundings. So you had to turn around the corner and then to the right, tree floors downstairs, then another long corridor, and to the left after the red shield with a roaring golden lion to a wide spiral staircase, which had to take you to the home stretch.

You unhurriedly made your way through the castle, scanning the doors and other stone decorations. The place seemed calm and peaceful, but would it be such at the beginning of September? Hardly so.

Suddenly the staircase you just stepped on started moving and you found yourself somewhere the tall man in black never took you before. Fantastic! Why would someone warn you about such a trifle? Luckily, this part of the castle seemed even more majestic. A line of arched stained-glass windows stretched along the wall, and the sunlight seeping through them left multiple colorful spots everywhere it could reach. It looked magical. Even if you, a magician, found it magical, it definitely was!

“I would suggest you to take a guide for your first castle tour,” you heard a familiar voice from behind and turned around. “Otherwise you risk to get into No-return room, or even worse – back again to that golden griffin…” the man uttered indifferently.

You smirked; he surely had a sense of humor.

“Actually I didn’t mean to,” you explained calmly. “But the stairs decided I needed to have a look at this,” you waved your hand on the walls covered with mild diffused light specks of different colors.

Professor Snape offered you an unimpressed grunt in response.

“Don’t mind me, Professor, I’ll wait until the stairs return, so I could continue my way out,” although the man looked mysteriously attractive, you would surely survive the loss of his company.

“You might be unaware…” he informed you in a bored tone, showing lack of interest on your little chat, “…it can take a month or more... But if you have this much time at your disposal… I have nothing against you sticking here.”

“So you’re willing to help me, did I get it right?” not that you didn’t like his peculiar manner, but at this very moment you had no desire to play his games. You felt too weary for that.

“This way,” he passed by you and you followed him, suspiciously studying his back.

“Headmaster asked you to look after me?”

“No.”

“So it was your private initiative?” you concluded.

“No.”

“How would you know I got lost then?”

“Coincidence,” he explained apathetically. Why you didn’t believe him?

He didn’t say a word above that, neither did you have a slightest desire to continue this irreciprocal dialogue. You were curious if all the staff members held themselves detached, or was it just him. The answer seemed evident enough though.

“Thank you for rescuing me from this stone captivity,” giving in, you honored the man with a grateful smile. Who knows how long you would wait there for the stairs to return, if it wasn’t for him. “I owe you a favor.”

“You’d better not owe me anything,” he warned coldly, piercing you through with an intent gaze of black eyes.

“Yet still I do,” you stated, showing your readiness to keep your word. “I won’t steal your time any longer. Have a nice… month… before the start of the term,” an amiable smirk crossed your face. With this you climbed in the cart and set off back to the city.

You forgot about the man soon, about the castle, about everything concerning that place.

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