Evening Schnapps

A/N: OK, so I couldn't justify waiting an entire week between posts, it’s time for chapter two!
Anouska Draconius- thanks much, hope you enjoy!
Megan Consoer- your wish is my command!
Sheedy- Why, thank you! *takes a little bow*
Bella Snape- thanks!
Ruby wolf- here you go!
Vampire_Exotica- I really glad you like it! You should be ashamed, however, at planting this evil little seed in my head. ;) It just won’t go away! I’m actually writing chapter 7 now, and there is no sign of stopping, it’s going to be a long one, folks!

Vocabulary reminders;

yurt n. 1) A circular, domed, portable tent used by nomadic peoples of central Asia. 2) A wood framed, cloth-walled structure built and used by backcountry skiers in the American Rocky Mountains, designed to have a small wood-burning stove and maintain it’s structural integrity when buried in heavy snow.

telemark n. A downhill turn performed on cross-country skis in which the outside knees are bent, the inside heel is lifted, and the weight is on the outside ski, which is advanced ahead of the other and angled inward until the turn is complete.

J.K. Rowling is the owner of all except specific characters, situations, and plot bunnies that are unique to this story. I make no money, but lots of satisfaction from taking out her characters and playing with them for a while before putting them back.

Once again, many thanks to my ubber-beta SignoraAligheri, and my sweetie Evan! They prove that you really can’t do anything in this world without people looking out for you.

So, keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, and here we go!


Chapter 2- The Yurt

Cursing softly, Severus looked around the room. He had been unable to Apparate, he felt as if he had been ‘bounced’ back. He had tried twice more, with the same result and finally tried for the little alleyway from last night. He had no problem arriving there, and had returned to this room.

“It seems that things will not be that easy,” he snarled.

He would have to obtain the ‘gear’ the young Muggle Raf had told him about the night before. He changed back into his Muggle clothes and left his room. Once downstairs he took the little card he was given the night before, to the man at the front desk of the inn.

“Where can I find this shop?”

The old man looked at the card and handed it back, smiling. “Gabe’s is just one block to the right and two shops up the hill,” he said.

Severus started out the door, but turned around and came back to the desk. “I’ll be staying on another few nights,” he told the man, before turning around and leaving again.

Outside the street was bright and cold, a wind was starting to come up and blow the snow off of the rooftops and down onto the sidewalks below. Severus turned the collar of his coat up and joined the steady stream of bundled shoppers. Halfway down the block he smelled coffee on the air, and spotted a little window with a counter set into a storefront. He watched as a woman thanked someone through the little window and took a steaming cup away with her as she left. Thankful that he was traveling with sufficient Muggle funds, he walked up to the counter. A girl inside the shop walked back to the cash register on her inside counter and placed the woman’s money in it. She came back to the little window with a smile, “What can I get for you?”

“A cup of coffee and a pumpkin scone?” he asked hopefully.

She smiled a little wider and said, “We just took those out of the oven, and haven’t glazed them yet. Do you want to wait or have one plain?”

“Plain, but with cream for the coffee.” Severus was pleased that they had something to offer that wasn’t covered in sugar.

A few minutes later, Severus was walking along sipping coffee and eating a scone. He finished the scone, and sighed. At least he had managed to get some food, without wasting any more time. He kept at the coffee while he walked down the rest of the block. He turned up the hill, relieved that the building provided a windbreak. Two doors up, there was a sign hanging out that read ‘Gabe’s Gear- For Your Backcountry Needs.’ Severus snorted, feeling the frustration at not being to Apparate well up again. ‘At least I know I’m at the right shop,’ he thought as he tossed his empty cup into a bin sitting along the sidewalk.

-----

Stepping into the shop, he was greeted with the warm smell of melted wax. A little bell sounded when the door shut, and a man with shaggy green hair and a pierced eyebrow poked his head out of the workshop in back.

“I’ll be right with you,” he called out.

Severus took a moment, walking around the store. He examined the Muggle clothes hanging there. They didn’t look like the clothes people wore in the bar last night, but the coats looked like those he had seen on many of the people outside this morning. He spotted tags hanging from them. Picking up one, he saw a picture of a woman wearing the same coat in the snow. It was a Muggle picture, so it didn’t move, making it hard for Severus to understand what she was doing. She seemed to be gliding through the snow on planks attached to her feet. It looked like she might be moving fast, because snow was fanned out in the air behind her, and her hair streamed out from under her hat. She wore dark spectacles and Severus wondered idly if that cut the reflecting glare of the sun on the snow.

“What can I get for you?” The green haired man asked, coming around to Severus, wiping his hands on his apron.

Severus reached into his pocket and pulled out the little card again. Handing it over, he said “Michael and Raf told me I could rent some ‘gear’ from you. You are Gabriel, right?”

“Yup, what kind of gear? You interested in tele or alpine?” Gabriel said pointing to stacks of brightly colored planks, like the ones in the picture. There were wide ones and skinny ones, tall ones and short ones, and as his gaze slipped over the astonishing assortment, his eyes fell on a sign, ‘Skis- 20% off”. ‘Well, at least I know what skis are now,’ he smirked to himself.

Severus just knew he looked flustered. “I don’t ski,” he said, trying not to let his increasing frustration sound in his voice. “Michael said you had snowshoes for rent?”

He let a deep sigh of relief when Gabriel brightened and turned to show him a display rack. At least he wasn’t forced to explain himself further. On the rack sat several pairs of brightly colored metal snowshoes. He picked up a pair and examined the straps; this was something he could handle. They appeared to simply extend the width and length of the wearers feet, like a rabbits foot in the snow, they would allow the wearer to walk upon soft snow without sinking too deeply.

Gabriel walked back into the workroom again, and returned with a set of thin poles. He handed them to Severus and he found that they had handles molded into one side, and sharp points on the other.

“These are really light weight, they’ll be useful without weighting you down. Where are you headed?”

Severus looked up.

“Over by Raspberry Bowl,” he said, not wanting to be too specific.

“Oh! You must be a friend of Mione’s!” exclaimed Gabriel, giving Severus a wink.

He groaned silently as he nodded, ‘so much for stealth’ he thought as he said, “Yes, I’m an old professor of hers from England.”

Gabriel nodded and asked “Are you going up there today?”

When Severus nodded, Gabriel gathered up the shoes and poles and handed them to him.

“You better get going, there is a storm moving in and you need to make the yurt before it hits,” he said. “We’ll take care of the fee when you get back.”

Severus took the bundle and looked back at the green haired man as he arched an eyebrow, “I take it that I am to keep these overnight?”

Gabriel just laughed and said, “Go, you need to beat the storm.”

-----

Back at the inn, Severus dressed in his regular robes once again. Looking in the mirror, he took his wand and tapped his sleeve. “Induviverto,” he said, transforming his black wool robes into the tough clothing he had seen in Gabe’s Gear shop. He picked up his snowshoes and poles, along with the hand-drawn map, and headed back out into the cold wind. As Severus walked up the street towards the woods at the top, he realized why Gabriel had insisted that he get moving. Although it was only late morning, the sky had turned dark gray and the wind was getting stronger.

Reaching the end of the street, he bend down and strapped the snowshoes onto his boots. After one more glance at the little map, he took up the poles and began hiking out into the snowy woods.

The mountains were beautiful. He found himself appreciating the sights, peering up into chutes and clearings as he hiked up along the main valley. He was thankful for the storm bringing in the dark, high cloud cover, he wasn’t sure that his eyes could have taken glare of sunlight reflecting off the snow. After the first few hours, Severus found himself settling into an easy rhythm. As his body relaxed into the strenuous activity, his mind began to drift back to his meeting with Minerva that night.

It was a few days before the start of the Christmas holiday. Minerva had turned to him at breakfast and asked him to join her in her office after dinner that evening. He had grumbled, but nodded his head. Generally, he preferred the solitude of the dungeons, and the quiet of his library after the day. He was prone to headaches from dealing with the students all day, and the fumes of botched potions. Company was something that he never sought, but he would not refuse Minerva. After the Wizengamot had cleared Severus of wrongdoing in Dumbledore’s death, owls had overwhelmed the head table at breakfast the next day. Parents, claiming to accept the verdict of the Wizengamot, had demanded Severus’ resignation anyway, stating that their children needed to be protected from reminders of Voldemort. Minerva had stood by him, stating that it had been Dumbledore’s wish that he remain at Hogwarts. When he hadn’t calmed down, she had touched him arm and told him that it was her wish, too. After that small kindness, Severus still was his same old abrasive self, but he never found the heart to snark at Minerva.

That evening after he had settling in, sipping the scotch with her, Minerva finally told him why she had asked for his company.

“As you, above all others, have surely noticed Severus,” she started, “I have not healed as well as we thought I might. It’s been several years, and as sad as I am to admit it, I can no longer teach and run Hogwarts, as well.”

Severus nodded, “I had wondered how long you would keep trying.”

“I have decided on whom to hire for Transfigurations,” she said as she refilled their glasses. “But I have been unable to send her the invitation by owl, as they cannot locate her.”

Severus arched an eyebrow, “Surely that cannot be,. Any one of our owls would stay out looking if they had trouble locating someone.”

Shaking her head with a small smile, “No,” she said, “This person is simply located in an area where the owls cannot get to her. I really need a human to go to her, which is why I asked you here this evening.”

Severus scowled, “Minerva, I ask that you find someone else, I had rather hoped to spend the holiday working in my lab.”

She gave him a small smile again, “No, I really would rather you do this, Severus. Please.”

Looking into Minerva’s hopeful eyes, he found that they were twinkling, reminding him of Dumbledore. ‘That’s not a good sign,’ he thought.

“Alright,” Severus growled, “and who am I to be looking for?”

He had sworn that the twinkling became stronger as Minerva sipped at her scotch.

“Hermione Granger.”

Severus had choked on his drink.

-----

He reached the top of a ridgeline, the wind was howling, sending up a blinding and stinging hiss of ice crystals that floated along from the ground up to about chest level. Severus realized that a few seconds earlier, as he had crested the ridge, his ears had been cold. But now, he couldn’t feel them at all. He reached up and pressed his hand to his ear, and found that they had no feeling. Reaching back behind his neck, he felt a thick roll in the collar of the jacket, he tugged at it, and a hood came out. Covering his head with the hood, and securing it over his mouth and chin, he pressed on. Squinting across the valley, to the tree line on the far side, and the steep peaks beyond.

‘What was that girl thinking?’ he wondered, not for the first time on this trip.

When he finally reached the tree line, he breathed a sigh of relief as the wind failed to penetrate the trees fully, and just screamed in the top branches. He took a few more steps before he realized that his head suddenly felt cold. Reaching up, he felt his ears, and was relieved that the feeling had returned. However, something wasn’t right, his fingers brushed his hair, and he realized that the hood was gone. He looked down and saw that his robes had returned. His Transfiguration had failed.

Severus suddenly realized why he had been unable to Apparate to the clearing near Hermione’s place. This forest had no magic. There was nothing. He pulled his wand out and tried several spells, nothing at all. “Perfect!” he sneered to himself, “just perfect!”

‘At least I have Muggle snowshoes,’ he thought. ‘I’d be in trouble if I had to walk in this without them.’ He smirked as he poked his pole down through the deep snow.

He checked the map and started walking again.

------

Life had settled greatly since Voldemort’s death. His days were still filled with teaching, but now, he no longer had to spy. He could devote his evenings to nursing his headaches and reading, and his weekends to research. Other than requirements of normal patrol duties, and those occasional distractions of being the Head of Slytherin, he found that life had finally become routine. Unlike most forty-year-old wizards, Severus was content with routine. His life had been far too exciting. He was reminded of a curse he had overheard as a child, ‘May you live in interesting times.’

He would have preferred to tell Minerva off and sent her looking for Miss Granger herself. But, her prior kindness to him held his tongue, and he had agreed.

“She won’t be too hard to find, but locating her may prove challenging,” Minerva had told him, in her enigmatic way. “She is attending a Muggle university in the States to avoid the press for awhile. I receive letters from her sent by Muggle post to the Leaky Cauldron, and forwarded by owl from there. But, I can’t send her return mail. She indicated in her letters that she prefers to remain apart for a while, but that I would be able to reach her in person, if needed.”

Minerva had shown him on a map where the university was, and then the little town he had Apparated to. She had told him that Miss Granger was on Christmas holiday as well, and would not be found at the university.

Minerva had given him a sly grin when she said, “I know it’s not to your taste Severus, but you will need to rely on the local Muggles to locate her. Be nice.”

Severus shook his head at the memory. ‘Be nice, indeed,” he snorted. He sighed and looked up. He had made surprising progress in the past few hours. He was nearing a saddle in the far ridgeline. This one however, was not exposed, but was thick with trees.

Guessing at the time, he assumed that it was early evening; he had been traveling up for roughly six hours. Reaching the top of the saddle, he turned and faced the ravine he had just scaled. Checking the little map, he looked to the right of the ravine at his same eye level. Peering through the trees he just caught a small glint of blue.

‘That must be it,’ he thought and walked towards it. He had to duck several trees and make a few detours to get there, but he finally saw a blue doorway in a cave-like hole in the snow. It was in thick pine trees along a very steep slope, but there was a wide enough path to get to it. When he reached the door, he saw that the cave was actually a space dug out of the snow covering a structure. Stepping back he just spotted a little chimney pipe sticking up. Taking off his snowshoes, he rested them up against a stack of skis in the little dugout. He reached for the blue door and found it was made of a thick cloth, and was heavily weighted at the bottom to keep it closed in the strong winds.

Taking a deep breath and pulling the door back, Severus stepped up into Miss Granger’s abode.

------

Looking around he saw a very small space. The yurt had looked bigger from the outside, quite the opposite from the magical world. Studying the walls and roof, he realized that the size on the outside was due to the structure being buried under the snow. He took another step in, his eyes swiftly adjusting to the dark interior. Pulling his cloak around his chest and closing it, he found himself thankful for the heavy wool. The room was cold, ‘no,’ he thought, ‘it’s freezing.’

The walls were the same blue cloth as the door and formed a rough circle. The cloth walls were supported by tall, thick, vertical beams of rough, bark covered wood. Smaller pieces of wood formed crossbeams that supported short shelves. There was a tall bed to the right of the door, and rope above it, with clothes hanging off hangers from it. To the left of the door were two wooden crates, he lifted the lid of one and saw that it was food storage. He peaked in the other and it had pots and pans. Across from the door was a small metal stove, the stovepipe wound up and exited through a hole in the roof. Looking up, he saw that the roof was made of long beams of the same rough barked wood. But that above those beams there was flat, smooth wood that matched the floor. Looking down through the gaps in the floor, he noticed that the tall beams supporting the wall were living trees.

“Ingenious,” he muttered to himself. The little abode was a living structure, with floor and roof supports lashed to the trees. Severus sat down on a stool in front of the one low shelf that was set up as a desk and he spotted a note there.

Picking up the piece of Muggle paper, with faint blue lines traced across it at even intervals. There was a fine script on it; he remembered it from years of grading Miss Granger’s rather thorough essays. He read the note.


Hi there!

I see that you have found my yurt. Come in and make yourself at home. Feel free to have some coffee and get warm. If you are stuck in a storm, for heaven’s sake, don’t leave until it’s over. But please leave the place as you found it, and be sure to let the fire die before you go.

HG


He smirked, ‘How like the Gryffindor. Welcoming the unknown into her home, out of a sense of pity.’

He stepped over to the stove and opened it. There were cold ashes, but no wood. He frowned as he realized that the stove was lined with flat round stones. ‘Clever,’ he thought, ‘that will conserve the heat.’ Looking around, Severus couldn’t find any firewood. He gave an exasperated sigh, ‘Apparently, not that clever.’

He sat back down, intent on waiting until Miss Granger returned. The room, which had been creaking and swaying gently as the wind whipped through the trees, suddenly stilled. Everything became quiet.

Severus stepped over to the door and lifting the cloth, peering outside. The storm had arrived. The snow was falling in heavy clumps and he took one last glance at the sky, it was almost dark.

Ducking back inside, he looked around and spotted a lantern hanging from a hook and a little more hunting in the rapidly darkening room located one Muggle match sitting abandoned on a shelf. He squinted at the lantern, thankful for all his days in the dark dungeons, and spotted a little picture of a flame on the side the lantern over a knob. He turned the knob as the natural light failed and heard a hiss. He struck the match on the side of the stove and held his breath as the match head flared. Still holding his breath, Severus moved the match over to the lamp and lit the filament within. Bright light flared, temporarily blinding him, and he struggled to lower the flame without extinguishing it. Finding a soft light that suited him, he re-hung the lantern and sat down to wait. He glanced at the books on the shelf and found they were all Muggle.

Severus heaved a pained sigh. “Miss Granger had better accept the offer and return to Hogwarts soon, I am really getting a headache,” he snarled, and began to massage his temples.


-------------------

A/N: Induviverto- Roughly “change clothes” vaguely following the JKR pattern of spell naming. From the Latin ‘Induviae’ for ‘clothes’, and the root ‘verto’ indicative of change, as is ‘converto’, to convert; ‘reverto’ to return or go back; and ‘adverto’, to turn towards or direct one’s attention to.