Double Dog Dare! -- Episode 15
Frances, 28 January 2002

Viviane wrapped her arms around Snape's waist, hooking a slender finger over one of his buttons as they bent over the Pensieve and looked into the memory of Fidelis.

rocking, back and forth. the ground, so far away. the sky, so close. beneath, soft black fur and rocking. always rocking.

Both Viviane and Snape mentally pulled themselves away from the hypocenter of Fidelis' memory and found themselves standing in the alley of a small town, watching the little spaniel jauntily ride away on the back of a large black dog, like the captain of some strange, furry ship.

"Come along, my dear," Snape said. "We must keep up with the memory lest we become lost, free-floating in Dumbledore's Pensieve."

Viviane wondered briefly what sort of things might be found in the old headmaster's long memory, but before she could examine the question to its full potential, she wisely followed Snape out of the alley and up the street, in the wake of the dogs.

"I haven't seen much of Black in his dog form," she told Snape. "I wish I had a camera for this display."

He threw her a rare smile and purred, "It's easy to see who's the brains of this mission."

They left the shops of the little town behind and came to rows of neat little semi-detached houses and a few older cottages. Down a small lane, they saw Black on his hind legs, peering over a wooden fence. Fidelis valiantly clung to the big dog's shoulder, looking over the fence as well. Black jumped down from the fence and Fidelis jumped down from his perch.

Snape and Viviane came abreast of the dogs in time to hear the quiet canine growls and whines that passed between them, then Fidelis disappeared through the gate. "Oh, what a darling little pup you are!"

"That voice!" Snape said sharply and raised himself up to peer over the fence.

"What is it?" Viviane asked, responding to his strangled tone. They were both hanging over the fence when Sirius Black, on two legs, followed Fidelis through the gate to meet the naked woman. "Who is that?"

Snape turned from the tableau and sagged against the fence, an expression on his face that Viviane had never seen before. "That," he said, "Is Janet Tewksberry."

"...Janet. Janet Tewksberry. And may I ask yours?"

"And she is?"

"Evil. Pure evil."

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Janet Tewksberry stepped off of her broom and onto the broad stone ledge of the window. She was slightly annoyed to see that there were figures in the room, but then noticed that they weren't moving. Approaching them cautiously from behind, she saw the pair was bent over the Pensieve, their minds far away in soneone's memory. With two quick stabs of her wand and a hissed Stupefy, she dropped them to the hard floor.

"Oh, it's you," she purred, as she knelt down to straddle the prostrate form of Fidelis' owner. Ignoring the female form lying next to him, she gripped his face in her clawed hand, the red tips digging into his skin. "Severus Snape. Are you a Death Eater?" She studied his left profile, noting the hook of his nose and the bounty of his lashes, then flipped his head to the other side, sneering. "Or a hero?"

She stood and dusted her hands off then proceeded to the Pensieve. "What were you so interested in, dear Sev? And whose side are you on?" Looking into the glistening liquid that swirled in the bowl, she saw a fish-eye view of her kitchen and that maddening man eating her damn strawberries. "Death Eater or hero, you're certainly a Peeping Tom and you'll have to pay for that."

She picked up the bowl and tucked it under her arm, against her hip. "I want to take you back with me, Severus, and have some fun, but alas, my dungeon is at capacity. Still, I'd like a little souvenir of this meeting. I think I'll take your mind with me." A chilling laugh echoed off the old stones as she walked to the window.