Author's note
Fixed a few errors in the previous chapters. Let's get on. Hope you enjoy!
She chased the headmaster's shifty shape through the courtyard and then inside the castle, down the narrow spiral staircase leading to the dungeons.
The bat never changes his habits, uh?
She could feel the ironic smile curling the man's lips and her anger boiling up with every step. She caught up right in front of his old office, out of breath more for the rage than for the pursuit.
'What game are you playing?' she shouted at him 'First you employ me in blank, then you ridicule my authority in front of the students. Oh, I was forgetting! What a stupid question… The game hasn't changed, has it? It's always the same.'
'Game?'
'Do not deny it!'
'Sir, for you.'
'Then do not deny it!'
'I SAID SIR, FOR YOU!'
'For Merlin's sake! Why should I be so formal? We're intimate, aren't we? If not physically… mentally at least. How many trips in my head did you indulge in?'
'Do I detect a note of regret?'
In a blur of movement she pointed her wand at the man 'Sectum...'
Snape didn't pronounce any shield charm. He just grasped her wrist, deflecting the curse. Then, keeping a painful hold, he stormed over the woman and hissed in her ear 'I don't believe you want to use these curses against me. I really do-not-believe!'
'Madam, for you,' she spat defiantly.
'I would expect more of your mind, professor Amberlin.'
'After all you are an expert in such a field,' she sneered.
'Another intellect sacrificed on the altar of self-pity,' contempt oozing through his words.
Iris' eyes turned white-hot honey. 'You… You are the cause… How dare you?'
'So predictable, professor. Or should I still call you Miss? Now don't bore me with the tale of the poor martyr. You can make a better use of your grey matter!'
Iris tried to struggle free but his grasp didn't falter sending a tingling sensation through her arm.
'A powerful legilimens… A girl's head… vulnerable. Martyr? Am I playing the martyr?' she asked in disbelief.
'Let me think… Yes. I really think you are.'
'No! You just had fun. That was a… a hobby to kill boredom. You have…'
'I have taught you how to protect yourself from your-own-self. From the emotions that cloud purpose and focus. I handed over the very arms you now turn on me. I made you worthy of being called an occlumens!' with an angry jerk he finally released her wrist.
She looked a him in plain shock. That man wasn't only a sadistic criminal. He was mad.
'Should I thank you? Is that what you are expecting?' she asked in a very thin voice.
Severus Snape didn't answer. He pierced her with his cold eyes and suddenly seemed distant.
'Get back to your work, professor Amberlin.'
He started to turn but stopped halfway, as struck by a second thought. Two night coloured slits looked obliquely at her.
'You are a natural occlumens. That core of yours… childhood memories I suppose… I've never managed to break through it. Just be careful not to turn it into your personal Mirror of Erised'.
She saw him rushing into his office accompanied by the soft rustle of his cloak, his last words still echoing eerily in her mind.
