"No one noticed or suspected? You are sure about this? Not even a single remark, or a taunt may be?"
"No. Nothing. It went as we had planned."Aiden replied.
"Very well then. I was worried too, I must admit, & Minerva's nervous comments were of no help."Dumbledore said.
"So you didn't tell him about this. I thought you trusted him."Aiden asked, with a clear note of anger in her voice.
"It was unnecessary. I only informed the concerned people."Dumbledore replied calmly.
"And you think he wasn't concerned? You think he wouldn't notice? Then for your kind information Dumbledore he did. From the very moment I stepped in with Sirius. When it comes down to me, you can't fool him with a poor lie like 'a rich businessman from the north.'" Aiden retorted back.
"Oh yes, that's true. I wasn't exactly expecting him to believe it either. Calm down Kate, & try to understand the situation. He doesn't have what we call an excellent track record with Sirius. I have a strong doubt that he still suspects him. And it wouldn't have been a great sight to watch both of them ripping each others' head apart in the middle of the ball. I knew he would find it out, with that sharp brain like his, but I just wanted to keep both of them as far as possible. Sirius hates him with a passion, & well you knew very well how keen Severus was to hand him over to the dementors last year."
Whether it was the explanation or just the mention of her name, Kate, reserved only for the times when two of them were alone, finally calmed down Aiden. Her voice seemed bit relaxed as she spoke again.
"Well, it is annoying. All this secrecy, this cat & mouse game. Pettigrew gets an Order of Merlin & Black gets dementors?" She fired out, fuming with anger.
"It indeed is. And unfortunately we don't have any solid evidence against Pettigrew unless we manage to catch him. Which is again a nearly impossible task owing to his special talent. But I do feel bad for Sirius, for someone who considered his friends as family, the shock of loss & betrayal has hit him hard. May be that's why he gets paranoid when it comes to Harry's safety. It is like he is making up for all those years he spent in the prison."
"Yep. But a little bit of love wouldn't harm Harry you know, from what I have heard, his uncle & aunt are horrible."
Dumbledore merely nodded, his hands resting on the window, deep in thought. Guessing this is the time to leave, Aiden bid good bye to the headmaster and stepped on to the spiral staircase. She was greeted by Peeves who thought it would be amusing to yell Boooh! from random directions, which thoroughly angered Filch. After hearing the routine lecture from Filch about how Peeves is totally unfit to live into the Hogwarts castle, Aiden was relived when she took a turn and found the hallway empty. She shook off Filch by telling him Peeves ran somewhere upstairs. She hadn't even walked halfway down, when a strong hand pulled her, making her loose her balance. Few well known short cuts through the castle & she was standing right in front of the Potion Masters Quarters.
"Why all the drama Sev? Your stone hard grip must have crushed all the bones of my arm." Aiden said coolly. Snape ignored her cheek and locked the door carefully. He gazed her for a whole one minute, during which Aiden tapped her foot on the floor impatiently, then proceeded to heave long sighs.
"I am not a specimen from a museum you know, so stop staring." She finally blurted out.
"Why?" Came the reply from the hooked nose potion master, with a hint of disappointment with it.
"Umm, what why Sev?" Aiden replied, making a futile attempt to escape from this confrontation. I hate these arguments, she thought. And Albus knew it well…still he…
"You know very well what I am talking Aiden. Now do you want to answer me or you too think that I am totally incapable of keeping a secret?"
Aiden's chain of thought was rudely interrupted by Snape's heated question.
"Uhh well… you know…" she struggled for words, words which would assure him that she trusted him. Completely. Without a single second thought. Just like he did. So she braced herself and looked at him. Right into those deep black eyes, which were waiting for answers.
"Well Sev don't be upset or something, you do know how much I trust you. No point in repeating that. It just so happened that Dumbledore thought it wasn't the brightest idea to tell you about Sirius, because you don't get along with him very well. He feared that may be you won't be able to control your anger & again Black isn't someone who would take a taunt quietly, so he just wanted to avoid the trouble. That's it. Nothing else. Believe me, Sev I would never lie to you." Aiden finished.
"But you could have told me when you discussed this with Dumbledore. You must have met him here only I suppose?" Severus's tone was still accusing.
"Yeah," Aiden replied biting her lip, this was so obvious, why she didn't think of that?Stupid Aiden. "But I thought Albus would tell you so I just…umm left the castle?" She said, going totally incoherent now.
"Your potions components went missing I heard?"
"Don't change the topic."
"Fine, then what do you want me to do? Issue a public apology for you?"
"…."
"Look Sev, I am already pissed off. I am working on double shifts, doing my auror duties plus coming here for Hogwarts occasionally. No, no scratch that, two times a week. Plus I am supposed to look over a madman going by the name of Sirius Black, whose ultimate goal of life is to get himself killed in some or the other way. I am human Sev, I need peace as well. And I cant deal with it when you start acting like a hormonal teenager sulking over how someone didn't tell him something."
"I am not a teenager."
"But you admit you are hormonal?Teehee!"
"Shut up, Aiden."
And after some more bickering like that, Severus finally calmed down. Discussing few more complex spell that would help him lock his potion store cupboard, Aiden left the castle.