Chapter 26: Building Pressure

Disclaimer: While I am borrowing many of the characters created by J.K. Rowling, all rights to those characters remain solely with her. I am neither receiving nor soliciting any monetary recompense for this story.

Hogwarts 11 AM

It was Monday and Severus was sitting at his desk marking fifth year essays. Being the OWL year, he was particularly hard on these students, and his red ink was being used liberally. As each essay passed his eyes, he grew more and more aggravated. 'Don't these kids LISTEN in class? Do they even bother to read the material?' he grumbled to himself. Finishing up the last essay and marking it with a large "D", he took a look at his gradebook, at the grades he had just assigned. 50 fifth year potions students all assigned the same essay. Of those 50, only 10 had managed passing scores, and only 3 of those were at 'exceeds expectations' or higher. 35 of the failures were actually below the 'dreadful' mark. Based on the work to date, Severus decided to implement a new rule, or a new torture as they would see it, for his OWL students. Anyone receiving a grade of 'D' or lower would be required to redo the failed essay. He imagined their grades would improve very quickly if they ever wanted to have any free time, given the large amount of homework he assigned during this particular year.

Dropping his quill on the desk, he capped his ink bottle and leaned back, rubbing at his forehead to try and ease the headache that was starting. The previous week had not gone well and this week was probably not going to be much better. The meeting with the AIA Agent was tomorrow evening. After he had gotten Harry's letter notifying him that the AIA had agreed to a meeting, he had quickly made arrangements with the Headmaster to hold the meeting in the Room of Requirement. He had then told Katherine of the meeting and watched as she had all but closed down in front of him. She had been keeping to herself for the most part, so much so that Severus had allowed her to spend this past weekend in the company of her friends, easing her previous restriction in the hopes of taking her mind off things if only for a couple of days. Unfortunately, when she had returned to their quarters on Sunday evening, she didn't look any happier then she had previously. In fact, her attitude seemed to have deteriorated and while she hadn't done anything that would cause Severus to take any action, he knew that eventually she was going to blow. He had tried to talk her down hoping to avoid a problem later, but, he was not entirely sure he had gotten through to her.

This morning she had barely spoken to him, eating her breakfast and then picking up her books to head to class. He had tried to reassure her again and could only hope that he had succeeded, but in truth, her ongoing despondency was worrying him. She would be in the final period 7th year class today to brew a particularly difficult potion she had requested to practice, one that Severus didn't want her trying, in her current mental state, to brew on her own.

Hogwarts 2 PM

Severus walked over to check on Katherine's progress with the Wolfsbane potion. Precision was critical or the potion could prove deadly to the drinker. As he walked up, he caught a glimpse of the ingredient Katherine was getting ready to add to her cauldron. Taking a large stride in order to reach her, he grabbed her wrist before she could tip in the pale liquid from the vial she was holding.

"Wait," Severus said sternly. "Read your instructions. It says to add the oil of Wintergreen only AFTER you add the crushed Aconite. Your Aconite is still sitting on the table. Adding the Wintergreen first would have caused a hot enough fire to melt the cauldron and the table," he finished as he released her wrist, "pay attention."

Katherine lowered the Wintergreen Oil back to the table, "I saw it and was going to stop and correct myself," she snapped, "as you would have seen if you had waited a second longer."

There was a noise of collective indrawn breaths from the other four students in the room who waited anxiously for Severus' explosion. Ignoring the stares of the other students, Severus grabbed Katherine's chin, forcing her to look up at him, and gritted out.

"Don't you EVER speak to me that way again young lady," he said harshly. "Your little temper tantrum just cost you a week's worth of detentions." He glared at her for a few moments longer until she dropped her eyes to the floor despite his hand still holding her chin captive. At her submission, he released her. "Get back to work and pay attention," he finished sternly.

Finding her place in the book she was using, Katherine picked up the Aconite and with a shaking hand, attempted to add it to the gently bubbling liquid in the cauldron. Unfortunately, her shaking hand caused her to tip in too much and what should have been a change to a thin, bright green liquid, turned into a thick, barely viscous, dark blue liquid instead. Katherine quickly tried to hide the error but a few seconds later, a loud puff of smoke caught Severus' attention and he turned back around from his position at another student's table. Walking back over to Katherine, he somehow managed to reign in his temper and without a word to Katherine, cleared her cauldron with a quick wave of his wand.

"Since you can't seem to concentrate, you may return to our quarters. I want a minimum 4 foot essay on the Wolfsbane potion, its use and characteristics, the ingredients and their properties, the brewing order and the proper way to brew the potion. Maybe by writing it out you can mange to brew it properly. This is a mandatory potion that you have to brew to become a Potions Master and failing it will mean failing the entire certification exam regardless of your other scores."

Gritting her teeth and nodding to acknowledge his orders, Katherine gathered her cauldron and other items and started to walk away, only to a stop with an aggravated hiss as Severus reached out and stopped her.

"I did not hear anything indicating you understood my instructions," he said sternly, "so I will repeat."

"Return to our quarters. I want a minimum 4 foot essay on the Wolfsbane potion, its use and characteristics, the ingredients and their properties, the brewing order and the proper way to brew the potion."

Barely keeping a hold of her temper and only doing so because she was well aware of what would happen if she didn't, Katherine muttered through still gritted teeth, "yes Professor" but still didn't walk away until Severus nodded, 'hypocrite' Katherine thought to herself, and released her arm.

Walking through the door between the classroom and Severus' office, Katherine closed the door a little harder than necessary. Severus tightened his lips and rather than stalk after her right then and there to deal with her attitude, he once again reigned in his temper and turned his attention back to his other students; he would deal with Katherine's attitude later.

Hogwarts 4 PM

Severus dismissed his students and made his way back to his quarters, glad that classes were over for the day but not happy that he now had a grumpy ward to discipline.

Setting his mouth in a grim line, he walked in and noticed that Katherine had made the smart decision and seemed to be working on the assigned essay. She looked up when she heard the door open and Severus saw that she was far from happy. Her attitude seemed to have melted away and she was looking like any other student who had crossed the line, and knew it. Before she could open her mouth, Severus sternly said one word "corner."

Sighing, Katherine immediately stood and made her way over to the only open corner in the quarters, which, unfortunately for her nerves, was way too near to the chair Severus preferred when he put a student over his knee. She knew she was in trouble; she just wasn't sure how much, though from what she had said, she was pretty certain she wasn't going to be sitting comfortably for dinner. It didn't help her nerves when Severus remained silent for several long minutes; she could FEEL him glaring at her back. Finally, he spoke.

"My original intention when I walked in was to just put you over my knee and solve the problem that way, however, I think I know where the attitude is coming from but I am warning you right now young lady that you had better lose the attitude with me if you value being able to sit for any length of time. You will remain in this corner until I give you permission to do otherwise; you can think about your atrocious behavior and what you are going to do to remedy the attitude. You will remain still and quiet; is that clear?"

"Yes Sir," she answered immediately.

Katherine relaxed only slightly when she felt his presence move way, taking a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. She hated the corner but much preferred it to the alternative.

Severus watched Katherine for a moment, taking note when she relaxed as he backed away and gave her some space. He still wasn't happy with her but did know the pressure she was under due to her circumstances. While he was not going to completely excuse her behavior, he knew his usual method of dealing with attitude would possibly only make things worse on her. He could afford to be a little lenient as long as that leniency did not result in worse behavior. This time, he would go relatively easy on her if her current cooperative and respectful attitude continued.

Severus let Katherine cool her heels in the corner for a good 30 minutes but he had to give her credit. Despite the long standing, she had remained stock still, not even leaning onto the wall at some attempt to ease the strain on her legs.

His voice a little less harsh, he called her to him. "Katherine, come here."

When she turned, he noticed tear tracks on her face which surprised him. Despite his ability to read his students, he hadn't realized she had been crying. He waited as she walked over to him and when she got close, he turned slightly and gestured her to sit on the couch. She sat down and immediately focused on her hands, which she had crossed in her lap.

Rather than tower over her, Severus took a seat next to her and placing his hand on her shoulder, turned her to face him. "Look at me," he said.

Katherine managed to drag her head up, swallowing hard as she met the dark eyes of her guardian.

"I don't think I need to tell you how very disappointed I am in your behavior today," he said. "Your attitude in class was absolutely unwarranted and to speak to me like that in public, in front of other students, makes the disrespect that much worse. I realize you are upset over the restrictions you are under and the related reason for that restriction, but know now that if you EVER speak to me that way again, in public or otherwise, I will not hesitate to use my ruler to correct the error. Am I clear?"

"Yes Sir," Katherine said miserably, "I'm sorry. I don't even know why I reacted the way I did. I mean I understand why you stopped me but I can't seem to shake this feeling of doom and its making me crazy" she continued almost desperately, the tears welling up and spilling down her cheeks. "I can't stand the waiting!"

Severus gave in and pulled her into a hug, holding her as she cried, letting her release some of the tension that had built up over the last week. It took a few minutes but when she finally calmed a bit, he pulled back, summoning a cool damp cloth and handing it to her to wipe her face before he went on.

"I realize this is hard on you but you just have to hold on for a bit. The meeting tomorrow will help us determine what further steps will need to be taken, if any. What is important is that you conduct yourself as I know you can while in this meeting and not lose your temper or show poor attitude and disrespect. Your actions during this meeting are going to be important in what Agent Nelson recommends to the AIA and the American Directorate. What is very important in the meantime, until this situation has been fully resolved, is that if you start feeling overwhelmed again, you need to talk to me instead of letting it build into an attitude problem that is going to accomplish nothing except getting you into trouble."

Flushing, Katherine dropped her gaze and remained silent, not sure if Severus' words required an answer.

"Your detentions stand for the week with the exception of tomorrow evening. The rest of the week you will be cleaning out the main potions store room. Any expired ingredients need to be removed, the good ingredients catalogued and cross referenced by name and date of expiry and a list generated of any ingredients needing to be restocked." Katherine's shoulders dropped; there were well over 500 ingredients on those shelves.

Severus tipped up Katherine's chin again waiting for her to meet his gaze. "I am going against my better judgment and being lenient with you this time, do not make me regret this," he said sternly.

"No Sir, you won't regret it" Katherine answered with a sigh, knowing full well she had just dodged a particularly painful bullet.

For anyone wondering why I chose Wintergreen. I needed something flammable :) that was a naturally occurring oil. I found this write-up under a search for essential oils, most of which are flammable and it fit what might be contained in the Wolfsbane potion. I pinged on the words muscle, joint and connective tissue injuries and pain.

"Wintergreen has been used for many centuries in conditions such as muscle, joint and connective tissue injuries and pain, inflamed nerves, coughs, colds, bronchitis and asthma."