The next morning Paige is waiting at the train station after showing up early for her tour of the grounds with Professor Snape. She's dressed in her formal black work robes, her hair tied back in a bun like always. At ten o'clock on the dot she could see Severus approaching the platform.

"Good morning." Paige says to him with a smile.

Severus didn't say anything, he just turns and walks back towards the school grounds. Paige, a little taken aback, jogs to catch up with him. She matches her stride with his as she moves to walk beside him.

"The kids will arrive on the train. The first years will be brought across the lake in boats, the others will be arriving in carriages." Severus says as they reach the lake.

"Understood." Paige says, glancing over at him.

He rolls his eyes slightly before continuing the tour.

"You don't have to be so militant all the time. You're not a robot!" Otakemaru whispers her in ear harshly.

"It shows professionalism." Paige says to him in her head.

"It also shows people that you can't separate from work from who you actually are." Otakemaru whispers, desperately trying to get her to open herself up just a little bit.

"Here is the Forbidden Forest. Entry into the forest is." Severus says, then pausing. "Forbidden."
"Right, Forbidden Forest. Forbidden." Paige confirms.

"The Game Keeper lives just down over that way." He says, pointing down a hill to a small hut on the school grounds.

Smoke is coming from its chimney.

"They live here year-round." She asks.

"Yes."

He led her around to the other side of the castle, showing her where the Quidditch field was, and the giant Whopping Willow to avoid. The end of the tour was the inside of the Castle. He showed her the medical wing, some of the classrooms, and showed her the entrance to Dumbledore's office. The last place he took her was down in the basement. They were stopped in front of the last door at the end of a long, stone hallway.

"This is my classroom, and my office is in the back." Severus says as he opens the door.

They both walk in and Paige smiles at the rows of tables and cauldrons ready for the next lesson. Sometimes Paige envied kids who got to go to an actual school to learn magic.

"Where did you go to school?" Severus asks Paige as she started flipping through pages in a textbook that was left on the table. "Ilvermorny?"

"I was home schooled." Paige says, not looking up from the textbook.

"How were you at Potions?"

"Terrible. I almost didn't pass my N.E.W.T and wouldn't have been an Auror." Paige says, looking up from the book and up at Severus. "Not for a lack of interest. I just never really got the hang of it."

"There's a book, over on the bookshelf next to you." Severus says as he nods his head to the bookshelf next to her. "It's called 'Potions of the Mind.' Maybe that will help you understand it better."

Paige walks to the bookshelf and starts reading the book spines, looking for the book he told her. She suddenly feels him right behind her, slightly brushing up against her. He is so close she can feel his breath on her neck. He reaches his arm past her and grabs the book he was talking about. Paige slowly turns around, Severus still close to her. She looks down at the book he was holding before looking up and locking eyes with him. In that moment all Paige wanted was for him to kiss her. Push her up against the bookshelf while he kisses her passionately. Not caring that the books were falling to the ground. She would wrap her legs around his waist as he would start taking off her clothes.

"Do you want it?" he asks her quietly, almost in a whisper.

"I'm sorry? What?" Paige asks, blushing.

"The book, do you still want it?" He asks as he hands her the book.

"Oh yeah , of course. Thank you." She says grabbing the book from him and moving away from the bookshelf.

"The kids arrive tomorrow night. We can meet near the edge of the Forbidden Forest at 3am for reports." He says as they walk towards the door. "Do you remember the way out?"

"Yes, I remember." Paige says, trying not to look at him directly.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow night then." He says as he opens the door for her.

"Yep. Tomorrow night." She says as she quickly walks out of the classroom.

Paige managed to get all the way outside before Otakemaru said anything.

"What the hell was that?" he asks as Paige starts her walk back to Hogsmeade.

"It was nothing." Paige mumbles out-loud.

Otakemaru starts laughing.

"That was nothing? You're delusional kid." Otakemaru says, a slight chuckle in his voice still.

"You put thoughts in my head then that just projected! It was nothing." Paige says, defending herself.
"Hey, I put thoughts of Yankis in your head too I didn't see you having hot mind make-out sessions with him at breakfast." Otakemaru points out.

Paige says nothing.

"You going to hand in a report for that book he assigned you?" Otakemaru asks, teasing her about him. "Going to get bad marks and have to speak with the teacher after class?"

"You are unbearable." Paige says to him as she rolls her eyes.

"You know I'm right. Although, I think it would break you more to receive a bad mark in class."

"I can't mix business with pleasure. I would get fired." Paige says, trying to think reasonably.

"I bet that's making you want him more right now, isn't it?" he asks.

She could almost feel him smirking.

"Shut-up." Paige says, trying not to blush even harder.

It was the day the kids were arriving at the school. Paige and her team are meeting at the train station before going to their positions within the grounds. They are all dressed in black to blend in better with the night.
Paige walks in front of the other four.

"Earpieces on." She says as she touches her earpiece in her ear to turn it on.

The team all turn theirs on as well.

"Everyone knows their posts. Stay hidden. This isn't a patrol and monitor mission, this is to observe, regroup and neutralize." Paige says to them.

"Do thirty-minute updates through-out the night. We're here until dawn. I hope you all got your beauty sleep." Ripley adds.

"There will also be Aurors from the Ministry of Magic patrolling. They know we're here, just not the exact location of where we are. Let's keep it that way. The fewer people that know our positions the better." Paige informs them. "Any questions before rolling out?"

They are all silent.

"Good. Let's get into positions." She says, heading towards the school.

Paige's position was just on the inside of the tree line into the Forbidden Forest, high up on a tree. She was sitting with her back against the tree trunk, her one leg straight along the branch she was on, the other dangling down. It was thirty-minutes later when Ripley's voice was in Paige's earpiece.

"More Aurors are showing up." He says.

"Try and stay hidden. Stay out of their way and let them do their patrols." Paige says to her team.

"Copy." Multiple voices say over the earpiece.

"Let us know when the train arrives." Paige says to Ripley, who had view of the train station.

"Understood." He replies.

Another thirty minutes pass before Ripley's voice came over the earpiece again.

"I hear the train. It's going to be pulling up soon." Ripley says in Paige's earpiece.

"Be on high alert." She replies.

Paige was too far away from the path they would travel on to see any of the kids getting to the school from the train. She must trust her team to keep eyes on them.
As the night dragged on the half moon rose higher into the night sky.
Paige was looking up at it when she suddenly heard a rustling in the bush below her. She got to her feet and was crouching on the branch, her wand in front of her. She could hear movement again and saw the bush near her tree moving. She watches it intently as the moving continues, until an orange fox walks out.
Paige exhales and lowers her wand. The fox, unaware of Paige in the tree, walks around sniffing some of the trees surrounding it. It walks up to the tree she was in and it sniffs it. It stops sniffing and looks directly up at Paige. Paige's gaze is locked on with this strange fox. Both of them not moving a muscle.
A snap of a branch could be heard in the distance and the fox takes off. Paige watches it run back into the bush she first saw it come out of. Paige looks away from the bush and towards where she heard the noise of the branch snapping. She could see a man dressed in all black robes walking through the forest near the edge. He was holding a lantern and as he got closer, Paige saw that it was Severus.
She jumps down from her tree, the leaves crunching underneath her as she lands. The sounds alerting him to where she was. Paige takes off her hood to reveal to him that it was in fact her. Only a small amount of light from the half moon could shine thought the thick forest and all it's leaves.

"Any messages tonight?" She asks him as she approaches her.

"No. Anything to report back to Dumbledore?" He asks.

"No, not tonight."

Paige was struggling to try and find something to talk to him about.

"Goodnight then." Severus says, as he turns to leave.

"Goodnight." She says, as she slowly turns back to the tree.

"You're just going to let him walk away like that?" Otakemaru whispers to her aggressively. "You have a moment alone together and you're going to let this happen?"

"You don't know what you're talking about." Paige says back to him in her head. "He doesn't even want to be here."

"Captain Asher." Severus' voice says from behind her.

Paige turns around as he's walking back up to her. Her breathing increasing and her legs becoming weak and shaky as he got close to her. She leans back against the tree behind her just to hold herself upright.

"Yes." Paige whispers as he gets even closer to her.

"I just wanted to offer a potions lesson after you're finished that book." He says as his dark eyes pierces into hers. "Put the theory into practice."

"Yeah sure, that sounds great. It would be a privilege to be able to have your guidance." She says as she tries not to think about kissing him.

"You don't have to flatter him. He's not one of your higher ups back at the office." Otakemaru whispers in her ear, trying to guide her.

"Let me know when you have some time off and I can schedule something for you." Severus says, stepping even closer to her.

"I can do that." Paige says in almost a breathless whisper.

Shame washes over her and the thought of losing her job pops up in her mind. She quickly tries to get herself out of whatever mind set she's in.

"Quick question." Paige says, moving away from Severus, her legs going numb. "There are foxes in these woods right?"

"Yes." He answers. "Foxes live in these woods."

"Right, I know stupid question. Good to know." Paige says as she looks down at her feet.

"Would you like an inventory of all current animals that live in this forest?" He asks in a bit of a snarky tone.

"Not necessary." Paige says, blushing from embarrassment.

"If you have no further questions, I'll leave you for the night." Severus says, turning away from her.

Paige watches as he walks out of the forest and out of sigh. Paige climbs back up the tree and back to her position. As soon as she sat down, Otakemaru lets out a long sigh.

"See, my question is not if you just asked if foxes live in forests." He says, sounding exhausted. "No, you see my question is why the hell did you want to know about the fox in that moment?"
"I panicked." Paige admits. "I worked so hard to get where I am, and I'd just be throwing everything all away."

Otakemaru stays silent in her mind.