Chapter 12: Haunted

Severus hastily left his quarters in the morning to retreat to his classroom. He did not want to go to the Great Hall for breakfast but wanted to retreat quickly to his classroom, in order to avoid whatever this was. He had touched her again yesterday. He was bewildered to see that his fingertips touched her neck and cheeks gingerly, almost as though they acted out of their own accord. He had never felt this lack of control over his own actions, except since the Dark War. With this and the Vex, it was like Severus was an observer yet again to his own abilities, his own life.

She had not cringed or cowered at his touch, though. As the tears fell from her eyes in distress from her sickness and from her own perceived lack of control, he had felt wounded. He felt like it was his duty to comfort her. It felt like the only thing that seemed right. And she went towards his touch, almost like a domestic animal, a cat-purring for his affection.

Severus then thought of Lily. He had not thought about her in the same way and hardly at all in fact since the end of the war. The only times she graced his mind now was when he thought of Thena. How different the two were, simply down to spirit. Lily was honest, soft-spoken, and kind. Thena, brutally honest, loud in every sense of the word, also kind- but in a way that had to be earned, almost as though she owed nothing and had a duty to no one. And yet, he felt a similar protectiveness for Thena as he did Lily... similar, but different.

Thena made him uncomfortable in every distinction of the word. He lost sense of control around her and now was losing the reasoning behind justifying it. And so, he wanted to just limit the interaction.

His cloak whipped around the corner as he made strides to just pass her door. Was he holding his breath? He quickened his pace and nearly collided with her in the process.

"Oh. Good Morning Severus."

"Yes, Madam Abbott. Feeling better are we?"

To his dismay, she was wearing a black flock today. No brightly colored spectacle. A simple dress with a high neck and sleeves. It was still at her knees and it was still...clinging.

"Yes." She glanced at the ground. "Thank you."

She appeared defeated, no longer able to muster up her blistering stare that he was so used to, that he tried to avoid.

"Excellent." They began to walk side by side, naturally. "Does that mean you would like to continue."

"Yes. I don't want to waste any more time."

"Excellent."

"I will see you at 9."

Thena's strength had improved as well as her tolerance to the Primis Potion and she was able to attend two back-to-back sessions with Severus and was on her way to their third. The memories were not as tragic and significant to the de-manging and her magic (as she was sure Severus hoped), but they were important to her. A beach day with her parents in the south of France, her mother pointing up at the birds and speaking to her in French of their names, descriptors, and flight patterns. Thena nestled her young head into her mother's arm. Her warm perfume greeted her. It started to rain.

"We have to go now." Her father yelled to them.

"No we don't. A little water won't hurt." Her mother yelled back, throwing her arms in the air.

"She will catch a cold."

"She will catch nothing." Thena spinned in the sand with her mother, her arms into the sky.

As Thena came to his door, she knocked and waited. The door opened slightly, Severus away from his desk and at the fireplace. He seemed to be looking at something inside.

"Hello." She made herself known as his back remained turned towards her.

She looked around to the current unrest of his quarters. There were student papers on the floor and books askew on every surface. She glanced at the title of one on a short table. "The History of the Vex and its Uses." Draped over it a smaller book. She flipped the title over, "De-Manged, De-Magic."

"Do you have a habit of going through one's things, Madam?" He looked at her now, intently. She was surprised to find he did not sneer, he did not scowl, but looked at her as though she was an exhibit, on display as a test subject.

"Minerva told me about the vex." His eyes widened "And similarly, Dumbledore's orders to have me hired here this year." He seemed to not know this information. Thena felt a small win, bestowing wisdom to the professor that seemed to know everything.

"It may seem that it was important for him that we work together." She theorized, though phrased it so matter-of-fact. The truth was she did not yet know for certain.

"And yet, I can't logically understand why." He was back to snarling.

"I do not yet understand as well." She sat on the dark green plush sofa now, able to see the fire. In it, a paper that refused to burn: "The History of Severus Snape. A Hero or a Martyr?" The word "Martyr" was bolded, to push the correct choice to its readership.

"And what about neither?" She nodded towards the fire. "What about a brilliant wizard with a sense of duty to a friend or what is right?"

Severus quickly snapped his wand towards the paper in the fire. "Asperum!" The wand crackled, bringing forth green flames that engulfed the paper. "Sensationalized rubbish." He muttered under his breath. "Let's begin."

Shortly after, she fell into the dark space. Screaming. Fighting. Her mother and father. Over what? She couldn't hear, or didn't want to. She turned her head to face the lights outside her window. Glowing. She removed the light pole from her line of sight. Now pools of light floated outside her childhood bedroom window.

She fell again.

"It's okay Dear. This won't hurt a bit." She heard a familiar voice above her. Thena felt instantly calm, the voice kindness washed over her. Dumbledore.

"Ano, ani memorious moni. Ano, ani memorious moni."

She was brought back into Severus's quarters. Severus had disappeared from her sight and was spinning the pages to the "De-Manged, De-Magic" book.

"What did that put you on to?" She sensed that the memory of Dumbledore had peaked Severus's interest.

"I have to gather more information to say for certain, but the spell Dumbledore was performing did not have the air of a De-Manged incantation." He was in a spiral of his own thoughts. Severus threw the book down and scanned the wall of his immense library, stopping every so often to thumb through a book and discard it on the floor. "I need a book...but where? The library would not have it...de-manging is against the laws and it's literature is often band."

"There's a bookstore at Hogsmeade... perhaps there?"

"Weshook Books. I don't think it would be displayed or sold in public...but Weshook is a scallywag, with a rather colorful past filled with...contraband. Perhaps he would know where to obtain some information." His eyes met hers from across the pages. "I will go there during the holiday vacation. I'm assuming you will be returning to Hogwarts after your's." He glanced back to the book, adding. "so we may continue our sessions."

"I will be staying here for the holidays."

"Very well." He shut the book. "Then there is no reason for a break in our sessions."