Part Sixteen
A/n: Well, I'm off school ill, alone in the house and Trisha's just finished on TV. So I really have no excuse not to write, especially seeing as how Richard and Judy are on next *shudder* Then again, I might flick it on at half eleven to see if I know the answer to the Midday Money question…….see what happens to me when I'm sick!!! If I ever find out who gave me the flu then I sware I'll-and moving swiftly on!
Minerva stood speechless for a few moments, watching the hastily retreating back of a woman she had only just met, but was already beginning to loathe. Which wasn't really fair, as she had only just spoken to her for the first time, she knew she shouldn't really judge her upon their first conversation, if you could call it that, but her words were ringing in her head and refused to leave her thoughts.
'You and me, we've got alot in common I'm sure….. Like Severus for instance. Great kisser isn't he? After all these years you'd have thought he'd have lost style from lack of practice. But evidently not.'
Well she wasn't dim. She knew what was being implied. She just wasn't sure if she believed it or not. After all, she had only just met the woman, she didn't have a clue what possible motives she could have for lying to her…..Well there was only one thing for it. She was going to have to find out. Turning around, she set off determinedly towards the dungeons.
Upon hearing the door to his classroom creak open once more, Severus winced somewhat. Couldn't the woman take no for an answer? He was about to ask as much, when he realised that the descending figure wasn't that of Rebecca.
"Min, hi, are you okay?" She looked a little……..angry.
"I'm fine thank you," She said through tight lips. "Just had a lovely little *conversation* with Rebecca."
"Oh God, Min, whatever she told you-"
"Look, I don't want to hear it okay? I just want to know-did you kiss?" There was a long and drawn out pause.
"Well yes but-"
"What? You mean she was actually telling the truth? I-"
"Hey, you've got to hear me out here, it isn't like you think-"
"Oh isn't it? I can't believe you Severus, I really can't!" And she turned and started to storm out of the dungeon, leaving Severus shouting at her back.
Half an hour later, when the papers infront of him were as covered as they possibly could be with red ink, Serverus leaned forwards onto his desk, leant his head in his hands, groaned and realised that he probably should have run after her.
The next morning dawned bright and blue, but there was still a faint chill in the air. (It was, after all, late November time.) Waking up, and trying to shake off the crick in his neck, Severus realised that he had fallen asleep at the desk in his classroom. Standing, he saw that there was now a small puddle of red ink on the floor and down the side of his desk where he had knocked the bottle over in his sleep. Sighing, he took out his wand and muttered:
"Vanishio," and started off towards his bedroom to change out of his now very creased robes, as the desk and floor cleaned themselves off.
When he arrived in the Great Hall for breakfast, he couldn't help but notice that he was being ignored. Which wasn't exactly out of the ordinary, but the way Minerva managed to avoid acknowledging his presence in any way, shape or form was a little unnerving.
He was about to say something to her, when someone passed behind him, put their arms around his shoulders, and kissed his cheek warmly.
"Good morning sunshine, sleep well?" Rebecca asked him, pushing a lock of red hair out of her face.
"One, don't kiss me. Two, no I didn't. Three, don't ever call me sunshine," he growled in a hushed voice. She merely shrugged and walked a little further down the table, where she drew out a chair between Professor's Vector and Sinistra.
Turning back towards Minerva, he noticed that her knuckles had gone rather white, as she gripped a slice of toast in such a way that he was rather surprised that her fingernails hadn't gone through the other side.
"Min," he said, reaching towards her hand, which she instantly pulled away. "Min, just listen to me please." She didn't even look as if she'd heard him (which she must have done as they were sat only centimetres apart.) He was about to try again, when, on her other side, Dumbledore got to his feet and called for silence.
For a moment, Severus wondered what was happening, but when he heard Dumbledore start to introduce Rebecca to the rest of the school, he automatically shut off.
"Look, Min, this is all a huge misunderstanding, and if you'd just listen to me then you you'd realise that," he hissed, so quietly no one but Minerva would be able to hear him. She however, pretended that she hadn't and seemed to take a sudden interest in everything that Dumbledore was telling the pupils present about Rebecca. Briefly, it crossed Severus's mind to wonder just how Rebecca had managed to conceal what she had been up to in Poland from him. Thinking about it, he wondered if she'd even bothered trying to cover it up. He didn't suppose Dumbledore would hold it against her anyway, if she pleaded that she was a changed case that needed another chance. After all, you never could quite tell what was going on inside the mind of a man who had, in his time, employed a were-wolf, two Death Eaters and a man with Lord Voldemort sewn onto the back of his head…
As Dumbledore sat, Severus switched back on, and turned once more to Minerva. He knew that he had to make her listen, he just, well, wasn't entirely sure how. He sighed.
"Okay, you know what? I'm just going to talk, and you'd be doing me a huge favour if you could just pretend to listen," He said. Immediately, Minerva twisted even more to the side so he couldn't even see her face anymore. Well at least that meant she was listening, to turn away when he asked her to pretend to listen…didn't it?
"Look, last night, you only got a tiny part of the story, you stormed off before I could tell you the whole thing. Okay, I admit, we did kiss, but it was more like she kissed me. And then I told her where she could get off. She did want to start something up again, but, well, I told her about you. And, admittedly, she was pretty pissed, but it got her to go away. And I really don't know what she said to you, but I can probably assure you that she was lying. And that's the truth."
"And you really expect me to believe that?" Minerva snapped as she pushed her plate forwards and stood. Pocketing an unpeeled orange, she turned, and hurried from the hall before Severus had a chance to see the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.
As she rushed down the corridor towards her classroom, Minerva took several deep breaths in an attempt to steady herself. She had been angry enough last night, at being told that, after everything he had said to her the previous afternoon, they'd gone and kissed anyway. But now with him *lying* to her-she could feel her blood boiling. And she was sure she was being lied to. After all, she *had* seen the woman. And she was pretty. Very pretty. She couldn't deny that. And, damn it, she supposed she couldn't blame him for *wanting* to kiss her… they *did* have a history, and it had been such a long time since they'd seen each other. She supposed that, after a few days she would have calmed down and accepted that. But if there was one thing she couldn't stand it was being lied to. And that she couldn't accept.
A few minutes later, the rest of the hall started to empty, and, as she brushed back past him, Rebecca leant down into a similar position to the one she had been in before, and whispered in his ear:
"Well, seems that that one went down the drain rather quickly. You know where I'll be if, for whatever reason you feel the need to talk to someone……" And, for reasons even he himself wasn't quite sure of, Severus felt that he might just take her up on that.
He was still wondering why later that day, as he walked down the winding corridor in the west wing that led to the ancient runes classroom. Pausing outside the door to check that there were no pupils present, he pushed the door open slowly and stepped inside.
He was instantly greeted by Rebecca, as she jumped up from her chair and threw her arms around his neck.
"Mmmmm, it's good to see you, I had an inkling that you might drop by at some point. How are you holding up?" She asking, in a very concerned voice.
"Just fine," he sighed. "I'm not even going to fight with you about whatever the hell you said to her, because I really don't want to get into all that at the moment."
"Oh of course," she murmed sympathetically. "It's only natural that you don't want to talk about it. It would probably make you feel better if you did, but I quite understand you not wanting to. And I didn't actually tell her anything by-"
"I thought I said I didn't want to get into that right now? Just, just tell me about your day or something."
"You sound distracted……but if you really want to hear about my day-"
"Oh I do," He said, lacking any conviction in his voice whatsoever.
"Well, it was actually incredibly boring up until you came in. I really don't think I'm at all cut out for teaching, but when one's on the run from the Polish, then you'd be amazed at the jobs you'd be willing to take…"
"So what happens when they catch you?"
"Oh, they won't catch me. And if they did then I'd immigrate. But it won't happen. The only way they'd find me would be if someone who knew what I'd done and knew where I was turned me in. And I can't think of a single person who'd want to go and do that now, can you?" She asked, moving closer to him and running her fingers down his chest.
"No." He sighed. "Not a single person." And whether it be through tiredness, or frustration, or just lack of the energy needed to push her away, he found himself being pulled into a tight embrace, which strangely, he found he had no will to end.