~ On Being Exceptionally Busy ~
Vexus was avoiding Madam Pomfrey. She knew that Pomfrey would want to know when she planned on telling Snape about the baby and Vexus didn't want to discuss it as she had no idea when she was going to tell him.
It was now February and they had all been exceptionally busy planning for the upcoming events at the school. Vexus' Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were also getting into high gear as she was now pushing them into advanced defenses of places and things. She had a talk with Dumbledore and they agreed that not only would it be helpful, it would also be practical for the students to help place charms and protection spells on the grounds as part of their course work.
Vexus instructed all of the classes (regardless of year) in the techniques and even held some special sessions with students who were from non- or half-magical families. They would need to know more about these things than certain other students. The sessions were invitation only so that it wouldn't cause too many questions. The good part was the spells and charms she taught them could be used without alerting the Ministry. That way the young witches and wizards could protect their families without getting into trouble. If Peregrine was aware of these things she didn't mention it to Vexus.
Snape was also very busy. It seemed that he had increased the difficulty in his classes as well. In recent nights they had both simply been going to sleep at night, as they were exhausted by their activities. Voldemort had been calling them together more often as the try-outs inched closer and playing the double agent was taxing. She had almost decided that going to Voldemort had been a mistake. Even thought it gave her and Snape more access to Death Eater information it was hard to keep up her act for each side. She hadn't told either Dumbledore or Snape about it yet. Of course, part of her wondered which side she considered the mistake. Vexus had been on several assignments for the Dark Lord without any qualms at all. And she often found herself getting a thrill out of those nights that was hard to turn down. Severus did not question her about the nights she was gone she excused them by saying that she was tutoring or had to be in Hogsmead, or some other justification. She was still unsure of the direction their relationship was going in. If she had been wrong about going to Voldemort, surely she wouldn't be having such a hard time telling Severus about the baby. Would she?
On this particular morning, Valentines Day no less, Vexus was sitting in her seat, merrily munching on an English muffin spread with mustard and topped with slices of banana. Her appetite had come back, though she found herself getting odd looks on some of her food selections. She had tried to explain that pickles really did taste better if you dipped them in honey. No one believed her. She had received her copy of the Daily Prophet and was reading an interesting article about a witch in Cardiff who was working on a new kind of material for robes. It was supposed to be waterproof, fireproof, stain-proof, tear-proof and any other kind of proof you could think of. Of course, you could put all those charms on your robes yourself, but it would be nice to get robes that were already pre-proofed.
She suddenly heard yelling and looked up to see what was going on. There weren't any other teachers there, as it was a Saturday morning and rather early. The yelling was coming from the Gryffindor table where Potter and Malfoy were having a face off. Vexus stood up from the table as she saw the boys going for their wands.
"Both of you, put those wands down this instant!" she raised her voice, trying to be heard over the growing crowd of students who had gathered to watch. She got a sick felling as the memory of a similar encounter from her own past filled her mind. Vexus reached the perimeter of the crowd and started pushing her way though. 'Where the hell did all these people come from?' she thought as an elbow hit her hard in the stomach. She was about three months along now and even though the elbow didn't do any serious damage is hurt like crazy and it pissed her off. Stopping her efforts to move any further forward at the sound of hexes and curses from the young wizards she threw back her head and roared, "POTTER! MALFOY! STOP! EVERYBODY ELSE HAD BETTER SIT DOWN, NOW!!"
This had two effects; first everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing. They had never heard someone yell like that and hearing it come from Professor Vexus who never raised her voice was amazing. The second effect was that all the students scrambled to their tables and sat. Potter and Malfoy had both stopped and looked at her, their eyes wide in terror. She stormed over to them and she swore she heard a Hufflepuff crying in her wake. She grabbed the wands out of their hands. This snapped the two boys out of their astonishment and they both started talking.
"I swear, he started..."
"Sneaky git was going to hex me..."
"Both of you shut-up" she snapped. Looking to Malfoy she asked, "What started this?"
He smirked at Harry because she asked him first, "I was minding my business, walking by this table when I mentioned that it was sad that our famous Potter didn't get any valentines at all."
Harry narrowed his eyes at Malfoy and interrupted "Actually, Malfoy, I think your exact words were 'It's a shame, stupid Potter didn't even get a Valentine from that filthy mud-blood, Granger.' "
Vexus turned to look at the table and saw that Hermione's face was tear streaked and Ron looked fit to be tied. A quick glance at the Slytherin table revealed several people snickering. Malfoy started to speak again but Vexus put her hand up to silence him. She crossed her arms and thought.
"You will each lose 30 points. And you will have a weeks' worth of detention."
They started to protest loudly. Vexus felt something inside snap, "THAT'S IT!" she yelled again; grabbing both boys by the ears she dragged them towards the door of the hall. There were howls from each one as they tried to keep up with her.
Back at the Gryffindor table Hermione looked at Ron and shrugged "Hormones, I guess."
Ron nodded "It figures."
The trio got many strange looks as they marched up the halls of the school. First she went to Professor McGonagall's office, she knocked and once she head Minerva call out, she shoved Harry and Draco into the office. Quickly she outlined what had happened and left Harry under McGonagall's stern gaze. "I don't believe you Harry. With so much at stake and you let him draw you out...." She heard Professor McGonagall saying as she left the room with Draco in tow. Now it was down to the dungeons to Snape's office. This time she didn't knock, but flung the door wide open. Severus casually looked up from his desk and set down his quill.
"Professor, I am bringing Malfoy to you as he's in your house. This morning at breakfast he started a fight with Potter. They ignored my instructions to stop and were in the middle of a full fledged duel before I gained control." She let go of Draco's ear and pushed him towards a chair. She continued to Snape "I think you and I both know that such actions require the severest punishment. I took 30 points apiece and gave one week's worth of detention. They felt the need to argue my decision. I have left Potter with Professor McGonagall and have brought this one" she shot a glare at Draco "to you. I think that they should've known better, especially with their exhibition team positions at stake."
Snape hadn't said a word, but had scowled while she was speaking. "How dare you hand out punishments like that to my students?" Vexus blinked at him, had she heard him right?
"Begging your pardon, Professor, but Potter received the same and he's not mine either. And I am certain that the Heads of the Houses would want to make sure that their charges stay out of trouble."
Snape was furious, 'She isn't going to take advantage of our relationship like this. Telling me what to do.' He stood up and came around the desk to face her. Draco watched it unfolding and as he began to realize that Professor Snape was mad at Vexus he smiled.
"Professor Vexus, you have barged in here yelling at me, pushed around my students and ordered me around like I am yours to command. This boy will not receive additional punishment. You've handed out too much as it is." He stared her in the eye and was so mad that he didn't notice that Draco had risen to stand behind him.
For her part Vexus gaped at him, then turned red in the cheeks. She took a step forward and was nose to nose with him "Severus," she growled his name "I hope that you're just in a foul mood this morning."
Snape noticed Malfoy behind him and tried to save face "Get out of my office." he turned his back on her and went to his chair. Vexus glared at him a moment longer then left the office.
Draco turned to the Professor "My father will be pleased that you didn't let that thing calling itself a professor get away with that."
Snape looked up at him and waved him out of the room "Get out Malfoy."
Vexus went to her chambers and slammed the heavy door so hard behind her that she was sure the echo would carry to the dungeons. She stood there in front of the door looking around the room for something to throw. Sadly anything in the room that could be thrown and broken had already been both. She spent the next hour alternating between pacing and ranting out loud.
She was sitting by the fire reading that evening when she heard a tapping noise. "Sod off Severus!" She yelled at the door. The tapping turned into knocking and she angrily went to the door. Flinging it open she fixed Snape with her best look-of-death.
"I need to talk to you about this morning" he stepped forward to enter the room.
"I don't think there's much to say, you made me look like ASS in front of a student and of all the students it had to be Malfoy. Then, you have the nerve to dismiss me like I'm some, I don't know what, and then treat me like an idiot. I can't think of anything that we might need to discuss."
Vexus started to push the door closed and Snape put his hand out to hold it open.
"You're as much at fault as I am, did you think how it looked to Malfoy for you to order me around like that. He'll run to Lucius and we'll have a whole different set of issues."
Vexus spoke through clenched teeth as she leaned against the door to push it closed "I think that you need to leave, and maybe you need to decide who matters more. Me or Lucius."
He pulled back and let her close the door in his face. Rubbing his temples he thought 'I think that I've had this door slammed in my face so often it's a wonder there's not an impression of my nose in the wood.' He turned and went to his chambers alone.
Inside the room Vexus went to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo-Powder, she threw it in and stepped into the flames "Professor Wulf's Office!" she said.
Peregrine jumped when Vexus appeared suddenly in the office. Vexus brushed the ashes off her robes and looked at Peregrine "Wanna go play?" she said with an evil grin. Peregrine returned it with a grin of her own, threw back her head and howled.
It was a moonless night and Vexus let the black wolf lead the way. She was careful not to make any noise until they were safely inside the house. Vexus opened the door; the wolf trotted in after her. They climbed the steps and knocked on the door at the end of the hall. The door creaked open and they entered the room.
Voldemort looked up at them, waited until Peregrine had returned to her normal form then spoke, "I was going to summon you. I have some problems that need to be dispatched."
Vexus felt better, and worse, when they were finished. They had gone to the home of a minor ministry official on behalf of the Dark Lord. This particular wizard wasn't anybody special; their visit was to be more of a warning to all the lower-ranking wizard folk that it was dangerous to be on the wrong side. Peregrine stayed in wolf form and it got a little messy when she mauled the man. Vexus yelled at her to watch it when she got splattered. It wasn't just walk in and kill them either. The man, whose name was Norris, was of course a full-fledged wizard and his wife, Millicent was a witch. For Vexus it was great to have a real challenge in facing them down.
As they made their way back to Voldemort Vexus did a few little spells to clean off her robes. 'Too bad that witch hasn't got those pre-proofed robes ready for sale yet." she thought ruefully. She glanced down and noticed the wolf's coat was pretty nasty looking. "Um, Peregrine?"
The wolf looked at her with its bright green eyes.
"I'd find a lake or river or something, because you look downright disgusting."
The wolf growled at her and Vexus snickered "I didn't mean it like that, I meant you've got gunk and blood and stuff all over you. You need to wash off."
The wolf snorted and trotted along a little faster. Vexus ran after it "Hey! Wait up, I can't see in the dark!" she hissed.
The following morning the school was abuzz with the news that a Ministry of Magic official and his wife had been killed the night before. The Dark Mark was in the sky above the house and there was talk that from what was left of them there must've been a werewolf involved. Vexus and Snape met with Dumbledore to decide what they should do.
"I think that calling off the try-outs and the match would be playing right into his hands." Vexus made her case to Albus. "He wants us all scared of him. It's easier to take over a bunch of people scared out of their minds." Severus was standing behind her chair and placed a hand on her shoulder "She's right. We know what the plan is to get Harry and we can counter it. Maybe even get a good number of the others in Azkaban finally in the process."
Vexus had gotten over her anger at Snape and felt bad that she let herself go so crazy as to do what she did the prior night. All over a stupid argument with her lover. She pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind during the meeting with Albus.
"Very well, if you too think that it's still safe we won't change our plans. We'll need to go ahead with those charms as soon as possible."
Dumbledore addressed the last statement to Vexus and she nodded "We'll be ready by the end of the week."
Since it was Sunday, and there wasn't much else to do Vexus decided to take a little trip into Hogsmead, she wanted some candy and her personal stash was depleted. She invited Severus to come along. She had to tell him about the baby now. She had noticed that morning, as she was getting dressed, that her clothes were getting a little tight. Thankfully they hadn't been intimate enough in the past few weeks for him to notice that. Or the slight bulge starting across her stomach. They went to The Three Broomsticks and sat down in a booth in the back. As they waited for their drinks (She was having pumpkin juice and he was having a rare butter beer) Vexus steeled her resolve and started "Severus, I need to..."
"Professors!!" A shout from the front of the tavern interrupted her mid-sentence, they both looked at the source. Vexus put her head down on the table as Professor Trelawney scurried over to them.
"How nice to see you both! I knew I was going to run into someone I knew here."
"Well, imagine that!" Vexus' comment was muffled by her arms as she still had her head down on the table. Trelawney looked to her and asked, "Beg you pardon?"
Vexus raised her head and sweetly said "I'm so sorry but we have to be running, perhaps we'll run into each other again later?" She slid out of the booth and Snape followed.
Trelawney called out behind them "I'm sure we'll meet again in the future."
Once they got back to the school Vexus led the way to Snape's chambers. She had to tell him this now, before she lost her nerve. After they entered the room and closed the door Vexus turned to face him and found herself in his arms, his mouth on hers. He kissed down her neck then murmured into her ear "I was wrong about Malfoy. I don't want that between us." He started undoing the clasp of her robes and kissed her again. It had been a while since they had done this, and she had forgot how good it was to be held by him. Vexus kissed him back and pulled out her wand. Pushing away from him she quickly did the spell that released all the clasps and buttons on both of them. Pushing her robes open Severus slid his hands down over her breasts and down towards her abdomen. Vexus jumped back and tried not to let her expression give her away. "Let's put out these candles." she raised her wand again and the room was suddenly dark. Severus felt her step back into his arms and start nuzzling his neck.
"Are you all right?" he asked. She had been acting rather odd lately and she hadn't ever requested that they put out the lights before. Vexus pulled him towards the bed and answered, "Of course, I'm fine. And you're right there's enough between us without the Malfoy family joining the fray."
He wrapped his arms around her and drew her down onto the bed. They both temporarily forgot about everything other than each other.
The following Friday there was a small crowd of students gathered out on the front lawn of the school. All of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes were going to meeting outside and performing the protections they had learned in class. The first group of the day was third year Ravenclaws. The exercises went rather well and Vexus only had to correct four of the students. "Wait, Thomas! You've got to remember to keep your wand pointed at the object being protected the entire time." she called out to one of them.
As the day progressed it got better and better, until finally she had her fifth years, double class, Gryffindor and Slytherin. As she watched them coming out of the castle towards her she noticed Malfoy talking excitedly to a small group of other Slytherins. 'Probably thinks that he's going to walk right over me today,' she mused 'Well he's got another think coming.'
After they were all gathered around she picked one of the Gryffindors to go first. One by one the students did their charm or spell and even Neville got it right on the first attempt. She had saved Malfoy for last and turned to him finally "Mr. Malfoy, your turn."
Draco crossed his arms and said, "I don't think so, and I'm not interested in protecting Muggles or mudbloods."
Vexus smiled sweetly and addressed him "I suggest that you get over here. Now. And complete this assignment before you lose ten more points."
Malfoy's eyes widened "You can't do that, when my father..."
Vexus leaned down to look him in the eye and growled "The last time I had a run in with Lucius he wet his pants, now I suggest you get your wand out and do as instructed before I decide to add more detention to your already busy schedule. Understand?"
"My father didn't, he couldn't, you're lying!" Draco shouted and Vexus grinned at him. "He did, he could and I'm not. Twenty-five points from Slytherin and two weeks detention for Mr. Malfoy. You are dismissed, report to your common room and wait for me. We're going to have a chat with the headmaster." Sullenly Draco turned around and walked back towards the school. Vexus caught Harry's eye and smiled.
Once the class was over Vexus went to get Snape. She told him what had happened as they went to get Malfoy. "Severus, I mean it. I am sick of him acting like he runs the whole damn school. And trying to threaten me with Lucius, it grinds on my very last, already severely frayed, nerve. I am not going to allow it."
Professor Snape nodded his head in agreement. He favored his house and Malfoy in particular but the boy was starting to take serious advantage of it and even Snape had noticed his actions were pushing the limit of what could be overlooked. "Did you really tell him the Lucius wet his pants?" Severus couldn't resist asking the question. A glance at Vexus was all the answer he needed. She was grinning from ear to ear.
They retrieved Draco from the dorms and he had the good sense to keep his mouth shut, especially after he saw the look on Professor Snape's face. The group made their way up to the Headmasters office and knocked. From inside Dumbledore beckoned them in.
"Good afternoon Professors, Mr. Malfoy, what brings you to my office?"
Vexus started "I think that we need to have a discussion with Mr. Malfoy. He seems to think that he runs the school. I understand that his father is important and pulls a lot of weight, but that doesn't give this boy the right to endlessly demean, insult and humiliate the other students. Particularly the ones from non-magical families. I do this out of concern for him. I would hate to see yet another promising student turn into the type of person who may one day turn to the Dark Arts, or worse in his quest for power."
Albus nodded sagely and looked at Draco, who sat gaping at Professor Vexus. That was the last thing he thought he'd ever hear someone say. It was almost like she was...concerned about his welfare? 'Nobody's every really cared about my future.' he realized.
Dumbledore addressed Snape "Severus, do you agree?" Snape nodded his head. He hated to admit it but He had been a little too lenient with the boy and it had been taken advantage of.
"Headmaster, I think that Mr. Malfoy is an excellent student and had great potential. He should be more careful about the things he does and says at this school."
Draco sat silently and looked to Professor Dumbledore who was speaking "Mr. Malfoy, I am sure that you can see that your instructors are concerned for your welfare. No one here wants to see any student fail or stray into dangerous things. Can I trust you to be more considerate of the other students in the future?"
Malfoy nodded and Dumbledore excused him "Go on now, Mr. Malfoy. And keep these things we've said in mind."
Draco stood and left the room with a backwards glance at Snape.
"I'm glad that's over." Sighed Vexus as she hung up her robes that night. "I don't think for an instant that he's actually going to act any better, but maybe we've gotten it into his brain that he doesn't have to act that way."
Severus was sitting in one of the chairs by the fire with a goblet of wine. He didn't drink often but tonight he felt like he needed it. Vexus finished with her robes and came over to him "Thank you Severus, I know that you didn't have to do that. And I know that it may cause you to lose face slightly, but I am sure one good exploded cauldron and you'll get it all back."
He smiled slightly at that. "Would you like some wine?"
Vexus started to reach for the goblet then pulled back and shook her head "Um, no. I think I'll pass on the wine."
She went to his bookcase and began examining the shelves. Snape watched her closely, She didn't have her flowing robes on and the clothes she wore underneath fit her closely.
"Vexus?" he asked "Are you all right, I mean, have you put on a little weight?"
She spun around and looked fiercely at him "Excuse me? I didn't think that you were that type Severus."
He stood up and went to her, "I didn't mean what you think I meant. I just was asking, your clothes seem a little tight, that's all." He wrapped his arms around her and murmured, "I am not complaining about that."
She pulled away from him and yawned "Really I just want to go to sleep." She kissed him deeply then went to the bed. "Goodnight, Severus." She stretched out in her clothes and soon was fast asleep; Snape sat by the fire and had another goblet of wine.
