Thank you to Tegan and Sweetness for their lovely reviews! I really do appreciate this! But most of all thanks to Liz, because this is a far, far better chapter because of her input! Go read her stories, they under the pen name Laura Beth, they really are excellent!
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Chapter 18- Denial
The rain was reaping its revenge. It had been kept caged all Summer and was now hurling itself around the castle towers, ripping at the forest and pounding the lake.
Faith watched it stream down the window, it was like a veil over the landscape, hiding them from the outside world. She sank back into her chair with a shiver.
A mug of steaming hot coffee was placed in front of her.
Dumbledore stirred his hot chocolate, sipped, breathed out slowly in pleasure and then asked her how she was getting on.
Trying to ignore the high pitched squeaking going on under her nose, Faith nodded,
"Fine."
"Really?"
"Yes. I do feel a lot better." Almost true. Not exactly a lie, physically she was getting a lot better.
Dumbledore began to thoughtfully chew some strawberry liquorish. To Faith's disgust he dunked it in his hot chocolate before pushing it towards her.
"Liquorice?"
She took a sting and there was a long silence punctuated by noisy chewing. Eventually Faith swallowed most of it and said stickily,
"Why strawberry?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean why not raspberry? I prefer raspberries to strawberries."
"Do you? Why?"
"Dunno. They're not as sweet."
More chewing and Faith tried to subtly dig out sugary goo from around her teeth.
"Before you tell me why you asked me here there's something I want to ask you Albus."
"Oh?"
Faith shook her hair back and clenched her jaw.
"I want to rent a room in Hogsmeade."
Dumbledore's face twisted and he began to chew some more liquorish. It dangled out of his mouth like a thin, red worm. Faith gritted her teeth, breathed in, and carried on.
"I'm just so exhausted being nice to everyone the whole time."
"Are you?"
"Yes!" she yelled, ignoring the double meaning in his comment. "There's people everywhere! It's suffocating, and so noisy! And I have to be 'on my best behaviour' the whole time. It's driving me crazy."
"You and Remus were in each other's pockets for nine months. You must have been nice to him then."
"It was one person, we squabbled loads and he doesn't take insults personally."
"Yes, it is extremely annoying when people do that."
Faith ignored him and ploughed on.
"So I thought, maybe, because Hogwarts is so crowded the entire time I could rent a room in Hogsmeade. I wouldn't go there very often. Just a few days, now and again. Just to be on my own."
"You can be on your own in your rooms here."
"I know, but, they aren't mine. I've borrowed them."
Dumbledore sighed, I have serious reservations about your health, but I suppose if it means you are more civil to people then it'll be fine.
"Thank you," she said icily. Independence shouldn't be so hard to win.
There was a long, awkward, silence. Faith gulped at the coffee and winced as she spilt some down her jumper.
"Well I did ask you up here for a reason Faith. Now what was it…?" He scratched under his hat and little shots of glitter, like sparkly dandruff, fell from his head. Faith sighed and squirmed impatiently at the 'stupid old man' act.
"Ah yes. I have a favour to ask you."
Faith's stomach sank. This was so unlikely to be good.
Dumbledore walked over to the window. His long, gnarled fingers traced the patterns of the rain on the glass.
"War is expensive Faith. Hogwarts has never managed to not exceed its budget in its entire history, so I really cannot redirect many funds from that.
He groaned and slouched back in his chair. Fawkes staggered across the desk. His feathers were ragged and grey as his burning time grew closer. He turned his watery eyes to Faith and mewled softly.
"There are many Aurors who would come and work with us but, quite simply, cannot afford to. The ministry pays better."
"And it is has funds for the inevitable widows and children!"
The joke withered and died under Dumbledore's stare.
"Quite. So Faith, as one of the richest people I know, how much can you donate? I mean I know Hogsmead is an expensive address, but a simple room shouldn't dent the budget of a millionaires surely?"
He was smiling again with brightly twinkling eyes, but the skin beneath them was thin and dark.
Faith curled a lock of her hair in her fingers and took a deep breath before speaking.
"I'm not actually as rich as people think I am."
Dumbledore looked at her sceptically.
"No! Really I'm not! When my Grandfather split from the main Llewllyn family they did their best to disinherit him and his muggle wife.
"I don't know if he was involved with my Great Grandfather's rather, um, suspicious death, but it was certainly convenient. He wouldn't have got a knut if he'd died any later…"
Her voice drifted off, and then she shook her head and scowled.
"Then of course my father was, a gamblin' man," she put on an exaggerated American accent, and sneered, "Its amazing how much money a multi millionaire can lose."
Fawkes trotted across the desk and looked at her accusingly, she shuffled a bit, then shrugged.
"And of course when I was young I was hardly, well, a modal of decorum."
"Faith you seemed to be trying to redefine hedonism." Dumbledore noted that most twenty five year olds would probably not view being young as a thing of the past.
"Yes, well, so that lost me a lot of money." Her face flushed at the memories. "But obviously I can and will help, I just need to budget it out."
"That's wonderful, whatever you can give…"
"Well its for my benefit too isn't it?" She snapped sharply and stood up to walk out. She was embarrassed at the praise she didn't think she deserved, and angry that it had been given. Of course all members of the Eight Families were so fucking miserly that when they volunteered some money they obviously needed extensive praise. Fucking stupid stereotypes.
She opened the door and walked straight into Snape who had his hand raised to knock.
He started back and stared at her in shock. She squirmed, feeling pinned like a scientific specimen under his gaze. She met his eyes, but he didn't move, just stared at her with a totally unreadable expression on his face.
Weirdo, she thought. She moved round to let him walk past. He seemed to circle her as though he was afraid of getting to close, then collapsed in a chair and looked down at the floor.
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Oh God in fucking heaven, Snape thought as he sunk into an armchair. After waking up the morning after the rain, hard as hell, and with the image of Faith still dancing and laughing round his brain, he'd resolved to avoid her for the next week. It was only a silly fancy anyway. Live like a monk for years, surrounded by precocious adolescents and teachers twice his age, and you were bound to react to the first remotely sexual thing you saw. The whole thing came from sex deprivation. So he'd resolved to avoid her for a week to stop it turning into a crush or anything stupid like that.
But oh no, she had to be here didn't she? With those big eyes and pink spots on her cheeks that always flared up when she was angry or passionate…
Oh no. Not going there.
It wasn't like she was even that pretty! Except when she laughed…
He realised Dumbledore was staring at him and he shook his head. She would probably come and see him to ask about Lupin anyway. Probably best to get that out of the way now.
"Miss Llewllyn?"
"Oh for goodness sakes Severus!" Dumbledore snapped "Aren't you two on first name terms yet? She's a woman not a student!"
Thanks for pointing that out Albus. Yes, I saw her dancing round in the rain and she is very definitely a woman. A young woman with the kind of body I haven't been near in years.
He managed to hold that back though and just sneered, "Really? My powers of observation are obviously waning."
"And it's Ms, not Miss anyway."
"What?" He turned his head towards her, but not so far he could actually see her.
"I don't want my name, and therefore identity defined by my relationship to men. Nobody owns me."
Snape shrugged and dismissed this. Whatever.
"Faith, then, I presume you want to ask me about Lupin?"
He didn't look up at her properly, just raised his head slightly. He could sense her hovering on the outskirts of his vision, and she must have moved forward because her jeans and boots came into view. He trailed his gaze further up her body. Why wear muggle clothes? Surely robes were far more modest? They didn't show off those long, gazelle, legs. Robes would never hug her hips like those terrible jeans that left his mouth dry. He looked down at the arm of the chair again before she could do something stupid. Like laugh.
"Yes, I do. What's happening? Do you know?"
Oh a hint of emotion there! A real urgency underneath her usual bored drawl.
He looked up at the ceiling. Very interesting ceiling. Sort of cherry wood colour, but presumably cherry wood wouldn't be strong enough? All carved arches, fruits, leaves, fleur-de-lis…
"He's becoming immune to the potion. As I said from the start he would."
"As you've said from all along since receiving that letter the other morning?" Spiteful cow. Spiteful cow wearing a bloody, small, V-neck jumper. Very simple, black jumper. Only that seemed to be all she was wearing. Just light material next to her skin. Under robes it would be okay, but it was indecent to show that amount of skin, that long white throat… Robes also hid, certain, reactions. Oh shit, oh not here!
"No, he really has," Dumbledore sighed, and looked over at Snape. Snape nodded over enthusiastically. Dumbledore gaze became confused and then the eyes began to twinkle! He actually had the audacity to twinkle at him! He scowled fiercely and went back to lecturing the ceiling.
"It's like any other drug. After awhile his body becomes immune, the dose must be altered for it to be effective."
"So it can be altered?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe!"
"The properties of Wolfsbane are both volatile and dangerous. Altering the dosage would be very risky. I'm sure you'd object if we reduced him to a state of catatonia."
He looked up at her without thinking and saw the angry flush spread over her cheeks, her eyes flashed furiously.
Ah, see it was fine. He could look at her with no problems at all. None. Hah!
"Thanks Severus." She hissed his name and swept out of the room.
He watched her go and mentally shrugged. Just a stupid fancy. It would be over in no time.