Chapter 4 – First Impressions

A week later it was a resigned but still reluctant Guild Master who walked down the Soho sidestreet to the entrance of The Leaky Cauldron. She felt the familiar tingle against her skin as she approached the main gateway to magical London. Whilst she was a muggle she was a special one, descended from a long line of those who could physically sense the presence of both active and passive magic and who were therefore eligible to serve in The Guild of Gaia. She slid quickly into the dingy entrance of the wizarding pub and once inside allowed her eyes to adjust to the subdued lighting. Her conservative muggle clothes caused no comment here. The bar was almost empty just two tables were occupied, one by a family group who obviously by their parcels and conversation were up for school shopping in Diagon Alley and the second by an elderly couple preoccupied by their copies of the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. Walking quickly to the bar she attracted the landlords attention.

"Hello Tom."

"Why hello Mistress it's a long time since I've seen your face in these parts" he cheerily replied. "Your expected, he's waiting for you in the private parlour down the corridor, second door on the left."

Thanking the friendly landlord she made her way to the parlour and entered the room. The small chamber glowed cosily with firelight and candles and standing by the hearth nursing a goblet of wine was the new Governor of Azkaban, Severus Snape.

She drew a sharp breath as she observed him for the first time in person. He was very tall with an elegant spare figure dressed in black robes that seemed to suck the light from around him. His complexion was pale with a clear translucency rather than the sick sallow tinge of ill health she had somehow expected. Long black hair was fine, shaggy and glossy as a raven's wing. But it was his eyes, which drew all her attention. As they turned to observe her entrance they were like glittering black pools observing and absorbing everything about her, drawing her closer like black holes.

His voice was raw silk, soft and textured as he introduced himself.

"Good Evening, I'm Severus Snape. I presume I am addressing the Guild Master."

Hot desire pooled unexpectedly in the pit of her stomach as she realised this was not the image of the 'Greasy Git' she had been expecting, no not at all.

***

Severus waited in the cosy parlour of The Leaky Cauldron for the Guild Master to arrive. Tom had left him with a bottle of tolerable Claret and his thoughts and whilst he waited he pondered on his last conversations with Dumbledore. There was no doubt that the old wizard thought he had very good reasons for giving him this new job but he really wished that Albus would finally understand that at 43 years of age perhaps he was now comfortable with his demons and really did not want or need to confront them.

A noise from the doorway drew his attention as a woman entered. She was tall and dressed in plain dark muggle clothes, a severely tailored skirt suit and silk blouse. As she approached he realised that perhaps she was not as young as he had first thought. Her tall figure was Junoesque and her ivory complexion flushed rosy in the heat of the small room. Her hair was chestnut brown and cut in a short severe style whilst her eyes seemed to change colour from grey to brown to green depending on the flickering light. He heard her draw a sharp breath as he observed her. He felt surprise himself but many years of subterfuge allowed him to disguise all outward signs. A woman, he thought he certainly had not expected a woman, especially as head of such an august and ancient muggle organisation. He introduced himself.

"Good Evening, I'm Severus Snape. I presume I am addressing the Guild Master?"

"Good Evening Governor Snape. I am indeed The Guild Master," she replied.

Her voice was warm and feminine and just a little breathless, as if surprised. Well Snape thought at this possible sign of vulnerability, if he did not know better he would think that she was unnerved by his presence. The Slytherin in him calculated how he could play this unexpected development in his favour whilst with a courtly gesture he held a chair out for her to sit at the table and poured her a goblet of wine. Seating himself he had a chance to observe her more closely. Yes she was definitely older than he thought, probably mid-thirties in muggle terms. She was not particularly pretty or beautiful but her features were strong, aquiline and striking and her eyes leapt with fire and passion she lifted the goblet to her lips and sipped at the wine.

"Are we only to call each other by titles? Guild Master is a most unusual name for a lady." Snape's query was genuine but his chauvinistic tone was clear.

She laughed a throaty chuckle. "Yes for the moment I think. It seems more appropriate until we know each other better but you may simply call me 'Mistress' or 'Master' whichever is your preference." He glowered at her reply clearly objecting to calling any female especially a muggle 'Master'. Looking consideringly at him now that she had regained some of the initiative Alexandra decided to change the subject and pointed at the food laid out for them. "If it's alright with you Governor I'm ready to eat. It has been a long time since breakfast and I believe our discussions will be best completed on a full stomach."

By unspoken agreement conversation during the meal consisted of little more than polite pleasantries; the state of the weather, and a desultory discussion of the latest scores in the European Quidditch Tournament. After their appetites were addressed they sat in the comfortable armchairs by the fire with the mellow warmth of a fine brandy and so business finally began.

***

"I must admit to a certain amount of surprise that the Minister nominated you and not Harry Potter as Governor?" she questioned.

Snape looked at her sharply, surprised at this less than subtle opening to their conversation. "Mr Potter was not the only one qualified for the position and his services were required elsewhere I believe", replied Snape levelly.

"Still, there must be some controversy over your appointment given your background."

"Are you trying to make a particular point here?" rasped Snape.

"I will be frank with you Governor, which I am sure you are unused to given your past affiliations, I suspect that neither of us are particularly happy about our current positions. You are a controversial choice and frankly I have other things I would rather be doing with my time, so it is in both our interests to make this situation work and therefore keep our relative sentences to Azkaban as short as possible. I am sure you do not agree with everything the Ministry does nor do I always agree with The Guild Council. For example officially The Council is wary of this new relationship with the Ministry. We are not ignorant of what has been happening in your world especially recently, and frankly we are a little suspicious that having severed our relationship so abruptly in 1945 the Ministry is now so keen to resume it again. I trust Dumbledore where many of my colleagues do not, however I would be most disappointed to be proved wrong if we are just being using as a convenient stopgap for your problems at Azkaban."

Snape regarded her with some suspicion. Her blunt comments were a surprise. Was this some ploy to gain his confidence or a frank admission of her views? He was cagey in his reply. "Madam, I am not aware of any ulterior motive in the Ministry requesting the Guild's services; and long experience has led me to trust Dumbledore's judgement". Even if his actions do not always immediately make sense he thought as an aside. "You are correct in surmising that my appointment is controversial but you should know that I have always done my duty regardless of my personal views."

The Guild Master smiled to herself, "Cautious as I expected Governor, but now we both think we know where we stand lets get down to real business. I know you are scheduled to leave for Azkaban in two days. I have the first team of Warders ready to leave for the prison tomorrow. I will accompany them and initially all Guild personnel will remain under my operational command as Chief Warder. When I'm satisfied you are ready to take over and the correct regimes are in place I will formally hand full control of prison personnel to yourself and gratefully remove myself from Azkaban back to Guild Headquarters. I foresee that this should take no more than six months as long as we are working towards the same goals."

As she finished Snape's sarcastic streak could no longer be tamed, "You seem to be so well prepared I am surprised that you feel the need to have a Governor at all".

She ignored his icy glare and laughed. "No Governor, Azkaban is after all a wizarding prison not a strictly Guild or muggle facility it is only right and proper that it has a wizard governor. As to my preparations you should be aware that the Guild runs several muggle prisons around the world and I have been working in that field for over 15 years. If I don't know my business by now it would be a very sad state of affairs."

Snape raised his eyebrows, "Well it seems that all the preparations have been made and I will see you on my arrival at Azkaban". He raised his glass to the Guild Master and wryly proposed a toast, "To our successful collaboration".

The Guild Master raised her glass in heartfelt reply but felt a niggling doubt that had pursued her from the start of what she now privately called the 'Azkaban Situation'. None of this was going to go as smoothly as they hoped she only prayed that she emerged intact from the end of this.