Chapter Eight

Severus on Steam

It had become an exact science… everything precisely to the letter. Severus had all the class plans and journals categorized neatly in the most efficient manner possible, each class day laid out weeks in advance. Tests, even the surprise ones, were written in scroll form and hidden neatly away from the prying eyes of students, waiting to be pulled out in a moment's notice at a change in plans or temperament.

Everything in the office was that way; tools stored with exact precision, his personal potion and ingredient shelf labeled better than the Potion lab, and equipment either carefully put away or waiting at the ready in corners of the room, dust-free. Books were categorized first by subject then by author, packed neatly together, some with cloth bookmarks folded within. There was little doubt that any book disturbed by anyone other than the professor's hands would be noticed immediately… were any souls brave enough to try. Even the room itself was deathly still, as if the castle knew better than to bother Severus Snape when he was working.

As he bent over his desk to move a candle a bit closer to his book, a stringy strand of hair fell across his face, and he realized for the first time that day that he'd forgotten to brush his hair and pull it back that morning. He combed it back with his hand, scowling with pure annoyance at even becoming distracted with such unimportant trivialities, pouring over his studies again.

But it wasn't long before he was interrupted by a soft knock and he waved his wife in without bothering to look up. She shook her head at him from where she stood near the door, sighing and closing it.

"So this is where you've been all morning, or should I say all day since it's afternoon now," Jennifer said in a taunting, almost playful tone.

"And if you had bothered to have looked at your watch, I'm sure it would have cleared up the mystery for you," he said evenly back.

"Well, I happened to have overslept for some odd reason," Jennifer said coyly. "Though you look as if you slept all night in your robes. Of course, I know better. How much sleep did you get, anyhow?"

"To be honest, I got up not long after you fell asleep," Severus admitted. "I found myself thinking about that chat with Arthur we had when we visited the children yesterday. There is something significant about all of these diamonds being the exact same size and cut. They must be a part of a bigger piece, somehow, one that was destroyed, or perhaps disassembled. I didn't find anything in my books that would have fit and decided to research some of these more ancient texts."

"Did you forget that Quidditch tryouts were today? Oh, really, Severus, you should have gotten some rest, considering," Jennifer said with exasperation.

"I didn't forget, I assure you. I'm not at all tired yet. I should be good until the evening," he said, still not looking up from his book. Suddenly he realized that it had gotten altogether too quiet. He looked up to see that Jennifer, who had been in a splendid mood just a few minutes before was now glaring at him icily.

"Well, don't be late to tryouts. I'd hate to have to make excuses for you. I'm going to lunch," Jennifer said and opened the door.

"No need to get impatient. I'm nearly done," Severus said, wondering what in the world had set her off this time, reaching for his wriggling golden snake bookmark.

"Oh, don't trouble yourself, Severus. If this research couldn't even wait a day, I'm sure it's not worth sacrificing the time it'd take to eat with me," Jennifer said curtly, slamming the door behind her.

Severus stared at the door in bewilderment. Whose idea was it to stay on this case anyhow? In fact, he remembered attempting to talk her out of getting involved. He sighed in frustration. Well, he hardly had time to unravel the emotional turns of the feminine mind at the moment. Besides, he knew Jennifer well enough to know that whatever had set her off was bound to cool off eventually and it usually worked to his advantage to steer clear of her until she did. Marking his place, Severus grabbed the book and walked out to the Quidditch Pitch.

All of the candidates were already organizing by the time he got there, and he couldn't help but snort at some of the younger players who looked to be tripping over their brooms in mid-air. The older students didn't look so out of place, but of course, there were much less of those; there was nothing like the humiliating experiences from tryouts to keep the more pathetic broom 'riders' from coming back year after year.

He glanced past the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff crowd and straight to the far end where the Slytherin team gathered beside a small group of spectators. The captain of the team was leaning against the wall between the pitch and the stands, chatting with the crowd and pointing out a few he thought might have some promise. But then Severus was taken slightly off guard, squinting at the stands with suspicion. For there among his house students were two Ravenclaws…Alex and Mandria. Mandria at least had the decency to look out of place. But Alex was busy chatting with the others nonstop with a completely comfortable composure as if every student there had been the oldest of friends. They nudged her when Severus came near, and she hid her reflexive grimace with a smile, waving slightly.

"Since when do we harbor spies from other houses, Platt?" Severus asked the captain expressionlessly.

"I invited them, Professor," Xavier Platt said without hesitation. "After all, their team has no openings this year, and it isn't as if that team couldn't possibly threaten ours in any case."

"Our greatest threat, Platt, is misjudging whether or not there is a threat," Severus said testily, eyeing the two girls warily. "However, I doubt any first year can truly appreciate the fact that no team has defeated Slytherin for the Quidditch Cup in quite some years. Whatever information such inexperienced eyes may pass on would be knowledge easily gathered by any spectator at our first game which, I believe, happens to be against Ravenclaw," he added with a thin smile. Alex and Mandria frowned at him but knew better than to say a word as Severus nodded to Platt and the two of them walked away from the wall.

"I have it on good authority that we should keep an eye on the Gryffindor team this year, as our source suspects it'll be our greatest challenge," Severus told him in a low voice.

"You're joking, right? With Thorny Bailey on the team and that slipshod Gaffney as captain?" Platt said, grinning in disbelief.

"Let's just say our source doesn't share your certainty. In fact, she's of the opinion that if they find another Chaser who can match your speed, we may be in for a challenge, and I personally believe that perhaps Donovan won't be so cocky a Seeker after eating so much dirt last year. So when you're looking for that prestigious seventh we need to fill, look for a Seeker with enough wit to turn their flaws against them."

"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Platt nodded respectfully, glancing over the candidates critically.

"Yes, and there's one other thing I want you to keep in mind as well," Severus said quietly. "Miss Snape may be a Ravenclaw, but she is still a Snape. I will be watching her, as well as anyone who is around her."

"Oh, don't worry about that, sir. I'll help you keep an eye on things," Platt said solemnly.

Severus frowned slightly, nodding a dismissal. As Platt walked back towards the others, Severus quietly debated if Platt's misunderstanding of the warning was intentional, or if he was beginning to lose his touch. He sighed with irritation, climbing the stands to find a quiet place to sit and study his book. It was difficult to get into the ancient writing when there was so much going on, and just as he finally found his place and began to get absorbed in reading again he heard a loud series of shouts coming from the other side of the Pitch.

"Now what?" he muttered to himself, setting aside his book and standing to see what was going on. It wasn't long before Platt came up beside him on his broom.

"It's those Gryffindors again," Platt said as Severus hurried back down to the field. "If they get in a wand fight on the Pitch, do they get kicked off the team?" he asked hopefully.

"If I have anything to say about it, they will," Severus muttered, running over to see what was going on.

The two boys had already been pulled apart from each other by the other Gryffindors, as well as half the Hufflepuff team, who had flown down to help out. It was Donovan and Gaffney… Stewart Gaffney. His younger brother Theodore was standing between the two of them with his eyes closed, just in case they broke away from the mass holding them back.

Severus couldn't help but be disappointed when he realized that neither of them had pulled a wand. Instead, Donovan, it seemed, was sporting a black eye, and a broom, apparently Gaffney's, lay in two pieces near his feet.

"Just what do you think this is, a barnyard brawl? What is the meaning of this?" Severus snapped loudly, looking between to the two boys who glared at each other silently. "Who started this? Well?"

"Sir, Conner broke Stewart's broom because…" Rose hesitated then as the rest of the team, including both Conner and Stewart hissed at her. Severus, who had nearly told her to mind her own business, couldn't help but become interested at the reaction of the others.

"Yes, Miss Bailey?"

"Nothing, sir," she said quietly, trying to avoid looking directly at him, glancing at Stewart.

"I hardly think a student would damage another student's property without reason. Well, Donovan? What's your explanation for this? Don't just stand there. Answer me! This bravado won't get you anywhere but in detention!" Severus snapped.

"Professor Snape! Excuse me, please!"

Severus looked up and stifled an instinctual groan as he saw Minerva rushing across the pitch to meet them, dodging students in effort to get into the middle of the situation.

"It's all right, Professor Snape, I'll handle this, they are my students, after all," Minerva insisted, avoiding his gaze just as intently as Rose had been. "Up to my office! Both of you! And the rest of the team too, you'll just have to finish tryouts later. March!"

"One moment, Professor. I was in charge of supervising try-outs today…" Severus said, stepping between the two boys and the exit.

"Yes, and I can see you were doing a splendid job of it," Minerva retorted quickly.

"It's still mine to deal with, since I am in charge of…"

"And I am in charge of this team, Severus, and if there's something going on in it that needs to be remedied by replacing a student or two, then it's mine to deal with, not yours," Minerva said. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd rather see to this as quickly as possible. I'm sure you have plenty enough to see to here, and I'm sure any other concerns you have we can discuss it with Dumbledore later," she said, working herself and her students around Severus the entire time.

"Yes, I'm sure we will," Severus scowled, folding his arms as she watched her lead them off.

It had been a long time since Minerva McGonagall had jumped in on him like that when he tried to discipline a student. It was also entirely evident that something was going on that they didn't want him to find out about. Turning around, he saw everyone was looking curiously at Minerva and then warily back at him.

"What are you looking at? Get back to what you were doing!" he snarled at them. "And if there are any further disruptions from any others, they're going to find themselves ordered off the Pitch! You can work out your teams off the field!"

The students scurried off to their teams, careful not to turn their backs on him right away. There he stood for the rest of the afternoon, glaring at anyone who came near enough to meet his gaze. He was completely unaware that behind him two girls had been hopping stands and found the book he had left there.

"Look at this! It looks old!" Alex said picking it up, reading the title, "Encounters with Elves and Those Who Survived Them. What an odd title."

"What language is that?" Mandria asked. Alex looked at her in confusion for a moment then blushed slightly.

"Oh well it's uh, one of the ancient texts, you know. My father taught me how to read some of them," she improvised, flipping through it. If Aurelius only knew…

"That's right, I remember now. Professor Snape had a book with him when he came down here, didn't he? Oughtn't we return it?" Mandria suggested.

"What, with the snit he must be in now over that fist fight?" Alex said. "Not bloody likely. Besides, I'm rather curious to why he was reading it."

"Maybe he was reading just to read," Mandria suggested, watching Alex slip the book in her robe.

"No, this is not the sort of thing he reads for leisure," Alex said. As Severus had turned to bark at a Hufflepuff second year that had flown dangerously close to his head, Alex and Mandria slipped inside.

After what seemed like an eternity, the teams began to break up for dinner and Severus took out his pocket watch. Jennifer had given it to him many years ago when he was constantly worried about her safety, during a time when both have them had been attempting to deny the fact they were coming to care for each other. At the moment, she was in Minerva's office, but whether on business or for dinner Severus wasn't quite sure. She hadn't mentioned anything to him about it, he mused, but she did leave rather abruptly. He glanced at his ring distractedly. Her mood, it seemed, still had an edge of frustration to it.

He then decided he was probably better off eating in his sitting room, especially considering what little sleep he had. He could use his remaining time awake to finish what he had been working on before the fight… he suddenly stopped short as he reached his hand in his cloak pocket, but nothing had found its way into his hand. The book!

Cursing himself for being so careless, Severus turned back down the stairs towards the pitch, scouring the entire area in a futile attempt to recover it. Well, whoever might have picked it up couldn't have taken it very far. A student wouldn't have left the campus, and a professor would soon return it. A student would also not have much reason to keep it either considering the language it was in, so it was bound to turn up.

A headache was coming on, and he felt his nerves begin to fray as he became aware of his growing exhaustion. Sighing in resignation, he glanced at his watch and went to meet his wife in her sitting room. She was busy at work on the next day's classes, glancing up and giving him a hard, steady look that plainly indicated she was trying to read him.

"Sorry I'm late. I misplaced the book I was reading," Severus muttered.

"That's rather unlike you, isn't it? Didn't you borrow that book from Witolf?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes and yes, but it'll wait until tomorrow. I'm going to turn in early," Severus said tiredly, hanging up his cloak.

"Just like that?" Jennifer asked with irritation. Severus gazed at her thoughtfully.

"You know, it's been quite a long day, so would you mind telling me exactly what it is that has been bothering you, and without the games, if you don't mind? Preferably before the potion wears off."

"Potion? What potion?" Jennifer asked with surprise.

"The Wakefulness dose I took yesterday," Severus said impatiently. "I'd think that would have been obvious."

"Why did you take one of those for?" Jennifer demanded.

"You're the Truth Seeker, I'm sure you can figure it out," Severus said, getting tired of the interrogation. More than that, he was just quite tired in general. Jennifer suddenly turned sympathetic, making an unusual fuss over seeing Severus to their room and comfortably settled. But before Severus could manage to get in a word edgewise, a knock sounded on the door and Jennifer hurried to answer it.

"I am so terribly sorry, Jennifer," Severus heard Minerva's voice from the next room. "But something just came up and the Ministry is wanting to know if you both can come right away."

"Not another death?" Jennifer said sounding distressed.

"Damon Howell, the current Minister of Artifacts," Minerva answered in a lower voice. "But the murderer didn't get what they were looking for, at least not all of it…Arthur says they have one of the diamonds."

"I'm coming," Jennifer said immediately, turning to grab her cloak. Severus wasted no time, hurrying into the room and putting on his cloak before Jennifer had turned around. She stared at him with the same surprised look he had given her a few moments before, frowning disapprovingly. "You're not honestly coming along, are you?"

"Am I right in hearing that Arthur asked for both of us?" Severus asked Minerva, who nodded, looking curiously at Jennifer. "Then it's settled. Let's be off."

"But Severus, you really ought…"

"You're not going without me, so either we're both going or neither of us are going. Now are we going, or aren't we?" Severus said, walking out the door.

Jennifer hesitated only for a moment before following behind, closing the door. Well, Severus should know his own limits by now, Jennifer decided, and there seemed to be little helping it, considering how much depended on getting their hands on one of those diamonds.