Visions in the Night Sky
Chapter 5: Flying Solo
Merewen was finding it hard to keep her concentration on the stack of assignments before her. She had been teaching all of Professor Snape's classes for nearly a week, and today she had been correcting for nearly two hours. Merewen put her quill back in the ink pot and looked up toward the windows. She wondered where Severus was. She hoped that he was safe. Most of all, she just wanted him to come home. The pressures of teaching all seven levels of potions class, keeping ahead of her lesson planning, procuring supplies and lab equipment, and correcting homework assignments was beginning to take its toll on Merewen but she trudged on, fighting to correct the last of the papers before she fell asleep at the desk in the potions classroom. Sixth year Lillandra Calendula's paper on the importance of Ministry standards regarding the quality of potion ingredients was the last thing Merewen saw before she dozed off.
When Professor Dumbledore poked his head into the potions classroom, part of him still expected to see Severus sitting there reviewing the day's lessons. Instead, he saw Snape's student teacher, diligent Merewen, fast asleep amid a stack of never-ending student papers. Beside the desk stood a small cart and within that were racks of tall skinny flutes containing the students' daily assignments. About three times a week, Merewen collected samples of the students' potions to examine and make sure that they were learning proper mixture and such.
Dumbledore chuckled softly. He remembered what it was like to be a young teacher. It wasn't easy. But then again, he had never been put in the precarious position that Merewen was in right now. Merewen had been forced to become a full time professor overnight, quite literally going from student to teacher in one leap. He also wondered how Merewen was faring emotionally. He had spoken to Severus several days before, and he knew that Severus was falling for his pretty protégé. He knew that Severus had kissed her, but he also knew that the night Severus left Hogwarts, Merewen had burst into the courtyard crying his name and professing her love in return. She hadn't even seen Dumbledore in the window high above the courtyard.
Tiptoeing up to the desk, Dumbledore rested his hand on Merewen's shoulder, waking her from her exhausted slumber.
"Professor Dumbledore," Merewen murmured. "What are you doing here?"
"I came down to check on you. You've grown a bit distant in the past week, Miss Capenum, and I wished to see that you were taking good care of yourself." Merewen smiled as she lifted her weary head.
"You of all people know, Professor, that it's a difficult if not impossible task to be a good teacher and take good care of one's self," Merewen replied. Dumbledore smiled again. There was truth to her words, but it didn't make it correct.
"It's nearly ten o'clock, Merewen. Perhaps you should let these papers correct themselves for a while," said Dumbledore, charming her quill to correct the papers for her. Merewen smiled even wider.
"Thank you, Professor," Merewen said, standing slowly to avoid cracking her joints. Merewen allowed the headmaster to escort her back to her quarters and then she stood inside her door until he was well out of sight. She locked the door and melted to the floor, weeping quietly. Where was Severus when she needed him?
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Severus was thinking very nearly the same thing miles away, his head pressed against the cold, unforgiving ground. The outbreak of rebel death eaters proved to be tougher adversaries than he once thought, and Severus found himself laying in wait for an approaching group to pass him so that he could surprise them from behind. His attempt failed. They saw him and it was only a short run before they caught him. Severus' heart pounded as two of the black cloaked, masked death eaters held him against the nearest tree, his face roughly scratching against the bark. Severus could hear the approach of the third, feel the curve of his mouth as he grinned in malicious anticipation.
"You're the traitor," the third death eater said, producing his wand. "The Dark Lord will be pleased with this capture. But first, a little fun." Severus couldn't see it coming but he didn't have to. He felt it all the way to the core; from head to toe.
"Crucio!"
Severus awoke in St. Mungo's four days later, his head still pounding and his muscles still aching. The nurses there assured him he would be there a while. He tried to mutter something, but his vocal chords were still raw from screaming. No one had come to his aid until he was on the brink of death, and he had barely made the trip to St. Mungo's. There was little he could do except to lapse back into unconsciousness and wait for death to claim him. But something nagged inside him that told him he couldn't die yet. People were depending on him. People needed him. But there was only one person on Severus' mind before pain claimed his consciousness again. Merewen. Would she ever know how much he really loved her? At that moment, Severus decided that he had to live. If for nothing else but to see the shining green eyes of his own sweet Merewen again.
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Merewen lost herself in the rhythm of her work. Meriwether was now big enough to jump from the floor to Merewen's shoulder, and the students were preparing for their spring exams. More than ever, Merewen wished that Severus was here. She had begun to require more information than he had planned ahead for. She had never administered the standardized O.W.L and N.E.W.T. exams, nor had she ever written out the grade reports that would be owled home to the students families. This was all a great deal of work, and sometimes she indulged the pleading of Professor Dumbledore and allowed him to help her by doing some of the heavier work himself. Merewen didn't like to feel like she needed his help. She desperately wanted to prove that she was a capable professor, one who didn't need her hand held when it came to hard work. Professor McGonagall had several times reminded Merewen that even she sometimes lets Professor Dumbledore help her. She worked feverishly all the way through her eighth and ninth weeks of study.
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