Chapter Ten

Through the Looking Glass

After nearly a month on the job, Jacqueline fancied herself an expert... although in reality, she was nowhere near as fast as Sally. Jackie still got too caught up in conversations with the patrons, especially the regulars who made it a habit to eat there at least one night a week. A few of them ate there nearly every night.

There was little doubt that working was the happiest time of her remembered life… it was the rest of her life she would have done without. The dates she had gone on with Mark had been rather disasters so far; first at the movies (which ended up putting her to sleep and the smell of the popcorn made her nauseous), and at the baseball game (which was even more boring and with less comfortable seating). Both had been followed by long walks that neither of them seemed to enjoy. Jacqueline couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Mark. He was trying so hard to get her attention and take care of her, and yet how could she let him think she felt differently and still be honest to herself?

Work was much easier to deal with, where the biggest crisis seemed to involve running out of coffee filters and occasional complaints of burgers not cooked to specification. There was also the incident where she warped Rob's favorite rubber spatula in the dishwasher. But all in all, it had been the least complicated part of her life.

An autumn cold front brought in a rainstorm. Quite a number of people hurried inside to get off the streets, seeking refuge in the warm shop. Sally was waiting the tables as usual, being more adept at keeping up with a crowd. Jacqueline was asked to look over the bar where it was easier for her to see all of the drinks at once. She didn't notice when an older woman in a tacky green coat and a blonde woman in a business suit came in; they were merely two more faces in the afternoon rush.

Emma, a rather small elderly woman who lived by herself in an apartment under theirs sat at the bar quite often. She typically asked for coffee and very little else… sometimes sitting there for hours on end. Sally thought it was out of loneliness and tolerated her constant presence, but Jacqueline noticed that anytime Rob was watching the front, he tended to run her out of coffee to get her to leave. Jacqueline didn't mind the extra companion, however, often topping her cup off before Emma had time to ask.

"Such wonderful service in here ever since you got this new girl. I hope you plan to keep her," Emma said.

"As long as I can," Sally agreed with a smile as she came to the counter to deliver the orders.

"So, what are you going to do with all this money you're bringing in now? Going to get a new place?" Emma inquired.

"I think she ought to get herself a new shrink," Rob said for the hundredth time.

"Now why in the world would you need a shrink? You don't seem like a nutcase to me," said Tony, sitting at the other end of the bar. "And believe me, in my work, I know nutcases. Never know who's going to get in the back of a cab until it's too late."

"Actually, I was thinking of saving up to go to school," Jacqueline admitted, clearing some plates.

"And study what?" he asked.

"A little bit of everything," Jacqueline said with a grin. "To catch up on what I might of known and forgot, or what I still know and just don't know I know it… or perhaps I will learn something new without even knowing it. Or maybe I'll study psychiatry to see if I can't find out why I am the way I am."

"Perhaps at school you can even meet someone new, someone interesting?" Emma hinted. Jacqueline turned and sighed at her.

"I wasn't intending on looking," Jacqueline said firmly. "Why would I want to do something like that when I still haven't figured out why I'm with the one I'm with?"

"Dear, if three months living with someone hasn't done it, you'll never figure him out," Emma chuckled. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. I never figured out my husband either, may he rest in peace."

"So how is Mark doin'? I heard the market took another plunge today," Tony asked.

"I don't know. He doesn't talk to me about money any more since he's discovered I have no interest in it," Jacqueline admitted. "He doesn't appear to be effected, though."

"You talk about him as if you were seeing him from a distance," Emma put in.

"Oh, we talk in the mornings before he goes to work, and on Friday nights," Jacqueline said, putting a new coffee filter in. "You do want me to work this Friday, don't you?"

"It's the only day you have off this week, Jacqueline," Sally sighed.

"I'd work it for free if you let me," Jacqueline pleaded. But Rob had the order up and Sally hurried to get them to the tables.

"Just once more to the top, Jacqueline dear," Emma said. "It is such a cold night, isn't it?"

Everyone realized just how true that was as the door was blasted back by the wind the moment someone had attempted to open it. Jacqueline knew who it was just from the loud groan from Rob behind her. She turned with a forced smile on her face as Doctor Erascus came in, his coat drenched but his hair strangely untouched. No one ever had been able to explain how he did that.

"A booth," he said, "Near the back, preferably clean this time," he told Sally. "Good evening Jacqueline, have you had your break yet?"

"Actually, I was just going to skip it, but thanks for asking," Jacqueline said, cleaning a recently vacated part of the counter.

"'Actually,'" Erascus said almost mockingly back, "there are labor laws that require that you have a break when you work a certain amount of hours whether you want to or not. And I would like a brief word with you, if you don't mind."

There was a loud banging noise from the back room as Rob pounded viciously at a tenderloin steak with a meat mallet. Emma got up and left a half a cup of coffee sitting there as she put a plastic bonnet over her hair, staring at Erascus coolly as she passed by.

"Reminds me about what I was sayin' earlier," Tony said before shoveling his dinner in his mouth. Jacqueline looked questioningly at Sally who reluctantly nodded. Jackie took off her company apron and set it aside, taking two cups of coffee with her and sitting down across from Erascus.

"So what exactly have I done this time?" Jacqueline asked. He would hardly have come in for a social call. Immediately he took out a pill bottle and set it on the table, the single pill in it rattling as he set it down.

"Do you know what this is, Jacqueline?"

"One of my night pills?" Jacqueline said slowly.

"Yes, Mark handed it to me. Considering that I only give you seven of them and we have our appointment once a week, how do you explain that you have one left over?"

"Look, I came home late last Monday and was so tired I forgot to take it," Jacqueline said. "What's the big deal? It's only one pill and it's not like they're helping."

"Jacqueline, your inability to remember dreams is directly connected with your condition, and this pill works over an extended period of time. Haven't I made it clear to you that if you miss one, even one, that it can prolong how long it takes before it can become effective? Just because you don't see progress doesn't mean the pill isn't working. But if you keep skipping as you do, you'll never get your memories back. Is that clear?"

"Yes," Jacqueline said, feeling her temperature start to rise. But for once it wasn't aimed at Erascus. "I'll be more careful in the future."

"You had better," Erascus warned her. "If you can't stay on your medication, I will go to the state and make them fully aware that I find you in no condition to work until you begin to pay attention to your own health concerns. I'll see you in a few days. Let's hope it's not sooner," he said. Briskly he got up and left, nearly every head in the café watching as the strange man stormed out.

Jacqueline growled and looked at her watch before storming over to the phone, waiting impatiently for Mark to pick up the phone.

"Hello?"

"How come you went and told Erascus that I missed a pill? He came down here and blew another gasket because of it," Jacqueline snapped.

"Oh come on Jackie, don't be mad at me because of that. I was merely concerned."

"Then take it up with me instead of that rat bastard you make me see!" Jacqueline snapped. "You know for someone who wanted to renew this relationship, you sure don't seem to trust me much. In fact, I think you're more loyal to that Norman Bates that just walked out of here than you are to me. If you want to see any improvement at all, I expect you should start readjusting your thinking a bit." Jacqueline slammed down the phone, and most of the people at the bar began clapping loudly. She turned and blushed bright red, realizing just how loud she had been and excused herself, heading to the back room to wash her hands.

The old woman and businesswoman looked at each other as if consulting each other's thoughts on what had just happened, and then discreetly left after paying their bill.

Severus frowned at the letter in his hand, leaning back in the chair behind the desk of the Headmaster's Study. So Xavier's father Damon was coming to the first Quidditch game to watch and wanted to talk to Severus afterwards. There could be little doubt as to what the subject would be. He mused over it a moment, wondering if a meeting between Damon and Boulderdash would be prudent or a bomb waiting to explode.

"Appointment with Boulderdash the next conference we're both free, preferably before the game. If not, then after dinner before the game," Severus decided. A moment later the appointment book put in an entry. "And remind me that I am to meet Damon Platt during the Ravenclaw-Slytherin game, not that I'm truly likely to forget."

It was a game Severus was definitely not looking forward to, and not just because of Damon Platt. It would it have been bad enough that it was Aurelius' and Alex's games, and to be pitted against each other would sure to set whomever lost off on the other. Considering the strength of the Slytherin team, it was most likely Alex in that losing position. He frowned again, knowing how rough his team could get. Perhaps he could talk them into playing clean during his visit before the game? No, that would be too obvious, he brooded. Besides, he did want Slytherin to win, didn't he?

There was a knock on the door and Minerva slipped in, a rather strange expression on her face. She cleared her throat, handing him a note.

"What's that?" Severus asked, reaching for it.

"It's a parental notice of detention about your son, actually," Minerva said with a thin smile.

"And just what did Aurelius do this time?" Severus snapped, wondering why she hadn't come to him about it.

"I was referring to your other son," Minerva said dryly. "He made the mistake of mentioning to Halbert that you kept Pegasi in the barn. Halbert talked him into going to pet them… without, of course, informing Sagittari, who had just settled in a pair of baby Cat-of-Ninetails he had gotten on loan from the Tower Menagerie. I hear it took several hours to round up all the animals that rampaged out of the pen."

"My son the Gryffindor," Severus said with a sigh.

"Finally sinking in, is it?" she asked with amusement.

"Jennifer always liked Gryffindors," Severus murmured, staring at the unopened letter for a moment before pocketing it.

"Mm hm. And Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs," Minerva agreed. "Although in some ways I think she likes Slytherin most of all, or she wouldn't have married you. I remember when she first came here and she told me she preferred 'characters' over 'normal' people. She's rather like Dumbledore in that way, I think. Always interested in getting more out of life, no matter where it takes her." Severus took out his watch, opening it to stare at the second hand as it ticked its way around. "Wherever she is, I'm sure she's still fighting for that," she said quietly.

"Would she be? If she has lost her memories, would she know to fight?" Severus asked in a low voice.

"She's a Craw," Minerva reminded him with a soft smile. "Not much out there that can thin that blood." She was glancing curiously at the appointment book that was quickly scribbling in an entry and Severus' eyes followed, reading it. "What is it?"

"Emergency meeting with Vallid, Audi, and Anna," Severus said, standing up.

"Goodness, do you think they found something? I had better go escort them up," Minerva said.

"Don't bother, I'm coming as well," Severus said, the two of them hurried down the stairs.

Vallid, Audi, and Anna had barely made it to the school gate when Minerva and Severus came out, walking over to meet them.

"Looks like Severus and Minerva are starting to pick up some of Dumbledore's old tricks," Audi mused as they got closer.

"Well?" Severus said impatiently. "Have you found something?"

"We definitely have, thanks to Vallid and Anna here," Audi agreed.

"And?"

"She seems all right for the moment," Audi assured him.

"What do you mean for the moment? Where is she? Why didn't you bring her here?" Severus snapped.

"Why don't we go inside and get comfortable," Vallid suggested. "We're going to need to have a long chat."

But it wasn't long after tea was brought out and nearly everyone had settled into chairs that Severus began pacing the floor.

"Calm down, son. Take a seat," Audi suggested.

"No, and stop trying to get me to relax! It's doing exactly the opposite," Severus snapped at them.

"We noticed," Anna said dryly.

"There's not going to be an easy way to do this," Vallid told Audi and stirred her tea. "We might as well just say it and get it over with since he already suspects the truth."

"Which truth?" Severus demanded.

"The most logical one," Audi sighed. "Severus, Jennifer's been subjected to a severe casting of the Obliviation Curse."

Severus stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Audi.

"How severe?"

"If what I was able to read from her was true, I'd say nearly complete," Audi said. "I don't think I need to tell you what the chances are of her making a full recovery. Even if she had an extensive Pensive, it wouldn't be enough to fill the gaps."

"The memories she keeps in her Pensieve would be the last ones we'd want her to have," Severus said in a voice so low that it was almost a whisper. "Where is she now?"

"She's in New York City," Vallid said. "A Muggle doctor was able to tip us off to where she was. I sent Audi and Anna to check on her since I'm a bit too well known in New York to get away with going anywhere in human form, and I can't Truth Seek well in my other."

"Wait. You left her there?" Severus said with disbelief.

"Severus, she's been given a new identity and new life…"

"By the same person who did this to her!" he snapped at Audi.

"That doesn't change the problem. It only complicates it," Anna said, stepping in front of Severus. "Severus, she has been living as a whole different person for over three months now, mentally conditioned by those who put her there in the first place into believing herself a typical Muggle with a normal life. If we go in and try to drag her out of there right now it'll completely traumatize her, and you can forget any chance however remote of her ever recovering." Severus stared at her for a long time before slowly sitting down.

"I believe Anna is right," Vallid said gently, sitting down across from him. "Right now, she's only Jacqueline Cassius, a bright but anxious girl working in a small café in New York. If we want to find Jennifer and get her out of there, we have to go through Jacqueline. We have to get her to challenge what she's been told and realize that she's not where she's supposed to be. Only when she realizes that will we be able to safely get her out of there."

"Of course, if her 'friends' who are taking care of her catch on that we're onto them, we may put her into another sort of danger," Anna sighed. "They may run and try to hide her somewhere else, condition her to believe that somehow we're the enemy, or perhaps even kill her."

"If they wanted her dead, they would have already done it by now," Severus said quietly. "What they've done is more than that. They've destroyed everything she ever was and what she stood for. And I assure you, before this is over I am going to have all their heads."

"Fine," Vallid agreed seriously. "But before you pull the Thomas Craw on us, you not only have a job to do here, but someone has to go over there and start making her realize there's more to her life than what she's been told."

"Wait a minute, Lunette. If the people responsible for this is doing it to get to Severus, he might just be walking into a trap," Anna said. "Maybe we should send someone else."

"We could," Vallid said with a shrug, "but he's already made up his mind. He wants to see her for himself." Audi, Anna, and Minerva gazed over at him thoughtfully, but didn't say a word.

Minerva sat by the chessboard set up in Severus' sitting room, studying it thoughtfully when the clock struck eight. She yawned softly at how late it had gotten and tried to turn her attention back to her next move when Severus came out looking quite entirely unlike himself. She couldn't help but be slightly amused by it as he glanced over his appearance, then at Minerva through the mirror.

"Well?"

"Well, you definitely do not look like a Snape," she said, trying to keep a straight face. "Don't you think the glasses are a bit much?"

"The glasses are real," Severus snarled.

"I beg your pardon?" Minerva said with complete interest.

"The glasses are real and if you tell another living soul, I shall tell everyone about that embarrassing business with Filch when you were teenagers. I merely wear them for small print and have no intention of it becoming public knowledge."

"So all those headaches you've been having the last few years haven't been all stress?"

"Just nearly all of it has been," Severus snapped.

"Well, you are almost fifty-one…"

"Don't you think there are more important things to discuss?" Severus interrupted venomously. "Anna wants me to be cautious the first few visits. I plan to merely go there and make myself known to her and make sure she's not in any immediate danger. If for some reason I need to be longer than that, I'll send an owl, but as long as she seems safe, I'll be back here and catch a short nap before class."

"You mean you're still planning to keep your full schedule? Aren't you putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on yourself?" Minerva frowned. Severus sighed, leaning on one of the chairs for support.

"There's no helping that now. If I left, it would be obvious to anyone watching the school that I was gone, and it's very possible considering the circumstances that there may be more involved this little conspiracy than we know about. The board would have to be told that I was taking a leave since I'm on administrative, and we would not be able to provide them with a simple reason as to why. On top of all of that, Damon Platt wants to speak with me about our goblin Librarian at the game on Sunday, a game which both of my oldest children are in."

"I wish Dumbledore would get back," Minerva admitted worriedly. "Pyther sent for him weeks ago and hasn't had word since."

"Then we'll just assume that we'll see him on Halloween," Severus said, brushing off his cloak. He shook it with a snap and it immediately turned into a tweed jacket that he slipped over his shoulders. "I must look as old as I feel in this Muggle attire," Severus sighed. "How will she see me, now that she no longer knows me?"

"Well Severus, did you marry her, or just her memories?"

"I'm not sure I know any more," he admitted, taking one last look in mirror before turning towards the door.