Snape was slouched in a chair in a dark waiting room at St. Mungo's. He had flicked on a few lights, but given his current mindset he wanted nothing more than to sit in darkness. The events of the evening had brought more than a few uncomfortable memories to the surface of his mind- ones which he would have preferred remained buried.
Now he was away from Kate, and away from the ghastly dark building, small snapshots of memories kept flashing into his mind...
A woman, screaming, and a man, shouting... A small boy, crying in a corner... A teenager, finally trying to defend himself...
He firmly shoved the thoughts from his mind, and tried to focus on the present, but still, they kept rising. He refused to think on them.
He shifted irritably in his seat and went to adjust his cloak- then remembered that he wasn't wearing it. Kate had been whisked away from him the moment he had set foot in the hospital and he had been pointed towards the waiting room and been told to, well-wait, presumably for Dumbledore. Snape knew that he would be turning up at some point- the question was, how long was he going to have to wait?
He drummed his fingers for a few seconds, before springing up from his chair. He paced the waiting room, flicking his hair from his eyes every few minutes.
Irritating threads of thoughts kept pushing their way into his consciousness. He stopped mid-stride and stood still in the middle of the dark room. He called upon every single ounce of Occlumency skill that he possessed, and, frustrated, tried to clear and calm his turbulent mind. A few minutes were all it took for him to realise that the exercise was futile.
Severus Snape turned sharply and strode out of the waiting room. His feet clicked softly on the floor of the corridor as he strode quickly along the hallways lit only by a few flickering torches. He found his way to a brightly-lit area, and, crossing it diagonally, he came to a nurse's station that was being manned by a somewhat bored-looking witch.
"Can I help you?" She didn't looking up from the patient file she appeared to be reading.
"I've come to make an enquiry about a patient," replied Severus, biting back a sarcastic remark with great difficulty. He was not in the mood for idiocy.
"And which patient would that be, Sir?" She was filing her nails now, and Severus noticed that she was chewing gum. He also noted that a trashy magazine had been concealed behind the file.
"Miss Katharine Jane Johnson." He gritted his teeth against cursing her.
"And what connection do you have with her?" she drawled, only half-interested.
"I am the one who brought her in; I am one of her Professors." Snape glanced at the witch. "Is there anything you can tell me?"
The witch glanced down at her notes, popped a bubble, and then spoke. "Miss Johnson has been treated and is expected to recover. Orders have been given by..." she flicked to a different page in her notes, "Albus Dumbledore to only let certain people to be informed of her progress. What is your name, please?"
"Severus Snape." He was fast losing patience.
"Miss Johnson is in the Chimeus Ward on the seventh floor, in private room three. There is a note from Professor Dumbledore recommending that you go up to see her."
Snape inclined his head, turned, and stalked away across the brightly-lit space. He strode into the lift, and ordered it to the seventh floor. He sighed; glad to be away from that irksome witch. Why couldn't they employ intelligent people? Severus pulled up his Occlumency skills again, and, this time, they seemed to work a little.
By the time he reached the seventh floor, he felt a little calmer, and so he strode along the corridor until he came across Kate's room. He slipped through the protective ward Dumbledore had placed around the room, and stood just in front of the closed door.
