My thanks to JessiokaFroka once again, for betareading.
Chapter Eighteen
TURMOIL
The new term began. Andi busied herself preparing lessons; stocktaking the school's musical instruments and filing manuscripts. Albus took the Potions classes for most of the time, but called upon the other teachers when he was unable.
Andi found the wait for news to be unbearable.
He had been gone just over three weeks when Albus sent messages via floo to the staff that there was to be an emergency meeting directly after lessons that day.
Andi felt sick and unable to concentrate on the last two lessons of the day. She sent the pupils away aware that she had no idea what work she had set them for the coming week. Had Albus received news of Severus? Is that what the meeting was about?
She was the first to arrive at the meeting, so nervous she couldn't sit. No one could tell her why they had been called.
Thinking she really would be sick, she pounced on Albus the moment he came through the door. He looked grave.
He took her hands and could obviously see what was on her mind. "Andrea, I would always tell you first if there was any news of Severus. This is not about him."
"Thank you," she sighed with relief.
"I think we are all assembled..."
"Minerva isn't here" said Sylvia.
"Minerva will not be joining us; she is all ready aware of the situation." Albus took a moment to collect himself. "There has been another murder."
The silence froze.
"Finolla Quinn was murdered this morning near the Quinn family home in Northumberland."
Quinn? Andi knew that name...
"Some of you teach her stepson, Jupiter."
Andi's heart quickened. Jupe Quinn? Little Jupe Quinn? Andi went cold.
"Minerva is with his father now. It seems that Mr. Quinn wishes to take his son home and we must honour that decision. Obviously a full investigation is underway, but there is little doubt who is responsible for this atrocity."
"What do we tell the students?" asked Dickie.
"It is imperative that, given her own mother's recent murder, Eloisa Lancaster is informed separately. Can I leave that in your hands, Poppy?"
Madam Pomfrey nodded sadly.
"I shall make an announcement at dinner. We must all be prepared for upset and distress amongst the students, but as far as possible, I wish the school to carry on as normal. We must try to keep up morale."
That night Andi lay in her bed and cried.
Jupe Quinn was such a sweet child. Her heart ached at the thought of him facing such horror, such distress. Her instinct was to go to him, put her arms around him, protect him, but who was she? Just another teacher from school. She could do nothing to help.
She sobbed into her pillow. Her fears for Severus only increased.
-
Ten days later, she was making her way to her rooms during a free lesson when Vincent caught up with her.
"Hello stranger, haven't seen you for a while" he said, pointedly.
"Oh, hello Vincent. No. I'm not very good company at the moment. I don't want to inflict myself on anyone."
"Don't give me that, Andrea Carver! I know you and Severus have been making up for lost time."
"What are you talking about?" She looked at him, completely bewildered.
"Oh, you play it so cool, Andrea. Don't tell me you two haven't been at it like rabbits down in that dungeon since he got back."
Andi stared at Vincent. What in God's name...? Severus was back? How did Vincent know this and not her?
"Excuse me..."
She ran down the stairs, almost tripping in her haste to get to the dungeons. She ran down the corridor and hammered on his door. It opened.
She spluttered her relief. There he was, in front of her. Safe.
"Severus!" she spluttered again. "You're back!"
"Evidently." He left the door and walked back into the room. Andi followed.
The room was a mess. Papers and books were scattered everywhere. Boxes and crates lined the edges of the room and it smelled musty.
"W..when did you get back?"
"Tuesday."
"But...but that was two days ago. Albus didn't say-"
"The Headmaster was unaware of my return."
"Why didn't you come and see me?"
He half turned to her. "As you can see, I am heavily burdened."
"Yes, I can appreciate, but all the same-"
"I apologise. I hadn't realised I was under obligation," he said, nastily.
It was as though he'd slapped her. She took a moment to recover. "I've been worried sick about you," she said shakily, tears springing to her eyes. "You could have let me known you were safe."
He turned away, searching through a pile of dusty, yellowing papers. "Now the evidence is before your eyes, you may rest easy. Do you not have a lesson to go to?"
"Sev-" she began, but at that moment a girl tapped on the open door.
"Professor Snape, the Headmaster wishes to see you in his office."
Without another look in Andi's direction, he swept out of the room. "Please be sure to lock my door behind you, Professor," he said, and disappeared down the corridor.
Andi stood in a daze, wondering what on earth had just happened.
Silently she did as requested and let herself out of the room, locking the door behind her with the charm they always used.
The last hour of the working day was due to be spent helping Poppy in the Hospital Wing. Andi made her way there, her steps heavy and ponderous.
"Are you quite well?" asked Poppy as Andi entered the ward.
"Yes," she answered, still dazed. "I'm feeling a little...I must be getting a bug or something." She couldn't possible tell Poppy of the turmoil she was feeling at her encounter with Severus.
What was he playing at? Didn't he realise she'd been living for news, unable to eat, literally sick with worry each torturous day he had been away from her?
Poppy was looking at her strangely. Andi knew she didn't believe her.
"To be honest," she said with a sigh. "I don't think I've gotten over the shock of the murder."
"Oh my goodness, no. Such a terrible thing. I cannot comprehend the evilness that... person...generates."
Andi looked at her. "Everyone seems to know who did it," she said.
"Well, isn't it obvious?"
"Not to me it isn't," Andi told her. "I'm new to the Wizard world, remember."
"My dear, this has all the markings of an attack by You-Know-Who." Poppy looked at her, knowingly.
"You've used that expression before," said Andi, feeling a little impatient with Poppy. "But I don't know who - tell me."
Poppy looked around, suspiciously. "Lord Voldemort," she whispered.
Voldemort? Voldemort? Andi had heard that name somewhere...
"But of course, not him personally. He would never stoop to soiling his hands with the murder of a mere Muggle. No. This murder was committed by one of his Death Eaters."
"Death Eaters?"
"His followers. That's what they are called - Death Eaters. They are despicable, evil filth that do his bidding. They destroy, violate, murder, without remorse. Even the lives of children are not safe... Andrea, are you sure you're quite well?"
Andi's head had begun to spin. Voldemort . Now she remembered. His name had been mentioned last July. He was the person who could be a danger to her; he was the reason she had to have wizard protection whenever she left the Castle. Albus had mentioned that Severus used to be in Voldemort's employment, but surely he couldn't have meant...
"Poppy," she said, slowly. "How does one recognise a Death Eater?"
Madam Pomfrey looked up quickly, her face suddenly very red. "Um...well...I'm sure..."
"Do they, by any chance, have a mark burned into their left arm?"
"Oh, my dear - I am so sorry. I really didn't mean..." Poppy looked mortified. "Please don't think...Severus is no longer..."
"It's all right, Poppy. I didn't hear it from you, OK? But I have to go..."
Her head pounding, her whole body shaking with what was probably shock, she made her way back down to the dungeons. She encountered no one. All the students were at their lessons.
She let herself into his room and waited for his return.
She cleared a space on the sofa and sat.
She got up and wandered around, occasionally glancing at the paperwork or books littering the room.
She sat at the table.
All the while her insides were churning, her frame shaking, the blood pounding in her ears.
She was standing by the fireplace when eventually the door opened. She turned to him, his surprise at finding her there evident.
"You have been here all the time?" He came into the room and threw two rolls of parchment on the table.
"No. I came back. I need to ask you something."
He picked up a small pile of books from the sofa and, glancing at the spines, put them down on top of others on the table. "Indeed?"
There was silence. Andi didn't quite know how to ask her question. He glanced up at her, his eyebrows raised sarcastically. "Am I required to guess what it is?"
"Erm. This person...the one who wants you dead..." She began, and saw his eyes narrow. "He's responsible for the murder, isn't he? Of killing Finolla Quinn?"
He said nothing.
"And the other murder, during the summer - Eloisa Lancaster's mother." She looked at him.
He busied himself around the room.
"They say he doesn't do his own killing. That he gets his 'Death Eaters' to do it for him-"
"Is there a point to this?"
"You have his mark. You were a Death Eater, weren't you?"
He stopped and turned his head slowly to look at her. She shivered inwardly at the coldness in his eyes.
"I...I don't believe you would ever do any of the things they do." She paused. She swallowed. "Severus, please tell me you never did anything like that."
"In your own words, I am not the same man who took the Mark" he said, his face expressionless.
"And I still believe that, but I feel we need to get certain things out in the open. I need to know-"
"What do you need to know?" he snapped, suddenly. "That yes, I was a Death Eater, and yes, I followed orders to commit atrocities? Would that satisfy your idle curiosity?"
"Curiosity!" she said, incredulously. "I'm not asking this out of idle curiosity! I think I'm entitled-"
"To hear me deny or admit to that? Well, think again. I fail to see how you are entitled to anything."
She was breathing fast and shallow. Hot from the fear and anger rising inside her. She closed her eyes and steadied herself before repeating,
"I think I am entitled to know who I share a bed with."
The sentence hung between them as they stared at each other.
"Forgive me," he said, coldly, "if I decline. I have no intention of sharing anything more with you."
Her blood ran cold at the implication of his words. "What...what are you saying?" she said, thickly.
"I should have thought that was obvious." He moved to the door.
Andi was stunned. "Severus...I wasn't trying to imply... I didn't mean..." But he continued to look at her with no emotion in his eyes at all, until she finally blurted out, incredulous "Is...is that it, then? We're finished? Because you're too cowardly to share your past with me?" Tears tumbled from her eyes as he turned to face her, his hand on the doorknob.
"No. Because you are too cowardly to accept me without it."
An involuntary sob escaped her. He looked at her, disdainfully.
"I beg, do not distress yourself. Our arrangement was, after all, merely a convenient outlet for sexual frustration. Please lock the door when you leave." He walked out.
Andi didn't remember the journey back to her rooms. She suddenly found herself in bed, her face sodden with tears, her body shivering in shock, and her heart breaking.
Helena Oe - thank you for your encouraging words. Your reviews always make me feel good.
Kerichi - No. No homage. Unfortunately this dull mind couldn't come up with anything more original for Snape's ancestral home. (btw - I advise you to stock up on the chocolate).
Intelligent Witch - Thanks for your review. The crypt is the underground chamber used for burial in Snape Towers.
Josie - Were you jumping in your seat as you wrote your last review? I kinda pictured you doing it!
Thouandl - Ah, but the thing you should remember is, he'd just woken, all groggy, to devestating news. He hasn't had time to think about the previous night (apart from the injury of course). That's quite significant.
Aries1 - You like angst? Keep reading then! I'll give you angst.