IMITATION OF NORMALITY
Snape rested a couple more days in the Hospital Wing, as instructed by Madam Pomfrey, even though he felt well enough to leave. His colleagues came to visit him, out of politeness Snape guessed, since each came only once in three days. Only McGonagall and Dumbledore came to see him every day.
Even Lupin had visited him after being hired, accompanied by Wilson - who had looked like she had been talked into coming against her will. While Lupin, who had seemed genuinely happy to see him feeling better, had tried to chitchat politely with him, Snape hadn't even pretended to listen. As for Wilson, she had remained silent, with a cold and indifferent expression on her face.
It was with relief that Snape started teaching again. It made him feel like everything was back to normal. But it was not, far from it, as he realised when Friday afternoon and the seventh year double Potions lesson came. Once all the students were at their places, he remained staring at the few empty seats for a long moment.
Nothing was back to normal. They were at war. Snape was snapped out of his reverie by the Head Girl's cough.
"Erm… Excuse me? Professor?" Granger asked.
Snape looked up to see her hand raised. He gave a quick look around, and noted all the students were very calm, waiting patiently for him to begin the lesson.
He suddenly decided to change his plans for the upcoming lesson. "What I am about to teach you is not part of the NEWT program. We finished covering it a couple of weeks ago, so today, instead of having revisions, we will work on something that could be of utmost importance in the upcoming war."
A few students gasped at the word, but none looked surprised. They knew perfectly well what situation the wizarding world was in.
He led his lesson calmly and very soberly, with no aggressiveness or mockery in his voice or words when he gave them instructions. Somehow he found he had never seen them work so hard and dedicatedly on a potion than that day.
At the end of the lesson, Snape felt the need to go relax in an open space - which was very uncommon for him. Usually, he would remain in his office or his Potions lab. But somehow, after being imprisoned for nearly ten days, he didn't really feel like secluding himself any more.
So he headed for the staff room, abnormally pleased to see there were several teachers there, those who didn't have any late lesson on Friday afternoons: Sinistra, Hooch, Wilson and Lupin. Sinistra was having a cup of tea and smiled at him, Hooch was busy on some kind of a letter, while Wilson and Lupin were discussing in a corner.
Snape hailed a House Elf to ask for a cup of tea too, and settled comfortably into a sofa. From where he was, he couldn't help but hear Lupin's parting words to his sister.
"Look, I have to go," Lupin said. "I'll come see you tomorrow morning, is that all right with you?"
Wilson shrugged. "Sure," she answered, looking slightly disappointed.
Lupin gave a quick look around before bending to whisper something at his sister's ear.
"Of course you should, don't be silly!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Now go!" she concluded as she shushed him away.
On his way out, Lupin nodded to Snape. "Hey, Severus," he greeted.
Snape nodded back. Wilson seemed to notice him at last. She cast him a quick despising look before looking away with a sigh. Why was he under the impression that she resented him, these days?
Snape decided to ignore her just like she was ignoring him. He picked a book from a bookshelf and took a sip at his tea. Meanwhile, Wilson settled at Hooch's table next to the chimney with a book, and began to take down notes.
Around half an hour later, Sinistra suddenly stood up and moved to the sofa next to Snape's. She gave a quick cautious look to Hooch.
"We're planning a birthday party for Hooch's forties this summer," she muttered to him on a conspiring tone. "We'll try to avoid alcohol, seeing what happened last time."
Snape gave an involuntary glance towards Wilson at that reference. "A party to remind her she's already forty, and with no alcohol… She'll hate it," Snape concluded in a low voice.
"Of course she will!" Sinistra replied mischievously. "So, are you in?"
"Sure," Snape nodded.
"Good!" Sinistra exclaimed a little too loudly, and Hooch sent them an interrogating look. "I'd better go," Sinistra went on, and left shortly after.
It only took a couple of minutes before Hooch headed for Snape.
"Look, I know you guys are plotting something. It's only a matter of time before I find out what it is. Tell me what it's all about," the witch demanded.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Snape replied innocently.
"Right," Hooch mocked. "Let me warn you," she said, pointing a menacing finger at him, "if it's a party for my birthday you'll all pay for it."
"I have no doubt about that," Snape replied playfully.
Hooch sighed, looked around, glanced briefly at Wilson, then around again. "Who could I… Trelawney!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Trelawney isn't very strong-willed. And once you can make something intelligible out of her nonsense, she can be quite informative!"
"Good luck, then," Snape teased.
Hooch briefly glared at him and left. Once she had, Wilson cast Snape a quick annoyed look and sighed again. It was Snape's turn to look up to her with annoyance. Couldn't she ignore him properly? She was now staring intently at the pages of her book.
Snape suddenly noted he didn't remember her turning more than a page during the last half hour. He studied her more closely: her eyes weren't moving. She wasn't reading. Wilson abruptly looked up to stare longingly at the chimney for a long moment, before looking back down to her book.
The chimney. Of course, Snape realised.
"You want to use the floo network, don't you?" Snape asked on an amused tone.
Wilson jumped at his words. "What?"
"You want to use the floo network," he repeated, more confident.
"I don't, I…" she began to protest, until he arched an eyebrow unbelievingly. "All right, I do. Look. These last five months I've seen only children and fellow teachers. Unlike some people here, I'm a social person. I need to see people."
"Oh," Snape said on a fake understanding tone, "don't mind me, then. Go ahead. Do something stupid."
Wilson glared at him for a long moment as he returned to his reading, before shaking her head and resuming her own reading.
After a few silent seconds, Snape spoke up. "Where has Lupin gone, by the way?" he asked innocently, still looking at his book.
"Since when is it any of your business?" Wilson replied, keeping reading as well.
"Since we're at war, and anyone going away with no valid reason could possibly be a spy or a traitor," Snape retorted calmly.
Wilson turned to face him. "You don't really mean he could – "
"Anyone could," Snape interrupted. "Did you ever suspect Ursaglow?"
"Fine!" Wilson exclaimed. "Remus has a date!"
"A date?" Snape repeated. "With whom?"
"Are you just being indecently curious, or do you actually have a point?" Wilson queried.
"This lady could be a spy," Snape remarked, "assuming it's a lady of course. With all the time he's spent at Black's you'd think – "
"An Auror," Wilson interrupted as she sighed heavily. "A female Auror. A friend of Tonks'; she introduced them to one another a couple of months ago. Happy?" she asked ironically.
"Tremendously," he replied with an evil smile. "So, what are you waiting for to use the floo?" Trying to push her beyond her limits was a very enjoyable activity - especially since she was more short-tempered than she let people know.
"Nothing, I won't use it," Wilson answered between gritted teeth.
"Why not?" Snape asked. "You could at least give the Dark Lord a chance to finish what he started last winter, I'm sure he'd love to see you dead at last. Though I'm sure Malfoy would love to have that chance too after his own failed attempt."
Snape realised what he had just said only when it was too late. Wilson had dropped her quill and turned to him abruptly.
"What?" she murmured, barely audible. "Malfoy? Malfoy didn't… Unless…"
Snape remained silent, at a total loss as to what to say, as he watched a series of conflicted emotions flashing in her eyes. All of a sudden, Wilson stood up and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?" Snape called.
"Anywhere where you're not," she replied with a mix of anger, bitterness and disgust.
Snape hurried behind her, slightly concerned she might do something even more stupid than flooing out of the castle. She was striding at an unbelievable pace, and even he had a hard time following her. By the time he caught up with her, she had already turned around the corner and reached the stairs.
Before he could say anything, she almost shouted: "I can't believe you kept this from me!"
A few wizards in the paintings nearby glared in her direction with a disapproving look.
"What would you have done with this piece of information, anyway?" Snape contested. "Seek revenge?"
"What I would have done is my problem!" she explained, still walking so fast Snape had troubles keeping up with her. "You agreed to do this! The memory I had to share with you was…" she hesitated for a second, "extremely personal, and I expected at least a little honesty from you!" she concluded, totally furious.
"All right, so it was Malfoy," Snape confirmed. "He's on the loose. He's already wanted by the Ministry. What would you have done, with his son in your class at least once a week?"
"What are you implying, that I would have taken it out on Draco?" she asked, irate. "Don't be ridiculous! I'm not stupid enough to blame the son for what his father did!"
Snape briefly wondered if he was supposed to take this comment as a personal insult. He then noticed they had reached Wilson's rooms. She unlocked the door and made to go in, but suddenly changed her mind and turned wildly to him.
"Why do you even care enough to explain this to me?" she asked aggressively. "You don't ever care for anything! You don't care your students hate you! You don't care most of their parents don't trust you!"
Was it sick of him to find her strangely attractive when she was angry at him like this?
"You don't care about anyone but yourself!" Wilson continued to rant.
Oh, to hell with consequences.
"All you – "
Snape didn't let her finish her sentence and kissed her wildly. Once the moment of surprise passed, she pushed him away violently and slapped him hard.
"You… You…" she stammered heatedly, at a loss for suitable insults.
So it was sick of him. But to his surprise, Wilson wasn't leaving. She was staring at him intently, and looked hesitant. Her eyes were filled with indecision, loneliness and some kind of craving. She seemed almost demanding, as if she was begging him to do it again. So he did. And she didn't reject him this time, far from it.
Coming Next: Another Dive in the Pensieve