XIII

Severus' First Suspect

Hermione wisely decided to wait until Severus was well on his way and Harry and Draco had time to cool down before putting aside her work and making her way to the cistern chamber to check on them. They were not hard to find despite the fact that neither of them were speaking, and their expressions were easy enough for anyone to read.

"There you are. I see the two of you have made absolutely no progress," Hermione said, inspecting the shackles to determine what spell had been used.

"You had better not support Snape, Weasley!" Draco snarled. "I have every intention of seeing that he gets fired for his actions!"

"Do you really want to find yourself in a position where you must replace half the staff just before the school year? There's an election coming in the spring, you know," Hermione pointed out calmly.

"Half the staff?" Draco repeated.

"Well, you don't expect Jennifer and Andrew to stay if Severus gets sacked, do you? So you'll need a Potion's Master and Transfiguration instructor. While you're at it, you may look for Herbology…Pomona's been wanting to retire for some time now and I'm sure this would make up her mind for her…oh, and of course there's Charms…"

"Are you threatening to leave as well?" Draco stared.

"Well, I really have no choice. 'Must stand by Headmaster in questionable or trying times despite personal interests'…it's in my contract, you know, Dumbledore put it there himself," Hermione explained. "But don't worry, I'll make sure Ron isn't too hard on you for causing a situation that would make the school lose every major subject's professor at once…oh, I suppose Anna would leave too, hmm…."

"That is blackmail!" Draco snarled.

"No, it is simply a fact," Hermione said, releasing Harry from the wall first. "But if you want to follow through with your threat, feel free to go right ahead, no one is stopping you." Draco's shackles snapped off then, but he merely stood there and scowled at her, rubbing his wrists. "As for your concerns over your daughter, I will, of course, do what I can to keep them in separate classrooms, but considering Mary is just a few months shy of legal age, there really isn't much I can do about any activities they want to share outside the class…well, within normal school rules, of course."

"What? Don't tell me you actually believe this stupid claim of his…" Harry began, flustered.

"Harry, you need to be home more often. I know you've been doing everything to discourage this relationship as well, but it's not working, nor do I think either of you will be able to stop it at all after this year," Hermione said.

"I will take her to a foreign country before I let her take up with that," Draco swore.

"I will have a long talk with him about all of this," Harry said, glancing once again at the scrap of cloak. Hermione merely sighed and shook her head, reluctantly leading them back upstairs.

After that, Hermione then proceeded to get back to work as normal…which was, of course, why she got the job in the first place. Even in the most trying of times, it was her job as Deputy Headmaster to keep things at the school running smoothly, regardless of what was happening in the outside world or what sort of calamity the Headmaster was facing that week. It was a job that she excelled at, even though at times she did bring it home with her. Ron would always listen intently and glean what he could out of her, although privately Hermione often wondered if he was only fishing for a new story. She had created a monster all those years ago when she had talked him into helping with her paper. But the job as editor of the Daily Prophet made sense for a person who had the undeniable knack of always finding himself at the wrong place at the wrong time, (even though part of that was to blame on the particular friends he hung out with, strangely enough.)

At any rate, Hermione had a job to do, and curse or not, September was pressing closer. With Severus gone, Hermione greeted and briefed the staff coming in herself, often coming back to her office to find long letters sent to her from Severus about matters at hand, first about issues at the board meeting, and then about particulars of some changes he wanted to see in management that year. The overnight jaunt had turned into a longer absence…this wasn't really all that uncommon, even at that time of year. Any time he went out 'on business,' some wizard or another would delay him with one problem or another, just as it happened to Dumbledore all those many years ago. Often he would come back with a tale or two that made Hermione appreciate just how much insanity he had to put up with, so she was quite content with her…well, relatively quiet…part of the job.

Still, as time grew closer to the day when the students would arrive, Hermione began to get worried, even with Severus' daily reports that he would be there before they were. Anna arrived and promptly asked for a room, ignoring all inquiries on her personal life, while Jennifer often seemed listless and dazed, obviously exhausted as if not sleeping well at all. So it was with some heartfelt relief that Hermione sent Severus down to the potion lab when he arrived home on the very morning of the Sorting Ceremony, while she got to the business to adding another name to the first year list at his request.

Consciousness was not something that was coming easily to Jennifer, despite the strong coffee in her system. Big, heavy cauldrons bubbled about the room filled with potions for the medical ward, while bags of ingredients were stacked on the floors still waiting to be inspected. She had sat down at her desk, only for a moment…to clear the dizziness in her head, the fog in the room adding to the problem all the more. But as she was dozing off, she suddenly jerked awake when she noticed the presence of black silk brocade near the doorway. Severus was back…and that he wore his good robes instead of his normal rags could mean only one thing…he was in his Headmaster mindset, and school was once again his priority.

"What in the name of…get up, Jennifer, before you asphyxiate on your own potion fumes! Since when do you not open a window?" he scolded her, opening them all before walking over to her. "Just what have you been doing while I was gone? Not sleeping, I gather. I had best give you a hand…"

"I can handle it myself!" Jennifer snapped so viciously that Severus paused, watching as she angrily drew herself to her feet and went over to stir a cauldron. "I don't need your help, Severus, I'm quite capable of doing my own job without your help."

"Perhaps as your husband I would normally agree with you," Severus said. "But as your employer, from the general state of this room, the progress of the potions at hand and the fact that we've a mere seven hours before the students arrive, I most emphatically disagree. Now go stand at the window and take in some fresh air this very instant or I shall expel you from the castle until you've come around to behaving like yourself again, no matter how long that takes."

"And go without a Potion's Master?" Jennifer challenged him.

"Better none at all than a bad one," Severus quickly retorted, Jennifer glaring at him in return. "Besides I happen to know of at least one person who could easily fill in. Go to that window, or I shall chuck you out of it."

"It's not big enough…"

"Easily remedied," Severus warned. Jennifer matched his gaze for a moment before sulkily going over to the window, folding her arms in obvious protest as Severus attempted to bring the room to order. "I knew I should have gotten home sooner. I knew the nightmares would be plaguing you by now. Have you tried Sleeping Potion?"

"Only the strongest ones cut through it, Severus, and then I sleep so long I can't get anything done…"

"Yes, I can see how this way is much better…"

"Oh, please stop talking at me like that, Severus! I'm not an erring student, and if you don't stop it, I'll do more than walk out of here, I'll quit!" Jennifer snapped.

"No idle threats, please. We both know you aren't capable of any other job, nor would anyone else have the tolerance to put up with you," Severus said curtly.

Jennifer turned with a jolt and stared at him with a dropped jaw, slowly closing it when it became obvious he was ignoring her.

"So the curse has gotten to you after all, hasn't it?" Jennifer said, nodding to herself as if in confirmation. "Perhaps you're right, but you've done nothing now but insure that I leave, and I'm not completely convinced that wasn't what you wanted after all. So be it then, I don't need you, or this job!"

As she stormed towards the door, Severus raised his hand and a hazy glass frame on the wall shattered. Immediately everything in the room came to a standstill, from the smoke coming from the cauldrons to the bubbles popping within it, and even Jennifer stood mid-stride facing the door. Severus gazed at her a moment and let out a quiet sigh before he walked over to the door and closed it, pausing in thought. Finally he turned and stood in front of it, murmuring a spell which caused the glass on the floor to suddenly pick itself up and put itself back together.

Immediately, everything began to move again, including Jennifer, who took another couple of steps before staggering a bit in surprise to find Severus standing in her path.

"Calm down, I didn't mean that any more than you did…" Severus said as she tried to get passed him.

"Didn't you?" Jennifer snapped, and Severus put his hands on her arms.

"We are both tired and I let my impulses get ahead of me. I apologize, let's just get this lab back in order. Come now, I know you would never leave such an obligation in this sort of disarray under normal circumstances."

Jennifer stopped and stared at the closed door, exhaling loudly.

"Fine, I'll get the lab caught up, then I'll leave," Jennifer said curtly, shrugging him off.

"As you like," Severus said in an indifferent tone before going back over to the cauldrons while Jennifer began to go through the bags on the floor. "But I insist you stay until after the Sorting Ceremony, then if you still want to leave, be my guest. If you're not there on the first night it'll be sure to get out and I don't want the school year coming in on a scandal. There's enough talk what with this curse business."

"Oh, Severus," Jennifer said, instantly deflated. "When is this all going to end? I'm not sure I can take much more of it…I can't sleep at night, nor can I stay awake during the day, and I'm not completely sure I'm not going mad because of it."

"That's precisely what they want us to do, and what we must fight off, Jennifer," Severus said firmly. "This curse is one that prays on our weaknesses, through exposing them and taking advantage of them. The only way past it is to acknowledge them and refuse to become the victim. In fact, that realization has helped me develop a countercurse. There is only one problem with ridding ourselves of it now."

"You mean, finding who's responsible for the curse," Jennifer said.

"No, actually, I am fairly sure I know who is behind it now. It's the fact that someone else seems to be helping is what troubles me, and what sort of motive might be behind it…" Severus murmured distantly as Jennifer's attention turned to his face. Severus felt her eyes and met her gaze.

"Oh, no, it couldn't be. It just couldn't be Sibyl Trelawney! There's no way anyone could possibly manage this sort of curse from inside the walls of Azkaban…"

"Yes, that is why it was the first place I went to when I left, Jennifer," Severus said, taking out an envelope from his pocket and holding it out to her. "Her release papers."

"Now that I think of the whole situation, it becomes all the more obvious it was her who would have done such a thing," Jennifer said, shaking her head, then pausing. "Wait a minute, these have her released to St. Mungos for psychiatric attention…"

"She's not there, Jennifer, I went there as well," Severus brooded. "She disappeared not long before one of the nurses who was looking after her went on leave of absence."

"Oh no…"

"Oh, yes, it was Ginny," Severus nodded, turning back to the brew. "But I am far from the bottom of this case yet. As you can see, all of this with Sibyl happened quite recently, and yet someone else has known about it for quite some time…the person who helped her escape is the same person that was behind the appearance and disappearance of Madame Stone. You and I both know that Sibyl's insanity stems from her misuse of the crystal…it runs quite deep, and I don't think the best wizard doctors in the world could bring her close to sanity. Whether the person helping her is sane or not still remains to be seen, and even though we know that in her mind Sibyl has reason enough to condemn us to unfavorable futures, we know nothing of the other."

"But I thought you had suspicions already on who her partner is, Severus…"

"But no motive, Jennifer, and without it, my suspicions really mean nothing more than that," Severus said, lapsing into silence as he began to fill the potion bottles. Jennifer puzzled over it herself, but having nothing to add she got back to work, temporarily forgetting about their argument.