XV
Sorting Secrets
Strong coffee was already waiting for Jennifer at her seat when they arrived at the head table courtesy of Hermione Weasley, although she wasn't sure she could really stomach any more. But Hermione was smiling encouragingly, apparently satisfied from her appearance that Severus had set things right. The thoughts behind that concern rather annoyed her, but she didn't have long to dwell on it.
"Good evening, Jennifer, Severus…"
"Hermione," Severus said, also nodding to some of the others. "After the ceremony, would you be so good as to dig out Ms. Craw's contract, personal files and accounts? I believe she's planning to find employment elsewhere."
"What was that?" Hermione said, squinting at Severus before glancing at Jennifer who was giving him a dirty look.
"Ignore him, Hermione, Severus knows I wouldn't leave the school without giving you notice, no matter how much he deserves it," Jennifer said, despite the fact that Severus seemed completely indifferent.
"I hate it when the two of you start to mix school business in with your quarrels! I may put up with it in the summer, but the new year is about to start," Hermione protested.
"So it is," Severus said calmly. "Perhaps you should get the Hat, then? Jennifer, save the seat next to you for Zed, will you?"
"Since when does Zed Tangent ever show up at any social event?" Jennifer asked with a frown and a shake of the head. "He hasn't been here for any occasion since you hired him, you know how much of a workaholic he is. I don't think he's seen a bit of sun in years."
"I had his assurance that he would be here. Good evening, Danyelle, Pomona. Has anyone seen Andrew?" Severus frowned.
"He was in the Owlery a few minutes ago," Anna said wearily, and Severus gazed at her thoughtfully.
"And how are you?" he asked.
"Fine," Anna snapped. "At least, better than Jennifer…you look like a zombie."
"She'll be going to take a large dose and going to bed after this if I have to take her morning classes myself," Severus agreed with a warning tone.
"If you threaten to sack me again, Severus, I really will leave," Jennifer snapped as Hermione came back from the staff room with the Hat.
"It is definitely going to be one of those nights," Hermione muttered. "I'm going to go ahead and bring them in. It sounds like none of us are starting off on the right foot this year."
"Wait for Zed, please, Hermione," Severus insisted.
"Yes! Yes! Wait for me! If I must be here, I insist on having to sit through the entire proceedings!"
Jennifer glanced up to see Zed approaching and got up so he could get comfortable, if any man that large could ever get comfortable upon the rather smallish chairs. Zed P. Tangent was a fairly recent addition to the staff, and the new Arithmantics professor had made an impression from the first. He had a very round face on his very round bald head, and a pair of round spectacles sat upon the rounded tip of his nose. Even his torso was round, and had he a beard, perhaps he might have been mistaken as Father Christmas, for his face was red and dimply and his studious grey eyes had a hidden mischief to them.
"Good evening, Jennifer. Good evening, Headmaster. I trust this will be worth my while," he said in a low voice, a smile planted on his face. "Although I admit to being quite curious to see this new prodigy you've told me about," he said. Severus quickly motioned for Hermione to bring the new students in.
"Prodigy?" Jennifer repeated with surprise.
"Yes, the Headmaster tells me one of the first years is a natural in my field, there aren't many, you know. In fact in some ways, I find it's even rarer to your knack for legilimens, don't you think so, Headmaster?"
"Hm," Severus said noncommittally, gazing straight ahead towards the doors.
"A natural for Arithmantics? You don't say? Well, it must not be all that uncommon. I happened to meet someone this summer who was quite exceptional in the talent, only of course she couldn't possibly be here, because after all it was too convenient and, as I recall, someone said, 'no' to such an effort," Jennifer said, the sharpness of her voice not lost at all in her mocking flippancy. "So it can't be who I'm thinking about, can it?" she asked, looking over at Severus again.
"See for yourself," Severus said calmly, still refusing to meet her gaze. Jennifer's eyes darted for the opening doors and looked searchingly through the students to find the one she was looking for.
"Lucky," Jennifer said to herself with mixed emotions.
"I was able to pull it off after all, you see…" he said in a low voice.
"And without a word or a glance to me? Is this what you were keeping from me that night before you left?" she hissed at him as they assembled.
"No, at that point I didn't know whether or not I was going to be able to get her here. I didn't want to get your hopes up, I know how you are," Severus murmured quietly.
"How I am? Then explain to me why you didn't tell me when we spent hours in my lab today?" Jennifer demanded, her murmur increasing in volume.
"Jennifer, I can't hear the Hat's rhyme," Danny hissed.
"Professor Craw, please," Zed said from beside her. "He may be your husband, but right now he is the Headmaster and you should give him the respect he deserves at the opening of the school year. Save it for later. To do otherwise only does you a disservice."
"You were a Hufflepuff, weren't you?" Jennifer retorted. Zed simply smiled enigmatically, but Jennifer did sit back, refusing to look at Severus again.
She did notice that quite a few of the students at the tables were watching her curiously. There were also a few first years peering at her, including Lucky, whom she threw an encouraging smile to, as well as the boy standing beside her. Jennifer did a double take, squinting at the boy and knowing his face for what it was...simply a disguise for an overly clever seven-year-old.
"How in the hell…"
"Jennifer, hush!" Danny hissed again just as the Hat cried out Slytherin House. "Damn, I missed his name!"
"Atchison," Severus murmured to Danny. But Jennifer clamped her mouth shut, staring at the boy. He simply gazed back at her with worry in his eyes, knowing his fate now rested in her hands. Fine, it isn't like Severus seems to want to know, she told herself, and he did keep Lucky's presence here from her…
"Fortuna Conejo!" Hermione called out with a cryptic smile towards Lucky. The girl grinned confidently as she stepped up, although Jennifer couldn't help but notice her deep longing to run. Instead, she sat down and raised her chin proudly, waiting for the hat to hit her head. It didn't stay very long.
"Gryffindor!" the Hat proclaimed, and they all clapped, even Severus, despite letting out a groan at the same time.
"Could there have been any doubt of that?" Jennifer said with a grin as she clapped as well. "She's not one to conform."
"She couldn't be any worse than Corey," Severus said, despite the fact he knew he was about to be proven wrong. After that, Jennifer became much more interested in the ceremony, noting each Ravenclaw with interest and enthusiasm. But never was she as intent as when the name of Bill Kingfisher was called and he strode to the stool and sat, gazing at the Hat with wonder before it was plopped down on his head.
There it sat. And sat. And sat. For a very, very long time.
"Hufflepuff!" it declared at last.
"Hufflepuff?" Jennifer said in complete disbelief.
"Hufflepuff?" Andrew repeated with a confused expression on his face.
"And why not?" Pomona asked, clapping loudly to make up for the fact that they didn't right away.
Jennifer's head turned sharply to look at Andrew and squinted at him. As he began to clap, he noticed her looking at him and smiled sheepishly. Well, that answered her question on how the name got in the book. And it seemed Aurelius was in on this too. But the Hat's decision still baffled her, and she waited impatiently for the rest to be Sorted, the announcements made, and the Hat to be sat upon the table.
"Tough crowd this year," the Hat muttered critically, eyeing Jennifer.
"I am sorry," Jennifer apologized, "but I do want to ask you something." Severus raised an eyebrow at her. "Why did you put Kingfisher in Hufflepuff?"
"I take it you know the boy?" Severus asked.
"I've seen him around," Jennifer answered quickly. "But he doesn't seem much like a Hufflepuff to me."
"Why don't you transfigure into a Hat and see if you can do better, if you're going to criticize," the Hat said.
"I don't think she is being critical, Hat, I think she's just curious, as am I, knowing the boy myself," Andrew said. Hermione frowned slightly.
"Well, it is true that the boy has courage, wit, and perhaps too much ambition and slyness for his own good," the Hat said. "But what that boy needs encouraged most in is his sense of duty and hard work. It's there, but often buried, as only I can see. That is what can carry him through his life better than all the rest."
"You're right," Jennifer said, nodding at last. Andrew nodded and sat back as well and looked more interested in his plate.
"Of course I'm right," the Hat said in annoyance. "I don't tell you how to teach Potions, stop pestering me."
"You really are out of sorts today, aren't you, Jennifer? Why don't you give in and get some rest?" Hermione put in.
"Perhaps I shall, I'm really not hungry," Jennifer said, getting up. "And I have an Owl to send out."
"Um…I'll walk up with you, you do look tired," Andrew said quickly, grabbing what he could off his plate before following her.
"Severus," Hermione said the moment they had left. "Do you know this Kingfisher boy as well?"
"No, but for some reason I feel now that I should," Severus said with a frown.
"Yes, so do I," Hermione said, looking troubled as she turned to her plate.
When Severus arrived back at their rooms, Jennifer was standing at the open window, gazing out thoughtfully.
"I imagined you might have collapsed by now," he said calmly. "Shall I make us some tea?"
"You would only put something in it," Jennifer said briskly.
"Yes, well, perhaps, but I don't see how you could hardly blame me. At least sit down, you look dead on your feet. We ought to have a talk, anyhow," Severus said, bringing the tray over and setting it on the table. Making sure she was looking at him, Severus brought out a phial and showed it to her before putting it in her tea. "Drink it or not whenever you like, but I suggest you do if you plan to teach tomorrow. You'll be blowing up the lab for certain in that condition. Who is that Kingfisher boy?"
"A local at Hogsmeade. Why didn't you tell me about Lucky?" Jennifer threw back at him.
"I had meant to, Jennifer, truly. I merely got caught up in the circumstances of my arrival. And there is something else you should know. I have signed on as her legal guardian, although I admit I was torn about actually doing such a thing under the circumstances. Vallid is aware of our condition, however. In fact, I believe she is planning to come here and look after things if anything happens to me," Severus said. Jennifer stared at him in alarm. "Now, Jennifer, it is simply precautionary. You know how I like to prepare for any circumstance."
"The echoing voices in your head seem much louder to me now, Severus," Jennifer said quietly.
"To me as well. They tend to tempt me and goad me into following through with my first response to any situation, but for the most part I have been able to stave them off except for moments of anger. I'm afraid this morning I let them get away from me," Severus admitted.
"So the evil the poem speaks of is not having control over your first impulse," Jennifer said, leaning back on the couch.
"Hasn't it always been?" Severus said dryly, then shrugged it off. "I am not worried about myself so much as the others, you especially, and Harry, whose enemies constantly surround him…and Aurelius, who despite constant potion doses gets redder by the day. Guilt is what eats at him, it always has, just as your feeling of dependency eats upon you." Jennifer looked uncomfortable. "Jennifer, do you see me as independent?"
"Well, yes, obviously you are," Jennifer said.
"Is it so obvious?"
"You wouldn't be Headmaster if you weren't," Jennifer said.
"Really? And yet Dumbledore told me that I probably would never have been Headmaster had it not been for you and the children," Severus said. Jennifer smiled slightly.
"I think he only meant the changes you went through adapting, Severus, not necessarily that you depended on us."
"And yet I do, all the same. Part of the changes you speak of was learning to depend on others and allow myself to be depended upon, as well as matters of trust. But does that make me, or you for that matter, any less dependant for choosing to depend on one another?" he asked. "This morning you made it quite clear to me you can and would leave if you chose to. So long as you can still make that choice, you are not in any danger of losing your independence."
"But it's not just that," Jennifer protested, aggrieved. "How many times have I gotten into some sort of mess I couldn't get myself out of? How many times would I have died if someone else hadn't intervened?"
"And how many times have you pulled myself or someone else out and we would have died had you not intervened?" Severus pointed out. "Independence isn't based solely on how many times someone has come to your aid but how many times more you have aided them. How many people depend upon you, Jennifer? And before you answer, consider your job and how many students have come through this school. Does anyone think for you? You have your own agenda, your own opinions on things, if you didn't we wouldn't quarrel so much, although I would that you were a little more discrete about where you chose to pick those fights."
"You're right, I'm sorry about dinner, but you should have told me," Jennifer said.
"I should have," Severus agreed. "Despite her talents, none of the American schools would bend because of her record, so I had to go over there myself and straighten things out. I had hoped you wouldn't have minded my taking on the responsibility, since I believe that was what you were attempting from the beginning."
"Of course it was," Jennifer smiled. "So that was what changed your mind? That she couldn't get into school?"
"That and to spite Mark, yes," Severus said easily. "I need to speak to Hermione about her now that she's in her house, however, I expect problems since she's not used to any sort of discipline. I also arranged for her to go ahead and have Arithmantics early, as you probably already guessed. And if things go well…well, then we'll see."
"You mean officially adopting her?" Jennifer asked brightly.
"No one with dependency problems could be as incorrigible as you are, I'll have you know," Severus scolded, holding the tea out to her. Jennifer leaned into him with a smile, accepting the cup.
