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Chapter 7

At 6pm sharp, Severus Snape was sitting at his classroom's desk, ready for his meeting with Rousset. Was it a meeting? Probably. He thought about what Bloody Baron said for a minute. What did he call it again? Ah yeah, a date. This was absolutely no date. Stupid ghost.

He looked at his watch; past 5. She was late again. A habit of hers apparently. What happened this time? Did she ride a Basilisk to come down to the dungeons? He laughed aloud at his own joke.

His watch indicated 6 past 10. Still no sign of her. Was she coming? He misunderstood maybe and she meant the meeting to be for tomorrow and not today. But he couldn't tomorrow anyway, he had to brew potions for the infirmary, Poppy Pomfrey needed help to restock. He knew the brewing would take a lot of work and time, and he signed in advance. He rubbed his nose and sighed. This first day of class had been exhausting.

"First day and already tired Severus?" said a feminine voice surprising him. He looked up and saw Rousset leaning against the frame of his classroom's open door. She smiled to him "We could postpone if you like"

"No, it is fine, I was precisely waiting for you" he said looking at his watch one last time; 6 past 15. 15 minutes late! This was unexpected he thought ironically to himself.

"Oh, I am sorry! I forgot you didn't have it here. You must think the worst of me" she said uneasy. She entered the room and she drew near his desk. "I am used to the 15-minute courtesy period, and not respecting it is very rude in France. But I guess now I have to learn to be on time"

"I am afraid so. Why on earth would someone arrive 15 minutes after what he agreed upon?" he said sardonic.

She laughed. A beautiful, light laughter. "I know, this is weird when you think about it. But actually, it is very useful. The intended goal is to leave more time for the host to be ready. And I have to say that when I host a diner party, I am never ready on time and these 15 minutes are a true lifesaving's rule!"

"Then why not take account of the 15 minutes from the very beginning?" asked Snape intrigued. "It seems unnecessary to make a silent agreement with someone, pretending to be 15 minutes late in order to make the host wait longer" added Snape drily.

She laughed again louder this time. "I have no idea! It's hard to understand some customs, I guess. But I would say one more time that I am sorry for making you wait. Next time I will remember that being rude rules here, and I will get here at 6pm sharp risking seeing you not ready. And be aware that I will not hold back a "I told you so" Severus." she said with a mischievous smile.

Was she teasing him or something? Did she want him to laugh at her joke? He cleared his throat. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" asked Snape indicating her the chair in front of her desk. She sat down graciously and crossed her legs.

"Yes, I need your help on a project. You see I always wanted to start a dueling club. I got Albus' authorisation and now I need help making it work. He told me that you cocreated two years ago a similar dueling activity with the former Defence against the Dark arts professor. How did it go?"

Snape snorted with disdain when she pronounced the word professor. "I wouldn't call him professor. Even the word wizard is too kind for him. Joke would be more suitable" mumbled Severus.

"What do you mean? Who was professor then?" asked Rousset curious.

"Gilderoy Lockhart" he answered rolling his eyes.

"Non, impossible! Gilderoy Lockhart was professor here? Having the same position as my own, in this institution? Oh god"

Great another fan of this incompetent celebrity thought Severus annoyed. "A fan I see" he added disdainfully.

She looked at him surprised and then started to laugh loudly. What he said was apparently hilarious because she was putting her hand on her mouth trying to restrain in vain her giggles. He looked at her frowning, what did he say? She finally managed to calm down and whipped some tears of laughter that rolled on her cheek.

"What was so hilarious?" mumbled Snape.

"I'm sorry. You see learning that this piece of shit (excuse my language) had my current job is very much an insult and makes me wonder what kind of qualifications Albus requested for this position."

"You know the man?" asked Snape intrigued by her opinion on the fellow.

"Yes, very much I dare say. You see every summer, when I don't teach, I take back my position as an Auror. This summer one of my mission was to find a dark artefact that took control of several muggles and bring it to the French ministry. But this joke of a wizard as you call him, followed me and once I successfully managed to find and restrain the object, he tried to attack me and erase my memory. Apparently, he had done it many times before, and he is currently on trial in Paris for fraud, usurpation and assaulting towards an Auror officer" she said with a smile. "Thank god this man is going to rot in prison for a very long time. Cowards who steal the hard work of others are the worst, are they not?"

"They certainly are" answered Severus with a smirk. He was glad to see this usurper behind bars.

"Well we are not here to talk about my exploits as an Auror" said Rousset with a smile.

"I don't know if we can call defeating Lockhart an exploit. A minimum competency perhaps, should be more accurate" answered Snape smirking, before he realized what he just said. Was he teasing her just now? This was bad. He had to end this small talk and quick.

"I will try to ignore your last comment Severus" she said pretending to pout.

"Anyway, as you can understand the duels were a waste of time for me and the students because of the incompetence of Lockhart" said Severus drily.

"It makes sense, but I am sure we could make it work! I was thinking about once a week. One specific spell each week to practice. But the first reunion would be about the basic rules of dueling." Said enthusiastically Rousset. "Should we accept any volunteer or select only the top students of my class? In that case we would have to respect some equity and take into consideration each of the four houses"

She was speaking very fast, maybe to herself. Were the questions addressed to him? "I didn't say I wanted to be part of this" said Snape.

She looked at him surprised. "Of course, you are! Come on, this is going to be fun!". He growled at the word fun. "Besides, I already started telling the 5th years that you were cofounder with me" she said avoiding his eyes.

"What did you just say?" he said angrily.

She stood up and started walking fast towards the door. "You heard me right. I will see you Friday then, at 4 in the dueling Club room. I will be on time I promise!" she said before escaping the dungeons, leaving him in chock.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked aloud to himself.

"I told you to be careful my friend. They are the most dangerous!" said Bloody Baron crossing the room with a shrug.