Katrina stared up into the onyx eyes of her husband and felt her racing heart even out slightly. She caught the look he gave her and she returned a small nod of her own. Without breaking eye contact with him, she quietly conceded, "Yes, as you wish, Miss Umbridge." Once she had spoken, she could see the subtle tension leave his features. She doubted the other woman would have even noticed it, but at one time she had been closely attuned to her husband's feelings and mannerisms. There was something going on which she would have to try to question him about later.

It took a force of will to break eye contact with him. Her eyes took in the swell of his lips and she took in a breath before forcing herself to turn away. She needed to get a grip on herself as this was getting ridiculous. She moved to the table and claimed a seat. Severus reclaimed his own chair and the time until her lesson began dragged by in silence.

Finally, she could hear the footsteps of students filing into the living room. She glanced at the clock and saw it was ten minutes to her lesson. She cleared away the tea things, grabbed her lesson plan, and headed into the living room leaving the other adults to follow her.

The lesson began splendidly, with all of the students silently taking notes as she spoke. She had a feeling something would happen. Right after their first morning break, she launched into a discussion of the most recent muggle wars. The discussion topic centered around the world leaders who had the most influence upon the wars. She had just finished a brief description of Adolph Hitler when she saw one of the students had their hand raised.

"Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"

"Well…" he hesitantly began, "I was just wondering how this Hitler was killed. He sounds so much like… well, like He-Who-Must-Be-Named," he finished quickly.

"Very perceptive, Mr. Longbottom. Indeed, the policies of Hitler are very similar to those practiced by Voldemort." She glanced around the room as she spoke and registered the wide eyes and the shudders.

"Ehm ehm."

Katrina turned to see who was coughing and her eyes landed on Umbridge, "Yes? Have you something to add?"

"That topic has been banned by the Ministry," she said quickly with that sickening smile of hers.

"Well, I beg your pardon, Miss Umbridge, but you merely said I couldn't discuss your world's most current war. You said nothing about not discussing Voldemort. Quite frankly, I think it is a topic which should be discussed."

"And as headmistress and representative of the Ministry of Magic, I am saying that this is the end of this topic," Umbridge said sternly.

"To answer your question, Mr. Longbottom," Katrina continued smoothly, "Hitler committed suicide at the end of the war, rather than be captured."

Most of the Slytherins snickered and there were some muttered derisive comments. Katrina decidedly ignored the noise and plodded on. Her smooth train of thought had been jarred by Longbottom's question and the subsequent squabble with that horrible Ministry woman. It was with a sense of relief that she realized it was time for lunch.

"It is time for lunch," she said quietly. "Come along, students." She led them downstairs and brought out sandwich fixings. She laid everything out, noting that Severus and Umbridge had also come down to the basement dining room. She put out carafes with beverages and moved away from the long serving table, allowing the students free rein.

She walked over to where the adults were seated, "You are both welcome to help yourselves." Katrina made a show of looking Severus up and down and she smiled, speaking quietly so only the two near her could hear, "In fact, Professor Snape, I daresay you could use a good meal."

His eyes narrowed, "My dietary habits are none of your business, Professor Smith."

She shrugged lightly, the small smile never leaving her lips though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "If you will both excuse me, I have some preparations for dinner which I need to make now if we are to eat tonight." She didn't wait for a response from either of them before retreating upstairs. She chuckled to herself. Preparations indeed! Tonight's dinner would be spaghetti and meatballs with garlic bread. She already had the meatballs thawing and the sauce would be from jars. The garlic bread didn't need any thawing before she cooked it.

Really, she just needed to get away from those two before she said or did something she might later regret. She walked into the first floor kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for a quick snack to tide her over to dinner. The heavy footsteps behind her startled her and she spun, slamming the fridge door behind her. "Severus, you startled me!" she exclaimed quietly, a hand to her chest. Katrina glanced around and noticed he was alone. "How did you manage to get away from Umbridge?"

He moved to her table and took a seat, "I told her I needed to use your bathroom."

Katrina laughed lightly, "Are you hungry?" She turned back to the fridge and resumed her rummaging.

"Not really," he responded. "About this morning…"

She hesitated slightly before pulling out a pair of apples. "Forget about it, Severus," she said quietly. She closed the fridge and turned to face him.

"I really didn't have anything to do with Black's death," he continued as if she hadn't spoken.

She closed her eyes a moment before opening them and fixing them on her husband's onyx eyes. "I believe you. I'm sorry I didn't earlier, but I was upset…" She approached the table and handed him one of the shiny red apples, "Here, you really should eat something."

He slowly accepted it with a small frown, "I'm really not hungry…"

She gave him a frown of her own, "I meant what I said downstairs, Sev. You look like hell. It's obvious you're not eating much, and probably not sleeping much either." He made no comment, ignoring her use of his nickname entirely. She watched as he took a couple small bites of his apple and she took the opportunity to take a couple bites of her own. They ate in silence for a bit, and she wasn't surprised to see that he finished his whole apple. She remembered that he had never been a big eater and more often than not, she had had to coax him to the table to eat. "Would you like another?" she asked as she took the core from him and disposed of it along with her own.

He shook his head, "No, thank you." He rose and moved to the sink to wash his hands.

Katrina watched him turn on the water but then he seemed to be looking for something. She quickly realized he was looking for the soap and she moved to his side. She reached over and depressed the soap dispenser built into the sink, "Here." She was suddenly aware of their hips and thighs being in contact. She hesitated a moment before moving away with a soft sigh. She tossed the hand towel to him once he had turned off the water.

He moved away and she took his place at the sink. She turned to him to retrieve the towel and found it being tossed at her. She glanced up at him and saw an almost-playful smirk. She smiled broadly in response. "I have another question regarding the possibility of you privately tutoring Maggie," she said quietly.

"Yes?"

"What will you do with her if you are… called away?"

"I will bring her to Professor McGonagal," he said calmly.

Katrina nodded, "Ok, she can go with you. One week, once her own classes at school have ended. They end the last week of May," she said quickly, seeing him about to ask.

"Hogwarts is still open for two weeks after that," he reminded her.

Katrina nodded, "Yes, I remember. I also remember that those weeks are spent administering tests and that you should have time to teach her mostly uninterrupted."

"If I may, I will come for her June first, it is a Sunday."

"I will have to speak to her, and if she is still interested in this, yes that will be acceptable," Katrina said, nervous about allowing this but knowing that even if her daughter wasn't told who Severus really was, it would still be good for the girl.

"Will you tell her…?" he trailed off but Katrina knew exactly what he wanted to know.

"I… I don't know yet. Let me think about that some more…" She was about to say something else, but the sound of the students filing back upstairs stopped her. She glanced at her watch and saw it was time to go back in to the lesson. She gave Severus a last quick smile before heading into the living room.