Sweet Soul Music

Disclaimer – The places and characters you recognise are JK Rowlings.

Chapter Nineteen.

The thought of sitting at the same table as him wasn’t appealing to Cat that morning so she had a small breakfast on her own. All she wanted to do was shut herself away for the rest of the day but unfortunately she had classes and because of their nature none of the other members of staff could really cover them for her. Sighing heavily, she smoothed down the sides of the black shirt and stared at her reflection, at least her eyes were back to normal she noted. His words had hurt her so much, but the thing that hurt even more was not knowing why he had said them. What could have happened in such a short space of time to change his attitude towards her so drastically?
“Okay, deep breath, don’t let him see you upset” There was the key word, upset. If she hadn’t cared about him at all she would just be angry but no she was devastated. Insults from a stranger could be brushed aside, however if they came from somebody that you felt something for they tended to stick.

Cat was glad that her students were so interested in the subject, their constant barrage of questions kept her mind off other things. the only time her thoughts slipped away was while she played music to them and then she found they dwelt on Severus. Luckily these interludes were only short because as soon as disc had been stopped there were further questions to answer. Their discussions in class were becoming more challenging as their knowledge deepened. It was a pity that she didn’t have more classes during the week; it would have helped her a lot in her present state of mind. Gathering her things together the same group of students approached her again.
“Did you speak with the headmaster, Miss?” the girl in front of her asked.
“Oh, sorry I forgot to tell you. Yes I did and it’s all sorted.” there was an excited murmuring as she continued “He asked me to pick out an hours worth of different types of music. So hopefully there’ll be something everybody likes, does that sound okay with you?” they all nodded enthusiastically with agreement.
“Excellent. I’ll see you all next class then. Excuse me” she said as she left the room.

Having already decided that the best plan of action was to avoid Severus as much as possible she spent the remainder of the day in her quarters. There was only one problem, what to do about dinner that evening. Again she didn’t relish the idea of sitting anywhere near the man but her stomach was rumbling quite loudly, she had to eat something eventually.
“What the hell” she told herself “I don’t have to acknowledge him.” and left quickly before she had time to change her mind. Much to her relief she found that she was one of the first to arrive and she started talking to Professor McGonagall who, it seemed, was also particularly hungry.
“So, how are you settling in?” the older witch enquired.
“I just miss my friends sometimes, but other than that I’m settling in fine. Thanks for asking.”
“It must be difficult. It’s completely different to what you’re used to. Still, hopefully you’ll make some close friends here” she smiled knowingly at her.
Cat picked up on her meaning “I had hoped so too.” she said sincerely, with a sad smile on her face. Minerva grew concerned at this; something had obviously upset her greatly. Placing her hand on her arm she said quietly “If you ever need to talk I’m here. I have a successful sideline in tea and sympathy you know?”
“Thanks, I might just take you up on that sometime.” The two witches engaged in pleasant small talk as the others took their places at the table.

Albus looked at the young woman with deep concern. Even without Minerva’s subtle hint’s he could see that all was not well as he watched Cat concentrating intently on her plate. He knew better than almost anyone that although she hid it under her sometimes bolshy exterior she was in fact quite fragile, they needed to talk he could not bear to see her like this. Cat stood up as soon as the last of her food was finished and excused herself quickly without lingering, quickly checking to his right he realised that Severus was staring at his own plate also, appearing to not even notice the witch that just left in such a hurry.
“Oh dear, this doesn’t bode well at all” he thought to himself.