Sub Rosa

Chapter 4 – Balancing Act

Kathryn watched as her second class, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff first years, departed chatting happily. Well, that was easy enough, she thought. If only all my classes will be so attentive and well behaved, there should be no problems. She smiled to herself, remembering her encounter with Pr anr and company the day before. There was no way that class wasn’t going to be challenging.

“Professor Leblanc?” The voice was so distinctive that Kathryn didn’t even have to turn around to know who was addressing her.

“Professor Snape.” She replied and turned to face him. “What can I do for you?”

“I wasn’t sure you knew the way back to the great hall, as you were not there for breakfast.” His precise diction and scowl were intimidating, but she knew too well the cover he had assumed and so did not respond to the chilly disdain he radiated.

“Actually, I just ate in my rooms this morning, I didn’t feel like inflicting my Apparation lag on the rest of you.” She crinkled her nose at her recollections of her grumpy rising. She crossed the room to join him at the door, suppressing a smile at his haughty raised eyebrow. “I still feel off kilter from the time change.”

They moved into the hall, she automatically walking on his left side, so she wouldn’t impede his wand hand.

“Leblanc, I am not sure I know the family name.” It was a question, but phrased as a put down, she wanted to laugh at the perfection of his role, but settled for her own chilly reply.

“We are a very old pure-blooded family, Professor. Our ancestor Guillemot Leblanc was born a Majere, but changed the name when he went to settle in French Louisiana.”

“You are an offshoot of the Majere Family?” His voice went up a notch, as it was an impressive lineage.

“Actually the current Majere are an offshoot of our family. Guillemot was the eldest son of Eduard Majere. He argued with his father and left his cousin as the heir. We are recognized as the direct line.” She could reassume the manners of her aristocratic childhood with ease, but doubted that Snape had missed the amusement in her eyes. It had been some time since she had played the “my ancestors are better than your ancestors game”.

“Fascinating.” He relaxed fractionally beside her, as though deciding she wasn’t some mad dog from the wilds of America after all.

“There is a George Majere in the second year Ravenclaws.” He dropped that as though he was hoping to trip her up.

“He would be my second cousins, Helene and Frederick’s, son. I think I met him when he was an infant at Great Aunt Georgiana’s funeral.” She replied placidly, pretending she didn’t see the twitch of his lips.

“I never met Georgiana Majere, but I hear she was quite an impressive old lady.”

“I adored her. She was elegant, refined and had the dirtiest sense of humor imaginable. She told the most appallingly inappropriate jokes and the most scandalous gossip you have ever heard. I still miss her desperately.” Snape was very hard pressed to maintain his façade of fierce disapproval and she relented, not wanting to blow his cover on the first day.

With that they reached the teacher’s door to the hall. He separated himself from her and swept into the hall with a dark glower. She paused to give him time to settle back into his role firmly and then limped into the hall and settled into the chair beside him.

Lunch passed quickly, with a wave from Neville, Harry and Hermione as well as one from Liana Devlin, one of her first year Hufflepuffs.

“So, what is your stance going to be?” Snape asked suddenly, while appearint tot to be speaking at all.

“I am Switzerland, completely neutral. I will favor no one and single out no one.” She replied, using a piece of potato to hide the movement of her lips.

“A difficult tightrope to walk, Professor.” He was watching his house table and they were watching him, waiting to see what his reaction to the new teacher was. She wondered how he would choose to play it.

“I am very good at tightrope walking and my name is Kathryn.” He paused a moment and then nodded.

“Severus.” He offered the name like some people offered a hand; it was a declaration of peace.

Once lunch was over he rose and nodded to her politely. She returned the nod and he turned and left. From the corner of her eye she studied the Slytherins, whose eyes drank in every nuance between them. Natural spies every one, she thought to herself, a house full of them and he tells me I’m walking a tightrope.

After lunch the tightrope beckoned. Sixth year Gryffindors and Slytherins oh joy and rapture unprofessed.
She got to the classroom before her students and was therefore able to avoid limping in and displaying her weakness before them as a first impression. She settled herself behind the desk and pretended to grade the papers from the previous class while she watched them from beneath her lashes.

Potter and company, minus Luna, who was a Ravenclaw, came in as a group, as did a slender, blond boy and his own coterie, he looked familiar, probably either a Malfoy or a Black. He glared at Harry and whispered something to Hermione that made her flush with anger. Ah, she thought, the challenger for the crown. The two groups set themselves as far away from each other as possible and then began to shoot hostile glares back and forth. Lovely.

She waited for them to settle down and then to grow uneasy waiting for her to notice them before she spoke.

“My name is Kathryn Leblanc and I will be your new defense teacher.” She spoke without raising her eyes from her papers. “The first rule in this class is that whatever we might think about each other outside of this room, we will play nicely together in here.”

She raised her head and swept the class with a fierce glare that startled them. She rose slowly, picked up her cane and in the silence after her pronouncement limped to the front of her desk; the cane’s tapping loud and ominous.

“I don’t care what petty childhood battles you fight outside this room, but in here there will be no dirty looks, no nasty commentary and no rudeness.” She let her eyes settle on Harry and waited till he dropped his eyes before she turned to the other young princeling. She met his eyes and remembered who he was, Draco Malfoy, he resembled his grandmother, Lucretia, rather closely. She kept eye contact till he too dropped his first.

“Now I’m going to call roll and you will all spend that time thinking about what I will do to you if you do not behave.” The last was said with a fierce calm that went over well while interrogating Death Eaters. The children looked suitably intimidated, even Potter and Malfoy. Satisfied, she read out the roll and turned to the class again.

“Having read your course history, I cannot say that I am particularly impressed by most of your teachers. So I will be starting you off with a written test…” She stared them down as groaning began. “…and then we will practice the basic hexes and counter-hexes until I am certain you are all proficient.” She waved her wand and the tests flew with military precision to each desk.

“Begin.” She watched them as she leaned back against her desk, as their eyes narrowed or widened as they read. She knew full well some of the questions had never been covered by any of their classes, but aside from Hermione, she was curious how many of them had studied outside materials.

She gave them a half hour for the written exam and then summoned the papers back to her desk.

“Rise.” She commanded and then, with a wave of her wand, swept the tables and chairs to the walls and summoned the practice mats she had sent on ahead from America to cover the floor. “Pick a partner.” She stalked among them, cane at the ready, watching to see how the dynamics fell out between them.

Harry partnered Neville, Ron with Hermione and Draco with a simpering blonde, what was her name? Oh yes, Pansy Parkinson, nouveau riche, or Kathryn wasn’t the child of a hundred generations of snobby old money.

She set them at each other with the basic attack and defense spells, noting each student’s strengths and weaknesses. She put them through their paces, advancing them step by step through the basic repertoire. As they each reached the level of their knowledge, she sent them to sit down and observe, taking careful note of who knew what. In the end, Potter, Granger, Weasley, Longbottom, and Malfoy were left. With Pansy long out of the running, Kathryn herself finished Draco’s testing, finding him tricky and arrogant, but not unschooled.

“Well, that was very informative. I have a very good idea of what level you all are now.” She announced finally. She nodded to the students sitting out. “I expect that all of you will catch up quickly and then we will move ahead. As for you five, I will have some extra credit work for you to do to keep you busy while I work with the rest of the class.” Once again, the group, minus Hermione, looked upset.

“I want each of you to research a creature that you haven’t yet studied in class and write me a two-foot long parchment on it. I want habits, diet and defense techniques.” The boys looked at her in horror, but Hermione beamed as they filed out of the class.

Kathryn moved back towards her desk, well aware that Draco Malfoy remained behind, watching her.

“You have a question, Mr. Malfoy?” She asked without turning to look at him.

“There is a portrait of a Trillion Leblanc in the Malfoy family gallery.” His voice was uncertain. “She was my grandmother on my mother’s side.”

“She was my Great Aunt on my father’s side, Mr. Malfoy.” Kathryn seated herself at the desk and raised her eyes to look into a face that was young, but with eyes that were old and cynical before their time. Yet, there was uncertainty in those eyes as well, a longing to belong and a fear of rejection. She smiled slightly, still maintaining her neutrality, but unwilling to reject even an in-law.

Family was still family, regardless of how you felt about their actions. She had a responsibility and a duty.
“Which makes us second cousins, I believe.” She acknowledged the connection, a formal recognition of blood ties. He understood the symbology of it. He had been well trained by his family to know every little nuance of the aristocratic game. However he was still a boy and she had many more years of experience.

“Yes, I believe so.” He nodded, she was kin and he needed no more from her than that recognition. He looked his age for a moment as he looked back at her as she sat behind the big oak desk, he looked hopeful and he looked young. She knew it was a lie.