E Pluribus Unum

A/N - Kate finished the beta-ing so here is the happy cleaned-up version. Thanks Kate! By the way, Lady Aidil has gone missing, I tried to e-mail her and her mailbox was disconnected, anyone know what happened to her?

Brian - LOL, didn\'t realize you were that big a Draco fan, I will try to up his participation.

Katerie - Thank you

Deeble - Thank you You make me laugh girl, but more importantly your insightful comments remind me that the audience is actually paying attention, so I better not get lazy! LOL

Droxy - Thank you, chica!

Helen - Sadly, yes.

JCC - Me too! LOL

Zephyr - Thank you!

Chapter 43 – Staff Meeting


“The Humpbacked Witch passage has been sealed, but I still think we should hang them all in chains!” Argus Filch insisted. “How many times do I have to…?”

Kathryn settled back in the floral monstrosity with a groan, quickly blocking out Argus’s usual whining speech about the lack of discipline in the school and how the judicious use of torture could fix the problem. She had heard this same speech at every staff meeting for a year and a half. She couldn’t imagine how the others dealt with it.

Allegra Ravagienne, now the new librarian, still looked rather appalled by Argus. Kathryn wasn’t sure if it was his grungy appearance or the idea of her daughter being hung by her thumbs over boiling oil, but either way she seemed rather dismayed.

The meeting was soon over and just as Severus and Kathryn were about to slip out the door, Minerva grabbed Kathryn, while Albus grabbed Severus.

“Tea in my chambers.” Albus commanded and, feeling rather like errant schoolchildren, Severus and Kathryn were marched to the gargoyle.

“Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.” Albus intoned solemnly and the gargoyle began his pirouette, allowing the four to pass and step onto the rising staircase.

Severus and Kathryn were hustled past the office, up the short staircase and into Albus’ private sitting room.
It was a cluttered room, with bookcases on every wall and overstuffed floral print chairs, Victorian tea tables and a dozen small rugs tossed about to cover the flagstone floor. The fireplace already had flames leaping in the hearth and a tea tray was set up and waiting for them. Kathryn and Severus exchanged glances; obviously they had been set up.

They were practically shoved into chairs, had teacups handed to them, then the Headmaster and the Transfigurations professor settled into their chairs and waited.

“Something on your mind, Albus?” Severus drawled, his eyes glinting with suppressed amusement.

“Neville Longbottom used a knife to kill Bellatrix Lestrange. Now, he swears that he dropped the knife back on the street, but the Aurors have found no trace of it.” Albus was sitting with his hands crossed on his stomach and was eyeing the young couple over his half-moon spectacles.

“You mean this knife?” Severus flicked his wrist and the blade shot into his hand. It gleamed dully in the firelight, humming with vibrant life. Kathryn found it fascinating, the way it seemed so much a part of Severus’ hand. Albus’ eyebrows shot up and Minerva gave a gasp of wonder.

“That is not an ordinary blade.” Albus murmured with pursed lips.

“No.” Severus acknowledged and flicked his other wrist to reveal the second blade. Another small gasp from Minerva and now Albus’s eyebrows began mountain climbing up his forehead.

“Where on Earth did you get them?” Minerva asked rather breathlessly.

“Christmas gift from Kathryn.” Severus replied in incredibly smug tones. Kathryn grinned, feeling warm all through from the happy possessiveness of his tone.

“All I got were socks.” Albus smiled at Kathryn as he said this and Minerva chuckled.

“He gave me the most delightful cake topper.” Kathryn admitted with a shy smile at her lover. Minerva dimpled, Albus grinned and Severus pretended to examine the blades with great interest.

“I got a lovely edition of Chaucer from Severus.” Minerva diverted the potentially embarrassing subject with great skill. Kathryn admired her aplomb and slipped her fingers into Severus’s hand. She felt his fingers tighten convulsively and she turned white-faced to look at him.

“I am being summoned.” He ground out and Kathryn released his hand. It took an act of will to move her fingers away from him rather than to cling to his hand and beg him not to go.

“We will be here waiting, my boy.” Albus replied gravely. Severus handed Kathryn the blades, kissed her tenderly and then departed without a word.

The instant he was gone, she dropped her pose of relaxation and rose to pace before the hearth. Albus sat sipping his tea and Minerva fidgeted in her chair. Kathryn had set the blades on a side table between the two chairs where she and Severus had been sitting and she glanced at them occasionally as she paced.

“Why did he leave them?” Minerva asked her, curiosity in her eyes.

“Because just as they can sense Dark Creatures, Dark Creatures can sometimes sense them. Madam Gideon may have been oblivious in Hogsmeade, but Fenchurch is a far more powerful entity. For Severus to be caught with them on his person would advertise his change in loyalties rather loudly.” Kathryn explained as she paced, her eyes still flicking to the softly pulsing blades.

“You keep looking at them.” Minerva commented after about the tenth glance.

“They are becoming more and more bound to him as he uses them. They should be aware of his condition on some level.” Kathryn gestured to the soft sheen of them; they had changed as Severus had held them and practiced with them. They had gone from a dull and oily texture to the metal having a matte, softly glowing, almost satiny quality. She could almost see Severus’ pulse in the gentle throbbing of their light.

“You think we could see if he were in danger?” Albus asked with interest, leaning forward to inspect the blades more carefully.

“Maybe, but more than that, they would revert back to their original form if he were to die.” Kathryn was unsure how she managed to say the words without hyperventilating but she maintained her outward calm.
“Do you think that likely?” Minerva asked with a slight tremor in her voice.

“Since he intervened to save Tonks, Shiv Quicken has been very suspicious of our Severus.” Albus sipped his tea with hands that were slightly unsteady as he spoke. “Severus has had to be especially ruthless of late to appease the other man’s suspicions.” Minerva’s face became very grave as Albus continued. “The truth is that we must confront and destroy Voldemort soon for I doubt that Severus will be able to maintain his cover for very much longer.”

Kathryn felt cold as she listened to Albus. It was nothing that she did not already know. She had faced the possibility of losing Severus ever since she had first realized that she loved him. Since his near death before Christmas she had tried to steel herself against the possibility that he might be taken from her. For someone who was used to risking her own life on a daily basis, she found the thought of risking him to be mind-numbingly terrifying.

“He’s been doing this for as many years as I have.” Kathryn sighed, trying to reassure herself as well as them. “He has extra portkeys and Paddy wilve ave alerted Hagrid by now, so he’ll be waiting in the forest.” Paddy, Albus’ most trusted House Elf was tasked with telling Hagrid whenever Severus was summoned. How Paddy knew when Severus was called, Kathryn had never asked.

The sight of Hagrid carrying the shaking and bleeding form, swathed in tattered black still haunted her. How gently Hagrid had laid him down on the bed in the Hospital Wing. Kathryn had buried her face in the moleskin coat and he had patted her soothingly with his huge hand as she wept. She had never been so frightened before.

“He’s a canny man, able to read the winds quite well.” Albus added with an assured air that they all knew was assumed.

Bill had called her “The Ice Queen” and maybe once upon a time she had been that: cool, confident and in control. Love had given her strengths she had never known she had, but it had also made her vulnerable to a degree of fear she had never known before either. She needed Severus in order to get through her day; needed to talk to him, kiss him, hold him -- just hear his voice as he asked for the salt to be passed. He had become completely necessary to her life and she was scared to the bone that she might lose him.

The three of them sat, sipping tea that never went cold but that never warmed the place in their hearts that had gone icy with fear.