Sub Rosa

Chapter 5 – Juggling Personas

Severus paused outside Kathryn’s classroom door watching her putting her papers and books away in her office. She warded the door and set a few simple magical traps that would alert her if someone tampered with them.

“Are you always this paranoid, Kathryn?” he commented, letting the bite of sarcasm sharpen his tone.

“Do you know how many interrogators would give their left arm for your voice?” She answered as she crossed the room towards him. Which was close to the last thing he had expected to to say, right before “Have you an elephant to rent?”

“Pardon me?” He was uncertain as he stood there staring at her. Was she complimenting him?

“Well, the way you can cut a on aon apart with it or lull them into a false sense of security. It’s an incredible tool.” She continued as they moved down the hall. He reduced his pace to match her limping progress, still quite startled by her comments. Not having the least idea how to respond, he changed the subject.

“I have been reading your medical reports.” Her attention was instantly riveted on him, though her face didn’t change expression in the slightest. Her body tensed slightly and her head cocked towards him a fraction of a degree. As skilled as he was in reading people, she might as well have shouted.

“What was your impression?” He guessed that she was asking about more than just her medical reports, but the rest of her file as well. He decided that conversation would have to wait till they were someplace warded.

“Your Mediwizard was competent but not extraordinarily so. I have thought of a few approaches that might yield results.” She stopped suddenly and looked at him with wide eyes.

“Approaches? As in plural?” She was looking at him with an expression of admiration and respect. He couldn’t remember the last time a colleague had lo at at him with such an open expression. There was no contempt in her gaze and no judgment. It was amazing.

“Perhap can can discuss this after dinner.” He gestured her forward to the dining hall.

“That would be wonderful.” They reached the door and she paused letting him gather himself and go first, it was a delicate gesture, one that reminded him again that he was playing the game with someone who understood the rules. He wondered if here, at last, was someone he could actually call friend without fear of exposure. It was still a tricky proposition.

He sat down and let his gaze wander over the students and a minute later, Kathryn’s cane came tapping behind him and she sank into her chair with a small sigh.

“Your leg is bothering you?”

“Malfoy doesn’t pull his punches.” She replied. At his quizzical expression sontiontinued. “He was my bout partner at the end of the class. He has been well trained, though Potter could beat him in speed and Granger is far more knowledgeable. Still I think a little more work and Longbottom will easily outdistance them all.”
“Neville Longbottom?” He asked, unable to believe his ears.

“Is there another one?” She looked at him with surprise.
“The destructive force that has melted more cauldronsn hen he has brewed successful potions is a Defense prodigy?” He imbued the words with every bit of scorn and sarcasm he could, spitting out the words with contempt. To his amazement, Kathryn didn’t draw back in dismay, but instead looked as though she wanted to laugh.
“I am dreadful in Transfiguration, barely passed it all through school. I can’t change the color of a object, let alone turn it from one thing into another.”
“That is hardly comparable! The child is a menace to cauldrons everywhere!” Now her lips were trembling with suppressed mirth. Why wouldn’t she be intimidated?
“I have no doubt that he can’t brew a potion, his mother was hopeless too.” She nodded, her serenity almost annoying.
Severus stared at her and tried to remember the files. Ah yes, she had been in England just before the Potter Incident and the Longbottoms, he knew, had been in America some years before that, she would have been only twenty when Harry had been a year old. The same age he had been. She must have been very young the first time she met them.

“You knew them.” Her face had gone solemn and still, a painful memory then. For such a controlled woman, he found no trouble in reading her expressions. He wondered if it was because she was a spy, as well, a spy like he was, and he knew the tricks and expressions common to the field, or if she simply allowed him to see her. A disturbing thought, he was unused to trust from anyone but Albus and Minerva.

“Still do, I visit at St. Mungo’s when I get the chance.” Severus was wondering when the woman beside him would run out of surprises for him. It was exhausting being constantly thrown off stride by her.

Dinner passed quickly after that, Madam Hooch captured Kathryn’s attention, and he got no more conversation from her. He listened to her cheerful, noncommittal answers to Hooch’s questions and the way she drew Hooch out, getting her to talk mainly about herself. It was masterly and he knew he couldn’t have matched it. His social skills had always been his weakest point. Of course, Death Eaters weren’t chosen for their witty repartee.

Dinner broke up and again they exchanged nods, to the great interest of Slytherin, and parted.

That evening they sat in her quarters and discussed the years of spying, the possible approaches to healing her leg and the strange and elegant equations Kathryn was working on, as was has his own ongoing rrch.rch. Her mind was as quick as his and she had the same insatiable curiosity, the need to understand everything. It was refreshing, it was terrifying and he found himself almost relaxed.

Days passed in this way, Severus gathering certain ingredients that he would need to work on the healing potion for Kathryn. Their infant friendship was nursed through walking her to lunch and dinner, brief conversations on the way, and after that evening, no other contact between theme nee neither pushed him, nor did she attempt to alter his surly manner when out where students might see them. It was refreshing and restful, two sensations he had never associated with Hogwarts before. He was certain something would happen to destroy his peace. The universe was simply never this kind to him.