#8 ~ A Rather Catty Situation

Disclaimer: All characters belong to JKR (except Odessa Divine). All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 9 ~ Odessa Arrives at Hogwarts

Severus was up and dressed early. Miss Divine was to arrive at twelve noon, right at lunch, where she would be introduced to the staff and student body. Severus didn’t want to enter the lower halls for the first time with her. He needed to face them alone. He roused a sleeping Hermione, deciding he might as well cast the extermination spell while he was down there. Hermione woke up a bit cranky. Grabbing her wand and donning her housecoat, she grumpily stomped to her Spells Lab to retrieve the instructions for casting it. She had to dig around a bit in her filing cabinets before she found the bit of parchment, duplicated it, brought it back to her husband, who wisely said nothing more to her than, ‘thank you’ as she threw herself back into bed, throwing the covers over her head.

After studying the spell for several minutes, Severus quietly left their rooms, exiting through his office, made a right and headed down the dungeons corridor until he came to a section of wall that looked no different than the rest of the stonework. Pressing several stones in a quick pattern, he waited as the wall swung back slowly, revealing a set of stairs winding down into the darkness. He had to light the torches along the way. This part of the castle had been unused so long, that they had extinguished themselves. He walked down the long, spiraling stone stairs, igniting the sconces on the walls as he went, before coming face to face with another stone wall. Again, he pressed the stones in a pattern, and the wall slid upwards this time, revealing another hallway, lined with doors on either side. He could hear scurrying and squeaking. Rats. He walked up and down the hall, opening each door and leaving it ajar, then stood as close to the center of the area as possible, and cast Hermione’s spell. The squeaking and scurrying stopped immediately. He smirked. His wife really was a wiz at spells. He then went through each room and did a basic scourgify to rid it of the dust and cobwebs, muttering to himself about cleaning services. Finally, he decided the place was presentable.

Now that he had done basically all he could do, the memories associated with the levels came back to him. Each room was filled with parchments, most in boxes yet a large amount scattered on the floors. One room in particular had several boxes drawn together to form a rough rectangle, the tops of them crushed downward. It had served as a makeshift bed for the brutalizing of female recruits. Severus tried to shake the images of the acts that were performed there, but they refused to leave his head. He imagined the files in those boxes would be rather stained. He remembered his encounter with recruit Bellatrix LeStrange on those boxes, and his savage delight when he found out she was the cousin of the hated Sirius Black. He targeted her the moment she entered the lower levels. But he was sorely disappointed. Try as he might, he couldn’t break the witch, no matter what he made her do, or how hard he fucked her.

She was a pure zealot, and insane, willing to do anything in the service of the Dark Lord, suffer any torture, or any pain in his name. She truly believed it an honor to be fucked by several deatheaters at once to prove her loyalty to her Lord. She soon became the Dark Lord’s favorite and most vicious female deatheater, often acting as his gleeful executioner when traitors or defectors were discovered. She never trusted Severus, and many times she stood by, her hand itching to cast the killing curse on him as Voldemort tormented him with the Cruciatus curse in an attempt to make him admit his duplicity. She hated the Potions Master so much, he was sure his death at her hands would’ve made her orgasm.

Severus pulled the door to those memories closed and gazed down the hall to the room at the end, the main office. It was there he had received his mark and swore fealty to the charismatic and handsome Tom Riddle. He shuddered when he thought about the transformation the young wizard went through, as he sought more and more power, sacrificing his good looks, charismatic nature, and soul in search of immortality. In Hogwarts, Tom’s physical changes were subtle so he was able to graduate with Professors only noting he was looking a bit ill and off-color. It was after graduation, when they all moved from the lower levels to another location, that Tom became Lord Voldemort, losing his humanity in the process. And still they followed him, some because they coveted his power, others because they were deviants and enjoyed mayhem and bloodshed, and others because they saw no way out.

Severus leaned against the cool wall for a moment, closing his eyes. He hated this place. It was the beginning of all his sorrows and misdeeds. He did participate in some of the assassinations, or murders rather. He remembered returning to Hogwarts after his first experience participating in the killing of a wizarding family that the Dark Lord had decided to make an example of, ill and vomiting at the violence he had witnessed. There had been young children, toddlers really, who died in a way too horrible to describe. From that point on, he always tried to be the first to enter a marked family’s home, so he could kill them mercifully with the Avada Kedavra curse, before the others could have their sick, brutal and bloody fun. He received his first taste of the Cruciatus curse because of this, he was “too eager” in Voldemort’s estimation. But it was worth it, since his perceived taste for killing by the curse spared him from participating in the rapes and mutilations that occurred during the Dark Revels while satisfying the Dark Lord’s taste for death. He shuddered again. The sooner he got Miss Divine down here and familiar with the place, the better.

He turned and headed for the stairwell, making sure to lower the wall as he left. He ascended the stairs, scourgifying cobwebs along the way.

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Odessa arrived at Hogwarts without incident. Filch escorted her to the Headmaster’s office. She caused quite a stir as she passed through the throngs of students changing classes, the boys staring and walking into walls, or stumbling down the stairwells, the girls frowning, and whispering jealously to each other as she swished by. She looked neither right or left as she walked, holding her satchel tight to her body, fully aware of the effect she was having on the young male population of Hogwarts. There would definitely be a new face in their hot little fantasies tonight.

Filch stopped in front of the gargoyle that led to Dumbledore’s office.

“Goopy Green Gobbleygook,” he said in a low voice, embarrassed to be using such a awful password in front of Odessa, who fought back a snorting giggle at the trepidation on the old caretaker’s face. She wondered who would choose such a crazy password? After ascending the spiral staircase, and getting a good look at Albus, she knew. Filch introduced her, and reluctantly retired, having enjoyed being in the presence of the lovely witch. He’d have to find more reason to be in the dungeon area in the coming months.

Odessa discreetly assessed the elderly, bespectacled wizard Filch had left her with. The Headmaster was dressed in a shimmering rainbow colored robe, his hair parted down the middle and sporting two long white ponytails on either side. Multicolored ribbons were tied into his waist-length beard, twisted into little bows. He smiled pleasantly at the beautiful witch from behind his desk and offered her a seat.

“Welcome to Hogwarts, Miss Divine,” he gushed as his old eyes raked over his latest staff addition. She was certainly a lovely girl. “I hope your journey went well?”

“It was fine, Headmaster, thank you,” she responded with a smile.

“Your personal effects arrived yesterday and were taken to your rooms and left unopened as you requested, although I must say our house elves were very disappointed. They so enjoy setting up the rooms for new staff members,” he said pleasantly.

“I’m sorry to have disappointed them,” Odessa responded, “but I like to set things up my own way. I’m sure you understand, Headmaster.”

Albus nodded. “Certainly, my dear. The house elves services are meant only to assist, not to interfere. Your things are waiting for you when you are ready to unpack. Now, do you have any questions before I escort you to the Great Hall and introduce you?”

Odessa considered. She had a million questions about Professor Snape, but didn’t dare show any interest in him. Husband stealing was sneaky work. Instead, she went for the basics.

“Where are my rooms located?” she asked.

“They are in the dungeon area, which is near the entrance to the lower regions of the castle, where the student files are located,” Albus replied.

Odessa’s face clouded over. The dungeons. Damn, another underground domicile. She was hoping she would be located someplace where there would be easier access to the grounds of Hogwarts. Albus saw her hesitation.

“You will have neighbors. Our Potions Master and his wife will be right next door to you,” he said.

Odessa felt her heart clutch. He would be right next-door! How convenient for her. Things were looking brighter already. She kept her cool, though inwardly she was dancing about with joy.

“That would be Professor Snape, correct?” she asked.

“Yes,” Albus replied, “and Lady Snape. I am sure they will be happy to show you around the castle your first few days until you familiarize yourself.”

Odessa fought back a scowl at the mention of Hermione. Her rival.

“That would be nice,” she intoned.

“Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served in the Great Hall, and you have your choice of meals. There is also a staff room where you can have coffee and spend time with other staff members. If you are in need of anything while in your rooms, you can summon a house elf to serve you twenty-four hours a day. You cannot apparate on the school grounds and must go outside the school gates. You will be given the wards to enter and leave the grounds, and you must be sure to re-ward the gates every time you enter or leave, for the security of the school. I will give you a week to become familiar with Hogwarts before you settle in to work. And you have quite a bit ahead of you, I’m afraid.” Albus told the witch.

“I’m sure it won’t take that long to find my way around,” she replied, smiling. “I’d like to start work as soon as possible. When will I be able to visit the lower levels?”

“This evening, if you are up to it. Professor Snape will be escorting you. Any questions you have about the area, he will be able to answer for you,” Albus said.

Odessa could have creamed herself. She would be alone with Severus Snape this very evening. She would have to be careful how she approached him. From what she had read in the tabloids, he was very aloof, distant and prone to be unfriendly. They couldn’t manage to get a personal interview, quoting him as saying, “I have no time to waste giving personal information to a publication that would most assuredly serve the public best as backup paper in the loo.” Yes, he was unfriendly. Fawning over him would not be the right way to get his attention. She would have to gauge his reaction to her first, then proceed from there. She would also watch his interactions with his wife, to see just how close they were. Maybe she could find a weakness, and drive a wedge between them. This was going to take time. Hopefully he would be hers by the time her work here was finished.

“That will be fine,” she said, smiling at Dumbledore.

“Good,” Albus said, rising from behind the desk, walking around and offering Odessa his arm. “Then let us head to the Great Hall for lunch and introductions,” he said, smiling down at the witch. He looked at her bag.

“Would you like to leave your bag in my office until after the meal?” he asked.

Odessa held the handle tightly. “No, I would rather take it with me. That way I can go directly to my rooms after lunch and start unpacking,” she said, taking the wizard’s arm.

“As you wish. We’ll take my floo, if you have no objections,” Albus said, guiding her to the fireplace and taking a pinch of powder from a box on the mantle.

“No objections at all,” she smiled up at him. Albus felt like his breath was being ripped from his lungs. She certainly was a lovely, lovely girl. He regrouped and tossed the powder into the fire, which turned green.

“Off we go,” he said, escorting Odessa through the flames.

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A/N: Off Odessa goes to the Great Hall, to meet her fellow staff members, and Severus. And Hermione. And Marcus too. You know that man doesn’t miss much. Please review.