Severus Snape is tired of the lies. (fortiscadere) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2008-11-18 01:31:00 |
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Severus typically arrived early in the mornings at the library in Hogsmeade. He missed the precision of his potions, although he had found - particularly during the week previous - that working on them in the evening was still not only a practical possibility, but almost a necessary one. He needed the distraction almost more than anything else. The Library was quiet, and while he had been surprised with how busy he had been kept - he had always assumed Madam Pince simply sat around and shushed people all day long - it still tended to allow far more room for thought than he wanted. Still, the early allowed him to think specifically about the tasks of the day, to put things in order, to consider follow up needed on particular instructional queries, and until today, to go about straightening before people came in. Today, however, he was going to leave the straightening to Jacqueline, whom he knew should be arriving at any moment. The corner of his lips turned up slightly in an almost smile. For all Demetrius would go on about her, Severus found her intelligent, capable, and with a reasonably well developed sense of humour, thus he was perfectly willing to have her working with him. Of course the flip side of that was that she was intelligent, and he would need to watch what he said around her, make certain she had no reason to doubt his loyalties, or his position within the group. The latter was something he'd been thinking about quite a bit. He knew he had a window of opportunity, and he knew he needed to give the Dark Lord reason to believe that Severus was worthy of moving into a position that had been vacated by one of the currently imprisoned Death Eaters. He had given the idea quite a bit of thought over the weekend, and had come up with ideas, but nothing he felt confident about. He stacked the papers, and shook those thoughts from his mind. He waved his wand at a stack of bound volumes of Transfiguration Today and they moved across the room onto a waiting cart. Tapping a finger on the top of the desk for a moment, he waited. He was still somewhat edgy about it being Jacqueline. He wished momentarily that he were married, or that she were engaged. Clearly, however, the issue had not been present in Bellatrix Lestrange's mind, and additionally not in Mrs Wilkes so Severus could only garner the idea that he was worrying too much - particularly when one put into the equation that while he enjoyed an intellectual round with Jacqueline, he was not interested in any further intimacies. If Marius Lestrange spoke to him about it, Severus would deal with that event at that point in time. He still technically outranked Marius. And while Lestrange might be the 'man of the house' at the Manor, he had not stepped into his father's position within Death Eater circles, and it might be necessary to remind the other man that blood, wealth, and social standing were all very well and good, but Severus could still give him orders. Frankly, Severus planned on keeping it that way, which had been why he had spent so much time thinking on the processes over the weekend. And that thought drew to a close as Severus caught the door moving out of the corner of his eye and glanced up to see if Miss Wilkes had arrived. Despite having the lessons drilled into her from birth, Jacqueline would never have thought this situation could be considered improper if Severus had never suggested as much. The whole situation was so innocuous to her, and the thought of her doing anything that would compromise her marriageability (added to the fact that she had no particular attraction to Severus), it seemed silly that anyone would be able to find fault with what her volunteering. She was more concerned with making sure that this was most definitely not a job, which was one thing about Georgina that she did not want anyone whispering about her. She was volunteering, and that was certainly much, much more worthwhile to do here than with some filthy muggle-born children. No matter what image they had to uphold, there was no reason those children couldn't go back to their own society and be educated there. What had happened before with Bellatrix had given her a new lease on life, or at least a new sense of purpose. Now she felt excitement as she stepped into the cold doorway of the library, pushing back the hood on her scarlet cloak which had been drawn up to protect her from the rain. She looked around expectently, and a bit imperiously (she couldn't help it. She was Jacqueline Wilkes after all) for Severus. "There's a wardrobe in the study on the fourth floor where you can put your cloak," he suggested without preamble. He supposed that if someone were to call him on attempting to demonstrate specifically that there was no reason to worry about propriety, he might have to admit that there was some truth to the accusation. Still, it wasn't a social gathering, it wasn't a fancy party, it was work, and Severus was nothing if not practical and utterly focused the majority of the time he was at his job. "I usually leave mine there, and if you bring a bag or anything, it is safe to leave it there as well. I have already arranged for one drawer to open only for you, so you do not need to worry for me or others to rummage through." He motioned for her to follow him to said study. It was possible someone might have looked at their warded conversations in the journal and considered them flirtatious, and perhaps there was something in them that was. However, Severus would have claimed only intellectual flirting, for there was truly no emotion behind it. A year ago he might have been in danger of emotion, of 'falling in love with this one', as Demetrius had put it last week, but the summer had changed him and particularly in the aftermath of Agnes' death, his heart was behind multiple locked doors: to mend as best as he could. "You have visited before, so I will forgo a complete tour of the building unless you actually require such?" His tone was dry, and turned back to look at her, one eyebrow raised. "What I will ask is what sections you are most familiar with, and then we shall address the ones you are less familiar with." Jacqueline, for her part, flirted unknowingly. If Severus had been a pureblood, she would have considered him a worthy mate--he would definitely make the marriage short list, if nothing else. But he wasn't, and Jacq was entirely too committed to the goals of Purism, and the available pureblood mothers so scarce, that she would never consider risking her children's bloodlines for something so silly as an intellectual connection. She followed him, her face impassive, as she took it all in. He was being exceedingly business-like, so she would do likewise. "Mostly the philosophical sections, the Muggle oddities. A bit in the Charms area." Severus nodded as they reached the study and he walked over to the wardrobe so that she could put away her things. "That's a good start then," he said simply allowing her a little bit of time. He was exceedingly pleased to have Jacqueline as his assistant, if all things were told. She was intelligent and he was certain wasn't going to waste his time with non-essentials. "I'm going to hand much of the shelving over to you," he said simply. "Probably not all of it, but a good portion. Additionally there are often things that researchers require, or assistance that those using the library may need. I'm thinking your research skills are probably decent and guessing you spent quite a bit of time in the library at Hogwarts," it was more a statement than a question. "A few ground rules before we even get started. The seventh floor is completely off limits. I know you well enough to know you will respect Mr Lestrange's wishes in this regard, however if I have any reason to believe you are not, that will be your last day volunteering." Severus' tone bode no room for argument. Even had Bellatrix not thought he required reminding of his duty, he would have said the same. "The sixth floor has a similar caveat. There are a number of dangerous texts kept in that room. It will be accessed only under my direction, or alternatively, under Madame Lestrange's direction." Severus did not feel it necessary to point out that even under his direction, it would be with Madame Lestrange's permission. The truth was he could imagine very few instances where such a thing would be necessary - Perhaps if she began doing research more directly related to the cause and required the privacy. "With those restrictions I add only one more: I will respect your privacy, you will respect mine, and we shall stay good friends," he gave her a dry smirk. "Any questions thus far?" She removed her coat and hung it up where he indicated, listening to his little string of commands with a neutral look on her face. She didn't quite like being ordered about by him, but since his words came from Mrs. Lestrange, it eased the sting of it a little. "No, no questions." Severus gave her a small smile then, and motioned for her to follow him. The next few minutes amounted to essentially a tour of the library. The various sections on Ancient Runes, potions, the historical texts, the rooms that were locked with the rarer or more dangerous - but not so rare or dangerous that they warranted the sixth floor - texts. The reading rooms, and the smaller study rooms that had a few people quietly reading within them. "At least a good portion of what I'm doing," Severus said as they returned to the fourth floor study, "has been general care and maintenance. And that's part of why I need an assistant. I need to be working on helping with research questions for various people." He stopped inside the door and motioned for her to come in so that he could close it, the glass in the window keeping him from being bothered about being chaperoned. The privacy was more important at this particular juncture. "Right now I need you to become very familiar with the collection, and I'd like you to spend this week and next doing that," he looked up at her. "My guess is that some point within the next month we're going to need to do some very important research," he decided to let her extrapolate from his tone that the research was likely for the Dark Lord. "And I think this is one way you could be very useful, because it's something you're already good at, and something that will require very little violence, unless you pick up the wrong text," he smirked. "So be careful of that." "My only request is that you keep the books shelved, and that two hours a day will be spent doing this and research that I direct you towards. If you wish to spend more time here outside of that, I don't believe that anyone will object to your being here, and certainly I have found the access to information to be a beneficial aspect of this position." At this point he stopped and scrutinized her with his dark eyes, he wasn't going to say how pleased he was that it was her and not someone else, or how he thought this was probably an excellent opportunity for her to prove herself, but the thoughts had occurred to him nonetheless. "I think you might too, if I know you at all." She followed mutely, taking in everything he pointed out and filing the information away for later use. She thought best in silence, and so let the entire tour pass without comment. When they stepped into his office, she was careful to stand several feet away from him, for propriety's sake. Out of habit, her hands were folded in front of her, the usual posture she adopted for listening to someone with authority Her shoulders were more stiff than normal, however, and her mouth had a harder line to it than usual. At his comment about the work they would probably be asked to do, she nodded, unable to stop herself from frowning at the many negative thoughts that idea now provoked. "One can never have too much information." "A woman after my own heart," Severus said lightly, although it was difficult to not notice the vibe that seemed to suggest for him to stay far far away and he wondered what might be bothering her. He supposed he had given her a list of information a mile long, and told her that she would essentially be shelving books, although he had every intention of extending those duties into things more useful for the cause so long as she proved herself worthy of the task. This was something he had no doubt that she would do, but Severus wasn't one to hand over honour without certainty that it was deserved. He hesitated, wondering if it was simply that he hadn't followed typical society protocol and small talk at the beginning. He rather loathed it, but perhaps it would have been the better route to take considering that she was a pureblood woman, however brilliant her brain might also be. Still, it seemed backwards to ask 'how are you?' at the end of a conversation rather than at the beginning. "Is this fine, Jacqueline?" He asked instead, the question could as easily indicate the job description but was open enough that it should allowed her to say if something was bothering her. She nodded, struggling to keep her face impassive against the tide of frustration that was rising inside of her. It had been difficult enough to compose herself to get to the library today when she had been up half the night fuming, glaring angrily at her ceiling as if it were somehow involved in this nonsense. Crying on Severus' shoulder probably wouldn't make her feel any better, least of all because of the loss of pride from showing weakness. "Of course, Severus. It all seems straight forward." Despite feeling as if he knew it competently at this point, Severus wasn't frequently tempted to use Legilimency on someone, but he wasn't quite convinced that Jacqueline was telling him the truth. As he stared at her though, he didn't think it was necessarily something that he needed to know. It probably wasn't actually about the library, so he nodded. "Right then, I suppose you should get started on these books then? And if you have any questions," he nodded to the desk with a half a dozen books stacked on it that was going to continue some research he'd started last week. "Then you know where to find me." |