Who: Severus and Louisa What: Talking about the Dark Lord behind his back. When:A few days after this. Where: Severus and Louisa's quarters at Hogwarts Why: Cause he don't know what to do!
Severus shut the door to the Dark Lord's office behind him and stood there for a long moment considering everything he had just witnessed before purposefully striding to his own office to note it all down.
Rabastan had been right to be concerned and Severus was experiencing intense and complicated feelings about failing to notice this himself. However, he was having trouble knowing exactly what the feelings were. He didn't feel bad about it, he was very busy, and usually, when he spoke to the Dark Lord, it was brief. He also wasn't happy about it, as bad as things were with Him in power, it would be chaos to try to function as a country if He fell ill. He wasn't worried about Him, because if He were gravely ill, even though there would be chaos, it would be vastly better for the country in the long run. Maybe the problem was that he was experiencing all of the contradicting thoughts and feelings at once.
When asked, the Dark Lord denied anything being wrong beyond a few nights of poor sleep. Obviously, it was more than that and Severus didn't know what to do with it. All the possibilities and repercussions were swirling and mingling in his head in an overwhelming and exhausting display. One of the former Headmasters cleared his throat which brought Severus out of his reverie and into the here and now, where he realised he was going to be late for dinner.
Louisa was still cutting Bronte's food into smaller pieces and hadn't seemed to start eating herself when Severus arrived home.
"I apologise for being late," he said, slightly breathless, as he entered the room. He kissed Bronte's soft head, then leaned over her and kissed Louisa, before removing his robes to (temporarily) hang them over the back of his chair. This type of domesticated affection was normal for Severus now, but being late without notice was not.