He'd decided months ago, when he realized he did need her, despite his hatred for everything she'd done, to bury his feelings deep down below the Occlumency he'd learned from her.
He nodded vaguely at her, acknowledging her comment. Productive. Just what he needed her to be.
Bloody hell, out of all the wretched souls who were coming back, why couldn't Severus be one of them? Where are you and how in Merlin's name did you deal with this woman?
He lifted an eyebrow briefly. "Yes, well, I'm rather done with people discussing my failures. It seems that everyone has a reason to find me lacking these days." He was thinking specifically about the conversation he'd had with Blaise, knowing that he must have been talking to this...abomination. He wondered precisely how much of her opinion of his failings she'd amended.
"I've made a few connections, a few inroads, though it hasn't been precisely a fast as I'd like, of course."