Chapter 8

The air in the dungeons was incredibly cool compared to the heat outside the castle. The further she and Severus descended, the damper the stone steps got. Since Severus was jerking her down the steps quickly, she nearly fell many times. Silence filled the air for their journey, but as soon as he had slammed his door just, Anna began spewing curses at Umbridge. Then, as if she had run out of gas, she plopped onto the black leather sofa with a sigh, not looking at Severus who had been following her every move.

"Thank you," Anna said suddenly. "She took me by surprise. I-"

"What are you doing here at Hogwarts?" Severus demanded, cutting her off. "Don't you know that the whole school is under the Ministry's control?" His tone was harsh, as if he were talking to a particularly stupid student.

"I'm here on Dumbeldore's account, not my own. He told me to give Minerva and Hagrid a message, in person, since he couldn't come himself. Anyway, had I known about how much the Ministry was interfering with Hogwarts, I wouldn't have come!" Her retort was angry and snappish. Severus had just insinuated that she wasn't able to do her work properly! "And furthermore, I am an Auror! I could have taken her had she not surprised me. I assure-"

Severus interrupted her again. "I'm not accusing you." He began to pace around the room, muttering to himself.

Anna was less than pleased with the situation, but she couldn't very well say anything since he had just saved her. Finally, he stopped pacing and walked over to a large wooden cabinet. Inside, there was a variety of colored potions and ingredient bowls. Severus ignored all of that and pulled out the little bag which, according to the inscription, was Floo Powder. Severus took a handful of and moved closer to the fireplace. He paused and cast his gaze over to Anna, seeing that she was observing his every move. He put the Floo Powder on a table next to the closet.

Before he could get started again, Anna asked, "What are you going to do? I mean, with Umbridge and all the rest? You can't actually go up there for dinner as if nothing has happened!"

Severus seemed to recognize the worry in her voice, for he offered her a little smile, bitter but without wickedness or resentment. There was another feeling in that smile that made her feel better, but Anna couldn't identify it.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. That toad needs me. I prepare all the Veritaseum she uses to interrogate the students. Please just listen to me. Now you know what's going on at Hogwarts. Do not come here again, even if Albus orders you to. Umbridge seemed to know you very well," he cautioned.

"Well, we have both worked at the Ministry, so she's probably seen me once or twice. I can't understand why she immediately stopped me though. It seemed like she knew exactly what I was there for. I mean, I could have been sent from the Ministry to have a look at things…" she trailed off, unsure.

"Umbridge is the Ministry," Severus replied. "She has full power and doesn't report to anyone. I thought you knew it, considering I've told you thousands of times, but perhaps you were too busy listening to Black's nonsense. Being the boss in office, you should know a bit more about things going on in these days"

"Look! I really am grateful that you saved me back there, but if you think I should kneel down at your feet and take every insult you throw at me silently, then you're wrong! And I'm no more the boss! Dumbledore has managed to held the situation by staying away. I said it at the last reunion, but perhaps you were too busy criticizing everything!" she shouted, angry with his continuous criticism. She had been imprudent, true, but that was it! Anna truly didn't understand why they always had to quarrel about something whenever they saw each other. She turned on her heel and walked towards the door. "Thank you, again, but from how on I'll manage by myself," she informed him angrily before slamming the door behind her.

Severus let her go, not bothering to try and stop her. It wasn't in his nature to run after girls and mollycoddle them. He felt a pain in his chest when he saw the door closing but did his best to ignore it. He didn't even know what he had said to make her so angry. He was only trying to protect her, not to hurt her. He hadn't felt comfortable defending her in front of the whole school and that certainly wasn't because of Umbridge! He had faced the Dark Lord! Nothing could be worse than that. He was simply ashamed of showing how much he cared for her, but that didn't stop him from rescuing her all the same. He didn't want to admit his own feelings. He acknowledged that it had been difficult to just be friends with her, when in his dream she was in love with him and he could return those feelings. Reality, as he already knew, was harsh. He didn't deserve real happiness; even his dreams were too much.

Anna reflected on her anger as she made her way out of the Dungeons. She would admit that she had no right to be so furious with Severus, considering he had just saved her, but he infuriated her so much! It was clear that the situation hadn't been her fault and yet, Severus ignored that and taken the whole issue as a means to jab at her capability of doing her work. At any moment, his attitudes would change drastically towards her! In one minute, he could be kind and gentle, but in the next he would treat her with the same sarcasm and harsh words that he offered all the other Order members. There wasn't ever a clear reason why either! At first, Anna had felt stupid for not having understood the problems Severus was having, but she had come to the conclusion that there wasn't anything to understand. Severus's moods were just that unpredictable, and she often forgot his fouler moods since they rarely saw each other. She hadn't thought too hard on it, of course, because she didn't want to go crazy trying to discover his secrets.

As deep in thought as she was, Anna paused on the staircase connecting the dungeons to the rest of the castle. She leaned against a wall, her breath creating little wisps of condensation from the cold air surrounding her. With a heavy sigh, Anna turned her back to the light at the top of the staircase and began her descent back to Severus's quarters to apologize. As soon as she reached his door, she stopped again. She could hear voices coming from the room; Severus's low and angry, while the other voice was crackling and unidentifiable, but definitely male.

"You couldn't care less about other people, could you? Oh, no, obviously not!" Severus's angry voice was saying. "In your opinion, everything is done for the Greater Good! What are we to you? Slaves? Nothing more than tools in your oh so skillful hands? Why should you care about the feelings, the lives that are at stake? Yes you know perfectly well what I'm talking about, but it isn't only that. What happened this afternoon only confirms what I've thought for a long time!"

The crackling voice cut him off them, so low and distorted that Anna couldn't hear what was being said. The tone was humble, as if the speaker were trying to justify himself, but suddenly the tone changed to a happier one – something akin to a laugh, and she understood. Whoever was talking with Severus was much more powerful than he, and hadn't taken Severus's accusations seriously. On the contrary, he had pretended to be sorry to show his superiority.

Severus answered in a tone so low that Anna had to lean herself against the door, her feet balanced on the step. "It's not funny. Yes, I'm indebted to you, but this is really too much. How long with I have to pay for my sins, to pay the forfeit for what you did to me? Aren't sixteen years enough? Listen to me; even if this entire plan could fail, I won't risk another time for that stupid-"

A loud crash echoed through the halls as Anna slipped off the step and fell down the stairs, landing in the classroom. She could no longer hear Severus's voice, only the rapid sound of footsteps that were approaching. Without thinking, Anna took her wand and cast a Disillusionment charm and a Muffliato on herself before running away, just as Severus opened the door to look around, suspicious of what had caused the noise.

In a few minutes, Anna was far from the dungeons, back in the Great Hall and left the castle via the main doors. She headed towards the forest, and stopped under a big crooked oak tree at the edge of the Forbidden Forrest. Hagrid's hut stood before her, black smoke coming out of the chimney. She slipped behind the big trunk, not wanting to be seen, before she crumpled to the ground from exhaustion. Tears filled her eyes as she considered Severus's words. Surly that 'stupid' he had been talking about was her, she thought as she massaged her painful ankle. She, who had put herself in countless dangerous situations, who had ruined a perfect plan, who had deceived herself into thinking she was Severus's friend; and now she saw that everything that was said about him was true. He was a greasy, black-hearted git that would never change. She mentally congratulated herself on being about to pull out her wand and cast before he had arrived. Anna knew that, had he discovered her, she would only have been able to burst into tears.

She stayed curled up on the ground for a while, thinking about nothing in particular. An hour passed until she heard the bell signaling it was time to switch classes. Before the students could descend on her for their Care of Magical Creatures class, she slipped away through the path to Hogsmeade and went home.