Severus stepped into the Great Hall for dinner, realizing that this plan of his had a downside that should have been obvious. In order to dose the woman, he’d have to sit within arms’ reach of her food. Which basically meant next to her. Perhaps a variant that could be absorbed through the skin, then I could simply spill some on her belongings…. Too late for that now, though, he had a dropper filled with liquid to be dispensed tucked in his sleeve. With a sigh he took the seat to Umbridge’s left. The sacrifices I make. A perfect opportunity presented itself when she—forcibly—engaged Pomona in conversation, and ignoring his manners he reached across her plate for the platter of carrots. With the dropper hidden in his palm it was simple enough to land three drops in her beans as he did so.

He couldn’t remember the precise onset time for the potion’s most dramatic side effect, but since he watched her clean her plate he wasn’t particularly worried when she left the Hall without showing any ill effects. Alastor followed almost immediately after, and for a moment Severus seriously considered trying to get a few drops into his flask. For research purposes, of course. Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately, considering what Alastor would do to him if he ever found out—he couldn’t come up with any feasible plan to accomplish it. Besides, he’s paranoid enough as it is. Merlin knows what he’d be like if I made it worse.

Severus had first invented the potion when he was studying for his OWLs…like everyone else he’d slept through History of Magic, and he had never been a particularly stellar Transfiguration student either. With his grandparents being less than sympathetic, it had seemed quite reasonable to use what he was good at to give him an advantage in the other subjects. Looking back, it was fairly obvious that he’d been concentrating too much on the individual ingredients when he’d been putting the potion together rather than researching their interactions as much as he should have, but at the time he’d thought himself quite clever. Until the fourth or fifth day after he’d begun taking it—three drops and breakfast, three at dinner, and an extra when he was revising something that he thought particularly important—when he blasted a toad belonging to one of his roommates out the library window when it had jumped on one of his books. Another quick-thinking student had levitated the thing safely back into the room before any permanent damage had been done, but Stephen had had a fit, and Severus had spent several detentions considering his actions. As it turned out, the potion didn’t do a great deal for a person’s memory—his transfiguration grade had certainly reflected that—but it wreaked absolute havoc on the nerves. Fortunately the effects were temporary, wearing off between one and three days after a person stopped taking it, but while a person was dosed….

He smiled slightly. He didn’t particularly like discussing his failures, and while he’d done a little more work with the potion just to find out why it had gotten the results it had he’d never shared them with anyone. Even if a diagnostic spell revealed something unusual there was no way to trace it back to him. Unless he was caught dosing her, of course, but Umbridge’s powers of observation were hardly anything to comment upon.

He arrived late to breakfast the next morning, effectively forcing himself to take a seat next to her. No need to be seen doing it deliberately two days in a row, after all—in fact he probably wasn’t going to be able to give her the potion regularly without someone noticing something was a little odd. Still, with Alastor following her around and Peeves and the students being less than cooperative, sporadic dosing might actually be quite effective. This time the drops went into her juice, and he was almost positive that she scanned the room a bit nervously before she stood.

With far more time on his hands—hand—than he knew what to do with and a growing dissatisfaction with spending entire days alternately reading and napping, Severus dug out a piece of parchment and decided to plan out his dosing schedule. He’d been correct in thinking that there was no way he could sit next to her every day…aside from the fact that it would be obvious that something was up, he’d been through enough torture recently. This would be easier if I knew who she was observing when. Minerva will have my hide if she finds out I’m the cause of a ruckus in her classroom—that he knew from several experiences as a student, and although he certainly didn’t plan to get caught it wasn’t something he cared to chance—and I’m not sure I want her losing it in the potions’ classroom. Not that he’d be particularly sorry if she got herself killed, but he’d spent quite a bit of time getting things arranged the way he liked them. Care of Magical Creatures…hm. Perhaps not, it’s one thing if she gets eaten, but Albus will be annoyed if a class of students is consumed with her.

He tapped the parchment lightly. Large doses before Sybil’s class; it’s not like it can do any harm. Filius’ too, he’ll no doubt find anything she does amusing, and it isn’t as though she’s likely to do something that he can’t handle. As for the others…. He doubted even Umbridge would manage more than one session in History of Magic, and from a few of Rhiannon’s comments she’d gotten a dizzy look on her face ten minutes into her first observation of Arithmancy and hadn’t been back since. Therefore neither of those was an issue. Who does that leave? Bathsheba won’t notice, but both Rolanda and Devon would probably love the chance to harass her. He smirked at vision of Umbridge shrieking and leaping off the tower in the Astronomy tower in the dead of night. Definitely a high dosage for Sinstra’s class. Herbology is fairly neutral, I suppose, but DADA…. He chuckled. I really need to get a copy of that schedule. Perhaps Albus has one.

The headmaster was out—no surprise there—and, unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any schedules lying around anywhere.

“Severus? Was there something you needed?”

“Hello, Minerva. I was just looking for Albus, actually.”

“He’s back at the Ministry. Madam Marchbanks and Tiberius—Ogden—resigned their positions on the Wizengamot in protest of Umbridge’s appointment. Which was noble of them, but….”

“Hardly what we need right now,” Severus agreed with a sigh. “Perhaps they are getting a bit senile; we need as many people as possible on our side on the Wizengamot, not watching from the sidelines. Is there any word on who is going to be appointed in their places?”

“Not that I’ve heard, but I shudder to think of some of the candidates that Fudge is likely lobbying for.”

“Agreed.” He frowned. “If you knew Albus was gone, what are you doing up here?”

“Looking for the master grade book. Umbridge wants to ‘review’ it.”

“Ah.” The teachers each had their own individual books, but major grades—tests and such—were recorded in the master as well. “Tell me, do you know where a copy of her observational schedule might be?”

“Umbridge’s?”

“Unless there’s another observer wandering the school that I’m unaware of.” In which case I may be the one that leaps off the Astronomy tower.

She frowned for a moment and then obviously decided that she didn’t really want to know. “I think Albus put a copy in the desk.”

“Thank you.”

Minerva shook her head and lifted the book. “See you at dinner.”

///////////

Severus’ head jerked up at a shriek, and a moment later Umbridge came pelting down the corridor with chandelier after chandelier crashing down in her wake. Peeves cackled madly overhead, spiraling up and through the ceiling when he finally ran out of chandeliers to drop.

Umbridge came to a halt, alternately panting and choking threats in the direction he’d gone.

“Suppose he must have loosened them earlier,” Devon observed, kneeling to examine the shards.

A flash of something crossed Minerva’s face as she made her down the corridor towards them, but it disappeared as quickly as it had come, and Severus decided that he didn’t really want to know. From her reaction Umberidge was going to miss yet another meal in the Great Hall, though…he was going to have to come up with some way to get her another dose in the next meal or two or it was going to start wearing off. In just over a week he was going to be going to St. Mungos so she was definitely going to recover then, of course, but he’d been perfectly aware that would happen before he’d started this. Although things are going quite well...well enough, in fact, that I'm not sure I care to give her too much time to consider her situation. Perhaps I could enlist a house elf. He spent most of the meal ignoring Sybil’s whining—she was apparently still on probation—and debating the feasibility of that option. The creatures were just so bloody accommodating; if Umbridge asked what she was eating they would no doubt tell her everything they knew. Of course, he could lie—he would lie, if it came to that—and tell them that it was something innocuous, but with his luck they’d probably then decide to serve it to the whole school. And I wouldn’t even be around to enjoy the effect.

“Severus?” Rhiannon asked, interrupting his musings. “Are you all right?”

“Fine, thank you.” He glanced down at his plate, realizing that he’d barely eaten anything, and made an effort to at least finish off his vegetables. Poppy had already been on his case once this week about not taking proper care of himself. His fork missed the cabbage the first time, but he did his best to ignore it—he’d gotten accustomed to moving about with only one eye, but over short distances it still gave him enough trouble that he was seriously considering going looking for a magical replacement. Not just now, obviously, but at some point in the future…well, it was a definite option.

As soon as the meal was finished, he made his way to his quarters. Not that there was anything in particular to do there, but…he frowned at a square of parchment on his table that hadn’t been there when he’d left. An Order meeting—and I’m invited? He’d more than half-suspected that he’d be left out of the majority of their doings since his position as a spy had been revealed. Not that they won’t still use me when it’s convenient, of course, but…. It wasn’t an Occlumency day for Harry so he spent the time before the meeting straightening his quarters and then began the trek back upstairs to the floo. A flash out of the corner of his eye just before he reached the main floor caught his attention, but whoever or whatever it had been disappeared into his blind spot almost immediately. He could have gone after it, of course, but he wasn’t about to let himself be lured into an ambush. Half-invoking a shield, he continued towards the study at a slightly faster pace. Perhaps I should look into that eye sooner rather than later. That he was being watched wasn’t a particular, surprise, no doubt several of the students with Deatheater parents had orders to keep an eye on him, but that didn’t mean that he had to like the situation. Especially after what had already been attempted. I could move out of the dungeons I suppose, but I refuse to let that creature and his minions take away my home. Besides which, it would have very little effect.

He arrived at Grimmauld Place at the same time as several of the Order members, most of whom displayed various levels of shock at his new appearance. It was almost amusing at first, although it became considerably less so when he caught the mutt staring. I didn’t even know he was back in the country. The werewolf didn’t seem to be around, but then the full moon was tomorrow night so he likely wasn’t feeling well. Another man, one he didn’t recognize, sat beside Black, talking quietly to Albus.

“Everyone,” Albus began after the dozen or so Order members who’d just arrived took seats, “I’d like to introduce you to one of Sirius’ and Remus’ contacts in Spain. This is Mr. Aleksander Nazarov. He is on the board of the International Association of Quidditch and has just been transferred to the British offices.” Albus made the rounds of the rest of the table, introducing the Order members present.

A former professional Quidditch player—he had to be if he was on the board—who knows the mutt and the werewolf. I’m not sure if I could come up with a less convincing set of qualifications if I tried. He considered for a moment. Well, there’s always Fudge, I suppose.

“It is pleasure to meet you,” Nazarov said formally.

And with that accent and phrasing—not to mention the name— if he’s Spanish, I’ll be claiming my Egyptian heritage any day now. Severus studied the man a bit closer. He was older than he looked at first glance, the lack of hair disguising the fact that it had no doubt gone all to grey and weather-beaten skin hiding the age lines.

“Most of you are aware by now that Severus’ position was revealed. However, what you may not be aware of is that we have another potential spy in the ranks. We’ve had to be careful what use we’ve made of her up until this point since she has no Occlumency skills to speak of. We’ve been using Imperius to control her memories of our meetings, but obviously that’s not an ideal situation—”

Nor is it one that will continue to work for long, particularly if you want her to infiltrate the inner circle.

“—and having Severus tutor her would not be a wise idea at this point.”

‘Not a wise idea’ was putting it mildly. Even if he could disregard the fact that she was most likely the one who’d taken his eye—and he wasn’t entirely certain that he could—if the creature looked into her mind and saw any hint of contact with the traitor she would be dead as well. Unless, of course, this is all a setup on his part to put the two of us in that exact position, thereby giving her an opportunity to do away with me once and for all. Not a pleasant thought, but it wasn’t something to disregard offhand either.

“Mr. Nazarov is a skilled Occlumens and has indicated that he would be willing to teach her,” Albus continued. “Severus, you know better than I what she will be facing….”

So that’s why he was here, to evaluate their newest member’s abilities. Fair enough, although I daresay Albus is just as capable. With years of practice, Severus invoked Legilimency with neither wand nor word as the man met his eyes. And encountered an Occlumency shield fully as strong as any he’d ever been able to manage. Hm. Rather impressive. There was pressure on his own shield suddenly, and he reinforced as necessary.

When the pressure ceased, he drew his wand and threw the strongest probe he was capable of—this time with both wand and voice. The shields held. His own were treated to a similar bombardment a moment later.

The rest of the Order members were muttering in the background, but Severus ignored them. It’s not as though I haven’t had plenty of practice at that “And if I was through your shields?”

“Please.”

This time when Severus invoked the spell he met no resistance. In fact, he met nothing at all, finding himself caught in a blizzard so thick that he doubted he’d see his hand in front of his face—if he was capable of holding his hand in front of his face in this situation, that is. He pulled back out.

“Light Siberian snowfall,” Nazarov said with a half-smile.

“Thought you were from Spain,” Alastor growled suddenly.

“I was born in Novosibirsk, but now I am Spanish citizen.”

“Hmph.”

“And you played Quidditch?” Tonks asked.

“Eleven years chasing for Siberian Salamanders, eight for Madrid Manticores.”

Nineteen years was quite a career in the life of a Quidditch player, Severus considered, particularly with the types of injuries the players often sustained. Beaters and seekers tended to have the shortest job spans, but chasers didn’t get off so lightly either.

“I’d never considered Quidditch an occupation that required Occlumency,” Minerva observed. Her manner might be far less challenging than Alastor’s, but her tone was just as pointed.

“Try to serve on committee without it,” Nazarov said with a flick of his fingers. “Will go mad with reporters and officials and such messing about in your mind.”

That wasn’t actually an answer to the question she hadn’t actually asked—where he’d learned it—but there wasn’t anything that seemed deliberately ‘wrong’ about him to Severus. Of course, there are plenty of people who seem perfectly normal on the surface that are anything but. He was surprised that this questioning wasn’t being carried out under Veritaserum, actually, new Order members were always…a roar from the floo caught his attention, and Kingsley stepped out with a vial of the truth serum. “Sorry I’m late, got held up at the Ministry.”

“That’s fine,” Albus assured him.

Nazarov took the potion willingly enough—or at least as willingly as anyone takes Veritaserum—and Severus did his best not to hear the true interrogation that followed. There wasn’t much more being said than the man had already offered, and the questions were coming relatively gently, but his own interrogation once upon a time had been absolutely brutal. He hadn’t been much more than a child, alternately terrified and borderline-hopeless when he realized just how deeply he’d gotten himself involved in the Dark Lord’s machinations, and none of the ones who’d questioned him had been particularly kind. He done his best to give as good as he’d gotten—and his best was usually quite good although the Veritaserum had made him clumsier than usual—but he still didn’t care for anything that called up memories of that day. He had no intention of being around when the girl’s Occlumency shields were considered good enough that she could be brought in for a similar session. Although it did clear up where Nazarov’s own skills with Occlumency had come from—he’d been avoiding the wizard hunters that had combed Communist Russia once upon a time, before his family had fled to Spain. His discomfort discussing that situation was quite obvious. There’s nothing dark there, Severus had the urge to snarl at the Order members who pressed the point. We all have our secrets to keep. When asked, he confirmed the man’s Occlumency skills and took the opportunity to go back to Hogwarts and away from the scene.

///////////

Harry very nearly bounced through the door to Severus’ quarters, grinning broadly.

“Mr. Potter.”

Harry ignored the even greeting. “You should have seen it, Professor, Umbridge went stark raving mad in Divination today, and she just about lost it again in the Great Hall.”

“I beg your pardon?” He’d left the meal a bit early to see if he’d received any post…since Nazarov was a fairly experienced Occlumens, Severus had sent off ‘theoretical’ question the day after the Order meeting about dealing with wandless magic in conjunction with Occlumency shields. It had been three days, but so far there had been no response.

“We’ve been crystal-gazing again—which is good because I’ve run out of things to pretend I dreamed about—and Umbridge picked up Lavender’s crystal and started to say something about the quality of our supplies when the mist got sort of greenish instead of pink like it had been. Professor Trelawny did one of her little gasps and then started saying all this stuff about darkness and danger and—”

“I am aware of her particular idiosyncrasies.” He was far more interested in Umbridge’s reaction.

“Well, Umbridge turned an interesting shade of red and started asking all these questions about what kind of danger and where it was coming from and all this other stuff like she didn’t even know that it wasn’t real, and when Trelawny said it was coming ‘soon’ she squealed, dropped the crystal—right on Lavender’s foot—and ran out of the classroom in tears. And then after the meal Professor Trelawny tried to talk to her again, and she started to yell about how no one would ever catch her. Of course then Professor Moody yelled ‘constant vigilance’ at her from about two feet behind her and she ran away again.”

Perhaps six drops in her porridge this morning was a bit much. Still, he’d be leaving for St. Mungos soon enough and since he’d come up with no viable alternatives to letting her recover he’d thought it best to dose her up as much as he could before he left. Poppy had spoken to him again and it seemed that he’d be able to do some of the therapy here rather than spending so long in the hospital, but…well, Severus doubted he’d be leaving his rooms too often until he’d mastered the clamp prosthesis.

“She’s been acting kind of weird all week, actually.”

He raised an eyebrow but kept his expression deadpan. “How could you tell?”

Harry snickered and dropped down onto the blanket that Severus waved to the floor. “For some reason she won’t even come up to the Astronomy tower anymore, and two days ago when Professor Binns was talking about the Goblin revolt of…well, whenever there was a goblin revolt…she kept looking around like she expected one to attack her from behind. The whole class stayed awake just watching her.”

Personally, Severus was actually impressed that she’d continued going to the History of Magic classes. I’d have thought the time she spent in those as a child would have been enough for one lifetime. “She hasn’t been bothering you any more, then?”

“She’s had other stuff to worry about. Peeves, for one, and—” he broke off. “Well, other stuff.”

Inferring from that that the trio—and likely the Weasley twins and other assorted Gryffindors—had plots of their own against her, Severus declined to comment. “Then I suppose our lesson is unlikely to be interrupted.” He lowered himself to the floor as well. “Clear your mind. Legilimens.”

He was flat on his back not long after the words were out of his mouth, and he glared at Harry as he sat up. “Was that necessary?”

“I’m sorry, Professor, I’m trying! Really!”

Which seemed to be true enough, Severus had to acknowledge, but that didn’t make his life any easier. The next time he entered Harry’s mind he did it silently and with no flick of his wand to give away his intentions. He found himself in a room he didn’t recognize, helping an Asian girl—Chang, Ravenclaw, tolerable enough student although decidedly…emotional—with wand motions. There were other students around, and—

“Hey!”

Once again he was flat on his back, and he added a bit more to the cushioning charm as he sat back up.

“You didn’t tell me you were going to do that,” Harry said indignantly.

“Are you expecting an owl from the Dark Lord when he realizes that he can access your thoughts?”

The boy flushed and then glared at him again. “But you’re not V—you-know-who.”

Severus glared in return and then said in an as even a voice as he could manage, “No, but in case you’ve forgotten, the point of these exercises is to teach you to protect yourself from him. You have to be aware of yourself—of your mind—at all times.”

Harry’s jaw tightened, and signs of the rebellious brat Severus had become accustomed to dealing with over the years flashed through his eyes. “Why? It’s not like there’s anything special about me for him to discover except the whole boy-who-lived thing, and since I barely even remember that day it’s a pretty stupid thing to focus on.”

“There is the small detail that you are able to connect to his mind,” Severus said pointedly. “Hence these lessons in the first place.” Not to mention a certain other…factor. Which he certainly didn’t plan to be the one to tell the boy about.

“Well, I don’t want to have to watch myself all the time. Everyone keeps telling me that I’m only fifteen, I’m not supposed to worry about all the things that are happening—I’m not even allowed to worry about it—and now you’re telling me I have—”

“Do you want a listing of all the things I don’t want?” he snapped, temper fraying. A missing arm, for one, an eye for another. Bones and joints that are never going to heal quite right. A life that will be consistently in danger until this war is over and every Deatheater is captured—and even that is no guarantee. And it’s a life that hasn’t even been mine since I was seventeen bloody years old and too stupid to know when to run away! He would have gotten to his feet, but getting up and down still wasn’t as easy as it should have been. “I have neither the inclination nor the patience to deal with this just now. You are here to learn Occlumency, and I am here to teach it as I see fit. For the rest of this hour you will shield your mind from me and eject me when I have penetrated said shields. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Professor.”

It wasn’t—quite—a snarl, but it wasn’t far from it either, and by the time the lesson ended Severus had a rather unpleasant headache. Harry wasn’t particularly good at detecting subtle Legilimens, but given that the two of them were staring at each other there was a limited amount Severus could do to hide his attempts. And he more than half-suspected that Harry wasn’t even trying to hold back the wandless magic that accompanied his peculiar brand of Occlumency—he’d actually ended the lesson a bit early before he could lose complete control of his temper and respond in kind. He might not have been able to deal such a powerful shove, at least not wandlessly, but then the brat was considerably lighter than himself. Better to remove the temptation.

When his headache still hadn’t abated by the next morning, he skipped breakfast in the Great Hall in favor of a tray from the house-elves and decided that a day relaxing in bed wasn’t entirely out of order at this point. Unfortunately, before he could get more than a chapter into the journal that had arrived the morning before, a knock at the door interrupted him. Let it be someone I can hex. “Enter.”

“Severus, there you are.”

“I’m resting,” he said, before the mediwitch could start on one of her tirades about taking better care of himself. “And I’ve already eaten.”

“Yes, well, if you’re ready, they’re waiting for us at St. Mungos.”

“What? Already? But I thought—” He was supposed to have several more days before they'd do the procedure.

“It seems the clamp came in early, and the mediwitch with the experience is free this morning, so if you can get ready quickly…unless you’ve changed your mind?”

“I….” He shook his head. “No, I haven’t changed my mind.” He wanted to be able to work again, he wanted to get back to his life again, but…. Another, more vicious shake. His arm was gone, this was the best he was going to get. “Give me a moment.”

“I’ll meet you by the floo,” she said with a nod.

Severus didn’t have much to get ready, just a few changes of clothes and a couple books. He scrawled a note to Harry that he would be having lessons with Albus and a note to Albus that the boy would be expecting lessons, adding adressee's-eyes-only charms to both as an afterthought, and then debated adding a line to Albus’ about the boy being in some kind of snit. After a moment’s reflection he decided that he wasn’t feeling that charitable this morning. As an afterthought a third note went to Minerva letting her know he was leaving for some unspecified amount of time since she was acting as headmistress while Albus was dealing with the Ministry. Harry and Minerva’s letters went to house-elves to deliver; Albus’ required a short detour to get an owl since it was nearly impossible to tell where he’d be at any given time and the bird would keep trying until it succeeded; and then he joined Poppy at the floo.