The Potion Mistress & the Half-Blood Prince

Chapter 2: Welcome and Welcome Back

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the people or places that belong to the wonderful world of Harry Potter, as they belong to J.K. Rowling. The OC (Katherine) is entirely my own.

Severus walked in his usual quick strides down the corridor towards the dungeon stairway. No matter how fast he walked, it seemed that Katherine was able to match his pace. Silence remained between the two, but Severus decided to take a glance at the woman who was now another name to add to his list to help guide along in life.

Katherine couldn't bare the silence any longer. She knew the man walking next to her since she was eight years of age. She knew the type of man he was also; cold, repressed, dark...a spy, like her or like she once was. But yet she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"Are you prepared to teach the students all that you know about potion making?" Severus questioned, finally breaking the silence, as the two descended the stairs into the dungeons below.

"Obviously," she replied coolly. "Or I would not be here." Severus stopped her abruptly, and stared into her eyes.

"It's good to see you again Katherine," he stated serenely. "I am glad that you are back."

"As am I," Katherine softly smiled at him, thanking Merlin in the back of her mind that everything could possibly return to normal between them.

"It's hard to believe it's been fifteen years," Severus said as he took a deep look at the face of the friend he longed to see.

"Fifteen long years Severus," Katherine sighed. They turned and continued to walk down the corridor towards her quarters. The dungeons were as dark and damp as she remembered from her school days.

"It seems that the States Wizarding Prison wasn't too harsh on you," Severus stated as he led her to the large oak door and held it open for her. "Apparently, their prison does not have the same effect on their prisoners as Azkaban does on theirs."

"You have no idea," she rolled her eyes. "There are no dementors, but they have other ways of driving you to insanity." She stepped into the dark room and waved her wand toward the hearth to light the fire. Then with another wave, cleared two chairs of the dust and sat down.

Severus sat across from her, crossing his ankles and his arms, then sat back into his chair. "Like what, may I ask?"

"Well," Katherine paused as a dark presence came over her eyes, "the Cruciatus curse comes to mind. Only three minutes at a time, but usually twice a day. There was no schedule to when the guards would perform the curse. They liked to catch us off guard."

"How interesting," Severus frowned as he though of her enduring the curse twice a day over the span of fifteen years, and quickly calculated the number in his head. The total he came up with disgusted him. "Well, at least you have somehow managed your sanity after all of that. You should see Bellatrix; she is even more sinister than ever now."

"Oh Merlin," Katherine rolled her eyes in both amusement and irritation. "So she survived Azkaban, huh? Damn."

"I remember how you two where always bickering at each other about everything," chuckling to himself. "I remember one time you got so infuriated at her, you hit her with the Densaugeo spell."

"Yes," she stated with disgust on her face, "but if you remember, she retaliated with the Conjunctivitis Curse. I could not see for days after that."

"I do remember that," Severus said softly while looking down at his lap trying to avoid Katherine's stare. After a few moments of silence, Severus looked at his pocket watch. "The staff meeting will be starting shortly, Albus requires all staff members to be there."