Severus and the Frozen North

Cowards and Kisses

October 2002

"Who the hell did she leave in charge of our lab?!" Kora yelled angrily, hands clutched to her forehead in disbelief

He echoed the sentiment, gazing in utter defeat at the devastation that was their lab. He inwardly simmered while Kora bubbled over.

Half the beakers were missing, the ones that remained were stained and cracked. Knives and other instruments strewn about in no particular order, ingredients not restocked, the floor and counter tops filthy, cauldrons burnt and disgusting.

Cursing mightily, Kora began flinging all the unusable beakers into a bag, picking up dull knives and dirty utensils with disdain. It was completely disrespectful of the brewers to leave the lab this way. The potions they brewed couldn't have been functional.

Scowling, he began taking inventory of what was missing, out of date, and just plain gone. The list quickly totaled over two scrolls of parchment.

"Welcome back I suppose" she sighed a while later, setting the bag on fire and quickly making it disappear

"I need to make a trip to the apothecary. Immediately. Would you like to go or clean up the carnage here?" he asked grimly, looking around at the hours worth of work still to be done even with magic

She waved goodbye, swearing and scrubbing at a stain that wouldn't come off even with a cleansing spell. Her anger was misplaced passion for their trade. Her high regard for their craft made it so that any disruption came across as the worst insult.

"Oh Severus! So glad to see you're back!" Margaret bustled out into the hallway, embracing him in her matronly way that he accepted

"Glad to be back. Although, the lab is in rather a disarray" he told her grimly

"I am so sorry. For the last month we had apprentices running things with no oversight because the Master got sick. It was dreadful. Oh dear...Where is Kora? The interns will be in soon" she apologized and suddenly realized that there may be danger

Together they turned to go back to the tower when the sounds of howling and what could only be described as penitent terror echoed down the spiraled stair case.

"What kind of half wit moron doesn't clean a cauldron after they're done?! You could have poisoned half the hospital you complete and utter toadstool!

And how does one break magical beakers?! They're MAGICAL! And there are scorch marks on the ceiling, and unidentifiable stains that refuse to budge on my counter that I still haven't the faintest idea what they are! No ingredients for the most basic of potions, did your parents raise idiots?!

Because I'm certain that anyone with one brain cell between them could do better than the likes of you two! All the aprons are disgusting and ruined!

Minty is terrified to even enter the lab because apparently he got SET ON FIRE from an errant spell that one of you tried to do....

DONT RUN AWAY FROM ME YOU COWARDS IM NOT FINISHED!"

Two horrified young men with shaggy hair and apprentice gowns tripped over themselves to get down out of the tower before Kora could reach them, disarming spells being shot at their feet to make them go quicker.

Using Margaret as a shield they quivered as Kora emerged, high necked black dress cut to her body and rustling around her ankles, eyes wide with fury and wand gripped so tightly it looked as if it might snap.

"Welcome back Kora. Nice to see you haven't changed a bit. They will be rightly punished and administered to, no need to curse their one remaining brain cell" Margaret promised in her warm, even voice that could calm down an entire hoard of pissed off pixies.