Severus had considered himself by and far a patient man. One simply couldn't not be, in his tentative political position and demanding profession.
He ignored the voice in his head arguing this in light how easily he'd been losing it with Rigel Black these days.
Severus didn't think it would hold up, either way. Rigel was… a different case. Severus was more involved, as it were, in Rigel's life, and the child agreeing to participate in a death tournament under the duress of an Unbreakable Vow had troubled him greatly. Severus only hoped his fears wouldn't yield true. He had long since given up the battle of not caring for the boy and his antics, after all.
He discarded those distracting thoughts as he walked the distance from the AIM grounds to the receptionist room. It must be the Portkey making him uncomfortable.
He found AIM's rather plain theme rather appealing. Where Hogwarts had a dark, almost black tinge in its polish, AIM stood resplendent in its white. The colouring, however, did not prevent his disdain at the terrible potions program. The school was, by most means, exceptional— which was what made it all the more infuriating that there wasn't a proper Master in residence to teach.
Then again, Severus supposed as he politely greeted an excited Master Tallum in passing, not many Potions Masters would be willing to give their time of the day to obnoxious students with most often no interest in the art at all.
In that sense, Tallum wasn't too bad a choice for AIM. Certainly better than Mahoutokoro's. Severus still had nightmares about that place's Master. While the Japanese school stood outstanding in Defense, Charms, and had won several awards for the Transfiguration feats of its professors— nearly enough to give even Hogwarts a run for its money, when it came to potions the school was simply… abysmal.
He pulled himself from his musings upon reaching the receptionist's desk.
"Business?" She said without looking up from whatever she was doing. Severus realised she was carving some runes painfully slowly into the side of the desk, which seemed to be unstable. Probably an inconsiderate student prank. He wondered why she didn't simply spell it proper, before remembering his own encounters with pranks of various natures. The children must have probably made it so she couldn't.
“I wish to arrange International Floo travel for Miss Potter.” The woman looked up at him, eyes flashing at something he couldn't place. To provide some context should she be unaware, he further clarified, “She is to attend the Yule Ball, courtesy of the Triwizard Tournament.”
"If you would wait," She said after a hesitant nod, "I shall arrange for you to meet the representatives from MACUSA from the Department of International Magical Transportation."
Severus inclined his head and, wondering slightly at the strange coldness that seemed to have come into the woman's tone, took a nearby seat.
She disappeared out of sight.
Had he perhaps unwittingly trod on some cultural nuance here in America? Spoken or acted in an offending manner? He was a foreigner for the shortest of trips; was it not unlikely for him to be judged so, by a receptionist presumably used to such things?
Severus decided it didn't matter. Whatever it was, it was not as though he intended to come here again. It should not have any bearing on him.
The woman came along shortly with two men dressed in plain black Ministry robes save for a patch over their heart bearing the MACUSA insignia.
They discussed the arrangements briefly, and after some deliberation the two men agreed to pass through the paperwork and, on the day of the trip— a week from now —open the floo channel access between the two schools.
As they parted, Severus asked to see Harriet Potter to relay the message. The receptionist hesitated momentarily before aquiscening, and Severus suspected a large part of the reason he was allowed the act was it being visitation days for parents living in-country and a weekend besides.
He wondered again at why the woman was miffed with him, but said nothing.
A few minutes later, two figures came into view in the far distance. Severus' Sight tingled. Something about the image appeared… off. Suspiciously so. Before he knew it, he had cast a supersensory charm.
It turned out to be the Potter girl, looking oddly tensed, escorted by a stern looking woman in simple blue robes.
"But who is it, Professor?" The child said urgently to the lady.
Severus almost reeled. The girl's voice… was not a girl's. Harriet Potter sounded like a boy.
"I am not aware, Mr. Potter. I merely know it is a Professor from Hog—" The AIM Professor's eyes widened as the girl— boy, for Severus realised with shock she-he was wearing a male student's uniform —transfigured her trousers into a skirt and muttered a charm he couldn't quite catch while pointing her wand at her throat.
"Oh, Mr. Potter…" the Professor's harsh face melted into something sympathetic and sad, "Is it really that bad?"
The boy- girl? seemed shaken.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Professor. And I'm Miss Potter, remember?" The voice he knew was back.
The woman looked greatly troubled, but nodded.
"Of course… Miss Potter."
Severus tensed, but they said nothing more, so he cut off the supersensory charm.
What…
"...the hell?" He muttered.
The girl- boy- child came into ordinary view, seeming for all the world as though there was nothing odd with the whole situation. Her-his eyes landed on him, something like fleeting panic in them before settling into calm once more.
The Professor took Potter to the receptionist, who nodded towards Severus and said, “Mr. Potter? You'll find Master and Professor Severus Snape over there. He wishes to speak with you of the arrangements made for your travel.”
Potter winced slightly at being addressed as "Mr.", eyes shifting to him once more in a way Severus thought suggested the discomfort was more due to his presence than anything.
He decided to keep the pronouns to what they had always been, if only to save himself some madness until he knew just what was going on.
The girl walked over to him, the Professor waiting by the register and discussing something with the receptionist. Severus suspected he wanted to make the most of having made the trip down here.
Severus's eyes swept over the child. “You are learning under the disguise of a boy.” It wasn’t a question, “Miss Potter?“
“With all due respect, sir, that is my choice,” her voice was perfectly calm, leaning into ease, even.
“I said nothing to the contrary.” Severus said neutrally. He wasn’t a fool, however. He could not disclose the travel details in front of a potential imposter. “While we are here, I would like to check on your progress with the healing kit you proposed.”
There was no flash of panic, but Severus saw the wariness in her eyes, “It is going well.”
“Indeed?” Severus raised an eyebrow. “Have you worked out how to intake potions that won’t work if consumed directly?”
The girl smiled, “I am not yet sure. You know the mind; many options present themselves, some more probable than others." She tilted her head, "But as any researcher of your experience would know, it is dangerous to state things when you are unsure.”
Was that a threat? Severus' lip curled.
She paused, “But I’m thinking of working with injections. It's a muggle concept—”
"I'm aware."
The girl nodded, "Then you should also be aware of how they can supercede the ordinary limitations a normal citizen might have otherwise with potions when they do not know the spells to charm them in contact with the affected localised tissue or organs."
Perhaps it was her after all. “That may work. Charactererized Homing charms would do the idea good, I suspect.”
The girl didn’t smile like Severus had irritatedly expected her to. She offered him another slow nod.
“I had another question,” Severus said carefully. He needed to be sure. He didn't care if it was a case of the girl preferring a different gender, but he knew from personal experience that most often a person's reasons were not so simple. “Regarding Shaped Imbuing, that I have been unable to place.”
“Master Snape, if you don’t mind me saying,” The girl looked calm, “You have come to arrange travel, yes? Could we discuss other matters some other time? There are certain things weighing on my head.”
Severus held her gaze for a moment before discreetly and suddenly shooting a charm to check for disguise.
The girl wasn’t Rigel, thankfully. She couldn’t block it in time.
He frowned. There was neither Polyjuice nor glamour at play.
"What on earth was that?!" The girl said indignantly.
"I suspected you were an intruder, Miss Potter. Hazards of the business."
"What business? " The girl said, drawing herself to her full height, "You shot a discerning charm at me without permission, in violation of Healing and Wizengamot Law 457—"
"Spare me the melodrama, Potter," Severus rolled his eyes, "It was but a charm to check for disguise you wouldn't be permitted to use in School, if ever. You are presenting false pronouns under school register—" he was guessing, but it seemed reasonable enough given the receptionist thought she was boy, "which itself is illegal under the School Fraud Act of 1957, and also lends a suspector right under circumstances to—"
"Yes, alright," The girl said tiredly. She seemed well-acquainted with the law.
Severus narrowed his eyes at her, "I will need some form of reassurance, Miss Potter. The MACUSA, as I'm sure you'll know, takes security much more seriously than Britain. Especially when it involves International Travel, and all the more when it involves minors." He watched her frantic eyes, "...I am not unwilling to be persuaded of the fact that this is not a matter of concern."
The girl frowned at him, but he noticed her shoulders lose some of their tension, "Well, that's easy enough. Healing is a very precise and difficult art, Master Snape. Much like Potions in many ways. I can demonstrate any charm or lesson they've taught us in the past four years, with finesse that— forgive my lack of modesty —I'm sure reflects my consistently good performance."
Severus inclined his head, considering the almost prideful look in her eyes at those words.
The girl pulled what looked like a realistic model of the human hand.
"Brackium Emendo." She said clearly, and it glowed faintly blue before a check mark materialised over the top of the hand. Severus assumed it was a practice mechanism for the Healing Students.
"Is that enough?" The girl said, "Here, I'll do one more—"
She took a deep breath and said, "Vulnera Sanentur."
The hand glowed blue once more, with the check shortly appearing above it again.
Severus stared at her, hands clenching involuntarily. Had that been some sort of joke?
No. It couldn't be. There was no way she knew of the spell's connection in the making of his own.
Regardless, Severus knew that it was a spell only a Healer who had undertaken years of study could fully grasp and perform.
It had to be Potter.
"Are you done, Mr—Miss Potter?" The child's Professor called.
The girl turned with a smile and shook her head, "Not yet, Professor! Just a minute!"
She turned back to look at him with a slight smirk, "So?"
Severus scowled but nonetheless elaborated on the plans for her excursion.
She nodded, "Thank you, Master Snape. I should be going, then. Just one last thing…"
Severus raised an eyebrow.
"How's Rigel?" The girl looked worried.
Something in Severus softened infinitesimally.
"He's as well as can be, circumstances what they are," Severus said, "I think… we shall all be glad to see the tournament behind us, Miss Potter. And besides," he smirked a bit himself, "You can now ask him yourself."
The girl inclined her head, "So I can. I look forward to it. Well then, bye!"
Severus blinked at the abrupt dismissal as the girl turned around and almost pranced her way to her teacher.
"See you, sir!" She called gaily, "Sweet travels!"
Severus bit back a cutting retort and left.
*
"Would you care to explain why everything about you is so confusing, Mr. Black?" Severus asked with no small amount of frustration.
Rigel gave him that same old confused, innocent look, as though he wasn't, in Draco's eloquent words, the common denominator in it all.
"I don't know what precisely has you upset, sir," The boy said dryly, "But I can, at the very least, attest that any such confusions are rarely my fault."
"I highly doubt that, Mr. Black, but seeing as I also doubt you can be persuaded otherwise, I suppose the best I can do is aid you in resolving said confusions," Severus' lips twitched, "or should I say disasters?"
"Let's not overstate things, sir," Rigel said uncomfortably, before eyeing him suspiciously, "And what disaster are you talking about now anyways?"
"Nothing, just…" Severus raised a hand to massage his temples, "Remind me to never bother with the company you keep, Rigel."
The morning's events had presented him with yet another anomaly. Yet another mystery that seemed innocent, but had an undertone to it that Severus caught but not quite at the same time.
Rigel shook his head.
Severus realised that he might have been a tad too honest about his feelings.
Well. That wouldn't do.
"What are you doing, standing there idly, boy?" Severus said sharply.
"I don't know, standing idly?" Rigel said cheekily, "More siriusly, you wound me, good sir. Why, I'm waiting for my respected Professor to assign me the very air I breathe— the potions for the coming month—"
"I bet the fumes are poisonous," Severus groused.
Rigel cracked a smile, "Siriusly—"
"I know what you are doing with the word and it is not clever or amusing. Certainly not when coming from the mouth of a Slytherin of your... pedigree."
The boy's nose wrinkled, as Severus knew it would. He suppressed a smirk.
"So you say, Professor," Rigel gathered himself, sounding every bit like a wise man dripping sacred truths into the ears of the unwitting, "But everyone is taken by the joke in the end— or so I've heard." He did not even manage to sound convinced.
Severus suppressed the sudden, brief urge to ruffle the boy's hair.
Trouble and annoying secrets or no, Rigel made him want to bring out smiles so rare he had forgotten how they felt.