She arrived early, to set up her 'office'. Clarence was still there, pouring over a potions book that probably belonged either to Snape or Zmiya. He had long since memorized every word of his own potions books. "Heard you got the time turner," she greeted him.

He looked up, and grinned. "Yeah, Marlo - er, Professor Zmiya - was nearly as happy as me."

She dropped her psychology books down on the desk beside him, the loud thud echoing against the stone walls. "Whaccha reading?"

He used a finger to save his page, and mostly closed the book so she could read the title; A Treatise on the Properties of Elephant Blood. "Had to owl-order it. Just came in."

Katryna laughed, "I bet you're abusing your time-turner priviledges so you can finish it."

Clarence shrugged, blushing slightly. "No one would take that bet. Not even Valr on long odds." He made an obvious attempt to change the subject by waving at her own books. "What's all this?"

"I told you about my housemate whose parents died, right?"

Clarence nodded.

"Well, I got him to agree to talk to me about it again. That's why I needed the room."

"Ever consider doing the same for your yearmate? Matty Groves' parents just died, too."

Tryna's eyes lit up. "Oooooo. Group therapy!" Then her expression fell. "But no. They hate each other. It's worse than Malfoy and Potter." She knew the words were a mistake as soon as they left her mouth. The whole school knew about the war-time conditions that surrounded Matty Groves and Severus Snape whenever they were within shouting distance of each other.

"It's Professor Snape," her most brilliant brother deduced, without a shred of doubt. "The poor sucker you've been bullying is Professor Snape! Tryna!" By his horrified and scandalized tone, one would think she had admitted to eloping with Voldemort.

"I'm helping him," she told him with dignity.

"You don't even know psychology!"

"You didn't have a problem with me doing this when he was just some random Slytherin kid!"

"Because that was just some random Slytherin kid! How much more messed up could he get?"

Tryna looked down at her brother, raising an eyebrow and smirking, her own point made.

Clarence found a real bookmark, and slammed his book closed, a sign of extreme anger and agitation for her book-revering brother. "Tree, he's a professor! He'll remember this when he gets back to normal!"

Tryna shrugged, unconcerned. "So he'll either appreciate my efforts to turn him from the dark side, or he'll have me expelled. Gran's been wanting me to go to Durmstrang, anyway."

"Well, that's enough reason right there to want to stay here."

Tryna rolled her eyes. "Just because she doesn't acknowledge your existence doesn't mean she's evil."

Clarence snorted, not believing it for a second. "No, but the stink of Dark Arts in her house does."

She looked at him sharply. "How would you know? You've never been allowed there."

He shrugged. "Menteron and I were curious. We flooed there one night. Even if she doesn't admit it, we are Tragyls, and the wards let us in."

"What did you see?" Tryna asked, unable to keep the curiousity at bay.

"Enough to know to steer well clear of her." His green eyes met hers, and held her gaze with unusual somberness. "Watch yourself around her, Katryna." If the gravity of his expression hadn't clued her in of his absolute sincerity, his use of her full first name did. "You're more at risk than any of the rest of us Weasley-infected Tragyls."

"Risk of what?" she asked, starting to get freaked out by the direction of the conversation.

Clarence sighed. "If Snape - in his current mistaken views of the world - asks you come with him to Voldemort, you will say no, right?"

She couldn't believe he had asked her that. Of all the - surely he knew her better than that! "Clarence!" she cried, insulted and outraged. "Get out of here!" She pointed at the door. "Severus will be here soon." She fumed, glaring at him, as he gather his books and beat a retreat, sending her several worried looked that she couldn't interpret in her anger. Only when he was gone, and she had calmed sufficiently to perform her transfigurations, did she realize that she never answered his question. No, the thought chased her brother out the door. I'm still Mum's daughter, even if I am Gran's favorite.

After all, she knew as well as Clarence did that Severus would remember this when he got big again. As soon as he was, he'd return to his sensibilities, and tell Dumbledore all about her Grandmother. Even Tryna herself might be put under suspicion. She had, after all, been privy to the information for years and hadn't told anyone except Severus, and him only when she had believed him a Death Eater himself.

But her purpose was to help her friend and professor, and the consequences would fall where they would. He had been nice to her, that first day after his change, and she firmly believed that the polite boy she had briefly met still lurked under the prickliness of confinement and suspicion. She didn't think he was Death Eater material, and if the only way to prove that too him was to pester him about his parents and to build his trust by making herself seem more Death Eater friendly than she was (which was, admittedly, more Death Eater friendly than any of the rest of her nuclear family put together), then so be it.

Her only question, as she rearranged the potions classroom for her 'session', was to wonder why Clarence hadn't spilled what he knew of Gran's activities already. She eventually decided, sinking down into the plush green armchair that she made for herself, that he simply didn't have enough to warrant going to anyone. He had, after all, suggested it would be Severus, not Gran, who made the invitation.

The playing up to her that Tryna had been doing lately, to get information about Severus's potion, probably wasn't helping her I'm-good-little-girl-and-would-never-do-such-a-thing image, either.

She had just finished surveying her domain for anything out of place when Severus and Auror Fletcher arrived. Without instruction, she noted with a smile, each took their same spot as last time. The books she had read were right: people are creatures of habit.

She raised the sound barrier around them, and sat back in her armchair. "So, did you find out about your parents?"

He met her gaze almost defiantly. "They were killed by Aurors."

Tryna tried not to flinch. That really shouldn't have been unexpected, based on what her Grandmother had said of them. And it sort of explained how the old witch would know of their death.

"Happy?"

Psychologist. She was a psychologist. "How does that make you feel?" she asked, ignoring his question.

He blinked at her, then glowered. "How do you suppose it makes me feel?"

She seriously considered this question. "Upset. Probably betrayed. Angry. Possibly at the Ministry, possibly at whomever told you, possibly at your parents themselves. Possibly all of those."

"You forgot Voldemort," Severus muttered quietly, and she looked at him sharply. He was still glaring at her. She wondered if he realized he had spoken aloud.

"Possibly Voldemort, even," she added, and watched his reaction carefully. A flicker of surprise flashed through his black eyes, but was quickly surpressed. No, he hadn't meant to say that out loud at all.

He was angry with Voldemort. Excitement surged through her. Perhaps this was her chance to turn him back to where he should be. She would need to tread very carefully. Best to come at it obliquely.

"Have you had any other memories surface?"

He hesitated, thus answering her question.

"You did. Great," she smiled brightly. "What did you remember?"

"Fred and George, and their canary creams."

Katryna grinned, amusement lighting her pale blue eyes. "That must've been interesting."

Severus snorted, "Nearly gave myself away to Ha- Quite. Very interesting." What had he been about to say?

Ha- probably a name. Harris? No, it was someone he was talking to. But Severus only spoke to her. Oh, and Clarence sometimes talked to him during potions. But Clarence had known about the memory hiccups. She'd told him about them after Severus had mentioned Harris that first day after his arrest. And Clarence had told the former professor that he knew about them. So what had he almost given away and to whom? Ha- Harry? No. Couldn't be Harry Potter. Potter was around Matty more often than not lately, and any confrontation betweeen them would have been hex-laden, and would not have brought up thoughts of Fred and George.

Or could they have? Fred and George weren't exactly innocent Gryffindors. They weren't big on hexing, but they were quite good with pranks, vicious as well as harmless.

Playing the hunch, she asked, "So Harry didn't notice your slip?"

Severus just looked blankly at her. "Harry?" he asked.

Blast. Either he was a better liar than the majority of her brothers (excepting Valr, and maybe Clarence when he had a mind to lie), or he really didn't know what she was talking about. Conversation needs a new direction.

"Any other memories pop up?"

He hesitated again. This time she didn't prompt him, something told her that doing so would be a bad idea. They sat in silence for what seemed a very long time. Tryna was about to change the subject again, when he started talking.

"I had a few dreams. Sometimes, I'm the Professor in them. Sometimes, sometimes I'm . . . not."

Paydirt. Tryna would not have interrupted him now if the building was falling down around them.

"The ones where I'm grading papers, or catching students out of bed are the happy ones." He paused, and Tryna waited, barely breathing. "Some of them are before that though. From when I, when he was a, a real Death Eater."

'From when I, when he,' Tryna repeated within her mind. 'When he.' He's seperating himself from the older version, the one that was a 'real Death Eater'. When she owled her about her new 'housemate, her grandmother had mentioned that the Professor had been one in truth once, and that he turned traitor and spy. But Severus the Younger, despite the auror and the rumours, apparently did not consider himself a 'real Death Eater.'

"Was it awful?" she half-whispered, almost afraid to speak, for fear of scaring him away.

A fear well-founded. His expression closed, and he looked at her with absolutely no emotions on his face. "We do as our lord wishes."

No! She'd been so close. Maybe Clarence was right. Maybe she was just making things worse. "What do you wish?" she asked, almost in desperation.

His answer was immediate. "I wish to be out of this school and away from that man," a glare shot its way towards Fletcher, and she really couldn't blame him. The Auror was never far from his side, radiating hatred and malevolence.

"Where would you go?" she asked quietly.

He shrugged, but he looked toward her, searchingly, as if seeking her ulterior motive in asking. "To Voldemort, most likely," he answered without shame.

Her stomach twisted. That he could so easily admit that to anyone, even someone whose loyalties he was uncertain about, even someone who admitted to knowing their grandmother was a Death Eater, it wasn't a good sign.

"Why do you tell me that? You're not my kin. I could drop the sound barriers right now and tell Fletcher."

Severus shrugged. "You don't think Fletcher doesn't know that? It's the Headmaster and the Headmaster only keeping me out of Azkaban. He suffers the delusion that since I turned once, I'll do it again."

Katryna trusted the Headmaster. Her mother was a Weasley, and spoke most highly of him. Even her father didn't have anything bad to say of him. But for him to turn again, he needed to be exposed to what sent him away the first time. Slowly, she came to a decision. "I'll get you out."

He blinked. "You'll what?"

"I'll get you away from the school, and Fletcher, and you can go where you will." Oh, please, Professor, when you're grown-up again, please don't expel me. Please, don't send me to prison. I have only good intentions. "I'll send a letter to Gran, she'll let Voldemort know when to expect your escape. Is three days from now good, or do you want to wait longer?"

He still looked a bit stunned. "That'll be fine."

She checked her watch, and decided to end the session now. "Well, it's almost time for curfew. I'll contact you tomorrow to give you details about my plan. I'm dropping the sound barrier now." She did as she claimed, and looked at Severus again. "Good night, and I'm sorry about your parents."

He just nodded, and waved for Fletcher to follow him out of the room. Tryna watched them leave, wondering if the pair realized that they had fallen into the pattern of expecting the other to be there. This might be more difficult than she had first anticipated. Well, the auror had to sleep sometime, didn't he?