Fading sun, what have I done

[albuquerque]

Who: Severus Snape and closed threads to: Alice Liddell, Barty Crouch Jr., Voldemort, Hermione. Otherwise OPEN TO EVERYONE.
What: The aftermath of Mirror Verse
When: Days 365 through to 367-ish (up to and including the earthquake)!
Where: Various places around the city
Rating: PG for now, though there will be some violence at some point.


[Upon returning to the real Asgard, upon realising with sick dread that he's returned without Lily, Severus goes into hiding for the following two days. It's the only thing he can do while war is still waging outside. He's so bone-weary, feels so physically and mentally broken, that he can't face another moment of devastation and destruction and terror. He can't bare to think about Lily still being trapped there, unsafe, lost, her life horribly in danger.

He's failed her. Again. Seems that's the curse he has to live with: always failing the very woman he secretly, desperately, longingly loves with every wretched fibre of his being.

Despite how sore he is, how much he's aching in his muscles and deep in his bones, how heavily lost in a murky depressed fog he is, he throws himself into working on school schedules and doing what he can to organise school matters from the privacy and safety of his own place. It gives him purpose. Gives him focus. And when the explosion of heat suddenly sweeps across the city, Severus is safe enough to have to only duck down with a scramble under his desk, although the heat that settles heavy and oppressive in every nook and cranny is like being trapped inside a burning oven; very soon, he's scrabbling and tearing at his clothes, desperate to get them off and away from his perspiring skin.

In fact, it's the heat itself - and the apparent end of warring giants that's followed in its wake - that prompts Severus to eventually decide to venture out onto the streets. The heat is blazing, hotter than any heatwave he can remember ever hitting Britain; with very few clothes to call his own save those he arrived in Asgard with all those months ago, he has no choice but to don only his black slacks and white shirt, lest he faint from heat exhaustion.

Though he desperately wants to roll his sleeves up, he doesn't - his Mark has faded back to a faint reddish outline, dead and dormant, but he doesn't want to see it, doesn't want anyone else to see it. He'd rather swelter than ever let his shameful Mark see the light of day. His shirt clings wetly to his back with pit stains under his arms; his black hair clings in sweaty strands to the back of his neck while his forehead is bathed with perspiration. His face, however, despite being ruddy with the heat, is pale, withdrawn, pinched with a deeply repressed bitterness that's dangerously simmering beneath the surface.

It's not just the heat that's getting to him - it's the stubbornly unspoken thoughts and even more stubbornly ignored feelings about the previous several days bottling up inside him. Waiting to explode. Like a ticking time-bomb.

He will be found frequenting the Great Library and the school building he's bought, traversing between the two at regular intervals while he moves everything across to his new office. And in between his trips to the library or to the school, he can also be found making stops at cafes and shops for a much needed drink. Or he can sometimes be found stopping by a fountain or crouching down by a running tap, splashing cool water over his face. Or he can sometimes be found sitting on a bench in the street when he's too overcome by the heat to be able to stay on his feet any longer, broodily staring at the ground or down at his hands.

Anyone is free to stop him, although they may find themselves on the unpleasant receiving end of Severus' very short fuse. One should only approach him at one's own risk.]

[[ooc: Snape will mostly be around Odin district, however feel free to have your character bump into him anywhere, really. Feel free to also have your character bump into Snape post-earthquake on day 367. Prose or action tags are both fine with me! I'll match whatever you reply with. c:]]

Comments

CLOSED TO ALICE (d366)

[albuquerque]

[It's not that he's been avoiding Miss Liddell. Rather, he hasn't quite known exactly how to approach her in light of having seen her small, lifeless body that day, strewn amongst the mangled playground. It's an image he's never going to be able to rid from his mind, no matter how much he tries. In fact, it's that very memory haunting his thoughts whenever he lets his mind wander too much that has stopped him from contacting his student at all.

But almost three days after seeing her on that awful afternoon, after the sky had fallen and after he'd chased Jamie down to assist him in the aftermath, Severus decides he simply must visit her, even if it's just a cursory visit, to see that she's alright.

He's making his way towards Thor district, to Miss Liddell's place; Steven follows after him, plodding along with a fatigued listlessness to his step while his feathers wilt under the oppressive heat. In his hand, Severus is clutching a small paper bag, something he'd decided at the last minute to bring along with him before he'd set out from his place in Hel. The heat makes the journey seem like it's never going to end but, at last, he sees Thor house in the distance. Only a short distance to go. Thank Merlin.

He winds through the streets and upon arriving at Miss Liddell's front door, he gives a quick, firm rap of his knuckles, then steps back and waits, hands and paper bag clasped behind his back. He hopes Miss Liddell is home.]

[madcuriosity]

The house had had multiple visitors the past few days, never mind it's usual foot traffic with all the Doctors and all the companions. However, one particular set of feet hadn't passed the threshold for days. They barely passed the threshold of her own room but it's been three days, and while she hid in her room the entire first two days, escaping only for the basic necessities, she had finally been willing to venture out of her room. The house was another question. She heard the knock at the door. There was no one else at home, though, not at this time of day. All the more reason that she needed to protect herself, to have a means of escape for anything. That was why a gryphon the size of a draft horse was beside her along with Marigold (the dragon certainly didn't mind the sudden heat wave).

Alice peeked out the peep-hole and when she saw it was her professor, she swallowed and shooed Lady Bell back to open the door for him.

The house was cool and pleasant, nearly a veritable wall between outside and in.

Softly, her voice hoarse from all her crying, she greeted her professor as weary blue eyes gazed up, bags under her eyes from lack of sleep.

"H-Hello, Professor. Please come in, get out of the heat."

[albuquerque]

He's about to knock again, wondering if he ought to come back later, when he hears the lock being turned. Standing a little straighter, his eyes cut down to the little girl as the door is opened, and an unexpected surge of relief and gladness at seeing that's alive and well rises in his chest.

Well. Alive, but perhaps not well, he realises upon noticing how tired and sad she looks. The smallest of frowns appears on his otherwise schooled face. She's very much Alice Liddell, yet looks nothing like the happy Alice Liddell he's come to know and strangely grow fond of.

He just gives a small nod of acknowledgement and steps over the threshold - and stops very suddenly at the sight of the rather terrifying looking beast standing behind her. A gryphon, he realises, judging by the way it looks; they're considered to be very dangerous beasts back home. He eyes it warily, then quickly turns his attention back to Miss Liddell.

"I brought you something." From behind his back he holds out the paper bag to her. "I know how much you like tea, Miss Liddell, so… Brought you some dried chamomile. Picked and cured it myself. So long as you steep and brew it properly, drinking it will help you relax."

But he can't very well ignore the gryphon. Eyes back on it, he adds, "Since when did you have a gryphon, Miss Liddell?"

[madcuriosity]

"Thank you, professor, it... I'll prepare it properly," she said as she took the bag. Her hands, which had been clasped together reached out for the bag and they were trembling. She saw them and was quick to grab the bag and bring it close, trying her best to hide them.

"T-Thank you," she said again, taking a deep breath. Lady bell gently nudged Alice's shoulder, trying to be reassuring. "And I've had her since I made her. Jamie and I had to get across the city a-after..." after she came back. She took a deep breath. "His leg was injured and..." she would just keep rambling lest Severus stopped her.

"Lady bell m-meet Professor Snape. Professor S-Snape meet Lady bell."

[albuquerque]

The shakiness of Miss Liddell's hands definitely don't go amiss on him. With her taking the bag from him, he clasps his hands behind his back, subtly eyeing her trembling fingers and being positively unsure whether to ignore it or not. He decides to go with ignoring it, especially given the way she doesn't seem to want any attention drawn to it.

The shakiness in her voice is much more difficult to ignore, however Severus tries his best, stiffly sizing the gryphon up. That is, until she mentions that Jamie had injured his leg, and Severus cuts his eyes back down to her. He immediately thinks to ask about Jamie but... No, he'll wait. He can see she's upset and dredging up conversation about what happened will only make her more so.

"I see," he replies with a seeming cool detachment, to both her explanation and to her introduction of this Lady Bell. Behind him, Steven announces his presence with a grunting sound and, seeming to detect that Miss Liddell is sad, steps around Severus and cranes his neck down towards the little girl. He butts his head against Miss Liddell's cheek with a slow, carefully affectionate nuzzle.

"If you show me the way to the kitchen, Miss Liddell, I'll brew us both some tea."

d366.

[brainiest]

It's been hell, trying to keep up with everything going on - her friends disappearing then coming back, the giants, the Gods, the earthquakes and her inability to do anything to really help - but Hermione has been dealing. She's managed by making herself as useful as she can possibly force herself to be, including looking after the rather lost looking bird that was the guardian of one Severus Snape. It was one of her first thoughts when she realised how many people that she knew were missing - she had to make sure Steven was looked after. He was an intelligent bird, of course, but even intelligent things needed a helping hand once in a while.

She's noticed Severus wandering around the library and she's given him a little space, at least at first; she doesn't want to overload him and she knows he's definitely the last person he'd want to see. Lily has already contacted her and told her about some of the things that happened in the alternate world they'd found themselves in and - she didn't want to think about that, the danger and horror that had been hidden just beyond her reach. Hermione still wishes she could've been there to help, she could've been useful, not wasted and tucked away in a world where all she could do was formulate plans.

But, now, it's been enough time and she brings Steven with her to the library, carefully soothing the bird with soft words and a promise that Severus is back now and that she's taking him to him. While the emu may have warmed to her a little he still doesn't seem to like her very much - he loves Professor Snape in a rather startlingly devoted way. She can't count the number of times she was woken up by a mournful sound as Steven settled himself in her room. Still, he had definitely perked up when Snape had returned - it was like he could sense him.

Approaching her old teacher warily, Hermione petted Steven's neck gently before letting go of him and allowing him to go forward and reunite with his master.

"Sir? I brought Steven back for you."

[albuquerque]

He's supposed to be packing things to move across to his office. And he is - a cardboard box half-full of vials and jars of insects sits on the desk in front of him, and books are stacked in neat and orderly piles here and there.

But he's become sidetracked: while clearing out the desk drawers, he retrieved the photo of Dumbledore and himself, and the photo of Lily and himself when they were young and still friends, both which the gods had given him as a gift. And now he's staring down at both photographs with a hollow sense of grief and lost in deep, despairing thought.

With Dumbledore paying him a most unexpected visit the night previous, with his argument with Lupin still fresh in his mind, with the awful confrontation he'd had with Lily after Potter had been killed--

A deep, familiar drumming sound comes from behind him, along with the sound of Granger's voice. Startled from his thoughts, he whirls around, photographs clutched in his hands. His eyes land on Granger first before cutting across to Steven. And though it doesn't show on his pale and strained face, a brief surge of gladness at seeing Steven passes through him.

Steven, seeming to know something is wrong, approaches Severus slowly, though it's clear from the bird's twitchiness that he wants to run up to Severus like an excited puppy. It's only because Granger is there that Severus dodges away from Steven's attempts to butt his head against Severus' cheek and neck and the underside of his chin. In fact, he hastily turns his back on Granger, facing the desk again.

Grateful though he is for Granger bringing Steven back, he's in no mood to express such a thing. "I've been back for three days, Granger. What took you so long?"

[brainiest]

A part of her understands that Snape probably wants nothing to do with her - honestly, she would've stayed away and just let them contact one another through text if she could, but it wasn't that simple. She wanted to be able to be at ease with him but that didn't seem like something that was going to be possible any time soon.

At least Steven seems happier now. He'd been so on edge and anxious around her, wanting to go back to the person he was supposed to protect - but Snape had been in that horrible other world that Lily had told her about and there had been no way for her to return him, not until she was sure everyone was back. She knew the moment Snape was back for certain, of course, because Steven had perked up instantly.

A rush of fondness for the bird overcomes her when she sees how carefully he goes over to Snape, obviously concerned and wanting to give him some kind of affection - she was almost a little put out, used to being pecked and butted.

His question doesn't really come as a shock, but she is a little offended that she didn't even get a thank you. Steven, the poor bird, could've wandered Asgard aimlessly and been hurt by the giants or worse - a little gratitude would've been welcome... Though perhaps that was asking a little too much from Professor Snape. She's just glad that he seems happy to have his bird back.

"I wasn't sure where to find you, sir, and I thought it might be best to give you a little bit of space. I've heard some things about the other world you were all in and -- I'm sorry if I was out of line, I just thought you might need a little time to reorientate yourself with being back here. I was going to message you, but again..." Now she feels as though she's back in the classroom, being scolded again - and it makes her entirely uneasy, her expression falling into a frown.

[albuquerque]

Frustrated by Severus' refusal to even give him an acknowledging pat, Steven ducks his head down, craning his long neck under Severus' arm, and butts his head up into his hand. Severus recoils from it, then relents long enough to give it a hesitant pat on the head. But then he's nudging the emu away.

I've heard some things about the other world. He almost wants to whip back around and demand to know what she's knows. How telling that would be, however, so he simply clenches his jaw and pretends to resume sorting out his desk.

Time to change the subject. "How you been working on that syllabus I told you to compile for me?"

[brainiest]

Hermione tries her best not to let on how delightfully amused she is by the animal's affection, but it's difficult - it's good to see someone so dedicated and enthused by the 'bat' of the dungeons, even if it's an emu. Honestly, Steven is probably one of the most sentient animals she's ever met and reminds her rather nostalgically of Crookshanks. Ignoring the little sting in her heart, Hermione simply settles back and crosses her arms.

Perking up at the reminder of the school, Hermione turns and begins to rummage through her bag, skipping through her notes about Asgard and Voldemort to find the small set of pages clipped together about History of Magic. She beams as she steps around to hold the pages out, looking rather pleased with herself.

"I've put together classes based on what I was taught at Hogwarts, but I'm also intending to teach things from other worlds - I've actually been talking to a few people about magic in their homeworlds and I hope to get enough to do another few classes on those, too."

Day 365, evening

[iamaplague]

[Mitchell is at one of the pubs in Odin, drinking as if his life depended on it. At least if he drinks beer, no one has to die. So that's pretty much what he's been doing after his killing spree in mirror!Asgard, visiting all the pubs until the bartenders kick him out.

Now if Snape happens to visit that pub, he'll probably recognize the vampire he fought in the mirror verse. Except that now his eyes aren't pitch black, but a soft shade of hazel, and instead of looking bloodthirsty and terrying, he looks depressed.]

[albuquerque]

[It's only because of the heat that Severus, on his way to the library, makes a quick detour to the nearby pub for a much-needed drink.

The heat isn't as oppressive inside the pub as it is outside; and, thankful for the mild reprieve, he steps up to the bar alongside a man drinking, while signalling for the barkeep.]

A large glass of iced water. Emphasis on large.

[The barkeep nods and steps away to fill Severus' request. Running a hand over his sweaty face, he turns his head to look at the time - and his eyes cut to the man sitting next to him upon realising he seems strangely familiar.

And no wonder he seems familiar. A sense of disgust wells in him at seeing it's the vampire he'd crossed paths with.]

You.

[iamaplague]

[Mitchell peers at the man, recognizing as the man he fought in the mirror world.]

Just water? Lucky you don't need this then... [Shows him his scotch on the rocks.]

And yeah... Me... Fun, huh?

367 pre-earthquake SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT

[flightofdeath]

[Luckily, the library's temperature isn't nearly so bad as what it is outside. Voldemort's considered himself a shut in today, although a shut in at a public building nonetheless. At the moment, he is reading all he can on the Giants that were found in the mirror universe and Asgard after he woke (once again) without his powers. As such, he is enthralled in his reading, books piling up around his reading area.

He may not notice Snape, but Snape may notice him.]

IT'S OK, BB <333

[albuquerque]

[Oh, Severus notices Voldemort. As he sweeps out of the room in the library that he's been clearing out, a box of his belonging to take across to the school in his arms, his eyes fall upon a young man buried nose-deep in a book. And upon recognising him, Severus stops dead in his tracks.

The sick weight of emptiness that's been knotted in his chest ever since he returned from the mirrored Asgard instantly ignites into a disgusted anger. Images of what had happened - of Lily being held hostage by Barty, of Voldemort coldly summoning the Cruciatus Curse upon Severus, how blinding pain had seared through his body, how he'd grabbed Lily, how she'd screamed at him--

Severus turns away. He quietly sets the box down on a nearby table. Swallows. Composes himself as best he can. Allows his anger and hatred to fill him. And then he turns back towards Voldemort.

And as he begins slowly approaching him, he focuses his thoughts and his hatred right on the man. He imagines being able to reach right inside Voldemort, right to the very core of his being. With a small but vicious snarl curling on his lips, he channels those thoughts right to Voldemort's hands. Thinks about invading him, making him snap his book shut.

Close the book, he thinks, feeling his magic beginning to crawl and claw its way under Voldemort's skin, into muscles, his tendons, right to his very bones. Close the book.

Look at me.]

ilu and snape let's be friends 5ever

[flightofdeath]

[And his body complies. First the book shuts, and Voldemort has a moment of panic that comes in quickly, freezing him at his core and tilting his perceptions. It does not take much to see how unnerved he is from the get go as his body tenses up in an effort to exert control, to take it back, but to see, to feel, his body move without his consent... The power of body control is too strong for him to overcome, and when he looks up at Severus it's with fear in his eyes.

But that fear, in an instant, turns into rage as he recognizes what is happening. Severus Snape, member of Hel house, with the power of Body Control. Of course, and so Voldemort wipes the fear from his expression, controls it into one of rage. He glowers at the man in front of him, but does not move past that, as not to aggravate the man to use his powers any more than he already is.

He does not speak, either. Instead of taking action, he simply awaits Snape's next move as he spends a majority of his effort into controlling his emotions, to steel himself for whatever else Snape will throw at him.]

[albuquerque]

[A sneer of smug satisfaction tugs on one corner of his mouth at seeing how unnerved Voldemort is. But then, Severus' face drops back into a cold look of loathing when Voldemort sets his eyes on him.

Clasping his hands behind his back, he begins approaching Voldemort. Not wanting to cause a scene in the library itself, he strolls with a calm composure as if merely moving towards Voldemort to ask something seemingly benign. He comes to a stop by a chair adjacent to where Voldemort is sitting, and he looks down at him with barely constrained disdain.]

I think you and I need to have a little chat. Outside, if you don't mind.

[And with that, while staring Voldemort right in the eyes, he trains his thoughts on making Voldemort stand up from the chair.]

[liquidsky]

[Barty has been lingering near the school building for a while, so he's not surprised to come across Severus. In fact, he has intended to run into him and so there's an honest smile on his lips when he spots him walking towards him.

Barty stays where he is, a shit-eating grin on its way and apprehension showing in his stance. He is waiting for Snape's move.]

[albuquerque]

[Severus is lost in deep thought as he approaches the school; and so, when he spots Crouch, he stops short in his tracks, the unexpectedness of seeing Crouch rudely pulling him out of his pensiveness.

Disgusted anger wells in him. Back home, he would have clamped down on any and every thought of disgust, tucked it out of sight, schooled himself into an emotionless state of being. To allow himself to be any different would have been disastrous; he would have snapped and given himself away.

But he's not back home. He has no reason to hide anymore. After everything that happened in the other realm of Asgard... he can't hide anymore. Part of him feels terribly unnerved by this; to lose control of his surroundings, to lose control of manipulating people's trust, is still terribly foreign. But another part of him feels nothing but overwhelming relief that he no longer has to hide.

The smile on Crouch's face. The mere sight of it is enough to make Severus want to hurt him in unimaginable ways.

Composing himself, however, Severus lifts his chin with a lofty sense of calm and continues towards the school, and thereby, Crouch. When he speaks, it's with a cool calm that matches his composure, but laced with dangerous undertone of hatred.]

I needn't tell you that you're not welcome here, Crouch. I suggest you leave.

[liquidsky]

Don't know about 'needn't', but you really shouldn't. It's rather rude.

[Logically, this does the exact opposite from discouraging him. Instead he makes sure to be exactly on Severus' path, so he'd have to either confront him or deliberately step around him. Turn his back to him if he kept walking.

He's pretty sure he can hazard a guess about just what Severus will do.]

Temper, Severus. You're turning red.

[albuquerque]

[He really is starting to turn red. His blood pressure is beginning to boil.]

Get out of here, Crouch.

[On the word out, Severus gives a furious wave of his hand, as if to roughly shove Crouch to the side - which he does by means of his body control power, intending to send Crouch sprawling painfully to the ground.]

368

[ffuckoff]

Since she got the job, Fiona has been showing up as early as she can, and staying as late as possible. It's a kind of single-minded devotion that drives her on; she's done almost nothing with herself since she got here, and that's not acceptable. She tells herself her boss is kind of (kind of) strict, and she needs to prove herself, and that's true, especially after such a poor showing in the other Asgard. This is her domain, more than any sort of fighting or violence, and she needs to make that show. But also, she needs to prove to herself she can still do this, that she hasn't become lazy in her idleness. She's still efficient. Brutally, unremittingly efficient.

After the big fucking earthquake, she shows up in her usual outfit (a marked difference from her usual parade of T-shirts and stained jeans; Fiona ties her hair back, applies a very light dusting of makeup, and puts on a modest grey business suit) sans heels. If she's going to walk to work through rubble and trash freed up from the earthquake, she's going to do it in comfortable shoes. She hopes black flats are a suitable compromise.

She also arrives with a mop and a broom slung over her shoulder. She's not sure if the place has got a janitor, but she's pretty sure a bunch of professors with college degrees are going to be willing to do the dirty work if there isn't a cleaning staff hanging around somewhere. The thought hurts her pride, a little, but she could probably stand some humility after the shitty, shitty job she's done in Asgard (and not-Asgard) so far. And, more importantly, the cleaning and grunt work, it's second nature. She knows how, she wants to be useful, so...

She comes in the front door, cleaning supplies in hand, and surveys the scene.

[albuquerque]

For Merlin's bloody sake, Severus thinks as he stands in the main reception area. He gazes at the reception area itself and follows past it with his eyes towards his office. The school building hasn't been anywhere near as badly damaged by the earthquake as some of the other buildings in Asgard, but the damage is extensive enough.

And the mess. All the hard work he's put into organising and setting things up - almost all of it undone, by a single damn earthquake that the gods themselves probably bloody well caused.

There's a knot in his chest, dark, ugly, struggling to expand and explode and take over all rational thought and emotional control. It's a knot that's been building for some time now; it only seems to have become a permanent fixture in his chest ever since winding up in the "other" Asgard. Ever since crossing paths with Potter. Ever since discovering Lily was kidnapped by Voldemort and Crouch and held under the Imperius Curse. Ever since Voldemort tortured him with the Cruciatus Curse. Ever since Severus grabbed Lily when Potter was killed and fled with her to safety to that hill on the outskirts of Asgard. Ever since she turned on him and screamed at him and the confession about his involvement in the Death Eaters came tumbling out--

Ever since Dumbledore showed up. And now, ever since this earthquake hit. It's like someone has lit a fuse inside him and it's just waiting to go off. The earthquake feels like the final straw. What else is going to happen? What else could possibly go wrong to make his life even worse? What else?

He looks at the mess - glass scattered across the floor from broken windows, books in haphazard piles from where they were shaken off the shelves, dust from the cracks in the ceiling, more books, pens, several vials of potions ingredients that have shattered on the floor. If he had his magic, this would all be so easily dealt with. A simple swish of his wand, and--

He doesn't know if he wants to scream in frustration or break down into angry tears.

He does neither. Instead, he swallows back the urge to react at all, suppressing the stress and anger and extreme fatigue into a tight, uncomfortable lump in the pit of his chest, and simply sets to work cleaning things up.

He's down on his knees, gathering books together and slapping them into piles when he hears footsteps echoing down the hall. Turning his head, he looks over his shoulder and sees Miss Gallagher approaching. He turns his pale, weathered face back to the books as he for another book.

"About time you got here," he remarks in a tone clearly indicative of how much of a foul mood he's in.

[ffuckoff]

Fiona doesn't know Snape well enough to tell one bad mood from his normal grinch-like demeanor; she assumes this is just another day at the rodeo. She sets her supplies aside, kneeling down to start organizing the larger chunks of saveable matter, like Snape has. He's clearly in charge of books, so she'll get the loose papers scattered about, and mark off the occasional pile of broken glass.

She hasn't yet decided how she wants to deal with his sniping. Is he the kind of guy who will fire her if she talks back, or will he respect her more? Best play it safe for now. "Yeah, had to grab some supplies," she indicates them with a dip of her head. "What rooms got the worst of it? I'm guessing we don't have a cleaning staff yet..."

As for the tight ball of emotions in her chest-- the anger, the frustration, the terror at now knowing what death feels like-- well, she's been bottling emotions up and hiding them under the rough rug of work since she was fourteen. It's no longer a conscious process.

[albuquerque]

"I've barely had enough time to organise what I have organised, let alone organising a cleaning staff."

It's true, too. With all the horrible things that keep happening in Asgard, it's a wonder Severus has managed to get as far as buying a school building, let alone putting the school together. Grabbing another book, he slaps it down onto one of the piles, then turns his head to look across to Miss Gallagher. She looks about as horrible as he feels.

"You look awful."