time wasted [sigmund]

The office stood nearly empty, stripped of all Dumbledore's silver instruments, only the pensieve remained.  The phoenix who had so often perched in Dumbledore's office was gone too now.  The walls were still covered with the former Headmaster's portraits, yet portrait Dumbledore still lay fast asleep dozing heavily in his golden rimmed frame.  It appeared as if he would sleep through the rest of the war, perhaps the man had finally found the peace in his current painted oil state and in death that he had never known in life.  Severus had not bothered redecorating, but it was a necessary that he remove all traces of Dumbledore from the office because he could not look weak.  To keep the former Headmaster's possessions around would potentially put him at risk amongst the other Death Eaters, so for the sake of his future he had hidden away every last shred.  The few relics that had been on display for the whole known history of Hogwarts had stayed though.  Severus knew he could not tamper with that kind of history, some things were just not meant to be touched.

As he shifted quietly through a small pile of paperwork that had been placed on his desk hours before Severus begun to dwell on distant thoughts.  The interruptions today had been numerous and he found himself in a delicate mood, it was no easy job trying to make certain that Hogwarts was still up and running.  The political aspect, of which had always come easily to Dumbledore , was what was causing him the most grief.  Severus had not been a popular man as of late amongst the teachers at Hogwarts that did not share any of his fondness for the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord's cause.  Much the opposite though was true for the Death Eaters who had now taken up positions as teachers at Hogwarts, many of them were very eager to listen to his wishes.  It was hard to find a neutral balance between the two teaching staffs that stood on opposite sides of the war.  Severus found that it took the right amount of intimidation and fear to issue the commands and keep the peace within the school.  Though keeping the peace was becoming harder and harder as the students were raising rebellions and complaints left and right.  Their petty attempts at defensive maneuvers were laughable to say the least, Severus was growing weary of them like one grows weary of the short dark days in the winter.  Had they known exactly what his intentions were then maybe they would let off their defenses so that he could do his job in peace, but this was purely whimsical thinking.  Severus knew he could not reveal his true motives.

He had already seen several teachers today, McGonagall included complaining about some of the uncivil behaviors that the new staff have been engaging in against the students.  Severus was surprised at how bold she was to try and speak out, but perhaps to her he was still that scrawny greasy git of yesterday being strung along as the marauders' favorite toy.  Severus visibly winced at that thought as he signed yet another document allowing his quill to dig so deep into the parchment it nearly bore directly through it.  He was growing tired of all these administrative duties, they were mindless, had he not been so worried about the fate of Hogwarts then he probably never would have agreed to take on this responsibility in the first place.  Hogwarts was home to Severus, despite its current warped state underneath the rule of the Dark Lord, this was the only place where he had ever felt safe.  Even now inside the cold castle walls with only the lamp light for warmth he still felt somehow sheltered from the storm that was weathering just outside his windows.  Pushing the fresh stack of papers he had just signed aside, Severus was reaching to grab for the next stack when he heard an unexpected knock at the door.  His hand froze in midair wavering inches over the rest of his paperwork; clenching his teeth his obsidian eyes shot towards the large closed oak door, as if he could have a moment's peace today it was not like he had paperwork to do or anything.  "Come." Severus snapped bitterly at the closed door, expecting to see yet another agitated staff member waltz through his doorway.

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OOC: meh.
TAGG: @sigmund