( bothering snape? )
Abruptly, the Prince Estate has a Jack Harkness on the grounds, standing rather conspicuously in the center of the circle reserved for PIN travel in the midst of a billowing greatcoat. He looks quite well put-together in a pinstripe waistcoat (complete with a silver pocketwatch on a matching chain) and dark trousers; with hands slipped into his ( Read more... )
"Alright. Who are you and what have you- Harkness?"
Snape's ability to tell when someone is lurking outside his office was apparently not sufficient to warn him that the someone in question was the wandering black sheep of the staff.
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... Which just kind of leaves Jack feeling a little idiotic, standing in the doorway as he is, but he gathers up his composure somewhat quickly. (Or, compared to his usual rapid-fire approach and wit, rather slowly.) "Good morning, Headmaster," he greets mildly and with reserve (apparently trying to bury his nervousness), since it's just about the first thing that comes to mind. "I was ... wondering if I could have a word? Please?"
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"Indeed. I've been meaning to update my notes on the migratory patterns of rogue instructors."
Harkness looks well enough, and one presumes that if he had news that included some new dire threat to the nexus he wouldn't be waffling in the doorway.
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That has Jack looking ... embarrassed. He's been looking that way a lot lately, without any sort of bravado for convenient use as cushion, and he's not exactly sure what to do with the not often felt emotion in front of Headmaster Snape. He ends up looking at his shoes, just briefly, before stepping over the threshold and taking a tentative seat.
"I - came to apologize for my absence," he supplies, understanding the lameness of his own statement from the sheer sound of his tone. "It was ... much longer than anticipated and entirely unprofessional of me. I'm sorry."
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"I was given to understand that it was not precisely premeditated. Your world came under attack and you sealed it off to prevent such from spreading to the nexus. Quite effectively, as not even the Doctors could reach you. Events have run their course?"
Not exactly friendly, but neither is he snarling. Just watching Harkness with steady black eyes.
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Friendly isn't anticipated, really, but the not-snarling takes him a bit by surprise; a lot of Jack's past interaction with Snape has involved snarling, he's almost come to expect it.
"Yes, sir," Jack answers simply, shrinking a bit under the steady gaze. "And it seems to have been successful. The threat in question - a, uh, Time Lord - is under the Doctor's supervision." Awkward pause. "The Doctor in my universe, I mean."
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"I see. And you have re-opened your world to the rest of the multiverse? The gentleman called Ears and Miss Cordello are free to return as well?"
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Jack, looking a little more uncomfortable at the mention, spends a scattered little moment trying to think of how to answer Snape's question. He doesn't do flippant replies at the moment and takes a few moments to organize what he wants to say. "Yes," he finally decides on, as it's the most decisive and honest answer of the complicated mixture in his head. "Miss Cordello chose to return to her own universe when the events were finished. I'm not sure about ... her interests relative to this school and cannot speak on her behalf at this time." That sounds terribly practiced and he looks as unnerved as Snape has likely seen him. Ever.
After another little pause, almost shaky, he continues, "And Ears is, yes, he's back in the Nexus."
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"What happened, Captain?"
Snape pours a glass of whiskey so that Harkness can have a moment, and then pushes it over to him. "Do not concern yourself with whether or not I understand the finer details. Just tell it."
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For a split-second, Jack isn't sure what to do with the glass of whiskey slid across the desk to him, but he takes it for the sake of taking it until his mind connects it with drinking and he has a sip. That's - better, actually, though he's not sure if it's the warmth or the comfort associated with the familiar liquid. After a sigh and a deep breath, another moment of collecting his thoughts, Jack answers carefully, "It's been ... four months here, right? It was a year in my world. Temporal slippage, I think the Doctor called it, between here and there. My universe always seemed to run a few days ahead, anyway ( ... )
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"Will remind us like nothing else that truly no man is an island. I would speak with this Ianto. Tell me, what are you and Ears doing now?"
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"Yeah," Jack agrees with a shaky little exhale. He definitely isn't an island and, despite all the effort he's put into working past this, talking about the Master and the year that ultimately wasn't with the Headmaster has reminded him of that long stretch of time aboard the Valiant when he was forced to be. He finishes the whiskey in a single go and winces just a little at the burn down his throat ( ... )
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"There are rooms here, should you need them. And Hippolyta Hollister owns a building in Mayfair of one of the Londons of the Multiverse which you may consider as well."
He wants more information about Kate. The woman had been pregnant with Jack's child, for Merlin's sake. Harkness likely does not know enough to make distressing him further useful.
"Have you spoken with Mr. Hornblower?"
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The sad fact of the matter, really, is that Jack doesn't have any more information than that to give Snape. (Ianto, of course, has it all. And several letters from Kate that Jack has yet to receive. But they've never been the best at communication, personally or professionally, and Jack really isn't in a state conducive to hearing about his child dying during the year that wasn't.)
"Thank you." He would mention that he has a home in Cardiff, but it seems like extraneous information when not linked to the fact that, now remembering what he remembers about Kate, he's more often than not uncomfortable with being there. It's almost painfully empty, just him and Ears, and that nursery is heart-wrenching. "Yes. Just once. I don't really remember too much of what I said. I was planning on speaking to him after I saw you and ... determined whether or not I still had a job, honestly."
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"If you wish to return to the school, you may. Once you have settled your other affairs. As tempting as it might be to bury yourself in your duties here, you will do yourself and the students no favours."
Bloody demon.
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"I know, sir," he answers quickly, holding up his hand in a very weak sign of protest. "I know, I just ... I just wanted to speak with you, as soon as I felt able, to let you know the situation and express me interest in continuing my position here." He slides the empty glass onto the edge of Snape's desk, perhaps just for something to do, and then folds his hands almost awkwardly on his lap. "I don't want to bury myself in work, sir, I've done that before and I lost touch with too many things, too many people. I just know that teaching here was one of the best things I've done - something I genuinely loved - and I don't want to risk losing that."
Too. He doesn't want to risk losing that too.
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