Emergency Brake

Spoiled children often had one trait: if they disliked someone, they would not, like adults, maintain a cordial relationship for the sake of shared interests.

Pomona had never imagined that one day, she too would be "spoiled" by someone younger than herself.

God, this was downright absurd. Wasn't it bad enough that she was less mature than Severus?

She disliked Joseph and did not even want to eat food he had cooked, but Severus did not indulge her. He still brought her to the dining car.

Yesterday, they had been in a log-cabin restaurant in the snowy mountains, drinking German beer and eating Swiss food with a group of young people. They had gotten thoroughly drunk; some had even climbed onto the long wooden tables to dance. How much fun they had seemed to be having then.

"Come on, sweetheart, bring us some wine! I love pretty girls and good wine alike!"

She liked the atmosphere of the Titanic's third-class cabins. The dining car now felt like first class, full of suffocating etiquette everywhere. No wonder Rose had wanted to escape.

Strangely, though, that noisy family was nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps they had gotten off the train.

She did not think much of it. Most passengers were merely passing through one another's lives, meeting briefly before going their separate ways...

"He's over there."

Just as Pomona was looking over the menu and preparing to order, a train attendant appeared at the entrance to the dining car with a short man, pointing at Severus.

The gaunt middle-aged man wore a khaki cloak. He looked alert and moved swiftly.

"Are you Mr. Edgar Smith?" he asked in English with a French accent.

"Yes," Severus said impassively.

"I am Louis Merveilleux, an inspector from the French Wizarding Railway Company. I heard from