DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything recognizable (unluckily…) All I own is the plot. Harry, Snape and Co. belong to J. K. Rowling and Palantiri (Seeing Stones) and other names to J. R. R. Tolkien
Chapter 4
EXPLANATIONS AND GIFTS
Snape keeps staring at his daughters, still too happy to say anything. Suddenly, another Unicorn appears on the Clearing. Mearas and Aegnor bow their heads so low that the points of their horns touch the ground, Snape kneels down to show his respect to the Leader. Huge muzzle touches his cheeks gently.
*Stand up, Morthoron, Dark Phoenix.*
He obeys and looks up at her. He's tall (6 feet two) but Avalanche, the Leader, is over 7 feet (measured in her withers). Her enormous, sapphire eyes are staring straight into his. He's always felt tiny and weak when approaching her but not endangered or humiliated. She resembles Dumbledore to him – also powerful and cunning but good, she won't hurt you unless you try to harm her or her folk first.
*The Enemy is back.* - she says. He nods. *You need our blood.*
*Correct. If I am allowed, of course.*
*Everyone in my pack would die for you, Dark Phoenix. How much do you need?*
*Two glasses will be enough for two months, I suppose.* Avalanche neighs aloud.
*Oh, I supposed you needed something more… You'll get it, the Enemy won't hurt you.*
*Thank you, Avalanche.*
*But first, I must tell you something.*
They all leave the Clearing in silence, leading Snape somewhere. After a few minutes they reach their goal. It looks like debris but Snape can fill magic radiating from it. Avalanche thuds with her hoof three times and the stones move, showing the entrance to the dungeons.
*Follow me, Morthoron. Girls, stay here.*
They enter a huge, stone chamber. It must have been built by a powerful wizard because magic is literally filling the air inside. There's a table and a chair in the corner so humans must have visited this place. Avalanche tells Snape to sit down and sighs.
*It's a long story, Dark Phoenix. To make it as short as possible: first I am sorry for taking your girls away from you but it was a necessity. They had the right to decide themselves which world they want to belong to. I am a bit of a Seer and knew we would meet one more time when the power of Darkness would start growing again. You'll get the blood you need but you'll also take some hair of a black Fire Unicorn and Mound Flowers.*
*Mound Flowers?* - he's shocked. *Flowers that grow on the graves of your kin? No human has ever even seen them let alone pluck them!*
*Merlin did.* - she smiles gently. *I see many places and many things. You'll use the blood to brew Antiveritaserum and hair and flowers to make the potion described in the same book but two pages earlier.* He concentrates hard, trying to remind himself what it was. When he realizes, he turns pale as chalk.
*Desire Stopper* - he whispers. The words of the Lord are ringing in his head again. "You are so beautiful when you are in pain, Severus…." He was half-conscious that time and didn't pay attention to them but now the meaning is clear.
*Desire Stopper* - says Avalanche - *is something opposite to Love Potion. When somebody desires you and you don't want them to it's enough to drink it and they at once change their attitude towards you, at least for a few days. They don't consider you attractive anymore, Dark Phoenix. The Enemy won't leer at a Unicorn form my pack! Over my dead body!* She thuds with her hooves snorting angrily and the blue fireball bursts out of her nostrils.
*Avalanche, I'll always be in debt to you.*
*It's my duty to protect my folk.* - she answers plainly.
*I'm a human, not a Fire Unicorn.* She neighs aloud again.
*You are called a father by two of my kin and that's enough to make me treat you as one of us. But there are other things I must tell you about. Merlin was the only wizard who could talk to us because he did the same thing as you. He shared blood with one of us. Merlin was also a great Seer and said that one day another wizard would come and he ordered my ancestors to give that man presents he had left. First gift was our blood, hair and flowers. Merlin foresaw you would need them. Second gift is hidden in this chest.* - she points at it with her horn. *Take it out, please.*
Snape lifts the heavy lid and sees something a bit bigger than a Quaffle, wrapped in a cloth. He puts this thing on the table, unwraps it and gasps with awe. It is a huge, rough-hewn jewel. It's perfectly transparent, like a flawless brilliant but has a deep purple color and sheds silver reflexes around.
*The Palantir* - his eyes widen in surprise. *Impossible.*
*But true* - she answers. *You've guessed right, that is one of the Palantiri, the Seeing Stones of Merlin. You could see everything inside them. One showed the Past, another the Present and the last one the Future. Merlin destroyed the first and the last, considering them to be too dangerous. He thought it was a waste of time to look at the Past which cannot be changed or at the elusive Future one usually misinterprets. So you one you are now staring at the Stone which shows the Present. An useful gift for a spy, I daresay. It will speak only to you or your real friends if you allow them to.* Snape is speechless again, he can't help looking inside the enormous, magnificent stone. *The last gift* - she continues - *you should have already noticed yourself.* He lifts his eyebrows, surprised. *You've found the way to the Clearing of Meetings, haven't you? You can talk to us, can't you? Anything more?*
*Yes* - he answers after a while - *My senses suddenly sharpened an hour or so ago and… I've done a few spells without a wand lately.*
*So?* - she asks but he doesn't know what she means. *When you share blood with somebody* - she explains - *the one who gives transfers some of his powers to the one that receives.*
*I know.*
*But it also works backwards. By sharing blood you gained some Unicorn powers, Dark Phoenix. Most of them were asleep inside you but now they are awake and growing. You posses senses as sharp as ours and you are becoming a mage – someone who doesn't need a wand to make a spell. I know that powerful wizards, like Albus Dumbledore, can perform simpler magic without wands but you'll be able to do anything you want when these powers grow completely. You are more a Unicorn than you think, Morthoron.* Snape doesn't know what to say again.
*A mage is never defenseless.* - he whispers finally.
*And that's what you may need, spy.* - she smiles. *Therefore keep that fact in secret and use this gift only in great need.*
*But why am I given all that? I'm a Dark wizard, a hit man, a Death Eater…*
*You used to be* - she answers with a little impatience in her voice. *There's still a lot of hatred and pain inside you but you aren't Dark anymore. A Dark wizard wouldn't spy against the Enemy, would he? Merlin knew you would be… entangled in Dark activity but he also saw that you would reject the Darkness and fight it. That's why he left the Palantir, Dark Phoenix – a gift for a spy. And now I'm going to tell you something about Aegnor and Mearas. Both are talented enough to take my place after my death – and I won't see much more springs, I am aware of that – but they didn't want to. They are Healers. They have the gift and they want to spend their life using it. That's the ability they posses because their mother did but there are others they have due to your blood sharing. They have always been Talented Potions' Masters, like you, and they can use Shatten, too.*
*Shatten?* - he's flabbergasted. *Unicorns don't need human martial arts, they have their own ways to fight.*
*They can turn into humans.*
*EXCUSE ME???*- -that's too much even for him.
*They can turn into humans.* - she repeats peacefully. *How?* *Blood sharing, Dark Phoenix. Merlin could transform into a Unicorn so why not backwards? And they want to go with you to England to help all of you fight the Darkness. Your school Mediwizard retired recently, if I'm not mistaken so you may need Healers.* He admits that, Madam Pomfrey did retire last month after 60 years of work at Hogwarts.
*We share so much.* - he adds after a while. *Strange.*
*Indeed* - she agrees. *You know, Morthoron, you are really their father. Biologically.*
*You're kidding, they are Unicorns!* - he shouts aloud.
*There's as much your blood inside them as of Blizzard and Anor, their Unicorn parents, so you are. I realize it sounds uncanny but that's true. Check in your books if you don't believe me: these who share blood become connected for ever also in this way.* - she explains - *Their relationship is as close as between siblings or parents and children, if not closer. But* - she smiles - *you must hurry to brew your potions before the Enemy summons you again so we'll pick up the Flowers and you must go.*
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Enjoyed it? Should I continue? Please, review.
Explanation: Names Mearas, Morthoron, Palantir, Anor and Aegnor belong to J. R. R. Tolkien.
Mearas – lord of the horses
Palantir – indeed a Seeing Stone, literally "one that sees from afar"
Aegnor does mean "Hell Fire"
Morthoron is a word I made from Tolkien's "mor" – dark and "thoron" – eagle. Avalanche uses either "Morthoron" or "Dark Phoenix" as Snape's name. Do you like Snape as a "Phoenix"?
