Chapter 10 That Time When Severus Argued With Himself and Lost
Savvy settled himself on Alice's bed and wrapped an arm around her as she curled up against him, her head on his shoulder and one hand resting on his bare chest.
"Remind me why Giles decided to give the outsiders my rooms?" He asks lazily, stroking her shoulder.
"I think he was just trying to see if your personalities were as similar as your looks," Alice explains sleepily.
It had been a long day. Severus and Ron had both been upset about how different Delyruim's wizarding world was from their own…especially the bit about Hogwarts being destroyed during Hermione Granger's murderous rampage. After calming them down and making sure Candice and Ginger were alright she had retreated to the privacy of her own room.
She had been annoyed with Savvy. He had provoked Severus at least twice while she and Giles were attempting to restore the peace. However, her anger towards him had been instantly wiped away when he had quietly swayed into her room, shutting and silencing the door behind him, and gave her a private performance of one of his more humorous dances. His eyes had lit up at the sound of her laughter.
Alice, Fairy of the Realm of Outcasts, could hold a grudge better than any other fairy Delyrium had ever seen…except, perhaps, Tuley. Granted, Discord fury was worse, but Alice's silent rage could last forever. Except with him. She had never been able to hold a grudge against him.
"You think he's sexy," Savvy accuses, narrowing his eyes at her.
"Of course I think he's sexy. He looks just like you." She teases, pressing a kiss to his neck and letting her lips linger as she adds, "I think my dancer is jealous."
"Savvy the Seer doesn't get jealous." He objects.
"No, but Savvy the man is." She counters.
He studies her for a moment before sighing, "Savvy the man is in love with you."
"Alice the fairy isn't allowed to love," Alice mutters, slipping her arm around his wait and moving her head down onto his chest.
"No…but Alice the woman is." Savvy replies, using her phrasing against her.
"I wish you weren't a dancer and I weren't a fairy." Alice whispers, "I want to stay like this forever."
Savvy laughs, "I'm rather charmed by our forbidden love, Beauty. I wouldn't trade us for anything. I love dancing…I couldn't give it up any more than you could give up being a fairy."
"I'm not a fairy willingly, but you willingly dance with any girl who asks…girls who aren't bound by the rules I am. Women you could be with without worrying about people finding out. Without risking your life. If wither of us have a reason to be jealous, it's me." She counters.
"Unless you're referring to my stage performances, I don't dance with every female who asks me to. I am very particular about who I allow to touch me while I'm dancing and who I dance for privately. With my ability to 'see' anyone who touches me while I'm dancing, the amount of information that would run through me on a daily basis, if I danced for every female, would be overpowering. It's like a light burning sensation. It feels incredible so long as it's done carefully. Otherwise it hurts." Savvy objects smoothly. "I don't want just any girl…I want Alice of the Outcasts. She's the only one who can make my heart race. The one I dance for, even when she's not a part of my audience or one of my clients. She's the one I love."
"You shouldn't you know," Alice murmurs, repeating the statement she said every time they were together like this. "Loving me could kill you."
"Not loving you would kill me faster."
It was an old conversation that they repeated time and again. It had started out as an argument two years ago. She couldn't handle knowing that he danced for other girls. He hated that she held herself back because of her duties as a fairy. They both knew that she loved him as well; she would just never admit it. The King and Queen Fairies considered love a weakness. A liability…so it was forbidden, and she listened to them. He suspected though, that telling him not to love her because it would hurt him was her way of telling him that she loved him. Dancing was his life…his power, and she was the only one he had ever considered giving it up for. But he couldn't give up dancing for a woman who would never be free to love him just as much, who wasn't willing to fight for their right to be together.
"Alice..." He says softly, looking down at her. Before he could continue the door opened and Ginger ran in, jumping up onto the bed with them.
"Giles says we need to talk about the bad thing." She announces as Giles, discord, Severus, Ron, and Ronaldo came into the room as well.
"Candice is asleep," Discord announces. "We're just discussing things right now. I will wake her up when we need her"
Alice tries to sit up and move to the edge of the bed but Savvy straightens into a sitting position and wraps an arm around her waist, pulling her back against him and meeting Severus's gaze with a gleam in his eyes. Severus raises an eyebrow at him. Savvy ignores it and turns his attention back to Giles. Discord waves a hand and black smoke appears and forms into several solid chairs. She positions them around the bed, making sure everyone had a place to sit.
"You said you thought my apprentice and I could assist you. How?" Savvy questions as Ronaldo takes the chair just to Savvy's left and Giles sits down in the chair directly in front of the bed.
"I'm not entirely sure." Giles admits, "We've only just considered the option that Severus and Ron, who are identical to the two of you, aren't here by coincidence. I think we should first discuss the source of the power surges. Where are they coming from?"
"Who are they coming from?" Severus corrects him.
"You think there's someone out there who would willingly risk infuriating all five fairies of Delyrium?" Savvy asks mockingly, "Who would have enough power to cause such an abnormality without simultaneously revealing their location?"
"I assume you have a better explanation?" Severus counters challengingly.
"I'm merely pointing out that your explanation is no more believable than any other," Savvy answers, his voice kind but his words intended to sting a bit, "You are making unfounded accusations. Are those common in your world? Here we find them repulsive."
Alice elbows him, "His assumption is logical. If there was an object that could do something like this, we would know about it. It could be coming from someone in my realm. Such abnormalities, though I've never seen any this strong, are common there. It could be someone who doesn't know how to use their powers…or maybe someone who just doesn't have any control over them."
Severus smirks. Savvy wasn't happy that she had taken his side and Severus didn't need ligillimency to see that. "Is there any way we could find out? Have you attempted to trace the magic back to its original source?"
"We can detect any sort of magic with the utmost of ease. That's how we could immediately tell that you weren't Savvy and Ron wasn't Ronaldo…other than the fact that your choice of clothing differs extensively. The two of you may look exactly alike, but your magical signatures are different. Despite all of this, the only magic that we can readily trace is apparition." Giles explains.
"I read a spell once where you could take a piece of something and use it to scry for the rest of it. That would take us to where the bad thing is." Ginger pipes up.
"Who said you were going?" Savvy interrupts instantly. "It's too dangerous for you to get involved, Ginger."
He didn't want her in harm's way any more than he did Alice. Alice was a fairy and he knew better than to try to stop her…but Ginger was just a child, and he wanted to protect her as best he could.
"Alice says it's the fairy's job to fight the dangerous bad things. We're supposed to be brave and strong when everyone else is scared. Don't worry Savvy. I will protect you." Ginger promises.
Severus snickers, folding his arms across his chest.
"Do you have something to add, Sweetheart?" Savvy questions Severus, his voice like poisoned honey.
"Only that I seem to have discovered a version of myself that severely lacks masculinity." Severus throws at him, a wicked amusement in his eyes.
"Aren't men your age supposed to have already gone trough that 'self discovery' phase? I find it hard to believe that you've just now discovered this rather prominent characteristic that you seem to possess. I could sense you lack of masculinity the moment I laid eyes on you." Savvy smirks, "As a matter of fact, I was under the impression that I was going to the aid of a damsel in distress when I first rescued you from my security guards. Imagine my surprise once I realized you were male."
"Yes, because what I need is to be rescued by a man who wears a skirt and diamond encrusted knickers." Severus sneers sarcastically.
"I'm honored that you find my attire so attractive, Sweetheart," Savvy replies with a smirk, "I can't blame you for being envious when your own clothing is so…drab."
"Count on a female to insult my choice in clothing," Severus retorts.
"You don't have to be female to know the difference between tact and tacky, Swee-"
"Enough!" Alice snarls, jerking away from Savvy and standing up. "This is ridiculous! If you're going to sit around arguing instead of helping us stop the power surges then get out of my room!"
"I helped, Alice, didn't I?" Ginger asks meekly, "I had a good idea, right?"
"Scrying works with physical matter…things you can harvest. Magic doesn't quite work that way. We have no way of acquiring a portion of the power surge to scry with…but yes, Ginger, it was a good suggestion." Giles tells her comfortingly, "Also, Alice had a very good suggestion." He continues, turning towards Severus and Savvy, "If you two can't be civil then you have no business here. We are trying to work. I will not allow a hindrance such as this one to remain in my house."
Savvy folds his arms across his chest, "I was merely thanking him for complimenting my clothing. I do not mean to be a hindrance."
Severus shot Savvy a threatening glare but remains silent. If he ever wanted to get back to Hogwarts…the one that was still standing, then he would need their assistance.
"Actually, Ginger may be on to something as well." Discord muses, thinking quickly. "I have an artifact called The Harvester. It collects magical signatures from other people and stores them in a vial. If we can trigger the artifact during a power surge, it might be able to collect that to…then we could use it to scry for the offender."
"Or it just might stop the power surges all together. If it steals magical signatures, whomever we use it on may be human afterwards. They wouldn't have any magic left other than a few small traces." Giles adds, pressing the tips of his fingers together.
"But we could still use it to scry for the offender. Even the small traces can be found through scrying." Discord pushes.
"Then we could identify the offender by comparing the remaining traces to those we harvested," Giles smiles.
"Then we could throw the offender into the Abyss," Discord grins.
"And send these blokes back to where ever they came from," Savvy throws in.
"You should go get the artifact from her estate, Savvy. You're too tense. It would do you some good to go for a walk and get some fresh air." Alice requests, studying him worriedly. He didn't normally exhibit such a blatant rudeness towards her guests.
"I'll wake up Candice so she can go with you and show you were it is." Discord agrees.
"Ronaldo can go get it," Savvy objects, "I'm not leaving you alone with him."
"Oh really?" Alice retorts, shocked by the implications in his statement. "So you can invite your clients into your dressing room to fool around with you, but I can't be anywhere near someone I'm trying to help unless you're there to supervise?"
"A little help isn't all he wants from you, love." Savvy insists accusingly, glaring at Severus.
"Who's making unfounded accusations now, Savvy?" Severus informs him silkily, "Since you're so repulsed by them, I might just oblige you and commit the act you're referring to…Don't tempt me to seduce her…If you were once lovers then it wouldn't be too difficult. I am, after all, identical to you."
Savvy flies off the bed and lunges at Severus but Alice quickly pushes her way between them.
"Keep this up and I myself will tempt him to seduce me," Alice threatens, "No commitments from the fairy, remember? It would work out perfectly for him. A nice memory to take back to his world with him, no strings attached."
"You're mine!" Savvy insists in a smooth, but angry, tone of voice.
"No, I belong to the King and Queen fairies." She snaps. After a moment she adds, "I don't know what your problem with him is, but if you want to stay here you'd better get over it quickly. Now get out."
"Alice," Savvy sighs, reaching for her.
Alice's eyes turn completely neon violet and her hair begins to frizz out as her skin lets off a loud crackling noise. Alice was born in the realm of the outcasts. She was electricity. When she was younger, an apprentice rather than a fairy, no one could touch her because of it. It was only her power as a fairy that let her control it. "I said get out!"
Savvy hesitates, torn. After a moment he opts to avoid a fight with her. He couldn't bring himself to be violent with her, even if he did stand a chance at winning such a fight…which he didn't. He takes a step back and bows low. "I am at your disposal…Alice of the Outcasts."
Careful not to touch her on his was past her, he starts for the door. Savvy pauses in the doorway, turning back towards his apprentice, who obviously didn't know how to react to the changes in his mentor's behavior. "Renaldo, go with Candice to get The Harvester."