Both Livia and Nils knew they needed to greet Tom and Alice, so they made themselves presentable and Livia opened the door. Tom and Alice warmly greeted both of them. Alice noticed the ring almost immediately and made an excuse to get Livia's help in the kitchen, where she inquired about it. Livia admitted that Nils gave it to her for her birthday.
"Is that all?" Alice asked.
"I guess that is up to Ni," Livia answered. "He's been through quite a lot. It would be hard to explain, except by calling it a type of amnesia someone inflicted upon him. At times, it was scary. For example, he did not even remember giving this ring to me. He says he does now, but I am not sure if he's fully recovered yet."
"Do you want him to mean it?" Alice asked.
"I suppose so," Livia replied. "Right now, I have no reason to doubt him, but I have some uncertainty regarding the future. No one who becomes a head tutor keeps the position forever. This can become quite complicated, depending on what opportunities arise and what he opts to do."
"Would you leave your school with him?" Alice queried.
"I doubt it, hence the problem," Livia responded. "The headmaster has indicated his intention for me to stay. Given what I know, I have to agree, but I have not shared this with Ni."
"Maybe he can find a reason to promote Ni, then," Alice asserted.
"It would help," Livia agreed. "How goes your dissertation?"
"Almost done with the primary materials, whilst I consult secondary things as needed," Alice indicated. "I am looking into how personal documents shed light on political decisions or the lack thereof – regarding the first Earl Russell's activities during the Irish Potato Famine."
"Sounds like a subject that could find plenty of interest from historians," Livia said.
"I hope that is the case," Alice asserted. "I found the materials quite illuminating. I have ideas for structure and a thesis, but I need to verify if it all holds up or who might oppose it."
They returned to the dining area where Nils (who everyone kept calling Ni) had given Tom a description about what had happened. Tom had trouble understanding the story.
"So, you're telling me the man who in some way separated his nephew from Livia helped you get better?" Tom asked.
"That baffles me, as well," Nils answered. "Livia went to him to confirm her accusation authoritatively against the person causing me to forget things. Apparently, he convinced the headmaster to interview me and to confront the, shall we say, incompetent instructor."
"Either he is very professionally conscientious, or Livia is now blackmailing him – which is it, girl?" Tom inquired.
Livia again saw it best not to mention anything about Christopher. "First, I'd say he tends to be stringently professional about most things," Livia responded. "Second, he happens to dislike the guilty party greatly, so my humiliation of that man had to please him. Ni, I have to warn you, since we're supposed to switch: Professor Snape has his own reasons for what you will observe next term with the second-year Gryffindor students. I have avoided going to that class because he is especially harsh with them. Don't get too involved. That house's 'star' student likes to show off how much she knows, and I think it really sets him off, among other things."
"Weren't you his 'star' student once?" Nils asked.
"Yes, which annoyed him sufficiently – I just didn't make the mistake of looking like 'an insufferable know-it-all' much in class," Livia replied. "Unless he spoke to me, I said little. Miss Granger is incredibly bright but does not limit herself. I think she still feels she has something to prove to everyone. I understand that, but I went about doing it differently."
"You astound me with how much you learned about how he runs a class," Nils stated.
"Self-defense for a time, but now it just represents doing the work," Livia noted.
Nils spent almost the entire break in Durham. He liked the fact that Livia and he could share her room with the door closed because, in his view, he had to make up for lost time or lost mind. Livia kept in the back of hers somewhere the potential existed that something could go awry, however, even as he seemed consumed with pleasing her in every way he possibly could, awake or asleep, alone or with others. She wondered if her feelings represented prudence or paranoia.
Livia had missed Tom's office party, so she never had to mull whether to attend with Nils. Instead, Nils fit in well during Tom and Alice's Thursday, delayed Christmas Eve party turned New Year's party. Livia sped up the preparations, though this time Audrey and Jake could not make it owing to Amanda's lingering cold. Everyone else came and treated Nils warmly. They saw his obviously fondness for Livia. A few asked Tom or Alice alone why Livia had a new boyfriend; most noticed her ring. Neither could provide a good explanation other than asserting a belief that Christopher's uncle somehow opposed the match. It baffled them that he had helped Nils recover from an illness. They all wondered what the uncle knew. Given that Livia respected him, he had to have his reasons. No one could guess them. Maybe Christopher tried to escape an arranged marriage? Maybe he thought Christopher was too young or broke to be serious?
In the group, Gary and Tom especially enjoyed calling Nils "Ni." Bertie, Kate Linda and Doc did not get the reference, so Tom took off his holiday music and played the film scene that explained the reference. Thus, a chant of "Ni!" started and basically everyone called him that; the chant got so loud that Abby burrowed into Livia's room to escape the noise. Cathy also revealed that she had received word that she would have a child in early August, explaining her decision not to drink that night. A few expressed surprise Cathy would want a child so soon, but she felt the timing worked and did not wish to wait, given Doc had just turned 30, making him a few years older than everyone else. Alice felt she wanted to finish her degree first, and Tom did not want to rush her. Either they would need a bigger house or she and Tom would share a home office space. Tom figured they could only manage the latter if she finished writing and had a position with an office outside of their home. Emma Woodcock surprisingly got over her daughter's "elopement" fairly quickly. Livia, for the first time, began to suspect something that she did not want to mention to Tom or Cathy that could explain this behavior; it never would have occurred to her as a girl.
Before settling in for the night, Nils locked the bathroom door and briefly visited Alice's Uncle Jack, having figured out how to make the trip himself. Nils collected the gift that he had asked Jack to obtain for Livia. A small section of a clothing shop had started selling unique handmade jewelry pieces by an unknown craftsman. Uncle Jack wondered how Nils knew or why the shopkeeper simply said he would settle the bill directly with Nils. Nils had asked for a pair of hooped, white gold earrings with sapphires that matched the ring he had given Livia. The shopkeeper provided a perfect wrapped box, too. Nils planned on giving them to her as soon as she awoke the next day. He hid them under Livia's bed after she turned out the light. Of course, he did not want to sleep just yet. He rarely did. Eventually, he would.
The next morning Nils woke her up to give her the present he got. She had no idea how he accomplished that, until he told her he had asked Uncle Jack to buy them for her on his behalf. She thought them stunning by themselves, let alone as something to match the ring he had given her. Livia had a gift also: a white gold linked chain necklace with a pendant that represented the Nilssen family crest. Ironically, the crest prominently displayed a raptor much like the symbol for Ravenclaw. Livia told him the pendant had a purpose. Obtaining it whilst he lay in the infirmary, she had endowed it with protective charms to aid him against anyone who would harm him. Livia put it on him, activated it and begged him never to remove it. He needed to take it seriously. The charms would never err. He pledged that he would wear it and tell his parents the same, so they would worry less about him. He wound up leaving late on New Year's Day to spend a few days with his parents.
Tom and Alice seemed favorably impressed with Nils – indeed, Alice remarked that Livia seemed to have a knack for dating very handsome young men. You two never even saw the soft-spoken, dashing Bill Weasley, Livia thought. They shared that people approached both of them to inquire how Christopher's uncle essentially could break you two up yet turn around and help Nils.
"Good question," Livia stated. "He did not actively break us up, you know, but in an indirect way I guess he did. Still, maybe he knew I was desperate – or he hated the person who did that to Ni as much as I did. I cannot say." Her instincts told her not to say anything as it related to Christopher. She did not entirely grasp why except that it strictly maintained her vow of silence.
"Any idea how Christopher reacted to that?" Tom asked.
"I don't know," Livia answered. She wished she knew how Professor Snape reacted to whatever he saw transpire between herself and Nils. How many drinks did he need for that?
Livia returned to the school on Tuesday, January 5. She thought the earrings were too flashy to wear every day, so she kept them next to other items she only wore on special occasions. She did not feel up to pranking Professor Snape, but she owed him much gratitude for helping her get Professor Lockhart to reverse the damage he had inflicted on Nils.
When in doubt, Livia went to talk to Helena Ravenclaw. Helena was glad to see her and congratulated her over how she got Professor Lockhart to fix what he had done to the head tutor. Helena had a few things she wanted to say – she pronounced the protective necklace Livia acquired via Nils's parents genius and hoped, for Livia's sake, that he never removes it. When Livia asked if a threat to his safety still existed there, Helena hedged. Livia wondered if she meant something else, but Helena did not clarify. She had other things on her mind. Helena wanted Livia to ask Professor Flitwick about a first-year student named Luna, who got labeled "different" by others. Helena had started speaking to her and found her very kind, much like Livia herself.
Livia got to her main reason for coming: Professor Snape. She wanted to thank him for his help with Nils but did not how to handle it, especially given the fact that he had penetrated Nils's mind twice in the process of helping him. She did not know exactly what he saw.
"He tried to avoid thinking about that, but I'm sure he did at some point," Helena stated. "I cannot say how much he pondered it. I'm sure it made him uncomfortable, for various reasons."
"Such as?" Livia asked.
"He's very private, and I doubt he would ever have done something like that easily," Helena answered. "He admired you putting someone else's welfare above your own ego. I think he envies Nils for you having done that, as much as anything else, but I'm sure he begrudges Nils at least somewhat for those other things as well."
"Why? If I'm just a piece of meat, Christopher could have –"
"He knows that," Helena admitted. "I think that is his problem – you really could have been his. He still loves the girl he has idealized and has felt remorse over for more than a decade. He loves her ardently but somewhere he knows that he can never have her, not even in death. He never expected you nor that you could awaken things inside him that he has kept a lid on for years. He usually feels that he lives between life and death, practically lives a form of death. You remind him that he is still alive. Being alive means desiring things – even beyond his own agenda."
"Almost every year I have pranked him before his birthday, yet I feel this year I should be merely thanking him," Livia declared. "In short, I don't know what to do."
"Do what you have done," Helena said. "He does derive an odd joy from being annoyed and having anyone remember. The funnier, the better. He did suppress laughing over your confrontation with Professor Lockhart. I know you have wanted to make him laugh for years. You more or less had it. Keep trying."
"Thank you, Helena," Livia responded. "I will find Luna. As always, I appreciate you and honor you and will forever lament what you might have been or had."
"Being dead isn't so bad," Helena said. "I no longer fret over things. You will have much of that, I'm sure, and I do not miss anxiety, betrayal or bereavement."
Livia had to ponder a song to do in Professor Snape's voice. She finally thought of something and sent Tom a request via Sydney, which he quickly sent back. Apparently, Alice had picked it up, and he wrote the note. After her first official meeting with Nils and the other tutors on Friday 8, January, she made an excuse to slip away early that afternoon. She collected her music player and headed to Professor Snape's room. She started singing in his voice outside his room:
I'm too sexy for my love
Too sexy for my love
Love's going to leave me...*
Livia thought she could barely do it with a straight face herself, but she managed a scowl to help it sound right. How inappropriate was it? Extremely. How funny? The same.
"What is the meaning of this?" Professor Snape snarled as he flung open the door. "Are you out of your mind?"
Livia grinned. "I'll do anything to make you laugh, sir. You know that."
"This is most inappropriate, Miss Woodcock," he stated. "Beyond it even."
"Which makes it funny, sir," she said. "Happy Birthday. I would have come just to thank you, but I could not pass this up. I know I am greatly indebted to you."
"Enough," he asserted. "Inside. Now. And turn that thing off." Livia complied. "You say you are indebted to me. There's only one thing I want to hear – and you know what it is."
"You also know I will do it on one condition," Livia reminded him.
"Yes, agreed," he said.
So she sang exactly as he wished, and he closed his eyes to picture her as a teen. Livia got every syllable and inflection right. If he had not become such a stoic, he might have cried. Livia knew he had not wept, even over her, for many years. He possessed a steely focus.
"Give me your hands, sir," Livia declared. This time, she used her wand, which made the experience go more quickly and effectively. She did not think at first she could clear all the darkness and gunk that weighed him down. Yet she did – and better than ever. "I hope that has helped you. Happy birthday. Good day, sir."
He merely nodded. He got lost in his own thoughts, including about all that happened. Livia had totally blown his mind – again.
Nils had been looking for her. He wanted to spend the weekend with her in Hogsmeade again. She found it impossible to say no to him. He only left a note on his door to ask the innkeeper there if he was needed for anything before Monday. Otherwise, it could wait. No one found this note odd for Nils. He seemed very attached to spending time there long before dating Livia.
Whilst there, Livia had to ask him something. During their spring recess, her friend Shelley had planned getting married. The date came not that long after his birthday, too. Shelley had asked Livia to stand with her. She added that the groom had asked a relative to be his best man. Did he want to go even though she might spend part of the evening away from him?
"I need to be where you are, I think," he answered. "I want to be, rather than risk some unknown lad dancing with you when I'm not there. That's not a present I want."
"Okay, I will tell her," Livia said. "I will try not to be apart from you for too long."
"If I am returning to a room with you, I am not concerned."
Winter term mostly proceeded quietly, thanks in part to Livia essentially teaching students (the ones who realized Lockhart knew little) what they needed to get from their Defense Against the Dark Arts courses. Livia sat stone faced in classes she attended, never responding to Professor Lockhart and certainly showing herself perfectly capable of deflecting anything nefarious sent her way. Livia kept Nils appraised of her activities, which somewhat cut into her time to tutor students on written assignments, though she managed to become ever more efficient in anything she did.
Livia also did get to meet the long-haired blonde Luna Lovegood via Professor Flitwick and reassured the soft-spoken girl that her time would come. They also shared insights about Helena Ravenclaw, who Livia deemed a mentor. Livia encouraged her to continue to talk to Helena as she had already done, reminding Luna that Helena takes pride in the accomplishments of students who are kind to her and share things with her. These give her a purpose and use for all the wisdom she has amassed from being there for so long.
For his part, Nils could not understand how Livia thrived in her Potions classes, given the harshness often exuded by Professor Snape. She told him that she got used to it and never took his attitude personally. She reminded him that he likely started that way to gain respect when he began teaching at an age not much older than the most advanced students. He just never grew out of it. Moreover, the standards and stakes for making potions well are very high, a point they had to get somehow. Nils knew how perceptive her assessment was, particularly given the fact she had figured this out long before becoming a tutor. Every time he heard it, though, it amazed him.
Livia continued to enjoy her sessions with both Professor Snape and the headmaster. Every time, she had to contemplate strategy and react spontaneously. Both gave her a workout: win, lose or draw. Livia would not arrive too soon if Nils attended Professor Snape's last midweek class. Nils knew enough already, if not cognizant that her lessons continued. He never asked, fortunately, as her roommates had, what she had learned about him. He remained more curious about what the professor had discovered about them. Livia saw that Professor Snape's knowledge, limited in some areas, extended quite far in others. For instance, he saw her medallion on Nils and knew of its origin and power from her. If anything made him jealous or troubled, she could not tell. He successfully blocked that from her. From that, she initially gathered that he dismissed any personal stake in the matter and, whatever she may have awoken in him, he redirected it entirely to the woman he lost.
Nils, other than exchanging some letters with his parents and one afternoon, spent the entirety of spring recess with Livia. He had a great birthday prior to it and particularly loved Shelley and Liam's wedding, because Livia wore the earrings he had gotten her and looked radiant in the deep green bridesmaid gown Shelley had chosen for her, Athena and a cousin of Liam's to wear. The best man, as well as the other groomsmen, Ted, and a local friend, made for a nice group to surround the bride and groom. Fortunately, they did not monopolize Livia's time, and she returned to Nils soon enough. That sensitivity perhaps led to Shelley not compelling Livia to sing as Professor Snape; from what Nils said, he heard his voice sufficiently. This time, the Ravenclaw roommates did not dominate the larger group of attendees, though Terence and Selene, late additions who quietly married themselves, numbered among them. Terence and Selene received a special toast. Livia made sure to give Shelley and Liam an intricate cross-stitched, framed embroidery of their names and several four-leaf clovers and sent something similar in quality to Terence and Selene. It became a special wedding ritual for Livia to do this.
Nils just looked forward to enveloping Livia. She seemed too careful to him during school time. It made him anxious to get a position elsewhere and take her with him. Even living with her offsite would help; she never showed any hesitation in her brother's home. To do that, he realized the step he had to make. Before spring term began, he started looking for the right ring, at home, at Hogsmeade and in Durham. At least, he already knew the small size to get for her finger. Again, no one questioned his time away. Livia gave him his space so she had some herself. She also knew his time away had to do with his future direction, so she avoided asking a lot about it. She did not want to know, in case learning his plans gave her a bad premonition.
Soon after returning, Livia found it shocking that Hermione was petrified with no immediate cure, Hagrid was accused of opening that "Chamber of Secrets" and the headmaster found himself suspended. That no one later could find Ginny Weasley seemed greatly disconcerting also. These events seemed related to Livia, but she only had the twins to tell about it. Livia took it upon herself to care for all the creatures in Hagrid's charge, including her Barn Owl friends, though she did so in stealth to avoid recriminations. She exchanged letters with Hagrid to let him know his animals received care, and he reassured her that his innocence would be shown by students he saw before being led away. Livia had a very good idea who he meant.
The headmaster's suspension actually led Livia to spend more time with Professor Snape, since he seemed eager to practice dueling with her in addition to their usual sessions. He did find it distracting when Livia started speaking or singing as himself. He thought about compelling her to stop before remembering that overcoming such a distraction could prove useful. She did manage to beat him thanks to her "rope-a-dope" move of feigning weakness and the loss of her wand, which she had called back like a boomerang and immediately delivered a mock "kill" to disarm and render him disabled, if not "dead." He was stunned. Livia smiled broadly and started cackling.
"How-how long have you been able to do that?" he asked.
"For some time now," she answered. "Since the headmaster has seen it, he can anticipate it."
"It's quite unique," he responded. "I know some try to tether their wand to themselves but not in how you use it. Very creative. What do you call that fakery of yours?"
"Rope-a-dope," Livia replied. "A muggle champion boxer made the term famous."
"You know you cannot use it every time," he said. "Some will try just a direct confrontation, and you will not have the chance then to do that."
"I know," she admitted. "That's why I work on distractions or transfigurations, too."
"How would you deal with someone directing the killing curse at you?"
"Depends on whether I anticipate it – if I can, I attempt to silence the speaker," she replied. "But, no, I have not tried to make the headmaster a dumbass, if you're asking me that."
"I'm glad to see what you can do, but your progress makes it ever more important for you not to let your skills become too widely known. Don't show anyone else that move. There is a plan here."
"I know," Livia agreed. "I hope I am living up to my part – or non-part – of it."
"So far you are," he said. "That must not change."
With Livia's tutoring and the faculty long suspicious, Professor Lockhart got cornered and asked to enter the "Chamber of Secrets" where it seemed Ginny Weasley had disappeared. A note in the hand of the petrified Hermione gave her friends an idea of what lay inside. Fortunately, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, a bit wary of Professor Lockhart, found him trying to flee and forced him to help them. Since Harry knew more, he likely kept a better grip on his wand or greater distance. Taking Ron's damaged wand rebounded on Professor Lockhart, erasing his own memory and somehow forced Harry to find Ginny himself. He had to face the real "heir of Slytherin" who compelled Ginny to open the chamber and release its creature. Fortunately, the headmaster's pet Phoenix could still enter it with a sword and enabled Harry to save Ginny, defeat the monster and destroy a reanimated Dark Wizard. He had wanted to purge the school of "unworthy" students – those without wizardry heritage, rather than bastardized like Livia. It seemed like the same thing to Livia, because it served to de-legitimize someone based on something beyond their control. Of course, attempting this through killing a pureblood witch seemed odd somehow.
The Phoenix's actions explained to Livia why the headmaster did not seem fazed by her use of crows. All of these creatures possessed sentience. She forgot how much greater his relationship with magical creatures extended than many witches and wizards, though this did not necessary mean all creatures in the way Livia interacted with them. Livia was overjoyed to see the headmaster reinstalled and the governor who insisted upon his suspension, the father of Draco Malfoy, himself dismissed. Livia believed justice had prevailed.
Livia assisted Professor Snape in making the draught that restored everyone petrified. She also sent a note to Harry congratulating him for his nerve, determination and, frankly, outmaneuvering that fraud Gilderoy Lockhart who got what he deserved. Only then did she visit the somewhat depleted, unnerved Ginny after various people had fussed over her and allowed her to recuperate. Once she got a general sense that Ginny would recover, she decided to ask Ginny about a few things twins Fred and George had told Livia about her skills. Oddly enough, though, Ginny wanted to ask Livia about Bill. Livia admitted the twins had figured out that she knew him fairly well for a time. Ginny could not understand how she had "let him get away," but Livia told her that Bill had no interest in a serious relationship at the time. When he found himself ready, he would find who he wanted because he tended to find young women interested in him. Despite the fact she had been excessively fond of him, she maintained that he let himself get away, basically.
The school year ended in a very strange fashion given all the commotion, though Livia wondered if she somehow had not tutored students well enough for them to perform in their Defense Against the Dark Arts classes. The headmaster reassured her that he did not doubt her. If some did, it might in fact be useful in the long run.
Livia wanted to go out and greet Hagrid and find how he fared, given both now had faced a stint of imprisonment. Nils wanted to go outside with her. He directed her to a fairly secluded spot near the forest. Livia knew he had something in mind – actually more than one. First, he told her that the headmaster of Durmstrang, Igor Karkaroff, had offered him a teaching position. IIvermorny also expressed interest, though he preferred to take the post close to home, at a place familiar to him. This information clearly changed their relationship.
"So where do I fit in, Ni?" she asked.
"That's up to you," Nils answered. He took a small box from his pocket and dropped to one knee. "Will you marry me, Liv-liv?"
"I'd like to say yes, but what do you expect me to do when you're teaching?" she asked.
"Perhaps I can find a spot for you," he suggested.
"Staff are not supposed to live together on the grounds, are they?" Livia queried. "I have not seen it here."
"That is true," Nils admitted. "There must be some way to make it work."
"Why couldn't I just continue here, and we live in Hogsmeade like Uncle Jack?"
"I am very fond of Hogsmeade, you know, but I am not sure I want to live that far away," Nils answered. "I am not sure Durmstrang participates in the same floo network."
"Maybe they should," Livia stated. "Then if someone needed to get a message to you to return, you could go."
"Why won't you consider living near my parents – you could still reach Uncle Jack, right?" he asked. "Or I know of a lovely artistic-oriented village, Ulmana, which might be better."
"Are you suggesting that I should stop working?" Livia questioned.
"Not necessarily," he replied. "Durmstrang might take you if you impress them. You could also take up something on your own, like those cross-stitch projects I have seen you do."
"You already told me Durmstrang does not allow things I possess," Livia said. "That has served as my link to my brother. You want me to be further from him, literally and figuratively?"
"He has a wife, you know," Nils stated. "I have nothing against them, but you are old enough to live with me, not them. We have options, too."
"I am nevertheless very close to him," she asserted. "It has been that way for a long time. I don't know if you can understand. None of the options you have listed entirely help me."
"He's not even really your brother, remember?"
"He has been the only family that has ever consistently mattered to me," Livia said. "Why is it so important to you that I live in Sweden? I thought you like it here."
"I need you near me," he declared. "I do like it here but prefer you there. Can you say yes?"
"Where is this wedding supposed to take place?" Livia questioned. "Don't tell me you want it without my brother, too."
"Maybe there might need to be two," Nils said.
"I have a muggle birth certificate, but little here – how is this supposed to work?"
"I guess we will need advice," he stated.
"I have to discuss this with some people," Livia asserted. "I can say 'yes' immediately if we can reside near Uncle Jack in Hogsmeade. Please agree to try to make that work."
"Okay, if we can make it work, I will agree," he said. Livia thus accepted the ring and they proceeded to check on Hagrid and the animals he kept, including "her" Barn Owls.
Before everyone left for the summer, Livia sent notes to the headmaster and Professor Snape that she needed to see both of them immediately. Professor Snape figured out why very quickly, though the idea also had crossed Professor Dumbledore's mind.
"Thank you both for seeing me so quickly, given you have your own plans," Livia said.
"Should we be congratulating you?" the headmaster asked. He noticed the ring.
"Maybe, maybe not," Livia replied. "I'm sure Nils will formally be letting you know when he officially accepts an offer to teach at Durmstrang. I think that is where this gets thorny. He has suggested I either try to work there or live near there. I countered with Hogsmeade, but he is unsure that works for him. He actually asserted that he needs me there with him, which is at once touching and at the same time smothering. The latter suggests a weakness that bothers me."
"Why are you telling us all this?" Professor Snape asked. "We are not your guardians."
"Severus, there is problem here for us, though," the headmaster countered. "Do you want Livia working under Igor Karkaroff? Or even being under his nose? I don't. "
"He is not likely in the Dark Lord's good graces, though," Professor Snape responded.
"And that is all the more reason why he would want to dangle Livia in front of him or other Death Eaters – to save himself," the headmaster asserted.
"You mean the Dark Wizard would attempt to recruit me?" Livia asked.
"Or kill you if you did not join him," Professor Snape answered. "He has done it before. Your brother and his wife would be in danger, too, if he finds you to be a blood traitor."
"A what?" Livia questioned.
"People of pureblood heritage or half-blood status are called that for being tolerant of muggles," the headmaster explained. "You might either be told to renounce your brother or die."
"How could I ever do the former?" Livia posited.
"Which is why I would never want you at Durmstrang," the headmaster said.
"He's right," Professor Snape agreed. "Nils could put you in grave danger and ruin you having a future at all, let alone with us. Many there would agree with the Dark Lord's perspective. Nils is giving me more reason to drag my feet about finding out who your father is."
"What have you told him regarding your reluctance to be there?" the headmaster asked.
"I told him that he would take me further away from my brother and eliminate the bond that I can maintain with him here – Uncle Jack and our shared musical interests," Livia asserted. "Nils has told me already I could not have the musical things I have now at Durmstrang."
"And that's true, so it's an excellent reason," the headmaster assessed.
"Very credible," Professor Snape agreed. "He has no siblings, right?"
"Correct," Livia replied.
"He may not appreciate that at all," the headmaster stated. "Of course, you care more about one person in particular. As things unfold here, I do not want you to leave this area for long, outside of visiting your brother. We have reason to trust this will serve the greater good in the end, even though it will seem foolish in the interim. I hope you can resolve this issue to your satisfaction, but you cannot allow Nils to put you at a school run by Igor Karkaroff. If you downplay yourself, Nils might even tip them off. If you impress them, you will attract the wrong kind of attention."
"It seems his first alternative would have me live there and perhaps do nothing – a prospect I frankly despise. I think Helena Ravenclaw would haunt me daily if I did that."
"That makes sense to me," Professor Snape said. "You are too gifted to waste away, even if it partly helps you. We have to keep your profile low but not allow your skills to fall into disuse."
"If I understand correctly, I believe another school tutor, Mark Watson, will leave after this year as well, which essentially makes you a strong candidate for becoming head tutor," the headmaster offered. "I am sure the tutors under Filius will support you, and I can probably sway the other heads of house to voice support for you to their own tutors, also."
"I would replace Nils?" Livia asked.
"Livia, you are more than ready for that," the headmaster assessed. "The way you handled Professor Lockhart proved it. The students would likely accept it, especially since the Weasley twins like you very much. Perhaps that prospect – and the advance in remuneration it carries – will get Nils to relent on his position, if he has a logical reason for his choice of residence."
"Indeed," Livia agreed. "I am not sure reason drives him."
"You have to decide that and how you handle it," the headmaster told her. "As Professor Snape said, we are not your guardians, though we possess a vested interest in what happens."
"Understood, sirs," Livia said. "Thank you for listening to me and verifying what my instincts led me to say. I have no idea how this will turn out. Actually, that is not entirely true. I have some suspicions but dare not speak them because I do not wish to be right this time."
Livia met up again with Nils. They bought something for Tom, and Nils agreed to accompany Livia back to Durham. Tom's birthday morphed into something of an engagement party for Livia and Nils, also. Tom and Alice expressed great happiness for both. Livia at one point took Tom aside with Nils and asked him how they could handle a wedding or weddings, given some of the legal issues. Nils lacked a birth certificate that County Durham would recognize, whereas Livia did. The reverse held true for Nils's homeland. Tom suggested Nils engage someone on Nils's side who could work with him to reconcile the issue. Tom's best guess offhand was to say that his local registrar might accept a foreign language marriage certificate and issue a license for them to be married in the UK, even if he or she did not entirely recognize the origin of the certificate. The traditional look might not seem odd, given an unfamiliarity with practices elsewhere. After all, diplomas looked very traditional.
Alice seemed very enthusiastic to begin shopping for whatever Livia might want for a wedding. Livia wondered a little about this, since she had never been the best sister-in-law regarding Alice's birthday, especially.
"My birthday on the 23rd is so close to Christmas that I stopped caring that I don't get double the gifts," she asserted. "The Christmas Eve party is basically my birthday party, even if I co-host it – and you helping has been a tremendous gift. I have not missed out on anything. I could not be more blessed than to have Tom, Abby and this house, as well as be closing in on my degree."
Alice found Livia's ring both intriguing and unique. It featured a heart-shaped diamond, a few small baguettes, and an unusual band that, while smooth, had angles to it that refracted light well. She had never seen anything like it. Livia did not know for sure how Nils had obtained it. He perhaps commissioned it somewhere, at home or in Hogsmeade, but he could have made it, too.
Alice wondered if she needed to contemplate two outfits if Livia needed to think about two ceremonies and how formal or informal each should be. Livia did not seem to want anything formally bridal, since she had little idea of how the whole thing would work. That seemed to depend on whatever arrangements were suitable. Nils went home to engage someone to figure out the logistics with Tom and to address any lingering issues his parents had.
Henrik and Ilsa Nilssen merely asked about Livia's desire to remain in Scotland. Nils admitted that he likely would not be able to surpass Hogwarts's ability to promote her to head tutor, which she mentioned in Durham. He certainly believed she deserved that. He understood her desire not to become idle or to become utterly removed from her brother. She really had not developed a hobby or alternative career to fill the loss of a post. Still, he preferred she move close to his work. Nils's parents wondered why he needed proximity when travel for adult witches and wizards did not pose the same obstacles as for muggles. He could not or would not say. He did get a recommendation from his father for someone who could walk him through the legal obstacles to marrying Livia, someone willing to advise Livia's brother, Tom, on this as well. Everything seemed to shape up – Uncle Jack even had started looking at real estate that the two could buy or at least rent, if nothing suitable appeared on the market for sale. He found many locals seemed to know Nils and wanted to help. Uncle Jack decided to use that to his advantage, to entice Nils and Livia to stay there. He believed Livia would benefit more from the headmaster's protection, given his credentials and reputation; he did not understand Nils's preference on the issue whatsoever.
* Author's Note
The song "I'm Too Sexy," from the 1991 album Up, also was released as a single by the group Right Said Fred. Songwriting credit goes to Fred Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass and Rob Manzoli.