Author's note: This is my least favorite chapter so far; it's so full of dialogue. Apologies for that, but I found it necessary to slide into the plot. I tried to keep everybody in character, but it's a bit difficult when there is so much talking. To clarify things, if Snape seems not so cool and collected, if he seems less potently snappish and biting, this is intentional. I tried to let the Snape of the future shine through, but I also wanted to portray him as being even more socially ill-adapted than he is as an adult. He is a bit sulky as a youth, in my story, and I wanted to have him evolve somewhat to become the sharper, cleaner nasty that comes with a little bit of wisdom and rather a lot of growing up. If he seems completely out of character, I would love (gentle! wince) suggestions. I mean, tell me I beg you, just take into account that I am definitely trying. And: haven't fixed the Avada Kedavra light yet. But I will! Ok! Now read...
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"That idiot!" Lucius snarled, racing up the steps with Severus still reluctantly at his heels. Rookwood obligingly held the door open until both men were safely inside, and then shut it with a snap and flipped the sign hanging in the window to read "closed" for anyone looking in.
"Where are they?" asked Snape curiously, looking around but seeing no sign of Karkaroff, the shopkeeper, or anything that looked remotely like a "ravenous chair."
"They're in the back room, thank God," replied Rookwood, who was still looking worried. "Lucky for us, they've got a soundproof door, or I'm sure you'd have heard Karkaroff all the way to Diagon Alley." He strode to the opposite side of the service counter. "I've already put a silencing curse on him."
"Oh, wasn't that nice!" said Malfoy with frigid ferocity. "You couldn't manage to keep the stupid lout's wand under control, but at least you managed to not do it in silence! Do you have any idea—? No. Remain silent." Lucius banged open the door and swept into the room, eyes focused straight ahead.
The ravenous chair was easily spotted. It sat, tall and regal, centered on the back wall, and struggling with silent, wide-eyed desperation upon its cushions of embroidered velvet was Igor Karkaroff. On the ground in front of him lay the spread-eagle body of a middle-aged man.
"I took his wand," said Rookwood a bit weakly, "After he, er, killed the fellow who runs the place." He held out Karkaroff's wand to Malfoy, who snatched it immediately without turning his head.
"One of you, figure out how to get him off that blasted thing," Malfoy commanded, gesturing at Karkaroff. As for himself, he stepped over to the body and knelt down beside it, feeling for a pulse.
The other two men approached the chair warily, and Snape glanced at Karkaroff's contorted face.
"Happen to have an idea on how to get this off his bum?" asked Rookwood, poking at the armrests upon which writhed the manacle-secured arms of the chair's victim. "He tried to stupefy it," he said with a gesture at Karkaroff, " but the spell just glanced off."
"And then he tried the killing curse?" demanded Lucius, looking at Rookwood.
"Well. Ah, yes, so it seems," he shrugged in sheepish accord. "Not quite sure, really. He was screaming bloody murder, so I heard him, at least. I was, er, out of the room at the time. I had to look for something to stop that chair!"
"Sheer stupidity," spat Malfoy. He smoothed back his hair as though doing so might erase the cause of his tension. "Help me to move this man out of the way," he ordered after a moment.
Severus glanced about the room as the two senior Death Eaters dragged the shopkeeper's limp body to the side of the room. Karkaroff was looking at him with wild, pleading eyes, but for the present Snape pointedly ignored him. He focused, instead, on the ground, where he saw a yellowed tag upon which a scrawled message had been written.
"Did anyone happen to notice this?" asked Snape with a feeling of delight, as he bent and picked it up. He rather enjoyed being the first to find such an obvious answer, and he waved it tauntingly in the air. "It says here, right at the top: 'Subduing the Ravenous Chair!' "
"Then go on, do what it says," suggested Rookwood,, before Malfoy had the chance to spit out another reply.
"Well, Severus?" said Lucius coldly.
"Right," said Snape lazily, pulling out his new wand. "A simple spell. Touch the wand to the victim's forehead—" and he did so. "Now: Liberus Karkaroff!"
He removed his wand, frowning at the yellow tag, when he saw after a moment that Karkaroff had not been released.
"What's the problem?" Rookwood spoke up.
"At least he isn't wriggling any more in that disgusting manner," commented Lucius.
Severus looked up from the tag. Karkaroff was no longer strugglinf, and indeed, there were now only two problems for him to deal with: first, the chair still had him gripped tightly in its iron handcuffs and belt, and second, the man was still spelled mute. Coming up behind Snape, Rookwood waved his wand towards the captive man.
"—fraid you'd never get it to stop!" Karkaroff was saying as the curse lifted, breathing heavily and looking a bit sick. "It got through my robes—I, I think it has little teeth!"
"An excellent description of a ravenous chair, Karkaroff," said Malfoy coldly. "I assume this is your first lesson on the matter? And of course, you will have no idea how to get out of that seat."
"I thought Snape had the instructions," said Karkaroff anxiously.
"It seems that the spell only stops the chair from devouring you," Snape smiled as he inspected the tag, thinking to himself that he liked Karkaroff a lot better now that he was trapped in a seat capable of chewing him to bits. "There's nothing else."
"I suppose that makes sense," said Rookwood thoughtfully. "You wouldn't want anyone getting away after trying to use a chair like this without permission."
"Why would anyone besides Karkaroff try to use a... ravenous chair?" asked Snape, looking disdainfully at the chair's victim.
"I had no idea—!" began Karkaroff angrily, but Lucius put a firm hand on his arm.
"As you should know, Severus, if you had ever expressed an interest in our proud wizarding history, a true throne is not merely a status symbol. It is a conduit for the power to command."
"I know that," snapped Severus, "But that's not exactly a throne, is it? He said it's got teeth."
"Tiny ones. In the cushions!" confirmed Karkaroff, wide-eyed.
"Well, that's the point. A ravenous chair is a throne, anointed by the backsides of royalty," explained Rookwood, his initial nervousness seeming to have lessened slightly. "After using the ravenous enchantment, the owner spells it not to eat its master. But anyone else is fair game."
"Indeed. It is fortunate for you, Karkaroff, that Borgin and Burke saw fit to leave the first spell." Malfoy's fists clenched, and he stared at Karkaroff with a glare almost as terrible as any Snape had managed. "Do you know who it was you killed today?"
"Was it... Mr. Burke, I think?"
"That's right. He owns half of this shop. Mr. Burke and Mr. Borgin had an agreement with our Master to supply us with everything we need. Do you think Mr. Borgin will be very pleased when he returns to find his cousin murdered? Do you think he will be glad to offer out Master his services after finding out that the culprit is a servant of the Dark Lord?" Malfoy spoke softly, but as usual his tone commanded respect and even fear.
"It was an accident," Karkaroff whimpered. "I thought no one could block a Great Curse! I didn't think the chair's enchantments would be able to reflect Avada Kedavra!"
"You tried to kill a piece of furniture," said Malfoy, who was looking at Karkaroff as though he were mad. "The killing curse was made for living beings."
"It had teeth; it started eating through my robes. It is alive!"
"Stop squealing," Lucius hissed, and Snape could see that once again his lips were beginning to twitch, although the cause this time was emotion rather than illness or pain.
"They must have written down the spell somewhere, Lucius," said Rookwood consolingly.
"Yes, but if we don't know exactly where it is, it could be days before we find it in this rubbish heap of a shop!"
"What if the three of us spelled it at all at once?" said Severus. "That could break through the enchantments."
"And if it worked, the chair would be destroyed," said Lucius. "That is absolutely out of the question. Everything in this room, Borgin and Burke have procured for our Master. I've been in here often enough to collect the orders."
Snape crossed his arms in thought for a moment. "Then I will shrink his arms to get him loose," he said with finality.
"Well," Lucius said, "you just try it. Almost certainly won't work, but you are very welcome to attempt it while we search for the second spell. Augustus, investigate Mr. Burke's robes thoroughly. I am going to look around the register desk." He stomped through the door and slammed it behind him.
Snape grumbled to himself that Lucius thought he knew everything, and looked very crossly at Karkaroff.
"If you don't mind, I think you should forget about a shrinking spell," Karkaroff warned apprehensively. "I'm sure the cuffs would only get tighter, and they already hurt."
"He's right Severus, I'd wager. You might check the shelves if you haven't any other ideas," said Rookwood pleasantly as he stuffed his hand into the inner robe pockets of the unconcerned Mr. Burke.
With a an evil look designed especially to give the impression that searching for the spell was a waste of his valuable time, he halfheartedly began to scour the wooden bookcases that stood shoulder to shoulder along the right-hand wall. His fingers brushed over packaged animal parts and pushed the lids off of jars and boxes. He shook dusty spellbooks over the floor until yellowed pages drifted out, and he squinted at odd trinkets to call forth their secrets, but nothing seemed to hide a spell. No wonder, thought Severus. Who would hide such an important spell amongst such odds and ends? He would have put it somewhere safe, probably spelled it out of sight, maybe hidden it away in his pocket, if he kept it at all. He looked past Karkaroff, who was humming annoyingly and tapping his feet in time, to look questioningly at Rookwood.
"He's got enchanted pockets, I think," he said with an apologetic smile. "I keep reaching in, and there's more every time. No spell yet, though..."
A few minutes later, Malfoy burst into the room again, this time carrying a leather-bound book in his thin, white hand. From the year written on the spine, Severus determined that it was some sort of date book.
"Have you found it?" demanded Karkaroff, immediately ceasing his foot-tapping.
"Oh, no," said Malfoy. "I have simply discovered that Mr. Borgin will be away until tomorrow evening. They take it in turns to retrieve business orders from clients."
"Then we've got a bit of time," said Rookwood with some relief.
"One day?" said Snape, annoyed. "There's hardly a chance of finding the spell if you don't know where to look! We might cut off his arms and save ourselves having to tell Voldemort."
"Never call the Dark Lord by name!" exclaimed Lucius at the same time that Rookwood burst out, "You can't call him that!" Severus rolled his eyes at both of them.
"Taking off my arms won't help," said Karkaroff quickly. "I don't think this thing is going to let go. Then you'd still have to explain why there are arms already on the armrests."
Severus looked him over. "Why ever would you ever to sit there to begin with?" he asked, disgusted.
"The chair's promises of power and prestige are more than sufficient to sway the desires of an empty-headed fool," Lucius answered for Karkaroff, glaring.
"The shopkeeper told me I could try it out," Karkaroff defended himself. "It didn't look very fearsome, then."
"You shouldn't have kept on pestering him," said Rookwood, whose advice came much too late. "He didn't seem to like all those questions and no buying."
"Mr. Burke has always had a rather... interesting sense of humor," Malfoy said. "I imagine he would've liked the idea of introducing an annoying customer to this device. It seems that no-one here is blameless."
"Then why don't we simply take the throne to the Meeting Room and tell Borgin what his partner tried to do?" asked Rookwood, who obviously thought his suggestion very reasonable. Snape looked to Malfoy for what he knew would be a swift and scathing response.
"Now why would that make any difference to Mr. Borgin? It wouldn't! His cousin is dead, and he will not like it. And if Mr. Borgin is troubled, the Dark Lord will be merciless."
"I think I smell the perfect opportunity to acquaint you with the Unforgivable curses, Karkaroff," Snape broke in with a sneer.
"Nonsense," snapped Lucius. "We will apply ourselves to finding a way out of this. If all goes well, the Dark Lord will have no reason to punish any of us." Snape had his doubts about that.
"I'm sure our 'master' will find some cause to use discipline," he snorted, and Lucius' unmoving face told him that he was probably correct.
"Then you must find that spell," Karkaroff prodded, gripping the armrests. "He wouldn't hurt us, if you could just keep him from finding out about Mr. Burke."
The other three decided to ignore Karkaroff's last statement, but Rookwood stood up in response to the first. "It doesn't look as though we're going to find the spell at all, if we haven't already come across it," he said. "Seems to me we need a new tactic."
"Indeed," said Lucius, almost graciously. "In fact I have an idea. It will give Severus a chance to test out his abilities, as well as preserve our sanity." Snape looked at him sharply. What could he want that would require his attentions? Why were the corners of Lucius' mouth turning so coolly upward?
"An hour-made concealment potion," said Malfoy in such a casual manner that he actually emphasized the words instead of playing them down. Snape tried to look unimpressed, but his heart fluttered at Lucius' words. Such potions were notoriously difficult to make— not because they took a long time, or because they required rare ingredients, but because all the steps had to be completed in a span of mere minutes. The brewing of a concealment potion required a quick mind and a sure hand, and could easily be upset by the slightest hesitation. There was one other way to make a concealment potion, but that was difficult for exactly the opposite reasons. Either way, the results were extremely valuable, and were usually not even created unless for a specific purpose. Hence the world-wide craving for the rare and powerful invisibility cloaks, which lasted much longer and were much more versatile.
"Simple," said Snape loftily. He chose to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach. "I've tried it before." Not that it worked, thought Snape.
"Oh, I'm sure," said Lucius, who obviously believed not a word of it. "But this one had better work."
"And how will it help us if it does?" queried Rookwood. "You don't propose to keep him invisible until Voldemort sends you to get his supplies?"
"In a way, yes," said Lucius, "but I don't intend that he should ingest any potion until just before Borgin arrives. At that time, I will approach Mr. Borgin and tell him that our Master has instructed me to collect the throne. With Karkaroff invisible in the seat, it will be difficult to lift, but at least it should allay any suspicions that you two were responsible for the disappearance of Mr. Burke," he said, addressing Rookwood and Karkaroff.
"We'll need to get rid of the body," said Rookwood with a look towards the corpse.
"Of course," said Lucius smoothly. "I happen to have a penchant for transfiguration." He pointed his wand, said "Corpusarata," and the human form melted into the figure of a dead rat.
"Now, Severus," Lucius siad, turning to face him with a grin that he didn't like. "I believe you have your first task as a Death Eater to complete."
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Eh? What did you think? Did everybody act like themselves ok? Tell me in a review!
Next chapter: Snape's attempt at the hour-made concealment potion. And more...!
