Hope was the first person to catch my references to Forever Knight. Ten points to Slytherin!
Chapter Nineteen:
There was a soft tap on his door, he put down the papers that he had been reading through, "Enter," he called.
The dark mahogany door was edged open and the slim figure of his Potion Master slipped into the cold room.
"Sir, you wanted to speak with me." Severa turned the statement into a question.
With a slight nod he indicated that she should sit opposite him in front of the fire. "For some days now it has been rumored that you would be leaving us."
He offered tea (with vodka.) She took the proffered cup, and waited for him to continue. In her opinion Albus Dumbledore was not the only Headmaster to be underestimated on a regular basis. The man before her had been Headmaster of Durmstrang for many decades and was still an unknown variable to most. But then, Grigori Rasputin had always been a hard man to pin down, and had proved harder to kill.
He could feel her trying to read him, and took a few sips of tea to give her time. Grigori had been surprised to say the least when he had first felt that gentle probing touch against his mind. No one had ever dared to challenge him on his own territory. 'No one except Severa.' She was not psychic as he first thought. She was very gifted, frighteningly so, and that is what had drawn him to her. The fact that she was not the least bit interested in a physical relationship only made her more intriguing to him.
He initiated eye contact, "Sleep," he commanded softly, hypnotically. Moody's eyelids drooped. Aided in part by the alcohol, he lulled her into unconsciousness. As he was refreshing his tea he felt the other fully enter the room. Balancing his cup on the armrest of his chair he smiled sadly, "We have been friends for many years, I will miss you." He stared into glowing blue eyes.
From a low table beside his chair he lifted into view a goblet of wine. He held it out to her, noticing not for the first time that except for the eyes, she really was a double for his sleeping Potion Master. Holding the glass by the stem Grigori saw her hesitate to take it, with a half smirk he let it slip through his fingers until he held only the rim.
"I will miss you as well," she took the glass and drank.
"Why must you both leave?" he sighed.
A tiny, bitter, chuckle found its way past her control, "I go where she goes, you understand that better than even I." She spoke into her goblet and did not even pretend to attempt to meet his gaze.
"One last game of chess?" he asked knowing she would say yes.
She followed him with her eyes as he moved across the room to get the board and pieces, "I do not leave until Saturday."
He hid a smile, "Then there will be time tomorrow night for another last game."
Rasputin marveled at the silence with which the creature moved over the stone tiles of his floor. Not even her cloak swished, 'Alastor, my old friend. I know that a Sidhe will bond to an adopted child every bit as strongly as he will to one of their own loins, and I know the same is true of Humans, but… how could you?'
"Being half Sidhe you should be able to keep your thoughts further from the surface than that," she murmured, taking the other seat at the chess table.
"Sadly I am also half human. " He gave her his best innocent look and held out his fists, one pawn of either color for her to choose. "What did you see?"
"I saw that you regret. I do not know what, but you feel it bitterly. Being half human means you are allowed to falter sometimes. It also means that you will inevitably die." she answered him in an order that pleased her. An annoying idiosyncrasy that he had taken a long time to get used to. She placed her own value on things and related to them as such.
Flaming blue eyes fixed on the Headmaster's right fist and she gave a slight nod. He rotated his wrists and revealed that she had chosen black (her favorite.) They set up their pieces and he made the opening move.
"Check," she slid the bishop down its line, "And…" She stopped two spaces over from his trapped king, "Mate." She flicked the defeated king off the playing field with her piece.
It was something he had done to gloat after beating her the first time they had played. Now she played to return the dig.
He summoned the fallen piece back to him and glanced at the clock, "It is nearly midnight." Regret weighted his words.
"I should go now," she put down the bishop. "She will be furious if she wakes and finds…"
The eerie glow faded and as she retreated he moved to the fire. "I think maybe you should sleep in your own quarters Moody," he told the waking Professor.
She blinked for a moment then rose, "I apologize sir, I must have been more tired than I thought. Good night sir." She departed.
Grigori Yefimovitch Rasputin was left alone to ponder the nature of human existence and how a man could send his own daughter to a place like Durmstrang, to keep her safe.
"Severus!" Albus cheerfully allowed the students to hurry past him and watched as they rushed up the stairs in a mad dash for freedom.
"Yes, sir?"
"Ah, glad I caught you in time. You're not even dressed yet." The smile was a little too bright.
"Dressed? But I-"
Albus began shooing him down the hall toward Snape's rooms, "I think we have time before class starts."
"But- er- I- Dinner!" He tried to object but the hands waving at him were rather distracting, so he moved on down the hall.
"Oh, come now class will be over with plenty of time for dinner," the old man reassured. "Not that you ever eat all that much."
His good eye went wide as they entered Snape's private quarters, "Class?!"
"I have announced it three times already since the start of fall term, tonight is the first night that one of our two new classes will be starting. Now get out of that and into your Skinlette." Dumbledore was trying his best to push him along, and keep him off balance. "Not that they are new precisely, we are more or less reinstating them after having dropped them for far too long."
Struggling to get out of his clothes and follow what Albus was saying, while continuing to protest he looked up from pulling at his boot, "You haven't brought back that hygiene class have you? I don't think I can stand them going about making informed comments on my hair again. Not after what I went through last time."
Albus chuckled at the memory, "Come, come it wasn't so bad as all that."
"Yah," he muttered pulling off the other boot, "You try having your oil glands tampered with by a Third-year, and we'll talk."
"At least your hair was clean for a week."
"Stupid bloody charms."
"Sorry I didn't catch that last bit," Albus called from the other side of the room where he was pointedly studying a set of wall chains. "What does he want with a thing like this?" he asked over his shoulder.
"It was supposed to be used as an acne-reducer-charm," he reminded the Headmaster. "You want me to get into my Skinlette? Do you want me to get the rest of it too?" The blue eyed Snape asked as he entered the real Snape's bedchamber.
"Yes, it would be most helpful if you would."
Several minutes later the imposter reemerged, "Well?" he slowly pivoted for a thorough inspection. "Do I get to know what this is all about, now?"
"It still fits," Albus commented dryly. 'Dear god it still fits! Maybe Alastor was wrong about bringing him out like this. He needs the chance to stretch himself but, at what cost?'
"Class?"
"Yes," snapping back to the here and now Albus led the way out of the dungeons. "The Dueling Club received such wonderful reviews-" there was a loud snort of disagreement and Albus continued, "That I have decided to bring it back. With more of a mind to defending ones self in the case of sudden attack." Sudden Death Eater attack was the unspoken though understood meaning behind his words.
He grabbed the Headmaster's robe and forced him to stop, "Lockheart isn't back is he?" The distress in his voice would have been funny had his eye not flared with the remembrance of Snape's hatred for the man.
"No, Remus will be heading the class and you and… another, will be assisting him." They stopped at the double-doors to the room that had been allocated for the new Dueling Class, "Now, I think the students have all arrived. I'll just go in and find a seat."
--'---,---------------
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Aidan (the newest member of their little club) eagerly signed up for the new Magical Defense class. After the Headmaster had explained to everyone that it was a revision of the failed Dueling club, and would be headed by Professor Lupin.
They were four of the first students to arrive and chose their seats with care, as far from Draco and his entourage as possible.
"Man I can't wait to see old Mad-eye kick Snape's butt," Ron excitedly whispered to Harry and Aidan being careful to not be overheard by Hermione.
"I heard that Ron," she called from the other side of Harry. "I would be very surprised if Professor Snape would agree to this if he even thought there were the slightest chance of his being beaten."
Aidan nodded, "Yah, he's like, too scary to have someone attack him and then loose to them."
"Try not to let them get you down Ron," Harry patted his shoulder with a grin, "If anyone can take Snape I would put my galleons on Professor Moody, hands down."
The room was set up much as it had been for the Dueling Club. Rows of chairs positioned around a square 'Dueling Mat' which had been warded. The wards were designed to prevent the charms and hexes that would be used from leaving the designated dueling area.
Once everyone had taken a seat Remus stepped to the center of the dueling mat, "Some of you may have participated in the Dueling Club that was offered several years ago. The focus of that class was the observation and continuation of a time honoured piece of our cultural heritage." He looked at several of the students, the Slytherins in particular, to make sure that they were listening. "The purpose of this class is to teach you all some basic self defense. With your wand, and with out." 'That got their attention,' he thought with satisfaction, 'Well at least I don't have to worry about them falling asleep now.'
"Unframed or wandless magic is the most basic and most powerful form of magic." Remus began the lesson, "As young children you each displayed some sort of magical behavior. You did not have access to a wand yet things happened, a cookie flew out of the jar and into your fist. Or the shirt you hated as blue turned red. These are examples of Unframed magic."
"I'm here to learn to defend myself from sudden attack by deserts and bad taste in fashion?" Draco mocked, just loud enough to be heard.
"You may be surprised, Mister Malfoy." Remus returned, "Magic that requires the use of a wand is called Framed Magic. It has limitations and rules that must be learned. Tonight Professors Moody and Snape are going to demonstrate the effectiveness of Unframed magic when defending ones self against sudden attack."
As he introduced Alastor Moody, retired Auror, Remus noticed the Headmaster slipping in and taking a seat by the door. He raised an inquiring brow and Albus gave him a slight nod in return.
"Professor Alastor Moody is a former Auror and was a great hero during the first war with He-who-must-not-be-named," Remus wished he could bite his tongue off for the slip but rushed on in hopes of covering it up instead. "He has a vast knowledge of spells used in the Dark Arts and we are very fortunate that he has volunteered to assist us." He bowed his head to the Wizard on his right.
The Headmaster had not bade him enter so he listened at the door and waited for some kind of cue that he should make his appearance. Hearing that Alastor Moody was the other that Dumbledore had been referring to, was not doing good things to his stomach.
"Please note that Professor Moody is wearing traditional Wizard's Combat Armour." Remus began pointing out the various protective features of the unusual costume, "I would like especially to draw your attention to the Adamantite Armour on his back, forearms, and shins," he pointed to the glossy tan-ish olive coloured plates as he spoke. "Adamantite of course has the property of deflecting spells, it is however enormously expensive and very few full suits of armour were made from it."
To Harry the close fitting Dueling Robe that Moody wore under his armour looked even more like woman's dress than the regular robes that every Wizard wore. He couldn't stop grinning and when Ron quietly asked what was so funny he almost lost it. He looked to Hermione for help but she was covering her mouth and could only shake her head.
"Professor Moody will be demonstrating various defensive maneuvers that may be employed with the aid of a wand in the cause of self-defense. Demonstrating the uses of unframed magic will be Professor Sna-"
The door was flung open and in marched the Potion Master. He stepped onto the dueling pad and took his place at Remus' left. There was a flicker of hesitation, then he unfastened his robe in one swift motion and flung it onto an empty chair in the front.
One eye covered and one eye closed he waited for the panic to pass.