No Wand Waving
The ebb and flow of humanity merited barely a glance from Severus Snape. Although he missed the feel of his usual robes, his long, voluminous coat combined with the sparring-style wrapped tunic and trousers were close enough that he did not feel unduly discomfited.
Around him, the citizens of Kathmandu went about on their own business. While much of it mattered not at all to the black-haired Wizard, he did not feel any real sense of disgust at the large number of non-magicals around him. Part of that may have been the sheer scale of the city that he had been slowly traversing, although it may also have been the presence of the many temples that were scattered through the bustling metropolis. To the educated eye, many of them showed signs of having been constructed with the aid of magic, albeit via techniques very different from those that were prevalent in the western societies.
After what seemed like an eternity, Snape came to a stop in front of a door that, to the untrained eye, was no different from the thousands of doors that he had passed on his journey. The door, as seen by mortal eyes, was a dark wooden double-door set in a brick wall, yet something about it teased at his senses.
Inhaling deeply, Severus reached out and lightly tapped at the door. As he lowered his hand, the door opened and a robed man waved for him to enter.
"Welcome to Tammaj-An, Severus Snape of Hogwarts. The Ancient One foretold your arrival."
Severus' eyes narrowed slightly, but he simply bowed, then stepped through the doorway. The man closed the door behind him, then set off down the corridor that seemed even more other than the door itself had been.
As he walked down the passageway, Severus stretched all of his senses to their limits, trying to divine just what seemed… not wrong, but different about his surroundings.
"Impressive." A new voice said and Severus' head snapped round to find a bald woman in saffron robes walking beside him. "For a wand-wielder, you are surprisingly perceptive."
"I have spent decades researching, creating, brewing and teaching the art of Potions." Severus replied even as he attempted to analyse his new companion. "Potions Masters come in two varieties. Those who are perceptive, and those who are deceased. The path of potioneering is one which is not forgiving of mistakes... or even simple inattention."
The woman laughed as they entered a room and the man who had been escorting him simply bowed before backing out of the room. Severus glanced round at the simple-yet-intricate wooden panelling of the room, then the low table in the center, a table upon which a teapot and several small bowls rested.
Taking his cue from the robed woman, Severus sat down in a kneeling position, remaining silent as the woman poured two cups of green tea, passing one to him. Waiting for his host to take a sip from her own cup, Severus carefully tasted his own drink and his eyebrows rose slightly.
"An intriguing blend. Although I am no expert in the intricacies of tea, my own interests being… elsewhere, I can detect… three different types of tea leaves?"
"Four, actually." The woman smiled. "Well done, though."
Severus inhaled the rising steam, then took another sip, concentrating on its taste.
"I… can't identify the fourth one." He admitted almost ruefully.
The woman took a second sip of her own drink, then lowered it to the table.
"Severus Snape of Hogwarts, why have you come here?"
"To learn." Severus replied instantly.
"But why?"
Severus paused for a moment, then he tilted his head in query. "Before I answer, may I ask a question of my own?"
"I could say that you just did, but that would not be befitting of my role as your host." The woman smiled. "What is your question?"
"The way that you managed to sneak up on me… something that very few have ever managed. The fact that the man who opened the door knew my name and the way that he deferred to you… I do not wish to sound insulting, but…"
"You are correct." The woman gave him a nod of respect. "I am the Ancient One."
"Then to answer your question, I wish to learn the ways of magic that I do not currently know." Severus admitted. "One of my former students demonstrated an interesting method of magic which did not use an external foci, only magic itself."
"This student of yours, what are his names?"
"Harry Potter." Severus replied, frowning slightly at the unusual phrasing. "Also known as the Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, The Man Who Won and The Last Son Of Atlantis."
"He is not of Atlantis." The Ancient One corrected. "He is from Krypton. He is the child of the stars."
"I… have never heard of this Krypton." Severus admitted. "The Dark Lord was convinced that Potter was from Atlantis…"
"I have visited Atlantis and spoken with its ruler, Namor." The Ancient One paused to take another sip of her tea. "Atlantis resides underneath the waves and is one of the locks which protects Earth from the threat of the beings from Outside."
"…one of the locks?" Severus asked despite himself.
"There are several known locks, each protecting from a different threat." The Ancient One gave a slight shrug. "We Sorcerers of Tammaj-An protect against the more mystical threats whereas Atlantis and its people wage war against the beings from below that seek to rise from the waves and ravage the land. The warriors of K'un L'un guard against the Fallen Dragons, beings that exist as manifestations of the very concepts of conflict. The Black Panthers of Wakanda patrol the borders of the Spirit Plains, using the skills they honed in life to hold back the Vengeful Dead. The Sleepwalkers stalk the Entities Of Destruction in the Devachanic Realm, which many refer to as the Mindscape, while the Ghost Riders track down and dispatch those that manage to infiltrate the Earth from the Infernal Realms. Each lock is different, yet all are needed to hold back the forces inimical to life here on Earth."
During her recitation, Severus had felt his already-sallow face pale at the almost off-hand listing of the threats.
"How in Merlin's name has humanity survived this long?" He finally managed to ask and the Ancient One laughed.
"There are many threats, but they are opposed to each other on a level that is almost impossible for we mortals to understand. Most of the damage done before they were driven off was unintentional, a mere byproduct of the constant warfare between them. Only now that they have been seperated from each other do they concentrate upon Earth itself."
"That… is quite a bit to take in." Severus admitted.
"You were far more ready for it than our other new apprentice." The Ancient One poured some more tea into her cup. "He has incredible potential, yet there is still so much attachment to the material about him… He will make a great leader some day."
.
.
The sight of a small portal opening by the bookshelves caused Severus to pause in his tracks, then a hand reached through it, extracting a book almost silently. The slight feel of the closing portal alerted the Master overseeing the library to the book-theft and Severus' lips twitched slightly as recognized the hands as belonging to the American who had managed to join the Monastery.
Although the man's chutzpah amused Severus, his personality was just enough like the long-deceased James Potter that Severus had found himself unable to actually like the man. He could respect his tenacity, his drive and his refusal to let any obstacle delay him for long, but he would never actually like the man.
A second portal briefly opened and the Master swore as another of his beloved tomes vanished. Biting back an unexpected chuckle, Severus hurried onward to his appointment with the Medicine makers of Tammaj-an, each a Potions-Master in all but official certification and willing to help him with some of his own projects in exchange for whichever of the recipes that he had perfected he was willing to teach them in return.
A loud slamming of hands on a desk behind him marked the Master's discovery that a third tome had been borrowed.
.
.
"I came across a reference in a book yesterday." Snape noted as the Ancient One sat down on the bench beside him. "Something called the Mind Barrier Reef?"
"Ah, yes. It is where the minds of latent telepaths grow together in their sleep." The Ancient One nodded. "According to one who has seen it, it is located within Ideaspace."
"The more I learn, the more questions I have." Severus half-grumbled.
"As it should be."
"You sound a lot like Dumbledore used to." Severus sighed, earning a raised eyebrow and slight smile.
"Albus Dumbledore was a very wise man. Flawed, like most great men are, but aware of his flaws and always trying to overcome them. Had he chosen to, he could very easily have ruled all of Britain, perhaps even Europe and been beloved for doing so, but he knew the temptations of power and the price that it exacts on those who seek it."
"You sound like you knew him." Severus carefully prompted.
"He was young, back when we met. Young, almost carefree. It was before he met his greatest love and greatest enemy, Grindlewald. Before his sister was damaged by those who saw the world not as for all, but only for themselves. He shone so brightly back then. I often wonder what would have been had I brought him here and taught him. He could have been a truly great Sorcerer Supreme… perhaps the greatest in all history."
"I… I admit that I am having a great deal of trouble picturing him as a young man."
The Ancient One's laugh was almost musical.
.
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The shock-wave through the magical field was enough to pull Severus away from his haggling and had he not been in a Diagon Alley, his Apparition from where he was standing to the front door of the London Sanctum Sanctorum would have probably landed him in significant legal difficulties with the Ministry of Magic. Reaching the front door, he paused for just long enough to ensure his wand was ready for spell-casting (despite the training, he was nowhere near good enough with wandless magic to hold his own against those who had achieved Mastery and anything that could threaten them required nothing less than his very best), he pushed the door open and peered through the widening gap.
Even before the door had finished opening, he was through it and casting as many healing spells as he could on the half-dozen practitioners lying wounded on the floor.
The four corpses he ignored for the time being. The living deserved his attention, the dead could wait.
While casting healing spells and pulling potion vials out of his belt-pouches in order to force the injured to drink, he barely noticed others appearing, some through the doors and others through the golden portals of the Sling Rings, each one taking in the situation at a glance before moving to give aid. Finally, there was no more to do and Severus almost flinched as a hand came to rest on his shoulder.
"Thank you."
Severus nodded wearily at the thanks that the Ancient One had given. "What happened?"
"Master Kaecilius." The Ancient One sighed, sadness infusing her voice. "He has destroyed part of the Threefold Shield that protects against incursions from the Dark Dimension."
Severus looked round at the damaged room. "Where will he go next?"
"Either Hong Kong or New York." The Ancient One finally replied. Severus nodded, then rose from his knees, looking down at the woman he had been treating. "You have saved several lives."
"And I can save more." Severus declared. "I need to get to the Potions lab that I set up so that I can…"
Severus stopped, looking at the item that had just been placed in his hand.
"You know how to use this. Your actions have shown that, although you are not a Master of Tammaj-An, you have proven yourself worthy of carrying a Sling Ring. Use it wisely."
Severus returned his wand to his holster, then donned the ring, raising his other hand as he pictured his laboratory back in his house. At his command, the portal opened and he spared enough time to nod at the Ancient One before striding through, his mind already sorting through the potions stored in his stasis cupboards and which ones would be most useful.
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Snape stepped through the Portal and pushed his way into the doctors struggling to work on the broken form of the Ancient One. Taking in the situation at a glance, he pulled out a small vial, then tapped it with his wand before moving to stand against the wall.
"…we've lost her." A voice called and Severus stepped forwards.
"Then I will see to the required rites. She was my teacher, helping me learn what I needed to learn. She… will be missed."
Several of the medical staff looked sympathetic, although he could see Doctor Strange giving him odd looks. Once everyone else had left, Snape opened a Portal to a place that was very familiar to him and motioned for Strange to push the stretcher through.
"Poppy!" He called as he saw the surprised Medi-witch staring at the Portal. "Call for backup, I have someone who needs healing."
Strange gave him a confused look and Severus held up the empty vial whose contents he had spelled into the Ancient One's stomach.
"Draught of Living Death. It will buy several hours for Poppy and I, as well as her colleagues to do one of her regular miracles, but it will take a long time for the Ancient One to recover. Go, deal with the traitor."
Strange nodded, then vanished through a Portal.
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.
A slight tingling from the alert wards he had set told Snape that the Ancient One was waking up. Placing the last of the potion into the final vial, Snape donned the Sling Ring and used it to step into the Infirmary.
"Severus, you stop doing that!" Poppy scolded half-heartedly, but Severus simply stepped past her and looked at the thin woman on the bed, a woman whose eyes were starting to twitch as her consciousness rose back into the realms of the awakened.
Finally, her eyes opened and she looked round before her gaze came to rest on Snape.
"Welcome back, Ancient One." The normally-dour man said with a slight smile.
"…how … long?"
"Several weeks. The damage from the fall was quite intensive and even with all we could do, you will not return to the level of health you once had."
The Ancient One nodded slowly. "It may be for the best… who has stepped in to my place?"
"Stephen Strange." Severus rolled his eyes, then frowned. "And the one called Mordo has decided to leave your Order… indications are that he has decided that there are too many magic users. I hate to consider what he'll do if he discovers the Wizarding World exists."
"What is done is done." The Ancient One stated tiredly. "The connection I used to sustain myself while I searched for my replacement has been severed. While I am not at risk of dying soon, I doubt that I have more than a few years left and should I return to Tammaj-An, some of those who even now misdoubt Strange's abilities will call for me to step back up again despite my weakened state."
Severus gave a small smirk. "I believe that I can arrange matters. I know someone who will happily welcome you into his household."
A raised eyebrow was his only response.
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Severus let the portal close behind him as he returned to his laboratory, leaving Frank and Alice eagerly conversing with their new houseguest who had already endeared herself to Lord Longbottom by explaining the mistakes he was making in regard to his attempts to copy the style of Tammaj-An. As the portal finished dispersing, he flicked a finger, sending an Etherial Whip strand out to snag one of his stirring-sticks.
He smiled slightly as he carefully removed the Sling Ring he had been gifted and placed it in the belt-pouch that he had reserved for it. While he was no true Sorcerer, he was only too happy to admit that the Sling Ring was a far superior means of transportation than Apparition, Portkeys or the Floo system.
He frowned briefly in thought. Although Lord Potter (or those who worked for him) would be able to duplicate the magic of the ring, he was curious to see what Lord Malfy would do once he demonstrated the Portal to him.
After all, many magical inventions came from finding different ways to accomplish things in similar manners to the original demonstration.
Severus nodded. Evans Enterprises and Blackwolf Industries currently held a near-monopoly on the many models of Switching Rooms, it would be fascinating to watch White Wing Artificers enter the transportation market.