Hello hello!
I have a question for you. We are going through the second part of this story. In the third part (this could be a sequel or just more chapters on this one, I'll see) there will be several things Rasmus or Nikos or some other people will be referring to that are distinctly cultural. Do you want me to post samples of dances or pictures and the like so you can see with your own eyes what they are referring to, or would you find that tiring, to find links at the bottom of the chapters all the time?
While you are considering it, Onwards! Chapter 34.
***
Rasmus took the piece of chocolate but didn't actually eat it, waiting for Nikos' words not unlike someone who is expecting the verdict of right punishment or atonement. Nikos sighed, sitting back next to him in the student desk.
"You and me, we've already been through our share of stuff, haven't we, bud?" he began, speaking softly in Greek. Rasmus managed a small lopsided ghost of a smile as he nodded once, looking at the chocolate piece in his hands.
"Yeah. And you've always come through for me," he said softly. "More than mum or him."
"And so have you," Nikos replied, making a mental note not to leave the way Rasmus referred to his parents undiscussed. "And you did so back in the infirmary, as well."
"No," Rasmus said, a vicious edge of self-loathing in his voice. "No, I didn't. I thought everything over very well, godfather. I led Osiris to you. He was seeking me out. If I had gone to hide like father had said, it wouldn't have happened. I don't know about Professor Bai, but for sure Madame Pomfrey would still be alive. It's my fault she's dead. And so would have been the case for Potter and Weasley and Granger- and you too, if you hadn't woken up somehow."
Nikos bit his lip, direly wishing for Aello. She was so much better than him at words! Whatever you do, don't lie to make him feel better. It will only be much worse in the long run. He sighed.
"Eat that," he muttered. "And please, hear me out before you go on any further."
Rasmus put the chocolate in his mouth, blinking a couple of times more than he should, cursing that he felt the horrible burning dampness threaten to break through his eyelashes again. Listen to what Nikos is saying, Rasmus admonished himself harshly.
"You are very brave, to dare look at your actions the way you do, Rasmus- but like Severus, and like me sometimes, you tend to seek guilt and blame that is not yours, or is not completely yours. And you are not as keen to see your victories. So I will do it for you, like your mother would do it for both of us before," Nikos smiled softly and stroked Rasmus' hair with one fleeting gesture of affection before continuing. "It is possible that the fact you didn't go to hide drew Osiris to you faster- you let him have easier access to you. However-" he rushed to say as his godson's shoulders slumped in defeat, "he was drawn to you anyway, and there was no way he wouldn't find you, even if he had to blast his way to you through every wall in his castle. Who can say that if Osiris did cause that sort of rucus, he wouldn't blast through student dormitories and kill kids in his way, or draw more professors to face him and kill them, too?"
Rasmus raised his eyes at Nikos, who nodded encouragingly.
"I know it is harsh, but maybe the fact that you came to where I was, ensured the lowest body count possible, considering what Osiris is, and that he had Isis with him."
Rasmus swallowed, frowning to himself as he mulled that over in his head. Nikos didn't give him the time to reply and continued on, breaking off another chocolate piece from the slab.
"Osiris also would want to seek revenge on me and kill me, for destroying his initial blood reservoir when I sought them out through Augury. At the state I was, I wouldn't stand a chance against him. Until I woke, you defended me against one of the strongest wizards there are out there, Rasmus. You saved my life back there."
Rasmus chuckled a little shakily, sadness still reverberating in it.
"You make it sound like I was something great," he said. "I wasn't. He got my blood, and there was nothing I could do about it."
"He used Knot Spells, bud," Nikos said quietly. "That's some pretty potent magic to break. Some of them are not breakable at all. And you are here, breathing and talking to me- so he didn't get all he would have liked."
"Enough to grant him the wizarding blood allurement he needed to Anchor himself to the living once more," Rasmus shook his head.
Nikos eyed Rasmus curiously.
"Blood Allurement? Where did you hear that term?"
"I studied," Rasmus sat up a little more energetically and reached into his book bag. "I wanted to make up for my mess, and I think I found the way-"
"Rasmus Octavian."
Rasmus stopped and blinked up a little in surprise. It was very rare that anyone called him by both his names. He met Nikos' amber eyes and this time kept the lock of stares.
"The only way for you to make a mess about this, is to continue thinking you messed up. Or do you think I don't know why you came to the infirmary? It is not a mess-up to want to protect those you love. And of that you did a job full aurors would envy. And this is something that I am telling you- and you know how I don't mince meat when it comes to assessing competence."
Rasmus sighed and ran his hand through his hair, uncomfortable at the praise and overwhelmed with every other emotion in his heart.
"It's just… I guess… I wish nobody had died."
"Everyone does- but there was nothing more you could have done than what you did. Considering the circumstances, you did the best anyone would do."
"Mmmh," Rasmus shrugged one shoulder in a non-committal gesture.
"I am inclined to agree; the Potter boy would have gone rushing head on to duel Osiris, and gotten himself into an early grave- if there had been enough of him left for a grave, of course," came Severus' voice from the side wall, in a narrow portrait frame that was currently empty.
Rasmus snorted.
"Oh, now you'll seek me out. You have been avoiding me like the plague all this week!"
"And I must say, Severus, that your Greek has improved drastically," Nikos grinned.
"My Greek has always been fluent," Snape snorted. "As well as Latin and Sanskrit and French."
"Your syntax had been the fodder for jokes to last us for the whole 80s decade," Nikos smirked.
"Shut it, Galanos," snarled Severus, shaking his fist at the auguror. "I am here to talk to my son. Rasmus- I have not been avoiding you. I thought you were appreciating the space I was giving you."
Rasmus rolled his eyes.
"Well, I did appreciate it- lots and lots, feeling you … well, you probably are mad I didn't go to hide with the house elf like you wanted me to."
Severus arched an eyebrow.
"It is true that I am not pleased," he began, then paused and continued in English, "but I suppose that I am not displeased, either. I would be displeased if you had rushed off to fight instead of salvage."
Rasmus didn't reply, and sighed. Nikos smiled to himself and offered Rasmus another piece, which the youth took and ate much more easily than before.
"Thank you," Rasmus said, but then also side glanced at Snape's portrait.
"Carry on," Severus said, and left swiftly leaving the portrait empty- apparently its original inhabitant was busy elsewhere, too.
Nikos got up and gestured for Rasmus to follow suit.
"Let's have you tell me, then, what it is you studied to know about Blood Allurement."
"Actually I have Charms class soon," Rasmus said with a bit of chagrin. "But here is everything, I made sort of a set of notes on what I found." He pushed his muggle notebook in Nikos' hands. "Uh, read it and tell me what you think, okay?"
"All right," Nikos nodded. "I'll study it myself, and we'll talk about this tomorrow, after our class together."
He watched as his godson rushed off ahead with a pensive look.
Aello, did I manage to convince him he's done well even a little bit?
Nikos wasn't at all certain.
***
Erna Frideswide cussed under her breath as she aggressively crossed out the latest name in the list for school nurses. She had been so used to Poppy and her excellence, that she was simply appalled at what passed for adequate education for school medics these days. She would tell Minerva to simply amend the list by asking for a full healer, just to get some interesting applications.
However, it meant she still was the one manning the infirmary while also keeping her class workload. It was not easy, even though she did work in shifts interchanging with Galanos for the time being. Kids would pop up every moment of the hour with serious or not so serious complaints- and some with simply annoying prankster item effects on them. It had been amusing for the first day or so, but afterwards, when she couldn't just curl up in front of her fireplace with a nice bloody mary and some soft music, she felt her patience thinning critically. I signed up to teach exactly because I didn't want to be in emergency ward!
She huffed and decided she'd have that bloody mary anyway when the time came, even if it had to be in the infirmary itself, no matter how sacrilegious Poppy would have found it. But her thoughts dispersed when she entered the large room and saw the tall red-haired young man standing in front of the mirror, back to her.
She rushed forward anxiously.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
Ron winced from trying to move his wounded arm and raising it higher than the level of his heart. As Frideswide cried out, so did he at the white hot pain, letting out a yell of pain and frustration, knees buckling under it. Erna just managed to catch him and help him to a bed.
Quickly she cast a numbing charm, and Ron got his breath back- but as he exhaled, he also began to sob.
"Bloody hell," he whispered in frustration as he sat helplessly for Frideswide to tend to him. "Bloody hell!"
Normally, Erna wasn't one to do pep talks, but her Healer's instinct told her it would be a mistake not to try a bit with Weasley.
"What were you thinking, Mr. Weasley? You are not 12 years old, are you? Your arm isn't ready for full mobility yet."
"And it never will be," Ron groused, violently wiping his eyes with the back of his good hand. "I am a bloody cripple when Hermione and Harry will need me!"
"Nonesense," Frideswide said brusquely as she was kneading Ron's shoulder. "Your arm will mend if you don't go out of your way to injure it further."
"No, it won't," Ron sighed, wincing a little as the numbing charm began to fade. "It's been so many days and I still can't do anything with it."
Erna tutted as she pressed the tip of her wand against Ron's shoulder joint and muttered the appropriate charm.
"My, how it is obvious you are wizarding. Muggle wounded wait for months and months or even years to get their full recovery. You're sniffling because you may need to wait for a month at most."
"What?" Ron frowned hopefully.
Erna sighed deeply and shook her head, charming the elastic bandages under the boy's shirt and around his arm to tighten again appropriately before slipping the sling on again.
"Mr. Weasley," she said as she stood back and pushed up her glasses, "Your shoulderblade was nearly blown out of your back along with a good part of muscle. Don't you think that your body is entitled to some slack to grow you some more for that nice shoulderblade Professor Galanos fixed back in place after making it good as new?"
Ron swallowed and looked to the side.
"Guess so…"
"Good," she nodded decidedly and called Ron's potion to her. "Drink this, and don't try to push yourself again until I tell you it is ok to do so."
Ron got up numbly after obeying, slowly going towards the exit while Erna watched. Tell him something more, her self pushed frantically, and she raced for something, anything:
"Mr. Weasley!"
Ron stopped and turned. Erna smiled thinly.
"No matter what happens, your other arm is strong, healthy and working."
Ron looked at her incredulously, as if she had grown two heads.
"Uh… thank you, I guess, professor."
Frideswide winced internally and mentally kicked herself. Nice, Erna, nice. Really smooth!
***
And that's that!
Tomorrow we get to see what is going to be done with the Death Eaters and Isis/Osiris, with finding the Key of Wind and everything that will start us on the way to resolution ;)
Zoe Bright: I am so happy you liked the chapter! Yes, I did mean *the* Round Table. Severus probably shoved Galahad into Lancelot to make room for himself in that crowded painting XD And yes, when pushed or troubled, Rasmus does use Snape defense to keep aggressors at bay. He finds it works best. But yes, it is rather sad that he feels he needs to make up to be able to talk. Aello and her personality will come through throughout the story, but if you are talking about flashbacks, it's questionable. But of course, we don't know what lies in store until the very end… ;)
Iloveshimmer: Thanks for the review! And yes, Rasmus is a Snape, just as he is a Galanos ;)
Sindie: Thanks! Like I said, as we go on deeper in the story, we will be seeing him more and more, especially as the stakes go higher.
Till tomorrow! Don't forget to tell me what you'd answer to my question in the beginning.