Chapter 46.
/
"Potter! Potter!" Severus zipped from frame to frame, trying to establish eye contact with the Boy Who Lived, to get a chance to make the horrid brat stop so he could talk to him. Harry was not even answering him, trying to get away from walls with portraits hanging on them, and that frightened the potions master even more.
"Don't you dare walk away from me!" he yelled, calling out to Harry as he turned his head away from the portraits, and all but ran towards the end of the corridor. Severus was certain that if he had his broom, he'd fly right out of the window, the glass be damned.
But he wasn't stopping, and Severus was running out of things to say that could stop him, since he had no way to physically block the young man's way. So he played a card he'd never wanted to:
"Is this how you repay your debt to me, Harry Potter! Once a Potter, always an ingrate!"
Harry stopped, his eyes staring hard at the floor, his fist balling at his side.
"You know that's not true, professor," he mumbled. "Please."
"You are helping my son do something idiotic, and you will tell me exactly what it is, so I can stop it, since obviously you are only too glad to let him stupidly run to his own doom!" Severus shouted, looking like the frame of the painting, every painting he'd zipped through, was a torturous prison.
"Sir, I can tell you what it is, but it won't stop him. And it's not true we're letting him- " Harry breathed in and approached the portrait. He was at eye level with the potions master for a change, the way the portrait was hanging, but still they were unable to see eye to eye. Still, he tried. "I promise you, I'm going to lay down my life for him if I have to. And Hermione and Ron will be there, we'll all help."
The potions master sneered.
"And what good could you ever do? Everyone had to help set the stage for you, and still hope you didn't botch things up."
Harry almost flinched at the reproach.
"Sir, your son is far more competent than me."
"What is he going to do. Has he managed to create a blood breaking potion?" Severus glared, looking right into Harry's eyes. Harry forced himself to hold the gaze- it was just as powerful as when he'd been alive.
"Yes," Harry said. "He will drink it to break the blood bond with Osiris, as soon as his godfather reaches Greece." He paused, then he made up his mind to say more. "He didn't brew the potion by himself. Hermione and Ron and I helped him."
Severus seemed to be processing this, making inferences even as Harry was talking. He peered at the Boy Who Lived suspiciously and asked,
"From what I saw, there was a life shielding procedure in place, in the charms during the middle stages of the brew."
Harry nodded.
"I did that. With my strongest Patronus spell, sir. You know I am good at least with that."
The black clad man looked at him almost incredulously.
"You're aware that you can't cheat death yet again, aren't you, Potter?"
Harry smiled thinly.
"Pretty much aware of it, sir." He fidgeted a little. "But you didn't really think I would leave your son alone, did you?"
"Why not? Everyone did, when I had need." Severus hadn't meant to say that, and yet it was uttered. Harry looked down with chagrin.
"I won't ever stop regretting that," he said in a quiet voice. "I hope I can at least do for your son, what you did for me, for my mother. There's… there's no other way I can ever repay you, even a little bit. I will protect your son, sir. I promise."
There was a very long pause- Harry almost turned around to leave, but then Severus spoke again.
"Listen to me very carefully Potter; for if Rasmus is to go ahead with the plan, then it had better not be for naught. Here is what you will do in preparation."
/
Rasmus didn't study that night. He spent it having fun with Finn, playing exploding Snap and eating with abandon at dinner, then teaching Finn how to keep a poker face when playing cards.
Finn looked at him suspiciously.
"How come yer so fun t'night, Snape?" he asked as he reshuffled the cards, while Rasmus scratched Betty between the ears, making her purr.
"Just to shake things up," Rasmus smirked. "Enjoy it while it lasts."
"Oh you bet," the Slytherin smirked, but his eyes kept scrutinizing Rasmus inquisitively.
"Deal the cards, then. I'm not done fleecing you," Rasmus sniggered, plopping Betty in his lap to get back in the game.
"Oh ye've fleeced me already, y'greed," Finn smirked. "What's left to get from me besides my smelly socks?" He dealt cards between them. Rasmus picked his up with a little smarmy grin playing lopsidedly at his lips.
"If you lose this game, then you get to feed and care for Betty until you graduate from Hogwarts."
Finn groaned. "Whaat? Why would you trust me with your cat?"
Just saying those words though, made Finn's blood run cold with a realization he didn't dare verbalize. What was Rasmus really doing?
Snape's son was chuckling knowingly.
"Because you hate responsibility, and this is the way to teach you, derp. Also, free cat maintenance."
"If you win," Finn countered. "If I win, you'll write my essays for the rest of the year."
"But you won't," Rasmus winked, as he put down his first card.
/
"H… help. Help me…"
Erna Frideswide almost didn't hear the hoarse, frightened whisper coming from Lyall's cot in the infirmary, in the stillness of the after-curfew peace.
The sole survivor of the Auror carnage at Stonehenge was finally waking up.
She rushed there, wand in hand, ready to summon stabilizing potions. Lyall wasn't moving much. He couldn't from all the tight bandaging and the charms she'd put in place to ensure his mangled body didn't get even further damage from accidental jingling, but even if she hadn't had that magic in place, his head injuries were so extensive, there would still only be tremors.
"Easy… easy," she said gently, running diagnostic spells on him. "You're among friends. You're at Hogwarts."
"H…ogwa…rts…" he pulled in a rattled sigh of relief but also disbelief- like a person finding himself in a haven that can't have been possibly reached. "Then… did… it.."
"What's your name? Can you tell me your name?" she pressed on gently, her heart pounding hard, hoping he did, hoping he remembered, hoping he could tell them something about the Stonehenge massacre that they could use against Isis, so that it wouldn't happen again.
"L…y…all," the man wheezed laboriously, trying to crack his one surviving eye to look at her. She spelled the soothing rejuvenating potion directly into his stomach, not risking him needing to swallow. He sighed in more relief. "I'm… Lyall… Hodge."
He gasped, upon uttering his own name- because everything came back to him, all the horror, all the reason for the punishment his mutilated, maimed body was sustaining, and how he'd tried to desperately reach Hogwarts, get to help. Help.
Erna smiled. "It's good to have you back, Lyall."
"Pl…ease," Lyall finally opened a bloodshot, tired and in the same time terrified eye. "Get… Head…mistress… need to… talk. Now."
/
It was before the crack of dawn. It was time.
It the absolute quiet of her dorm room, disturbed only by the occasional snore or snarfle, Adeline wore the muggle clothes that Frideswide had picked out for her- Nikos had specified that that's how she would travel from now on, and likely would spend her time in muggle places and contexts in Greece a lot, as was the custom for Greek wizards. She normally wouldn't like that, but it offered solace now, as she buttoned up her jeans and shirt. She was getting ready for a new life, where the name Gaunt wouldn't haunt her. Then she made sure she'd left none of the possessions she wanted with her behind, spelled her trunk shrunk to fit in her pocket, and made her way to the exit of Hogwarts, where she would meet with Professor Galanos, and walk away from it all.
Though she'd walked that route countless times, somehow it felt surreal now. Every portrait was asleep, the lights were dim, the quiet was swathing even the subtle sound of her steps. Already there was distance between her and this place where her name was a stain. Already, her shoulders felt lighter and lighter, as if a weight was shedding off her with every step she took towards that exit, towards this new life that she had bargained for.
And there Nikos was standing, under the great arch- and Rasmus was with him, hugging him tightly in goodbye. They were whispering to each other, and Nikos' hand was rubbing Rasmus' back in support, in encouragement.
As soon as she was close enough, Rasmus stepped back, looking at her with that austere look he could get at times.
Rasmus was wearing his Hogwarts robes, while she sported muggle clothes. He smirked.
"You'll do all right in Greece," he told her, almost wistfully. "You'll like it there."
"Thanks, I guess," she said uncomfortably.
"We'll see each other again, Roc," Nikos said affectionately, and patted Rasmus' shoulder. "Be well in the meantime."
"You too," Rasmus said. "I'll go now… goodbye."
"Goodbye," Nikos conceded, watching his nephew and godson walk away for a while, before looking at Adeline, he smiled thinly at her. "Come, Miss Gaunt. We have quite a trip ahead of us."
Numbly, Adeline joined Nikos and together, they walked out Hogwarts' arched double doors. She was certain that Rasmus was watching them go.
And it felt like it would be forever.
/
And that's it for tonight! Two chapters to go. :) Looks like the pawns are taking their places on the chessboard.
Duj: couldn't agree more.