Chapter Eight
On Thursday night, at the dinner table, she tells her new friends she'll be gone for the next two days. As she expected, Mrs Weasley immediately asks her whether it's truly necessary.
"You know how dangerous it is out there, these days," the concerned woman pleads.
"I do know, Mrs Weasley, but yes, it is necessary. I'll be back before you know it."
This time, probably still thinking about her outburst on Wednesday, no one asks where she's going.
"When do you leave?" Hermione asks.
"Tomorrow morning around six," she replies, "And I'll return Saturday evening, normally speaking."
Harry is oddly quiet, as usual, and Ronald no longer bothers to comment – it's an improvement from the constant wariness and occasional insults, she supposes.
Saturday morning Mrs Weasley has apparently gotten up early, "So I'm sure you eat your breakfast before leaving!"
"That's really nice, Mrs Weasley, but-"
"No 'but's! You will eat your breakfast and that's that!" The woman reacts while bustling around the kitchen. She has prepared their usual English breakfast, along with some coffee and tea. "Besides," she continues, "I'll just put it under a stasis charm for the others when they get up in a few hours."
Sasha commences her meal, though she's not really hungry, so as to not disappoint the kind mother.
"Oh, Severus," Molly suddenly exclaims, "Come, sit down, have some tea, at least."
Sasha looks up and smiles to the dark man, "Good morning," she greets, "I'll be ready in a few."
He nods and sits down at the other side of the table, in front of her, "I'll have some tea then, Molly. Thank you."
He seems preoccupied with something, Sasha notices, she decides she'll ask him later, when they're alone.
They leave a worried-looking Mrs Weasley at the door of number twelve and once again go to the small park. As they are walking she finally asks, "What has got you looking so preoccupied?"
"Nothing keeps me preoccupied," he curtly answers.
She persists anyway, "I'm not too sure about that."
He glances her with his trademark raised eyebrow, "If you must know, I'm wondering why it is taking the Dark Lord so long to summon us."
"I was wondering about that too," she agrees, "But let's not worry about it for now and head to Saint-Pancreas, shall we?"
He nods and extends his arm.
Their first trip is to Avignon, in France. They don't have any luggage, so they are out of the railway station quickly, as they can easily slip between the masses. As they walk, Sasha tells him, "The house we are going to is in walking distance, so there's no need to apparate this time."
He simply nods.
The streets of the city are relatively empty, because of the cold weather. Severus follows her to a villa in the historic centre of the town. It's a white villa, with shutters as well as the door painted in a light blue. A small gate guards the property, along with strong wards, Severus feels, as they enter its grounds.
The interior is a combination of modern and classic decoration. White stone stairs without railing lead up to the second floor.
"Ah, feels nice to be home," she smiles.
"It's a nice house," he nods.
"So, you want to drink something?" she asks. They already ate in the train, and it's now about three in the afternoon.
"You have anything fresh here after not having come for a while?" the man wonders, looking around and examining her possessions. On the fireplace mantle a few small animals carved from stone are standing. He watches closely as they come to life and start to play with and run around each other. He smirks as they seem to try and attract him closer.
"I do, I use a kind of conserving spell, a bit of like your stasis charm."
"I'd like a glass of water, please."
She smiles, shaking her head, amused, wondering why he asked about conservation of fresh things if he planned on just asking for water.
After finishing their drinks, she goes around the house to check on her wards and reinforce them. Once she's finished, they soon find a secluded spot and apparate to Nice, in a spot which she remembers from earlier visits is very calm, hidden and empty. From there they walk to the airport to catch their flight at half pas four.
In Saint-Petersburg they quickly leave the airport and find a secluded spot to apparate – which isn't too hard, considering it's ten o'clock at night and therefore dark.
Severus walks next to her as they cross the dark, snow-covered street to a wooden front door. The door is in the inner corner of three buildings arranged as a letter 'U'. It leads to a hall, painted in an odd hue of green, which contains a grand staircase with white pillars at the top of it.
Sasha's apartment consists of nine rooms in total and is located on the fourth floor. All of the rooms are decorated in traditional, Russian style, with dark wooden furniture combined with other earthy tints and white, intricately decorated doorposts.
She observes him as he watches her rooms, "Yes, I know it's a bit much, but I rather like it."
"I didn't say anything. I think this apartment is beautiful," he replies honestly.
"Thank you," she smiles.
"So tell me," he then asks, "Where are we going after you have secured this property?"
"Today? Nowhere," he raises his eyebrow and she explains, "We are staying here, tonight, as it's quite late. Tomorrow at one in the afternoon we'll take another airplane to Finland."
"Tomorrow at one," he repeats, "isn't there a flight in the morning?"
"No, unfortunately there aren't any. On the brighter side, we'll be able to sleep a bit longer than usual, which I'm sure we'll need after all of these travels. Besides, I'm knackered after performing this many wards."
"That doesn't surprise me," he comments, "I felt how strong they were."
"Why, thank you. Is that a compliment?" she smiles, knowing he doesn't give those out freely.
"Perhaps," he replies smirking playfully.
"There are two bedrooms, and I think I know which one you'll prefer."
"Is that so?"
"Well, considering one is in a subdued earthy colour scheme and the other has bright red walls…" she explains, "here's the door to the room with the simpler colour scheme," she shows him "I'm going to bed. I'm dead-tired. Good night, Severus. Oh, and there's a bathroom to your right when exiting your room, right here," she indicates the door, "Take whatever you need from the cupboards; it's the guest bathroom."
He nods in understanding, "Thank you. Good night, Ms Louhi."
As she had suspected, she sleeps late. It's past nine when she opens her eyes. Smelling the delicious odour of eggs and bacon, she quickly washes and dresses and heads to her kitchen. Severus is piling food on two plates as she enters.
"Good morning."
The man looks up "Morning. Slept well?"
"Yes, I feel much better."
They sit at the table and begin to eat, "This is really good, thank you for making it."
"Thank you. Don't worry about it; cooking is almost like making potions, to me."
"And you do love making potions, hm?"
He simply hums affirmatively in response.
They arrive in Inari, a village in northern Finland, at a quarter to two in the afternoon, after apparating there from Helsinki. Despite the hour, there's no sun, everything is dark. This is a part of the world where the sun remains below the horizon for many days during the winter months.
"You own a house here?" Her companion wonders. This village is indeed entirely different from the other two locations they visited.
"No. I am visiting my parents."
He understands she's talking about their grave and doesn't reply.
There are vacant lots, right outside the village, rather far away from the nearest house. The ground is covered in an ankle-high layer of snow. The wind has picked up and it blows sharply cold air around them. It must be at least minus ten degrees Celsius. At a point Sasha stops walking, and so does Severus. The ball of purplish light she has conjured bobs in the air before them. It looks exactly like the rest of the area, but Severus feels some sort of buzzing in the air, like the buzzing energy of magic.
Indeed, after she has checked around them to see there's no one looking, she dismantles the wards that hide her parent's grave. A rectangle of air seems to shimmer, these 'walls' then appear to melt, as they uncover the hidden marble. It's a simple grave, no more than a flat, marble, rectangular surface, upon which is inscribed what must be her parent's names, but he can't decipher the letters. About a meter all around the grave is now also free of snow and merely brown, frozen ground. Around this, the snow seems to be piled up against an invisible wall.
Sasha falls to her knees and lays her hand on the cold marble, barely aware of Severus' dark presence behind her. She closes her eyes, lowers her head and reminds herself of the moments she experienced with her parents, as she does each year. Her thoughts are disrupted when she hears a familiar, uninvited voice.
"Well, well, well," the woman speaks. She is standing at the head of the grave, her hands hidden in her pockets, her face overtaken by a cruel smile. "Finally we meet again."
"Ms Louhi?" Severus asks, not knowing who this woman is, but sensing she is strong.
Her English bears a distinct accent, "Ah, you brought a friend? I didn't know a bastard child such as yourself was capable of friendship. Or, no, don't tell me you got yourself a little slave? After all, who would willingly remain in your presence."
"Severus," Sasha finally speaks, without looking away from the deceptively young woman in front of her, "Meet the enemy I spoke of: My grandmother."
"Hello," she then greets her last remaining family member, "have you come to torment me again? Or perhaps successfully kill me, this time?"
"You little—No. I will not lose my time by arguing with you."
Her hands sweep quickly through the air, generating magical energy. A red stream of energy is soon followed by a purple one.
Both attempts fail as Sasha slaps away the streams of power coming her way. The streams crash into the snow at their sides.
"Not above my parents' grave!" Sasha cries out, before moving to the side, into the snow. The woman follows her.
Sasha throws an ugly green stream to the angry woman. Her attempt fails as well, as her grandmother appears to absorb the power. Severus is disturbed when the woman begins to laugh out wildly, "Oh darling! You have become weaker!"
Her words are immediately followed by a shiny black curse, flowing from her hands.
Sasha screams, unable to deflect this stream of magic. Her spine curls entirely in the opposite way of how it's supposed to, cracking loudly. Her mouth opens so wide, the corners of her mouth tear along with the muscles of her jaw, dislodging it completely.
Unexperienced and unfamiliar with their kind of magic, Severus attempts to come up with a way to save her, when he suddenly feels a burning on his left arm.
"Sasha, He's calling!"
He grabs her arm roughly. "Don't you dare," the woman speaks, threateningly, finally lifting the curse.
The last thing a weakened Sasha hears is her grandmother's angered cry, "No!"
[To be continued]