Chapter 61
The next morning, Kereston Boxwood showed up to breakfast with a baby acromantula...which she proceeded to feed cereal.
"Why," Severus asked.
"Because he gets bored at home all day while I'm here," Kereston crooned in an overly sweet baby talk tone that promptly turned Severus's stomach. "His name is Reynaldo."
"Why do you have him," Severus clarified.
"Because he's so cute," Kereston cooed. "He's really smart and he's going to grow up and learn to talk to me."
"Won't that be too much talking," Mag snarked, lips twitching. "I mean what with you taking your turn, when will he get his?"
Severus chuckled and Kereston glared. "You're mean." Ignoring her friend, she turned back to Severus. "I went with Millie, Blaise and Wolfgang to a darker pet shop in Knockturn a few weeks ago. Of course Blaise got nothing because he has no soul. They got a parrot and I got Reynaldo. Their parrot screams hexes. He's really funny," she said, punctuating her statement with a chuckle.
"Don't call me Millie, fuck-tard." Millicent Bulstrode announced her arrival in her usually sunny way, Severus noted.
Wolfgang smiled. "Good morning everyone. Our parrot's name is Darkspell," he added to Severus. "He really has character."
"I can imagine," Severus said, picturing a bird screaming hexes all day. He felt himself getting a small headache at the very idea.
/Were I so inclined, I could teach them a few fuckin' things about character,/ Nightshade thought, snatching a sausage from Severus's plate and swallowing down half of it in a single gulp.
/Don't bother with the chewing,/ Severus snarked.
/Right,/ Nightshade agreed, intentionally missing the point.
Blaise Zabini sauntered in then and joined everyone else at the staff table. They took to gathering there as it was silly to spread out among all five tables, especially if they planned to converse, which they obviously did. Granted Severus could live without conversing with most people, but these days it was unfortunately necessary.
"Guess what I did last night," Blaise asked, smirking around at Kereston, Millie and Wolfgang like the cat who'd just swallowed the canary without chewing.
"What," Millicent asked.
"GRINDELWALD," Blaise crowed, and Severus choked on a mouthful of egg. He could feel his face growing red. He. had. not. just. heard. that!
/I think you did,/ Nightshade insisted. /and Eu. I'm not humping any dude owls. Even if it wasn't a tard baby. It's just not my thing./
Sabra and Geo Zabini took their seats then, and Severus wondered if they'd heard what their son had done with his night and how they would feel about it. Whatever else was said on the matter, Severus managed to tune it out. He didn't look up from his plate until Gellert Grindelwald entered, joining them at the table and seating himself beside Blaise. Millicent presented him with a dossier on Voldemort which he promised to look over. Severus was admittedly interested in the man's impressions of the dark lord.
/Why do you fuckin' call him that,/ Nightshade complained.
/I must call him that when I am around him or any of his followers, so referring to him too frequently as anything else could create a bad habit that could get me killed,/ Severus explained.
/Oh. I get it./ The owl nodded his head before snatching up a beak full of egg. /So I wonder when Aladdin and Grindelfuck had time to shag if they were supposed to be working on crafting magical items to save our asses,/ Nightshade wondered. /I mean like where is the transition?/
When Severus didn't answer, Nightshade persisted. /I mean like between enchanting a medallion to going into someone's bum or whatever they do?/
/No. I can't./ Severus shook his head.
Sabra Zabini stood up then and asked Grindelwald to go outside with her. Severus kept his face stoic and impassive.
/Guess she heard,/ Nightshade said. /I'd love to be a fly on the wall. What do you think she's saying to him?/
/Don't know and don't care. Zabini is legal and if you ask me, it's no one's business, and something I'd rather not think about,/ Severus replied. He didn't like thinking about anyone's personal life.
/I agree! If you think I'm not sicked out being around you and Magi when you're.../
Severus turned to talk to Mag about...anything...to shut out the owl's thoughts. They chatted about books and even the bloody dragon she so adored until Sabra and Grindelwald strolled back in. Both seemed relaxed enough, but somehow Severus got the impression that Sabra was mildly flustered. She exchanged a few quiet words with Blaise and their family elf. When Geo asked for clarification, Sabra insisted that he didn't want to know but she'd upset him by telling him later anyway or something like that. Severus was honestly trying not to pay much attention for fear he may be traumatized.
Sabra appeared amused, though, so he supposed everything was well. That most definitely made it none of his business. Sabra announced to the table at large that the Zabinis were taking Gellert clothes shopping so any work on analyzing Voldemort or enchanting items would have to wait until after lunch. The man was out of his tattered prison robes today and wearing black slacks and a black silk pullover shirt with short sleeves. As they were similar in style to Blaise's own clothes, Severus assumed he'd lent Grindelwald the garments. The fact the Zabinis were taking Gellert shopping was mildly interesting, Severus supposed. He could've warned them to be careful, and not to draw notice, but Sabra and Geo were paranoid enough to have common sense. They were the ones staying here because Dementors had known their son's name, after all. They'd be careful. After breakfast, Mag left for Areecen's cave, and Severus went to check up on Albus. He was doing well, and for once not reading Skeeter's book. That was a definite plus.
"Are you finished with it," he asked.
Albus nodded, knowing what he meant without Severus needing to clarify. "I finally got through it last night," he said with a shudder. "And yes, it did give me nightmares, thank you for asking."
Severus sighed, deciding not to tell him that at least the Grindelwald preferring men bit was apparently true.
/Actually not until last night,/ Nightshade said. /At breakfast, he was thinking about how different that had been, but that he'd liked it a lot more than all his women./
/Gods I really needed to know that,/ Severus replied.
/I thought so,/ the owl said smugly.
"So what is Grindelwald doing, and what are your impressions of him," Albus asked.
"Well...He is working on enchanted items with Blaise as you know," Severus said carefully. He was not going to get into the night Zabini and Grindelwald had had, because again, . .
"This morning he went clothes shopping with the Zabinis. Millicent and Wolfgang brought him a dossier on Voldemort to study. I must admit to being interested in his impressions."
Albus nodded. "I as well, actually."
Severus spent the rest of the morning in the library. While there, he decided to offer his memories of Voldemort to Grindelwald. He was spying, so he may as well make the most of the danger he was in. He hated the fact that he felt it more acutely as danger now because of his relationship with Mag and his friendship with Nightshade, and the way he didn't want to separate from either of them. He went to lunch at noon, and for a few minutes, he was the only one in the great hall. The Zabini family with Grindelwald arrived soon, however, and he waved them over. "I wanted to speak with you, Mr. Grindelwald, concerning the matter of Lord Voldemort," he said before they even had an opportunity to be seated.
"I am afraid I have not had a chance to look through the folder on him that I was provided yet. I just returned from clothes shopping, but it shall be my priority as soon as we've eaten lunch," Gellert replied.
"Yes, I am aware. This concerns a more personal view of Voldemort. After you've finished going over the folder, I can perhaps give you a more intimate view of the...of Voldemort. I am in his service...as an under cover agent," Severus explained. "I can show you all of my many interactions with him in a Pensieve whenever you are ready."
Gellert's eyes lit with interest as he and Blaise took seats side by side. "That would be helpful indeed," Grindelwald thoughtfully confirmed. "Information in a dossier can be quite detached, barely scratching the surface. Some time ago I attempted to predict the moves of this old alchemist, Nicholas Flamel, with only written documents to draw from. My reading of his history gave me the impression that he would have a considerable self interest I could hope to exploit, and nothing was further from the truth. From that point on, I began to fully appreciate a more personal report.
But there is another element I could apply that may also interest you. A few months before my unfortunate failure and subsequent imprisonment, I had begun working on something fairly new..." Grindelwald glanced away, seemingly mildly self conscious. "Well, you would probably get bored with the technical details that excite me. Most people do. In short, I am hoping to conduct a spectral analysis of your impressions. To compare some interactions with others and observe how your mental activity may have changed. I would not insult your efficacy at Legilimency or anything of the like.
But some manipulations are more subtle than others. To change the course of one's thoughts could be a brutal invasion into the mind that leaves traces, where other, less obvious methods could work just as well to set the ground. I am most curious about Voldemort's particular level of subtlety. Most wizards and news reports do not seem to indicate a lot of it which troubles me. It seems unlikely for a man who rose so high to rise through primitive methods alone. If you happen to remember the times when you felt less trusted during your interactions, I would appreciate you writing them down. That would help me focus my analysis on the points that have the potential to matter the most. If he is really good, he probably erased all traces of his influence, which would make your mental activity fairly consistent.
I have been working on a way to test the impressions left in the Pensieve for consistency by exposing them to a kind of modulated turbulence. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to fully test my methods, so we would see how all of this works out. In the worst case, it should not be too damaging, time consuming, or revealing, which is all one could hope for when facing a dangerous foe," Grindelwald concluded. Severus wondered how the man knew his skills so well, then guessed that Zabini had spoken well of him. That was pleasing. The German wizard was interesting, though Severus still hadn't decided what he himself meant by interesting when it came to Grindelwald. He would need more time to decide.
/Hey Prof, do you think Zabini spoke well of you before or after the shagging,/ Nightshade asked gleefully. /Let's hope it wasn't during or he likes you entirely too much./
, Nightshade,/ Severus retorted.
/I think it was after or between sessions,/ Nightshade decided.
"I'd love to learn more of this spectral analysis," Blaise commented. "I'd very much like to watch when you get to that bit if that's alright," he added eagerly.
"I am sure you would," Grindelwald agreed with an approving smile. "It is quite alright. In fact, after you learn the basics, I may require your assistance in this matter. The concept is simple enough. You reverse the memory points as projected onto the Pensieve, approximate it with an equivalent magical stream, project it onto a suitably susceptible surface, such as a wizard's skull, and then introduce a filtering current to evaluate the consistency of the mental activity. The filtering needs to be more precise, which is the one area where I would need your skills at precision. A smaller measure, I suspect, might be needed than the one I had introduced originally. The accuracy should increase by 13 percent, if I am correct. At any rate, it would be most intriguing to work on it. With your contribution, the project should go much faster..." Gellert eagerly admitted. Watching the two interact made their connection more than clear to anyone looking. Grindelwald valued Zabini's mind as much as Zabini valued Grindelwald's. If they were all very fortunate the two would do great things together.
/Out of the bed,/ Nightshade clarified.
/If you don't shut up,/
/Okay, okay./ In truth, Nightshade almost shamelessly enjoyed reveling in Prof's discomfort over the thing. As Severus mulled over Grindelwald's words, he nearly forgot about his food. Nightshade, however, had not. He hopped down from the back of Severus's chair and began eating from his plate. "I don't see why we can't give it a try," Severus said carefully. "I am always interested in learning new ways of studying such things, after all."
If he could learn something from Grindelwald, that would definitely be worth any emotional discomfort the strange experiment could bring. He just had an unsettling feeling he would discover something even more disturbing about Voldemort through this experiment. Hopefully he was wrong, though. At times like this, he was perfectly alright being wrong.
Nightshade suddenly went still then raised his head to briefly glance at Grindelwald before lowering it to the plate again. /Prof, I guess we should mention how weird I think Voldemort feels in case it matters...but like don't fuckin' tell him it's me cause,/
Severus hesitated for a second to collect his thoughts then addressed Grindelwald. "Someone else who deals with Voldemort feels...very strange in his presence. I only mention this in case it has anything to do with the spectral work of which you speak. This person feels very strange in the presence of the dark lord, feels the man's evil on perhaps an auric level? This isn't really something I understand or deal with," he said, almost apologetically. "This person is always saying how...wrong the dark lord feels. I understand I am not explaining this properly, not having felt it myself. It isn't that he doesn't bother me, but perhaps my feelings are simply due to what I know about him...what he has done and will do."
Gellert nodded. "Are you able to convince this other person to add his testimony into the Pensieve? Having the ability to compare two impressions could create sufficient data for the spectral analysis to progress...without throwing precise numbers at you, I shall say considerably faster. That could indeed be very helpful. I don't know much about auras either, but that kind of viewing is magically deep and on the personal level, insightful to aid our work. Spectral analysis greatly benefits from the ability to make multiple comparisons of mental streams," Gellert slowly explained, his tone resembling that of an eager hunter about ready to shoot the proverbial arrow at his prey.
Severus hesitated, unable to keep from glancing at the owl when Gellert asked his question.
/Fuck, I guess,/ Nightshade thought peevishly.
"Yes...He will," he said. "We all want this to end."
Before Gellert could reply, Albus entered the great hall.
The old wizard looked distracted, and then almost surprised to see Grindelwald seated at the staff table.
"Well. Severus did inform me that you were here but with all the current stresses I must admit to forgetting."
He gave an apologetic smile that didn't fully reach his eyes. "Welcome to Hogwarts, Mr. Grindelwald. I am Albus Dumbledore, the school's headmaster. Severus assures me that you are the responsibility of Mr. Adler, but while you are here I must add that I expect you to behave better at Hogwarts than you did at Durmstrang. In other words if you are wondering if a thing is permissible or not, if it would get you thrown out, please refrain from indulging yourself."
"Good day to you, Mr. Zabini," the old headmaster added, nodding at Blaise and giving him a friendly smile. "I hear you will be working with Mr. Grindelwald on some items to aid and protect us in this time of war and it is appreciated. I certainly am pleased to see you living up to that great potential even before you have graduated. I always knew you would accomplish great things and I am happy to see it already beginning now."
Blaise looked fleetingly surprised but gave a pleased smile. "Why thank you, Headmaster."
"Rest assured, I have no interest in any of my former pursuits, Headmaster," Gellert Grindelwald told Albus. "I have developed new interests so you have nothing to worry about."
As he spoke, Dumbledore's eyes suddenly widened in horror and he choked as he took a step backward, then turned rapidly toward the door. "That...That was unnecessary," he said a bit faintly as he hurried out. A smile of gleeful satisfaction spread across Gellert Grindelwald's face. Severus looked alarmed and stood. "Albus. Wait...What's wrong?" And he hurried after the headmaster in a sweep of black robes. With a hoot of annoyance, cause he'd not finished with Prof's plate yet, Nightshade hurriedly flew after them.
/Damn, an owl can't even finish eating,/ he complained. /And if Dumblefuck offers me a twizzler instead of that yummy roast I was eating, I'll hurt somebody./