Chapter 64
Severus walked into the great hall for dinner to see a young woman seated beside Albus. She had long dark hair and wore dress robes that were entirely too low cut. Something about her face was oddly familiar. Severus felt as if he should know her, though he was quite certain he'd never seen her before in his life. Regulus and Kreacher also sat at the staff table, and they were speaking with Wolfgang Adler. Severus had expected that he and Miss Bulstrode would return for dinner to check up on Grindelwald. He was pleased that Regulus had taken the suggestion to speak to him."Albus," Severus greeted as he seated himself at the staff table with everyone else. "Who is your...friend?"
"Ah Severus,," Albus smiled as he turned to greet the potions master "This is Miss Bera Karkaroff. Her father was Igor Karkaroff, and she is now Headmistress of Durmstrang. She has come to propose an alliance between our two schools during these turbulent times."
/She wants to bang Dumbledore,/ Nightshade shared.
Severus choked. /No she does not, don't be disgusting!/
/Fuck you, yes she does,/ Nightshade proclaimed indignantly. /She's thinking it right now!/
/You are lying. I have somehow offended you and you are trying to unhinge my mind in retaliation,/ Severus decided hopefully.
/Her mental shields suck, so you can look for yourself. I'm good but I can't plant shit in her mind,/ Nightshade said, mild amusement in his thought voice.
"Hi," Mag said, settling into the chair beside Severus. "Sorry I'm a bit late. I was helping Reece rearrange his treasure."
Severus hadn't even noticed her come in.
/Tell her,/ he told Nightshade as he forced a wan smile for Mag. "Hi." He watched Mag's beautiful green eyes widen as Nightshade obeyed his request. He was momentarily distracted by the realization of how odd it was to be distracted by someone's eyes or to consider them beautiful.
/She asked if Dumblefuck feels the same way, but I can't see into his mind so well,/ Nightshade said. /I don't think he knows, though, so.../
Severus shuddered. /I can't talk about this anymore./
/She thinks if she throws herself at him, he'll protect her from Voldemort,/ Nightshade said.
/What part of I don't want to talk about this anymore perplexed you,/ Severus demanded, frowning over at the owl.
/I wasn't talking about it,/ Nightshade protested peevishly.
/ I was plowing her mind for info. It's what she was thinking. I assumed you would want to know./
Severus frowned. It seemed this Karkaroff woman wanted to take advantage of Albus. Of course he didn't like that. Albus was over one hundred years old, though, and could handle himself...at least Severus hoped so. /Thank you. It is good to know what's in her mind,/ Severus admitted.
He would keep an eye on the situation.
/Hold on, I'm telling Mags who Regulus is cause she wanted to know,/ Nightshade said.
"I've missed quite a lot today," Mag murmured to Severus after a moment or two of silently conversing with their owl. Zabini and Grindelwald entered then, and the Zabini parents followed soon after with their family elf. Everyone seemed interested in Miss Karkaroff for one reason or other, but her attention for anyone other than Albus was extremely limited.
/Hum, I didn't know Grindelwald had visions,/ Nightshade shared. /He had one about lady Karkaroff and Dumblefuck, though, so he was a bit surprised to see her here so soon./
/What was the vision,/ Severus asked.
/Don't know. He's not thinking about it, so I can't see,/ Nightshade replied. /Eew, now he's thinking about Zabini and I don't wanna look anymore. Too graphic./
/Understandable,/ Severus thought dryly.
When dinner was over and he and Mag were rising to leave, Albus stood as well.
"Would you come to my chambers, Severus? I'd like to speak to you after I've gotten Miss Karkaroff settled in her room. She's remaining here for a few days while we sort out the alliance between our schools," he said.
/I just bloody bet she is,/ Nightshade snickered and Severus frowned.
"Yes," he told Albus curtly, then swept from the great hall.
"I'll meet you in the dungeon, then," Mag said and he sighed and nodded.
"Will this bloody day ever end?"
/Yeah, like at midnight,/ Nightshade snarked, and Severus gave him a withering look.
He waited in Albus's chambers for nearly ten minutes before the headmaster hurried in. Severus still thought of Albus as the headmaster, because once Voldemort was dead, he fully expected him to return to his rightful place at Hogwarts.
"What a long, unusual and entirely fascinating day this has been," Albus said.
He sank into one of the chairs at the table in the center of the room with a tired sigh.
"Indeed," Severus agreed dryly.
"I'm pleased that Regulus turned out not to have been one of the many to die at Voldemort's hands, though," Albus said and Severus nodded.
"It gives hope to the rest of us," he agreed.
He just hoped that didn't mean they'd all have to become vampires to survive the madness.
/Yeah,/ Nightshade agreed. /Cause that would suck...get it, Prof? Get it?/
/Yes. Unfortunately I did. It was the first bad joke you ever made. Please never do it again./ Nightshade made that rough sound in the back of his throat that passed for laughter, and rocked gleefully back and forth on Severus's shoulder. /At least one of us is happy,/ Severus thought darkly.
/Yeah, I'm good,/ Nightshade agreed.
"Miss Karkaroff was a surprise. I wasn't aware that Igor had children," Severus said, bringing the topic of conversation around to the reason he was here.
"Yes, that's what I wanted to speak with you about," Albus said.
/Are you gonna tell him that she wants to bang him,/ Nightshade asked eagerly. /Cause I know his reaction would be funny./
/Gods no,/ Severus said, struggling not to cringe at the very idea of raising such a disturbing topic with Albus.
"Igor Karkaroff had two children as it turns out," Albus said. "I only discovered as much today with Miss Karkaroff's arrival. She is the eldest, and there is her younger brother, Igor JR. He is a wizard and she is a Squib."
Severus felt his brows shooting up. "They're allowing a Squib to run Durmstrang?"
"Few people are aware that Miss Karkaroff is a Squib. It seems her father wanted so badly for this to remain a secret that he paid a great deal of money to have her a wand made that provides her with magic when she is using it. It was imbued with magic then linked to her. This means that when she has it in her hand, she can perform magic, but if she is not holding it, she has little to none."
"And she trusted you with this," Severus asked skeptically.
"She wishes to be completely honest with me. She admits that this is one of the reasons she feels she needs help. She fears Voldemort may come for her next simply because of who her father is, and I can't say I believe her fears to be unfounded."
Severus frowned. "This is your problem, why," he demanded. "Don't we all have enough to worry about right now? At least Regulus came back to help. This woman merely wants you to take care of her." Severus didn't bother to keep the scathing tone from his voice.
"If I can, I hardly see the harm in that," Albus said mildly. "Her suggestion for the schools to band together in case of emergency is a good one as well and sincerely meant."
"How do you know you can trust her," Severus pressed.
"Because Regulus was here when she arrived. He told me that he checked her mind and that she speaks the truth."
"Well that's something," Severus said. "Grindelwald and Regulus are being useful. Now if Potter could manage it, we may all survive," he added tartly.
Albus sighed. "I just wanted to keep you appraised, Severus. Why don't you go and get some rest."
Severus nodded tightly as he stood. "You too."
He opened his mouth to ask if Albus was still feeling well, and the older man spoke before he could.
"I feel fine, Severus," he assured with a tired but warm smile. "I'm just exhausted because it's been a long day. There is no other reason, I promise."
Severus nodded, annoyed with the little boy inside who needed assurances. "That's good." Once out in the hallway he asked Nightshade,/Do you think he was lying?/
/Nah. He feels fine. He would tell you if he didn't. He still feels bad about asking you to kill him because of the Horcrux fuckery./
/Good. He needs to,/ Severus said. He was still angry about that and fine with it. In the dungeon, he found Mag mixing up potions in two cauldrons. "What are you making," he asked curiously.
"A formula to clean metals safely and gently in the left cauldron and energy potion in the right," she replied. "Can you help me stir?"
"Sure," he nodded. "Is the metal cleaner for Areecen's treasure? Does he have you scrubbing for him now," he wondered with a scowl.
Mag chuckled. "It's for both Reece and myself. I need to polish a few pieces of my jewelry as well as the silver that holds the stones onto my chakra wand. He will be using the rest, but he can polish his own treasure."
"That's good to know," Severus said.
"I thought we may need more energy on those days that are longer than others, and you were low on energy potion so I made up a batch of that too."
Severus drew her into his arms and gave her an impulsive kiss which she returned with great enthusiasm. "Thank you."
She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled. "No problem. I'm glad to help." He could've said that no one ever bothered to help, and that was true. On the other hand, he'd have ten kinds of fits if anyone else dared to muck about with his potion supplies. At least Mag had enough sense to put things back where she'd found them. As the potions simmered, he told her about Regulus and they speculated about Bera Karkaroff. The metal cleaning potion was done first, and Mag carefully pored it into a jar while asking Severus about Regulus. "He's nothing like his brother then? Were the two of you friends in school? You never mentioned him."
"That's because I believed him to be dead. He is nothing like Sirius. We bonded at first due to both of us hating him, in fact. I liked his intellect, but couldn't fully trust him due to his open infatuation for Voldemort's ideals, so we were friendly but not close friends," Severus answered.
"And now," Mag asked, moving to stir the energy potion again. "Do you think you will be friends now?"
Severus shrugged. "I have no idea. I suppose it helps matters that he is no longer on team Voldemort as Nightshade would say, but time will tell. You know I don't make friends easily, and nor do I see the point of them most of the time."
"Yes, but he could be useful," Mag said. "He's a vampire and if he's willing, he can help to keep us all safer. I like the fact that he turned on Voldemort over his elf. It means he's loyal. And the fact he discovered one of the Horcruxes when no one else did makes him rather smart in a special sort of way, I think."
Severus frowned. "Should I be jealous?"
Mag laughed. "No. But you can help me pour this energy potion into individual bottles."