Fly
So did Sev. He went back to his bedroom and went in to do his homework with the curtains drawn on Jack's bed. Twenty minutes later he heard himself walking into the bedroom talking to Anthony and Jack.
I'll wait for Jack to approach his trunk, which is opposite the bathroom door, so he doesn't see me go in at the same time I'm talking to him. Although I'm going to give him a good scare, or maybe not, because he already knows that I had a session with Albus.
He Tracked him until he approached his bed and projected to him, "Jack, I'm here, in your bed."
"Booah, Prince, what a scare," Jack whispered.
(What I was telling you, poor man.) "Look in, don't let Anthony see me, and you don't see me twice either."
"It's okay, man. But of course I do." He parted the curtain and sat next to him on the bed, facing him.
"Let's Bond to talk," said Sev.
"Sure."
(Lauren hasn't taught him to project yet, or maybe he doesn't want to do it with me.) They stared into each other's eyes and Bonded, speaking with their minds.
"I'm sorry I occupied your bed, but I needed to take advantage of this time to do my homework, because I'm going to have a very busy afternoon and I had to talk to you urgently."
"You don't have to apologize or give me so many explanations, Prince. I am here for whatever you need, you already have enough. How about the old man?"
(Another one who is at my beck and call,) Sev thought. (How glad I am that he is with Lauren at last. Hopefully we find the balance and we are all okay.) "Fantastic. There is very good news, he has authorized me to invite the seventh-years to continue training and instructing them next year, and also the already trained Aurors who want to join."
"Wow, you hadn't told me about the Aurors, what a good idea."
(Because Lauren came up with it. And she hasn't seen him since Monday either, otherwise she would have told him. Seems like she's finally taking it easy. Good.) "Yeah. And we thought about having your uncle to get in touch with them."
"Great, of course," Jack replied.
"Don't tell him anything for now. In the summer we will talk to him in person."
"Of course. What else have you talked about?"
"He has granted me all demands," Sev said.
"Oh really?" very surprised.
"Yes, everything. I'm going to be Sly's Head, and Lily Potions teacher. Next week the procedures for the Chair will begin at the Ministry."
"Fantastic, a Dueling Chair at Hogwarts," said his friend. "I wish I was five years younger so that I could train from the third year."
(Not a trace of envy, just admiration. I don't deserve him.) "Indeed. Also sitting down together, freeing the elves who want it, changing the menus and putting on electricity. Everything."
"Prince, you are a marvel. Thanks to you, Hogwarts is finally going to evolve, although the credit will go to him."
"I don't care, I prefer it to happen as soon as possible," Sev said. (If we had to wait until I am Headmaster, it could be fifty years or more, and that, if I survive.)
"And what about bathing in the Lake?"
"Also. And he's going to leave me Gillweed to dive, all I want."
"Wow… I want too," said Jack.
(Great. I already have an escort to bathe in the Lake, and it will always be more fun to do it together.) "Tomorrow I will have them in the meeting room, so we can meet whenever you want."
"Great, Prince, we're going to have a great time. Anything else? Why did you want to talk to me urgently?"
(I still am not going to told him about the basilisk. Calmly,) Sev thought. "I need Valerie and Andrew to escort me to the Quidditch pitch this afternoon. I'm going to start my broomstick class at six, but I'd like to get there a little earlier so I can watch the team train. I think that today those at home do it."
"Yes, of course the people at home do it. In fact, Valerie is not going to be able to accompany you to the middle of training, because she has to be there since four, she is the captain of the team."
"Oh... why didn't you tell me?" disapointed.
"Because we all know you're not interested in Quidditch," his friend replied, patient. "You haven't been to a match since first year."
"You had me under control, huh?" understanding.
"Of course," nodding gravely. "The best wizard in the House, on the side of the malefics. A serious danger."
(What I tell you. Admired and feared at the same time since first year.) "Do you think that one day I will get rid of bad fame?" Sev asked a bit overwhelmed.
"Never completely, Prince," patient again. "But you will be a great example of how to rectify in time."
(Let's change the subject, I get sick.) "Andrew is also in the team?"
"He isn't. What time do you want to go?" Jack asked.
"I would like to go around five."
"Then I'll leave the Huffles with Deborah, Alice, and Frank, and Andrew and I will accompany you."
"Oh! Now that you mention them, you have to strengthen ties with Alice and Frank," Sev said. "He's going to Bond the five of us together, the summer escort."
"Of course, I'm already doing it, they're fantastic. Last Friday we were very comfortable."
"Great. I was thinking of asking Anthony to come as well."
"Bah… don't bother him," said Jack. "The three of us are enough, and that way we stay with you until you finish. Andrew will be delighted to come watch Valerie train, and I'd like to too. Valerie will also stay until it is time to return to the castle, it will be the four of us to return."
(No… I don't want them to see me fly. As bad as I'm going to do it.) "Ugh... I'm going to be very embarrassed that you see me riding for the first time."
"You're back to business as usual, Prince…" jaded, and patient, "We'll fly with you if Professor Wing lets us. Andrew and I don't do that well, we just practice on holidays, and you're going to be great, so we already play chase and be chased and you learn faster."
(He's absolutely right. And so they have a little fun, too.) "Okay. That seems fine to me," Sev agreed.
"That's how I like it. Anything else?"
"Not for the moment."
"Then I'll let you get on with your homework," said goodbye the older boy. "We'll pick you up at five. Don't change beds anymore, I left the curtain open for you. You're already in the bathroom."
"Thank you, Jack."
At two he had History. He spent until four chatting with Lauren, telling her verbatim about his entire interview with Dumbledore, as he remembered everything in detail. Of course, the cave ritual has worked. Wonderful.
She made numerous comments to him and was delighted with all the demands being granted, with the fact that they could dive with Gillweed and that he was already starting broomstick flying lessons, but most of all, with how he was handling the situation with the Headmaster.
"You've turned the tables, Severus. Even if he is seventy-five years ahead of you, you have a brilliant mind and you are Sly to the core, much more cunning and intelligent than him. You will become Headmaster."
"If I survive."
Then he told her about the basilisk.
"You shouldn't expose yourself, there are already enough people, let others do it with him," she said. "If something happened to both of you, we would be lost, I would be left alone in charge of the Horcruxes."
"And Malfoy."
"Yeah. In time, maybe yes."
Sev thought, But she's right. No one with power on this side, and she should reveal herself to McGonagall, who doesn't even know how to occlude. She has to be taught, I have to tell Albus. Let him do it in summer, the two of them will be practically alone in the castle.
Although Lauren's real reason for telling me that is that she doesn't want me to put myself in any danger and have something happen to me. However, she doesn't care about Jack, she loves me much more. Without me she would sink, as I would without Lily. I must stay alive for her too. "Okay, Lauren. Between now and then we will talk about it and we will have time to plan it well."
Then he told her about the Fiendfire.
"Very well managed, you have him well caught," she told him.
"Thanks to the fact that you taught me Occlumency."
"We are a team, Severus. And you and I are the heart of it."
How good that she recognizes herself, that's how I like it, Sev thought. On Wednesday I changed her life again. "I thought about waiting to meet you again after he teaches me. I have asked him to let me know as soon as possible when he will do it."
"Great, I'll be available as soon as you know."
At my entire disposal. She puts me ahead of Jack.
"Have you asked him about the Time Turner and the Room of Requirement?" Lauren asked him.
"Yeah. We cannot go back if we have been inside at that time in another aspect, it is not multiple."
"Of course, we should have guessed it."
"Tonight I am going to conjure the Fidelius, the old man still does not have the Map," said Sev. "So he won't see me do it."
"Aren't you busy enough today, Severus, and training tomorrow?"
"I prefer to do it as soon as possible and forget about it. Exams are getting closer and closer."
"Well, do what you want. That seems fine to me," she agreed.
They had little time left over from class.
"We'll talk at dinner and you tell us about your flights," Lauren told him.
"Of course. If you see Lily in the Library, at least tell her that we're both going to be teachers. You will give her great joy."
"Don't you prefer to wait to tell her yourself?" jadded.
She's right. "Well, yes, maybe yes," Sev agreed.
"Of course, Severus, it's something very important to you both. A long-awaited dream, since the age of eleven, to live together in the castle. We'll talk about everything else with her when you have told her that in private."
"Thank you, Lauren."
Sev returned home, changed his clothes, and went down to the Common Room to continue with his homework. It soon became empty. The entire Sly is in the Library or training. Now that I'm getting used to being with people, they leave me alone. Better, that way I can concentrate and I can do them by dictation, looking at the Lake.
At five o'clock Jack and Andrew appeared. "Hey, Prince."
He turned.
"Are you ready?" his friend asked.
"Yeah. I just go up to leave all this and we leave."
Sev went up to his bedroom to leave the books and homework on his bed. I'll put them away later. He looked at the Map. The malefics are all in the Rooms of their houses, alright.
He went down. "Let's go."
"I brought you a snack," Jack told him, giving him two sandwiches.
"Wow, Jack, what a detail." (Because he knows that for me it's seven in the evening. But he doesn't say anything in front of Andrew. The Time Turner thing is a 'secret', and I promised it to him and in the end I'm not letting it to him, and he hasn't mentioned the topic at all. I do not deserve him. It's nice that he's with Lauren.
(Since I have to stay up until late today, I'll tell him to come with me to the Room of Requirement to play. I haven't been since Tuesday, and I'll play the song for him again.)
"Eat them here in peace if you want," the older boy told him.
"No need, we're on our way."
(He understands that I have looked at the Map and there is no danger. But not Andrew, we have to hide it.)
The two took out their wands and left the Common Room, they went up the spiral staircase protecting him from front and back while he had a snack and so they continued through the corridors to the castle doors and around it in the direction of the Quidditch pitch, until he had finished eating.
Then Sev, too, drew his wand, and the other two flanked him, chatting animatedly with Andrew until they arrived, about Quidditch, about how the league had developed that year.
"Sly beat Huffle and Gryff," Andrew said.
"Gryff, well... Potter," Sev said.
"That is."
"Great."
"We only lost to Rave," Andrew added.
"Oh, those who play against us in the final."
"But they beat us and Huffle, they lost to Gryff. That's why we're tied."
"And Huffle and Gryff?" Sev asked.
"Huffle won."
Obviously, otherwise Gryff would have tied as well. How short I am for this Quidditch thing. "The Huffles beat Potter? Good…"
"Hey, the Gryff team is six more apart from Potter," Andrew protested.
"Yeah, I know, but I only care about him. It's going to be a memorable year for him." My revenge.
They reached the Quidditch pitch and went up to one of the Sly stands, the one closest to where they were training. The Chasers try plays against the Keeper, while the Beaters try to take them down, and the Seeker, alone, chases the golden Snitch.
"Wow… how awesome," Sev exclaimed. "I don't know where to look, despite there are only seven. A real match must be amazing."
"Sure," Andrew spoke. "Quidditch is much more interesting than Muggle team sports. Four different functions distributed among only seven players, and with four balls in play."
"What seems unfair to me is that the goals with the Quaffle are scored so little and so much catching the Snitch. Actually who wins the game is the Seeker."
"Yeah, you're right about that. The rules of the game should be changed."
(Maybe something that we will also achieve over time, when we have influence in the Ministry. Although that will be very difficult, it is an international regulation.)
"Isn't the Seeker Hippolyta, Ariel's friend?" Sev asked.
"Yes of course."
"She's great."
"Of course. She has excellent reflexes, which is why she is also such a good warrior," Andrew said.
"I'm surprised that she didn't tell me anything when I spoke to her at the party, with how smug she is."
"Because Ariel probably told them not to talk to you about Quidditch," Jack told him.
"Oh…"
(It's the first time Jack's lips have opened since we left the castle. He's already eating his head because he hasn't seen Lauren since Monday. They're just like that.)
One of the Beaters is Brad, the seventh-year who asked me for the Time Turner to go to Hogsmeade. The other is a fourth grade boy, I don't know his name. "Which of the two Beaters is the new one?" Sev asked.
"The fourth-year boy," Andrew replied. "His name is Trevor."
Valerie is a Chaser, and Lucy, the fourth-year girl who tried to pick me up the night of the party. The third Chaser is a seventh-grader who is taking Defense, Ronald, and the Keeper, the other sixth-grader who also does, Edward. "All but Brad are also warriors."
"Of course, you know, combative and in good physical shape. Sport and combat have a lot to do with each other."
Sev thought, The old man already told me this afternoon. Wow, wow, and I haven't been interested for all these years, and the truth is that I love it. "Next year they will have to replace two, a Beater and a Chaser."
"Yes, but don't worry about that, there are people who are well prepared at home."
"Yeah. I see that the new Beater is also very good."
"Of course. There was strong competition in the selection," Andrew informed him.
Which was less than two weeks ago and I haven't heard anything. "I think we will beat the Raves." Now it begins to matter to me, they are my House, my loyal snakes.
"It will depend on Hippolyta and the Rave Seeker, who is second-year and excellent."
"Second-year?" Sev was amazed.
"Of course, the Seekers are better the smaller they are, they have greater maneuverability, they weigh less on the broom."
(Wow, that's why Albus told me that I would have been a good Seeker, with very good reflexes and thin. Well, I think I'll be great at flying, now I don't have to be afraid. The Seeker rises a lot, what a vertigo. But I have no choice but to overcome it, in combat you can fly hundreds of feet high and this is how we must practice so that we cannot be seen from the castle, and also at night. It is what I would have had to do this summer if I had become a Death Eater.)
At five to six Andrew told them, "Let's go downstairs, so we'll wait for them at the entrance to the locker room and talk to them for a moment."
"Sure, let's go." Great, that way I'll appoint them for the night.
They came down from the stands and went to the locker room entrance. At six o'clock Professor Wing blew her whistle and interrupted the practice. All the members of the team descended except Hippolyta, who was still chasing the Snitch.
The rest of them waited for her on the grass of the field until she caught it a couple of minutes later and she too went down. They have not gone to the locker room on their own, they have all waited for her. Team spirit. How nice, a affinity group of different ages. The seven headed together towards the locker room door, and behind them the teacher, who had already seen that they were waiting there. She let the team come forward to greet them, staying a few steps behind them.
"Wow Prince!" this was Brad. "What are you doing here? We thought you hated Quidditch."
He doesn't know that I also come to train. I'll tell them tonight. "I also believed it until today. I loved watching you train," Sev answered.
"Have you been watching us train?" Valerie asked excitedly.
Oh, Jack didn't tell her that I was coming to see them to surprise her, she does know I have class. "Of course. It has been great, you are excellent. What's up, Hippolyta? You are extraordinary, you have to make us win."
"Sure, Prince," replied the girl. "I'm going to snack the Rave."
Sev laughed. How smug she is.
"Don't confide, in the last one she won you," Sev said.
"But it was because a Bludger hit my left arm, it hurt and I couldn't handle the broom well."
"Oh, what a shame." This time that will not happen, there will be fair play. The Beaters will be dedicated to the Chasers and not to the Seekers. It's not fair for an older boy to try to knock a little girl off her broom. "I'm sure they won't do it in the final."
"I'm sure not," Brad said. "We didn't intend to attack theirs, you've already seen that we only tried to shoot down Chasers."
A new revolution. Changing tactics in Quidditch. "Yes, I already noticed. Is it their turn to train next Friday?" I'm going to let them know that I'll come too.
"Yes, of course," answered Valerie. "It's our turn on Saturday afternoon."
"You must have changed your training sessions from morning to afternoon," Sev realized.
"Sure, but it doesn't matter. Now there is light also in the afternoons."
In winter they will have to be excused from Army training when they have Quidditch. "And you must have missed someone when you started training."
"Yes, that's how it was, and the Raves missed the one on May 15, two weeks ago," the captain replied. "But it doesn't matter, first things first. This is a game, in the other life goes to us."
(And therefore all the Slys of sixth and seventh-year the previous Saturday, and I without knowing anything, and they still proposed to practice the following Friday, I am already getting sick. I am going to change the subject and release tension.) "Next Friday I will come to see the Raves and tell you about their tactics."
"Great, Prince," Brad told him.
How hearty he is. I'm going to miss him next year. "Do you want to continue chatting about Quidditch with me tonight at home, after curfew?" A wave of sures. I love them. "Then we meet in my office at ten."
The entire team except Valerie made their way to the locker room, one by one giving him firm farewell handshakes. (This time Lucy hasn't opened her mouth or tried to flirtwith me. This is also a serious atmosphere, I like it.)
Professor Wing approached, also holding out her hand. "Good afternoon Prince."
"Good afternoon, Professor Wing."
"Call me Agatha, please."
(Without losing an iota of seriousness. Great, I'm already one more of the staff as well. Except for Slughorn, luckily he'll leave as soon as I become a teacher. He's going to be mad that I replace him as Head.) She also greeted Andrew and Jack. (She hasn't told them to call her by her first name, only me. That said, Albus has already changed my treatment.)
"Valerie told me that the three of you are going to stay to escort him back," said the teacher.
"Yes, that's right, Professor," Jack replied.
"Maybe in a while you can fly with him if you feel like it."
Good…
"But first we are going to test how well he does alone," Professor Wing continued. "Wait for him here." And to him, "Do you want to change clothes, Prince? There is uniforms of your size."
"It's not necessary, I'm comfortable like this."
And I also have to get used to flying with this type of clothing, because it is what I am going to use to fight. The Magic Army does not wear a uniform.
"Very well, then I'll go get a broom for you." Agatha entered the locker room and came out less than a minute later with the broom. "It's not very good," she told him. "But it's the best we have at school, the most modern."
"Okay, I'll do with anyone." An expense that I have to do on my own, a good broom. Let's see how Violet is good at selling my jewelry. I have to write to her to see if she wants more.
"Do you remember how to raise on it?"
"Yes, I do, and also how to advance, stop, turn, go up and down," Sev answered. Everything I learned in first year. The cave ritual is going to solve my life.
"Perfect. So we're going to fly together, you stay next to me and try to do everything I do."
"Great."
They stood side by side, summoned the brooms, and rode them. They kicked the ground with their left foot and the brooms went up about five feet. The Professor rose higher, up to about fifteen feet, and Sev followed her. They stayed at that altitude, flying almost side by side, without making sudden or too unexpected turns, for about five minutes. She frequently turned to look at him. She finally stopped in midair and Sev caught up with her.
"Wonderful, I see I taught you well," she valued. "Do you dare with something more complicated?"
"Yes of course."
"We are going to stay at this height, but now I am going to make more sudden turns, we must separate more so as not to crash. Do it."
Sev did, moving the broom until he was about ten feet away, at the same height as her.
"Perfect, here we go."
They did so for another five minutes. Sev caught every slight movement on the fly and imitated it with precision.
Agatha stopped again. "Great. You are going to fly perfectly in the month that remains until summer. Next step. Go up and down, this time without sharp turns."
They did it for another five minutes.
"Great, an excellent student. You would have been very good at Quidditch."
Well yes, what a pity. Something beautiful that I have missed in life, and for that I am no longer in time. Too busy with other things, Sev thought.
"We go with sharp turns too. Going up and down, all at once. You dare?"
"Yes of course."
"That's how I like it."
I have already aroused admiration in her as well. She knows that I'm not doing it for fun, but out of obligation and a great responsibility, and she's also taking the trouble to teach me when she wouldn't have to.
They did it. This time it's a bit more difficult for me to get the hang of it, sometimes I get too close or too far away.
When another full five minutes passed without that happening, Agatha stopped. "Wonderful. You have advanced in half an hour what costs most of them a month, for today it's enough. Let's go down and fly for a while with your friends, so you have fun."
Sev smiled at her. "I'm having fun anyway."
She smiled back to him. "Go ahead."
Sev went to where his friends were waiting for him. He landed and got off the broom.
"What a phenomenon, Prince!" exclaimed Jack. "And you were saying that you haven't flown for four years?"
(Wow, Jack has perked up a lot to see me fly. How I love him.) "Well yes."
"You are great," this was Valerie, with some longing.
(She would have loved me to have been on the team.) "Yeah, now I regret not having taken an interest in Quidditch." (Perhaps by relating to the rest of the team members I would have separated myself from the malefics much earlier, without having reached the dangerous situation in which I find myself.)
"Maybe you can play with us sometime," the captain suggested.
(I might try out for the team next year, but she knows full well I won't have time for Quidditch. I'm about to cry.) "Sure, whenever you want."
"Guys, I'm going to get some brooms for you and all four of you can fly together," said Agatha, who had just landed.
She brought them and the four of them flew for a long half hour, playing chase. They don't accelerate or slow down, they stay at the level that I have to be even, as I do when I fight against them. I already have another affinity group.
I wish I had more time to teach Valerie and Andrew Occlumency as well and take them to the fir tree. Maybe Jack can do it, I'll ask him. They are Sly, they will learn fast and they are good friends of him, he will not mind spending time with them. He's having a great time now, so he gets a little distracted from thinking so much about Lauren.
The four of them returned to the castle together. The other three were chatting animatedly. (Now I'm the one who's getting nostalgic. Missed opportunities in life, how I would have enjoyed doing this all these years if I had cared about the really worthwhile things. Making good friends, real friends.
(I begin to feel a great need to be alone. Luckily tonight I'm going to play the piano.)