CHAPTER 4:
SETTLING IN
Waver Velvet reminded Harry too much of Snape at times for his liking. There was the sardonic demeanour, the acidic tongue, the tendency not to suffer fools gladly, and the dark hair and eyes. Yet Harry believed Waver to be a hundred times the man Snape was at the bare minimum. He was one of the best teachers for Clock Tower (and would have acquitted himself well at Hogwarts, Harry reckoned), having begun teaching a novel course on Modern Magecraft, and while still under the shadow of his former teacher and current patron Kayneth Archibald, the current Lord El-Melloi, he was very much a utilitarian, trying hard to not play into the toxic politics of Clock Tower.
Many a hopeless case gravitated to him, with Flat Escardos being something of a success story in some regards, even if said young man was still eccentric and had a tendency to cause 'interesting' effects with his magecraft. However, he adopted as his ward and apprentice a young Welsh girl called Grey, a descendent of King Arthur, though her resemblance to her ancestor was apparently minimal, hardly surprising after two millennia. And when Delphi couldn't go to Hogwarts, it fell to Waver to tutor her, with some success, even if she gave him more grey hairs, not helped by her friendship with the young heiress to the El-Melloi lordship, Reines Archisorte.
Harry wasn't sure Barghest would be accepted into the Enforcers, at least quickly. However, Harry had collaborated with Waver on a number of cases, for the sardonic Magus worked as something akin to a private investigator for the Magi of Clock Tower at times. And despite his gruff demeanour at times, he valued talent and ability, not blood or lineage.
Which was why, the next day, he arranged a meeting with Waver in his offices in Clock Tower. And to give her her due, Barghest acquitted herself well, impressing Waver with her calm intelligence. After about an hour, Waver had tentatively accepted hiring Barghest as a bodyguard and assistant on future investigations.
Afterwards, the three of them were drinking tea (Delphi having gone to catch up with Grey and Reines, though Grey had set up the tea service, and Harry used a stasis charm to keep it hot and ready). "I must confess myself pleasantly surprised, Barghest. The few times I have had dealings directly with or tangentially related to the Fae, they had been rather harrowing experiences. One of those involved the very Black Dogs you are…related to?"
"I'd be offended, but I have enough experience of my kindred to know that you are not wrong to be wary of them, even despise them." Barghest looked out of the windows of Waver's well-appointed office solemnly. Thanks to Zelretch and Arc, she now had something of a wardrobe. She was currently wearing a white shirt (straining against her bust), and a dark jacket and trousers. "I thought they were worth protecting, and yet…if there were any virtuous Fae left in my Manchester, then they were probably murdered by the others when they began massacring the humans. As for me, well, being wary of me is simply you possessing some sense. Then again, you are one of the first Magi I have met in this timeline. And I know Magi tend to include some of the worst of humanity, creatures who should have been put down like the rabid beasts they truly are within. But Harry thinks highly of you, as does Delphini, and I concur with what I have seen of your character so far."
Waver chuckled sardonically. "You must have met a really poor example before, or was that Ramsay Nyder?"
Barghest shook her head. "My former queen, Morgan le Fay, had a Magus as a consort, one originally from Proper Human History. From what I understand, he was a vile traitor to your kind, a man who conspired to help found the very Lostbelt I was born in. I did encounter another of better moral character, along with a number of Servants. Have you Servants in this timeline?"
"Only once, during the inaugural Holy Grail War," Waver said. "Marisbury Animusphere was the victor with a powerful Caster. I had considered participating, but I had my students to think of, and my patron had his family to consider."
"In any case, while I am grateful to you for providing me with this opportunity, Waver, I should make something clear." Her gaze turned hard and haughty. "The weak do not command the strong. I will follow your directives only because I choose to, because you are my employer. But I am not a collared dog to be commanded. Unless there is good reason for you to stay my hand, I will act on my own initiative if the situation demands it. Have I made myself clear?"
"Crystal," Waver said, a little tightly. "But I will then endeavour to ensure I inform you of why I would need you to do something, even if it is after the fact. Besides, unlike some of my peers, I know better than to argue needlessly with a Fae woman who could probably turn me into a red smear with a single punch."
Barghest relaxed. "Good. My apologies for stating such things, but I have had too many dealings with people who believed they could order me about like some base hound. You seem like an intelligent and pragmatic person, Waver, but I have had too many dealings with devious and arrogant fools to not make myself clear."
"Fair enough," Waver said with a wave of his hand. "If you're working for Clock Tower in any capacity, the sad fact of life is that you will still have to deal with them. So try not to lash out, unless there is a threat to your person or that of others. If nothing else, the paperwork afterwards is a pain, and I will make you fill it out."
A smirk touched Barghest's lips. "Very well."
"In addition, one of my protégés, Svin Glascheit, uses Beast Magecraft. As a side-effect, his instincts have become more bestial as time goes by. If you can bring yourself to do so, your traumatic experiences aside, perhaps you can counsel him on such matters, given your firsthand experience."
"If I can, I will try…"
The meeting soon ended, and Harry and Barghest left shortly afterwards. They left Delphi at Clock Tower, because she had a lesson with Waver to attend. As they walked from the Apparition point to Potter Manor, Harry looked to Barghest. "Are you okay?"
"As much as I can be. I am adrift from my own time and place, and I am still coming to terms with what happened in the Lostbelt, let alone my resurrection. Not only that, but…I have to find who I am again. What place I have in the world. Whether I can atone for what I have done. My Lostbelt may not exist anymore, but it doesn't make my actions any less real, for good or for ill."
Harry looked to Barghest, before shrugging. "At least you realise that. Barghest, I'm the wrong person to ask about what atonement needs. My mentor, Dumbledore, he had a thing for that redemption shit. The problem is, he offered it to people I don't think deserved it. And more than once, I showed mercy to people who took the first opportunity to stab me in the back. But after seeing your memories, well…I wanted to help. Besides…people go on about how knights help people. But who helps the knights?"
"…Who indeed?" Barghest mused wistfully. For a time, she was in thoughtful silence, before she asked, "Incidentally, may I have access to your kitchens to make lunch today? I'll make a smaller portion for you."
"…Okay, sure…"
Harry actually watched her as she cooked, and in fact, she was a surprisingly good cook. She made something not unlike a couple of hamburgers, which she said had become fashionable in the Lostbelt some decades ago. Many things, ranging from humans lost in time and space, from objects or foodstuffs, ended up in the Lostbelt, as flotsam and jetsam, and many of the latter were seized upon by the Fae who were hungry for the latest fad. Some persisted: the King Clan's head Cnoc na Riabh had cornered the market on chocolate, and much of the area around Edinburgh was used by the King Clan to grow cacao beans, which had somehow ended up in the Lostbelt.
Even though she promised to make him a smaller portion, the burger Harry was given was still fairly large. Thankfully, not too large, though he'd probably have to have a lighter dinner. But the burger itself was delightful. McDonalds' and Wimpy could take notes.
"How did you become such a good cook?" Harry asked as they ate.
Barghest swallowed a massive lump of patty, and then said, "I was taught how to cook on the orders of Woodwose, possibly as a means of ensuring I could be married off, before both my strength and my curse became apparent. I also learned gardening. True, as a member of the nobility, I would be expected to leave the cooking and gardening mostly to my servants, along with other domestic chores, and as a warrior of the Fang Clan, I would not be kept in the kitchen. However, I found I enjoyed cooking, and worked on new recipes, or improving existing ones. And given how long-lived I was, I needed hobbies. I am four centuries old, after all, and spent only half of that time as a Tam Lin, after the Caterpillar War and my devouring Foulweather before then. And unlike too many of my clan, who were too-often brutes who revelled in violence, I did enjoy some more intellectual pursuits."
"Like what?"
"Reading. Military history, for one, given what we can learn from the past. Reading fiction that made its way into our Britain from Proper Human History, for another, as well as the books and plays written by Fae artists. Few could do more than emulate your arts, but there were a few gifted Fae who would stand shoulder to shoulder with your writers and artists, though they mainly wrote what you would call historical fiction, I believe." Her expression fell. "And too many of them died, often when something they wrote upset the wrong people. I know one writer was tortured and then executed by Woodwose for writing a book criticising the decimation of the Wing Clan. How twisted our society must appear to human eyes."
"…Unfortunately, shit like that goes on too often in the human world, it's just meant to be illegal and immoral. Not all the time, but…I won't pretend that human society is remotely perfect."
"No, I am glad you do not. And yet, perhaps this may be a place I can find a reason to live." She shook her head. "In any case, I thank you for your praise of the meal."
"It was very good. One of the best burgers I have ever eaten. I just would like the portion size to somewhat smaller next time, please."
She blushed a little in embarrassment. "Oh! Of course, my apologies! Sorry, you have been cooking for me, so I thought I'd return the favour. I mean, you are the host and I am the guest, but still…!"
Harry couldn't help but laugh at her hurried apology. For all her hulking, intimidating frame, her brutal past, and the fact that she was a demonic Fae dog in human form, she was so damned adorable when she was flustered. "Settle down, Barghest, it's okay! I like cooking myself, so I understand wanting to do so every once in a while even when you're the guest. Just make any portions you cook for Delphi and me smaller, okay? I mean, that huge burger you just ate is normal for you, isn't it?"
She nodded. "I have a much higher metabolism than even most Fae, let alone humans, so my portions are quite big. I was called Gawain the Glutton, partly because of that, and also because of my many lovers, not that people cared what I did with said lovers." For a moment, she looked morose, before she gave him a smile. "But thank you, Harry. I…the last time I was complimented on my meal was when I played host to the Arturia girl, a Magus from Proper Human History called Ritsuka Fujimaru, and a number of Servants, including one who claimed to be Leonardo da Vinci, and another who claimed to be Senji Muramasa."
"…Sorry, what?" Harry asked. "You met Leonardo da Vinci?"
"Yes. She was a Servant."
Harry had heard of Servants before, familiars that were basically Heroic Spirits, the spirits of heroes and notable figures from history and myth. The Holy Grail War in Fuyuki pitted them against each other. But what surprised Harry was one thing. "Sorry, she? Leonardo da Vinci was a man, not a woman."
Barghest shrugged. "That was the name she went by, and she appeared to be a teenaged girl. If she was lying, I did not know it. I did meet earlier a red-haired man who claimed to be your history's Sir Tristain, one of the Knights of the Round Table…though I slew him in battle without truly realising who he was until afterwards. There was a fox woman who called herself Koyanskaya who cozied up to Lady Muryan, the last survivor of the Wing Clan. And there was a girl with the power of a Servant, Mash, who fought alongside two other Servants to stop my final rampage, one I am sure was Sir Tristain fighting me once more."
"Well, it sounds like you have a lot of stories to tell, Barghest. I'd love to hear them from you."
At this, the Fae woman gave him a morose smile. "Perhaps another time. Not all of the stories I know are remotely happy ones, after all…"
And thus, did a bond begin to grow. Slowly, tentatively, even timidly. After all, both were damaged, lonely people, scarred by their former experiences, and from very different cultures, cultures one could consider alien to each other.
Yet the bond began from the moment Barghest woke up in the guest bedroom, helped by Harry inadvertently seeing her memories. A moment of kindness, where the weak in body but strong in heart, reached out to the strong in body. A bridge between two worlds that normally should not have existed, and yet was formed.
Eventually, their bond, which would grow into love, would help change the world, and save it. But that was in the future. For now, it was tentative steps towards each other…
CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:
So, here you have it. Barghest's had a job interview with Waver Velvet, and Harry is bonding with the Fae waifu.
I had a rough idea of what Waver did in timelines where the events of Fate/Zero or Fate/Apocrypha didn't happen, something I was going to do for a sequel to Primordial Song. Because Kayneth Archibald never joined a Grail War (and thus didn't get cucked by Sola-Ui and fucked over by Kiritsugu Emiya), he remained as Lord El-Melloi, in a shaky marriage that's still together, even if only for political reasons (that, and Kayneth and Sola-Ui have children, though Reines is still the current heir to the Magic Crest). Waver, despite being humiliated by Kayneth, persisted in his studies. When a member of the Archibald family was murdered and Sola-Ui was framed for it, Waver discerned who the actual culprit was. Kayneth, grudgingly impressed and indebted to Waver, allowed him to teach his own class. In addition, Kayneth began selling Waver's services as a private detective of sorts, with Reines as his handler.
In this version of events, Grey never came to look like a Saberface, though she does resemble Arturia vaguely. But because Arturia wasn't summoned to the Fuyuki Grail War, Grey hasn't had her face change, and is a little more confident and sure of herself. Also, thanks to Harry and Waver being on decent enough terms, Reines and Grey acted as Delphi's babysitters when some of Harry's associates in Magical Britain couldn't do so. Not everything in either the books or the anime series of The Case Files of Lord El-Melloi II happened.
No numbered annotations this time.