The next day I went to Severus' office after lunch.
I had spent the entire morning with Luna. First to check in on her and see if her locket had changed like mine (it did, hers was also rose gold now, but with a detailed A in its front), and after that to see if there was anything else that changed about it (no such luck, although we had fun testing it).
But I was getting antsy. I had already finished the Hogwarts curriculum that dealt with active magic, and the thought that the next world I visited might not have a magic system as robust as what I was used to worried me.
So, I lit up a cigarette and waited. Severus knew I'd be coming here, but he was also a Head of House and needed to be present for whatever students of his House that were left for the holidays.
Thankfully, it didn't take him long. His measured steps stopped just after opening the door, before continuing until he sat down behind his desk.
"Must you smoke those blasted things inside my office?" He asked with a disgusted face.
"Please," I started with a teasing tone. "You teach potions in a dungeon classroom without any ventilation, if you can't clear the air in a room with a wave of your hand I'll eat my hat!"
"You're not wearing a hat," he rolled his eyes and cleared the air in the room with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"Now, did you do it?" He leaned forward.
"Sure thing," I said, pulling out the original prophecy from the extended pocket of the pants I was wearing.
"You didn't destroy it?" He asked, a conflicted expression passing through his face when looking at the orb.
"I thought about it," I said, staring at the orb. "But the thought of having something that can instantly induce madness in someone as long as the subjects of the prophecy don't touch it was too enticing to pass up."
He looked up at me from the orb, concern and not a little alarm clear on his face.
"What would you need that for?" He asked with a measured tone. "With your power, such an effect limited to an object seems rather restricted."
"Eh, you never know, I might need to covertly make someone completely insane at some point," I said, slipping the orb back into my pocket. "But talking about magic, I finished what you gave me, and I need more."
It took a few moments for him to change gears from resigned acceptance of my point to curiosity over my completion of the curriculum he'd given me.
"Everything?" He questioned, and at my nod, he got up and moved towards his bookcase. "And what do you want to learn more about?"
"After here, I'll be spending six months in a new world, so I'll need enough material to occupy myself for that long in case there's no standardized magic there," I said before pulling out a piece of paper from my pocket and handing it to him. "But I did make a list of things I'd like to learn. There's a lot of stuff in the books you gave me only reference in passing, and some others I got from observation."
He immediately stopped once he saw the list, turning to me with a raised eyebrow, "Really? 'ACTUAL COMBAT MAGIC'?"
I shrugged, "I fought with a Heretic God while I was home, he didn't seem particularly impressed with the offensive capabilities of the Hogwarts curriculum."
"And how did you win?" He asked curiously.
"Luck. So, can you get me those?" I said, pointing at the list.
He eyed me for a moment before saying, "Most of these shouldn't be a problem, although some I'll need to be, convincing, to get my hands on." He said, accepting the change of subject.
"Will this help?" I asked, pulling out a small bar of gold from my pocket and leaving it on the table.
"And why do you have what looks like a half-kilo gold bar on you?" He asked.
"I needed something with value to have on me as spending money, and gold is gold whenever you are, so I hopefully will be able to use it in other worlds too," I said, remembering the big pile of 1oz and the couple dozen half-kilo gold bars I divided between my expanded pockets while back home.
"Oh, That reminds me! Do you know a way to link multiple pockets with Undetectable Expansion charms together?" I asked. "I know it'd involve the Protean, but I wanted to get that done before I leave here and some direction would be appreciated."
Severus looked back at his bookshelf, carefully searching through the titles before sighing and sitting back down.
He grabbed a piece of parchment and quickly wrote a few names and titles on it.
"Here, these titles should have what you're looking for, they're all in the library the last I checked," he said, handing the paper to me. "This should occupy your and Luna's time before you leave, so hopefully you'll focus on that instead of getting, distracted," he finished with a barely concealed disgusted look on his face.
"Thanks Sev! I'll be sure to do that!" I answered in a chirpy tone to aggravate him more while leaving.
As I walked away, I wondered what it'd take for him to loosen up a little. He could be nice when it was just us and Xeno, and I knew that he could be downright soft when he was alone with Luna in their training sessions. But from that interaction, I gathered he loathed romance anywhere near him.
"Hmm, maybe I should try to get him a girlfriend?" I wondered out loud, again ignoring the weird presence watching me on and off while at Hogwarts I had been feeling ever since the day after the Ball, although this time I could feel an echo of the Veil's presence within it.
With a shrug, I decided to ignore it in favor of wondering what kind of woman would do as a nice match for Severus.
The next few days were consumed with a flurry of research, of which Luna was more than happy to join and rope in her friends into helping.
Ginny and Neville weren't particularly great at it, and while Fleur and the other Beauxbatons girls were very helpful, they spent most of the time focusing on other subjects.
Hermione was the standout, once she heard from Ginny what we were doing she immediately set out to outdo everyone in the group.
Obviously, she failed. The Beauxbatons students because they were all part of the cream of the crop of seventh-year students of their school, Luna because she came at it from different and unexpected angles, and me because, well, me.
She still made a valiant effort for someone who, out of the entire group, only really got along with Ginny and Neville. Although I could see a sort of friendly rivalry forming between her and Luna as time went on.
It still took until just a day before my cooldown's end for us to find something that worked, the Protean charm left by the wayside on the first day due to its main function being one of mirroring instead of actual connection.
I'd like to say that the New Year's celebration was just as magical as the Ball, but the standard non-magical Brazilian party was better. The only real thing to write home about of this one was the fact it was the first time I spent the New Year with a girlfriend by my side.
But with everything set, I dumped everything I could into my new, interconnected pockets and got ready to spend my last day there relaxing and enjoying Luna's company.
It was just after dinner the next day when I apparated with Severus and Luna to the Lovegood home.
I had checked in on Ollivander early in the morning to see if he had any wand ready only to be told to come back in a few months after he had the time to 'properly familiarize himself with the materials to do them justice'.
After that, I had a nice day having little dates with Luna at every opportunity.
But it was time to go, Severus had already given me my new study material and I only needed to grab a few odds and ends that I left in my room for me to be ready.
A few minutes later, after I had everything in order, Severus pulled me aside and spoke in a severe, if hushed, tone.
"Alex," he started, staring deep into my eyes as if judging me. "I've been debating with myself if I should give you this, and I decided that, as long as you swear to follow all of the precautions and take all the warnings to heart, I'd allow you to have it."
He slowly took a small, black notebook from his inner robe pocket.
"What is that?" I curiously asked, wondering what could have Severus so on edge.
"This, is a copy of all of my notes into Dark Magic, and how to not be consumed by it," he said.
I made a move to take it, but he pulled it away, raising an eyebrow at my mindlessness.
"Right, sorry, I swear I'll follow all of your instructions to the letter," I said and extended my hand, waiting for him to hand it to me.
"Truly? Do you understand what could happen if you fell too deep into it?" He asked, his tone turning nasty. "Normal men who fall to it murder and rape, they dominate minds and desecrate the dead, they start wars and commit genocide. Now tell me, what would happen if a Campione had the same temperament? What levels of horror and depravedness they could visit upon the world? Or worlds, in your case?"
I dry swallowed as I thought about me, or any one of my siblings really, falling into the darkness of this kind of magic, horrifying didn't even begin to describe it. The closest one to "dark" between us was Voban, and even though I hadn't met him personally yet, the picture I had of him was more of an egotistical asshole than someone out to cause suffering for its own sake.
Staring back at Severus, I gave him a firm nod, and he finally let me have to book.
"Do not let this out of your sight, keep it always on your person, and don't tell, much less teach, anyone else about its contents," were Severus' last words before turning away and joining back with the others.
"Sure, drop this on my head just as I'm leaving," I muttered as I followed after him.
Shaking those thoughts off, I say my goodbyes to Xeno and Severus before facing Luna.
"So, this is it, huh?" She said, looking down at her feet.
"It's just a few months, soon enough we'll be back together, you won't even notice," I said, putting a finger on her chin and gently raising her head to face me.
"Do you really believe that?" She asked, staring at my eyes as if searching for something.
"No, I'll be absolutely miserable the entire time," was my honest reply.
"Me too," she said, diverting her eyes to the side.
"Hey, don't worry, we'll see each other again on your Summer break, and in the meantime, we'll still be able to feel each other," I said, my hand instinctively taking hold of the locket underneath my shirt.
"We will, won't we?" She said, taking hold of her own locket and looking back at me with a small smile.
I gave her a soft kiss that felt more like a promise before looking back at the men and saying, "Take care, everyone! And until Summer!"
With that, I faced the front door of the Loveggod home, my incantation starting.
"This is the Doorway that heralds all of the beginnings! Who's opening brings forth the new era! Open! Heavenly Doorway of Transmigration!"
I opened the door and, just as I was about to step through it, I heard Luna call.
"Alex!" I turned toward her voice in time to be caught in a scorching hot kiss so full of need and want that I almost lost myself completely.
But good things always came to an end, and as we separated, Luna gasping for breath and me fighting off the desire to just take her with me, I gave her one last hug and sent a distracted wave to Xeno and Severus before quickly stepping through and closing the door behind me.
"That's my boy!" My father cheered while my mom shook her head in disapproval and Doni just gave me a thumbs up from his place on the dining room table.
With a groan, I wondered if I should create a spell to have the ground open up and swallow me.
A/N: And that's that for the Yule Ball arc, now it's time to kick things up a notch!
Like my writing? Want to be able to read a full four chapters ahead? Then check me out on P a treon . com (slash) NickKane.
As always, thank you all for your support, and see ya soon!