FOR SERVICES RENDERED

They had to vanish the cage to get Farid out of it. Severus had held the sobbing boy and caressed him and carried him gently back to the castle, held tight in his arms, he was pale and trembling in the moonlight, bled of all colour by the night.

He took him to his chambers and lay him down on the bed.

“Oh God” he whispered into Farid’s hair, his cheek pressed tight against the boy’s, feeling the roughness from where the earlier tears had dried, feeling the moisture from where the new ones flowed, “I thought I had lost you,” he whispered, “I thought you had gone.”

“M’sorry,” Farid murmured, “M’sorry Masteerr, the evil man hurt dyou? I saw it, I feels it!”

“I’m okay my love, feel me, touch me, see for yourself.”

He guided Farid’s hands over his face let him explore, and all the while he was undressing the boy, almost frantically searching him to make sure he was unharmed. When he was finally naked, he ran his hands over the boy’s silken skin, rejoicing in the feel of him. He turned the boy over and began to explore his back, his legs, his arse. Running his fingers along the cleft, pushing gently into the anus.

“I need to be inside you Farid, are you okay with this?” He growled huskily, voice filled with need

Farid barely had time to nod before Severus was buried deep inside him pinning him to the mattress. It was animalistic, the sex. Severus pounding into the boy, possessing him, marking him as belonging to Severus, all the worry all the desperation that Severus had felt came out now as he fucked, the boy hard, driving into him, until he came, hard with a shout that was almost primeval in its intensity, long and low and deep.

He fell forward onto the boy then with a groan, his softening cock still buried in the slave’s arse. Severus was sobbing.

“I thought I had lost you, I thought you were gone.”

He turned Farid over, to see the sadness, the fear in the boy’s eyes. Farid had not come he realised, Severus had not told him to be hard, so he had not been. He was still sat astride the boy, pinning him down straddling him.

“I was so worried,” he sobbed, “so frightened!”

“M’sorry, “Farid repeated, and he reached up to Severus and stroked his face gently and said. “Farid was frighted too Masteerr.”

Then he was holding his master in his arms as the weeping man clutched him tight, buried into him and sobbed as though he were a child.

“Farid was frighted too."

The next morning the boy was very subdued, what he was thinking Severus could not guess. He followed him to breakfast at his usual two paces behind his master. He sat beside him at the staff table ate perfectly, just the way Severus had been teaching him and then he followed him again to the headmaster’s office where the gargoyle guarding the entrance just leapt aside as they approached with out Severus having to speak a word.

Albus was waiting for them. He had not been down to breakfast, he looked tired but at the same time strangely elated. They both sat in the cosy seating area next to the big stone fireplace in the corner of Albus’ office. Farid sat stiffly, back straight not leaning against the cushions as Severus was, his chin was tilted slightly and he met Albus’ stare without turning away or flinching.

“I vant to ask dyou something Alboos Grey Beard” he said with no more ado. “I vant to ask dyou aboot the evil one, and why my master serve him and what dyou vant from me. I need dyou to tell me about all that is chappened, I no speak English well is only sing, I not stupid fool. Ve will speak English if okay, and dyou can maybe tell me in Kazakh if I no understand?”

Severus was astonished; the boy had just addressed one of the most powerful wizards of the age as if they had just met at a polite cocktail party he was completely unfazed by Albus, Severus could see and he obviously felt that he needed to know more about the situation in which he found himself, and it looked to Severus that Farid was not planning on leaving until the had told him about Voldemort, Severus caught Albus’ eye and realised that the old wizard was as astonished as he was, probably more so as he had never seen glimpses of Farid’s inner strength, whereas Severus had.

So Albus took a deep breath and explained, he told Farid, all about the rise of Tom Riddle, the death of a child in the Chamber of Secrets, about Voldemort, how powerful he was, how he had created the Horcruxes and how Severus had joined him, Severus was worried about how Farid would react to the fact that he had once been a true death eater rather than a spy but when he gained enough courage to look at the boy he saw that his face was impassive as he concentrated hard on what Albus was telling him.

“I see that Voldemort is evil and dyou must defeat chim,” Farid said stumbling just a little over the long word, “and that moost mean that sometimes dyou moost do sings that dyou not like to jo. Dyou need to break these” But why jo dyou need cHarry Potter, vhat is chosen von mean?”

Albus was speechless. He had been giving Farid, just enough information and no more, but the boy wanted to know everything that he could, he was obviously shrewd, no one in Severus memory had ever sat with Albus before like this and demanded the truth in such a quiet but firm way Albus had underestimated him, they had all underestimated his intelligence, from last night, from little things that had been happening over the last few days he had come up with pieces of a puzzle and he was obviously determined to solve it. The silence stretched between them, Albus obviously trying to decide how much he could tell the boy.

“Alboos Grey Beard, dyou need me to break the Horcruxes, I vill break them but dyou moost tell me all I need, I vill not be used. Nor my Master.”

Severus nearly fell out of his chair.

He should have known, he really should. The young man sitting in front of him was not the sweet passive Farid that they had all come to know. This was the Farid that had stood up to Yusuf’s torture, had chosen to be tortured rather than be turned and lose his soul, this was the man who had saved them from werewolves and had survived ten years of unimaginable cruelty, and who had somehow managed to do all that with his goodness and generosity intact. He did not know what Farid would do if Dumbledore refused to tell him, but he had also heard that subtle defence of himself and determined that he would support him.

But Albus obviously decided that he did indeed need Farid’s skills and that he was going to tell him everything, because he launched into Harry’s story. He told Farid absolutely everything, because it was obvious that the young man would accept no less. Never had Albus been so frank, even with him, he told Farid about the prophecy, how it had been made and how they had told Voldemort just part of it, hoping that he would indeed “mark his equal”, he told him how Severus had already been a spy by then and had just given Voldemort enough of the prophecy so that he would act, they had not realised that he would be so vicious and kill in the way that he had.

But at least the little boy had been saved and placed with loving relatives, who had for his own good sent him to a family in the States, who had then in their turn apparently had him adopted by someone else. Severus who was watching Farid carefully was surprised to see tears spring into Farid’s eyes when Dumbledore spoke of the death of the Potters. This was the boy they were looking for, Dumbledore continued, he had a lightening bolt scar on his forehead where the killing curse had struck him, but he had survived, he was the only person ever to have survived such a thing. He was the only one who could kill Voldemort, but first, first they needed to destroy the Horcruxes.

Farid looked up as Albus finished talking, for the last wee while he had been staring at his lap and a single tear had made its way from the corner of his eye and was working its way down his cheek, he quickly brushed it aside and met Albus’ gaze coolly.

Severus was amazed by how well Farid had understood what was being said, once or twice he had stopped Albus and asked something in rapid Kazakh, but mostly he had seemed to understand, Severus was impressed at how far Farid had come in English in the short time he had been with him, but he supposed the boy had spoken English up until the age of eight, so perhaps it was a combination of learning and remembering?

“I vill break two today, jes? I vill be mooch tired, sen and can sleep jes?”

Albus agreed that that would be okay, and he brought over two of the objects that Farid had identified the previous night, even though he had not known them to be Horcruxes then and Farid closed his eyes and concentrated hard, he raised his hands so that they were at opposite ends of the tray on which the objects were displayed, palms downwards. First one object rose and then the other and slowly at first and then faster and faster they began to spin. One was a locket heavy, ornate, the other a small mirror carved with a stylised bird. They began to glow orange, then red, then a bright, purifying white. So fast were they spinning now that they began to hum until suddenly the light seemed to explode from them throwing Severus and Albus backwards into the cushions of the furniture on which they were sitting. Farid did not move, instead he gazed steadily at them and said, “It is done,” before slumping in a dead faint.

Farid had slept for all of the rest of the morning and much of the afternoon.

And now the students were arriving.

When Farid had awoken, Albus and he had explained to the boy why it was important that his slavery be kept a secret, it would jeopardise Severus position, if Voldemort knew about Farid, he would want him for himself and Severus would never allow that, but their were spies in the school, the children of death eaters who would report back if they were not careful, they told him that he should call Severus sir in public, but that they were free to do whatever they wished in private but that no one must know.

Then Albus had commented about how Sirius and Remus had tracked down the house in which the Potter child was supposed to be living, but that the boy was away till the end of the week and then he and Albus had had yet another furious row about Harry and Severus had said dreadful things about how the boy would come in, lord it over them all and probably be as spoilt and as useless as his father and when Severus had turned to Farid to drag him from the room he was surprised to see tears in his eyes again, but suspected that Potter’s story had touched him, but he did not know the family like Severus did, and Severus promised himself that he would not let Farid be treated by the son as he had been treated by the father and together they made their way downstairs to meet the new arrivals

Farid stood with professor McGonagall and a host of small children who he had been told were the first years, Albus was explaining about him, and how he had been rescued from the vampires, he did not say what had happened to Farid, merely that he had been found to be magical and was joining the school as an apprentice for the final year.

One by one the small children made their way forward to sit under the hat, some of them were scared, one or two were crying and Farid bent down and comforted them, telling them that they would be fine, that no one would harm them until finally, when they had all been sorted it was Farid’s turn.

It was so hard for him to walk to the front of the hall. To be surrounded by so many people, more people than he had ever seen in his entire life that he could remember. And they were children too. Farid had not known many children in his life, he knew they broke easily the only ones that had come to the castle had died quickly, that he knew. But these children would not hurt him; they just looked at him and whispered to each other about him.

Finally after what seemed forever he reached the little stool and sat down. The day had been a very strange one for Farid. He had found the answers to many of his questions. He knew now that his master was indeed the good man Farid had thought him to be, to spy like that, to be in the enemy camp like that took courage and he could admire that. He felt angry with Albus Grey Beard though, for what had happened to his parents, they had been in the way, of someone else’s war and they had died, and Farid knew that if they had not died, his life would have been very different indeed.

He wondered what he would have been like if he had grown up as a loved child rather than a hated one, and then an abused slave. From Albus’ description his parents had been good people and had seemed not to be all bad, so Farid could not fully understand why his master hated his father, but that he did hate Farid’s father was apparent from the argument Master and Albus had had later in the day. Farid was determined that he would have to find out more, because if Harry Potter was the only one who could defeat the evil wizard that meant that he Farid had to do it and he was not sure how he felt about that at all.

A hat was placed on his head, an old raggedy hat, that seemed to be falling to pieces and Farid jumped violently when it spoke in his head, clearly so that he could understand every word and did not have to struggle or concentrate very hard.

“Oh my goodness,” said the hat, “What do we have here? You are quite old to be sorted are you not, and my goodness what a lot of secrets you hold. Half our world is looking for you is it not Mr Potter?”

Farid was ready to rip the hat from his head but it chuckled at him

“Don’t worry, child, your secret is safe with me, if they cannot see what is under their noses these clever wizards I’ll not tell them, it is your secret to share when you are ready to share it!”

But where to place you hhmmm? I think you have one of the most interesting minds I have ever seen, oh and what a heart! You are loyal, loyal to a fault you would sacrifice yourself in a moment for the ones you love. And you have a very good mind, bright and enquiring, merely unschooled. You are very cunning too, you could not have survived with out being a genius at hiding your secrets, you would do very well indeed in the house of the snake, it would be an easy decision Mr Potter were it not for one thing, I think you are the bravest child I have ever met, you have such courage and love, the heart of a lion. It had better be...

Gyffindor!”

The hall erupted in a chorus of whispers and comments and when Farid, looked back at the teacher's table all of them, including Albus looked suprised, but his master? Why Master's face was frozen in shock and Farid wondered why this should be.