One wish alone have I

Chapter 7
Life is made of choices... so is afterlife


I let out a muffled scream and struggled to free myself, but a second hand gently squeezed my hip and a familiar voice whispered in my ear:

“I come here for a routine check and look what I find! A Lady in desperate need for my attentions! Well… rather a naughty, very naughty little spy in need for some company, if you allow me to be more blunt.”

I felt a wave of heat flushing my cheeks and I giggled, recognizing my faithful friend, Ivantie.

“I am sorry if I had to muzzle you, sweetheart, but I feared that my arrival would startle you too much and disrupt the show… I will remove my hand if you promise to be quiet!”

I grabbed his hand and removed it from my face, then turned and wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Ivantie! You scared me for a second, there! Couldn’t you knock?” I whispered in his ear, still giggling from the surprise and joy of his arrival.

“I never knock when I come to find you, Antanasia… it usually proves to have most interesting consequences!” he answered, mischievously.

“What are you doing here anyway?”

“We had agreed to meet before dawn, near the fountain in the garden, remember? Valerica and I waited for a while, then I suggested going back to the castle and looking for you. Valerica had a strange smile when she told me to go without her, but I can very well see now what prompted her reaction.”

“Do not let me keep you from Valerica, Ivan, I do not want to disrupt your plans for the night.”

“Don’t be silly… Valerica and I both know that we can always create opportunities if we need each other. To be honest, I think she set her eyes on an elder from Eliska’s clan and did not have any plan concerning me… at least for tonight,” he explained, stroking my back.

“I see…” I simply replied, abandoning myself to his wonderfully reassuring touch.

“So… as it appears, it is I who interrupted your plans for the night… you seemed quite absorbed in your task when I came in,” he continued, making me turn and face the mirror again. “Let’s see what we have there… hum… it seems like a group of merry people! Why don’t we observe them for a while? Don’t you think it would be interesting?”

“Indeed…” I said, leaning back against the warmth of his body.

“And while we do, why don’t we start a little party of our own?” he suggested.

“What do you have in mind?” I whispered, breathing a bit faster with anticipation.

“It depends on you, Tasia…” he murmured in my ear, nibbling its lobe.

“Really? All depends on me?” I teased.

“Ah, but I would not be Ivantie the gracious gift if I did not let you lead that kind of dance!”

“Ha! Don’t be such a childe, Ivan! I think it is quite the contrary principle that gave you your name!”

“If you prefer it rough, I can very well accommodate you!” he retorted, biting my ear and brusquely pulling my hips towards his in a tight embrace.

I groaned with the sudden rush of desire that submerged my whole body, but replied:

“That would certainly be very pleasurable, Ivan, but I think I will take it the soft way, tonight. You see, Professor Snape’s lecture is about taking one’s time for that type of things… Cami and Catalina seem to enjoy the lesson greatly; why don’t we follow their example?”

“You are taking lessons from Snape, now?” he asked, mockingly.

“Why not? He gave me quite a few since his arrival. Plus there is the fact that I prefer to wear that dress “unripped”, if you know what I mean…”

“Oh come on, I don’t rip off your clothes each time, do I?”

“You have ruined quite a few of my favourite outfits, especially last time!”

“When was that again?” he asked, in a more serious tone, burying the tip of his nose into the curls above my ear.

“Oh, I don’t remember precisely… before Arnaud… far, far too long ago anyway…”

My voice narrowed to a whisper as I stepped back and pressed my bottom against his crotch, which welcomed my touch with a slight throb.

Ivantie first wrapped both of his powerful arms around my waist and torso and held me tight for long minutes. I had longed for a lover’s warmth and touch so badly and for so many years! That simple hug, seemingly friendly but carrying all the desire we both felt for each other, was so intense that it moved me to tears. Ivantie, as always on the watch for my emotions, felt my distress and murmured into my ear, rocking me from left to right:

“There, there my love… let it roll on your cheeks, out of your heart… I’m here…”

“Thank you for being there… as always… you’re so precious to me…” I whispered, between discreet sobs.

I turned back and pressed my lips against his, enjoying the wonderfully silky yet manly touch of his goatee against my chin and mouth. He let out a moan and grabbed one of my cheeks when my tongue found its way through his lips and met his. My kisses became more voracious and intense as I ran my fingers through his smooth curls, scratching my fingernails gently against his scalp and nudging my thigh between his legs in insisting and sensuous moves. After a while, we were both out of breath and burning with desire, but he stopped me.

“You little tigress! Don’t you think you should focus on more important things?” he said, as mischievously as ever.

“Such as?”

“Well, we’re missing all the show back there!” he exclaimed, while turning me back towards the mirror. “You were pretty concentrated when I arrived and I do not want you to miss too much of what seemed to be totally fascinating. Just keep watching, I’ll do the rest. Deal?”

“What about you? I want to take care of you as well…” I said, reaching for his trousers buttons.

“Kochana, don’t worry about such things! I am here to take care of you… Ivantie… gracious gift… remember?” he said, with a childish fake arrogance.

“Chucker yer alwus \'av ter brag aboyt dat wan, yer silly fella?” I naughtily exclaimed, surprised by my spontaneous accent.

“Ah, now we’re getting there, aren’t we? Now, woman, stop arguing and just watch, will you?” he said, very pleased with himself.

Laughing quietly, I resumed my position in front of the mirror. Professor Snape was still being very well taken care of. Cami had joined Catalina at his feet and, from what I saw, she was greedily licking his scrotum while Catalina still massaged his splendidly swollen member with her lips and tongue. I heard him let out a deep groan when Catalina simply flicked the tip of her tongue on his glans, giving some room to Cami who sucked both of his balls into her mouth. I must admit that he looked amazingly powerful and dominant, standing like this in front of these two beautiful cainites doing their best to pleasure him, each of his hands buried in their curls while his fathomless dark eyes protectively surveyed their efforts.

My hand quickly found its way back into my knickers. Ivantie stepped close behind me and gradually lifted my dress above my hips, exposing my legs. He caressed and massaged my rear with one hand, while he expertly untied the laces of my corset, in my back. I enjoyed the feeling of being slowly undressed by these wonderfully warm hands and secretly hoped that the wizard would be able to keep himself from coming too soon. I did not want to rush anything.

As Ivantie fully opened my corset and passed it over my head and arms, things changed a little on the other side of the mirror. As if the wizard had heard my silent wish, he seemed to feel the need to take a small pause. He removed his length from Catalina’s mouth and kneeled on the floor next to Cami. Addressing Catalina, he said, with a perfectly controlled voice:

“Thank you my dear, this was most pleasurable. I had no doubt that you could easily meet higher standards if you really put some will into it. Now, I think that you deserve some personal attention, don’t you think?”

“Oh yes, Professor, I do…” she said, leaning back on her armchair, expecting him to give her the honours he had given Cami.

“Good. I am sure that Cami can accommodate you very well… she has the knack to anticipate other women’s needs…”

“Wouldn’t you say so?” said his voice, teasingly vibrant in my ear.

I startled and gasped.

“Oops, sorry! I always forget that you’re so ticklish on that spot,” said Ivantie, pressing his hand harder on my waist.

“No, not that,” I hissed. “He’s doing it again!”

“Who is doing what again?” he asked, puzzled.

“Snape! He just came into my mind and said something!”

“The filthy bastard! Doesn’t he have enough of two women to occupy him? I’m afraid that I will not accept to share you, tonight. No way!”

He wrapped his arms around me again and, in a long caress, he put his hand on my throat, lifting my chin. He passionately kissed the side of my neck and with his free hand, he possessively grabbed one of my exposed breasts. I gasped again, as pleasure got mixed with surprise. He squeezed one of my nipples between his fingers and kneaded my breast. I could fully feel the extent of his excitement when the hardening lump in his trousers came against the thin fabric of my knickers. For several minutes, he did reach his goal and my attention totally turned away from the wizard, but soon enough, my curiosity won the fight and I snapped my eyes open.

Snape had sit back in his armchair and he watched what was a very talented performance, next to him. Cami had swooped down on Catalina’s pussy and covered it completely with her mouth. Catalina stroked Cami’s hair, arching her back to welcome her mouth a little more intensely. Snape did not touch himself; he simply sat in his armchair and watched, legs crossed. The expression on his face looked serious, to the point of being indifferent, but his hardness, emerging proudly from his crossed legs, betrayed his interest. From time to time, I heard him guide Cami, telling her to go faster, slower, to tickle this or that area with this or that part of her mouth. Catalina soon started to moan, swaying her hips in jerkier moves under Cami’s lips.

On our side of the mirror, things were getting more naughty. In his efforts to jealously possess me completely, Ivantie had sat on the floor, between my legs, and buried his nose against the warmest part of my knickers.

“Mmmmh… you seem to have paid a lot of attention to Professor Snape’s lesson indeed!”

A long shiver ran down my spine as he slowly drew large circles with his nose, creaming me all over with my own lust. He grabbed my flesh between his lips through the fabric and I felt the tip of his nose pushing against my nub. His posture made him really active and present, but left me totally free to focus on the group of people in front of me.

As the wizard got up and walked behind Catalina, Ivantie gently pulled my knickers down with his teeth. I trembled in anticipation of his next move, yet did not detach my eyes from Snape. He took his shaft in his hands and teased Catalina’s mouth with it, sometimes caressing her lips with his glans, sometimes slapping her cheek with it when she tried to take it into her mouth. That little game continued for a few minutes, long enough for me to step out of my knickers, which were a shapeless rolled bundle around my ankles. Ivantie’s hands were working their way up my inner thighs when Catalina said:

“Please, Sir, may take you into my mouth again?”

“Do you think you deserve it now?”

“Yes! Yes, I do! Please give it to me…”

“I don’t think so… but I can give you this to ease a little bit of tension.”

He gently caressed her lips with two fingers, which she eagerly took into her mouth. He let her suck his fingers for a while, then took them out and spread her own saliva on her nipple, which became hard and sensitive to his touch. He eventually abandoned her mouth to concentrate his attention on her bosom. He kneaded her breasts restlessly, varying his rhythm, until her moans turned to a distinct plea.

“I want more… give me more, Sir!”

Ivantie’s thumbs were dwelling around my most sensitive parts, intentionally delaying his bolder moves until things would get even more intense in the dungeon. And they did… On the wizard’s request, Cami conjured a large blanket on the ground, pretty similar to the one I had conjured myself. He gently took her hand and motioned her to follow him to the blanket. Still holding her hand, he laid on his back and made her kneel over him. I stopped breathing when Ivantie started to run his tongue between my labia, imitating Snape’s member that was stroking Cami’s wetness, probing her entrance very carefully. I gave out a loud moan when Ivantie’s fingers slid into me, but Cami’s scream muffled it. The wizard had rammed himself inside her, with one powerful move of his hips. When he saw that she was taking his length with quite an obvious enjoyment, he motioned Catalina to come to him,

“Come here, my dear. I do not see why Cami should be the only one to taste you…”

She quickly obeyed and lowered herself over his mouth. Similarly, Ivantie pressed his lips against my pussy and flickered his tongue randomly all over it. The manoeuvre seemed quite frustrating at first, but it soon obliged me to drive more attention to what he was doing. I felt pleasure burn its way from the fiery warmth of his mouth to the depths of my intimacy, which were gradually stretching and widening to welcome him better later. All my senses were on alert. His fingers, moving in and out of me, reproducing Snape’s thrusts into Cami; his sensual mouth, sucking, licking, massaging my flesh like Snape’s mouth was steadily bringing Catalina to the edge.

My legs started to shake; Ivantie was lightly moving his fingers deep inside me, making little circles. I felt my climax approaching and feared I might collapse on him when I would reach it. I leaned forward on the mirror, swaying my hips back and forth to increase the intensity of Ivantie’s touch. Feeling my impatience, he accelerated his moves, alternating his fingers with his hot tongue inside of me, then flickered hard on my fully swollen nub. I am not sure if it was that or the sight of Catalina grabbing Snape’s hair and brusquely tilting her head back in a long scream, but a first orgasm overflowed my whole body. Still conscious of the proximity of the group behind the mirror and about my fear of falling down, I only let a muffled moan through my clenched teeth. Nevertheless, it allowed me to fully focus inside of me and savour each and every spasm that shook my inner flesh.

When the last one hugged Ivantie’s fingers, he got to his feet, sliding against the mirror between my arms. He whispered, still softly moving his fingers inside of me:

“That makes 1-0 for me, Kochana!”

I chuckled and kissed him avidly, licking my own pleasure off his lips. With trembling hands, I quickly undid his silk tie, unbuttoned his shirt and trousers, and then threw them behind me, at the approximate location of the armchair I had conjured. I did the same with his underpants, then pressed myself against his nudity, moaning softly at the warm and oh so soft touch of his naked skin. He opened and lowered my skirt, which fell on the floor. I tossed it away with my feet and started to go down on him, but he stopped me.

“It would be too bad for you to miss the show, don’t you think?” he murmured, walking around me and pressing his firm body against my back. “Besides, I must confess that, after tasting that wondrously cooperative little pussy of yours, I cannot suffer any longer delay before I take you…”

His muscled hand ran up my back and imperatively pushed between my shoulder blades, making me bend forward. His fingers, caressing my skin from my shoulders down to my hips, made me shiver in anticipation. Seconds later, I felt the tip of his glans rubbing against my labia, spreading them apart, teasing my clit that was still avid for some more delight. I was still completely wet from my own excitement and Ivantie’s attentions, so it slid easily back and forth and pulled a few groans and whispers out of Ivantie’s mouth.

I knew that his tease was not only directed to me. He just loved to push himself to the very last limits of his patience and I always took on myself to test them whenever I could. One of my hands left the mirror and found his throbbing length. I slid my fingers along him, exploring his most sensitive spots, then slithered down the wet tips of my fingers and delicately grabbed his balls.

“Mmmh… these two are fully loaded, Ivantie… don’t you think that we should secure them before we go any further?”

“I’ll let you take care of that, Tasia… you always do it with such delicateness…”

I released my grip on his balls a bit and murmured the contraceptive spell. His warm breath came in deep and long whispers against my bare shoulders and neck as I massaged him, until he put his hand on the back of my neck and, in one long thrust, shoved his member inside of me.

In front of me, things were also wonderfully passionate. Catalina was on her hands and knees above Cami. Both were pleasing each other with their mouths. Snape was kneeled behind Catalina and fingered her fast and hard, nibbling on her butt cheeks. When he found himself satisfied with the state of her arousal, he quickly removed his fingers, grabbed her hips and rammed into her. She seemed surprised by the suddenness of the change, but rapidly found its advantages. I could hear her moans against Cami’s flesh, which turned out to be, after a while, incoherent words of appreciation about the wizard’s attentions.

Ivantie’s moves were fast, steady and deep, exactly like I needed them to be. I knew he could last a long time, despite his impatience, so I did not worry about his endurance. My fingers flickered over my clit as I watched how Cami pleasured both Catalina and Snape, lapping her flesh and his balls in long and intense licks. I saw him come near the edge, as he closed his eyes and groaned louder at each of Cami’s moves. Sweat started to pearl on his forehead, yet he held on. He even, to my great delight, took his length out of Catalina’s wetness and shoved it into Cami’s mouth. He alternated for a while between the tight warmth of a mouth and the throbbing wetness of a pussy, seemingly unable to choose which one would receive his seed. Finally, he asked Catalina to turn, so both women would face him. They eagerly licked his member and balls, while he stroked himself vigorously. Grabbing Catalina’s hair, he ultimately let out a long, deep groan of satisfaction as his sperm splashed both their faces and tongues with long spurts.

That was too much for me to watch. My fingers moving frantically over my nub and Ivantie’s hardness pounding me as intensely, I gave in to a second orgasm. Ivantie barely had time to clasp my mouth again with one of his hands before I let out uncontrollable screams of pleasure. He kept his hand over my mouth, increasing the speed and deepness of his thrusts. He pulled my head towards his mouth, making me arch my back and offer my breasts even more to his other hand. Slightly out of breath, he whispered, very tenderly:

“I do not want to ask you too much… but would you let me Kiss you, Kochana?”

“Of course… that will be an honour…” I replied, deeply moved by his request.

An instant later, I felt Ivantie’s fangs pierce the sensitive skin of my neck. It did not hurt at all; Ivantie perfectly knew what he was doing and had blocked all possible pain from the act before he performed it. For that instant when he drank a little bit of my soul, I felt totally united to him, in perfect communion with every single fibre of his being. I clutched his hips with my nails, feeling his last thrusts, and moaned softly in concert with him as he throbbed and spurt his semen inside of me.

We stayed like this for an eternity. I had not practiced the Diablerie often with another cainite. In fact, the only one I had trusted enough to do that was Ivantie and no one else. I knew that, in his case, the act went beyond mere feeding; it was his ultimate demonstration of love and respect. Holding me in his powerful arms, he slowly licked the last few drops of blood that were left around the wound, magically stopping the bleeding.

I started to shiver, as the morning freshness gradually crawled all over our sweaty bodies. Ivantie and I reached for our clothes and got dressed. He was really splendid with his ruffled hair and his partially buttoned shirt that gave me a glimpse of his muscled chest. Not to mention the complete happiness shining through every of his features as he looked at me struggling with my corset. He finally said, still smiling:

“Here, take my coat. You won’t need to look very formal where we’re going.”

I waited for Cami and Catalina’s departure, comfortably wrapped in Ivantie’s coat and smell. They did not linger in the dungeon. They were fully dressed when I eventually turned my glance towards the mirror. The blanket had already vanished. After briefly kissing Snape goodbye, they left. I felt bad for them, in a way. They had apparently had a very good time, but I knew that their coffins would feel terribly empty, during the day and the following evening. Snape’s polite, though very reserved goodbye kisses were certainly not going to make things better.

Ivantie effortlessly lifted me in his arms and carried me to his resting room. After a long shower, we both curled up in his coffin, which was, as one would expect, perfectly roomy enough for two. Yawning, he held me close to him and asked:

“Why is it that you were spying on them in the first place?”

“I hoped that Snape’s Occlumency skills would be considerably affected by Cami and Catalina’s attentions. I counted on that to probe his memories a little bit easier.”

“And? Did it work?”

“Who cares…” I said, intertwining his fingers with mine and pressing his hand against my chest before we drifted to sleep.

************

When I saw it fly by the dining room’s window, I knew. That owl just had an ominous look on its feathery face; it was bringing bad news to the castle. That is something you easily feel when you sense the smell of an imminent change in the wind, when you feel its vibrations in the water of the rivers. Change is what indeed flew in Zaharia, on a moody rainy evening, clutched in an owl’s claws.

It was nearly a week after the steamy morning I had spent in the observation room. I had not visited Professor Snape since, because I wanted him to marinate in his solitude for a while before he would see me. I certainly did not want to give him the impression that I would run to him right after my friends had given him such attention. And there was still a mystery floating around that thing he had said, about me knowing personally about Cami’s capacities as a lover. I dreaded his questions and did not want to spoil the peaceful and fulfilling sentiment that had filled my heart since that morning.

I intentionally spent more time in my lab, invoking an increased workload. It was not entirely false: the Veritaserum was reaching its very last stages of preparation and I had to keep a close watch on the potion. Snape’s revolving fires helped a great deal, though, to my regret. His generous tips were making me make one of the most redoubtable Veritaserum I had ever concocted in my afterlife.

Nevertheless, I had one last hope about getting the wizard to speak on his own initiative. We were on the evening of September 1st and I knew it was Hogwarts’ very first day of the new school year. I was astonished that Professor Dumbledore had not sent anyone to the castle yet to retrieve his Potions Master before classes would begin. I counted on that, plus, maybe, the fact that he would miss his life as a teacher, to soften his resistance. That is why I had planned my next visit on that night.

We were all sitting at the dining room table for a casual everynight meal when the dark owl landed on the service table, right on the china tureen’s cover, after dropping the rolled piece of parchment in Marilena’s extended hands. She broke the seal and read the letter. I first saw surprise raise her eyebrows, but they soon lowered in a sinister frown. I craved to know the content of the letter, yet did not dare to penetrate Marilena’s mind. That was a lack of respect that she did not easily forgive.

She angrily rolled the parchment and put it in her pocket. Rising from her seat, she addressed us with these words:

“My friends, I have received most disturbing news from Hungary. I will need to leave you to write a proper answer, which is urgently needed. Antanasia, Niculaie, you’re with me.”

We both followed her out of the dining room, while the owl flew along, on her right side. The answer was urgently needed indeed. Marilena led us to a formal meeting room. It was located in the highest turret of the castle and faced the southern cliff. Technically, the view was as splendid as in Marilena’s resting room, but I have never liked its gloomy atmosphere. It was decorated with Horatiu and Marilena’s war trophies; various arms, from different species, collected through many centuries of conflicts and battles. With the proper magical skills, one could still perceive bribes of the events that surrounded these objects. They were not happy ones, as you can imagine. At times when my skills were particularly strong, I could even hear screams of excruciating pain, and not always from adult mouths, to my distress. Marilena had even started a collection of portraits of her ancient enemies, most of which had been killed by her own hands. She said it was an excellent reminder for her to keep watching her back.

When we entered the room, some of the people in the portraits squeaked in fear and tried to escape; others looked at her with an expression of pure loathing on their face. Some of them, mostly cainites from ancient times, welcomed her with a respectful bow. Marilena never used that room during eras of peace. Our presence there was a sinister sign that something serious was going on, just as I had felt. Marilena sat at her desk, in the back of the room, and silently invited us to sit down in front of her. She reread the letter and sighed.

“I have chosen not to inform the whole castle yet of this letter’s content, because its deepest meaning and implications very much depend on our prisoner. This is a letter from Kerecsen. His castle has received, yesterday evening, a most peculiar visitor, by the name of McNair. Curiously, McNair is a wizard from England, just like our guest. With the particularity that, right from the start, he introduced himself as a Voldemort follower.”

“The guy’s got nerves!” exclaimed Niculaie.

“I would call that quite a lot of impudence too, Niculaie,” said Marilena patiently. “But at least, he put his cards on the table right from the beginning. That is not what disturbs me the most, however.”

“What was he doing there in the first place?” I asked.

“Precisely. What was he doing there? As far as I know, I am still the supreme leader of the Clan of Zaharia, and still commander of Zaharia’s army. Why did he address one of my vassals and why did he choose Kerecsen?”

“It might have been a random choice,” Niculaie suggested.

“How come?” I asked.

“Kerecsen’s allegiance to our Lady has been well-known and constant since the very first decades of his reign,” Niculaie explained. “He helped us a great deal during the last wars and keeps helping us right now by sending this information as soon as feasible. I think that tells us a great deal about his honesty.”

“From the outside, however, it could be seen as a strategic choice,” Marilena argued. “Kerecsen is the youngest elder at the head of a brood. Voldemort might have chosen him because he thought Kerecsen would be easier to convince.”

“Convince of what?” I inquired.

“Well, Kerecsen wrote me that McNair’s message was very straightforward. He asked Kerecsen to join Voldemort’s Death Eaters and fight at their side during the next wizard war.”

“What was Kerecsen’s answer?” Niculaie asked.

“He asked for a certain period of time to fully consider and weigh his offer,” Marilena replied. “Because as you can imagine, Voldemort’s request did not come without certain promises. Basically, he promised him his full support in the conquest of a greater territory, should he win the war and seize power in the British magical world.”

“What territory was he talking about?” Niculaie enquired, frowning suspiciously.

“All Western Europe, basically,” Marilena replied gravely.

“Surely Kerecsen did not believe such a nonsense!” I exclaimed. “That wizard is a megalomaniac!”

“The thing is, it was not such a nonsense at all, Antanasia. The treaty between Kerecsen and Voldemort implied that Kerecsen would recruit as many broods as he could to fight with him; the whole of Zaharia’s clan if possible. In the eventuality of his victory, a new treaty would be signed, concretising Voldemort’s alliance with all the cainite leaders who would have fought at his side.”

“But what about the new territories? Voldemort does not have control over them at all!” said Niculaie, who passed from suspicious to practical.

“He does not have control over them… yet. On that McNair was very formal. It is well known that since the very origins of our kind, Transylvania has always cradled the central source of power. With the expansion of the clan of Zaharia to all Romania and surrounding countries, it became even more obvious that we were the most powerful clan in all Europe, if not in all Eurasia, even if our alliances do not include all of these countries. They do give us the respect we deserve, for most of them, and that tells me a lot about our military reputation, at least.”

Marilena slightly exaggerated about the extent of our power when she spread it to the whole Eurasia. I did know of some clan leaders in China or India, to name only a few, who would have given our army quite a difficult time should we have declared war. But at least, she was totally right on one point. We did have their respect, which had kept them at a reasonable distance from our borders and had maintained good political relationships over the centuries. On the Western side, however, clans were scarce; they could be better qualified as broods and they were typically peaceful and less organized. Most of them could have been categorized as distant members of the greater Clan of Zaharia.

“Which makes me say,” Marilena continued, “that a conquest of Western Europe would be possible if Kerecsen, along with other broods in the clan, associated himself with Voldemort. His Death Eaters can be found beyond England, from what we know, so I am sure he would be able to send a lot of help –even personal help, according to McNair– in the process. From the way he has handled his conquest of British territory, I do see his military potential and we must not minimize it.”

“I agree,” said Niculaie.

“Still, what personal advantage would Kerecsen get from that alliance, supposing that everything goes according to plan?” I asked, still puzzled that Kerecsen would even take the time to consider Voldemort’s proposition.

“Power, of course. Kerecsen would gain control of select clans in Western Europe, along with the other brood leaders that would have joined him. The clans would be dispatched by merit, but McNair even said that it would be negotiable. In any case, that would give Kerecsen and the others the choice to free themselves from the Clan of Zaharia or it would simply give them enough power to influence the political decisions that are made here. In a word, he, along with many of those who could join him, would be able to threaten my sovereignty.”

An uneasy silence fell in the room, just like coldness invades everything around when night falls, in the winter. The strange vision I had seen when Severus Snape was approaching the castle on his hippogriff became clearer. I had indeed smelled blood and flesh because war was coming at our door. Niculaie and I looked at each other out of the corner of our eyes. We shared the same dark impression. He broke the silence first.

“My Lady, why did you inform us before the others?”

“As I said, the implications of Kerecsen’s message depend on our prisoner. Professor Snape has been sent by the Order, there is no doubt about that; Dumbledore personally announced his arrival. We are more or less certain that he is a Voldemort follower. The Mark seems authentic, he did not deny his allegiance to Voldemort, but he did not confirm it either. I want to know for sure. If Snape is Voldemort’s emissary, then McNair’s presence in Kerecsen’s castle is far less alarming. I would think that Voldemort merely wanted to check Zaharia’s alliance with the Order of the Phoenix before he made his proposition, which would explain Snape’s presence here. If Snape is not Voldemort’s messenger, then we have an internal hierarchy problem in the clan and I will have to take the proper actions.”

“Couldn’t you write to Dumbledore and ask him about that McNair’s presence in Kerecsen’s brood? He might have useful information to share about that,” I suggested.

“I could do that, it is true. But that would reveal Voldemort’s intentions towards my clan. Or at least towards some broods in my clan. Things might evolve in many ways, during the next few weeks. Dumbledore might pass from ally to enemy…” she answered, her mauve eyes shining with a mysterious glare as she looked at us.

“My Lady, are you telling us that…” I articulated, so astonished by the implication of her words that I did not even finish my sentence.

“I am considering all options. Dumbledore sent me a very strange emissary… An emissary who claimed his allegiance to the Order while hiding the Dark Mark under his sleeve. You will agree that he makes a very poor candidate for my trust and cooperation. In addition, Kerecsen’s letter does not end very well. McNair was heading towards Ukraine when he left his castle. I would not be surprised at all if, after Ukraine, his next target was Russia. He is probably going to them with the same offer. I am not foolish enough to believe that the Dark Lord would be so generous as to equally reward all the clans who fought with him. Even if he were, he would not have the means to respect his promises. If I take a chance with Dumbledore and the Russians accept Voldemort’s offer… I wonder what would happen should they have to dispute supremacy over Western Europe with, say, a few of the broods in my dismantled clan with me having chosen the wrong side.”

None of us said anything.

“But for now, Kerecsen told me that he would wait for my advice and I think that, for the moment, he is still obedient enough to do so. Nevertheless, I want to know what answers McNair will obtain from Russian clans. Kerecsen sent one of his guards to follow him, but I want to have a trustable source for that information. Niculaie, I will ask you to leave at once, find McNair, follow his progress and give me nightly reports.”

“I will do as you ask, my Lady,” he said, bowing his head respectfully.

“I will also ask you to fetch Iulian. I want him to go for an indefinite stay at Valerica’s castle, under any pretext he can find. Ask him to see if any suspect meetings or activities take place there. Should anyone turn against me in the clan, I would not be surprised if it was her.”

“I will advise him, my Lady.”

“You may go then, that will be all. Good luck and remember… nightly reports, ok?” she concluded, plunging her mauve glance into his.

“I promise,” he said, looking at her with a hint of warmth in his amber eyes.

“Now, about the wizard,” she said, turning to me as Niculaie closed the door behind him “when will that Veritaserum be ready?”

“In five nights, your Ladyship.”

“Can’t the process be accelerated in any way?”

“It could alter the compound, my Lady. And something tells me that we will need the potion’s full strength in the wizard’s case.”

“Had you planned a visit, tonight?” she asked moodily.

“Yes, I had.”

“Good. Try to make him speak. After all, our questions have not changed much…”

“Am I allowed to transmit him the information Kerecsen gave you?”

“For what purpose?”

“Depending on his reaction to receiving news about a man would could be his colleague, I might get more certainty about him belonging to the Death Eaters.”

I must precise at this point that I had not told anyone, except Ivantie and Valerica of course, about all the details of my personal discussion with the wizard. Marilena did not know of his presence at my side on that dreadful night. I did not see how it could have helped our cause; its implications were deeply personal. I congratulated myself for my discretion, that night. Snape’s presence at my husband’s burial and the information he had given me about his last moments had sufficed to convince me that Severus Snape was, indeed, a Death Eater. If Marilena had been as convinced as I was that night, she would have probably reacted more strongly and prompted Voldemort’s proposition from him. But as doubt still had its place in her mind, she only said:

“I guess you can tell him about McNair. And about Voldemort’s proposition. He probably already knows anyway.”

“We shall see.”

“How are things between you and him?” she asked curiously.

“What do you mean?”

“You haven’t visited him since many nights. Is there anything wrong?”

“Oh, no, not at all, my Lady!”

“You are not reacting to Cami and Catalina’s personal contribution to our cause, I hope?” she asked, with a mocking smile. “I thought it would help him open his mind a little bit more to our efforts.”

“Yeah, sure! Make it sound like it was your idea!”

“Not at all, my Lady. The last stages of the Veritaserum are very demanding, that’s all. I did not want to take the risk of spoiling weeks of work and create unnecessary delays to the clan.”

“If you say so…” she distractively answered. “You may leave me, now. Give it your best, ok? I really need that wizard to speak.”

“Oh yes, you do!” I thought, while walking out of the meeting room.

Marilena would not have sent her stud of the moment on a spying mission in Russia if she had not been forced to. The truth is, she was panicking, and she had pretty good reasons to. I panicked a little myself too, I admit. My stomach felt knotty when I remembered Marilena’s words about her mixed feelings towards the Order. I knew where my allegiance would go, despite her decision. I did not want to think what would happen should she decide to give her help to Voldemort, after all.

On my way to the dungeon, I feverishly debated with myself about the best way to approach the wizard. I did not want to use violence; that, I was sure of. I apprehended to see enough violence in the upcoming months, so I did not want to add some more at the present. I thought of many ways in which I could select some facts and omit others, in order to make certain impressions on him. None of them seemed good enough. In the end, I found that honesty was probably the best option. I was sick of playing games with him anyway.

He welcomed me with his usual irritatingly reserved cheerfulness, rising from his seat as I came in. He always did that when he felt I was in a particularly dreadful mood.

“Good evening, Antanasia! I was starting to despair from seeing you! How long as it been?”

“Almost a week, Professor.”

I realised, when I saw his face, that it had been a long time indeed since my last visit. His beard had grown considerably and he had the look of a very untidy bear. I went out and retrieved the razor blade and the shaving foam, which I always left in the locked observation room.

“I am sorry if I have kept you waiting for so long. Please, sit down.”

Without a word, he sat in what was then his usual chair. I began the shave, in a complete silence. The familiar moves of my hands and the feel of his abandoned yet still a bit careful head against my stomach soothed my soul a little. It is with a calmer stance that I sat next to him. Leaning towards him on one of my armrests, I opted to start a casual conversation.

“So, are you still minimally comfortable here, at least?”

“I think that minimally describes it perfectly,” he commented, critically.

“What have you been doing with your time?”

“Some reading, some chatting with Valeriu, when he gets bored. Lots of thinking.”

“What have you been thinking about lately?” I asked, innocently.

“I will not answer that question and you know it,” he retorted. “It is personal anyway.”

“As you wish,” I said.

An uncomfortable silence fell between us once again. What small talk can you have with someone who spends his whole nights and days imprisoned in a dungeon? I knew that this choice of conversation was ridiculous, but I needed to buy some time. I did not know how to choose my words to finally get to him. His voice vibrated next to me, smoother than ever.

“Antanasia… why don’t you tell me about what makes you so nervous, tonight?”

“Really, am I that nervous?” I asked with embarrassment.

“Even without Legilimency skills, I would still be able to feel it. Is there anything wrong?”

“Please, spare me your pity, as I heard someone say, not long ago,” I grumbled. “Surely you do not seriously suggest that you do care about my well-being!”

“You might be surprised,” he simply answered, neutrally.

I looked at him. His usual coldness was spread all over his face, yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of a sneer on the corners of his lips. Still on my guard, however, I concluded that he might be playing one more of his little mind games. I decided to put an end to it right away.

“Look, Professor. Enough of this. I am nervous because something serious happened tonight and it concerns you. Indirectly. I just don’t know how to say this to you.”

“To the point we are, Antanasia, I think any way will do the trick,” he replied.

“Ok, then. I come to you tonight and I am worried. Deeply worried. Marilena has received an owl, this evening, from a brood leader in Hungary called Kerecsen. One of Voldemort’s Death Eaters visited him, yesterday.”

“Who was it?” he asked, his black eyes darkening even more.

“He introduced himself as McNair. Do you know of him?”

His face became even paler than usual, but he did not speak right away.

“Do you know of him, Professor Snape? I really need that information,” I insisted.

“Yes. Yes, I know of him,” he finally admitted.

“So he really is a Death Eater?”

“He most certainly is,” he darkly replied.

“Do you know what was the purpose of his visit there?”

“No.”

“Did you know that he was supposed to go there at all?”

“I did not.”

I probed his mind for contradictory emotions. But he seemed perfectly calm to me. Even if there was no way to be sure, I believed that he was telling the truth.

“I will tell you, then. That McNair went to Kerecsen in order to get his military help in the next wizard war. In exchange for his help, Voldemort promised him supremacy over some clans in Western Europe.”

“That is not very surprising. The Dark Lord does know how to reward his followers with the thing they really crave for,” he bitterly commented.

“One thing we do not understand, however, is the real purpose of your visit.”

“I have been open and honest with each and every one of you about that, Antanasia. The Order of the Phoenix sent me to renew our alliance.”

“To Zaharia specifically?”

“Yes, in order to meet your leader, Marilena. Dumbledore trusts her, from the collaboration they had given each other, during the last crisis.”

“Why did they choose you? Do they know you are a Death Eater?”

“I will not answer those questions,” he coldly retorted.

His emotions were still very calm, but when he answered I felt, for a split second, the presence of his usual mental stonewall. These calm emotions were merely a screen; he was definitely hiding me something.

“Why won’t you answer?” I asked, disappointed by his concealment.

“It would not help the clan’s cause.”

“Of course it would, Professor Snape!” I said, intensely. “I am not sure that you understand the implications it would have, for us. Marilena needs to know if you were sent by Voldemort or not, because his intentions towards her personally will greatly influence her decisions. She did not like McNair’s presence in one of the clans’ broods. That was a very imprudent insult to her authority.”

“I cannot explain much, I am sorry,” he sternly answered.

“Because you do not know why Voldemort sent McNair to Kerecsen or because you cannot say?”

“Both!” he snapped.

“Good… a hint of impatience, that’s a beginning!” I thought.

“The problem is right there! How can Marilena trust an emissary who claims to speak in the name of one side and wears the Mark of the opposite one?”

“I can assure you, I only belong to one of these two sides,” he said, quietly.

“Ah, but it does not matter anymore, to Marilena. What matters to her is Voldemort’s possible proposition to her! That! That got her interest far more than the content of your own conscience,” I argued passionately.

“It matters to you,” he added, with just a touch of sadness in his voice.

“What?” I said, taken aback by his comment, which was completely off-topic.

“The side I’m in, it matters to you, doesn’t it?” he repeated, his eyes gleaming in a way I had rarely seen him display.

“Who cares what I think of you, Professor Snape! It has so little importance, now!” I cried out, ignoring the meaning of what he had just said. “Don’t you realise that when Marilena read about McNair’s proposition from the Dark Lord, Dumbledore lost most of her trust? And that, in the process, you passed from a respectable emissary to a cumbersome prisoner? Should she decide to help Voldemort, she will either have you executed as a proof of her allegiance or she will turn you in to him as the Order’s emissary.”

“You summarized my situation quite well,” he said, with his usual self-control. “Then why do you still keep hoping that I might tell anything to anyone if I am to be killed anyway?”

“Because there is still a way for you to save your skin, Snape!” I exclaimed, my hands reaching to him in mid-air. “Don’t tell me you do not miss your country, your apartments, your friends, your life, your students, something!”

“Of course I miss all of that…” he said, coolly. “Even some students, to my own surprise.”

In a heartbeat, a name flashed in his mind. I did not know who that Neville Longbottom was, at the time, but if I had, I would have certainly been as surprised as him to find that particular name there, given the subject of our conversation. I continued, with the same convincing intensity:

“Then speak to me! Just confirm that you are one of Voldemort’s Death Eaters. That would be something to begin with! And tell me if Voldemort sent you here on purpose, if he had any intentions concerning Marilena. Even if it’s a lie, it would at least rise you in Marilena’s esteem and respect and give you a chance to save your life!”

“And push her, along with your clan, right on the Dark Lord’s side.”

“Not necessarily. She has not made her choice yet. Right now, she is far more concerned with the hierarchy problems within the clan. She would at least come back to more altruistic considerations if she could detach herself from her fear to lose power.”

“That is an option to think about…” he finally said, after thoughtfully looking straight to the wall in front of him, for long minutes.

“I am afraid that you do not have a long time to consider that option, Professor. In just five nights, my Veritaserum will be ready. The elders of the clan have been waiting for the past six weeks for me to use it on you and I will have no other choice than to use it as planned. Better tell you; it is the best I have ever made in my afterlife… thanks to your revolving fires, ironically.”

“I will have that satisfaction, at least,” he remarked, with a bitter smile.

“I will give you some time to think about all this. When you are ready to talk to me, just ask the guard to fetch me and I will come at once. But in the meantime, I do not see why I would come here and wait after answers that never come. If you do not ask for me by yourself, be sure that next time you see me, I will be accompanied by Marilena and a full bottle of Veritaserum.”

I got to my feet and walked towards the door. I had almost reached the doorstep when an impulsive feeling rose from the depths of my heart and made me go back to him. I stood behind his armchair and put an empathic hand on his shoulder. His muscles became tense, but he did not turn back.

“I am sorry that we have to go to such lengths with you, Professor Snape. I know that this is a very painful situation for you… so it is, for us. For me.”

With a last hug of my fingers on his shoulder, I quickly walked back towards the door. Out of the corner of my eye, as I turned away, I saw his hand stopping its move, just above the shoulder on which my hand had leaned, seconds before.

************

In front of me, the Great Dragon came to life and offered me his orb, once again. The recent events had begun to clear my mind about my most recent visions. I needed to see them take form before my eyes to know if my new insight would give them additional meaning and, maybe, help me take appropriate decisions about the future.

The orb filled with fog, then I saw the same familiar images. First, the lycanthropic. I concluded it was most probably Arnaud, who led me to the manor where he found his end. The white lily… it was a symbol of purity and innocence for most people. For me, it was closely linked to death, which still fit with the lycanthropic being Arnaud. I had conjured hundreds of white lilies to flower his grave, before I finally left him. It was his favourite flower. The fact that he offered one to me was still unclear, though.

Then, there was that snake. It appeared first, emerging from a bush of roses, and crawled over the lily. That was still mysterious. But that time, when I saw the phoenix, swooping down on the snake from the sky, that part of the vision became crystal clear. A phoenix and a snake fighting; it could only be the fight between Voldemort and the Order.

Even understanding this, many things were left without answers. I noticed that the fight seemed to take place in no precise location. Everything focused on the two animals; I saw no environmental clues at all. That made my interpretation a bit tricky. The easiest conclusion to make was that the fight between the two sides represented the fight that would soon take place inside our clan… and outside, in other clans or broods as well. But other conclusions could be made. The vision could simply represent the upcoming wizard war. Or, to a much smaller scale, a war between two sides, within only one wizard…

To my disappointment, the orb filled with smoke again before I could see anything new. Despite my angry glance, the Dragon’s white eyes kept staring at me with the same benevolence and he moved back in his usual defensive position on the pedestal. I did not insist; I had urgent matters to attend to.

I quickly walked to my resting room and grabbed a roll of parchment. I wrote to Valerica, informing her about the last events and warning her about the real motives of Iulian’s future visit to her castle. I knew her well enough to expect that she would not be tempted at all by Voldemort’s proposition. I also anticipated that she would not suddenly organize secret meetings to constitute an oppositional group against Marilena. Militancy was not her style, at all. She had always remained quite discreet during the past wars. Not that she was indifferent to the political matters that opposed or reunited our clans during the last centuries, but she much preferred open, honest negotiation to violent battles.

Nevertheless, I knew that she would not refrain from imparting her preference for Dumbledore. They were good and old friends; she would certainly not betray him, not even to gain power over clans that she did not care about in the first place. That kind of loyalty had to be kept prudently restrained for the upcoming weeks; at least until Marilena would officially call for a clan meeting and communicate her official political position.

In order to give a discreet departure to my letter, I shrank it to the size of a Knut and put it in my pocket. I grabbed my cloak, walked to the stable and found the hippogriff. He still seemed in good shape; Ivantie had taken on him to lead him in the surrounding forests every night to feed. I think he enjoyed the ride as much as I did! That night, however, I reached him just before he left. He was still brushing him when I came in.

“Hey! I was worried that I would find the stable empty!” I said merrily.

“Aren’t you supposed to be with Snape?” he asked, his head emerging from behind one of the beast’s sides.

“The interrogation was not very long, tonight. I have already made my report to Marilena. We still don’t have what we want, but I think we might make progress in the next couple of days. The perspective of drinking Veritaserum next week should do the trick, in addition to our past attempts. I gave him a few things to seriously think about before our next meeting.”

“Good, then. Do you need the hippogriff tonight?”

“Yes, I need a little ride. Would you come with me?”

“Certainly! I bet we could find a nice and quiet little clearing somewhere in the forest… the nights are still quite warm at this time of the year…” he suggested, with his usual mischievous smile.

“Absolutely! But you might be surprised about what we will talk about in that nice and quiet little clearing, Ivan…” I agreed, returning his smile.

A few minutes later, as we galloped along the oak alley, I clutched Ivan’s shirt under his cloak and lost myself in his wonderfully manly smell, pressing myself against his back. We steadily rose to the skies, with each powerful flap of the beast’s wings. Ivantie led him to a forest nearby, not so far from where Andrei and I used to meet, when his Apparating skills allowed him to come closer to the castle.

As soon as we stepped off his back, he started to playfully jog around the clearing, curiously exploring the surroundings. He seemed to particularly enjoy scaring off the birds that peacefully slept in their nests. Some occasionally did not even have time to feel scared or even startle; they were greedily swallowed whole.

“What a glutton, that one, really!” Ivantie commented.

“I wish I could be that carefree, at times!” I added, chuckling with Ivantie at the sight of that enormous buffoon.

“Who said you can’t, Tasia?” he suggested, lying down on the grass. “Come with me…”

“I would like to, but there are important things I need to tell you. It’s about Maril—”

I did not have time to finish my sentence. Ivantie had instantly disapparated from the ground and apparated behind me, with one hand already making its way from my back to my neck. Being quite good at that exercise myself, as I have already mentioned, I did not startle. However, I let out a long exasperated sigh.

“When you have that in mind, Ivan, there is really no place for anything else, huh?” I said, ironically.

“Oh, but do not let me interrupt you, by all means! Continue what you were saying, I am all ears!” he said, helping me remove my cloak.

“All right, if that’s what you want!”

I told him, the best I could, about the evening’s events. But my words soon seemed to lose their way between my mind and my mouth, especially when Ivantie started to cover my throat with passionate kisses, lingering over the very faint remains of his last Kiss. Before long, he made me lie down on his cloak, which he had thoughtfully put flat on the grass. When my body fully came in contact with the ground, I smiled at Ivantie’s legendary delicateness; the grass had an abnormally soft feel. Ivantie had altered it to comfortably welcome the weight of both our bodies. He did the same with the temperature in the clearing, leaving it just a tiny bit chilly, for obvious reasons.

When we finally resumed a normal breath, Ivantie motioned me to curl up against him. Resting my head on his familiarly silent chest, I felt him wrap us both in my cloak.

“Just remind me again… was it Eliska, Sandor or Kerecsen who wrote to Marilena?”

“You did not listen to a word I said, right?” I teased.

“I did listen! It just did not stay in. I might be better disposed, now.”

That time, he let me tell him the whole story. He did mention finding it strange that we were slowly getting the habit of talking about Snape while we were completely naked, but other than that, he seemed to give me his full attention.

“So that is why, in the first place, I needed a lift. I need to send that letter to Valerica as soon as possible. That way, she can prepare for Iulian’s arrival. But given the fact that our friendship is well known, I did not want to risk sending her the letter by owl, and certainly not from my resting room’s window.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“You still share a link with her? Your oath to Horatiu did not weaken it?”

“No, not at all. She is my Sire, that cannot change; so does the link.”

“Perfect. Then help me. I need to warn her that my message is coming. It will arrive by a peculiar mean of transportation and I would not want her to chase away my messenger without retrieving the letter first.”

“What’s your plan?”

“I will simply capture a small bird; it will be more discreet than an owl. If our gluttonous friend there can refrain from munching on it, I will give it the message and bewitch it to fly right through Valerica’s resting room window.”

“Ok. Let’s begin with the physical message,” he said, opening his arms to let me leave his embrace.

We both got dressed and explored the trees nearby to find a suitable messenger. The hippogriff had done quite a clean sweep; most of the birds had either been eaten or scared away. After long minutes, we finally found a turtledove. Ivantie delicately held it in his hands while I tied the message to one of its legs and hypnotized it to obey my orders. After it opened its wings and fled away from Ivantie’s hands, we walked closer from each other. Ivantie, as he often did in those times when we felt so intimate with each other, wrapped his arms around my waist and leaned his forehead against mine.

Closing our eyes, we mentally travelled above the clearing. First, the trees swished quickly underneath us, then the fields, the mountains, until our joined efforts allowed us to see Valerica’s castle on the horizon in front of us. With such a great distance between our friend and us, it was unfortunately impossible to transmit a clear message. Nevertheless, Ivantie successfully managed to warn Valerica that she would soon have to welcome a messenger, in the shape of a small bird. From the way she first closed her eyes and smiled, we were both reassured that she had felt our discreet presence next to her.

We did not loiter any longer in the clearing; the exercise (the mental one) had used a lot of our energy. The hippogriff brought us back to Zaharia at once. If I remember well, we parted with some worries about the recent news, but both agreed that it was best to wait for Niculaie’s reports and Marilena’s decisions before we would really know if there was a good reason to worry. Ivantie remained convinced that Marilena would end up by taking the best decision and he relied on her good judgment. I was far more pessimistic, but to preserve his hopes, I did not tell him how much.

The following evening, nothing much happened. I did my usual work in the lab, then spent some time with Catalina in her rehearsal room to change my mind. Later in the night, Marilena informed me of Niculaie’s report. McNair had flown over much of Ukraine and had made a stop in a clan’s main castle located near Kiev. Understandably, Niculaie had not had enough time the previous night to locate McNair and manage to infiltrate the castle and overhear the negotiations, if any took place. When he finally found him, he was already preparing himself to travel out of Ukraine, straight towards Russia. That did not worry us too much; that clan had never been particularly hostile to us. Niculaie was forced to stop for a part of the day in the Bryansk region. He planned to look for McNair around Moscow in the evening, where a particularly powerful clan was located.

I was about to leave the meeting room when fiery green flames twirled in the fireplace. A voice echoed from the magical fire. It was Marcela.

“My Lady, is Antanasia with you at the moment?”

“She was about to leave, Marcela, but she is still here,” said Marilena, with an obvious tension in her voice. Niculaie’s proximity with the Moscow clan did not reassure her at all.

“Antanasia, the prisoner has requested to see you. He said you and him had agreed that he could call for you if he wished to speak.”

“He told you the truth. I am coming down straightaway,” I answered.

I took leave of Marilena and Apparated directly at the dungeon door. Professor Snape was indeed waiting for me. He stood in the middle of the room, his hands crossed behind his back and his posture straighter than anything I had seen from him in weeks. His face was set and serious. Some vague traces of the dark shadows I had once seen under his eyes were back; he had not slept much the previous day.

“Good night, Professor Snape. I understand that you wish to speak to me, at long last?” I said, with the most equanimous attitude I could find.

“Indeed, I am. Please sit down, Antanasia.”

He politely accompanied me to my armchair. The formality of his manners intrigued me. They were devoid of any mockery or contempt. I noticed that he had turned my chair at an angle with the other one, so the two armchairs would not be completely parallel or facing each other. He wanted to discuss some points with me. It was really about to happen, that time.

“I am all ears,” I simply said, after he sat next to me.

“First of all, I would request that you put a silencing charm on the dungeon. I do not want us to be overheard,” he sternly declared.

“I cannot do such a thing, Professor! For my security, obviously. But also, as you can imagine, I cannot guarantee any confidentiality. I belong to a clan and have a leader, to whom I report what happens here.”

He sneered in disbelief. I was expecting that one. There were some things that can soon be anticipated once you have spent some time with that man.

“Certainly not everything that happens here,” he retorted.

“No, not everything. Marilena does not need to know what does not concern her personal interests or the interests of the clan,” I placidly replied.

“Still, I must insist on that one, Antanasia. I do not want the conversation we are about to have to be reported integrally to Marilena.”

“I cannot promise you anything,” I said, in the same tone.

“I know. I understand,” he coolly but quickly said, which gave me a clue about his state of nervousness. “I chose to talk to you in particular because I… trust that your conscience will guide you well about the proper actions to take,” he added, riveting his immeasurable dark eyes into mine.

“As you wish,” I answered, not really knowing what to say.

He looked away, thoughtfully. He looked so tired, in that moment! When his face turned back to me, I saw that the usual vertical line in the middle of his forehead had deepened. In a collected voice, he seemed to abandon a few of his reserves and began talking to me honestly.

“Antanasia, the very first thing I would want you to understand is that, by no means, I meant things to happen the way they did. I did not want you to find the Dark Mark in such an unexpected context.”

“Merlin, is he telling me he is sorry?” I asked myself.

“In a way. I guess I am.”

I raised my barriers again, stronger that time, but added nothing. He leaned forward and continued, in a very low voice.

“I did have the intention, though, to let you know about it. I think we can stop talking about the possibility of me being a Death Eater. I am. The Dark Mark is authentic,” he explained, with a strange trace of anger in his voice.

I knew that he was a Voldemort follower, of course. My whole body had reacted to that ugly pattern on his forearm the second I had set my eyes on it. Despite what I had seen and felt, however, I had trouble seeing him as a very engaged one. Something told me that things were more complicated than that, even if I could not really put my finger on it. Especially since I had finally swallowed my anger and spent some time with him, during the previous weeks. I let him continue.

“I chose not to speak before tonight because I simply could not possibly do so. Speaking now is still too soon; that is why I asked for your confidentiality. Nevertheless, I want you to know the facts.”

“I am eager to know them,” I openly said.

“I was truly sent by Albus Dumbledore, with the mission to ask for your clan’s help, just like he himself had come to her during the seventies. I am an active member of the Order of the Phoenix, with a little particularity: my role there is that of a double agent. As you know, from certain things I told you about my past, I have started on the Dark Lord’s side. Officially, not too long before our first encounter. Unofficially… a few years before that. I switched sides at the beginning of my twenties, just before the Dark Lord’s fall. But these are useless details…”

“On the contrary, I find this fascinating. Why couldn’t you speak to me before?”

“The Dark Lord knows about your clan’s past alliance with the Order. He has known since almost the beginning. This time, he planned to anticipate the Order’s strategy and wanted to get help from people of your kind. He had views on the Clan of Zaharia, because he knows of the potential you would represent, should you choose his side. When he talked about his views, during a Death Eaters meeting, I had already received my mission from Dumbledore. I did not miss the occasion to control the Dark Lord’s possible progress on recruiting your clan while giving him a reason for my sudden absence: I volunteered to travel here and visit Marilena unofficially. The Dark Lord did not have any proposition in mind, at the time, or if he had, he chose not to inform me about it. He only told me to assess Marilena’s allegiance to Dumbledore and the Order, to see if there was any breech through which he could crawl in and turn Marilena, along with her clan, towards his side.”

“So there was a double mission… I did feel that you were holding information from us, during our very first meeting…” I commented.

“And I had every reason to! I am a double agent but, as I have always claimed, my allegiance goes to only one of them. The same side as you, which explains your presence here tonight.” he said, leaning even closer towards me. “But how can I explain that to Marilena, if I do not know what her intentions are? When you discovered my Mark, it was far too soon to tell anything about my role as a double agent or my double mission. It would have ruined Marilena’s trust towards Dumbledore. And I had no proof to offer her about my true allegiance to the Order, other than my word and Dumbledore’s word.”

“You have no more proof now than you had then, however.”

“For them, I have none. On the other hand, I have all the proofs I need to convince you personally.”

“What proofs could possibly convince me personally?” I asked, puzzled.

“I know exactly what happened to you during your flight from England, after your husband’s death. You ran to Ivantie’s apartment, at first. You spent a few nights there, but it was getting dangerous for you to stay in England, because the Death Eaters were still after you. So Ivantie went as far as interrupting one of the Order’s meetings to plan your escape. Against your will, must I precise. You wanted to stay by the Order’s side and fight for its cause. In fact, you completely refused to leave until Ivantie gave you his formal promise that he would stay in England at your place and help the Order. So a witch named Alice Longbottom escorted you to Poland, to Countess Valerica’s castle. Alice was almost two months pregnant at that time.”

“Yes… with a little boy,” I dreamily commented.

“Indeed. You two travelled under the names of Catherine and Keira, and passed for two Mediwitches leaving for a professional practicum in Warsaw. Do you want me to continue with the details or have I said enough to convince you?”

“But… you were not part of the Order at the time! How come you know all that?”

“No, I wasn’t. I was not even working for Dumbledore yet, at Hogwarts. But when I became a double agent for the Order, I talked to the people who organized your escape. That is how I got these details. Your escape was totally unnoticed by the Dark Lord. It had been very well planned.”

“I am very grateful to the Order for that. It was complicated to organize… It was not like I had a home… or a clan, at the time,” I added, still in a thoughtful state of mind as he had brought dark memories back into my mind. “Ok. Let’s say I believe you when you say that you are a double agent working for the Order. Why haven’t you spoken to me before?”

“I needed to know if I could trust you, or your judgment. Same for Marilena. You see, I did inform Dumbledore of the Dark Lord’s views on your clan, of course. Dumbledore, though respecting Marilena and being very grateful to her for the help she gave him in the past, suspected that her crave for power and domination over the broods in her clan would make her more vulnerable to the Dark Lord’s possible proposition. As there was no clear proposition from the Dark Lord at the time, we simply decided to make the first move, which explains my presence here. Marilena seemed to hesitate when I offered her to renew her alliance with the Order, which made me suspicious. She had not given me any definite answer when the events we know took place and I found myself imprisoned here. I did not know what the consequences would be if she learned about the Dark Lord’s interest, because I was very uncertain about her allegiance. My only choice was to remain silent, wait and see what side Marilena would take.”

“And then came McNair…” I completed, understanding where he was going.

“And then came McNair indeed. That is something I absolutely did not expect. To this night, I do not know what to understand from that. I do hope it does not mean that the Dark Lord has doubts about the trust he can give me. But I will only know about that if I leave from here alive and can go to him to see by myself.”

“And what would be the consequences if… if he finds out you have betrayed his trust?” I gravely asked.

“You don’t want to know. But there might be another explanation and I personally want to believe that it is the good one. The Dark Lord shows a great capacity, and a great amount of pleasure, to sow discord in all kinds of places, as long as it serves his interest. That is exactly what he did by sending McNair to one of Marilena’s vassals, instead of her. As you said, she reacted pretty strongly already. She is on her guard and she fears either for a mutiny or for a territorial war with the Russian clans. Or at the best, she is tempted to have a piece of the cake too.”

“If not all of it,” I darkly added.

“That is why I do not want to tell her about the Dark Lord’s interest for her whole clan. If she sees the possibility to dominate all Western Europe and avoid, in addition, internal conflicts in her clan, she will seize the occasion and join Voldemort at once. The Order has nothing of the kind to offer, only its gratefulness and its eventual help should she need it one day.”

“It will not weight much in Marilena’s mind, compared to Voldemort’s offers…” I commented, frowning too as I saw the implications of the wizard’s words. “Everything would have been so much easier if I had not turned you in! She would not have hesitated that long if I had not messed up all your plans!” I said, closing my eyes in guilt.

“The way she learned about me being a Dark Lord follower was absolutely not ideal, it’s true, but I would have had to let her know one way or the other, Antanasia,” he replied, in a quiet tone that could have almost been interpreted as soothing. “I am to blame for that too. Nobody forced me to come in that room uninvited.”

“Anyway, what is done is done, let’s not dwell on that,” I said, regaining my composure after a few instants of silence. “From what you tell me, as long as Voldemort remains an enemy to Marilena’s eyes and not a possible ally, the Order might have a slight chance to convince her to come at its side.”

“Exactly. For that, I need to remain in control of the information I transmit. And this is where your help becomes indispensable to me. I expected you to use Veritaserum soon, as the next full moon is approaching. You told me that what matters the most to Marilena right now is the possibility that the Dark Lord might have a proposition for her. I will undoubtedly tell her the truth if she asks me that question. Especially if you tell me, and I believe you, that the Veritaserum you prepared is a good one. Which formula did you use?”

“Buchner’s formula…” I answered, almost apologetically. “I did not want to take any chance.”

“Well… I guess I could take it as a compliment,” he replied, with a bittersweet smile. “There are not many possibilities available, then. You could retrieve the counter Veritaserum potion I brought with me, in the left inner pocket of my cloak, but I doubt that even that potion could completely block the effect of yours. Or you could alter your potion and make it fake.”

“Your cloak is in the castle’s vault, Professor, along with the rest of your belongings. It would be highly suspect if I suddenly accessed it to fumble your pockets without any good reason.”

“Will you alter your potion, then?” he whispered, leaning even closer from me.

Intimidated, I leaned back in my chair. Everything around us was so silent that one could have felt an owl’s feather fall on the floor. His dark eyes were scrutinizing me, waiting anxiously for my answer. What kind of soul could be reflected in these two cryptical eyes, so similar to the sleek surface of Transylvanian lakes, in the obscurity of the night? I thought, of course, that everything he had just told me could be deceitful. I had a choice to make and it was a tricky one. It was more like a leap of faith. Did he deserve my trust? He had chosen concealment so often, during our conversations! If I decided to trust him and he finally betrayed me to save his own skin, I would be the only loser. However, if I chose to help him for the cause I believed in, the consequences would go far beyond my interests, or even the clan’s interests… I let out a long whisper, leaning my left temple against my index.

************

AUTHOR’S NOTE
I hope you are enjoying the story so far! I would really appreciate some reviews. It does not take much of your time and it tells me if you like where the story is going or not! It’s in your best interest, in a way! Writing 25-30 pages every week represents a lot of work; your comments are a valuable reward! :o)

FOOTNOTE

In Polish, Kochana means “my love” or “darling”.

“Chucker yer alwus \'av ter brag aboyt dat wan, yer silly fella” means, in Irish slang : “Do you always have to brag about that one, you silly boy?”

FOOTNOTE

A brood is an organized group of cainites that can eventually become a clan. Source : Darkness unveiled, http://phrozen-neon.com/vampire/index.html.