Knowledge is Power

Chapter 23: I am a rock, I am an island

For days, Severus Snape was listless and feeling at loose ends. Too much time alone with too many papers to grade gave him too much time to ruminate on anything and everything from former friends to his own choices where Voldemort was concerned. Ordinarily he could distract himself, but having the bloody owl to talk to made him start talking too much in his own mind when there was no owl to hear him. He oscillated from missing the bird's company to thinking it was better not to deal with him anymore at all.

It was bothersome. He was friends with Filius but didn't wonder what he was doing or what he would think about a particular thing he'd just thought about when the charms professor wasn't around. He didn't need to feel lacking when the owl wasn't around. It wasn't his owl.

Then there was the matter of the books. Mag allowing him to borrow them was kind but it brought back many painful memories to the surface that were better forgotten. Memories of two friends who were two years ahead of him in school. Friends who called him the kid, as though he was their younger brother until they decided he was a liability and turned their backs on him as though he'd never mattered at all.

And yet...Their daughter and her rather extraordinary owl were trying to help him. Why was Magritte behaving in the opposite way to her parents on the issue? He knew he shouldn't accept her help, but she was already aware of the situation, so could he protect her more by turning his back? The owl could perhaps tip him off to something, as he didn't have to use any sort of active magic to look into anyone's mind, meaning it wouldn't be noticed. It wasn't just about him and his needs for revenge. Voldemort was a danger in general and needed to be stopped.

It was Saturday afternoon and the feeling of the rest of the weekend stretching out like a long road was overwhelming. It wasn't saying anything good when Severus wished Monday and its annoying classload were already here. The thought of Monday being filled with tard babies made Severus smile in spite of his dour state of mind. He doubted it said anything flattering about him that he was already beginning to think like the owl.

//Actually that was my thought, but thanks for the compliment. We're headed down the stairs to your door right now, and I looked ahead to make sure you're there. Hi!//

//Nightshade! Stay out of my head!//
Severus knew he should be more annoyed, but he actually felt a sudden improvement in his mood instead. An instant later Mag was knocking at the door to his office. Standing he hurried over to open it.

"Hi," Mag said.
"I just got back from Hogsmeade. I found some tourmalinated quartz runes! They may amplify the reading or my ability to read, that would be nice. Black tourmaline is also protective and healing. Protection while doing magic is always a good thing."

"Indeed," Severus agreed.
"That was a fortunate find."

"Would you like to see them," Mag asked.
"That would be interesting," Severus said, wondering why she was really there.
Perhaps it was just to show him the runes, but somehow he doubted it. It was the Baron who was the expert in that, after all, not Severus.

He stepped back to allow her to enter the room. When she did she closed the door behind her.
"Nightshade wanted to see you," she said once the door was closed.
"I really came to drop him off. Here are my runes, though," she said, reaching into the pocket of her Slytherin school robe to extract a red velvet drawstring bag.

"Drop him off? You're leaving him," Severus asked.
//Yeah. I'll be bored while she's runing or whatever with the Baron, and I thought we could hang out. You're cool,// Nightshade said.
Severus couldn't help but feel oddly warm inside and flattered at that.
//I suppose we could do that,// he thought back tentatively, and Nightshade flew to his shoulder.

Really the idea of anyone spending more than one day with him should make him feel stifled and ready to go postal, but instead Severus was feeling far better about the rest of the weekend.
"Here is how they look," Mag was saying as she extended a slender hand. Three round flat stones lay on her palm. Each was about twenty millimeters and each sported a rune. The rune was carved deeply into the stone. The stone itself was clear quartz crystal with black threads of tourmaline running through it.

"They're very nice," Severus said honestly.
She smiled, excitement flashing in her green eyes. Eyes that were so much like Raislen's yet somehow she still made them her own. Usually when Severus looked into them he only thought of her and not her traitor of a father.

"They feel really amazing. Powerful and like they could open something inside of me or guide me to something within myself...I'm not exactly sure which. I look forward to finding out, though."
She carefully replaced the three runes in their pouch and returned it to her pocket.

"Good luck with your lessons, then. Let me know how it goes."
Mag nodded.
"Thanks. I will. You and Nightshade have fun," she said, and headed toward the door.
As she did, the unusual pendant she wore on a chain around her neck caught his eye. It was a very long thin crystal quartz studded down the front with seven stones in various colors. The crystal was set at the top and down the sides in gold and that gold setting was what also held the stones onto the front.

"Magritte? Does that pendant mean anything in particular? It's very interesting."

One of her hands came up to touch the crystal.
"Oh that...It's um...just something I made."
She seemed reluctant and as she'd made things for him of which she'd been justifiably proud, it was odd that she didn't want to talk about the one she wore.

"I still wear those that you made for me," Severus said, his hand coming up to touch the nearly imperceptible lumps under his robe where the pendants lay against his chest safely out of sight.
"What does yours do?"

"Well...Um...it's a wand."
"A what! How does that work? I mean obviously with it being made of stone it would work differently than a wooden wand. Did you make it to serve in some particular way or as a general wand? What has been your experience with it?"

Severus heard the excited words rushing out of him and may have been embarrassed was he not so curious instead. Only why did she look so miserable that he'd asked?