Not your usual Veela mate [Chapters 39-69]

The Value Of A Good Book [64]

Thursday, Sep. 19
It was Severus who first noted when Harry returned to the living room, trailed by a chuckling blond. Taking in the bounce in the step, the sparkle in green eyes, not to mention the book clutched in the boy's hands, Severus groaned and stated in a clear voice, "Harry James Potter, if you are trying to claim that you learned how to do a Druidic ritual through a book I shall not believe you. Preciously little of the Druid's scriptures have survived to our days, and what little texts we do have are written in a language no one alive today knows how to comprehend."
I

nstead of looking chastened, Harry just nodded his head vigorously, his eyes dancing with laughter. "You are absolutely right, Severus. No one alive today knows how to read Druid," he said cheerfully. Far too cheerfully for Severus' peace of mind. "Lucius? Can't you do something about him?" he asked, almost plaintively.
"Me? What makes you think that he responds to anything I say?" Lucius asked innocently, his eyes dancing with amusement.
"Because you are his father-in-law?" Severus asked overly sweetly.
"What have you got there, Harry?" Draco asked, too taken in with his mate's delight to worry much about the cause of said good cheer. He also ignored the byplay made by the adults. Who could understand what they were thinking anyway?
"Oh, nothing much, just an old book," Harry said with studied nonchalance.
Lucius studied the teen for a moment, trying to get a feel for what was going through the Elf's mind. He might have accompanied Harry down the trunk to retrieve the book he was clutching so protectively, but that didn't mean that he had a clue as to what was going on. Admitting defeat, he shook his head, doing his best to fight down the smile tugging at his lips. "Might one ask who the author of that old book is?" he asked mildly, steering Harry towards the table and the food sitting and waiting on it.
"Oh, just a young boy named Auric," Harry replied, obediently settling down into a chair and eyeing the bowl of soup before him balefully. He truly wasn't hungry, but he had a feeling that Draco was not about to listen to him if he stated that fact out loud. For someone so intelligent and bright, Draco could be extremely dense and obtuse, not to mention stubborn, if he thought his mate wasn't taking good enough care of himself.
"And just who is or was that Auric?" Severus asked, figuring he would play along with Harry's game for now. "And you might as well start eating. That is something you will just have to get used to, Harry. A Veela is like a force of nature when it comes to caring for their mate. They are forever interrupting you, demanding that you take a break to eat and sleep. It is most annoying, but I suppose one can overlook that unfortunate trait," Severus said with a longsuffering sigh, slanting Lucius a teasing glance.
Lucius merely snorted, returning the glance with a glower. "No matter what you try to tell yourself, Severus Snape, you are terrible when it comes to looking after yourself. Just look at you! Thin as a rail, there isn't an ounce of fat cushioning those bones. Not to mention that you are working all hours of the day, not getting enough sleep at night, and we both know that your personality suffers even more when you are sleep deprived." Lucius leaned back in his seat, a smug little smile playing on his lips, convinced that he had gotten the last word.
It was Severus turn to snort. "I happen to be lean, Lucius, as you well know. There is nothing wrong with my weight, I do notrequire to be fattened up," he stated, blithely pushing to the back of his mind the many arguments Poppy and he had had on that subject. "And you have always been obsessing with my sleeping habits. If I had a suspicious mind I would think that you were merely plotting on how to get me into your bed," Severus said ending his arguments with flourish, causing both Harry and Draco to choke on their soup.
"Ah, but who could blame me?" Lucius asked with a seductive purr and a heated look, causing two red spots to appear on Severus' cheeks while Harry and Draco once again choked, this time on the water they had been sipping to un-choke their last choke.
"Behave yourself," Severus said sternly, giving Lucius a mock glowering look. Unfortunately, the effect was ruined by the tender smile that threatened to break through his stern visage.
"Okay, before my dad forgets himself and pounces on his mate, could you please tell us who this Auric was?" Draco said, giving Harry a pleading look.
Unable to withstand that look, Harry reached out and tenderly stroked the Veela's cheek. "Of course. Auric was a shepherd that lived… you know, I'm not entirely sure when he lived," Harry said slightly taken aback. Shaking his head as if to dislodge some distracting thought, he went on," Anyway, Auric was a shepherd that lived in what today is Austria if I have gotten the geography correct. He too was orphaned at an early age and he was taken in by a distant cousin.
"One day he came across a Druid who was gathering herbs and the two started to talk while Auric showed him where some of the herbs the Druid was looking for grew on the mountain side. Long story short, the Druid felt that Auric had potential, and he took the boy in as an Apprentice."
"Auric wrote about that in his diary?" Draco asked, eyeing the book with renewed curiosity.
"Oh, Auric wrote about more than that in his diary," Harry said, a gleam in his eyes. "Although it wasn't truly a diary at that time, but more like a whole lot of scrolls that he kept hidden in a safe place. This journal was created by some scholar at a later date; there is a notation on the last page where she explains how she found the scrolls, and why she had them copied and bound together so that this remarkable find would not be lost to time, tear, and wear. According to this scholar, the original scrolls are hidden someplace safe, though I haven't got the faintest idea where.
"Anyway, back to Auric who was very unusual in that he already knew how to read and write, though the skills were a bit rusty by the time the Druid found him. Apparently, a shepherd has no needs for such scholarly skills, and the cousin had refused to fund his charge's further education. When Auric began his Apprenticeship, his master encouraged him to practise his penmanship by noting down all the tings he did each day.
"I don't think the old man thought much of it, but Auric took his words to heart and kept meticulous notes of everything he did, and since most of it was centred on learning the arts of the Druids he inadvertently ended up writing an instruction manual of how to become a Druid."
"The boy's master didn't demand that he burn the scrolls once he realised what the boy was doing?" Lucius asked, his voice tinged with awe and disbelief.
"I have no idea, perhaps he did, perhaps he didn't. To tell the truth, I haven't managed to get very far into it yet," Harry replied with a somewhat sheepish look on his face.
"Why not? Is the ink that faded?" Draco asked, remembering a few of the really old books in the Malfoy library he had looked at one time or other.
"No, the ink is still surprisingly readable, and once he'd practices a bit, Auric's handwriting is very easy to read. No, my main problem is the fact that he is using some obscure old dialect," Harry said with a sigh of frustration.
"Where did you find that book, Harry? And who helped you learn the language it is written in?" Lucius asked, his gaze hungry as it took in the innocent looking book. He wasn't aware of it, but his hands were twitching and it was with only with difficulty he didn't wrestle the journal out of the Elf's hands.
Chuckling lightly, Harry handed the book over to the eager blond. "I found it in the Black library, where else? It was Bartholomew who found it in some old shop somewhere, and he spent the better part of ten years trying to figure out the language the author used and locating someone who could teach it to him. The scholar was not thoughtful enough to add that to her notes. I guess she figured that anyone eager enough to read that thing would have to prove themselves by passing that hurdle on their own," Harry said with a slight chuckle.
"Fortunately for me, Bartholomew's portrait is hanging in the Manor, and he was willing to share the charm that would enable me to read the journal. Unfortunately, the translation spell is an old one, and to tell you the truth I'm not so sure how accurate it is because I tend to get an incredible headache if I read for too long," Harry said, rubbing his temple remembering the pain he had suffered.
"Then how did you manage to send Binns?" Severus asked, attempting to read over Lucius' shoulder as the blond reverently turned the aged tinted pages.
"That was one of the first things Auric was taught how to do. It would seem that to the old Druids that spell was child's play, and they used it demonstrate to their Apprentices how to infuse their magic into inanimate objects. From what I've been able to figure out, the Druids saw nature in a completely different light than how we tend to view it. I hope to some day be able to learn to understand what's written in that book because I have a feeling that we could learn a lot from the way they viewed the world. Unfortunately, things have been a tad hectic of late and I just haven't had the time," Harry said with a pouting sigh.
The three Slytherins simultaneously snorted at the Elf's statement. Things had indeed been hectic of late, and what with the situation with Dumbledore, they were sure to remain that way for a while yet. "You really must allow me to view the Black library, Harry," Lucius said, deciding to keep things light. There had been enough drama lately to last him a lifetime or two. "However, I believe we need to focus on what needs to be done to prepare for tomorrow morning first," he added somewhat sadly, eyeing the enticing journal longingly.
"Don't worry, Luce, the journal will still be there tomorrow," Severus said soothingly, taking the book from his hands and putting it gently onto the table. "Don't forget, there is that book written by Merlin that we haven't had a chance to look at yet. And you still haven't had a chance to read Helga's book yet, have you?" he added teasingly, earning himself a withering look from the older Veela. "But as you said, business before pleasure. So, what needs to be done, and who will do what?" Severus asked, feeling strangely cheered by the knowledge that he was not the only one struggling with finding time to read interesting books and having the world conspiring against you.
"I'll get you for that," Lucius whispered softly, his words meant for his mate alone.
"You can but try," Severus replied smugly.