To Meet a Warder
Lord Voldemort was decidedly not happy about how things had developed in the past year. Very curious about having a bonded pair amongst them again, but decidedly not happy about the consequences. His first difficulty was that he hadn’t known about the courting pair before he had taunted a courting Alpha by putting his Omega in harm’s way, and thus risked earning his ire. He did not wish to find out exactly what an enraged Alpha would do to him to defend his Omega. History was full of terrifying examples and not even Lord Voldemort believed himself capable of standing against a courting or bonded Alpha. He would most likely do well against a dormant Alpha, one who had not found their Omega, but an active one? A mature and fully fledged Alpha with someone to protect? No, not even his powers could stand against that. He might be immortal, might believe he would ultimately survive the encounter, but he was also quite certain that an Alpha could make his immortal life worse than an eternity in Hell itself.
Hence his second difficulty. When Barty had told him about the courting pair, of which Potter was the Omega, Lord Voldemort had known he would never reach the boy. He would not be able to use the boy as planned. And if he did, if he should try, he would most likely live to regret it for a very, very long time. No, he could not use Potter in his ritual, and he would never even consider trying to use an Alpha. Severus Snape.
He had known he was an Alpha, of course. Severus himself had admitted as much when he was one of Voldemort’s own. He would never be such again. Voldemort made himself no illusions about that. Severus’ only loyalty now, and to the end of time, would be to his Omega, and no other. No matter what that little Tonks chit thought about it. Lord Voldemort knew better. He had solved that difficulty by using Bartemius Crouch Sr. in the ritual, as soon as they didn’t need him anymore. Barty had been very satisfied when he was allowed to both harvest the needed blood while his father was alive and lucid, and to kill his father afterward.
Lord Voldemort had risen weeks before the original plan, but he was on the whole pleased by the results. He was a bit more snakelike than he had expected to be, he sometimes got very sluggish, his limbs ached at times and his magic was not what he was used to, but he was alive. He had a body again. He could continue with his plans of taking over Magical Britain. At least he hoped he could.
Barty had reported how he did everything in his power to keep on the good side of both Severus and Potter, after he had done that first enormous blunder by putting Potter in harm’s way by trapping him in the Tournament. Even Lord Voldemort shivered at the thought of what could have happened if Severus hadn’t been such a level-headed man. If Severus hadn’t managed to find a solution that didn’t force him to lay waste to Hogwarts and all her students and faculty. They were, all of them, fortunate, incredibly fortunate, that Severus had found that solution. The alternative would have been the loss of an entire generation of magicians. Hundreds of children dead, gone, because Lord Voldemort had lacked information. Because he had chosen to go after a courting Omega. After that he had ordered Barty to make sure nothing like that could happen. To do anything and everything to make sure they didn’t lose the next magical generation. They would most likely never recover the loss, if that happened. He wanted to rule, he was going to rule, but not over a nation of dead.
Barty had delivered, of course, and he had recounted with horror about how he had stopped Dumbledore from putting a bonded Omega on the bottom of the Black Lake. By doing that, he had reached something of a true truce, or even friendly association, with Severus.
Even Lord Voldemort’s most stupid follower drunk on his ass knew better than to endanger a bonded Omega like that. He had asked Wormtail, and the little man had affirmed it for him. Even he would never try what Dumbledore had tried. Even he knew better than to even contemplate it. So, while Lord Voldemort often had trouble understanding Dumbledore’s motives, in this, he didn’t understand him at all. Why was he tempting Fate so? Why was he tempting Severus’ protective rage? Harming, or even threatening, a bonded Omega was already folly. Harming, or threatening harm, to an already abused Omega (and hadn’t Barty been absolutely incensed when he had managed to figure that tidbit out) was past all reason. Lord Voldemort could not understand it, even if he had wanted to try.
This led to Lord Voldemort’s third difficulty and this moment. Because Severus had to know, or at the very least suspect, who was behind the trap with the Goblet of Fire, and if Lord Voldemort wanted any chance at taking his rightful place in society, he could not have a suspicious and furious Alpha at his back. Particularly not one who knew him as well as Severus Snape did. Because of that, he had Barty make sure Severus’ would reach the Cup first to bring him to Lord Voldemort. And now Lord Voldemort would do something he had not done with any sincerity in his life. He would apologise. He would explain the situation. Explain that he no longer had any intentions on Potter or anyone else that Severus’ felt the least bit connected to, and he would apologise for making the mistake of putting Potter’s name in the Goblet, before he found out about Potter being an Omega. About Potter being Severus’ Omega.
After that, he could only hope that Severus’ rage would be calmed, and that he would be satisfied with Voldemort’s words. Even he, even Lord Voldemort, could do nothing but hope, in the face of a bonded Alpha’s protective rage.
And thus, he waited at the graveyard at Little Hangleton. The location that just weeks before had been the place for his Resurrection, but that now was clean of any hint of that occurrence. He waited for a Portkey to arrive with an Alpha. The first bonded, and thus also unbound, Alpha in the British Isles for centuries.
The whole world shivered before the magic of the Portkey spun around him and smacked its passenger to the ground. Not that he could actually see the passenger, for some reason. Lord Voldemort had never felt the world shiver like that before, and he had no time to contemplate it, for in the next moment, the reason became apparent.
A shadow unlike anything he had ever seen before removed itself from the darkness in the graveyard and began to stalk around him in a great circle on four mighty limbs. It was a broiling mass of darkness, of flitting shadows, of mist and of cold, cold beyond anything on their mortal plain. Cold that melted the ground, if the shadows stood still for too long. Cold should not melt anything, ever. But it did.
The mass, Severus in his unbound form, continued around him. A guttural hiss filled the air and hurt his ears. Voldemort assumed that Severus was too angry to use human speech. He knew, or at least suspected, from what he had read in some of his oldest manuscripts, that a bonded pair had something akin to All-Speak. That did not mean that Voldemort could understand what they said in their now natural language.
“Severus,” Voldemort began, “I brought you here to apologise for my mistake.”
The mass stopped abruptly, after having stalked almost two full circles around him. It shrank or shifted until it was more or less a humanoid form in the darkness, easily three times as big as a house, but no longer ready to swallow the world. At first Voldemort believed him to be completely black. A black hole in the night, but when he managed to really, truly look at him, even if it stung his eyes, he could see pinpricks in the darkness, like stars.
“Apologise?” a cold, inhuman voice drawled in a way that could only come from Severus Snape.
“Yes, apologise,” Voldemort reiterated. “I never meant to put your Omega at risk. I didn’t know he was an Omega, much less your Omega. I have kept you both far out of my plans since then, except to take this chance to apologise to you. I understand that some people never stopped trying to force Potter into the Tournament, in one way or another, but I have not done so after I learned about your connection.”
The enormous creature shrank a bit more and leaned closer to him, without walking closer.
“You will stay away from my Wyrd?” It growled, more an order than a question and Voldemort could do nothing against it, even if it rankled.
Ah, that was right. Wyrd and Warder was another designation for Omega and Alpha.
“Yes, I will not let anything, or anyone, harm him or frighten him, if I’m in a position to stop it.”
“You swear it, on your Magic?” Again, more order than question, but the mass was only as big as two houses now and very obviously humanoid with his arms across his chest. He was listening and he was considering Lord Voldemort’s words.
Voldemort swallowed. He didn’t want to, not at all, but …
“If that is your wish, then yes.”
The pinpricks of light shone stronger, the shape went down to the height of one house and Voldemort could see Darkness drip off his garments and hair. Severus was completely black with those pinpricks of light, they were in his hair, his skin and his clothes, but now his eyes, six eyes, three on each side of his head, held an unnatural glowing black light. Or maybe they had done so from the beginning. Maybe Voldemort hadn’t seen it because he hadn’t been able to look into his eyes before now. Because just looking at him at all had been disconcerting, almost painful, and he had known, deep down on an instinctual level, that looking into his eyes would be painful … and decidedly unsafe.
Severus walked a slow circle around him again. Darkness dripped off him and flowed behind him like smoke.
“What was your plan, with Harry?” It was an ice storm in words and a very clear warning, both.
It never even occurred to him not to answer, and he wouldn’t consider that strange before long after the meeting ended. But then again, he had understood there would be factors he didn’t understand about an unbound Alpha, and about his powers. He had just believed himself able to realise it when it happened.
“I planned to prepare him for the ritual by having him compete in three harsh task full of danger, but also making sure he survived them, then bring him here and use his blood, forcibly taken,” a growl filled the world and he flinched, but hurriedly continued, “in my Resurrection Ritual. As you can see, I have already changed my plans and have no further use of him.”
Severus stopped in front of him and gave a sharp nod. Now only twice as tall as Voldemort himself. Voldemort believed, and hoped, that it meant he was calming down, even if he still was black as the night sky.
“What about the prophecy? What about revenge for what happened to you, that Samhain?” His voice was almost normal now, almost human.
“If it indeed were Potter, and not his parents, who were behind my fall … I was the one who hunted a baby, and hunted to kill. Everything can happen in a hunt, and it’s my own fault if my position went from hunter to hunted. The prophecy … I do not know enough about it to be certain, but I never did give much credit to Divination before that single instance, and I still have no understanding of why I even gave this one any credit, even if it was a portent of my end. I can only do my best to ignore it once more, and hope Potter is willing to do the same. If not …” He shrugged. He stood face to face with a bonded and unbound Alpha, he knew he would have no chance whatsoever at ever harming Harry Potter again.
Magic Builder. Star Wanderer. World Eater. Magic’s Chosen. World Destroyer. Magic Maker. All were different names, or titles, for the same beings, according to his numerous manuscripts and books on the matter. For Alpha and Omega, for Warder and Wyrd, for the Shield and the Shielded. It was a very clear indication that Alphas and Omegas could both annihilate and create, and he knew very well what he hoped would occur, and what he feared with every fibre of his being.
“You are better than you were, last time you had a body,” Severus commented dryly before he took some steps closer and sniffed. “Better, saner, more whole, but not whole, no, not that …” He looked down at Voldemort. “Your goals were not bad. Not in the beginning. Neither were your methods, in the beginning. Neither were even slightly acceptable by the time I joined you, and I should have known better than to fall for it, even in my youth, but I do know the history of your movement, just as I did then. And I believe in it, as I did then.”
He paused and magic began to gather in the air. Voldemort could feel it prickling against his skin. He didn’t know its purpose, only that he was unable to get away from it.
“My Wyrd wants to follow the Wheel of the Year and the Old Ways. He wants to celebrate the eight Sabbaths and Magic in the open. He deems it important, extremely important, both personally and for everyone else, even if he as of yet is unable to explain it fully. I suspect he will understand more, the more he learns about both Magic, about the Wheel of the Year and about his own powers. You will go back to that goal, little Lord, you will make it possible to celebrate all of Magic’s Festivals in the open. You will work to rebalance the Magical World and make all types of Magic legal again. And … You. Will. Do. It. Whole.”
The magic in the air spiked and rushed him. Drove him to the ground and left him both breathless and screaming. Pain beyond anything he had ever felt. Beyond being made a wraith. Beyond living without a body for more than a decade. Beyond anything.
And then it was gone, and he was left panting on the ground. Feeling strangely light, strangely … whole. That was what Severus had said, he would be whole, and he was. He was whole. The aching in his limbs were gone. The sluggishness was gone. But more important, the greatest change of all, was his magic and his mind. His mind was clear for the first time since … since he made that Horcrux in desperation at sixteen, before going back to a war-torn London. And his magic … Tears ran down his cheeks. His magic was also whole, also complete, and so much more, so much deeper, and more alive than he could ever remember.
He looked in awe at his human hands and his naked, human feet. No corpse pale skin, no claws, no protruding, almost black veins. He dragged his hands, his normal, human hands, through his thick hair, he might be getting on in years, but he still was far from bald. Slowly he got to his feet. No pain, no trembling, no sluggishness.
Severus stood watching him, arms crossed over his chest. He looked like a normal human again now. No hint of anything else.
Voldemort … No, that wasn’t right, and he still couldn’t stomach Tom. Not after all the times Dumbledore had used it in such demeaning ways when he was just a boy, still looking for kindness in people, still hoping for something better, and never getting it, but he was not Voldemort anymore. He should never have been Voldemort. Marvolo was not much better, but he had at one point researched his family extensively …
He slowly held out a hand towards Severus. Severus raised a brow, but took the hand and shook it. It felt strange, touching another person like this.
“Corvinus Gaunt, at your service.” His voice was smooth again, no hint of sibilance, and he only now realised how unnerving that hiss to his speech had been.
Severus’ lips twitched. “A change of name as well as face?”
“I have to find something I can live with,” Corvinus said with a sigh. “That goes for pretty much everything else too, in fact.” He let a hand glide through his hair again and he tugged mildly. “I was in truth saner than I had been in decades, even before you did this, but even so … My plan of an hour ago is not … the kind of plan that I want to follow up on now.” He shook his head.
“Your eyes are still ruby red,” Severus commented.
Corvinus nodded. “I suspect that was a ritual other than my Horcruxes. I did participate in quite a few of them, after all. No matter, I will find a suitable glamour charm or something similar, when necessary.” He looked into Severus’ eyes. “You put my soul together again, did you not?”
“I made you whole, whatever was necessary to do so. That is all I know for certain. If you split your soul, then yes, I restored it. Do not rip it apart again, I will not be nearly as kind if you do anything to jeopardise your sanity again. Madness does not suit you, at all.”
Corvinus huffed. “Does it really suit anybody?” He gave a small sigh. “What Oaths do you want me to swear?”
Not at all surprising, Severus being who he was, the Oaths were comprehensive and completely impossible to get out of. When he was done, Corvinus could not go back to Voldemort’s plans, even if he had wanted to. In return, Severus would let Corvinus work to change the Magical World in peace, if he did it without violence and death; without war. That was part of the Oaths, too.
Corvinus knew that if his ambitions had been something else than what Potter wanted, and thus Severus, he would not have been left alone. He also knew that if he ever strayed from the narrow path Severus had put him on, retribution would be swift and merciless. On the other hand, as long as he stayed on that path, he could do almost whatever he liked to reach his goals. Severus had even given him leave to use violence, but not torture, in self-defence when necessary. That way, if Dumbledore and his Order came after him, he wouldn’t be defenceless. Of course, Corvinus could no longer promote blood purity or bigotry amongst his followers, even if he had wanted to, which he did not. All magical blood was important for their society, all magical blood was to be protected, Muggleborns and magical beings and creatures included.
Corvinus swallowed hard and met Severus’ eyes. “Thank you, for whatever it is worth. Thank you for the chance to actually reach my goals. Without your interference, I would never have even come close. I was far too lost before now to even realise that fact.”
Severus nodded once.
Corvinus hesitated. He knew that his capability for emotions wasn’t what most people thought they should be, still, he was fully able to recognise right from wrong, he had always been. He had just not always cared. And in his madness, he had even revelled in that fact. His apology would be far too little, far too late, but he owed the man an apology anyway.
“Also, while I know this apology is even less worth than my thanks … I’m truly sorry for whatever harm I brought you, mentally, physically, and emotionally, when you served me and shared my bed. I was in the wrong. Very much in the wrong.”
Severus was stone-faced, but gave a terse nod, yet again.
“While you are at it, you may as well apologise for the atrocities I will be subjected to when I return to Hogwarts,” Severus said scathingly.
Corvinus blinked. “What atrocities might that be, and how am I accountable?”
“Celebrations, with the whole bloody school,” Severus shuddered. “Thanks to you and your plans I have just won that damned Triwizard Tournament.”
Corvinus bit his lip so hard that it almost bled, but he wasn’t able to stop his smile.
“Might I offer you an … extension to such atrocities? I have some manuscripts with information on Alpha’s … My apologies, Warders and Wyrds, that are so rare that I doubt you have gotten your hands on them. Even if I have been informed that you have searched extensively for information in the past year.”
“You have been informed …” Severus’ eyes narrowed before he gave a sigh. “Yes, of course, you have someone at the school. Nothing else would make sense. While I would like that information, I believe I should get back to the school. I do not like the thought of what might happen if I stay away for too long. I prefer to not even have Harry anxious, if I can at all help it.”
“Understandable. And yes, I have someone at Hogwarts. I just hope I can get him out again, even if he willingly stayed after realising that Dumbledore did not have the right … attitude to deal with a courting, or bonded, pair, and might do something stupid to get a generation of children hurt or killed.”
Severus nodded slowly, and Corvinus assumed that he was considering who at the school could belong to Corvinus.
“You know where to find me,” he made a gesture at the big manor house at the other side of the graveyard. “I would welcome an owl before you visit, but even if I do not receive one, you are welcome to come and peruse what information I have. The more information you and your Wyrd have, the better, for both you and everyone else.”
“Indeed. My thanks. I believe it’s time for me to leave now.”
“Good luck with the atrocious celebrations,” Corvinus said with a smirk.
Severus sneered impressively, Darkness glowed in his eyes for a moment, before he became one with the shadows of the graveyard and disappeared.