Chpter_. The Final Mission
In just a minute both Voldemort's side and the side of the Ministry will warn their contestants that will participate in the final duel of the Slitherin vs Ministry Magical Dispute [DISMAL] that is to settle the feud. All finest and most qualified magicians were gathered on the stage, separated in two, looking at a giant countdown clock at the middle of the stage hoping to become or not to become possible foes. Renee looked deadly concentrated, Bella - affronted, Snape - blank, Voldemort - gleeful. On the Ministry's side some people looked businesslike, others scared to death, others didn't feel concerned as they've never been involved in the whole thing, others... the clock dissipated and everybody apart from the representatives started to leave the platform. When the audience settled down, only two people remained on stage.
Snape's face remained untroubled as did Dumbledore's. They paced from the middle to the farthest opposite ends of the ellipse and pointed their wands in the air, conjuring a transparent protective sphere around the stage. Then, both of their wand tips ignited. Both of them patiently shook the Red Wire off. Dumbledore made a gesture proposing to Snape to initiate the duel, immediately received a red sparkle and a first blow that they blocked in an instant. The next moment Snape felt a sharp pain in their wrist - a portion of Dumbledore's spell that they didn't manage to stop. They retaliated with a curse that, partially reflected, left a small but deep cut in Dumbledore's forearm. The following several shots between them were non-verbal and mutually successfully blocked. Foes looked at each other, thinking hard, calculating each other's next move.
High up in the stands Voldemort was watching the progression of the duel with a twisted leering smile:
- There, there - he whispered - Snape is only wearing them out, the best usually comes in the end. Ha! (Dumbledore's got mildly shocked by a recoil of a deflected spell.)
[... The rebellion happened. The battle officially stopped.]
- Stop! Look at the badge! - Snape shouted across the stage.
- I see.
They paused, waiting for foe badges to light up again. Nothing. They took a few steps towards each other:
- You alright?
- What is going on? Why are the badges out?
- Apparently... it's over. - said Dumbledore slowly, - it's the part of the magic of the badge: it is on only during the battle and off once it's over.
- Let's wait a little, maybe there's been a mistake.
- Oooh, someone really wants to kill me, I see.
- Or maybe, YOU don't have guts to finish me off. - Snape replied angrily, wincing: their injuries must have been hurting them.
- Now you really are being unfair, I thought I was professional enough...
- That you were. - Snape was healing their own wounds, panting slightly.
- What is this thing? - Dumbledore asked, pointing at a gush on their hand that they didn't manage to close after several attempts.
- Never mind, it's rather tricky to explain right now, let me handle it.
Dumbledore stretched their hand and Snape cured the cut in a minute.
- Need a hand with anything? - Dumbledore asked.
- No, I'm good. Let's get out of here. And... can I use my ex office_
- Of course. Would you care to wait for me in the parlor while I'm fetching the seal?
- I can come up with you and take it myself.
- That would be nice.
They climbed silently on the seventh floor. Dumbledore returned out of their study and handed the seal to Snape, who took it, bowed and made a movement to go, before saying:
- Do you want to pop in sometime today?
- I'd love to. In an hour?
- Would be great.
Snape and Dumbledore stood in front of an open window in the dungeon study that was nevertheless high above the plain, caught in the rocky foundation of the Castle. Dumbledore - flanking the wall, Snape - just beside.
- Are you in pain? You look so tense... - Snape asked.
- My right arm is pretty much useless at the moment. I did everything there is to do, so, the only thing is to wait.
- Okay.
- Are you?
- Nothing to take into account.
- Alright. - Dumbledore reached out to Snape's cheek, brushing aside their hair, and noticed a bruise and several small unhealable scratches underneath it, their expression remained carefully controlled.
- You are a wonderful sport, by the way. I've always wondered what it'd be like to be in contest with you. I was sure it was all over for me. - Snape continued in their usual tone, imperceptibly leaning into Dumbledore's caress.
- Well, I think this time we got lucky and arrived at a draw.
- Lucky? - Snape shrank out of Dumbledore's hand. The latter withdrawn immediately and composed themself to listen.
- You are too deep into dark magic and I am into defensive stuff: if either of us won it would be by accident.
- But one cannot win a duel but by accident. If someone miscalculates it's an accident, if someone never bothered to incorporate a technique the other is using it's an accident. - retorted Snape.
- Sure, but some accidents are more predictable than others, that's what make them less accidental. I may know what is one's specialty, but cannot say whether one'll, say, sneeze the next second.
- You see, I was talking about things one doesn't know. Otherwise it's scheming.
- Wait, were you saying that any win is due not to a strategy but to an accident?
- It certainly sounded so. - said Snape sarcastically.
- But were you? - asked Dumbledore, amused.
- Yes, I was. Does it hurt your ego?
- No.
- Oh, really? Because you look like you would bite my face off.
- Maybe it's unrelated.
A quick smile twisted a corner of Snape's mouth, they moved forward a little, felt Dumbledore's hand brush their own and leaned against them completely:
- Your skin smells like sunshine. - Snape whispered.
- Let me taste your lips.
- Damn! How are you doing this? - Snape spoke quieter than usual as their mouth was millimeters from Dumbledore's face.
- What?
- The softer your kisses are the deeper you dig into my muscles.
- Is it uncomfortable for you? Do you want me to stop?
- No, by all means keep going. It feels mind-blowing, pity I can't do that to you.
- No matter, I love your way.
Snape's light touch made Dumbledore's body move to and fro ever so slightly against Snape's by precisely applied pressure on the thin superficial muscles of the lower back. They leaned into Snape, slightly bending over backwards, desperately catching other's lips.
Suddenly, Snape stopped, Dumbledore saw their eyes sparkle intensively:
- I want to fight you.
- Right now?
- Yes.
Dumbledore's mouth stretched into a smile, their eyes narrowed mischievously:
- Let's do it.
They righted themselves and cleared the floor of the study by magically pushing the furniture to the sides.
Snape tucked their shirt into their pants more tightly and Dumbledore buttoned their rolled up sleeves.
- The close-up first? - asked Dumbledore, amused.
- Yes.
They stood into a position three steps apart, their wand arms bent, elbow close to the side.
Dumbledore stretched their wand and Snape hit it with theirs, silver sparks falling to the floor.
During several minutes they were successfully blocking each other's spells, then Snape started to move around the room making Dumbledore turn on the spot. Snape dodged a curse and it hit a shelf, to escape the clatter Snape had to jump aside ending up rolling on the floor. Dumbledore, slightly distracted, saw Snape point their wand squarely at them from below and, caught off guard by the spell, fell on the floor too. Snape deflected another curse and shouting *stop* grasped Dumbledore's wrist sending the next hex to the ceiling.
Both of them lowered their wands, panting.
- You were attempting to read my mind.
- Guilty. - admitted Dumbledore.
- Did you think that I would leave my brain unprotected?
- Tell me how did you know. It is plain that once someone had broken into your mind rather uncouthly you would notice it, but how does one detect an attempt?..
- I can show you what to do.
The next half an hour both of them were sitting on the floor staring at each other, practicing Occlumency.
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In the pompously ornate room on the rising benches sat magicians invited by the minister. The two hour talk about the defeat of Voldemort didn't promise an early ending. Almost all the media representatives stopped taking notes at the very beginning and just let the record running. Dumbledore was contemplating the sky through the band of glass windows encircling the dome of the ceiling and the birds that landed and departed outside. They sat in the third rank, all seats were occupied on invite only. Snape beside them was surreptitiously reading something. Suddenly, Dumbledore heard a gentle snap of the book and looked around.
- You are bored. - stated Snape, amused.
- Well spotted, Severus. A perfectly sound observation.
- Are you ready?
- For the questions? Yes.
- Well, then. - Snape tossed the volume behind their back and got hold of other's hand. Their fingers finding their way between Dumbledore's with all the slowness and lightness to which the skin of the hand is particularly sensitive.
- What are you doing? I need to concentrate. - asked Dumbledore smiling slightly and clearly playing along. They let other's fingers slip in-between completely and then squeezed them hard before letting them go again.
- Oh, I am distracting you, it is in my hellish nature.
- It's cruel of you as we share this one. - Dumbledore responded in an undertone carefully and effectively returning the caress while keeping their eyes fixed on the minister for a sign to join the speech.
-... And now the floor is to the Headmaster of the Castle!
Dumbledore stood up, snatching at Snape's hand that attempted to slip away. Snape looked up at them with an eyebrow raised, having absolutely no idea how Dumbledore was planning on magnifying their voice with their wand arm in theirs. But Dumbledore calmly reached out to their right hand pocket with their left and proceeded to answer the questions of the audience. Their middle finger glided over the center of other's palm to the tips of their fingers, Snape picked up on it immediately and engaged in a symmetrical movement. Dumbledore's responses sounded sardonic but to the point, several times Snape bit their lip to prevent bursting out with laughter due to the whole situation.
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Dumbledore and Snape were moving towards an armchair with large inclined arms: the latter landed with their back against one of those, gently but firmly pulling the other by their hips, making the free visible stretch of a symmetrical toy that linked their vaginas considerably smaller. Then they pushed other's pelvis away and forcefully brought it back again. Dumbledore got the idea and repeated the movement themself with a grand amplitude, watching closely other's reaction. Both of them were out of breath, sweating away, their hair dump and tangled. When Snape's grip on their upper arms became almost unbearably tight Dumbledore stopped at once, letting their partner savor the pleasure, but a couple of seconds later Snape noticed that they themself were on edge due to the double-ended quality of the toy, threw them over the arm on the seat and when their whispered question received a positive answer, followed with blunt pelvic movements that assisted the other in getting their orgasm. Once it was over they run their hand through their wet hair in battle to remove it from their face, hovered, sitting on their knees recovering their breath. Dumbledore was hardly retaining a grin. Snape extended their arm to help them to get up, and the other snatched at its bicep part, dragging them down. They locked their arms, wrestling for a while, then both emerged from the armchair kissing softly and deeply, they were standing up-right turning on the spot. At the middle of a kiss, Dumbledore stepped back:
- I'm going to take a shower. Sorry, Severus. - they added.
- Don't apologize for that! - Snape said with a frown. Dumbledore smiled at them brightly and escaped in the adjacent bathroom.
Left alone, Snape bit their lip, stood for a while thinking, then, approached the armchair and finding a hard angle of an arm stimulated themself at ease. Once satisfied they magically wiped off numerous wet stains off the velvety surface, put on their boxer briefs and went to the bar to drink a glass of cold water.
By this time Dumbledore has just vacated the shower and went to a separate room to dress. The door of the bathroom delicately clicked behind Snape.
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