Blood of the Enemy

Chapter Seventeen

Blood of the Enemy

A whirlpool of blue lights spun around Severus, making him dizzy.

By the time the atrium stopped revolving, Severus had fixed his line of sight onto the orbicular floor, shielding himself against disorientation. He scanned the room quickly, looking for the door to the left of the candelabrum which held thirteen candles, then sprung forward, pushing through the portal which led to the Department of Mysteries' inner sanctum.

The corridor stretched out before him like a tunnel carved from bedrock, lined with purplish-black wooden doors protecting the offices of the Unspeakables. Unmarked alongside its neighbours, the fourth door gleamed proudly in the candlelight, and Severus paused before knocking on its polished walnut surface. He desperately wanted to blast the door from its hinges and enter Turnstone's office with his wand raised, ready for a duel, but he knew this course of action would not assist him in uncovering the truth.

And so he politely knocked.

"Come in," said a subdued voice which reminded Severus of a mournful clarinet.

Upon entering the room, he was instantly struck by the dark, overcast skies magically replicated in the office window. Casting a gloomy silhouette in front of the scene was a man with curly brown hair and a growth of stubble close to becoming a beard if it were left unattended. He looked younger than Severus had expected, boyish for a man of forty-four years of age; the lines under his eyes were the only giveaway.

Severus assessed the wizard who had purportedly broken Tess's heart a decade ago, noticing how his smart dress-sense contrasted an apparent lack of grooming. He was a good-looking man with an unfettered air about him, the sort of person who seemed confident and at ease. These first impressions served to unsettle Severus, as he recognised few of these attributes in himself. He wondered how much importance Tess placed on these traits.

The Unspeakable placed down his quill and appraised his visitor keenly.

"And who might you be?" he asked, somewhat impatiently.

Severus removed the hood of his cloak and stepped into the pool of light in the centre of the room. Turnstone's irritation quickly morphed into a horror so burlesque that Severus almost laughed.

"Snape," Turnstone said, his voice cracking.

Severus merely nodded, holding on to a coiling twist of schadenfreude as it pressed its cool metallic edges against his body. He allowed himself a satisfied smirk as his prey arose to its feet, clutching the desk to embolden itself.

Seconds ticked by, tangible like the sound of military drums. Turnstone gazed warily at his visitor, unsure of the etiquette befitting this unforeseen occurrence.

"How did you find me?"

"The Minister for Magic is an old friend of mine."

"I see." Turnstone's fingernails clipped out an irregular beat as he strummed the desktop in contemplation. After a few moments, he manoeuvred cautiously around his desk and asked, "What can I do for you?"

Severus tried to keep his voice noncommittal. "You can start by answering a few questions about my revivification."

"Oh? I thought Tess kept you informed throughout the process?"

"She did," Severus replied. "But I wish to hear of the things which you neglected to tell her."

The Unspeakable appeared perplexed. "I don't know what you mean..."

"Let's start with the Revivification Potion, shall we?" Severus interrupted, fast losing patience with the cat-and-mouse game. "The decision-making process was examined by myself, Tess and St Mungo's, so... mistakes in the formulae are... unlikely."

Standing in front of his desk, Turnstone remained stoical.

"Bone of the father..." Severus continued, warming to his theme. "That one caused some heartache, I can tell you. Lucky that my earthly remains had been laid to rest instead of being cremated, wouldn't you say?"

Turnstone's cheek twitched.

"And then, 'flesh of the servant'... How fortunate that I'd benefitted from the services of a personal house-elf at Hogwarts." Severus took in a deep breath before he continued. "Blood of the enemy," he inflected ominously. "Regrettable, indeed, that all of my enemies had perished...

"Little did I know that a snake in the grass was slithering around the base of the cauldron which resurrected me."

Clym blinked slowly. "I've no idea where you're leading with this, Snape, so why don't you just spit it out?"

"Really? Not even an inkling? You disappoint me."

Severus closed the distance between them and uttered a growling whisper. "I know that you tampered with the potion's active ingredients."

At this, Turnstone stood bolt upright, steadily returning Severus's pernicious gaze and crossing his arms against his chest. His lack of verbal response began to uproot Severus's certainty.

"Nothing to say?" Severus enquired with a hint of annoyance. "You must've been disappointed when I returned to corporeal form and your little plan seemed to end in failure."

Severus noticed Turnstone's quizzical squint and decided to press the advantage. "Wanted to keep her all for yourself, didn't you, Mister Turnstone?"

The Unspeakable balled his fists, but Severus didn't notice; his anger acted as a blinker.

"Do you deny it?" he snarled, circling to stand directly in front of his prey.

Turnstone spoke slowly with a clenched jaw. "I don't deny that I wanted her. But I didn't sabotage your resurrection. Your standing here is living proof of that."

"You play your part well, Turnstone, innocent and sincere, just as you probably were with Tess, all summer long, hypnotising her with your charm, luring her until she was close enough to sink your fangs into. But she resisted you. And I'm here now to make you pay for what you've done to me."

"I've done nothing to you, Snape!"

"Oh, but you have, Turnstone, you have. Even the Healers at St Mungo's missed it. Perhaps you intended for the consequence to be delayed? That would have been cunning indeed. Allow me to slowly discover my magical powers were waning... That's one way to destroy a wizard's reason for living..."

"Having problems with your magic, are you?" asked Turnstone, his face lighting up with delight. "What a pleasant surprise! Never in my wildest dreams would I have conjured that scenario."

"Damn you, Turnstone!" Severus struck the desk with his fist, causing it to lurch. "You altered 'blood of the enemy', knowing there would be consequences! In one fell swoop, you thought you'd render me impotent and try to steal Tess away from me!"

"How dare you." Turnstone glowered, his eyes alight with hatred.

Before Severus could react, Turnstone grabbed him by the shirt, threw back his mop of curly hair and headbutted him.

When Turnstone's forehead smashed into his nose, Severus heard the cracking of bone. Staggering backwards, he felt warm trickles of blood escaping his nostrils and pouring down his face. His fingers went instinctively to the bridge of his nose, trying to stem the blood flow, and he flinched in pain.

"You want to know what happened?"

Turnstone's voice came from above, and Severus realised he'd dropped onto his knees. He reached out for a chair and hauled himself into a sitting position, gagging on the metallic taste of blood.

"You really want to know?" Turnstone waited for a response which never came. "'Blood of the enemy' was Dark magic. You know that. We needed Light magic. We needed the opposite of an enemy. I told Tess that I didn't want her to contribute to the potion. I told her that she'd be magically tied to you forever if she did."

Severus dared to meet Clym's eye and saw revulsion in his features. Severus's humiliation was tempered by his intellect, though, which devoured the new information like a starving manticore. Tess had chosen to be bound magically to him?

"But she insisted," Clym continued. "I couldn't dissuade her. Only then did I realise how much she loved you – fool that she is – and I knew that bringing you back was the only thing which would make her happy... So we proceeded as planned. And here you are."

The disgust on the Unspeakable's features sent a bilious trickle of shame creeping through Severus's guts. Whilst Turnstone had confessed his plan to steal Tess from him, he had not used nefarious means to neuter his rival. Severus realised the Unspeakable was not as he appeared; Turnstone had given up Tess and relinquished his claim, and more importantly, Tess had accepted a binding magical tie to Severus for the rest of her life.

Severus remained seated, utterly dumbfounded.

"If you're having problems with your magical ability, I suggest you look elsewhere for your answers. In the meantime, get the hell out of my office."