Chapter Text
6. Chapter
Choosing to walk past the desks and chairs and leaving them be for now, he entered the office. It was as plain and neatly packed up as the classroom was. Just an empty bed, a clean dark wood table and a couple of boxes resting idly in the corner. With a flick of his wrist and the simple intent of making this room his own, that was fixed.
He hadn't even needed to put much effort into it really, just a tuck on Hogwarts magic veins and the small room provided him with a set of tall windows, expanded a bit on the eastfront and at the same time filled to the brim with the luggage and books, he had brought with him. Even the air changed on his whim, growing fresher and warmer and also getting rid of the dustyness. Gellert had a feeling that the castle seemed quite accustomed to changing this area on the regular. Maybe they had troubles with keeping professors? He had been told after all that the children had had a rather unstructured education in the dark arts lessons these past years. Which had of course immediately become his problem to fix as Mc gonagall had made clear multiple times today.
With a sigh, he looked at what was now his office. He took off the coat he had worn for the feast, hanging it on a newly appeared hock on the wall. Feeling his knees buckle under him, Gellert only barely managed it to the almost disgustingly soft bed and all but collapsed on top the sheets. 'He really should not have eaten that much. ' 'But the food had tasted so good! He just couldn't help himself.
Back in Azkaban there had been a complicated charm-system that allowed the prisoners to survive with as little food and water provided as possible. 'If you could call that black looking soup food and the water had been more dirt than anything else.' Feeding had only been every other month and the last one before his escape had been five weeks ago.
'At least that was what he thought how long it was. Time wasn't exactly a linear thing to keep track of when you stare at a wall for all eternity.'
To say the least his stomach was in knots. And it certainly didn't help that the only thing he had drank since the prison had been the bottle of cheap alcohol before downing three glasses in the great hall.
Gellert groaned like a dying man as a wave of nausea forced his head down. How he had managed all these taxing social interactions while keeping a straight face just now, he himself had no idea. Maybe it was just good practice from the many political events he had used to frequent in his time.
His head was also pounding tremendously. Going from an isolated prison cell to a massive hall filled to the brim with babbling students felt akin to being dropped in ice water after sleeping comfortably in your bed. Nevertheless the evening certainly hadn't been in vain at least, he pondered, carefully shifting on his side on the bed.
He had met a swarm of new people today. First and foremost of course Professor Mc gonagall, Snape and the rest of the teachers consisting of Madame Sprout, who he quickly got to know as the good hearted head of Hufflepuff House, professor Flitwick, a rather unassuming small man leading Ravenclaw, Grubby-plank, beloved under the students it seemed, taking the care for magical creatures class, (even though Albus had let slip that this position was normally held by their groundskeeper, who Gellert hadn't known existed up to that point), divination professor Trelawny, apparently a seer, but Gellert would eat his recently recovered telescope if that were true. This new cast of characters had a few intriguing possibilities in them though. The chess board was definitely filling quickly and Gellert always preferred to know his pieces. He had decided so the very moment he started pocking at the potions master's facade. And there was a great deal under that facade he was sure.
Then he had heard almost a few hundreds of different student names, as Albus had ever so often greeted them in the hall. 'How did he remember all of these names individually ??' Needless to say not many had reached their way into his long time memory, but that hadn't been the goal anyway. He remembered a few and that was just fine. People oh so liked it to be called by their name. It makes them feel seen and at the same time they will become more attentive to you. Somehow feeling indebted by such a simple thing. Gellert had taken care to always know who his current followers were. Their names and their situations even to an extent to how they were feeling at the time. He knew Albus did this too. The man had always displayed an instinctive sense of how he could make the people around him feel. And by all means he could weaponize this advantage if he wanted to.
'People had oh so liked to underestimate the professor or Headmaster as he should say now.'
'But Albus liked to be underestimated or no he should correct himself, Albus liked to not be seen as a threat' The demeanour he put on was calm, playful and inviting. The students absolutely loved him, that much was obvious to Gellert.
He could feel himself growing sad at the thought as always. Their styles fit so perfectly together 'What they could've done together.. .'
He pushed the feeling away.
Speaking or rather thinking of it, despite the facade he did notice the subtle tension in Al's shoulders throughout the whole evening. He wasn't sure what was troubling his favorite person in the world. His brows seemed to hang deeper in his face, than Gellert remembered. Only ever slightly rising when Nicklas whispered a clever joke or a snide remark in his ear. The damage of nearly fifty years apart left Gellert only with the ability to vaguely guess his troubles at the present moment.
He didn't like it.
'He would be sure to change that as soon as possible.' But there was one thing he was quite confident in. Albus didn't suspect him of being a fraud. If he were to trust his humble judgment, he might even say that Al liked the presence of Nicklas or at least preferred him to some... individuals.
He was rather rudely interrupted in his thought process by another pang of pain in his stomach. Causing him to curl up tightly in his bed. 'It was late, he could continue being miserable about what had once been between them later.' Fairly quickly he fell asleep with his nose buried in the sheets.
.......
It was raining. Was it? Yes it was cold. So cold, that it hurt his bare skin on his face and hands. He was running, stumbling over his own feet. The high tower bending and twisting the closer he got.
Or did it get further away?
Branches snapped. Were they under his feet?The water filling his ears made it impossible to know.
Then they were on top. They? The outlines of people were spinning around him. Voices were taken away by the wind. The rain was so loud.
A familiar pale face framed by black hair came into view. He couldn't make out any of the features. Details were bleeding together in strange ways like paint flowing off a canvas.
Gellert closed his eyes, willing it away.
Getting punished for it the very next moment. There was that sound again, that horrible horrible crack as it echoed through his mind. Only now a choked off scream soon followed. But it wasn't the one of pain he would have expected. It was closer to a wail of despair.
It took him a moment to recognize that he was the one screaming into his pillow.
Frantically he clawed at the sheets under him until he could feel them again under his fingertips. After a painful eternity he managed to shake off the phantom sensation of wet clothes and hair clinging to his skin. As they gradually subsided, only the aching of his joints stayed with him.
Gellert hated dreaming his visions. It was by far the most dangerous way to receive a glimpse. The one that offered the least hold and control. That's exactly why he preferred pecking through his telescope or reading them in the smoke. Mind and body were removed from each other like in every vision, but when awake and intent, they at least always seemed more 'in reach' than in the daze of dreams. It was little surprise that it took him a while before his body caught up with the information gathered by his mind.
He was on his feet before realizing he had moved. And two seconds later he was on the floor as his legs folded under him like a stack of cards. Grunting he hit the floorboards.
'It had been that oily haired prick. He would be there? What had he to do with Al' s death? Was he a traitor? Maybe. Why not. Surely it wasn't that far fetched. What stank like a rat was probably a rat. Yes, yes he might be dangerous to him. I need to kill him. '
Breathing shallow he pushed himself to his feet. Before he could continue he heard a sound coming from the window.
For half a second he froze.
Tilting his head he could faintly make out the outlines of a white, brown dove sitting on his windowsill pecking impatiently at the glass. Heavily he sat down on the edge of the bed , rubbing his knees joints in a circular motion.
' What. No, no what he needed to do was calm the fuck down.'
With a deep breath Gellert gathered his thoughts again.
Breathing in and out.
Distantly aware he saw himself how he opened the window and let the bird slip into the warm room.
Breathing in and out.
'He could not take what he had seen as absolute. Visions were unreliable at the best of times. And what so incriminating had he seen? What if he had been present. That could mean a lot of things and if he was only half as smart as he claimed himself to be, he would know better than assume too much for now........
Mulling it over he came to a conclusion. He wouldn't let it slip either. A little snooping around in the potionsmasters dungeons couldn't hurt. '
The feat of navigating the castle proved not much of a feat at all. Even though the stairs were never in the right place he remembered them a few minutes ago. He just took the ways that led him further down, occasionally catching the attention of paintings (probably wondering what the new professor was doing up so late) , but his little walk in the dark remained otherwise uninterrupted.
Navigating the dungeons themselves was a bit of a different story, as they were not unlike a maze. The little light that remained at the late hour in the rest of the castle was fully gone here, leaving Gellert shrouded in complete darkness, as he decided against carrying a light on his wand. That would be way too obvious. Instead he whispered quietly:"Per tenebras video. "
'This nifty charm would give him the night vision he needed. Thinking of it he should probably get used to explaining the spells he used. ' 'He would need to teach magic to a bunch of fifteen year olds soon. The panic about that still hadn't fully set in.'
All the classrooms he passed were uninteresting. Not even any of the equipment was on the tables. All of the interesting ingredients locked in their own glass cabinets. Probably because there hadn't even been any classes yet. Still he checked each room with the vague hope of finding the professors office attached to one, like his own was. He walked so long, he was contemplating if the castle walls had shifted to mess with him until he found something worth his time.
He had been specifically searching for any hints of concealment charms with the help of Aparecium, when the stones on his right suddenly ceased to exist giving way to a small wooden door.
Feeling giggly Gellert pushed it open without a second thought. The interior was quite gloomy and without his night vision it would have been pitch black. He had to stop for a second to take it all in. There were rows and rows of potion ingredients stacked neatly in shelves that reached so high, that the ladder needed to access the highest row would have to be at least thrice as long as a normal one. The collection was downright impressive, harboring almost every component he could think of for potion brewing, ranging from gillyweed to.. was that yeti fur?? Seemed like he had stumbled right over the potions professors winter den.
Some people,.. Better people would have seen the label announcing 'Don't even think about touching anything' and turned around, leaving all the valuable stuff untouched, because they would fear retribution for invading such an obviously treasured stash of goods, thankfully he wasn't one of these morons.
He didn't see the label, he saw the protection and memory charms coating every surface of the claustrophobic room, that would expose whoever had been in here the second the spellcaster checked on them. He chuckled and got to work.
It was almost laughable easy. A cauldron was the only thing to get and then he found himself the darkest corner of the dungeons' storage systems and began.
The trick here was to not use any of his own magic. A thing such as the presence of another magic signature suddenly appearing could be detrimental to his secret setup. Cautiously he called upon the castle's magic resources, delighting as his request was answered in kind, providing him with a small compartment in the wall, barely large enough for a small brewing station with direct access to the potion ingredient stash and its owner none the wiser.
Opting to test it right away, he managed to brew exactly the one potion he needed and downed it in one go. (His skills in potions were quite a bit rusty, but he would trust himself not to poison himself... too badly). Thankfully he almost immediately felt the effects of his experimental health potion kick into effect. The chronic pain in his legs reduced from sharp stings to a distant ache. Which in turn improved his mood considerably.
Resting his hand against the wall, he sent a tiny concentrated spark of his purest magic essence right into the golden web of Hogwarts energy resources. In response the castle's magic shot for, effectively absorbing the tiny spark into itself, before twisting happily around Gellert's hand as if asking for more. Having watched in morbid fascination as magic devoured the other, he giggled softly as it tickled him.
"Now now you can send your master my regards. Just don't say it was me. ", he spoke like he would to a purring cat.
Entangling himself he sealed off the compartment simply by jamming a brick into the opening, grinning smugly.
Fortunately for him that was just in time as the sounds of footsteps started coming down the corridor. Silently he rushed out of the cabinet under an invisibility charm coming almost face to face with that bastard.
No wonder he hadn't found any traces of where the potion professor wandered off to his office, when he wasn't even going to his office to sleep like any sane person. Instead he was walking around in the dungeons like a pale faced ghost in the middle of the night!
Slightly absent minded Snape paused before the small door abruptly, weaving his hand through the air. A frown on his face.
Puzzling over what he was looking at so weirdly Gellert followed his gaze down to a little crack of an opening in the door.
He realized didn't have enough time to fully close it.
Gellert took that as the perfect sign to take his leave, swiftly hurrying back down the hallway.
At least the staircases were not a problem for him anymore, as they seemed to align wherever he wanted to go. He wasn't sure if he deserved it, but seemed like he was in the castle's good graces for now and he would do well to keep it that way.
Eventually he made it to his room again, shutting the door behind him with a satisfying click. The bird was waiting for him. Surely tired. He remembered now he had sent it off while traveling to Hogwarts.
"You know i can tell somethings wrong with this pale bat", he began talking to it, finally beginning to unpack and sort through his stuff. "I just need to see more.. "
The only answer he received was soft chirp.
Briefly he wondered if he might be able to catch a bit more sleep. One look at the time was all it took for that naive plan to combust into ashes. Sunrise would be in as little as two hours.