Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
"I don't think we have anything to talk about, Headmaster." I said firmly.
"I do not agree, and I must insist that we talk," Dumbledore insisted.
"Headmaster, I don't think that -"
"Let him talk, Lucy." Bellatrix interrupted Lucius. I looked at Bellatrix, who was approaching, and she seemed almost drunk. Her glassy gaze as she staggered in my direction was a clear indicator. "Sera." Bellatrix moaned my name as she dropped on top of me. I held her easily as she took the opportunity to bite my neck, drawing blood. To my surprise, she pulled away almost immediately, but not before licking the blood from my neck that came out, healing the wound without anyone noticing anything strange. "They all tasted horrible." Bellatrix moaned in a low, disgusted voice as she walked away, now more sober. "Serena will talk to you, Headmaster."
"Thank you, Miss Black."
"But I will be present," Bellatrix interrupted firmly, surprising Dumbledore. He sighed, "I hope this ends well."
After much back and forth, talking to Aurors and enduring Moody's questioning. Bellatrix and I were in the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore turned around and looked at both of us.
"How much does she know?" Dumbledore asked, looking in my direction. I shrugged as I stood guard. I doubted Dumbledore would attack us in his office, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
"Everything." I said simply, Dumbledore sighed and nodded. "Then I suppose I owe you an apology, Miss Snape. I'm glad there was no permanent damage." Dumbledore started, and I snorted, something he ignored as he continued. "And I must also offer my condolences; no one deserves to be a plaything in Tom's hands like you and your mother were." I blinked, confused. What was he talking about? "Though I must say, you have some excellent control over the dark magic put on you by the rituals Tom did, it never ceases to amaze me." Bellatrix looked just as confused, but I finally knew what he was talking about.
"I've had time to handle it." I huffed as I wordlessly communicated to Bellatrix that I would explain it to her later. I had actually forgotten about Paper Trail. I had created paper trails and people trails about my powers. Baiser's was that Voldemort had performed experiments, rituals, it would seem, on my mother. At the same time, she was pregnant with me. It wasn't something I remembered until now, but I'm not surprised that Dumbledore found those trails if he was investigating me.
"Still, I cannot allow him to harm other students, and I'm not just talking about Evan Rosier… the question is, where is Rabastan Lestrange?"
"I have no idea, Headmaster, I'm not Lestrange's mother, so I don't see why I would know where he is." I narrowed my eyes at him, and he just stared back at me before sighing.
"Do we have to do this?" Dumbledore asked tiredly. I raised an eyebrow in his direction.
"I hope you didn't bring Serena here just to accuse her without proof, Headmaster… that would be unprofessional of you." Bellatrix glared at Dumbledore, who just shook his head.
"Of course not." Dumbledore dismissed, "I just thought Miss Snape would have an idea of young Rabastan's whereabouts. I would never accuse her of anything." He said honestly, and I almost believed he meant it. "That aside, did you have a chance to think about my offer?" I gritted my teeth.
"We both know that wasn't an offer," I spat angrily in his direction. Dumbledore barely flinched. "But since we're talking about this, I'll make you a deal." Dumbledore raised an eyebrow and waved his hand, as if permitting me to speak. I snorted, "Information, important information about Voldemort- no, about Tom Riddle- in exchange for information about ancient magic." Dumbledore's expression didn't change.
"You got bored of raiding the forbidden section of the library?" Dumbledore asked simply, of course, he knew about my forays into the library. "And what makes you think you would have information that I don't have about Tom?" he asked boredly.
"The same way I found out about you." I said simply. I could finally see a slight twitch above Dumbledore's lip. I reached into one of Aria's pockets, pulled a box out of my inventory, and placed it on Dumbledore's desk. Dumbledore frowned. He was about to touch the box before quickly retracting his hand. He looked at me almost accusingly, took out his wand, and cast several spells. With each spell he cast, his face fell more and more.
"What's in there, Miss Snape?" Dumbledore asked gravely, with Cia still inside my clothes, trying to peek through my cleavage. I moved my hand and opened the box. Dumbledore raised his wand immediately before opening his eyes wide. "The lost Diadem of Ravenclaw." He muttered to himself, completely fascinated. Yes, I had plans for the piece of Voldemort's soul, but if I could obtain information on Dumbledore's ancient magic in exchange, it was a good deal.
"It's a Horcrux ." That stopped Dumbledore stiffly as he paled; he brandished his wand again, but more frantically over the diadem.
"It's Tom's," Dumbledore stated, though he practically spat it out. I nodded. Dumbledore massaged his temple solemnly. "I have you to thank, Miss Snape. I never would have imagined that Tom would go to such an extreme... but I must say that I'm not surprised. This confirms what I always assumed about him. That what Tom fears most is death, but with this, he can be defeated." I smiled mockingly.
"Who said he made just one?" I asked mockingly, and Dumbledore stopped stiffly once again.
"No." He murmured in horror, almost pleading that I was lying. "How many? Which ones?" he asked almost demandingly, my eyes narrowing in his direction.
"You know the price for information, Dumbledore." He looked at me incredulously, and I rolled my eyes.
"You really want to negotiate for this?!" he asked incredulously. I shrugged.
"I told you it was a deal, you know my price, I'll tell you everything about the other Horcruxes in exchange for instructions on ancient magic, you'll need the information if you want to get rid of Voldemort." I said simply, and he glared at me.
"So what? Then Tom will be replaced by you?" he asked scathingly. "How sure am I that you won't become something worse than Tom when you have access to ancient magic?" I rolled my eyes.
"Just make the damn Unbreakable Vow," Bellatrix interrupted, who had been silent until now. I looked at her incredulously, something that Dumbledore copied, apparently not expecting Bellatrix to be on his side as well.
"What?! Whose side are you on?!" I asked in her direction, and Bellatrix rolled her eyes, grabbed her wand, and cast a muffliato. "What?!" I asked her as she looked at me.
"Sera, you're being stupid." She said simply, and I looked at her offendedly. She raised her hand to silence me. "Tell me, what's the problem with a Vow? You said it; we're looking for a world where we can settle down long-term, and that world is not this one. We won't be around long enough for the vow to really affect you in any way, so what's the problem?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. I stopped stiffly and gave her a bitter look.
"I don't want a chain around my neck." I said childishly, and she huffed as she rolled her eyes. I sighed tiredly as I ran my hand over my face. Bellatrix was right; depending on the wording of the vow, I really wouldn't be limiting myself in any way. We had decided to try our luck in another world after the Yule holidays, and we would be staying there for who knows how long, "fine." I spat resignedly. Bellatrix gave me a smug smile as she lowered the muffliato.
"She will." Bellatrix said firmly. Dumbledore looked at Bellatrix in shock as if he hadn't expected this turn of events. "Let's make the vows, I'll be the witness." She said simply, to which Dumbledore nodded. After a brief discussion, the following points emerged.
'I, Serena Eileen Snape, will tell Albus Dumbledore everything I know about Tom Riddle 's Horcruxes.'
'I, Serena Eileen Snape, will not use ancient magic to harm in any way other people in this world'
Dumbledore raised an eyebrow at the latter's wording, but said nothing; for Dumbledore, it was simpler.
'I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, will grant Serena Snape everything she needs to begin learning ancient magic.'
Once we finished the Unbreakable Vow, I told him everything I knew about the Horcruxes. The diary, the ring, the locket, the cup, and his possible plans to make Nagini one of them, totaling six in all, seven pieces of the soul. I even mentioned that he got the idea from Slughorn to make seven pieces. Dumbledore seemed more desolate the more he listened.
I couldn't really tell him much more; the Horcruxes weren't yet in the places I knew they would be in the future. I only said to him that it's possible he gave them to his most trusted Death Eaters to keep them in secret places.
Once I had finished everything I knew, Dumbledore stared into space thoughtfully before sighing and standing up. He walked over to one of his shelves, pulled out a book, and tapped it twice with his wand; the book's appearance changed.
"This is a book with all the basics you need to know in order to learn ancient magic." he handed the book to me almost regretfully. "I had written it for the next holder of ancient magic. It was enchanted so that it would reveal itself under certain conditions; now it is yours." I took the book in my hands, anticipation building as I struggled to wait to read it. A smile threatening to spread across my face. "Now, Miss Snape, Miss Black, if you could please leave, I have much to think about." Dumbledore dismissed us from the room. Almost anxiously, I stood up. Bellatrix walked over to me and put her arm around me, and we walked out of the office.
It didn't turn out as expected, but I finally got what I needed.
----
December 22, 1976 – Serena PoV
Rodolphus Lestrange(T5) from Harry Potter --SOLD
Goyle Sr.(T5) from Harry Potter --SOLD
Crabbe Sr.(T5) from Harry Potter --SOLD
Evan Rosier(T5) from Harry Potter --SOLD
[228]
It had been four days since the attack on Hogsmeade; the required 72 hours had passed, and I had sold out the four Death Eaters, netting myself another 64 credits, which was always welcome.
It had also been 2 days since we had left Hogwarts for the Yule holidays. The last two days I had spent at the mansion in my pocket dimension, but now I had been invited to spend Christmas at the Black house, brilliant.
Now, most importantly, Ancient Magic is utterly fascinating. It is a primordial force, embedded in the world around us, woven through life itself. It exists beyond our standard spells, wands, or incantations and is immensely powerful. Ancient Magic harnesses raw, untamed energies, enabling a wizard to influence life, memory, and even the elements themselves.
At first glance, it didn't really seem any different from everyday magic. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the Nasuverse 's Magecraft and True Magic. All Magecraft was True Magic, but it became Magecraft as science and technology advanced, allowing them to replicate magical phenomena, which in turn degraded True Magic.
The same was true of Ancient Magic. All magic had been Ancient Magic to some degree, raw, untamed, and highly emotional. However, as wands were made, spells, wand movements, chants, words, and incantations were created to harness it; it became simply Magic. Something much more controllable and rigid, that could be harnessed much more efficiently than Ancient Magic, but much weaker as well.
Ancient Magic was particularly well-suited for improvisation and spontaneous spell creation, as most of its principles centered on intention. When mastered correctly, it could achieve truly spectacular results. However, there were other uses for Ancient Magic as well.
The most basic form of using Ancient Magic is the amplification of the simplest of spells to extraordinary levels of power. Wielders instinctively call upon Ancient Magic in times of great stress or fear.
And that made sense; I had Stress Defense from the beginning. I could remain calm under extremely high levels of pressure. The only time I had genuinely felt fear and panic was simply at the end of my fight against Dumbledore.
I had been caught off guard by the pain, the helplessness when he cut my hand, and I simply wanted to get away from the place. I had been using alchemy instead of my wand, so that could really explain why I didn't have any outbursts of ancient magic during that moment. I was more focused on running away than fighting.
Actually, this wasn't one of the uses I cared about for ancient magic. Yes, it was nice to have another magic enhancer, another battery, so to speak, but I hoped that ancient magic wouldn't simply be reduced to that.
But hey, leaving that aside, ancient magic had other uses. The book detailed how ancient magic could remove or reduce emotions, but it could also magnify them. Allowing ancient magic to expand positive emotions was a way to take advantage of it more easily and in a less destructive manner.
And that… was precisely what I was looking for.
La Verità was something I hadn't been able to master. Oh, I could keep it permanently activated; in fact, I kept it for the entire 20 hours while I was training against Bellatrix. However, I couldn't keep it in a diminished state, like my transformation into a normal Baiser.
To put it simply, as long as I wasn't fighting, I was very horny. Much more so than in my base form, and that's bad for my transformations. The more lust I feel, the stronger I become, and the more Baiser magic I use, the hornier I feel. It was some kind of loop that ended up fucking me over. If there came a point where I couldn't contain either of them. I would just randomly explode and let out bursts of dark magic.
The last thing I wanted was for them to know about me, La Verità, so it wasn't sustainable to keep it up, and it had gotten worse now that I'd actually had sex with Bellatrix. Before, what we did was manageable, but at some point, it just got completely out of hand.
But now, I could heighten and magnify my other emotions, and try to drown out the lust, or at least keep it at bay, without having to suppress it with Occlumency. Which would cause me to lose the transformation to begin with.
And, of course, the book was about love; I shouldn't have expected anything else from a book written by Dumbledore. Not that it was a destructive emotion to highlight, but I hoped it would be enough to keep the lust at bay.
Author's Notes: Okay, first, happy belated new year! And second, unfortunately, this was all I got around to writing this week as well. The good news is that I won't be busy anymore and my writing time should be back to normal, so I'll hopefully be back to posting the same amount of chapters next week.
Again, sorry about that and thanks for reading and supporting!
If you liked the story, join my patreon, patreon.com/Camellya_Addams, there are up to 10 chapters in advance, thank you.