Interlude: Severus Snape III

By the time they had made it back to the others, Loboda already had their camp set up – aside from Harielle's tent – and a fire blazing in the pit. Dinner had yet to be started, but the young slave girl moved to do so the moment that they stepped into the clearing.

Hari was shaking as she stomped over to the fire, both with fear and fury. None tried to approach her, and Severus eyed the Canute boy as he shuffled near the edge of their field, looking at the young witch in anxious trepidation. Alfhild brought the portly red gelding over to the group of horses her mother was seeing to and started to strip him of his tack. Harielle didn't seem to notice at all, and Ida shifted hesitantly between getting dinner cooked and wanting to take care of Chudley.

The little girl loved the horse almost as much as she loved the dragons. It was part of her nightly routine to brush Chudley down and check his hooves before she helped prepare dinner, but with Hari and Chudley being gone, her tasks had been done out of order. Ida was a creature of habit, Severus was learning, and she loved her routines. This visit with the Magnar hadn't thrown only Harielle out of her comfort zone.

Loboda was sitting in front of his tent, whittling away on a thin sturdy branch that would no doubt be a spear when he was finished. His gaze was not on his hands though, it was on Harielle. Canute was speaking softly with Aslaug, both sending strange glances to the witch as well. Said girl was gazing into the fire in a detached sort of way, and Severus doubted that she even noticed how nearly the entire camp was watching her.

In truth, Severus didn't mind the boy much anymore. Canute's infatuation with his student still set his teeth on edge, but it was more of a puppy sort of love than anything else. Severus had seen childish romances just like this many times in his years teaching. They were quick to spark and even quicker to burn out. Severus doubted that it would get much further than the hand holding stage…of that he would make certain.

The girl, on the other hand, could be something different. The affection that Hari held for Aslaug was different than what she held for Canute, but just as deep. Though, something was holding the young witch back from both possibilities. Severus got the impression from their connection that it had something to do with what the Seer had told her. Which was possibly a load of rubbish.

Severus had tried discussing the difference between true prophecy and possible future predictions without going into too much detail with how he knew, but Hari was stubbornly Gryffindor when it came to things like these. She was convinced that any true love of hers would die by her hand. Severus wished he could tell her it was nonsense…but then again, he would always remember that fateful interview in Hogsmeade and the deaths that had followed.

He had sworn to protect Hari; sworn to Albus, sworn to himself, and sworn to Lily's grave that he would keep her daughter safe. Unfortunately for him, the annoyingly stupid girl kept getting herself into situations that he didn't know how to pull her out of. This Magnar was just one more brick of bad fortune on the pathway that paved Harielle Potter's journey. The girl had the absolute worst sort of luck imaginable.

Severus made a mental note to speak to Albus about possible blood curses that could cause such abysmal luck when they got back…if they got back. Honestly, there had to be some explanation. It wasn't possible for one person to have so many awful things happen to them on pure chance. He wondered if maybe she had been a truly terrible person in her past life to have such ill-fated karma.

"Severus," she said quietly, nearly hissing the word in a whisper. "Severus, what am I going to do?"

Around them the dragons were beginning to land. It was early in the day still for them to be already settling around camp, but they must have somehow felt the girl's distress. Or Severus had somehow called out to them in that weird dragon way. He was still learning all the things dragons could do, being empathetically connected wasn't outside the realm of possibilities.

Heaving a great sigh that was honestly less effective in such a tiny body, Severus shook his head to get himself to focus. Hari needed him to walk her through this turbulent and dangerous trap the Magnar had cornered her in. Thank Merlin she had him on her side. Severus was a born and bred Slytherin and had been navigating deadly political waters since he was fifteen.

The Court of Serpents was a much more difficult minefield to traverse than some up jumped barbarian with his allusions of grandeur.

"Build your tent," he said softly, exceedingly mindful of his tone while Hari trembled beneath him. "Then call the dragons in. Don't forget, you're not powerless…you are a witch." Severus told her firmly, pressing reassurance down their still very open connection. While he was curious about it – more than curious really – this was something that was going to have to wait.

He very much doubted that they would get much sleep that night. They had a lot of plans to make and she had a lot of learning to do before they would get any rest.