Chapter 559: Obscure Poetry
"Sectumsempra!"
A thin, invisible streak of light flashed through the air.
Lupin's eyes widened. Without a second's hesitation, he threw himself in front
of Sirius. In an instant, blood erupted from Lupin's face and chest as if he had
been slashed by an invisible claymore. He staggered back, collapsing into a
puddle of stagnant water with a heavy splash. His wand slipped from his limp
fingers, clattering onto the floorboards.
"You lunatic! I knew you were beyond help!" Sirius roared, his face contorting
with a mix of fury and horror as he lunged to support Remus.
"GET OVER HERE!" Snape ignored the pair entirely, his cold gaze fixed solely on
Sean.
"Stupefy!" Sirius's counterattack was immediate.
Snape performed a sharp, graceful sidestep, the red bolt of light narrowly
missing his shoulder.
"Come on, Snape! Is that the best you can do?" Sirius challenged, his voice
echoing through the hollow, dilapidated room.
"Stay back, Sean..." Snape warned, his eyes darting to the boy.
In front of Sean, Lupin was already gasping as a counter-curse took effect; the
deep, bleeding gashes began to knit back together with a wet, squelching sound.
"Shut your mouth!" Snape barked, not even looking at Sirius. "Tonight, Azkaban
gains two more occupants." His eyes burned with a decade's worth of concentrated
loathing. "I can't wait to see Dumbledore's face... he was so certain you were
harmless, Lupin. A tame werewolf—"
"You fool," Lupin said, his voice regaining its calm, gentle weight. "Is a
schoolboy grudge really worth sending an innocent man to Azkaban?"
BANG!
Snape's wand emitted a burst of magic that transformed into thick, snake-like
cords. They lashed out, binding Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles in a
heartbeat. Lupin lost his balance and crashed to the floor, struggling
fruitlessly against the bindings.
Sean watched the struggle. With a casual flick of his own wand, the
Transfiguration was undone. The cords dissolved into smoke. In the realm of
Transfiguration, Sean knew he still had much to learn, but even so, there
weren't three people in Hogwarts left who could truly teach him.
Sirius let out a guttural roar and charged, but Snape simply sneered.
"Give me a reason," Snape whispered, his voice dangerously low. "Give me one
reason to strike, and I swear I won't hold back."
Sirius raised his wand, his features twisted. At this moment, it was impossible
to tell which man held more hatred in his heart.
"The taste of revenge is quite exquisite, isn't it, Black?" Snape crooned. "I
have prayed for the day I would finally catch you..."
"Sectumsempra!" "Protego!"
The duel exploded into a flurry of light. Lupin watched the two men with a
flickering gaze. He reached out and caught Sean's arm as the boy attempted to
intervene.
"Mr. Green... there are things we must do," Lupin whispered, his eyes filled
with a mix of shame and iron-clad resolve.
"What do you mean?" Sean asked, his eyes never leaving the battlefield.
Sean knew his limitations. His magical reserves were those of a teenager, even
if his proficiency was that of a titan. To end this fight instantly, he had to
neutralize both men before they could react. In such a cramped space, his
options were limited.
I have to use it, Sean thought.
He pulled up his status panel:
[Legilimency (Special Modifier): Master (192/?)] [Special Transfiguration:]
- Dragon's Wings: Novice (29/900)
- Element Vitalization: Novice (10/900)
- Vine-Stone Guardian: Proficient (10/3000)
With the boost from his Bastet eyes, his Legilimency reached the Master tier. At
that level, he didn't just read thoughts; he could physically rattle a wizard's
mind for a split second.
A split second was all he needed. For a dual-Master of Dark Arts and
Transfiguration, a second was an eternity. At the [Proficient] level, spells
were instantaneous. At the [Master] level, and with his new original magic...
Element Vitalization.
It was a spell that transformed an object, infused it with superior physical
properties, and layered it with five or more simultaneous Transfigurations. It
was a structure so complex it was virtually impossible to reverse in the short
term. It had been born from his study of "Snow Giants" and "Fire
Lizards"—magical constructs that mirrored the natural magical circuits of
beasts.
Sean had created his own circuit.
In the center of the room, the duel reached its peak. "The joke is on you this
time, Severus!" Sirius laughed, a wild, dangerous light in his eyes.
In Sirius's perception, Snape's face seemed to distort. He thought he heard the
man whispering like a demon: 'I fooled Dumbledore, Sirius. I used a lie he was
desperate to believe. When my Master returns, I will offer him two
sacrifices...'
Sirius knew they couldn't gamble on Snape's loyalty. Especially not today. Not
when they had a mountain of Veritaserum ready to go.
"MOONY—NOW!" Sirius yelled.
Sean raised his wand, but to his surprise, it was knocked from his hand by a
burst of magic from Lupin, who had scrambled to his feet. Lupin looked at Sean
with a knowing, pained expression—he had guessed Sean might try to neutralize
Snape's killing blow.
"My apologies, Mr. Green," Lupin said, raising his own wand.
"I hope you lot have spent the last twelve years practicing," Snape hissed.
"Expelliarmus!" Lupin roared.
But it wasn't just one voice. Sirius struck at the same time.
A wave of concussive force made the door rattle on its hinges. Snape staggered,
but a shimmering, transparent shield absorbed the brunt of the impact. The three
men plunged into a violent, three-way melee. Curses splashed against the walls,
and the dilapidated shack groaned under the pressure.
Sean waited exactly three seconds. He reached into his bag and pulled out the
spare wand Grandpa Marcus had given him.
"By the wizard's will—Element Vitalization."
Sean's voice was a soft, rhythmic chant.
In an instant, the world seemed to wake up. The three combatants froze as the
room itself became alive. Stone arms extended from the walls, vines wove
themselves into a crushing net, and even the dead embers of the fireplace
erupted into a sentient roar of flame.
"Reducto!" Snape lashed out at a lunging vine, but the stone wall behind it
absorbed the spell, leaving only a shallow pit.
Snape's face went pale. He looked at Lupin and Sirius; both men shared his look
of total bewilderment. Slowly, all three turned their gaze toward the boy.
Sean's pupils had thinned into emerald slits. Looking into them, the three
wizards felt the room spin.
Snape was the first to regain his senses. He tried to tighten his grip on his
wand, only to find he couldn't move a muscle. Stone and vine had bound them all.
The Shack had been transformed.
Sean was now sitting atop a high, throne-like chair of intertwined stone and
pulsing vines. The firelight played across his calm features, making his skin
look deathly white. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.
He was physically drained. The "Element Vitalization" had cost him everything.
If the stone chair weren't holding him up, he would have collapsed.
But his calculation had been correct. Using a Master-level Legilimency "rattle"
followed by the total environmental control of his new spell, he had neutralized
three of the most powerful wizards in Britain in a single move.
"Professor," Sean finally managed to rasp.
"Hmph." Snape's face was a mixture of humiliated rage and a tiny, hidden spark
of pride.
Lupin woke from his trance next. He looked at the spare wand in Sean's hand and
let out a long, weary sigh. Between the stone hand at the Willow and this
environmental masterpiece, he realized they had all vastly underestimated their
"Messenger of Luck."
"Mr. Green," Lupin whispered. "This was supposed to be our burden. But now...
the decision lies with you."
Sirius snapped back to reality last. He glared at Snape with a hatred that was
almost tangible. "Do you trust him, sir? Do you really believe this man?"
Snape's eyes flared at the word "sir." He noticed another figure in the
corner—one he knew all too well. His eyes widened as the pieces fell into
place.
"You shouldn't trust him!" Sirius yelled, his voice frantic as he realized he
couldn't break free. "He probably used those oily words to trick you, Green! You
have to know the truth!"
Sirius was beyond caring about decorum. He stared at Snape with bloodshot eyes.
"Why don't you tell him what you did, Severus?! Tell him!"
Snape's face went from pale to a ghostly, bloodless white. "If you breathe
another word," Snape hissed, "I will ensure you suffer for eternity."
"HA! I'm already a dead man!" Sirius spat. "Do you think those things just
vanish because you ignore them? Dumbledore vouched for you, but how did you
repay him? You betrayed him! You heard that news, and you sold it to the highest
bidder!"
Sirius's voice was a jagged rasp. "Let me down!" He glared at Sean, unaware that
the boy was still physically unable to cast.
"My apologies, Professor," Sean said, looking weakly at Snape. He gave his wand
a small flick, but the vines on Snape's legs only loosened by a fraction. The
downside of multiple simultaneous Transfigurations was that the "reversing" was
just as taxing.
Sirius stopped shouting and really looked at the boy. After a few seconds, he
began to laugh—a low, bubbling chuckle that escalated into a manic, high-pitched
cackle until tears tracked through the grime on his face.
"Severus... how pathetic. Is this how you planned to approach a being like Mr.
Green?" Sirius looked into Sean's emerald eyes.
"I have to tell you, sir. I have to tell you why Voldemort went after Harry. He
heard a Prophecy—that a child born in July would be his equal. But he didn't
know the Prophecy existed until this man told him!"
Sirius's voice turned into a snarl of grinding teeth. "He might as well have
held the wand that killed them! And then he repents? He cries for forgiveness?
Who can believe it? The dead don't come back, Green! The lives he snuffed out
stay cold!"
Every word Sirius spoke felt as though it were dripping with blood. "He was
obsessed with a girl, Green. A girl with eyes just like yours. That explains
everything, doesn't it? Severus... you make me sick."
Snape stopped struggling. His entire body went rigid. He looked as though he had
been stripped naked and thrown into the middle of the street. His world was
collapsing again. That old, familiar feeling of losing everything washed over
him.
After a long silence, Snape's mask of cold indifference returned, but it was
brittle. "Even if that were my thought... Black... I don't care. I don't care
about your judgment. But I promise you—I will not let you die in peace."
"Only Veritaserum can reveal a wizard's true heart," Lupin whispered, closing
his eyes in pain. Sirius had said the words they had sworn to keep from Sean.
"I see," Sean said softly.
Sirius looked at him with hope. Snape kept his eyes locked on Sirius, not daring
to look at the boy.
"There are many people in this world with a reason to doubt, or even hate,
Professor Snape," Sean's voice was light but possessed an absolute, unshakable
weight. "But I am not one of them."
The room went still.
"I believe in the Professor," Sean said.
He thought of the dark dungeons, and the man who, despite his bitterness, had
never failed to look out for him. He thought of the pride Snape tried to hide
and the concern he couched in insults.
Severus Snape—gloomy, insecure, and broken—would never know how to properly
express love. To him, love was an obscure, difficult poem, written in a language
no one spoke.
But tonight, a young wizard proved that he had learned to read between the
lines.
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