St Matthew Island, Alaska.
Despite the season, the air here still carried a sharp chill to it. Grey clouds patched the sky, seagulls called somewhere in the distance, and a gentle breeze went on combing through the short grass, ripple after ripple rolling across the field like waves over still water.
It was otherwise a picture-perfect scene, until the tranquility was broken by an unnatural, sparkling circle that opened above the swaying grass, and then two figures walked through it like it were nothing more than another door.
"Teacher Sarah has her main lab here. I already let her know we'd be coming..."
The island looked unremarkable only on the surface, treeless and carpeted with short green grass then small mountains rising across its narrow expanse before plunging into cliffs along the shore.
But beneath all that was an entirely different world. A magnificent underground labyrinth housing everything one might expect from a superstructure, from practice grounds, assembly chambers, command rooms, and research centres dedicated to all manner of magical and scientific studies.
In order to access, ordinarily of course, was through the island's sole man-made outpost, an unassuming, hut-like building sitting right in the middle of the island.
Maverick can't sling Snape inside every single time, after all, which was the reason for this... call it orientation.
After briefly introducing the place, he glanced over at Snape who was following half a step behind.
But then, Mavrick wasn't quite sure now Snape was even listening. Judging by the old bat's expression, one might think he was suffering from constipation.
"I'm telling you, Severus." Maverick's eyes rolled on their own. "Keeping your head bottled up like that really isn't good for you..."
Snape seemed to have no intention of dignifying that with a response, merely returning a brief glance of his own.
Sigh… "Or you could just ask me. I'm pretty open with people I consider my own… which, in case you hadn't noticed, you are now."
At last, there was a reaction from old bat. While absently looking at the unassuming house drawing nearer, he asked, "what he said... do you believe there is any truth to it? Merlin, for instance." He cast a sideways glance.
Hehe. Mavrick smiled knowingly. Sure enough, no wizard wouldn't be curious about the legendary beard.
"Merlin is very real..."
And Maverick had no intention of keeping that from Snape. He wouldn't have let the old bat listen otherwise in the first place. Revealing a few secrets to such a well-rounded thug, ah, no, potions genius, would only cement his loyalty further.
"...In fact I know him personally…"
Snape, however, didn't look like he was buying it.
"...you think I'm joking?" Mavrick's smile didn't disappear. "Headmaster Dumbledore knows... Professor McGonagall too. We've all met him. At Hogwarts, actually."
"And do the three of you worship him as a god too?" Snape countered sarcastically. "The Lycan did say he was some deity…"
"A god?" Mavrick laughed. "If you can think of me also as a god because I can crush you like an ant, then sure—"
Snape: "…"
Mavrick's footsteps soon came to a stop at the entrance of the small hut. Setting their conversation aside for the moment, he first showed Snape how to navigate the place:
Basically, there was a fireplace to come and go, then a trigger at the wall much like the one at the Leaky Cauldron, leading through to an elevator that carried the way down.
With that out of the way, Mavrick ushered Snape into the very elevator and carried on from where they had left off.
"…The way I see it, gods are simply those who have power so far beyond the norm that the difference becomes almost incomprehensible."
Snape made no attempt to argue this time, nor did he respond with his usual snark.
"…translating into terms familiar to us, Merlin is a Supreme tier Mage... to him, the likes of me and the Headmaster are no different from what you are to us."
While saying, Maverick was also keeping half an eye on Snape's emotions. There wasn't much conviction there, but no outright rejection either. Understandable, after all, when it came to old legends, one needed to see before believing.
Maverick was no different. Though he did not rule out the possibility that everything else the thousand-year-old werewolf told him was true, he did not take it as facts either. And even that sliver of possibility existed only because he happened to carry prior knowledge from his previous life, more or less along the same lines.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened to a brilliantly lit, vast open space.
White tiles covered nearly every surface, the floor, the walls, even the ceiling. Scattered across the room were table after table, each crowded with equipment of all kinds, microscopes and computers beside old, primitive-looking cauldrons, Bunsen burners, and various other tools besides.
About a dozen people could be seen dressed in lab coats, some hard at work, others deep in discussion, a few more bent over papers, reading closely.
Three chambers seemed walled off from the rest, likely private working spaces of their own, and the one on the far side of the room belonged to Maverick's teacher, Sarah.
A few heads turned when they entered, but no one made much of a fuss. Much like the students of Hogwarts, so-called bigshots weren't people they only saw once in a blue moon. They were Edward's own people, after all.
More than Mavrick, actually, it was Snape who attracted some scrutinizing gazes.
Ordinarily, any wizard granted the title of "Master" before their name generally has their face remembered well enough, especially within their own area of expertise, but this old bat, soon after earning his mastery in Potions had promptly holed himself up at Hogwarts and stayed there since.
Even people within the Potions profession likely can't place his face now. Thus, the strange looks Snape was getting. Of course, it wasn't exaggerated enough for people not to recognize him at all.
"…Tell you what, if you can really improve upon teacher's formula, then I'll let you personally meet someone who's every bit as legendary, who also happen to be a genius potioneer..."
Snape's eyes gleamed giving Mavrick a sideways glance. He really couldn't tell whether Mavrick was just making it up, but then again, he couldn't find a reason for why either.
He was already working for Mavrick, after all, and he already said he would work on the formula.
But at the mention of a legendary potioneer, even his temples couldn't help but throb.
"Who?" he asked without even realising.
Hehe. Mavrick smiled.
"The one and only... Salazar. Slytherin."
Snape's footsteps stopped, one eyebrow arching.
"Interesting, right… not just Merlin, the four founders are also still around. It's a top-classified secret known only within the Archmages' circle…"
It was bullshit, of course, but rather than believing that only Mavrick and Dumbledore knew about it, it was easier to believe it was a closely guarded secret among the Archmages.
Mavrick flashed Snape another grin. They've reached Sarah's office by now, then opening the door, Mavrick beckoned him to come inside.
Snape quickly returned to his usual expression of old-bat, then followed.
"Whatever it is, just leave it there by my desk..."
As soon as they entered, they were greeted by a woman's uninterested voice.
Sarah seemed quite busy, in the middle of looking through a microscope at something interesting, not even bothering to raise her head.
"Teacher..."
It was only after recognizing the voice that she finally looked up.
Her eyebrow arched. "Did you take a No-Maj airplane or something?"
"Sorry. We had to take a... detour."
Snape was meanwhile looking around the place. Calling this room just another lab would be more accurate, in his impression, than calling it a private office. There was a unit of every machine found just outside, set up here as well, all neatly arranged.
"…but we managed to get some interesting ingredients."
While listening to Mavrick, the veteran potioneer was also observing Snape beside him, looking him up and down, scrutinizing him.
She didn't reply to Mavrick, instead looking at Snape said:
"Thought that old schemer would never let you go..."
It seems these two weren't exactly strangers.
Snape acknowledged her as well, giving a single nod. "Master Walker..."
As for the "old schemer" in Sarah's remark, it goes without saying; Dumbledore.
Then just as quickly after that inexplicable standoff, Sarah's expression relaxed.
She turned to Mavrick. "Okay, kid. You can get out of here now." While saying, she gestured with her hands and swatted at him like she was swatting some flies.
"Uh... you two know each other?" Mavrick was still clueless about the strange scene. Could these two have some history or something?
"Don't be silly." Sarah rolled her eyes at him. "We're both Master Potioneers, of course we'd know each other."
Ah, right.
Mavrick then looked at Snape, to which the old bat inclined his head once.
"I've read your theories, and... I must say, the idea is simply... brilliant." As she said, Sarah beckoned Snape toward the microscope. "Take a look at this."
Thus, from there, Mavrick was made into background noise, while the two Master Potioneers hit it off without him needing even to make an introduction.
Good though, made things less complicated. Meanwhile, if there were any breakthroughs, he would be notified, but before that, there was no longer any need for him to be there.
__________
Author's Note:
I wanted to do some world-building before kicking things off, and I've had this idea for a while. Plus, the werewolf issue has been sitting on the shelf for a while now, and that hole also needed to be filled.
I hope you guys like it. Let me know what you think about the lore dump. I know it's nothing concrete, but you get the idea. Also, nothing here is something I just pulled out of my ass. It might sound ambiguous, that's because it is... intentional.
However, everything I mentioned was lore-accurate.
Also.
There will be a three-year time skip soon. I'll briefly cover the major developments during that period rather than going through everything year by year.
The Harry Potter story has basically come to an end, and up next is Marvel. A Marvel universe where witches and wizards are fully integrated into the world, with both worlds now living side by side.
Awesome, right? 😁
Of course, before the actual plot kicks off, there will still be plenty of interesting things happening. For instance, MC take a vacation in space, and while doing so, he ends up discovering some interesting worlds along the way.
The first world, Planetos, has already started on Patreon. 🫣
Anyway, leave a comment! 🙏😭