Chapter 47. Training Begins
Finally forcing the necklace into Nellie's hands, Severus looked at Tobbi. He nervously fidgeted with the edge of his rag and stared at him with a mix of pity and worship.
"I have got nothing for you. Sorry."
"M-master should not worry about Tobbi. Tobbi is happy that the gracious master paid him attention!"
"Right. I will have to cure you of that groveling," Severus sighed tiredly, and tossed them ten galleons each. "Go buy any fabric you like and sew yourselves clothes."
"B-but."
"No buts. I do not want half-naked house-elves around me. If you were pretty girls, I might have considered it, but as it is, march to the shop!"
At the pulse of bloodlust, the two vanished instantly, and Severus could finally breathe properly.
"So if they were pretty girls, you would consider it?" Nagini hissed, narrowing her eyes.
"I do not see anything wrong with that."
"Hmph!"
"Do not sulk. I would not mind someday seeing a half-naked lamia," he said, winking at her.
"Lamia? What is that?"
"Oh. beautiful creatures. Half human, half snake, real temptresses. Their upper body is human, their lower body serpentine, but they can transform fully into a human form whenever they want."
The flood of emotions through their bond made him smirk.
"You disgusting pervert!"
"Only just figured it out?" he started, then saw her slide off the bed, narrowing her eyes dangerously and baring her fangs. He began backing away.
"I will bite you just once, that is all. We have tried already, my venom does not work on you. Hold still," Nagini purred in a sickly sweet voice, suddenly accelerating.
But strangely, Severus's face stayed playful. If anything, his grin turned even more provocative.
"I was joking. No need to take it so personally, you know my terrible sense of humor. Though I would still look at you in a lamia form. Leaf bikinis look especially good on them."
He casually dodged her first strike, slipped behind her, and sat on the bed.
".You have got a long way to grow before you can catch me."
"Someday you will stop. You cannot go without sleep forever."
"For that there is a barrier, but. honestly, I am too lazy to set it up," Severus said, then held his hand out toward her muzzle. "Bite. I cannot be bothered running from you. Or. do you want to play?"
Nagini drilled him with her narrowed gaze, glanced at the offered palm, then looked up at his smiling face.
"You knew I would not do it. So why were you running?"
"Just playing along."
"You asshole."
"And you liked what I said."
"Hmph!" Nagini turned away, climbed onto the bed, and curled on the pillow facing the window.
"Do not be mad. You looked a bit sad, so I tried to cheer you up," Severus said, stroking her crown. He lay down beside her and closed his eyes. "Still thinking about that young man Dumbledore failed to save?"
Nagini flinched, but did not deny it.
"Fine. I will help you learn about him."
The moment those words left his mouth, she snapped her head around and stared at him wide-eyed.
"Really?"
"Yes. I will try to find information. So stop sulking. Oh, there they are, back already."
With a pop, Nellie and Tobbi appeared in the center of the room, holding several different bolts of fabric.
"And? I said sew clothes."
"M-master. we cannot sew," Nellie said, close to tears, shaking and clutching the fabric. "W-we are afraid to touch clothes with our hands, so we never learned. When we wash, we lift them with magic."
"Hm. I see. Does anyone of your kind know how?"
They both shook their heads timidly.
"All right. I will talk to my classmates and find you a teacher. For now, put it on the floor."
"Yes, master!"
After he moved the fabric into his pouch, Severus refocused on the anxious elves.
"First, I will tell you why I chose you and what you will be doing."
A first-year potions textbook appeared in his hand; he tossed it to the startled Nellie.
"Study. I need an assistant. And you will also serve Nagini. You will have plenty of free time. I will give you an hour of attention every evening."
"M-master, I cannot. I am very stupid."
"Excuses. Tonight will be your first lesson. For now, read the first chapter."
"I. I."
"Do you not want to follow my order?" Severus asked coldly, with a threat in his voice.
Nellie went pale.
"I would not dare! Please forgive me!" She dropped to her knees, eyes wide with terror, and was about to start smashing her forehead into the stone floor when he spoke again, making her freeze.
"Did I order you to bow and beg forgiveness?"
Nellie trembled.
"N-no."
"Then why are you bowing when I ordered you to do something else?"
"I."
"This is your final warning. If you bow and beg again while ignoring my orders, I will free you."
"M-master, I." She swallowed the rest of the words, snatched the textbook into her hands, hurried aside, and opened it.
Seeing that, Severus nodded with a satisfied smile, then looked at Tobbi.
"And you, you will be learning combat magic. I will give you an hour of my personal time."
"Yes, master! Thank you, master! Tobbi will not let you down!" Tobbi blurted, vibrating with excitement. He almost began bowing too, but remembered what had just happened to Nellie, so he stopped. Seeing approval in Severus's eyes, he practically lit up.
Severus had chosen Tobbi because of his magical core: it was far more developed than the others, with a visible orange tint, showing an affinity for fire magic, and because he was young. He had figured it out after closer inspection and comparison. He planned to train him so he would not have to personally deal with petty annoyances later, like idiots getting greedy over his shop, and could focus on more important matters.
"But training does not free you from daily duties: cooking, laundry, cleaning. Those still fall on you."
"Yes, master!" both elves cried at once, almost with relief.
Strange creatures.
"Tell me about it."
After Slughorn's evening detention, Severus, as promised, trained Nellie. She did not have a talent for potion-making, but she had effort in spades: in six hours she had memorized the entire first chapter, five pages of solid text, no pictures, surprising even him. And when he praised her, she practically glowed.
The lesson itself was calm: Nellie took notes on everything, listened to every word, tracked every gesture, and, like a chick just hatched, showed enormous interest, though mostly to please him.
At the end, Severus handed her an encyclopedia of plants and monsters with a single instruction: study. And how she studied, he had already seen.
With Tobbi it was easier. From the start, Severus knew about his fire affinity. Before he took him, Tobbi mostly maintained and controlled the oven flame, which was why his core was stronger than the others; he constantly had to use magic.
Severus began by testing Tobbi's abilities in a separate room with Undetectable Extension Charms, then moved on to training. His control was already decent after years at the oven, but he had zero combat experience.
At first Tobbi refused to attack Severus at all, but after the threat of being freed and a direct order, he had to. And once Tobbi realized he could not harm his master in any way, the worship in his eyes only deepened.
Severus did not forget his main objective either: obtain Gryffindor's sword. Only one thing could know where it was, the living Hat of Godric Gryffindor. But the Hat itself was kept in Dumbledore's office.
Of course, he could simply tell Dumbledore everything and ask for the Hat, but he doubted he would be allowed to talk to it freely. And even if the Hat knew where the sword was and was willing to give it up, he doubted Dumbledore would agree. It was a symbol, Gryffindor's legacy, not some trinket.
He had an idea for how to get in without revealing himself, but before taking such radical measures, he wanted to think a little longer.
//===================//