73 73) Ponderings about destiny

What should one do when your girlfriend declares a break in your relationship?

It was a question whose answer Severus dearly wanted now.

Alice had stormed out of the room speaking of break in their relationship. What the hell did she meant by it?

Was it the end of their relationship? Or had their relationship ended for some certain time. Before it was renewed again. Or was it a complete breakup.

His mind couldn't just make out anything about it.

As much he wanted to be the right one. A part of her couldn't simply shrug off her words or worries.

She had been right afterall. It would never be easy for her to share her love between someone else.

He could have never done that.

Severus was many things. Smart, cunning, sly, smoothtalker. But deep down he was obsessive and possessive about many things.

Alice was his alone. He couldn't have done that in her place. If he were a girl, he would have never allowed his supposed lover to do so.

As much it pained him to admit. Alice was correct in the whole debacle.

However in her pride, she had completely forgot that he was at the centre of the whole mess.

Marriage, breakups, break in relationships. Was there nothing positive which could happen with him?

He had thought Alice as a little mature. It seemed he was wrong on one more occasion today.

The girl had simply shrug off his words never bothering about him and the situation properly.

How odd it was?

To have so much clarity suddenly after breakups. Ahh! But then, such was the human nature.

'Love is a sweet poison. Sweet, it may be. But it kills in the end nevertheless.'

How right those words were?

Perhaps human were made like that. Severus thought in the darkness of the Room of Requirements.

Humans were more like dogs. Just as the dogs wanted love and attention from their owner. Humans did the same.

We crave the feeling of love, acceptance, companionship from others. Forcing us to navigate ourselves through the treacherous waters of the world.

Severus sighed. It seemed the post nut clarity had done too much wonders on his mind.

Masturbating had been helpful to him. The post nut clarity was really amazing. It gave him another view of the whole spectrum.

He sighed. Today was one hell of unlucky day. Perhaps he should wait for certain things till Alice talked to him again.

He gently pulled up his pants. Carefully cleaning the leftover cum from his cock, he cleaned his hands and looked at the mirror on the Room of Requirements.

He tried to form a smile on his face. He released a sigh as the smile never reached to his face.

'C'mon Prince. Pull yourself up' Severus thought inwardly with a frown.

He gently exited the Room of Requirement with a calm and straight face. Looking around him, he carefully made his way through the Halls.

It was past time. The curfew was already placed an hour ago. The Prefects would still be patrolling the Halls.

He was through the fourth floor when he suddenly stopped in his tracks after turning through a corner.

'Oh shit!' It was really a bad day today.

"Good evening Headmaster." Severus greeted politely to the aged wizard in front of him.

"Good evening to you too. Mr Prince." Albus greeted politely. He had been taking a stroll through the corridors when he suddenly saw Mr Prince arriving in the same hallway.

"Did you and Miss Fortescue finished your meeting? It was a lovely evening afterall." Albus asked with a small smile on his lips. There were very few things which escaped his notice in the castle. The rendezvous activites of Mr Prince and Miss Fortescue were not one of them.

Severus eyes widened comically.

"How?" Severus asked with a gaping mouth. He had taken so many steps and precautions to keep it a secret. Yet Dumbledore somehow know.

"Your notice me not charms are very powerful Mr Prince. However they won't hold perfectly against someone well versed in mind arts." Albus said with a gentle smile. He was rather amused when he had felt the notice me not charm on the History class during his rounds. Nevertheless when he had broken it in his mind, he had spotted Miss Alice and Mr Prince leaning against each other in History of Magic class.

He hadn't admonish them. Instead simply let Mr Prince have his time with Miss Fortescue. Besides their endeavour helped strengthen the house unity.

"Ohh!" Severus replied slowly. He sighed at his mistake. He had never taken that into consideration.

"The evening had not been lovely for me though. Headmaster." Severus said looking at him calmly.

"May I enquire why is it so?" Albus asked gently. He was always available to talk to his students. It was his job afterall.

"Well she decided to take a break from our relationship." Severus said casually as he moved gently towards the Headmaster.

Albus' eyes widened slightly at the news. Indeed it was not a good thing to hear. Miss Fortescue seemed to be genuinely happy in the company of Mr Prince.

"It's a long tale. Something I believe to be better conversed in your office. I don't trust the paintings to keep it quiet." Severus said slowly.

He had taken the conversation forward with Dumbledore with a specific purpose in his mind. The man infront of him was hundreds of time more knowledgeable in magic and predicting the outcomes. If anyone could give him a way out of the contract, it will be him.

This surprised Albus. He hadn't expected Mr Prince to be so forthcoming in the details. However his student seemed to be genuinely interested to talk to him about something.

"If you wish so Mr Prince!" Albus said with a soft smile. He was genuinely happy that Mr Prince was eager to talk to him. He wanted to know more about Severus Prince and his loyalties. To ascertain his quality and heart for the ongoing war.

The walk to the office was silent. Severus wasn't surprised when he heard the password. Ofcourse Dumbledore would prefer the name of a candy as the password to one of the most coveted room in Hogwarts.

"Please take a sit Mr Prince." Albus said cheerfully as he looked at Severus with a genuine smile on his face.

"Thank you Headmaster." Severus gently replied with a straight face. He gracefully took the chair as Dumbledore did the same to his opposite.

Dumbledore looked at him for a moment before he decided to press the matter.

"What's troubling you, Mr Prince?" Albus asked with a genuine frown in his face. His voice was etched with worry as his blue eyes were focused on him.

Severus took out the shrunken bundle of contract from his robe pocket. He placed the small bundle of papers on the table. Wandlessly casting a 'finite' on it, he watched as the contract returned to its original size.

Albus was amused at the display. The feat of doing wandless magic was certainly impressive. He watched curiously as Mr Prince guided the papers to his side of table.

He carefully took the paper and started to read it. The wards were strong here. Mr Prince couldn't try anything nefarious against him inside the office. It was one of the perks of being a Headmaster. He was privy to one of the safest rooms in the castle.

His eyes widened comically as he felt the amount of soul magic combined with blood magic in the papers. Which inturn were empowered by the power and old magic of sacrifice. What in the name of Merlin was his student dealing with?

He started to read the lines and clauses carefully. Every word and every sentence was written carefully. Whoever had written this contract, he had thought carefully of every possible situation which could have been used. In his opinion the contract was perfectly written.

"I want your help in breaking the contract." Severus said as he looked as the Headmaster finished reading.

Albus sighed aloud.

It didn't gave any sort of hope to Severus. It panicked him a little. If Dumbledore had that reaction, then the waters were surely deep.

Albus looked calmly at Severus for some moments. Severus met the gaze head on. He knew the Headmaster won't resort to using Legilimency on him. Dumbledore was too firm of a believer in morals to do that.

"Do you know why I didn't duelled with Gellert Grindelwald for so long? . . . .Why I only chose to participate in the war after so many years?" Albus said intently.

Severus nodded in negative. In reality he knew the reason behind it. But doing that would cause him to reveal him about his timetravel.

"When I was of your age. Freshly graduated from Hogwarts. . . I had to stay at home for some time. . . At that time, Gellert Grindelwald arrived in Godric's Hollow to live with his aunt for some time. . . Mr Grindelwald and we met there. To be honest, there was a mutual attraction between us after we learnt and gauged each others skills. We made plans. Plans to subjugate muggles. . . Plans to bring glory to wizarding world. . . In time I was brought back to reality due to an unfortunate incident. . . We were best of friends, friendly rivals. But we became enemies that day." Albus said softly.

Severus listened carefully. His whole attention was upon the Headmaster's words. He had never thought Dumbledore would open up to him so much.

"But the damage had been done before that. To show our trust in each other. We took a drastic step. . . . We made a blood pact." Albus spoke softly. At his student's confused look, he knew that he had succeeded in attaining his curiosity.

"But Professor. Even the thought of betraying the blood pact causes physical harm on user according to books and texts. It is impossible to destroy the phial. No muggle means or magical means had ever succeeded. Even the cursed fires and Fiendfyre had been stated as unable to destroy it. Surely you are not jesting Headmaster?" Severus asked looking intently at the old Headmaster.

He knew that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had made the blood pact. He wanted to know about how they broke it.

The books on magic had always highlighted the supreme nature of blood pact. They had termed it impossible.

Albus smiled at that question.

"I don't know Mr Prince!" Albus said with a smile.

Severus glared at the old man. He had watched Fantastic Beasts. The scene where the blood pact had broke made no sense to him. He had thought that there was more to the nonsensical explanation of fate given to Newt Scammander.

Albus took a breath. Till this day, he had never been able to deduce about the events of this day. The way that phial had broken, it still didn't make sense to him.

"There was a moment during that war when spells of Gellert, Aberforth and mine connected together. When they connected together, the phial holding the blood broke down suddenly." Albus said calmly.

"But how and why would the sudden connection of three spells be able to do so?" Severus asked pointedly to Dumbledore. Was this just another of the non sensical explanations, and lack of world building by JK Rowling.

"Call it destiny or perhaps fate." Albus joked softly. He was a tad bit disappointed that Mr Prince didn't share his humour on the situation. He must surely learn to take some things like a grain of salt.

"However I do know one thing Mr Prince. After the pact broke, my brother, Aberforth. He had always been the most outgoing with other genders. He couldn't have any more children or Heirs after that. Neither did Gellert's attempts at producing Heirs succeeded." Albus said gravely. His eyes stopped twinkling as he spoke seriously.

Severus was stunned hearing that. He had always wondered why there were no more Dumbledores or Grindelwald in the world. If any member of a family achieved something. The rest of the family boasted about it.

Why didn't Dumbledore and Grindelwald had no such relatives on their side. As far as he know, Vinda Rosier was practically the Bellatrix of Grindelwald. She would have tried to seduce Grindelwald so many time. Why hadn't she had a child with the Dark Lord?

It suddenly made sense.

Magic and fate broke one thing, only to settle with an equal payment.

It suddenly made more sense to him. Balance. The ultimate state whom everyone and everything craved.

"Your contract is filled with far more deadlier and volatile magic than my own blood pact. There are too many equations which could go wrong." Albus said looking at them.

"Like?" Severus tried to pry out. He wanted to know some of the possible consequences.

"You can die. Your efforts at producing Heirs could ve nothing but failures. The contract states you two to be bonded for life. If either of you tries to kill other, he/she will die too. Magic will make sure of it." Albus said in a thoughtful voice.

Every word the Headmaster spoke, filled him with dread.

"Perhaps it is fate. Or the machinations of Destiny. But I trust that you will deal with it carefully." Albus said trying to cheer up the boy.

He had no idea on how to break the contract. Regardless of what people believed, he still was a novice at understanding magic. But then again who could understand the workings of magic perfectly? Show him someone who could do it? And he would gladly discard lemondrops for life.

Magic, a force which was beyond the understanding of minds of mortals and immortals alike.

Severus sighed aloud. He was doomed then.

"Happiness, can be found even in the darkest of places. If only one knows, where to search for it. Mr Prince." Albus said softly to his student. He dearly hoped that Mr Prince find genuine happiness in his life.

Severus had the dear urge to strangle the old master that moment. This was not the time for quotes like that. If only the Headmaster understood that.

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