Chapter Text
The Portkey deposited Severus on the gravel path with unnecessary violence.
He recovered his balance before he could fall, straightened his robes and gave the rusty old kettle now lying between his feet a hostile look. Draco appeared a second later and had to steady himself with a hand on Severus's shoulder.
"Not a word," Severus warned.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
"You're smiling."
"I feel sick."
"Try to express your suffering with less delight."
Beauxbatons rose before them in the pale morning light. The palace seemed even larger than Severus remembered. Banners from the three schools hung from its towers, and temporary structures occupied part of the gardens. Witches and wizards crossed the courtyard carrying crates, tapestries and enchanted objects that protested in various languages. The delegations were due to arrive the following day.
Three weeks had passed since the night at the Blanche estate. In that time, Severus and Angelique had exchanged eleven letters. Every one began with "Headmaster Snape", ended with "Yours sincerely, A. Blanche" and contained not a single word that could be interpreted as personal. He had replied in the same tone. It was what they should both have done from the beginning.
"Are you prepared?" Draco asked.
"To conduct a security inspection?"
"To see Angie."
Severus began walking.
"My relationship with Mademoiselle Blanche is strictly professional."
Draco looked at him, and the corner of his mouth lifted.
Angelique was waiting at the top of the main steps. She wore formal dark-blue robes, her hair pinned up without a strand out of place and a small silver Beauxbatons badge on her chest. Claire stood to her right with several parchments under her arm. Hye-jin Moreau stood on the other side, dressed in the white and blue of the school's healers.
Lory stood a few steps below them. A silver disc hung from a chain at her throat.
This time, there would be no central artefact to select the three champions. Each school had received a blank seal and would conduct the process on its own premises: eligible candidates registered their names and magical signatures in a matrix linked to the disc; at the appointed hour, the seal would choose one signature and bind itself to it. The joint ceremony at Beauxbatons would merely present the three results.
The disc around Lory's neck meant that Beauxbatons' selection was already complete.
Severus stopped.
"No," he said before he had even greeted them.
Lory raised her chin.
"Good morning to you too."
Severus turned to Angelique.
"She was selected?"
"Last night," Angelique replied.
No teasing. No smile.
"Were you involved in the selection?"
Her eyes hardened.
"I declared a conflict of interest when Lory entered her name. The matrix was opened and the process witnessed without my participation. The seal chose her and bound itself to her signature."
"Who witnessed the selection?"
"The school's selection committee and an observer from the Confederation. Our relationship required me to recuse myself; it did not require Lory's exclusion."
Lory folded her arms.
"I'm right here."
"I noticed," Severus replied.
"And I'm the Beauxbatons champion."
He examined the disc around her neck. Tiny runes covered the edge, alternating between silver and a faint blue.
"For now."
Lory smiled without humour.
"Then try to keep up."
Angelique came down a step.
"Headmaster Snape, you've had a long journey. Perhaps we should proceed with the inspection before discussing our champion's merits."
The formality was flawless.
Severus would rather she had insulted him.
"Naturally, Mademoiselle Blanche."
Angelique's fingers tightened around a folder.
Claire looked from one to the other.
"This is going to be unbearable, isn't it?"
"It already is," Draco murmured.
Hye gestured Lory towards the corridor.
"Let's check your seal again."
***
Claire checked the diagrams at the entrance to the seal chamber beneath Beauxbatons' central tower.
The room was circular, its pale stone walls covered in runic sequences. Three pillars stood in the centre, each marked with a school's crest. They served as displays: once all three champions had been chosen, each pillar would reproduce the status of one champion's seal from a distance. Two were still dark; the Beauxbatons pillar already responded to the silver disc around Lory's neck.
Benedikt von Veltheim stood before the Durmstrang pillar.
"Severus," he greeted him. "I was beginning to think the trees had captured you again."
"Apparently that story has travelled across Europe."
"Only the civilised parts."
Benedikt shook his hand and greeted Draco. Then he turned to Angelique.
"Everything ready?"
"Almost. And Durmstrang's technical representative?" Angelique asked.
"I decided to take responsibility for checking my school's authorisations," Benedikt replied.
He touched her arm with easy familiarity as he passed.
Claire handed out the diagrams and indicated the three small viewers on the table, made from a dark stone that did not reflect light.
"The viewers allow the school authorities to read the champions' seals. They cannot alter them. To extract a champion from a task or change a ward, two schools must agree."
"And if two of the designated authorities are incapacitated?" Severus asked.
"The system recognises unconsciousness, possession and death," Claire replied. "In that case, it temporarily transfers authorisation to the remaining representative and the Chief Healer."
Hye raised her hand.
"Me."
"A healer close to the family of one of the champions," Severus observed.
Hye did not appear offended.
"That's why my authorisation doesn't work for Lory. If she needs to be extracted and only Angie is conscious, the seal will summon another registered healer."
Severus examined the diagram.
"Who devised the substitution?"
"I did," Hye replied. "Then Claire spent a week finding ways to kill me on paper."
"I found twenty-three," Claire added.
"Twenty-one. Two involved decisions I would never make."
"An enemy doesn't depend on you making intelligent decisions."
"That's why we're friends," Hye explained to Severus. "She believes in my potential for catastrophe."
"Since our first year," Claire said.
Lory stepped onto the central platform. The seal around her neck began to glow blue.
"Do I have to stand still?"
"It would be an interesting experience," Angelique replied.
Hye checked the young woman's pulse and touched her wand to the centre of the disc. A luminous figure appeared in the air. It reproduced Lory's silhouette, surrounded by information that changed with every breath. Claire compared the projected signature with the record on the diagram and checked the location indicator, which showed the platform.
"Normal heart rate," Hye said. "Stable magical flow. No sign of interference."
Severus approached.
"May I examine the seal?"
Lory held the chain.
"Without touching me."
"That won't be necessary."
She held the disc away from her clothes. Severus passed his wand around the edge of the seal. The runes responded one by one: identity, location, consciousness, physical integrity, external presence. He stopped his wand as he completed the circuit. It was only a moment.
"Again," he ordered.
"Is something wrong?" Angelique asked.
Severus repeated the movement. Claire counted the responses on the luminous diagram: five. All within the expected interval.
"There was a delay in the sequence on the first reading," Severus said.
Claire moved closer.
"Which one?"
"External presence."
She checked the luminous diagram.
"It may have been adjusting to his signature," Claire said, keeping her wand on the last line. "But it shouldn't happen. The seal will remain isolated until I find the cause."
"Does that mean I can't compete?" Lory asked.
"It means no one will connect your seal to the task areas while there's a response I can't explain," Claire replied.
"Acceptable," Severus said.
Lory sighed.
"I was worried my own seal needed your approval."
"Not mine," Severus replied. "It needs to pass inspection by all three schools."
Lory let the disc settle against her chest and stepped down from the platform.
"Still sounds like your hobby."
***
The inspection continued for the rest of the morning.
Severus examined the outer wards, the accommodation, the infirmary and the extraction points. He found four minor flaws, two questionable decisions and one tapestry in criminally bad taste. Angelique noted the relevant observations and ignored the rest. They were never alone.
Whenever Severus approached, she found a member of staff to call over, a document to consult or a sister in urgent need of her attention. Her skill at avoiding him would have been admirable under different circumstances.
At lunch, she sat between Benedikt and a representative of the Republican Commission for Magical Security. Severus sat at the other end of the table. Draco settled beside him.
"Claire told me," Draco said quietly.
Severus turned towards him.
"She told Claire?"
"Claire heard the slap through the wall and went to find her. She only told me after swearing she wouldn't kill you before the Tournament."
"Touching."
"She's still considering it."
Draco buttered a slice of bread.
"Apologise."
"I did not ask for your opinion."
"That's never stopped you offering yours."
"This is none of your concern."
Severus folded his napkin.
"Have you finished?"
"No."
"Malfoy."
"Sir?"
"Be quiet."
Draco obeyed. He kept dragging the knife through the butter until the bread tore into pieces.
***
Late that afternoon, the representatives of the three delegations returned to the seal chamber to register their final signatures.
Claire placed the three viewers on the pillars. Severus and Benedikt touched their schools' crests with their wands and spoke the authorisation sequences. Angelique pressed her Deputy Headmistress's badge against the Beauxbatons pillar before doing the same; the authority delegated to her by Maxime allowed her signature to be accepted.
Blue magic spread across the walls. Severus recognised Angelique's signature immediately. It was intense, precise and faintly warm, like the sensation her fingers had left on his skin. The memory was useless. He concentrated on the ritual. The three authorisations met in the centre of the chamber and engaged the agreement lock. No fourth signature appeared; the system merely registered that no school could act alone. The viewers lit up. Claire handed the first to Benedikt. The second to Angelique. Finally, she approached Severus.
"This one's yours. Once activated, it won't respond to anyone else."
Severus touched the Hogwarts viewer with the tip of his wand. Silver lines appeared on the surface, forming the crests of the three schools.
Lory put a hand to her seal.
"I felt something."
Hye was beside her at once.
"Pain?"
"No. As though someone had tugged on the chain."
Severus examined the viewer. For a fraction of a second, two blue dots appeared where there should have been only one. Then they merged.
"Did you see that?" he asked Claire.
"I did."
She suspended the ritual with a movement of her wand and drew an isolation circle around the Beauxbatons pillar.
"The duplication is the same fault as the one in the presence sequence," she said. "We won't connect the seal to the task areas."
"Can you identify the second location?" Angelique asked.
"Not from here. The Beauxbatons viewer is accepting the second signal as though it were also coming from Lory."
Claire looked at the Hogwarts viewer in Severus's hand.
"The Hogwarts viewer doesn't recognise our internal permissions. Examine it outside this chamber. A foreign signature might reveal what ours is accepting."
"I shall," Severus replied.
"Alone?" Angelique asked.
"I shall take the necessary precautions."
"Report any change immediately."
"Naturally, Mademoiselle Blanche."
Severus left the chamber without waiting for anyone.
***
The Hogwarts headmaster's room was in a tower well away from the students. It was comfortable, bright and decorated in so many shades of blue that Severus missed the dungeons. He waited for the castle to fall silent. At midnight, he drew the curtains, locked the door and placed the Hogwarts viewer on the table. He cast three isolation spells around the room and took a small instrument case from his pocket.
The first examination revealed nothing.
The second showed only the runes Claire had described.
On the third, Severus changed the angle of the light and applied a revealing solution to the viewer's edge.
A dark line appeared beneath the location indicator displayed by the viewer. He leant closer. It was not part of the data the seal was supposed to send.
With the tip of a silver needle, he carefully separated the two lines projected by the viewer. The legitimate location glowed above. Beneath it, almost invisible, lay another symbol.
Transmission. Someone had turned Lory's seal into a beacon.
Severus held his breath and examined the surrounding strokes. The insertion was sophisticated. It did not breach the wards or alter the vital signs; it copied at least the champion's location and sent it to an external receiver. Whoever had done it knew the structure Claire had created. Knew the signatures of the authorities designated by the three schools. And had had access to the seal or its creation process.
Severus touched his wand to the hidden rune.
"Ostende originem."
The symbol resisted. He increased the magical pressure. The dark line opened and revealed a blue authorisation mark.
Beauxbatons.
Severus felt his stomach tighten. The rune had been inserted using the school's internal credentials. There was still a way to discover where it was transmitting. It would be risky: the receiver might detect someone investigating the link. Severus thought of calling Angelique. He remembered the door closing in his face.
He pushed the memory aside. This was not personal.
He built a containment circle around the viewer and cast the tracking spell. The hidden rune came to life.
A blue thread crossed the room, passed through the tower wall and vanished into the horizon. On the table, the enchanted map of the region unfolded by itself. The line travelled across fields, roads and villages until it stopped at a protected area that should not have appeared on any map.
Severus recognised the place. The Blanche estate.
Someone at Beauxbatons was tracking Lory. And the receiver was inside her family's home.