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In the Dark, A Zabini/ Grindelwald fanfic	By : blaisegellert Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 1326 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: mature, m/m, Harry Potter fandom, no money is made off this project.

Chapter List
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Severus pushed the full pensieve across the desk toward Blaise and Gellert where they sat side by side across from him. He hated feeling reluctant about this instead of eager to learn anything Grindelwald could uncover on the dark lord. It was simply that Severus had felt rather safe and secure in his belief that he and Albus had basically discovered everything. With Grindelwald's own doubts expressed yesterday, Severus began to develop his own. Now wasn't the time for him to begin worrying or to feel unsafe or gods forbid to slip!
Blaise silently looked to Gellert for instruction on what he wished him to help with. He'd mentioned it yesterday but Blaise had to admit he'd forgotten what with everything else going on not to mention this particular branch of magic was entirely new to him.

Gellert shifted slightly in his chair, the thin quartz wand from Mag suddenly in his hand and passing once over the pensieve. Blaise tracked the spell with his eyes, drawing his own smoky quartz wand in preparation for whatever came next.
"How is this going to work," Severus asked.
"Did you wish to view my memories to study Voldemort first or are you conducting the spectral analysis? Or can the two coincide?"
"We start with a sophisticated scanning of these memories for the spectral analysis first," Gellert thoughtfully confirmed. "We shall assign some standard measures to your memories, turn them into points of information that we can refer to later. We will see where your impressions peak, estimate the number of changes in them, the rate of change, etc...Quantifying your memories through some principles of Arithmancy. When the scanning spell alerts me or rather us, to being concluded, then we proceed with the spectral analysis itself.
The first level would involve contrasting your memories from two different periods of time with each other. The second level of complexity, much later, would be comparing your impressions with those of the friend you mentioned. The one who also observed this Dark Lord and agreed to offer his testimony to help us," Gellert explained, suddenly finding himself unable to recall the name of the said friend, if Severus had even given it.
"When all is said and done, Blaise and I will run a...kind of refinement that allows us to see how deeply the sets of memory impressions diverge from one another, and hopefully establish a probable cause for the divergence. It is actually normal enough for two sets of observations of the same person to vary. Not all variations can be accounted for by subtle spells, provided they are in a previously established range of deviation. If the range of deviation is too great and the deviation is consistently great throughout more than one period of time, then we could suspect foul play of some sort. Sometimes the results would be inconclusive at any rate, so we are just experimenting here, without any definite expectations," the dark wizard added, feeling thrilled at his ability to mention himself and his partner in the same breath. It was a mere statement of truth of course, they were working together as a team, but saying it out loud made him happier than he could have expected.
"I have put all of my memories involving interactions with Voldemort into the pensieve. Would you want to analyze my memories and add those of my friend later or are they necessary together," Severus asked.
As he spoke, he flicked a look to the large white owl that sat on the back of his chair. Blaise supposed he'd send the bird with a note for said friend when necessary.
"I am aware," Gellert confirmed with a small nod. "I was just letting you know what kind of spell I was running as well as reminding Blaise of the kind of assistance I would need. Multi tasking at its finest if you ask me," he said cheerfully.
"The spell is already in progress on your memories, the non verbal kind, of course. It somehow seems fitting to use a more complicated procedure on something so complicated. don't you think? Never mind, the spell is almost done now. Three quarters done, I believe, but don't quote me on it. I would know precisely when it goes off...oh there It goes. Lucky guess on my part, I suppose. Alright. Now that your memories are all quantified, let us insert those of your friends, please," Gellert encouraged with an eager smile. Unlike many other spells, this one had not become routine quite yet, and he was truly looking forward to seeing what the outcome of this new technique would be.
Severus found it difficult to concentrate on Grindelwald's bloody babbling. Obviously the blonde German was simply trying to impress Zabini, and from the rapt expression on the Slytherin's face, he'd succeeded richly.
"My friend," Severus said, glancing at the owl again.
"Well...My friend...he's right here."
Blaise had been intensely focusing on the spell Gellert had set into motion over the pensieve, but Snape's words brought his attention back to the potion's master with a snap.
"What, the owl," he asked incredulously.
"Yes," Severus said.
The owl flew down from the back of his chair to land on the table in front of the pensieve. Severus produced a wand of clear quartz and black obsidian with an oval garnet set in the middle where the black and clear stones met. The wand was obviously from Mag, and fancier than any others she'd made that Blaise could remember seeing. Touching the quartz end to the side of the bird's head, Snape began withdrawing memories and adding them to those of his own in the pensieve. Gellert was scrutinizing the owl carefully now, but he did not speak, instead waiting for Severus to clarify.
"He is more intelligent than other owls, you see. When Mag got him as a first year student, he could converse with the intelligence of a human...Actually more so than many," Snape added dryly.
"And yes I'm quite certain he's a real owl. Believe me I checked."
The owl shuddered.
//Believe me he did. He gave me this nasty ass potion that was supposed to actually kill me if I wasn't a real owl.//
The thoughts spilled into Blaise and Gellert's minds and as they did, the bird turned its snowy white head to regard them.
"Interesting," Gellert said.
"You were just born smarter than other owls," he asked, addressing the owl directly.
The bird nodded.
//Yeah, for sure. Other owls are dumb,// the owl thought into their minds as he had previously done.
"The acromantulas were once basic spiders, as you likely know and magic improved them. It is my theory that some wizard attempted to improve an owl a few generations before you were born...the wizard likely saw no success and believed his or her experiment to be a failure so put the owl back with those of its kind to carry letters or what have you. Eventually you were born as you are because the genetic magical enhancement took that long to take hold," Gellert told the owl.
//Well I'll be damned! I was always terrified of being put in a fuckin' lab so some wizards could get at what makes me so different and you just figured it out...no lab required. Thanks man.//
Gellert grinned, nodding at the owl with a slight shrug.
"My own experiments with animals were along similar lines. Only I had larger goals so my failures were more...extravagant."
The owl blinked in silent curiosity and Gellert shrugged again.
"Some animals may have exploded before I was expelled from Durmstrang."
//Wow,// the owl commented, thought tone somehow managing to sound amused.

"So how did you become a...what is it called, Death Eater," Gellert asked the bird.
//I didn't,// the owl replied with another shudder.
//That's one creepy crazy mother fucker right there! When you see my thoughts in the pensieve, I hope my perception of his aura shows up because...I've never seen anything like it. I'm not anything close to what I'd call Mr. Nice Bird, and that fucker scares me...No not sure that that's right. Maybe it goes beyond scaring to just like...freezing my fucking blood in horror.//
"Interesting," Gellert said.
Not exactly the sentiment Blaise would use, and now he was trying not to shudder. He'd be great if he never got near Voldemort. He'd always felt that way and now the sentiment was definitely highlighted.
//He's not human but it's worse than that,// the owl concluded, mental tone indicating frustration that he had no better words, but resignation to that same fact as well.
"Mag wanted me to take Nightshade with me to meetings in hopes that he could use his telepathic abilities to help," Severus offered in way of explanation.
//Yeah like pick the minds of the other followers for useful info for Prof and Dumblefuck to use," Nightshade added.
Gellert snickered at the slur of Dumbledore's name and the owl fluffed his feathers in pleasure.
//He's like too soft on shit, so I call him Dumblefuck,// he said proudly.
//Prof doesn't approve.//
Gellert snickered again, but Blaise was distracted by a thought.
"So what does Voldemort think of you bringing an owl with you to the meetings when you never had a pet before," he asked Snape.
"He doesn't," Severus replied.
"I use a series of chameleon charms on Nightshade to disguise him before we go," he said, nodding at the owl, indicating that his name was Nightshade.
"One chameleon charm is on his body, to make it appear as part of my robe, and the other is on his mind to make it appear as part of my own mind. So all anyone sees or senses is me."
"Ah," Blaise said, nodding.
That made sense.
He and Gellert got to work on the analysis then and no one spoke for several hours. When it was complete, both lowered their wands with exhausted sighs.
"Well...that was at least as successful as I could've hoped for. Once again our collaboration was outstanding," Gellert said, giving Blaise a pleased smile before turning to Severus.
"It appears that Voldemort did attempt to lay some manner of compulsion on your mind, a few years back, but was unable to do so. May we have some water? That was very draining."
Severus blinked. This meant that Voldemort was perhaps laying compulsion on the minds of his followers...Perhaps even those who were obsessively devoted like the Lestranges...Perhaps even especially them for all he knew. That was all well and interesting, but the fact he had only attempted to do so to Severus and failed...well that could present a problem of its own.
"So he knew I was able to block him," he asked and Gellert nodded.
//Shit,// Nightshade thought.
//You're too good for your own good, Prof! What if Voldemort doesn't trust you because he couldn't headfuck you.//
Severus merely nodded. He'd already gotten there and didn't like it.
"I heard he forces people to follow him, so the fact he mentally compels his own inner circle isn't really that surprising I suppose," Blaise commented.
"If I may, I will study these memories more in-depth tonight and return them tomorrow at breakfast," Gellert told Severus and Nightshade.
"I'd like to study as much of the workings of Voldemort's mind as I can so going over these more than once is preferable."
Severus nodded and numbly rose to get Blaise and Gellert the requested glasses of water. He only hoped the dark lord's inability to break his mental shields didn't start the man mistrusting him as much as he feared it did.
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In the Dark, A Zabini/ Grindelwald fanfic