Defense Office

Unfortunetly, the task proved to be much more difficult than Viper originally anticipated. Out of all the things her Grandfather had ever taught her, plumbing was not one of them, and at this moment that was the one skill that would prove to be the most useful.

Viper glanced at the ceiling, trying to get at least an idea of how the plumbing was designed. She knew where Drakon was, or at least the rough, general area since he was stuck and moving around, desperately trying to find an escape, but she had absolutely no idea how to pry him away, especially without drawing attention to the fact that she had broken into her colleague's office.

Waving her hand, she drew a desk closer to her and stepped up on top of it so she could get a closer look at the structure, but to no avail. She still had no idea what to do. Withdrawing her wand, she decided her basilisk's life was more imprortant than a slight plumming issue and began to blindly open the ceiling, little by little with a green beam.

Sevastyan walked at a moderate pace back to his office after helping Professor DeLanquar sequester the Excessum wand to its current hiding place. His hand only stung lightly now, all traces of the blood bonding process magically healed. For the most part, the conversation with the Muggle Studies Professor had gone well. Sevastyan only hoped that his promise to not tell anyone about the wand - particularly Kiara - would not come back to haunt him like certain other mistakes he'd made. If someone else knew about the wand before the oath had been made, there existed a very small loophole that could save him from breaking his promise. But they had to have known beforehand about Excessum first.

Deciding to clear his head from the jumble of new information and strangely dark but powerful wands for just a little while, Sevastyan opened the door to his office and stepped inside......

...... to find none other than Amaranth Viper standing on a desk, and cutting away his ceiling? Dark eyebrows rose in a bewildered 'what in the hell does she think she's doing' kind of way, though he was not by any means angry that she hadn't waited for him to return. Curious, most definitely; suspicious, maybe just a twinge - but angry? Not really.

"I vosn't planning on redoing my ceiling, but if you really don't like it I suppose I vill oblige," Sevastyan commented, humor clearly inflected in his tone. He wasn't stupid and could clearly see something was up, but decided to see how she would react to this approach first.

At the sudden voice, Viper reflexively jumped in suprise, losing her balance and falling off the desk to the ground. Standing up as quickly as she could, she smoothed out her robes and faced the other Professor with a rather flusteredly

"Sevastyan..." she breathed out, smiling at the fact that he didn't seem angry with her. "This isn't what it looks like?" she offered, not quite sure what to say in a position such as the one she managed to land herself in.

Viper's reaction when he spoke seemed to happen in slow motion yet it was very sudden all at once; her jump making him do the same. In the moment he'd thought to attempt to catch her before she reached the floor, she had already "landed" so to speak.

He returned the smile, though his looked slightly sheepish. "I'm sorry - I did not mean to scare you," he apologized sincerely. "Not being able to feel pain aside: are you qvite all right?"

Viper brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you. I..." seeing no way to slither her way out of this situation, she decided her best bet would be to be completely honest and hope the Defense Professor would not be too cross with her.

"My snake is stuck..." she sighed as she looked up at the spot above her where she knew a basilisk lay waiting.

"Your snake?" Sevastyan repeated curiously, an eyebrow quirked upwards at the unexpected answer. What he had expected, he couldn't be sure, but it certainly wasn't that her reptilian companion was stuck. "How did that happen?" he queried conversationally and clambered onto the desk to try and help solve this problem, clearly not angry. Examining the amount of progress Amaranth had made in his absence gave him an idea.

Rapping loudly on the ceiling in different areas, Sevastyan was listening for a change in tune. He didn't have much knowledge on detection spells being used for architecture, so he would just have to go about it a different way.

Viper nodded as she stood unto the desk beside him, watching his actions. "Yes, he was...going through the plumbing." Well this isn't a a conversation one has very often she thought wryly to herself as she wondered what he would make of a snake going through the pipes above the classroom he had been using moments ago to discuss an issue with someone Viper clearly did not quite get along with.

"Oh?" Sevastyan asked, pausing to regard her for a moment. Learning this, he'd begun to form some suspicions but shook them off as being too paranoid for his own good. "How did he get there?" It seemed like an honest enough question to him.

Continuing to knock on the ceiling, Sevastyan paused when one knock was slightly different than the others. Removing his wand from a pocket, he silently cast a cutting spell only strong enough to get through the panels of the ceiling. Once the hole was big enough he slowly lowered the piece. "Votch your head," he warned as he cast the panel-and-plaster oval aside.

"Vell, your snake certainly knows how to get stuck in the plumbing, this much I vill say," Sevastyan offered with a slight laugh. There were plenty of pipes, some with many twists and turns. 'Vhich vone is the poor creature stuck in?' he wondered.

"He was gliding throught the plumbing as he has a tendency to do and Moaning Myrtle flooded the bathroom, blocking his way." Viper replied as she tilted her head, taking heed of Sevastyan's warning.

Her explanation was fairly true. Drakon really did become trapped because of that bloody ghost. And he truly did have a tendency to travel throught the plumbing...at Viper's request.

She swore softly when she noticed just how many pipes there were, nodding with agreement at the other Professor's comment. "Drakon," she called out in parseltongue, bidding the snake to answer her.

About half a minute she received a reply, a rather cross one, Viper noted, informing her that he was trapped in the pipe at the far left.

Nodding, she told the snake to hold still and keep calm while she turned to her colleague. "He's on the far left." she informed Sevastyan with an anxious smile as she wondered how she would extract Drakon without turning Sevastyan's office into a swimming pool.

"I see," was Sevastyan's only answer in response to her explanation. It seemed true enough: why should he question it if it was plausible? Professor DeLanquar didn't seem to trust her, that much was true, but Sevastyan saw no reasoning to make him doubtful of either woman's statements.

Though he did not speak the language of snakes, he certainly knew of it. Hence he didn't look to Amaranth as if she'd sprouted a second head. The hiss of a reply coming from one of the pipes confirmed what he had assumed. Nodding in response to her directions, he remarked, "I have yet to have met a vizard or vitch that spoke parseltongue... until now." It was partially true, for he hadn't actually 'met' Voldemort at all but rather observed him. "It is a fascinating language, and vone that not many are even avare that it exists," he added, as if to clarify his earlier statement.

But now to free the snake from its pipe-shaped prison. The first thing he did was cast a room-wide 'impervius' to protect items, furniture, and clothes from any water spillages, and transfigured a blank sheet of parchment from the desk he and Viper were standing on into what appeared to be a common wooden bucket. Another spell made it magically expand on the inside to whatever size was required to contain the water. The last spell on the parchment-turned-bucket was for it to levitate right where the water would start pouring.

"Keep vatch for him, if you vould, so that I can connect the pipes again vonce he is through..." Sevastyan requested, though was aware that if Drakon was a large snake it might take a bit more work than this. A muttered incantation later, and the pipe in question was open, water poured forth into the endless-capacity bucket, and Sevastyan joined in the search for a snake hopefully no longer stuck in the plumbing.

Viper smiled at Sevastyan's statement. Most people who had ever heard her speak parseltongue were highly unnerved by it, anxious to place distance inbetween them so it was quite refreshing to have someone appreciate it. "It's possible to learn, if you are ever interested." she offered as a way of encouragement, for most of her siblings were forced to learn parseltongue by their father.

She did as Sevastyan requested and awaited Drakon's midnight form. A gew galleons of water swished out before Drakon followed, landing right beside Viper's feet. Viper sighed in relief as she cast a quick scourgify charm on him before he slithered unto her hands.

"Thank you." she smiled brightly in gratitude at Sevastyan, speaking in parseltongue to her snake, bidding him to do the same. Drakon did so, tentively inching his head closer to Sevastyan's arm just in case the wizard was not fond of snakes and would prefer to keep his distance.

"I vould be qvite interested to, if you are villing to teach somevone a bit older than your usual students," he replied, a smile stretching the lower portion of his face. He knew full well the tutoring of youngsters was not exactly Amaranth's cup of tea.

The moment he'd heard the snake land he closed up the pipe, magically sealing it just in case he'd physically damaged the pipe. Either way, it was repaired now. Without a word he vanished the bucket - he didn't really need that bit of parchment as it was blank - and repaired the ceiling just as Viper spoke again.

"You're velcome... though you could have told me he vos stuck earlier. I'm sure Professor DeLanquar vouldn't have minded vaiting," he replied. Sevastyan didn't reveal what he'd learned about the Muggle Studies professor's opinions of Viper, preferring instead to go on what he'd observed. The older witch did seem patient as opposed to short tempered, though given what he knew about their present relationship he'd spoken of the professor in an offhanded kind of way. Sevastyan was a listener, not a rumor-monger, and he didn't want to come off as the latter.

Sevastyan hardly flinched at the snake's approach, and even went so far as to hold out his hand both as a gesture of greeting and to show that he wasn't afraid or repelled by him. A question of whether or not it was friendly crossed his mind a little too late, but it was already being held. "I don't believe you've told me vot his name is..." he remarked, not entirely sure how or if he should address the creature as a separate entity.

"Well, as long as you don't start carving 'Professor Viper is getting fat' or 'Viper needs to be eaten by a Viper'', then I daresay I would be willing to teach you." Viper replied honestly.

Viper laughed as she heard his statement about Eglantine, smiling fondly at her colleague. "I sometimes forget how recently you joined the staff. Well, all for the best, I suppose. You may have ended up resigning out of sheer irritation from all Professor Delanquar's and my arguments." she joked lightly before adding in a more serious tone. "I am sorry for what you had to walk into between me and the other Professor. I did not mean for our discussion to go so far. And to think it started off with me merely inquiring about her health..."

Drakon inched forward towards Sevastyan's hand, nudging it gently with his head in greeting, coiling its tail around the palm of the wizard. "His name is Drakon." Viper added, pleased to see that Sevastyan was not repelled by her pet or afraid, despite the fact he had no reason to be.

"Now vy vould I vant to do something like that?" Sevastyan asked with a laugh, not really expecting an answer. After a moment he shook his head. Children could be just as cruel as some of their older counterparts, he knew.

"Is that so?" he queried with the quirk of a brow, rather certain that it would take more than the squabbling of colleagues to make him resign. When she turned serious, so did he.

"I did not hear much, not to vorry. I had been a bit distracted, and barely heard the knock," he replied. It was the truth, really: he'd only heard bits and pieces. And even after, Professor DeLanquar didn't really discuss her relationship - for want of a better word for it.

"Drakon..." Sevastyan repeated, unconsciously rolling the 'r'. "An interesting name," he offered to both by way of compliment. He hardly minded the fact that the snake was coiling itself about his hand and kept still, under the notion that had this not been a positive action Viper would have handled the matter. "Vot method of hunting for prey does he employ: constricting, or the use of venom?" he asked curiously. "My brother used to keep a Runespoor in his room," Sevastyan added, as if to explain why snakes didn't really bother him much at all.

"Well its either vandalize the desks or run and tell mummy the Potions Professor is being mean." Viper laughed as she thought of all her teaching mishaps.

"Indeed." Viper replied to his query. "I hope I haven't given you any ideas." she teased, although she doubted he would resign from his post merely because of the bickering. Perhaps a few silencing charms here and there, but not resignation.

Drakon slipped out Viper's grasp and into Sevastyan's hands, resting contedly, much to Viper's amusement for the snake wasn't normally as relaxed when meeting new people. "Thank you. Drakon hunts using venom but he rarely goes hunting. I think my Slytherins have been feeding him cockroach clusters.

The ravenhead witch nodded solemnly as Sevastyan spoke of his brother's pet. "My brother Dracovan had a Runespoor as well. He was very fond of it and was absolutely heartbroken when he died."

Drakon suddenly hissed at Viper, informing her that Sevastyan and Eglantine had discussed Dracovan earlier and Sevastyan did not seem very fond of the deceased wizard and his actions prior to his death.

Viper paused when she heard this, unsure if Sevastyan would disprove of her obvious fondness and closeness with her late brother.

"Vell, I vould have a rather long and unappealing run... and vood carving isn't vone of my hobbies," he said in an attempt to be serious but couldn't manage it, laughing when he tried to imagine himself running across land and water.

"Ideas? No, no... of course not," he replied in kind, though made his countenance look as though he had come up with plenty of ideas. Bickering could be quelled, duels could be joined in just for fun - heck, maybe he'd surprise the duelists in question by his fun-loving participation, and there was always somewhere that one could reasonably "escape" to in order to get away from the hubbub of everyday life at the castle. Resignation was a rather drastic measure, and Sevastyan wasn't accustomed to running away in the face of difficulties.

"That vould easily explain vy he hasn't hunted - at least he is vell liked," Sevastyan replied with a slight chuckle, stroking Drakon's scales absently. Unfortunately he didn't have any Cockroach Cluster, but he would remember that the next time he went into Hogsmeade.

The moment Dracovan's name was uttered did not elicit a reaction from him, but he nodded in response to what she had to say. Runespoors had rather short lives, what with three differently-thinking heads. "Your brother?" he asked neutrally, doing his best to play dumb. "I believe I have heard of him." It would be best if Viper did not know where he'd heard information from, though didn't want to seem completely oblivious. "Vere the two of you close?" This question was genuine and unassuming. Though he hadn't agreed with Dracovan's choice to attack a child, he did not outright hate the man himself. It had been a bad choice, and involved a child, so naturally Sevastyan had reacted strongly when it was brought up. However he kept this to himself.

Being unpracticed in parseltongue made Sevastyan a little curious as to what Drakon had "said" to Viper, or rather, to make the analogy slightly closer to home: he felt a little like a foreigner in a country full of speakers he couldn't understand. Sevastyan glanced to Amaranth and quirked a brow, the countenance in addition to the questions in his eyes clearly but non-verbally asking for a translation.

Viper noticed the questioning look on Sevastyan's face. Clearly he was curious as to what Drakon had uttered. She responded with a playful smirk. "Have no fear, Sevastyan. You'll know all that Drakon utters soon enough, I'm sure of it. Parseltongue isn't very difficult to pick up. It merely comes with the potential to be deadly if one is in the wrong place in the wrong time with an error in translation." she laughed.

The smile on Viper's face became a wistful one. "We were the last of the Vipers, and for much of our lives all we had left in the world. Yes, we were quite close, but...he had a tendency to do things without thinking about the consequences for himself, and for others." her eyes darkened as she thought of how he landed himself in Azkaban, leaving her all alone for five years. And then everything with Edwin...

She met Sevastyan's eyes for a moment, unsure of what to say next. She knew he already knew what Dracovan had done, but he didn't know that she knew that he knew, making it unclear how much she would be able to say without seeming suspicious. Instead she sighed. "He was my brother." she said simply as though it was the ultimate answer. "He made many mistakes, many deeds that one cannot condone. And yet, I still care for him even though the thought of it all maddens me."

Sevastyan wasn't naive, but nor was he impatient. The Defense Professor couldn't help but sense the conversation between the serpent and its mistress as having been a private one for a reason he couldn't quite determine. It probably wasn't any of his business, but he would keep this thought on the furthest back burner for the time being.

Instead of appearing suspicious, however, Sevastyan regarded her in an equally playful manner to match her smirk. "Is it? Vell, fangs for the varning," he replied comically, grinning as he glanced briefly down at Drakon as if to emphasize his point. It wasn't meant as an insult in the least, though he could almost imagine a perceived groaning hiss from Drakon at the jest.

Listening carefully to what she had to say, Sevastyan determined that if the topic of Eglantine's son should ever come up that it would not be wise to say anything off about Dracovan. Not that he would deliberately speak poorly of someone he only heard about, especially now that they were no longer alive. At the conclusion of her tale, Sevastyan nodded. "For vot it's vorth, I know very vell vot that feels like: to care about a sibling but unable to approve of or even understand their actions. It is the same vith my own brother..." he trailed off, not sure how this information would be received. After all, Grigoriy was still alive last time Sevastyan knew.

"I am sorry your brother is no longer vith you," he added sincerely. Though he didn't like what Dracovan had done, was it really Sevastyan's place to condemn him when he himself possessed an equally dark past?

Drakon lifted his head and stared at Sevastyan in apparent confusion before deciding to just leave it be and resume his comfortable position in Sevastyan's hands while Viper laughed at the Defense Professor's joke. Her wistful smile became a thankful one, grateful at his understanding.

"Thank you." she whispered in gratitude. She had spoken about Dracovan with Kiara and Eglantine but it hadn't meant as much as it had now, simply because they hadn't really understood what she was going through, but Sevastyan did.

She wondered how deeply their understanding ran as she ventured off. "And yet, when I do chastise him, I feel slight guilt...for I am not too far from his crimes myself..."

((lol at Drakon's response. It was a terrible joke, I know... XD ))

Sevastyan assumed Drakon's reaction had been because he'd stopped paying the serpent attention, and stroked the scales upon the creature's head once it seemed to have gotten comfortable again. It was interesting just how many people feared snakes, and the misconceptions that subsequently cropped up somewhere down the line. Her whispered thanks were received with a deep nod.

He paused in mid stroke along Drakon's scales at the extra information she had offered. Sevastyan focused his gray eyes on the snake's coils around his arm in an attempt to reign in his own memories about his and his brother's early days, and the falling out they'd had. Returning his gaze to the conversation, he admitted, "Vone could very vell say I led Grigoriy onto the path, and he villingly followed. But, ven I tried to correct that mistake, he vanted nothing of it. Lately, if ve speak at all to vone another, our parting vords alvays end in curses - of both magical and non-magical varieties." A very small laugh punctuated his confession. "Merlin knows ve nearly did everything together..." Sevastyan hoped that it would be understood that 'everything' also included all activities of a darker, more sinister nature in addition to its base interpretation.

Viper nodded, understanding his meaning on "everything". "It was always so frustrating with Dracovan. My parents adored him more than they ever cared for me. After their golden child Leviathon died, Dracovan was runner up for them. " she laughed bitterly. "You know, when he ended up in Azkaban, they blamed me for it? As though I could have done anything..."

She sighed. "Are you still close with your family despite how it is with your brother?" Viper asked, thinking of how Dracovan's presence impacted her relations with her family, except her grandfather, of course. Viper would always remain number one to Malachite Viper. After all, she reminded him of his beloved wife Andromache both in looks and spirit.

Sevastyan felt a bitter laugh also leave his lips. He shook his head upon hearing how Amaranth's family treated her after Dracovan was incarcerated. "Grigoriy - my brother - is the favorite of the family, despite everything. He vill probably even be getting Kaminski Manor after my father dies, if the vill has been changed. It is... or vos... family tradition for the eldest son to be given ownwership," he offered a piece of his own family history in return, sounding rather bitter. "And it vosn't even Grigoriy that was close to Igor or Ivan in the first place..." he muttered, mostly under his breath.

Her question was regarded with a bit of thought before he decided to just be honest about it. "Some of them. My sister, definitely. Maksim, my father... not so much. My oldest living relative vould be my grandfather, vith the most recent deaths in the family that I vos actually close to being Igor Kaminski, my great-grandfather, in nineteen-ninety-four; and Nikolai Kaminski, in ninety-seven," he answered. It was probably more than what she had asked for, but he felt comfortable talking about them with her. It wasn't like he was asked anything personal about these relations...

After a quick glance around the room, Sevastyan nodded toward a cushioned chair since his arms were occupied with holding Drakon and said, "Please, feel free to sit down if you vant. I should have offered sooner - my apologies."

Glancing down at Drakon, Sevastyan added, "And vot of you? Comfortable - or vould you prefer your mistress?" It might have looked odd, a grown man consulting a snake... but he was certain Amaranth talked to Drakon all the time. Any awkwardness he may have felt vanished after acknowledging that simple fact.

Viper sighed, thinking of Viper Manor. She never expected to inherit it, considering she had six older siblings so she was never particularly attached to it. But judging by the way Sevastyan spoke of the likelihood of his brother inheriting his family home, that was not the case with him.

"Are you very attached to your Manor?" she asked, keeping a neutral tone but with a hint of irrepresible understanding. Noticing the similarities between the two of them, Viper assumed he, like herself, would loathe any attempt at pity or faux sympathy another would throw at them and splatter their words and actions with.

She was a bit suprised at how candid and complete Sevastyan's response to her question. She didn't mind however, instead being quite pleased that her rather personal question did not irritate him.

Politely, Viper accepted his offer to sit down, opting to half lean/sit on top of the desk beside her.

Understanding what the wizard was asking, the snake tightened his grip on Sevastyan's hands, unwilling to move, much to the amusement of his mistress. "He likes you," Viper remarked in a half amused and suprised tone. Apparently, she wasn't the only one comfortable in the Defense Professor's presence.

"A bit," he replied simply. "It vos rebuilt from the ground by my great-grandfather, and his tvin brother, after they both deliberately set fire to it," Sevastyan elaborated, though he didn't have much of a sentimental tone to his voice. He had mixed feelings about the manor, but clearly did not need cajoling. While he didn't mention it, Sevastyan's inheritance money was more than enough for him to start a new manor if he'd wanted. It was hardly crucial to the discussion, so he didn't state it.

"Though, let's just say that if my brother vants the manor that bad, he vill be in for a few..." Sevastyan deliberately paused here to allow a grin that looked exceptionally sinister cross his face, "...unpleasant surprises that just might make him reconsider claiming that part of his inheritance." Sevastyan had in place various magics that would trigger themselves the moment Grigoriy attempted to claim the house as his. It was perhaps a low down, dirty trick, but they'd been in place long before he'd officially become the man he was today. In fact, it had been just days after Nikolai had passed... but Sevastyan didn't elaborate any further.

Sevastyan relaxed the muscles in his hands slightly as he felt the serpent tighten its coils, a small amount of amusement showing on his own face. "He is selective vith whom he befriends, then?" Sevastyan asked and moved to sit in the chair behind the desk Amaranth was seated upon. He had noticed the surprise in her voice, and was curious about his new serpentine acquaintance.

Viper smiled her own sinister smile as he spoke as well, although it wasn't as much of a grin as Sevastyan's considering she didn't know his brother herself so she couldn't make her own judgement or be as plotting as him. "If I were to inquire what tricks awaited your brother, my name wouldn't appear in the court paperwork as an accessory, would it?" she joked lightly.

However, her smile did increase as she noticed Sevastyan's smile at his new serpent friend. "Quite selective. He either gets very attached to someone or barely resists the urge to bit their fingers off. Normally the latter." she laughed slightly, remembering the Ravenclaw who's overwhelming curiousity over what type of snake Drakon caused him to have his own investigation. One far too close and personal for the snake's liking.