"Five points for Ravenclaw!" Professor Flitwick exclaimed ecstatically. "Excellent use of the Carpe retractum spell, Mr. Altair," It was a bit inappropriate to call his student by his name, but the goblin had noticed how, in the last week, the young man got a little angry every time he was referred to as Mr. Asmodeus. He never showed it openly, out of respect for the professor of enchantments.
"I have no problem being called Black, professor," he said as he fiddled with the ball he used to practice the spell.
"Understood, Mr. Black," his student smiled at him as he nodded. He didn't initially call him Black because of how it would relate him to his mother. "By the way, Professor Evans requested your presence. Initially it should be after my class, but there's no point in keeping you here," the professor warned him, "she wanted to discuss something about a potion."
"I'll go right away, professor," he picked up her school bag. Lavender pouted as she watched him leave. "I'll help you later," he said goodbye with a kiss on the cheek.
After receiving a "Be careful, Alti" from his girlfriend, he left the classroom. He walked through the castle towards Professor Evans' office. Hoping not to run into any problems.
'Ah!' he sighed internally. Just a few meters from the door of Professor Lily's office, a grumpy redhead seemed about to throw a tantrum. The professor and her only living son seemed to be having a heated argument. They did not realize his presence.
"I want to be there when you talk to him," the Potter boy didn't want to leave Altair and Lily alone. A wise decision.
"The business we will discuss cannot be heard by anyone except him and me," the professor stayed firm.
"There are already enough rumors about you two," 'Are there?' Altair hadn't heard any. Although there are hundreds of rumors about him. Some even say he seduced Morgana in exchange for power. But him and Professor Evans?
"And you believe them?" his mother asked, eyebrows raised.
"No. But it will become a problem if Dad hears you," the boy said, his face red.
Lily's expression soured as she took a deep breath. Lately, Charles seemed increasingly insistent on a reconciliation between her and James. It hurt a little.
"Son... whatever happened between your father and me has nothing to do with you, you don't have to suffer for our problems," he seemed determined that they would get back together, Lily thought it was because he wanted his family complete. When Charles was afraid that she would fall into Altair's hands.
The redhead had been hearing whispers about Altair for months. How he had become more handsome. Stronger. A better magician. It sounded like they were talking about the damned Merlin.
It wouldn't have bothered him so much if it weren't for the fact that Violet often talked about how her cousin seemed to be becoming more and more the kind of man she desired.
Charles was jealous. Why should the damn son of a death eater have that reputation? He even went so far as to express it. But everyone seemed to forget his origins. "Your mother spends a lot of time with him... I'm starting to envy her," Violet's whispered voice as she smiled turned his stomach. Those feelings of disgust had been in him for months. He was starting to go crazy.
"Mother... I know the idea that you are not the only woman in Dad's life may bother you, but I know you both love each other and-"
"I don't love him. If I ever did, those feelings were buried when he used Harry's death to boost his political career." She interrupted him sharply. There were subjects off the limits to her. "Enough!" she said when he opened his mouth, "There is nothing between Altair and me. And if there were, your father's opinion would be the last thing I would care about." Altair enjoyed watching from a distance as if it were a drama series. But time is money.
The sound of his footsteps echoed down the hall. Both mother and son shook their heads to meet him. Charles shot him a disdainful look as he walked towards him. He stopped beside him. Potter was considerably shorter than Altair, so the latter had to look down to meet his gaze.
"Without trying something with her," Potter began, whispering.
"What will you do?" Charles's face matched the tone of his hair.
"Enough! Both of you."
"Is that what you want, mother?" The boy couldn't contain his anger. He ended up exploding. "Let the whole castle know that you behave like a slut," Lily opened her mouth in shock. Her relationship with her son was complicated, but they cared for each other. Lily had never been called that.
Altair took Charles by the back of his neck and pressed his face against the wall "You should apologize."
"Let him go," Lily's voice was still upset. She didn't even react angrily when she saw her son being subdued by another student. Altair let him go, the boy looked at him with hatred in his eyes. "Thank you," she turned around and went back to her office.
"You've got guts," the dark-haired boy acknowledged. "The next time you talk to your mother you'll apologize if you don't-"
"What will you do?' Charles asked him as he drew his wand.
"Put it down," he ordered, and the red-haired boy obeyed.
Altair had discovered that, if he injected the magic of his soul into his voice, he generated a kind of command that others tended to obey.
He had learned to differentiate between the magic that came from his soul and that which came from his wisdom. The magic of his soul was irrational and depended on the imagination, it was abstract, while that of wisdom was more logical and depended on his intention.
It was a little complicated. Altair needed to study demons more. He needed to know if it was an inherent ability or a general one of his species.
"What did you do?" Charles raised his wand again, but Altair disarmed him in a blink.
"Your hand is shaking, are you afraid? You look scared," he wasn't, but one of the most effective ways to terrify someone was to tell them so.
The redhead looked at him, his wand was now in the hand of the black-haired man. He was unarmed. He looked down at his hands and watched them tremble. Psychology is a magnificent thing. Sometimes, by suggesting an idea or feeling and giving it the right context to be developed, the person will take that idea or feeling and adopt it as their own.
A normal person would be afraid of being unarmed in front of someone they threatened. Even if Charles never felt afraid in front of Altair, the idea began to take root in his mind.
"My mother-"
"She can talk for herself," Altair interrupted him as he walked towards him. He didn't give him a chance to regain any kind of control in the conversation. Charles unconsciously took a few steps back. Before, when he was grabbed by the neck he felt the strength of the man in front of him. He was unarmed and was sure he would lose in a physical fight. "Like Violet," Potter's infatuation with the Black girl was one of the most famous things at Hogwarts. "Tell me, Potty, has she told you what happened in the forest yet?" he said as he threw his wand at him. The smile on the dark-haired man's face widened as the other man's eyes looked at him in shock.
Potter didn't even react, he let the wand hit his chest and fall to the floor. Altair turned around and entered Evans' office.
"Did you hurt him?" the professor tried to disguise her sadness with a serious expression. Lily Evans was behind her desk, her body resting on the chair while her hands were clasped on her belly. Altair scolded himself as he watched her bra show through her white shirt.
"Physically? No," Altair said as he sat down in the empty chair in front of the desk.
He held back. He might detest the little man, but Professor Evans was always kind to him. 'He should thank her for giving birth to him,' other people in the castle wouldn't be so lucky.
"Thank you. Even if I didn't like the violence against my child, it was kind of you to defend me," she took a folder out of a drawer. Her sadness would not make her any less efficient. "We had a visitor at the castle. Remember the healing potion you created?"
"I remember my uncle tried to steal it. He couldn't. He got the ministry to ban it, claiming that no one can make it. Only I can."
"Exactly. The director said he would find a seller outside of Great Britain."
"I guess the visitor is a potential customer," the potion had been in the making since he entered Hogwarts, it wasn't until last month that he managed to complete it, a small but insignificant achievement. He was unable to patent it. He put it aside for the moment, his voice wouldn't do anything. But in the future...
"It was a Maou"
"A fucking demon," Altair said with basilisk venom mixed in his words.
"Like you."
"I'm not—"
"You're a demon. At least half of one. Every day I wonder..."
"If I'll lose myself?"
Lily remained silent. The conversation took on a slightly uncomfortable tone for both of them.
"I trust you," she replied. "I trust the love you have for those around you. You are not a monster. And the demons interested in the potion are not monsters either. The underworld is mainly divided into two factions, the faction of the new Maou and the faction of the old Satan. Your... progenitor," she said carefully, "is part of the second. The sales contract will be to the faction of the new Maou."
"I find it surprising that they want to buy something like that. Their species has been around for millennia, they should have something similar by now."
"They do, they're phoenix tears." Altair looked at her in surprise. In the wizarding world, phoenixes were rarely seen creatures. Only a few wizards enjoyed the prestige that came with forming a bond with one.
"And that's it?" Phoenix tears don't come cheap. For Altair, it was inconceivable that a civilization thousands of years old would not develop another method.
"Similar potions, but not as effective. The mixture of demonic magic with ours achieves surprising things. Besides... demons are not as devoted to science as humans. Their lives, unlike ours, are not so ephemeral. They do not feel the pressure to leave a legacy."
"If I accept, what are the conditions?" Altair asked. He would give them to him for free if it meant stepping on Asmodeus's toes.
"You will have to share the recipe with the demons."
"Do they have any patent systems?"
"Do they have any special contracts that will set their bodies on fire if they divulge the recipe?"
"They will have to be a mixture of magicians and demons, like me. I don't think there are many."
"There are many. But not all of them manage to awaken as demons," she got up, the folder still in her hand, and went around the desk, sitting on the table while she continued talking. "My Evans' counter works as an energy storage device. We will use it for the magic on our side needed in the potion. Although this will require you to modify the recipe a little. Do you have a problem with that?" she challenged him, there was a sparkle in her eyes. Altair appreciated her attire, a pencil skirt and a white shirt, her beautiful hair falling over her shoulders. He could see the valley of her breasts thanks to the fact that she hadn't done up all her buttons. "Altair," the boy came out of his reverie to look at his teacher's face. Her red lips were parted a seductive sight. "Stop getting ideas." She said. The previous sadness was nowhere to be found.
Altair stood up. Right in front of her. Evans had to lift his chin to look at him.
"Can you blame me?" he asked. She smiled, using her tongue to wet her lips.
From one moment to the next, her expression changed a little. As if she were having second thoughts. She handed him the folder.
"Check the contents. I'll only give you the broad strokes. There's more. The benefits are-", she stopped short when she felt Altair caress her knee, he did it casually. "You'll get evil pieces when you get strong enough. Also," she sighed, "you'll have to go to Japan on vacation. That's when you'll train the demons to create the position. This will also keep you safe..."
Altair's hand became more and more daring. It was circling and caressing the inside of her thigh. The skirt was starting to get in the way. 'How far?', he wondered.
"Lily," he whispered. The teacher created a space between them, literally. Altair watched as the room doubled in size in a thousandth of a second. The floor stretched out right between him and the professor.
"Make sure you read the contract carefully, Mr. Black."
"I'll consult you if I have any questions about the potion," Lily had turned around. She placed her hands on the desk. Her butt in her skirt was incredibly appetizing to Altair.
"Feel free to do so," the teacher had a red face when she heard the door close. She was glad that Altair wouldn't say anything.
'Why would you think it was a good idea?' Initially, she thought about how to mess with Altair to screw James. It would surely be a blow to his pride to see her with someone younger and more attractive. 'Damn it, Charles', if her son hadn't called her a slut she wouldn't have done this stupid thing.
She quickly buttoned up her shirt.
When the nineteen-year-old man started to caress her leg, she felt very well. The repressed feelings of years without any kind of touch other than that of her own hands began to surface. She did the right thing by walking away from him. She was afraid of hurting him, only she knew how aggressive she is when she fucks. James could never keep up with her.
'He's a demon... maybe. No! He's still your daughter's boyfriend,' she calmed down with that idea.
Although deep down he knew that her daughter wouldn't care at all.
'I didn't explain what evil pieces were. He surely will be back later.' That idea makes her worried.
'I need a cold shower... one with fucking ice cubes'. She walked to her room.