"Have you thought it over?"
"I have… assuming you can deliver what you promised."
"…You're sure this is everything?"
"I have enough sense to distinguish between what is reasonable and what is not."
"Very well… don't come telling me later..."
---
Watching his "guest" sit in the living room of his own home, Severus Snape found himself thinking back to their last conversation, still having trouble believing how things had turned out.
He was no longer the Potions professor at Hogwarts. In fact, he was no longer anything at Hogwarts. If he was being honest with himself, he had always thought that was where he would spend the rest of his dull and uneventful life, until a few days ago.
But it was his choice. Though he still felt some lingering pull toward that old castle, the fact that he had chosen it freely, without the coercion of some overpowered Dark Lord, or a self-righteous Light Lord for that matter, and without owing it to the weight of his own past, made him feel that the decision was the right one.
Besides, Hogwarts no longer held anything over him. Even her child, that child, was no longer walking the edge of a knife.
How long was it since he was last able to feel this… free? He couldn't remember. He didn't want to remember.
And it was all thanks to this young man. The person he least expected to one day find himself hosting in his own home of all places, and calling him… "Boss," was it?
What a crude, uninteresting little word, for someone who could have claimed virtually any title he wished. Then again, it hardly mattered. It was the choice of his… boss, after all.
"…interesting."
To think he had spent four years as colleagues and barely exchanged a word between them, and yet there he sat, lounging on the sofa as though it were his own home, one leg propped casually over the other.
"You're confident this way… will work?"
Maverick put the paper down on the table and looked at Snape sitting across from him. If he had to describe the old bat's place in a single word, it would be… quaint. From the outside it looked miserable, yes, worn brick and a sagging roofline, but inside, it was actually cozy, with a touch of old-fashioned.
"I would still need Walker working alongside me," replied Snape with a single nod. Although he sounded, well, like his usual self, but inwardly he was feeling quite excited, much more than he cared to admit.
It was the first task he received after agreeing to work for Maverick, a bottle of potion, a stack of research papers, and a request that sounded simple enough: find a way to get rid of the side effects.
At first, he took it for little more than a test and had nearly scoffed at the request. His magic may not be on the same level, but when it came to the field of Potioneering, he was ten thousand percent certain he could outclass anyone without breaking a sweat.
However, after returning home to his lab and actually going through this so-called "test," he was shocked. No, fascinated would be the better word.
It turned out to be a cure for lycanthropy. True, with a heavy side effect, but a cure nonetheless for the curse. The very curse that had left potioneers across the globe, including the master potioneer himself, unable to find a way past it.
And he was asked to see if he could find a way to remove that very side effect. He was thrilled. It was an irresistible challenge for any potioneer.
He welcomed the task wholeheartedly and promptly shut himself away in research on the spot. And sure enough, it didn't take long before he reached some conclusions. It wasn't impossible, only missing something.
"…If you can get me a sample of the progenitor's blood," he too leaned back, trying to act nonchalant, but in front of Maverick, how could he hide anything?
"And if Walker and I were to work together, I'm confident we could resolve the side effect… completely."
Maverick watched the old bat's calm façade, while his magical senses revealed the excitement coming from him. It was like watching a child being told he would receive the most amazing toy as a gift.
The corner of his lips curled up slightly. He wouldn't, of course, reveal that to Snape.
Meanwhile, his own thoughts turned to the matter at hand. "Progenitor…" he murmured, a thoughtful expression settling over his face.
The source. Perhaps…
With that thought, he retrieved his phone from the pocket of his coat, found a number, and dialled it.
"Speak of the devil, and you shall receive..." came the sarcastic, punchable voice of none other than Nick Fury from the other end.
Maverick's brow arched slightly. "Figarland, that sounds an awful lot like you were in the middle of talking some bad gossip behind my back."
There was a brief silence from the other end, followed by a quiet, "Motherfucker," and then a bout of complaining. "I know damn well you're doing that on purpose. I just can't prove it. So what do you want?"
Straightforward. Although the guy sounded annoying every other phrase, it was still less exhausting than going through things formally with Pierce or someone else. Besides, Maverick was sure Fury would call Pierce and pass the information along, and Pierce would use the highest clearance to help regardless.
"I need a little help finding someone."
"When did I become your personal secretary?"
"Consider it a favour—"
"—deal! Who's the poor bastard? And this makes two, don't forget."
"So long as it's reasonable." Maverick chuckled quietly, anyways, whatever Fury might ask him to help with, it definitely wouldn't be boring.
"The name is Lucian, leader of the werewolf Lycan faction."
This Earth was a clusterfuck of different universes, so naturally, it had more than one kind of werewolf running around. The wizarding kind was one of them, and Maverick had read records of other races whose transformations turned them into actual wolves as well, just much larger than their natural counterparts. If anything, there were probably even more races out there.
And as for Lucian, he had indeed watched the Underworld series, but his memories of it weren't as deep as Harry Potter or Marvel, and he couldn't remember if that bloke's base of operations in the modern day was ever mentioned. But if anyone knew about it here, it would be S.H.I.E.L.D. If not, he'll just have to make a stop at Kamar-Taj and ask the bald aunty.
Once again, the other end of the line fell silent for a moment before the annoyed voice finally answered. "I should've known it wouldn't be that simple…" then a single sigh followed. "Give me some time, and I'll see what I can do."
Snape watched the exchange with quiet curiosity, wondering who could possibly be on the other end of the line, someone capable of making this pretentious kid speak with such casual familiarity.
In the meantime, after putting the phone away, Mavrick asked Snape to go over his findings in a more practical manner, and Snape led him down to the basement of the house to his personal laboratory.
One detail Maverick had still refused to cheat his way into raising was his Potions talent. It was still stuck at the intermediate level, but perhaps some insight from the old bat was exactly the push he needed.
In the hours that followed Mavrick proved himself a good student under the old bat, while Snape demonstrated to him why he was regarded as a master potioneer. Of course, a couple of hours weren't enough to turn anyone into a master potioneer, but Mavrick still picked up more than a few useful things.
Outside, the afternoon gradually gave way to evening, the sun sinking lower with every passing hour and bathing the small town in the warm glow of approaching sunset.
For all his mouth, Fury was remarkably efficient when it came to getting things done, and Mavrick got what he wanted soon enough. It wasn't an exact location, but it was a good start, the intelligence was only a couple of years old.
Mavrick didn't waste any time. He took Snape with him, and a moment later, the two of them appeared high above the skies of Budapest, Hungary.
The city's streets and buildings were gradually disappearing beneath the deepening darkness of the evening sky. A river cut through the heart of the capital like a dark ribbon, reflecting the scattered lights that had begun to flicker on along its banks and bridges. The Chain Bridge stood out clearly below, its lamps glowing brightly against the night.
"He's here… somewhere?"
Perhaps taking a leaf from Maverick's own book, Snape too decided, why not, and tucked his hands into the pockets of his long coat. He looked down again. From their height, barely any sound reached their ears, leaving only the sight of thousands of small lights spreading across the city below.
A gentle breeze meanwhile swept past them, causing the hems of their coats to flutter softly in the evening air.
"Did you forget you're a wizard, Severus?" Maverick smiled, his gaze also drifting across the vast spread of lights below. His magical sense was already at work, reaching out across the entire capital, but then suddenly, the small smile on his lips faded into a frown.
His head slowly turned towards a particular direction, eyes narrowing dangerously.
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