Chapter 20: Chapter 20 - Gaining two Apprentices for the prize of one (but still technically paying for two)
The opening went swimmingly. All the reviews, press, and feedback not written by a bigoted blood supremist were glowingly positive.
Not one attempt at sabotage was anywhere even close to successful. The only thing five wizards and two witches with wicked intentions succeeded in doing that day was receiving a lifelong ban and for two death eaters stupid enough to do the dirty work themselves, their try to poison the waters of the hotspring ended up with Ash poisoning them with the same potion he administered to Peter Pettigrew and the other dark wizards he had encountered recently before Obliviating them.
Yet there were two young witches he did not ban for life. Instead, with great pity sitting in his stomach, he invited both of them to his office on the topmost floor of the mall building.
"Flora and Hestia Carrow. Your attempts to break a ward with a cursed object as well as poison a pool of water were... very badly executed. For my own sanity, I will pretend both that you did indeed come up with those immature... pranks as well as that you were forced to do it by your pig of an uncle Amycus. Now tell me what I should do with you," Ash spoke with furrowed brows as he sat opposite the two first, soon-to-be second year Slytherin students.
The twins looked at each other, unsure about how to answer their potions professor. They weren't quite sure how or what to say or what to leave unspoken until Flora eventually decided to speak up.
"Uncle had only planned for the cursed item. According to him, it was a wardbreaker enchanted by Bellatrix Lestrange herself. Aunt Alecto was the one who planned the poison. It... wouldn't have been very effective anyway," Flora spoke with her eyes glued to the ground in front of her.
"My sister, she..."
"I tempered with the Blistering Skin poison by adding crushed Rhinoceros-Fly wing," Hestia interrupted, though with a very quiet voice.
"That would indeed decrease the potency once diluted with regular water. I can't say for sure what the effect would have been with the waters of the hotspring, though. The waters are diluted potions themselves, after all," Ash mused while tapping his finger to his chin.
"You see, this might have been the most words I have ever heard out of either of you. And now that I have you here, talking and all, I'd like to ask if there's anything I can do for you. Not as someone who's caught you red-handed, but mostly as a concerned professor," Ash commented with a worried frown.
Once more, the twins looked to another to communicate in a way only they would know what it meant.
"Could you... ask for our hands in marriage? One of us would be enough. We've heard Uncle talk about selling us to the highest pureblood bidder next summer break, no matter the age, to make up for all the money he and grandfather have lost during the war supporting You-Know-Who," Flora asked in a worryingly determined tone as if she hadn't just offered herself as a child-bride to her professor who was almost a decade older than her.
"I would do just about anything for my students, but I'm afraid I cannot help with that," Ash softly denied with a sad look toward Flora.
"I... see," Flora mumbled. Hestia grabbed her hand to try to reassure her sister, but her face was just as crestfallen.
"Now, wait just a moment. There's something I could do... your parents or the old Lord Carrow, have they written a will naming you heirs of anything or any some sort?" Ash asked, and both twins shook their heads.
"Hmm, Hestia - you showed decently advanced understanding of potions with your analysis of the Blistering Skin poison. Your grades in potion are also quite excellent, same as your sister, really. I could... name you my apprentices. With your parents not in the picture, sorry for being so blunt about it, I could theoretically gain guardianship over you after paying a sizeable sum to your house. If Amycus and Alecto are as dull as I think them to be, they likely wouldn't know about the laws pertaining apprenticeships of orphaned children," Ash deliberated out loud.
"Thank you for saving my sister," Flora immediately said, standing up to bow with teary eyes.
"Hey, hey! First of, obviously, I would take you both on as an apprentice. Secondly, we will still have to talk about how you want to convince your obviously bigotted aunt and uncle to even allow the two of you to mingle with a 'blood-traitor' like me. Money is no problem, but their narrow-mindedness is. I'd love to bypass it all by asking my master Griselda if any of the hags would like to take you as an apprentice, but magic is a bit finnicky with magical oaths and the hags are not easy to deal with," Ash explained quickly so that the twins would stop thinking that one of them would need to be sacrificed for the other one to be happy.
The twins looked to each other with astonished looks before jumping to each other for a crushing hug. This matter must have weighed heavily on their minds. No, it did weigh heavily on their minds. Ash made sure by skimming their surface thoughts with legilimency to make sure this wasn't all a ploy. It would come to light during the apprentice ceremony at the latest, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure early on.
"Uh-hem, you two - the plan?" Ash spoke with a slight cough.
"That's easy. We'll tell uncle that we were caught but pleaded to get into your good graces by becoming your apprentices when she showed off our superior potion knowledge. As befitting of purebloods. That way, we would have unhindered access to this place to sabotage you and this spa at a later date. We were even shrewd enough to wheedle some compensation out of you," Hestia suggested as her sister released her from the back-breaking vice-grip they were both in.
"That could work, very Slytherin of you. Are you SURE it won't fall under scrutiny with your uncle? I don't want you to get Imperiused or worse so that you may spill the beans, which would lead to even greater suffering for you two..."
Flora and Hestia both gave a determined nod.
"We've been the perfect, loyal, and quiet pureblood daughters of a noble house for twelve years. We can do this," Hestia promised.
"I see... well, then there is only one thing I will have to remind you of as well as one question I have to ask. The reminder is for how I would be forced to handle your family. Unless directly attacked by an individual, magic herself will prevent me from moving against your family after the oath. I couldn't even offer you a bottle of poison that you can administer to them. You would have to brew it yourself," Ash explained as he winked and handed Hestia a very small bottle with two drops of a sea-green liquid inside. There was a note on it for the twins to read later. The poison was different from the one he usually administers to death eaters - it wouldn't do to get caught so easily after all.
"And now that you know that, I only have one question for you; do the two of you even want to become potion masters?"
The twins expected many questions, but this straightforward inquiry on their interests stumped them quite a bit. Flora wasn't all too convincing when she said yes, but Hestia argued that their mother, Cassandra Carrow née Nott, was an aspiring potion master before her forced marriage and subsequent death under dubious circumstances.
'Guess I'll either find something Flora would rather do during the apprenticeship, or she does become a potioneering adept in the guild and then focuses on something else. That would cover the oath and leave me with enough reputation,' the young potion master mused inwardly as the conversation was about to end.
2000 galleons each for the privilege of teaching a pureblood daughter of the noble House Carrow and eight days later, Flora and Hestia Carrow were standing in front of the gates of Starkey Manor with a contract signed by their current 'default' guardian Amycus Carrow.
"Master Starkey, your humble apprentice greets you," Flora spoke with a bow once Ash picked them up from the gates.
"Haha, sure, you brat. Come inside. We'll do the oaths in my study. Leave your suitcases in the lobby, Ilia will take them to your room. If you need anything later, simply call for her, and she will be delighted to help you out. Please treat her kindly, though. In this household we are proud of the hard work our house elves do for us," Ash explained with a warm smile and the twins later swore they heard something crash, someone crying and then someone admonishing someone, likely themselves, in the distance as Ash finished speaking.
"This house is so much prettier than Carrow Castle, I can't believe it," Hestia mumbled under her breath as she followed Ash through the sunny hallway.
"Yeah, I quite like the lighting. My ancestor Tristan Lunaris Starkey was a genius without compare. He figured out enough of the enchantments behind the ceiling in the great hall at Hogwarts that he was able to do something very similar here in our home," Ash explained with a proud grin.
"Okay then. Welcome to my study. As my apprentices, the doors will always be open for you, and you may find most of my personal works in the bookcases on the far end. I'll show you to the manor's library at a later date, though please understand that there is a section hidden away that I cannot allow you to read. The brewing rooms deserve their own show and tell after we're done here. Take our your wands and read this. We'll continue when you read and understand what you're doing."
Their soon-to-be-master handed out two parchments to the twins with their oaths on them and watched them carefully read the document. At the same time, he took out two potion vials with a clear liquid inside.
"Before we start, please drink this. I'm sure you know Thief's Downfall? The magical curtain in Gringotts that lifts transfigurations and certain curses like the Imperius Curse? Just take this as a sort of potion equivalent of that marvelous piece of magical ingenuity," Ash jovially explained.
Nothing changed as the twins gulped down the potion, which made the potioneer breathe out a sigh of relief. With a gesture, he made them read the oath with their wands up.
""I, [Flora Sif/Hestia Snotra] Carrow, of sound mind, body and magic, solemnly swear that I may hereafter ever conceal, never reveal any part or parts, art or arts, point or points of the secrets, arts and mysteries of my teacher's teaching unless speaking to a fellow student of our teacher's lawful lineage or unless explicitly allowed by the teacher. Furthermore do I promise to abide by his teachings and strive to never stain my teacher's honor, reputation, and soul. So mote it be!""
The twins wand lit up in three weak pulses of light, which Ash took as the oath had been accepted.
"Very well, then accept my oath," the young potions professor declared with a serious expression and his wand pointing upwards. "I, Ashbert Solaris Starkey, swear upon my magic that I shall henceforth do everything in my power to lift up your lives, your mind and your soul, and hold your well-being, reputation and honor as my highest goal in our relationship as Master and Apprentice. I will impart you all the necessary knowledge in the chosen field so that you may rise in its ranks to an honorable standing among your peers and current betters. You may rise above me in knowledge, but I shall always be your teacher. So mote it be!"
His wand lit up just like the twins's had. And when it did, Ash's serious visage broke, and he looked to Hestia with a wide grin.
"Snotra? Wow, your mum and dad were really pranking you, weren't they?"
"Ugh, if only I could have left it out... she's the norse goddess of wisdom and virtue," Hestia weakly answered with reddened cheeks. This was the most emotion he had ever seen on the young girl's face.
"Oh? And then your sister gets Sif, the goddess of fertility and good harvests? Hmm, they might not have been pranksters, your parents, I mean. Flora is named after two goddesses for a combined divinity of spring, flowers, and harvest, while Hestia is named after two goddesses for home, wisdom, and good health. All in all, it sounds like they wanted to bless your lives with happiness and good fortune," Ash recounted with a warm smile that got the twins to shed some tears. Rarely had their aunt and uncle ever spoken anything as uplifting and positive about their parents as Ash had.
"Now, with the serious part over, let's finish the tour and get you acquainted with everyone. In fact, let's start with one of the most important; Ilia!"
The house elf popped into existence.
"Master Ashy has called Ilia?"
"Ilia, I'd like you to meet my two new apprentices, Flora and Hestia. They'll be moving into the vacant twin's master bedroom that I had you clean a few days ago. And when you're done with that, I'd like you to pop over to the ministry to deliver this letter to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Office for Magical Orphans and Guardianship. Hand this letter to Lucilia Parker and no one else. She will know what to do once she reads it. And hand her this potion bottle, too. It's a favor for the troubles this task will put her through."
Ilia looked like she barely listened to Ash as she tried to brand the image of the twins into her brain permanently. But after greeting her new masters 'Flory and Hesty', she took the letter from his hand and popped away.
Lucilia's answer came even before they finished touring through all the greenhouses on the property and from this day forth, unknown to everyone that wouldn't look at the file, Ash would have legal magical guardianship over the twins which once more made them cry and hug each other.
Another week later, it was time for the finals of the Quidditch World Cup, and sadly, the young potion professor had agreed to attend the match. The international guests made up a good part of his spa's revenue at this time anyway, so maybe he could do some marketing while there.
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