Severus sat at his desk, looking at the illustration of the dagger - Percy Weasley standing next to him, still almost jigging in place in excitement. How had Tom come into possession of Boadicea's Amazon Dagger? Well, Lord Voldemort was in the habit of getting whatever he wanted, no matter who it rightfully belonged to. But this dagger - it hadn't been heard from in a couple of centuries, if he remembered rightly.

Severus was doubly glad he had ensured none of the boys touched it. The dagger had been known to kill men who attempted to wield it. He abruptly realized that he needed to ensure Percy's silence - no one could know about this. It was bad enough the Goblins knew they had this - no wonder they had tried so hard to get them to trade it for the dragon. At least they needn't worry about the Goblins talking about it to anyone.

Severus thought hard, Percy most likely would keep it quiet if asked, but Severus could take no chances. A promise to Albus would most likely be best - Percy would trust him and not worry about telling no one of the dagger.

Severus stood and gave Percy a small smile of approval, "You've done very well in the research, and I know Tom will be ecstatic to have this mystery solved. I need to speak to Albus about this, if you would come with me."

Percy puffed up a bit, looking proud. Severus would normally have been irritated by this, but having watched and listened a bit while Percy visited Tom and seeing Percy interact with his siblings gave Severus an unexpected sympathy for the lad. Severus suspected Percy didn't have his efforts noted very often. Severus could sympathize with that, he knew how aggravating it was to have your best work ignored. Percy was overlooked because he was not a favored child, Severus had been overlooked for similar reasons - he had not been a popular student.

Severus unlocked the floo and ascertained that Albus was in, and they were soon sitting on some of Albus' overstuffed puffy chairs, and sipping tea. Severus handed over the book and pointed at the dagger. Albus' eyebrows raised in shock as he read.

"Well, you said the dagger was a powerful object." Albus finally said. "Though this is certainly a more dangerous artifact than I expected."

"Mr. Weasley agreed to help Tom with his research, and found this information in the restricted section." Severus nodded to Percy, giving him his due. "However I felt both of us needed to impress on him the importance of...discretion."

Albus met Severus' eyes briefly and nodded in agreement. "Yes, Percy, this is an exciting find... however it is imperative that it remain secret for now." Percy nodded, wide eyed at the Headmasters serious tones.

"I know you likely have access to books ... related to the dagger, Headmaster?" Severus asked slowly, and watched Albus nod slowly. Severus turned to Percy. "I know it is only Friday, but I don't suppose you already have your work done that is due to be turned in on Monday?" Percy nodded at him, mystified by the question. "If we get your parents permission, perhaps you would come with me to Dragonsrest over the weekend to help Tom look over Albus' books regarding the dagger. I promise it won't be all work, but Tom could greatly use the help."

Percy nodded eagerly, the finding of this dagger was enthralling, he'd never felt such excitement - not since the first time he had picked up his wand and felt the rush of magic. "I'd love to - this type of research is so...so exciting."

Albus nodded and smiled. "I'll clear it with your parents. Come back here to my office in the morning - right after breakfast. I'll find those books - and I have friends that I'll firecall tonight that likely have more."

Percy nodded and ran to the door, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Albus looked at Severus seriously. "Are you sure about this?"

Severus nodded. "Percy is a serious researcher - you heard him, the idea of a weekend full of slogging through old tomes makes him light up. Tom is in no shape to do this alone. He and Percy have the beginnings of a strong friendship that I would like to encourage...I promise not to haul him away too often during the school year." Severus watched Albus nod thoughtfully. "Sinistra doesn't mind watching Slytherin House for me - she has aspirations, you know."

Albus smiled, yes Aurora Sinistra eyed the ‘Head of House' designation with a longing eye.

"I can find a fair number of books with the dagger mentioned. I also have some on ancient weapons that I had been gathering for you." Albus answered. Having a Weasley becoming a close friend of a member of Harry Potters household was all to the good. It wasn't the Weasley he had expected, but Percy would do.

Albus peered down at the book still in his hands. "The last owner of the Amazon's dagger that is known for certain was the daughter of Lucrezia Borgia - Leonora d'Este. She ended up in France, and not much is known for certain after that - at least according to this book - perhaps we can find more in some of the others, now we know what the dagger is." Albus looked at Severus carefully. "How did your young relative end up with such a thing, Severus?"

"From his mother - she had a box of articles that the orphanage left for Tom. Luckily he never sorted through it until after he had acquired enough knowledge to know not to handle it." Severus answered giving it the most casual air he could.

Albus nodded, he likely assumed the Prince family had somehow acquired the dagger and it would, of course, have been passed down the female line to Tom's mother Serena.

Severus sipped his tea and sweated a little. They'd all been lucky, so far. But, he was uncomfortably aware that one little slip would undo it all. Albus was too sharp to not figure it all out if he realized that Tom's story was a lie. It was a little like when he used to have to lie to Voldemort on a regular basis, only there was none of the sneering satisfaction he felt in deceiving the Dark Lord. There was just the grim knowledge that it was necessary.

In spite of Albus' acceptance, now, of Harry being under Severus guardianship he knew that Albus still thought of Harry as his soldier-to-be that would be placed on the battlefield when needed. Worst of all Albus seemed to feel that Harry needed to die to rid them of the Horcrux he carried.

Whenever he felt guilt over any deceptions, he only had to remember Harry and the danger Albus presented him, and the guilt would disappear.

Severus bid Albus a pleasant good night and flooed back to his office. Sinistra had been smugly happy to agree to watch the House for the weekend. Sinistra had lost family to Voldemort in the first war - some as dead supporters of him, and some as defiant opposition to the Dark Lord. She had listened to Severus' plans to talk to the Slytherin students about the less than ideal reality of what being a Death Eater meant and agreed with the plan.

He had hinted to her that he wished to turn the house over to her in a few years, although he had not told Albus that, so now would be a good time for Sinistra to start practicing. She had been overwhelmingly agreeable.

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Albus gathered some books from his library, perusing some old tomes he hadn't looked at in centuries. He talked to Molly and Arthur, they had been surprised that Percy was being of such use, but agreed readily enough to the request. He flooed some friends and ministry acquaintances and asked after some books he didn't have. He made the excuse of looking up information on the Gryffindor sword and related items, which satisfied them.

He stood at the fire for a time, thinking. He sighed a bit despondently, he knew that Severus was no longer his - the Potions master's loyalty now belonged to Harry Potter. He really didn't begrudge Harry his guardian, but it was hard to know Severus at times looked on him as an adversary. He couldn't read Severus unless the man allowed it, but he knew Severus kept secrets - now more than ever, but so far everything Severus had arranged had gone well.

He didn't like having so many things out of his control, but Severus was determined to defeat Voldemort, and he was a master strategist, so he would have to go on faith in Severus' loyalty to Harry, for now. The war would start soon enough - and then Severus would have to be less secretive, and he would have to be more realistic in regards to Harry's destiny. Albus sighed in resignation.

If only the prophecy didn't exist, or if Harry did not carry a Horcrux...if only. But Albus' clear duty to keep the wizarding world safe from Voldemort meant that Harry Potter had to stand on the battlefield against the Dark Lord, and that didn't allow for keeping Harry Potter safe.

He could let Severus coddle him a bit for now - Vernon had gone too far in ‘toughening him up'. Letting Severus create ‘family and friends' was alright, it would give the lad something to fight for. Albus sighed, he had thought that when Harry Potter arrived to Hogwarts, that he could arrange for an introduction to the Weasley family, and that would be that. Molly would have taken him under her wing and all would be well.

Albus knelt and made one more firecall. He had heard the Hugo had intervened between this Tom and the Weasley boys. He wondered what he had made of the 'tutor'.

"Hugo, are you at home?" Albus called.

Hugo wandered in, looking surprised. "Albus, what is it?" He never heard from the Headmaster unless there was a big deal going on at the Wizengamot.

"No, I was wondering what you thought of the young man that has become Harry Potter's tutor? I haven't met him, as yet, and I confess to a great deal of curiosity." Albus knew Hugo would see through any oblique questions and would be irritated, being as straight-forward as possible was best.

Hugo sat down in a chair, fussing with a pillow and throw-rug while he thought swiftly. Professor Snape had been quite protective of Harry, and if he was keeping young Tom out of Albus' sphere of influence and meddling, he likely had a reason. Hugo was reluctant to cause any difficulty for Tom - he liked the young wizard.

"Well, I only saw him a few minutes - but he was very polite - and quite appalled to be caught in such youthful folly as he and Charlie Weasley got up to." Hugo chuckled companionably, hoping Albus would be satisfied.

"Hmm, yes I recall a few instances of wand - waving that weren't in my own best interests." Albus smiled wanly. "Tom is researching some ancient weapons. Severus is borrowing some books from me - and the Hogwarts library for him to use. Do you have anything on daggers - very old ones?"

Hugo was thrown a bit by the swift change in subject, but recovered quickly. "Yes - one or two. I doubt you need the one from Rochefort - everyone has it. But I have an Italian one by Udo - it has all the Medici's and even the Borgia's escapades into magical weaponry and things, before the Statute of Secrecy spoiled their fun."

Albus nodded and took the book rather eagerly - it would hopefully tell more about the daggers whereabouts.

"Say hello to Professor Snape for me - I accompanied the lads back home after the 'incident' and made sure they weren't in any trouble. I can tell your Professor is quite protective of Harry Potter - you chose well in his guardian." Hugo caught Albus' surprised look, but the Headmaster just nodded with a smile before ending the call.

Hugo sat back in thought; he would make a little visit to Dragonsrest over the weekend. He was at the age where he didn't welcome vigorous physical exertion - but a mental puzzle was irresistible. He would have to take care to not alarm Snape. He couldn't blame the man for being jumpy around Aurors, so he would have to find a way to reassure the man they were on the same side.

Hugo summoned some tea and sipped at it. He hadn't plotted so much in years. It would be fun to outwit Albus.

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Percy grasped the shrunken bag of over a dozen books as he flooed to Dragonsrest Saturday morning. He was anxious to see how his friend was doing. Professor Snape had let him know that he was partly there to make sure Tom ‘didn't overdo things'.

Lucius and Draco arrived with Roland Higgs. Harry had been frantic at the idea of missing a single moment of the weekend with Severus, so they had settled for a flying lesson at the Reserve. Yuan had promised the dragons would be warned about the brooms in the sky. The dragons were happy to have Astrid back and were willing to allow the boys 'sky-room' to fly in on a rare occasion. Yao would be keeping a careful eye on all the younger dragons, who had no riders to explain things to them, and keep the boys safe.

Lucius and Severus had agreed to accompany them on their flight, to the boy's glee. Lucius was looking forward to more time with Draco. Since the day Draco had ‘taken care of him' he had gone out of his way to spend time with his son, and found he truly enjoyed being with him. He would miss him when he went to school nest year, he knew.

Tom greeted everyone and grabbed at the bag Percy was carrying. Percy snatched out of his reach with a grin. "Hey, we'll get to the research...Severus said there would be cappuccino first."

Tom rolled his eyes and grimaced in frustration, making Lucius and Severus chuckle behind them. Petunia smiled. "I'll let the elves know what you would like...run along, both of you."

Tom thanked her with a hesitant smile and she smiled back gently and gave him a nod. The group of flyers left and Petunia decided to sit in the garden with her cross-stitch, she could see them in the air and it was an interesting sight, as long as she didn't dwell on the fact that it was Dudley so high in the air.

Tinker brought the drinks to Tom and Percy as they sorted the unshrunk books out. Percy immediately showed Tom the book he had found and pointed to the illustration. Tom grinned madly - yes that was the dagger. He had known it to be a powerful weapon, and it felt good to be proven right. Boadicea's Amazon dagger. How had Lord Voldemort gotten his hands on it? With a sinking heart he realized it had likely involved deaths.

Tom shook the thoughts away grimly. He had the dagger now, and with luck it would be used to bring the Dark Lord down. "We need to try to build a timeline for the dagger - I would like to know who had it before it came into my possession. We also should bookmark any passages about the daggers abilities, or spells that are on it."

"How did you get the dagger, Tom?" Percy asked curiously.

"Umm, I'm not allowed to say, right now." Tom answered slowly. "But the minute I'm allowed to tell - you'll be the first one." Tom felt anxious at having to put Percy off, and then relaxed when Percy nodded easily.

The pair worked happily together and read the texts of centuries old information, both blissfully in their element.

"You should show him some of my memories, Tom. He would love it." Yvane mused.

Tom thought quickly - that would be an excellent thank you gift to Percy for all his help.

They unrolled a long scroll of parchment and were soon marking events and people who were known to have the dagger in black, and noting those suspected of having it in blue. Significant events with it were in red. Lengthy times where it seemed to disappear were frequent and they noted in some theories of where it might have been in green.

They had bookmarked a few passages regarding the daggers abilities, but hadn't even started reading them, when Percy nervously called a halt. "It's almost lunch time - we've been at this over three hours." Percy smiled at Tom's look of incredulity. "Severus made me promise I wouldn't let you run yourself ragged." Tom looked at the stack of fascinating books plaintively, but Percy was adamant. "I know - its like sirens are singing to you - they'll still be here after lunch. Let's go make sure they serve our favorites."

Tom smiled and followed Percy out the door. He was right; Severus would be upset if Tom had a setback. He was supposed to see the healer in a few days - and he knew he had better show signs of improvement or the research would be curtailed as well.

They found Petunia planning the meal with Tinker and quickly made a few of their own suggestions. Petunia rolled her eyes and let them make a few changes to the menu. They grinned and went to the garden, sipping on some juice and found a pair of lounge chairs to relax in.

"Look, a couple of dragons and their riders are flying with them!" Percy exclaimed.

"Looks like the dragons are playing beater - I saw a dragon whack one of the bludgers." Tom answered.

They watched the impromptu game with interest, but the flyers finally realized it was lunchtime and landed. They all washed up quickly and gathered around the table to be served Tinker and Dobby's finest.

"We flew over some of the woods, for awhile, Tom. We saw some of the unicorns running through the trees." Harry paused between bites to eagerly inform him.

"It's a really big herd, too. Or maybe there were two herds, just running together." Draco put in.

They chattered about the flying for a time and they all went to the sitting room to finish the cake. Roland excused himself to return to his home, and the talk could finally turn to the dagger. Everyone had already been sworn to deepest secrecy, so Tom felt he could talk freely. He summoned the scroll they had mostly completed.

"We've created a pretty good timeline." Tom started, as he rolled out the scroll on a coffee table in the center of the room. "Our first real knowledge of the dagger is the description of when it belonged to Boadicea in about 60 AD. The Romans described it in detail, even though they didn't actually capture it during the battle with her. It was retrieved by one of her daughters and it made the rounds of priestesses who served several different gods and goddesses for centuries. There are a lot of claims about where Boadicea got the dagger. The Goblins insist they made it - but every story of the Celts and Romans and anyone else of that time insist it was brought from the east - and the Romans were insistent that Boadicea claimed it was from the Amazon Antiope." Tom paused while they took that in.

"Wizard history is hazy before the time of Merlin. All records before then - at least in Europe and here in Britain are subject to ... well people tended to tell a good tale, but not necessarily an accurate tale." Lucius said wryly.

"Boadicea was a warrior queen fighting for the lives of her people against the might of Rome. Wielding an Amazon dagger might have seemed a lot more impressive than just saying it was Goblin - made." Severus offered.

"But the spells - making it dangerous for a man to even touch...it seems the work of a culture that disliked men - like the Amazons." Percy objected, he liked the idea of it being from the Amazons and didn't like to hear conflicting theories.

"They could have been applied later - when her husband died and Rome called in their debts, Boadicea was flogged and her daughters raped. She may have been in the mood to have the dagger she carried cursed against men by a local priestess." Severus answered reasonably.

"A few centuries of priestesses renewing the spells and adding their own layers of female magic to it would make for an impressive weapon." Lucius said. "We might never know the original origins of it. The Amazons are considered to have been real, as far as the middle-eastern wizards are concerned - so it's possible - but unlikely."

"So, however it came into Boadicea's and then the priestess' hands, it landed eventually in Morgause's lap - she was King Arthur's half sister and a Queen, herself. She was also a priestess of a goddess and had inherited the dagger from the prior priestess, we assume. She was a bit of a lurid character, since she ended up having a son by Arthur - Sir Mordred. I won't bore you with the whole King Arthur story, but Mordred wanted Arthur dead, but with Excalibur in his hand the only way to kill him was to have a magically stronger weapon. Mordred used the dagger - he managed to give Arthur a fatal wound, but the dagger killed Mordred afterward." Tom seemed to find all of that rather - idiotic and the younger boys had similarly confused expressions.

"He wanted him dead so bad he killed himself to do it?" Draco asked with incredulity.

"You'll find that someone with an obsession will do almost anything." Lucius said with a sneer. "However he might have been one of those idiots who thinks he can master a weapon even if it is spelled against him, or he might not have ‘believed in women's magic'."

"Well, Morgause didn't want the dagger back after it killed her son, so her half-sister Morgana le Fay took it." Tom continued wearily. "That was in the sixth century. It disappeared from view - although some have theories, and it reappeared in the hands of Berengaria - King Richard the Lionheart's wife. It was thought to have been given to her by her mother, who was a rather strong witch, since she accompanied Richard to the crusade. There's no evidence she ever used it, though. Berengaria retired to LeMans in France after Richard died. We lost sight of it until Joan of Arc - although it isn't clear if it's our dagger. Several historians insist it was the Amazon dagger - but we don't have a real description and there is no tale of Joan doing anything... magical with a dagger."

"Historians do tend to drag the most exciting thing into their accounts possible. If Joan had any dagger - they would try for a ‘famous magical dagger'. There is no doubt Joan had some seer ability, but she was totally untrained. She wouldn't have known what to do with the Amazon dagger, even if she had it." Severus shook his head in regret; Joan's tale wouldn't have ended in being burned at the stake if she had been trained.

"Lucrezia Borgia got her hands on it a few years later - she tended to get things she wanted, and she handed it down to her only living daughter Leonora d'Este - she was supposed to be a nun, but she managed to have children anyway. I can bore you with lineage, but it was handed down to grand-daughters and great-grand-daughters until a son inherited it and had enough sense to not touch it - he gave it to his half-veela wife in the 1700's. After that - well that family lived in Britanny and we're not sure what branch ended up with it." Tom came to the end of the story with relief.

"Well, we have a good start on things. I expect you plan to look at the spells and abilities next?" Severus asked with a smirk. At Tom's eager nod he grinned. "You can do so later - everyone could use a swim, I suggest you join them.

Tom gave an audible growl and then followed the others out the door. He was getting tired of the coddling.

"Cheer up Tom - you are close to solving the puzzle. Have patience." Yvane chuckled.

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