Al accepted the contract and held the sheet against his palm while adding his own signature below.
Afterwards he folded the contract and stashed it between the Compendium's pages, deciding that it will be taken care of well there as any goblin vault. His fingers petted the quill's plume. It felt familiar, the same dark quill with a jobberknoll feather he remembered giving to Severus.
He turned it upside down and swept a broad stroke down Severus' nose with the soft tip of it.
"Thank you," he murmured, with less uncertainty about the future than before, thanks to the newly-established plans.