71 Chapter 68: Salem Witch Institute

Severus got off at Level Five

And then he made his way to the office where he had to do some paperwork to be allowed to get a Portkey to the Potioneers meeting.

After pacing the floor for a few moments, Severus finally found himself in front of the main offices.

To the left was marked on a brass bar "DCMI Headmaster Caspar Crouch".

Severus recognised that surname and was quite surprised.

He was about to meet the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, who was none other than the grandfather of probably one of the most despicable and insane young Slytherins, Bartemius Crouch Jr, one of his housemates in Slytherin a year younger who aspires to be a death eater even though his father is currently the new head of the Department of Magical Security.

Yes..., after the Incident of November 1st the previous head of the Department of Magical Security was fired and replaced him with Bartemius Crouch Mr., a wizard who despised the dark arts and all those who practised them... in less than two months as head of the department he had already forged a reputation in the magical community for mercilessly fighting dark wizards, exhibiting the same degree of cruelty and brutality as his enemies.

And Severus had to admit that Bartemius Crouch Jr's father had been doing a good job of standing up to the Dark Lord, many may have considered his methods to be excessive, but thanks to him things had calmed down a bit in the meantime, otherwise who knew what would have happened.

The man was no doubt trying hard to fight the death eaters at the moment, but Severus didn't understand how he didn't realise that his own son was becoming one behind his back.

Now, knowing that Mr. Bartemius Crouch's father was the head of DCMI was quite a surprise, Snape actually had never gone abroad or anything like that, so he never felt the need to know who the heads of this department were, and Severus was just now starting to find out a bit more.

Severus stopped thinking about all this and knocked on the office door three times.

On the third knock, he entered.

And again Severus found himself surprised, he could have sweared that he had never seen so many paper aeroplanes, not even in the elevated lifts.

Then he noticed Headmaster Caspar Crouch sitting quietly going through the paperwork gradually, despite the great volume.

No doubt the war had made things difficult for the man.

Caspar Crouch looked up for a moment and then returned his attention to the page in front of him.

"Mr. Prince, welcome..., take a seat"

Severus just nodded and sat quietly.

A minute later Caspar Crouch set the paper aside.

"Mr. Prince. I understand you requested a Portkey abroad with the address of the Salem Witch Institute in Massachusetts, USA. is that right?"

He took off his monocle and pinned Severus with his gaze.

"I'm going to need some proof that verifies your request for a Portkey to this Institution."

"This is the invitation I received for this year's Potioneer meeting that is being held by SCoP in Salem, if that isn't enough, I'm sure you can contact the liaison at the Salem Witch Institute to verify my attendance at the SCoP meeting and validate my permission," Severus replied lightly as he handed him the letter that had come to him.

'I really wish Hermione could take care of this kind of bother' Severus thought with a grimace, he hated having to waste his time with this, but Hermione had already made it clear that she couldn't do this, so he had no choice but to come on his own if he wanted to go to this meeting.

Caspar Crouch just sighed and began to polish his glasses and then looked carefully at the seal on the letter delivered by Severus.

"That will not be necessary, the seal on the letter is proof enough that it is a genuine letter and the invitation is genuine as well. You have my permission to receive the Portkey Mr. Prince, you can go to the Department of Transport, and they will arrange to deliver the Portkey with an authorised and Ministry-regulated transfer to you."

After saying this he handed Severus a permission slip.

Severus nodded, took the permit, and thanked: "I understand, thank you for your time".

So it was that Severus, after passing first through the Ministry of Magic, went to the fifth level where the Department of International Magical Cooperation is located, which is in charge of communicating with the liaison of the Salem Witch Institute to confirm his invitation and attendance to the meeting of Potioneers scheduled by SCoP this year and at the same time to receive permission from the Director of DCMI to obtain a shuttle that allows him to go legally, safely and directly to the Institute in the USA.

It appears that entry to the Salem Witch Institute is quite complicated as the only way for others to enter is through a Portkey authorised by the country's Ministry and the Institute's Directors.

After the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation confirmed Severus' attendance at the SCoP Potioneer meeting at the Salem Witch Institute, Severus had to go to the Department of International Magical Cooperation to attend the meeting,

Severus had to go to the Department of Magical Transport on the sixth level of the Ministry of Magic to receive the legitimate and authorised Portkey..., this department is responsible for various aspects of magical transport in Britain, one of its offices is the one Severus went to, the Portkey Office which is responsible for regulating and authorising the objects that become Portkeys, as well as the network in which they are used.

-Department of Magical Transportation, Office of Portkeys.

Severus slid easily into the chair opposite the stern-looking witch with black glasses.

"You must be Mr. Prince," the witch commented, looking at him over the top of her glasses.

"Yes, I am Severus Prince," he confirmed and began to explain quickly as he didn't want to waste any more time:

"I come to...".

"Mr. Prince," interrupted the witch, who seemed a little irritated for some reason...

"I assure you that I know very well what you have come to request."

"Correct..." Severus nodded a little confused but showed nothing more than his usual calm and cold expression, but inside he was surprised at how irritable the witch seemed in front of him, he didn't understand why this could be...

Thinking of something he finished by saying, " Sorry, I didn't hear your name".

"I hadn't had a chance to introduce myself," the witch said dryly.

"I'm Rebecca Bones. I report to Headmaster Denis Edgecombe, who is, as I hope you know, the head of the Department of Magical Transportation."

'Bones...?' thought Severus.

'Amelia's relative perhaps... although if I remember correctly she mentioned being the only woman in her family besides her mother, a cousin perhaps?' he analysed.

Severus could tell by Rebecca's tone that she wasn't very impressed with him for some reason unknown to him...

'Hmmm or maybe Rebecca is the wife of one of her brothers, but why would she hold a grudge against me?' Severus continued analysing, it was only this year that he started talking to Amelia, before that he had no relationship with Amelia Bones or anyone in her family.

And he doubted that anyone in his family knew anything besides the fact that they were on good terms now, after all, he had spoken to his parents and all..., but his siblings weren't there that day.

'Maybe they found out that we're friends and since I'm a Slytherin who used to generally hang out with potential death eaters now they have their doubts..., well, yes, it's a possibility,' Severus concluded.

"I see, nice to meet you, Miss Bones," Severus said, injecting as much kindness as he could into his typically deep and cold voice, after all, she was related to Amelia, and he wasn't planning on starting a bad relationship with her even though her behaviour wasn't the best.

"I don't often come to the Ministry, so I didn't know much about the Headmasters, I appreciate your informing me."

"Let's get on with what concerns us, Mr. Prince." Rebecca's tone was downright icy now, she didn't seem to like Severus at all and he wasn't going to deny that it was going to be hard not to get irritated with this woman, it seemed Amelia would owe him one for this hassle he should be going through today.

"Sure, let's get on with it," Severus said trying to keep his tone calm, even though he was getting irritated by the woman's rude behaviour in front of him.

Severus handed her the permission slip given to him by the DCMI headmaster, then sat down and waited for her to look it over.

"Hmm," she murmured.

Severus watched as her eyes moved quickly over the permission slip.

"TCH, looks like everything is in order," Severus heard her mutter.

"So...?" asked Severus already a little tired of the woman's behaviour, he just wanted to take the Portkey and leave.

Rebecca looked at him again, her face an unreadable mask.

"Mr. Prince, don't be impatient. You should know that all permission has to be properly validated."

Severus was really tempted to use the Force on her, but he calmed himself, cleared his throat, and spoke calmly, he had been through far worse things than letting himself get annoyed by something so simple.

"Well, I'm rather curious as to how a permit granted by the head of DCMI himself could take so long to be validated, obviously I'll check with him later..."

Rebecca looked at him for a few moments, she showed no emotion, but Severus was sure she didn't like his comment, she pulled out a quill and wrote something down.

Severus guessed that despite her obvious dislike for him, she had no valid reason for not immediately giving him the Portkey, so it was safe to say that she was just keeping him busy to irritate him.

"Very well," she said, scribbling another note.

"Here you go, you must sign these papers, and the paperwork will be considered finalised."

" Alright, and how long should I wait for the Portkey?" Severus took the papers and asked as he carefully read what he had signed, she might want to play a trick on him.

"Well, Mr. Prince, once you sign the papers, you can obviously pick up the Portkey immediately from our offices," she said this with the air of someone explaining the obvious.

Severus frowned, temporarily perplexed, of course, his face didn't show it.

He knew he would get it today, but considering the woman's aggressive behaviour towards him, he thought she would try to delay him and waste his time, but no, it seemed her personal issues with him didn't affect his professional work too much.

"I see, well, I would like to know in which specific area around the Salem Witches' Institution grounds the Portkey would be leaving me..., I understand that I cannot be transferred directly to the Institution and the paperwork does not specify the area," Severus said.

Rebecca bowed her head slightly, looking a little surprised as if she expected him not to ask that.

"Well, as it is a magical institution, no one can be transported directly due to the protections of the Institution, but there are certain areas where access is given to these Portkey, in these same areas there will be transports that will take the wizards directly to the Institution or rather SCoP where the meeting is being held."

" Fine, those were all my doubts," Severus said, leaning down to hand him the papers.

"Here you have it and thank you for everything, Miss Bones."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow, but then nodded and took the papers from Severus' hands without a word.

Rebecca Bones took a few moments to look at the papers, but to Severus' delight, the woman seemed not to be looking to delay him any longer, apparently, she was no longer so predisposed against him, or at least he had managed to make a slightest good impression on her because in her gaze he could no longer notice the obvious dislike she felt for him.

"Well, everything's in order," Rebecca replied, her expression giving no clues as to what she was thinking, but at least she didn't look irritated.

"Here you have, may I remind you that once the time allowed has expired you must hand in the Portkey, and in case you lose it or break it you must fill out a form explaining in detail exactly what happened..."

"Well, I guess that's the end of your business. Goodbye Mr. Prince," said Rebecca Bones as she handed him an old shoe that was supposed to be the Portkey.

Severus knew that most Portkeys were magical objects enchanted to instantly take anyone who touched them to a specific location and in most cases, a Portkey was an everyday object that wouldn't attract a Muggle's attention, so a shoe wasn't that strange.

After all the tedious paperwork, Severus finally got the Portkey and with nothing else to do at the Ministry, he decided to leave as soon as possible, in order not to waste any more time.