Chapter 24
As soon as Lucius left, Severus cut his finger with a smile and drew a diamond-shaped pattern on his palm… "And I thought it would be harder to do," licking the blood from his finger, he looked at Nagini, whose head was lying on his knees. "Thank you for your help, without you I would hardly have been able to achieve such a result," in response, she hissed something and closed her eyes. "To be honest, I didn't understand you, well, okay …"
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[August 29, 1976]
Unbeknownst to Severus himself, the time to return to Hogwarts was approaching, and Diagon Alley was filled with parents and children in search of educational supplies, and because of this, many stores that had been closed before were opened again.
After all, the beginning of the school year for all the shops was a bigger thing than the students themselves.
The archmage also did not sit at home and was looking forward to returning to Hogwarts, because he was finally fully prepared to hunt the Basilisk. And, like everyone else, in the company of Nagini, with whom he became quite close during this time and whom he reduced so as not to attract much attention, they moved along a winding street filled with life.
A lot of sparkling showcases with goods on display, bright signs that, as if enchanted, attracted the eyes of wizards, and the joyful faces of sellers - it was like a fairy tale.
"There …" Nagini hissed, pointing with her tail in the direction of a small studio. "I know, you already ate my brain so well with these clothes," Severus grumbled tiredly, heading towards him.
"You constantly use Transfiguration on your clothes, what if at some point you get distracted and you lose control of the spell? And this is not to mention the fact that in the magical world it is simply wrong, you only belittle yourself like that!"
"Enough already, I got it, I got it…" the wizard waved her off, glancing out of the corner of his eye at a pair of wizards dressed in dark classic suits, surveying the surroundings.
"It's already the fifth patrol… to show that they are not afraid of any Dark Lord and everything is under control, they started such a stupid performance… They could at least change the Aurors into everyday clothes, idiots."
As soon as the Archmage entered the studio, a short woman dressed in purple appeared in front of him. "Hello young man, I'll be happy to help you choose a robe, let me take your measurements…"
"Of course, but I also want to ask you for two pairs of dark trousers and two shirts."
"Trousers…?" She looked at him puzzled. "Usually students don't wear pants…"
"Don't you have any?"
"Yes, of course, I'm just a little surprised. Oh, I'm sorry, I've been talking, let me take your measurements!" a centimeter tape flew off the table and wrapped around the wizard's belt, and at the same moment a piece of paper with a feather flew up to the woman ...
Only half an hour later Severus left the shop with new clothes, while placing a small order from above, which would be ready only tomorrow.
After that, they visited a shoe store, where the young man bought himself a pair of high boots with metal inserts, as well as light shoes, then in the Magic Menagerie, where he bought a mail owl, which he had long wanted to buy, and going to the store was just laziness, and there is no one to communicate with, constantly either Malfoy sent an owl and through it the Archmage wrote an answer, or the Macmillans acted according to the same scheme.
He also didn't forget to go to the bookstore for sixth year textbooks. Although he still had the ones Eileen used.
---
Close to two o'clock in the afternoon, the wizard ended his walk, stopping by the last ingredient store and leaving almost fifteen hundred Galleons there.
"Are you sure in your family, by any chance, there were no goblins?" Nagini suddenly asked a question with a thoughtful voice, causing the Archmage to almost stumble out of the blue. "And why would you ask such a question?"
"Your love for gold is a little scary: you already have almost twenty thousand Galleons in a bag, and you are going to trick this Malfoy again, again selling him your potion at seven times the cost, " she hissed, popping out from under his shirt.
"What can I do if he himself comes for them? After all, I didn't force him to buy, and I didn't set this price, I generally offered only six times," Severus shrugged indifferently, which caused the snake to only shake its head in response and descend back under the shirt.
"And do you think he takes them for himself? Here you still need to think about which of us is a real goblin, in any case, he's for sure selling them over 9 or 10 times the price."
"You both are goblins."
"And you can't argue… hmm?" A sly smirk appeared on the face of the Archmage when he felt the warmth from one of the rhombuses in his palm.
"Don't come out, no matter what happens next."
"— …?" Nagini was visibly confused by his all of a sudden remark.
While passing by one of the dark alleys, a pair of thin arms burst out of it, dragging Severus inside.
"Thought you could get away from me by changing your appearance!?" the dark-haired woman hissed, pinning him against the wall with one hand and holding a wand in the other, the tip of which was a millimeter from his neck.
"Bella, how I missed you, and especially your sweet lips …"
" Shut up!" Bellatrix Black hissed, plunging her wand down his throat.
"Just dare to speak again …"
"About the strawberry flavor?" Without changing his expression at all, he looked at her furious face. "Okay, I won't, but I wouldn't mind trying them again, would you like some?"
"In that case! Ava…"
"I wouldn't do that. I'm sure Voldemort will definitely be upset when he learns about my death."
"…yeah…why do you think so? Why should our master be upset when he learns about the death of some miserable half-breed?" Seeing the smile on Severus's face, the former confidence in her own words began to slowly disappear. "Answer!"
"I don't want to," he answered with a chuckle, turning away.
"Answer!" Bella demanded, pressing the tip of the wand even harder into his throat, without her former confidence.
"Nope."
"Then I will kill you."
"Kill, and then we'll see how you look into his eyes."
"YOU…!" Black's hand shook. "What do you want?!"
"You already know that," calmly looking into her black eyes, he raised his hand and touched her chin. Severus just couldn't help but smile at the sight of the struggle on her face, feeling the fountain of a killing aura through the mark, but just one thought, that by killing him she could interfere with the plans of her master, restrained her from the last step.
"It's just a kiss, I'm not asking you to go to bed with me," raising his other hand, the Archmage calmly moved the tip of her wand and, slowly approaching her face, still looking into her eyes, he clung to the lips that were so enticing to him, but this time he decided to restrain himself and did not use his tongue so as not to scare the woman away, and besides, the wizard slightly wanted to be bitten again.
"Would you at least change your facial expression, or something…" Severus shook his head with a tired sigh, disappointedly releasing it and throwing the potion vial, he silently turned around and headed towards the exit of the alley.
"Last time it was much more interesting, but now it's like I'm kissing a doll ..."
At the same time, standing as if rooted to the spot, Bella could only look at the back of the departing wizard, because she immediately realized what kind of potion it was, and therefore the woman simply could not attack.
"And what was that reaction?" Black thought with renewed irritation, touching her lips for a moment. "If you want to increase the amount of potions that Malfoy usually buys from me, I want you to come pick them up yourself, of course, with payment and with a little extra…" Severus shouted before leaving the alley, and his impudent laughter continued for a long time in her head.
"Damn bastard…" Squeezing the potion, she threw it with all her might against the wall, where it shattered. "Someday, I swear I'll KILL YOU!!!!!"
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Leaving the alley, the wizard headed towards his house, because he had already bought everything he wanted, it only remained to wait for the first of September
"What was that?" Nagini's indifferent voice sounded with a note of jealousy.
"A game of Cat and Mouse," he replied with a smile, stroking the snake that had poked out from under his shirt. "But don't worry, you are the only one in my heart, and there is simply no one to replace you, and besides, the family must be restored," he winked at her.
"Pf! Wake up, pervert, I'm a snake."
"Well, that's fixable, at the moment I'm working on a potion that should help you harness the beast part." After his words, she was silent for a few seconds.
"…thank you… " she said in a slightly muffled voice, tilting her head to the side.
"Why are you crying?"
"No, of course not, I just got something into my eyes!" Nagini hissed quickly, going back under his shirt. " Okay, okay, I believe you."
"I'm not crying!" She hissed.
"What about my wet shirt...? Or maybe you opi…"
"NO! I'm going to bite you if you keep talking nonsense like that!"
"Well, I'm silent, I'm silent, by the way, about Hogwarts, will you come with me?" Nevertheless, the wizard decided to change the topic so as not to embarrass his companion anymore.
"And what if they notice me…?"
"Let's tell the truth that I want to develop a potion that can make you human again, and if they don't see your true nature, then you will be my pet, after all, it is not forbidden to have pets at Hogwarts."
"Then I'll go with you, I don't want to be left alone again …"
"That's nice…."
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Auror - the position of wizards in the Ministry of Magic, who specialize in the fight against dark wizards and dark magic.