Chapter 42
Standing in front of the last statue which was located at a long-shabby bridge connected to the clock tower, from which he descended, he pointed his palm at the head of a lion and squeezed it sharply and the statue exploded, its pieces scattering on the ground.
"Here's the last one," Severus bent down and picked up the badge and turned it around with slight interest, but, like the previous ones, apart from the strange design, there was nothing else on it.
"So, what is next?" Nagini asked from the side.
"It's simple," all the badges flew out and froze in front of the Archmage.
"This is a rather interesting and at the same time difficult to manufacture artifact, because, in addition to runes, transfiguration, the magic of illusions, the mind and even the soul magic are involved here...."
"You said you didn't understand what it is or how it works." Nagini questioned.
"I didn't understand until I got the eighth part in my hands and didn't feel it…" the badges began to change places, until in an instant they shone with a red light, standing in one row.
"I should have put up a barrier beforehand…"
"I didn't expect that the one who could collect them all would be a Slytherin student…"a stern voice resounded through the space, but at the same time it did not cause any fear, only calmness and some kind of even bright feeling.
And in a moment, the badges changed their shape, turning into various watch mechanisms that began to unite.
At the same time, a transparent cloud formed above them, emitting a bright light, taking the form of a man of about forty, with a lion's mane of wavy red hair and a beard.
In some ways, he even reminded Severus of barbarians - proud, smug and cruel "creatures".
"Why such dislike towards me?" Noticing the frown of the Archmage, the ghost asked in bewilderment. "I'm sorry, I just remembered something unpleasant when I saw your appearance, but I don't think you're much different from them, although you are distinguished by intelligence, since you were able to create such a complex artifact. You may be described as a determined and fair wizard, but history is written by the victors, so whether this is true or not, I can no longer find out."
"You collected all the parts of this artifact, thereby awakening a fragment of my soul - Godric Gryffindor - just for the sake of ... criticising me?" Gnostic asked, frowning in displeasure.
"No, of course not, you just asked, and I answered," the Archmage explained with an embarrassed smile, continuing.
"Actually, I didn't know that I would be able to talk to you personally with this, in fact, I was only looking for your sword."
"Why are you after my sword and how did you know about the statues?" Godric asked in bewilderment, lowering himself a little.
"Salazar told me, although I had to torture his portrait a little so that he would tell me everything about you, and I need a sword because I am fond of fencing, and worthy swords are quite hard to find, and I think you yourself understand this very well, but well….. I don't have a good relationship with goblins. I'm afraid if I go to them, they will start to drive me away with pitchforks." Listening to Severus, the shard of Godric's soul could not help but feel shock, and after he nevertheless pulled himself together, digesting the information, the man could not stand it and laughed.
"Even though it all sounds like nonsense…" but in the next moment he froze, bulging his eyes in amazement at the slightly burnt, with small holes, portrait of his former friend, who with the same facial expression was looking directly at him.
"Salazar... ?"
"A pitiful sight, Godric."
" I would say: you yourself do not look better."
Seeing the mocking face of Gryffindor, Salazar almost lost his temper, but Severus covered his mouth and rolled up the portrait again, throwing it into his wallet. "I hope you can tell me where you left it?"
"And if I don't tell you?" Godric asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I'll find it myself, there's still your hat left. I think it will not be difficult to get all this information out of it …"
"Just dare to touch it, and I will do everything in my power to destroy you." In a moment, from a simple good-natured man, Godric turned into a real "lion", ready to bite into the throat of the Archmage.
"Okay, I won't touch it."
From how easily the Archmage retreated from his threats, Godric again simply froze and after a few seconds realised that he had deliberately brought him out.
"If you want to know a person well, just make him angry, and he will show his real face, my teacher said this, and now I understand what kind of person you are - decisive, appreciating friendship, while you dislike cowards, because when I retreated from my words, for a moment I saw disgust on your face, you are also quite patient, since you are ready to listen even to a Slytherin like me. But at the same time, your bloodlust tells me that you do not shy away from killing, and if you have a body at the moment, I have no doubt that you would directly kill me."
"Enough, I understand. " With a weary sigh, he put his hand in the direction of the Archmage and shook his head.
"I give up, you are a true Slytherin."
"Glad to hear it, but I still hope to hear where exactly your sword is?" Severus shrugged his shoulders with a sly smile.
"How should I know? The real Godric broke off this fragment at eighty, and how long he lived after that, I don't know." The soul shard of Godric said while shaking his head.
"I see …"
"Why such a disappointment ?! Maybe you are interested in something else? Even though you are a full-blooded Slytherin, you still managed to find all the badges …"
"You can't teach me anything, and besides your sword, I don't need anything else ... although if you tell me about Helga and Rowena …"
"I won't rat out my friends and colleagues' secrets!" Godric sharply rapped out every word, thus causing a disappointed sigh from the Archmage.
"You're useless, just wasting my time on you."
"Let's go back then, there's no need to stay here anymore, " Nagini hissed in agreement, leaning out and contemptuously looking at the slightly surprised Godric.
"Okay, sorry to drag you in, I thought there would be something interesting, but it turned out to be just some kind of shard of the soul," stroking her on the top of her head, Severus turned around and walked towards Hogwarts.
"Stop! Do you really want to know anything? In my time, I was known as the strongest Wizard. In your place, other wizards would consider it an honour to ask me a question!" stopping right in front of him, Gryffindor deliberately exclaimed loudly, while inside he could hardly restrain his anger, because a simple ordinary wizard dared to be rude to him, and even ignore his merits, as if he were some kind of lousy old man without clan and tribe.
"I'm tired of… well." Taking a deep breath, Severus looked up at the man's scowling face. "Tell me about the maledictuses and is it possible to break this curse?"
"Hmm… you asked a difficult question… " but, seeing the indifferent face of the Archmage, on which distrust was written in large letters, coughing a couple of times, he continued."In short, maledictuses are women whose blood has been cursed, and by the age of thirty, almost all of these have turned into animals in both body and mind. This curse is nearly impossible to break, only slowed down if the cursed one can master Animagus."
"As I expected, Nagina is still very lucky that she was once an animagus…" taking a deep breath, Severus looked into her eyes with a warm smile. "Don't worry, I already know how to take it off."
"Young man, is this snake…?" Godric asked him, looking with surprise at the snake, who was dissatisfied with such attention.
"And you, do you know a way to break this curse?"
"I know a ritual that can remove any curse, but still, the more I know about it, the more correctly I can set up the ritual, so I will listen to you carefully," pulling out a chair from his wallet, Severus sat down in a businesslike manner and stared expectantly at Gryffindor whose eyes began to twitch...
---
Two hours later, the Archmage, thoughtfully tossing a golden pocket watch in his hand, on the back of which the symbols of the Hogwarts faculties were engraved, moved along the dark corridors of the castle towards the dungeon.
"Even though I got a lot of useful information about the curse from him, I already knew almost all of it. Well, at least I was able to get an interesting artifact, which is also pretty good, and even a hint of who might know where the sword is. Still, it was not in vain that I decided to do this…"
"And what kind of watch is this?" Nagini asked him in bewilderment, who did not understand why Severus decided to take the watch at all, although at the beginning he refused to do so.
"It is quite a rare artifact in which you can store the soul. Notice that a fragment of Godric's soul stayed in him for almost a thousand years and did not even get hurt. Maybe someday it will come in handy …"
"I see … " she fell silent again for a few seconds, as if thinking about something.
"Ask." Severus looked at her thoughtful look and said.
"About what he asked you for before his soul was shattered…"
"Let's see how life goes. I didn't promise him anything, but if I ever run into them, I won't pass by, "he answered her with a smile, going down the stairs. "I'm not that insensitive, you know."
"I didn't call you insensitive!" Nagini quickly spoke with panic in her voice, but, seeing a grin on his face and a slightly narrowed look, she began to poke her tail in his sides furiously, expressing indignation in this way. "Stop teasing me!"
"Sorry, it's not my fault that you take everything too close to your heart."
"Insensitive bastard!"
"Hey!" Looking contemptuously in his direction, she turned away, while sighing in displeasure, although in reality she was almost not angry, but only a little indignant.
"Eh… now I still need to think about how to get into the Headmaster's office without giving myself away. I'm sure there are scanning and signal charms installed there that will give me away almost instantly, and also don't forget the portraits of the Headmasters and the Phoenix. It's worth thinking about it…"