Chapter 60

[Diagon Alley.]

Appearing at the store, Severus immediately drew attention to Nagini,  who was lying on the counter and watching him with squinted eyes. 

"I'm back. "

"It's already one in the morning…" she hissed sullenly.

Smiling across from her, he rested his head on the table. "I'm sorry, I thought I'd be here by twelve, but something delayed me," holding out his hand, the young man stroked her on the top of her head. 

"Have you seen that woman again?"

"Well, yeah….." Severus drawled, closing his eyes, in a slightly sleepy voice. "And do not be jealous: at my age, falling in love is a completely normal phenomenon, and I will not leave you, until, of course, I return you to your human form, and after that you yourself will decide whether to stay with me or go free swimming."

"It's like you don't know the answer to this question…" With a tired sigh, she raised her head and looked straight into his eyes. 

"Maybe I lived a little, but I've seen enough of people's behaviour: you are now in a desperate situation and ready to cling to any opportunity, the main thing is to maintain humanity ..." Gently running his hand over the smooth scales, the man smiled warmly at her. "And when you become a human again, maybe you'll start thinking differently, that I'm not such a fairy-tale prince, but a simple wizard, and without me it will be much easier for you…" 

"It's not like that!" She hissed.

"Nagini, I'm just guessing, but let's wait until you become a human again, and then we'll decide what to do with your feelings, okay?" Severus was flooded with a sea of ​​various emotions: from anger to joy and even sadness, so for a while he blocked their connection and continued to look directly into her eyes. 

The silence lasted for a minute, until she nodded timidly. "Okay, but if then I will experience the same feelings, and you will already be with her? No, I'm sure you will be with her by then, what then?" 

"It seems that polygamy is not forbidden in magical Britain, and by that time I will most likely be the last of my bloodline "Prince", and the family will need to be restored, if, of course, you understand in what sense …" he winked at her with a twisted smile, but Nagaina did not react at all to this: the young man only heard a tired sigh. "Okay, the joke failed, but you should not think of so far in the future. Maybe nothing will work out with her, so let's wait and see …"

"I…"

"Take your time with the answer," she was about to say something but he stopped her, poking a finger in the muzzle. 

"We still have two years ahead of us, three at the very least, so there's plenty of time, and let's not bring this topic up again, okay?" 

"Okay, thanks for the honest answer…but what if you fall in love with another woman?" Unable to restrain himself, Snape laughed merrily, embarrassing Nagini a little.

"This will not happen: I am not a fan of harems, although two wives can already be called a harem, but for me personally this is not so, I still lean more towards traditional relationships. But, as I said earlier, let's wait and see, maybe I really won't succeed Bella, who knows ...?" 

"Understood, but I'm sure that you will be together, and I don't even mind it, because if you can't return my human form to me, you won't be left alone because of me…" 

"Do you doubt my abilities?" jokingly angry, he again poked her in the face, and then continued "menacingly". "Since I said that you will become a human again, then you will be one, so don't bring this topic up again, understand ?!"

"Uh-huh…" She merely nodded her head.

"That's great, then get in, it's time for us to return to Hogwarts," nodding in embarrassment, she crawled onto his arm, and after that Severus shifted his gaze to an empty place next to him.

"Tobby, move us to my room." 

"Yes, sir!" an excited voice sounded, and with a "click" sound, they disappeared from the room, and a small letter remained on the table with a pouch containing potions and galleons…

***

In the morning after yesterday's holiday, which took place not only at the Black Family Mansion, but also at Hogwarts, classes continued again, and even the divination teacher was discharged from Mungo, but the next day she returned back there, but this is a completely different story. 

Still, the story of the incident at the ball had already reached the school by the morning of the next day, and at the moment almost everyone in Slytherin was discussing it and wondering who could have done such a bad thing to the Lestranges. 

There was even a rumour that Walburga herself started it so as not to marry her niece, as she found a more suitable candidate. 

Others said that it was the brothers who insulted the one they should not have, so they paid the price. And, of course, the red-haired guest did not go unnoticed, who, right in front of everyone, almost made out with Bellatrix Black and that lady didn't mind. 

But, oddly enough, Rudolphus did not refuse marriage and nevertheless announced that he would be marrying her and Severus himself began to think about whether to pay him another "politeness" visit? But he nevertheless abandoned this idea: he was simply too lazy to do it, and what's the point, since the marriage will take place only on July 7 of the seventy-eighth year. 

There is still plenty of time, and killing such a useless wizard is a matter of seconds, even a house elf would be enough. 

Therefore, he didn't even think about it, and he didn't even have time for it, because Severus has much more important things to do: first, deal with that room and the rubbish that is stored in it; secondly, Grimoire, for which Carner was currently busy purchasing materials, and thanks to his connections, he promised to meet the need within a week, and Severus did not shirk: after classes or instead of them, he was engaged in the cover, which the young man was going to make from the skin of the Basilisk; thirdly, preparation for a date. 

As for the search for the legacies of the founders and other secrets of the castle, he decided to postpone it until he created the Grimoire.

And after that Severus was going to transfer all the knowledge from the books in the library and that room right into it and continue the search calmly, while without fear that anyone would be interested in the books he was reading.

At the same time without being distracted by the red-haired girl flashing here and there, who quite "accidentally" ended up in the library right at the same time as he, or at many instances constantly throwing random glances at him. 

What was in her head, Severus did not even want to know, so he simply ignored her. 

A few days later, Regulus returned to the school, looking a little depressed, but, Oddly enough, he didn't lash out at Severus with accusations, but he still looked at Severus offendedly. 

And from him Severus learned that after his departure, Regulus' mother interrogated him for about two hours, until Bella intervened and explained everything, but did not reveal the identity of Severus, simply dismissing her with the words: "He is not the one whom our family can offend," and this was enough to appease the curiosity of the elderly lady, because she was used to trusting her niece, who, instead of balls and beautiful dresses, had the well-being of the family in the first place in her head, although she was slightly annoyed by fanatical loyalty to the Dark One. Lord. 

Although Walburga tormented Regulus for several days, she did not go to extremes, because she perfectly understood that it was not her son's fault, assuming that he was under some kind of spell. 

But still, she became interested in his new friend, who is from the "Prince" family. 

Of course, the Head of the Family did not directly force Regulus to break all ties with Severus, but advised him to look for more "purebred" friends. 

Although the very next day, having collected information about Snape, she very much regretted her earlier words. 

But at the same time, the elderly lady did not take them back, because she had pride and stubbornness inherent in all Blacks.

Severus was not particularly surprised when he heard the "tragic" story of the young man, and when asked if Regulus was really going to not talk to him anymore, he firmly replied that this would not happen. 

After all, it was thanks to Severus that he was able to advance much further in the study of magic and become several times stronger than before, and in a training battle with Bella, he even surprised her and earned praise. 

But he did not admit that all this was thanks to Snape, because he still had life and whole bones dear to him. 

Regulus also warned him to be more careful, because the Lestrange began to search for the one who created that horror with the two brothers, while he himself looked suspiciously at Severus calmly smiling at him, as if trying to make sure that it was him, and there wasn't even a ounce of doubt: in the depths of his soul, Regulus was one hundred percent sure that it was Severus, but he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. 

~~~~~~~~ 

The next part of the week, right up to the weekend, passed rather calmly. 

Nobody touched Severus and he could calmly do his things, and, having gone through ten percent of that rubbish, he was able to find a lot of interesting things, while not forgetting to mark them, because when he had to leave the walls of the castle, he would definitely take all this for himself, although the young man nevertheless took some artefacts to analyse the interweaving of runes and magic. 

The appointed day of the meeting with Bella was also slowly approaching, so he did not linger in that room and quickly wanted to finish with the Grimoire, because Snape learned from the house elf that Carner had finally collected all the necessary materials, so on Friday evening, after classes with Slughorn, he almost immediately returned to Diagon Alley.

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P@treon is upto 84 chapter.