Chapter 82

During the night, Severus fully familiarized himself with the contents of the books received from the study and the "treasury", and he also learned about the properties of the plant from the from the diary, which lay near the pot with the sprout and he was not disappointed a bit.

In fact, there was not much written there, because even Helga herself could not unravel all its secrets. In the forty years since it had come to her as a seed, the plant had grown only a centimetre, and now it was only twelve centimetres, which was too slow in over a thousand years. 

As for the properties: it spread a pleasant soothing aroma, only at that moment it fell into "hibernation" due to a lack of magic, but after Helga transferred it to her house and connected it to a magical source, of course, putting a limit on the magic absorbed by the plant, it instantly "came to life",

Of course, the two elves were surprised by this, but at the same time they were not upset at all, but on the contrary, they were delighted, because now they have more work to do. 

They simply could not do nothing, for them WORK was manna from heaven, like a sip of water in an endless desert, and rest was the most terrible punishment, only inferior to freedom. 

Snape was very pleased with his new acquisition, because he had already thought about performing some kind of ritual in order to increase the amount of magic generated in the air. We can say that everything turned out for the best. 

In addition to information about an unknown plant, the notebook contained a huge number of Helga's recipes and thoughts, as well as spells for cooking. 

The last entry was the result of an experiment with the slicing charm, but other than that, there was a mention of meeting someone, and apparently this meeting turned out to be the last for her, since the notes in the notebook had stopped. 

Although, strangely, the books said that she died a natural death surrounded by descendants, but history is always written by the winners, so the truth is most likely impossible to know. 

As for the books: most of the information from them was already in the grimoire, with the exception of those that he found in the treasury, but they could not surprise him much, because almost half of it was related to dark magic and bloody rituals, although one was still able to interest Severus. 

It described a stone arch, curtained with a dark veil, through which it was impossible to see anything, and only those who had lost someone close to them could hear their barely perceptible whisper if they approached it, but if a living being stepped into this arch , then he will lose his life. 

In the book, the author called it the gate between the world of the living and the dead, arguing that it took only the soul, and the body remained outside, as well as voices coming from it. 

Still, this did not fail to attract the attention of the Slytherin, although he doubted that this was actually the gate to the afterlife, Severus suggested that this could be a dark artefact that absorbs souls for some purpose, with the ability to read minds. 

There's just a little thing which is depressing, that is the place where they could be is unknown, and there was not a single mention in the books, as if they had fallen through the ground. But still, if he manages to find this arch in the future, he will not mind revealing its secret, of course, if it really exists … 

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The next few days passed fairly calmly, there was no mention of a room in the kitchen among the students, but Snape did not care much, because he had already turned his attention to Ravenclaw and was preparing for another heist, but for now he only watched and made assumptions where he could be a passage, and so on until Friday. 

And in the evening, having left the castle, Severus returned home. In the store, he had already transferred all the affairs to Karner, who proved by deed that he can be relied upon and the presence of a Slytherin is no longer required there. 

If there were any problems, then Tobby helped to solve them, kicking the problem customers out, and he also monitored the cleanliness of all the shops that were not yet rented out. 

In general, everything was very calm. Of course, the same could not be said about Voldemort, who, after the failure of two operations, very actively began to take out his anger on his subordinates, blaming them for this, and for this reason, five Death Eaters had already died, whom he tortured to death with the help of Crucio, and ten more simply fled the country. Yet, due to the two "defeats", the madness that Tom had been trying to contain all this time began to progress, and for this reason, many of the aristocrats who had previously supported him began to greatly fear for their lives and think about escaping the country. 

It can be said that he has almost no truly loyal supporters left, with the exception of Lucius's father, Bella and the elder Lestrange. But, in addition to the purebloods, the wizards and other creature who joined the Dark Lord began to think about escaping from the "sinking ship", because none of them wanted to follow the madman,

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Snape spent Saturday as usual in the company of Bellatrix, who nevertheless came, but she looked a little depressed, there was no longer that twinkle and speck in her eyes. Yet lately, her family really began to worry about her life, but only this thought led to real chaos in her head, as if two personalities were fighting in her: one demanded to be on the alert and retreat in the worst case, and the other to gladly expose herself to a blow and enjoy the torture from the Lord. 

These thoughts tormented her for the last three weeks, the witch simply didn't understand what to do, what to do, and she went to this meeting in the hope of being distracted… Late in the evening, while crossing a long suspension bridge, Severus stopped in the very centre and approached the steel railings, while smiling at the sunset, which looked especially beautiful on this day.

"What's going on with you? Today you were totally lost. If necessary, I am ready to listen to you," he turned his gaze to the silent woman, who only shook her head languidly in response. 

"Nothing is happening, I'm just tired."

"Does it have something to do with your 'work', or is something else bothering you?" Calmly approaching her, Snape hugged her from behind without any protest. "You're definitely not okay. If I had done this earlier, you would have loaded me with an elbow in the liver at the same second. Come on, tell me." 

In response, Severus heard only a tired sigh, but the woman did not try to escape or somehow resist, but continued to stand calmly, almost not reacting to his actions. "I'm confused... I've thought a lot about your actions since we first met in Diagon Alley, about your words on that bridge... since the day you took that necklace, I seemed to "woke up": it became much easier for me to think, the thirst for blood disappeared and I began to think about what I didn't even dare to think about ... these are too strange feelings, it's hard for me to describe them …"

"Since you were thinking about my actions, you should have understand everything, you're not some stupid girl…" Snape said, testing his face near her ear.

"That necklace… it had an 'affection' charm on it, but I can't understand one thing." Turning her head, she looked into a pair of dark eyes with a complex expression, in which, in addition to calmness, there were no more emotions. "Ask."

"When the Lord was checking our memories, he should have seen everything: how you took the necklace, that conversation and everything else… that day I thought that right there I would lose my life." 

"Sorry, but I can't talk about that." Severus said, shaking his head.

"I see…" With a forced smile, she turned to face the sunset. "Why are you doing all this?" 

"For a rather banal reason - love." He said, sighing in response to her question.

"Love… if this is love, then why are you torturing me, you must understand how much it hurts me now…" 

"I know," Severus nodded with the same calm voice. "But if I just told you this, then you wouldn't believe me, or maybe you would go to him and tell him everything. The whole problem is that you wore that necklace for too long, and only now your mind was able to repulse the imposed feelings, although your Master's breakdowns played an important role, because the desire to live is a very strong feeling. Now, most likely, you are in disarray: one part wants to return to him, tell everything and put on the collar again, and the other wants to live …" hearing these word, goosebumps went through the body of Bella, because he was right - to be who she is, the real Bella, - turning her to him, Severus looked into her eyes with tenderness. "You yourself have to choose who you want to be: a weak-willed slave who fulfils any whim of a madman, or a dark witch and pureblood from the ancient Black family, but do not rush into this, think carefully,"

'What a horror, so many conflicting emotions. I hope I didn't rush into this conversation.'Severus thought in his mind.

Leaning over the woman, Snape lifted her chin and stopped a centimeter away, staring expectantly. But he did not have to wait long, as the next moment she leaned forward, and their lips met in a kiss ... she just wanted to forget for a moment ... no longer experience this pain that devours from the inside …

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