Chapter 12

Snorting, the Gryffindor student looked for a moment towards the head table, where a scowling McGonagall was watching him. "Damn snake… just get caught by me in the future, I'll beat all the nonsense out of you," he had no choice but to sit back at the table, gritting his teeth and looking at Snape with displeasure.

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Every second more students entered the hall, and after a while the bell rang, followed by the voice of Albus Dumbledore:

"I ask everyone to sit down at the tables," the students who were still chatting with each other earlier quickly fell silent under the gaze of the old wizard, and as soon as everyone was seated, he continued with his good-natured smile: "Another year has ended, as the headmaster of Hogwarts, I want to congratulate you all and wish you never give up and always achieve your goals! Well, I will not torment you all and announce the winners of this year, the points are distributed as follows: fourth place ... Gryffindor - two hundred and seventy-five …" the hall was immediately filled with applause, the students of the named House only lowered their heads in shame, and four marauders looked especially depressed, whose fault this happened, they did not dare to raise their eyes and look at their classmates, and James scorched Snape with an evil gaze as Snape smiled at him.

"Third place…" the Headmaster continued, "Hufflepuff - three hundred and ten points," applause filled the hall again, and, unlike Gryffindor, they didn't look depressed, because it's not the first time they took third place.

"Second place ... Ravenclaw, they have three hundred and thirty points. And finally, the first place and champions of this year - Slytherin! This year they earned three hundred and eighty points, congratulations," the old wizard nodded with the same smile, and the Slytherin table was filled with applause and joyful cries, but only a few from the rest of the faculties clapped, and there was deathly silence over the Gryffindor table.

"And the school cup is awarded to Slytherin this year." The emblems hanging on the teachers' table and along the walls flashed green, and the snake students jumped up from their tables and happily began tossing their hats. Snape himself also did not just sit and joined this "event".

After that, everyone calmed down again and, happily talking to each other, proceeded to the meal. "But they still feed well here," biting off a piece of a chicken leg, the wizard squinted contentedly. "Although it can't be compared with dragon meat, it's very good," he nodded, drinking juice, "but I wouldn't refuse wine ..."

Half an hour before lights out, all the food disappeared from the tables, and the Headmaster got up and, having examined all the students, he said "Well, the holiday is over for today, don't forget to pack your things, the train leaves tomorrow at eleven." Although some of the students were not happy that the food had suddenly disappeared, they still began to get up from the tables, heading for the exit.

Snape himself, after saying goodbye to Myrtle, who was surrounded by students from Ravenclaw, went with his housemates.

***

And so, the next day, Snape stood on the platform with a small shabby suitcase on his back, looking at the red train with slight curiosity.

"In such small things, this world has gone far ahead, but still, simple teleportation is much better… eh… stupid rules, only in the sixth year I can get permission to use Transgression, even though I have teleportation magic, which is much safer than this, but attracting the attention of the local "fighters for order" is not good, it's easier to endure two months, and at the beginning of the sixth year immediately apply for a permit, and then calmly use it without worrying about anything ... " approaching a man in a red uniform with a round cap on his head, the young man handed him the suitcase and entered the train.

Quickly reaching the carriage of his House, he took one of the empty seats and pulled out a Patronus book.

"Is it free here?"

"Of course, sit down, I thought that with the help of Transgression you would leave Hogwarts," the person sitting opposite was none other than John Macmillan, now the former Head of Slytherin.

"I decided to take a ride for the last time. After all this is the last time I will visit this place," he replied with a nostalgic smile, sitting opposite the wizard by the window, in order to take a last look at the castle.

"These seven years have gone by rather quickly…" As the old man spoke.

"Hm?" Looking at Snape in mild surprise, the young man shook his head.

"And you have changed …"

"Under certain circumstances, people change a lot. By the way, what are you planning to do?" Snape asked him, looking up from behind the book, although he already knew the answer, he still collected a lot of information about the Macmillan clan, and, what he liked about this "family" was their neutrality, as well as the artifact store run by his father.

"I will follow in my father's footsteps, of course, but as I understand it, you didn't just ask me this for a reason, and you also collected information ...?"

"I didn't try to hide it," Snaps waved his hand languidly, beckoning one of the black needles towards him with his finger.

"I want to sell some artifact."

"Artifact?" As soon as the needle fell into his hand, Macmillan immediately realized that it was under transformation, and put it in his jacket pocket, having already saturated it with his magic.

"I'll show it to my father."

"I'm sure he won't be disappointed, and if the price suits me, I'll be ready to sell a few more, but I'll warn you right away if he tries to take it apart, he will lose his hands, and this is not a threat, but a fact, because I added a small "security system," even though the smile on Macmillan's face faltered, he still nodded.

"And here's my address in the Muggle world, I'll be there for a while…"

"I thought you were just a great potion master, but it turns out you're also an artefacturer…" but, seeing the frown of his interlocutor, the young man smiled guiltily. "Okay, I'll be quiet…"

***

After arriving in the town of Coakworth, where Severus had previously lived, Snape experienced a double feeling: on the one hand, although he had the memory of a real Snape, he felt surprised at the sight of buildings, cars scurrying back and forth, as well as people's clothes, but on the other , the town evoked some kind of depressing feeling in him: dark monotonous houses, gloomy clouds that filled the city, terribly dirty air, which made him sick because of the weaving factory located nearby, from the pipes of which acrid smoke rose, because of which the nearest forests and the rivers became uninhabitable. And the indifferent, and even gloomy faces of people almost completely destroyed a good mood, all this worked no worse than Dementors - dark creatures that suck out any bright emotions of a person.

"Now I at least understand why he fell in love with Lily ... always cheerful, a pretty and very talkative girl in this gray town is like a breath of fresh air…" approaching the house, the wizard felt on his back the gaze of the very girl he had just been thinking about, because they were almost neighbors.

"I'll have to sell this house quickly and move somewhere where the air is cleaner…" A few blocks later, the wizard reached Spider Alley, a nondescript street in which Severus' house was located.

"This is a my house…" – looking around a simple two-story house made of bricks and a tiled roof, the wizard wanted to leave this "beautiful" town more and more, and as soon as he opened the door, a disgusting musty smell immediately hit his nose.

"Hmm…" Snapping his fingers, he created an air-filtering barrier around his head and closed the door behind him.

"Wh-who is s…here!?" a furious hoarse voice sounded from one of the rooms, and a man (?) appeared around the corner ... a puffy face, bags under the eyes, rough, earthy skin, thinness, dirty clothes, torn in some places and a disgusting smell.

"You …"

"I'm surprised, I thought you'd already been taken to jail."

"Ge-ge-ge… so you're talking… ~hic! …talking back to your father, damn monster…" grinning, he swayed and walked towards Snape.

"It's worth showing who th-is the boss here…"

"Really?" How about your wife?"

"Don't call that creature my wife!" the man growled furiously, waving at Snape.

"A simple person wants to hit a wizard… If I tell this to my classmates, no one will believe it," Snape languidly dismissed, and the drunkard's body at the same moment flew into the wall with a dull sound.

"Sleep for now, I'll wake you up later," and, using the spell that enhances perception again, the young man made his way towards the basement, where all the books and magical items that Severus' mother used and taught her son were kept.

In the basement itself, there was nothing special that would distinguish it from others. Just one piece of junk, and that said it all.

There were two shelves in the corner, on one of which rested both simple books and magical ones, but rather shabby, because each of them was decades old. But Snape didn't care much about them, because another thing attracted his attention, and this was a box from which a barely perceptible magical power emanated.

"And it turned out to be easier than I thought…" lifting it, the young man thought with a smile, opening and taking out a simple-looking mirror… or rather, a cursed mirror.

"Curse of Strife, in such a weak state, it is almost harmless and invisible, but with a long exposure to the target, even the wizards cannot resist, not like the Muggles, and if it did not work on Severus, then they gave him two or three years before he entered Hogwarts ... It only remains to find the sender of this "gift", and the easiest way is with the help of a ritual to find everyone who has ever touched the mirror itself or the box, but for this I need materials, and to find them, galleons ... "- sighing tiredly, the wizard looked towards the dark cover.

"Hm?" pulling it back, he raised an eyebrow in surprise, because a woman of about twenty-five was looking from him, with long dark hair, clear pale skin inherent in all aristocrats, a strict, but at the same time soft look, her face was slightly elongated, but this did not spoil her at all beauty.

"Apparently, she expected that someday this would happen, and wanted to create a living portrait, but a little too late…" Snape thought with a sad smile, feeling the magical power emanating from the portrait.

"The witch who died from the beatings is even a little funny ... The point here is unclean: I won't believe that she could forgetfully fall in love with a simple Muggle and endure beatings, it's okay if she were a simple person, but a wizard, and even an aristocrat, she didn't, it wouldn't be very difficult to stun or erase his memory and settle in another place, having acted with the owners of another house in the same way ... this is nonsense, a "love potion" was definitely used here, only with the help of it you can tie a person like that. All I have to do is find whoever did this and make his life hell, and then I won't owe Severus anything anymore."

Closing the portrait again, he looked at the collar on the shelf and grinned bloodthirstyly...

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Thank you for reading, please give power stones.

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