Chapter 36
Sitting on the sofa, Severus untwisted the necklace on his finger with a smile, while his other hand stroked the head of the well...very dissatisfied Nagini.
"Why do you need this trinket?"
"This is not a simple 'trinket', but rather an interesting artifact…" He squeezed the black crystal attached to it in his hand, and a dark miasma escaped from his fist, followed by a crackling sound.
"Artifact…?" blinking her eyes, she looked in surprise at the black dust that flew out of his hand, which after a few seconds was swallowed up by a stream of flame.
"An artifact of trust. Quite an interesting thing if you want to make "friends", but if you wear it for too long, then the person becomes dependent on who this bauble is tuned to. Although the effect is very weak, but with a long exposure, it will work no worse than any brainwashing slave seal."
"So this is madness…?"
"No, the Blacks are naturally insane, it's a kind of family curse. Remember those moments when Regulus seemed to forget about my strength, succumbing to anger, this is the very madness …" getting up from the sofa and throwing a slightly surprised Nagini around his neck, and then throwing a dark cloak on top that completely hid his figure, he went to the exit side.
"Where are we going so late?"
"To finish one important task…" the Archmage said with a mysterious smile.
Snapping his fingers and turning off all the lights, he left the house and immediately headed towards the Leaky Cauldron bar.
At the same moment, several wizards hiding in the alleys and wandering around followed him, while keeping a certain distance.
"Severus…"
"I know," the wizard replied calmly, pretending that he had not noticed the surveillance. "They are not going to attack us, they are just watching, and judging by their actions, they are not from the same group, so they try to keep their distance from each other ... interesting …"
After a few minutes, he reached the bar, he immediately went into the rather busy room and quickly got lost in the crowd of cheerful wizards, while leaving his illusion sitting at the bar.
Of course, this "feint" did not escape the bartender, but he did not say anything, but only looked at the back of Severus who left the bar, while not forgetting about the galleon that appeared in front of the illusion, which in the same unknown way evaporated.
Once among the Muggles, the Archmage cast a Muggle-Repelling Charm (Repello Muggletum) and looked directly into the eyes of the man who got out of the car.
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Yorkshire Dales National Park.
On a small hill, around which there were endless green wastelands, hills and rivers, light ripples passed through the space and the Archmage got out of the void. " How nice it is to use the movement through space again, how are you? Usually the first time is always a bit wobbly."
"I'm fine, but you should still have warned me in advance …" Nagini drawled in a slightly drooping voice.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, but did you figure out who it was?"
"Hmm... I'm sure some of them were Lucius' men, and about others... I have no idea, but maybe it has something to do with the exam? Only this case is out of the norm, and, remembering Slughorn's reaction, this is quite the place to be," Snape voiced his thoughts, looking around the surroundings, raising his eyes to the rock under which the entrance to the cave was located.
"I think this place will do, and there's not a single soul in the area. Though you haven't explained what you're going to do."
"Reborn, like a Phoenix."
"That… Basilisk didn't hit you on the head, right?" the snake asked him anxiously, putting its tail to the wizard's forehead. "You don't seem to have a fever…"
"Instead of joking, better get ready to defend me until I'm done." Nagini was silent for a few seconds, but Severus could easily feel the anxiety through the link.
"Is this dangerous…?"
"No, I am fully prepared for this and even for unforeseen cases, so stop worrying about me."
"When you say that, I get even more worried…"
"Don't you believe in me?! Oh! My heart is broken...cry...cry...cry…"
"Stop fooling around!" Nagini hissed indignantly, poking his cheek with her tail.
"Okay, okay, but don't worry in vain: I'm one hundred percent sure that everything will work out, and unnecessary worry can only interfere with me," stopping in front of the entrance leading down, he raised his hand, and after a few seconds, a light flashed around the rock, and a barrier materialised at the entrance.
"This will last an hour or so, so you don't have to worry about someone trying to break through it, but I'll still add a couple more, and this place has quite dense magical energy, so it will definitely last quite a long time. Even under a hail of attacks from a dozen magisters.
"Sorry…" Nagini muttered lowering her head.
"Nothing," smiling warmly, he stroked the top of her head and, passing through the barrier, began to descend ...
Along the way, the young man continued to set up small barriers and traps for intruders until they descended to the very bottom, to a huge cave decorated with turquoise crystal colors.
"It's very beautiful and so good…"
"Nothing surprising: these crystals contain first-class magical energy without any impurities."
"What's the difference compared to normal?" Nagini asked in bewilderment because for her there was no difference between what was outside and what was inside.
"These are cleaner. Not to mention the fact that it is many times easier to use, and the spells become almost twice as strong,"
'and the fact that they "lie" here so simply is rather strange, although ... Most likely, in this world the humans simply don't know what this is yet, or maybe they don't have a method by which they can draw out this magic, but ... this is for the best, now I am one hundred percent sure that everything will work out!' Severus thought in his heart.
"All right, I'll stay here. Detain anyone who tries to get in here, although this is almost impossible, you can expect anything from people."
"OK, good luck…"
"I definitely won't need it: I have everything calculated, but thanks anyway." As soon as Nagini returned to the tunnel, Severus closed the entrance and hung a silencing charm, and then, sitting on the floor, took out two bottles: one with a liquid shining with golden light, and the second, on the contrary, dark green, from which a terrifying aura emanated, as if capable of destroy everything... and then the same crystal he had received earlier.
"It remains only to hope that the body can withstand the full power of the dragon crystal before it collapses…" Taking a deep breath, he took one last look at the crystal before popping it into his mouth and swallowing it. Still, Severus couldn't be completely sure that everything would go like clockwork, because no one was immune from failure.
And although he was ready for almost any "accidents", but you can never foresee what will happen next if, Of course, you are not a seer. After all, even in a plan that has been rechecked at least a hundred times, there can still be an almost imperceptible error that can lead to the failure of the entire task.
Therefore, the Archmage did not relax one iota at all, waiting for the moment when the crystal would begin to release its power. And this did not have to wait long, because after a minute, Snape's body turned red in just a few seconds, and a terrifying dragon roar began to be heard from his chest, from which the walls of the cave trembled.
Many wounds began to appear on his skin, from which blood flowed non-stop, and the very edges of the wounds turned black and rotten, gradually exfoliating, and only due to the fact that he had already drunk a powerful anaesthetic earlier, Severus did not feel much pain, only a slight burning sensation, so he could quietly observe your body.
The first stage of the ritual required completely depleting the dragon crystal and absorbing the energy released by it with the help of the core, while all the negative effects went into the body, only for this reason the Archmage began with his preparation in order to endure this test to the very end ... Minutes dragged on like hours, because in this important moment, he couldn't just get distracted, as it could cost him his life…
Meanwhile, outside for the Muggles living near the cave, it was like the end of the world.
For ten kilometres in the area, the sky was covered with dark clouds, and a terrifying wind arose, followed by a thunderstorm, and of course, such a drastic change could not fail to attract the attention of the wizards from the Ministry to which this area was attached.
And after some ten minutes, about thirty mages in cloaks with hoods appeared not far from that very cave, in front of which stood a man in a shabby leather coat, with a mop of grey hair and a randomly moving artificial eye, looking at everything around.
"Find that bastard who uses magic so randomly and bring him to me! Obliviator team, you may have a lot of work today, get ready!" the man exclaimed in a sharp, slightly hoarse voice.
"Yes!"
"Start searching, and don't forget: "Constant vigilance! " and at the same moment the wizards dispersed in completely different directions, and the gloomy commander himself, touching the sharply frozen artificial eye, looking to the right, directly towards the very rock in which the entrance to the cave was located, bared his teeth. "Where are you…"
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There was a terrible stench in the cave in which the Archmage was located, the source of which was rotting flesh lying around a man who looked more like a zombie from surreal horror films: in some places there were no pieces of flesh, and the whole body was covered with blood, which continued to flow non-stop, and if Snape had not drunk several dozen hemostatic and hematopoietic potions in advance, he would simply have died from blood loss.
And finally, after some time, he opened his eyes, in which there was not even a trace of panic, and took a deep breath, and he immediately vomited blood.
"I assumed the worst, but so far everything is going according to plan, and now…" - stretching out a trembling hand, he took a flask with a dark green liquid and, without even thinking for a moment, poured it into his mouth, and in a second the smell of burning flesh filled the room.
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