Chapter 46

Severus's eyes trembled as he heard Dumbledore's suggestion, and the words of another old man sounded in his head 'Grid, we are the order of the Dark God Abbadon, join us! Our God calls to you, so kneel and accept his will!' These memories made him shudder. 

Only he knows how much he has suffered because of those sectarians who had been persecuting him for five years because of the dark flame.

"Severus? Severus!"

"...Hmm! Ahem! I beg your pardon, I remembered something unpleasant," coughing several times, Severus smiled guiltily and continued. "But I'll probably refuse your offer."

"May I know the reason?" Dumbledore asked, frowning slightly. 

"I already told you my dream, and if I join this stupid war, then there is a great chance that they will simply kill me, and I am not interested in this. After graduating from Hogwarts, I will immediately leave the country and begin my journey. There's nothing dear to me in this country." 

With a tired sigh, the old man was silent for a few seconds, and then said in a more serious voice "I won't force you, since this is your answer, but be careful: I'm not the only one who wants to win you over to our side, and they will no longer be as understanding as I… "

"I understand that, but don't worry, Headmaster, I can stand up for myself, I have a plan," the Archmage answered with confidence in his voice, bringing a smile to the old man's face. 

"I'm glad to hear it, my boy, then I don't have to worry about you anymore, but, If you need help, you can always contact me."

"Thank you, Headmaster, if you need potions, you can also contact me and I will have my worker prepare them for you, but at the moment we don't have a lot of them, only for a month or more…" taking out a notebook, Severus flipped through it rather quickly and nodded thoughtfully before looking up at the Headmaster. 

"Will ten a day be enough for you? I can't give you more, I'm also ready to make a discount for you. As for the artifacts, I'm no help to you here: it takes me a huge amount of time to create one …"

"Don't worry, Severus, there aren't that many people in our order - ten will be enough, but about those artifacts…." a slight embarrassment flickered across Dumbledore's face. 

'Don't act, old man…' the Archmage thought indifferently, but, of course, he didn't say that out loud. 

"Headmaster, I will also have one request…" 

"Speak, Severus, if it is in my power, I will try to help," bringing his kind grandfather smile again, he looked at Severus.

"I would like to take a house elf to work around the house. Don't worry, I won't treat him badly, I just need an assistant to whom I can leave all the extra daily chores."

"Of course I'll talk to Minerva and tomorrow you can choose a house elf, but you know…I do not deal with these matters, tomorrow you will have to go to Minerva."

"I understand, thank you Headmaster."

"Not at all, my boy, not at all, but I also have a question…" Dumbledore's gaze dropped to the chest area on Severus's body. "Your snake, do you understand who it is?" Smiling warmly, the Archmage touched the right side of his chest, and after a few seconds, Nagini's head popped out from under the collar, looking at the gloomy old man with a displeased squint. 

"Her name is Nagini. I think you already know that." Dumbledore's eyes flickered with surprise at his words. "Severus, do you know...?" 

"No, I don't know snake language," Severus shook his head, stroking the top of her head. "I have the same bond with her that you and Fawkes have, so I understand her."

"I see.…"

"Headmaster, now can you answer my question?"

"Of course, ask, my boy." 

"Why doesn't Nagini like you? Did you know each other in the past?" Taking a deep breath, the elderly wizard lowered his eyes sadly, going up to the bookshelf and standing with his back to the Archmage, he said "It was during the war ... then ... I promised a young girl to help her friend, who had gone over to the dark side, to return him alive, but ... I could not do this: he died," Turning to Severus, he looked at Nagini, who did not budge and continued to look at him. 

"Since you're asking that, she must have lost her memory already?" 

"I was able to partially stop it, but not everything could be recovered." 

shock was reflected on the old man's face at the words of the Archmage. "Severus, were you able to stop this terrifying curse!?" 

"Not in the perfect sense, but I want to help her become human again." Severus said, shaking his head slightly.

"It will be very difficult… such a curse cannot be lifted. In my youth, I also thought about solving this problem, but I never succeeded, as you can see…"

"Headmaster, would you mind sharing your research?" the Archmage asked curiously, ignoring the hint of embarrassment that flickered across Dumbledore's face. "Of course, but I can't remember exactly where I have it.  You can come to me tomorrow, and then, if I find it, I'll give it to you.

After all, I still have to help you with concluding a contract with an elf." 

"I understand you, Headmaster, then I shall be leaving, I have more classes in the morning …"

"Of course, my boy, good night, and if you have any questions, you can always come here and ask them over a cup of tea…" A benevolent smile appeared on the old man's face again.

Responding with the same smile, the Archmage left the office, heading towards the stairs.

"He lied, I'm sure… probably…" Nagini came out from under his robe.

"Yes, but not completely, it's still quite hard to read him, but about studying your curse with me, he didn't lie and I'm sure of that…" 

"So he is a good person?" Nagini asked, looking towards him.

Smiling affectionately, he jabbed his finger into her nose. "You are naive, he is a terrible person, and if I were offered to fight him or that pale-faced one, I would definitely choose the second one."

"Is he that strong…?" she hissed in disbelief, because Severus never retreated and was very confident in himself during the entire time they were together, and such words just unsettled her. 

"I am not afraid of him, and if we have to fight to the death, I will kill him, although maybe with a little difficulty. Since I don't know his fighting style, and what kind of hidden cards this "century" old man has, but still- I would still like to avoid this, and the less people know about my strength, the calmer we will live, am I not right?" smiling, he winked at her, which made her a little embarrassed and, as usual, she began to poke her tail in his sides. 

Moving along the eighth floor and approaching the stairs, the young man suddenly froze and, turning to the completely empty wall, frowned. "What is this magical seal? It's like someone used Illusion magic on this place, or... maybe disguise…" 

For a moment, Severus's body was illuminated by a white light, and as soon as he opened his eyes, huge transparent doors appeared in front of him, which aroused a slight interest in the Archmage. 

"Hmm… They must have some specific opening mechanism…"

"Severus, why are you frozen and staring at an empty wall?" Nagini asked in bewilderment, a little surprised by the Archmage's behaviour. 

"Here is the door…" he mentally conveyed the image to her. "Well….I'd better deal with this tomorrow, it's already quite late ..."

"And when did being late ever stop you?" Nagini said with a slight mockery in her tone.

"I would gladly try to get past these gates but it is quite dangerous: first I need to explore them better, after all we don't know what is behind these doors."

"Wow, you decided to be careful for once, the sun's definitely gonna rise from the west today!"

"Stop being sarcastic, I've always been careful," he snickered as he flicked the top of her head. 

"Shall I remind you of the adventure in the basilisk lair?" Shaking her head with displeasure, she purred, for which she received a second flick. "Hey!"

"I had everything under control."

"I remember how much under control it was…" she was about to continue but, seeing the approaching hand, Nagini nevertheless decided not to say anything, while a victorious grin did not leave her muzzle. 

"Okay, let's go to the room, we need to go to bed early today: there will be a lot of work tomorrow," finally glancing towards the empty wall, and then moving to a strange picture located on the opposite side, where a man in a bard's outfit taught trolls to dance ballet, he headed towards the stairs, located ten metres ahead of the bend …

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