Chapter 53
Half an hour after Severus left, Dumbledore finally reached the cave and seeing that everything was in order with the hat he felt relieved.
"Albus, you took so long." The hat complained.
"I only found out five minutes ago that someone kidnapped you. I don't know how he managed to do it and that also from my office," going up to the hat, he reached out and touched the barrier, which disappeared in a second.
"Did you know who it was?" Dumbledore asked.
"How would I? He hid his face and changed his voice, but I don't think he's a bad person." The hat shook its pointy tip.
"Understood, I'm glad to hear it," Soon the elderly wizard saw a note lying by the side of the hat and after reading that note he smiled.
"You never said that you were so bored in my office, why were you silent?"
"Aa? What is written in the note?" the hat asked in bewilderment, a little embarrassed.
"That I'm "an ungrateful old fart, exploiting the work of a poor artefact and not interested in his opinion, while not giving even a fraction of freedom, forcing him only to gather dust on an old shelf among the rest of the rubbish ..."
"Ohh, is that so? Of course he is wrong Albus, have you ever done any of the things written in that note?" Hearing such irony from the hat's words the elderly wizard experienced a bit of embarrassment.
"I understand. Maybe he's right... I'll think about how to solve this." After coughing several times, Dumbledore put the leaf into a spatial artefact.
"Why did he need you?"
"He didn't need me, he needed th3 Sword of Gryffindor."
"Sword? Really…?" The hat decided to remain silent in response, and Dumbledore frowned.
"So he was able to get the sword, how did he do it?" Dumbledore questioned.
"Used the weakness of the spell cast on me…"
"Weakness?" Dumbledore, hearing this, frowned.
"Illusions. He made me believe that James Potter was in danger by creating a very realistic illusion, and the sword reacted to it" The voice of the hat did not sound sad or angry, but on the contrary, with a hint of fun.
"I remember telling Godric that this spell is nonsense.
What bullshit 'Only a true Gryffindor can draw a sword'."
"I see, what did he want the sword for?" Dumbledore fixing his glasses asked.
"He said that he was fond of fencing and was looking for a worthy sword, although I can hardly believe it …" The hat said.
"Let's hope that he does not use this sword for evil …and will not become another problem like Tom …" wearily sighing, he raised the hat, and then apparated back to Hogwarts.
********
In the beginning, Severus planned to obtain this sword by force by breaking into the Headmaster's office and after a small fight, take the hat.
But thanks to the morning letter that he received from Malfoy that the ministry would soon come for him and Severus had a new idea - just lure Dumbledore out of Hogwarts and send the house elf trained by him to pick up the hat, because the elf could easily apparate within the walls of the castle.
Whereas for people doing this is simply impossible due to the spells cast on the castle.
And everything went just as well as possible, Severus himself was a little surprised by this.
After all, he assumed that the Headmaster would be much harder to lure out of the office, but only one letter and a detachment of Aurors who came to the school were enough to make him act.
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After returning to the store, Severus immediately went to the training room and started analysing the sword there.
First of all, the Archmage removed from it all tracking enchantments like its marks and the enchantment of the connection between the hat and the sword, and only after that he began to study the sword itself.
And after a detailed examination, the young man could not hold back a joyful smile, because the hunt was worth the prey.
In addition to the fact that the metal was not the simplest, but very decent for this world, crystals could also store magic in themselves and at the right moment sharply fill the wizard's body with it, enhancing his physical abilities for several tens of seconds.
And the fact that there were no enchantments on the sword did not surprise the wizard at all, because from history he also learned that Godric used this sword mainly during ceremonies, as well as to participate in duels and duels with Muggles.
But what was most intriguing and did not escape the sharp eyes of the Archmage was the special properties of the sword to acquire the magical properties of everything that it touches, and also, thanks to the metal, it was an excellent conductor of magic.
You could even say that this is the ideal sword for Battle Mages - wizards who use the skills of a warrior, not limiting themselves to magic, but also able to fight in close combat, as well as combine magic and sword.
Severus was very pleased with his new acquisition, but nevertheless he decided to work a little on its appearance, adding more dark shades.
****
The next day closer to ten in the morning, the Aurors looked into his shop, they were the same ten aurors who came before.
This time they came to return everything that they had taken from the store, with an "apology" on top in the form of five thousand galleons.
Severus, of course, generously forgave them, but before that they still had to clean up properly, and they even gave him the very hand that they "found" from him.
***
And finally, in the evening, having handed over the purse with potions for two weeks in advance to Karner, Severus returned to Hogwarts.
On the way to his room, the students stared at him with surprise, apparently not expecting such a quick return, and only later did Severus learn from the house elf that the Aurors had made quite a fuss in the school when they walked around the castle in a businesslike manner and entered the Slytherin common room, and then broke open the door to his room and turned everything upside down there.
Severus did not pay much attention to the students, because it was not the first time he had come across something like this, and even during the time when the news regarding his shop was spread, everyone was looking at him as if he was an extinct animal.
Finally, having reached his room with a still whole door, he opened it, and met with a pair of displeased narrowed eyes with vertical pupils.
"My snake, did you miss me?" He smiled at her as he closed the door behind him.
"Something else, but I'm glad you've returned: there will be someone to talk to, " Nagini grunted, keeping her calm, dropping her head on the pillow and closing her eyes.
"Eh… I was in such a hurry to get to my snake, I thought you were worried about me…" the wizard said tragically, clutching his heart and making several pirouettes, he fell down next to her.
"Nellie, thank you for taking care of this lazy lady."
"Master does not need to thank Nellie, Nellie is glad to serve the master and mistress," the house elf in a lilac dress, standing near the bed, quickly murmured.
"As I understand it, everything worked out for you?" Nagini casually asked, trying to keep her cool.
"Yes, everything is the best it can be," he raised his palm up, and in the next second a rather simple-looking long dark blade appeared in it, but it was distinguished from other similar swords only by its blade, on the very centre of which dark runes were applied, and a guard, shaped like the letter "e", and this is a completely ordinary blade, which is why it did not cause any surprise on Nagini's muzzle.
"It's the best thing I've seen so far..." '...in this world,' Snape mentally added as he pushed it back.
"I'm Glad for you. I hope you don't get stuck like that again." Nagini said.
"Although she understands that I feel her emotions, she still tries not to show them ... My teacher told the truth:" Women are the strangest creatures: one thing in the head, and another in the tongue," smiling, he began to gently stroke her over the head.
"I'll try, of course, but I don't promise anything ..." feeling slight discontent through the connection and at the same time a bit of joy and calmness, he could not restrain himself, and his smile became a little crooked.
But at that moment, the idyll in the room was spoiled in the worst possible way - by a loud knock on the door.
"Open it, Nellie, this is Professor Slughorn," Severus was able to feel his magic without much difficulty, and the spell he placed on the door to know if anyone was waiting for him also played a role.
"Yes, master," nodding timidly, the elf quickly approached the door, and as soon as she opened it, a slightly agitated Slughorn quickly entered the room and, noticing his student sitting on the bed, stroking a snake with a smile, froze abruptly.
"Severus, are you okay? I heard that you were taken by the Aurors and were accused of keeping dark artefacts." Slughorn asked.
"Totally, Professor, I even managed to benefit from this," the wizard replied with a smile, noticing the concern on Slughorn's face.
"Thank Merlin, I already wanted to turn to my mentor for help, but apparently this will not be necessary," the man exhaled with relief, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief.
"Did you find out the real reason behind all this?" Slughorn asked.
"Potions, professor, potions…" Slughorn, hearing this, immediately frowned, but after a moment of thought, he nodded and asked." You said that you only benefited from this?"
"Yes, I agreed with the Minister that I would pass on the recipes, but in return I would receive a certain percentage of each potion sold, so I only benefited from this," the young man replied with a proud smirk, causing surprise on the face of the Slughorn.
"I'm happy for you, Severus, very happy," Slughorn nodded with a smile, before adding sternly. "But even if you make a fortune, that won't be a reason not to attend my extra classes, am I clear?"
"Of course, Professor, I will definitely get a golden cauldron before I graduate from Hogwarts." Severus laughed as he jokingly added.
"Glad to hear it," for a moment Slughorn's gaze slid down to Nagini, who, sensing this, narrowed her eyes and hissed in displeasure.
"Um… Severus, I have one request for you…"
"Yes professor?"
"I… can I get some poison from your snake…?" he asked embarrassedly, but Nagini was dumbfounded by such a proposal, and Severus was a little surprised. "If she wants to, otherwise I can't help you with anything ... "And, swallowing, Slughorn again looked down at the snake.
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