Chapter 67
After the "fun" dinner and the announcement of the departure time of the train, which, as usual, was at eleven in the morning, the students began to disperse to the living rooms, where they continued the fun.
Snape himself did not leave, but decided to wait for Slughorn, who after a few minutes, after saying goodbye to the rest of the teachers, headed towards the exit from the large hall.
"Mr.Snape, what do you think?" the man asked him with a smile, noticing the serene expression on the young man's face.
"Professor," Severus nodded quickly before following Slughorn down the long corridor. "I probably won't be able to stay, I have some things to finish."
"Is that so… Well, I'm sorry, but I won't force you. If there are any questions, you can always ask me about them by sending an owl."
"No, professor, I have another suggestion," and a palm-sized gray mirror appeared in Severus's hand, which he handed over to the potion master.
"A friend of mine made two similar artefacts linked to each other, the password is the name of a potion that includes mistletoe, white nettle and mandrake root."
"Interesting, I'll remember, then at the same time as usual, and don't you dare be late!" Slughorn said sternly, not too surprised to find out what kind of mirror it was, although he knew that buying such a little thing was a very expensive pleasure.
"Professor, have I ever been late?" but, having caught the mocking glance of the potion master, Severus looked away in embarrassment. "Well, it happened once, but I had an objective reason!"
"Once…?" Slughorn said with a mocking smile.
"Okay, twice." Severus said while looking down at the floor.
"And the time you stayed in the library for two whole minutes." Slughorn asked with a raised eyebrow.
"But two is not twenty!"
"You were late anyway," the man grunted, nodding to passing students who greeted him.
"I will try not to let that happen in the future." Severus replied shaking his head.
"I'll take your word for that, Mr. Snape..." After descending into the castle dungeon and saying goodbye to each other, they split up: one went to his office, and the other to prepare for tomorrow's departure.
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In the Slytherin common room, the celebration was in full swing, although more than a celebration, it was a kind of business party at which students from all courses made new connections and established contacts with each other.
In general, there was nothing interesting for Severus, and even when he came in, something told him that if he had not cast a spell of averting eyes on himself in advance, then the group that had gathered in front of the entrance would have jumped in and started to get him.
And finally, having calmly reached his room, he rather quickly gathered some things and, having called the house-elf moved home ...
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[Diagon Alley.]
Finding himself in the store, Snape looked with surprise at the decorated Christmas tree standing in the corner, and the room itself, which was decorated with garlands and toys in the best traditions of Christmas.
"We'll have to raise his salary," the young man said with a smile, looking at a table filled with food under a stasis spell with a small message: "Merry Christmas, Mr. Snape!"
"...but I already ate at Hogwarts, do you want some?" Severus looked at Nagaina, who shook her head.
"Okay, then we'll leave it for the morning, and anyway, the store will not open for the next seven days," pointing his hand at the table, he strengthened the spell so that the food will last till tomorrow morning.
"Tobby, Nellie, you can also rest, but at the very first word you are obliged to return back!" Severus added sternly, because if he just said: "You have a day off", they would immediately begin to almost sob at his feet, thinking that Snape was releasing them, in a word - the typical house-elf.
"Yes, sir!" appearing in front of him, both answered in unison and disappeared just as quickly.
"What are we going to do?" Nagini asked, looking at Severus.
"I suggest you take a walk around London, what do you think?"
"Hmm…" Nagini drawled contentedly, pressing against his cheek. "Maybe we should check out the cinema?"
"Okay…"
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[Different Scene.]
Finally waking up, James abruptly jumped out of bed and, with panic on his face, began to look around, because he still clearly remembered that deer head, and the memories of that voice caused goosebumps all over his body, and there was an unhealthy pallor on his face.
But still a tear rolled down his face when he saw human hands, and then realised that he had become a man again and was now at home.
After all, these seven days were a real hell for him. It's one thing to stay in the form of an animal for a couple of hours on a full moon so that their werewolf friend wouldn't be lonely, and another thing to spend a whole week in the skin of a deer, because in order to shit, he had to run out of the castle, and then wipe himself on the ground in one place, which was very disgusting.
Of course, he was offered to go home to the Potters' house, but he refused, because he didn't want to leave Lily alone with the "damn slytherin".
'I should talk to my father about him, it's definitely his doing, only he had a grudge against the four of us!' James thought with an anticipatory smile, and when he was about to run out of the room, he saw a square box with a bow on the table ...
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At this moment, the woman walking outside heard the explosion right from James' room.
"Ah! James!" the woman exclaimed with excitement on her face, and, running to the door, she threw away the tray, taking out her wand and sharply opening it.
Smoke immediately burst out of the room, and when most of the smoke had already left the room, she froze, "dumbly" looking at the deer running around the room, trying to save himself from a pair of scissors, striving to get under its tail.
A few seconds later, a whining "dog" approached her, but as soon as she saw the "HORROR" going on in the room, she decided to get out of harm's way so that the scissors would not be thrown at her.
Of course, there was no castration, because the witch promptly destroyed the "steel guillotines", but the moral injury inflicted in this way could not be cured, and, most likely, the boys would be afraid to even look at the scissors for the rest of their life.
Approximately the same thing happened with Pettigrew, only it was a mousetrap this time, but Remus woke up completely naked in the women's toilet at one of the stations and that also without a wand. He was moved by a strange crystal he found in his gift. None of the four were left out…
[ End Of Scene.]
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The next day was supposed to be a date with Bella, but Snape regretfully had to cancel this meeting because of some important matters, and the woman herself was busy, because the Malfoys were having a Christmas Party today, which she simply could not help but go to, because, in addition to the party, the wedding date of Lucius and Narcissa was to be announced on the day, to which Snape himself was invited, but he could not come, so as an apology he sent two mirrors, like those that he and Slughorn had.
The mirrors themselves were rather unpretentious artefacts of communication, which in this world were a great rarity and a sign of luxury, the method of creation of which was long lost, and the rest lay on the shelves of collectors and aristocratic families in safes.
Of course, Severus thought about selling them, but after some thoughts he abandoned this idea,
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In the late afternoon, Severus appeared in front of a dilapidated estate far from civilization, in its walls and roof were many gaped holes, and most of its windows were clogged with boards or were completely absent.
A cold smile appeared on his face as the smell of blood hit his nose. "It only took two months… weaklings…"
"Snape, why did we come here…?"- Nagini asked with a bit of panic, seeing traces of blood near the house and a half-open creaking door.
"To finish the job," he replied calmly, heading towards the building.
Looking up at the window on the second floor, she saw a bloody trace from the palm going down, and hiccuping in fright, she slipped under his robes.
Snape also saw this trace, but did not attach any importance to it, because he felt that there was only one living person in the house on the first floor, and even that one was on his last legs.
"Don't worry, everything is fine…" Finally opening the door to the end, his eyes immediately caught on the body of a man in a brown cloak with traces of blood on his back, lying almost at the very entrance, and then, looking towards the living room, Severus saw another one – a aged women, whose face was contorted with horror, she died from a dagger in the heart.
"Well, they had a good time…"
In the building, Severus sensed eight more bodies: two in the kitchen, three on the second floor, one near the window, two more in the basement and one on the stairs.
[A/N: The one near the window has already been counted, that's why it is 8 more bodies.]
At the same time, there was real devastation in the house itself, and traces of blood were present on almost every wall.
"What happened here…?" Nagini asked with a tremor in her voice, leaning out from under his robes and looking around the room in shock.
"Nothing special, they just interrupted each other, apparently they did not want to share something," shrugging indifferently, and after passing through the living room, he went into another room, in the corner of which sat a thin man in a white shirt, which was covered in blood.
The face of the wounded man was whiter than chalk due to the large amount of lost blood, but at the same time he still found the strength to open his eyes in order to see the "uninvited" guest who had entered the room.
"Why did we come here, and how did you know about this?"Nagini asked him in bewilderment, but the next moment she stared in surprise at the hoarsely laughing wounded wizard, who did not take his eyes off the smiling Snape's face "Y-you…
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