16. Marked

CHAPTER 17

# Hogwarts #

-Severus's POV-

I went to the Room of requirement after being released from the hospital wing.

I knew almost all the functions of this room now.

I summoned all the scrolls and books that I looted from the Cursed Vault of Ice.

These books and scrolls were very old but they were still in perfect condition.

These books were written in different languages, such as Sanskrit, Latin, drawings, and Ancient Runes.

Artifacts were mostly useless as their functions can be replicated using spells.

My interest was captured by the books and scrolls. These books were a treasure.

They described the raw force of ambient magic that was used before the invention of the wand and verbal spells.

I knew different languages even before I bought some more books on languages this Christmas.

I have learned some more languages since then.

I went through a few scrolls.

The magic used back then wasn't as versatile as it is today.

The scrolls had information on how people performed magic with just intent and will but what I found common was that the feats they performed can be dwarfed nowadays with the help of a wand.

Most of the scrolls had information on magic used to do basic tasks.

I found scrolls on elemental magic, while elemental magic spells exist such as fieldfare, Aguamenti, Incendio, and other spells also exist that were different from elemental magic such as necromancy, and Levicorpus, which was invented by me.

Spells like Incendio use the aspects of elements to do a specific task but they don't directly interact with the nature of the element.

These scrolls spoke about the elemental force of fire, water, air, and other forces.

I have heard and learned about Ignis Nagy, a Hungarian Witch who studies the elemental force of fire. She theorized how to withstand flames and increase the stamina of Wizards/Witches.

These scrolls had spoken different methods on how to control each element as if it was an extension of their body, these scrolls also detailed how they came to make such methods.

They made these methods by studying different magical creatures, for example, Ignis Nagy theorized how to withstand flames and increase the stamina of a Witch/Wizards after studying dragons, these scrolls spoke of some extinct species of Magical Creatures.

I practiced these for hours and then left the Room of Requirement.

I was making my way towards Slytherin common room, turning in the corner, I heard a voice I recognized, it was Mulciber's voice.

"I got you all cornered now, Mudblood. Last time, we were interrupted by Professor and your friends, who came to your rescue. But now no one will come to help you, I will have fun with you."

I turned to the corner and saw Mulciber covering Mary McDonald's mouth with his hand and trying to grope her.

"You will compile to what I say,"

I can't let this happen.

I didn't know Mulciber was this sick of a bastard.

I walked towards them, making no sound.

McDonald's saw me coming towards them, I gestured to her to keep quiet with my fingers.

She had tears running down her face.

In a swift motion, I was behind Mulciber, I caught him by his neck

"Who ---?"

Before he could complete, I increased the pressure that my grip had on his neck, and I yanked him from her, throwing him to the side.

He hit the wall and fell to the ground.

She was breathing heavily and her tears weren't stopping.

I didn't know what Mulciber was trying to do to her last time.

I just thought he was going hex or something but …this is.... this is sick.

I can see fear in her eyes when she looks at me. She was afraid of me, categorizing me in the same group as Mulciber.

I can understand her, I was insensitive to her situation last time.

She moved away from me in fear, fearing I would do the same

"I am not going to harm you, please calm down."

I summoned a water bottle and handed it to her.

I wasn't worried about her questioning how I did that since she just had one of the worst traumas of her life.

"Shh, he isn't going to harm you. I am here. drink some water. It is going to be alright."

She still looked afraid of me.

In order to reassure her, I gave my wand to her.

"Here take this, I will not harm you"

I don't need a wand to defend myself.

She finally took the bottles along with my wand.

Clutching my wand tightly, she drank the water while still being wary of me.

As I tried to calm her down, I felt a spell coming my way.

Ducking my head to avoid the spell, I turned around and saw that Mulciber standing with his wand pointing at me

"Snape, why are you helping a Mudblood? Do you think you hit me and get away with it? Now pay for your insolence, confri—"

Before he could even complete his incantation, I grabbed his wand hand and twisted it, making it drop to the ground.

"Good night," with that I punched him in the face.

He fell back unconscious with a bloodied nose.

I turned to see McDonald stand up, breathing heavily.

"Should I accompany you to the hospital wing? You can inform the professors of what happened there."

She just nods, giving my wand back.

I levitate the body of Mulciber, and I took them to the wing.

"What happened to you, dear? You seem troubled and Mr. Snape, why are you levitating that boy? Why is his nose broken and missing his front teeth?"

Madam Pomfrey asked as she came near us.

MacDonald looked at me,

"You should talk to Madam."

She nods hesitantly.

"Miss Pomfrey, please call Professor McGonagall and Professor Slughorn."

I said as I levitated the body of Mulciber to a bed. Madame Pomfrey looked at McDonald and took her to the side.

When they were gone, I hit Mulciber to wake him up to question him.

A question was plaguing my mind and I wanted to know it.

'If this bastard dared to assault a student in another house, who says he hasn't tried to do it to the students in Slytherin?Mainly when Half-bloods are treated badly?'

I cast a 'Muffliato' around us.

I hit his cheeks waking him.

He woke up and was about to shout at me, I cast a silencing spell on him.

I don't need him to talk to know what I want.

I used legilimency on him and found out he wanted to use imperio on McDonald, making her forget what happened by obliviating.

This bastard tried to do this before as well but was stopped due to someone was always able to stop him before he went with it.

'Sick bastard'

I obliviated the memory of me using Legilimency on him.

I turn around and saw both Prof. McGonagall and Prof. Slughorn were discussing McDonald's situation, they turned to me as I made my way towards them,

"I am grateful that you were able to save one of my students, Mr. Snape. If you weren't there, something horrific would have happened to Ms. McDonald. I will award 50 points to Slytherin." Prof. McGonagall said

"Mr. Prince, I am grateful that my house has individuals like you. You stood up for what's right. Mr. Mulciber will be severely punished and removed from the school. The headmaster has been informed about the situation. I would like you to not speak about this incident." Prof. Slughorn said.

I understood why they didn't want me to speak about the incident.

It would just fuel rumors about McDonald's and the incident.

"Do not worry, Professor, I won't be speaking about the incident. I hope the expulsion will be handled well"

"The expulsion will be carried out by the headmaster and a reason will be provided to the Slytherin house, neither you nor Miss. McDonald's will be mentioned in the reason. I will award you 30 points for reporting the incident and helping Ms. McGonagall" Prof. Slughorn said.

I moved out of the hospital wing.

I saw McDonald standing by the door, waiting for someone.

"Thank you, thank you for helping me"

She ran toward me, bringing me into a hug, and started crying.

At first, I didn't put my arms around her but I finally gave in, and put my arms around and reassured her.

She just experienced a traumatic incident, I wasn't heartless to not calm her down.

She stepped away from me

As she moved from the hug, I read her mind.

She was going to hide this from her friends and parents, suffering from this incident alone without reaching out to anyone.

She was deeply haunted by it.

"Listen to me, I want you to speak about this to your friends, at least speak to your best friends. It won't do you any good by hiding it. It will haunt you If you keep it to yourself, talk to someone who you believe in, it can ease your haunting. and suffering you feel."

I knew what it is like to be haunted by an incident.

I still have dreams of my mother's bloodied body.

She nods and goes towards the professor.

I

Due to the incident, I didn't get any sleep that night.

The next morning, I decided to set forth my plans to gather followers.

I spent the whole week observing some students, who would be the first set of followers.

I marked eight people, who would be working for me.

I choose each of them for different reasons, 3 of them were Purebloods, 2 of them were Muggle-born and the three left were Half-bloods.

These students were my primary selection, if they didn't want to join, I had already found students who can replace them.

I selected 24 students and divided them into 3 groups.

The first group consisted of the people who would bring the most benefits to my plans.

The next two groups were back up, but they too had their purpose.

I was almost certain that the first group would accept my deal.