Chapter 172
In the living room, illuminated by the warm rays of the sun breaking through the windows, an elderly wizard sat in an armchair, stroking his beard approvingly and with a satisfied expression on his face throwing another lemon-flavoured sweet into his mouth from a saucer brought by a house-elf.
"Still, an interesting place..." Albus could not contain his curiosity, from the incredible density of magic on the territory of the house, which did not even compare to what was in Hogwarts and the like, he only once saw that level of magic and it was when he visited his good friend, Flamel and it was in his garden, "I would like to see its source, but..." the image of the old man he saw in Moody's memories popped into his head and he shuddered, and then shook his head, "...One can't be too greedy, everyone has their secrets."
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"Headmaster, I am glad, of course, to see you in my house, but you should have warned me in advance about your visit, I would have at least prepared for it," the weak, tired voice of the Prince sounded, descending from the second floor, looking as if he had just woken up and besides, his face was decorated with an unhealthy pallor, and his smile was rather sluggish, he was wearing only a white robe, and Nagini was crawling behind him, not taking her eyes off him.
Seeing the pitiful appearance of Severus, the old man was not very surprised, since he had such an assumption, because only this could make Ichiros put off his business of searching for ingredients and return to the country, and also why this public execution was arranged and why the Slytherin did not let anyone in for these few days.
"Severus, my boy, how are you feeling?" the old man asked him, putting the cup on the table.
"Already better, thank you for your concern," having approached the sofa standing opposite the chair, not without Nagini's help, he sat down on it, and the snake also crawled in and directed its displeased, narrowed gaze at the elderly magician, who coughed a couple of times as if a little guiltily. "And I am glad to meet you, Nagini."
In response, the snake snorted and turned away from him. "If you want to see my teacher, then it will not work, he will return only in a few days."
"Well, that's how ... a pity ... but I also wanted to meet you," turning his gaze back to the young man, he added.
"Hm?" Severus looked at him in bewilderment, not understanding what he wanted from him, of course, he could try to read his thoughts, but until he was fully restored, he did not want to do this, fearing that he might notice this, after all, the "Master" sitting in front of him was a master in Legilimency and Occlumency.
A small chest appeared in the hand of the elderly wizard, opening which, the house was suddenly engulfed by a pleasant and very familiar aroma of Umbra, which Severus had previously found in the "Magical Jungle".
"A good friend of mine from France is engaged in growing herbs," seeing the surprise on the young man's face, Dumbledore explained with a satisfied smile on his face, "And I managed to get it with difficulty, for the reason that he simply does not have a second similar flower," closing it, he pushed the box towards the Prince.
"But in return, he asked for a meeting with you and there, he will tell you about the last ingredient."
"With me?" Severus raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I told him about your achievements and he was very interested in such a gifted wizard, he will wait for you after finishing school to see what else you can achieve before that time," taking the cup from the table, he took a sip and nodded contentedly, "Not bad, I have only tried similar tea at Madam Pomfrey's, but this one has a richer taste …"
"I ordered it from China from one master of the tea ceremony," Severus answered calmly, "Nellie."
"What can I do for the Lord?" a house-elf appeared next to him, bowed slightly to Dumbledore and concentrated her attention on the owner.
"Take this to our greenhouse and be careful, My teacher really needs this flower," the wizard said sternly, to which she nodded seriously and carefully took the chest, disappearing.
"Have you freed your house-elves?" Albus asked him with interest, watching her go, already seeing the second house-elves in clothes, which was very strange, especially among aristocrats, which "Severus" was, albeit half.
"No, I just ordered them to sew themselves some clothes," the wizard answered calmly, "Of course, if there were pretty girls in their place, I would have thought about it, but watching a half-naked elf running in front of you..." At the same time, he did not react in any way to Nagini poking him in the side, "... I don't really want to, don't you agree with me?"
"Hmm…" the old man looked at the wizard with slight surprise, but after a few seconds he returned to his previous, good-natured expression, nodded, "You're right... this is indeed a good idea, I'll talk to Professor McGonagall about it…"
"And regarding your friend's offer, I accept it, and in fact, I was planning to visit this country first of all after finishing school."
"Oh-ho-ho... I understand, I understand," he winked at him with a grin, conspiratorially, stroking his beard, which puzzled both Severus and Nagini...
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And half an hour later, having discussed a couple more details related to his studies and Ichiros, and also having received some recommendations on what he would need to visit first in France, Dumbledore left the territory of the house, not forgetting to ask him to wrap up a couple of candies that he really liked.
"Still, a strange old man, always behaves like a child under the guise of a kind old man, but inside, he's still a bastard," Nagini commented on her feelings based on the behaviour and actions of Dumbledore, as well as the words of Severus, whom she unconditionally trusted, "And, by the way, about his friend …"
"Most likely, it is Flamel, only he could have such an ingredient, after all, he is one of the greatest, and perhaps the greatest alchemist in the world, so there is nothing surprising in this, the same potion making can be called a kind of offshoot of alchemy, because in addition to plants, it also studies a variety of minerals, their properties, transformations and combinations, to obtain new elements," the Prince answered serenely, falling back onto the sofa and sipping a cup of tea, "And you turned out to be a good actress," he looked at the snake with a half-smile.
"Actually, I used to work in…" she froze and after a few seconds, her gaze dulled, she tilted her head to the side and thought, "... and where did I work...?"
"Don't worry about it," he smiled softly, stroking the top of her head, "I told you, leave the past in the past."
"Yes... you're right, I'm sorry," shaking her head, she tried to distance herself from these thoughts, "By the way, you promised a date!"
"It will be, it will be…"
"Now!"
"But I'm sick…" but catching the displeased look of the Maledictus, he grinned and stood up, "Okay, okay, let's go, I promised, so we'll go, but…"
And a second later, Gorby appeared in front of him. "Sir, there are wizards from the Ministry of Magic at the gate, should I let them in?"
"Let's do it in the evening, or tomorrow morning, what about it?"
"Alright... tomorrow" the snake muttered with a bit of discontent, " And such excuses will not work again!"
"Yes, my Lady!" he playfully saluted, with a very serious face, causing a cheerful chuckle from Nagini and only the house elf did not understand what was happening, although he knew that the owner could talk to the snake and Nellie told him that she was the second mistress and she should be treated exactly the same as Severus, "Gorby, let them in."
"Yes, Lord!" and he disappeared...
***
The remaining "weekend" turned out to be more peaceful, if you do not count the constant visits from three forces: the Ministry of Magic, the "Death Eaters" and the "Black Star".
In addition to them, the next morning the Macmillans came to him, and again thanked Severus, because they were sure that if it were not for him, then Ichiros would hardly have helped Faust, and also gave him a bottle of wine that was almost a thousand years old.
And the price of such a bottle, to put it mildly, was astronomical, especially among collectors, the Prince, even at first refused such a "present", but still, under their persuasion, he had to accept it.
And closer to Saturday, in the evening, the Blacks dropped in, almost the whole family, with the exception of Regulus, who is currently at Hogwarts.
The very topic of conversation, as with the Macmillans, was gratitude for saving, as well as discussing some business-related matters.
But in addition to this, they also said that they had already moved to another place, leaving the house at Grimmauld 12, which was not surprising after what happened and the advice of "Amon".
But in addition to this, during the conversation, several specific hints were made that Nagini really did not like and they were about the engagement to Bella.
Although she had once already come to terms with this, she could not simply let him, although she knew that she was acting like a real egoist.
Severus understood this and therefore, he had already directly said that he would answer this offer only in a year and a half, since now he had too much work, and Bellatrix was not ready for this yet.
The witch, of course, was a little happy about this, but, like any other woman who was "rejected", she did not really like this answer, but still, she restrained her discontent, and having thought everything over with a cool head, already at home, the aristocrats agreed with him, since she, too, was not yet ready for such a serious step, because she herself had aspirations and desires, goals and plans, which she would simply have to forget about after this.
The Prince himself made such a decision for several reasons, one of which was the desire of the girl herself, and the other was Nagini.
The Slytherin, of course, understood that someday he would have to choose, but for now he simply wasn't ready for it, and for the first time in two lives he had to face such a choice, so the wizard decided to hold off on this decision until he at least helped the Maledictus become human again…
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