Chapter 23

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After closing the door, Severus thoughtfully looked towards the Galleons.

"I could only read his superficial thoughts, although it's not surprising: Lucius is quite an experienced Occlumens, and I wouldn't be surprised if a couple more Legilimency-blocking artifacts are hidden on his body…" Taking a deep breath, Severus moved the coins into a pouch and headed up the stairs . 

"But still, you think too narrowly, Lucius …"

At that moment, when Malfoy lost control of himself, for a moment Severus managed to penetrate a little deeper into his head and find out some of his plans, and especially about the thought that appeared in his head at that the moment he heard about a potion that could enhance the magical power of wizards, and that, of course, was to steal the recipe and make them himself.

After all, in this turbulent time, only this potion could make a fortune, but he also didn't want to spoil his relationship with Severus, so Lucius abandoned the idea and decided to try and research those potions he got and just deduce the formula.

Of course, he did not think that Severus expected this and added something to the potion so that no one could find out what it consisted of.

As for the Fortifying Potion, the Archmage did not think at all, because only one portion will not help much, and this will be a lesson for Malfoy to never think about deceiving him again. When Severus was about to go to his room and go to bed, it was already ten o'clock in the evening, before he even crossed its threshold, he felt that someone had entered the house. 

"Why do you all have to come in the evening, couldn't they come in the afternoon or in the morning?!" Severus grumbled in annoyance, turning around and going downstairs, he headed towards the kitchen, because that was where the intruder was.

As soon as the young man entered the room, his right eye trembled. 

"Yes, you are kidding me ..." Right in front of him on the floor lay a huge snake of a greenish-brown hue, which at the moment was rummaging through the refrigerator, which does not work on electricity, but on magic, thanks to the Thermo Charm.

Hearing someone's voice, the snake raised its head from the refrigerator and hissed towards Severus, opening its mouth and showing its fangs.

"Eh… now there are too many snakes around me…" the Archmage muttered with a sad sigh and, waving his hand, turned around and walked back towards the stairs.

"When you finish eating, close it and leave the house the same way you came." And Severus really went to his room, leaving the snake slightly freaked out from such indifference to her, her mouth hanging open, and after a while, after hissing something, she returned to the meal. 

***

The next day for Severus began, as usual, with a hearty breakfast… in the company of a huge snake… Oddly enough, the wizard did not throw her out of the house, most likely because he felt sorry for her. 

It only took one glance for the archmage to realize that it was not a snake in front of him, but a woman under a curse, because even in his world such a thing was not uncommon, although in most cases such curses became a gift when the wizard took their power under control, but in this was a real curse for the reason that she spent too much time in the form of a snake, so both the thinking and the magical core were slowly changing, adapting to the new body, and it would be impossible even for the old Severus to return her human.

And also another reason to leave her was the feeling of loneliness, haunted his last days.

And the snake did not interfere much: it lay quietly in one of the corners of the room and watched his training. But still, the wizard did not relax, because he simply could not trust her yet.

And so, closer to dinner, having finished practicing the movements with the sword, he threw the sword back into the bag and, sitting on the floor, took out a lot of food to provide himself with even more energy.

"Come on, come here," he beckoned to the snake, which, narrowing its eyes, crawled up to him and looked at the fried chicken.

"This is for you," The wizard nodded to her and began to eat, taking a separate chicken leg in his hand.

"I almost forgot," a necklace with a black snake appeared in his hand, which he put on under the bewildered look of the snake.

"Tell me, how did you come to such a life?" 

"...apparently, in vain I decided to stay here for a while, he's definitely crazy, what normal wizard would train with a sword instead of studying spells, " instead of hissing, Severus heard a rather pleasant female voice, which made his smile even wider, but the snake was wary stepped back. "Just as I thought, crazy, " and, releasing her fangs, she began to hiss. "Don't look at me like that and don't come close…"

"Don't be nervous, I'm normal, I'm just a little surprised."

"Now he also behaves as if he understands me…"

" "Well, actually it is true," the mage added calmly, nodding, which made her freeze and look at the smiling young man with bulging eyes.

"You understand me…?" The snake asked or rather hissed.

"Yes, thanks to this artifact," he pointed to the black snake artefact.

"Y-you're not lying!?" she asked in an excited voice as she stood in front of his face for a moment.

'As I suspected, she's been in snake form for too long.' Severus thought.

"No, I'm not lying, so calm down," he reached out his hand and patted her on the top of her head.

"Tell me about your curse, maybe I can help." From such a gesture, she narrowed her eyes and hissed like a real snake, but after a few seconds she took control of herself, quickly suppressing the animal part.

"I want to talk!" with shining eyes she hissed.

"Of course, let's talk…" While the Archmage continued training with the sword, he also spoke to her and could only learn a little.

Mostly they just talked about "nothing", yet she was afraid of him and could not open up completely.

Severus also understood this and did not pressure her.

The name of the snake itself was Nagini, and once she really was a human, but because of the curse passed from her mother, she gradually turned into a snake until she became the way Severus saw her at the moment. 

Before meeting him, she lived at Hogwarts, but, tired of being there, she simply left and wandered the world for several decades, only a few days ago wandered into Diagon Alley, and then, hungry, climbed into his house. And although she did not lie, she did not say anything, although the wizard did not focus on this.

---

After finishing another set of moves, Severus decided to end the training for today, and it was already night outside, and for the maximum benefit, he must follow the regimen.

"You still haven't answered, why are you practicing with the sword?" the snake asked with lively interest, following the Archmage.

"Soon, I will have to face a monster whose skin almost completely blocks magical attacks," the wizard explained calmly, looking at a five-meter-long snake, the muzzle of which did not express a single emotion, but the same cannot be said about the voice.

"But why are you doing this?"

"Well, because I need to," he replied, ignoring the hiss of displeasure.

"Will you follow me everywhere?" the young man added with a smile, taking off his shirt, which caused Nagini's eyes to narrow and walk down the wide chest of the wizard.

"Are you embarrassed to undress in front of an ordinary snake? 

I'm sorry, but I don't have such hobbies," taking off his trousers, he could hardly contain his laughter, watching the reptile briskly crawling away. 'Even though she's been in the form of a snake for quite some time, she still thinks she's human inside…'

***

A few days later and again in the evening, after another not so boring training in the company of Nagini, when he was about to go take a shower, someone began to pound on the door violently, which made the wizard only sigh sadly and went to open it, because he already knew who it was, and the snake followed.

"Stop knocking already, I'm coming, I'm coming…" Finally opening the door, a man in a dark cloak burst into the room, grabbing the Archmage by the collar and glaring furiously at his face. "What did you do to me?!"

"Calm down, Lucius, what happened?" Severus asked with a smile, looking at the emaciated face of the man, very reminiscent of him at the moment after taking the strengthening potion. 

"You fooled me! You didn't say it was going to HURT!"

"I told you about the pain, didn't I? Have you forgotten the sentence you said: "I'm the future head of the Malfoy family,  would I be afraid of some kind of pain?" 

"But I didn't expect the pain to be so strong! And have you seen my face? How can I show myself to people like that?!"

 "Eat more and exercise, in two or three weeks you will be able to return to normal and even become stronger, don't you see?"

"See...?" As soon as Lucius began to peer into Severus's face, he did notice that he was now as tall as him.

"Do you think it's possible to achieve something like this without hard training? No, and this training will be useful for you, after all, spells not only can be blocked, but evaded as well, didn't you know about this?" Easily escaping from the grip of the man, he calmly sat down at the bar, and under the shocked look of the former head of Slytherin, a snake almost five meters long crawled up to the wizard and laid her head on his knees, and he, in turn, began to stroke her.

"Something is wrong?" and, as if noticing Nagaina just now, he introduced her with a smile.

"This is my companion, Nagini."

"Hiss~ Hiss…" the snake hissed, sending goosebumps all over Malfoy's body. 

"I-I see... Then I'll go..." He met Severus's eyes for a moment, and a cold sweat broke out on his back.

"Lucius, my good friend, stay, I'll treat you to tea, and let's discuss, did you manage to derive the formula?" At Severus's words, the man flinched. 

"What are you talking about, why would I do this…?I-I….I almost forgot." Taking a small notepad from his inside pocket, he gave it to Severus. "Here are the test results."

"Is that so…thank you then, but would you like to stay for tea?"

"I, perhaps …"

"~ Hisss …" Nagini hissed in his direction, narrowing her eyes.

"Of course, let's have a drink, I just had a free minute!" Lucius said, his face pale as a paper.

"I'm glad to hear it, sit down, I'll go and get the tea …"

"Can I go with you ?!"

"Don't worry, Nagini doesn't bite... probably... perhaps…"

---

It wasn't until half an hour later that Lucius was finally able to leave Severus. As soon as he left the house, he immediately apparated to Malfoy Manor - the estate of the Malfoy family.

"Damn it! And why was I scared?! It's Severus and a simple snake! But what did I see "him" in that second?!" Lucius couldn't forget Severus's gaze, just as cold and ruthless, and the snake only added to the terrifying picture that made him feel fear even after he was hundreds of kilometers away from Diagon Alley…

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