Chapter 48

Finally handing the necklace to the house elf, the Archmage shifted his gaze to the second, who nervously fiddled with the edge of the rag that covered his nakedness, and looked at him with a mixture of pity and adoration. "I have nothing to give you, I'm sorry."

"M-Master doesn't have to worry about Tobbi. Tobbi is happy that the generous master paid attention to him!"

"I see… it will be necessary to rid you of this servility." With a weary sigh, Severus tossed ten Galleons into their hands. "Buy any fabric you like and sew some clothes out of them."

"N-but…!"

"No buts, I don't want to be surrounded by half-naked house elves. If you were a pretty girl, I would have thought about it but well.." 

With one motion both of the house elves disappeared into thin air and Severus was finally able to breathe normally.

"So, if they were pretty girls, what would you think?" Nagini hissed, narrowing his eyes in displeasure. 

"I don't see anything wrong with that." Snape said while rolling his eyes.

"Hm!"

"Do not be offended, I will not mind looking at a half-naked Lamia in the future," he winked at her with a smile.

"Lamia? Who is this?"

"Oh… just beautiful creatures, half-human, half-snake, those seductresses, the upper part of their body is human, and the lower part is snake, but they can completely transform into a human shape at any moment…" from the variety of emotions that rushed through the connection, the young man was able to contain a smile.

"Damn pervert!" Nagini hissed.

"You just got to know about this?" but when he saw how she climbed down from the bed and squinted menacingly, exposing her fangs, the young man slowly began to step back.

"I will only bite you once, and that's it, we have already tried, my poison does not take effect on you, so stand still." Nagini purred in an unctuous-sweet voice, accelerating sharply. 

But, oddly enough, the playful smile did not leave the face of the Archmage, but on the contrary, it became even more defiant. 

"I was joking, there's no need to take everything so close, you know my bad sense of humour, but in the image of Lamia I would still look at you, swimsuits made of leaves look especially beautiful on Lamias…" he easily dodged the first bite, moving behind her and sitting on the bed "You still have to grow and grow to keep up with me."

"You will have to stop sometime, you can't go on forever right?" Nagini hissed in displeasure.

"In this case, there is a barrier, but ... I'm too lazy to put it," looking at the snake that stopped in front of him, he extended his hand to her. "Okay just bite me, to be honest, I don't feel like running away from you, or maybe you want to play?"  With narrowed eyes, she looked at the palm hanging in front of her muzzle, and then raised her eyes to the smiling face of the Archmage.

"You knew I wouldn't do it, so why did you run away?"

"I just decided to play along."

"You bastard! Hmph!" turning away, she climbed onto the bed and lay down on the pillow, facing the window.

"Don't be offended by me, you just looked a little sad, so I decided to cheer you up," stroking her on the top of her head, the young man lay down next to her and closed his eyes. 

"Have you been haunted by the thought of the young man Dumbledore couldn't save?" She flinched at his words, but didn't deny it. "It's okay, I'll help you find out about him." And, as soon as these words left his mouth, she immediately stared at the Archmage.

"Is it true?"

"Yes, I will try to find information about him, so stop being sad, oh! And ohh, it seems like they have returned…"

Two house elves appeared in the centre of the room with a "zilch", holding several different fabrics in their hands. 

"AND? Didn't I told you guys to make clothes?" 

"M-master, we don't know how to sew …" the little house elf answered, almost sobbing, shaking all over and tightly squeezing the fabrics. 

"W-we are afraid to pick up clothes, so we didn't learn this skill, and during washing, we lift them up with magic." 

"Hmm… I see, but does anyone from your kind know how to do this?" the Archmage asked again, feeling slightly tired from this whole situation. 

Both elves shook their heads in response.

"Okay, I'll talk to my classmates and look for a teacher for you." 

"Yes, master!" As soon as Severus moved the fabrics into the purse, he again focused his attention on the nervous houses. 

"For starters, I'll tell you why I chose you and what kind of work you will have," the Archmage's first-year potions textbook appeared in the Archmage's hand, which he threw to the surprised Nellie.

"Study: I ​​will need an assistant, and you will also serve Nagini. In general, you will have a lot of free time. I will also give you an hour of attention every evening." 

"M-master, I can't, I'm very stupid…" 

"These are just excuses, tonight will be the first lesson, but for now, study the first chapter of the textbook."

"I ... I …"

"You do not want to follow my order?" Severus asked in a cold, menacing voice, which made the poor house elf turn white. "I won't dare! I beg you, forgive me!" With horror in her eyes, she fell to her knees, and when she was about to start banging her head against the stone floor, the voice of the Archmage sounded again, making her freeze. "Did I order you to bow and ask for forgiveness?"

The poor house elf trembled again. "N-no…" 

"Then why are you bowing to me when I ordered you to do something else?" 

"I..I.."

"This is the last warning, if you once again begin to bow to me and ask for forgiveness or ignore my orders, I will release you." 

"Master, I…!" but she simply swallowed the next words and, quickly taking the textbook in her hand, stepped aside and opened it. 

Seeing this, Severus nodded with a smile, and then turned his gaze to the second house elf. "You will learn combat magic, I will set aside an hour of my personal time for you." 

"Yes, master! Thank you, master! Tobbi won't let you down!" Tobbi also wanted to start bowing, as he quickly murmured with excitement, but, remembering the recent incident with Nellie, he decided not to do this, and, seeing the approval in the eyes of the wizard, he beamed. 

Severus chose the second house elf of all only because of the elf's core, which was more developed than the rest, with a visible orange tint, which spoke of his abilities in fire magic, and also because of his young age. 

This young man was able to understand after a more detailed examination and comparison with the rest. 

Severus decided to train the elf only for the reason that in the future he himself would not have to deal with all sorts of minor problems, like any idiots who coveted his shop, and not be distracted from other important matters. 

"But at the same time, this does not relieve you of everyday duties: cooking, washing, cleaning - all this still lies with you."

"Yes, master!" both elves exclaimed with joy at the same time, with some even relief on their faces.

""Strange creatures….." Severus said as he looked at them.

"I don't think that you should be the one to talk about who's strange."

*********** 

Later in the evening class with Slughorn, Severus, as promised, worked out with Nellie. 

Although she did not have a talent for Potions, she did not stop, because in some six hours she simply memorised the entire first chapter of the textbook, thereby surprising Severus very much, because it consisted of five pages of continuous text without pictures. 

And after the praise, she generally beamed. 

The lesson itself went pretty smoothly: the little house elf took notes and listened very carefully to Snape's every word, followed every gesture like a chick that had recently hatched from an egg, showed remarkable interest, although this was more to please the Archmage.

And by the end of the lesson, Severus gave her an encyclopaedia of plants and monsters with only one order - to study, and Severus already understood how she would study from the first book. 

With the second house elf, it was much easier, because from the very beginning, the elf knew about his predisposition to fire magic. 

Before Snape took him, the elf mostly created and controlled the flames of the furnace, which is why he had a much more developed core than the rest of the elves, because he almost constantly had to use magic. 

With him, the Archmage began by testing abilities in a separate room with the spell of invisible expansion, and then proceeded to training, because the control was already enough after ten years of working in front of the furnace, but there was no experience in battles. 

Of course, he refused to attack Severus at all at first, but after the threat of release and a direct order, he had to do it, and after Tobbi realised that he simply could not do any harm to his master at all, adoration in the eyes of the elf only increased. 

Severus also did not forget about his main task - to get the sword of Gryffindor, the location of which can only be known by one thing, and that is Godric Gryffindor's living hat, but now it is stored in the Headmaster's office. 

Of course, he could just tell Dumbledore everything and ask for the hat, but Severus doubted that he would just be allowed to talk to the hat. 

And even if he could and the hat knew where the sword was and wouldn't mind handing it over, Snape doubted the headmaster himself would agree to that. After all, this is a symbol and legacy of the founder of the Gryffindor house, and not some kind of trinket.