Chapter 74

After parting with the killers hired by Rudolphus, Severus returned home, and after that, taking Nagini with him, they moved to their new house, the roof of which was just ready, only windows remained to be done, that would arrive only tomorrow, and finally the construction of the house would be completed. 

He arrived there with only one purpose, in order to check whether everything was in order or not.

Although this week the young man had learned to trust the skills of the goblins, but with their greed it was very difficult. But, to his surprise, no matter how he searched, he did not find flaws that stand out from the drawing, everything was done as if under a ruler, which pleasantly surprised Snape. And the creatures themselves were even a little offended by such distrust, but after he removed five fines, they already perked up and forgot about the recent discontent.

The house itself didn't look particularly special, although it had a slightly provocative appearance for a world of magic stuck in the eighteenth century, but Muggles would hardly have been surprised by such a thing.

It was small, only three floors and a basement, but it looked quite pleasing to the eye, especially in winter, because the walls were painted in light colours, in particular the central part. 

We can say that the house was made in the best traditions of connoisseurs of perfectionism. It was divided into three parts: the central one, which has three floors; a small two-story superstructure on the left, and another one on the right, adjacent to the main one, while they had a regular rectangular shape. 

In fact, Snape saw a similar style of the house in one magazine from the Muggle world, which accidentally caught his eye, because the huge old mansions caused him some unpleasant feelings, very close to melancholy, which is why he chose a similar style that looked more modern and lighter, and Nagini liked it very much, because she, who grew up in the Muggle world, also liked this look more than the old houses of all purebloods. 

And, saying goodbye to the goblins, who looked very pleased, they returned home, where, after dinner, the snake went to bed, and the wizard himself, sitting by the window, continued to work on the glasses, casting a spell of silence around him so as not to accidentally wake her up.

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Thoughtfully examining the lens, the young man felt familiar magic quickly moving towards him, but did not pay attention to her, but calmly continued to work, even when she climbed into the room. 

Exactly ten minutes later, he inserted the lens into a completely simple frame and, putting on his creation, looked at the shadow, and could not help smiling, because Severus could clearly see the silhouette of a man in the shadow, as well as the magic that, like a flame, flowed from it .

"Not bad, more or less they are almost ready, it remains only to ease the load on the eyes and brain, and that's it," with these words, he put them on the table and turned to the shadow, holding out his palm, on which a crystal appeared in a few seconds, into which, he sent some magic, and right above him appeared an image of a naked man tied to a branch upside down, who was being used, like a punching bag, while the one who delivered the blows acted especially cruelly, almost without restraint. And then, having rewound two hours, they  removed him from the tree and moved to Diagon Alley, where they threw the body away, while not forgetting to put on a warming spell so that he would not die of frostbite. 

"Not bad, I'm satisfied," he looked at the shadow with a smile, and then put the crystal into his wallet. 

"Thank you for keeping my team alive," a calm male voice sounded in the room. 

"It's okay, since that's all, then you can go." 

The man was silent for a while, until he decided to ask "Excuse me, may I know what kind of artefact it was that recorded all this, and is it possible to buy several dozen of these crystals?" 

"They are not ready," Severus replied indifferently, turning his back to the man and starting to examine his glasses again. "Besides that, they are not ready to record and sound and some extra work needs to be done on them."

"I see …" The man from the shadow replied and he was about to go when Severus continued.

"But don't worry you can be the first to get them, in exchange I would use your services." A completely ordinary piece of paper appeared on Snape's table from the shadows of the windows. 

"As soon as you break it, we will find out about it and at the same moment we will come to you." The man in the shadow said, motioning towards the paper.

"All right, you are free, and from now on, better collect data on your target. I don't want you not to come when I tear this sheet," without touching the paper, Severus continued working on the artefact, while feeling a slight dissatisfaction behind his back, because they, one of the best teams of killers, are taught by what - a schoolboy, moreover he is absolutely right, because only because of their ignorance they got into this trouble and almost lost their lives.

"Yes, see you, Mr. Prince," and the shadow disappeared, moving towards the rest of the group, which was very far from Diagon Alley. 

This brought a smile to the young man's face. "What a careful ..." and then he looked at Nagini, actively pretending to be asleep, although she woke up at the same moment she felt that someone had sneaked into the room. 

Finally, getting up from the chair himself, Severus went to the bed and lay down next to her. "Go to sleep, nothing serious happened," she snorted in displeasure in response, crawled closer and snuggled up to him. "And I love you," gently running his hand over the smooth scales, he closed his eyes, and after a few minutes, in addition to measured sniffing, there were no more sounds in the room ... "

***

  Finally, by noon, the building was completed. Honestly, Severus had never seen such happy goblins when he paid everyone the promised galleons, and from the praises from these creatures, Snape's ears began to curl up into a tube. 

But still, one of the main rules of every goblin: "Time is money," so they didn't linger for a long time, and as soon as they collected all their things, the workers left the territory of the house, and only their leader remained to sign some additional documents, and after that he also disappeared. 

Severus couldn't help but smile sadly as he looked at the building. For some reason, old memories of his family resurfaced in his head. After more than thirty years, he again had a place where he could return at any time ... his home.

"Severus, are you okay?"Noticing the change on his face, Nagini asked with concern. 

"Just remembered something from the past, never mind…" Smiling warmly at her, he turned his gaze back to the building. "Just a little more work to do and everything will be ready… we can move into our own house…"

"I can't wait for that." Nagini said, looking towards the house.

"And I… well, Tobby, Nellie." And at the same moment two house-elves appeared in front of him. 

One of them wore glasses with round lenses, while wearing a white coat, and the second - in trousers and a shirt. At the same time, even with a changeable image, they almost did not change in character, with the exception of adoration in the eyes, which moved to a new level and threatened to soon develop into worship. 

Severus wouldn't even be surprised if he saw them praying to his portrait one morning. Still, these creatures were very strange, he just treated them well, and they became the most devoted creatures to him. 

Of course, Snape liked it, but still, at times they went too far, and no matter how much he struggled with it, everything was unsuccessful, so the young man simply gave up on it. 

The main thing is that they were completely faithful to him, and the rest did not bother him anymore.

Bowing, they looked up at him with adoring glances. "Clean around the house and inside."

"Yes, sir!" the house-elves answered in chorus and disappeared, starting to work. 

Snape himself, having taken out a bucket of red liquid, in which Nagini recognized, was blood, and after another one and a large cauldron, began to draw a magic circle around them. 

The snake did not disturb him, but only watched it with interest. And a few minutes later, when he finished with it, the blood in both buckets flared up and, flying out, began to merge, and above them appeared images of a snake and a dragon, growling with fury towards Severus, but in the next moment they dissipated. 

Stroking his chin thoughtfully, he covered the cauldron with a steel plate and turned his gaze to the house. "I think this should be enough," and used wind magic to lift it up,

"What is it?" Nagini asked, tilting her head.

"Dragon and basilisk blood. For a rune system, this is the most suitable material: only it can withstand the flows of magic for the full functioning of the house. Of course, in the future I will find something better, but until then I will use it, although I will have to renew them every year, but it will not be as difficult as applying for the first time," Severus calmly explained, opening the door and entering into a building with completely bare walls and empty rooms. 

But at the same time everything was very clean, there was not a single speck of dust on the floor. "Well done," a brush appeared in his hand, which he dipped into the blood. "Time to work…"

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