Chapter 18

The next day, closer to dinner, Snape was already standing in front of a small shop in Diagon Alley with a rather simple name: "Artifacts for Everyone". 

As soon as the young wizard entered the building, he immediately saw cupboards and tables with various things and trinkets from which magic emanated, and behind the counter stood a middle-aged man, outwardly very reminiscent of the former headboy of Slytherin.

"Good afternoon, I take it, that you're Mr. Snape?" the wizard greeted him with a benevolent smile, waving his wand, and at the same moment the door slammed shut and locked.

"And I'm glad to meet you, you are John's father, am I right? And where is he?"

"He is waiting for us in the basement," he replied, waving his wand again and opening a hatch in the floor. 

"I am very interested in that artifact, and I am ready to buy everything you have for three hundred Galleons apiece, what do you think?" Listening to the slightly bored tone of the man, Severus could hardly contain a smile, because even though he tried to deceive him, showing only a slight interest in "toys", but he did it well, very mediocre, so much so that Snape wanted to exclaim: "I don't believe !" but still he restrained himself by simply shaking his head. 

"That's not enough, just the cost of one such artifact costs me more than three hundred Galleons, that's not counting the time I spend on it, instead of improving my abilities, and in these turbulent days, "time" is very expensive, and soon my studies will begin, you know, there will be no time, and Professor Slughorn is a very serious person and, when he sees me not getting enough sleep, he will start lecturing, and I'm not talking about the Head of Gryffindor, who disliked me …" And the next ten For minutes, Snape continued to fool the owner of the shop, complaining about his problems and dragging all the teachers up to the Headmaster, building a very "honest" face, and each time, at least indirectly, the artifact was to blame.

Macmillan himself began to have a nervous tic already at the fifth minute of his speech, at the eighth the edges of his lips trembled, and at the tenth he lowered his head and raised his hand. "I get it, enough is enough."

 "Glad to hear it, I was just running out of ideas on what to talk about next," the wizard nodded with a smile, continuing. 

"Now, I hope we can discuss the price of my artefacts?"

 After stroking his goatee, the man chuckled in displeasure and, turning around, began to descend. "Follow me."

 "Good," Snape was not afraid that a trap might await him below, because he was confident in his abilities, and there were ten transformation cubes in his pocket, so he had nothing to be afraid of, also Macmillan himself did not look like such a person , and in his almost fifty years of life, the young wizard learned to understand people quite well, the owner of the shop for Severus himself was like an open book.

As soon as they reached the small stone room and passed through the barrier surrounding it, Snape immediately saw John himself, the former Head Boy of Slytherin, who waved at him with a smile.

"This is a special room in case of important negotiations, no one will hear or disturb us here," the man calmly explained, sitting at the head of the table. 

"Sit down and let's get straight to the point, name your price." With a calm step, under the intense gaze of Senior Macmillan, Snape walked to the table and sat opposite John.

"I have been researching the price of artifacts of this type for some time, and also due to the situation that is happening in the country, I was thinking about eight hundred Galleons," the mage said out of the corner of his eye looking at the reaction of the man. "But I understand that eight hundred is a lot, so I will reduce it to seven hundred, what do you think?" At this figure, the younger Macmillan froze in shock, but the older one only slightly frowned, as if not surprised by it. 

"It's… expensive… what does this price consist of?"

 "From the factors I mentioned earlier," the man's right eye twitched at the mention of earlier conversation. "And 100% protection against the three unforgivables."

" …what?"

 "About Avada, the favorite spell of dark wizards, as you yourself know, it only knocks out the soul from the body, and my artifact does not have it," quickly pulling himself together, the old man nodded, agreeing with Snape's words. 

"I already tested the Crucio and the artifact calmly blocked it, and the Imperius is rarely used in battles, but it can also reflect it, but, most interestingly, while this artifact is activated, not a single Legiliment can invade your mind , of course, not taking into account wizards like Voldemort and Albus Dumbledore: even the best artifacts will not save them."

 "That's understandable, but…" 

"It's worth its galleons. Stop trying to beat the price. I am sure that you have already tested it and understand how powerful it is."

'It's even a little embarrassing to call this toy a powerful artifact, in my world I would definitely be ridiculed for it.' Snape thought in his mind and continued without changing his face. "Also, do not forget to whom these artifacts would be very useful now…." 

Seeing the steadfastness on the face of a young man, the man only had to agree to this price, because he himself understood that it was already quite low, and, if you remember the wealth of Potters, who are one of the supporters of Albus Dumbledore in the fight against the Dark Lord, and for the old man himself, some seven hundred Galleons is like a drop in the ocean, and even if Snape adds another five hundred on top of seven hundred, the light faction will still but it out gladly in order to increase the chances of winning this cold war so far.

"Okay, I agree, how much can you provide at the moment?"

"Six, as I said earlier, it takes too much time to create one such artifact, at most I can do a maximum of two in a month, and even if I hardly sleep," Snape thoughtfully replied leaning against the back of a chair.

" As I expected ... and if, say, I want to buy a blueprint …" 

"One million and it's yours." Snape replied instantly.

 "Just say you don't want to sell it." The man waved wearily, opening a chest in the corner, and in a moment, gold coins began to escape from it like a fountain, completely filling the table in a few seconds, while not a single Galleon fell to the floor.

"There are ten thousand."

"Twice as much, why such generosity?" Snape asked him, narrowing his eyes, to which the man only smiled contentedly. 

"I hope for a long and fruitful cooperation, and also that such artifacts will be sold only in my shop." "Is that so… Well, I really need the Galleons at the moment, so I'm ready to accept your offer." 

I'm glad to hear it, how about to note…"

"I guess I'll refrain, I don't have time to waste it on drinking at the moment, but I'll be glad to improve in the future," shaking the outstretched hand, under John's still shocked gaze, in whose eyes there was only a mountain of gold, Severus continued. "But I still have one request. Listen carefully, Do you by any chance know any Pareltongue?" 

The question froze both Macmillans. "You understand…" 

"About nonsense, that only dark wizards can speak the language of snakes? This is totally stupid, if Salazar knew the language of a cat, would that also be considered the language of dark wizards, and cats - their minions?" he looked at the surprised man with a smile, who laughed after a few seconds. 

"Well said, I never considered all Parseltongue to be the Dark Lord's accomplices, although the fact that most of them are Dark Mages is a fact, but, sorry, I don't have such acquaintances, but…" 

"But…?"

"I'll be right back," looking into Severus's face with a "struggle" in his eyes, John's father quickly left the room.

Looking after him in puzzlement, Snape shifted his gaze to John, who immediately lowered his eyes.

"What's wrong with you? You used to be more talkative."

"You used to be my youngest, and now our business partner, and my father always taught me to treat such people with respect …"

"I see, but still behave as before, and I'm not such an important "business partner".

'Only two such artifacts are worth the net income of our store for six months …' John thought ironically, but still did not voice his thoughts aloud, but only nodded. 'I should get as close to him as possible, maybe set him up with my little sister…?'

"Why are you frozen?" Snape asked in bewilderment when he saw the wizard's pensive face.

"Ah! I'm sorry, thought about it, never mind what you were talking about?" John quickly muttered, embarrassed. 

"Yes, I was thinking about your sister."

"WHAT…?" 

"You were thinking too loudly."

"How are you…?" A "playful" smirk blossomed on Snape's lips at the sight of the dumbfounded face of his interlocutor. 

"Legilimence, nothing special, but I recommend you learn Occlumency from your father, your mind is too open."

 "... non-verbally..." John was still shocked, because only two are known to be capable of this, and these two are the strongest wizards of this century, and the longer he thought about it, the more respect for Snape grew in him.

At that moment, his father returned to the room, carrying in his hand a simple wooden box. "This thing was brought to me…" But after feeling a strange atmosphere hovering in the air, he looked at his son, and then at Snape.

"Something happened?"

"No, we were just discussing something."

"Yes, father, everything is in order," John quickly pulled himself together, smiling slightly at him.

"Good," nodding sluggishly, John's father shifted his gaze to Severus and opened the box, which contained a silver chain, to which was attached a small black snake, in place of the eyes of which there were red gems.

"This artifact has been with me for twenty years, but I still didn't dare to sell it ... with it you can speak the snake language, as well as understand them. I don't think I need to explain why.

"That's understandable, but I'm surprised you didn't just destroy it, after all, they would have found it with you - and a ticket to not the best place(Azkaban) is provided," pulling the artifact to himself, he touched the snake and smiled slightly.

"It's true, I thought too narrowly. Why should I even learn this language, if it's possible to just use an artifact capable of it. Thank you, Mr. Macmillan, you helped me a lot, subtract its cost from those ten thousand …"

"No, it still lay idle for a long time, and it was a pity to throw it away, and it's dangerous to store it, consider it another gift in honor of our friendship."

 "I'll gladly accept it, I'll have to," Snape answered him with a joyful smile, because he finally became one step closer to the heart of the Basilisk, now it only remained to strengthen the body and remove the curse from the sword, and finally he would be ready to kill the snake…

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