Chapter 38

When he was finally outside, the young man smiled wearily, raising his face to a sky covered with dark clouds that were slowly receding to give way to the moonlight.

"Severus, are you sure you're okay?" Nagini asked him anxiously, regaining her former size again and hiding under his robe.

"Of course. You can even say that I have never felt so good… thank you for asking"

"okay…"

In the next moment, a light gust of wind blew the hood off Snape's head…

"It's time to go home."

"Sev…there's something on your head…"

"Hmm?" Raising an eyebrow in puzzlement, he created a small "mirror" of water in front of him and began to peer into his reflection in bewilderment. "What's happened?"

"One strand of hair on your head has turned grey!" Poking her tail just above the centre of his forehead, the snake growled, thinking that he was mocking her.

"That's what you're talking about. I'm actually surprised that my hair hasn't completely turned grey, and one strand is nothing," he snapped his fingers, and its colour changed back to black.

"Usually, after such rituals, some people can grow horns, so it would be really hard to hide them."

"Is that so… hmm… even your eyes, it seems to me, have become a little brighter, and your skin is softer…WAIT! What do you mean Horns?!"

" Indeed, there was one such case, then he had to walk with a huge hat on his head for the rest of his life and constantly file them."

For a moment, Nagini imagined Severus's always confident expression with large branched horns and she was unable to restrain her laugh, for which she received a flick on her head.

"That's enough, let's go home, I still need to understand what exactly has changed in my body."

"But I would like to look at you with horns…" but, seeing a finger rushing towards her, she closed her eyes sharply, but ... instead of another flick, his hand gently began to stroke her head.

"I'm sorry I made you worry and made you do something that you didn't want to. I promise this won't happen again…" 'what kind of selfish human am I after all... feeling her concern, I feel more alive, yes... and when has anyone ever worried about me since that moment…?' Severus thought in his heart.

"Nothing, I'm just glad that I can help you, because you already did too much for me, and I still couldn't repay you in any way for all this…"

"If you keep talking about this nonsense, you will get another flick."

"I'm pouring my heart out to you here, and you…"

With a playful smile, he turned his head to the leaning Nagini and kissed her crown, which made her open her eyes in shock and froze. "Thank you."

"Wh-what are you doing!? I-I…'

"I'm expressing my gratitude," the Wizard explained calmly, winking at her, causing her to simply gush with embarrassment and quickly slip under his robes.

Of course, Severus didn't continue to tease her, so as not to put his companion in an even more awkward position.

After finally re-checking the cave, he suddenly disappeared from there.

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The next day, or more precisely, six hours after his return, Malfoy had already congratulated him after he saw the newspaper in which, on the second page, under the heading "Young Talents", there was a photograph of Snape, in which he received a badge from the hands of an employee of the Ministry of Magic. 

That's just how they were able to take this picture, even Severus did not know of this. After Lucius, the younger Macmillan also looked for Severus to congratulate him on behalf of the family with a small present in the form of an artefact that improves concentration.

Of course, Macmillan came not only for this, but also to pick up two cubes and  introduce Severus to his sister, who "suddenly followed" him.

After they left, Severus was finally able to take care of his business, and this was the arrangement of the shop-home.

After choosing the interior design and hiring workers who will start work tomorrow, he also spoke with Tom, the bar owner, and for a nominal fee, he helped him find a manager.

So Snape hired a half-blood from the Shafiki family, Karner Shafiki, who had recently gone bankrupt due to large debts left to him by his deceased father.

Of course, Severus did not hire just anyone, and only after an interview using Legilimency did he sign a contract with Karner for a year.

The Wizard could not rest for the whole day because almost every half an hour different people came to him with a proposal for cooperation, and this was not limited only to shops, but also to the real hegemons of the sphere.

[A/N: Hegemons of the sphere means people from big families like, Malfoy, Avery and all.]

Of course, these were not the heads, but only their representatives, but, in addition to them, there was even the Ministry of Magic, which offered a good place in the "supply department" immediately after graduation and handed him a letter of recommendation.

And such a demand for Severus was mainly not only because of his skills, but also because of his name.

After all, if they can recruit a person like him, then, in addition to being a good master, they will also be able to advertise themselves well, and this will attract even more clients to them. But such "glory" also had a dark side: the not too "legal" part of the magical world became interested in him.

And one of the first among such organisations was the Death Eaters, again, the person from their side was Lucius.

There were also some people  that were unknown to him like: Dark wizards and Gray Wizards, a couple of smaller gangs and a few shops from Knockturn Alley.

In general, Severus politely sent them all, but most promised to return, giving him time to THINK WELL.

Snape, of course, understood the hint and promised to "visit" them in the evening in a more "intimate setting", throwing tracking charms on each of them.

"What happened there? I heard some explosions in the street, but did not dare to go out, fearing that they might recognize me by my color," Nagini asked with concern, examining Snape from head to toe for any injuries.

"Don't worry, I'm fine, I went for the ingredients, because soon we will open a store and I need to prepare potions in advance," crouching down, he extended his hand to her, along which she rather quickly climbed onto him and stuck her head out from under the collar.

"Understood, " she sighed in relief. "Are we going back to Hogwarts?"

"And what else is there to do, we must continue to explore the castle. Now that I have become much stronger, I should definitely be able to sense other similar places like the Basilisk room, there are many legends around the castle... for example, about a room that contains everything, or about a majestic garden, left by the founder of Hufflepuff, in addition to the cup of Hufflepuff; I also found a small mention of the secret library of Ravenclaw, in which she loved to spend evenings in the company of her students, but after her death she did not have time to transfer the password and location.

Although it seems to me that this is just a fiction, it is still worth looking for. And in these five years I have learned a huge number of such legends, although the one I'm most interested in is the legacy of Godric Gryffindor. What did he leave?

The sword of Gryffindor, the best work of the goblins, which they still want to return to this day, although I would also not mind getting the sword of King Arthur, Excalibur or Gram, it would also be nice to look at Durandal, Muramasa ..." Snape continued to list with a smile, remembering the names of the legendary swords he found mentioned in the books, at the same time turning off all the lights and stopping the supply of magic to the rooms.

****************** 

At the same time, many agitated wizards were running through the streets, hurrying towards the burning building.

Many tried to break through and help people in the burning buildings, but everything was unsuccessful: the fire, as if alive, did not allow them to do this, and it was impossible to put it out: the flame simply did not succumb to spells, and water did not affect it.

Although there were those who did not seek to help, but only watched the whole situation from afar and wondered who those losers angered? Yes, and many of them knew who owned the buildings, and were not very surprised by such a spectacle.

After all, wars between gangs were quite commonplace, especially in such a turbulent time, when the Ministry threw all its forces into the fight against Voldemort, and small gangs were mostly ignored, unless, of course, they crossed the line. For example, like now.

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