Chapter 152

After returning, he was met by a slightly worried Nagini, whom Severus decided to leave at home for the duration of the negotiations, since he expected that they would want to put a mark right there, and there was nowhere to hide the snake, because usually she was wrapped around his neck and hid under a cloak or robe so that she was not visible.

 As for the mark, it was much simpler than the one applied to Death Eaters. 

The sign did not turn a person into a slave, but at the same time, it made it easy to track the location of a member of the "Dark Star" and eavesdrop on any conversations. 

In its work, it was more reminiscent of the seal that Snape put on Bellatrix.

But at the same time, there was also a murder mechanism, which of course they didn't tell him anything about, and the rest of the organisation members most likely didn't know about it either, he understood this, since neither Lavr nor Nestor knew about it.

Of course, it was impossible to kill while being thousands of kilometres away, since this mechanism had its own nuances, because if the leader of the organisation could take the life of any person who had this mark on him, then the volume of runes for this "action" should have increased five times and this could be discovered quite quickly, and after that not many would want to wear such a "collar", so it was greatly cut down and hidden very deeply under others. 

The leader of the organisation could only kill if he was in a certain proximity to the target and this distance did not exceed a hundred metres, and the Prince had to admit that the one who created this seal was a real genius and even in his world he could be very highly valued, because few people are able to cram so many "functions" into such a small label, and even he might have to spend a couple of days, or maybe weeks, on such work.

For Severus himself, dealing with it was not such a big problem, because usually in such marks, the runes were immediately encrypted so as not to give anyone the opportunity to understand them, but in this world there was no such practice, and if expressed in the language of encryption , which he learned about by reading the memoirs of one of his employees in the Muggle world, the "code" was open and anyone could study it. 

Therefore, that time with Nestor, a couple of seconds were enough for him to understand the work of the mark and completely remake it for himself.

 Of course, Severus had the idea of ​​simply breaking in by force during Witold's conversation with the leader of the organisation and trying to determine the place where he was hiding and not dealing with all this nonsense like infiltrating the organisation, but Laurus' memories nevertheless convinced him and that artifact played an important role.

It's not a fact that he would so easily be able to find the location of the man in the mask, and in the worst case, he would have a very dangerous enemy, which of course the Slytherin wanted to avoid.

At the moment, he was not in a particular hurry, and the sale of some potions through this organisation could bring him huge profits, he was also very interested in books, or more precisely, the colossal library that he saw in Nestor's memory and all the research of the department " Copper" over the past hundreds of years.

For these reasons, Severus chose a similar method of solving the problem, which would bring him maximum benefit and save him from unnecessary problems. 

He also didn't lie about the date with Bella, they hadn't spent time together for a very long time, because over the past two weeks he had too much work and it wasn't even possible to just chat through the mirror, not to mention having a personal meeting.

And the woman herself also had a lot to do,especially recently, when the Death Eaters began to somehow push back the "Dark Star" and gradually seize the initiative in Magical Britain.

Of course it was not suddenly that the dark wizards became stronger, the whole point is that the Ministry of Magic decided to help them a little to get rid of the bastards who dared to lay an eye on their country.

And although the leaders did not discuss this personally, they both thought alike and understood that the third party wanted to see how they would gnaw each other's throats, which, of course, none of them could allow.

Therefore, almost every day, somewhere in England, clashes took place between the three "hegemons" in which Bellatrix also took part. 

After all, although she regained clarity of mind, she did not lose one iota of her love for battles. 

Snape, in turn, also watched this, but occasionally.

Severus was confident in the strength and skills of the aristocrat, and the artefact that he gave her that day not only protected the mind, but was also able to create a barrier around its owner, which even Avada Kedavra could not break through, and besides this, he himself will immediately know that someone has attacked her and if anything happens, he will be able to intervene and help.

***

Already in the evening, when this strange day was coming to an end and they were approaching 12 Grimmauld Place, Severus received a report from Tobby, Jose and Shafika that the surveillance had stopped and the Black Star wizards had retreated. 

"Who was that?" from the side, the indifferent voice of Bella sounded, who at that second was being pressed to his body by the wizard and she no longer resisted as much as before, rather, she did it for show, since she understood that she still couldn't get out of it, but now, she relaxedly laid her head on his shoulder as they walked towards her house. 

"Those with whom you have been waging war lately," Severus answered with a grin, slowly lowering his palm down.

 "Hand," the woman looked at him menacingly. 

"Okay, okay, one can't even be naughty anymore," he muttered with offence, returning his hand back to her waist, but a little lower than last time. 

"I take it was because of you?"

"You know, your beloved has become a very important figure in the magical world," Severus chuckled, turning up his nose, and Bellatrix just rolled her eyes. 

"So, they wanted to drag you to them using me and once they retreated, then..." 

"Yes, I joined them," the wizard did not lie, because she was not stupid and understood everything very well, especially such moments, "But only on time, I was interested in some of their research, you don't have to worry about potions, I signed a magical agreement with the Ministry."

 "I see..." and the conversation fell silent at that very second, but, "... be careful," she said in a completely ordinary voice, which caused a small laugh on the part of the Prince, hearing which, she grunted displeasedly and turned away.

"Since such a girl is worried about me, then I cannot let her down…" 

"Hand!"

"Tch!" again he raised his hand back, but again lowered a little, which, of course, Bella could not help but feel, but she still decided to close her eyes to it for now, while she was surprised at her actions, and no matter how strange it may sound, but during this long time of "separation", she even began to miss a little such a quiet pastime and this impudent wizard, who does not care about her position and even saved her from an imposed marriage. 

With him, she felt like an ordinary woman, and not a strong witch, which at the same time irritated her, but also brought some kind of lightness and security, because she still remembered the day when she saved him and what she saw... his strength. 

"I take it you don't want me to tell my master about this?" Black playfully squinted her eyes, baring her teeth, looking towards the dark alley towards which they were walking, "And you're probably going to make me silent…"

"You are very quick-witted..." the young man answered her with the same grin, and as soon as they entered the dark street, the next moment, Severus pressed her to the wall and pressed into those slightly plump scarlet lips that were so enticing to him with a crazy kiss, like a hungry beast that had not seen its prey for years, and the woman passionately, began to respond to this kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding Severus tightly to her, but she did not give in under his pressure and every time, again and again tried to gain the upper hand in this "battle," but each of her attempts was met with incredible resistance, but Bella's wild and domineering nature did not allow her to abandon these useless attempts.

Anyone who entered the alley at that second would definitely have experienced a real shock from what they saw, but no one would be able to see it, because Severus took care of the barrier so that not a single person would interfere with them at that moment...

---

This "battle" lasted almost ten minutes, until finally they pulled away from each other, but without breaking eye contact, and while the woman was breathing heavily, her hair was completely ruined, and her dress was very wrinkled in front and behind, the Prince himself was completely calm, and not a single unevenness appeared on his clothes, as if nothing had happened before, which a little piqued the "competitive" interest of the dark witch; she just wanted to ruin his hair and tear out his buttons.

"I missed you very much..." he said, gently running his palm over her cheek and saying with a warm smile. 

"I noticed," sighing tiredly, trying to regain her former indifference, she answered, straightening her dress, but the next moment, Bella, felt a faint blow of wind and right before her eyes the dress was ironed and she felt how her hair had returned to its previous shape,

"Thank you, but I could handle it myself."

" Of course, but I just decided to correct my mistake, next time I'll try to be more careful…"

"Hmm!" Turning away, she walked forward, but after a few steps she stopped and casually said "My uncle wants to meet you."

Hearing this, Severus raised his eyebrow in surprise and it was not feigned, he really did not know about it, after all, he did not watch her all twenty-four hours a day, but only looked occasionally, and then fleetingly, when he wanted a little take a break from work.

Approaching her, he poked her on the forehead, which Bellatrix was sincerely amazed at, because he had never treated her in such a childish way. 

"You should have warned me in advance, I didn't even prepare a gift," and hugging the black heiress who had not yet left, they headed towards the Black house. 

"Okay, I'll think of something along the way and don't put me in such an awkward position again, otherwise next time I'll spank you," and reflexively, she covered her ass with her free hand, but when she came to her senses, her pale cheeks turned slightly pink and she stared angrily at the grinning Snape and began poking him in the side with her elbow, but the young man completely ignored her attempts to "revenge", but only pressed against her tighter and... "Hand"

"Tch!"