Chapter 165

[London.]

In the basement of one of the Muggle houses, littered with all sorts of junk, five people in dark robes were sitting on three sofas. 

Three of them were sleeping, one, to dispel his boredom was examining things, and the last one, a blonde girl, was studying the folders she had received in the morning, while sullenly biting her nails.

"Damn! Damn! Damn! Why, at such important moments, everything always goes wrong! How could such a trifling matter turn into the loss of two main personnels, even that old man obsessed with corpses died ! Now how am I supposed to get back now?! After this I, as the deputy at headquarters, will be bitten to death! After all, this is not the loss of some recruits, but a captain and a rare type of wizard specialising in defence!" Although remembering how easily that monster tore through the barrier, she just wanted to spit in the face of that arrogant guy who constantly boasted about it.

"Leader, maybe we should first report and pass on the information to headquarters, and only then act?"  the man, who had been studying the junk in the basement, asked with weariness in his voice, "That creature is very dangerous, if we try to go there again, we will definitely lose our lives," but catching the lady's dangerous gaze, he shuddered and, smiling awkwardly, turned away and continued doing what he was doing before. 

"Cretin," the witch snorted irritably, lowering her eyes again to the personal file of the "Prince", received from the spies, which, although was three times thinner than the one collected by the "Black Star", but even this was enough to more or less figure out who "Severus Prince" was and who was behind him.

"If I fail this mission, then in addition to being severely punished as a leader, I will also be demoted, and it is unlikely that I will ever be able to claim the post of captain of the squad after this ... I must at least complete this mission ..." - 

Turning the pages, after a few minutes she stopped at several photographs, among which were: Shafiks, Macmillans and Blacks, and when her gaze fell on a photograph of a woman with long dark hair, the thin lips of the witch distorted into a grin. 

The "colleague" who was watching her, saw the "good-natured smile" of his commander and instantly had cold sweat on his back, because he understood that she had something in mind and that "something" could very well end in their deaths, the wizard had gotten to know her too well over the past ten years, and he really didn't want to go on a suicide mission with this crazy woman who got her place by tumbling around with the entire headquarters. 

And deep down, he still felt fear for the creature that was hiding on the territory of the Prince's house, and he shouldn't forget about Amon.

 He understood that they could be punished for failure, but it was better to be punished, no matter how serious it was, it was better than dying with a crazy whore who didn't want to lose her post. 

And he wasn't the only one who thought so, because they had discussed everything that evening, while Amelia was away, and had also already sent a report through spies. 

They could only hope that an answer would come before they began to act. But the man's hopes were not destined to come true…

"Wake up, I have a plan on how we can capture this little bastard!"

At the same time, a pair of eyes with vertical pupils, squinting, watched them from the street, through a small window...

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Severus left the estate and almost immediately caught John's worried and at the same time impatient look, although he was prepared for the worst, he still had a faint hope that his father could still be helped, and when he saw the smile on the Prince's face and his weak nod, for a moment, the young man's heart "froze", and a moment later, it began to beat faster, his lips trembled, and his throat went dry and tears began to well up in his eyes for the first time in fifteen years.

"My teacher has an idea of ​​how to help him, but most likely, some of his memories will be lost. I think I don't need to explain to you how hard it is to work with a person's mind?"  as soon as John finished reading this message, it disappeared and another one appeared in its place,  "The chance of success is only eighty-five percent, so be prepared for the fact that it may not work and do not tell your sister yet, do not encourage her ahead of time," 

Macmillan, with a shudder, swallowed and nodded slightly, although the words of "Severus" cooled the ardour of the young man a little, but these eighty-five percent in comparison with zero, of the other healers, became a real miracle for him, 

"I will come in two days, by this time my teacher will return to the country, he will definitely be able to help him,"   Severus wrote at last before disappearing.

[A/N: He's writing in air, just like the last chapter.]

Leaving John alone with his thoughts, but at the same time, a happy smile never left his face, because his father could still be helped and he did not doubt that "Severus" would succeed, the wizard tried, and did not allow the thought of failure ...

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[Knockturn Alley. The Half-Blood Prince's shop.]

A man in a robe appeared in front of a dilapidated building, cordoned off with tape, a tired sigh escaped from his mouth, seeing such a sad picture, and the dark clouds hanging in the sky, only worsened the lousy mood.

"Severus, you said that he can no longer be helped …" Nagini looked at him with a strange look, she did not understand why he told Macmillan that his father could be healed. 

"He can no longer be helped, but ..." turning around, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the two Aurors standing near the building, and then, calmly walking forward, along a deserted alley, " ... I think that Faust would be happy, even in this way, to be near his children, to help and protect them ..."

" In what way? What do you mean?"

"You'll see soon..."  he answered, smiling softly, which only puzzled the snake more…

A few minutes later, they reached a two-story, very ordinary shop, with a sign: "temporarily closed".

 It was there, almost two years ago, that Snape received the pendant, without which, perhaps, that day, Nagini could have simply crawled away and they would never have become close, this was one of the main reasons why he treated this family so well. 

After all, it was thanks to the elder Macmillan that the wizard was able to find such a close "person" for himself, whom he could truly call his family.

Touching the door handle, Severus deactivated the protective spells without any problems and went inside, where he was met by semi-darkness. 

But he did not look for how to turn on the light, but simply headed to the counter, going around which he opened a small door, behind which there was a descent into the basement. 

Nagini, although she knew the history of this place and was very grateful to the man, still did not understand what Severus meant and he, as if hearing her thoughts, said "It is already impossible to return the old Faust, he is already irretrievably lost, since the personality consisting of memories was very rudely destroyed, but …"  turning at the next turn, the Prince entered another room, somewhat reminiscent of a warehouse in which lay: books, various artifacts and much more, but his gaze stopped on the picture covered with white cloth.

"I will create the illusion that he is really alive, and about which only the two of us will know …." tearing off the fabric, their eyes appeared to the portrait of Macmillan Sr., who looked at them with confidence in his eyes.

"Not only my mother thought about the living portrait, he was also thinking and had even began to merge magic into it, I noticed it that day when I first came to this place, but since the last time, the amount of magic has not increased much, apparently he was too busy for this…"

"Do you want to do the same with him, as with Eileen?"

"No, roughly speaking, I am going to place these remnants of magic mixed with the personality and emotions of the real Faust in his body, and thereby "revive" him, although he will be a completely different person, but he will be almost no different from his former self," Severus explained with a bitter smile, taking out a small vial and pointing his palm at the portrait, the next moment, white steam began to emerge from it, which slowly "floated" towards the vessel and gradually began to fill it.

"Alas, I do not know another way to return him, and as my teacher said: "sometimes it is better to live in ignorance than to learn the bitter truth."

"I ... I do not know what to answer …" Nagini answered sadly, watching this "spectacle",  " I have always adhered to the fact that it is better to know the truth, no matter how bitter it is, but ... in this situation, I agree with you and support your decision."

"I'm glad to hear it, but I was really afraid that you would accuse me of inhumanity or worse," Severus said awkwardly, smiling guiltily, to which he received a very menacing look and a strong poke in the side, "Sorry, sorry, I said something stupid, consider that I didn't say anything."

"Hm!" She turned away with a displeased snort, but after a few seconds, she looked at him again,  "Tell me, you're not going to go and avenge him right now, are you?" 

Remembering what happened in the room where Faust lay, the snake asked cautiously. "I would like to, but I can't, my core hasn't even slightly recovered yet, but two days will be enough for me to regain most of my fighting ability, and I won't be going alone, so don't worry."

As soon as the last "drop" flew into the bottle, he closed it and put it in his wallet, "It's time to go home and make some potions, I hope that two days will be enough for me to make them," and, catching the narrowed gaze of his companion, he couldn't hold back and laughed sincerely, after all, her serious face genuinely amused him, "Yes, yes, I definitely won't go without you," and only after this phrase, she nodded contentedly and the next moment they disappeared from the basement of the store, and the fabric returned back to the portrait...

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