The Fall

Snape's integration was quite good. During dinner, he was introduced to the other people and they had a polite exchange, but enough to break the ice. They quickly picked up on Snape's personality, so apart from a few questions generated by curiosity and which served to satiate the potions master's vanity a bit, they didn't ask him too many details about what kinds of wonders potions could perform.

His daughters talked to them a bit about it, but having an expert present always generates interest.

Although Hermione and Silvia's parents paled a bit when they heard how the ritual unfolded and looked at Soisen in amazement after finding out that he managed to brew an original potion capable of growing an amputated arm.

Although they understood that potions had powerful effects, wasn't this a bit of an exaggeration?

More so considering how young the person who created and prepared the potion from scratch was!

If they were asked what they imagined a wizard capable of doing something like that should be like, no doubt their first impression would be an old man with many years of experience behind him.

In any case, the dinner came to a pleasant enough conclusion that Snape did not ask for meals to be sent to him, rather than attend the table with the others.

McGonagall sent an owl indicating the date on which the evaluation would take place after a few days and with Nagini's help, it was not difficult to leave without arousing suspicion from her family.

As for the results, there were no surprises.

The examiners left the castle under McGonagall's proud gaze, questioning who was the true expert in their field, them or Soisen.

Was this the level a young wizard should be? Terrifying.

If it hadn't been for the fact that he knew she would disagree, Soisen would have invited Minerva over for a drink to celebrate her graduation on the spot. Unfortunately, even though he was now considered an adult wizard in the eyes of magical law, he was still too young for adult beverages.

Quite ridiculous really. He faced Dementors, Death Eaters and dragons while younger and his body was much more mature compared to his peers of the same generation.

It brings out the common sense in today's wizards....

-By the way, even though I will be serving as potions master this year, I won't be appointed as dean of Slytherin, will I? -Soisen asked, startled to realize that Snape's departure left not one position vacant, but two.

-Don't worry, Rolanda will temporarily cover this position for the time being," Minerva assured him.

-Oh, so Mrs. Hooch will do it," she nodded in understanding.

If one thinks which teacher has the most free time in the castle, it is undoubtedly Rolanda Hooch. Her flying lessons do not ask for homework to be corrected and the amount of classes she has per week compared to the other teachers is nothing because she only teaches first years.

Also, refereeing quidditch matches doesn't take much time, as they don't happen as often as you might think.

So, he's actually the best choice to temporarily fill the position of dean of Slytherin. Although it is estimated that by the end of the year, he will resign from his new position for sure.

I like flying through the sky and maneuvering the broom, but you're asking me to handle the snakes in the narrow dungeons? Bah!

Taking advantage of leaving the bastion, Soisen made the visit to Gringotts' bank cautiously and pulled out the book he needed to enchant the main entrance to the castle without incident.

He spent additional time in the chamber discussing the situation outside with Kyrako and the results were clear:

-Stupid prophecies! -was the two-word summary of her response, something with which Soisen had an opinion in tune.

Kyrako even questions why Dumbledore did not let Voldemort finish Potter off in the first year during the Philosopher's Stone event so that he and the rest of the powerful wizards of the world could act to eliminate the threat that is Voldemort with all their might without restrictions imposed by fate.

To allow Potter to live to this day is only to give Voldemort time to recover so that he can face him at his best.

If it is all for the greater good, isn't it better to let go the life of a child who might equally fail, in order to prevent hundreds or even thousands of deaths of innocent people?

Dumbledore really was a hypocrite.

Soisen could only remain silent and shake his head.

After studying the book for a week, he returned to Hogwarts and carefully enchanted the main entrance for no less than five hours to make sure he covered as wide a spectrum of his intentions as possible, without actually affecting any innocent students.

The rest of the summer was quiet, like the calm before the storm.

Soisen asked Nagini to train Silvia and Hermione to improve their combat reflexes while he tested new types of magic and tried to find ingenious ways to use them.

Snape was interested in the training and provided Nagini with some advice on how best to stimulate reactions in battle.

And what was the signal to know when the first lightning would strike?

Well, it was Ginny's owl that became the trigger.

Apparently, The Burrow was attacked by Death Eaters while they were having a picnic in the countryside and she and Luna were separated from their families during the escape by using Apparition in panic. Now, she was asking Soisen for help in sheltering them because they weren't sure how the rest of the family members were doing and if returning home was safe.

That wasn't all, there was also a second letter explaining that their father discovered many personnel changes at the Ministry, realizing that he had fallen into the hands of the dark lord. Fortunately for them, Arthur was able to leave the place without alerting anyone, but he could not return until the situation was clarified.

This all happened barely half a day ago.

Soisen rubbed his forehead and sighed, looks like he should keep an eye out for the next few days to see if the Hogwarts castle alarm goes off.

Well, at least this time Luna wasn't kidnapped to threaten her father, that's a good thing.

As members of the Order of the Hippogriff, Ginny and Luna knew which assigned locations they needed to go to in the event of a crisis, so I just needed to check those locations to find them.

...An hour later...

He entered a popular ice cream parlor called "Funny Poles" which was located in a town to the southwest and ordered a three scoop ice cream. He then sat down at the table and waited while reading a thin book without touching the ice cream in front of him, being the signal to identify himself and not be fooled by the multijugos potion.

Two old ladies approached to engage in conversation and as they shook hands, the letter H flashed briefly on the thumbs of the three without anyone else noticing. The old ladies said their goodbyes and after five minutes, he too left after drinking the melted ice cream like sherbet.

Mmm, the ice cream is not as good as they say.

The three of them met in a corner and holding hands away from prying eyes, disappeared with the sound of a bottle cork.