Chapter 13

Ten minutes later.

Raising his fist, Severus punched Tobias with all his might, knocking him into the brick wall on the left. "Get up, you damn bastard, it's time to work," he said indifferently, looking into the dumbfounded man's face. "Clean up for a start and sit back in the same place until you receive your next order."

" What?! How are you… WHAT?! Why can't I control my body?! What the hell did you do…" the already sober man, thanks to Severus, shouted furiously, getting up and heading towards the kitchen.

" *Master*. From this day on, you will call me master: now you are my slave, and do not remove the collar."

 "I'm your father, you damn Master! Release me immediately, otherwise…" Tobias shouted with extreme anger.

"Hit yourself in the face, and then shut up and start cleaning." In the next moment, the Muggle hit himself in the jaw and, looking furiously towards Severus, took a rag in his hand and began to wipe the tables, while the wizard himself, without even looking at him, went to the second floor, where his room was located.

 "Ah, I almost forgot: how will you finish until I go downstairs, you will put a needle under your nails every minute, and if they suddenly run out, you will pull them out and start again," looking towards the table on which the bottles of booze were lying , the wizard waved his hand in their direction and turned them into needles, and after that, ignoring the panic in the eyes of the man, he went to his room.

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Bare walls, a single mattress with a pillow and a coverlet, and a small table greeted Severus. 

"The wardrobe, the bed, and all my things, most likely, he already sold… apparently, I was too soft with him…" Severus grumbled in disappointment, going to the wall and tapping three bricks with his finger, a small piece of the wall moved aside, opening his eyes a small pouch, a diary, and a case containing a simple-looking magic wand. 

At the same time, a fragment of memory surfaced in the wizard's head, where a very emaciated woman, in whom it was impossible to discern that very beauty, looked at him with warmth, stroking his head with one hand, and tapping certain bricks with a wand with the other. 

"...if something ever happens to me, take everything that lies here, and don't come back here again, and don't ask for help from the Princes…" she herself understood that something was wrong, or maybe resentment played in her," Severus muttered with a deep sigh, taking out a notebook and quickly flipping through a few pages, closed it and, shaking his head, reduced it and put it in his breast pocket. 

The diary contained the history of Eileen from the moment she entered the first year of Hogwarts, her thoughts and ideas, as well as a message addressed to her beloved son.

"I'll read later, maybe I'll find some clue on this case, but now…" Taking out a bag and a wand, he turned the mattress into a chair and pushed it to the table.

"An enchanted pouch with increased space, as well as Eileen's magic wand," opening the pouch, in which only a couple of galleons were visible, he launched some magic into it, and right before the eyes of the wizard, it began to fill with gold coins, and information appeared in the wizard's head, how much in total it contained coins, "Four hundred and forty Galleons… and how did Eileen manage to accumulate so much, because she did not work, and although… it is quite possible that this is a gift from the Princes," putting his hand into the pouch, he took out a golden key from it and began to examine it with slight interest. 

"But she didn't tell me anything about this, it's strange ... I'll have to ask Macmillan about it when we meet, because this key is also an artifact …"

Throwing all the things into a bag, the young man collapsed in a chair and closed his eyes.

"Well, now at least I have money for everything, I should go to Diagon Alley tomorrow and stock up on all the ingredients for potions, even though the description of most of them matches those in my world, but still it's worth checking and creating a couple of potions, after all, I will soon fight the Basilisk, and these creatures have good intelligence and protection from magic, so it will be necessary to look after the sword for yourself, not to go to it with bare hands ... "At that moment, while the wizard was in deep thought, there was a knock, and then a few more. And opening his eyes, he looked towards the window, on the windowsill of which stood a gray owl with a letter in its beak.

"It's been a long time…" Rising from his chair, Severus opened the window and, stroking the feathered creature with a smile, took the letter and, beckoning one shekel from the pouch to him, put it in the bird's beak, which made it fly over to the mage's shoulder with a rather "hoot" and, rubbing her head, quickly flew away. 

"There's something about those owls," the young man muttered, looking at the envelope that had been waxed with the Malfoy seal. 

"I could just sign…" opening the envelope, he took out the letter and, sitting down at the table, read it rather quickly, and then lowered it with a smile.

"If you want to meet no problem, I was just waiting for this …" The wizard contacted Lucius for several reasons, but there were two main ones: the first, of course, was his awareness of the situation in the world, because he knew much more about the Dark Lord, since he himself was in that the company itself and even called Severus more than once, but he constantly dodged it for the reason that he did not want to plunge into darkness even more, thereby further moving away from Lily. And the second is knowledge of Legilimency and Occlumency, the ability to penetrate and protect the mind. And although Severus was confident in protecting his mind, additional protection is never superfluous, and even in the previous world, the Archmage never owned the magic of the mind, because he simply did not have a gift in this direction, so when there was a chance to learn it, he didn't want to lose him, and at Hogwarts there was only a theory on this topic even in the closed section, but there is no practice and no method of learning.

Severus's stomach growled. "We should go to the store, but…" looking down at his robes, under which a shabby jacket was hidden a little larger than the Archmage himself, he shook his head, taking off his robes, and then closed his eyes, an image of a man with pitch-black long hair, dressed in a plain white shirt, dark tight pants and high boots. And, as soon as the young man opened his eyes, he smiled contentedly when he saw the very clothes that the man was wearing, "It's really much better…" stretching slightly and not feeling any constraint in his movements, he opened the door and left the room.

Going downstairs, the Archmage looked out of the corner of his eye at Tobias, who was actively polishing the table, and then, holding out his hand, said: "Accio, pounds sterling," and from the pocket of the Muggle, and also from under the sofa several banknotes and coins landed on the hand of the wizard.

"About ten pounds…not rich, but enough for food." Throwing money in his pocket and turning his wand into a needle, he left the house, heading towards the nearest store.

Severus was not in a hurry, but walked at a calm walking pace, looking around the city and various goods on display, more and more surprised at the ingenuity of the local people.

He was especially struck by electronic technology, but the prices for even the most ordinary iron bite terribly, not to mention such Muggle things as a TV and a refrigerator in which food could be stored.

Of course, the latter was in the family of Severus, but Tobias had already drunk it away, so there was nothing of the technology in Severus's house. 

Also, the young man was interested in clothes, but only in passing, but mostly bright things were in fashion, which he did not like for the reason that in his world it was like a target for enemies, and if you needed to hide somewhere or not attract attention, then dark gray tones suited much better.

Severus didn't care much about the look of the clothes, but only about practicality and comfort.

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Having stocked up on food for a couple of days, he returned home, where he was greeted with sobs and pained mooing.

Right in front of the stairs, Tobias stood, who, with red swollen eyes, looked at Severus's indifferent face, sticking the tenth needle under his nail. "And, to be honest, I forgot about you, well, don't worry, you can continue," passing by the man, who looked at his back with despair in his eyes, squealed with displeasure.

"The gas, as I see it, was also turned off, it's sad, but I'm still here for a short time," he took out an apple, and a pan from the cupboard.

"So, water… how did you even live here?" Severus said as he applied non-verbal Aguamenti, and water began to appear in the pan, throwing three eggs into it, and then using Pyrokinesis, in which he was a real master.

As a result, under a powerful stream of flame, the water began to boil rather quickly.

For Severus, controlling the flame was like breathing, but the young man could not enjoy this destructive element to the full at the moment, for the reason that he simply did not have enough magic.

In his world, he was even known as the "Fiery Calamity" for his filigree control over fire, as well as the black flame, because of which he was hunted by many Archmages and even some Great Archmages.

Three minutes later, the eggs were cooked, and after the "dinner" the young man took one last look at Tobias, and after giving a few more commands, he returned to his room.

***

The next day after breakfast, locking Tobias in the basement, who all night beat off his fingers with a hammer on his left hand, and giving a new task, until he returns, to break one finger every hour on his right, while looking at the same portrait of Eileen and asking for forgiveness, Severus left the house and, reaching the highway, pulled out his wand and waved it.

For the first few seconds, nothing happened, which puzzled him a little, but after a moment, with a loud "BOOM"

A three-story purple bus materialized in front of him. As soon as the door opened, Severus was greeted by a wildly grinning elderly driver with thick glasses.

"Get in, young man, you've got eleven shekels! Would you like a toothbrush or cocoa?"

"Can I drink it?" Severus asked him with a smile, gripping the railing tighter.

"I doubt, where to drop you off?"

"Leaky cauldron."

"Then hold on tight …" grinning, the driver grabbed the steering wheel with both hands, and in the next moment the bus disappeared ... ________________________________________________________________

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Thank you for reading, please drop some power stones.

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