Chapter 67: Ministry of Magic!

December 13th marked the end of Term One at Hogwarts and the start of the Christmas holidays,

And for those students who chose to go home for the Christmas holidays, there will be a train available on the 13th, 14th, and 15th of December to send all students who need to return to London.

Those students who have opted to stay at Hogwarts over the Christmas season will need to inform Professor McGonagall to be added to the list of names of those who will be staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas holidays...

All the little wizards belonging to the school who did not leave will have their Christmas Party in the Great Hall and will be able to participate in the Christmas Ball.

Hogwarts will also be giving presents to all remaining students, which will be delivered on Sunday morning, 25th December, and will be left at the foot of each student's bed or on their decorative tree.

After breakfast, Severus met up with Pandora and Xeno, he spent some time chatting with them until Amelia finally joined them too, she behaved as usual...

Almost as if last night had never happened, the only thing that could betray her was that maybe she looked at Severus more often or was more confident around him now.

A few moments later Hermione joined the conversation as well.

The three Ravenclaw had taken quite a liking to Hermione, so the conversation between them went rather well, plus Pandora and Amelia were quite curious and wanted to know more about Severus' cousin who was in Gryffindor but was more like a Ravenclaw.

In conversation Severus, Hermione, Amelia, Pandora, and Xeno, decided to board the train all together on the 13th of December, apparently, most of the Ravenclaw students who weren't staying at Hogwarts were already leaving today.

It was common for Ravenclaw students to be the first to leave while students from the other houses tended to leave on the 14th or 15th as a matter of time to prepare.

Hermione already knew this since Lily and her friends, as well as most of the Gryffindors, decided to take the train together on the 15th of December.

And Severus knew from Olivia that most of the Slytherin would be leaving on the 14th of December.

While the Hufflepuffs were an unknown, but they tended to split up and leave with the Ravenclaws or the Gryffindors.

Severus walked out of the castle with the rest of his group and the first thing he looked at was the ground which was already covered with a thick layer of snow, he also found several small wizards playing with snowballs and among them, he found several Gryffindors who were shouting and fluttering their fists in the air as they ran after the marauders who were running away in the snow.

The marauders were laughing as they fled and as they continued to throw snowballs at the other Gryffindor students who ran after them.

"Potter! Black! When we catch you two, you'll see what awaits you! want to keep running?, you're only making your end worse!" several Gryffindor witches were shouting at them.

Pandora couldn't help herself and laughed at such a scene along with Hermione.

Meanwhile, Severus, Amelia, and Xeno just shook their heads at the Gryffindor's antics.

"That looks entertaining," commented Pandora with a smile.

"Oh you think so?" asked Severus with a raised eyebrow.

Amelia, Hermione, and even Xeno looked at Severus wanting to know his reaction, they all knew he didn't like the marauders, but lately, there hadn't been any problems between the two sides.

Pandora nodded with a quick smile not bothering to change what she said.

Severus stared at her, he looked quite serious...

Until then a snowball shot out of nowhere and hit Pandora.

"Hey! What was that for?" complained Pandora now full of snow in her hair.

"I thought you said it was funny," joked Severus who had sneakily used the Force to create a snowball and then throw it at Pandora.

Instantly he created several snowballs around himself and looked at Pandora in amusement.

"You... that's unfair," said Pandora with a pout pointing at the snowballs.

Everyone laughed at Pandora's adorable reaction, even Severus laughed lightly and dropped the snowballs as Pandora continued to complain and she explained to him what a fair snowball fight looked like.

"Are those two always like that?" asked Xeno to Amelia as he tried to keep from laughing.

Hermione who overheard this was also curious as she wasn't used to seeing Severus doing that kind of banter so relaxed.

"Well, yes .... sometimes... hmm... but I guess it could be said yes" Amelia answered doubtfully, it wasn't unusual to see Severus joking around, what was unusual was that he seemed less serious than usual, almost as if he was more relaxed.

After walking and talking for a while, they all finally got on the train quickly and loaded their bags into the same wagon.

After a few minutes, the train set off for London, Severus and the others sat on the train chatting about all sorts of things during the journey, until they finally arrived at the station in London.

Apparently, the families of Amelia, Pandora, and Xeno came to pick them up, Severus and Hermione greeted and introduced themselves politely to everyone...

The Bones, the Lovegoods, and the Moonlights were families that supported the Ministry of Magic, and apparently they all had some relationship with the Princes, so they were all interested in getting to know Severus and Hermione a little.

After talking for a while, they all said goodbye and went to their respective homes.

When Hermione and Severus arrived at the entrance of Prince Manor, they were received by a small house elf dressed in a very elegant black robe.

"Master! Your most loyal elf, Popper, welcomes you!" said the elf bowing respectfully.

"Popper, I told you many time that there is no need to bow every time you speak to me, come on, get up!"

"Popper thank the Master," said the elf standing up and then looking at Hermione.

"Welcome back Miss Prince, Popper reminds you that there are not enough ingredients to make dinner today, if you would like Popper can go shopping"

"Uh..., oh yes that, don't worry Popper, I will took care of the rest of the ingredients" Hermione replied, after all, she was the one who was in charge of making sure there was everything needed at the manor.

During the rest of the day, Severus took the time to diligently go over all the investments he was planning to make this holiday.

He left most of the Prince family business to Hermione and focused on the Skywalker Industries business and the progress the Droids had made on the projects he had left them.

The computer business was going excellent, in all the time he had been at Hogwarts things had only improved at an accelerated rate...

Now Skywalker's laptops were all over the world and there was nothing like them since the cheap imitations couldn't even compare to what Severus had created...

No one had managed to replicate the programs he had made, they were too advanced for any human on this planet, so Skywalker Industry's computer was the only one on the market and this not only made them known all over the world, but they were now making millions in sales.

Severus then went on to look at the projects he had left the droids and noticed that they had made some progress, not much but it was something.

He would have to create more droids and use all the money he had been making to accelerate the progress, though Severus knew he would need even more money, a lot more, which is why he had already planned to create a new technology for Industrial Skywalker to sell and make even more money.

After finishing the last things, Severus decided to go to dinner with Hermione.

The rest of the days were the same, with Severus and Hermione taking care of several pending things they hadn't been able to do from Hogwarts, seeing as many businesses in the magical world as they could, and visiting different people who were interested in doing business with them.

Severus on his own also met with various Muggle businessmen and important people who wanted to talk about all sorts of business.

Severus also ended up acquiring some of the companies he had offered to buy out in order to further extend Skywalker Industries' influence in the world.

~~~~~~~

-Prince Manor, 17 December

Today Severus Prince got up early to train as he did every day, only now he was finally able to train with his sword again in his private room at the Manor.

Ever since he had found the ancient time-turner in the secret room of the Heir Prince's Manor, he had been using it every day to have 7 more hours of training in the morning...

Although the time-turner could be used twice a day to get 10 hours in total, Severus always left 3 hours in case he needed them for something specific at a later time.

In all this time Severus' body had improved substantially, but for him, it wasn't enough yet, he still had a long way to go before he reached the level he wanted.

After finishing his training, Severus showered, changed, and had breakfast with Hermione.

Then he prepared to go to the Ministry of Magic as he had an appointment with the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, it was a nuisance but Hermione had already told him that she could not go in his place, apparently, he had to go as Lord Prince or else the Prince Potions Factory would not be given the legal Portkey they needed to attend the Potioneers meeting in the USA.

Yes..., Severus as the owner of the Prince Potions Factory and the inventor of several of the new potions that had been put on sale, was invited to attend a meeting that was held every four years between different Potioneers from all over the world to talk and negotiate with each other.

The sun was low in the sky when Severus left Prince Manor.

Severus made his way to the visitors' entrance of the Ministry of Magic.

Then he entered a telephone booth and dialled.

After a while, a sweet female voice answered.

"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic. State your name and business..."

"Severus Prince. I have an appointment to receive a Portkey."

"Thank you, please take the badge and place it on the front of your robes."

A metal badge fell after the female voice spoke, "Mr. Prince, your appointment with the Department of International Magical Cooperation for a Portkey has been confirmed."

After she said those words, the cab began to descend until it finally stopped and the doors opened.

"Visitor to the Ministry of Magic, you must submit to a search and present your wand for registration."

Severus sighed.

"What a nuisance, I'd forgotten how annoying it was to enter as a visitor to the Ministry," he muttered through his teeth as he stepped out of the booth.

Behind him, the doors slammed shut and the booth quickly rose and disappeared.

Since the Ministry is located underground, the normal order is reversed: the top floor is Level 1, while the Atrium on the main floor is on Level 8 (although both the Department of Mysteries and the Wizengamot hearing rooms are below, on Levels 9 and 10, respectively).

The atrium itself was huge and much better ventilated than one might expect from an underground complex; magic certainly has its advantages.

Severus made his way to the security desk to check in his wand and a quick check.

After a few moments, he was done. He walked through some golden doors to the access lifts.

Pausing for a moment, he noticed the directory to one side:

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Ministry of Magic!

Level Ten, Wizengamot Chambers.

Level Nine, Department of Mysteries

Level Eight, Ministry of Magic Atrium.

Level Seven, Department of Magical Games and Sports

Level Six, Department of Magical Transport

Level Five, Department of International Magical Cooperation

Level Four, Department of Magical Creature Regulation and Control

Level Three, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophe

Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement

Level One, Minister of Magic and Support Staff

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Severus entered the nearest lift, which he found empty except for a few paper aeroplanes.

He descended on Level Five.