Chapter 185

Three days later, twenty-fifth December finally arrived. The day of Christmas.

While the Muggle world celebrated it with joyful smiles on their faces, in the magical world, a gloomy air was cast over the whole mood, reminding everyone that the Civil war is still not over and danger was lurking in every corner.

The newly formed union had not done any serious work till now, they were focusing all their attention and resources on capturing the rate

But besides that, something else happened. In the newspaper, which came out only a day ago, there was a big article about some organisation, with a grandiose name: "The Black Star that killed Christmas".

It told about an organisation that wanted to take over this country and did not shy away from using any methods to achieve its goal, their insignia was never seen before, and their followers, a frenzied mob, storming every corner of diagon alley and knockturn alley, roughing up every wizard in their line of sight. Not even leaving the muggle world alone.

The fact that this group was exposed to the public in such a dramatic fashion highlighted the union's failure. Despite three days of effort, they hadn't uncovered anything substantial. It wasn't surprising though—Britain was a large country, and finding the hiding places for these attackers was like finding a needle in a haystack unknown.

But Severus didn't blame them in any way, because if he hadn't known in advance where the "Black Star" was hiding, he himself would have hardly guessed.

After all, they chose the perfect place, right under the very nose of the Ministry of Magic, just two blocks away from them, where it was unlikely that anyone would look.

In Hogwarts, everything was much calmer, only a few knew about what happened outside, and those who knew, kept quiet at the request of the Headmaster.

Mainly only the house heads and the sixth- and seventh-year students knew about what happened and they knew how to keep their mouths shut and not ruin it for everyone.

And two days before Christmas, all the preparations were completed. The Great Hall was specially decorated much brighter than last year.

In addition to the fact that there were icicles on the windows, protruding in the form of curtains, the walls and ceiling were temporarily repainted in calmer tones, light blue.

Behind the teachers' desk, two extra Christmas trees were added in addition to the original large tree. They were a bit small in size but their radiance was as bright as the large one.

The teachers also tried to behave quite casually and always smiled, creating the illusion that everything was okay and everyone, as always, was still awaiting the christmas.

***

In the hospital wing, Severus was sitting at the table with Madam Pomfrey and calmly sipping tea.

After his punishment for a bad joke, Promfey invited him back to her as soon as she found out that Severus was released from dance classes.

After the young man left, she even felt a little lonely alone in the office.

Christmas was approaching, so no one was particularly eager to get to her, although on weekdays, especially during some tests, she had no end of "clients".

Usually, they discussed medicine, mainly Muggle medicines, because most healers were quite arrogant and did not recognize the achievements of Muggles, who had gone far ahead in this area, so it was difficult for Pomfrey to find a person who shared her interests.

But today's conversation somehow turned to the upcoming exams, which will take place in five months.

"… but I am still surprised that you decided to take this problem as a topic on TOAD….." the lady muttered with undisguised amazement, and then, deep in thought about something, a dissatisfied snort escaped from her lips and she took a small, simple purse out of her pocket, opening which, a book appeared in the woman's hand, titled: "Reflections", "I am sure that it will definitely help you in your research," the lady looked at him with a smile.

"Hm?" taking it and opening the first page, he was met by a portrait of an old woman with a confident, but condescending smile and bright, "live" eyes.

She was wearing a purple robe, with a pair of large, round earrings and a triangular gemstone.

"Professor, isn't this a forbidden book?" He grinned and looked at the healer, who narrowed her eyes slightly unkindly.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I didn't see anything and you didn't give me anything." and the book disappeared from his hand, and the healer's expression became normal again, "Thank you Madam Pomfrey, I'm sure that this will definitely help me in my research."

"I have no doubt, but just try not to damage it…"

"As soon as I create a potion against "Dragon Pox", you will be the first to receive my book, autographed by the author himself, and you can safely throw this one into the dustiest corner of your library."

"I will look forward to it." Poppy grinned with a hint of fun in her voice, who, to her own surprise, believed in the young man sitting in front of her, who in just over six months had achieved what others needed years to achieve, he was a real genius, and even she herself would sometimes envy his perseverance and understanding.

"And if you need help with your research, I will always be happy to help you."

"Thank you," Severus nodded softly, another book appearing in his hand, "And Merry Christmas to you too."

In response, the woman raised an eyebrow in surprise, for her, a gift was a bit of a surprise, but she did not refuse the gift, but as soon as she saw under whose authorship the book was and the year of publication, her eyes just crawled up her forehead.

"M-Mr. Prince! I can't accept this! It's too expensive!" But as soon as she looked up at the wizard, he was already gone, and on the table lay a note: "Merry Christmas to you again and don't try to give it back to me, I'll burn it!" -

"You scoundrel…" the lady snorted menacingly, but the warm smile never left her face…

__________

Severus, who had left the healer's office, headed towards the large hall where the ball was about to begin, changing his robe for a simple black vest along the way.

Nagini, however, decided to stay in the room so as not to ruin the festive mood and not to scare the children.

"~ Meow…" the next moment, Lucky jumped on his shoulder, and happily began to rub against his cheek, and in response, Severus began to gently stroke his head.

"And I'm glad to see you too, little one, I won't ask where you've been, but still be careful, although you have pretty sharp claws and great speed, but physically you are quite weak."

"~ Meow! Meow-meow!" Lucky meowed discontentedly at such offensive words, because how can he be weak?!

Having stepped over the last step and found himself on the first floor, Severus headed towards the large hall.

"Yes, yes, yes, but still be careful, I don't want to lose such a nice companion, by the way, what have you decided, do you want to become my second familiar? It will be easier for you to find me in the future and for me to find you, and thanks to this, you will become even stronger." Severus tapped him on the nose, from which the kitten wrinkled his face in displeasure, but still, after thinking for a few seconds, shook his head.

"It's a pity, but I can wait, we have nowhere to rush anyway." stroking the baby again, Severus' gaze moved to the young people, who were also dressed in suits and eye-pleasing dresses, and were heading in the same direction as he was.

"Severus!" Hearing a rather familiar voice, Severus stopped and, returning a friendly smile, he turned in the direction from which the voice came.

A cheerful Regulus approached him, in a simple suit with a cloak jacket and a black bow tie, and next to him stood Leila Greengrass, in a white evening dress with open shoulders, which simply suited her perfectly and emphasised the girl's thin waist, and she looked especially beautiful in combination with white elbow-length gloves and shoes of the same colour, with a sharp heel.

"Miss Greengrass, this evening, you are especially charming, it is even difficult for me to find words to describe your beauty," smiling his usual, impudent smile, he gallantly kissed the palm of the pleased aristocrat who burst into a stifle of laughter into her fist.

"Mr. Prince, please do not take my partner away from me for the evening, since you are left all alone." Black said with a grin, to which Severus chuckled and lifted his chin.

"If I knew that everything would end like this, I would definitely not have given you this beautiful lady, but maybe it can still be fixed?" with a hint of fun in his voice, he winked at her.

"I have to refuse, I am much more pleased in the company of Mr. Black."

Black himself, after a few seconds, unable to restrain himself, nevertheless laughed, and Leila followed him, and then turned her gaze to the grey kitten on Severus' shoulder.

"Allow me?"

"Only if he is oka…" but the kitten did not even let him finish, as it jumped into the Slytherin's arms and purred contentedly under her caresses.

"Traitor."

"~ Meow…" Lucky responded by sluggishly waving his tail at him.

"Okay, let's go, the event starts in half an hour." Severus said, not paying attention to Lucky's actions and suppressing the urge to give this ungrateful kitten a flick.

"Are you really going to go like this?" Regulus asked in bewilderment, looking at the young man, without a tie or bow tie, with a couple of unbuttoned top buttons on his shirt, in a simple vest, and his hair was not exactly styled, only tied in a small ponytail, his appearance could only be described in one word -rogue.

"I didn't wanted to go or put on this vest at all." slightly stepping aside, he let a couple of Hufflepuffs pass, and then continued, "But someone made me put it on, and the Headmaster did not let me go home."

"I like his appearance," Greengrass suddenly said, tearing herself away from the animal, and then grinning, she pointed towards a couple of Gryffindors who were looking at the Prince with interest and, as soon as he met their gaze, they blushed slightly and quickly ran towards the great hall, "The image of a bad guy will never lose its relevance."

"See, even Leila said that it suits me, so there's no need to slander my appearance," he chuckled and turned his back to them, "Let's go already, I still want to try all the dishes, after all, the "Board of Trustees" forked out quite a sum for all this and they didn't spare any galleons, and also, I'll be a witness."

"A witness?" Black looked at him puzzled,- "What "witness"?"

But the witch understood almost immediately, especially remembering that conversation on Monday, from which her cheeks flushed, which stood out especially strongly against her pale skin.

"Severus!" the girl hissed, almost shooting lightning from her eyes.

And, seeing such a bright reaction in his partner and pink cheeks, it finally began to dawn on him what Snape meant and he also slightly blushed, but somehow did not comment on this and decided to pretend that he did no not understand what his friend meant, so as not to embarrass the girl even more.

And catching the Prince's eye, he smiled gratefully at him and nodded imperceptibly.

"That's great, let's go."

"Eh? What's great?" Greengrass looked at him, puzzled, and then at Regulus, but they both remained silent and moved forward, "Hey, don't ignore me!"

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Please check out my other fic as well; Venomised in Marvel.

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