Chapter 64. A Month and a Half Later
A month had passed since that day. A rather difficult month. Except for Saturday and Sunday, Severus had no time to rest at all. In addition to sorting through the junk in the Room of Requirement, as it turned out, that was the name of the room he had found on the eighth floor near the Headmaster's office, he was also transferring knowledge from the library into his Grimoire. That required touching a book and waiting three seconds, but there were an enormous number of books, so he had to spend almost two weeks on the school library alone. He also had to act as unsuspiciously as possible, and there were still books from that room, and he had not finished with the junk either, even though he had sorted through more than half of it. In short, there was far too much work, and he had no choice but to push himself to his limit to finish as quickly as possible.
In addition, he spent Saturdays with Bella. By their fourth date she had become a little more open, and even though she behaved as usual, the seal and his sharp eye did not miss the changes in her behavior and character. For example, when he casually mentioned Voldemort in a bad light, testing the waters, she did not react as vividly as she used to, and was more restrained. Still, Bella did not let him get close, even though she did not mind holding hands, and that meant they were drawing nearer with each passing day. He did not want to rush and scare her off, so he tried to behave just as restrainedly, even if he still occasionally slipped in slightly lewd remarks and jokes to loosen her up.
But not everything was so good, because three of them returned to school, and at dinner they were already looking at him with open dislike. And when James noticed the glances Lily kept throwing at his sworn enemy, the flame of jealousy ignited in him again.
And starting this week they gave him no peace at all: constant letters with challenges, open attempts at provocation, and Pettigrew trailing after them, like a rat. It all stirred irritation in him, and he even considered killing them and burying them under the willow, but he quickly drove those thoughts away. Annoying as they were, they were still just children, and until they crossed the line, like with the werewolf that time, he was not going to touch them. A few recently appeared half-bloods who suddenly decided they wanted to be his lackeys also helped drive the irritating Marauders away, at least during lessons and breaks.
Still, he felt that even his patience would soon run out. Then he would really turn that nightmare into reality. The full moon was coming soon, and everything was falling into place far too perfectly. One could say fate itself was giving him a chance to fulfill their dream.
But what happened yesterday completely erased his irritation, because he finally received Galleons from the Ministry of Magic for the sold potions, almost three hundred thousand. It was an astronomical sum for a single month, even for any aristocratic family, and it was only the beginning. The next month promised many times more profit.
Of course, he was sure the recipes would surface soon, but he also doubted that Magical Britain would calmly allow someone else to sell them and steal their bread. He was almost ready for that. He was already working on an advanced potion that boosted magical abilities four times, even if it came with a side effect, one minute of weakness. He was also working on a potion that doubled physical capabilities, and with the second he could negate the side effects of the first, at least physically. Even that would be enough for a quick retreat.
On top of that, he started a small project, magical glasses, a fairly common thing in his own world. The idea first came to him when he saw the magical eye of that captain from the Ministry of Magic. At the time he decided to put it off, but a month ago, after seeing the Black house, he remembered it again and decided to try making his own, using runes from this world. It would be good practice, and he could also repay the McMillans for helping him at the very beginning. If he had not received that necklace, perhaps he would never have gotten close to Nagini, and that day she would simply have crawled away and eventually become an ordinary snake.
The glasses would not differ much from that eye. With them, you could see through walls, illusions, barriers, spells that grant invisibility, and even artifacts. They would provide a three hundred and sixty degree view and, on top of that, protection from Legilimency. At the same time, they would not transmit the image through the eyes, but directly to the brain, which would allow even the blind to see.
But those were only his Napoleonic plans. Whether it could be done with runes and materials from this world, time would tell. He was counting on cramming in at least half of what might be useful right now, then gradually adding the rest, the same way brooms get new models every year.
He worked on all of this mostly on his days off, at night, and even Nagini began to worry, because he almost did not sleep. He constantly used invigorating charms on himself to remove fatigue. And at the end of the month, on Sunday, he saw a huge lock on the training room door, and a note: "The key is with Nagini."
And when he went to Nagini, he found her looking satisfied, spinning a bunch of keys on her tail and eating grapes. When he asked, "Why?" she launched into the longest tirade about how worried she was about him, and she even shed a tear. One could say she used her most harsh arguments. It even amused him a little, but he still had to agree, because he knew perfectly well that constantly using those charms on himself was harmful. So Sunday became a day off, and he spent it in the company of Nagini, who looked very pleased with herself.
And at that pace another two quiet weeks flew by, and Christmas was approaching, another holiday in this world. It was customary to give gifts to friends and loved ones, decorate houses and Christmas trees. In short, another ordinary holiday like Halloween, and it interested him very little. He had far more important matters.
But fate still made its adjustments. One night the foursome called the Marauders, using an invisibility cloak, the one Severus had confiscated, snuck into the Slytherin common room. Of course, there was a password at the entrance, and the door did not let students of other houses through, but with Polyjuice Potion they passed without any trouble. James overheard the password from a Slytherin when that student entered the common room. There was only one reason: to punish the damn crybaby who, supposedly, had not responded to their love letters about meeting behind the school.
Of course, Severus would not have punished them too harshly for that, even though they had been bothering him for the last month and a half. He would have been soft with them. But Sirius's words, "Let us kill his snake so he understands who he is dealing with," and Potter agreeing with him, finally pushed him over the edge.
And the next day, a deer, a dog, and a rat were found on the ceiling of the Gryffindor common room, and Lupin, lying naked on the sofa, recognized his friends.
As it later turned out, someone terrible had cursed the innocent children. Now they would have to spend a whole week in animal form, and they would also lose the last seven days from their memory.
Of course, Severus had been very magnanimous. He wanted to arrange them a week-long cruise through the animal world: send one to the zoo to join other deer, send another to a dog pound, and send the third to a pet shop. Lupin was the only voice of reason who had still tried to talk Potter out of doing something stupid, so he decided to spare him, but Lupin still did not escape punishment. Nagini, kind-hearted as she was, talked him out of being so cruel, even though she had no idea that he had also wanted to change their gender.
And because of that, Severus decided to prepare gifts for each of them, because he considered the punishment too light. They had encroached on one of the creatures dearest to him, and after December twenty-fifth all the students would get two full weeks of vacation. How could he allow them to simply rest after all that?
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