 
## SOMEONE WILL DEFINITELY COME

Prologue.

\- Kingsley, are you able to count to seven?

Kíngsley Shácklebolt stared at Snape irritably.

\- Well?

\- How many horcruxes, if you believe the testimony of Slughorn, was going to create Voldemort?

\- Seven.

\- And how many were found and destroyed?

\- Seven!

\- Six, Kingsley, six! Riddle's diary, Marvolo's ring, Slytherin medallion, Hufflepuff bowl, Ravenclaw diadem, Nagini.

\- The seventh horcrux was Harry!

\- Did Voldemort know about this?

\- No, but...

Kingsley now looked at Snape with a strange, frozen look.

\- Do not you understand? If Voldemort wanted to create seven horcruxes, he created seven of them. Potter was already the eighth, random. He did not find the seventh horcrux.

\- No, Snape, you're wrong, Voldemort is done!

\- We already had a minister who liked to think so. Has this taught you anything?

\- Oh well! - the minister barked, jumping up from a chair and starting to wander in office. - If, in your opinion, there is one more, then what is it and where is it?

\- What? Something owned by Godric Gryffindor. Where? I have no idea. You have a large Horcrux Finder on staff. Send him to finish his work. He will hang out for a year, it's not clear where, and then he will bring it to you.

Kingsley was silent and Snape didn't like it.

\- Is there something wrong with our star boy?

\- Not. It's not about him.

\- Quit dilly - dallying, Kingsley, - Snape asked irritably.

\- We burned Voldemort's body. Ashes was hidden in the department of secrets.

\- What for?

\- Just ... like an artifact...

Snape muttered something under his breath, suspiciously reminiscent of "idiots."

\- So what?

The Minister took a deep breath and reluctantly admitted:

\- It was stolen the day before yesterday.

Snape looked at him silently.

\- I'll take action, Severus. We will not allow...

\- Okay, I'm off, - Snape said in a bored voice.

\- Wait.

The minister got up, walked around Snape and, rummaging through the cabinet drawer, pulled out a black velvet box.

\- By decision of the commission of the Ministry of Magic, Severus Snape is awarded the Order of Merlin of the first degree for...

Snape took a step forward, roughly grabbed the box from the hands of a taken aback minister and casually slipped it into his pocket.

\- Let's go without this circus, minister.

\- As you wish, - minister muttered resentfully, sitting down at the table again. - I'll cover you in front of the French. I will conduct endless bureaucratic correspondence, explaining why I did not arrest you.

\- Thank you very much!

\- Leave that tone, Snape, - said the Minister. - You abduct French citizen, used a torture spell on her...

\- Is there any evidence? - Snape asked coldly.

\- No, but...

\- I swear, - Snape interrupted, - that I did not abduct Madame Lefebvre and did not apply the crucio spell to her. I just went to visit her and we... talked. I needed some information about my future wife.

\- Okay, - the minister sighed. - By the way, congratulations on your marriage. Frankly, I did not expect it from you.

\- I did not expect also.

\- Did you happen to be charmed, may be?

Snape just snorted.

The minister clearly wanted to end the unpleasant conversation with an even less pleasant visitor.

\- Well, professor, I hope in future you don't allow yourself like that...

\- I will allow it. If it will be necessary to protect my family.

Snape bowed dryly and left the office.

# Part one. Kate.

Chapter first. Lilac.

Knocking heels in the dark. The delicate smell of lilac. He managed to... He said everything... Why lilac? It blooms in June, and now it is still May.

\- Professor Snape, can you hear me?

Darkness again. And again the smell of lilac wakes him - now he understood - these are perfumes. Who is there? He does not see anything.

\- Can you hear me, professor?

Someone raises his head and pours a little liquid into his mouth. Then again, again and again. Potion? There is no taste. Is he alive??? What's happening? Where is he? Where is Voldemort and Potter? A million questions are ready to be torn off the tongue, but the one as a motionless heavy stone lies in the mouth.

Retractable heels sound. Darkness.

Chapters two. Treatment according to the method of Dr. Gerhard.

Vision returned seventeen days after the Nagini attack. He later found out it from Kate. At first she was only a voice, the sound of footsteps in the surrounding impenetrable darkness, a faint smell of perfume. She touched him, but he did not feel. He did not feel his body at all.

The stranger with the spell of Wingardium Leviosa lifted his body into the air, pulled off his pants and shirt, wiped him off with something and put it on again. Snape was seething with shame, becouse of smell from his body — he no longer controlled him, even in the simplest functions. One could only hope that the woman would be old enough so that he could someday look into her face.

Hopes, of course, did not materialize, and Kate turned out to be a pretty young woman of about twenty-five, with cute dimples on her cheeks, beautiful brown eyes. Brown hair were neatly chipped off the back of the head. Something was in her \- homely, cozy, suggesting thoughts of a quiet crackling of the hearth, evening tea parties with baking and leisurely conversations. The face was completely unfamiliar. So, she did not study at Hogwarts. The foreigner? The uniforms of the witch doctor closely fit the slim figure, allowing you to admire the magnificent breasts and steep hips.

The stranger finally finished arranging the bottles on the bedside table and looked at Snape.

\- Professor! \- she started, seeing that he opened his eyes. - Do you see me?

Snape looked at her silently. The tongue, like the rest of the body, was paralyzed.

- We will communicate this way, - the girl said decisively, - if you want to say yes, you close your eyes. If not, blink quickly. Want to ask a question, close your left eye. Tired and want to relax - right. Do you understand me?

Snape closed his eyes. Opened again.

- That's good, - the girl was clearly delighted that he understood her. - My name is Kate Lefebvre, I am your healer.

- Do you remember who you are?

\- Yes.

- Do you remember what happened to you?

\- Yes.

\- Well. I will tell you what happened next. In the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry Potter defeated the He Who Cannot Be Named and then rushed off to the Shrieking Shack, hoping you could be alive. And you really turned out to be alive. True, no one understood why, - Kate smiled slightly, showing a row of dazzling white teeth. - Your body continued to struggle with the action of the poison that would kill any person. By evening, the best magicians of St. Mungo Hospital arrived at Hogwarts. After the inspection and consultation, it was decided to leave you here - moving to London could be too dangerous. Your head Healer, Professor Gerhard, is England's largest specialist in poison diseases. He examines you every other day. I follow all his instructions - twice a day I give you a potion that gradually removes poison from the body and gives you a massage. Professor Gerhard hopes that you will fully recover, but the healing process will be long and may take several months. So be patient, Professor Snape.

Snape closed his left eye. Kate took a magic wand from her pocket and ran through the air - a sparkling silver scattering of letters of the English alphabet appeared before his eyes.

\- Formulate your question as briefly as possible - two or three main words. Ready?

\- Yes.

\- We will make up words. The first letter of the word consonant?

\- Yes.

Only consonants remained in the air, which formed in several rows.

\- The desired letter in the front row?

\- Yes.

\- B?

\- Not.

\- C?

\- Not.

\- D?

\- Yes.

\- The second letter is a vowel?

\- Yes.

A few minutes later they received the word "date".

- Do you want to know what date is today?

\- Yes.

\- June 15th.

Snape closed his left eye again.

"Details."

-I will read you a report published in the Daily Prophet when you get a little stronger.

"Now".

- Good, - Kate sighed. - They told me that for some reason it's better not to argue with you, - she smiled slyly.

\- But if you get tired, let me know.

Chapter 3. The technique of the three "yes."

Something was wrong. There was some oddity in Potter's story about the destruction of the Horcruxes, but Snape couldn't understand what was alarming him. It was hard to think, thoughts slipped away, he now and then plunged into slumber. He woke up when his body was again raised into the air. Opening his eyes, he saw Kate, who busily and spontaneously took off his hospital shirt.

-It's time to change clothes and take medicine, professor, - she smiled softly.

Snape blinked so violently that Kate flinched.

\- Why not? It's necessary...

\- Not.

\- But why?!

Left eye.

"Not you"

\- Not me? What not me?

\- Someone else.

Kate looked at him puzzled for a few seconds, and then suddenly laughed.

-I think I get it. Do you want someone else to change clothes?

\- Yes.

\- You should not be shy about me. I am your doctor.

\- Not.

- Okay, - Kate shrugged. – I can help you. Winky!

A light clap rang out and a Hogwart elf sprang up at the head of the bed. Winky looked much better than Snape remembered. The uniform was neat, Winky herself smiled joyfully, swaying slightly from heel to toe.

- Winky is happy to serve Master Snape!

- Winky, from today on you'll take care of Professor Snape. Every six hours you will change his underwear and bed, and feed him four times a day.

Winky nodded joyfully:

- Winky understood everything. Winky will do what Professor needs.

- So long as it is, - Kate said dryly. - When you get back to talking, you can call Winky as needed. But I will still give you the potion and do the massage. These are medical procedures and I cannot delegate them to the home elf. Winky, tell me when you're done.

Winky quickly dealt with hygiene procedures and, feeding him oatmeal, gave way to Kate. He endured, while the female doctor watered him with a potion from a spoon (he wonders why she can't entrust this to the elf?). He endured when she flexed his shoulders, hands and fingers with dexterous movements of strong hands, taking off his shirt again, but when she began to untie the ribbons on the hospital pants, he blinked furiously again. The problem was that the blink was completely silent and the protest went unnoticed. Kate did a full body massage without going around intimate areas. Snape blushed painfully, although he didn't feel anything. Finally, he was dressed again and shameless girl deigned to finally face him.

Snape was surprised. He was sure that upon seeing his furious physiognomy, the girl would tremble and be aware of the inadmissibility of what had just happened. However, Kate laughed again:

\- I thought so. Are we having problems again?

\- Yes.

\- Clearly understood. And now I will ask you to answer three questions. Professor Snape, do you want to recover?

Snape did not answer. He understood where this witch was driving. He wonder why she changed perfume? Instead of delicate lilacs, he smelled the sweet smell of vanilla and caramel. Personally, he would prefer lilacs, but who is asking him? His opinion is not interested in more significant intimate issues.

- Well then, professor?

There was nowhere to go. Snape reluctantly closed his eyes.

\- Well. Do you want to move normally, walk independently?

\- Yes (wish so you fail).

\- Do you want to live a full sexual life and have children?

Snape wanted to ironically bend an eyebrow, but it didn't work out. And who want to live a full sexual life with him? Let us suppose...

\- Yes.

\- Excellent! To do this, you need to take a restorative potion and a full body massage twice a day. FULL, - she repeated with pressure, sternly looking into the eyes of her obstinate patient. - I can't skip individual sections, pretending that they do not exist. This is a medical procedure and you must treat it correctly. I am not a woman for you, but a doctor. You are not a man for me, but a patient. The secret of what I saw under your pants, I will carry myself to the grave – this nasty girl, unlike Snape, managed to ironically bend an eyebrow. - Although, to be honest, I didn't find anything surprising there.

She certainly did not study at Hogwarts. None of the graduates would dare to make such jokes with a former potions teacher. Who is she? There was not the slightest accent in the speech.

- Relax, professor.

Snape tried to incinerate her with a look, but Kate was not going to incinerate, and smiling sweetly at parting, fluttered out of the room. Okay, he has time to think what words he will call her when he can speak. At that moment, Snape had no idea that by then he would be whispering completely different words into her ear. And that he will forget to ask her about perfume.

Chapter Four. Treatment according to the method of Kate Lefebvre.

How did he start to have sex with her? No, to be honest, she started, but did he mind? Drove her away from him with a filthy broom? Not at all. He surprised, yes, but did not protest at all. On the contrary, he was happy with the gift of a whimsical fate. And now she's been fired for it, but he's as if nothing to do with it. Snape sat on the edge of the hospital bed, tormented by shame and remorse. He grimaced, recalling Professor Gerhard yelling at Kate.

- Unthinkable! A flagrant violation of the code of Healer! Unheard of violation of the moral foundations of medicine! I will fire you without the right to restoration! - the old doctor was shaking with rage. – Shameless woman like you - no place in the noble ranks of healers!

Gerhard gestured at the door with an angry gesture.

- Pack your things immediately and get out of here! I will file a complaint with you at the Wizengamot - you will be deprived of a diploma, go to work as a prostitute, there you have the place!

Then Snape, having managed to pull on his robe somehow, could not stand it and barked at Gerhard:

- You yourself are to blame! These are all your side effects! Couldn't make a normal potion?!

And that too was a mistake. It was necessary to restrain, try to explain, say that it was his fault, finally lie something. He did not manage to do any of this. Completely pissed off, Gerhard shouted that as far as he could see, Snape no longer needed his services, he washed his hands and let Snape make his own potions, since he is smarter than everyone! With these words, the distinguished professor flew out of the room and already in the hallway began to shout again. Snape could hear several words, "what shamelessness ... Never anything like it" ... Then, raising his voice again, he shouted "I curse you! And ... although you are already cursed! " The door slammed.

***

And yet, how did it all begin? It all started with an erection, when Kate did another massage, without ignoring a single part of the body. And for some reason, this section was the first to react to the gentle touches of female fingers. The rest of the body remained completely motionless and insensitive. Blushing with shame, Snape gazed angrily at the diligent masseuse, but when she looked at him, Snape was again amazed - such sincere joy shone in her eyes, as if he had given her some unusual gift.

- Excellent, Professor Snape!

If he could, he would burst out laughing - never before had his erection caused such delight among the ladies.

\- You are on the way to recovery - this is the first step!

The mocking expression of his eyes did not hide from Kate.

\- You are laughing in vain, - she said with some resentment. - This is a very important step!

Snape just sighed and rolled his eyes.

The next day, before Kate began to water him with a potion, he closed his left eye. "Again?"

\- No, no, don't worry, I won't touch the inguinal part anymore. If it has gained sensitivity, we can leave it alone.

But for some reason this did not help. An erection arose again when Kate massaged his chest. She bent low over him, and in the section of the robe he saw her magnificent breasts almost entirely. Realizing from his convulsive sigh that something had gone wrong, Kate looked up and, quickly turning around, looked at his shame.

\- Even so? Listen, Professor Snape, do you happen to like me? - sly sparks jumped in her eyes.

Snape blinked indignantly. The fury in his eyes seemed to amuse the girl even more. Stopping a giggle, she said:

\- Sorry. Just did not expect from you today.

Snape was seething with indignation. It was necessary to give him such a Healer! When he finds out who appointed her here, he will ...

- Don't be embarrassed, - Kate said affectionately. - Dr. Gerhard will be examining you today. He'll come up with something. Tell me, but besides in the genital area, is there somewhere sensitivity?

\- Not.

\- Nothing wrong. Everything will be back. It just takes time.

***

-Well, how do you feel, young man? - Professor Gerhard turned out to be a tall, rather stooped elderly wizard with an extensive bald head and watery blue eyes. - So, vision and hearing have returned, excellent. God willing, and the rest will slowly recover.

Snape looked inquiringly at Kate. She nodded.

\- Professor Gerhard, there is one small nuance that we should discuss. Let's go to me.

«Hmm, it's very tactful of her not to discuss this in my presence», - Snape thought.

The next day, she brought with her two bottles.

- Professor Gerhard believes that your agitation is the result of a side effect of the potion he composed. He prescribed you additional tincture of gardionis, which should neutralize the side effect.

«I know, - Snape thought, - It helps, of course, but you still want sex. Nevertheless, he allowed himself to be drunk.

The potion did not help. On the contrary, the excitement was so strong that Snape would grit his teeth if he could. Kate just sighed.

\- Professor Gerhard warned of the possibility of the opposite effect. There is still too much poison in your body and it reacts non-standard. No, now gideonis is no help to you.

Snape closed his eyes tiredly.

- Do you want to...- Kate hesitated a little. He looked at her questioningly. - Do you want me to help you?

Snape continued to look perplexed.

- I will help you as you yourself would help if you could move your hands, - Kate explained confusedly.

Snape blinked in dismay. Only this was still not enough! Is she crazy?

- Well, as you wish, - a strange healer sighed. - Want to suffer, ok. I can not save you from the massage, sorry. In general, you can treat this as a medical procedure. My hand will be in a glove, I won't even look there. And I will never tell anyone, not even Gerhard.

- No!

No, he was not going to let her do this. And then still surrendered. The excitement grew stronger day by day and did not let go for a long time... On the third day, at Kate's offer to "help", he did not blink as usual, but only heaved a sigh and looked away. Kate pulled on a blue latex glove and busily set to work. She acted skillfully, and after a few minutes Snape exhaled convulsively, his body suddenly arched, and a current ran through his spine.

- Professor Snape, - Kate seemed to be very excited, - did you feel anything?

The mocking expression of his eyes did not bother her a bit.

- I mean, anything but orgasm?

\- Yes.

\- Where?

"S..p..."

\- The spine?

\- Yes.

\- Well. Well done, professor!

It is very difficult to laugh if the diaphragm does not contract and the lips do not stretch. Laughter, finding no way out, flowed with tears from the corners of the eyes. Kate smiled, wiped his eyes and groin, and left.

Over the next few days, everything was repeated and Snape realized that he was looking forward to the next massage session, which was always followed by a "medical procedure". At night, he now dreamed of naked Kate, he reached for her, but even in a dream he could not move his hand. In the afternoon, he avoided looking into her eyes, ashamed of his desires and fearing that the penetrating eyes of the healer would see more than he wanted to show.

On the fourth day, a problem arose. No matter how hard Kate tried, she could not bring about the desired release. Finally, she stopped and looked thoughtfully at her patient.

\- I will do it differently. You ... do you mind?

Snape looked at her bewildered. Then he really did not understand what she meant. And if he understood, would he mind?

\- I know it's impossible, - Kate apparently misinterpreted his surprised look. - But what if it doesn't work out differently?

Then she slipped down and ...

Then Snape thought it was probably worth the bite of Nagini for the sake of it. But her selfless desire to help her patient was still astounding... He closed his eyes, plunged into pleasure, and suddenly, his motionless, insensitive right hand trembled, lifted and clutched Kate's hair. She froze for a moment, and then returned to her occupation with redoubled energy.

When finished, Kate did not leave. Snape hesitated to open his eyes.

\- Professor! – the girl called resolutely.

He reluctantly looked at her - he did not notice a drop of embarrassment in his beautiful brown eyes.

\- Your hand - try to move it.

Snape tried.

\- Does not work?

\- Not.

- But you did it... when I...You know, we probably have to try again.

Snape simply could not believe his ears: is she really going to give him a blow job regularly - for medical purposes? How interesting, however, is the development of wizard medicine. "I like your treatment methods," - he would tell her if he could speak. Maybe then she will publish another article in the scientific journal "On the Benefits of Blowjob for Poisoning with Albanian Serpent Poison"?

Okay, sarcasm is sarcasm, but he really moved his hand. He wonders if... maybe then the whole body will come to life? It's a pity that the abnormal healer won't go so far...

After a couple of days, Snape was finally able to slightly bend both hands already outside Kate's "medical procedure".

Gerhard, who came for another inspection, was very impressed:

"I did not expect mobility to recover at such an early date," - the elderly doctor seemed to be amazed to the extreme that his treatment was effective. - "You, Snape, have an incredibly strong body - to survive after being bitten by an Albanian poisonous snake, and even begin to recover in less than a month, is simply amazing!"

«I wonder myself», - Snape thought gloomily. He squinted at Kate, but she looked blankly out the window, as if what was happening in this room had nothing to do with her. She clearly did not intend to tell Gerhard about the adjustments made by her personally to the treatment plan.

The next day, the situation again came to a standstill. Now the blowjob didn't help either, the side effect of the ill-fated potion was manifested so much. Tired, soaking Kate, raised her head and, stumbling slightly, said:

- Severus ... will you let me call you that?

«Surely», - Snape thought sarcastically, - «after all that you have done here, I generally have to marry you».

\- Yes.

- Severus... I cannot... you see... I want... to help you, - she blushed to the roots of her hair, but resolutely looked into his eyes. - It will not oblige you to anything... And me too... I'm sure it will benefit... Of course, you can't, I understand, but... no one will know... Do you agree?

Snape silently looked at her, wondering why they had put a madwoman to him and what else could he expects from her?

Accepting his astonished silence for consent, Kate quickly pulled off her panties and climbed onto him...

How wonderful it was... Suddenly, Snape realized that his hands, still clutching her hips, had risen even higher and climbed under a medical robe - it cracked, tearing and losing buttons, and his hands reached the desired goal. Then again, a current ran through the spine, and the hips came into motion. Kate groaned, clutching at his chest. Snape pulled her toward him with a powerful movement, and then, turning over with incredible effort, crushed her under him, not paying attention to the pain that filled his whole body and continued to enter it until he heard his own cry, merging with Kate's continuous moans...

With great difficulty, he rolled back onto his back, this time groaning from the unbearable pain in every joint. Kate, getting out from under him, wiped away her tears and forgetting about the dressing gown, flew out of the chamber.

At midnight, he bent and unbent arms and legs, turned from side to side, regaining control of his own muscles and only in the morning he fell asleep. He woke up from the fact that Winky, as was usually the case in the mornings, lifting him above the bed, changed clothes. He was able to smile at her and, with great effort, flicking his tongue, squeezed out the word "toilet". Winky smiled happily, and nodded her head so vigorously that huge ears slapped her shoulders. She set him up with a urinal, and Snape vowed that by dinner he would force himself to go to the hospital toilet on his own.

As usual, after breakfast, Kate came in, neatly combed her hair, in a fresh bathrobe and, without looking at him, began to place bottles of potion and jars of massage ointment on bedside table.

- Good morning, Professor Snape. - Kate studied her knees carefully. - You have to take the medicine.

\- Sorry.

Kate cocked her head sharply, looking at him in amazement.

- You... are you talking?! Severus... it's... it's unbelievable!

Her eyes shone again with sincere joy.

- Sorry, - he repeated with difficulty making the naughty tongue toss and turn, staring into her eyes.

\- For what?

- You... yesterday... cried.

Kate lowered her eyes again and blushed.

- You... were... painfully?

She shook her head in the negative.

\- I felt good... I felt very good... And so now I am ashamed.

\- Do not understand.

\- I can't have sex with patients. I violated the code of healer.

\- Is it so important?

- If they find out about this, they can fire me.

- Then ... why?

Kate was silent for a long time, and then, gaining air, as if about to dive, looked her eyes:

- I wanted that.

\- You wanted... me? - Snape was astounded.

\- Yes. And I took advantage of your helpless state. You can file a complaint with me at the Wizengamot.

This time he managed to laugh, although the laugh came out like a hoarse bark. Here Rita Skeeter will rejoice - she will write an article in the "Prophet" - "Hero of war, a gentleman of the Order of Merlin of the first degree, raped in a hospital bed."

Kate smiled timidly.

\- Aren't you angry at me?

- I... want... for... you... again... to take advantage... of my... helpless... condition... right... now.

\- First a potion and massage.

- Don't... mind.

And so it has been since then. Potion ... massage ... sex.

Three days later, Snape moved around the room, leaning heavily on a stick, on the fourth he was able to stomp on the front oak door and stood on the porch of the castle, enjoying the fresh summer air.

And then Gerhard arrived inappropriately.

Chapter 5. The curse of the clan Lefebvre.

Kate appeared in the doorway. She was wearing navy blue Muggle jeans and a loose white blouse with a suitcase in her hands. Kate slowly approached him - she barely reached his shoulder in height.

- Well, that's it, Severus. Goodbye. I hope you will not miss me much, - the girl stood on tiptoe, touched her cheek with her lips, and turned, about to leave. He grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her toward him:

\- Where are you going?

\- Home. In London.

\- Who are you? Where from? I know nothing about you.

Kate laughed sadly.

- As the Muggles say, bed is not a reason to meet you. I come from France. Moved to your country six months ago.

- Do you have someone in London? The groom?

\- Not. In France, I had a husband, but we got divorced, and I left.

- Listen to... I'll go to London... tomorrow. I will meet Gerhard and explain everything to him. He must understand that you are not to blame.

- It's my fault, Severus.

\- So it does not matter. I will say that I made you, deceived, bewitched!

- Of course, you bewitched me, - Kate smiled a little more cheerfully, - though without magic. But none of this needs to be done. None of this matters.

- How does it not matter? It's about your work. About your career.

- A career is no longer important to me.

\- What is important to you?

- Those days that I spent here with you.

\- Then stay! \- Snape asked suddenly in a hoarse voice.

- No, Severus, I can't. We need to leave on time, so we don't regret later. Don't think about me anymore. Goodbye.

She left without looking back. Snape heard the door opening into the hospital wing... and then a thud, as if something heavy had been dropped to the floor. Quickly, as best he could, he hobbled to the door. Kate was lying on the threshold, her whole body was arched from a terrible cramp, foam was bubbling on her lips, her eyes rolled up. Poisoned?! Snape rushed into Kate's room and feverishly began to search through the contents of the boxes, filled with all kinds of flasks and bottles. Finding finally bezoar, he rushed back.

Kate, however, had already come to her senses and tried to get up, clinging her fingers to the wall. He helped her up, and the two of them somehow hobbled to the room. Kate lay down on free bunk and closed her eyes. Her face was pale, veins swelled at her temples.

\- What was it?

- An attack, - the girl whispered faintly.

\- An attack of what?

\- Never mind.

\- And what did Gerhard mean when he said that you were already cursed?

Kate was silent.

- Should I ask the professor?

- It doesn't matter anymore, Severus. Forget.

\- Kate, in my early years I was fond of dark magic, my teacher was Voldemort himself. I know a lot about curses, maybe I can...

- You can't, - Kate cringed and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.

Snape took a pair of blankets and covered her.

\- I was examined by the best experts from France and England. There is only one conclusion - the curse contains an individual code - some condition - if you fulfill it, the curse will be lifted. The problem is that only the person who created this curse knows the condition. They think - I will live a few more months, but not more than a year.

- And who knows the condition?

Kate was silent again.

\- Your husband?

\- Not.

\- Then who? Kate, do you have an occlumency skill?

Kate looked at him in surprise.

\- Not.

\- Then better tell yourself. Otherwise, I'll find out now, but it will be unpleasant for you.

- You dare not, - Kate's pale cheeks filled with a flush of anger. - It doesn't concern you at all!

- No, - Snape said coldly. - It doesn't concern me. But I love to stick my long nose into other people's affairs. So?

- Madame Lefebvre, - Kate said reluctantly. \- My ex-mother-in-law.

\- For what?

- Just as revenge. She was against our marriage. Lefebvre is an old French witching family, one of the richest and most influential in France. Nicolas is the only heir. And I'm a half-breed of dubious origin. My mother is a witch, and my father is an unknown Muggle, whom she met at a disco and did not even remember his name. I was the wrong bride, but Nicolas insisted, and we got married.

Kate was silent for a long time. Then, with effort she continued to tell.

\- We lived together for four years. I could not get pregnant, healers found me barren. Then the relatives of Nicolas insisted on a divorce - the family needed an heir, and he had to obey. I left for England, went to work at St. Mungo's hospital, and a month later these attacks started. Roxanne Lefebvre sent me an owl: "I hope you enjoyed my farewell gift? You have to pay for everything. You took four years from my son, the vile daughter of a whore, I'll take your life."

\- In England, for such tricks, Madame Lefebvre would go straight to Azkaban!

\- Do you think? And if her name were, let's say, Narcissa Malfoy?

- I see, - Snape sighed. - And what about your ex-husband?

\- She sent him on a trip around the world. Attacks began to recur and the healers in Mungo, at first friendly, were frightened and began to avoid me. Then Professor Gerhard offered me this job - to go to Hogwarts, to be away from everyone. Madame Pomfrey could not care for you. After the attack on the school, there were a lot of wounded, she took care of them day and night, without sleep and rest - and overstrained. At her age, such loads are too much - now she herself needs help and is undergoing rehabilitation in Mungo. (Here Snape felt a little ashamed. He realized that he, fascinated by the revolutionary methods of treatment, had never once remembered the faithful Madame Pomfrey.) So I ended up here.

Snape thought for a moment. When after a few minutes he looked at Kate again, he saw that the girl, apparently exhausted, fell asleep. He got up and, trying not to make noise, hobbled to the exit.

Chapter 6. What is stronger than crucio?

- Hello, Professor Snape. Nice to meet you. Here, in France, they are only talking about this war of yours. Thank god we don't have such terrible dark wizards. For three hundred years now, magical France has not known any wars.

- You're lucky, - Snape answered coldly.

Madame Roxanne Lefebvre turned out to be a very ugly fat lady of about fifty, in a dark purple silk dress with a collar made of niffler fur. A massive gold chain with a large medallion in the form of the sun adorned the magnificent chest. When he looked at the woman's face, Snape began to automatically recall the recipe for anti-boron potion, but remembered that he wasn't here for that.

- How can I help you, professor?

It was dark and hot in the living room of Lefebvre. The huge room was furnished with expensive antique furniture, antique bronze candelabra with burning candles created a choking atmosphere.

\- During the last war I was wounded. At the hospital, Kate Lefebvre, your ex-daughter-in-law, looked after me.

Snape was amazed at how quickly the expression of affability slipped from Madame's face, giving way to fierce hatred.

\- So what? \- Madame Roxanne's lips tightened into a thin strip and she became even uglier.

- I want you to remove your curse.

- I see, - Madame Lefebvre stared at Snape with undisguised contempt, - do you like young girls in white robes?

Snape blushed and clenched his jaw. The old witch laughed.

- This whore always gets her way... In a known way. The same bastard as her mother. My unfortunate naive boy fell on the same hook. Men are so easy to fool you. And what difficulties should I get rid of her. Every day, mix Strongilon's tincture with food so that this creature does not become pregnant. And then I gave a fortune to Parisian healers so that they recognized her barren.

\- So it's you! \- gasped shocked Snape.

- Of course, I, - the witch agreed easily, - I don't need dirty half-breed bastards here. Since ancient times, Lefebvre has continued its family only in purebred marriages, even if they have to marry relatives. My maiden name is also Lefebvre, I married a cousin, and my mother, nee Lefebvre, was the wife of her own uncle. And in the eighteenth century, one of our ancestors married his own granddaughter! - Madame Lefebvre settled in - she was clearly proud of the eerie incestuous story.

- Then you should have children with very poor health in your family, - Snape said indifferently.

- I had five brothers and sisters, but they all died before they were one year old. Nicolas had two brothers, but they were born dead. But Lefebvre will never betray the principles of purebred! - a fanatical sparkle appeared in the woman's eyes and Snape thought that family marriages adversely affect not only physical health...

- These are your problems, - he said impatiently to the woman. - Proceed.

\- To what? \- Madame Lefebvre, fascinated by her story, seemed to forget why an unfamiliar hook-nosed wizard in a black mantle was sitting in her living room.

- To fulfill my humble request.

- I'm not going to fulfill your request! - the old woman viciously spat out. - This creature got what she deserves!

- Then I'll make you, - Snape's voice sounded calm, but people who knew him well would shudder with horror now.

But Madame Lefebvre did not know him and only giggled disgustingly:

\- How, let me know? Will you torture me with a crucio?

\- Why so rude? \- He shrugged. - I'll just immobilize you, make you drink a verisarium - you yourself will tell what the matter is.

- And you do this to a woman?

- And I'm not the highest moral wizard in Europe.

Madame laughed louder:

- Well then, let's proceed, professor.

Snape frowned — he didn't like the old witch's fun. He slowly raised his wand - Madame Lefebvre, sitting in a chair opposite, smiled and was not going to defend herself.

- Lokomotor Mortis!

The spell bounced off the suddenly appearing transparent blue shield, which completely covered Roxanne and ricocheted off into Snape. He already expected something like that and dodged promptly, almost groaning - the joints were still very sore. Madame Lefebvre's voice oozed poison:

- Anything else you'll try, professor?

\- How do you do that? \- he asked curiously, rising to his feet with difficulty.

Madame pointed to the medallion - the sun:

\- Family relic - protects from all known spells.

\- And from the unknown? - Snape asked quickly.

- Of course, it does not, - Lefebvre barked irritably, - do you have any?

\- Yes, - Snape replied in a soft, insinuating voice, - I have reserved it specially for such an occasion.

Lefebvre frowned slightly and reached for a pocket but did not have time to reach for her wand...

\- Totalus pleseris!

The woman froze, then closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. For a few minutes, soft moans were heard, the chair creaked slightly under the wriggling body.

Snape lowered his wand. After some time, Roxanne opened her eyes and exhaled in shock:

\- Lord, what was that?

\- The spell of pleasure. Contrary to the action of Crucio.

- I felt that. But why for?

- You'll find out soon.

Snape sat back in a chair and began to calmly watch.

- Get out of my house! - snapped Lefebvre, but somehow not very confidently.

- I'll leave, - this time it was his turn to laugh, - but you will run after me and beg me to come back.

- Why on earth? - the mistress snorted incredulously. An expression of anxiety appeared in her eyes.

Snape smiled, got up, and slowly walked toward the exit.

\- Wait!

He turned around. Madame Lefebvre got up from her chair and, frowning in bewilderment, looked at him with a strange, fixed look.

\- Wait! Before you leave, - she hesitated, hesitantly, - you could not...

\- Repeat? \- Snape inquired in the tone of a caring uncle.

- Yes, - whispered Roxanne. - If you may...

\- Please. Totalus pleseris!

He had already lowered his wand, and she was still lying, exhaustedly lounging in an armchair, with a meaningless, blissful smile on her wrinkled face. A thread of saliva slowly drained from the corner of the mouth.

- More, - she whispered hoarsely, not opening her eyes.

\- Good things come in small packages, - Snape said mockingly, and sat down again in his chair.

\- More! – The witch squealed frantically.

\- Not.

Lefebvre opened her eyes and stared hatefully at Snape. For a second, it seemed that she would now rush at him, but she suddenly fell to her knees.

\- I beg ... more!

\- Not.

- Severus... Dear... I will give you everything you want, - she grabbed his hand and began to cover it with kisses, - everything you want...

Snape pulled out a hand in disgust.

\- Take the money... Jewelry...

\- Not.

\- Do you want this amulet? He is priceless!

- Nice little thing, - Snape agreed, - but I don't need it.

\- Do you want to take this castle... He is seven hundred years old.

\- Not.

- Okay, - Roxanne sighed. - The Lefebvre family never knew such a shame, but what now to do... Take me, Snape, take the nee Lefebvre, take me like a whore in the market!

To Snape's horror, she quickly took off her dress, staying in a shirt and trousers and lay down on the carpet.

- Immediately get up and get dressed! - He barked. - If you forget, I will remind you - I like young girls in medical gowns!

- Oh, yes, - the witch's face distorted in anger again, but, to Snape's relief, she obediently stood up and put on her dress. - You came to me for this. Okay, I'll say, only you swear that you will give me... this...

\- I swear.

\- Marry her and fuck more often.

\- Are you kidding?! \- Snape hissed.

\- Not! The curse will be lifted if she becomes pregnant while legally married.

- Is there no other way? - Snape asked grimly.

The witch giggled viciously.

- No... Come on, Snape... You swore!

Snape raised his wand.

\- Totalus pleseris!

And, in a second:

\- Totalus remission!

Roxana knelt for another minute, closing her eyes and swaying slightly, then slowly rose to her feet.

\- Damn you! - she gasped. - What have you done to me?

\- The spell of pleasure. As I said, it's the opposite of crucio, but much more dangerous. Crucio causes unthinkable pain, and plesaris causes unthinkable pleasure. But crucio can be endured, and plesaris immediately causes addiction. I tested it on mice - the creatures squealed with pleasure, and then ran after me throughout the dungeon, nibbled at my fingers, climbed the mantle. I just had to kill them, until I came up with a counter-spell that removes addiction.

- This is a terrible thing, Snape!

\- I know.

\- No, you do not know! I was ready to give you everything! -- she frantically grabbed the amulet. - I would fulfill your every desire, any order! If you would have ordered to kill – I would killed, would have ordered to steal – I would stole.

- That is why you will remain the first and, I hope, the last person to experience it. I gave some mice as much as they requested. In the end, they were dying of nervous excitement. Judging by your reaction, people also instantly form addiction and begin pathological personality changes, similar to those - form with heroin addiction in Muggles, only ten times faster.

- I didn't understand anything from what you just said, but it was... it was... like a thousand orgasms at the same time, - said Madame Lefebvre quietly.

- I hope you understand that no one should know about the existence of this spell.

- It's a terrible weapon, Snape! You can force anyone to anything.

\- That's it. Therefore, everything that happened here must remain between us.

Roxanne was silent.

- And if you dissolve your tongue, - Snape hissed in displeasure, - I will tell everyone how nee Lefebvre spread her legs before the half-breed on the carpet in her own living room!

Meeting his eyes with Madame Lefebvre Snape realized that in the near future he should make a will... just in case.

Chapter Seven. Honeymoon at Hogwarts.

\- Damn it, do you want to live or not?!!

Snape depleted his poor reserves of patience - for the past hour he had persuaded Kate to marry him.

- I'll think about it, - she said finally.

- Just think, do you want to live or not? - he asked mockingly.

- I'll think about whether I can accept your sacrifice.

Snape laughed.

- In this case, Kate, you will be the victim.

\- Why me?

\- Because in all of England you would not find a husband with a more vile character. But do not be afraid, I will not force you to live with me. If you do not want, you can always leave, take a divorce. Think until tomorrow. So far I'm going to Hogsmeade, I will find the priest and witnesses.

- But I haven't decided anything yet!

\- When I said that you can think until tomorrow, I meant that you can think in what dress you will go to get married. If until tomorrow there are no others willing to marry you, you will marry me.

- Indeed, a vile character, - Kate sighed.

\- It is begining only, - Snape promised gently. - The main pleasure is yet to come. By the way, explain how you even got into this creepy family? Do you know about their habit of marrying close relatives? You could have children with disabilities.

- I loved Nicolas, - Kate said quietly. - He doesn't look like his mom. He is not like them all.

- Yeah, - Snape's eyebrow finally began to bend at the right angle, - that's why he went on a trip around the world, leaving you to die.

\- He did not know.

Snape grunted, but did not develop a slippery topic. God willing, he will still meet with the glorious youth Nicolas, not like everyone else.

***

The honeymoon, however, somehow failed. They couldn't leave anywhere, because right after the wedding, which they modestly celebrated in "Three Brooms" in the company of Rosmerta, Aberforth and Hagrid, Filch grabbed him with a death grip: he demanded that Snape, as the director, deal with the repair of the school that had come in to a dead end in the absence of senior management. Filch complained tearfully how he swears with the brigade of builders every day, and they just laugh at the unfortunate squib, drink firewhisky and laze around all day.

Snape had to have an unpleasant conversation with the foreman - fortunately, he graduated from Hogwarts recently and has not forgotten who he is dealing with. Repair finally moved forward, but it was still necessary to purchase materials, draw up estimates, coordinate them with the board of trustees and the finance department of the ministry, write a bunch of papers and reports. Snape drowned in parchments, in correspondence, in complicated calculations, mentally cursing McGonagall, who was supposed to go on vacation, and sadly realized that his young wife was yearning at Hogwarts, not knowing what to do.

And only their nights were delightful. Kate made love with redoubled passion, every time, like the last, and Snape could only guess if this was caused by the thirst for life of a young girl or if she had previously simply been embarrassed by the illegality of their relationship, and now, being married, she was completely free.

One evening, sitting next to her husband, as usual with his nose buried in papers, Kate suddenly asked:

- Tell me about Harry Potter.

\- What for? \- surprised Snape.

\- Well... He is your national hero, the winner, as they say, the worst dark wizard of this century. It's interesting to know more about him, did you teach him?

- Yes, - Snape frowned and finally pushed back the numerous calculation scrolls. - I taught. And with difficulty I resisted not to kill.

\- Why?

- He's still that beast — this is our national hero, - Snape said gallingly. - And, in general, something is wrong here.

\- What do you mean?

\- I don't know.

He really did not know, could not formulate that he was so worried from the day that Kate read him a report in the Daily Prophet.

But perhaps a good idea is to put together his own memories of Potter, the stories of other teachers, relatives of the boy, the information that he managed to fetch from Draco Malfoy, when he began to fear and hate his best friend Harry more than Voldemort. Maybe, while he tells all this to Kate, he will be able to grab this elusive alarm by the tail and finally understand what caused it. At the same time, he entertains the young spouse.

  * Well, listen...

# Part two. Harry Potter, the school years are wonderful.

Chapter Eight. Start. 1991/1992

Harry tore open the envelope, inscribed in green ink, ran his eyes over the text of the letter and, with a snort, threw it into the trash.

\- What was it? \- Uncle Vernon frowned.

\- Someone's stupid joke - like, damn it, they invite me to study at a school of wizards... Idiots!

\- Do not dare to swear, how many times you repeat! - snapped the Dursley.

- Fuck you...- the nephew answered idly and spat on Dudley's plate.

\- Mama! - Dudley howled, offended, but Petunia did not pay attention to him - with wide-open eyes, she looked at her husband, then at the trash can, in which the discarded letter was lying.

- You need to lose weight, - Harry barked.

\- Get out of the table! - shouted Uncle Vernon.

\- Vernon! - whispered Petunia.

She pulled out the envelope and, with trembling hands, unfolded the parchment.

- Vernon, they take him!

***

\- You, morons! - Harry screamed an hour later. - Are you taking me for an idiot? There are no wizards and magic schools! You decided to get rid of me, scums? Want to put in a nuthouse? It will not work! I won't go anywhere! - he rushed into the closet and closed the door to the mop.

Petunia looked helplessly at her husband:

- What shall we do, Vernon?

He shrugged.

- They'll probably send someone to explain to him. You said someone came to your sister.

***

Harry took the appearance of Hagrid surprisingly calmly. He politely greeted, asked if he had any documents with him, and finding out what it was not, he kindly offered tea. Then he carefully listened to Hagrid's stories about Hogwarts and the wizarding world, about the true fate of his parents. Upon learning that Hagrid himself was not able to conjure, Harry smiled and, politely apologizing, went to the toilet.

- Why didn't you tell him anything? - Hagrid asked indignantly when the door closed behind Harry.

- We were afraid you won't take him, - Petunia answered quietly. – He is... He is an unusual boy.

\- How can we not take him?!! Harry belongs to our world!

- God bless your world, - said Dursley mockingly.

Harry returned, sat down again on the stool and began to question Hagrid about the subjects taught at Hogwarts, and when the police sirens howled outside, he grinned vilely:

- Now you can tell them all this crap. Or do you think I did not understand that you are a nurse from a psychiatric hospital?

The scoundrel told the police that Hagrid was going to abduct him, and since the forester did not really have documents and clear explanations for his presence in the house on Privet Drive, he was taken to the Muggle police station, from where Dumbledore pulled him out a day later. Dumbledore went to the Dursleys to speak with Harry. It is not known what ultimately worked - Dumbledore's ability to persuade or Uncle Vernon's threat to send Harry to school for difficult teenagers, but Potter agreed to go to Hogwarts, to the delight of the Dursleys and to the grief for us.

***

\- Slytherin! - the hat finally shouted, and Snape, disbelieving his own ears, watched in dismay as a thin, dark-haired boy sat down at the table of his faculty.

***

\- What is this nosy freak in black?

- This is our dean - Snape, - Draco grinned. \- Everyone is afraid of him.

\- What the fuck? Is he a fagot or what?

\- Who? - Draco didn't understand.

\- Pedophile. Homosexual?

Draco continued to stare at him in bewilderment and Potter, with a sigh, leaned over and explained in a whisper.

\- Oh, really??? - Malfoy did not believe. \- But does this happen?!

- Oh my god, - Potter sighed, - where did I go, eh? Some kind of kindergarten.

- Into a magical world, - Draco muttered resentfully.

- Very magical, fucking, - Harry snorted. - Neither booze, no dope... Food was not normal on the road. Well, at least there were cigarettes with me, otherwise I would have died from boredom.

Draco shuddered, remembering the taste of the Muggle cigarettes that Potter had treated him on the train. They met in the vestibule, where Harry escaped from the "red whiner" and "long-toothed bore." There, in the vestibule, they chatter to the end of the journey in the company of Crabbe and Goyle. Potter smoked, told obscene jokes, and, lazy to go to the toilet, sent his natural needs right to the open door of the vestibule to the giggle of new friends. It was fun in general.

***

Snape was looking at a list of freshmen.

- Oh, yes, Harry Potter. Our new celebrity.

- Do you want my autograph, professor? - Harry grinned sarcastically.

Snape froze and measured the arrogant first-year with a devastating gaze:

- You think Potter, it will please me? – he inquired in an icy tone, from which goosebumps ran on students' backs.

- For pleasure — this is not for me, Professor, - Potter replied, still grinning cheekily. - I am straight.

Snape did not understand at first, and then again did not believe his ears – it was impossble!!! Judging by how several Muggle-born Gryffindors turned red and lowered their eyes, he understood the essence of the statement correctly. Fortunately, most children did not understand the dirty hint.

He paused for two seconds, and then grabbed at the saving straw - his pathos speech, which he always made before freshmen in the first lesson. Subsequently, he was already smarter and, if possible, did not cling to Potter, but then he was still naive, and decided to teach the boy a lesson. Having finished his brilliant speech on the art of potions, he suddenly turned to him with the question:

- Potter, tell us what happens if I mix the chopped asphodel root with tincture of wormwood?

- Any kind of crap... magical, naturally, - Potter replied nonchalantly, picking a booger out of his nose and sending it with a click toward the teacher's desk. The Slytherins giggled quietly, horror was in the eyes of the Gryffindors.

- Minus 10 points, - Snape stumbled slightly, - Slytherin.

Potter didn't react at all.

- Let's try again, Potter, - the instinct of self-preservation that day completely absent in Snape, - if I ask you to bring me a bezoar stone, where will you look for it?

\- In the ass of a sheep... Ah, no! In the ass of the goat... Ah, no, not in the ass, somewhere else... shit, well, I don't remember...

Slytherins already crawled under the desks, choking on laughter...

\- Potter! \- Snape flooded with a wave of fierce rage. - Another minus twenty points to Slytherin!

Smiles slowly faded on the faces of the Slytherins, but began to bloom on the faces of the Gryffindors.

- Harry, stop it! - Draco hissed, kicking him under the table.

- And if you allow yourself obscene language again in my classes, I will raise the question of your expulsion from Hogwarts!

- Okay, - Harry agreed unexpectedly docilely, - I won't curse anymore... in your classes.

- Let's continue, - Snape continued in an icy tone, - Potter, what's the difference between wolf poison and the monk's hood?

- And fuck it... oh, I mean, I don't know. And that shaggy stuffed scarecrow from Gryffindor, in my opinion, knows. Scarecrow is not an obscene word! - he added quickly.

Hermione flushed and lowered her hand.

- Miss Granger, unlike you, Potter, apparently looked into the textbooks!

- What else is she to do, this freak? Only beavers will call her on a date, and even then with a mercenary purpose.

Pansy Parkinson fell to her desk, covering her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling with soundless laughter. Hermione jumped up and knocked over the bowler and ran out of the classroom.

- Punishment, Potter, - Snape said coldly.

***

\- Albus, he is a monster!

\- Let's not rush to conclusions, I ask you. Harry grew up without parents, these Muggles, in my opinion, did not really like him. It even seemed to me that they were glad to get rid of him.

- I quite understand them.

\- We need to be patient and find an approach to the boy. I'm sure things will get better with time.

Snape sighed heavily.

***

During his first week at Hogwarts, Harry scored minus one hundred and fifty points for Slytherin and received punishment from almost all teachers.

The meeting of the extraordinary teachers' council took place at the end of the month and was completely dedicated to Harry Potter.

From the protocol of the teacher's council:

Professor Flitwick: he wanted to know a spell that turns water into whiskey, or at least wine. He said that "one of yours did this two thousand years ago." Upon learning that the spell formula was lost, the poor boy was so upset that he began to loudly use unfamiliar words and expressions.

Professor Sprout: persistently asked about some hallucinogenic mushrooms and learning that wizards do not grow such mushrooms, he said that herbology is, excuse me, colleagues, complete garbage.

Flitwick (briskly): here, here, one of these words! And what does it mean, colleagues?

Professor Dumbledore: that means complete nonsense.

Flitwick (joyfully): I thought so! And what does the word mean (rummaging in pockets and taking out a piece of parchment) now, if I correctly wrote «bi -tch»?

There was a giggle in the teacher's room.

Dumbledore: Filius, come see me in the evening, have a cup of tea, I'll explain everything to you about this word and all the others.

Professor Sprout: with the help of Gregory Goyle put Zacharias Smith in a bag of manure, having previously gagged his mouth, so that he almost suffocated. To the question why he answered, excuse me, colleagues, "he fucks a lot."

Flitwick (animating again): just about, one more of these words. And what is this...

Dumbledore (interrupting): Filius, we agreed...

Madame Hooch: together with Malfoy provoked Ron Weasley on an unauthorized flight on a broomstick. These two threw each other a reminder of Longbottom, and the Weasley tried to catch it. As a result, fell from a broom and broke his spine. By the way, Severus, Harry is amazingly stuck on a broomstick! A good seeker would come out of him!

Professor Snape (coldly): only through my corpse.

Professor Sinistra: falls asleep in the classroom, and if I wake up, he begins to shout something about the violation of the rights of the child to a normal night's sleep.

Professor Beans: rolled up balls of parchment and threw it through me.

Professor Quirrell: persuaded the Weasley twins to use the "Akcio turban" spell, as a result of which I was forced to flee, covering my head, as I suffer from a rare skin disease that I got infected while traveling around Albania.

Professor McGonagall (with a shrug): behaved normally in all classes.

Dumbledore: I wonder why?

McGonagall: maybe he likes transfiguration?

Snape: No, that's not why. I asked him why - he replied "this old hag can really kill." You inspired him respect, Minerva, I envy you.

McGonagall: Albus, are you sure that the boy's brain wasn't damaged during the attack of the He Who Cannot Be Named?

Snape: good question!

Argus Filch: Harry is a good boy!

For several minutes in the teacher's room was amazed silence. Teachers stared at the supply manager, trying to understand if he was damaged in his mind. Filch, red as a crab, looked at the socks of his shabby boots.

Dumbledore (turning to Snape): can you explain this?

McGonagall: I can. I saw Harry feed Mrs. Norris with some brown little stars.

Dumbledore: Filch?!

Filch: this is a special Muggle cat food. Mrs. Norris really liked it. She had only eaten Hogwarts rats before.

Dumbledore: and that's why you think Harry is a good boy?

Filch (fervently): he loves cats! And Mrs. Norris likes him! The man cats love cannot be bad!

Dumbledore (thoughtfully): what a striking forethought!

Snape (rolling his eyes exhausted): God bless us all!

Dumbledore: Well, colleagues, I heard you. Apparently, it is difficult for a boy who grew up among Muggles to immediately adapt to a new world for himself. He is undergoing tremendous stress, he does not feel anyone's support. Let's be patient and loyal. I myself will talk with the boy, and I am sure we will correct the situation in the near future.

Snape (insinuatingly): maybe we will exclude him anyway?

Dumbledore: no, Severus, you know very well that this is impossible. He needs our protection.

Snape: will someone protect us from him?

The giggle was heard again in the teacher's room.

Dumbledore: we need to teach him the right way to perceive magical arts.

Snape: Potter with a magic wand is a monkey with a grenade!

Flitwick: what is a grenade?.. And, yes, we agreed.

Dumbledore: the teacher's council is over!

***

It's hard to say that it did affect Harry anyway - Dumbledore's influence, or a private conversation with the Slytherin elders (after which he limped slightly for several days), or he was still tired of serving numerous punishments, but in the next few months his behavior nevertheless became more or less tolerable.

Dumbledore spoiled everything: he hadn't come up with anything better than to give the young one a sloven of invisibility cloak for Christmas. It is not known what the director was counting on, but Potter decided that this little thing was best used for commercial purposes.

First of all, he began in the evenings and weekends in the company of Crabbe, or Goyle, hiding in a mantle, to get out to Hogsmeade. There, having found some dubious bogeyman, whom you could always meet in the Hog's Head, he persuaded them to buy firewhisky for them which they dragged into the castle as much as they could carry. Soon, cheerful loud singing became the daily standard of life for all four faculties, and in the pocket of Potter and his friends galleons rang merrily.

Then Draco asked his father to send him a camera, and one day, several beautiful Slytherins, waking up in their beds in the morning, found that their nightgowns had been carefully cut by someone. This asshole sold photographs of naked girls at one galleon apiece, and they were, I must say, in great demand, even among younger students.

But in the end, Potter's commercial ventures crashed: first, Percy Weasley, who was worried about a drop in the performance of Gryffindor seniors, finally realized where they got the firewhisky, and told on to McGonagall. . Then Flint, finding a photograph of his naked bride in the hands of neighing neighbors, did not tell on anyone, but simply turned Potter's face into a bloodied piece of meat.

Snape did not punish Flint.

Dumbledore took the mantle from Harry and took two hundred points from Slytherin, burying the hopes of the faculty to win the annual competition. Parents of disgraced girls, all representatives of proud ancient purebred births, demanded the exclusion of guilty boys. Only the Lucius Malfoy, who paid astronomical sums to the families of the victims, was able to repay the scandal, so the scum Potter and Draco Malfoy took only punishment in the form of a walk with Hagrid through the night Forbidden forest. Poor Filch, who accompanied them, sobbed with grief, not hoping to see Harry alive anymore. But Potter, of course, returned, though in a very thoughtful state. To everyone's surprise, he sat in the library for several days, searching for something in books on caring for magical creatures. Not finding what interests him, this fool did not come up with anything better than asking at the next lesson on protection from the dark arts:

- Professor Quirell, why do you drink unicorn blood at night?

Quirell turned green, mumbled something about an urgent matter to the director and, having ordered everyone to stay in place, vanished from Hogwarts in an unknown direction.

***

- Harry, why didn't you come to me with this question?!! - Dumbledore asked in despair, - or at least to Professor Snape? Or to any other teacher?!

- How did I know that you hired a maniac? - snapped Potter, - I thought this moron was doing some kind of rite, well, there, from impotence or something like that. By the way, do wizards have anything to do with impotence?

\- Why do you want it?!!

- The Muggles are raising a pretty good income on this.

\- Come on, Potter. Relax well on vacation. I think you are overworked. And listen, Harry... The world of wizards may not be as safe as it might seem at first... If you come across something unusual, strange, please contact me, or Professor Snape, okay?

Chapter Eight. Riddle's diary.1992/1993

Snape looked at the book in a battered black cover in disbelief. Then he took it in his hands and felt an icy shiver run along the entire spine, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

- What is it, Potter?

- I just wanted to ask you this.The director said last year that I would contact you, if l will find something strange.

\- Where did you take it?

\- Found in the toilet.

- Things like that, Potter, aren't in the toilets!

- And this one was lying around, - Potter shrugged. - In short, I started writing in this notebook, and it writes something to me in response. I finally fuck... sorry, I was very surprised...

\- What did the notebook write?

- Well, like, the dude who made it, Tom Riddle, will be forever young. He offered to teach me something.

\- What to teach? - Snape could barely utter his whitened lips.

\- Nothing concrete. You know, professor, study is not my thing. In general, we did not agree.

- Come with me, Potter.

***

Dumbledore listened carefully to Snape's story and picked up the diary. Opening it on the first page, he gently tapped it with a magic wand. There were notes on the page — some made in casual handwriting and others neat.

From the correspondence of Tom Riddle and Harry Potter:

"\- Snape is a freak.

\- Hi.

\- Do not understand?!

- We can talk to you.

\- Who are we?

\- You and I. My name is Tom Riddle. I created this diary.

\- What for?

- This is... memory. What is the year now?

\- 1992

- Now I'm about seventy. And in this diary - still sixteen.

- Why do you need this?

\- This is a way to preserve youth. What's your name?

\- John Walker.

- John, would you like to stay young forever? I could teach you this.

\- On dick, will I forever remain a twelve-year-old punk? Better tell me how to make a dick grow big?

- I understand your concern, John, but believe me, you have nothing to worry about. It will grow itself, in due time.

\- Fuck, I want now.

- I could help you deal with your enemies, for example, this Snape.

- Fool, he is my dean. If I deal with him, who will teach me? Although he is a fag, but smart.

\- Good. Then tell me yourself what you want.

\- Kaif... Money... Girls... Hey, why did you shut up?

\- What is kaif?

\- Well... Belt, blitzed, buzzed... Do you know how to make dogie from some potion ingredients?

\- Dogie??? What is it?

\- Fucked... Diesel, I mean... well, or a ding... DMT... domes... well, at least something... Why are you silent again?

- I'm afraid I don't know such potions.

- So you're as stupid a donkey as all the teachers in this fucking school.

- Don't you dare talk like that to me, John Walker!

\- Went to the ass!»

Having finished reading, Dumbledore stared at Harry intently through his half-moon glasses, and the boy crawled restlessly in his chair. Suddenly Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and burst out laughing.

- That's a good start, Harry!

\- The start of what? - Harry asked frowningly.

- Harry, where did you get this thing?

\- Found in the toilet.

- I'd like to hear the truth, Harry.

Potter was silent, and then Snape intervened.

- Potter, do you know what a vertisarium is?

\- Not.

- Three drops of this potion, and you will tell us everything you know!

\- Type of truth serum, or what? In MI6, spies are interrogated like that. But you cannot apply it to me.

- Why can't we?

\- I'm a underage! This is a violation of the rights of the child! Have you read the UN convention at all, professor?

- Don't bother, - Snape answered mockingly.

\- And in vain. And you would know that you have no right to interrogate me without a lawyer and without a legal representative. So call Dursley!

- Harry, no one's going to interrogate you, \- Dumbledore said calmly. - I promise that even if you obtained it illegally, there will be no punishment. We are talking about too serious things.

Potter kept up a little more, but then he laid out the truth. Although Lucius Malfoy was angry with him because of the scandalous story with photographs, he yielded to his son's requests and invited Harry to spend the rest of his vacation in their castle. Their house elf constantly revolved around the boy, made some inaudible hints, and Harry realized that Malfoy Sr. was plotting some trick. Potter began to watch Lucius and seized the moment when he threw the diary into Ginny Weasley's bowler. Potter presented Ginny with Lockhart textbooks and, pretending to want to help her lay down her books, quietly stole a diary.

- Well, Harry, stealing is, of course, not good, but in this case your criminal inclinations helped us a lot. This thing, - Dumbledore tapped the diary with the tip of his index finger, - the subject of the most extreme magic - could bring a lot of troubles, I can't even say exactly which ones. But you are undoubtedly well done that you came to us with this and I reward the Slytherin faculty... with fifty points!

- The griffins will be sore with grief, - Harry said indifferently.

\- Potter! \- Snape jerked.

\- I do not swear! What is it such crap that you are so generous?

- Potter, choose a words!

\- Crap is not an obscene word!

- This crap, - Dumbledore said calmly, - was created by a young man who, like you, once studied at the Slytherin faculty, and then became a dark wizard. Now the world knows him under the name of Voldemort. He created things like this diary so that even in the event of death he would be able to return.

- But I gave it to you! You will make sure that he does not return! - Harry was clearly scared.

- I will destroy this thing, - Dumbledore confirmed, - but I believe there are others like this one. And besides, Voldemort still had many supporters who could help him. So sooner or later he will be back, Harry.

- And again he will try to kill me?

\- Probably yes.

- What the hell... sorry, I wanted to ask why I needed to him?

- To this question, Harry, I will answer you later.

- And why did Malfoy's dad want to get some bullshit at Hogwarts?

- This is politics, Harry. A political game in which participants do not always choose honest methods of struggle.

\- Okay. Just don't tell him where you got the diary from!

- Of course, Harry, I won't tell him. You can go if you don't want to ask anything else.

- Actually, I want to. Tell me, sir, why do you always hire hopeless idiots as professors of defense against the dark arts?

Snape struggled to hold back a grin, noticing how a shade of irritation flickered across the director's straight face.

- The appointment of Professor Quirrell was my mistake, I admit it, - said Dumbledore, rather calmly. - Professor Lockhart, alas, also does not suit to my expectations.

\- Neither one nor the other taught me anything! How should I protect myself if this scu... this Voldemort returns?!!

- Your anger is fair, Harry, - the director admitted.

- So appoint Snape! He has long been asking for this position!

- Do you want Professor Snape to be your defense teacher?

- At least I have a hope that he knows something!

- I'm flattered, Potter, - Snape grinned.

- And if this position is really damned, - Potter grinned in response, - then at least you will get rid of him. Keeping a teacher with a non-traditional sexual orientation in a staff at a school full of underage boys is also, you know, not the best staffing decision!

Snape gritted his teeth, and Dumbledore stared in amazement at the strange teenager.

- Why do you think Professor Snape is gay?

\- What is there to think? He's already forty, he has no wife, he hasn't gotten a woman, so everything is clear... If he had a woman, she would have forced him to wash his hair, and it's obvious that no one is eyeing him.

- You are worried in vain, Potter, - soft insinuating voice was heard, - that you have nothing to protect yourself from the Dark Lord. You simply will not live to see the day when he returns. I will kill you earlier, and I will do it exactly on the day when you decide to once again express your opinion out loud about my sexual orientation.

Potter opened his mouth, but after looking into the black eyes of his dean, slammed him shut and scowled.

- You're wrong, Harry, - Dumbledore said softly.

- I understand, - the boy replied sullenly, \- I must take care of my safety myself. Okay, goodbye!

He started toward the exit, but Snape stopped him.

- Wait a minute, Potter. And what were you asking Tom Reddle about?

\- How to grow a big dick.

\- I am not talking about that. What is diesel?

\- Heroin.

\- What is heroin?

Potter stared at him incredulously.

\- Are you serious now?!

- Answer the question, Potter!

Harry rolled his eyes and said pathetically:

- And this man reproached me for not knowing in which ass to look for bezoar! But you, the professor, as I have heard, are considered the most skilled potions master in England!

\- So what?

- What the hell, tell me, to be the most skillful potions-master, if you can less than the most overwhelming Muggle pharmacist? Sleep Potion, really? Why bother with boiling it for three hours, if I can go to any Muggle pharmacy and buy sleeping pills? Does the tincture of painstaking relieve pain? Professor, I beg you - try diclofenac, it is much more effective. Potion of laughter? Have you ever tried to smoke a marijuana? Ah, you don't know what it is!

- Are you done, Potter? - coldly asked Snape.

\- Not! The only thing you can do normally is to work with injuries, Skele-Gro is a cool thing, yes, but the rest is all nonsense: inflating a potion, a potion for making blisters on your heels - what idiots came up with this and why are we learning to cook this crap???

\- I did not teach you how to make a potion for blisters on your heels! - shouted Snape.

\- And Amortentia, about which so many talk? - Potter did not let up. - Too rude, too obvious. A man going crazy and everyone immediately understands what is the matter.

- So it was you, Potter, who gave the Amortentia of Millicent Bulstrode? I thought so.

\- Uh, \- Potter stumbled half a word.

- You betrayed yourself, Potter? - Snape smiled gloatingly.

- No, sir... How can I, sir... - muttered the teenager and backed away slightly. - I don't know how to cook it. Poor girl... Poor Crabbe - he is still afraid of her... It's good that you immediately understood what was happening and gave her an antidote! The unfortunate nearly raped my friend.

- I pulled her from Vincent when she already tore the mantle on him! Do you think this is funny?!

There was a quiet giggle behind him and Snape looked around indignantly, but Dumbledore had already taken on his usual equanimous appearance.

- No way, sir! I'm so sorry... - Harry stood there, stretched out to the line and gazed loyally at Snape, but in his green eyes danced merry sparkles and Snape's gloating faded, giving way to a familiar longing. Again, he will not punish the boy properly! Each time, looking into these green eyes, he realized that he could not...

- Another such trick, Potter, and you will be excluded of Hogwarts, I promise you!

- I see, sir. Thanks sir. Can I go?

\- Get out!

Already at the threshold Harry turned around and suddenly asked to Dumbledore:

- You also don't know what heroin is?

- This is a synthetic drug, - he answered calmly. - Causes a strong emotional and physical dependence. Why do you need it, Harry? Do you want to be a drug addict?

- No, - Potter grinned, - I want to become a drug magnate.

- What curious professional plans, - the director said cheerfully, - however, as far as I know, you can end up in a Muggle prison for this.

- As far as I know, - Potter answered cheerfully, - wizards can disappear.

- But you still do not have permission to Disapparition.

- So I'm not starting my career today.

- Okay, Harry. Do you know the concept of homeopathy?

- I heard something, - the teenager answered cautiously.

\- Communication with you, Harry, in my opinion, it is advisable to take in homeopathic doses. I had an overdose today... if you know what I mean.

Harry laughed again:

\- I understand... Sorry...

Making sure Potter was gone, Snape said bitterly:

\- I have such an overdose every day.

- I see, Severus. The boy is really strange... I did not expect this, I confess.

- Do you still insist that I have to protect this cattle?

- Severus, have you noticed what just happened?

\- Potter was rude to me. Rude to you. Everything as usual.

- Potter got Voldemort's horcrux! What I tried unsuccessfully for many years to do, he succeeded almost effortlessly - the diary just came into his hands! This boy, whatever his character, has his own destiny, and he has already taken, albeit unconsciously, the first step along the road of this fate.

- When will you tell him the truth?

\- I do not know. I would still like to better understand him, - Dumbledore admitted mournfully. - Sometimes he confuse me.

He was silent for a moment, and then suddenly burst out laughing.

- And Harry did something that neither you nor I ever succeeded!

\- What do you mean?

\- He sent Voldemort in the ass!

Snape only sighed - he did not share the optimism of the director.

- But the boy is cowardly and impudent, beyond measure! And besides, he's lazy - he doesn't even want to play Quidditch, because there, you see, you have to strain, and he doesn't like that! Although he flies no worse than his filthy dad!

- Severus, don't you think that your attitude to Harry was influenced by... uh ... your difficult relationship with his father?

\- Albus, I beg you! Сompared to Harry, James was essentially a good guy. It's a pity that he died early.

- Are you sorry for James?! - Dumbledore was amazed.

- I regret that he died early, - Snape said gallingly. - I would love to see how he dies of a heart attack, looking at his wonderful son.

- Okay, let's get down to our occasion, - Dumbledore picked up a wand from the table.

- Akcio, safe!

Snape watched in surprise as an iron box the size of a nightstand landed on the director's desk, crumpled several parchments.

Dumbledore put Reddle's diary inside the box and closed the door, leaving a tiny gap. Bringing his wand to the door, the director cast a spell from which Snape jumped in terror in place:

\- Hell fire! Are you crazy?

But Dumbledore slammed the safe door in one swift motion and turned the wheel.

\- Do you want a cup of tea? - he asked kindly at the pale Snape, who watched terrified at the gray box from which the buzz of flame could be heard. - Don't worry so much, it's a fireproof safe.

\- Fireproof? Have you cast a fireproof spell on this cabinet?

- I don't know such spell, - the director laughed. - This is a Muggle invention. Arthur Weasley gave it to me for a century, in my opinion, he did not know where to put it. And I, as you see, found him a very useful application.

- Why so?

\- Hellfire is the only way I know of destroying a horcrux.

- Is there really no other way?

- You can still have the basilisk venom, but where, tell me, nowadays I can get the basilisk venom? - Dumbledore listened to the buzz coming from the safe. - A very reliable thing.

- Is the Muggle invention a reliable thing? \- Snape asked incredulously.

\- As you can see.

The buzz died down. Dumbledore gently touched the ring and immediately drew back his hand with a cry of pain.

\- Here is an old fool! \- he cursed himself, took a wand and uttered a cooling spell. Then, with great care, he turned the ring and opened the door. It was empty inside - not even ash was left from the diary.

- Potter is right about something, Severus. Muggles in recent decades have come up with many interesting inventions.

\- Yes, for example, heroin and a marijuana.

\- Not only. By the way, Severus, dear, don't be mad at me, for God's sake...

\- What else?

- Perhaps... he is right about your hair too.

- I'll get a woman for myself, - Snape said bitterly, - let her keep an eye on this, and don't bother yourself with such trifles!

He went out, hearing a hard choked giggle behind him.

***

When he reached this place, Snape stumbled and looked at Kate - she smiled cheerfully.

\- Well then, you finally got a woman yourself. The next time I go to London, I'll go to a Muggle pharmacy and buy you a treatment shampoo for oily hair.

- To the Muggle pharmacy?! - outraged Snape.

- Of course, you yourself can come up with a recipe and make a potion suitable for your case, but why reinvent the wheel Buying ready is easier. This Potter of yours is, of course, a unpleasant type, but he is, in fact, somewhat correct.

- And there you are, - Snape said, offended.

- Go on, Severus, - the wife smiled.

Chapter Nine. Two unsuccessful animagus and ginger cat. 1993/1994

In the Hogwarts Express, Harry was unusually silent and absent-minded, did not laugh, as usual, answered friends out of place, and Draco became worried. Having told Crabbe and Goyle to stay in the compartment, he dragged Harry into the vestibule.

\- So what happened?

\- Nothing.

\- Well, come on, lay it out.

\- I can not.

- I won't tell anyone, honestly!

Potter hesitated a little more, but apparently the desire to share with someone outweighed the fear.

\- In short, I killed some dude.

\- How?! \- gasped Draco.

\- By chance, of course. He pretended to be the dog. I shot a dog! And it turned into that freak that was shown in the news on TV. Well, that is, he is dead.

- Wait, I don't understand anything. Explain me in order. Where the dude was shown? And do you have a bow?

\- What other bow? - Harry stared blankly.

- Well, did you shoot him with a bow?

Harry laughed.

\- Fuck, I've forgotten who I'm dealing with over the summer! A magical world, innocent as a child, where the most terrible weapon is a bow!

Draco frowned in resentment.

\- I shot him with a pistol! This is a Muggle weapon.

- But is it possible to shoot a wizard from Muggle weapons?

\- Why not? - surprised Harry. \- Are you any special?

\- Actually, yes.

\- I am not talking about that. Your body is the same, it eats, pisses, eats and dies just like any Muggle. Okay, in short... I was so bored in the fucking summer, and Dumbledore hinted that Voldemort that your dad worked for... Hey, are you shaking, your dad came out of the water dry, did not he?

- Harry, don't pronounce his name out loud!

\- Are you afraid? In vain, in my opinion, he died... well, or almost died? By the way, if I say Adolf Hitler, will you be scared?

\- Not. And who is he?

\- That's where the logic is, huh? - Potter sighed. - Well, how many people have killed this freak of yours that cannot be called?

- Well, I definitely don't know... At least twenty, I guess.

Harry crawled down the wall of the vestibule and covered his face with his hands - his shoulders were shaking with uncontrollable laughter.

- What's so funny about that? - Draco asked sharply.

- Twenty people, my God, how scary! - Harry continued to laugh. - Oh wonderful magical world! He's really magical, Draco, if that moron was the scariest thing you ever had. Adolf Hitler, so you know, staged a massacre in which seventy million people died! And none of the Muggles, mind you, are not afraid to pronounce his name. How do you live, huh? You don't even know what is happening in the world!

- Come on, you'll tell me the story of the Muggle world some other time, - Malfoy said dryly. - Aren't you afraid of Dark Lord?

- I'm still afraid, - Harry said at once earnestly. - If a crazy maniac were hunting you, would you not be afraid? So, Dumbledore hinted to me last year that this scum might be reborn and try to kill me again. And how can I escape from him, he does not say. And why I needed to him, also does not say. Do you happen to know?

Draco shook his head.

- Well, in short, I decided to take care of my safety and bought a gun and ammunition on the black market in London – so much money were gone. I shot in a ravine outside the city so that it was not audible - I shot at cans. And already at the end of summer, in the news on TV...

\- Where?

- You poor, poor, - Harry sighed. - To be the son of the richest dad and not have a TV set, listen, what have you finally done all summer?

\- I read books. Go on.

Glancing with pity at his best friend, Harry sighed and continued:

\- TV is a box with moving pictures. With sound. In general, on TV they showed this man, Sirius Black...

\- Whom? - gasped Malfoy. \- So you killed Black?!

\- Fuck you, you know him?

- It's strange that you don't know him. He was a friend of your father. And then he betrayed him - it was Black who betrayed the place where you all were hiding - your dad and mom, and you. For this he was put in Azkaban.

- Fuck, why doesn't anyone tell me anything?! What was this fagot doing at Little Wining?

- He was after you.

\- You knew?! Why didn't you warn me?!

\- I wanted to send an owl, but dad said that it wasn't necessary - the ministry was protecting you.

- No one guarded me! Nobody was there at all! Listen, and your dad... maybe he doesn't mind... that they will kill me?

\- What are you! No, of course, - Draco was indignant, but without much confidence in his voice.

Harry smiled knowingly.

\- Nevermind. So, then, they show this Black and say, they say, a dangerous criminal, escaped from jail and all that. Well, I didn't care, I didn't know... In short, on that day my aunt came to us, nasty, terrible - I washed away from the house so as not to see her, went to the ravine - to shoot from the gun - as I imagine that I am aiming on the forehead Auntie Marge, so I'm getting it right now. In general, it got dark already, I didn't see anything, I went home. I walk past the garages, I see, the dog is sitting, huge, black - the Baskervilles dog is right...

\- Whose dog?

- Oh my god, - Harry sighed, - what books do you read, please say? In general, very scary. And then I thought - maybe it can be a little fun to shoot once or twice? Looked around \- there is nobody. I aimed at the head, it fell, and then, damn it... - he shuddered, remembering – instead the dog, this freak, with a hole in his skull - in short, I almost crap there, yeah, come on, I'd to lauth if you was at my place!

- It's nervous, - Draco began to make excuses, but Harry waved his hand.

\- In general, I drove from there - until the police arrived, I ran to the river, threw off the gun, drowned my clothes, and went home in my underwear. I said that while swimming, the clothes were stolen. I'm sitting at home, shaking, I think you'll prove nothing, nobody saw me! It was so shitty for me \- even with my aunt, as usual, I did not argue. And in the morning in the news they say - like, this Black resisted during the arrest and was killed by the police - not a damn thing! I finally can not understand what is happening.

- Harry, I'll probably seem stupid again, - Malfoy began carefully.

\- Okay, ask, I will not lauth.

\- I did not understand why you threw weapons and clothes into the river.

Harry was silent for a minute, then very calmly asked:

- Draco, have you ever heard such words - from adult wizards, or maybe in newspapers there were such words as fingerprints, a ballistic examination, traces of gunpowder?

\- Not.

\- Well! Sumptuously! Fantastically!

- What delights you so much? - Malfoy asked sullenly.

\- The magic world, my friend! A wonderful magical world! A world in which the best potions maker don't know anything about drugs, and the police - what, by the way, are they called?

\- Aurors.

- And the Aurors have never heard of fingerprints! As for your question, in short - the killer leaves traces on his weapons and clothes, according to which he can be calculated and prove his guilt. Muggles know how to find these traces, so immediately after committing a crime, clothing and weapons must be disposed of. But this is in the Muggle world. And our wonderful magical world, you can commit any crime and go unpunished!

\- In general, criminals are put in Azkaban.

- Yeah, if they catch... and if they prove guilt, and with this, as it turned out, the wizards have big problems. Draco, I will become a god in your world!

- It is and your world, too.

Silence reigned in the vestibule for a while.

- Listen, Harry, - Draco broke the silence, \- but it turns out that you took revenge on Black for your parents!

\- What? And, yes, it turns out, - Harry answered absent-mindedly, and at that moment both of them flinched \- behind the door there was a desperate, heartbreaking screech, and then someone frantically scratched at the door.

Harry opened the door of the vestibule and the old rat, rattled with fear, screeching deafeningly, began to climb up him, clinging to clothes.

***

- Harry, do you want to tell me anything?

\- Not.

- Tell me, please, do you know who Peter Pettigrew is?

\- Not.

- He was a friend of your father.

\- And what?

- Tell me, please, did you happen to see him on the train today?

\- How do I know? I do not know how he looks. There, in the last compartment, a shabby little man rode along, slept all the way.

- This is Professor Lupine, your new teaher of defense against the dark arts.

\- Ah, a new victim! - Potter chuckled. - And Lockhart run down?

- Professor Lockhart was fired at the request of the board of trustees... for his unsuitability.

Dumbledore pulled out an old and battered, apparently cut out from the newspaper, photograph from a desk drawer and handed it to the boy.

- This is Peter Pettigrew.

Harry glanced at the photo and shrugged.

\- No, I haven't seen such a dude.

\- But in general... during the trip... nothing unusual happened?

- Not with me, - Harry shrugged again. - By the way, professor, why we generally ride this train? Are you unable to get the portkey in the ministry?

- It's a tradition, Harry, - Dumbledore smiled.

- It's a lie, professor, - Harry smiled.

- How dare you, Potter! - Snape, who was present at the conversation was enraged. - Minus twenty points...

- Don't, Severus, - the Hogwarts director stopped the dean's punishing sword. - Harry, please explain what you mean.

- Yes, you yourself know what I mean. Fifty years ago, Draco's grandfather decided to get some money and convinced everyone that the railway was a shit... sorry, an amazing invention of the Muggles, which must be used in the wizarding world. He was given a contract for the construction - a tidy sum, and the bribes for functionaries there were not bad - your father was then the chairman of the committee that made the decision, wasn't it?

Dumbledore blushed, but did not answer.

\- In general, the Malfoys well earned on this project. Well, when it became clear that the wizards needed this railway like an umbrella for fish, like a fifth leg for a dog, like feathers for a magic wand, like ears for a snitch, like...

- We get your point, Harry.

\- In general, in order to cover up the ass, the ministry then came up with this wonderful tradition - to drive unfortunate children to and from school twice a year, without a hot lunch, moreover.

- Unfortunately, Harry, - Dumbledore said, - I can't change this situation.

- You are some kind of helpless great wizard, - Potter grinned.

\- How dare you! - Snape flared up again.

Dumbledore sighed.

\- Okay Harry, you can go now. The feast will begin soon and there will be hot food.

The boy shrugged and moved toward the exit.

- Come on, Potter! - unexpectedly ordered Snape. - What did you mumble about sneak griffs when I drove you here? What could the Gryffindors complain about?

\- That I have to complain! \- feignedly indignant Potter. - I stood in the vestibule, did not touch anyone...

- Smoked, as always, - Snape said dryly.

- Not at all. I just in a calm environment intended to explain to my friend Malfoy that the best antidote is bezoar and you can find it in the goat's stomach...

Snape turned red, Dumbledore grunted, choking on tea, and Harry, as if not noticing, continued:

\- But I did not have time. These terrible animals have burst, here, admire what they have done to me!

He lifted the hem of the mantle and showed ten bright scarlet scratches from the ankle to the knee, densely covered with green.

\- Who did this?

\- Red cat Granger - a rabid beast. He was chasing a Weasley rat that had climbed onto me and was scratching me too, look!

This time he pulled up his sleeve and showed nine scratches on his right shoulder. - So the griffins themselves are to blame - it was better to watch their nutty pets!

\- And green is that?

For a minute Potter silently looked at two adult wizards, then he answered very calmly:

\- This is a solution of brilliant green. Muggle antiseptic.

- What did you do with the animals, Harry?

\- Threw away.

\- From the train? At full speed?

\- Well yes.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, pondering something.

- Well, get me some pots to wash already and I'll go, - Potter said impatiently.

- Tell me, Harry, which of these animals... \- Dumbledore hesitated a moment, - fell onto the rails under the wheels of the train — a cat or a rat?

\- The rat. It was pulled there by the wind. Cat is heavier - it just flew off the slope.

\- I see. This is probably what I wanted to know. You can go, Harry.

***

\- Albus, what's going on?

\- Strange things are happening. An hour ago, an owl flew in from the ministry with a message that Peter Pettigrew's mutilated body had been found on the London-Hogsmeade railway track.

\- How?! – Snape gasped.

\- Like this. So he did not die thirteen years ago, and all this time he lived in the Weasley family under the guise of a rat. I did not know that he was an animagus.

- But what does all this mean?

\- I dont know. Sirius Black died in the city where Harry Potter lives. Shot by a Muggle policeman - that's what Fudge told me. A few days later, Peter Pettigrew died - in the train where Harry Potter rode, seemingly by accidental absurdity.

\- What are you trying to say?

- I mean, Severus, that I don't like this coincidence. But I do not know what all this means.

***

Perhaps it was this year that Snape realized how serious and deeply the personality problems of the boy-who-survived, and it was not a lonely childhood and isolation from the wizarding world, nor the difficulties of a transitional age. He even managed to sow seeds of doubt in Dumbledore's inexhaustible optimism.

***

\- Beautiful girl. What is your name, don't you know?

Draco followed his gaze.

- Cho Chang. Ravenclaw seeker. Not my type.

- That's good, - Harry smirked, - so we won't quarrel. Do you think her tits have already grown? Under this Quidditch form, nothing is visible.

From laughter, Draco fell under the bench.

- Listen, Draco, - Harry asked, giving him his hand and helping him up, - but do the wizards have any potion or spell to enlarge tits?

\- Don't... know... \- Draco fell back under the bench again, panting with laughter.

- Okay, I'll go ask Snape.

\- Wait! \- not rising from the plank flooring, Draco grabbed him by the hem of the mantle. - Harry, are you immortal?!

- It is unlikely, - he answered nonchalantly, - but we can check.

And, having pulled the hem of the mantle from the hands of a friend, Potter quickly began to descend to the front row of the Slytherin tribune, where their unfortunate dean settled.

- Good morning, professor.

- Have you learned to say hello, Potter? Otherwise, snow will fall.

\- Can I ask you a question?

Snape grimaced, as if all his teeth ached at once. Intuition suggested that it would be best to send the vile boy away, but the duty of the teacher, alas, forced him to answer in a different way.

\- I'm listening.

- Professor, do you like Quidditch?

\- Not really.

- Then why are you here?

- I'm supporting for my faculty, Potter.

- But, professor, - Harry's voice became extremely soft and sympathetic, - today Slytherin doesn't play, today Hufflepuff against Ravenclaw. See, there's a bird on the flag? This is an eagle, a symbol of Ravenclaw. But that fluffy little animal...

\- Enough! \- Snape barked. - Is that all?!

\- No, I actually came to ask, what is the name of a potion for breast augmentation?

\- What? \- did not understand Snape.

- Some of you today... not as smart as usual. Female breast enlargement potion. Tits, in short.

Seeing out of the corner of his eye as the jaw of Markus Flint, who was sitting nearby, sagged, Snape closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the raw autumn air and began to exhale slowly, counting to himself up to ten:

"One... I do not want to become a child murderer... two... they put me in Azkaban... three... in Azkaban I will go crazy... four... with a living Potter I will go crazy here... five... it's not good to kill, it breaks my soul... six... but from the point of view of public benefit in this case it will be justified... seven... but no one will believe me that I acted for the good of others... eight... Lily died saving this cattle... nine... why did she have such a strange child?.. Ten... maybe he's crazy?"

- Potter, - he asked calmly, opening his eyes, - I heard the Muggles have healers who treat those who are not all right with the head, remind me what they are called?

- Psychiatrists, - Potter muttered sullenly, \- what did I say wrong?

- Have your guardians, the Dursleys, ever taken you to these doctors?

\- Many times.

\- So what?

- They think I have antisocial hysterical psychopathy.

\- What does it mean?

\- It would take a long time to explain this.

- Why didn't they cure you?

- It can't be cured, professor. We just live with it. So what about my humble question?

- There is no such potion.

\- Why?

- Because it never occurred to anyone, Potter! - still, Snape screamed.

Others began to look back at them. The Slytherins, who were sitting nearby, began to slowly crawl into the neighboring rows. Pale as chalk Flint did not dared to move and only shook with a small tremor.

\- Yeah. So, it occurred to them to grow blisters on their heels, but not to grow breasts. Well, who is wrong with his head? I understand that you don't care a female breast... sorry, I didn't mean anything now...

Snape silently took a wand from his pocket.

- I meant, - the terrified Potter yelled out loud, - that you are so smart, well, all so scientific, that you are not up to these nonsense...

Dean lowered his wand.

But other, more primitive representatives of the magical people, really wouldn't want to... uh... so to speak... feel something big in your hands... You know, but the Muggles already have such technology - well, cut it, cram it into silicone, sew it up - that's all.

Feeling that he was starting to feel sick, Snape hissed viciously:

- Potter, if you don't shut up this very second...

\- What? - the teenager asked impudently.

- Your chest will grow now. And the dick will fall off. I will apply a sex change spell to you. No operation.

- Now pee with fear, - Potter muttered, but not very confidently, and stepped back a step.

\- OK, I can use an involuntary urination spell, - Snape agreed obediently. - I kept wondering who invented it and why, but it turned out, precisely for such a case.

He pointed his wand at Potter's groin. The boy instinctively covered himself with his hands and backed away even more. The Slytherins who were sitting nearby began to laugh: they did not like Potter.

- You don't have to take everything so close to heart, sir, - Harry muttered, looking frantically in search of a path to retreat, - I just have a transitional age, a hormonal explosion, all that, you as an outstanding teacher of our time cannot but take this into account in work with the pupils...

Snape made a careless pass with his hand in which he held a magic wand and opened his mouth, pretending to start casting a nonexistent spell. Potter spun around and jumped up the stairs in huge leaps, rushing upstairs.

- This round is yours, professor! - he yelled from above.

***

Snape sent an owl to the Dursleys, asking them to send a medical report issued by a Muggle psychiatrist. After receiving it, he went to the Muggle library and spent the whole day burying himself in psychiatry textbooks and dictionaries. What he understood, he did not like at all. But Dumbledore at first, as usual, tried to brush aside the unpleasant information.

- Well, what can Muggle doctors understand in the behavior of young wizards? Harry probably had spontaneous outbursts of magic, which they took for manifestations of abnormality.

- And this wild excess at Quidditch? Also an outburst of elemental magic? Trade in alcohol and pornographic photographs? Unquenchable interest in drugs and foul language?

\- Of course, he has some tendencies to violate social norms. Boyish hooliganism.

- Do you call it that?

- Well... age again. Severus, haven't you been interested in this age... uh... mammary glands?

- But I did not ask the teachers with this!

- The new generation is so relaxed...- Dumbledore muttered uncertainly, - no complexes. Thinking outside the box, yes.

Snape ironically arched an eyebrow.

- By the way, really, why so far no one has come up with something like that? We can grow hair, teeth, even bones, but the chest, or forgive, for God's sake, a dick...

\- And you are too?! - Snape was indignant.

Dumbledore burst out laughing.

- You yourself are good, Severus! The urination spell, God forgive me! Where did you get this?

- Humor at Potter's level, - Snape answered grimly. - Just below the baseboard.

- The main thing is that this story does not reach the Weasley twins. They, I think, are quite capable of inventing such a spell in reality. We will have half of the school walking in wet robes.

Snape had already stood up to leave, but Dumbledore suddenly stopped laughing and wrinkled his forehead in concern.

- Wait a moment, Severus. How did you say the diagnosis sounds?

\- Antisocial hysterical psychopathy.

The director got up from his chair and walked to one of the dusty tan cabinets by the far wall of the office. Rummaging through the shelves, he drew a thin gray folder from the bowels of the cabinet. Having untied the ribbons, he began to carefully remove the fragile parchment sheets, yellowed from time.

\- Here it is! Take a look, Severus, how strange! Sixty years ago, another Muggle psychiatrist diagnosed Tom Reddle with the exact same diagnosis!

For a while they silently looked at each other.

\- What do you intend to do? \- Snape asked in a suddenly hoarse voice.

\- Nothing.

\- Nothing?! A second Voldemort is growing in Hogwarts, but are you inactive?

- You know the text of the prophecy, my friend, - the director answered quietly. - We cannot change anything. We just have to watch and... try to gain Harry's confidence.

Chapter Eleven. The first meeting. 1994/1995

- Severus, - Kate said thoughtfully, - you think Harry is cowardly. But he won the tournament of the Three Wizards, he fought with the dragon!

\- And this is not him.

\- How is it - not he?

- The Weasley Twins won the tournament for him. Potter was not supposed to participate in it at all, but Crouch managed to trick the goblet of fire and Potter became the fourth champion. He, of course, was terrified and tried to refuse to participate, but he had no choice. The magic contract is a serious thing, and no one was going to cancel the tournament because of one craven Slytherin.

Then Potter went to the trick - the twins were so eager to participate in the tournament that he easily persuaded them to cheat. The Weasleys stole a boomslang skin and other necessary ingredients from my office, cooked a Polyjuice Potion and went to the test instead of Potter: Fred defeated the dragon, George pulled Draco from the bottom of the lake. But Potter calmly sat in the stands in the guise of one of them and was cheering for himself. They agreed that if the Weasley wins, they will win a prize of a thousand galleons, if they lose, Potter will give them his home elf Kricher, who inherited him along with the house of Blacks. (Yes, I forgot to say: when it turned out that Sirius Black left a will in favor of Harry, a bastard did not think to refuse the inheritance. He stated that this would be moral compensation for Black's betrayal). The fame for winning or participating in the Tournament in any case went to Potter, but nothing could be done about it.

\- But what about the last, decisive test? Weasley too?

\- Not. Here Potter went into the maze himself.

\- Why?

\- He had his own goal. He did not care to win, he wanted another. His goal was Cedric Diggory. Potter planned to kill him.

- It can't be, - Kate whispered.

\- Diggory prevented him from seeking Cho Chang's attention - she was in love with a beautiful and glorious Hufflepuff and did not pay the slightest attention to the notorious little-cute Potter.

- But after all, Cedric was killed by Viktor Krum, as they wrote in the newspapers.

\- Yes, to this day it remains the official version. I know the truth, but I can't prove it - they simply won't listen to me, and Draco is afraid and will not testify.

- I don't believe it, - Kate whispered.

Snape looked at her in surprise.

\- Why?

- But then... a mortal spell was released from Krum's wand!

\- Yes. Crouch cast an Imperius spell on Victor, forced him to attack your French member Fleur Delacour and immobilize her, then in the same way - on Cedric. But Crouch did not intend to kill them; he simply cleared for Potter the path to the goblet, which was a portkey trap. Well, Potter stunned Krum from around the corner, took his wand, and until Cedric recovered, he killed him with Avada Kedavra spell. The scoundrel is right - we don't know how to investigate crimes: if only it occurred to us to take fingerprints from Krum's wand! But we don't even have a clue about their existence! Victor was considered the killer, but since he was under the spell of Imperius, he was acquitted. Potter fell out of the labyrinth with stunning news of the revival of He Who Cannot Be Named. This caused such a commotion that no one really began to understand what and how happened in the maze. Crouch, of course, saw the moment of the murder, but did not have time to tell anyone.

Kate sat motionless, staring at one point with a fixed look.

***

- Harry, Harry, what happened? - Dumbledore shook the shoulders of a startled frightened boy. He seems did not understand where he was and who was talking to him. Finally, with difficulty focusing his eyes on the director, he grunted:

- Voldemort...

\- What?!

\- Reborn, bitch. Only I kill him again.

\- How?!

\- From the trunk. This moron, let's play nobility, to flaunt in front of his freaks in the hoods, well, like we'll have an honest duel, all things... Quirell, bitch...

\- Quirell???

\- Well yes. He dragged this golliwog to the cemetery, and tied me to some stone. Then he cooked something in a cauldron, muttered, took blood from me... And then he threw the freak into the cauldron. I think, what the hell, he'll boil over there, but not... He climbs out of the boiler already at full height - normal. Well, almost normal - without a nose, like syphilitic. Then, in short, he called the freaks in the hoods, scolded them... By the way, the daddies of Crabbe, Goyle and Malfoy were also there – scums, they know that we are friends in Hog, and they shot at me from their fucking wands, when I was running away from there!

\- How did you manage to escape?

\- Well, I'm telling you, this fagot decided to arrange a duel, not to kill me right away, while I was tied with a rope.

In general, Quirrell untied me and while Voldemort the freak was waiting for me to get the wand, I took out the Makarov pistol and fired. Fucker got a bullet in the chest, and Quirrell was demolished half a skull. I also wanted to do a control shot in Voldemort's head, but these freaks started to shoot at me with Avadas, and, in short, I escaped from there.

\- But how?

\- Through this thing! - Potter viciously kicked the goblet. - Who gave it to me? Asshole said he had his own man in Hog. Snape, may be you? You have the same tattoo on your arm as all of these hoody scums.

***

Two weeks later, Lucius Malfoy invited Severus Snape to visit. There, Snape found Voldemort, who had become weakened after being wounded, but quite alive and monstrously evil. Convinced of the loyalty of his former student, Voldemort calmed down a little, but continued to talk in a very annoyed tone:

- What are the young wizards taught at Hogwarts now? Shoot from Muggle weapons?

- No one taught Potter this. He himself bought this weapon and carried it with him.

\- What for?

\- I do not know. I'm afraid no one knows what's going on in Potter's head. This young man is not like other Hogwarts students.

- And who does he look like?

- To an antisocial hysterical psychopath, - Snape answered, staring intently into Voldemort's face.

At first he frowned in bewilderment, and then suddenly leaned back in his chair and laughed out loud with a piercing cold laugh.

- A hospital roommate, then, - Voldemort said ironically. - Curious. Tell me more about this scum.

As the story went on, Voldemort grunted more and more, and when Snape got to the description of the incident at the Quidditch match, he laughed loudly.

- A curious boy, - he muttered again, - but the question is - can I trust him?

Snape looked in amazement at the dark wizard, who was thinking hard about something.

- Well then, Severus?

- I would not risk trusting Potter in anything, - Snape replied carefully.

Chapter Twelve. A new student at Ravenclaw. 1995/1996 and 1996/1997

In the summer, Dumbledore collected the Order of the Phoenix to fight the main enemy of the wizarding world, and Potter, to the great amazement of the Dursleys, begged Dudley for his textbooks and sat with it for hours. And then enrolled in the Muggle library.

When Uncle Vernon cautiously asked why his nephew reads so much, he, contrary to tradition, didn't be rude and snarl in response, and said that he considered the Hogwarts education insufficient and too one-sided, and therefore he tried to fill in the missing knowledge during the summer holidays. This answer and, in particular, the polite tone frightened Dursley more strongly than any rudeness.

- He's up to something, - he whispered at night to the frightened Petunia. - He won't fool me; I know him!

On Saturdays and Sundays, Potter went by train to London and spent the whole weekend in his house on Grimmauld Place. "We need to rest from each other," - he said to Dursley. - "Let everyone have a normal weekend."

"He was up to something," - Dursley continued to mutter, - "he won't fool me!"

Worried, Dumbledore once tried to enter Blacks' former home, but unexpectedly stumbled upon the powerful defensive charms surrounding a dark building. He did not hack into the defense, he just sent the sentinels out of the order, ordering to contact him at the slightest sign of danger.

Contrary to the concerns of adults, the summer was calm. Only at the very end of August did a stir rise when two dementors suddenly appeared in Little Winging. Fortunately, it was on Sunday, Potter was not in the town as usual, so no one was hurt in the end.

***

Dumbledore gazed steadily at Harry Potter's face, which had grown up and slightly haggard over the summer.

- Why are you looking at me like that? There are no patterns on me and the flowers do not grow, - Potter was as arrogant as always, and Dumbledore, as always, did not pay the slightest attention to his rudeness.

- How was the summer, Harry?

\- Thank you, good.

- I heard you became interested in reading Muggle scientific literature?

Potter shrugged and made no reply.

\- Let me ask, why do you need this?

\- There are many informative and useful... for life in the real world.

- In the Muggle world, do you mean? Do you think our world is not real?

-Your magical world is a bunch of naive idiots who do not understand nothing and live like blind people, not noticing anything around them. I do not want to be the same ignorant moron and imagine that I am safe, just because I have a magic wand. And to think that the most terrible threat in the world is an impudent freak. Yes, Muggle intelligence agencies, if necessary, will destroy your wonderful world in a day. And the survivors will die out on their own - you don't even know how to reproduce normally - give you purity of blood!

- And are you not at all afraid of Voldemort?

\- He is the same moron as the rest.

- Next time, Harry, you can't shoot him. He will be ready.

\- Never mind. I'll come up with something else.

- So what are you reading Muggle textbooks for?

Potter shrugged and grinned.

\- Harry...- Dumbledore paced the office, shaking his head in thought. - You decided to act alone. I don't want to stop you from making your plans, but you alone cannot do it. You need helpers. Friends you could trust.

\- My friends are children of death eaters. They can help... tighten the noose around my neck! I think their fathers instructed them to follow me.

\- You can go to another faculty, Harry. Usually we don't do that, but we can make an exception for you.

- To Ravenclaw, - Harry answered quickly.

- Maybe Gryffindor? Your parents studied at Gryffindor...

\- To Ravenclaw!

- Good... I also want, Harry, you trust me... if you need help... any... Or you want to talk about something...

- Okay, - Potter grinned, - I really want to discuss your personnel policy. What kind of nonsens is this again... sorry, what annoying misunderstanding by the name of Umbridge teaches us protection? More precisely, she pretends to be teaching.

Dumbledore sighed and said sourly:

\- Unfortunately, this summer I was not able to find a new defense teacher. In such cases, the ministry has the right to appoint a teacher at its discretion.

- And you, of course, cannot change this situation.

\- I can not.

- You are considered a great wizard, - Potter's tone was utterly mocking, - then I will perhaps consider myself a reincarnation of Merlin. But, if you, the great magician, have expressed your intention to help me, then I have two requests for you.

- Listen, Harry, - Dumbledore said wearily.

\- Firstly, I would like to hear the full literal text of the prophecy spoken by the old freak. I hope I have a right to this?

- Of course, Harry.

\- Secondly, I ask you to return my invisibility cloak. Firewhisky and pornography will be gone, I promise. Other outrages too.

- I hope... Well, I will fulfill both of your requests.

- Thank you, sir.

- Harry, one more question. Tell me, who put protection on your house?

\- I.

\- Who taught you this? This is a very difficult level of magic.

\- I know. Mrs. Black.

\- Who?! \- marveled Dumbledore.

- Walburga teaches him, - came a cold, lazy voice, and the director quickly turned to face the portrait of Nigellus Black. - The little prankster hung noodles on her ears and the old fool took him under her wing. Do you know what she says about him? - with obvious pleasure, Black continued to gossip. - The boy understands what a real lady is. The boy has a correct understanding of the principles of purebred." Haha! The boy is lying to her like a gray gelding!

Dumbledore looked questioningly at Harry. He grinned and shrugged.

- I really think Mrs. Black is an outstanding sorceress and a true lady. Well, as for purebredness, I may have lied a little, but we found a common language. And I promised Kricher after his death to cut off his head and dry it on a platter - I actually wanted to scare him when he started to become impudent, and he suddenly fell to his knees, sobbed and began to thank me as if I had given him a castle. So now he adores me.

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, and then he said very quietly and slowly:

- If it weren't for the horcruxes, I would say that you could cope with Voldemort without anyone else's help.

\- What kind of horcruxes? - Potter frowned.

***

Snape was so glad that he got rid of Potter that he did not think about the consequences. But meanwhile, he lost the ability to control him, to monitor what he does. In addition, Draco Malfoy lost this opportunity.

- That would be better, man, - Potter told him, packing his things. - You understand what position we are in. Your family remains loyal to the wizard who wants to kill me. You will be forced to follow me and to convey. Crabbe and Goyle too, right?

Draco lowered his eyes. Of course, they all have already received the relevant instructions.

\- Here you see. Do not worry, we will still communicate.

\- Why Ravenclaw?

- They're smarter, - Potter snapped.

- Harry, I'm serious. Because of Cho Chang?

\- Well yes. Between us boys, I'm going to fuck her before the school year ends.

- Do you think it will work out? - Malfoy said incredulously.

- Give the woman what she needs, and she is yours. What does Cho need now? A close friend with whom she can share her grief. I will be nearby, I will talk with her about Cedric. Wipe her tears, say how wonderful he was and how I would like him to be my friend, and so on.

\- And then?

\- And then, when the grief subsides, there will be a quiet intimate evening - only me, she, candles and a wine. And I will tell her how lonely I am in this world, where I grew up without parental warmth and affection, where I cannot trust even my best friends... And then I will tell her about the prophecy, that I am the chosen one, and only I can save the world from the terrible He Who Cannot Be Named. And how scary I am, but of course I will still fight, even if I am destined to die! Imagine a dialogue:

«- I have no one to rely on, Cho, no one to believe. I will have to do this alone.

- No, Harry, you're not alone! I will help you!

-No, Cho, I will not allow you to risk because of me. You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. For you alone, I would fight!

\- Oh Harry!»

And if after that she does not end up in my bed, then I don't understand anything in girls.

Draco looked at his friend with horror and admiration, which, however, was mixed with some other vague feeling.

\- Do you love her? \- he asked quietly.

- She's a beautiful girl, - Potter answered coldly, - and I intend to fuck her.

***

- So Harry didn't like Cho? - Kate asked quietly.

\- Not. I don't think Potter is capable of love at all. He carried out his plans for Cho Chang, and on Easter holidays she went to visit him at the house in Grimmauld Place, lying to her parents that she was going to a girlfriend. Returning to Hogwarts, Potter enthusiastically and in detail described Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle how the best beauty of the faculty equals virginity, in what poses he made sex with her, depicted how she moans and wriggles in bed. You don't tell about beloved girls like this, you know.

A cramp ran across Kate's face, but Snape, lost in memory, did not notice this.

- I think, from around this time, - he continued, - Draco began to gradually dislike Potter. He admired the arrogance and recklessness with which his friend walked around the world of wizards, but at the same time, such a cynical attitude towards the girl was disgusting to him. Lucius always treated Narcissa with great respect, and he also managed to inspire Draco respect for women. And after what Potter did with Cho in the sixth year...

Kate flinched.

- What did he do? - she asked in surprise.

\- He sold her. Not for money, true, but for services. In the sixth year, Potter... not to say that he was lazy, he rather set priorities for himself. He conscientiously studied subjects such as transfiguration, spells, and defense, but completely launched herbology, astrology, and the history of magic, which he considered unimportant to himself. He preferred to spend time reading Muggle books in physics, chemistry, history and psychology, while others did homework on "unnecessary items" for him. For this, he gave them a portion of Polyjuice Potion and allowed them to sleep with Cho, instead of himself. The poor girl, unaware of anything, had sex that year with almost all senior students of Ravenclaw and some Slytherins too. He gave her to Crabbe and Goyle as a thank them for participating in his obscure experiments in which they acted as experimental rabbits. Crabbe and Goyle told Draco that Potter was waving a shiny circle around their nose and they were falling asleep, and then he woke them up and asked different questions. What all this means, neither one nor the other did not understand. And I still don't understand... Kate, what's wrong with you?!

Glancing at his wife, he saw that she was pale as a canvas. Kate sighed convulsively, and Snape was afraid that she would have an attack again, but she got up, and without looking at him, went to the door.

\- Where are you going?!

She stopped and still not looking at him, she said softly:

\- It's stuffy here. I need to go out into the fresh air. You don't worry, it happens to me - because of weak vessels.

- I am escorting you, - he jumped to his feet, but she stopped him.

- No, no, not necessary. I... need a little walk.

He watched her anxiously. Then he got up to catch up with her, but suddenly changed his mind and again sat down into a chair. It was necessary to finish, albeit without Kate, to put together everything he knew about Potter and finally understand the reason for his own concern. However, there are not so many memories left.

After losing Potter out of control, Snape now had only fragmentary information about his activity in his last years at Hogwarts. And yet - guesses and suspicions, nothing, alas, not confirmed. So, for example, he suspected that the sudden and tragic death of Dolores Umbridge was nothing more than a new, coolly planned murder of Potter, committed by him in his fifth year. It was not for nothing that he asked Dumbledore for the invisibility cloak. Snape suddenly clearly imagined, as if he had seen with his own eyes how Potter, having lingered after a lesson, came up to Umbridge and whispered in her ear that he had information about Dumbledore's secret weapon and made an appointment for her at midnight on the astronomical tower. And when an unsuspecting woman comes, he, hiding on the invisibility cloak, immobilizes her with a stunning spell, and then drops the body down. What for? To get another defense teacher, of course. Dumbledore persuaded Moody to take on these responsibilities until the end of the school year. But Potter didn't even admit to Draco this murder - he stopped trusting him completely, as he had before - for obvious reasons. Dolores Umbridge did not have any close relatives or friends who could insist on a more thorough investigation and the case was written off as an accident. Of course, Fudge came in person, sputtered and almost accused Dumbledore himself of being killed, but it was useless, of course.

Potter was up to something, this is obvious. Dumbledore believed that the boy was making his own plans for the fight against Voldemort and gave him the green light in all directions - permission to take any books in the forbidden section, order teachers to answer any, even the wildest and strangest questions of Potter and to assist him in research, which it would not touch. Snape knew that Professor Flitwick was working on an artifact that could give its owner universal protection, creating a field around him that reflects any malicious spells. Funny, however, is a coincidence. Snape did not know if Flitwick managed to create such an artifact - the professor, like all other teachers, actually stopped talking to him after the murder of Dumbledore. However, it was precisely such an artifact that Madame Lefebvre had - which means that theoretically Flitwick could create the same and equip Potter with it.

Snape himself worked, yielding to Dumbledore's request, on a spell of pleasure - Potter's next great idea. He finally left his obsessive plan to get drugs with the help of certain magic means, but he came up with this damn spell as an alternative to the same drugs. At first, Snape was very skeptical of the assignment, but the first results of the experiment made him think twice, and when the spell was ready, and he realized what a terrible weapon it was, he decided to hide the results of his research from everyone, even from Dumbledore. He had not lost his mind yet to trust a psychopathic boy with such a powerful means of manipulating the will of wizards.

Dumbledore himself was tormented by questions about the essence of magical power - why some have it more, others less, and where it can come from muggle-born, and why it doesn't come from the squibs, where it disappears after the wizard's death, whether the dementors suck it along with the soul etc. Having not received satisfactory answers, Potter almost settled in the forbidden section, searching through the strangest and most terrible books on dark magic.

And after the sixth year, he suddenly disappeared in an unknown direction, and two Gryffindors disappeared with him - clever Hermione Granger and the youngest of the Weasley brothers. By the way, this was another oddity that caused Snape's suspicions and Dumbledore's joy - the old man believed that the "chosen one" heeded at last his instructions regarding the need to acquire allies. In his sixth year, Potter developed an extraordinary activity aimed at correcting relations with former enemies. Snape knew — the whole Hogwarts had been gossiping about it — that Potter had given Ron Weasley Firebolt," a broomstick worth a fortune, as an apology for a broken backbone in his first year. In addition, he invented a hymn called "The Weasley Is Our King," which the Gryffindors began to sing in every match to support their emotionally unstable goalkeeper. And whether this hymn helped, or a super broom, but the Weasley began to play just brilliantly, and that year Gryffindor, for the first time in the last decade, won the cup.

He also managed to soften the stubborn Granger's heart, which at first, of course, didn't want to look in the direction of the nasty Slytherin-Ravenclaw boy, and his request for joining the ranks of Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare perceived as another mockery. However, Potter did not give up. He drew a poster with the symbols of S.P.E.W., a photograph of Dobby with huge sad eyes, wrote the slogan "shame on slave owners!" on it and stood in a solitary picket all Saturday in the center of Hogsmeade, stubbornly enduring the ridicule of schoolchildren and local residents. And then Rita Skeeter, with whom Potter made friends during the Three Wizards Tournament, burst into a pathetic article in the "Prophet", which described the suffering of the unfortunate oppressed houses elves and called for an end to this "shameful position". And although the article did not gain popularity in the magical community, moreover, some expressed doubts about the clear mind of the journalist, but Granger melted and forgave Potter all his previous ridicule and bullying.

Since then, they have often been seen together - Potter, Granger and Weasley - in Hogsmeade, in the library, by the lake. Snape did not believe for a minute that Potter was worried about the fate of the elves, or a broken spine, but why he needed these manipulations was unclear.

It followed from Potter's report that the two wandered with him in search of the horcruxes and helped to destroy them. Can this be believed?

Dumbledore left him instructions to help Potter, and when he finds and destroys the remaining horcruxes (Dumbledore himself destroyed the two - Riddle's diary and Marvolo's ring), tell him the good news that Harry himself is the last of the Voldemort horcruxes. Snape, dying, managed to convey this information to Potter, but what happened next? Snape went so deep into his thoughts that he did not immediately hear a careful knock on the door. They knocked louder and Snape raised his head. Before he could open his mouth, the door opened and he flinched slightly - Harry Potter stood on the threshold.

Chapter Thirteen. A polite invitation.

\- Hello, professor. I don't bother you?

Snape had not seen the former student for more than a year, apart from their brief meeting in the Shrieking Shack, when he was almost blind from the terrible pain. Something in Potter had changed, but he could not understand what exactly...

- Why are you alive, Potter?

Harry grinned.

- I'm glad to see you too, professor. But in the end, we fought with you on the same side. I think it's time for us to forget the old grievances and...

- How could you survive if the Dark Lord killed you?

\- Oh, I don't know... Perhaps he killed only that part of me that was the horcrux.

- Some kind of nonsense, - muttered Snape, - if Voldemort struck you with the spell of Avada Kedavra, you should have died... All you, not in separate parts. Second question, Potter. Why am I still alive?

\- Well... probably you have a strong body.

\- No organism is able to cope with the poison of an Albanian snake. I had to die that day.

Potter shrugged.

- In any case, I'm glad you survived.

\- Why would such a joy? - Snape asked ironically.

- In principle, I nevermind, of course, - Potter admitted, - I'm just trying to be polite.

\- What for?

- I have an assignment. I have to get you to the ministry.

Snape raised his eyebrows in surprise.

\- There was a request for you from France's Aurorat — they demand your extradition. They claim that you, while in France, abducted a respected sorceress - Roxanne Lefebvre, tortured her and... sorry, raped.

No matter how annoyed Snape was, he burst out laughing involuntarily.

\- Really raped?

- Of course I don't believe it, - Potter said quickly, - well, of course you don't need to rape a woman.

- Potter, - Snape hissed menacingly.

- I meant your innate nobility, sir. In general, clarification is needed.

- Have you come to arrest me? - Snape asked mockingly.

- Arrests are the prerogative of the Aurors. If you want to be arrested, at least a dozen of them will come here. And I'm just a modest assistant to the minister and I have been instructed, as I said, politely to ask you to call in Mr. Kingsley for a cup of tea.

\- When?

\- Now.

Snape sighed. He did not want to go, but it was better to explain himself immediately. Besides, he finally understood... it was necessary to discuss this with Kingsley.

He quickly wrote a note for Kate and headed for the exit.

\- Severus!

Potter and Snape turned around in surprise.

- Hello Harry, - said Dumbledore dryly from his portrait. - I need to say a few words to Professor Snape... alone.

Potter bowed silently and left.

- Severus, - Dumbledore whispered quickly, - make sure he doesn't hear us.

Snape crept silently toward the door and swung it open. Potter was gone. He returned to the portrait.

- Severus, I don't like Harry.

All sarcasm released by nature sounded in Snape's voice when he replied:

\- Oh really?!!

- Severus, I'm serious. Have you noticed anything in him? Nothing strange?

- Something's wrong, - Snape admitted, - but I didn't understand what it was.

- Harry looks now... - Dumbledore hesitated for a few seconds, - he looks like a man who has lost part of his soul.

\- Not! - Snape breathed in horror. - Do you think he made the horcrux?!

- Check it... Find a way, please. Correct my mistake, if it's not too late.

Snape nodded silently. He found Potter in the lobby of the castle. Peering at his face once more, he finally saw. All the same familiar green eyes looked at him, but instead of sparkling perky flicker, they now emitted a dim, dead light of those who were indifferent to everything in the world.

***

- Snape, for heaven's sake, what are you doing? - Kingsley's voice sounded tired and almost plaintive. - I gave you a portkey to Paris, believing...

\- What do I want to visit the Louvre? - Snape chuckled.

The Minister sighed and tossed Snape a parchment scroll.

\- Look at it.

Snape unfolded the parchment and quickly scanned the bilingual text.

- Nonsense, - he said indifferently, returning the letter to the Minister, - a lie from the first to the last word.

\- These are serious accusations. The abduction, the use of the Crucio spell, and... um...

- Rape, - Snape kindly prompted. - Kingsley, do you even know what Madame Lefebvre looks like?

\- Not.

- I would rather rape you. Though I don't have the inclinations Potter suspects me of. And in general, I did not come to discuss with you my relationship with this filthy witch. Actually, I came to ask you one question.

\- Which one?

- Kingsley, can you count to seven?

Chapter Fourteen. Moral basis of Healer.

Coming out of the minister, Snape thought for a moment. It was necessary to find Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. He has many questions for them both. It would nessesary also to visit the Malfoys and ask a couple of questions to Narcissa about Potter's strange death-rebirth. But first of all... yes, first he will go to the hospital of St. Mungo. It was necessary to visit Madame Pomfrey and speak with Gerhard. Snape hoped that the stern doctor had calm down a bit, and in the end, the fact that they got married should have been a mitigating circumstance. Snape left the ministry and was about to disapper, when suddenly a sudden fit of dizziness made him grab onto a ledge in the wall. What is it with him? Overworked? For several minutes he stood, closing his eyes and not moving. Then he slowly went towards the subway.

***

\- Hello, Professor Gerhard. Sorry to be late.

\- Oh Merlin, whom I see! - Professor Gerhard, smiling radiantly, moved towards Snape, affably opening his arms.

Snape stared at him in amazement.

- How glad I am to see you in good health, Severus! And how is our Kate? Will she be back at work or should we not wait for her?

- You fired her, - Snape said dryly.

\- I? Laid off?! \- Gerhard stared in amazement at Snape. - When? And why on earth?

\- For violation of the code of healer.

\- In what sense?

- Because she had sex with me, - Snape gazed steadily into Gerhard's face. There were no signs of madness in the face of the old doctor.

The professor of medicine giggled thinly.

- Severus, I beg you! Codex of Healer! You are too scrupulous. If we fired doctors for love affairs with patients, I'm afraid there would be no one to treat wizards. Half of our specialists are married to their former patients. By the way, I do too. I'll tell you there was a romantic story in its time. I cured my future wife of the gargoyle curse and then defended a dissertation on this material!

Snape thought for a moment. You can, of course, erase a person's memories, but is it possible to change his mind on some issue so that he doesn't notice this?

- Tell me, professor, when was the last time you came to examine me?

Gerhard thought for a moment, then picked up a leather-bound diary from the table and quickly flipped through it.

\- So... So... Yeah, here it is... June 29 \- you see, the record: "Well. No longer needs treatment."

- Does it not surprise you that a person not only survived the bite of an Albanian viper, but also recovered in two weeks?

Professor Gerhard stared dumbfounded at Snape.

\- Really. An amazing case, - he muttered. \- I have never seen such a thing. You probably have an amazingly strong body.

- I already heard that somewhere, - Snape grinned unkindly. - Professor, did you happen to communicate with Harry Potter?

\- Oh, yes, - Gerhard smiled again, - such a pleasant young man. Very worried about you. He begged Kate and me to do everything possible and impossible to save you.

\- Very dramatic. Tell me again, do you clearly remember your last visit to me on June 29?

\- Oh sure.

\- Tell me what we were talking about?

- Well... I examined you. Congratulations on a successful recovery. I praised Kate for looking after you so well. What's the matter, Severus? What worries you?

- How did he do that? How is this possible? \- muttered Snape under his breath, ignoring Gerhard.

\- What is possible?!

\- Replace memories. You remember something that never happened! Tell me, Potter, during your meeting, swing a bright object in front of you?

\- Yes, he wanted to show some kind of trick, though I already forgot what it was. You know what, Severus, I think I was in a hurry with conclusions regarding your complete recovery. Perhaps the poison had a detrimental effect on your brain and...

\- Do you know, Gerhard? - Snape said sharply, rising. - If I were you, I wouldn't tell anyone that we saw each other.

\- Why?

- I'm afraid you won't live long after that. Farewell.

Snape went out, leaving the old doctor to stare after him, puzzled and frightened.

Chapter Fifteen Squibs can also conjure.

The rest of the affairs had to be postponed. It was urgent to question Kate.

At the entrance to the castle, Snape suddenly ran into Cho Chang.

\- What are you doing here, Chang?

\- l... hello professor. I lost one thing - a family brooch, very valuable. I thought - maybe I forgot here, in the bustle.

\- Found it?

\- Not. Probably lost on the road. Goodbye.

Cho quickly ran down the steps and hurriedly walked toward the gate. There she turned around, once again looked at the dark figure at the door and disappeared from sight.

Snape walked slowly along the dark corridors of Hogwarts. The sucking sense of anxiety intensified with each step, and he again began to feel weak and dizzy. When he reached his apartment, he found that Kate was not. Exhausted, he collapsed into the chair closest to the door and quietly called:

\- Winky!

An elf instantly appeared before him.

- What does the director want?

\- Please make a stronger coffee.

\- Yes sir.

- Tell me, did you see Kate tonight?

\- Yes, sir. Mrs. Snape said she needed to leave and told me to give you a note and this bottle immediately as soon as you return.

Snape put the bottle on the nightstand next to the chair and unfolded the parchment.

"Goodbye, Severus. Do not look for me. Annul our marriage and forget about me. Most importantly, IMMEDIATELY take the potion that I leave for you if you want to stay alive. Then do it yourself and take it again tomorrow. That should be enough. I wrote a recipe. Goodbye and sorry.

P.S. Do not try to understand what happened. Be careful."

There was no signature. Snape took the bottle, uncorked the lid and sniffed. It was Gerhard's potion, only in a very strong concentration. The potion was still warm.

- When did Kate give you this?

- About twenty minutes ago.

\- It's strange that I did not meet her. Who else is in the castle?

\- Mr. Filch.

Snape went into Kate's room and carefully looked around - all her things remained in place, on the dressing table the abandoned wedding ring gleamed. Snape walked over to the trash bin - and removed some strange objects from it. Having examined them, he realized that they were used syringes and a tourniquet - it seems to be from Muggle medicine? What for? Something flashed at the bottom of the basket and Snape pulled out another bottle. The smell left no doubt - a Polyjuice Potion. So that's why the Frenchwoman didn't have an accent!

The next half hour of his life, Snape vaguely remembered. When he woke up, he saw that the room of false Kate was crushed, his hands were cut up to blood, and his throat was sore from screaming. Looking down, he noticed Winky, trembling, frightened.

- It is your coffee, sir.

- Winky, where is Filch? - he asked hoarsely.

- In the Glory room, sir.

***

The door to the room of Glory was ajar. Snape, who had been running all the way, stopped a few steps away to catch his breath.

\- Wingardium Leviosa! - сame Filch's cracked voice from behind the door.

Perplexed, raising his eyebrows, Snape carefully looked into the office and could not believe his eyes. For a couple of seconds, he even doubted whether Professor Gerhard was right: maybe his brain is damaged by poison and he sees what is not? After all, what he saw now, simply could not be in reality - the reality that he knew. Filch held a magic wand in his hand and with the help of a spell moved cups, medals, silver bowls and dishes through the air. He was so passionate that he did not hear the director approach.

- What does that mean, Argus?! - Snape decided to deal with his hallucinations.

Filch jumped in horror and quickly turned around, hiding his wand behind his back. The cups and bowls thundered to the floor.

\- N-nothing, sir. I... tidy up.

- But you conjured!

- Well... sometimes... I'm trying... something simple, for fun...

\- Where is my wife?

- I can't know, sir. I didn't see her, - Filch answered very quickly.

A little faster than it should.

Without thinking twice, Snape took a step forward and squeezed the throat of the old man with steel fingers. Filch wheezed, clutching Snape's wrists with his hands, trying to tear them off, but to no avail.

\- Where is... my... wife?!

- Left, - Filch croaked.

\- Where? \- Snape loosened his grip a little.

\- I don't know... She didn't report to me.

\- Who is she?

Filch was silent. Snape pulled a wand from his pocket.

- Argus, do you want to know how the Crucio spell works?

- You will not dare! - Filch screeched in fright. - For this - in Azkaban!

- I don't care anymore, - Snape said in an icy tone, - tell me everything you know or die now.

Filch trembled with his whole body and whispered barely audibly:

\- She... is not Kate.

- I already understood that. Was she Cho Chang?

\- Yes.

- Where's the real Kate Lefebvre?

\- I do not know. They took her away.

\- When?

\- For a long time. A month ago.

"Perfume!" - Snape suddenly remembered. – "Lilac! It turns out that I never saw the real one at all. When vision returned, there was already this bitch, with a vanilla-caramel smell".

\- Who is her accomplice? Is our national hero Potter?

- Harry Potter is a great wizard! - Filch said unexpectedly pompously and Snape unclenched his fingers in amazement.

Filch broke free and stepped back a couple of steps, rubbing his throat.

\- Why?

- He is a great wizard! - persistently repeated Filch. - He's better than you all! He's better than Dumbledore!

- Because cats love him? - Snape asked mockingly.

- Because he doesn't turn up one's nose in front of the squibs! Ah... ah... helps them!

For a while, both were silent.

- How did you learn to conjure, Argus? - Snape asked quietly.

\- I will not say! You can torture, - he snapped. - You can kill. I will not say!

Snape sighed. The situation left no other choice. There was no time to lose.

- Legilimens!

Through a whirlwind of memories, consisting mainly of skirmishes with Peeves and flying dung bombs, Snape quickly found the picture he needed.

- Give me that ring, Argus, - he said calmly.

\- Not!

From the squib's gaze, Snape realized that he would rather die than give up a strange artifact giving him magical powers.

- Give the man what he needs and he is yours, - muttered Snape. - Simple and ingenious! Stupefy!

He gently pulled a thin silver ring with an engraving in the form of a snake from the finger of an immobilized supply manager.

As always, when he happened to touch objects touched by dark magic, he felt an icy tremor in his body. In his youth, this pleased him, it was a foretaste of the discovery of new, secret knowledge. Now he felt fear mixed with bewilderment. He had never heard of anything like this before, he had never read it anywhere. For the second time in a day, Snape was at an impasse: at first nonexistent memories rooted in Gerhard's mind, now a ring giving the squib the opportunity to conjure. So, what if the wizard uses it, not a squib?

Snape put the ring on the finger of his right hand, having previously removed and rejected his wedding ring with disgust. Then he raised his wand and muttered a spell.

The objects that had recently flown around the room began to stir again, but now they all transformed, turning into animals, birds, insects - when there was already a whole zoo of hedgehogs, snakes, tits and other hissing, chirping and snorting creatures, Snape made a counterspell - everything returned to its place and froze.

Yes, he certainly wasn't capable of that. Just in case, Snape removed the ring and set it aside, tried again. Several objects swayed, one of the silver goblets fell to the floor and turned into a hedgehog. Nothing else happened. The hedgehog snorted angrily, looked displeased at the wizard and trotted to the door.

How could Potter, a mediocre and lazy wizard, create such an artifact? Snape brought the ring close to his eyes and then saw what he had not noticed before - some signs were applied on the inside of the ring. Looking closely, Snape realized that these were runes. He did not study runes at school, considering them useless and boring. So now he have to go to the library and spend the whole evening at the dictionaries. He got up and was already heading towards the exit, but then a faint moan was heard. Snape turned around. The old man looked at him with imploring eyes, tears flowed from his eyes.

Snape sighed annoyingly, but still raised his wand again and lifted the stunning spell from Filch. In an instant, he jumped to his feet and rushed at the director, clutching his wrist with hooked fingers, trying to pull out the ring. Snape forcefully pushed him away, so that he flew into the closet, from which the cups fell with a roar.

\- Stay where you are and answer my questions if you do not want a repetition! - Snape barked.

Filch slowly rose to his feet, his eyes burned with yellow fanatical fire, he stared at the ring.

- Do you know where Potter got it?

\- Not.

\- When did he give it to you?

\- A month ago.

\- What for?

- They came with Chang to visit you together. There was already nobody here, everyone parted, and they told me to look after the repair. As if the squib didn't need to rest! By the way, I'm not a house elf for you! I saw through the window how they stunned a female healer. And then Chang drank something and turned into a healer. Then Potter noticed me. I was scared, wanted to run away, but he called me and talked so well with me, with all due respect, that means. Only Potter is talking to me this way! And then he gave me this ring and said that I would be a real wizard. He didn't even ask me to be silent about what I saw, well, I'm not a fool, I understand myself...

\- Cattle! \- said Snape.

\- Give it back! - squealed Filch. - This is my ring!

- You can't, Argus. It's dangerous, - Snape tried to reason with the supply manager, but he didn't listen and again, as the madman rushed forward in a desperate attempt to grab the ring.

Snape knocked him down. The old man wriggled on the floor, pulled his hands to the ring, muttered something incomprehensible whiningly.

\- What? \- Snape leaned over, wanting to make out the words.

\- My precious! - Filch sobbed desperately.

«Crazy», - Snape thought and left the office.

He did not know what he would do with Cho when he found her. «I'll tear the creature», - he thought. - «And Potter, too. I'll ask a couple of questions and kill both. To hell with justice. To hell with the Wizengamot. The scum will turn out, as always."

Suddenly, his eyes darkened, he mechanically took a few more steps, grabbed the railing of the stairs, trying to find support... and crashed down, rolling down to the very base of the flight of stairs.

Chapter Fifteen. The funeral of the hero.

"Today we say goodbye to one of the most outstanding sorcerers of our time," \- the voice of the Minister of Magic Kíngsley Shácklebolt sounded solemn, but somehow deaf.

«Who is being buried?" - Snape opened his eyes and found himself in complete darkness. The body was again completely motionless.

"Dumbledore's faithful companion, an unbending fighter against the forces of evil," - the minister continued, - "Professor Severus Snape was an outstanding potions master and a brave man..."

Snape yelled in horror and rushed with all his might - but to no avail, neither sound nor movement could be pulled out of the paralyzed body. He had to lie in pitch darkness and listen to farewell speeches at his own funeral.

Snape was surprised to learn that he was Professor Slughorn's best friend, whom he had verified all his secrets. Then it turned out that he was the favorite teacher of Neville Longbottom, and of all the Gryffindors in general, and also, according to McGonagall, the best director of Hogwarts, not counting Dumbledore. Then Potter began to speak, and Snape was flooded with a wave of fierce hatred.

"I was often unfair to the deceased," - Potter paused dramatically. - "But was the deceased a moral person? No, he was not a moral person. He was a death eater, traitor and murderer. He wanted to bring dark arts into society, but society did not want to accept his talent. And Severus Snape could not bear this contradiction, because he was an irritable person. And so he died».

"What nonsense?" - Snape was surprised, but then Potter continued:

"But we will remember it for others. May he remain in our memory as he was at heart - a noble knight, ready in the name of love for the greatest sacrifice». - There were female sobs in the crowd. - "He once loved my mother."

Snape was icy with rage. How did the boy find out? Did Dumbledore betray him? Wanted Potter to trust him more?!

Meanwhile, the hated voice continued:

"And in memory of her, he vowed to protect my life and avenge the killer of my parents. I owe him my life. To him we all owe our freedom! Everlasting memory!»

After Potter, a few more pompous speeches were made. Snape was burned with the urge to get out of the coffin and teach a lesson to the speakers so that they would not only speak, but would never want to think well about him again. After that, he would agree to die completely, honestly. Oh no! First, he would have torn Potter and his Chinese whore to pieces, and only then would he have died quietly.

Finally, everything was quiet. Snape was still motionless in complete darkness.

«Well, that's all», - he thought. - "In the end, I already died once. Soon I will suffocate in this drawer and finally it will all be over. Potter will soon begin to twirl the magical world as he wants, will play with him like a toy. They pulled out a spell of pleasure from me - the whole story with the curse of Lefebvre was a trap. Madame Lefebvre was with them, and of course, the locket was not at all their family relic. Flitwick managed to create a unique artifact and he supplied Potter with it, implying that he would use it to protect himself from Voldemort. Potter gave it to Roxanne, so that I could not use any spell, except invented by myself. Potter himself learned how to make a completely incredible magical item that can repeatedly increase magical power. Plus, a unknown way to introduce the necessary information into the consciousness and modify the memory. With such baggage and taking into account Potter's ability to rub into trust and arouse the disposition of the most unfriendly people, plus his huge popularity among the people after the victory over Voldemort. Apparently, Potter's own prophecy will soon come true - he will become the king and god of the wizarding world. Thank God, I will no longer be in this world..."

Thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a deafening crack: someone was breaking the lid of his coffin.

# _Part three._ _Sir Thomas Merlin-Redlington._

Chapter sixteen. An unexpected meeting.

Snape's eyelids were burned with a blinding light, fresh evening air filled with the scent of flowers hit his nostrils. Someone raised his head and poured liquid into his mouth. Again Gerhard's tincture, only in a very strong concentration and - something in it, it seems, was missing...

Walking steps were heard, and again everything was quiet. Snape was waiting. He himself did not know whether he was glad for another miraculous salvation from imminent death. There was nothing to do, and he began to recall the list of potion ingredients left by his fake wife to determine what exactly was missing in the portion that he had just been given. Strange, all the components were in place and yet the taste was a little different...

Suddenly he guessed: of course, this is so obvious! There was no side effect on the potion! Cho herself added something that caused strong sexual arousal in order to have a reason to get into his bed. It was probably some kind of Muggle preparation so that he couldn't recognize the taste... Why did she try to save him at the last moment?

Five minutes later, Snape began to distinguish the outlines of objects, after ten - he was able to move his hands, after twenty - grimacing in pain, he climbed out of his coffin.

The crypt was empty. Snape went to the door and peered out carefully. Whoever gave him the tincture, he was not an enemy. A few steps from the entrance to the crypt stood an unfamiliar handsome Muggle. He looked about fifty years old. An expensive gray suit, a dark blue tie, a white chemise - all this went very well to his thoroughbred tanned face, thick brown, neatly styled hair. A straight nose of impeccable shape was decorated with smoky glasses that hid the stranger's eyes. He somehow reminded Snape of photos from the glossy covers of Muggle illustrated magazines. Muggle was silent, although no doubt he had already noticed Snape.

- Good evening, - the failed deceased greeted politely. - I owe it to you my salvation?

Muggle smiled, showing two rows of dazzling white straight teeth, and nodded.

- Let me know your name, sir?

- You don't recognize your overlord, Severus?

At the sound of that cold, high voice, Snape drew back in horror and rushed back into the crypt. Crouching behind the pedestal on which the coffin was mounted, he frantically clutched a magic wand in his hand and tried to understand what was happening. "Is Gerhard right?" - he thought for the second time in despair. - "My brain is damaged, I have hallucinations. In fact, I'm still lying in a coffin and slowly dying. To admit that Voldemort was reborn again, perhaps, taking into account the undestructed horcrux and stolen ashes, but is it possible that he looked like that?!"

- Severus, come out. It makes no sense to sit there. If I wanted to kill you, I would not give you an antidote.

Snape slowly stepped out into the gathering twilight and peered into the stranger's face again. Voldemort again smiled broadly and took off his glasses. The pupils remained the same, vertical, but they were surrounded by blue irises and the eyes looked almost normal.

- It was worth enduring all these damned Muggle operations in order to see your face, - and Voldemort burst out laughing with a high piercing laugh that coused goosebumps down Snape's back. - Well, how am I to you?

- You are very beautiful, my lord, - said Snape carefully. - But why did you put yourself to such torment? I heard Muggles cut people with knives during operations! - нe shuddered absolutely genuinely.

\- Scalpels. And it doesn't hurt. I got rhinoplasty, cheiloplasty, a facelift, a hair transplant, teeth whitening and God knows what else! Only with eyes they could not do anything, I have to wear colored lenses and hide my eyes behind dark glasses.

- You do not want to be recognized?

\- Of course. Voldemort died. He is no more. He is killed by a brave young man named Harry Potter, as predicted by the old alcoholic. The magical community rejoices!

-But who helped you reborn in this time?

\- No one. I did not die. It's unpleasant to die, you know, I've already tried. And although you yourself know it.

- But everyone saw your death... - said Snape hesitantly.

- Have you seen it yourself?

\- No, but...

- Everyone saw how a wizard of my appearance hit an Avada Cedavra spell at Potter, and how Potter responded with his expelliarmus — that fool over the years of Hogwarts seems to have learned one single defensive spell. The red and green rays met and Potter's spell turned out to be stronger - Voldemort was killed with his own mortal spell. A mediocre boy defeated the most powerful wizard of Great Britain. Sounds a little strange, don't you think?

- So who was it really, if not you?

\- Igor Karkarov. Malsiber hunted down and caught him last year. We spread the rumor that he was killed. In fact, I kept him in the basement of Lucius. He had a choice - to die for me or... to be kissed by a dementor. He chose death. Of course, Potter would not have defeated him, but Igor succumbed.

- But after death, his body was supposed to take on his own look!

- It was so. And a great embarrassment would have come out if it had not been for our young hero, who quickly ran to the deceased and neatly put masking charms on his body. So, \- Voldemort made a light, almost elusive movement with a magic wand and a terrible snake-like, noseless face reappeared in front of Snape.

Snape was numb. Potter!

- Everyone was so happy, - Voldemort continued, once again assuming his new glamorous look, - they have not even been checked. Potter is right: wizards are a bunch of naive idiots which are so easy to fool!

- You are allied with Potter, - Snape whispered in disbelief. - His whole report is a lie from the first to the last word! He did not seek and destroy your horcruxes!

\- Oh yeah. The boy is truly a great storyteller, - Voldemort grinned. - Beedle the Bard never dreamed of such stories. I must admit to you, Severus, this whole show with the battle for Hogwarts was invented and directed by Harry himself.

Snape was silently shocked. What to do now?

- You, Severus — are too smart, you would understand everything, and you could confuse us with all the cards. Therefore, I had to temporarily withdraw you from the game on a far-fetched pretext. Of course, I didn't need your wand.

- So you didn't want to kill me?!

- If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead, - the dark wizard said coldly. - Remember, that day we had lunch together, I treated you with wine, allegedly made in Transylvania, with local herbs. I lied to justify the strange taste of the drink in your glass - in fact, an antidote was added to it. The poison of Nagini could not kill you, only paralyzed.

\- You gave me Gerhard's tincture?

- Don't be dumb, Severus, - Voldemort grimaced. - If you were treated with a potion of an old idiot, then Rita Skeeter would not have written her obituary in vain. Touching reading, I must say, I even shed a tear.

\- Really?

\- Just kidding. As I saw it in the "Prophet", I rushed here to save you. I didn't even change clothes. I made an antidote recipe myself and tested it on myself. Well, and on a couple of Mudbloods, of course. I was sure of your safety. Potter should have given you a second serving in a week and you would have fully recovered in half an hour, that's how it is now. But this dumbass wasn't able to make the potion properly, and you lounged on the bed for a month and almost died yesterday. By the way, you yourself are to blame - you should better teach the boy.

«The potion was simple, even Potter would have done», - Snape thought to himself. - "But Potter deliberately diluted it with water. And he added an aphrodisiac to put his whore under me. They did not need me to recover immediately. They needed time for Cho to implement this plan. But you don't know about it. And that means Potter is playing his own game."

Aloud, however, he pronounced:

- Thank you, my lord, for saving my miserable life.

- Don't call me "my lord "anymore. And do not call the overlord.

- How do you command me to contact you?

- Call me just Tom.

\- What?! \- Snape was amazed.

Voldemort laughed.

\- Democratic, right? Well, you can, Sir Thomas. My name is Thomas Merlin-Redlington, I am a distant descendant of the great Merlin.

Chapter Seventeen. An unbreakable Vow.

Two years earlier. June 1995

- Harry... - Draco called softly. He peered anxiously into the face of a friend who had just nearly died after winning the Three Wizards Tournament.

\- What do you want? \- Potter opened his eyes.

He was lying in a hospital bed, pale, haggard, with black circles under his eyes.

\- How do you?

\- Normal... By the way, tell your dad that he is a bitch.

- Harry... are you sure you killed the He Who Cannot Be Named?

- No... Most likely not. Dumbledore was already visited the cemetery, only Quirrell's body was there... There was no second corpse. But now I know why he wants to kill me. The old man, at last, admitted - he realized like that I'm not a child anymore, and he can tell me the truth.

- So why? - whispered Draco, looking at his friend in dismay.

- Imagine, this old Trelawney, the sheep, uttered a prophecy - like, I am the chosen one, and must kill him. To do to me, damn it, there is nothing more! This fool speaks his freaking prophecies every day, and nobody worries, but for some reason everyone believed it...

Draco was silent for a long time, thinking hard about something. Then, taking a deep breath, as if deciding on something, he asked:

- Harry... and you yourself... do you want to kill him?

- Why do I need this?

- Well... he killed your parents.

- I don't remember them, - Potter said indifferently.

- Then... you... you could have agreed with him...

\- Yeah. I will give him an honest scout word that I will not kill. Is he such a moron to believe me?

- You will make an unbreakable Vow, - Draco solemnly said.

\- What the fuck is that?

\- It's not the fuck. This is a guarantee of him and your safety.

After listening to Draco, Harry, in turn, fell into deep thought. Finally, he grinned and said:

- Of course, it would be better to kill him, but it is unlikely to succeed. If he survived, then your dad knows where he is. Tell him that I am ready to make this... unbreakable Vow... If he also will do it.

***

September 1995

Lucius Malfoy stood on platform Nine and Three-Quarters and gazed at Harry Potter as if he had seen him for the first time.

- How is Uncle Voldemort doing? - asked Potter brazenly. - Improved health?

Lucius turned white as chalk and hastily turned away, pretending not to hear. Draco, who was standing next to his father, expressively twisted his finger at the temple and with his lips inaudibly said: "later"! Harry shrugged, spat, and turned away.

Already on the train, Draco, slamming the compartment door, began to hastily mumble an anti-hear spell. Then, turning to Harry, he was silent for a while, gathering his courage, and finally solemnly said:

- The Dark Lord has become interested in your proposal for an unbreakable Vow.

- Actually yours, well, never mind. And what?

- He wants you to first fulfill his order, so to speak, as evidence of your willingness to cooperate.

\- What does he want?

- He needs you to steal a crystal ball from the department of secrets in the Ministry of Magic with a prophecy about you. He knows only part of it, but wants to hear it completely. Look, this is difficult, of course, but my father could help you. Ask Dumbledore to give you the invisibility cloak. Dad can take you under a cloak to the ministry, right to the department of secrets, and at night...

\- What the hell is all this?

\- I'm explaining to you - the Dark Lord...

- Yes, I mean, why is such a complicated plan? The old man knows the text of the prophecy. I'll ask him, he will tell me. I will have a voice recorder with me, I will then transfer the recording to your Fucking Lord, that's all.

Draco looked at him, opening his mouth in amazement. He did not begin to ask what the voice recorder is.

Chapter eighteen. Brilliant plans of a mediocre wizard.

So Potter betrayed them back then. Snape felt a bitter lump in his throat.

- And you gave Potter an unbreakable Vow? - he asked quietly.

\- Yes. I swore to him. He swore to me. Now we can't kill each other. And we can't even order someone to kill. He invited me to his house for Christmas, passing an invisibility cloak through Draco so that I would pass by the Dumbledore guard without interference.

- Why didn't you just kill him then? - in the voice of Snape, besides his will, regret sounded.

\- I admit, I wanted to. But the asshole, of course, foresaw this and hedged himself. Just imagine: in his living room, all wrapped in wires and dynamite, with a finger on the fuse, sits his home elf, ready in case of the slightest sign of danger to blow himself and the whole house to boot. In addition, a hellfire spell has been cast on the house, which will work if any harm is done to the owner. So the moment for the murder was not the most suitable. Well, then... we talked... And I realized, Severus, that I did not want to kill Harry Potter. This is incredible, but I liked the boy. I wanted to have him as an ally, not an enemy. And, yes, in that first meeting, we gave each other an unbreakable Vow \- not to kill each other. Of course, we kept this a closely guarded secret. Only the Malfoys knew, but they could not tell anyone - if at least one of them had let it slip, the whole family would be damned.

- And then what happened?

\- Then we met again. Potter told me about Dumbledore's plans to destroy my horcruxes, told me how the diary was destroyed. Seeing that I was extremely worried, Potter came up with a great plan. He offered me a way to secure the rest of my horcruxes and at the same time drive Dumbledore into a trap.

- And Potter helped you unselfishly?

Voldemort laughed.

-You know your student well, Severus. Of course, not disinterestedly. He received his reward.

- Will you let me know which one?

Instead of answering, Voldemort removed a massive silver ring from his finger and handed it to Snape. Engraving in the form of a snake on the outside of the ring and runes - on the inside. The feeling of icy horror was several times stronger than from Filch's ring.

«If I put on this ring now, then perhaps I will have the strength to kill Voldemort», - a crazy thought flickered in his head.

- What is this ring, my lo... uh. Sir Thomas?

\- Many times increases the magical power of the one who wears it.

\- But how is this possible?! I do not understand...

- Oh, that brilliant idea also belongs to Potter. You know, he's a pretty mediocre wizard...

\- Complete mediocrity!

- Well, yes, perhaps, - agreed Voldemort, - and a bummer, too. But the boy's brains are just golden. You didn't appreciate it, and he circled you and Dumbledore around his finger.

«Now he's going to circle you», - Snape thought.

- Potter came up with it, I brought it to life. Do you know, Severus, what happens to the wizard whom the dementor kisses?

\- Dementor sucks the soul out of him.

\- Correctly. The body remains. Alive, but meaningless. And what happens with magical power? The Dementor doesn't need it, he sucks only emotions. Potter suggested that at the moment when the soul parted with the body, magical power also leaves the body, unable to remain in it without a soul. If we find a way to "catch" it and hold it in any object, we get an artifact that can increase the strength of its owner. Potter suggested using rings.

At first, the idea seemed absurd to me, impracticable. But... why not try? We needed material for experiments. And then I, with the help of Pius Thiсkness, who became our minister, arranged a hunt for Mudbloods. The huntsmen supplied us with the necessary material in sufficient quantities. Of course, the first experiments failed, but gradually I realized how to proceed, and finally, I managed to create the right spell. In this ring, - he took the magic item from Snape, - the power of twelve wizards.

- And how much is in the ring you made for Potter?

- Three magical lives were spent on Potter's ring. So now he is no longer as helpless as before.

- And what did you do with your unluck... with the material left over from the experiments?

- Draco burrowed the bodies in the backyard. Preliminarily killing - out of mercy, - Voldemort grinned contemptuously.

\- What do these rune inscriptions mean?

\- In truth, nothing. Just a joke. Caprice of Potter. As he puts it, "just for fun" and "purely neighing."

- And you let Potter do this?! - Snape was shocked.

\- Yes, imagine, I have a weakness for the boy. I never wanted to have children, but if I had a son... I would want him to be like Harry.

- And what does the inscription on the ring mean? - somehow coping with the shock from the last statement of the former Dark Lord, asked Snape.

Voldemort brought the ring to his eyes and read:

"One Ring to rule them all,

One Ring to find them,

One Ring to bring them all

and in the darkness bind them

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie..."

Snape looked bewildered at Sir Thomas Merlin-Redlington. He shrugged.

\- A wacky rhyme from a stupid Muggle book. I don't know why this is so fun for Potter. This has nothing to do with the magical power of the ring. But, as they say, no matter what the child is amusing...

\- And what kind of brilliant plan to save the horcruxes did this child offer you?

Voldemort sighed.

- I made some mistakes, Severus. One of them was the decision to create horcruxes from small items. Small items can be found and easily destroyed, as happened with the diary. Potter suggested extracting parts of my soul from these objects and moving them to... let's say, larger objects that are difficult or even impossible to destroy. At that time, Dumbledore began to bother Potter - he constantly reminded him of the "purpose" and the need to fight with me. And the boy offered to get rid of the annoying old man. This coincided well with my own plans. We removed the soul shard from my grandfather's ring and moved it to a safer place. Then Malsiber killed an accidental Muggle, I took a fragment of Malsiber's soul and put it in a ring, creating a false horcrux, then I added to this a mortal, inescapable curse. I hid the ring in Marvolo's hut, knowing that Dumbledore would stumble upon it sooner or later.

\- And what are these large objects into which you have moved the horcruxes?

- Well, Severus, this is a too intimate question. Of course, I will not tell you where my horcruxes are.

- I'm sorry, Sir Thomas, I got carried away. But I got the impression that Potter knew the whereabouts of your horcruxes.

- Yes, Potter knows, he helped me, reinstall them. But I completely trust him, as well as you, by the way.

- Thank you, Sir Thomas.

- But Potter doesn't trust you. He thinks you worked for Dumbledore, - Voldemort glared at Snape's face, as usual trying to read his mind.

- I am loyal to you, Sir Thomas. - Snape looked Voldemort directly in the eyes and he calmed down. - Potter is wrong. Frankly, we never loved each other.

\- Yes I know. And for some reason, he considers you gay, - Voldemort shrugged. - I tried to convince him, told him about your passion for his mother...

- So you told him that! - Snape exclaimed.

\- Well, yes, I am. I wanted to stand up for you, so to speak, but Potter decided that you want to avenge Lily, which means that you are playing on the side of Dumbledore.

- I didn't like Lily, I just wanted her, - Snape said in a steady voice.

- I tried to explain it to Harry, but he drove this romantic nonsense into his head. I know that you are faithful to me, right?

- Always, - Snape answered calmly.

Chapter Nineteen. Ring Marvolo.

They had been talking for about an hour. The sky on the horizon gradually darkened, slowly setting sun gilded the tops of trees in the Forbidden Forest. Wizards walked slowly toward the empty castle. Suddenly, a huge figure of a forester appeared from the forest, who dragged, grabbing the collar of a guy. Looking closely, Snape recognized George Weasley.

\- Enough to wander here already, I tell you! Something you lost here, I wish I knew! - they heard Hagrid swearing. - Soon night, some little animal will devour you, as I look into your parents' eyes. Enough of grief for them!

George did not argue, and, barely dragging his legs, looked gloomily at the ground.

Thomas Merlin-Redlington put on his glasses. Hagrid and George came closer. Seeing the deceased director in front of him, both froze in their tracks, Hagrid recoiled and tried to cover George, but he suddenly rushed forward and stopped only a stone's throw from Snape, peering eagerly at his face.

- You... did you find it?!

- What did I find, Weasley?

\- You are alive! You... came back from there... So you found it!

- I am alive because I did not die, - Snape answered coldly. - The funeral was premature.

George at once somehow all went limp, his gaze again became empty and indifferent.

- What are you doing here, Weasley? Answer!

- I don't have to answer you, - the young man answered rudely, - I am not a Hogwarts student!

- In that case, be so kind as to leave the castle and continue to not appear here without a good reason!

- Don't do that, Severus, - Voldemort suddenly intervened.

Now his voice sounded completely different: piercing icy notes disappeared, a soft velvety low timbre with sympathetic intonations seemed to penetrate into the very depths of the soul. Snape was numb with amazement, while the unrecognized Voldemort, meanwhile, continued his obscure game:

- Obviously, this young man has reasons to be here. Now that we have survived this terrible war, when many of us have lost loved ones, we should be more tolerant of each other. I do not know what your loss is, young man, but let me express to you my sincere condolences.

- Thanks, - George muttered confusedly.

- I heard, or rather read in the newspaper, \- Voldemort continued with his incredible voice, - that Sir Harry Potter decided to throw out the magic ring in this forest, which the great Dumbledore left as his legacy. According to rumors, this ring can return to the life of the dead...

- Oh my God, - Hagrid gasped, - so that means what are you here... George, you conceived a bad thing that's what I'll tell you...

George was silent, looking grimly again at the ground under his feet.

- But I personally don't believe it, - Voldemort suddenly declared, - if my name was Harry Potter, I would also tell everyone that I threw this ring away and hid it away from people's eyes.

George raised his head.

\- So that no one would be tempted. Because this business is actually not good, you are right, - the dark wizard courteously bowed to Hagrid here, - we should not try to return those who left us on the other side of good and evil.

\- George, - Voldemort said softly and sympathetically, resting his hand on the young man's shoulder, - I have no right to give you advice, but it seems to me that it's best for you to spend this hard time with your family.

- Yes, - muttered George, - you're right. I think I will go. Thanks sir... uh...

\- Thomas Merlin-Redlington.

George nodded and walked away, accelerating with each step.

- Uhh, what a misfortune, - Hagrid sighed in dismay, - poor guy. Well, even though you explained him... otherwise the month has been wandering through the woods... It's immediately obvious that you are a good person, Sir Thomas uh...

\- You can just Tom. Are you Hagrid, the forester? Dumbledore talked a lot about you.

Snape coughed.

- Did you know Dumbledore? - surprised Hagrid.

\- He was a great man. We are old friends, \- Voldemort lied, without blinking an eye. - I remember when we last met, he told me that in his life there were only a few faithful friends on whom he could rely on everything. He call me some names including your, Hagrid.

Hagrid took out a huge handkerchief and wiped away the tears that had run up.

- Sir Tom, are you coming to visit me? I've just baked cakes...

- Of course, Hagrid. In the next few days I will definitely visit you, but now, sorry, I can't. Mr. Snape and I have an urgent business.

Chapter Twenty. Portkey to London.

- Why did you tell George Weasley that Potter still has the ring? - Snape asked sourly when they were almost at the castle.

- I need new faithful servants. Or, more precisely, supporters. What do you think George Weasley is ready to do for the opportunity to get his brother back?

- Anything, - Snape muttered grimly. - But is it really possible?

\- Maybe. The truth it does not make sense. I tried, as an experiment.

- Why doesn't it make sense?

\- These returned... They are... different. They are alive, they understand everything, they can talk, but... they don't want to. They don't want anything at all. They have a soul, but the impression is that it is somewhere far away... It's hard to explain.

\- Clearly. Did I understand correctly that the play entitled "The Battle of Hogwarts" was designed to get rid of the Death Eaters? The great bright wizard Sir Thomas Merlin-Redlington does not need them.

- Well done, Severus! You are always the smartest of all that I know. That is why you are alive and not in Azkaban. Of all my servants, I decided to leave only two: you and Lucius.

- It is a great honor, my Lo... Sir Thomas.

- The rest are too stupid and aggressive. And besides, they stained themselves in the service of the dark evil Voldemort. The Battle of Hogwarts helped kill several birds with one stone. First of all, we made Harry Potter a superhero whose word is believed unconditionally. How noble he sacrificed himself to destroy my last horcrux! Well, then how can you not believe him, no matter what nonsense he talk? By the way, information about this last horcrux appeared from somewhere at the very last moment and we had to improvise. Do you know what hypnosis is?

"So, Potter hid from you from whom he learned this. Curious why? Ah, although it's clear. If you understood that I had betrayed you, you would have finished me off, and Potter still needed me alive to draw the spell of pleasure out of me.»

\- Not.

-This is a Muggle way of influencing consciousness. Potter can do it superbly. I gathered death eaters in the Forbidden Forest, Potter put them to sleep, and when they woke up, they were absolutely sure that I had just killed a boy before their eyes.

"So, with Gerhard, I see. Potter, having drunk a Polyjuice Potion, set up a hysteria about a violation of the code of the healer. Then Cho casts a performance with a curse and forces me to rush to her aid. Potter mesmerizing Gerhard and told him the story of his last visit to me. And maybe about all the visits».

\- Secondly, our young hero "killed" me in front of the entire magical community. Everyone rejoices, no one delves into the details.

Thirdly, yes, you're right, we got rid of the eaters. No benefit from them. Alas, those who join me, to put it mildly, were not the most talented wizards. Dumbledore got the best - people like to be on the good side, I did not understand this before.

And finally, we managed to justify you and whitewash your name - Potter came up with this heart-breaking story about the only love of your life - and made you a romantic hero. Housewives cry, girls fall asleep with your portrait under the pillow. What do you think?

\- Great. I must not forget to thank the boy in person. One more incomprehensible moment for me, will you allow?

\- Yeah, ask me.

\- Two former Gryffindors - Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley - confirm Potter's story about the destruction of the horcruxes. He instilled in them false memories?

- Only the Weasley. Granger is not amenable to hypnosis. To her, he picked up another key. Every person needs something.

- Did he promise her to free all the elves of Great Britain?

Voldemort laughed.

\- No, the girl has more mundane needs. She needed this Weasley. And he met with some other girl and didn't even look in her direction.

\- Lavender Brown! - Snape recalled.

\- Well, probably. Potter worked with the Weasley - erased memories of Lavender and replaced them with false memories of their love affair with Granger. Then he gradually joined memories of their heroic wanderings in search of horcruxes. Thus, everyone is happy: Granger received the coveted man, Ron Weasley - coveted fame and a sense of superiority over older brothers.

\- What did you do after the "battle"?

- Helped Potter make his own horcrux. Trying to remove the shard of my soul from his body is too dangerous - the boy may die. Therefore, I decided to simply secure my eighth horcrux, making the carrier immortal. Potter killed... by the way, guess who he chose as the victim?

Snape shrugged.

- Think about whom he hates the most? Whom considers the source of his problems? Who is to blame for being an orphan?

- Actually, he has to blame you.

- Of course, I am a dark wizard, - Voldemort grinned, - but I will not attack babies for no reason at all.

Snape froze for a moment.

- Well, - he said slowly, - if we no longer have a teacher of divination, I will probably exclude this stupid subject from the school curriculum.

- Let someone else do this. I kept you at Hogwarts for the last three years, first so that you would spy on Dumbledore, then so that you would not see what we were really doing with Potter. But now I need you in London. Will the post of Minister of Magic suit you?

- I am pleased to serve you in any position. But will you initiate me into your new plans?

They went into the director's office and sat in the easy chairs. Voldemort was silent for a while, frowning in displeasure. Then, finally, he reluctantly said:

\- Admitting your mistakes is always unpleasant, but what to do, even the great wizards can not avoid them. My strategy, alas, was initially incorrect. Following my natural inclinations, I inspired people with fear, used violence and coercion. And what have I achieved? Most of our people began to hate me, the brave began to resist. And then more power was concentrated in my hands, then more desperate the resistance became. Even stupid housewives like Molly Weasley opposed me. Then the Hogwarts children! Yes, I could have destroyed the Order of the Phoenix, razed the Hogwarts, but what's next? I would constantly have to fight the resistance, the secret underground. The best wizards, alas, did not stand on my side. It was a dead end. And then Potter helped me again.

\- How?

- He let me read the biographies of two Muggle rulers who lived at the beginning of this century. Severus, this is great! These two exterminated people in millions, but they did not hate them, they did not resist them... well, they almost did not resist. The people adored and idolized them! People blindly obeyed them, went to death for their sake, betrayed relatives and friends! Muggles, of course, learned this lesson, you can't do such a trick with them anymore, but wizards! As naive as children who do not know Muggle history, locked up in their cramped little world - an easy target for manipulation! Dumbledore is dead, the place of the great bright wizard is vacant, and I will take him. I will do exceptionally good deeds, heal the terminally ill, fulfill cherished desires. I will become an idol in every house, in every magical family. Well, when everyone loves me, I will lead the magical people forward, to new ideals and a bright future! Wizards are finally aware of their chosenness and their natural right to a dominant position in this world. I will return pride and self-respect to them, I remind that we are the highest race! We will stop hiding in the cracks, we will come out of the shadows and show the Muggles their place in this world! So, by the way, it will be better for themselves, otherwise they are ready to tear the planet to shreds. I will destroy all their filthy nuclear weapons. We will save the earth from stupid muggles!

- How do wizards understand that they are a superior race?

\- Now Potter is looking for a team of Muggle political strategists who can manipulate the population's consciousness. They will develop a general strategy and a detailed plan for us. While the wizards are being processed, we will take care of the Muggle rulers. They must obey us.

\- How? Using the imperio spell?

\- No, voluntarily. The strongest of them I will give rings that give magical power. For the opportunity to conjure, any Muggle president will sell me his soul and his people.

\- You think so? - Snape asked doubtfully.

\- Of course. Well, which Muggle does not dream of becoming a magician?

«Vernon and Petunia Dursley, for example», \- thought Snape, but he did not voice his thoughts.

- And if, - Voldemort's voice became hardened, his nostrils swelled menacingly, - someone will not want to serve voluntarily, I will not force. It's just that a small revolution will happen in his country.

- Does Potter help you voluntarily? For one ring only?

\- Not. He will work for me for another five years, and then I will settle accounts with him and let him go.

\- What will you pay?

- Money, - the Dark Lord shrugged, bewildered. - The boy is completely dishonest. He requested a billion Muggle money only.

- How modest, - Snape grinned sarcastically. \- Do you trust him?

- He's my assistant, - Voldemort said firmly, - like you. And you have to find a common language, Severus.

- Yes, sir Thomas.

- I'm meeting him tonight. You will come with me. I hope you have a portkey to London?

Chapter Twenty One. Surprise.

The apartment on the seventh floor of a tall Muggle house was dark and quiet.

\- Lumos! \- Voldemort looked around for a fireplace or a candelabra with candles.

Snape went to the switch and snapped. The chandelier illuminated a rather cramped studio apartment with a small kitchen in the corner and somehow arranged furniture. The apartment, apparently, has not been cleaned for a long time: it smelled of dust and something musty.

\- What is it? \- Snape asked, squeamishly brushing off his chair. - Why here, and not on Grimmauld Place?

\- I do not know. For conspiracy, probably. Potter sent me a note to the hospital - it say he has important news for me, this address and the time of the meeting.

The men looked together at the clock hanging on the wall. Before the appointed time was ten minutes.

Snape wondered if he should tell Voldemort the story of the "curse of Kate Lefebvre," or even preserve a trump card for later, before Potter arrived. Time passed, Potter did not appear. Suddenly, a telephone rang in the room. Voldemort stared at the red apparatus with buttons in bewilderment. Phone rang. Snape walked slowly over and picked up the phone.

\- Sir Thomas? This is Harry. I was detained at work, I apologize, I will be in just ten minutes.

Without answering, Snape hung up on the lever. Muggle's empty apartment... Potter did not appear at the appointed time under a stupid pretext... The apartment smells strange. Snape took a deep breath - it seemed to him that the unpleasant smell intensified. He had a bad feeling. Voldemort looked at him questioningly.

- We need to get out of here. Potter could set a trap in this apartment.

\- Are you crazy? Potter is faithful to me!

- No, he betrayed you and I have evidence. Get out of here and I'll tell you...

\- Tell me here!

The Dark Lord's tone was unquestionable and, with a sigh, Snape quickly, as soon as he could, outlined the essence of the story with a spell of pleasure.

- Maybe he was preparing a surprise for me, \- Voldemort said uncertainly, - he wanted to give me this spell as present?

- I suppose, - Snape answered coldly, - that he will certainly be preparing a surprise for you. Let's finally get out of here!

He tried to get out of his chair, but suddenly felt that his legs were not obeying him, nausea came to his throat, and his eyes darkened. "I need to take the antidote again," - he thought, and wanted to ask Voldemort, but then he saw that he was vomiting right on the carpet.

- Damn drugs, - the dark wizard croaked. - Muggles give me it to relief pain after surgery. It helps, but then it makes you sick...

- It's not drugs, - Snape said quietly. - This is a surprise from Potter.

***

\- Oh, well, you are as small children, - a hated voice sounded somewhere nearby, and Snape opened his eyes with an effort.

Potter sat casually lounging in a dusty chair by the open window and staring at his former dean with undisguised contempt.

\- Sit in the apartment for half an hour and not notice that the handles on the gas stove are open! Do not distinguish the smell of methane! And of course, do not pay attention to video cameras. Truly, only the two greatest wizards are capable of this! - he laughed mockingly.

- You're done, Potter! - Voldemort croaked fiercely.

Veins swelled on his forehead, his face contorted with a grimace of rage, his eyes were red with blood, and it became clear that the Muggle surgeons worked in vain: a familiar scary snake-like face again appeared through the glamorous gloss. Now any wizard would recognize him.

Voldemort, like Snape, was tightly tied to a chair with ropes. Potter went up to him and pulled a magic ring from his finger.

- You won't need it anymore, - he said mockingly. - And, by the way, you can't bother — Aurors, on behalf of Kingsley, put anti-apparition charms on the apartment. I stole "your ashes" from the department of secrets in order to make our minister think that you can be reborn again. And someone very smart, - Potter grinned mockingly at Snape's face, - realized in time about the "missing" seventh horcrux. I told Kingsley that I have a plan to lure you here. I didn't lie, by the way.

- You can't kill me, - Voldemort croaked.

- Well, of course not, - Potter smiled softly, - and, in general, why in vain expend such valuable material?

He thoughtfully turned the ring in his hands.

\- You do not dare! \- for the first time in his life, Snape had a chance to hear the voice of the greatest dark wizard tremble, - you do not know how to control them!

\- What's complicated? \- shrugged the former ally, - to feed him muggle a day and all things. Fuck, the Malfoys in the courtyard will soon run out of space, there's nowhere to bury them.

He went to the window and, leaning over the windowsill, shouted:

\- Dimon! Dimon, come here, dinner is ready!

The room suddenly became very cold. A dark figure slowly slipped through the window in a hood pulled over his head, slowly approaching the bound man and laid on his shoulders the gray, clawed arms sore from ulcers. Snape almost deaf from Voldemort's screech. He made great efforts not to close his eyes and see what Potter would do. Potter stood a little at a distance, holding a magic wand in one hand, and a ring in the other. As soon as the dementor leaned over the victim, Harry began to make quick movements with his wand and mutter a spell - and after about half a minute, a thin silver-blue sparkling flowed from the chest of a prostrate helpless wizard directly into the ring lying on Potter's open palm.

Finished with Voldemort, the Dementor straightened up and turned to Snape. Now Snape squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw with all his might so as not to scream - he had no doubt that Potter had the same fate for him - "not to lose the same valuable material," in fact. The icy cold pierced him to the bones, he had seen the dead James at the foot of the stairs, more likely upstairs, maybe he will be in time, maybe the Dark Lord kept his promise... No, and he falls to his knees next to the dead Lily, now he almost deaf from his own howling...

- Wait, - Potter's cold voice brought him back to reality, - I will talk more with him. There was a dissatisfied hiss and, opening his eyes, Snape saw a dark figure of a dementor slip out of an open window.

Silence reigned in the room for a while. Potter looked thoughtfully at Snape, who could not take his eyes off the motionless figure in the Muggle suit in the next chair. The muscles in Voldemort's face were now relaxed, his eyes stared into the space in front of him without expression, his mouth was half open.

\- What will you do with the body? You cannot bury it like others.

\- I'll throw it on the street. Social Muggle services will pick up, place him in some shelter for vegetables. He will sit there for the next several hundred years - he will not be able to die because of his horcruxes... But although... I have a better idea...

Potter smiled, closed his eyes as if recalling something, then directed his wand at the frozen body.

Under the influence of the transfiguration spell, Voldemort's body swelled and began to bend, taking on a bizarre shape until it looked like either a high chair or a throne made of steel swords. Potter pushed the strange structure a little, set it against the opposite wall, and carefully sat down.

- It will be necessary to make it more comfortable later, - he muttered under his breath, - and this turned out to be an office chair, stylish.

\- Just for fun and neighing only? - asked Snape.

- Well done! You always was the smartest among this magical rabble. That is why I want to give you one last chance.

- Why, Potter?

- Your brains may come in handy someday.

\- To conquer the world?

Potter laughed.

\- Oh, no... I was just telling tales to this pompous idiot. The Muggles have a saying - "somebody has brawn instead of brains" - this is just about Voldemort. Aggressive idiot with chicken brains and power complex. I came up with all this crap for him to rid off the death eaters and then trap him. In fact, an attempt to subdue the Muggles is pure madness. If only because they are smarter. They are also better organized and have tremendous experience in waging wars. Well, and weapons, of course, which we never dreamed of, not to mention the means of instant communication. They can instantly coordinate actions throughout the island. How do you imagine the war against the Muggles? A couple of hundred oddballs with sticks and owls against an army of many thousands with tanks, combat aircrafts, a walkie-talkie? This is nonsense! Only ignorant thoroughbred assholes can dream of victory over the Muggles. If the wizards had once had a chance to get the upper hand, then they had lost it for a long time. The planet belongs to the Muggles, we can only sit quietly and rely on the "status of secrecy." Stupid magical cattles, let him sincerely believe that they are cooler than Muggles and only their generosity and nobility are the reason for the quiet life of a non-magical world. Well, the smart and strong, who understand the true state of affairs, carefully agree with the authorities holding the Muggles, so that they do not touch us.

- What are you going to do in this Muggle-owned world?

- To enjoy life. Sea, beach, girls, casinos, drags - what else does a person need? To command herds of stupid sheep - magical or not? No, in the ass, these stupid games of power!

- Where do you get a billion Muggle money?

- Some kind of muggle will give me. Why do you think I have shown miracles of ingenuity, pulling from you a spell of pleasure? If I force the Muggles to give money with the help of spell imperio or crucio, the Ministry of Magic will have a claim to me, but no one knows about your spell. Until they understand what's the matter I'll already get everything I want.

- Why, then, do you need a magic ring?

- Snape, how many times have you repeated that I am a crap wizard? As you can see, I found a way to chage it. Now I am the most powerful wizard of all time. It's nice to have such an artifact in a hiking backpack, agree. As and protective amulet for all occasions.

- But the Voldemort horcruxes are not really destroyed! How will you enjoy life, knowing that some of his remaining followers may try to revive him?

- Snape, you are disappointing me... Everyone believed in my legend! Every child knows that Harry Potter destroyed the horcruxes and killed the evil wizard. And for persuasiveness, we still played a performance in Gringots! Lucius almost went broke, gave the goblins a bunch of galleons so that they would allow us to arrange this performance with a robbery of the Lestrange vault and a flight on the dragon!

- Granger can tell the truth sooner or later!

\- Yeah, and go to Azkaban? And lose her redhead jerk? However, you're right, you never know... It's better not to leave witnesses. I'm afraid that some of the heroes of the war will soon have an accident. As for the remaining horcruxes, firstly I alone know where they are now, and secondly, well, think for yourself - the dementor sucked the remains of his soul, I took away the magical power. If we try to revive him now, what will we get? Some kind of meaningless piece of shit.

- So what are his horcruxes now? - and on the verge of death, Snape could not control curiosity.

- Think... If you want to hide something well, then where is the best place to put it?

- The most visible place, - Snape answered mechanically and stared at Potter in bewilderment. Potter grinned.

\- That's it.

\- But still?

When Potter named the objects that had become Voldemort's new horcruxes, Snape felt his jaw drop down by itself. Yes, indeed, it would never occur to anyone.... And an attempt to destroy them will make too much noise; no secrecy status can withstand it.

- Well, what about your horcrux, Potter? - he asked grimly. - Buckingham Palace?

Harry laughed.

- No, I'm a modest guy. I just took the Malfoy mansion. They guard it like the apple of eye, not a single creature can be get close. So how is it, Snape? Will we agree?

\- Not.

- Why, I won't even force you to give me an unbreakable Vow. Just give me your honest, noble Snape's word that you will not harm me, and you will fulfill any request of mine whenever I address you.

\- Not.

Potter sighed and thought.

- Do you want, - he said suddenly, sincerely, - Lily?

\- What?!

\- Lily. I can get her back. She will be alive again. We only correct her memory. She will forget James and me, but she will remember that all her life she loved you alone. You will be happy. I already worked out this technique on Ron Weasley, it works fine: he lives with his beaver, but he didn't even want to look in her direction.

Snape looked puzzled at the former student.

- Actually, - he said slowly, - this is your mother.

Potter shrugged.

- I'm already a big boy. I don't need mom.

Snape thought for a moment.

- No, Lily could not have such a son, - he finally said. - Even considering your father is James. I think up to a year you were normal. When Voldemort attacked you, Lily's sacrifice saved your life, but not your mind. A shard of his soul that has fallen into you has changed your personality.

- Maybe so, - Potter agreed indifferently, - but what's the difference now? So are you agree?

\- Not.

- Wait, maybe this is no longer relevant? Maybe you want this French girl Lefebvre? No problem, she's lying in my closet. True, she does not know you, but it is fixable, I have already said.

- You didn't kill her?

\- It makes no sense. She herself will soon die at her curse. If I kill, an unnecessary investigation will begin. And so - everything is natural.

- Isn't Lefebvre's curse your invention?

\- Not. I accidentally overheard her conversation with Gerhard, then I figured out how to trick you. At first I wanted to get into your brain while you were off, but you, even in an unconscious state, didn't let it. I had to come up with a more cunning plan.

- And Madame Lefebvre? Why did she help you?

\- She just can't resist the imperial spell. Come on, Snape, take the beauty for yourself, make her a child, and hand in hand?

\- Not.

\- Here you are a stubborn sheep breeder! I can't to subdue you by crucio anyway, imperio too. But what if I try your own invention?

Potter put a ring on his finger and pointed his wand at the bound wizard.

\- Totalus pleasureis!

Suddenly, Snape felt an amazingly pleasant lightness throughout his body. The walls of the apartment disappeared, he felt his face blow over a fresh sea breeze and saw that he was standing on the ocean. Lily took his hand. He buried his face in her hair, breathing in her own smell and relieved that it never happened - Voldemort, a goddamn prophecy, a boy named Harry Potter was never born – it was only his terrible dream. Lily did not die, he was not a double agent. In fact, he and Lily finished Hogwarts seven years ago and went to America, away from everyone. How happy they are here! Snape was overwhelmed with a feeling of great, ocean-bound, happiness. There was a loud laugh behind him and turning around, Snape saw two children playing carelessly in the sand: a black-haired boy and a red-haired girl. The children ran to them and began to rush around, raising clouds of sand.

- Children, that's enough, - Lily said sternly, - let's go home, it's time to have dinner.

Snape grabbed the girl in his arms and threw her up, prepared to catch her, but it wasn't there: the little sorceress hung in the air and laughed merrily, showed her tongue to dad. Snape gently pulled her leg and sat her on his shoulders. Then, holding his son's hand tightly, he went after Lily to their small white house with a red tiled roof...

\- Well, did you like it? \- a mocking voice sounded right above the ear and Snape, startled, opened his eyes. Potter's face loomed before him, grinning maliciously. - You can not answer, and so it is visible. You should have seen your happy face! I wonder what you did there - fuck my mom, yes?

- Harry, my son, - Snape whispered hoarsely, \- forgive me.

\- What?! \- Potter's jaw dropped in surprise.

- Forgive me for all the unjust grievances that I inflicted on you. I was wrong. I regret. Please do it again. I am begging you...

Potter was laughing.

\- Well, here is our inflexible iron man. Fine! Now tell me, Severus, what will it be for me?

- Anything, - whispered Snape, barely audible.

He was shaking, he did not take his eyes burning with an insane gleam from Potter's magic wand.

- So I can count on your boundless devotion?

\- Yes.

- And you will do whatever I ask?

\- Yes.

- Are you ready to ask me on your knees?

Muddy tears flowed from Snape's eyes.

- Lord, all you want, my boy. On my knees, so on my knees - this is such a trifle... I beg you, give me this again!

Potter grunted.

\- Let's see.

He waved his wand and the ropes holding the wizard fell down.

The next second, Snape threw Harry to the floor, clutching his throat with one hand, and twisting the wrist of his hand holding a magic wand with the other. Potter wheezed and frantically escaped, but did not release his wand. Then Snape let go of his throat for a second and, clutching his hair, hit the back of his head with all his might on the floor. Potter went limp, the wand slipped from his fingers. Snape threw her aside and began to choke him with both hands. Potter's face turned purple, he stopped resisting.

Suddenly, a powerful blow fell on Snape's head and, releasing his victim, he again lost consciousness.

Chapter twenty two. Disadvantages of education at Hogwarts.

This time he was not tied, but someone "treated" him to a good stunning spell so he still could not move. Now he lay on the floor, his head hurt terribly, colorful spots floated before his eyes. With difficulty focusing his eyes Snape saw Potter. He sat leaning against the wall and moaning, holding his hand to the back of his head.

Someone's steps were heard and George Weasley handed Potter a piece of ice, which he took out of the refrigerator. Potter put ice to his head and groaned in relief.

\- Oh, thanks, buddy! You are in time! This fagot almost kill me.

Potter angrily kicked the lying, immobilized Snape.

- How did you end up here?

- It doesn't matter, - George muttered, - the guys from the Order of the Phoenix have suggested that you can be here.

\- Why do you need me?

- I saved your life, Potter. You owe me.

\- Let us suppose. And what do you want from me?

\- Bring Fred back.

\- Fred?! But...

- You didn't throw the ring, I know. I saved your life, give me another one in return.

Potter shrugged.

\- Okey, it's not difficult for me... But you know... Fred - he will be... not the same as he was before...

- I don't care what he will be, - George interrupted, - I just need him to be!

Potter shrugged again and, not getting up from the floor, reached for the backpack lying on the wall. Having rummaged in it, he took out a ring, charred and twisted by a hellfire, but not lost its magic property.

\- Fred Weasley! \- Potter said loudly and distinctly, putting the ring on his finger and turning it clockwise.

There was a slight clap, and a second twin appeared in the room. He looked around in bewilderment and... lowered his eyes, staring at the floor.

\- Fred! \- George ran to his brother and hugged him tightly.

Fred did not respond to the hug, but he did not resist. He just stood in silence, looking with extinct eyes at the wall behind George's shoulder.

George pulled back and looking into Fred's face. Then he rushed feverishly:

\- Fred, everything is fine, do not be afraid. You are alive, you are here with us. I'm near, everything will be fine, trust me!

- Yes, I'm here, - Fred said in an even voice, - with you.

\- Let's get out of here soon! Let's go home, here mom will be delighted!

And George dragged his brother to the door.

When the door slammed shut behind the twins, Potter finally got up from the floor and kicked Snape angrily again.

\- The beast! I made an iron throne from Voldemort, I'll make a toilet from you, bitch. And put in a public toilet, let the London Muggles pissing in you!

He went to the window and opened it wider, loudly called:

\- Dimon! Come here for more!

The room blew cold and the dementor bent over his victim, giving her a foul fetid breath, but Snape did not see anything and did not feel: he was again in the Potter's house in the Godric's Hollow, and kneeling on his beloved's body in despair he thought that her sacrifice was in vain - it was impossible to save the boy.

\- Cho? What are you here... No, Cho, no!

The deafening sound of a shot made him startle and open his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye he managed to see Potter fall to the floor, as the Dementor turns around, hissing menacingly, at the girl... He wanted to shout to her to run, but could not make a sound.

\- Expecto patronum!

The silver swan, escaping from Cho's wand, swam beautifully around the room, driving away the vile slimy creature. The Dementor slipped out the window, and the swan melted in the air. Cho held her wand over Snape, lifting the stunning spell from him.

He jumped to his feet and rushed to Potter. A bullet hit the head, mutilating a young vicious face. A dark puddle was spreading under Potter's head. The boy who survived was dead.

\- Why? \- Snape asked hoarsely, unable to take his eyes off the dead body.

\- Why? You are still asking! You told me about Cedric... And about how he turned me a Hogwarts whore!

\- He turned?! - Snape understood that Cho Chang had just saved his life, and even more than life, but still could not restrain his anger, - didn't you yourself agree to lie under me? For your beloved Harry?

- Not for Harry, - the girl answered quietly.

- But for what then?

- That's it, - Cho pulled up her mantle sleeve and showed her hand. The hand was one big bruise.

Snape frowned in bewilderment, but then he remembered something.

\- Wait... are you...

- Do you know what heroin is?

Snape nodded sullenly.

\- But I did not know. Any Muggle teenager knows that this must not be touched! Never, not once, under any circumstances! And who bothered to tell us, magic children, about this?! Cho's nostrils now flared angrily, her eyes sparkled, and Snape suddenly felt a prick of guilt. Of course, he was not responsible for the educational program at Hogwarts, and Dumbledore, more knowledgeable in this matter, would have thought, but...

- There are no drugs in our world, - he muttered.

\- In our world! In a wonderful magical world! But you know, Severus...

- Call me Professor Snape!

- Our wonderful world does not exist by itself. We live in the same world with the Muggles, absolutely not knowing anything about them! Potter said, try - it will be great, it will be fun... Why not? We always try something on ourselves at Hogwarts - potions, spells. It never occurred to me how this could end... And then, when it turned out that I couldn't do without it, I became completely dependent on Potter - I don't even know how to call a taxi in the Muggle world, especially I can't buy a dose myself... I could not break with Potter... and I could not refuse him...

- So why did you kill now? Find out where to get a new dose?

\- Not. I can no longer take drugs. I am pregnant.

Snape went cold.

- Potter ordered me to get rid of the baby, but I preferred to get rid of Potter. I haven't sex with him for several months. This is your child, Severus.

\- You are lying! \- he screamed violently, grabbing her arm, - you always lied to me - from the very beginning!

- I lied, - Cho said quietly, - but not always. I didn't pretend in bed. I actually felt good with you. However, not only in bed. You ... know how to protect.

Snape took a deep breath. Tearing Cho to pieces was postponed indefinitely.

- Don't worry, - she said scornfully, - I don't need anything from you. I can handle it without you.

Snape rolled his eyes and already opened his mouth to adequately respond to the impudent girl, but then from below came the howling of police sirens.

# Part Six. Severus Snape and others.

Chapter Twenty-Three. Cho Chang.

They had to urgently take feet out of the apartment. Snape barely managed to put things in order: having pulled both magical rings from Potter's fingers, he, not without secret pleasure, transformed his body, and then quickly, using a spell, cleaned the floor of traces of blood. Now the arrived Muggle policemen will only have to guess who and why put in the empty apartment a throne of a strange appearance and a blue faience toilet in the middle of the room.

From the top floor they disappear to house number twelve on Grimmauld Place. Cho helped to get through the defense and soon they were already standing in the dark dusty living room of the former Black residence.

- Kreacher, - the girl called softly.

- What does want a lady who let a despicable half-breed into a noble house? - a vile voice creaked.

- Your master was also a half-breed, - said Cho.

- My master, - Kreacher began pompously, and stopped short, - w-why-was?!

\- Harry Potter is dead. I shot him. Accept our condolences, Kreacher.

Kreacher fell to his knees, clasped his head, which now there would be no one to cut and dry, and sobbed bitterly, inconsolably.

Passing by the unfortunate elf, they went down to the closet in which they found Kate Lefebvre. The girl was unconscious. Snape pulled her upstairs and carefully laying her on the sofa, thinking: what now to do?

- Will we take her to St. Mungo's hospital? \- suggested Cho.

\- Useless. They will not help her there.

- Are you going to help her personally? - Cho's voice rang in angry jealous notes and Snape looked at her in surprise.

The girl's nostrils flared angrily, her eyes sparkled.

\- She will not have sex with you, Snape.

\- Professor Snape!

\- She does not know you!

- I know, - Snape said coldly, - of course she won't have sex with me, she doesn't need a dose.

Cho blushed.

- I had sex with you because I wanted you! I want you now... I'm your wife, by the way!

Snape shrugged.

\- I never married Cho Chang. And I never even wanted her.

Cho bit her lip.

- If Kate will die, then it will be your fault too. Not only Potter and Roxanne Lefebvre. Do you want this?

Cho sobbed and fell into a chair, covering her face with her hands.

- So it is, - Snape said harshly, - wait for me here. - If Kate wakes up, give her some water.

- Not for long, Severus. In a couple of hours, I will have withdrawal symptoms and I can no longer help anyone.

However, he lingered. The search for information, consultations, formalities took a lot of time, and when he returned, Cho was already lying curled up on the floor and breathing heavily. Kate was still unconscious.

Snape took out a test tube with liquid ammonia and a pack of cotton wool from a plastic bag that he was given in a Muggle pharmacy. Opening the test tube and bringing it to the tip of his nose, Snape winced: could this muck really help, as the Muggle doctors assured him? Well, let's see. He rubbed Kate's temples and brought a piece of cotton wool treated with a smelly liquid to her nose. The girl shuddered and opening her eyes, stared in bewilderment at Snape.

- Hello, Kate, - he said softly.

***

After arranging Kate in the hospital and making sure she was safe, Snape returned to the house in Grimmauld Place. Now it was necessary to solve something with Cho Chang. She was still lying curled up on the carpet in the living room, now she was trembling tremendously. Snape leaned closer and saw that Cho was crying quietly and hopelessly.

\- Can you disappear?

Cho shook her head in the negative.

- Let's go through the chimney net, - he decided, - to Hogsmeade, and we'll get to the castle on the festals, in the carriage. Get up!

He helped the girl up and led her to the fireplace, but suddenly stopped in the middle of the room, carefully examining an object standing on a low table to the right of the front door.

\- What is it? Fireproof safe?

\- Yes. Potter experimented.

\- Experiments with what?

- Some kind of fraud with Muggle money.

- Wait for now, - he carefully put Cho in a chair, went to the safe and began to study it. It was exactly the same as Dumbledore's in his office and Snape decided. This, of course, is not a horcrux, but he can try.

Pulling Voldemort's ring from his pocket, he already wanted to put it in a safe and suddenly froze. "Greatness! Power! Glory! - someone sweetly whispered to him. – «All this is in your hands. Don't be an idiot, Snape! Do not destroy the ring! There is so much evil in this world. You can do great good deeds. You will become the most famous light magician in history! You will invent unprecedented potions and spells. The whole magical world will be delighted to repeat your name! You will be more famous then Merlin!"

- Do you know how Filch calls his ring?

Snape flinched and turned around - it turns out that Cho watched him closely all this time.

- My precious, - he said grimly, put the ring in the safe, and quickly casting a spell, slammed the door.

When the humming of the flame died down, Snape, not forgetting the cooling spell, opened the safe. At the bottom of it lay the charred twisted remains of a ring that claimed the lives of thirteen wizards.

***

\- How long does the withdrawal take?

He and Cho finally got to Hogwarts. Snape was fatally tired, but, unfortunately, no rest was expected in the next day.

\- Seven to ten days. So they say. I have never stood for more than two.

\- Well, wait for me here.

After an hour and a half, he returned, holding a test tube in his hand.

- A sleeping potion, - he said frowningly, - concentration enough for ten days. It won't hurt the child. Go to the hospital wing, you'll have a drink there so you don't fall asleep along the way.

- Thanks, Severus.

\- Go on.

- It wouldn't hurt you to sleep either. You look exhausted.

- I can't sleep, - Snape said grimly, - they begin to bury me right away.

Cho laughed.

- Put the note «I'm alive» on your chest, - she suggested.

- Go, - Snape said wearily.

Cho came out, but suddenly returned, pulling something out of her purse.

- Here, I promised, - she put in front of him a blue bottle and quickly walked away.

Snape, frowning in perplexity, picked up an incomprehensible object. After reading the label, he flushed with anger and launched a bottle in Cho's back, but she managed to jump out and slam the door. The bottle, having hit the wooden panel, fell to the floor. Behind the door there was a laugh and a receding clatter of heels. Snape went to the door, picked up the bottle and threw it in the trash. It was time to go to London again. He already took up the portkey, but suddenly returned to the basket and, having hidden the healing shampoo for oily hair in his pocket, he went to the bathroom.

Chapter Twenty-Four. Kate Lefebvre.

Somehow smoothing his hair, which became impossible fluffy after Muggle shampoo, Snape entered the room. Kate, pale, with blue under her eyes, lay on the bed. To her left hand stretched some transparent wires with a colorless liquid. Snape watched in horror at the needle stuck in the girl's hand.

- Doesn't it hurt?

\- Not. This is called a dropper and it doesn't hurt at all. But why all this?

- You are exhausted. You need to recover.

- I cannot recover. I am grateful for your help, professor, but...

- I know about your curse, Kate. And I also know how to remove it.

- Nobody knows that, - the girl said quietly.

\- I recently had a confidential conversation with Madame Lefebvre. She told me that the curse would be null and void if you become pregnant while legally married.

Kate looked at him in surprise. Then she shrugged and said:

\- I can't get pregnant. And I'm not married.

- You are mistaken, Kate. It was Madame Lefebvre who poured Strongilon's tincture into your food so that you could not conceive. And then she gave a bribe to Parisian healers for a false conclusion.

Kate sat up in bed.

- And yet, - Snape hesitated slightly, - you see, the fact is that... well, while you were unconscious, you got married.

Kate opened her eyes wide.

\- How?! For whom?

\- Here I am forced to upset you. You married me. It happened, sorry.

The Frenchwoman was silent in dismay, staring at Snape.

He blushed and hastened to continue:

- You don't need to have sex with me, of course.

Then the girl suddenly laughed:

- Well, is there any other way to conceive a child?

- You will be surprised, but yes, such way exist. Muggles invented it. You know, Kate, the more I learn about them, the more it seems to me that it is now more fair to call them wizards than we are.

He briefly explained to her the essence of artificial insemination.

But Kate could not understand:

- So they will take the seminal fluid from you? How?

Snape blushed even more.

- I will give it to them myself. It's not hard.

Kate giggled.

\- Okay. And how will they take an egg from me?

\- I did not understand exactly, but they assure that it is not painful and safe. You can ask them yourself, you are still a doctor, you probably better understand the details of the process. The only thing I can say for sure is that it will be my child, but there is nothing to be done, this is the condition of this damn curse. You will not have time to divorce me and marry someone else.

She smiled softly:

- My child's father will be one of the most intelligent and brave wizards in England. Why should I look for another?

- Well, - Snape was embarrassed, - I'm not very handsome. Let's hope that the baby will inherit your appearance.

- Not handsome? - Kate laughed even louder, \- do you know what my ex-husband Nicolas Lefebvre looks like?

- No, - Snape was surprised, - I thought he was handsome if a woman like you loved him.

\- Oh no. I fell in love with Nicolas for his glorious character, soft and cheerful, but in appearance he, alas, is like his mother. And you saw Roxanne. So you would leave Nicolas far behind in the beauty contest.

Snape finally laughed too.

\- I will not bore you with conversations anymore. You need rest. The only thing I ask you to think about while you are here: the fact is that Madame Pomfrey, who for many years was our healer at Hogwarts, decided to go on a well-deserved rest. I suggest you take a vacancy. Personally, I will be glad if you agree.

\- Why?

Snape blushed again.

\- It happened. Someday I'll explain to you.

Pulling a small vial from his pocket, he put it on the nightstand.

Kate took the bottle with her free dropper hand and, looking at the label, smiled. If her unexpected husband decided to court, then at least he chose the right perfume.

- Thanks, Severus.

Chapter Twenty-Five. Malfoys.

After a brief visit to the house where Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley lived, Snape went to the Malfoy mansion. It was necessary to do something with Potter's horcrux. He wondered if they could extract a shard of soul from the huge building, as Potter and Voldemort did. In truth, he had no idea how this was done.

Arriving at the place, he saw that he was racking his brains in vain: the Malfoy mansion was devoured by hellfire. The owners of the castle stood on the sidelines, watching how their family nest, which served the countless generations of Malfoy, vanishes without a trace in the fire, along with all the property, valuables, paintings, expensive and memorable things. Dobby crouched beside him, trembling like an aspen leaf, and constantly wiping away the tears that rolled out from his huge eyes.

- Lucius, why?!

\- This is the only way to destroy the horcrux.

\- But...

- The only acceptable way.

\- What do you mean?

\- Removing a fragment of the soul from the horcrux is a dark ritual that requires a human sacrifice. Sometimes, if something goes wrong, one victim is not enough. They killed at least a dozen Muggles while picking out the shards of Voldemort. I'm fed up with the corpses in my house.

They were silent.

Draco continued to stare at the flaming house, but he no longer saw it. Pictures of the past quickly passed before his eyes: here they meet Harry on the train, here the hat sends Harry to Slytherin, here they occupy the adjacent bunks in the bedroom... How he loved him... How desperately he wanted to save him from Voldemort... And he didn't notice how best friend turns into a cold-blooded and cruel killer. Sirius Black first. "This is an accident," - Draco told himself. Then Cedric Diggory. "It's for love," - Draco told himself. Then Dolores Umbridge. "It's not him. It's just a tragic coincidence," - Draco convinced himself. He did not dare to ask Potter... And then Harry made a killer out of him.

Perhaps this is fate... Bad luck... Or is it a mistake that could have been avoided?

Father brought Voldemort to the house; he himself brought Harry Potter.

These two spoiled their house, spoiled everything that was there with their vile and terrible rituals. All that he loved — his toys, books, brooms — a dark, eerie shadow lay on everything. From touching objects he was gripped by involuntary icy trembling and irresistible disgust. And now they are forced to leave without taking anything from the damned house.

He felt disgust for himself, the feeling of sticky dirt sticking to the skin did not leave him since the time he was first ordered to bury the gutted Mudblood wizard. He could not kill Dumbledore, these wizards – he killed. He cannot bury them alive. At first he counted them, after the first dozen - he stopped. Harry something felt, trying to cheer. "Don't piss, Dracocha, it is all right! You just have to tolerate a little bit, and then you and I will rush to California. We'll ride like cheese in oil, fuck the most beautiful girls, buy whatever our heart desires!" Probably, he was attached to Draco in his own way, maybe he really wanted to take him in America...

They began to come at night. No, not in a dream. Draco did not sleep, stared into the darkness, and they came - did not reproach, did not threaten, did not cry. They just stood silently near the bed and looked with empty eyes. He did not know their names, and did not want to know. But he well remembered the names and faces of all the rangers who brought them to the castle. And this means that in the next few months he will have something to do. If only to catch before the Aurors...

Draco's thoughts were interrupted by a question from Severus Snape:

- Where are you now?

Lucius shrugged.

\- I'll rent a room in a hotel in Diagon Alley.

- My house at Spinner's End is free. I can't leave Hogwarts yet - I need to keep an eye on repairs.

Lucius looked questioningly at Narcissa. She hesitated a little, but then nodded in the affirmative.

- Thanks, Severus.

Chapter Twenty-Six. Weasley.

Snape knocked, but no one answered him. Then he pushed the door and went in.

Desperate female sobs echoed throughout the house. Snape went to that sound and soon found himself in the small cramped living room. Molly knelt beside the two bodies prostrated on the floor. Fred and George lay holding hands, inseparable and the same in death, as in life.

Arthur did not try to console his wife. He sat staring blankly at the space in front of him, swaying slightly from side to side. Nearby, tearful and pale sat Bill, Percy and Ginny. Snape looked at Bill. He nodded and went out into the corridor.

They both went out onto the porch and stood for a while, silently looking at the green hills covered with a thick green carpet of herbs.

Finally, Bill spoke.

\- George brought him in yesterday. We sat with them all evening in the living room. It was the worst night of my life. Fred, he... answered our questions... sometimes... he himself did not say anything... did not smile, did not look at anyone... He was... inanimate. He moved, said, even ate something when my mother asked, but...

- I understand, Bill.

\- In general, we eventually could not stand it and went to bed. George stayed with him. And in the morning... they both lay like that, on the floor... dead, - Bill sobbed.

There was a soft clap and Dean Thomas appeared at the porch.

- Hello, - he said, - Ginny sent me an owl. Accept my condolences, Bill.

Bill nodded and moved, letting Dean into the house.

There was a clap again. Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown, holding hands, went to the porch. Ron rushed to his brother and hugged him, burst into tears. Lavender silently walked into the house.

- Ah... Hermione? - Bill asked when Ron finally let him go.

- She went to Australia, - Ron answered, - forever.

And before entering the house, he added:

- Thanks, Professor Snape.

Chapter Twenty-Seven. Kíngsley Shácklebolt.

- On behalf of the Ministry of Magic, I apologize to you, Professor Snape. And please explain where you are? My people have not been able to find you for a day.

- First, explain to me why you buried me?

Kingsley shrugged.

- Argus Filch sent an owl with a notice that you have passed away. I sent people to Hogwarts to organize a worthy funeral.

\- Well! Tell me, did at least one doctor examine me before you put me in the coffin?

Kingsley blushed and lowered his eyes.

- Sorry, Severus. This is my mistake.

\- Okay, forget it. Now I will tell you where and with whom I spent the last day.

After hearing Snape, Kingsley grabbed his head in horror:

\- This is a catastrophe! Snape, this is a disaster!

\- Not.

- Potter lied all this time! He did not destroy a single horcrux!

\- Before I go to you, I once again visited that apartment. I transformed them back, took Voldemort's wand and cast the Avada Kedavra spell into Potter's body. Then I took Potter's wand and cast the same spell into Voldemort's body. Then I put a masking spell on both to make them look like in life. The Aurors who find them, of course, will not guess to check. Thus, we get the corpse of a national hero who died in a heroic battle with his sworn enemy. We will arrange a magnificent funeral - I will personally make a solemn speech on the grave of the hero. We will burn Voldemort's corpse again and scatter the ashes.

\- But horcruxes!

\- To hell with them. Firstly, everyone thinks that they are destroyed and we will not refute this information. And even if someone finds out, trying to revive him is pointless - I explained why.

\- But I can't sleep peacefully, knowing that they are not destroyed!

- You still cannot destroy them. This will cause a monstrous commotion in the world of Muggles and can also lead to many victims. Muggle ministers will not do this.

- But what are these objects, after all?

\- Large buildings in different parts of the world, mostly historical monuments, carefully guarded by muggles. Muggles highly value these cultural heritage artifacts and under no circumstances will they ever be destroyed. Another modern building, huge, invulnerable, impregnable and also carefully guarded. And finally, an island in the ocean.

\- What island?! \- the Minister asked in shock. - In which ocean?

\- One of the Hawaiian islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is called East. We would have to arrange a natural disaster to destroy it.

\- Well, and the rest?

\- The Arc de Triomphe in Palmyra, Syria. Ancient Mayan Pyramid in El Paraiso, Peru. Bamyan Buddha statue in Afghanistan. National Museum of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro.

\- A modern building?

\- The building of the World Trade Center, New York.

- Yes, it's really impossible, - Kingsley breathed.

He was silent for a while, then began to crawl out of the table.

- I'll take Moody and go with him to pick up the corpses.

\- Wait, Minister. I want to discuss something else with you.

\- What else?

- I'm going to change the Hogwarts curriculum.

\- Exclude divination? For God's sake! The fewer diviners we have, the better.

- That is not all. I intend to introduce a number of new items. Firstly, the history of the Muggle world will be a compulsory subject from first to seventh year. Secondly, the Muggle sciences chemistry, physics, biology will become subjects of choice, starting from the third year. Students can replace part of potions, astronomy and herbology with these subjects or study them in parallel. For those who wish - an elective in psychology. Muggle subjects will naturally be taught by Muggles. Muggle Studies we will cancel. Instead, during the summer holidays, children from Muggle families will live in wizard families for two weeks, children from purebred magic families - for two weeks in Muggle families, half-breeds - alternately there and there.

- Snape, are you crazy? I heard the poison of Albanian snakes adversely affects the brain...

- I'm not joking, Kingsley. Should I explain to you once again how a weak wizard who grew up in a Muggle family and received an initial Muggle education, trapped and killed two of the most powerful magicians of the century - light and dark? How did he almost become the most powerful magician in the world? Well yet, the scoundrel was not ambitious. And then he would have sat in your chair in a couple of months, and you would not have had time to blink, as you would have appeared in Azkaban, disgraced and forgotten by all! This time, only a fluke saved us. But the next time... and the next time there will certainly be... We accept and will accept Muggle-born children at Hogwarts. And one day, an intelligent and ambitious boy will come to us.... or a girl.... someone will definitely come... and will again want to combine the achievements of the Muggle and magical sciences. And not the fact that his intentions will be good. And we will not be ready... Yes, we will not even notice the threat, we will not understand what is happening!

- But the board of trustees will never agree to this! But they do not know what we know! - squealed the discouraged minister.

- I think Lucius will take our side and help convince the council members. In addition, you introduce the parents of muggle-born students to the board of trustees - they also have the right to participate in resolving issues related to the education of their children. I believe that many of them would like, if their children do not find satisfactory professional fulfillment in the world of wizards, to have the opportunity for them to receive education in Muggle secondary and higher educational institutions.

Kingsley sighed heavily, but did not argue.

Snape was already grabbing the doorknob when he heard a low voice behind him.

- Thanks, Severus.

***

\- Kingsley, Voldemort's horcruxes need to be destroyed! At any cost! What is this slobbering?!

\- Alastor, I explained to you why this is impossible and not necessary.

\- Impossible?! We'll see this again. - Moody grinned grimly and put his hands in his pockets.

Chapter Twenty-Eight. Argus Filch.

Snape hobbled wearily toward the castle gates, mentally cursing the sorcerers who had cast anti-apparatus spells on Hogwarts. It's a useful thing, but sometimes it's so inappropriate...

At the entrance, he came across Filch. He trembled from head to toe and looked with horror at the director.

- I... I'm not to blame! - he screeched desperately. - You did not move, you did not breathe - I thought you were dead! I did not mean to! I would not...

- I believe, Argus, - Snape said calmly, - you would not kill me. Where is the ring?

Filch with trembling hands pulled a ring from his pocket and humbly handed it to the director.

- You can keep it at home, - Snape said unexpectedly to himself.

Filch's jaw dropped.

-But you must swear that you will fulfill all the conditions that I set for you.

\- I swear! \- Filch shouted frantically. - I'm ready for anything!

- I have no doubt, - Snape answered coldly. \- The first condition is that no one should know about the existence of this ring. Second, no one should ever see you conjure. This will be your little secret hobby. Third, you will leave a will in which you indicate that you should be buried with this ring. I am not sure that I will be able to survive you and I want to be sure of the future fate of this subject.

\- I swear! I can give an unbreakable Vow! Do you want it?

But Snape just waved his hand - he no longer wanted anything but to finally get to his bed.

- Severus, - came a trembling, old voice, - thank you!

Epilogue.

Kreacher wandered in despair over the dusty, forever deserted house. All Blackies are dead, the last owner of Harry Potter died, leaving no heir. No hope. Kreacher no longer has any hope. Again, for the umpteenth time, he sobbed desperately, crouching on the living room carpet. Crying, he already wanted to drag himself into his closet, but then his eyes fell on the fireproof safe, which stood in the corner. So what was that smelly half-blood doing there?

Kreacher walked over and carefully opened the door. He saw the distorted charred remains of the magic ring... and burst out laughing hysterically: the stupid half-blood thinks that he destroyed the ring of the great Dark Lord! Stupid half-blood does not know that there is a secret compartment in the safe. If you put something in a safe and close the door, the object inside will move into the secret compartment, and the safe will create an exact copy in its place. The owner said that this way you can steal some jewelry or money that the Muggles keep in such boxes, but the safe fulfilled a much more important mission - it saved the priceless ring!

Kreacher gently pressed the inconspicuous button on the back of the safe, and it moved to the side, revealing the cache. A silver ring with ancient runes and a serpent engraving dimly gleamed in the dark.

Kreacher carefully removed the ring from the depths of the safe, and, humming to himself under his nose and even dancing a little, went to his closet. There he wrapped a ring in old dirt-covered rags and hid them in the darkest corner. Then he began to settle for the night, purring and muttering under his breath. His mood was now excellent. Sooner or later, someone will come for this little ring. Such things do not disappear in vain! Take at least this girl who killed the owner. She knew that the ring was safe, but she said nothing to the greasy-haired stupid half-blood. Maybe then she will come for it. Or maybe not she, but someone else. But someone will definitely come...

And then he, Kreacher, will not be at a loss and put his conditions: together with the ring, wizard will take him, Kreacher, to his service and swear that he will cut off and dry his head after death. Of course, it's a sin for the elf to set conditions for the wizard, but what can you do, everyone is fighting for his happiness as best he can.

To these sweet thoughts, Kreacher dozed off and dreamed how he was going up the stairs of the old Black House, and the heads of his ancestors nodded approvingly from his silver dishes and whisper quietly, comfortingly:

\- Someone will definitely come. Don't worry, baby, someone will definitely come...

