Chapter 8
Half an hour later.
After finishing his work on the Marauders' memories, Severus returned to the Whomping Willow through the same passage.
"There you are."
He pointed his wand at a large branch. A blue flash shot from the tip.
A moment later, a rather large rat fell from the tree.
Severus did not waste words. He cast Obliviate, erasing the last seven hours from its memory.
Then, taking the chunk of wood he had transfigured into a coin earlier, he headed back to the castle.
When he reached his room, Severus tossed the coin onto the floor.
A few seconds later, it returned to the shape of a large piece of wood.
"Well, time to get to work."
Pointing his wand at it, Severus used wind elemental magic to split the chunk into several dozen cubes.
He picked one up and nodded.
"This will do."
Tucking his wand away, Severus pointed a finger at the cube.
A flame ignited on it. Carefully, he began tracing an unfamiliar pattern.
A few minutes later, he turned it over and started inscribing the second.
And half an hour after that, a cube hovered before him.
Every side was covered in dark symbols.
"Aporrófisi, absorption rune. Aíorisi, levitation. Empódio, barrier. Therapeía, healing. Antanáklasi, reflection. And Apókrypsi, concealment.
A simple toy, but in this world it can serve the locals quite well.
Both magical and production costs are minimal."
Severus was not worried that someone might recognize the runes.
The concealment rune completely hid their presence.
In their place appeared random symbols.
And if anyone tried to hack the artifact, it would simply self-destruct.
Severus had learned how to make the toy purely by accident, from an acquaintance who had looted an ancient tomb and grown rich selling the finds.
One of the blueprints had been for this item.
At first, the tomb raider thought it was some powerful artifact.
But after he created and studied it, he realized it was just a toy for improving control and a simple way to detect a young wizard's talent for supportive magic.
For mages, it was merely a toy.
But for ordinary people, especially villagers, it became a protective artifact capable of reflecting spells from a Master and saving them from common magical beasts.
For example, Severus's current power was roughly that of a weak Master, and Severus had been a rather talented boy.
From the memories he had inherited, he knew that many wizards left school after their OWLs, mostly mere journeymen.
So an artifact like this definitely had a place here.
Besides protection, it could heal simple wounds.
Of course, it would not regrow a severed arm, but a finger, if pressed against it in time, yes.
It also did not require magic to use.
Binding it needed only a drop of blood.
It was the perfect protective artifact for this world, one that promised Severus a considerable profit.
Of course, he had no intention of stopping there.
He wanted to live a life where money was never a concern.
He had plenty of ideas, but they needed capital.
He planned to earn starting funds with the cubes, then invest in research.
"I will make four more. Then I will wait and see how the local wizards react to my little toy."
That evening, Severus made two more cubes and went straight to bed.
In the morning, he finished the last two.
He transfigured all four into black needles and tucked them into an inner jacket pocket.
The remaining wooden cubes he hid in the wardrobe and under the bed.
Then, leaving the room, he settled back into the library to continue his search.
He decided to leave the booklet taken from the Marauders alone for now.
He only checked it for tracking charms, then safely turned it into a white needle and stored it with the others.
He would examine it properly during the holidays, once he left Hogwarts.
After sitting in the library almost until lunch and finding nothing interesting, Severus was about to head to the Great Hall for a bite.
But a familiar voice stopped him.
"Mr. Snape."
The smiling dean approached him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Professor, I am fine. Madam Pomfrey got me back on my feet quickly."
"Glad to hear it. I see you are heading to lunch. Care to join me?"
"I would be delighted. I actually have a few questions about Potions."
With a wave of magic, Severus returned the books to the shelves and followed Slughorn.
"Oh, questions are always welcome. I am listening."
"I am working on a potion that can double magical abilities for a while."
"That is commendable."
"But to finish it, I need a certain type of mushroom I saw described in a book. Its properties were the closest to what I need, but the name was not given."
He pulled out a sheet of parchment and, under Slughorn's mildly interested gaze, quickly sketched a mushroom with a thin red cap dotted with black spots.
"The cap is red with black dots, the stem is completely gray, and the mycelium."
"Hm. This mushroom is called the Delusion Mushroom. If a wizard eats it, it triples their magical power, but inevitable death follows. I am surprised you found a description of it in a book." Slughorn muttered, clearly astonished. "I assume you are planning to use it as a base, weakening the effect to remove the poisonous part. Good idea, but you will not succeed."
"Why not?"
"I once had a similar idea, and I eventually abandoned it. There is a chance to neutralize the poison, but then the potion becomes too weak." He looked at Severus's puzzled face and smiled gloomily. "But I will not discourage you. Perhaps you will succeed where I failed."
"I will do my best!" Severus replied with a proud smile, puffing out his chest slightly, which made Slughorn laugh.
"Good. If you have questions, you know where to find me."
"Of course. May I ask a few more?"
"I am listening."
"About white mandrake, when I."
For the next hour, Severus kept questioning the Potions master.
Of course, he stayed within the school curriculum and the books available in the library.
He also tried to act as childishly as possible, exactly the way Severus did when it came to Potions.
After lunch, they parted ways.
Slughorn, reassured that Severus was all right, returned to his work.
Severus went back to the library.
Tomorrow was the end-of-year banquet and awards ceremony, so he spent as much time as possible searching for more information about Salazar and his descendants.
By evening, when Madam Pince was practically kicking Severus out, a woman wearing a black pointed hat entered the library.
"Mr. Snape, follow me. The headmaster wishes to see you." Minerva McGonagall, who was also Gryffindor's dean, looked at him with mild indifference.
"Is it urgent?" Severus asked, lifting his gaze from the book.
He had finally found something interesting about Salazar, words left after his departure from Hogwarts, a rather complex anagram using several scripts and languages.
In two hours, Severus had deciphered only one word, and that by chance, after finding a reference in a historical chronicle full of quotes from great wizards.
The word was hidden. The next began with in.
"Yes."
Sighing in disappointment, Severus closed the book and returned it to the shelf, along with the others on the table.
"Could we call Professor Slughorn? I feel much calmer with him."
Hearing that and seeing the distrust in Severus's eyes, McGonagall pressed her lips together.
She felt uncomfortable under his stare.
Remembering the incident from two days ago only worsened her mood.
No, she was not angry at Severus. She was angry at herself for being so prejudiced toward him.
Deep down, she saw her own reflection in him. She too had once spent entire days in the library.
They had even considered sorting her into Ravenclaw for her sharp mind and love of knowledge.
"Very well. and I also wanted to apologize for that incident. I behaved inappropriately."
"I understand. No need to apologize. Let us go get Professor Slughorn. The headmaster is probably waiting."
"That. yes."
Ten minutes later, the three of them stood before the stone gargoyle on the second floor.
"Lemon drop," Minerva said confidently, a slight blush on her cheeks.
Severus barely suppressed a smile.
"What a cheerful old man."
The gargoyle's eyes glowed and it stepped aside, revealing a spiral wooden staircase.
As soon as they stepped onto it, it began to rise slowly like an elevator.
A few seconds later, they reached the headmaster's office.
Severus's attention was immediately drawn to the old man sitting behind the desk.
*A Magister. very weak, but I am surprised such a mage can exist in this world.
I clearly underestimated the locals, assuming the strongest I would see would be peak Masters.
Hm, in my world, he would definitely have reached Great Archmage.*
Severus considered the Hogwarts founders Magisters as well, and the memories he inherited held plenty of information showing that wizards of this era were far weaker than those of the past.
That was why he had previously assumed the strongest wizard he would meet would be a peak Master.
So he was surprised to see an old man whose power level equaled a Magister.
Then Severus shifted his gaze to another person in the office, Lily, who was watching the frowning Severus warily.
In Alan's world, mage ranks: apprentice, journeyman, master, magister, Archmage, Great Archmage, Creator.
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