Chapter 43. Problems With the Shop. Part 2. Solving the Problem
Stopping in front of a drab two-story building behind Knockturn Alley, Severus put on a smile and knocked. A few seconds later, the door cracked open and a rough voice barked:
"Who is it?"
"A horse in a coat." Nice phrase, learned in the Muggle world. Why a horse, and why in a coat, I have no idea myself, so do not even ask.
"What?"
"Not what, who. Illiterate."
"What did you call me?!"
"I am the owner of that potion shop that opened recently. I am here to see your boss." In an instant, all the thug's annoyance vanished; he grinned broadly and opened the door fully.
"No need to roll out the red carpet."
He blinked, momentarily stunned.
"What carpet?"
"Forget it. I am in a good mood, made a lot of Galleons. Take me to your boss." The moment he heard about gold and imagined how much Severus had earned even in a single day, greedy sparks danced in his eyes.
"Of course, boss is already waiting for you!"
"Glad to hear it. Lead the way." With a smile that turned into a snarl, Severus shut the door behind him.
On the way down to the basement, he did not forget to ask about the gang's numbers, whether this was their main base, how many were inside right now, and more. The thug answered happily, almost proudly, honestly and to the point, not even lying. It genuinely delighted him; he had not seen people that honest in a very long time.
A minute later they entered a room that looked like a pub. Animal skulls, shields, and a couple of swords hung on the walls. In the center, besides a counter, there were three tables where cheerful wizards sat drinking. There were twenty of them, not counting five upstairs.
"Boss! Boss! He is here!" the thug shouted happily, waving at a man sitting in a leather chair, who sighed tiredly and covered his face with his hand.
The others stopped talking and looked at Severus with interest.
"Who is he?" But as soon as the leader finally focused on him, his eyes lit up. "Severus Snape! Well, look who it is! Never thought you would come here yourself!"
"Just finished my business and came to ask why you nearly drove my worker into a nervous breakdown. The poor man is afraid to even leave the shop."
The leader laughed loudly and rose from his chair.
"What are you talking about? Just a misunderstanding. My people only wanted to discuss a few matters with you on my behalf. He refused to call you, so they gave him a little scare, and look, it worked!" He came closer and clapped Severus on the shoulder twice.
"So. What did you want to discuss, my friends?" Severus replied with the same smile and clapped him back, very gently, almost knocking the stunned boss to the floor.
"Not bad, not bad," he muttered, grimacing for a moment. But not wanting to show weakness in front of his men, he quickly regained his confident grin, though his shoulder still ached. "A joint business."
"Oh. well, I am all ears," Severus said briskly. He Transfigured a beer bottle into a chair and sat.
"Of course. We propose to unite. what are you doing?" the leader asked, baffled, when he saw Severus pull out a notebook and start writing.
"Keep going. I am just taking notes."
Hearing that, the thug straightened a little, cleared his throat, and continued with a smile:
"We will protect your business from others' encroachment, and in return we demand only fifty percent of your profit, and a few potions."
"I see. And if I refuse?"
"Then it is unlikely you will get out of here alive." Laughter rang through the room.
"Right, right. So you plan to seize me, then torture me into giving up potion recipes and all my Galleons, if I do not accept your terms, which you will raise to sixty percent in a month." Severus lifted his eyes from the notebook to the stunned leader's face and smiled innocently, then looked back down. "So. right. very interesting." He nodded and flipped a page back, counting. "One, two. three. plus that one laughing like a hyena, that is four. and you are. five. And the second-place group, the Buffaloes, demanded seventy percent and all the recipes."
"How.?" He understood in a second. His gaze snapped away and his hand reached for his wand. The laughter had already died; a dead silence filled the room.
Then a man in a dark cloak burst in, panic on his face.
"BOSS! Outside, some kind of shit is happening! The Buffaloes, Dark Mantle, and Reapers are destroyed! Their bases are burning in horrific fire, like that day! And the flames cannot be extin."
Sensing the atmosphere, he stared at his leader in confusion. The leader's face was whiter than chalk, and the wand aimed at Severus trembled, because in that moment, adding two and two, with Severus's earlier words and his calm, he understood something terrible.
He finally realized who was sitting in front of him.
"Tch. Ruined the whole performance. I was just starting to enjoy it," Severus grumbled, annoyed and almost childishly so. He rose; the chair burned away in an instant, leaving not even ash, confirming the leader's worst fears. "Go on. I am listening. And put that toy away." He waved a hand, and the wand vanished from the leader's grip as cleanly as the chair. Worse, he had not felt even a flicker of heat, proof of terrifying control over the element and the dreadful fate awaiting them.
"H-how?"
"'How is it possible?' I am just a genius, that is all." He shrugged. "And I will answer your next question: no, I am not leaving you alive. You have seen my face. Stupid justification for mass murder, is it not?"
"EVERYONE! ATTACK TOGETHER!"
The leader's shout snapped them into motion, just in time to die. Severus was not a sadist, and he did not like making people suffer, so a second later only the two of them remained. The leader dropped to his knees at once, looking up at him pleadingly.
"I-I beg you! I did not know it was your shop! I have a family! Children to take care of!"
"Go on, tell me about your sick mother."
"Confringo!" he snapped, thrusting his palm at Severus. A couple of sparks jumped out, and despair spread across his face.
"Nice idea," Severus nodded, stepping closer. "But you made three mistakes. First: you should have realized I am not some ordinary wizard. I am a master Legilimens, and you were looking me right in the eyes. Are you an idiot? Second: you tried to use an explosive spell whose main killing force comes from fire, against me, a fire wizard. And I will repeat: are you an idiot? And third." A horrifying, bloodthirsty aura poured off him, swallowing the leader. The man trembled, seized by raw animal terror. He had never imagined that a petty everyday scheme could provoke a true monster.
After those words, flames wrapped the shaking leader.
He did not even have time to notice his own death; Severus took his life first and only then burned the body. And if it were up to him, he would have preferred not to kill anyone at all. But he had grown up in a world where killing was survival, routine, as ordinary as breathing and eating. If he spared them, they would hate him, and one day they would try to take revenge. That was human nature, and he knew it well.
Searching the room, he found a small casket hidden in the wall with an expanded space inside. It held a bit over twenty thousand Galleons, several dozen dark artifacts, and assorted trinkets worth another five thousand.
That evening, he gathered around ninety thousand Galleons, an enormous amount. Added to what he had earned from the shop and taken in his first visit, his wealth now totaled a little over two hundred fifty thousand. It was not on the level of families like the Blacks, Malfoys, or Lestranges, but he could easily enter the top ten of the Sacred Twenty-Eight by wealth.
To deal with everyone he had marked, he needed nearly three hours, and the fact that most were in gangs or small groups only made it easier.
Of course, he did not kill indiscriminately. Small groups and lone individuals he knocked unconscious, checked with Legilimency, and decided what to do with them. Thankfully, after reaching the rank of Master his magical power had increased tenfold, and he no longer needed eye contact. You could say he had become a kind of telepath, though unable to communicate by thought, except with Nagini through the familiar bond. There were downsides: it took far more mental effort, and the target had to be nearby. So it was still easier for him to use eye contact when possible.
When he finally returned to the shop, he immediately noticed the broken cabinet to the right of the exit, and two bound bodies in the far corner.
"Looks like leaving you here was not pointless," he said with a smile, looking at Nagini lying calmly on the table, then at the trembling Karner in the corner. When Karner finally came back to himself and saw Severus, tears welled in his eyes.
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