Chapter 177. The Black Star's Leader. Part 1. Arrival at Headquarters.
London.
On the ground floor of one of the most ordinary-looking buildings, in the center of an empty room furnished with nothing but a single red carpet, a green flash lit up a small raised platform. Surrounded by ten wizards, two figures appeared: Severus, wearing a classic black suit with dark, shoulder-length hair and sharp, aristocratic features, and an unknown figure in a dark cloak, shrouded in an oppressive gray aura that sent a chill down the spines of the onlookers.
Almost immediately, all the guards' attention snapped to them, though most eyes remained fixed on the second figure, as they recognized the first almost instantly.
"My bodyguard? Is something wrong?" Severus raised an eyebrow in mild puzzlement, then frowned slightly.
"No! No, not at all, please follow me. Mr. Alegria is waiting for you." The man rattled this off quickly with a crooked smile on his lips. "However, you will need to leave your bodyguard outside when we reach the leader's office."
Fine. Severus resumed his usual indifferent expression, and the man before him exhaled with visible relief. He murmured something to one of his subordinates, sent the man off, and turned back. "This way, please." He headed toward a pair of double doors, and Severus followed with his "bodyguard," glancing around the room with mild curiosity.
What caught his attention was the teleportation array. It was nearly flawless, which was surprising for a location the organization had only occupied for about a month. They relocated almost every month to ensure they were not discovered.
They must have skilled runemasters and charm-workers. Or perhaps it was the same person. Before leaving the room, he cast an analytical charm on the teleportation anchor point. The work was very good, and by studying its construction method, he might be able to make progress on the portal he had been considering: a reliable way to travel between Gloucestershire and the Forbidden Jungle and back again without difficulty.
He had decided to study the local runic system more deeply, because the runes here were far more flexible and required significantly less magical energy than those from his own world.
He had been thinking about trying to combine the two systems. Doing so would cost him a significant percentage of the runes' raw power, but in exchange, he would be able to use them in this world without difficulty or magical strain.
These were plans that would require years of research, material collection, and enormous trial and error. Even after ten or twenty years, there was no guarantee of success. For now, he was simply gathering information and studying this world's runes in greater detail, exploring their combinations and applications to build a thorough understanding of how they functioned.
Moving through the building's narrow corridors, where Black Star members stood at nearly every corner alongside layered trap and alarm charms, he felt a gaze on him, one that seemed to be trying to pass straight through him. Without the reinforcement of his core, which had multiplied his perception dozens of times over, he might not have noticed it at all.
Pinpointing the source was impossible because of Diffusion Charms, which made the sensation seem to radiate from every direction at once, as if it had been split into hundreds of fragments. Even for him, sensing its origin was difficult, and for most wizards, it would have been nearly impossible.
He could not say with certainty who was watching, but his best guesses were Vitold or the organization's leader himself. Severus suspected the latter. The magical manipulation involved was far too demanding: it required extraordinary mental strength, and Alegria was not that kind of person. An artifact was possible, but even operating one would not have reduced the strain on the mind.
There was a difference between a house-as-artifact setup, where the core absorbed all the load and carried out commands on its own, and a method where the person performed both roles simultaneously.
Why hadn't Severus considered the possibility that this was equivalent to his own monitoring system at the manor? The answer was simple: there was no such mechanism installed in this building. Had one existed, it could not have escaped his perception. And establishing a surveillance network like that every single month would require enormous financial cost and labor; one month simply was not enough time.
They rode an ordinary Muggle elevator to the fifth floor, where far fewer wizards waited, though the ones present were significantly more powerful than those stationed on the lower floors.
"Mr. Prince has arrived for his meeting with Mr. Vitold," their escort announced. The two members standing before the elevator looked at Severus and then at the figure behind him, frowning at the strange cold aura. Regardless, they stepped aside; the order to let them through had already been given.
They stepped out of the elevator and walked toward a pair of large wooden double doors with the organization's emblem carved into the wood. Two more guards flanked them on either side, both at the peak of Master rank.
Neither spoke. They gripped the handles and slowly pulled the doors open. Behind them was a modest office: nothing inside except a desk, behind which sat Vitold, a cabinet stacked with folders, and a painting of a beautiful woman in a dress holding an apple in her hand.
Witold himself completely ignored Severus, unable to take his eyes off the unknown cloaked figure. The presence made him deeply uneasy, as if the magic in his own body wanted to flee as far away as possible—something he had never experienced before. The strange, cold, gray aura reminded him of an acquaintance, the leader of the Diamond Division, a deeply unpleasant dark wizard, though even that man's aura had been considerably weaker than the "bodyguard's."
*I'll need to ask about this later. But one thing I can already say with certainty.* His eyes narrowed warily. *He's dangerous.*
"It's been a while, Mr. Witold." Severus stepped into the room with a smile. It had barely changed since the last time he had observed it through the letter. Only the painting was new, and they had only recently moved here.
"I'm glad you found the time to come." Witold nodded with a half-smile as the doors closed behind them. "May I ask who your companion is?"
"Don't ask me. I genuinely don't know. His teacher asked him to keep an eye on me. Apparently he owed the man something at some point." Severus answered thoughtfully, pulled out a chair, and sat down across from him. "Now then, what was it you needed? I'm a busy person. I have O.W.L.s to prepare for, a Potions rank examination coming up, and plenty of other things that won't wait."
"Understood." Witold was fairly certain the young man in front of him was holding back quite a bit, but he decided not to press the matter. There would be time for that later. "But it wasn't me who invited you. It was our leader. He wants to speak with you and ask you a few questions."
Severus reacted with great "surprise."
"Whatever for? And what kind of questions?"
"How should I know? Though I think you already know what at least one of them will be about."
"Hm?" He seemed to "think it over," as if genuinely unsure, then appeared to "realize" a few seconds later. "Does it have something to do with that business at Grimmauld Place?"
"Yes."
"And why does he care?" Severus's expression hardened. "I won't betray my teacher."
"Calm down. No one said anything about that." Witold waved it off with calm indifference. He had anticipated this reaction and was almost entirely unruffled by it. "It's only one of several questions. I believe he'll only want a brief account. They didn't attack just anyone. They attacked a member of our organization. We can't simply let that stand." His voice sharpened. "If they dared to attack the deputy leader of one of our divisions today, what's next? A strike on headquarters itself? We need to know exactly what happened."
"My teacher already dealt with them. And I doubt the others will try anything. If they do, he said he'll finish what he started." Severus seemed to calm down after this and returned to his usual smile, though it had a slightly sheepish quality. "I apologize for losing my composure."
"It's all right. I understand." Witold nodded gently, then glanced toward the painting, where the woman's eyes had turned red. "The leader is ready to receive us. Follow me."
"Of course."
Witold rose from behind the desk and approached the painting. With a wave of his wand, the frame slowly slid aside, revealing a passage into a small room containing a mirror Severus recognized. Its surface rippled, and after a moment the ripples faded to reveal a man in a white mask, a folded fan held in one hand.
The instant Severus saw the organization's leader, his eyes flashed for a fraction of a second, and a smile played at his lips.
"Let's see where you're hiding."
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