Chapter 166 - The disguise.
[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Hogwarts.
...
...
It was Sunday morning when Snape was spending his time in the laboratory of the Room of Requirement while creating some of the last potions he would place in the shop that day.
The shadow wizards helped him make the potions, while the others, not specialized in magic, prepared the simpler ingredients. This greatly facilitated his performance in creating them and saved him a lot of time.
"Keep making them." Snape said in the end, seeing that he no longer needed to focus on the potions as they only required basic ones, while the shadow soldiers had no difficulty continuing to make them. On the contrary, they followed their king's orders with great effort.
He looked on, satisfied, as he saw everyone working. That was when, as he turned to leave the laboratory, he found Pandora standing in the middle of the hall of the Room of Requirement, looking at him curiously.
"That's good that you came, after all. Dobby told me that you didn't want anyone to enter there and see the things you were trying to hide," she murmured.
He nodded, not denying it. He really didn't want to simply show that he could control the dead; that would be worse than saying he was a Death Eater. But she seemed quite calm about it.
"You want to talk, right?" Snape asked as she nodded eagerly.
"Follow me, then." Snape said as he led the way to the aviary, and she went along.
With the change of scenery to a much more beautiful place, as they found themselves in the meadows with trees and statues of animals that Dobby had used to decorate the place, they went to sit in front of the stream there.
"He's so fat!" Pandora murmured, looking at the huge Atlas lying on the ground, not even seeming able to get up.
"Yes... he ate too much and still has a lot to lose to return to his former shape..." Snape said.
"I wonder what Professor Rosaria gave him to get like this in less than a month," she murmured, while Snape raised an eyebrow at her, as he basically knew that Atlas had been with Rosaria—though he didn't know how—but preferred to ignore it.
"And how were your holidays?" he asked in the end.
Pandora adjusted herself in the chair and smiled at him. "They were good. I ended up traveling to some distant places in England, but I didn't leave the country. And you, what did you do?" she asked.
Snape thought for a moment before answering. "I did a few things..., but I didn't leave my new house much. I trained..., but I left the country at one point, though I stayed longer than I expected."
In the end, they talked for a while, having their first moment alone together, while she talked a lot about her holidays; he, on the other hand, remained more reserved.
This went on for some time until Clarisse also appeared, joining Snape and Pandora's conversation, as they had done the previous year. As the hour was already advanced, Snape informed them that he would not accompany them to the common room at that moment, stating that he would only appear at dinner that night.
With the two leaving, Snape returned to his laboratory while waiting for the shadow wizards to finish their last potions. He picked up the bags in which they were stocking the ready vials, while others continued preparing more, increasing the stock.
Snape did not command them back into his shadow again, leaving them to still produce more potions. Everyone was instructed to avoid any person who might appear, except for Dobby, who, despite being frightened at first when Snape introduced the shadows, had already gotten used to them after seeing them work here a few times.
Snape summoned his phoenix from the shadows, using its long-distance teleportation and moving outside the castle without anyone even dreaming of it. He appeared on the second floor of his shop, pulling a hood over his head before descending.
There were people buying on the lower floor, where the shop was, and he subtly entered the first level without being noticed. He ended up observing at least eight customers choosing potions. Genini was at the counter, and Igris was in a corner, hidden in the shadow of a cabinet, attentive to anyone with ill intentions toward his sovereign's belongings.
Igris immediately sensed Snape's presence and almost moved to greet him, but Snape only gestured subtly for her to hold back. Snape walked among the customers under the hood and under a spell so that no one could identify that he was, in fact, a teenager.
"Hey, they say these potions are of high quality. The price is a bit steep, but I believe it's worth what they're asking," a customer murmured.
"Yeah, just be careful not to break anything. I heard there's a guardian in this place. They say it's a powerful and ancient spell. But no one knows anything about the mysterious alchemist who took over this shop... Not even the Black family can make a comment about it due to a curse... or at least, that's what the goblins at Gringotts say they placed on them when they negotiated," another replied cautiously.
"I know that. I'm not going to get into trouble so easily," the first customer responded.
Snape passed by them discreetly. The customers were analyzing the potions, checking their quality. The prices of some were quite above the market, but everyone knew that the work of the mysterious alchemist was worth every Galleon.
He still remembered having sold those fifteen thousand potions to the black market man. Probably, that man had not managed to sell everything, and now, with the shop open to the public, he would have even more difficulty selling what was left. Snape did not doubt that the man was cursing him at this moment, but that no longer mattered. The money obtained from that deal allowed him to set up this shop.
"Thank you very much, sir. Come back anytime!" Genini, the house-elf, cheerfully commented to a customer who was leaving with a potion kit.
However, as soon as she noticed the hooded figure approaching, her eyes widened. She recognized those monstrous blue eyes under the hood. Her body stiffened, frozen with fear. It was not just her master; it was an extremely powerful being, capable of easily destroying her and devouring her soul.
"Stay silent. Don't say it's me," Snape said in a serious tone as he approached.
Genini nodded quickly, still trembling, while trying to maintain her composure. Snape sighed, noticing her nervousness, but moved on.
"I just want you to take the new stock and place it upstairs. Redistribute it on the shelves as you see fit. I'm taking Igris with me, but I'll leave the other soldiers around here," Snape ordered, ignoring the fear that his presence always caused.
"Yes, my lord," Genini responded, trying to catch her breath.
Igris's shadow moved silently, going unnoticed by the people in the shop, until it entered Snape's shadow. Other shadows emerged afterward, discreetly spreading around the environment, ensuring the security of the place.
Snape could leave the wizards making potions in this place, as they could quickly stock the shop, but he had only three shadow wizards in his army. He did not want to place all of them there, but because they were few, he preferred to keep them with him. He just needed to find a painting with that kind of adversary, being able to raise more shadow wizards; that would help him a lot.
Either way, in the end, he left the place, went to some shops in Diagon Alley discreetly while buying a few more dimensional bags, and returned to Hogwarts.
It was still late afternoon, so he decided to kill some time by entering one of the portals he had found. Then he headed to one of the paintings he had already identified as a dungeon. He stood in front of the painting before being sucked in, checking that no one was nearby watching him.
Snape entered a rather large cave, full of strange creatures by the sounds he could hear in the distance, while he looked into its darkness and released all his shadow soldiers. Among them, the main ones were Igris, the knight; Ouroboros, the basilisk; Fawkes, the phoenix; and Glacius, Glacius, the commander of the ice elves he had captured in the snow forest dungeon, along with Tunk, the most powerful ice bear.
His power was now far greater than before. He could use all those knights to defeat any enemy and would have no difficulty sending them alone to face Dumbledore if he needed to fight the headmaster once again. Besides those main shadows, he already had another ninety in his army. They ranged from knights to creatures like orcs, ice elves, and bears.
Quickly, enemies began to appear as he advanced through the cave. It was a type of stone golem, about 2 meters tall. Snape raised his hand and gave the order.
"Advance!"
All his knights and soldiers charged forward with fury.
Death continued to follow through the entire place as he advanced, killing more and more enemies, further increasing his necromancy level and his own level. He gained 4 or 5 levels until reaching the strongest monster in the dungeon. Snape raised his hand, drawing the attention of his shadows.
"Stay out of this. I'll handle it."
He advanced, holding the goblin metal sword and facing the creature that revealed itself to be a stone golem at least 8 meters tall. The fight was intense, but it didn't take long for Snape to win, driving the sword into a crystal in the center of its chest and piercing through it.
At the end of the battle, the creature fell to its knees. Snape used his ability, and the golem's shadow was extracted, transforming into another soldier by his side. He was satisfied with the result, increasing his shadows to 110, but his attention was soon drawn to a light at the back of the cave as the dungeon was already beginning to collapse.
There were several glowing crystals around the place. Snape knew he had at least 20 minutes before everything completely crumbled.
"Break the crystals and put them in the bags!" he ordered his soldiers.
The shadows quickly began collecting the crystals. Snape had already brought the magical bags in advance, as this was not the first time he had gone through something like this. He had lost many resources in the past by not being prepared, but now it was different.
After gathering as much as he could, Snape left the dungeon. It was already dinnertime when he returned to Hogwarts. He headed to the Great Hall and made his way to the Slytherin table as if nothing had happened.
"You just got back now?" Clarisse asked as she sat beside him.
"More or less," Snape replied, shrugging.
They began talking about trivial matters until Clarisse mentioned the rumors circulating around the castle.
"Have you heard about Professor Dumbledore? He hasn't shown up all day. They're saying he might have been captured by... you-know-who. Do you know anything?" she asked, lowering her voice.
"I don't know..." he murmured, taking a bite of meat and drinking a sip of orange juice.
The conversation was soon interrupted by the gossip from other students, spreading through the Hall. The three houses—Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff—seemed concerned about Dumbledore's disappearance. On the other hand, many Slytherin students appeared pleased, believing that the Dark Lord might have defeated the headmaster.
It was then that the doors of the Great Hall burst open with a bang, drawing everyone's attention. The noise echoed through the room, and silence spread as they saw who was entering.
It was Dumbledore.
The old and familiar headmaster crossed the hall with his calm and gentle smile, making his way to the head table. Everyone was surprised and relieved to see him well. He cast a warm glance at the students, and a murmur of relief filled the place.
Snape simply watched in silence, showing no reaction but analyzing everything carefully.
'This is not the headmaster... someone is impersonating him, I bet the professors know that...'
Snape shifted his attention to how the professors were looking at him, seeming to wear uncertain expressions.
'Got it... they want to disguise that the headmaster is fine to avoid panic or Death Eater movements,' Snape thought.
-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------
Chapter 171 - The wizarding world begins to weaken.
Chapter 176 - Some matters in Diagon Alley.
Chapter 186 - Alliance.
Chapter 195 - News about the chaos
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