[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Hogwarts.
...
...
Severus looked at the newspaper. This was already the third edition of the day, as they had been reporting the arrival of the ICW and the president the whole time.
The 3 newspapers today were all focused on the ICW and the team. Severus particularly liked this edition that showed that group of strange beings. They all had something in common: they wore a medallion around their necks with the same symbol.
"So this is the vampire? The one you said had contacted you along with the seer gnome?" Severus asked, while Rosaria was eating by his side.
"Yes. She and my sister know each other very well and even have a certain rivalry over the centuries, even before I was born... She is as old as Milicia, which is why they are considered ancestral vampires. They are the only ones who could be strong and fast... more than me." Rosaria replied.
"Are you saying they are stronger than you?" Severus asked, turning his gaze back to her.
"Physically, yes. And they are special because they are not burned by the sun, just like me and my father as well. But I can use magic... And I am more powerful than most wizards in this world." Rosaria said.
"That's true... and a vampire without weakness is kind of a problem if they're a psychopath." Severus commented, while Rosaria did not deny it.
"Yes, they are a little dangerous, I admit. But almost everyone in the community is controlled by my father. This one you are seeing is called Lady Phiness, she is not under his command. But she is not stronger than my father, and that is not a problem for him when she is not ruining the lives of ordinary people and bringing more hatred toward us vampires..." She said.
"You know, speaking of that, I was reading an article about someone creating a potion in France to try to replace human blood at the master potions academy... A potion that would feed a vampire like human blood, that would solve many problems with vampires, wouldn't it?" Severus asked.
"Of course it would. Today we commercialize blood from Muggle hospitals when needed, even though we no longer hunt humans as we used to. All powers are concentrated in my father, in the vampire community. But a potion would really help even more." She said, while Severus began to think.
Rosaria did not need blood to live, so it was not a concern for her, but all the other vampires did.
Human blood was easy to obtain, especially in hospitals, diverting from donor programs. But a potion could also be useful if it was made at low cost. He himself could create a way of mass production in the industrial model...
"I'll take a look and get in touch with the person who is producing it. Maybe I can speed up the creation of this potion." Severus said, thinking about buying the formula and the idea.
"Well, anyway, I'm going out today. I'll visit Clarissa and also Pandora, I need to talk to their parents since the news of the engagement came out in the newspaper and I haven't even dealt with them about it..." Severus said, standing up.
"You know, Severus... I don't know where that Rita Skeeter got the information she put in the newspaper. That should have been impossible, since it was a private conversation between us. When Pandora invited us to go to the Muggle world, we ended up getting excited about the idea of trying to get closer. I may not like their smell, but I had fun." She confessed.
It was strange, because even though some people might overhear their conversations, there was no way everything could have been discovered in the way it was reported in the newspaper.
"You have a better instinct than the others. Didn't you feel anything?" Severus asked, staring at her, while Rosaria seemed to think with a more serious look about it.
"Now that you mention it... sometimes I would turn around and swear I was being watched, but there was nothing there. Even so, there was a strange smell, but usually I felt that with insects." She said, while Severus thought for a moment.
"I see. I'll investigate this. Anyway, she believes that I've been staying in the mansion all this time. It doesn't matter if you smell something again or some stench of an insect, it's better to pay attention. You might be dealing with an Animagus." Severus concluded just from Rosaria's account, which really seemed to lean in that direction.
"All right, I'll keep training then." Said the half-vampire.
As she left, Severus put on a jacket matching his all-black look and disappeared the next moment from his own room, merging with a shadow. However, he did not go directly to visit the Greengrass Mansion as he expected. Instead, he ended up entering a dark cave, where one of the shadows was already waiting for him.
None other than Voldemort's shadow, since he had asked to fetch a new Horcrux and another to proceed with this exchange.
He looked at the cave, where the sea water struck hard. In the center there was a kind of pensieve, but it was not just a rock: it was a container full of dark water.
Voldemort's shadow pointed at him, indicating that there was an object there.
Severus leapt and landed beside the pensieve in the sea, studying it. He quickly identified that it was a magical container. Inside the black water there was an object, but he could only reach it by drinking all the liquid — and that was not an ordinary potion. It would cause such unbearable agony that it would make one wish for death rather than continue drinking to the end.
It was a magical and very obscure defense. But would it work against the monarch of shadows? He simply placed his hand over the water and sank it. At the same instant, the liquid glowed blue, and he simply pulled out from within an object with the Slytherin symbol. It was Salazar's locket. The water rippled for a few moments but soon returned to normal.
In any case, he did not need to face the magical defense. He had enough power to circumvent it.
He looked at the locket and knew there was a container inside it. But he didn't even bother to open it completely and just gave the order.
"Arise." The next moment, black smoke came out of the locket and went toward Voldemort's shadow, completing one more piece of the soul. Now only one last Horcrux remained, besides the main soul, which was in Azkaban.
"Well, let's go." Severus said.
But, in the next instant, he felt something coming from the sea. Voldemort's shadowy wand rose quickly, preparing for combat, as undead creatures began to emerge — none other than Inferi.
"So this place still has more defenses..." Severus commented, studying the scene, as the corpses began to come out of the water and advance toward him.
There were thousands. He leapt again and told Voldemort to follow him. Together they flew to the other side of the cave, but the creatures did not stop chasing him, and he would not leave them here, thinking they could escape and hurt other people...
They stopped climbing the little island with the pensieve and went directly after Severus.
He didn't waste the opportunity. His shadow began to expand, and soon his army of shadows manifested behind him. However, he could not summon hundreds of shadows due to the limitation imposed by the cave. So, he summoned only the main ones.
Quickly, they advanced against the creatures coming out of the water.
The battle began, with even Voldemort himself fighting alongside the shadow companions against the king's enemies.
It didn't take long before even Severus's shadows entered the water, facing the thousands of Inferi rising up trying to kill them.
The fight continued in the sea. Severus just stood still, watching his shadows massacre the enemies. Even in the water, the creatures were slow and weak, they didn't stand a chance, while Severus's soldiers kept advancing tirelessly.
When the last Inferius was destroyed, all the shadows returned to him. About twenty minutes of battle, and an entire army of Inferi had been annihilated.
"Well, we're done here. Now I'll continue my visit." Severus said, and his Wyvern shadow was summoned beneath him.
Right after, he vanished from the cave, rising into the skies and leaving the coast behind somewhere in Britain, heading toward London again.
Some time later, he was descending smoothly in front of the gates of Greengrass Manor, floating until he landed on the ground, releasing his visibility after canceling the concealment ability.
He rang the gate bell, and the Greengrass family's house-elf appeared.
"Lord Prince." She said, already having received instructions from her lady about Severus and especially about the engagement with Miss Clarisse Greengrass.
The gate opened, and Severus accompanied the house-elf into the house, refusing to teleport with her, preferring instead to stroll through the family's well-kept garden.
Severus liked to observe some special plants, as this helped him formulate new potion ingredients or even improve others that already existed.
He went to the entrance, where he found the Greengrass family and Clarisse in the manor's entrance hall, waiting for him. As he approached, he greeted them.
"Oh, my dear, I see you are well. It's been a while." Said Clarisse's mother, Lucy, happy to see him.
Clarisse's father raised his hand and shook Severus's. "How have you been, Severus? Clarisse told us some things, and we saw that the ICW intends to act against you..." Albert spoke with a more serious tone.
"Father, not now." Clarisse intervened.
"I'm just worried, daughter. The ICW is a big problem. I worry about Severus." The man said.
"It's all right. I can understand your concerns, but it's something that will be dealt with soon. Anyway, how are you all?" Severus asked calmly, setting the problems aside.
"We're well, thank you for asking. Why don't we enjoy some afternoon tea together, before we start talking about problems?" Said Clarisse's mother.
Severus agreed and accompanied them to the main table, where they were served by the house-elf. Clarisse sat beside Severus, talking with him while showing a silly smile on her face.
She kept the ring on her hand, happy to have received it from Severus in the last few days. He had given the first ones to Bellatrix and Rosaria, and Clarisse had felt a bit jealous when she learned that Severus had taken the two of them to dine in different places around the world. And Severus had already promised that they would do the same soon.
In any case, they did not speak of problems, only chatted a little about business, while Severus was quickly becoming the Greengrass family's main client, with a very favorable discount for him and also a considerable volume of purchases for the family. Considering everything Severus acquired in their shops, it was obvious that the new franchise of potion stores spreading across Britain was his, and Albert knew this thanks to the absurd quantity of purchases Severus had been making in recent months.
In any case, Severus was taken to the garden by Clarisse as they walked through it, talking.
"You know I'm worried... father said you could be attacked at any moment and he doesn't want me to go back to Prince Manor, it could be attacked at any moment..." She said with anger and concern.
"Let's leave things as they are, only two things remain to end all of this now..." Severus said.
"I know you're worried about me too... but I wanted to stay with you before classes start again... I have to wait a year and a half... Now you're not there anymore." She said with some hesitation.
"I know... But I need to focus on things outside of Hogwarts, there are dangerous things coming to this world... I need to prepare everything." Severus said.
"I understand... but promise me you'll be all right... Whatever is going to happen..." She said still with concern, even without understanding much about what Severus was doing.
In the end, evening began to fall and Severus went to meet Albert.
"So... what did you want to talk to me about?" Severus asked while Albert seemed to have a rather serious matter with him after they had another conversation about business.
"I want to inform you of something quite delicate, Lord Prince... It's about a disease like a blood curse that passes on to all members of our family... And it affects the women with Greengrass blood. You need to know about this before taking your relationship with my daughter seriously." He said, staring at Severus, who raised an eyebrow at that, since he had never heard of it.
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