[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV
Hogwarts.
...
...
Snape entered the common room while all eyes turned to them, as the place was swarming with ghosts scattered throughout the hall that morning. Since their ball had taken place the night before, everyone seemed very excited and didn't hesitate to express it by flying around the room.
Snape drew attention because the ghosts didn't run from him—although that would've drawn even more attention—but there, everyone looked at him with a smile, due to the fact that he had shown something more than just a "monster."
"Mr. Snape is here." a ghost said.
"Mr. Snape, how pleasant to see you this morning!" another ghost approached.
"Elegant as always!" a female ghost said.
Snape stopped, listening to the comments ahead of him while some ghosts approached to greet him. But what caught the students' attention were the quick steps coming right behind, as the sound of ballet flats was heard when Pandora approached Snape, holding up her dress so as not to trip as she ran toward him.
"Are you sure you had to come here in that dress?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"I don't have a Ravenclaw uniform with me to change into..." she said with a smile, not caring how over-the-top she looked.
The four house tables, as well as the teachers' table, looked in their direction, wondering why Pandora was dressed like that. Her hair was still tied up, and she looked like she had spent the last few hours in the Room of Requirement, sleeping in Severus's bed, while Snape had gone to tend to his potions, with his shadows doing the work and he hadn't slept—not that it really bothered him.
When Pandora woke up, they came straight to the common room, exactly as they were now.
"I see you two are already awake. I hope you rested well. The night was quite delightful, I must say. It's been about 100 years since I felt so much excitement. Perhaps the presence of some mortals revives our balls." a ghost approached, floating beside them as he spoke.
"I also thought it was amazing. I wish it would happen more often!" Pandora responded enthusiastically.
Snape, on the other hand, made no comment. He kept walking forward, thoughtful, still a bit surprised by how things had turned out that way. The ghosts had simply become very friendly with him, especially as more and more of them approached.
His gaze fell on the Ravenclaw table, where some students were whispering, clearly commenting about Pandora. He sighed, ignoring the ghosts around him.
"Come sit with me." he said in a calm tone.
Pandora looked at him, surprised, but nodded.
All eyes in the hall followed the scene. Snape sat at one end of the Slytherin table, and Pandora sat beside him. Clarisse, surprised, stared at Pandora, seated between them, shocked.
"What is this? What are you doing? Why are you dressed like that?" she asked immediately, not knowing what to ask first, while several Slytherin students looked on, stunned. Some showed disgust that Pandora was among them, but a single look from Snape was enough to make no one dare to comment.
"We went to a ball last night." Pandora answered cheerfully, trying to explain to the confused Clarisse. "And about the outfit... I haven't gone to Ravenclaw to change yet." she added in an innocent tone.
"A ball...?" she murmured before looking at the ghosts, knowing very well they had held a ball and had mentioned two students while focusing on each other in some of their comments.
"You went to the ghosts' ball?" Clarisse murmured before looking at Snape, slightly disappointed.
But he just shrugged. "What? I didn't know, not until she told me at the last minute." Snape said simply, ignoring all the curious looks on him—especially Clarisse's.
But none compared to the red eyes glowing at the teachers' table, as if someone there was furious with him.
"Let's leave it at that. Just eat." Snape said simply, eating right there.
"Wait... Are you saying that Mr. Snape and Miss Pandora took part in the ball you organized last night?!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed at the teachers' table with a horrified and stunned look, while the Bloody Baron merely shrugged, floating above them.
"Yes. I must say we were a bit cautious about it, but... young Snape proved to be a very well-behaved and classy young man." he said, even though Snape's aura hadn't changed, nor had the shadows walking at his feet.
The ghosts, however, seemed to form a slightly different opinion, despite everything.
"I'll have to speak with them immediately!" McGonagall remarked, frustrated, while the other teachers shrugged, knowing very well that no student should be attending a ball during the night—though this wasn't something exclusive to Snape and Pandora over the years, after all, there were a few students who also participated.
Meanwhile, someone looked on angrily from the side, with Rosária clearly frustrated by the situation after hearing that.
"He went to a ball... and didn't invite me!" she murmured, irritated and disappointed.
It was Sunday, so there were no classes today. The common room was still somewhat full that day, and it was at that moment that the newspapers finally began to appear, being delivered by all kinds of owls or any other mail birds, landing in the hands of students who always wanted to stay updated with what was happening in the wizarding world.
Slytherin, for example, was almost completely filled with newspapers falling onto every present student's table. Students from this house always had the obligation to be informed about current matters to be able to discuss them.
Jerônimo was still watching Severus cautiously, as if he had wanted to speak with him for some time, but lacked the courage, while only glancing sideways at Severus talking with Clarisse and the girl in the dress, when the newspaper hit his table, and he finally looked at it as all the students around him began picking theirs up.
He also always wanted to know what was happening in the wizarding world, especially about his family. After all, they could be a target at any moment, and he always feared finding news of some attack against his home for not having agreed to join the Death Eaters like last year or suffering some retaliation from the students who were tortured because of him.
However, that was not what he found. Quite the opposite.
The news reported an attack within the Nott family—the same family whose main member had tortured him—and now came news of a shield being raised, just like what happened with the Norton family, while the family itself was trapped against a wizard whose identity as the mysterious alchemist, no one really knew, but who was extremely powerful.
Once again, the Aurors were trying to track anything about him, but the wizard vanished as always, leaving no trace.
Finally, they began putting the clues together: the identity of the Hogsmeade killer and the mysterious "The Alchemist" were just one person according to the witnesses.
The paper declared it was a single person, after all. But no one knew his true identity beyond a clue with the recently rising shop in Diagon Alley also drawing attention: it was said to belong to the Alchemist himself.
The information was also quite limited about the mysterious shop, like its unknown defense system and only a house-elf taking care of the place. It was also reported about the explosion of resources the store was having, with over a dozen thousand potions entering the stock in the last week.
These were the potions Snape got from that partner of his in the black market—the same ones he had sold months ago and now resold with commission through his shop.
Even so, it was shocking to say that he was behind it all—after the Norton family was destroyed, and now making the Nott family his next target. They were all defeated and were lucky not to be killed, which was a strong possibility, as they had all been easily overpowered by the Alchemist.
But the most shocking part was the report that they had been tortured—something that caused great astonishment. A family of Death Eaters being tortured by the same Unforgivable Curses they themselves used to cast on others?
Ironically hilarious, but no less surprising than what came next.
The newspaper reported:
"Perhaps a second Dark Lord is rising. One who does not work with the noble families of England... But rather, someone who desires the destruction of all of them."
Geronimo swallowed hard upon reading that.
Theories began to emerge immediately across every table.
"They're looking into my shop now...?" Snape couldn't help but comment, seeing the paper in front of him, while Clarisse reacted in shock beside Pandora.
The professors were alarmed by that. Even Dumbledore, who was disguised as a statue nearby, raised one of his eyebrows. But they could do nothing. After all, he was merely an Auror wizard, disguised with white hair left by the Headmaster in his office, under the effects of Polyjuice Potion.
Rosária, however, had a different expression as she turned back toward Severus.
"So he did that… and didn't invite me." she murmured, a bit upset, frowning once again.
In the end, Pandora returned to Ravenclaw to change clothes and take care of her daily tasks, which she had planned along with Clarisse.
Snape, meanwhile, returned to the Room of Requirement, finding Rosária waiting for him with crossed arms in the middle of the room, while Dobby stood nervously beside her.
"Master Snape... Mistress Rosaria said she wanted to speak with you..." Dobby murmured.
"Leave her with me, you can go." Snape said, sighing, as the house-elf left them alone.
"You went out without inviting me?" she murmured, clearly upset in her tone.
Snape raised an eyebrow.
"Is that so important? I have things to do, Rosária. And many of them I need to do alone." he replied.
"Oh, and how many girls are you going to take to balls while leaving me out? I thought you liked me..." she murmured, sounding like a hurt teenager.
"This has nothing to do with that..." Snape replied dryly, but continued. "So you're free today? How about coming with me?" he asked, as she raised an eyebrow, surprised.
Snape thought that maybe going to the Black Mansion as he had arranged with Bellatrix today would be a good opportunity to take Rosaria.
She really perked up. "Yes!"
"I'm sure you can help me with this." Snape said. After all, he could train Bellatrix with Rosária while taking care of some specific matters.
"Come with me." he said.
Since he didn't need to take many things, he used the phoenix. The two of them disappeared in the next moment.
They appeared in front of the Black Mansion. The phoenix vanished soon after, leaving some guards surprised—after all, the security of wizarding families had become much stricter after the recent attacks.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, a Dark Lord—Voldemort—was furious.
He hated that headline, which claimed that a "second Dark Lord" was rising in England.
He didn't like competition.
"We can't stand still and do nothing..." he murmured to himself, in his castle in the middle of the forest, as he read the newspaper with the information about the mysterious killer Alchemist.
"If all we have is that shop... so be it." he murmured angrily, crumpling the newspaper in his hands.
-------------Nexts Chapters ----------------
Chapter 189 - The Battle in the Muggle World 02.
Chapter 194 - Expecto Patronum.
Chapter 204 - Baran?
Chapter 213 - Preparing for War 02.
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