Chapter 12
Ten minutes later.
Severus raised his fist and punched Tobias with all his strength, sending him flying into the brick wall on the left.
"Get up, you damn bastard. It is time to work." Severus looked indifferently into Tobias's stunned face. "First, clean up, then sit back down here until you get your next order."
"What?! How did you. WHAT?! Why can I not control my body?! What the hell did you do." Tobias, now sober thanks to Severus, screamed as he lurched toward the kitchen.
"Master." From today on, you will call me Master. You are my slave now. And do not take off the collar.
"I am your father, you damn Master! Release me immediately, or else."
"Hit yourself in the face, then shut up and start cleaning."
The next moment, Tobias punched himself in the jaw. He glared furiously at Severus, grabbed a rag, and started wiping the tables.
Severus did not even look at him as he went up to the second floor, to his room.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Once you are done, until I come back down, you will stick a needle under your fingernails every minute. And if you run out, you will pull them out and start over." Severus glanced at the table where the bottles of alcohol were scattered, waved a hand, and turned them into needles.
Ignoring the panic in Tobias's eyes, Severus went to his room.
Bare walls, a single mattress with a pillow and blanket, and a small table greeted him.
He has probably sold the wardrobe, the bed, and all my things already. I guess I was too soft on him. Severus grumbled, walking up to the wall and tapping three bricks with his finger.
A section of the wall slid aside, revealing a small bag, a diary, and a case holding a simple-looking wand.
At the same time, a memory fragment surfaced. A very emaciated woman, in whom it was impossible to see that former beauty, looked at him warmly, stroking his head with one hand and tapping certain bricks with her wand with the other.
".If something ever happens to me, take everything that is here, and do not come back here again. And do not ask the Princes for help."
Apparently she understood something was wrong herself, or maybe she was resentful. Severus sighed deeply, took out a notebook, and quickly flipped through a few pages.
Then he closed it, shook his head, shrank it, and slipped it into his breast pocket.
The diary held Eileen's story from the moment she entered her first year at Hogwarts, her thoughts and ideas, and a message to her beloved son.
I will read it later. Maybe I will find a clue in it. But now. Severus took out a pouch and a wand, transfigured the mattress into a chair, and pushed it up to the table.
An expanded pouch, and Eileen's wand. He opened the pouch, which held only a couple of Galleons, and fed a little magic into it.
Right in front of his eyes, it began to fill with gold coins. At the same time, information appeared in his head, telling him exactly how many it contained.
Four hundred and forty Galleons. How did Eileen manage to save that much, considering she did not work? Although. it is quite possible the Princes gave it to her. Severus reached into the pouch, pulled out a golden key, and examined it with mild interest.
But she never told me anything about this. Strange. I will have to ask Macmillan about it when we meet, because this key is an artifact too.
After dumping all his things into the bag, he sprawled in the chair and closed his eyes.
Well, at least now I have money for everything I need. Tomorrow I should go to Diagon Alley and stock up on ingredients. Even if most descriptions match what I know, it is still worth checking and brewing a couple of potions. After all, I will soon be fighting the basilisk, and those creatures are intelligent and resistant to magic. So I need to find a sword. I cannot go in barehanded.
While Severus was deep in thought, there was a knock, then another, then several more.
He opened his eyes and looked to the window. A gray owl stood on the sill with a letter in its beak.
"He took his time." Severus got up, opened the window, and smiled as he stroked the bird and took the letter.
He beckoned a Sickle from the pouch and placed it in the owl's beak.
With a satisfied hoot, it hopped onto his shoulder, rubbed its head against him, then flew off.
"There is something about these owls," Severus muttered, looking at the envelope with the Malfoy seal pressed into wax.
"You could have just signed it." He opened the envelope, took out the letter, sat at the table, read it quickly, and set it down with a smile.
"If you want to meet, no problem. I was waiting for this."
Severus had contacted Lucius for several reasons, but there were two main ones.
The first was awareness of what was happening in the world. Lucius knew far more about the Dark Lord, since he belonged to that circle, and he had even called Severus more than once. But Severus had always dodged those calls, because he did not want to sink deeper into darkness and distance himself from Lily even more.
The second was Legilimency and Occlumency, the ability to penetrate a mind and defend it.
Severus was confident in his own defenses, but extra protection was never a bad thing.
Even in his old world, he had never mastered mind magic. He simply lacked the gift.
So when the chance to learn appeared, Severus did not want to miss it.
At Hogwarts, even in the Restricted Section, there was only theory on the topic, and no real practice or method of instruction.
Severus's stomach growled.
I should probably go shopping, but. He glanced down at his robe, under which he wore a shabby jacket a little too large for him.
He shook his head and pulled the robe off.
Then he closed his eyes, forming an image in his mind of a man with medium-length jet-black hair, wearing a simple white shirt, dark thick trousers, and high boots.
When Severus opened his eyes, he smiled contentedly to see those same clothes on his body.
"This is much better." He stretched, feeling nothing restrict his movements, then opened the door and left the room.
On the way down, Severus glanced toward Tobias, who was actively polishing the table.
Then, holding out his hand, Severus said.
"Accio, pounds sterling."
Several bills and coins flew from Tobias's pocket and from under the sofa into Severus's hand.
"Almost ten pounds. not much, but enough for food."
He shoved the money into his pocket, turned his wand into a needle, and left the house, heading for the nearest shop.
Severus took his time, strolling at an easy pace, taking in the town and the goods on display, more and more amazed by local ingenuity.
He was especially impressed by electronics.
But even a basic iron cost a ridiculous amount, not to mention Muggle things like a television or a refrigerator for storing food.
Severus's family had owned one, but Tobias had already drunk it away. So the house had no electronics left at all.
Severus also paid some attention to clothing.
Bright colors dominated the fashion, and he disliked that. In his world, it was the easiest way to paint a target on your own back.
If you needed to hide, or avoid attention, dark gray tones were far more suitable.
Severus was never too concerned about how clothes looked, only about practicality and comfort.
After buying enough food for a couple of days, Severus returned home, where he was greeted by sobs and painful moans.
Right by the stairs stood Tobias. With red, swollen eyes, he stared at Severus's indifferent face while shoving the tenth needle under his nail.
"And I forgot about you, to be honest. Do not worry, you can keep going," Severus hissed, walking past him while Tobias watched his back with despair.
"The gas, as I see, has been turned off too. Sad, but I will not be here long anyway." Severus took an apple and a saucepan from the cupboard.
"So, no water either. How did you even live here?" Severus used Aguamenti, nonverbal, and water began to fill the saucepan.
He dropped three eggs in, then used pyrokinesis, a skill he had mastered completely.
The water boiled quickly under a steady stream of flame.
For Severus, controlling fire was like breathing.
But he could not fully enjoy this destructive element right now. He simply did not have the magic for it.
In his old world, he had even earned the name "Fire Calamity" for his mastery over flame, and for the black fire that made him a target for many Archmages, and even some Great Archmages.
In only a few seconds the eggs were cooked.
After dinner, Severus took one last look at Tobias and, after giving a few more commands, went back upstairs to his room.
The next day after breakfast, Severus locked Tobias in the basement. Tobias had been hammering his fingers on his left hand all night. Then Severus gave him a new task to do until he returned: break one finger every hour on the right hand, while staring at Eileen's portrait and begging for forgiveness.
With that done, Severus left the house.
When he reached the road, he pulled out his wand and waved it.
For the first few seconds, nothing happened, which puzzled him.
Then, a moment later, with a loud BOOM, a three-story purple bus materialized in front of him.
As soon as the door opened, Severus was greeted by a wildly grinning elderly driver in thick glasses.
"Get in, young man! That is eleven Sickles! Would you like a toothbrush or some cocoa?"
"Can I drink it?" Severus asked with a smile, gripping the handrail tighter.
"I am not sure where to drop you off?"
"Leaky Cauldron."
"Then hold on tight." The driver bared his teeth and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands.
The next moment, the bus disappeared.
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