As soon as Severus brought Lily home, after slightly tweaking her memories beforehand, he got to work on the potion.
He had started the conversation with the girl for only one purpose: to understand what kind of person she really was, and it left him a little disappointed. Instead of the cunning fox he had believed her to be, she turned out to be a simple fool, too lazy to be worth the trouble. And he knew one thing for certain: people like her never lived long, so he did not have to do anything. She would find her death on her own, or someone would help her do it.
So he pushed her out of his mind and devoted himself entirely to his work.
Staring at the black liquid in the cauldron, he hissed in displeasure.
"As I suspected: even though they look very similar to the ones in my world, the magical background here is weaker, so some plants have weaker properties. I will have to tweak the formula a bit. Ah. I should have guessed. A waste of money," he muttered discontentedly, taking out a second set of ingredients and starting to examine them.
Severus was no stranger to potion-making. Besides the memories he inherited, in his old world Alan had once studied alchemy, potion-making's equivalent, and even achieved some impressive results. After completing the entire beginner's program, he knew the names of more than ten thousand herbs, along with their properties.
So editing the recipe was not difficult, especially with the knowledge he inherited, because the original Severus had been a true genius in this field.
And so, after six hours, the cauldron held a thick, dark green mixture that smelled of herbs, with a strong mint note.
"Three times weaker. but that is about all I can expect from these ingredients," he said, pouring the contents into a jar and purifying it at once, then moving on to the second batch. He would need ten portions for his training and baptism: exactly a month's supply, taken every three days because the potion's effect was weaker.
Several herbs immediately flew toward him, straight into the flame burning in his palm. At the same time, water began to appear in the cauldron, and a few other herbs hovered above it.
As soon as the water started to show signs of boiling, a light gust of wind crushed the herbs into powder and dropped it into the cauldron.
The herbs hanging over the fire began to crack after exactly ten minutes, and that was Severus's signal to take a drop of Kelpie's Blood from a small vial. In the same second, he squeezed drops of clear liquid from the dried herbs, and they began to merge with the blood, giving off a turquoise glow.
The thick, pale green mixture in the cauldron had already started to boil, so he moved on to the final step and took out the last two ingredients. They were two herbs: one black and breathing out a dark miasma, the other pale and fresh, with a minty scent.
The moment the two herbs met, a real war began. They started to radiate auras as if they were alive, trying to suppress each other. Like sworn enemies, both lashed out, but neither could gain the upper hand.
Then the red droplet, which had been hovering in the air, rushed toward the light grass and sank into it. In that instant, red lines appeared on the plant, pulsing like veins, and the previously bright aura turned crimson and began to crush the dark one.
Within a minute, the dark grass started to dry out as the lighter one drained its strength. Less than ten minutes later, almost nothing remained of the first one, and at that very moment a light gust of wind sliced the winner into hundreds of pieces.
"Whoever created this strengthening potion is quite the sadist." Under Severus's indifferent gaze, the pieces of grass fell into the cauldron, and the minty scent immediately rose. At the same time, he moved the empty jars to the corner of the room and pulled out another set of identical ingredients. Just fifteen more minutes, and I can see what Bella is doing. Maybe she is in a Death Eater meeting right now.
Closing his eyes, he focused on the seal in Bella's body, and the next moment a satisfied, slightly obscene smile appeared on his face.
At that time, the witch was in the bathroom, washing her hair, while two washcloths drifted over her magnificent body.
Severus could not take his eyes off her proudly raised breasts and the cherry-colored polka dots that seemed to beckon him, along with her thin waist, firm butt, and long, slender legs.
The sight stirred a strong excitement in him, and if he had been beside her at that moment, he would have barely been able to restrain himself and would have attacked her on the spot.
Oh. hormones. it is like I am sixteen again. he thought nostalgically, shaking off the obsession and opening his eyes. I am not a pervert, after all, he muttered, glancing at his watch and noting the time so that, in the future, he would not accidentally see her showering again, of course.
He finished his tenth and final portion of the strengthening potion around midnight and almost immediately went to his room. He was quite tired that day, not physically but mentally, because he had to keep concentrating on the potion and using magic. Constant use of magic was beneficial, but his magical core also needed a break.
Severus's next day began with a visitor appearing at his bedside. In the first seconds, as soon as he sensed someone teleporting through his barrier, he prepared to greet the intruder with a blast of flame. He stopped himself in time when he recognized the visitor as a small, bald house-elf, resembling an old man with huge eyes and wearing only a rag. He immediately remembered the Malfoy house-elf he had seen before, and the stack of books in its hands confirmed it.
"The master ordered me to hand over these books to you." the house-elf explained quickly and timidly, noticing the irritation on Severus's sleepy face.
"What time is it now?"
"T-ten o'clock!"
"So that is how it is. why so early?"
".the master ordered."
"Alright, what is your name?"
"D-dobby!" the house-elf said fearfully, ears drooping.
"Fine. Make me some coffee before you go, and we will be even," he said, falling back onto the bed, and Dobby vanished at once.
Not even ten seconds passed before Dobby reappeared beside the bed, holding a tray with a cup of coffee, a plate of scrambled eggs, and a small vase with a single rose.
"You are fast," he nodded, tasting the coffee first and only then looking at Dobby with mild surprise. "Excellent coffee," Severus drawled with a satisfied smile, patting Dobby on the head a couple of times. Dobby flinched each time, then, realizing he would not be scolded, looked at Severus in surprise.
"D-dobby is happy to serve his master's friend."
"Uh-huh, thanks. I will clean it up later, you are free to go." Dobby nodded timidly again and vanished, leaving Severus alone, sipping his coffee. Now I understand why they hire house-elves instead of servants: they may not be very attractive, but they do all the housework well and quickly, and their loyalty, since Dobby still serves Lucius, says a lot. After all, who would know Lucius's nasty character better than I do. Once I save up some money, I should buy one from Hogwarts. Then I will not have to worry about household chores.
With those thoughts, he picked up one of the books lying on the floor, with the catchy title "Legilimency for Dummies," and started studying.
It was not until lunchtime that he put down the third book on the subject and finally got out of bed. And no, of course, Severus wanted to read it all at once, but he was interrupted again, and this time it was an owl knocking on the window.
"Today is some kind of open house." he muttered wearily, opening the window and taking the envelope. He transfigured his bed into a chair and sat at the table, while the owl landed on his shoulder. "So. Macmillan. looks like they have finally finished examining my toy." After reading the first lines of the letter, he smiled contentedly. It was a request for a meeting, and they were very interested in his artifact. The rest was mostly questions about the item itself and how many he had in stock, as well as a request that he name the nearest date when they could meet and discuss the price.
Even though the sender tried to sound restrained, Severus could tell he was eagerly awaiting a meeting and the chance to discuss the deal as quickly as possible, before anyone else got ahead of them. Protective artifacts like these would be extremely useful in such turbulent times.
"Hmm. tomorrow would be a good time to meet, but today I want to finish studying Legilimency and Occlumency." he muttered, stroking his chin. Then, taking a sheet of paper from the table, he wrote a reply with the meeting place and time. "Fly and take it back," Severus said, sealing the letter in an envelope and handing it to the owl, which immediately flew away. He sat back down at the table and resumed studying the books Malfoy had given him.
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