HP - Shadow Monarch - Chapter 230 - Handling Matters at Hogwarts 03.

[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.] Third Person POV Hogwarts. ... ... The headmaster ignored Rosária, while his eyes were stern on Severus, as if a

[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV

Hogwarts.
...

...

The headmaster ignored Rosária, while his eyes were stern on Severus, as if a second head had grown on him.

He had heard the entire story about the Horcruxes, as Severus shared everything he knew, while his thoughts drifted to Tom Riddle, the talented young man who had joined Hogwarts—someone Dumbledore had always been cautious of when he was still a professor before becoming headmaster.

It was a surprise to the headmaster to learn that Professor Slughorn had hidden something so dark. While recounting everything he knew, Severus wore a neutral expression; he did not offer the headmaster a single smile. Rosária stood beside him, remaining silent.

To Severus, it was very strange to be standing before the headmaster—he did not like this man and never would, especially since not long ago, he had been trying to kill him.

Nevertheless, Severus recognized that he was necessary to maintain order in Britain and prevent the country from falling into chaos. He also did not want fear to rule this land.

"And now you intend to hunt the Horcruxes?" the headmaster asked, wanting somehow to help.

"Yes, I’ll be searching for them as soon as I’ve organized things at my family’s house. I will go after them right after," Severus said.

"And do you have any idea where they are located?" the headmaster asked, alert.

"Don’t worry about that. I have one of the last Horcruxes made," Severus said, as a shadow began to emerge behind him and Rosária.

The headmaster’s face darkened at the sight of the creature appearing. He looked at it with a disturbed gaze. Seeing those dark shadows was far from pleasant. It reminded him that Severus Snape was a necromancer—something that made him think with a bit of contradiction.

Fawkes spread his wings at that moment and emitted a sound from his perch, greeting his former companion, despite them not having spent much time together, since Severus had acquired this shadow a day before freeing Fawkes.

“So, you’re using a part of Voldemort’s soul to turn into your servant...” Dumbledore murmured carefully. He already understood what that meant.

"Yes, there are two Horcruxes in this shadow. It holds only a fragment of Voldemort’s power, but it has all his memories from the moment he split his soul. And since it contains the last Horcrux, it wouldn’t be surprising if it knows about all the others," Severus said, while the headmaster nodded cautiously.

Severus noticed this and stared at him with a meaningful look.
"You’re afraid of my power, aren’t you, Dumbledore?" Severus asked, and even Rosária looked on curiously, waiting to hear the old man’s reply.

"Necromancy is not a magic of the light, Severus. It is evil," he said bluntly.

"Even so, you’re cooperating with me..." Severus said, recalling the conversation he’d had with the headmaster.

The headmaster didn’t respond and looked at Rosária and then back at Severus.

"You may continue. I’m not hiding anything from her." Severus warned, and the headmaster sighed before continuing to speak.

"That's because I discovered that the creatures of this world can be considered gods, and that a great danger is coming here at this very moment," the headmaster said.

"Yes, it's true. I'm also surprised that this world has been made a target, but I have no choice. If one of them is coming here, we need to prepare. I'm the only one who can stop it, you know that," Severus said with a serious tone, while Rosária didn’t quite understand what was going on or what he was talking about.

Certainly, this would raise many questions, but Severus didn’t mind mentioning it in front of her and would answer her questions later.

"Anyway, there are some strange events happening in the world right now..." Dumbledore continued, speaking more seriously and pulling out a newspaper about Japan. "Do you know what this is?"

Severus looked and shook his head. He had already seen the news and was definitely curious.
"I don’t know what it means, but I intend to investigate it as soon as I can," he said, not wanting to talk more about it.

The headmaster seemed to notice this and sighed.
"I know you don’t like me, but..." he said, but Severus interrupted him.

"I can't imagine why..." Severus mocked with heavy sarcasm, remembering what he had done to Lily just to investigate him.

It made him rethink whether he shouldn’t just kill him right there and finish what he had started, as it reminded him all too well of what had happened with his mother—even if he hadn’t actually lived with her. He had a certain anger when he saw someone being manipulated by a love potion.

The memories kept his body tied to a feeling of empathy and love for those Severus cared about, and hatred for those he despised. They were quite persistent, even though there was another being there.

Fortunately, he managed to control himself; after all, he was an adult. Severus Snape, for example, would have killed the Marauders at the first opportunity with the powers he had gained from the system, but Moro didn’t. He simply responded to all provocations with slightly harsh retaliation and was extreme only when he needed to be.

"What will you do after the Horcruxes are destroyed?" Dumbledore ignored the mockery and preferred to change the subject, knowing it wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation if he insisted.

"Isn’t it obvious? Voldemort must be eliminated," Severus said.

"But he’s imprisoned in Azkaban and will stay there for the rest of his life, after all the protections you’ve placed..." Dumbledore said.

"No, but he’s too dangerous to remain alive. You know that Voldemort’s death is inevitable—after all, he was just a symptom of a greater problem about blood purity in the magical world. Letting him live could be a problem; after all, he can still influence people and holds forbidden and dark knowledge," Severus said.

"You could choose a path that isn’t so radical," Dumbledore still advised, while Severus wanted to laugh.

"Tell me, what wouldn't be considered radical when we're talking about sparing a terrorist who massacred hundreds of innocent people over the years? Dumbledore... I thought you were tolerant, but not a fool," Severus openly mocked.

"I just thought that..." Dumbledore was about to continue, but Severus interrupted once again.

"There’s nothing to discuss about this. It’s already decided—he will be killed as soon as the Horcruxes are destroyed. I don’t even want to keep his shadow around anymore, and he’ll be sent wherever his soul deserves to be," Severus said with a serious tone.

The headmaster merely sighed.
"Very well, you’re going to insist on this," he said.

"In any case, our conversation ends here." Severus said, as he stood to leave.

Fawkes let out a somewhat sad cry, seemingly in protest, watching Severus walk away.

Dumbledore couldn’t help but look at Fawkes with sorrow. His phoenix now had a far stronger loyalty to Severus.

Even though she had become a kind of servant, her will bound by Severus’s necromantic orders... she had grown loyal to him even in life, when she was reborn. She didn’t seem to forget Severus.

"Goodbye, Fawkes," Severus said, hearing the phoenix's protest.

His gaze fell on the headmaster one more time.
"I’m sure you have some people to apologize to, and I hope you’re sincere about it. You should never have involved Miss Evans in that madness from the beginning," Severus said.

"I’ll make sure of that, Mr. Prince," the headmaster replied.
"I’ll make my remorse very clear to Miss Evans," he added.

Rosária also stood up; she had remained silent the entire time without interrupting them. Meanwhile, Severus had already made it clear that she could hear everything they discussed, since it would make no difference. Even so, she had not interfered.

"By the way," the headmaster murmured, looking at Severus.
"You seem to treat Miss Evans like a stranger, from what I’ve noticed. I thought you two had become friends again... maybe even more than that..." he said, noting that Severus had used Lily’s formal name.

"I’m not the Severus she knows. And besides, she had already ended the friendship with me," Severus replied.
"I won’t insist on that. I made it very clear to her. Even though I saved her and helped her family, I did it because it was my responsibility. Since all the terrible events that happened to them were my fault, I take responsibility for that. But I don’t intend to have that closeness with Miss Evans. She should live her life apart from mine," he said, while the headmaster nodded and looked at Rosária, who maintained an indifferent expression.

"However, I see that you seem to have plans for Miss Valenstein," the headmaster said, although he still regarded Dracula and the vampires as creatures of darkness. He had to admit, though, that he knew Dracula’s family was not one that harmed others for fun. At the very least, they lived in seclusion from the outside world, not harming Muggles or other wizards. They even controlled other vampire groups in Romania.

"She’s my fiancée. And you can imagine where that’s going," Severus shrugged.

"Your fiancée, I see," the headmaster said.
"I’m sure your other friends were quite unhappy to hear that," he added, while Severus merely curled his lips, finding it amusing.

"You could also say I have four fiancées," he declared.

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow.
"That’s working?" he asked, his gaze shifting to Rosária, who just shrugged.

"Well, we’re seeing where it goes, but officially, I intend to marry four women—if they agree to it when the time comes," Severus said.

After all, there was no obligation on their part to accept it. It was merely a way to see where the relationship would lead.
Polygamy wasn’t very common in the western part of the world, even though other cultures accepted it easily.

Even among wizards, such as in Africa and the Middle East, it wasn’t unusual to find families with more than two wives—even among magical folk—though that number was a bit lower than among Muggles, since those families were quite strict and didn’t want to divide the dowries.

"Anyway, I’m off. Until next time, Headmaster Dumbledore," Severus said, as he took Rosária’s hand.

In the next moment, they vanished, leaving the headmaster and a slightly upset phoenix behind in that place.
The headmaster certainly frowned, especially at the fact that Severus could teleport using that unregistered magic—even inside his office.

The question that lingered in Dumbledore’s mind was how Severus had developed such magic.
Although, when he had been spying on all his activities, he knew Severus had been researching more about space in the restricted section of the library.

"He created a spell just from the theories he read. Well, I shouldn’t be surprised, after all the things I’ve seen," the headmaster murmured.

Despite the dark power Severus held through necromancy, he was incredibly capable—too intelligent—with the mind of someone who had lived in other worlds.
Certainly, he could revolutionize the wizarding world, even without that dark power.

A power Dumbledore disliked, but he knew he couldn’t oppose the boy.
He was far too powerful, and no one in the world could truly stand against him now.

That’s why he had to accept it—especially with the world on the brink of danger—and that dark power was necessary for survival in what was to come.

It also helped that Severus had never used the power to turn innocent people into his servants.
Even though Dumbledore disliked the fact that he turned dark wizards into shadows to work for him, most of his creatures came from monsters from other dimensions.

So, aside from Fawkes—whom Severus had not denied bringing back and freeing her soul—all the shadows Severus controlled were, by nature, something dark and evil.

But his gaze returned to where Severus had stood just a moment before. He remembered the first time he had entered the boy’s mind in that very room, searching for answers, and he still recalled vividly what had made him fear something within Severus more than anything else.

The act of entering that endless darkness, that abyss where there was nothing but void, until... until he saw those eyes staring back at him, as if Dumbledore were nothing more than a minor nuisance—an intruder easily dealt with.

The question remained:

Beyond the power Severus held, was there something even darker within him? Something that Dumbledore feared and somehow knew was the true source of Severus’s dark power?

He tried not to think about it anymore. He simply hoped that it wasn’t something truly dangerous for the world. Dumbledore decided to place his trust in Morou—the one who had taken over the body of the former Severus Snape, for some fateful reason—someone who had once protected the galaxy from evil beings.

‘Something brought him to this world, don’t blame him for that. The boy whose body he now inhabits died on his own, not because Morou took it... He is this world’s hope, if we wish to survive, Dumbledore...’
Steve Vujin had told Dumbledore.