HP - Shadow Monarch - Chapter 107 - Plans for the Holidays!

[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]
Third Person POV

Hogwarts.

...

...

Snape was opening his eyes, finding the girl naked, clinging to his chest while sleeping deeply...

He couldn’t help but sigh, seeing that he had given in to the pleasure of the flesh, not that he regretted it. He had needed something like this, a way to let his mind relax, though he hadn’t imagined it happening in the middle of the school with another student.

It was obvious that Andromeda had tried to seduce him, using Narcissa as an excuse, though he knew she was bold—bolder than Lucinda. He was still surprised that she had wanted to give him her virginity, as she had bled and had to use a potion to ease her pain before they really began a much more intense encounter.

He stood, leaving the girl behind. It might seem a bit callous of him, but he shared no feelings for her. Although she was beautiful, it wasn’t as if he wanted to have a relationship with her.

After dressing to leave, he grabbed a blanket and placed it over the naked girl, cleaning the sweat off with his wand while doing the same for himself, as he reeked of sex.

Afterward, he simply disappeared, leaving the girl still sleeping, exhausted after the intense events. Her hand stretched out, seeking Snape, but only grasped the empty bed, unaware that Snape had already left while she was unconscious, recovering from what had happened a few hours ago.

Snape returned to the Room of Requirement.

"Dobby," he called, and the house-elf appeared in front of him the next moment.

"The master summoned Dobby. How can Dobby be useful to the master?" he asked, looking at Snape, awaiting orders.

"I want you to prepare everything for a long journey. I will return only after a few months," Snape said.

"Wait, the master is leaving me? What will I do in the meantime?!" Dobby seemed desperate at that moment.

"Can’t you take a vacation or something?" Snape asked. After all, he wouldn’t need Dobby, since he planned to take his animals as well. Dobby wouldn’t be very useful to him at this moment.

"No, we always have to serve, master... Does the master want to get rid of Dobby? Don’t do that, please! Dobby will take any punishment necessary for the master to trust him again!" Dobby exclaimed, starting to slap his own face in desperation.

"Stop that..." Snape said, and in the next moment, he used a spell that stunned the house-elf.

"Stop hitting yourself... That’s not why I’m dismissing your services, nor do I want you to leave. After all, I like you and your work," Snape said with a tone of dissatisfaction.

The house-elf came out of Snape’s stunning spell and finally seemed to calm down at that moment, looking at Snape with puppy eyes.

"Really...? The master really likes Dobby?!" he said as Snape sighed, every time he had this reaction.

"Yes, Dobby. But during this break, could you work with your father? I don’t have a home outside Hogwarts yet, and I might not get one while I’m trying to open a shop for myself," Snape requested, and the house-elf nodded quickly.

"If you order... I can go work with my daddy..." he said.

"That’s good, then I want you to help your father at the castle until I order you to stop. Understood?" Snape said.

"Yes, I will do exactly that!" he said, ready to snap his fingers.

"Not yet. I still need you to pack everything and leave a supply of food for me to take for Altas and Shadow. Speaking of which, she’s returned, hasn’t she?" Snape asked.

"Yes, I will do exactly that. And yes, your owl returned early in the morning while the master was mating with another female human," he said, making Snape almost choke on those words.

"What the hell... How do you know that?!" Snape looked at him with a rare, startled expression.

"I’m connected to the master, so I must know that in order not to disturb you while you are copulating," he said calmly while Snape looked at him strangely.

"Could you stop talking as if you’re referring to animals?" Snape found it strange to hear such things.

"Very well, the master was fucking! Now I’ll be going!" he said and disappeared.

"I think your description of sex has gotten worse..." Snape murmured, a bit lost in thought, but he let it go the next moment and headed to the aviary where Shadow was supposed to be perched. He found her just before Atlas attempted once again to challenge him to a strength battle. After subduing the Graphorn, he moved toward his owl, who had a letter tied to her leg.

"Let’s see what answer he has for me..." Snape commented as he opened it right there. It was a response letter from a small investigation he had requested from a reliable informant with whom he had previous dealings.

‘Steve Vujin, the greatest detective and magical investigator in England.’ That was the first line of the letter as Snape began to read.

[It’s been a long time since I last heard from you. I thought you had adopted a low profile to avoid being discovered... but I must admit, you never fail to surprise a man like me, Mr. Snape. You disappear for so long and then suddenly kill hundreds of acromantulas, not to mention letting yourself be struck by an Auror who doubted you. You are truly one of a kind in this magical society.]

The beginning of the letter was just the investigator Snape had hired for the second time, expressing how impressed he was with him, while Snape shook his head. It was no secret that this guy was so skilled he already knew that Snape was behind all the events unrelated to the Death Eaters. Snape was at his mercy, but the man had said he wouldn’t reveal anything. After all, he probably feared the Slytherin boy who could do all this at such a young age.

[In any case... I’ll keep your secrets well hidden. But I must emphasize that what you did with that Auror was genius. Not only did you minimize any suspicion against you, but the man also lost his position, is now unemployed, and nearly imprisoned due to no official notice being published about the scandal. Otherwise, he’d be in a far worse situation than just losing his Auror license.]

[Now, onto the main subject... You’re really interested in that girl, aren’t you? I would tell anyone to stay far away from her family, but since it’s you, I can only imagine what kind of rumors we’ll hear from Eastern Europe... Anyway, Romania will be your holiday destination, so I’ll pass on everything I know about Transylvania and the ------ family... I hope you truly know what you’re doing...]

Snape paused while reading. The family name being crossed out was a precaution against the curse. Much like Voldemort, anyone who mentioned the name Dracula was subject to being located by him.

The letter continued with information that Steve Vujin had gathered about Dracula’s castle. An important detail was that Snape would need a mount... His eyes drifted toward the Graphorn scratching its back on the grass in the middle of the aviary. ‘We’ll use you...’ Snape thought.

The letter continued, providing more information about the Dracula family. Dracula had two daughters: the elder was married to another noble vampire, and the younger, a half-human, was the one Snape had met and fought in a deadly battle. She was single.

‘Since I couldn’t buy the painting, I plan to go after it myself...’ Snape declared, knowing his holidays would be anything but ordinary during these two months. However, he would have to leave that for the end of his break, while he dealt with a few things in England first.

Snape put the letter aside and continued organizing his belongings for the day. It was Monday, the beginning of the week when everyone started leaving the school, with trains departing every day until Saturday to return to the station in London.

Snape planned to stay a few more days, and seeing that everything had been arranged with Dobby to stay with his father, he went out to see a few people. First, the woman he most often liked to provoke.

Bellatrix was walking through the corridors, her heavy footsteps echoing as everyone avoided looking at her. Her gaze seemed to dare someone to provoke her, just to see what would happen. She needed to speak with Snape and was looking for someone who knew where he was, but at the same time, he was looking for her. He appeared in front of her after asking the house-elves to find her.

"You're here!" she accused.

"Yes, let's talk," he replied.

"You better! You owe me my training, and for throwing me into the lake, you bastard!!" she exclaimed, stepping closer, trying to push her chest against his.

"You're playing a game you can't win, Bellatrix," Snape said, knowing full well that he was the one making the rules here.

"Do you think I’m afraid of a half-blood like you, you inferior!" she spat, but Snape merely smiled.

"Very well then, today I’m in a good mood," Snape said, perhaps because, according to Dobby’s words, he had 'fucked' her sister, or because he was finally ready to set in motion the plans he had been waiting for all year. But none of that mattered now, as he simply grabbed Bellatrix, and they both disappeared.

Bellatrix felt Snape’s touch and suddenly found herself falling through the air, looking up at the clear sky outside the castle as she plummeted backward.

"SEVERUS SNAPE, YOU BASTARD!!" she screamed before her back smacked against the water of the Black Lake, for the second time, courtesy of Snape.

"How dare he!! I need to get out of here before anyone catches me again..." she muttered, just before feeling something splash behind her.

"Who did you call a bastard?" Severus asked, resurfacing, looking at her with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, startled and surprised to see him there with her.

"Didn’t you ask for your training? Let’s get started," Snape said, swimming, completely soaked, and staring at her.

"What do you mean by that? This isn’t wizard training..." she said cautiously, aware of how unpredictable Snape could be.

"We’re just getting started, Bellatrix. First, we’ll work on improving your physical conditioning," he said with a mischievous smile.

The two remained in the middle of the lake while Snape forced Bellatrix to fight him in the water—a horrible experience for her—deciding to make her a far better-trained witch than Pandora.

No one at the school could see the two spending the entire day there, and when the lake monster appeared with its tentacles, Snape fought it off, surprising Bellatrix as she watched Snape beat the creature until it left, seemingly crying.

She had no choice but to obey him, unable to use her wand to apparate, until she became so exhausted that Snape had to carry her to some rocks beneath the castle to dry them off before returning.

"You bastard..." Bellatrix muttered as she clung to him while they swam to shore.

"You were terrible. Even a frog moves better than you in the water," Snape said, as she glared at him furiously.

"But you have potential... You could be quite good when I’m finished with you," he admitted, their faces close, almost kissing, while Bellatrix couldn’t help but stare at him, her eyes lingering on his lips with some shyness. She felt an odd attraction to him, despite his half-blood status. She wondered why this bastard hadn’t been born into a great family; he could have had a marriage beyond being political.

"Stop staring at my mouth like that, or I’ll start thinking you want to kiss me again. Once was enough, feeling that filthy mouth of yours," he teased, shattering her strange attraction to him, making her face flush red with fury.

"I’m not filthy! Stop lying! I’ll never kiss a half-blood like you again!!" she shouted, while Snape, indifferent, carried her to the shore.

"Let's go back..." Snape said as he took her and they disappeared, reappearing in a corner of the Slytherin girls' dormitory.

He let Bellatrix go, and she turned her nose up at him, treating him like air, still fuming from his earlier words.

"I'll send you an owl. I hope you can arrange the meeting with your grandmother," Snape said, but Bellatrix didn’t even respond, walking into her room. He made his way to the Slytherin common room, which felt strangely empty after seeing a group of seventh-year students leaving the other way, laughing and chatting.

'Strange... this atmosphere... it feels like someone was tortured here...' Snape sensed the dark tension in the air as he walked closer to the fireplace, knowing something was wrong. His gaze shifted toward a cabinet next to the house's banners and swords. Using his wand, he opened it to find a young boy trembling, his eyes wide and staring into nothingness as the doors creaked open. Snape immediately recognized the effects of the Cruciatus Curse, which had clearly been inflicted on him for several minutes... a curse Snape knew all too well.

It was Geronimo, a minor noble who had been pressured by members of the great Slytherin houses to convince his family to join Voldemort’s cause. Snape had interacted with him several times this year.