Chapter 71 - They Have to Pay.

[Chapter Size: 5100 Words.]

Third Person POV

Hogwarts.

...

...

Severus was aligning the runes using a lens beside him to further enlarge his field of vision with an enormous zoom, while looking through it and drawing tiny runes.

A week had passed since the Quidditch tryouts. He had even been chosen for the team; Lestrange had had no choice but to put his name down. Once again, Severus was being whispered about throughout the school, as the students who had been on the Quidditch pitch last week began spreading the rumors. After all, none of the other tryouts had been more exciting than his: he had caught the Golden Snitch in only a few minutes, performed crazy maneuvers and nearly smashed into the ground, being saved by a phoenix at the very last moment.

While, on one hand, some students at the school seemed much more open to him, the Slytherins were quite dissatisfied. Not that he could have expected anything different.

In any case, Severus did not pay much attention to it, but the training schedule certainly discouraged him from continuing on the team. That day, when they came to tell him that he had to report to the pitch, he simply replied that he would be busy and would not be able to go, leaving the person quite shocked. But there was nothing to do except watch Severus simply walk away to take care of his own affairs.

He had more important things to do than practice Quidditch. He had come to like the sport and appreciated it much more than before, but still did not feel obligated to set aside his research and inventions to dedicate himself to it. If they wanted to remove him from the team, well, Severus would not complain about it.

In any case, he continued marking the runes until he completed that work, in which he had spent the last two weekends directly involved in his research on Muggle electricity.

In front of him, there was also his small power generator that worked through the movement of a crank. By turning it, it would generate energy through motion, and the electricity would begin traveling along the path to a small Muggle light bulb in front of him.

When he finished the last runes, Severus moved the lens to the side as he gripped the crank and began turning it rapidly, building up enough energy to power the Muggle light bulb. That, of course, if the electricity managed to travel the entire way.

After all, the problem was getting the electrons to pass through a field of magic, and that room was quite an accurate example of an environment saturated with it.

However, the light began to flicker a few times before finally beginning to stabilize. A few minor fluctuations still occurred, until the table was finally illuminated by the bulb.

Severus, still turning the crank, could not help but laugh. Even Solaris, who was on his perch, watched in surprise as he saw his companion laughing in front of that strange light.

"I did it. In just three weeks, I managed to develop this!", Severus said proudly.

He had finally solved one of the great problems of the wizarding world, one that no one seemed interested in solving to begin with. But now it was there before him.

With those runes, he could insulate around ten meters of coated electrical wires, using a set of only ten centimeters of tiny runes.

Now he only needed to transform those runes from the other world into runes in the language of this world.

With the runes already finished, he finally went to rest, since it was the middle of the night. Upon reaching the dormitory, he found his roommates asleep, took a small piece of paper, and marked that one of his tasks had already been completed. Now he only needed to improve it, but not before writing a short letter to send the next day.

He needed to speak with Professor Xavier. He wanted the power system blueprints for the professor's laboratory and other places to get an idea of how it all worked. He wanted to do something similar in the Room of Requirement.

"Now we can use only magic to make this small generator produce energy on its own", he murmured.

After that, he went to sleep.

The next day, in the Great Hall, Severus was immediately approached by Lestrange while having breakfast beside Heloísa.

"Why didn't you come to practice yesterday, Snape?", Lestrange asked in a commanding tone, as if Severus owed him an explanation or was his subordinate.

"I had things to do, Lestrange. Didn't you hear your teammate who came to get me?", Severus replied curtly.

A flash of anger appeared in the Slytherin's eyes. "You shouldn't overstep your bounds, Snape. You're a good Seeker, sure, but you won't stay on the team if you keep missing practices."

"Then remove me", he said, and several people at the table looked at Severus in astonishment.

'Sorry, but I'm practically trying to change the entire world as we know it. I don't have time for Quidditch. If it were just about playing in the matches, I wouldn't mind, but going to practice every training day of the week...? No, thank you.', Severus thought calmly.

Lestrange stared at him with eyes full of anger. "Don't expect me to change my mind. I'll talk to Professor Slughorn about this. He should agree that you should leave the team."

"So be it." Severus shrugged, no longer paying him any attention. Lestrange could do nothing but return to his seat.

"Are you going to be okay?", Heloísa asked beside him, looking at him with concern.

"You don't need to worry about that", he said, patting her head a few times. "I have more important things than Quidditch. If they don't want me on the team, that's fine." Severus spoke in a sincere tone.

"But I don't think you need to attend practices. I heard that the Seeker only has one job. Why do they insist that you have to go? You've already proven yourself to be the best Seeker in the school. I heard the other Houses are scared after hearing about what you can do on the field. Even that Gryffindor boy keeps making fun of you around the school. He's scared, that's what students from his own House told me...", Heloísa said.

Severus gave a small laugh; she was clearly talking about Potter. But Severus was equally surprised that she had made a Gryffindor friend, even if they were a first-year.

"I know, I know... They're trying to find an excuse to kick me off the team, obviously. I also can't simply be arrogant enough to think I don't need to practice, so I can even understand it. But I don't want to waste my time on that. It's fine if I leave", Severus said sincerely.

In any case, that morning's post arrived, with several students receiving their letters. Severus received his as well, obviously. As a subscriber to the Daily Prophet and other newspapers, he wanted to understand what was happening in the wizarding world.

He knew that this would not be an ordinary day, filled only with gossip and curiosities about the British wizarding world. After all, whispers soon began spreading from the other tables and, when Severus picked up his newspaper, he saw a photograph of a burned village, with several houses destroyed. It was even possible to see some bloodstains on the ground, despite enough time having passed for any bodies to be removed before the photograph was taken. Even so, some traces could still be seen.

"Attack on a village near the coast of Northern Ireland", read the headline of the article. Severus could see several students from the three Houses turning their eyes toward Slytherin, and they certainly did not look friendly.

Severus could not help but narrow his eyes at the newspaper, ignoring the castle that was on the verge of accusing them as the ones responsible for this massacre...

"It's them, isn't it?", Heloísa said beside him as Severus looked at her.

"You know who they are?", he asked.

She nodded. "Everyone talks about them. Some of my new friends said I should be careful because I'm a Muggle-born in Slytherin. I know you've already told me that, but now I'm scared", she said.

Severus touched her head. "Don't worry. As long as I'm here at Hogwarts, none of them will lay a hand on you."

Then, his eyes swept across the Slytherin table as the students talked about the newspaper. Some noticed the looks from the other tables and shrank back, others did not care and argued, and among those, some showed concern, while others laughed with evident pleasure. Certainly, the parents of some of them were taking part in it.

Severus narrowed his eyes as he observed each of those reactions. He would remember them.

The discussions continued, but were soon set aside and the atmosphere inside the hall became less tense.

"Hi, Severus." A group of girls passed by him while Severus merely nodded without saying anything. Heloísa stared at him and giggled.

After he joined the Quidditch team, many girls, not only from Slytherin, but even from the other Houses, tried to talk to him. They wished him good morning, greeted him, and walked past with those giggles.

Severus paid no attention to it. In his mind, formulas were being created as he continued trying to better understand how to apply his new discoveries to inventions and ideas. Paying far more attention to the moment when he could begin putting into practice the theories he spent all day inventing than to a few pretty female faces.

It was at that moment that another group of owls entered. There were several of them.

The owls flew through the window they usually entered through, and all of them were heading in a single direction, carrying several bags, suitcases, and packages.

"Hey, hey! That's a little too much", Severus said as the bags quickly began to fall.

He raised his hand, using telekinesis, before the items could hit the plates and scatter all the food on that side of the table, managing to catch each of the falling packages and beginning to stack them much more gently.

"What's all this?", Heloísa asked.

Severus picked up one of the bags and brought it closer to himself, examining what was inside more closely.

"Great", he said. There were at least two tons of iron in there. He had managed to make a contact thanks to Scamander, who had spared no effort in helping him find a metal supplier.

He began checking the bags one by one to make sure everything was in order, while the owls landed near him. Severus picked up a packet of seeds and placed it in front of Heloísa.

"Want to feed them?", he asked.

She quickly nodded, taking the seeds and beginning to scatter them for the owls, which immediately began devouring them.

Those seeds were special. Severus had developed them specifically to feed owls. They were better and far more nutritious than anything else they could eat. He had genetically modified everything and was even thinking about selling that food as well. With the seeds, the owls gained around 30% more speed and 50% more endurance, allowing them to make long flights much more easily.

That was his way of rewarding them for bringing all of that to him, while they practically swarmed Heloísa, startling the girl a little as they tried to get more seeds.

"Don't worry, there's enough there. You can toss a bunch onto the table, they'll eat it all", Severus said, laughing.

He had a practically infinite supply of those seeds, so he did not need to worry about the amount.

"Are you growing these too?", Heloísa asked.

"Yes. If you want, we can go see my new garden. I changed a few things", he told the girl, who became excited.

In any case, Severus began putting everything into one of the four rings he now wore on his fingers. He could already make rings with five cubic meters of internal space and quickly placed each of the bags inside one of them. He would have a lot of work ahead of him with all that iron.

Ignoring the looks from everyone in the Great Hall, after all, what had just happened had drawn quite a lot of attention, Severus left with Heloísa. He wanted to show her a few things before they headed to their first classes.

Severus asked Solaris to appear and teleport them to the Room of Requirement. When they did so, they still had some time before their first classes and found themselves facing an enormous field, one of the areas the Room of Requirement had reconstructed.

There were all kinds of trees in that place, as well as several perfectly aligned gardens, both for the production of Severus's perfumes and for his potions. There were also crops intended to produce seeds to feed the phoenixes and his other animals.

"I'm thinking about bringing a larger number of animals here as well", Severus said as Heloísa stared at the place in fascination.

Especially at one strange type of tree.

"What kind of tree is that? Why do its fruits look like pineapples, but green?", she asked, laughing as she pointed toward the cluster of strange trees.

"That's something I started growing two weeks ago. They're trees meant to produce light crystals from that fruit you say looks like a pineapple."

"What do you mean by light crystals?", Heloísa asked, shocked.

"It's still a test, since I had to rebuild them from scratch to adapt them better to the magical world", Severus said.

He already knew how to create those trees, but he wanted to modify a few details to adapt them to that world. He would only have concrete results within a month and, if everything worked, he would also begin mass-producing them.

"Ah, come look at this", Severus said, already taking a prototype crystal out of the ring.

The crystal began to glow with a red light, since its outer layer was that color.

"Oh, how beautiful!", she said.

"Yeah. I can even make some necklaces with glowing stones like this. They're quite eye-catching. Maybe I'll give you one for Christmas", Severus said.

Heloísa immediately looked at him, excited. "Really? I'd love that!"

With that, they went to their classes, but his research continued to progress, while Severus could not stop thinking about that morning's newspaper, especially all the evidence that a massacre had taken place in that village.

He was no hero, but he knew how cowardly the Death Eaters were and hated the way they operated. Because of that, Severus simply decided to investigate everything himself.

He had other plans for that night. After all, all that iron had been purchased with a single purpose: to begin working on the iron golems, creating their skeletons and armor. Severus looked at all the iron he had placed in a corner. He could easily melt it with his flames after shaping it with telekinesis. That was the plan, but he realized he would not be able to work on it that night.

In fact, he had managed to buy so much iron thanks to the amount of perfume he himself had produced, along with the royalties and the masterpiece, earning more than 60% of the value, so from the 20 perfumes in the first batch, he received around 2,400 Galleons all at once, and had already spent part of it.

His eyes also fell upon a book and an open box containing runes. That nameless ghost who had delivered them had said there were important things inside, and there truly were, to the point that Severus regretted not opening the box sooner, after all, he had received a unique magical artifact.

He called his phoenixes. Solaris was already there, with Articuno arriving shortly afterward, while he looked at the two birds.

"We need to check something. I want you both to come with me", Severus asked before requesting that they teleport him outside the school.

He headed toward the site of the attack, first teleporting to a place closer to Northern Ireland, since he had never been there before. Then he took an object from his pocket, the object he had taken from that box given to him by the ghost. Severus looked expectantly at a kind of compass in his hands.

But unlike any other, it did not point north. It pointed directly toward something he wished to find at that moment and, in that case, indicated the exact direction of the attacked village, even though the Ministry had provided no further information about where the place was located. Therefore, he would not need to rely on any map.

Severus quickly began teleporting across the sea, moving only to places his eyes could reach, avoiding the risk of appearing inside a wall, rock, over a cliff, or anywhere else that could put him in danger once he reached land, since at sea, that was less of a problem when all you could see was water.

And so he finally reached the northernmost village, on the coast on the eastern side of the country... The entire place was dark. The Aurors had not even cast Reparo on the site, since they needed to preserve the evidence, both for the investigation and so they could provide some explanation to the Muggles and the victims' families.

Severus looked at the former village with some pity, before crouching down and finding tire tracks.

"The Muggles were here too, but they didn't find any bodies. The Aurors took them all...", he sighed.

Severus entered the area and began examining it while sensing the magic around him. There were still many traces of dark magic lingering in the air.

"Milly, Helly, Hex, Susie, and Nox." Severus began calling each name, while several pops sounded around him and the house-elves appeared.

"Master, you called?", the Hogwarts house-elves said in unison.

"I need you to search this entire place. Look for any evidence belonging to wizards, or any genetic or non-genetic material related to the magical people who were here. Nothing from the Muggles, understood?", he asked.

The elves quickly nodded and disappeared, beginning to search through each of the burned structures.

Severus only had to wait ten seconds. That was precisely why he preferred using house-elves. They were much faster. In the end, what they found were a few strands of hair, only three, each belonging to a different person.

"How many people do you think were here?", Severus asked.

"At least fourteen, Master", one of the elves replied.

Severus remained thoughtful for a moment. "All right. Let's hunt down one of these three first tonight", Severus said and turned back to the elves. "You can return to Hogwarts. You did an excellent job here."

The elves shouted with joy and nodded, disappearing and leaving only Severus and the two phoenixes at the site.

He looked at the compass and placed one of the strands of hair near it, while putting the other two away. The needle continued spinning for a few moments until it finally stopped in one direction.

Farther north, no, northeast... He had to go back to the other side...

"I wonder if this thing can find this person even if they're hidden behind a Fidelius Charm?", Severus asked hopefully.

He already knew how the Fidelius worked in considerable detail thanks to a conversation he had had with Dumbledore that night at the meeting. Now he wanted to find out whether that compass left behind by the ghost would be powerful enough to overcome even that protection.

In any case, he took out a map of Great Britain, needing to use it this time, and checked where he was and which direction the compass was pointing. Severus would have to Apparate back to Scotland and check whether it continued pointing in the same direction. He would need to repeat that until he managed to find the exact location.

He Apparated directly to Hogsmeade, appearing in a corner near the Forbidden Forest, and checked the compass again.

He had certainly been lucky to Apparate directly there, because it was still pointing north.

"I'll try near the reserve. If the needle turns south, it means I've gone too far", he thought aloud.

Severus Apparated once more with the two phoenixes, appearing near the reserve where he had worked almost a month ago, but without entering the place. As soon as he checked the compass again, he saw the needle pointing south.

"I think we'd better continue from here by broom until we find the place", he said.

Severus took an invisibility potion and drank it, using another on his broom as well. He had Solaris drink one while Articuno, who had his own natural invisibility ability, simply camouflaged himself.

Thus, he and the two phoenixes finally shot into the sky.

The small compass still floated in the air at first, since it was being held by Severus's invisible hand. He obviously did not want to use an invisibility potion on it, and it was unnecessary, being only a tiny speck in the dark without drawing attention.

They continued following the indicated direction while the compass began pointing in different directions as they advanced, which meant they were getting closer and closer.

They continued until they found a cluster of farms. And there was even a small wizarding village nearby.

When he passed over one of the farms, the compass suddenly spun backward. It meant they had just passed the indicated location, and Severus looked toward a small house some distance away from the village.

"It's here", he said, approaching the place with the two phoenixes.

Severus cast a Revelio and saw a magical barrier surrounding the property. There was no Fidelius, but the place was protected.

'I can break the barrier', Articuno said in his mind.

"First, can you get inside and check?", Severus asked.

Although a house-elf could also do that, he wanted to use his phoenix. Besides, just thinking about it made Severus think once again about devoting some of his time to trying to acquire their abilities. House-elves possessed advantages that wizards simply did not have.

In any case, Articuno did what he asked. The phoenix disappeared and reappeared inside the place invisibly, beginning to inspect the interior of the house.

Severus created a small piece of ice and stood there waiting, playing with it between his fingers without making a sound. About three minutes later, Articuno returned to his side.

There were two men inside the house, one middle-aged and the other elderly, apparently father and son. Articuno also informed him about the objects and their activities inside the place.

They were preparing a potion in a huge cauldron. And among the ingredients, between herbs and other things, there were human fingers and hearts on the table.

Severus was almost certain they had used the Muggles killed in the previous night's attack to acquire those ingredients. Certainly, the Ministry had not disclosed that information because it would have been quite shocking to the population.

"Those bastards...", he said, feeling the urge to simply destroy the entire place.

"Let's go." With those words, Articuno fired a beam of ice at the barrier. The ice began spreading even across the abstract forms of the magical protection. With his power over that element, the phoenix could affect even magical barriers and destroy them. He did not destroy the entire barrier, only that part, creating an arch just large enough for Severus to pass through without completely destroying it.

Severus simply placed a cloak over his body, covering himself while his entire face disappeared into the darkness. It was similar to the way the Unspeakables dressed inside the Department of Mysteries.

No one would recognize him that way.

He advanced with light footsteps through the place, and no one noticed his presence until he reached the window and saw the two men working before a huge cauldron. The scene looked like something out of one of those Muggle tales about witches who captured little children, but instead of an old woman cooking children, there were two sinister men with pieces of human bodies being used as ingredients.

Equally disturbing to anyone.

Severus, however, merely observed everything coldly. "We won't need you this time", Severus said to the two phoenixes as he finally decided to act.

He extended his hand toward the door. The wood began to crack as it was crushed by an invisible force before simply being ripped away and hurled backward.

The two men immediately turned around, but Severus did not find them merely stunned by his entrance. Both brought their hands to their heads as they tried to fight against some presence violently invading their minds.

Their eyes finally found Severus approaching, a wand in his hand as he stared at them coldly.

He was using his combined Warg and Legilimency abilities, the same way he had done with those dark wizards behind the Leaky Cauldron. Now he was doing exactly the same thing there.

In fact, Severus had already sensed the presence of the two wizards the moment he came near the house. He had only wanted to confirm everything with Articuno before acting, to find out whether they could deceive them.

In any case, Severus continued interfering, penetrating their minds while the two felt immense pain, as if a needle were being driven into their brains. Severus was doing that deliberately so he could enter more easily and dominate them both.

"Who... who are you?", one of the wizards said, frightened.

Severus saw the man trying to reach for his wand and quickly cast a paralysis spell on him. The other tried to flee, but Severus cast the same spell, causing both of them to fall rigidly to the floor as he entered the place.

When the wizards came out of the paralysis, Severus was already standing before them, while both remained restrained and bound with ropes.

"Who... who are you?", one of them said, visibly disturbed, but also angry.

That one was the father, according to the information Severus had managed to pull from the surface of his mind.

"It doesn't matter", Severus merely said.

The man who was about to retort immediately recoiled and began screaming when Severus entered his mind again. He was deliberately not being gentle.

Now, looking directly into his eyes, Legilimency was much more efficient. Entering human minds was not something Severus was accustomed to. He had never done that in his past life, even though he had controlled thousands of animals, among them dozens of dragons at the same time. So he needed a few shortcuts to gain access to memories and perhaps, in the future, even control humans.

It was quite a disturbing ability, if it could truly go as far as Severus believed in that world.

In any case, he obtained all the information he wanted. The younger man was already frightened, looking at Severus as though he were standing before a monster.

"Who... who are you? Why are you doing this to us? We have important friends! Friends of the Dark Lord!", he said.

"Yes, I know that. I've already seen the information inside your father's head. Both of you were at yesterday's attack. You laughed and were pleased as you mutilated Muggles, burned their homes, and killed their children in front of them just to see the terror on their faces. Even as they begged, all you did was become even crueler... You took sadistic pleasure in torturing them, in making them feel terror until you broke each of their minds."

Severus wanted more information, but all those two knew was that they had been summoned for the attack. They had been unable to recognize most of the people in the group when they met.

Of course, they possessed some useful information, but very little. They knew some of those involved in Voldemort's cause and had even attended a few meetings, allowing Severus to obtain some names.

It seemed Voldemort was quite relaxed at that moment. After all, he was concerned about what was happening in Slytherin. Why would a Dark Lord bother with a bunch of children still in school, especially after only three weeks of classes?

"Let's give the Dark Lord something to rack his brain over out here too", Severus said.

"Sectumsempra!", Severus cast his classic spell.

He did not care that he was being cruel. He did not care about possible criticism for using it. He had seen what those men had done and wanted to make them suffer.

Both began to scream as several cuts appeared across their bodies, as though invisible swords were slicing into them, making them bleed without stopping.

That spell was still under development, so none of the Death Eaters would recognize it. And even though Severus had mentioned that he was working on a cutting spell, no one in Slytherin would pay much attention to it or suspect him. Besides, he was already developing a spell superior to that one. To the rest of the world, other Death Eaters had killed a few traitors...

Severus wanted to burn down that house, but he did not. He needed the Ministry to see what he had found there, who those people were connected to, and how miserably they had died.

He then began accumulating oxygen and flames once again at the tip of his wand, using the runes that prevented the Ministry from detecting his wand or even recording the spells cast with it.

Severus continued accumulating energy until he finally pointed his wand toward the sky, breaking the barrier as it cracked like shattering glass. The fireball shot upward, traveling at high speed until it reached an enormous altitude.

Then it exploded.

A flash illuminated the sky, followed by an enormous explosion. The boom came shortly afterward, loud enough to frighten anyone, even those sheltered inside their homes. All the wizards living in the surrounding area would certainly see or hear it.

That was the signal for the Ministry to come investigate. Severus did not remain there for another second.

With a burst of flames, one of his phoenixes appeared and took him away, returning with him to Hogwarts.

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