HP - Shadow Monarch - Chapter 228 - Handling Matters at Hogwarts 01.

[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.] Third Person POV Prince Manor. ... ... "Here, nephew." Alaric approached Severus having breakfast the next day w

[Chapter Size: 1800 Words.]
Third Person POV

Prince Manor.
...

...

"Here, nephew."
Alaric approached Severus having breakfast the next day while checking the newspapers.

They were still talking about him, about Voldemort’s trial, the destruction caused, the deaths and ruined families along with the international visit from the IWC.

"More letters? I hope this one’s special. Since you brought it all the way to me..." Severus remarked, looking at three letters.

"Could you give me a little more tea, Mippy?" Rosaria said in front of Severus.

She had been the only one who stayed at the Prince mansion, since all the other girls had to return home due to their families demanding it, and because they were still students—or most of them were. Even though Bellatrix was of age and no longer at Hogwarts, she still had to respect her grandmother, even though she had intended to stay when Rosaria announced she would send a letter to her father after Severus said she could remain.

Severus didn’t even leave the mansion, being too interested in the library, and ended up entering a few paintings in the house to access new dungeons and raise his level.

He had more than 800 shadows now, was satisfied with that, and had reached level 142. He now kept his magical aura perfectly hidden; he had to be careful not to break anything—his strength was immense at the moment, and it was very easy for him to crush someone’s hand just from a handshake.

He was still getting used to it.

"Here you go, Lady Rosaria!"
Mippy appeared and filled Rosaria’s cup before vanishing.

Severus’s gaze fell on the letters, and he saw one from the Evans family—from Lily. That made him look at his great-uncle, since he was filtering the immense number of letters arriving at the mansion—summons, threats, thanks, meetings, favors, and even love letters from families simply trying to use their daughters to forge a connection with Severus. Even though the Prince family already had great wealth, what Severus had done and the power he demonstrated were far beyond what anyone else could achieve.

It was no secret that he could easily be considered the most powerful wizard alive—after all, he had defeated both Dumbledore and Voldemort. And since he was still young, it was expected that he had not even reached his peak yet. Assuming the pure-blood status in the wizarding world, it was expected that he would reach heights never before seen.

Even the newspapers were starting to report that.

Alaric gave a small smile to Severus upon seeing his questioning look.
"You know, since you saved their daughter and rescued her, I figured you might be interested in hearing the Evans family’s thanks," he said.

"Lily Evans? You received a letter from them?"
Rosaria immediately asked with a suspicious look.

She particularly never liked how the girl followed Severus around school. She herself caused a few disadvantageous situations in class because of the ‘jealousy’ she felt toward the redhead, ignoring her whenever she asked questions so that she couldn’t earn points. Severus had explained the girl’s condition later, and that seemed to bother Rosaria even more.

"Yes..." Severus said, opening the letter.
"They’re inviting me to have lunch with them..." he said, raising an eyebrow at Lily’s father’s letter.

"I’ll leave you two alone."
Alaric said and walked away as Severus nodded to him.

"Are you going?" Rosaria asked, seeming a little bothered.

"For someone who accepted an engagement with me and three other girls, you seem a bit too bothered." Severus looked at her with amusement.

"The engagement is just a way to test our relationship... Like you said, it’s not like we’re getting married the next day. But I don’t like Miss Evans," she said.

"I wouldn’t be that bothered... Actually, I was the one who acted wrongly with her. I called her a Mudblood, something I don’t think is right nowadays, but I have no intentions with Lily," Severus said. He knew she hadn’t been a good friend to him in the past.

The old Severus hadn’t seen it, blinded by his passion for the redhead, even though he could’ve noticed her smiling during the incident at the lake—she had laughed at him while Potter left him hanging upside down. She had curled her lips before trying to stop Potter.

Severus, at that moment, became so enraged, feeling frustrated and betrayed, that he called her a Mudblood, trying to regain some dignity. He regretted it later, but Morou wouldn’t have done that, which is why he didn’t hold back when he saw her picking up his book—the same one she was using with the Marauders in Diagon Alley in his first moments after reincarnating into this world.

He had no romantic intentions with her, but the letter had certainly caught his attention.

"So you’re going to visit him..." Rosaria said, seeing Severus calmly reading the letter.

"Yes... not because of Lily. But because of Mr. Evans—after all, everything that happened to that family was my fault. Besides, I owe him... The man helped me a lot when I had a rough situation with my father at the start of Hogwarts... You know, I have a debt to him, even if he seemed to hate me after the problems I had with Lily... I don’t blame him," Severus said.

‘Though my old self was far too naïve too.’ Severus felt he should at least tell the man his thoughts and the reason he cut ties with Lily, instead of chasing after her in desperation, to the point of committing suicide when he saw no more hope.

It was sad...

"I’ll go to the Evans’ house over the weekend," Severus said.

"And I can’t go with you?" she asked awkwardly.

"I’d rather you didn’t. This is something I need to do alone," Severus said.

"I understand..." Rosaria murmured.

"Would you like to accompany me today? I have a few things to do," Severus suddenly said, making Rosaria look at him a bit surprised.

"Of course... What do you need to do?" she asked.

"I told you I need to go to Hogwarts. I want to collect all my things," Severus said.

"That’s true... do you plan to bring Atlas here along with his mate?" she asked, excited.

"Yes... I need to take care of all that and even talk to the headmaster," he said while she nodded.

"Alright, let’s go then!" she said.

"Let’s train a bit first, then we’ll get ready to go to Hogwarts," Severus said as she nodded.

Severus finished his breakfast and read the newspaper while Rosaria changed clothes, and he simply used his wand to switch into clothes stored in his system.

She appeared shortly after with a smile on her face, wearing fitness clothes that wizards normally wouldn’t wear.

"Those are Muggle clothes..." Severus commented, looking at the shirt and pants combo with a skirt, all in red—her favorite color.

"You wear Muggle clothes too," she accused, and Severus smiled.

"You should teach me that spell to change clothes... it’s much easier," she complained, seeing how effortlessly he did it.

"You need to keep the clothes with you. Why not try using a dimensional box for it? You can retrieve the clothes and dress your body while casting the spell," Severus explained as she nodded.

They began running, starting with ten kilometers. It didn’t take long, since Rosaria, being half-vampire, was as strong and fast as a werewolf—but that was amplified by the fact that her father was Dracula.

They soon finished the workout. Severus didn’t even break a sweat—it was easy with his strength.

"Damn... you’re so strong now. I might’ve had a chance to fight you one day... but now, Severus... you never told me how powerful you’ve become or how you’re doing it."

Rosaria couldn’t help looking at him with a tone full of curiosity and a certain admiration.

She blushed when he removed his top to exercise more comfortably, revealing his well-defined muscles.

"You know that’s my secret," Severus said with a smile, noticing how she was staring at him the entire time.

"You can’t even tell your future wife?" she teased, almost tempted to lean in and smell the fragrance he gave off.

"Maybe one day," was all he said, and they went back inside to shower and get ready.

He put on his black outfit with a coat, while Rosaria liked wearing her red dress.

"I’m ready. Shall we go?" she asked, arriving in the entrance hall where Severus was waiting.

"Yes, I’ll leave the rest with you, great-uncle. Don’t let anyone in or ask my shadow to deliver the message," Severus said as a soldier from his black shadow army appeared in the middle of the room.

Alaric was already used to it in recent days. Severus had to show him a bit of his powers so he wouldn’t be startled once he saw multiple shadows around the house—Severus had fortified the mansion with them, keeping them hidden to protect against a possible attack when many Aurors and wizards were seeking revenge just outside the gate.

"Yes. Good luck, nephew," Alaric said.

"Fawkes."

Severus spoke, and surprisingly, a red phoenix appeared in front of him at that very moment.

She hadn’t forgotten her duty to serve him as a shadow and ended up binding herself to Severus. She herself didn’t want to return to being a normal phoenix, and that seemed to have unsettled Dumbledore, knowing that his former companion no longer held the same loyalty toward him.

Severus had told her to keep serving Dumbledore, but to still assist him when needed—after all, he liked her apparition, especially when he couldn’t normally use that inside the castle. Only his shadow teleportation allowed it, but not over long distances.

The phoenix let out a joyful cry upon seeing him, and Severus scratched her feathers. He held her on his arm as she looked at him with great interest, now a living red being—no longer those black shadows with purple flames.

"Can you take us to the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts?" Severus asked, and the phoenix cried out to confirm.

He and Rosaria were bathed in the phoenix’s flames and vanished.

In the middle of the Room of Requirement, unchanged since Severus had decided to retrieve Juggernaut, they appeared as the phoenix flew overhead.

"Can you tell Dumbledore I’m here and need to speak with him?" Severus asked, and the phoenix disappeared.

"Now we have to pack the books," Severus said, pulling out several magical bags—so large they contained multiple rooms inside, thanks to space-distortion spells.

"Alright, let’s see your animals first," Rosaria said with a smile, and Severus nodded, heading toward the rooms as Dobby and Genini appeared to greet him.

He had his books, potions, cauldrons, and all kinds of items he’d been using in that place over the past year. Afterward, he would head to the Chamber of Secrets for one final conversation with Salazar and then go speak with the headmaster about the Horcruxes.