HP - Shadow Monarch - Chapter 135 - An ally?

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

London.

...

...

Snape went to Mr. Greengrass's office. As he sat down, Albert, at ease on his side of the desk, studied Snape for a moment.

"You said you had business with us. I'm curious to know more about it," Albert said, although he had some matters he wanted to discuss with Snape.

"You’re right, as I have an interest in your stock. I need a supplier since I’ll require a large supply given the use I’ll make of Potion ingredients," Snape said.

"What do you mean by that?" Albert was surprised to hear this and looked at the young man, trying to study him. "Clarissa mentioned you are the best alchemist at Hogwarts among the students, but I still don’t understand how you could use our stock. If you need anything, we’d be happy to help our daughter’s friend," he said.

"Let’s just say I’ve acquired a shop and intend to create potions to sell," Snape replied with a slight smile. Albert raised an eyebrow but continued to listen attentively.

"I already have it through a contract I made with the goblins at Gringotts. You could say they’re my shareholders," he explained.

"You managed that?" Albert seemed astonished. "Could you tell me the details?" he asked.

"I can share them, as long as you agree to make a deal through the goblins at Gringotts. After all, I have a contract with them," Snape said.

"Well... that’s a bit unusual, but fine. As long as it’s a supplier business, I see no issues," Albert admitted, surprised at how professional the young man in front of him was. He is just as Clarissa described him—direct and clear.

Snape nodded and began talking about his contracts, about his shop acquired through the Blacks, which clarified the recent news in the paper about the goblins being involved with the Blacks in some way.

"I see... I’m just very surprised that you managed such an alliance with the goblins at Gringotts. Do you know how impossible that would be in any other situation?" Albert asked, looking at the boy with an admiring gaze.

"I understand that the wizarding world would find this unusual. After all, goblins are always neutral and have their own interests, so I can understand your surprise," Snape said.

"Indeed. And you intend to enter the potion market with that shop—it will certainly be a challenge. But I’m impressed; you’re even more remarkable than my daughter described. Moreover, I wonder how you managed to gather so much money. After all, a shop like that isn’t cheap," he said.

"Perhaps I’ll tell you someday," Snape shrugged, lacking the familiarity with Clarissa’s father to reveal more than he already had.

"Very well. In any case, what are you looking to purchase from us?" Albert asked curiously.

"I’m planning to spend around 50,000 Galleons to stock up," Snape said.

"Well, that’s unbelievable, but if that’s what you want, I can offer you an even cheaper wholesale price. Let’s call it a gift for helping our daughter this year with her specializations," he said, while Snape nodded.

Snape said nothing but agreed silently to the gift.

"Now that we might close this deal, let’s move on to my matters," Albert said, pausing before continuing. "You know we’re in a very difficult situation..."

"Yes," Snape said, already knowing where he was heading, as it was one of the first things Clarissa mentioned to him when she approached him in the first week.

"So... we’re being somewhat forced to choose a side..." he remarked.

"So the Death Eaters are blackmailing you...?" Snape asked the man.

"Yes... they’re threatening to cut off our supply. They want us to take the side of the pure-blood cause, even though we’ve declared neutrality in this matter," he said with a hint of frustration.

"Then it’s a good thing I’m a new buyer. After all, I can take on a large number of your buyers at once, don’t you think?" Snape asked, while the man had to admit that things were heading in a direction he hadn’t anticipated, and he nodded.

"Yes... I can’t help but say I’m surprised by this, but yes. I was already inclined to deny their request. After all, I don’t agree with their idea of the world—it’s complete nonsense," the man said. Snape had never known exactly what the real plan was beyond controlling magical England with the intention of separating Muggle-borns on one side and wizarding families on the other.

"Can you tell me what they really want?" Snape asked. He had a deep desire to become a Death Eater, like the former Snape, driven by his wish to impress Lily and even make a name for himself, but he had never delved too deeply into the pure-blood ideology.

"Well... I don’t think you’ll have a problem knowing, but what they want is absurd. If I could sum it up in a few words: Hierarchization, Segregation, Elitism, and the worst of all..." The man paused before looking at Snape with a very serious expression. "Slavery," he finished.

"Slavery? Really?" Snape couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Those lunatic terrorists wanted to put collars on all Muggle-borns? That would be absurd.

"Yes..."

"How do they plan to do that? By placing a curse on all Muggle-borns?" Snape raised an eyebrow at the thought.

"Exactly as you said, Mr. Snape. They want to create a curse, the same one that was used in various periods of this world’s history, where people used non-magical individuals as servants. I don’t agree with it at all and completely repudiate it," Albert said.

"But even so, you haven’t taken a side against them," Snape analyzed.

"Not yet... Headmaster Dumbledore has already tried to convince me to join an order he’s forming, but I told him I needed time to think," he explained.

"An order...?" Snape wasn’t familiar with the order but shrugged it off, knowing that naturally, the headmaster of Hogwarts wouldn’t let this happen in the magical world of this country, though his methods were highly suspicious.

"Yes... soon magical England will be at war," he began. "Until now, I thought remaining neutral was the best choice, but I’m starting to see that it’s not so simple... I don’t agree with the path they want, but I also don’t want to get involved with Dumbledore because I don’t trust him," he said, leaving Snape surprised by these last words.

"What do you mean by that?" Snape asked.

"About Dumbledore?" Albert asked, and Snape nodded.

"That man used Veritaserum on Clarisse midway through the year," the man said with a tone of anger.

"That’s how he operates. I didn’t know that. After all, Clarisse didn’t mention it," Snape said, unable to hide some anger. Dumbledore had likely tried to use the girl to get information about him.

"Yes... you seem to know him, then?"

"Yes, he tried it with me too, but it didn’t work. That’s why I gained so many privileges this year—because I threatened him," Snape said.

"That scoundrel... so he was never trustworthy. Tell me, Mr. Snape, on one side there’s a man who wants to enslave the majority of the magical world, and on the other, I’m dealing with a manipulator. We discovered why we have our secrets about detecting certain things through our blood. We always run diagnostics, and when we saw Clarisse during a Quidditch game, we ran an examination. It was discovered... we sifted through her memories with our Pensieve," he said with restrained anger.

"I see..." Snape commented, filing away this information for future use. The headmaster likely hadn’t obtained anything from it, but Snape still wouldn’t let someone close to him be harmed to deal with him.

"Anyway, this is the situation I’m in. Can you understand?" the man asked.

"Yes... but I still wonder how you intend to deal with this," Snape asked.

"Well... that’s why I called you here..." He began, while Snape narrowed his eyes at him.

"You’ve been quite talked about this year. I know you’ve made a lot of enemies, and I didn’t expect to have this kind of conversation with you. But recent events have made me reconsider," he said.

"Recent events?" Snape asked, probing to see what he would reveal, though he already had an idea.

"Yes... it’s truly surprising to see such a situation arise." The man simply took a newspaper and placed it in front of him, showing the article about the dark wizards who had been dead for over a month.

"..." Snape didn’t comment, merely looking at Clarisse’s father, waiting for him to continue.

"You are the wizard who hunted them down, aren’t you?" he asked with a serious tone.

"Why do you think that?" Snape asked, raising an eyebrow, not expecting something like this on his first day here.

"Clarisse told me about your somewhat unusual abilities this year—how you could punch a Minotaur before erasing its memory. How you trained a girl before her, who became very powerful for her age, and how you could handle anyone in the school, no matter who they were," he said, while Snape listened.

"Handling students is easy. Are you suggesting that I killed several adult wizards with a sword?" Snape countered calmly.

"I'm not saying you're the person we’re talking about just because of that, but everything fits. The headmaster wanted information about you. He must know something significant enough to manipulate students. I’ve investigated everything. The Ministry is also looking for you because your house was attacked, and a teenager was caught in Diagon Alley. All the locations are tied to you. So, I believe it’s you," he said.

"..." Snape didn’t like this and didn’t reply, staring into Clarisse’s father’s eyes, wondering what he wanted.

"I don’t want you to be angry with me, and I can offer something to make you more comfortable," he said, opening a desk drawer and pulling out a piece of paper. "You can read it," he offered.

Snape saw that it was a blood contract, stating that nothing from their conversation would leave the room. He studied it for a moment before looking back at the man.

"Then sign it," Snape said.

This already confirmed that Snape was the assassin in question, but Albert picked up the blood quill and began signing his name, wanting to earn Snape's trust. "Done," he said.

"Why are you pursuing this? Shouldn’t I be dangerous to you and your family?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. I admit you would be extremely dangerous. But as you can see, we are out of options in choosing sides. Then this assassin appears, hunting down dark wizards. But I wonder why he’s doing it," the man said, staring intently at Snape.

"Let’s say he’s retaliating against those who are trying to get him. I’d call it self-defense..." Snape said, returning the gaze.

"And is this person really sitting in front of me?" He wanted only to confirm this, even though he already anticipated Snape’s response. Now, with the contract binding him to secrecy, his bleeding hand still demanded a direct acknowledgment.

"Yes... I am the man in the paper who is killing dark wizards with a sword," Snape finally admitted.