As soon as Lucius left, Alan, smiling, cut his finger and drew a diamond-shaped pattern on his palm…
"And here I thought it would be harder," he said, licking the blood from his finger and looking at Nagini, whose head lay in his lap. "Thank you for your help; without you, I doubt I would have achieved this result," she muttered, closing her eyes. "I honestly didn't understand you, but whatever..."
August 29, 1976
Unbeknownst to Alan himself, the time to return to Hogwarts was approaching, and Diagon Alley was filled with parents and children searching for school supplies, prompting many previously closed shops to reopen. After all, the start of the school year was a greater celebration for all the shops than even for the students themselves.
Alan also didn't stay home and eagerly awaited his return to Hogwarts, finally fully prepared to hunt the Basilisk. And, like everyone else, accompanied by Nagini, with whom he had become quite close during this time and whom he had shrunk to a minimum so as not to attract too much attention, they made their way along the winding, bustling street. The multitude of glittering shop windows, the bright signs that, as if enchanted, attracted the wizards' gazes, and the cheerful faces of the vendors—it was like a fairy tale, as if the war had ceased to exist. Compared to a month ago, Diagon Alley seemed to have come alive, though only temporarily, to give the ordinary wizards at least some sense of peace on such a joyous day...
"There…" Nagini hissed, pointing her tail towards a small studio.
"I know, you've already gotten on my nerves with these clothes," Alan grumbled tiredly, heading in that direction.
"You're constantly using Transfiguration on your clothes. What if you get distracted at some point and lose control of the spell? And that's not to mention that in the wizarding world, it's simply wrong; you're only degrading yourself by doing so!"
"That's enough, I get it, I get it..." he waved her off, glancing out of the corner of his eye at a pair of wizards dressed in dark, formal suits, surveying the surroundings. "This is already the fifth patrol... to show they're not afraid of any Dark Lord and that everything is under control, they staged such a stupid show... They could have at least dressed the Aurors in everyday clothes, idiots..."
As soon as Alan entered the studio, a smiling, short woman in a purple dress immediately flew up to him.
"Hello, young man, I will be happy to help you choose a robe, let me take your measurements..."
"Of course, but I also want to ask you for two pairs of dark trousers and two shirts."
"Pants…?" she looked at him, puzzled. "Students don't usually wear pants…"
"You don't have them?"
"Yes, of course, I'm just a little surprised. Oh, I'm so sorry, I've been talking too much, let me take your measurements!" A tape measure flew off the table and began to flutter around Alan's waist, just as a piece of paper and a pen flew toward the woman...
Only half an hour later, Snape left the shop with new clothes, having placed a small order from above, which would only be ready tomorrow.
Afterwards, they visited a shoe store, where the young man bought himself a pair of high boots with metal inserts, as well as light shoes, then the Magical Menagerie, where he bought a postal owl, which he had wanted to buy for a long time, but he was simply too lazy to go to the store, and there was no one to communicate with. Either Malfoy constantly sent an owl and Alan wrote a reply through it, or the Macmillans acted according to the same scheme.
He also didn't forget to go to the bookstore to pick up his sixth-year textbooks. Although he still had the ones Eileen had used, they were already quite outdated.
Closer to two o'clock in the afternoon, he finished his walk, stopping at the last store with ingredients and leaving there almost fifteen hundred Galleons.
"Were there any goblins in your family, by any chance?" Nagini suddenly asked thoughtfully, causing Alan to almost stumble over nothing.
"Who knows about this family of Princes. Maybe they did exist. Why such a question?"
"Your love for gold is a little scary: you already have almost twenty thousand Galleons in your bag, and you're planning to cheat this Malfoy again by selling him your potion for seven times the cost price," she hissed, sticking her head out from under his shirt.
"What can I do if he comes for them himself? I'm not forcing him to buy them, and I didn't set that price; I only offered six times that," Alan shrugged indifferently, causing the snake to shake her head and slide back under his shirt. "And do you really think he's taking them for himself? We also have to figure out which of us is the real goblin; he's definitely selling them for ten times the price..."
"Both are good."
"And you can't argue... hm?" A sly grin appeared on the wizard's face as he felt the warmth of one of the diamonds in his palm. "Don't come out, no matter what happens next."
"…?"
As they passed one of the dark alleys, a pair of thin arms burst out and pulled Alan inside.
"Did you think you could escape from me by changing your appearance?!" the dark-haired woman hissed, pinning him against the wall with one hand and holding a wand in the other, the tip of which was a millimeter from his neck.
"Bella, how I missed you, and especially your sweet lips..."
"Shut up!" Black hissed, plunging her wand into his throat. "If you dare speak again..."
"About the strawberry flavor?" He looked at her furious face, his expression unchanged. "Okay, I won't, but I wouldn't mind trying them again, would you like to treat me?"
"In the next world! Avada..."
"I wouldn't do that. I'm sure Voldemort would be upset to learn of my death."
"...yes...what are you talking about? Why would our master be upset about the death of some pathetic half-breed?" Seeing the smile on Alan's face, the confidence she'd once had in her own words slowly began to evaporate. "Answer!"
"I don't want to," he answered with a chuckle, turning away.
"Answer!" Bella demanded, pressing the tip of her wand even harder into his throat, no longer with the same confidence she had before.
"No."
"Then I will kill you."
"Kill me, and then we'll see how you look him in the eye."
"YOU...!" Black's hand trembled. "What do you want?!"
"You already know that," he calmly looked into her black eyes, raised his hand and touched her chin.
Alan simply couldn't help but smile at the sight of the struggle on her face, feeling the fountain of murderous aura through the mark, but only one thought—that by killing him she could interfere with her master's plans—held her back from the final step.
"It's just a kiss, I'm not asking you to sleep with me," he raised his other hand, calmly moving the tip of her wand away and, slowly approaching her face, still looking into her eyes, he pressed his lips to those so enticing. This time, however, he decided to restrain himself and didn't use his tongue, so as not to scare her off, and besides, he didn't really want to be bitten again. "You could at least change your expression..." Snape sighed wearily, shaking his head. Disappointedly, he released her and threw the vial of potion aside. He silently turned and headed toward the exit of the alley. "It was much more interesting last time, but now it's like I'm kissing a doll..."
At the same time, standing rooted to the spot, Bella could only look at the back of the departing wizard, because she immediately understood what kind of potion it was, and therefore the woman simply could not attack.
And what kind of reaction was that? Black thought with growing irritation again, touching her lips for a moment.
"If you want to increase the amount of potions that Malfoy usually buys from me, I want you to come pick them up yourself, with payment, of course, and a small bonus..." Alan exclaimed before leaving the alley, and his cheeky laughter echoed in her head for a long time.
"You fucking bastard..." She clutched the potion and threw it with all her might at the wall, where it shattered. "Someday, I swear, I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!"
Having left the alley, he headed towards home, because he had already bought everything he wanted. All that remained was to wait for the first of September.
"What was that?" Nagini's indifferent voice rang out with a hint of jealousy.
"A game of cat and mouse," he replied with a smile, stroking the snake that had emerged from under his shirt. "But don't worry, you're the only one in my heart, and there's simply no one to replace you, and besides, we need to restore the family line," he winked at her.
"Pfft! Come to your senses, pervert, I'm a snake."
"Well, that can be fixed. I'm currently working on a potion that should help you tame your beast side."
After his words, she was silent for a few seconds.
"…thank you…" she said in a slightly muffled voice, turning her head to the side.
"What are you crying about?"
"No, of course not, I just got something in my eye!" Nagini quickly hissed, returning back under his shirt.
"Okay, okay, I'll believe you."
"No, I'm not crying!"
"What's a wet shirt...? Or maybe you're pe..."
"NO! I'll bite you right now if you continue talking such nonsense!"
"Okay, I'll keep quiet, but speaking of Hogwarts, will you come with me?" he decided to change the subject, so as not to embarrass her any further.
"What if they notice me...?"
"Let's tell the truth, I want to develop a potion that can make you human again, and if they don't see your true nature, then you will be my pet. After all, it's not forbidden to have pets at Hogwarts."
"Then I'll go with you, I don't want to be alone again..."
"That's great..."