Good or bad, does it matter?

From behind the fabric came a small, humanoid-shaped magical creature, yellow and black striped, she had a bee-like face with two huge growths on her head connected together, between which was a large mouth studded with sharp fangs. 

In addition, behind her back there were two pairs of wings, their appearance reminiscent of a dragonfly, and the arms and legs of a bee, but in structure they were similar to human ones and the picture was completed by a large chest with two black spots in the middle.

As soon as Severus saw her form, a sigh of relief escaped his mouth and his usual smile returned to his face.

"It just stepped into the fifth rank*, apparently I've evolved quite recently, which means the difference between us is not that big, my strength is approximately at the top of the "Master" rank, but it's still surprising that a creature of similar strength can exist here, where there is dozens of times less magic than in the "Magic Jungle", I greatly underestimated the outside world and since she was able to advance so much, it would not be so surprising if somewhere in the world there would be another similar monster... "

"Why are you silent or are you so scared that you can't squeeze a word out of yourself?" with the same playfulness, she drawled, but at the same time, the Queen Bee did not take her eyes off the "thief" for a moment, because she felt something strange in him, and the fact that he was able to catch the sting made her even a little wary .

 "No, I'm sorry, I was just thinking a little," Severus calmly answered, shaking his head, putting the sting in his wallet, because it could be used as a good throwing weapon, which is quite capable of breaking through the barrier of even the "Archmage", since it is so the passive Protego could easily pass, and looking at the bees surrounding him on all sides, he continued, fixing his gaze on the "woman," 

"And it's true, It was my fault, I didn't ask for permission, but in my defence I can say that I just didn't want to distract you from your work."

"But it was still worth asking this Queen ," she said coldly, chuckling.

 "I'll know from now on, so will you allow me to take some?" having removed the masking charms, which, in addition to the body, smell and sounds, also hid the magic, it did not escape his eyes how the "finger" on her hand trembled, and the early confidence instantly evaporated.

Magical creatures were much more sensitive to magic than ordinary people and in the eyes of the bee, previously a small light surrounding a person turned into a real fire that flooded the entire hive, for the first time since she evolved, someone managed to suppress her magic, in the depths of her soul, fear began to arise and it was not just for her own life, but for the entire hive, because if a battle began, she would not be able to withstand even a few minutes, and even her hundreds, or even thousands of subjects would die, which she simply do not want.

"What do you offer in return?" Although her voice sounded completely ordinary, the playfulness and former arrogance had completely evaporated, and in their place came an almost imperceptible nervousness, 'I can't show weakness, if he notices, it will be the end of our colony…'

"What about the flowers from one place where there is ten times more magic than here?" pretending that he had not noticed anything, the Slytherin suggested, taking out a flower that looked like a rose.

 Usually, this ingredient was used in potions to cure ice-type curses, but Severus had several thousand of them in his pouch, because he bought a considerable amount at the market in Brazil, and Nellie also collected it in the "Magic Jungle", in the territory of the Treants.

As soon as the Queen saw him take out the flower and felt the huge amount of magic, her black eyes flashed and, jumping from the "balcony", she flew up to the wizard, but without relaxing her vigilance one iota.

'Twenty-five times more magic than ordinary flowers and how can it be so pure...?' the magical creature thought excitedly, touching the bud with her finger, 'If I get more of these flowers, then in a few decades I will be able to become stronger again…' 

"One flower - ten millilitres of honey," the man's voice sounded with a bit of mockery, tearing her out of her thoughts .

"Ten millilitres? What is this?" The Queen asked, trying to contain her anger. "There were three litres in that jar that you broke, and one litre is equal to a thousand millilitres, then I think you can calculate it yourself."

"Three hundred flowers, for that small amount...?" The bee looked at him in disbelief, thinking that he wanted to deceive her, because it was too cheap for a plant that had so much pure magic.

 "It's true" 'a small amount she said…' Severus thought with a wry smile, remembering the prices in his world for these ten grams.

 The young man was even a little embarrassed by such an "equal deal," and his conscience began to make attempts to rebel, but the attempts did not go further, it was strangled by one disgustingly giggling toad, which, after its "crime," rubbed its paws with a satisfied squint.

"If this is so, then you can take at least a hundred of these jars, but can you bring even more flowers?" The "Queen" looked into his eyes with impatience, because this was her chance to become stronger and she simply could not miss it, since over the past three decades, she had hardly advanced in development, after the last evolution.

" I can bring six hundred every month…"

"Okay!" she called two bees to her and turned their backs, "You can put them on them."

"Okay, but I also have other types…"

"Show me!" Almost devouring him with her gaze, the Queen excitedly demanded, while Grid's left eye twitched several times, but he did not refuse the "lady", and began to take out all kinds of flowers he collected in the "Magic Jungle"...

---

More than an hour later, Snape left the hive with mixed feelings; on the one hand, he was glad to have forty litres of honey for next to nothing, but on the other, he felt somewhat bad, as if he had deceived a child and taken his candy away. 

After all, if this honey got into the outside world, they would easily give several hundred thousand Galleons for it, and that's just for a small jar. But of course, he was not going to just sell it, Severus wanted to get the most out of it and when the time came to bring it into the light, Severus would be the only person who had the means that could give an ordinary person a magical gift, although not with one hundred percent probability, and if someday a total war between Muggles and wizards really begins, he will be able to stop it and get the maximum benefit by selling honey to the simpletons, and by this time the Archmage had no doubt that he would be able to surpass even himself from the past, because such a war is unlikely in this millennium whether it would happen, since Muggle technology had not yet developed enough to detect magicians, but he had no doubt that this would definitely happen within the next hundred years, because the simpletons were developing by leaps and bounds.

 But until this time, the wizard was going to use him only to lure promising magicians to his side, because if this war does happen, his voice will only have weight if there are people behind him.

 Although Snape wanted to invite the Queen of the Sun Bees to move her hive to the territory of his house, he still decided to hold off on this, because they had only just met and there was not even the slightest trust between them, so it is unlikely that she would have agreed and was even more likely to be wary , so waiting for a while was the best solution, and after he found out her level of strength, he was no longer worried about them, because there is unlikely to be a creature stronger than her in this forest, the "Queen" herself said the same thing, and he could quite calmly wait another five or even ten years until she could trust him, at least a little.

And having dispelled the thoughts weighing on him, they continued on their way, the next stopping place would be the center of the "Forbidden Forest", where the "White Lotus" should be located, unless, of course, over the past thousand years, it was not destroyed, eaten or simply died out, because too much has passed a lot of time.

 But even if Snape can't find him, he won't be too upset, because this, like the poison of acromantulas, is only an additional goal, and the main one is to explore the forest in case of surprises, like devils or something similar, and finding " Sun Bees" has already fully paid for this campaign... _____________________________________________________________________________________

*In the world of Grid, the ranks of Mages (divided into: low, middle, highest and peak) / Magical Creatures (the same system here):

Apprentice / 1st rank,

Journeyman / 2nd rank,

Master / 3 rank,

Master / 4 (lowest and middle) - 5 (highest and peak) ranks,

Archmage / 6 (lowest and middle) - 7 (highest and peak) ranks,

Great Archmage / 8 (lowest and middle) - 9( highest and peak) ranks,

Creator / 10th rank.