Good or bad, does it matter?

For the next two days, Snape devoted himself to potion making, or more precisely, to the preparation of one specific potion that was supposed to help Macmillan and not only him.

In addition to this, he also followed the news and did not forget about Bellatrix, who was watched by Jose, and the Shafiks, together with Nestor, temporarily settled in one of the hotels in Diagon Alley, under fictitious identities. 

But of course, such a "loud" case did not pass without a trace, because the very next day, from the very morning, the Aurors came to him, led by Moody.

The "interrogation" itself was rather quick, he mainly asked about a possible criminal who could have done this to his shop and whether he had received any anonymous threats before. 

Snape, in turn, calmly answered the questions, not going into much detail and showing with his whole appearance that they should quickly wrap up and leave, because he could not move away from the cauldron for a long time. 

Alastor, although irritated by the behaviour of the "kid", who seemed to disregard him and considered him more of an annoying fly than the Captain of the Auror squad, but he could not do anything about it, he could only endure and restrain his anger, continuing to collect information, almost bit by bit, because the Prince's answers most often did not move further: "yes, no, I don't know, maybe", as if it was not his shop that was destroyed, but someone else's.

The attack took place at twelve o'clock at night, so no one saw the house-elf and there were simply no witnesses, because for two years a curfew had already been introduced at eleven o'clock at night, there should have been no one on the street, with the exception of the Aurors, who were patrolling, who arrived at the scene of the battle and distracted the wizards of the "Queen". 

But in the end, the man had to leave almost empty-handed, although Snape still gave a small hint that there were "a lot of rats" in the city and one must always be on the alert. 

But he was not the only "guest" of Snape, in addition to him, Charles, the brother of the leader of the "Steel" department, dropped in on him, he also began to "interrogate", but in a lighter manner. 

Having justified his interest by the fact that "Severus" was no longer a simple wizard, but a member of the "Black Star" and that someone had attacked him, it meant that this "someone" had simply spat in the face of the entire organisation and they were obliged to punish him. 

But Severus also told him the same thing, only adding that he would sort everything out himself and that they should not interfere in his affairs. 

Although the guest did not like this, he did not comment on it, but simply left slightly dissatisfied, but Severus did not forget to hint to him about the "rats", and more specifically, that they were from the "west". 

Still, as the Prince managed to find out, the "Black Star" and the "Queens" were not on the best terms. 

Although they did not openly conflict, over the past centuries, many controversial issues have accumulated concerning some territories.

In the remaining time, no one else came to him, except for Bella, who contacted him through the mirror to find out if everything was okay with him, that is if you only look at the words of the witch of course, but otherwise, it was more like another interrogation, which of course slightly raised the already lousy mood of Severus...

***

Looking at the bottle, from which a yellow glow emanated, a tired smile did not leave the Prince's face, physically he may still be full of strength after taking the "Cheerfulness" potion, but emotionally, over these five days, Severus was squeezed dry. 

So tired, he had not felt like this for a long time. 

"How will all this end, I will definitely not get out of bed until Sunday ... but still ... not bad, nine out of ten turned out successfully." Looking down at the table on which there were eight more bottles, and then at the lump consisting of roots, from which magic was still emanating, but a little weaker than before, a heavy sigh escaped from his lips.

"Are you finally finished?" The worried voice of Nagini sounded, who spent almost all this time next to him, but in the middle of the second day she fell asleep and the house-elf, carried her to the bedroom and only a few minutes ago she woke up. 

"Yes, there are only two more things left and we can rest a little," his smile became a little more lively, seeing his companion, and looking up at the clock, he saw that it was almost ten o'clock in the morning and sighing again, Snape put the bottle on the table, and then, running his palm over them and the heart of the King of Ents, they disappeared and in their place appeared a bottle with a green liquid, uncorking which, he immediately drank and a few seconds later his copy stood in front of him at the sight of which, the young man wrinkled his eyebrow.

"When I finish all this, I'll definitely go to bed …" a cloak appeared in Snape's hand, which he threw over his shoulders.

"Shall we go?" He looked at Nagini with a smile, who only nodded silently and quickly crawled onto him, wrapping herself around his neck. 

And when Severus was about to move to Macmillan, a house elf materialised in front of them, holding Lucky, who jumped from her arms onto the shoulder of the Prince's copy. 

"~ Mrrryau!"

"Welcome back, little one, I take it they've already left?" the clone stroked his head, to which the kitten purred contentedly and nodded.

"Good job, as soon as this is over, I promise to take you to the best sushi restaurant in England."

"~ Meow?" A place that only serves fish, as soon as he heard this, Lucky's eyes lit up and he began to rub against the copy's cheek with even greater zeal.

"Okay, okay, let's go." he drawled with a hint of fun in his voice, after all, this little animal knew how to cheer you up...

---

As soon as they appeared in front of a small mansion, the young man, who had been nervously waiting for them all this time, jumped up from the bench and looked with excitement at the "elderly wizard", behind whom stood "Severus", who nodded to him with a confident smile on his face, from which his heart began to beat faster. 

"I... I am glad to welcome you to our house, Mr. Ichiros," with a trembling voice, he bowed to the elderly wizard, who measured him with an indifferent, piercing look, from which goosebumps ran all over the body of the head of the family. 

"Take me to your father, I don't have much free time," chuckling, the "old man" ordered in a dispassionate voice, leaving him alone, from which the former headman could finally sigh with relief.

 "Y-yes! Excuse me, please, follow me," Macmillan quickly babbled, as if afraid that Snape's teacher could leave at any moment.

 John, walking quickly towards the door and opening it, allowed "Ichiros" to pass first, and then catching up with him, he stood a little ahead and led him up the stairs where the room in which his father lay was located. 

Snape himself was even slightly amused by such behaviour of the aristocrat, after all, it is rare to see him so worried and excited as now. 

And, as soon as they reached the right room, the aristocrat stepped forward and opened the door, allowing "Ichiros" and Snape to enter first, and then he himself followed them. 

"Stand at the entrance," the "elderly wizard" said and approached the bed.

At the same time, "Severus" patted the worried Macmillan Jr. on the shoulder. 

"Don't doubt it, my teacher will definitely heal your father," he tried to cheer up the young man, who smiled tensely and nodded to Severus, expecting the result with impatience on his face.

 "I... I believe," his gaze rose again to the back of "Ichiros", whose palm was pressed to Faust's forehead, "I have only experienced such tension standing in front of someone once in my life, and that was the day Dumbledore came to our shop, but this man is much scarier than him..." swallowing, he looked at Snape with a bit of envy, "You are very lucky with your teacher..." 

"I know."

At this time, "Ichiros" had two vials of shining liquid in his hand, and a substance from which a faint silver glow emanated, resembling something between a liquid and a gas. 

"Although it is inferior to the real potion of "Eternal Life", but this should be enough to help to gain a foothold and occupy the empty mind of the new personality ..." having uncorked both, he pointed his finger at the white gas towards the man's forehead, who gradually began to dive into it, while "Ichiros" stood in such a way as to block John's view, because he could immediately suspect something, seeing what he was doing, because almost every student got acquainted in the fourth year with the pool of memory, a way to pull out memories and what they look like. 

And when the "old man" finished with this, he almost immediately removed the empty bottle, and then, opening the man's mouth, slowly began to pour in the second one, while touching his throat with his finger, thereby helping him swallow the potion. 

Having removed the second empty vessel, he put his palm on the man's head and closed his eyes, immersed in the mind of the wizard, which was an endless, white space with smoke swirling in the very centre. 

"Not bad... they were able to take root, and now..." the next moment, from somewhere below, the space was suddenly engulfed by a yellow glow, rushing straight into a small bundle of personality and memories that he pulled out of the portrait, in a few seconds repainting it from white to its colour and a huge number of bundles burst out of it in all directions of the empty space, and a sigh of relief burst from the Prince's lips, "Good,"

He gradually began to capture the empty body, now all that remains is to wait... 

Outside, Severus opened his eyes and removed his hands from the man's head, and then turned to the frozen John, who was anxiously awaiting "Ichiros'" decision. 

[A/N: Amon Ichiros is his full name.]

"I'm done, he should wake up in a few hours, but memory lapses may appear," measuring John with the same indifferent look, he headed for the exit, "Severus, stay here for now, I need to solve one more problem, and then we will continue your training."

"Yes, teacher!"

"Sir, thank you, I… I can never repay you for saving my father, but if there's anything I can…" Approaching him, he bowed deeply to the elderly wizard, feeling incomparable happiness, because he couldn't even dream that after all the healers threw up their hands over their case,a man will appear who would heal his father.

"You can't have what I need, thank my student who has been bothering me all this time," he waved him off with a bit of irritation, and then simply disappeared, leaving a surprised John, just blinking his eyes.

"Okay, maybe we'll have some tea?" Snape looked at him with an embarrassed smile, stroking Lucky's head. 

"Severus," the young man looked into his eyes with all seriousness, "I will never forget what you did for our family…"

"Let's not do this, we are friends, have you forgotten?" encouragingly patting him on the shoulder, he left the room, leaving the head of the family with his father.

"You owe me breakfast, otherwise I didn't have time to eat at home and something else for the kitten," he said, already going down the stairs. 

"Thank you…" he whispered quietly, barely containing the feelings that were overwhelming him, "…I swear that someday I will repay you for everything…" He clenched his fists tightly and looked warmly at his father's face, on which, for the first time in these five difficult days for the whole family, peace had appeared, in place of the previous indifference…

.

.

.

Thank you and sorry for yesterday.