Good or bad, does it matter?

[Gloucestershire.]

As soon as "Amon" found himself on the territory of the house, his face twisted and he almost immediately fell to one knee, clutching his cloak near his chest. "I didn't seem to use much magic, but I still overstrained the core..."

"Sev…"

"I'm fine," smiling softly, he looked at the worried face that stuck out from under the hood, and then, taking a deep breath and trying to shield himself from the pain, he rose to his feet and headed towards the door, "I just slightly miscalculated my strength, by the way, how did you like the show?" he asked her, in order to steer the conversation in another direction, while throwing off the hood and dispelling the appearance of the old man, returning to his previous appearance.

Nagini, although she understood what he wanted to do, still decided to play along, because too much had happened today and she did not want to burden him with her anxiety.

"It turned out to be very interesting, although I expected more from those who were able to defeat Tobbi and hurt Agnes."

"They were just lucky with Tobbi, if he did not have to protect and if he did not have to worry about others, they would not have survived, he used at most eighty percent of his real abilities without resorting to mass spells," opening the door, he entered the house and almost immediately headed towards the living room, throwing off his robe along the way, "And soon, may even reach the middle rank of "Master (||)" the Prince added to himself, falling on the sofa, and the snake quickly crawled onto his chest.

"Severus, are you sure everything is okay?" Noticing that his face had become a little paler than usual, she asked anxiously.

"I have everything under control, give me an hour to rest and I'll be fine…" Stroking her head, he closed his eyes and concentrated on recovery, of course, if he had slept a little, the core would have recovered much faster, but in this case, the clone in Macmillan's house, which served as his "alibi" that Amon and Severus were not one person, would have simply dissipated, and in this case, after more than five days of lack of sleep, he could definitely fall into bed for at least a whole day, which was very inopportune now, for starters, the wizard wanted to finish all his business, and only then sleep peacefully.

"Yes…" the maledictus looked at his face dejectedly, lowering her head on the Prince's chest, "When will calm times come…"

***

At this time, in a small, half-ruined building, twenty kilometres from the battle site, a white sparrow flew into the window, landed right in front of a small mirror and at the same moment, quickly began to increase in size and after a few seconds, it took the form of a short man of about forty years old, who had a rather tired appearance, but what stood out in his image was his white hair, the colour of a bird's feathers.

"Una no peri…" pointing his palm at the mirror, he whispered and ripples went across his reflection.

"Report," an indifferent, female voice sounded, and then the owner of the voice herself appeared in it: a brunette, in white clothes, consisting of a jacket, skirt and shirt, and a pair of cold, blue eyes looked at him from behind her glasses.

"Team number seven has been destroyed, I'm late," he answered, sighing tiredly, and then continued, "A danger has appeared, at least of the fifth rank, he playfully dealt with almost the entire team, they could not even scratch him, all he used was a couple of spells, very simple ones, with the exception of the fire dome, in my opinion, it is better to avoid confrontation with this man."

"Explain."

"He noticed me, but let me go, which indicates that he does not want to be hostile to us, it was only revenge for the attack."

"Are you suggesting that we let him go after killing an entire group of our people?" she measured him with a frowning look.

"Yes, he is too dangerous and enmity with this old man can harm our plans," he expressed his opinion without reacting to the lady's burning gaze.

"I understand, go back to headquarters, I heard your opinion and will report to the authorities, but they will make a decision on this matter after they see your memories," she ordered, pulling a mask of indifference onto her face again.

"As you say," he waved it off languidly, not really reacting to this change, and gradually the image began to disintegrate and was replaced by the reflection of a man, "I thought I could rest today, taking on this task, but…"

Another sigh escaped his lips and, taking out a pack of cigarettes, he pulled one out and lit it, leaning against the window frame, "…everything is as usual…"

But, as soon as he remembered the look of that wizard, a chill ran down his spine and a crooked smile crept onto his face, "A scary old man, I wouldn't really like to be at odds with him, eh… I can only hope that the authorities don't get it into their heads to eliminate him…"

***

Already closer to one o'clock in the afternoon, "Amon" appeared in front of the Macmillan mansion, the butler who met him, almost immediately with respect on his face, led the wizard into the house, where John and Severus were sitting in the living room playing chess.

As soon as the aristocrat saw him, he jumped up from the sofa as if stung, while Snape himself calmly stood up.

"You could take an example from him, how to show respect to your teacher," Ichiros measured him with an indifferent look, from which Macmillan was a little embarrassed, and the Prince smiled.

"Okay, let's go to your father, he should wake up soon."

"Y-yes!" with undisguised excitement, exclaimed the young man, who simply could not wait for the moment when his father would wake up again.

"Teacher, from your satisfied face, I understand that you have figured everything out?" Hearing the words of "Severus", John looked strangely at the old man's indifferent face, which had not changed at all emotionally since the last time.

"We'll talk about this when we get back."

"Okay…" Having reached the room and, as soon as the aristocrat was about to open the door, they heard a groan, from which the young man forcefully opened it and flew into the room, and then froze.

His father, who had been in a coma all this time, at that moment silently, bewilderedly looked at him.

"What is it, why are you looking at me like that, and in general, why slam the door like that ?!" he barked sullenly at his son, while trying to understand what was going on, because just seconds ago he was in the store, and already in bed.

"Oh... father…" The former headman whispered dryly, barely holding back his seething emotions, he just wanted to pounce and hug him, but he couldn't allow himself to do so, because his father had always taught him that showing your emotions was a sign of weakness.

"Hm... not bad," just at that moment, "Amon" entered the room, immediately alerting Faust, but as soon as he saw "Severus", he was a little surprised.

"Mister Prince?"

"Good evening, Mister Macmillan, I'm glad you've woken up, how are you feeling now?"

"I feel...?" rising, he looked at the "young man" with bewilderment, and then at his son, who was tightly clenching his trembling fists and had a rather strange expression on his face, "Um... I feel great…" and it finally dawned on him what was wrong with this situation, "...what happened to me?"

"You were attacked and, to put it bluntly, they picked at your head, almost completely destroying your mind."

"What?!"

"My teacher managed to restore it with difficulty, but most likely you will have small gaps in memory, my teacher already told your son about this," Snape added with a slight smile, which truly shocked the man, who again turned his gaze to his son.

"John …" but before he could finish, the former headman approached him and hugged him tightly, which slightly confused Faust, for whom such a bright display of feelings was a little new.

"Father, thank Merlin, you are alive …" swallowing a lump in his throat, he whispered, simply not believing his eyes.

"Calm down, did I teach you that?" He sighed tiredly, patted him on the back with a crooked smile, but only a few seconds later he remembered something, from which the edges of his lips trembled and Macmillan Sr. looked at "Severus".

"You said teacher ...?" The man slowly turned his gaze to the old man and slightly paled, meeting a cold pair of eyes.

"I'm glad that you deigned to pay attention to me," Amon said dispassionately, narrowing his gaze, he approached the man and without any permission, put his hand on the head of the former head of the family and after a few seconds removed it.

"Hm ... we have nothing more to do here, let's go."

"W-wait! How about staying with us for a while …" tearing the embarrassed John away from himself, the aristocrat quickly rose to his feet and approached the elderly wizard, "I have a magnificent collection of wines, please…"

"I am not interested in this, I have already stayed with you, Severus, we are leaving."

"Yes, teacher," nodding to "Ichiros" heading for the exit, he looked at the agitated Faust, "Mister Macmillan, you need rest now, although your mind has recovered, but it is better not to overstrain it yet, by the way, your fish is wonderful," the kitten lying in his arms nodded businesslike, confirming these words, "I will come to your store in a couple of days, get well, have a good day," bowing slightly, with notes of fun in his voice, he left the room and, together with the old man, disappeared.

And, only after a few seconds, the former head of the family was able to restore sobriety of mind and his gaze fell again on his son.

"How many days did I lie there?"

"More than five, almost all the healers kept saying that you couldn't be helped, but until the very end, I didn't believe it…"

"Enough, you're a grown man, but you behave like a little girl, at times like these, first of all, you should think about your sister and family, and not about an old man who has one foot in the grave," the man said, sighing tiredly, looking sternly at his son, but still he couldn't hold back a warm smile, because Faust always thought that because he raised him in the harshest severity, he didn't like him, the wizard never dreamed of ever hearing such words.

"How is Leila?"

"She went back to Hogwarts last night... you know, she hardly left your bed for the first two days…" he grinned and looked at the embarrassed wizard, "She will be happy to know that you have recovered."

"Good... I'm glad that I have such a wonderful family…"

"Father... I took your place," as soon as John said this, he looked with guilt in his eyes at Faust's face, who, to his surprise, did not react to this in any way.

"It's not surprising, and maybe for the best," coming up to him, he put his hand on his son's head and nodded encouragingly, ruffling his hair, "I've been thinking about giving you this place for a long time, but I couldn't find a reason."

"But aren't I too young? You yourself said that your grandfather allowed you to head the family only at thirty-two...?"

"That old tick was worried about his own ass," Macmillan Sr. snorted with venom in his voice, "He was always afraid that I would throw him out of the house after this, that's why he didn't want to give up the position of head of the family earlier."

Such a revelation sincerely shocked John, because his grandfather always seemed like a good person to him, albeit very strict. "So everything is fine and don't worry, for now, I'll keep an eye on you, and in a year or two you can retire," knocking him on the head, he headed for the exit of the room, "Let's go, have a drink a little, after all, it's not every day that a son becomes the head of the family…"

"Yes... father…"

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Thank you for reading.