Good or bad, does it matter?

Closer to eight o'clock in the evening, in a small, dimly lit room, in which, Severus stood in the centre, in front of the cauldron, watching the boiling grey liquid, occasionally stirring and reading a book, and not far from him, Slughorn sat at the table and also worked, checking the independent work of fourth-year students.

"Professor, the stinging ointment is almost ready," a wand appeared in his hand, which he waved twice over the cauldron, and then threw in the last ingredient and the mixture gradually began to turn red, "There are still three minutes and ten seconds left, and everything will be ready."

"Good," the professor nodded calmly without even looking at him, already understanding from the smell that everything was perfect, "By the way, have you thought about what you will present at the TOAD?"

"Isn't it a bit early to ask about this?" The Prince looked at him puzzled, because there was still more than half a year until the exam. 

"The TOAD will be, although not the most important, but one of the steps to receiving the "Black Cauldron" and how you perform will also be taken into account," the head of house calmly explained, looking up at his student, who looked a little thoughtful after his words. 

"I don't even know…" gradually weakening the flame under the cauldron, he tilted his head to the side, "I was thinking of trying to finish the cure for "dragon pox", and the developments of Gunhilda, who created the "anti-dragon serum" are in the public domain, although not all, but I know where to get them," Severus answered with a slight smile, looking at the surprised professor.

"I want to increase the chance from seventy percent to at least ninety, and in the best case, to a hundred, and after my studies I think to start creating a potion against "lycanthropy", which will serve as work to obtain the rank of "Black Cauldron". 

"You surprised me very much, Severus, did you really plan this from the very beginning, that's why you decided to study witchcraft?" he asked with a slight smile, putting the pen aside. 

"No," finally extinguishing the flame under the cauldron, he covered it with a lid, leaving the ointment to steep for a few minutes, "I started studying it first of all to be ready for anything, and secondly, for the books," Snape approached the table and sat down opposite Slughorn.

"Regarding potions, it was just to earn a name," he did not hide his selfish goal, "Remember, you told me about the teachers' guild and about the meeting that will take place in seventy-ninth?"

"I understand, but I think that all your existing achievements would be enough for this …"

"This is not enough, I want to get membership in the guild and even the "Black Cauldron" is not enough for this. I need something more, and I also just want to help wizards, of which there are few left."

"So, you have such an interesting goal... good." with a burning look, he nodded to the young man.

"If you have any questions, I will always be happy to answer them."

"Thank you, teacher, I will do everything in my power…" It was not without reason that he chose these two directions, because in his world they had long ago learned to fight "lycanthropy", although the method was quite cruel. 

It was invented by one old "Great Archmage", whose grandson suffered from the clutches of a werewolf. Of course, nothing remained of that settlement of "wolves" after that, but that's a completely different story.

For this, a potion of "polarity convergence" was used, which was supposed to help the human part absorb the wolf part and in addition to incredible pain, this method had another minus, only seventy-five percent of success. 

Of course, a wizard of such calibre would not have let his grandson die and there was an addition to this potion in the form of a ritual,which increased the chance of success to ninety-five percent, it gave full control over the fusion process to the second person, since due to the pain, the infected himself could hardly suppress the wolf part and could think at all. 

But the Prince was not ready to show this ritual, firstly, it was simply very difficult to control and required incredible mental and magical power, at least at the beginning of the rank of "Archmage", and secondly, these are materials for the ritual, most of which, perhaps, do not even have an analogue in this world, although they were not very rare.

As for the "dragon pox", everything was much simpler, it was a kind of magical virus, which was a piece of cake to fight, just drink a certain course of potions for a week, of course, if it was not the last stage, when a green-purple rash covers the entire body, and every sneeze was accompanied by sparks from the nostrils, then almost a month's course was required, and usually as a "bonus" immunity was developed, so many in his world who fought dragons or raised them, specifically went through this disease.

---

By nine o'clock, half an hour earlier than usual, the wizard left the Slughorn's office and headed not towards the Slytherin common room, but towards the stairs leading to the first floor. 

And a few minutes later, he was standing on the eighth floor, in front of a large stone gargoyle. 

"Fizzy bumblebees," the Prince said dispassionately, already accustomed to the strange passwords that Dumbledore liked to set. 

As soon as the statue moved aside, he stepped onto the spiral staircase, which took him up, straight to the Headmaster's office.

The room had hardly changed since the Prince's last visit, except for the papers on the table, which had doubled in number. 

"Good evening, Headmaster." he greeted the elderly wizard sitting at the table with a slight nod, and a few seconds later, a joyfully chirping phoenix flew up to him and landed on his hand.

"Hello to you too," he stroked his head with a cheerful smile, under the smiling gaze of the owner of the office. 

"Hello, Severus, Fawkes, I missed you very much."

"Don't worry it won't be long, I just wanted to tell you that my teacher is ready to meet you tomorrow after dinner and he is grateful to you for the ingredients you found." 

"Good, thank you for passing on the message." Albus nodded softly, he was looking forward to meeting Ichiros, especially since he saw what happened last week through Moody's eye.

"By the way, how are you feeling?"

"Much better already, thank you for your concern," Severus answered, continuing to play with the phoenix, he liked this bird after all, although it had only one name and colour from a real "phoenix".

"I also came to you with another request …"

"Speak, do not be shy."

"It is about Gunhilda's research, I did not find a single book in the library on this topic …"

"I understand." A shadow of fatigue crept across the elderly wizard's face, "By order of the Ministry of Magic, they were removed from the school library."

"Why?" the Prince asked with bewilderment.

"Because of the aristocrats, who did not like the fact that in her research, she referred to some Muggle sources, and there were also moments justifying dark magic, but mainly, it was because of the second that this happened. - I see …" he drawled thoughtfully, looking at Severus with a certain hint, which he, of course, understood.

"First of all, I would like to know why you needed them?"

"I want to try to improve or create a new potion for "dragon pox" on its basis and use it to pass the TOAD," after "Severus"'s answer, Albus was a little surprised, because they had tried to do this more than once over the past three hundred years, but no one had succeeded, but seeing the confidence and determination in the young man's gaze, a spark of nostalgia flashed in the wizard's eyes, when he had once worked on many similar projects on sheer enthusiasm.

"Okay, you convinced me," the headmaster said, returning his good-natured expression, 

"I will ask the house elf to bring you the books tomorrow."

"Thank you, Headmaster! Then, I will not distract you anymore, and it will soon be ten o'clock…" the young man quickly rattled off "with excitement" in his voice, "impatiently" waiting for tomorrow, making the old man smile inside. 

"Of course, good night, my boy…"

"And to you too, Headmaster."

---

Leaving the office, he headed towards the stairs.

"Have you ever thought about starring in a movie? You'll make a great actor? " the snake commented on Severus's behaviour in the office with a sarcastic tone. "I have, but for such an important person as me, they haven't yet come up with a worthy role," he poked her in the nose with a cheeky smile.

"How come they haven't come up with one?! You're the spitting image of Vlad Dracula! " His eye twitched at the snake's words, and she, thinking that she had finally managed to catch him, grinned triumphantly. 

"Okay, I'm too lazy to argue with you," he muttered, yawning widely, already going down the stairs, "Although I still wonder what this old man wants to talk about?"

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Back after a whole month, I know it has been rough on you guys and I am sorry for that.