Good or bad, does it matter?

Liches were considered to be some of the most terrifying creatures in the world from which Snape came, second only to devils and dragons, and even the Great Archmages, who did not possess the elements of fire or light, tried to avoid fighting them and go around them like the plague.

And it was not about strength or the army of the dead, which almost always surrounded them, but about semi-immortality and excellent memory, especially if they came from vengeful spirits.

If you kill such a monster and do not have time to seal its spirit, it will haunt you for the rest of your life until it takes revenge.

This type of undead, like others: did not feel pain, did not need water, food or air, and also had immunity to any diseases and poisons, even magical ones.

In addition, the Liches themselves had: inhuman regeneration, restoring severed limbs without any problems; immunity to spells affecting blood and mind, as well as a much more developed sense of life energy, and this is not to mention the energy of death, which was capable of harming even the skin of a dragon. And this was only a small list of what these killing machines were capable of. But of course, they also had weaknesses.

In addition to the magic of fire and light, these are the necromancers themselves and other, more powerful relatives who could turn them into slaves, therefore, in order to prevent this and not allow necromancers to have such power, a real hunt was opened for them twenty thousand years ago.

"If someone found out that I created a Lich, at the rank of "Master", and even a sentient one, they would definitely kill me without a trial... although no, first they would torture everything out, and only then kill me..." leaning against the back of the bench, Severus closed his eyes, "Of course, it's good that another pair of hands appeared, but... it's too unexpected..."

"Why are you so thoughtful?" the snake asked him, puzzled, seeing Snape's strange reaction, "Aren't you happy?"

"Of course I'm glad, it's just... I'm surprised…" he answered, returning his usual, light smile, 'And why am I even thinking about this, I'm no longer in that world and am no longer limited by its rules, and it's unlikely that I'll ever be able to return there, but I wanted to live a calm, but interesting life and what could be more interesting than a battle with devils?!' he thought with a grin, but after a few seconds a tired sigh escaped his lips, 'Although it would be better without them…'

"Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Yes, I was just thinking," he answered, getting up from the bench, watching Eileen, "Okay, let's go to Hogwarts, and then I'll send a clone here…" and just at that moment, the wizard noticed how she stopped and a cold, grey aura began to spread from her body again and right before his eyes, the grass began to disintegrate into dark particles, but she quickly absorbed it back into herself and looked with a bit of embarrassment at "Severus", who in response only grinned at such behaviour, "The strangest lich I've ever seen..."

"And you don't want to spend some time with her?"

"I didn't tell you how that potion works, did I?" In response, the snake shook its head in confusion, "The clone does not act on its own, but I control it from here, although it is quite difficult," his answer, although it surprised her, but not much, she expected something like this, "So…"

"I have a question, how can you tell if you are a copy or the real thing?" She measured him with a thoughtful look, from which his eye twitched, guessing why she needed this information.

"Guess for yourself, let this be your incentive to become stronger," a pendant appeared in Snape's hand, very similar to the one that Macmillan had given him, and he himself gave it to Nellie.

"Eileen," she tilted her head to the side in confusion, turning her gaze from the empty place where the grass used to grow, and then with a bit of surprise caught the artefact: a chain with a snake designed on it.

"With this, you will be able to understand her, as I said earlier, she was a human, but because of the curse she turned into a snake and I hope that you will get along." After turning it over in her hand for a few more seconds, the undead smiled softly at him and nodded, putting on the pendant, and then approaching him, she looked down at the maledictus, who was very embarrassed, she was not even given a second to prepare, and drilling a displeased look at Severus, she concentrated her attention on Eileen, who was looking at her with curiosity.

"This is... hello, nice to meet you... my name is Nagini…"

"And I am pleased... thank you for taking care of him…" Eileen said, smiling warmly at her, which greatly embarrassed the snake, who lowered her head even lower and nodded timidly.

"Okay, today you will stay here with my clone and be with her, okay?"

"I'm not ready! At least let me prepare!" she looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"You can do it, I believe in you!" he grinned, patting her on the head.

"If you have any questions about her, then ask." putting her on the bench, a house elf in a white robe appeared next to him, touching him, and the next moment they disappeared and a few seconds later a clone in white shorts and a T-shirt appeared in the same place.

Eileen began to study the young man with interest, feeling a much weaker aura than from the real "Severus" and a few seconds later, reaching out, she touched his head and began to stroke him.

The clone reacted to this only after three seconds, looking at her puzzledly.

"Nothing …" Eileen shook her head and squatted down, she looked at the snake again, "Tell me how you met and ... what happened while I was gone …"

"Yes …" Nagini nodded embarrassedly, while looking displeasedly at the clone of Severus …

.......

Hogwarts.

Having changed places with the clone, Severus threw on his school uniform and was about to leave the room when…

"~ Meow…" Lucky's slightly displeased meow sounded, appearing in front of the door, and then it looked with slight surprise at the man's shoulder, from where the snake usually always looked out.

"She stayed at home today," squatting down, Severus stroked his head with a smile.

"~ Mrrr…" he purred contentedly under the caresses of the wizard. And when the Prince stopped doing this, the baby licked his fingers and jumped into Nagini's place.

Scratching him behind the ear, the wizard opened the front door, where the Austins were already waiting for him.

"Rest, I'm going to Madam Pomfrey."

"Yes!" both bowed silently and the Prince disappeared, which did not surprise them much, because this had happened before...

***

The next few days were quite calm, if you don't count the Slytherin students and a dozen from other faculties, who were following him all these days, but none of them managed to approach him, and the two brothers with two more half-bloods who followed him, drove away the annoying aristocrats without any problems.

The ladies also found a common language quite quickly and Nagini began to spend much less time with him and chat more with Eileen, which of course Severus was glad about, because he noticed more than once that when she was with him, she was often bored, she simply lacked communication with people, and better with a woman like her.

Besides this, Severus also started to study with Eileen, although he was not a master in dark magic and necromancy, but he still remembered well everything that he learned in the "Magistrate" and helping her to reach at least the rank of "Archmage" in the next thirty years should not be a big problem, all she needed for the development of the core was the energy of death, which was full in any cemetery, and the cemeteries themselves were countless around the world, not to mention the places of old battles and current ones, which were simply overflowing with it.

And Nagini took an example from her and also began to study with the rest of the monsters every morning and most importantly, did not slack off, under the gaze of the "future mother-in-law", supporting her.

And after that conversation, even Dumbledore took up his wand and if the former Gryffindor continues in the same spirit, then in at least two years he will be able to reach the middle rank of "Master", although he still did not abandon other affairs and continued to play behind the scenes, because thanks to the seal that Snape imposed, he could now calmly follow him twenty-four hours a day.

That same week, Charles, the brother of the head of the "Steel" department, also dropped in on him with an "invitation" to the headquarters, in the form of a letter, which was a "portkey" that was supposed to move the wizard straight to the base.

The meeting was scheduled for Sunday at eleven in the morning, so Severus could calmly prepare for it and because of the appearance of the "Queens", he wanted to speed up some plans a little, and with the current strength, this should not be a big problem, so he was looking forward to this meeting ...

.

.

.

.

Thank you for reading.