Good or bad, does it matter?

Sitting back down at the table, Severus felt two pairs of interested eyes on him, belonging to Regulus and Leila.

"Haven't you been taught that sticking your nose into other people's business is not the best idea?" said the Prince, measuring the couple with a mocking look, from which the girl became a little embarrassed and looked away, and Black silently shrugged his shoulders, as if to say: "if you don't want to, then don't say it", and also began to watch the dancing couples, sipping his juice.

"But still, she surprised me ..." he could not hold back a grin, because Lily, for a reason, looked into his eyes the whole conversation, everything was banally simple, she tried to read his thoughts and to his surprise, she mastered legilimency at a very good level.

But Snape did not show that he noticed this and allowed her to read his thoughts, but only those he wanted, but he also climbed into her head to understand what she wanted from him at all and who advised her to go this way. 

Earlier, Evans was simply worried about "Severus", afraid that someone had captured his mind and was controlling him like a puppet, but the more she watched Severus: his actions, his abrupt change in character, appearance, the more he attracted her and the fact that the young man ignored her, even more strengthened this feeling and only recently, she admitted to herself that she fell in love with him ... with the new Snape. 

For the same reason, Lily studied Legilimency, copying several books from the Potters' library when she was visiting the latter. Lily wanted to know the truth, whether it was still her childhood friend or someone else had occupied his body. 

And, she "got" the answers to all her questions, but they were not what the Gryffindor expected to see. 

The girl thought that he still had at least some feelings for her, so she lied about accepting James's offer to date, to at least make him jealous, but the fact that "Severus" almost did not react to this and simply congratulated her, was a real blow for her. 

Severus did not read her thoughts further, everything was too "confused" there, and he found what he wanted. 

But besides this, he also put an end to this relationship, which could not help but please him. After all, finally, she will leave him alone and stop pursuing him.

____________

The rest of the evening passed in the same mood as the beginning, although everyone was tired, after all they were wizards and had little stamina, and by the end of the feast, almost everyone was sitting at the tables and happily chatting, with the exception of Gryffindor, whose tables were again without meat and each of them was looking unkindly at a certain group, who all this time were closest to the food.

At the same time, on the Prince's lap lay an unnaturally plump kitten, who after such a hearty dinner, snored contentedly and only Black looked at it with suspicion, having seen the appearance of the baby, as well as a little sauce on his face. 

But still, the latter abandoned these thoughts, because how could Lucky eat so much? 

And finally, after another speech by McGonagall and the last dance, where almost all the students took part, the event came to an end and all the students were sent to the common rooms, and also allowed to go to bed an hour later, so that everyone could finish celebrating at home. 

Severus himself did not linger with everyone in the Slytherin common room, and having congratulated his "subordinates" and Regulus with Leila, he went to his room and from there moved home, where he continued to celebrate, but in a closer company, while not forgetting to leave gifts near the beds of the others...

***

The next morning for the Prince began at five forty-five, although it was still dark outside and no matter how much he wanted to sleep a little more, he had to get out of bed.

Trying not to wake Nagini, throwing on a white T-shirt and putting on black shorts, he quietly left the room and went down to the first floor. 

"You're early," Eileen's slightly surprised voice sounded, she was entering the house at that moment, because being undead, she did not need sleep, and she simply could not sleep, for this reason, she usually spent her nights either outside or in front of the TV.

 "I need to keep an eye on someone," he answered calmly, jumping over the sofa and falling on it, leaning against the back and smearing his palm in the air, a transparent screen divided into fifteen cells appeared in front of him. 

"Is something supposed to happen today?" noticing on the screens, not one person, but a group of ten to fifteen, on the faces of each of whom there was not a shred of joy, everything looked very serious and gloomy, but besides this, she also noticed familiar faces among the wizards.

"Malfoy, Yaxley, Goyle, Mulciber... how they have changed…" pursing her lips, with a bit of nostalgia, the woman drawled, sitting down next to him and studying the people on the screen with interest, "Even Minchum…" 

"The current Minister of Magic."

"What?!" the aristocrat looked at him in amazement. 

"Hm? Are you familiar?" he raised an eyebrow, although it was clear from her reaction that she was. 

"Yes... he was my classmate, Malfoy, two years older, Yaxley, was a prefect when I first entered Hogwarts... even Dumbledore…" but after a few seconds, her gaze stopped on a pale-faced, bald man without a nose.

"And who is this?" 

"Tom Marvolo Riddle…"

"WHAT?! That handsome man, THIS?!" Eileen exclaimed, simply not believing her eyes, to which the wizard could not hold back a smile, her expression looked too comical: eyes like two Galleons, an open mouth and disbelief mixed with shock.

"And I was once in lo…" but she quickly fell silent, a little embarrassed, usually Liches were much less emotional than people, but apparently such a change in the handsome man and heartthrob of all Hogwarts, truly shocked her.

"Oh, and this is Rosier!" She tried to change the subject, but, catching her son's mocking look, looked away. 

"There's a very big battle coming up soon and I don't want to miss it, and I also want to keep an eye on some people…" and on the first half of the screens the image focused on four wizards, whom the Prince still didn't want to lose. 

"This is… Dumbledore." she looked at them with curiosity, "Minchum…and who is this… very similar to Malfoy, the son of Abraxas?" 

Severus nodded silently and when her gaze stopped on a girl with long, dark hair, who stood in the corner of the room where many wizards had gathered and silently looked in one particular direction.

"She…" something sparkled in the former Slytherin's eyes, and an interested smile played on her lips, "This is her, am I right?" It didn't take a genius to understand what she meant and Severus only nodded silently.

"Okay... although I could have found a better one, but I'm glad you understand that the family line needs to be revived." 

"Hm?" Severus looked at her in confusion, not understanding what she meant, because he had never thought about it at all and if it weren't for the inheritance, he would hardly have thought about changing his last name. 

"Don't pretend to be a fool, but I think that two wives will not be enough to revive the family line." the aristocrat looked at him reproachfully, from which the wizard, as if dipped in water, looked at her, stupidly blinking his eyes. 

"Two...?" 

This one, Bella and Nagini, I'm sure that you and Nagini, when you remove the curses, will have very strong children and she will become a good mother, especially with her gentle nature, but with Bella, I would like to meet and talk first, I hope you will organise a meeting for us?"

Severus himself simply did not know what to do, to cry or to laugh, because she not only managed to marry him, but also to paint his future, and she was also offering him to have a third wife, when he did not even have an official relationship. 

"Let's discuss this later…" he answered with a reserved smile, but no matter how calm he seemed, the words of his "mother" still made him think.

"Everyone apparate!" Hearing a voice with notes of hissing, from the side of the screen, he urgently turned his attention to it, where the image changed to a night street of London and through the eyes of one of the spies, he saw a barrier gradually surrounding them and a large building. 

"So many wizards in one place …"

Due to the fact that almost all the wizards with the seals of the Prince stood in the crowd, it was impossible to see exactly how many people there were, but this was enough to understand that their number was huge, especially for Britain, where there are already fewer wizards. 

"In this building are members of the organisation "Black Star", which tried to take over this country, eliminating all the leaders and the main fighting force, but as you can see, they did not succeed." next to the first screen, another one appeared, on which there were people in leather suits consisting of green and black colours, on whose faces, one could easily see panic, since they did not expect such a turn of events and looked in shock from the windows at the crowds of wizards surrounding their base. 

"I doubt that they will give up so easily, so soon we will see a very interesting show…" Severus said while grinning, separating 4 specific screens and enlarging them, he placed them slightly higher than the rest in order to better follow these wizards. 

Severus was not worried about the lives of the members of the "Steel" department, because they brought trouble upon themselves, and he, two weeks ago, gave the finished recipes for the potions that the leader of the organisation demanded to restore as a test of professional suitability as the commander of the "Medi" department, and he provided the report to him personally, therefore, Severus was still able to find his exact location, as well as mark it, and now, the young man could go to China at any time and visit the leader of the organisation, which he was going to do, but in vacation, when two whole free weeks would appear...