[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]

Third Person POV

Hogwarts.

...

...

Severus emerged from one of the fireplaces in the middle of the castle the very next moment.

And as soon as the flames went out, all he saw was an empty corridor, with only a few portraits staring at him, watching that he had just arrived at Hogwarts. Few people had permission to use the fireplace. Severus looked at them with a serious gaze. Dumbledore had placed them there precisely to monitor who entered and left the castle. They always reported when he left the castle last year.

However, he wasted no time and felt Dumbledore's presence in his office. Before disappearing with shadow teleportation, he appeared directly on the top floor, walking up to the phoenix statue, which was the entrance to the headmaster's office. At the same time, Fawkes appeared to greet him after sensing his presence.

"Can you take me inside?" asked Severus, since the phoenix was there, while Fawkes burst into flames, exploding in fire.

He could have teleported straight in, but he still wanted to follow the ritual. Meanwhile, Dumbledore, who was sitting doing his duties, looked strangely at Fawkes, who had simply vanished from his perch without warning. As soon as she returned, his gaze fell on the presence that emerged along with another explosion from the phoenix. On the other side, he saw Severus Prince, just as the headmaster widened his eyes.

"Severus... I mean, Mr. Prince," said Dumbledore in a more serious tone, staring at him.

"It's been a few days, Headmaster. How have you been?" asked Severus.

"Severus... You're here. Voldemort is dead... That makes me wonder if it was you?" said Dumbledore, analyzing him carefully.

Severus shrugged. "What do you think? I have the shadow with all of Voldemort's knowledge... Now he is completely destroyed," said Severus.

Dumbledore knew about the shadow, so had Severus completely turned him into a soldier like those other shadows? "Are you going to use Voldemort as your servant?" asked Dumbledore, narrowing his eyes. A Dark Lord who had terrorized so many, now a servant to another... It was ironic, but also frightening.

"For now, yes. I'll keep him in my hands. I don't know what will happen to his soul afterwards, but it's better to keep him close," said Severus calmly.

Dumbledore stared at him for a while before sighing. He certainly didn't like it, but what else could he do? He was still lucky: Severus was not speaking to him with hostility, after all that had happened. But he certainly did not have his respect or trust.

"Tell me, how did you manage to find his soul fragments?" asked Dumbledore.

Severus replied that since he had the most recent piece of soul created as horcruxes, it was easy while the shadow itself guided him to each fragment scattered across Great Britain.

"Another fragment was in a ring I took from an abandoned house in a distant village... I discovered it was together with a strange stone, which was a Deathly Hallow."

Dumbledore struck the table immediately. "You found the Soul Stone?!" he exclaimed, looking both frightened and even hopeful.

"I found it. And even its damned power was absorbed by me, and the stone became useless," said Severus, narrowing his eyes at the headmaster's reaction, which was quite unusual.

"The Soul Stone was absorbed by you... How is that possible?" Dumbledore stood up at that moment, but immediately realized the question was foolish. This man controls death... How could he not have the Deathly Hallows as part of his own power as well?

"I don't know, but I managed to use it," Severus said as if it wasn't very surprising. "Anyway, I spoke with my mother, and Rosária spoke with her mother... They were souls that were in the spiritual field. I can summon any soul that died only in this world, as far as I've understood," said Severus calmly, while Dumbledore's eyes shone even brighter.

"Can you summon someone for me?" asked Dumbledore cautiously, but at the same time hopefully.

Severus stared at him, never having seen Dumbledore so desperate for something before. That man looked as if he could trade anything for that power.

"All right. Who do you want to speak with?" said Severus in the end. After all, he saw no problem in using these powers.

Dumbledore swallowed hard. "I want to speak with my sister, Ariana. We can go to the upper part of the office. I'd like to have a private conversation," he said, casting a glance at all the portraits around, who were watching them with disappointment. It seemed like a big piece of gossip they were about to witness.

In the end, Severus followed Dumbledore upstairs. There, he unleashed the power of the Soul Stone.

"Ariana Dumbledore." Severus spoke calmly, as a light began to emerge and a 14-year-old girl appeared before them.

She blinked, turning first to Severus as her summoner, but soon widened her eyes when she saw Dumbledore near him, before swallowing hard. Dumbledore was frozen, and Severus noticed this before turning to the girl.

"Looks like you'll want to have a private conversation. I'll leave, and she'll return on her own to the spiritual world once you're done talking," said Severus, before anyone could say anything, and he left. After all, it seemed to be something quite personal, even for Dumbledore to be acting that way.

Severus went back downstairs, as he picked up a book that caught his interest from Dumbledore's personal library and saw Fawkes land on his shoulder. He sat in one of the chairs and kept reading, ignoring the stares of the headmasters who kept watching him. Clearly, they knew him very well due to his achievements since the previous year.

"So... I heard that the witch from the Forbidden Forest was killed, was it you...?" one of the headmasters asked, as Severus turned his gaze toward him.

"Yes, but that was last year," Severus replied naturally. The headmaster there swallowed hard. Severus had killed the witch at the end of last year with a nest of spiders.

"I heard it was you who made Albus disappear for more than six months," another headmistress asked cautiously.

"Yes, I tried to kill him, but he was saved by the ring he was wearing at the time. It seems he entered a portal and got trapped in a separate space, he could even see some predictions of the future as well," Severus replied again, without taking his eyes off the book he was reading. He was more concerned with his reading than with the questions.

"..." All the headmasters looked at him speechless. He had simply said he tried to kill Dumbledore, in such a natural way.

"I heard about the nest of spiders..." another asked, breaking the silence.

"I destroyed it."

"About Juggernaut..."

"I cut him in half."

"About the Dark Lord."

"I killed him."

With each question Severus answered, the portraits seemed more and more terrified of him. He didn't care as he kept reading the book in front of him, for he had found something quite interesting.

It was at that moment that the statue downstairs opened. The stairs formed, and Professor Minerva appeared, rushing into the headmaster's office.

She had come as soon as the ghosts had warned her, after learning from the portraits that they had seen this visitor entering through Hogwarts' fireplace. It wasn't just anyone—it was none other than Severus Prince. That was why Minerva had come to warn the headmaster.

She stopped, surprised, upon seeing him there. The woman had already expected somehow to find Severus there, but she couldn't help swallowing hard upon actually seeing him. You-Know-Who was dead, and this man was clearly behind it, and he was there, reading a book as if the wizarding world weren't in an uproar, with the IWC's special team defeated and the Dark Lord dead in less than 24 hours, all because of that person.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall. How are you? I know classes will begin in the coming days," said Severus without lifting his eyes from the book, making Minerva hesitate a little.

"Lord Prince. Yes, that's true. And where is the headmaster?" she asked cautiously, as if suspecting he had done something to Dumbledore. Once again.

"He's upstairs, talking with his sister," Severus answered clearly.

Minerva frowned, not understanding what he meant. She had heard, over the years, from Dumbledore himself that he had a sister, but it had always been a taboo. Whenever Ariana was mentioned, the headmaster changed the subject and never gave many details.

Either way, Minerva did not leave the room. She remained there, waiting to see if the headmaster would be all right, while Severus kept reading the book.

A few seconds passed before she stared at Severus, who still kept his eyes on the book as if she weren't very important. She would have found it a tremendous lack of respect coming from a student acting like that, but Severus was a Lord now.

"So you won't be returning to Hogwarts, will you?" she asked cautiously.

Severus shook his head. "No. You know my place is no longer here," he said calmly, still focused on the book.

Minerva was about to say something else, but Dumbledore soon appeared at that moment, seeming to have lifted a huge weight off his shoulders. He displayed a smile for McGonagall.

"Minerva, I see you're here," he said in a gentle tone.

"Albus, what happened? Severus said you were speaking with your sister..." she said cautiously, still not understanding what that meant. After all, Ariana was dead.

"Yes, it's true," Dumbledore replied in a soft tone that sounded almost natural. "But it's already resolved. Anyway, I'll handle Severus from here on. If you're here to check on my safety, rest assured, Minerva. I'm fine, and you can leave us alone." He said it so clearly that Minerva simply nodded.

Though she seemed to want to say something more, she gave Severus one last look, which he returned with a slight smile, lifting his eyes from the book for the first time to her, before Minerva nodded and turned to leave the office.

Dumbledore walked to his desk and sat back down in his chair, before glancing at the book Severus was reading, Darker Magics. He couldn't help but feel concerned.

Severus noticed the headmaster's gaze. "Don't look at me like that. What's interesting is that this book speaks about horcruxes. I just wanted to better understand what made Voldemort feel the need to create them," said Severus in a calm tone.

"That book was in the library decades ago, but I removed it myself," Dumbledore replied firmly. "I believed it was a book that should never be accessible to students, even in the restricted section. That's where Voldemort learned to create his first horcruxes."

"There are many ways to make yourself immortal, but surely tearing pieces of your soul apart isn't the best of them..." Severus answered, while Dumbledore didn't know what to say. In the end, Severus closed the book and turned back to Dumbledore with a serious look.

"Anyway, let's get to the main subject. I'm here to present myself before the supreme court of wizards. It's time to make everything clear to the wizarding world once and for all," Severus said in a serious tone.

"Very well. However, I'd like to hear the rest of your story so that I have full knowledge beforehand. I'll help you deal with the court," said Dumbledore, while Severus nodded, continuing the story of how he found each of the objects containing the horcruxes.

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