"Well, not bad. To get rid of the shortage in magic, they decided to create spells that consume it in minimal amounts, but they are quite effective in battle..." Flipping through the book with interest, Alan thought. "It's a pity that I can't cast openly yet. I don't want to expose myself for now, and I doubt that in such a place there are no tracking charms. Eh... How inconvenient it is to read such simplest books..." He sighed heavily and took another book. "History of the Wizarding World... Hm... He read this book." Records from this book surfaced in his head, as well as a huge amount of other books and lessons from the old ghost that Severus usually ignored while admiring his red-haired friend. Though he let almost everything pass by his ears, it was no trouble for the Archmage to hear it all. "Interesting... This place is already more than a thousand years old, and it was founded by at least Magisters*, which means a lot must be hidden here. After all, even in my world, many old folks who were a step away from death left their legacy so that their names would be preserved forever in history. So I should dig into the history, and maybe I'll find something..." The book flew out of his hand and returned to the shelf. "I think I can start with the founder of Slytherin. After all, I have only two years to find everything that those four might have hidden. And if my memory serves me right, Salazar adored snakes and could speak their language. And he had a Basilisk as a pet, so maybe somewhere in the school he could have hidden it... Though no, that's nonsense." Smirking at his thoughts, he looked at the shelves. "That wizard couldn't have left such a dangerous reptile stored in a SCHOOL, where there is a huge number of children. And to hell with 'Mudbloods'; a huge number of children from nobility study here. I doubt he would risk his ass because of a strong love for snakes. After all, first and foremost, Salazar founded Slytherin house and accepted only smart and cunning wizards, mostly nobility. He couldn't have been an idiot a priori." Taking a book that described the life of the Founder of Slytherin, he didn't even have time to open it when Severus's memories surfaced again in his head. They contained a full description of the book he was currently holding in his hand, as well as several other books. "Question: will I learn anything new here at all?! It seems to me that he has already read everything?!"
Putting the book back on the shelf, he looked at it again and, turning around, headed to the exit from the section.
"I need to 'fully digest' the memories, otherwise this is too inconvenient. I'll have to go through every piece tonight... Eh... And I need to visit Slughorn. He seems like a normal guy; I think we can find a common language."
When Alan left the library, it was already half past six, and there were two and a half hours left until the meeting with the Dean. During this time, he wanted to learn more about him in detail, as well as study Severus's behavior, gestures, and manner of speech better so as not to get caught. After all, Alan doubted that he could now stand against the Professors and the Headmaster just because in his world he had reached the rank of Archmage. And mainly, the man used powerful spells that required terrifying expenditures of magical power. The simpler, attacking ones, he had barely studied, only a couple dozen. But even those were too demanding for this world. Therefore, first, he needed to get used to the new realities, to the absence of a powerful magical core, and learn to survive with it...
Two hours later.
After brainstorming and combing through the memories, he managed to find all the necessary information and left the room with a calm soul.
When he found himself in the common room, someone called out to him, and that "someone" was the very guy who had earlier stood up for Alan.
"That was not bad, and I see you've finally realized that Gryffindor is not the best company."
"You're right; they really aren't the best company."
"I'm glad to hear that. Though we'll lose five points today, depriving Gryffindor of fifty will hit the house much harder." Smiling contentedly, he patted him on the shoulder.
"Why do you think we'll lose points?" Raising an eyebrow, Alan asked with a smirk. Looking at the wall clock, Alan shifted his gaze back to the guy in front of him. "Let's talk another time; the Dean is waiting for me."
"Of course. If you have any problems, you can always turn to me." Patting his chest, where the prefect's badge rested, Macmillan said proudly.
"Thank you; I'll keep that in mind."
And as soon as Alan left the Slytherin common room and disappeared around the corner, Macmillan pondered Severus's words and also left the common room. But he headed in the opposite direction, to the hall where special hourglasses stood. Instead of sand, they used precious stones, and it was on them that the number of points for each house was recorded...
A few minutes later, Alan reached Slughorn's room and knocked.
"Come in, Severus..."
The Dean's room was decorated in dark green tones, like the house common room. In the corner, along the walls, stood two tall long cabinets. One of them was filled with books, and the second with various potion ingredients. Between them stood a table, behind which Slughorn sat, smiling at the entering young man.
"Have a seat. Tea?"
"No, thank you, Professor." Sitting in front of the man, Alan shook his head. "By the way, what about that word? Did you check?"
Hearing his question, Slughorn smiled warmly at the young man in front of him and nodded.
"That word is indeed not recognized as an insult, but I still ask you not to call Miss Evans and others whose parents are ordinary people that way anymore. After all, though it is officially not insulting, it is still unflattering for many."
"I understand you and will not call Miss Evans and others that way in the future."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that. And now let's move on to why I called you today." He took a sip from the glass that stood on the table, and his gaze became more stern. "What happened to you?"
"There it is, that very question. Now the main thing is not to give myself away... Hm?" For a split second, he felt a sweetish smell, and his mind slightly fogged. "Veritaserum... I still behaved too suspiciously..." Sighing heavily, Alan thought, calmly removing the potion's effect from his body. "Professor, there was no need to use Veritaserum. After all, you taught us yourself to always be on guard in conversation with an experienced potion-maker. And I respect you deeply and would not lie to you."
Hearing Severus's words, Slughorn was not surprised at all: he had no doubt that the young man could detect this potion. It was only to test Alan's abilities. After all, only a few potion-makers could remove the effect of this potion so quickly, and one of them was the young man in front of him. When the Dean noticed that the potion's effect was removed, he nodded imperceptibly.
"Good, then tell me what happened between you and Miss Evans. I was sure you were in love with her."
"I don't want to talk much about it, but I'll say this: she betrayed me... twice." Alan said with a sad smile.
Seeing his saddened gaze, Slughorn felt a bit uncomfortable, for he had thought that someone was impersonating the young man in front of him or that someone had taken over his body. But the man couldn't have imagined that everything would turn out so prosaic. Then Severus's behavior no longer seemed strange. The Dean also knew about the incident that happened after one of the exams, when the four Marauders hung Snape upside down, and his robe hiked up, exposing his dirty underpants to everyone (and after that, Severus started wearing pants). Of course, after that, they were punished. The professor also knew about other cases of bullying by those four toward the young man, and Slughorn had offered him his help more than once, but he refused every time. Therefore, he could hardly help with anything. The professor would gladly teach the Marauders a lesson himself, but he had no right to do that, for if he did, he would be thrown out of the school in the same second and possibly even subjected to serious punishment by the Ministry of Magic*. Therefore, all he could do was deduct points from them and punish according to the school rules.
"Is that so..." But not letting the professor finish, he continued.
"And thinking about it, I realized that I was too soft with everyone. I loved Lily, but she just used it, keeping me like a pet dog. And you know what's the funniest?" The young man asked, looking painfully at the shuddering professor. "She went to my enemy, to the one who bullied me all these years, to the one who humiliated me in front of everyone. She even passed him a spell that I created myself! And tell me, Professor, how should I treat her?!" Switching to a shout, Alan exclaimed, looking furiously at the pale Slughorn, who simply didn't know how to support his student.
"Severus, I..."
"I apologize, Professor, for my outburst. I'd better go." Standing up and without turning around, he headed to the exit.
Watching the departing student's back, Slughorn wanted to stop him, but the man rejected that idea.
"Now it's better for him to be alone and cool down..." The man thought with a heavy sigh, sipping from the wine glass to calm down a bit. After all, in his long years of work, nothing like this had ever happened, and he simply didn't know what to do or how to react. "I need to talk to him tomorrow for sure..."
*In Alan's world, the ranks of mages: apprentice, journeyman, master, magister, Archmage, Great Archmage, Creator. Ministry of Magic of Great Britain (eng. British Ministry of Magic) — the main administrative institution of wizards. The main goal of the Ministry's work is to prevent Muggles from learning about the existence of wizards. The main law that the Ministry of Magic of Great Britain operates with is the Statute of Secrecy, which regulates the relations between the magical and Muggle worlds (for example, clothing). The Statute also has article 73, which regulates activities related to magical creatures of the magical world