"They are a pest, and if you are a true Prince you are going to disinherit them and disown them like the pest they are," Mulciber said almost as if he was ordering him to.
"Sure..., when I think the same thing I'm sure I will, you can rest assured," nodded Severus not caring that his comment would only make the two in front of him angrier.
"You...!" said Avery angrily as he pointed his wand at Severus.
Avery was thinking very seriously if it was wise to attack Severus, even though there were two of them, he didn't think they could deal with him, although he had some confidence since in Slytherin they could use dark magic along with more dangerous and powerful spells without getting into trouble.
After all, no one would say anything, there might be a rumour but no one would report this.
Yeah..., the good thing about snake house is that anything that happens in Slytherin stays in Slytherin.
Sure, rumours are always going to exist but they aren't enough to get anyone in trouble as no Slytherin is going to admit that they saw or really know what happened.
" You made me bloody mad Severus!" shouted Mulciber crazily before Avery could even think things through any further.
"Sectum" Mulciber cast in anger.
Avery's eyes went wide as he hadn't expected Mulciber to react like this.
Severus also opened his eyes a little surprised but deflected the spell in time.
Then he saw where the spell he deflected hit and noticed that if he didn't react in time, it could have cut him pretty badly.
Maybe it wouldn't kill him, but it would leave him badly injured.
Not to mention Mulciber targeted his head.
"You shouldn't have done that," Severus hissed in annoyance.
First, he threw a shockwave at the two in front of him sending both of them flying out of the bedroom.
But neither Mulciber nor Avery were injured, the two were already prepared and created a "protego" strong enough to withstand the shock.
Severus saw this and knew that they had seen what he had done to Black and Potter so they had surely practised how to defend themselves in advance.
They created magical shields with their magic that were strong enough to prevent him from being able to use his Force Choke on them...
Severus must first break down their defences if he wished to do that, but they could always redo them.
"What, did you really think it would be as easy as with Black and Potter?" mocked Mulciber who was now standing outside the room next to Avery.
"Bombarda maxima" Mulciber quickly cast with a sadistic grin on his face.
With a quick flick of his wand, Severus used "Impedimenta" to nullify his spell.
"Indeed, I expected that, but I'm glad that wasn't the case, a single hit such as Black's wouldn't be enough to deal with you two," Severus said giving them a penetrating, dark and cold stare.
Mulciber and Avery who saw this felt a cold shiver, but the two reacted quickly by casting several spells which Severus began to deflect or counter with others.
But as the spells became more dangerous or powerful, Severus began to stop deflecting them and only used other spells to counter theirs as deflecting them was not possible.
It would cause him damage to try to deflect a powerful and dangerous spell, plus it wouldn't always work.
The space in the place where the spells began to be cast was quite small, but it was still adequate enough to move around and be protected by the walls or doors of the dormitories.
Of course, Severus didn't need to do this as he was always on the offensive, casting or countering their spells.
But the case of Mulciber and Avery was not the same as both had decided to use the walls and doors around them to catch their breath and keep away from Severus' spells.
There were a few Slytherins who decided to stay and watch the duel between them as the spells they were using were mostly dangerous and powerful, so they could end up badly hurt.
Only a few 6th and 7th-year students who were confident in protecting themselves from such spells stayed to watch the duel.
But no one intervened.
There were even several senior witches who went into the men's dormitory to see what was going on.
The duel between the three went on for a while and was more intense than the one that took place in Defence Against the Dark Arts class as spells were causing destruction everywhere and the danger was imminent.
Mulciber and Avery had only managed to stay on their feet so far thanks to the many corridors in the dormitory that covered them from the occasional spell from Severus.
But both of them already had a couple of wounds.
No matter how strong the magical shields were, there was always a spell that would get through and do some damage before they could get their shields up in time.
They thought that by using powerful dark magic they might have the advantage against Severus, but they forgot the small detail that Severus was also a bloody genius of the dark arts.
And unlike a Gryffindor, Severus didn't hesitate to use the Dark Arts to deal with them, after all, they were the ones who started using them, and now they had to deal with the consequences.
Consequences that neither Avery nor Mulciber were willing to pay and that was why they tried so hard to avoid losing, but now they were already exhausted, sweaty, and dizzy from the use of so much powerful magic.
What they couldn't believe was that Severus who used as much magic as the two of them combined didn't look exhausted..., it was as if he was a bloody trained Auror or an experienced death eater.
Only they would have that resilience.
Mulciber and Avery were now behind one of the last walls in the corridor of the men's dormitory, casting spells at Severus from time to time as they protected themselves with the wall.
While Severus walked calmly across the corridor towards them as they countered his spells...
Gradually he was getting closer and closer to where they were and he showed no sign of fatigue.
It was stressful and a little terrifying for them to watch.
Severus never used a defensive spell in the duel, he only deflected, attacked, or countered spells, it was quite amazing that one wizard would face two others without using defensive magic or the apparition to dodge and move quickly.
Now Mulciber and Avery really wished apparition was allowed at Hogwarts, things would be a lot easier that way...
Apparition was extremely important for a wizard in a duel as it gave him a lot of mobility.
But damn the Hogwarts protections that prevented apparitions.
All they could do was move from wall to wall to avoid the spells and they were still injured.
Severus, on the other hand, was not even scratched.
They both understood at this point what Rosier meant when he said to leave Severus alone as he wouldn't be a problem as long as they did that.
"Come on Mulciber, Avery, come out, why are you hiding behind a wall, or are you afraid now after everything you said so confidently and proudly?" sneered Severus making Mulciber even more irritated, but as foolish as he was he wouldn't let himself be provoked.
Mulciber and Avery knew that if they went off the wall they were lost.
"Severus, stop it, I think that was enough damage to the dormitories for one day," Rosier said suddenly as he arrived in the dormitory along with a sixth-year prefect and the two seventh-year prefects from Slytherin.
Hearing Evan's voice, Mulciber and Avery sighed as they knew that now their friend would sort everything out as usual.
Of course, they wouldn't admit this.
Otherwise, they could both lose face in Slytherin if they did.
And if they lost to Severus in front of everyone being two against one with no spell restrictions, well... that would give the other Slytherins a lot to talk about.
Already the loss of 100 points alone was a problem, so adding another one would only make it worse for them.
Severus turned around and looked at the four people behind him.
He saw a witch and a wizard of 7 year and then there was only the male sixth-year prefect alone along with Rosier.
Severus met Rosier's gaze and realized that he already knew that sooner or later this would happen.
Evan Rosier knew Mulciber and Avery very well, and he also had a good idea of Severus's personality...
What he couldn't know was the outcome, but now that he saw it he was a bit surprised since he didn't expect that Severus could even win when they used dark magic together against him...
But he should have guessed that Severus would be even more skilled in the use of such magic, after all, it was Lucius Malfoy himself who praised him.
"Prince, today's altercation is over, Slytherin is not a dueling ground," said the Slytherin seventh-year prefect seriously.
"It is not? Oh, I see...my mistake, it turns out that since those two idiots hiding there started casting spells as if it was I just followed their lead," said Severus lightly.
"Who do you say is hiding Little Princess?" said Mulciber coming out of the wall now with confidence as there was Evan and the prefects.
Big mistake...
"There you are!" grinned Severus, instantly he raised his hand and used Force Choke on Mulciber pressing the protections that he still had, but these were no longer as effective since Mulciber was exhausted so Severus' choke broke through the fragile shield that protected his victim.
Severus' eyes quickly turned blue as he raised Mulciber into the air just as he had done with Potter.
But this time the flash of gold that many had seen did not appear.
Like Potter, Mulciber tried to free himself from an invisible hand that was choking him but all his efforts were in vain and he was slowly losing his breath.
"Mulciber" shouted Avery still hiding as he watched Mulciber rise from the ground unable to breathe, it was terrifying just the thought of being in that situation, that's why he didn't come out from behind the wall, he didn't have the confidence to be able to resist with his current limited strength Severus' bloody terrifying ability.
"Severus, just put it down, the duel is over," Rosier said calmly, he really wished his friends weren't such idiots, now he just didn't want things to escalate.
"Prince, we made it clear that there would be no more trouble in our house for today. Now put him down!" ordered the same prefect as before as he along with the other two prefects next to him raised their wands pointing them at Severus.
Severus didn't look at them, he just smiled and looked at Mulciber as he choked him with the Force.
"Tell me, do you still feel powerful, now what use has that pride and confidence you once had?" hissed Severus to him as Mulciber looked at him with different emotions.
"Hmm..., if I wanted to, I could kill you right now," he added as he pressed his choke even tighter with the Force on Mulciber's neck causing him to spasm.
Mulciber first looked at him with hatred, then resignation and as he heard the last thing Severus said and felt his choke tighten, he felt fear.
A lot of fear.
He really understood that he might die at this moment, but he couldn't feel much more as he slowly lost consciousness due to lack of air.
Severus, who watched Mulciber lose consciousness, mocked at the thought that Potter had endured longer than he had.
Soon Severus lost interest in Mulciber.
Although he could do the same with Avery once he got closer to him, but the biggest annoyance was Mulciber and if he wanted to do something against Avery it would be another time as he wasn't interested in confronting the prefects for no good reason.
Taking a sigh, Severus looked at the prefects who were pointing their wands at him.
Apparently, they had been shouting at him while he was talking to Mulciber, but he didn't hear them, well he didn't really pay attention to them directly.
If they tried anything he would feel it in the Force.
Looking at them, he noticed that they all looked tense and ready for a magical duel.
"Release Mulciber!" the prefect repeated one last time as he prepared to cast a spell with the others.
So far they hadn't done anything because Rosier had prevented it, he was really hoping that everything would calm down more quietly.
"Right, I guess the idiot has no more use for me, you can have him," Severus said lightly as he threw Mulciber with the Force at them.
The three prefects were surprised that he finally heard them, but they didn't think much more of it and focused on just reacting quickly to stop Mulciber in mid-air with their wands.
Evan Rosier sighed tiredly but now calmer that the problem would not be even bigger, then he approached his friend and looked at his wounds while the rest of the prefects continued to stare at Severus.
But he just walked calmly down the corridor back to his room, as if nothing had happened.
Rosier saw that Mulciber had several magical wounds on his body from the duel with Severus, but nothing too serious, although if Severus had squeezed his neck just a little tighter he would have died of choking.
Seeing that Severus would not continue the conflict, the prefects nodded to each other and were relieved.
Then the three of them quickly began to repair with their magic the damage that had been caused to the dormitory in the duel that the three of them had had.
While Evan Rosier took it upon himself to carry the unconscious Mulciber to the infirmary along with Avery who finally emerged from behind the wall when he saw Severus leave.
The excuse for Madame Poppy Pomfrey would be that it was a magical accident along with something else they could think of, Slytherin would always make up some excuse when something that they couldn't talk about happened.
And Madam Pomfrey was already familiar with receiving Slytherin with injuries that were caused by situations that made no coherent sense, but as a nurse, she wouldn't stop treating young wizards just because they wouldn't tell her the real reason behind their injuries.
-Hogwarts, 10th October 1976
The next morning after the incident in Slytherin house many students from different houses were talking in the Great Hall about the new rumours about Mulciber and Avery.
In such a short time everyone had heard that they had been in the infirmary with various injuries.
There was also a lot of talk about Mulciber being in a similar state to Potter, which got everyone talking even more about what could have happened in Slytherin.
Draco, Hermione, Lily, Alice, and Marlene were sitting together at the Gryffindor table talking privately about their thoughts on the matter.
The five of them had become very close and used to discuss all sorts of things.
"Why do you think Prince fought with those two, weren't they friends?" asked Alice curiously as she ate her breakfast next to Lily.
" Why do you think he did it?" Marlene asked doubtfully, she was sitting across from Alice next to Draco and Hermione.
"Well..., didn't you hear that Mulciber also got knocked unconscious and that Madam Pomfrey had to do the same treatment as with Potter?" said Alice as if it was a matter of fact.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean it had to be him, besides the Puffs claim that both Avery and Mulciber had a lot of pretty nasty injuries that neither Black nor Potter had," Marlene clarified.
Yes, the Hogwarts gossips were none other than the Hufflepuffes, everyone used to find out about rumours or other things from them...
Alice, Lily, and Marlene had a very good relationship with many Puffs, so the news would be more detailed for them.
"Maybe they had a magical duel..." said Alice a bit uncertain as in a dormitory that was strange.
"In Slytherin?" asked Marlene unconvinced that it was possible.
"Yes, in Slytherin the use of magic is allowed without many restrictions and if a duel happened it wouldn't be much of a problem, I'm even sure many would want to watch the show" commented Lily and it didn't take any of her friends to ask how she knew that since they knew it was from Severus.
"How do you know that?" asked Draco, he had a feeling it was for Severus but it was unthinkable to him that a Slytherin would tell secrets of his own house to someone from another house, certainly not to someone from Gryffindor.
Lily looked at Draco a little hesitant to say the answer, while Alice and Marlene could only sigh, they sometimes forgot that Draco and Hermione were Severus' cousins.
" Severus once told me that Lucius Malfoy had taught a lesson to another Slytherin who was trying to get close to Narcissa Black," Lily finally said after thinking about it.
"Then I found out that this Slytherin that Severus mentioned had been badly injured in the infirmary but he hadn't wanted to tell Madam Pomfrey anything about what happened, there were rumours of what happened but nothing more..." sighed Lily as she continued counting.
"Therefore I asked Severus again about what and how exactly it had happened and although he refused for a while to tell me, he finally told me some very vicious things about Slytherin and their... horrible rules," Lily finished with a deep breath.
'That's not something a Slytherin would do' Draco thought with a frown, but he remembered that choosing to go to Gryffindor wasn't something a Slytherin would do either, so he couldn't really criticize Severus...
Though his situation was rather special.
"It was probably Severus, but there could have been others involved as well," Hermione commented.
"Yes... But no one else was in the infirmary, only Rosier who was the one who took them but he had no injuries" added Alice.
The conversation went on for a while on that subject.
"Is something wrong Draco?" asked Marlene suddenly as she turned to look at Draco beside her, she had seen him looking very pensive since Lily had talked about Severus and Slytherin.
"Huh? No, nothing," Draco replied.
"Sure?" Marlene asked again.
Draco just nodded and continued eating his breakfast, but Marlene wasn't convinced that he was really alright.
"Leave it, Draco must only be thinking about Severus and his defeat that day," Hermione joked, even though she knew that wasn't what he was thinking about, but she wanted Lily and her friends to think that.
"You wouldn't have been able to win either' Draco said with a frown.
"Well... you can't know that, besides I did win my duel" smirked Hermione amused as she watched Draco only get more irritated.
"Against an easy opponent, anyone can win" Draco countered.
"This...I don't think Ava Bird is an easy opponent Draco..." said Merlene a little embarrassed as his level was similar to hers.
"Merlene is right, Bird is not an easy opponent, it's just that you two are already at too high a level" clarified Lily making both Alice and Marlene nod.
"Yeah, I don't know who taught you, but you're both way above most people," Alice added, she had seen her boyfriend duel in more than one situation and she knew he had an excellent level, what surprised her was that the Prince had a similar level to him.
Today Severus had a really tiring day, first, he had to deal with the stares and constant whispers from the students at breakfast.
And then in Potions class, he had to answer the odd question from the Ravenclaw, of course, he only gave short answers and didn't explain or detail anything.
It was lucky that his seatmate, Pandora, wasn't so interested in those things and preferred to talk about other things that Severus didn't know whether to believe or think that she was just making them up...
But considering that she seemed more mysterious than anyone could imagine, he decided to half-believe her.
That was why he listened to everything she said because as weird and delusional as what she said sounded, she had already been right that Severus really had changed and if it wasn't because he knew that what she saw were their two souls that had merged into one, he would probably even believe that she was just a little... crazy.
At the end of Potions class, Professor Slughorn asked a few students to stay for a few moments before leaving the classroom, including:
Amelia Bones, Logan Francourt, and Pandora Moonlight from Ravenclaw.
Evan Rosier, Olivia Greengrass, and Severus Prince from Slytherin.
Severus frowned as he didn't understand why the professor asked him to stay after class, but he didn't say anything and stayed talking to Pandora until all the other students left the room and the professor finally appeared.
"Well, thank you for waiting my dear students, well here are the official invitations for this year's club party," said the teacher handing everyone the invitation.
Everyone took the invitation calmly, already expecting it to be something like this.
Well... not everyone.
Only Severus was confused as he didn't understand why Slughorn was giving him this invitation.
He knew that Professor Slughorn didn't give just anyone this invitation as he always consulted his students privately before handing them an official invitation in case they didn't want to participate...
As was usually the case with Severus, who always refused and therefore had never received an official invitation.
Horace Slughorn had never given Severus or any other person who didn't want to participate in the Slug Club an official invitation because for him it would mean losing face if a student refused to go in front of the others.
That's why Severus didn't understand why the professor gave him this invitation when he never accepted to be part of his Slug Club.
What Severus didn't know was that on the first day of class when the Potions teacher asked him if he would join the club this year and he said that he would think about it to avoid having to listen to him talk about the advantages of the club so that he could quickly go and find Pandora...
Horace Slughorn had thought that Severus was really considering it now, especially now that he was no longer just a potions genius but also the Prince heir.
Which for Slughorn might have made Severus finally reconsider joining his Club in order to get acquainted with other important people for the sake of the noble Prince family.
All this made the Potions professor feel that Severus needed only an incentive to finally join the Slug Club.
Therefore, Slughorn planned to give Severus the official invitation so that it would be an incentive for him to join.
Since turning down the Potions professor directly would be quite disrespectful.
And it wasn't the best option for Severus either, since Slughorn had always given him several benefits for being one of his best students...
One example was that he had allowed him to use a private room to make his own potions.
Of course, Horace Slughorn wasn't foolish enough to give Severus a letter if he refused to participate, but when Severus said he would think about it, the Potions professor didn't think twice and considered him part of the Club from that day on.
And so he cunningly planned how to do things, many people sometimes forget that Horace Slughorn is also a Slytherin.
Once the professor handed them their invitations, he left without another word.
The first to leave the classroom were Francourt, Greengrass, and Rosier.
Although the last two frowned when they saw that Severus had received an official invitation, as they both knew that he never accepted to participate in such events.
But neither of them said anything and simply left.
"So are you going to participate this year, Sev?" asked Pandora with a shine in her eyes, now that they used to talk so often, she started calling him Sev.
Severus didn't really like the idea of being called Sev, but Pandora explained that since they were friends now it was normal to do that.
"I don't remember agreeing to go and I wasn't planning on it either," Severus answered, he didn't really mind the idea of participating anymore, but he didn't see the need for it either.
" Let's go, it'll be fun, there's always lots of food and interesting people, maybe something unique will happen, you never know," said Pandora with stars in her eyes.
"This..., Pandora is right Severus, it might seem like a waste of time, but you'll be able to make contact with a lot of important and knowledgeable people, you can say it has its benefits" added Amelia who had also gotten very close to Severus this month, but she wasn't so impudent as to start calling him "Sev" like Pandora.
"Yes, I guess so," nodded Severus, a part of him might find it stupid to join the Club, but as Amelia said, it had its benefits and he was also confident that he could meet some interesting people as Pandora said.
"So will you go?" asked Pandora.
"Looks like you convinced me," said Severus with a slight smile as he saw Pandora smiling satisfied as a child, Amelia also smiled but more slyly.
"So do you have someone to go with Pandora?" Severus asked her since if he had to go with someone he'd rather it was her.
Pandora pouted prettily as she heard him again call her by her full name.
Despite her calling him "Sev" he would never call her as she intended for him to do, as calling her "Pandy" was just embarrassing and Severus wouldn't do it.
No matter how much she insisted that friends called each other in that way.
"If I remember correctly, Xenophilius Lovegood is usually your partner," Amelia commented, looking at Pandora.
"Yes, this year I'm sure I'll go with him again, but this is his last year so it will be our last party together at the Slug Club," replied Pandora a little sad to lose her good friend Xeno.
He used to be one of the few people she could talk to about all sorts of things at Hogwarts, although now with Severus it wouldn't be so bad.
"I see..." replied Severus with a frown knowing that he would now have to find another partner.
"And you Amelia?" asked Severus finally.
"Well, my usual partner already finished Hogwarts last year and now I received an invitation from Regulus Black, but I haven't decided to accept it yet," Amelia clarified.
"Why?" asked Severus curious as Regulus was a nice guy, despite being a Slytherin he didn't treat anyone badly and was very respectful, although he also disliked Muggles, he didn't let his dislike change his respectful behavior.
"You should already know which side of the current conflict the Blacks are on, and my family supports the Ministry, so it's not appropriate to go with him" Amelia explained, if it were up to her alone, she would go with Regulus Black as he was a smart, handsome, respectful wizard and from a good Wizarding Family, everything she needed as a partner to take part in the Slug Club party.
But as much as it is said that at Hogwarts it doesn't affect what happens outside, she knows that's not the case.
"Hmm, in that case, if you can't make up your mind, I don't have a partner yet, so if it's okay with you I can be your partner this year."
"Yes, I'd like that" nodded Amelia agreeing quickly with Severus' proposal.
"The truth is that I was going to ask you that as soon as I found out you were going to participate, especially knowing that you weren't aware that the professor was going to invite you, I assumed that you wouldn't have a partner," she added with a smile.
Typical Ravenclaw thinking about everything.
"Looks like we both got lucky then," Severus joked.
"Great, I'll be able to introduce you to Xeno, well, see you later," said Pandora happily as she waved to them both and left.
"This Xenophilius Lovegood, who is he?" asked Severus curious as he had never heard of him before.
"A seventh-year student in Ravenclaw, he's quite a recluse, he only usually talks to Pandora... or rather Pandora talks and he listens most of the time," said Amelia.