The next day Severus again got up early to do the exercise he had set out to do every morning and then went to his assigned classes along with Gwen and Freyja.
The first class of the day, Study and Properties of Magical Ingredients with Katrina Scott, flew by for Severus.
Then Severus used the time he had until the second class to analyze possible investments he would make in the Muggle and Magical world.
When 3:15 p.m. rolled around, Severus had to take a quick check on what he was doing to go to the second class of the day.
In this class, the students were going to meet the third and last teacher of the program they had yet to meet.
Freyja, Gwen, and Severus sat together at the front of the class.
Just as it was time for the class a loud bang was heard in the classroom and after a while, a large cloud of gray smoke appeared in front of the students, right where the teacher's desk was.
When the smoke dispersed all the students could see the teacher standing next to her desk looking at them.
The teacher had appeared out of nowhere after the mini-explosion with the smoke and all the students knew she was not in the classroom when they arrived.
Many were impressed with the teacher's trick as it was known that inside the Salem Witches Institute no wizard or witch could appear, so the teacher had used some other type of magic to accomplish this.
Severus had his doubts, he had not felt the magical presence of anyone other than the students, and when the professor appeared he felt her strong magical presence greater than that of all the students, which meant that somehow she had actually appeared in the classroom.
"Welcome students, new and old! I am Professor Monica Locklear and I am the official potions teacher at SCoP. I would like to start this speech by welcoming and congratulating you all for being accepted to take the SCoP summer program, all of you young wizards and witches here are the future potioneers of the magical world and I have no doubt that each of you will achieve great things" many SWI witches applauded, even Gwen to Severus' surprise.
The only person who clapped who was not an official SWI student was Freyja who only clapped to tenderly copy Gwen.
"This... Gwen, do you even know her?" Severus asked whispering in her ear.
He could understand if the other SCoP witches clapped for the teacher since she was apparently their Potions teacher.
But Gwen wasn't from SCoP, she was from SCoT, so it didn't make sense that she would also clap for her out of the blue unless she was their teacher as well, but he knew that each College in SWI had its own teachers for each subject.
"Yes, Professor Locklear is well-liked by everyone at SWI as she gives private lessons for all students no matter what College they are from who have any problems with the subject of potions" Gwen whispered back the same way he did.
"I see, that's very kind of her" Severus commented to her.
"Yes, well, Professor Locklear is very passionate about her subject, and in an Institution like ours where Potions is the subject par excellence, having a teacher like her who supports you and puts all her passion into the subject at all times, is a relief for all those who have problems in Potions or just don't like it. She's a great teacher". said Gwen surprising Severus with the respect she had for the teacher.
'Interesting' thought Severus.
"Oh, Miss Stacy, what a nice surprise to have you in my class" commented the professor causing Gwen and Severus to stop whispering to each other and turn their attention back to her.
"Thank you, Professor Locklear, but you know how my mother is" replied Gwen rolling her eyes.
"Ah, yes, I understand, with that being the reason. But despite that, you don't seem to be having a bad time, from what I can see you are already very attached to one of your classmates" said the teacher as she looked at Severus, making all the students look at them.
Gwen was a little embarrassed by the situation but said nothing, she preferred to drop the subject.
"What is your name young student?" the teacher asked Severus, making Gwen sigh at her bad luck, she already knew that she was not going to be able to avoid today's embarrassment.
"I am Severus Prince, and forgive the interruption of your speech professor."
"Oh so you are Mr. Prince," the professor said her eyes widening quite a bit at the realization that this was the young man she had heard so much about from the Dean, a unique genius in potions.
"A young Englishman, I haven't had an English student in a long time. You don't have to worry about interrupting, do you come from Hogwarts by any chance dear?" The professor did not know which school Severus came from as the Dean did not give this information to the teachers so that when it came to choosing candidates there would be no favoritism of any kind.
But the teacher guessed that Severus who had an English accent could be from Hogwarts since most of the wizards and witches in Britain studied at this school which was considered one of the best in the magical world today.
"That's right Professor" nodded Severus not knowing what else to say, he didn't want to make the situation more awkward than it already was.
"But how interesting, a Hogwarts student I never heard of was accepted into our potions program, quite a surprise," said the professor with noticeable doubt on her face.
She had first heard of him when the Dean had told them about him.
"Professor Locklear" raised her hand suddenly one of the SWI witches present in the class.
Severus and Gwen sighed and inwardly thanked the young witch for taking the professor's attention off them.
"Yes dear?" said the teacher addressing the witch who raised her hand to speak.
"You know Hogwarts students?" asked the SWI witch with intrigue.
"That's right dear, I'm actually quite close to the Potions professor at Hogwarts, Professor Horace Slughorn and I are usually in contact and he tends to tell me a lot about his brightest students, he always speaks very highly of everyone, but for some reason, he never made mention of Sir. Prince, which is strange given that to enter our summer program at SCoP he must be a brilliant student of his subject and even more knowing the capacity that Professor Slughorn has to recognize brilliant young people," commented the professor, now looking at Severus.
Due to the professor's comment, many students in the program were looking at Severus intrigued as to what could be the reason.
They all knew that only those wizards who excelled in potions could do the program and only witches had a bit more preferential treatment, but still, it was not easy for them to enter the program unless they were good at the subject.
Obviously, the professor didn't ask Severus directly the reason since it wasn't her place, but you could tell she was full of intrigue.
Just as everyone was about to give up on getting an answer since Severus wasn't responding, he was heard speaking.
"Well, that could be because I don't usually follow his teachings, Professor Slughorn is a great professional but I don't like to follow the books to the letter, so we might have our differences," said Severus knowing that in reality, the reason was that Slughorn never thought Severus had a great future since he preferred to be alone or with his classmates practicing dark arts and besides with his antisocial personality it was difficult for him to achieve great things.
'Well it could also be because I had stopped going to his Club, maybe he was offended' Severus thought amused at that, as no student would refuse to go to his Club.
"Right, that would make sense, as you say, Professor Slughorn is a great professional, but unless he is a professional he doesn't like it when they don't follow the instructions given to follow for elaborations, much less the students, a pity I must say, I have seen your work Mr. Prince and I must say it is impressive, dangerous given your age, but impressive" nodded the professor.
"Merlin how I would have loved to have you as a SCoP student along with Professor Slughorn's star pupil Lily Evans, well you must already know her as she was your classmate, a pity I must say, but I'm glad to have you, now how about we continue with the class," said the professor as she continued talking.
But Severus didn't pay attention to her after she mentioned Lily Evans' name, there was a part of him that was still weak before that name.
"Hey Prince, is something wrong, everything alright?" asked Gwen seeing Severus so lost, she had seen that he took the whole conversation quite calmly but as soon as the professor mentioned that Evans girl, Severus went blank.
"Mmmm Severus are you alright?" asked also Freyja worried seeing Severus' face, she had already seen that expression and it was almost the same one her mother put on every time her dad's wife was mentioned.
"This... yes, I just got lost for a moment, nothing out of this world, let's keep listening, lest we get noticed again," Severus said calmly to the two of them once he reacted.
Gwen and Freyja only nodded with some doubts still.
The three of them turned their attention back to the class.
"Finally you should know that you will have me as your teacher for the subjects: Magic Chemistry, Magic Physics, and Magic Metaphysics. And today I will be going over the expectations that the staff and I..." the teacher continued speaking.
Severus had to admit that he was surprised by today's Magical Chemistry class.
That was because Magical Chemistry used to be a rather exhausting and boring subject for most wizards and witches, but Professor Locklear had made the class quite a spectacle.
Instead of giving a typical lecture, she showed us all kinds of magical chemical combinations, magical matter, its properties, and its changing nature.
He explained how all magical matter is made up of simple magical chemical elements or their compounds, each with its own distinguishing characteristics.
"It is easy to say that magical chemistry is important because everything is made of magical chemicals, but what is important is to know those magical nutrients, magical medicines, and poisons, everything we do involves magical chemistry because it is a magical chemical process" the teacher had said.
"Why do you think wizards and witches are different from Muggles?" the teacher asked.
"That's obvious, wizards and witches are born with the ability to do magic, while Muggles are not" commented one of the wizards in the class.
"Correct Sir..." said the teacher.
"Ethan, Ethan Hale."
"Well, what Sir said. Hale is correct as you all will know, but it is much more complex than just that, you should know that many things that are in our environment are made of magical chemicals, and many things that we observe in the world are made of magical chemicals effects and that is the difference between a muggle and a wizard or witch. We can feel and see these magical chemicals because magical chemical reactions are taking place in our bodies that do not occur in Muggles," the professor explained.
Severus already knew this, it hadn't been explained to him in such detail but it was something he could deduce on his own since he loved the subject.
"That's the biggest difference between Muggles and us, then we are almost completely the same, if it wasn't that we have this ability to sense magic, we wouldn't be different from Muggles since our body without these magical properties would function the same as theirs" the teacher continued.
And Severus understood why at Hogwarts they never explained this in such detail.
It was because the ministry and the pureblood houses would not tolerate their children being told that we wizards and witches are not much different from Muggles, that is something unacceptable to them no matter how much it is so.
"They should know that with the help of magical chemistry, we can cure most diseases that are deadly or dangerous to Muggles, the only problem is that when the disease is magical it is much more complex to achieve this and sometimes impossible. In that case, we are the same as the Muggles too, they have diseases that they can't cure with their science and technology and we have magical things that we can't cure with our magic."
When the class was over, Severus chatted for a while with Gwen and Freyja for a while.
Freyja was excited about everything the teacher told.
While Gwen listened amused by the conversation but also looking at Severus from time to time with intrigue, she still hadn't forgotten about Severus' little detail at the beginning of the class.
After finishing the conversation Severus took the opportunity to continue analyzing the investments he would make until the History of Potions and Potioneers class began.
19:30 the class started and at 20:30 the History of Potions and Potioneers class with Professor Caroline Spilman ended.
Despite how nice the teacher was teaching the subject, all the students found it to be a rather dense and boring subject.
Even Severus had trouble paying attention.
At 21:00 Severus, Gwen and Freyja went together to the main hall for dinner.
During dinner, Severus again received mail.
Queen had delivered several letters to him among which was again one from Hermione.
He decided to open Hermione's letter first.
—- letter—-
Dear Severus,
Thank you for your reply to my letter.
I must admit I am a bit envious of you, it is awesome and exciting to read about your experiences at SWI, I can't wait to go and see the institute.
Regarding the potions, you were right, I still can't sleep well without taking one, so I will take your advice and every night I will take one from now on until I think I can sleep without the need for the potion.
As for my days, they are nothing interesting, just preparing a bit what I plan to do from now on with my life, so I'll spare you the boredom of a recount.
On the other hand, as you probably haven't already heard or seen on the news since they are downplaying it, I should tell you that things have been pretty chaotic around here.
Even though I'm at Manor Prince, quite well and away from all the conflicts, the change is noticeable, the death eaters have more and more presence and the ministry is more alert than ever.
And people don't seem to have much real interest in addressing the problem, it's very worrying.
The dark lord seems to be gaining more influence and followers every day, and I've heard people whisper that apparently, the Giants have already joined their side.
Severus, I believe them, it may seem like false information or hearsay, but something is going on and the ministry is hiding it.
I have no idea if you have any influence with your fellow Slytherin, but for what it's worth, if you can get some information regarding what's going on and tell me it would be a great help to me.
You know, it's dangerous for a young witch to be uninformed right now.
Lastly, I appreciate you sending me what I asked you about SWI and your concern for me.
Let me know if you are still on for Friday the 29th and if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to hear some more about your classes in the program as well.
Hope to see you again on Friday.
With Affection,
Hermione
—-Fin letter—-
After reading the letter Severus decided to reply to Hermione and continue reading the rest of the mail he had.
He was not very surprised by the current situation in Britain.
Ever since Voldemort started making his move in Britain in 1970, people played it down but little by little Voldemort was becoming unstoppable, every day more and more families were joining his followers or starting to support him.
Not only wizards and witches joined his army, but also many magical creatures allied themselves with the Dark Lord and giants were no exception.
'Now it was only a short time before things got worse and worse, the British magical world is about to go through the worst time in its history' thought Severus.
After replying to Hermione and looking at the rest of his mail, Severus finished dinner and retired to his dormitory to sleep.
The next day, Severus as he did every day got up early to exercise, then spent his day looking at information about the Muggle market and the magical market.
The classes "Poisons and Antidotes" and "Potions Preparation" were interesting but nothing Severus didn't already know.
When it became 19:15 Severus headed to his Dueling class hoping that this time Professor Hale would actually let them practice among the students and not just against a dummy.
"Alright students, let's get started with today's class," said Professor Hale when all the students arrived.
All the students spent a few minutes practicing against the dummy again much to Severus' disappointment.
"Right, that's all for now, gather around everyone," said Professor Hale "Now, I know most of you want to start with a game of actual Dueling, but before that, I'm going to clarify a few slogans, First I want you to tell me how the Duelists are ranked."
"Simple teacher, each Duelist who competes is evaluated by different professionals of the international confederation of magicians who are in charge of judging the level of the wizard or witch as a Duelist according to his or her performance in each Duel. Then each one passes in writing their evaluation of the Duelist and these results are summed up and summarized in the Duelist template" said one of the witches.
"Correct, complete, and concise answer Miss Hardman" complimented the teacher.
"The Duelist template is a very important thing, as it measures the level of the wizard or witch, but what exactly does this template measure, could someone tell me how this template is divided?" asked the teacher again.
No one rushed to answer, as it was not a simple answer, most only know the summary of the template they give to each Duelist which is the level as a Duelist they have.
But they don't know exactly the steps to follow to get to that final result.
Severus didn't know about this either, he as well as most of the students knew that the duelist is classified by level.
The levels given to the duelist were much like the danger rating given to magical creatures and plants.
A duelist could be classified as:
X: Null or harmless skill. (Untrained).
XX: Beginner skill (with some training).
XXX: Medium skill (trained).
XXXX: High skill (much training) - can be achieved with some talent but a lot of effort.
XXXXX: Exceptional ability. (experts in this area)-only those with great talent and a lot of effort achieve it.
S: Outstanding ability. (excels above others in this area)-have a unique talent and lots of effort. Cannot reach this level by conventional means.
SS: One of a kind, no comparison.
"Tch, the duelist's template measures in summary the same thing that an auror's template measures. It measures the level of basic magic, medium magic along with high and expert level magic" said Ethan Hale surprising several students, as they were all suspicious as to whether he had any relation to Professor Hale.
When he said that, for many students, it confirmed the fact that they have some relation as he was the only one who apparently knew the answer in the class.
"Correct Sir. Hale, as you said, the Duelist template is a summary of the Auror template as the Auror template is much more comprehensive and private" nodded the teacher.
'Auror template, I remember hearing something about that, but I never saw one, it must be because they are private as the professor said, maybe Gwen can explain to me later' Severus wondered.
"According to your level of magic demonstrated in each duel, the duelist will gain a certain level in the use of each of the four magics that are evaluated, the better your mastery in a magic the higher the level they give you, but it also adds up the use they put the magic to if one is creative one can gain points as well" explained the teacher.
"Anyway, since the competition in Ilvemorny is for those under 18, you will only be allowed to use a list of the basic, medium, and high-level magic spells."
"And this list of spells when will it be given to us?" asked another of the young witches present.
"Don't you even know the basics, all the spell lists are posted next to the competition announcement, just look" Ethan mocked the witch making her cringe.
And Severus had to admit that he was right about that one, what are you doing in a class preparing for a competition that you haven't even looked up basic information about.
'Most likely many of the SCoP witches present are just fans of the professor and that's why they decided to take her classes, I wouldn't be surprised' Severus thought.
"Ethan Hale!, that's no way to address a classmate!" said the professor drawing the attention of more than one seeing her calling him by his name so familiarly.
Now everyone could be sure that they were familiar.
Ethan just covered his face in embarrassment as he denied it and seemed to sigh, while the teacher seemed to have belatedly realized her little mistake and just smiled in embarrassment but continued the class as normal.
To Severus' happiness, the teacher allowed them to spar with each other, so Severus quickly looked for a dueling partner.
Unfortunately, it seemed that everyone already had a pre-set partner and there was only one person left in the class without a dueling partner.
That's right, Ethan Hale.
"We are the only ones left, apparently you can't ignore me this time Prince, although if you want you can run away from the duel like a coward and surrender, but if you decide to duel me I promise to have compassion on you and not make such a fool of you in front of the whole class" Ethan sneered as he approached Severus.
But despite his teasing, the truth was that he didn't want Severus to back down, Ethan wanted a dueling partner and if Severus left things were going to get quite complicated and boring for him.
'Well, I stand corrected, it's not like Potter, Ethan at least has the decency to want to take me on one on one' Severus chuckled mentally not giving Ethan's teasing any importance, he was looking forward to dueling and if it could be with someone who matched him even better.
"How about a bet, since you're so confident," said Severus amused.
"Oh, are you sure Prince, I wouldn't want to take advantage of you, you have to know that in Ilvemorny I'm considered a genius in DADA, you still wish to make that bet?" asked Ethan amused as if he knew Severus would regret it.
"Sure, if there's nothing to lose it wouldn't be interesting, how about 300 gallons?" confirmed Severus calmly as he gave him a piercing look.
Despite Severus being confident, he couldn't be sure if he would beat Ethan, after all, he seemed to have some relationship with the professor, and not just anyone would go around claiming to be a genius at Ilvemorny's institute of magic like it was nothing.
Severus had also been able to read Ethan Hale pretty quickly.
Severus knew that he was very cocky, bad-tempered, and confident, much like Potter.
And if Severus wasn't mistaken, he wasn't just a chatterbox, he had the ability to be confident and cocky, so it wouldn't be an easy duel, still, he wished to test himself.
He only used to duel Potter and Sirius in less than advantageous situations and even he would admit that they were skilled, so being able to handle them both gave him some confidence to handle a single person now.
Ethan's eyes were wide, he was dumbfounded, 300 gallons was no small money, it was almost the average salary for a wizard and witch.
"I accept, and I hope you don't regret it later, there will be no turning back Prince," Ethan said with a smile, despite it being a lot of money, he had total confidence in winning.
They both settled at the ends of the dueling stage.
Then they both nodded their heads and walked to the center to discuss the final details.
"Very well Prince, whoever drops his wand first or surrenders will lose!" commented Ethan.
Severus just nodded.
"We will be able to use any kind of spell that is not lethal, area effect, or expert level, all right?" asked Ethan.
"As you wish," said Severus.
"Very well, on the count of three, we begin" finished Ethan.
Then before dueling, they both bowed with respect showing that this was an honorable duel between the two.
Ethan was surprised when he saw Severus' expression and look at that moment, he seemed to be a completely different person than the quiet, unassuming, and sociable young man he had shown himself to be so far with others.
Severus had a look, dark, cold, eerie, and piercing that seemed to be looking deep inside him with contempt.
His facial features change as well as his eyes, now seeming to be so dry, cold, and devoid of light. All this combined with the black attire he wore made for a very demoniacal image.
Ethan almost thought it was some spell that modified his facial features but dismissed that idea and focused on the duel.
After the greeting, they both half-turned at their ends counting aloud.
"1..."
"2..."
"3... "
They were both heard reciting instantly.
"Incendio" Ethan began to create flames at Severus' position.
"Aguamanti" conjured Severus skull a large puddle of water over the flames, easily extinguished.
"Lacarnum Inflamarae" Ethan changed tactics and directly unleashed flames from his wand at Severus.
"Flame Freezing-Extinguishing Spell " recited Severus two spells in sequence, one to eliminate the effects of the fire on his body and the other to extinguish the flames thrown by Ethan.
"Flipendo..." incanted Ethan changing his strategy when he saw that his fire produced no effects.
"Impedimenta" Severus quickly nullified Ethan's spell preventing him from casting it.
"TCH, Avis, Draconifors, Oppungo" Ethan quickly conjured three spells in sequence, one conjured a flock of birds from the tip of the wand the other transformed them into small dragons, and the last sent them to attack Severus.
"Orbis, redoubt" Severus said calmly causing one by one the small dragons to disappear in a mini whirlwind or be destroyed.
"Envertestatil" Ethan.
"Protego" Severus created a simple shield around him that withstood Ethan's spell.
"Bombarda" recited Severus on the offensive for the first time detonating the space Ethan was in with a small explosion.
"Fire Enchantment" Ethan created a small ring of fire that protected him.
"Flipendo" Severus conjured again while Ethan was in his ring of fire. This didn't hurt Ethan but knocked him backward leaving the victim a bit disoriented.
Taking advantage Severus quickly conjured more offensive spells, causing Ethan to only be able to stay on the defensive for the moment.
Unbeknownst to the two of them who were immersed in their duel, all the other students were gathered around them watching the spectacle of lights, noises, and spells they were putting on.
Most were in their own duels at first, but none were as interesting and intense as Ethan and Severus.
Everyone could see that the level of both was very high for their ages and evenly matched as they went from offensive to defensive due to small details, each was gaining ground and losing at the same time, and no one had a clear advantage.
The fight accelerated between Severus and Ethan.
Both began to resort to their best moves and even began to cast silent spells along with spoken ones to hide them and create more problems for the opponent.
The students watching were impressed given that both were making expert use of spells, even Professor Ava Hale began to watch the duel more closely.
She knew Ethan Hale's level, after all, he was her little brother, she knew he was a genius at DADA and had a great command of fire spells.
He was an XXX-level duelist and among the best at his level, which was already impressive for his age.
She had full faith that her brother could win against any duelist his age or younger, but here was this young wizard a year younger than her beloved brother competing in an even equalize duel against him.
But if anything surprised Ava Hale, it was not that Severus was at his brother's level, but that he was using the spells in such a way that they countered Ethan's, he did not use pure mastery of spells as his brother did but calculated perfectly what spell to use in a given situation and how to use it.
Undoubtedly Severus' control and level over the spells he used were incredible, but Ethan was undoubtedly better.
The problem was the way Severus seemed to know everything Ethan would do next, it didn't matter what advantage Ethan had if Severus didn't give him room to use it.
What Severus excelled at was his level of understanding of the duel, he had experience dealing with worse situations than this one, so he was always looking for the slightest advantage he could to get out of such a situation.
'To think that there is a young wizard so capable in this school, I would never have imagined it, that look he has, is that of someone who has a lot of experience in magical duels without rules, he is attentive to everything that happens, he analyzes like a professional who can lose his life for a mistake, but with 16 years old it is impossible to have gone through so many situations that make him reach that level, his observation capacity is almost at my level by Merlin' the teacher who was impressed told herself as she watched.
The spells between Ethan and Severus continued to be flung through the air of the stage, going from offensive to defensive, but always managing from both sides to counter the other side leaving the duel in a stalemate between the two.
"Wow, I don't stand a chance in the contest if those two participate" commented one of the witches.
"Same here, I don't want to imagine if there are better duelists than them in the contest."
"Yeah. And Ethan's fire magic is so impressive and beautiful."
"Yesss, you saw that ring of fire, it was great."
"His mastery of fire magic is amazing, but Prince controls it I would almost say with ease."
"I don't know, I admire Ethan because anyone else facing that guy I'm sure they would run for his lives first, well, I would" commented another witch pointing at Severus.
"Yeah and think that he seemed so calm and good."
"Calm and good? sure, sure, he looks like he has bloodlust all over his face and if you see his eyes in detail it's like he wants your soul as well."
"Yeah, it's creepy just to see him for Merlin, never mind dueling."
"Still it's we have to admit he's impressive, so strong and intimidating at his age."
"True, and he's the youngest among us all, which makes him even more awesome."
"That, who cares if he's scary, he has his charm."
"I agree, someone kind and calm who if you mess with gives you the scare of your life is more than charming."
These were some of the many comments from the witches and wizards watching the duel between the two.
On the other hand, Ethan was surprised with the course of things, he had a clear advantage over Severus, he only needed to be a long time on the offensive to oppress him and he could finish him off, ending the duel.
But for some reason Severus always managed to keep him from staying on the offensive, he always managed to make him go on the defensive when he was about to take advantage of him.
'TCH, fucking hell, the wanker looks bloody creepy while dueling, I feel like if I lose he'll kill me for sure' Ethan complained as he watched a Severus with black robes, black eyes, black hair, and a natural grim aura he emitted that made him look even grimmer than he already was.
'And they said Dementors were scary, this guy is the bloody grim reaper' Ethan mentally grumbled again as he saw Severus' eyes, dark, cold, deep, and piercing.
Severus, contrary to the common thinking of the others, was enjoying this duel as never before, he felt he could lose at any moment with the slightest mistake, but that only made him more excited, the best part was that he only had to focus on one person, which gave him many more options to seek to win.
The duel went on for quite some time.
While Ethan continued to use his incredible fire magic to oppress his opponent, Severus used every spell he knew with great skill and unique ingenuity that made Ethan's attempts to win come to naught.
In a decisive moment, Severus managed to stop another of Ethan's attacks and decided to take a chance with an idea he had.
Severus deflected one of Ethan's fire attacks and then took the opportunity to quickly recite "Alarte ascendare" to raise Ethan just a few centimeters and leave him destabilized for a few moments.
Apparently, the spell was successful, as it managed to destabilize a lot, causing him to slow down his constant attack.
"Bombarda" recited Severus causing a small explosion.
Ethan had reacted quickly with a "Fire Enchantment" to protect himself, but to his surprise, Severus' "bombarda" was not directed at him but at the ground where he was standing.
Ethan fell backward, he was already destabilized by the previous spell that made him levitate a few centimeters, and now adding the shattered ground he was on the fell easily, but the instant this happened he resumed his posture for the duel, and very enraged he prepared to resume the offensive with his fire magic.
"Incarcerous" Severus invoked some ropes over Ethan's body that was just recovering from the fall, this prevented Ethan from resuming the offensive because his movements were restricted.
Ethan instantly burned the ropes invoked by Severus.
But Severus only needed that time when Ethan focused on the summoned ropes to cast his other two silent spells in sequence with which he hoped to win.
"Verdimillious" Severus conjured a cloud of green "gas" that attacked Ethan and at the same time defended and covered him.
Then Severus cast the other pink silent spell in sequence, but this one seemed to have no effect on Ethan.
"Fire Enchantment-Evanesco," while Ethan who had freed himself from the ropes quickly conjured two quick spells in sequence one that defended him and another that undid the part of the cloud that attacked him, quickly dealing with the cloud of "gas" that attacked him.
But Severus wasted no time and cast another spell from within the cloud that still covered him.
Everyone saw a spell with a green light come out from the cloud where Severus was.
This spell hit Ethan in his fire shield, but to everyone's surprise, it didn't hurt him in the slightest, but just like before he was lifted off the ground but this time it was much worse as he was hoisted into the air by their ankle.
Severus kept him hoisted into the air, making Ethan unable to do anything about it as he did not know this strange spell and did not know how to counter it.
The silent spell cast on Ethan was: "Levicorpus".
It was a Jinx created by Severus himself.
Even though Ethan had no way to escape the spell now, he did not stand idly by and launched from the air an offensive on the surroundings with a fire attack the instant he could, managing to hit
Severus' weakened protego in his offensive.
It was surprising the speed with which he conjured his fire magic and the ease with which he had to master it despite being in the air totally unbalanced, Ethan had already proven to be an expert in the mastery of fire as he never took more than a few seconds to free himself from the various traps that Severus put him during the duel and return to attack as if nothing.
The fire hit Severus' protego destroying it and throwing him backward with great force.
Things had taken an unexpected turn for the audience, everyone thought that Severus had managed to get the victory thanks to that last spell, but he was now on the ground due to the impact of the fire.
When everyone thought that the duel was defined because Severus had received a strong blow that made him fall backward at the end of the stage.
Ethan began to show signs of daze, he seemed to be totally disoriented trying to sort out what was happening around him.
"What's wrong with him?"
"Why is he acting so strange?"
"Mmmm maybe that gas cloud affected him."
"Yeah, it could be."
"He seems really dizzy."
"That, maybe being upside down in the air for so long made him dizzy".
These were some of the comments from the students, but among all those watching the duel, only Professor Ava Hale knew exactly what had happened and she was very surprised.
Taking advantage of the fact that Ethan seemed to be dizzy, Severus who was lying on the floor pulled himself together from the blow and started to get up slowly and calmly.
His body, hair, and clothes, were all bruised from the fire, the blow had left him in very bad shape.
'Bloody Hell, that hurts' Severus complained as he struggled to get to his feet.
When he finally stood in front of an Ethan who was apparently still dizzy, Severus just stared at him with a small smile.
'But that sure was quite a duel, I should thank him later, it was quite interesting getting to my limit' Severus thought.
On the other hand, everyone who saw this scene where Severus stood up with his black robes and bruised hair along with a cold, penetrating, and dark look that was accompanied by a slight smile, couldn't help but think that the reaper himself had risen again to take Ethan once and for all.
And the truth was that Severus did look very sinister, contrary to his casual, kind, and calm attitude, in the duel he had shown a cold, hard, calculating, dark and sinister attitude, which made the hair stand on end more than one.
He seemed like a completely different person.
"Expelliarmus" cast Severus after a few moments of standing up, disarming Ethan, and taking his wand.
"Alright that's all," Severus said, and then with a snap of his fingers, he undid the effect of the spell he had put Ethan in, thus drawing the attention of everyone present to the fact that he was the cause of the dizziness Ethan had.
'What spell was that?" wondered everyone watching , even the teacher had her doubts, but she had a general idea of what it could be.
"This...uh?...what happened?... My wand!" exclaimed Ethan the moment Severus released him from the spell.
"Simple, I won," said Severus calmly but amused at Ethan's clear confusion.
"You, When did you take it, impossible, I had hit you with my spell and then..." started Ethan as he saw that Severus had his wand.
Severus just shook his head.
"When I conjured the gas cloud that surrounded us I also cast in sequence an inconspicuous and very fast silent spell called 'Confundi ultima' which makes one lose total awareness of what is happening for a few moments, it's like having a blank mind, that spell takes a few moments to take effect, that's why it didn't affect you instantly" explained Severus.
"I see, similar to the 'confundus' spell that instantly stuns and disorients the affected person, but still, how did you have time to conjure and cast two spells of that degree in just a few seconds?" Ethan could now understand the situation better, but still, he had not given Severus enough time to cast two spells of that degree of difficulty in such a short time.
"That I can answer for you if Mr. Prince will allow me," said the teacher who stood with the rest of the students watching the duel.
She looked at Severus for confirmation.
If he didn't want to reveal it, she wouldn't say anything.
Severus just nodded, it saved him from having to explain himself and he had no problem telling because he had already completed the necessary paperwork to be credited with creating the spell and it would be published shortly, so sooner or later it would come out.
And he knew that someone of the professor's level would notice the characteristics of his spell.
"The spell cast by Mr. Prince called 'condundi última' may have similarities to the 'confundus' we know, but unlike the 'confundus' spell that is required to be cast individually, this spell seems to be able to be attached to the magical sequence of other area magic spells such as Verdimillious" explained the professor.
"Wow, pretty amazing, I didn't know about such a spell, looks like it's my loss Prince, the next duel we have I won't be so careless," said Ethan shaking her hand by way of greeting without seeming annoyed or resentful with the result, rather, he seemed excited to duel again.
"Sure, as long as you honor the wager I'm always available for another duel," Severus said calmly but with a teasing tone as he shook Ethan's hand and handed him his wand.
Ethan seemed to remember the 300-gallon wager and his eyes seemed to lose the competitive gleam they had.
'Looks like Ethan Hale isn't as much of an idiot as I thought, at least he has his good stuff' Severus weighed in.
After that, the class ended and several students in the class asked the teacher about the spell and where they could find it to learn it.
The teacher told them that it was impossible to find this spell since it does not exist in any book because it was a creation of Severus Prince himself.
Then they asked about the other spell that Severus had used to lift Ethan's ankle, and the answer was the same.
Which surprised all the students since two such interesting and useful spells were created by the same wizard who was younger than them.
Many thought of asking Severus if he could teach them the spells, but after witnessing the duel between Ethan and him, they did not dare to do so as Severus now gave them quite a shiver when
he looked at them with his deep, dark black eyes.
After class, Severus went to his dormitory next to Ethan.
They were both a mess so they had to shower and change after that duel they had.
The two of them talked quite a bit after the duel.
Ethan was impressed with Severus' skills and had many questions to ask him.
As for Severus who preferred to ignore him at first, he was now also intrigued by Ethan's ability to manipulate fire so perfectly, that he seemed like a pro at using it.
The two spent the rest of the day together talking about various things related to dueling, magic, and all sorts of spells.
They only separated for dinner, apparently, Ethan already had another group he was hanging out with and invited Severus to sit with them, but he preferred his own table where Freyja and Gwen
were already seated.
During dinner, unknown to Severus who was conversing with Freyja and Gwen, many students from the dueling class started talking about the duel he had against Ethan.
The next day, Severus went to his classes, as usual, spent time with Freyja and Gwen, but now also converses in his dormitory with Ethan about all sorts of things.
The first two classes of the day with Professor Locklear were just as interesting as the Magical Chemistry class.
While the History Potions and Potioneers class with Professor Spilman were just as boring and tiring as last time.
"What do you plan to do this weekend?" asked Freyja happily during dinner that day.
"Well, I was planning to stay at the institute and finish studying the things that were not clear to me from some of the subjects we had, not all of us are like Prince who doesn't seem to have a problem understanding everything they give us instantly," said Gwen looking with mock resentment at Severus.
"Hey, don't look at me like that Gwen, the same thing would happen if we were in transfigurations, you have a great affinity for transfigurations and I have a great affinity for potions" Severus defended himself calmly.
Freyja just nodded while Gwen pouted prettily.
"And you Severus, what do you plan to do?" asked Freyja with a little less enthusiasm than before as she remembered that she would also have to stay behind to study several things she didn't quite understand.
Even though Severus was helping them both in many things, the SCoP program was not normal, it was an intensive program that tested all genius students in potions, and only people like Severus would see the classes of the program as a common class.
That was why most of the students in the program had to stay and study over the weekend.
"I'm going to go to the Muggle and magical world in the USA, I have several things to do regarding my family and I also wanted to see the country" Severus explained.
"You have to tell me everything when you get back, yes? pleas, pleas" said Freyja with puppy dog eyes.
Gwen just smiled amused while Severus just nodded unable to deny those eyes.
It had been five days since Hermione had last seen Severus, almost the same amount of time she had been with him that time.
By the time she reached this time, Hermione was determined to do whatever it took to defeat Voldemort.
She already had plans to accomplish this, plans that she would follow despite her fear, nerves, and doubts.
She didn't care if she had to suffer the same hell as long as she could save as many innocents as she could and end Voldemort once and for all, her greatest nightmare, one that had been present every night since she arrived in this age.
By the way, it was only thanks to Severus that she managed to appease her nightmares.
Just remembering those moments makes her die of shame.
She remembers the first night she spent at young Severus' house.
He had kindly prepared a room for her with everything she needed to sleep comfortably and recover from her burns and headache.
Earlier that night she had had a nightmare in which Voldemort slowly tortured her parents, only to then kill them and laugh sinisterly.
Hermione was so immersed in her nightmare that she didn't know what was happening to her body on the outside as she slept.
Severus had heard her screams and moans thankfully and went to see what was wrong.
Apparently, she was choking from lack of air and was saying a lot of incoherent things as she spoke unclearly.
He told her that her whole body was shaking, while her skin had turned pale white and she was having very strong convulsions at times.
Severus had tried to wake her from her nightmare in different ways, but apparently, she was unresponsive.
He even told her that he tried magic, but he couldn't bring himself to use anything rough on her as it might be counterproductive with the bad condition she was already in.
It was then that Severus sighed defeatedly and denied briefly to himself.
A few seconds later her condition began to get worse and worse and it was only then that Severus seemed to make up his mind to do something that he apparently didn't like one bit from the way he told her.
That to Hermione's surprise was to lie down next to her on the bed, stroke her hair, and start singing some sort of song in Irish:
Codladh, codladh,
Go raibh do bhrionglóidí draíochtúil,
grá, gean agus síocháin i gcónaí
A chodladh,
Go mbeidh Merlin aire a thabhairt duit
agus a thaispeáint duit ar domhan draíochta
nua ionas go mbeidh tú codlata i síocháin.
Codladh, codladh,
Go raibh do bhrionglóidí draíochtúil,
grá, gean agus síocháin i gcónaí
A chodladh.
The amazing thing about this was that as the song went on, Severus' hands stroking her hair seemed to glow a faint green color.
When Hermione had the opportunity to see him in person do this one of the nights he slept with her, she knew the instant she saw this that it was magic much like the unique magic of mermaids, magic that apparently needed to be changed but in this case also needed yet another medium for this magic which was the hands touching the individual's hair.
He told him that it was very ancient magic perfected by the Prince family centuries ago with the help of the Merrows of the water people in Ireland.
Severus told her that her body's response to this magic was instantaneous, her body stopped shaking, the convulsions also stopped, her skin was beginning to take on color again and it was only then that she began to sleep normally.
Once Severus had finished singing and stroking her hair, he told her that he had to spend the rest of the night with her that day so that the magic he had conjured would remain active.
Apparently, this magic will only stay active as long as the people involved stay together.
She only knew all this once she woke up the next day.
But for her, it had been a horrible nightmare that then disappeared out of nowhere leaving her to sleep peacefully.
So when she saw Severus next to her in bed she behaved like a total freak.
That day Severus had been closer to death than even the day she had encountered a wolf-transformed Remus Lupin.
She had demanded, pointing her wand at his neck, explanations of the situation unless he wanted to suffer the consequences.
It was then that he just rolled his eyes, sighed wearily, and then pulled out his wand.
"You! What are you doing, didn't you hear me, if you make one more move I'll..." she started to threaten only to be struck dumb when she saw him point the wand at himself.
"Mendacium" Severus cast upon himself a spell and then stared at her as he held his wand above his head, it was a necessity for the spell to stay working.
"Very well, let's not waste any more time, you know this spell don't you?" said Severus calmly but there was a hint of annoyance in his gaze.
"This...yes, but..."
"Perfect, you save me from having to explain then, now ask whatever you want to know about what happened and you will know the truth," Severus said again quickly without humor to continue with this uncomfortable and annoying situation.
She knew the spell he used on himself.
The spell made it so that as long as it was active one could not lie, saying the correct of what you just said, similar to veritaserum only weaker, plus one had to hold the wand over the head of the individual they wished to have told the truth.
The biggest problem with this spell is that if one had the will one could get out of the spell easily.
But since he was doing it willingly and was maintaining it on his own there would be no problem unless he detached the wand from his head.
She nodded and asked everything she wanted to know.
That's when she found out about the whole situation that night.
To say it was embarrassing is an understatement, she apologized a thousand times and thanked him repeatedly as well.
Severus didn't seem to make a big deal out of it, but she knew he was pretty upset at the time and wouldn't forgive her anytime soon, luckily she believes that in the week they spent together he came to forgive her at all.
The most embarrassing thing was that her nightmares were so strong and dangerous that Severus had to brew special potions for her to sleep, but the brewing of these potions took 5 days.
So Severus spent the rest of that week chanting and stroking her hair every night so that she could sleep through this magic.
She wanted to bury herself in a well every time she thought about it.
It was extremely embarrassing to sleep with Severus and very strange.
But he seemed to have no interest in her, no shame either, it was as if he did it because he had no other and she would be eternally grateful to him for his care and patience.
At first, she thought that after the tantrum and the threats she made to Severus when she woke up that day, he wouldn't help her again, but to her surprise, he didn't bring up the subject again and simply helped her as if nothing had happened.
'Well, that's without taking into account that he still looked at me like I was crazy on the odd occasion' Hermione thought to herself as she was currently on a plane to the USA.
She and Severus had arranged to meet up on Friday morning when Severus' ship would arrive in the magical port of Boston.
Hermione had taken her passport and Muggle ID as Hermione Prince, made at Gringotts to fly to Boston.
The flight would take between 8 to 9 hours, so she would be arriving in the USA at about 8 am.
The next day was already Friday and Severus had already boarded a 7 am ship returning to the magical port of Boston, while Hermione's plane flight was already landing at the muggle Boston Logan International Airport.
When Hermione arrived in Boston, she knew that Severus still had several hours to go before arriving at the magical port of Boston, so she took the opportunity to go to the Prince's Mansion in the USA and organize everything for her weekend.
When Severus arrived at the magical port of Boston, the first thing he heard when he got off the ship was a female voice shouting his name: "Severus!"
This caused more than one wizard and witch present in the harbor to turn around to look at them with amusement.
'By Merlin Hermione, there was no need to shout my name when we both already saw each other' Severus sighed inwardly when he heard Hermione call his name loudly.
"It seems that in the week I've been gone you haven't changed a bit Hermione," Severus said once he was in front of her.
"Yeah, yeah, I know you missed me a lot" Hermione teased.
"Yeah sure, how was your trip ?" asked Severus as they both walked in the direction of the exit of the magical port.
"I slept for the most part, so I'd say uneventful."
"With or without potion?"
"Well, this... I slept again using a potion, I found that if I don't take them the nightmares only get worse."
"I see, but Hermione, you have to know that this potion can help you for a limited time, it's not something that lasts for a lifetime, and if you take them constantly it will lose its effect, you should start sleeping sometime or other without taking a potion and at least it has to be 1 or 2 times a week if you don't want them to stop having an effect on your organism in the long term."
"I know Severus, I know this potion shouldn't be taken continuously and I tried, but it's like being under the 'Cruciatus Curse' every time I have nightmares, so I always end up using them"
"It's okay, don't worry, we'll find another way to deal with your nightmares, for now, you'll keep taking the potion during the week and when I can I'll keep applying my family's magic to you."
Hermione nodded, but a part of her was still dying of embarrassment at just having to keep sleeping with Severus, even though he only touched her hair when he slept.
Even though it had already been a week of doing that, it was still awkward since they didn't know each other well enough to do that.
Although Hermione already knew that Severus treated and considered her as a friend/family she was half crazy.
They both decided to tour the city of Boston while talking about different things.
They took the opportunity to see both the Muggle city and the magical community in the city.
It was all very different from what Severus had expected.
Unlike the magical community in London which is quite closed to the Muggle world to the point where they tend not to know the standards of normality of Muggles and stay in the past tense.
The magical community in the city of Boston seemed to be moving along with the Muggle community, taking ideas from them and implementing them in the magical world.
Hermione was impressed as well, despite already knowing a bit about the American magical community, seeing it was a world of difference.
The two spent the time visiting different places and doing some shopping.
Severus took the opportunity to get to know and understand better the magical community in the USA, after all, he was planning to make some investments and wanted to know what he should do in the future.
He had a general idea of the current market movement since he had asked his finance manager at Gringotts to give him all the necessary information, but he still preferred to see for himself.
As for the Muggle world, he already had several ideas that he could gain a lot from.
Having future knowledge can be very useful for investing and earning money, the only problem is that there are many things he doesn't remember, but he can still get an idea of what he would be better off doing at present with the Prince family's money.
After a few hours, the two decided to go to the Prince Mansion in New York and continue their tour of the magical commercial area of Boston at another time.