Severus looked at the tall white building which was present at the distance as he walked through the streets of Diagon Alley with a notice me not charm on him.

He wanted to convert the muggle money into Galleons before approaching for the Prince Family Heirship.

Looking around the Diagon Alley, he could see that the men present there were tense and alert due to the war.

He will admit it though that the dark mark looked cooler than the movies. Though it still was not enough to make him like it, but there was some artistic appreciation to it from his side.

He felt the rolls of notes which were in his pocket as he walked to Gringotts. A little magic pushed in the ATM machine and the machine completely started to act crazy. It was enough to rob the machine completely and then burning the entire ATM with a matchstick and a little 'incendio' to make it seem like an electrical fire. Ofcourse the fire was so great that there was nearly nothing left for authorities to investigate. It was an easy plan which he implemented in night and easily got away with. Thankfully CCTV cameras were not yet invented otherwise they would have been a huge pain in the ass.

He walked through the steps of guards as he entered inside Gringotts but not before taking a look at the famous warning.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Huh, they certainly know how to intimidate anyone, he thought inwardly as he looked at the Goblin guards on the Hall who were holding spears and daggers on their belts.

"I want to exchange some muggle money for galleons" he asked looking at the goblin who was sitting doing nothing in the whole hall with Goblins of Gringotts.

"How much wizard" the goblin sneered looking at him.

He was not bothered in least by the behaviour, "2500 Pounds" he said simply looking at the goblin with a calm gaze if his own.

"500 Galleons" the goblin spoke as he handed him the bag after Severus had given him the roll of notes which he counted properly. Severus groaned inwardly at the loss of muggle money though, that much money was enough to buy a nice car at this moment of time.

He took the bag carefully and checked its contents gaining a sneer from the goblin again but then again he hardly could say the he trusted these magical creatures.

Knockturn Alley was dark and filled with creeps was his first opinion as he looked at hags and beggars like men there.

If one walked confidently then they will not approach the person but if one showed even a slight of hesitance then it would be enough for them to leap on that person.

Finally he reached the shop which he was looking for 'Mankers Magical Pet Shops', the darker version of Magical Menagerie. He entered the shop wearing his transfigured black robe which fit his body perfectly at that moment.

The owner of the shop was Theo Mankers, a slytherin famous for his craze of magical creatures. He had also heard from fellow Slytherins that the man dealt with buying and selling of house elves sometimes.

"How may I help you Sir?," he asked politely as he looked at him. Severus could see various types of animals present there, some were even enclosed in charmed jars so that they couldn't escape.

"I am looking for a house elf" he said as he asked the owner of the shop enquiringly.

"Sorry sir, we don't deal with them" was the calm reply from the man. The sale of house elves was monitored by the Ministry as servants they might be in wizards eyes but they did were a magical creature.

"I see, with the level of intent wards you have here. You would already know by now that I am no auror or Ministry rat, don't you" he said calmly with a levelled stare at the man. He had already transfigured his face so that the man would not recognize his real face, though the man must knew it given by the amount of wards in the shop. He nonetheless took the sleeve of his left arm a little bit up causing the lower side of Dark Mark to reveal to the man.

"I see" the man became suddenly serious as he looked at him calmly. The Dark Lord's mark was well known by people due to the number of times it had hung in the sky by now.

"I have one though at the moment, Riley" he called out suddenly as an elf with dirty towels on his body appeared in the room. The amount of house elves was low as they were a species whose reproduction rate was very low compared to the humans.

"He will cost you around 200 Galleons" he said as he looked at him curiously.

"Done" was the reply of Severus. House elves were expensive, one got a loyal servant capable of doing magic for their entire lifetime afterall given the man didn't gave the elves clothes

He paid the man and he could clearly see from the corner of his eye that the elf was pretty much eager to have a new master judging by the barely concealed hopping he was doing.

They walked out of the shop and Severus looked as the elf followed him silently behind him.

"Riley hold my hand" he said softly as he looked at the elf with an outstretched hand.

The elf understood and Severus apparated both of them to his home in Spinners End.

They arrived to his house which he had cleaned and spelled as much as he could with the huge number of household and painting charms. The walls were pale blue and the place looked a little less gloomy from before.

He took a seat in the couch as he looked at the small elf who was infront of him standing wearing a dirty towel only. His huge gold ball like green eyes were fixed on him with apprehension.

"Riley, I will allow you a room for youself which you could colour and decorate to your wishes. You will not be punished and if you think that you had made a mistake then I will be there to talk about it. Without my explicit permission you will never punish yourself" he said in a soft tone. The elves were still magical creatures and loyalty needed to be earned, if he wanted loyal and powerful elf then he must train him carefully.

"Riley is thanking you Master" the elf said squeaking, his legs were barely stopping him for jumping with excitement.

This was how Severus found himself with an overenthusiastic elf for him.

Two Days Later...

Severus was sitting in the living room with the Dark Arts book which Lucius had gifted. He was however waiting for his elf which he had sent for an important mission. The elf didn't knew his name yet and Severus wanted to keep it like that until the task was completed.

Suddenly there was a pop and Riley appeared back who was now wearing clean towels and two pouches in his hand.

"Master the task is finished" Riley spoke up with a bow as he holded out the two charmed pouches to Severus.

"You had made me proud today Riley, from now on you are one of my most trusted and perhaps the greatest elf till date" he said excitedly as he took the two pouches from Riley.

"Thank you Master" Riley spoke up eagerly after giving him the pouches.

Severus opened the first pouch and put his hand there, wherever he touched he felt coins and jewels. Opening the second pouch he found the edges of books by his touch. Severus smirked thinking of the treasure in his hands.

Today was a Wizengamot meeting which was why Severus had sent Riley to infiltrate Hogwarts and more specifically The Room Of Requirements. Gringotts was never founded till fourteenth century so the founders would have stored their wealth and knowledge somewhere. And what better place than a castle protected by their own enchantments. He had given him two pouches which were charmed by endless extension charms as well as featherweight charms to place the books and money there left by Founders and students and teachers over the years. He had forbidden Riley for not asking any silver object left by the Students as he didn't wanted his only elf to die at the hands of Voldemort's Hocrux. Riley's capabilities were just too good to be left wasted, apparently they could be invisible and not noticed by any other person if they were ordered. The elves were different though and he had advised Riley to not be seen and sensed by any other Hogwarts elf which the elf had taken to heart. Knowledge was power and now he had shortcuts to make his path easier, his skills could be improved and he could learn some facts about history. Thankfully the mark had not burned, and he was already sweating bullets thinking about the mind rape he was going to be put. Thankfully Snape had learned Occlumency and was making huge progress with it. Memories were buried deep and the lie must held the truths if he ever wanted to succeed.

Now the next thing was to magically fix his appearance and gain some nutrition for this weak body, he just hoped that his blind shot in the dark will pay off nicely.