HP - Shadow Monarch - Chapter 225 - Invitations.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.] Third Person POV London. ... ... The news continued the next day. The Minister of Magic, Septimus Fawley, had to

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

London.
...

...

The news continued the next day. The Minister of Magic, Septimus Fawley, had to appear before the Ministry all bandaged up, due to what Severus had done to him, to give an explanation to the large group of vampires in front of him, while the reporters seemed surprisingly at ease in the presence of those dark creatures, all so they could hear his apology.

Dumbledore was there too. Though he looked thinner, his face more gaunt than they remembered, he seemed alive. And they didn’t spare him from questions while the Minister still hadn’t started.

Dumbledore said he had a problem and had to stay away, while questions about what Severus had done to him kept coming, since no one believed anything else.

“He’s still a Dark Lord, do you plan to join the Ministry to destroy him?” a reporter asked.

“We’ll have to see, not everything is black and white. I’m sure Mr. Severus may not be such a bad person... we might expect good things from him...” Dumbledore said with a gentle smile.

All the reporters hearing that were shocked and speechless at what they’d heard. They couldn’t believe Dumbledore was actually saying such words.

“Well, it seems the Minister will continue now.” Dumbledore said before more questions could come his way.

The Minister, with some difficulty, after giving Dumbledore a dirty look for his absurd statement that Severus was a good person—since he deeply hated Severus—

“I, Septimus Fawley, Minister of Magic of Great Britain, come here today...” He began, while glancing at the group of vampires glaring at him.

He began to apologize publicly, almost begging, while Dracula seemed to be enjoying it with his arms crossed.

“Father... Can I see Severus? There’s nothing left for me here.” Rosaria complained.

“Tsk. How long do you plan to stay here, daughter? Are you coming back home?” Dracula ignored the Minister’s speech and looked at his daughter.

“I don’t know... I’ll be away for a while, depends on how Severus is. He invited me to the Prince mansion, so I believe I’ll stay a few days, but no set plans.” she said.

“I see...” Dracula still seemed grumpy, but nodded. “You may go.” was all he said.

“Good luck, sister.” The older sister didn’t miss the chance to speak to Rosaria.

“Thanks, Milicia. Take care of daddy.” Rosaria disapparated the next moment.

The newspapers kept circulating through the wizarding world with news about Severus Snape, about his heritage, about how he was out there as if nothing had happened.

Eight entire families were exterminated—even Death Eaters—yet many people were still horrified, especially at the fact that Severus, having been a Half-Blood until yesterday, had simply gained fame and power as a hero to a large part of the wizarding world as well.

He was declared a hero by many, for putting Voldemort in Azkaban. When the Dark Wizard was already imprisoned, wand-made signs would appear above the Ministry like posters calling for the removal of the charges being brought against him.

Pandora, who lived in a small town in a two-story house, had rushed out of her home to grab the first morning paper. Ever since she saw Severus’s name yesterday, she didn’t let a single edition pass.

There was a stand with a wizard section to buy nearby her house and she quickly paid and ran back home. As soon as she entered, she went upstairs immediately.

"Pandora, what are you so worked up about?" her father complained.

"Sev appeared in the paper! I need to know if he's okay!" she shouted, while closing the door and looking at the page where Severus stood, featured on the cover in place of Voldemort’s battle.

"Severus Prince... you look like an important person now," she murmured, as if ignoring all the chaos it had caused, only seeing that he was now embracing a name and the Prince family.

An owl struck her window at that moment, with Pandora looking curiously, recognizing Shadow.

"Shadow!" She opened the window while petting the black owl that always visited her when she went to Severus’s Room of Requirement. The owl seemed to enjoy the girl's touch, who giggled softly.

She opened the letter after giving some food to Shadow and began reading its contents. There was a small pouch with special flower powder that would take her directly to Severus’s house. It was an invitation for tea with him after everything, and Pandora couldn’t resist breaking into a happy smile.

"This is great! I’ll talk to my parents!" she said, heading downstairs.

It was still the mid-year holiday and she wasn’t sure how the return to Hogwarts would be, but with Dumbledore finally appearing, maybe things would go back to normal.

At the Greengrass estate.

"You're saying there was a condition for us to get married?" Clarisse Greengrass's voice murmured, sounding slightly indignant as she looked at the newspaper and the letter.

"Exactly," her father, Albert Greengrass, said while analyzing another newspaper, the latest one, with Severus becoming a Prince and fully taking on the family name. They even talked about the widows being expelled from the house.

Clarisse didn’t know what to think. She had heard something, which was why she pressed her father when he started muttering strange things. At that moment, he admitted that he wanted an arranged marriage with Severus due to his potential, which would be a great opportunity — but he had to become a pure-blood.

"Father, why did you impose that condition?" Clarisse murmured angrily, looking at the letter Shadow had left for her earlier that day. It had the same Floo powder with an invitation to Severus’s estate.

"You're in love with him, aren’t you?" Tiago couldn’t help but notice the sparkle in his daughter’s eyes.

"Yes, I love him. But it can't be very easy now that he’s become quite famous, with everything he's done," Clarisse murmured, thinking about the other girls who hung around Severus. Some seemed to drift away from him, but there was her, Pandora, Rosaria, Bellatrix, and now maybe his old friend, Lily Evans.

She thought it unlikely that any of them had a place in his heart.

At the Black estate.

"Well... Grandma, I’m going to see him," Bellatrix decided after showing the letter to her grandmother, who had also received it with the Floo powder.

"Alright. I won’t bother you, since he did this directly for you," Astraea commented, as her granddaughter left the room, heading for the fireplace.

"Seems like we made the right decision, didn’t we?" She couldn’t help but look at the portrait of her late husband.

"Eight families were exterminated. All the Death Eaters were killed, all the other families must have been greatly weakened... The Dark Lord was leading them to their doom when they thought they could deal with that boy... or monster now... For what that kid can do... by Merlin, how can he have so much power?" The portrait looked both worried and relieved at the same time.

"It’s not over yet," Astraea said suddenly, in a cautious tone. "Listen... things are going to get much worse." That was her conclusion.

Meanwhile, at St. Mungo’s.

"He’s in the paper again..." Lily murmured as she sat once more in the magical hospital with her parents... after having returned at night... after the chaos with the vampires the day before... She didn’t go to the Ministry, since everything had already been resolved.

Even though her friends had invited her, they understood when she chose to stay with her family. Her sister still blamed her, saying they were in that condition because of her.

They might be fine now, but surely the memory of the pain they felt when attacked by the Death Eaters must not have been pretty.

Her father was awake now and seemed well, but he had a tired look.

"Tell me, Lily, is there more news about Severus in those papers?" he asked with a certain caution, while Lily froze a bit.

Things hadn’t been easy after the fight they had at Hogwarts, when she had to tell them what had happened back then. Her parents clearly seemed disappointed in Severus. As a boy, he had always visited their home over the years, ever since they were young.

Her father had been even more disappointed with everyone and had said she should never bring Severus into their home again, after he disrespected Lily by calling her a Mudblood.

"Yes. Severus, besides defeating You-Know-Who, also took on the Prince name. He is now officially Severus Prince and became a pure-blood noble..." she informed, showing the newspaper.

"He’s a criminal!" Petunia exclaimed, rising from her cot. "You used to bring that criminal into our home?!" she shouted.

"Petunia, stop it," her mother intervened beside her, disliking her daughter’s hysterical behavior since she had woken up.

"I know that Dark Lord attacked us trying to capture you to use against Severus, but still... he saved us." her father said, while asking carefully, looking at Lily.

"I’d like to thank him, Lily. This war in the wizarding world ended at that exact moment, didn’t it? The moment he defeated that Dark Lord?" Elen asked.

"Yes, Dad... but are you sure about that?" Lily seemed surprised.

"Lily, you weren’t here, but as soon as I got a check-up, I realized: whatever Severus gave me... it healed me. And when I say healed, I mean completely. I was having a heart problem, but... not anymore." he revealed, catching her by surprise, since she didn’t know about her father’s condition.

"It's true, your father was on the verge of dying at any moment. It was a miracle he survived the stress. But that’s what the doctors said a year ago... So imagine our surprise seeing yesterday that he had a healthy body, with no issues at all," her mother said.

"That’s right, Lily..." she murmured.

"I’d like to invite him, if possible. I want to thank him and apologize for what I thought of him," he said.

Severus... but that Severus wasn’t their Severus anymore. She couldn’t help but think that, looking at the photo in the paper, unsure what to do with the conflicting feelings after everything that had happened.

At the Malfoy estate.

"He dares mock me!" Lucius Malfoy’s voice roared in his office as he looked at the letter sent directly from Severus to him.

Narcissa was nearby. She had been very reluctant at first when Lucius wanted to reject their engagement, but after the death of Abraxas F. Malfoy, she ended up liking him and accepted the marriage they had intended to have.

"Well, I wouldn’t want us to become enemies of Severus," Narcissa commented, grateful they hadn’t answered the Dark Lord’s summons when he called everyone. Because it had been a massacre when they tried to capture Severus...

The letter was quite simple. It was Severus stating that he hadn’t seen Lucius last night with Voldemort, so he was alive, and that he held nothing against Narcissa, as long as she didn’t try to seek revenge for Severus having killed her father at the attacked city event, he would let Lucius live his life peacefully.

Simply stating that he should stop with "that blood purity crap," because it was a foolish thing to carry forward.