The Severed Prince

Departure

Severus' memory spell was a smashing success.

His onyx eyes shone brightly upon seeing a translucent strand of grey light emerged from the oak tree and he continued his chant up until it turned into a small orb the size of his palm. Transfixed over his creation, he took out a glass vial from his coat pocket and opened it with a pop before transferring the ethereal sphere into the vial.

He couldn't stop giggling as he went home and entered his room where Rogue croaked upon his arrival. As he thought on how to review the memory, he frowned. Hadn't he made an important point for the spell that the Pensieve wasn't needed for it?

He pulled the cork and took the orb out with his beech wand, still furrowing his eyebrows. With both uncertainty and curiosity, he tapped the sphere and murmured, "Projecto."

His eyes widened when the ball of light enlarged and he could see the earlier scene of him and Lily played out. As he inclined his head close to it, the voices from the memory also entered his ears.

Severus shook his head in joy and disbelief, and put the orb back into its vial before hiding it under his bed. He then gingerly took Rogue and petted its body lovingly, which was almost fully recovered. "Do you think I should patent it?" he absent-mindedly asked, to which the raven replied with a low croak that suspiciously sounded like a "No".

"...Yes, I can see your point." His facial features darkened upon remembering the cruel humiliation he had gone through. Just how could the Marauders know of his Levicorpus spell? The only place he had written the incantation was in his Advanced Potion Making book, and...

Severus' face went pale before he placed Rogue on his bed and scrambled to his school trunk, even unloading everything in it in search for his cherished book. After numerous attempts of perusing through the mess, he came to an unpleasant conclusion.

The book wasn't there.

They, the damned Marauders had stolen his book.

He really needed to find it as soon as school started. If they ever found out about his severing spell... He shook his head fearfully, not wanting to know what would happen. He had to make a counter-spell for it as fast as possible. Flicking through his Latin dictionary, he quickly made use of his beech wand to create a healing charm.

It took him about an hour, and he sighed in relief at the written incantation.

Vulnera Sanentur.

Let all wounds be mended. It might as well be his solution to the 'how much healing potions' consumption are too dangerous for a wizard?' question, which wasn't really his initial intention but as it was, he had killed two birds with one stone.

Severus gulped as he raised his un-Traceable wand and inflicted Sectumsempra on his left forearm, barely registering the sharp pain and just as quickly he spoke, "Vulnera Sanentur."

Nothing happened.

The long gash was starting to hurt and he gritted his teeth when blood began to trickle down his arm. Taking a deep breath, he repeated the incantation over and over, trying to comfort himself despite the increasingly terrible sting of the wound. Just like how his mother calmed him down after suffering one of his father's vicious beatings.

After about five minutes, he could finally breathe easily and stared in astonishment at his newly healed arm.

...Bloody hell. Severus knew his spells served him well, but sometimes his paranoia had made them work too potently. He wondered if James Potter's face was fully healed before brushing the thought away. Why would he sympathize over his bully? If anything, he felt a bit smug that he had given the pompous boy a scar. That he was just another human being, not some sort of demigod people had worshipped him over.