HP - Shadow Monarch!

Chapter 166 - The disguise.

[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]

Third Person POV

Hogwarts.

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It was Sunday morning when Snape was spending his time in the laboratory of the Room of Requirement while creating some of the last potions he would place in the shop that day.
The shadow wizards helped him make the potions, while the others, not specialized in magic, prepared the simpler ingredients. This greatly facilitated his performance in creating them and saved him a lot of time.
"Keep making them." Snape said in the end, seeing that he no longer needed to focus on the potions as they only required basic ones, while the shadow soldiers had no difficulty continuing to make them. On the contrary, they followed their king's orders with great effort.
He looked on, satisfied, as he saw everyone working. That was when, as he turned to leave the laboratory, he found Pandora standing in the middle of the hall of the Room of Requirement, looking at him curiously.
"That's good that you came, after all. Dobby told me that you didn't want anyone to enter there and see the things you were trying to hide," she murmured.
He nodded, not denying it. He really didn't want to simply show that he could control the dead; that would be worse than saying he was a Death Eater. But she seemed quite calm about it.
"You want to talk, right?" Snape asked as she nodded eagerly.
"Follow me, then." Snape said as he led the way to the aviary, and she went along.
With the change of scenery to a much more beautiful place, as they found themselves in the meadows with trees and statues of animals that Dobby had used to decorate the place, they went to sit in front of the stream there.
"He's so fat!" Pandora murmured, looking at the huge Atlas lying on the ground, not even seeming able to get up.
"Yes... he ate too much and still has a lot to lose to return to his former shape..." Snape said.
"I wonder what Professor Rosaria gave him to get like this in less than a month," she murmured, while Snape raised an eyebrow at her, as he basically knew that Atlas had been with Rosaria—though he didn't know how—but preferred to ignore it.
"And how were your holidays?" he asked in the end.

Pandora adjusted herself in the chair and smiled at him. "They were good. I ended up traveling to some distant places in England, but I didn't leave the country. And you, what did you do?" she asked.
Snape thought for a moment before answering. "I did a few things..., but I didn't leave my new house much. I trained..., but I left the country at one point, though I stayed longer than I expected."
In the end, they talked for a while, having their first moment alone together, while she talked a lot about her holidays; he, on the other hand, remained more reserved.
This went on for some time until Clarisse also appeared, joining Snape and Pandora's conversation, as they had done the previous year. As the hour was already advanced, Snape informed them that he would not accompany them to the common room at that moment, stating that he would only appear at dinner that night.
With the two leaving, Snape returned to his laboratory while waiting for the shadow wizards to finish their last potions. He picked up the bags in which they were stocking the ready vials, while others continued preparing more, increasing the stock.
Snape did not command them back into his shadow again, leaving them to still produce more potions. Everyone was instructed to avoid any person who might appear, except for Dobby, who, despite being frightened at first when Snape introduced the shadows, had already gotten used to them after seeing them work here a few times.
Snape summoned his phoenix from the shadows, using its long-distance teleportation and moving outside the castle without anyone even dreaming of it. He appeared on the second floor of his shop, pulling a hood over his head before descending.
There were people buying on the lower floor, where the shop was, and he subtly entered the first level without being noticed. He ended up observing at least eight customers choosing potions. Genini was at the counter, and Igris was in a corner, hidden in the shadow of a cabinet, attentive to anyone with ill intentions toward his sovereign's belongings.