Chapter 43: Problems With the Shop. Part 2. Solving the Problem
Severus knocked on the door of a nondescript two-story building set back from Knockturn Alley, put on a pleasant smile, and waited. The door cracked open and a rough voice came from within.
"Who is it?"
"A horse in a coat." Useful phrase. Where it comes from or why a horse specifically, I have no idea, and I would not recommend asking.
"What?"
"Not what, who. Illiterate."
"What did you just call..."
"I own the potion shop that recently opened nearby. I am here to speak with your employer." Every trace of hostility vanished from the voice on the other side. The door swung fully open, revealing a broad grin.
"No need to roll out the red carpet."
The man blinked, briefly confused.
"What carpet?"
"Never mind. I am in a good mood; the Galleons have been excellent today. Take me to your boss." When gold was mentioned, he pictured what Severus must have earned even in a single day, and a very greedy light entered his eyes.
"The boss is already expecting you!"
"Good. Lead the way." The smile Severus wore as the door closed behind him was no longer the same one.
On the way down to the basement he asked, in a friendly, interested tone, about the gang's numbers, whether this was their main base, and how many were inside. The thug answered with cheerful enthusiasm, completely honestly, not leaving out a thing. Severus had not seen that kind of candor in a very long time, and found it refreshing.
A minute later they entered a room that resembled a pub: animal skulls, shields, and a pair of swords on the walls, a counter, three tables where twenty cheerful wizards were drinking, with another five somewhere upstairs.
"Boss! He is here!" The thug's shout was genuinely happy. He waved at a man in a leather chair, who covered his face with one hand and sighed.
The room went quiet. Everyone looked at Severus with interest.
"Who is this?" But the moment the leader focused on him properly, his expression brightened. "Severus Snape! I never expected you to come in person!"
"I finished my business and came to ask why your people nearly put my manager in the hospital. The poor man is afraid to leave the building."
The leader laughed and rose from the chair.
"A complete misunderstanding. My men only wanted to discuss a few things on my behalf. He would not contact you, so they gave him a small reminder that the meeting was important, and here you are! It worked." He crossed the room and clapped Severus on the shoulder twice.
"Indeed. And what did you want to discuss?" Severus returned the gesture, very gently, and almost knocked the leader off his feet. The room grew tense.
"Not bad," the leader muttered, forcing a grin through the fact that his shoulder was now singing. "A joint arrangement."
"I am all ears." Severus transfigured a beer bottle into a chair and sat.
"Excellent. We propose a partnership. What are you doing?" He had noticed Severus had produced a notebook and was writing.
"I am taking notes. Continue."
The thug who had escorted Severus straightened slightly, cleared his throat, and went on:
"We offer protection from competitors. In return, fifty percent of your profit and a selection of potions."
"I see. And if I decline?"
"Then there's the question of whether you leave here." Laughter came from around the room.
Right. So: you seize me, torture the recipes and the Galleons out of me, and if I decline within the next month, you raise the rate to sixty percent. Severus looked up from the notebook at the stunned leader with an expression of mild innocence, then looked back down. Right. Very interesting. He flipped back one page and began counting under his breath. One, two, three, plus that one laughing like a hyena, four, and you, five. And the second group, the Buffaloes, wanted seventy percent and the full recipes.
"How did you know?" The realization hit immediately. His eyes snapped away and his hand went for his wand. The laughter in the room had completely stopped.
Then the door burst open.
"BOSS! Something is happening outside. The Buffaloes, the Dark Mantle, and the Reapers: their bases are burning. Terrible fire, like that time. Can't extinguish it. Nothing works."
He registered the sudden tension in the room and stared at his leader in confusion. The leader had gone white, and his wand hand was trembling, because he had done the math: Severus's information, his evident calmness, and now this.
He knew what was sitting in front of him.
"Tch. You ruined the performance. I was genuinely enjoying it," Severus said, his irritation edged with something almost childishly petulant. He stood. The chair he'd been sitting in just ceased to exist, leaving not so much as ash. The leader's worst fears were confirmed. "Go on. I'm listening. And put that toy away." He gestured, and the wand slipped from the leader's grip as cleanly as the chair had vanished. No heat, no visible effort: that was, in its own way, the most frightening part.
"How?"
"I'm simply a genius. That's the entire explanation." He shrugged. "And to answer the question you're about to ask: no, I'm not leaving you alive. You've seen my face. Stupid justification for what is about to happen, isn't it?"
"EVERYONE! TOGETHER, NOW!" he bellowed.
They moved. They were a second too late. A moment later, only the two of them remained in the room. The leader dropped to his knees and looked up.
"Please! I did not know it was your shop! I have a family! Children!"
"Go on, tell me about your elderly mother next."
"Confringo!" He thrust his palm at Severus. Two sparks jumped out. Despair settled across his face.
"Reasonable instinct," Severus said, stepping closer. "But you made three mistakes. First: you should have understood that I am not an ordinary wizard. I am an accomplished Legilimens, and you spent this entire conversation looking me in the eyes. Didn't you think? Second: you attempted an explosive spell whose primary destructive mechanism is fire, against a fire wizard. Again: didn't you think? And third." A crushing aura emanated from him, swallowing the room. The man on the floor was trembling, in the grip of something animal and beyond reason. He had never, in a long career of petty violence, imagined that a straightforward extortion scheme could end like this.
Flames wrapped the shaking figure.
He did not register his own death. Severus was merciful in that respect. And if it had been his preference, he would not have killed anyone. But he had spent his first life in a world where killing was not an extreme measure but an ordinary part of survival. If he left people with a grudge against him, one day they would act on it. Human nature did not bend to wishful thinking, and he knew it without needing to be reminded.
He searched the room and found a small strongbox hidden behind a section of wall, with an extension charm on the interior. Twenty thousand Galleons and a little more, several dozen dark artifacts, and assorted valuables worth an additional five thousand Galleons or so.
By the end of the evening he had gathered around ninety thousand Galleons. Combined with the shop's income and the proceeds from his first visit, his total wealth now stood at slightly over two hundred and fifty thousand Galleons. Not in the same league as the Blacks, the Malfoys, or the Lestranges, but comfortably in the top ten of the Sacred Twenty-Eight by wealth alone.
Working through everyone he had marked that day took nearly three hours. The fact that most of them were in groups made the process, if anything, easier.
He was not indiscriminate. Smaller groups and individuals he rendered unconscious, checked with Legilimency, and sorted accordingly. At Master rank his magical range had expanded tenfold and eye contact was no longer strictly necessary: something approaching telepathic reach, though without the ability to communicate by thought, except with Nagini through the familiar bond. The drawbacks were significantly greater mental effort and a requirement that the target be nearby. Eye contact, when available, was still simpler.
When he finally returned to the shop, he found a broken cabinet to the right of the entrance and two figures bound in the far corner.
"Leaving you here was clearly a good decision." He smiled, looking from Nagini, who was lying calmly on a table, to the white-faced Karner pressed into the corner. Karner stared at him, and then tears came into his eyes.
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