London,

"AH! The baby moved again." Grace, sitting on the couch in the living room, chirped happily.

"Dear, drink this potion. It will make your body stronger, so you can easily go through the process." Martha, like the ever careful and worrying kind lady, said.

Grace drank it and smiled kindly, "You are so kind to me, Martha."

"Hehe... I was born to protect Camelot and serve his majesty. Now, he even calls me grandma. Can I not try my best after all this?" She reasoned.

"You're the best." Grace hugged the old magical cat.

Grace's days were not boring. Every day someone would come to meet her or spend time. Her parents, even the queen, Bobby also came with his mother once. On days when nobody came, Martha was there, Chad also provided an amazing amount of entertainment.

It was the best and calmest time of her life. She didn't even feel any pain at all since Martha continuously gave her potions to strengthen her body. Adam meanwhile took good care of her, notching down on his work these days.

*Sigh*

"I wish my little kiddies were here. The house feels empty without their constant bickering and pranking." Grace sighed.

Martha chuckled, "Dear, you will soon have another child. When that happens, you will instead feel bad for not having enough time to focus on your two sons."

Grace got scared, "Oh, Martha, I'm so worried about that. I don't want to be a bad mother for the two of them. What if they start hating me?"

And here came the sudden mood swings. Martha patted her head, "Don't worry. Magnus and Ragnar are very good kids. They will understand that the little baby needs more of your attention. Don't forget, they love you as much as you love them."

This made her mood a bit better. "Yes, that is indeed true. *Sigh* Halloween is coming, I wish Magnus could be here. I would have loved to dress him up in the new princess dress I bought."

Martha didn't say anything this time, but she wondered if Magnus shuddered or not.

...

Hogwarts,

He did. Magnus felt a sudden chill run down his body. "Why is the potion lab so cold today?"

"What do you mean? The temperature is all good. Do you have a fever?" Ragnar checked his forehead.

"Attention, students. Today, we are going to be making a potion called Shrinking Solution. This is a potion that causes the drinker to shrink to a smaller form. It is bright green when brewed correctly and, if prepared incorrectly, it can be poisonous." Slughorn entered the classroom and started giving his lecture.

Today, the class was with Gryffindor students. As Slytherin and Gryffindor were not close buddies, they occupied two sides of the lab.

Slughorn continued with his lesson, "This potion is not the latest invention. It has existed for many years in the past. There was one documented event that even made it to muggle mouths. Back in the middle ages, a wizard Samuel Plunkett was persecuted by a Muggle village. To get his revenge, he poured Shrinking Solution down the village well and terrorised the shrunken villagers by chasing them around in hobnail boots.

"There is another account of it being used in the past. In the 1500s, an accomplished potioneer Zygmunt Budge developed his own advanced version of this potion. It proved so powerful that, when he accidentally split a small amount on the grass outside his house, it caused an entire flock of sheep to shrink to lambs the size of mice. Budge went on to use the shrunken lambs as ear-warmers in the chilly winters. Budge also sent the potion to his two brothers. Both of them shrank to the size of beetle, and it's believed they spent several days hiding under a cupboard while their cat tried to scoop them out and eat them.

"However, ignoring these mishaps, one practical use of this potion is in the transportation of livestock. It allows for a wizard to carry an entire herd of pigs in the pocket. Now, I will demonstrate to you how to make it first. After that, you will try."

As Slughorn did this, Magnus felt excited by it. He turned to his good brother Ragnar and asked, "Brother, can you make a version of this potion that can work on non-living items? Like just throw it on an item and it will shrink?"

Ragnar fell into deep thinking. "Hmm, I may be able to do it. The reason this potion works is that it gets mixed with acids in our own bodies. So, maybe if I can replicate it, I can make a Shrinking Solution that works on all things."

"AWESOME! Please make it. I am going to start a new company, which will be strictly about postal services, but it only sends large cargo instead of letters. I will buy some aeroplanes and print so much money it makes my assistant and accountant cry. I am ready to give you half of the shares. What do you say?" Magnus asked.

Ragnar licked his lips. Who doesn't like money? "Cool, what would you name it?"

"Umm... let's call it SummerSends, in short, call it SS." He proposed.

Ragnar loved the name, "Hehe, named after our dear Summer, right? Yes, she deserves some recognition. Cool, I will work on this potion."

Magnus nodded and happily started writing about plans for this company. After all, he knew one thing, that if he wants to dominate the globe into obedience, he's going to need a lot of money.

...

A distance from Magnus and Ragnar, Severus stood in front of his cauldron. He seemed to be dozing off as he was continuously staring at the contents of the pot, instead of working on it.

"SEV... SEV... HEY! Sev... what happened?"

Severus looked left and right to see who called him. His heart softened when he saw it was Lily. "Nothing, I was just thinking about something."

She chuckled, "Woah... never thought I'd see a day when Severus also slacks off. Well, I guess it'll be just the two of us working here. I went to Magnus and Ragnar, but they were having their occasional round of evil laughter. I wonder what they are planning."

Severus nearly laughed with a snort, "They... they often do that. Let's make the potion then."

"Yes, let's do it." She helped Severus with the ingredients.

"Sev, are you okay? You've been acting a little strange these days. Why do you not come to the lake anymore? I thought we had planned to always meet there every weekend and study together." She asked him shyly.

Severus felt his heartache. He finally had a chance to get close to Lily but damn Voldemort messed everything up. "It's not that I don't want to, I'm just... too occupied with something. I promise I will come there in a few weeks."

"Umm... always busy. You need to embrace some Gryffindor every once in a while. Look at Magnus there, look how he's messing with his potion." She pointed with a dreamy face. She still had a crush on him, just not as big as in the past.

Severus frowned, "That... he's just pouring random ingredients and hoping it'll make something good like the last time he made the most dangerous poison in the world."

"But still, to make such a genius mistake, you need some knowledge about the items." She defended Magnus.

Severus nodded at that, "True. He has indeed memorised the books. Though it's debatable if he's just too good at being bad or plain lucky."

He saw Magnus scratching his head in confusion and annoyance as he tried to make his potion. Severus sighed in his mind, ~He truly is genetically bad at potions. But, sadly, the girls still seem to idolise him.~

He said the last words after looking at the girls of both, Gryffindor and Slytherin staring at Magnus. To them, everything Magnus did probably felt like slow motion.

This was how the Potions class came to an end after 2 hours. Magnus fabulously failed to make the potions. But, he did end up making a potion that can kill termites. So Slughorn just sighed and moved on. Ragnar, as always, exceeded and got praise.

After the potions class, they had no classes. So, Ragnar went on to create the potion that Magnus asked for. But he needed Slughorn's help at the start. Severus was also nowhere to be found. Magnus, seeing nothing to do, went to his office.

He called Adrian on the phone from there. "So, did you find anything?"

Adrian answered, "No, sir. We followed, we searched but found nothing. The woman living in Severus' home is indeed Eileen Prince. She goes to work every day, chats with Mrs Evans, and goes shopping for groceries. She even receives letters from Severus."

Magnus rested back and thought deeply. "Hmm... how do people react to her?"

"Normal. They act as they would if they knew Miss Prince. Even Mrs Evans talks to her like close friends." Adrian answered.

*Sigh*

"Keep an eye on everything that's happening there. If you find anything out of the ordinary about her behaviour, contact me. Also, try to see what's in Severus' letters without opening them. Look for any anti-intrusion charms in the letters too. I have a bad feeling about this, Adrian.

"I have doubts that Voldemort has made his move, and I need to find out what it is. One more thing, keep the force ready to move at any moment. Tell all the members of the Army of Merlin to stay on standby but don't do anything suspicious." He ordered Adrian.

Adrian took a breath of cold air. They had an army of 300 Warrior Wizards who had agreed to fight for Magnus. Although MEDA and Emrys Construction employed more than 3 thousand wizards, they didn't trust everyone.

"I will pass the orders. But... Your Majesty... why don't you use Legilimency on Severus?" Adrian asked.

Magnus became silent. "I... I might just do it. You make sure you keep an eye on the situation. Take care."

He hung up and stayed still on his recliner chair. He looked at the ceiling, deep in thought. Multiple scenarios ran through his mind. ~If I do use Legilimency on him, what if he finds out and turns out to be innocent? What if... Voldemort finds out? Too much risk. Reading the mind should be the last option. I hope some real evidence is found soon.~

But Magnus still felt like he should use Legilimency as soon as possible.

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