Good or bad, does it matter?{HP}

Putting the ink back into his bag, Severus glanced appraisingly at the magic circle drawn across the entire stone wall, with runes written around the edges and a football-sized spiral symbol in the very center.

"Ανοιχτό, " he whispered, placing his open palm on the wall, and at that very moment the circle lit up and the symbol in the center slowly spun, absorbing all the empty space in it, and a few seconds later the wall began to tremble and begin to move apart.

"Meow!" and just at the moment when the passage to the dark room opened completely, the Prince heard a cheerful meow and, lowering his eyes, he saw Lucky licking his right paw.

"Are you done with your business in the forest?" Snape asked with a smile, catching the kitten that jumped into his arms, stroking its head.

"Mrrr…" the kitten purred contentedly, nodding.

"Okay, then let's go together, maybe this will make this excursion not a waste of time."

As soon as he took a step forward and entered the room, the picture in front of him suddenly changed to a small dark hall, illuminated by four candelabras without windows or doors.

There was a bookcase at the opposite wall from the "entrance", and to the left of it a desk on which lay: dried ink, a pen and stacks of papers, and next to it a bin and finally what immediately attracted the Prince's attention, a red magic ball of the same material hovering above the marble counter.

Severus did not immediately understand what kind of thing it was until he came close to it, and his eyes shone for a moment and he saw runes in the form of lines ... hundreds of lines leading in completely different directions, some of which glowed brightly, while others dimly and there were even a few that went out.

"Have to give it to gryffindor.." Severus could not hide the grin on his face, understanding everything.

"What do you mean?" Nagini looked at him in confusion, stroking the kitten with her tail, who was naturally melting under the double "attack" on the top of his head and back.

"I'm talking about Gryffindor, hiding the castle's core right under Salazar's nose," he extended his hand, placed his open palm on the marble surface and fed it a little magic, but...

"You do not have the right to use the castle's core," a calm, male voice sounded from the artifact and an electric current hit the Prince's hand, forcing him to pull his hand back so as not to hit Lucky and Nagini, and also to stop his attempt to explore the body and mind.

"Hm... what if?" a pocket watch appeared in his palm and, placing the kitten, who snorted discontentedly, on his shoulder, he again put his hand to the ball.

A thin red beam shot out of the artifact, hitting the house symbolism, and then the familiar voice sounded again "You have been given third-level access."

"And what does it include?" throwing the watch back into his bag, Severus asked with slight interest.

"You are allowed to use the "map" function and move around the castle."

"A meager set, I could do all this without you," the Prince sighed with slight disappointment, tapping his finger on the ball, "And what do I have to do to get the control of second level?"

"Become an official employee, pass the test and let me read your memories."

Snape whistled after hearing these requirements "And what will I be able to do after getting this level?"

"Access to average defensive and offensive charms, my support during the training of students and the ability to use a more advanced card."

"Hmm, and what is there in the first level?" After those conditions, the wizard decided to refuse such "happiness", but he was still interested in what the one who created this artifact would require from him.

"To head one of the house, pass the test and allow me to read your memories," after a few minutes the core added, realizing what the wizard wanted to ask, "Access to the entire defensive and attacking power of the castle, my subordination and a full map."

"But shouldn't I become a headmaster for that? After all, the headmaster's post is higher than that of a house head."

"When I was created, the position of "headmaster" did not exist; each house was under the leadership of one of the founders."

"And can't you change this rule? - Nagini asked the core, puzzled, "After all, it is irrational."

"I have no rights to do this, only wizards with the first level of access can make changes."

Hearing the answer, the snake stared at the artifact in surprise.

"It was created by Gryffindor and most likely with the support of the other founders," he explained to her, his expression not changing, because it was not for nothing that it was hidden right under Slytherin's nose.

"You are right, this knowledge was passed on to me by the founder of your house, Salazar Slytherin."

"Understood, show me the map."

"Yes," A transparent projection of the entire castle and the surrounding area all the way to Hogsmeade appeared before the Prince's eyes.

"Not bad," he extended his hand and began to spin it, because in addition to Hogwarts itself, every wizard was marked on it, but there were no: "rooms of requirement", dungeon with the Basilisk and Salazar's office, Hufflepuff's kitchen and the room with the Ravenclaw portrait.

'I understand that you will show me all the rooms only after increasing your access level?" he looked down at the ball.

'Yes."

"Too bad, then I'll have to look for the last one myself…" Severus lowered his palm and sighed with disappointment, walking past the artifact and approaching the table.

"I don't want to reveal my memories even to you, it's too dangerous…" he calmly explained, sorting through the papers.

"Hm...?"

The papers on the table were records about the students, each of the founders, as well as the names of older wizards who they wanted to take for Rowena's vacant "vacancy", but what interested the Prince was an unfinished letter:

__________

"Alannon, I don't know when you'll get this letter, but I'm asking for your help, a terrible shadow is hanging over Hogwarts. Helga, Salazar, Rowena… they were all killed and I'll follow them soon. Please fulfil my last request, I can only trust you with this. Lead Hogwarts, protect the students, only in this case will they dare not come here again. Using all my connections, I still couldn't find out much, only that they were not from here, most likely from another continent, judging by the spells that I saw for the first time and the accent of pronunciation. I'm sure it was somehow connected with those two women that Rowena brought and the runes that they translated. Perhaps the organization behind them did not want others to know about them, that's why they started all this. Alannon, I…"

__________

The letter broke off further, but it was enough to draw a conclusion and understand what ultimately happened to Godric, and also that Snape was right when he thought that the wizards guilty of the death of the founders were from another continent, and the cause of all this was still the runes from his world.

"But who is this Alannon ...?"

"The mentor and a close friend of the creator …" the artifact answered him, considering that the question was asked to him.

"As I understand it, he still came to this place?" putting the letter aside, Snape's gaze fell on the table and turned to the ball.

"Yes, he headed Hogwarts for the next fifty years, taking the role of the creator after his disappearance. But before he came here, unknown wizards got here and explored almost every centimeter in the castle, but I hid all the secret rooms and did not allow them to find out anything. They took several books, and thirteen students were also injured, and only after that was I able to intervene and expel them, and the next day Mr. Alannon arrived and those people never appeared on the Hogwarts grounds again."

"Hmm... this Alannon, did he ever come back to this place, and is he alive anyway?" Severus became interested in this unknown wizard, whose presence scared off the organization that dealt with the four founders, albeit one by one.

"No, he never came back, I don't know if he's alive or dead."

"Tch! Too bad, well, how much longer do you have left?" he asked, looking with shining eyes at the many damaged rune weaves on the ball, the marble stand, and the faded lines.

"Three years, two months, six days, five hours, thirty-two minutes, forty-two seconds."

"I take it you won't allow yourself to be repaired?"

"Yes."

"I see," the Prince rose from the table and went to the bookshelf, "Not bad... some books on artifact science, runes and even arithmancy…" a Grimoire appeared in his hand, opening it he began to take books one by one and transfer all the information into it.

"Then I'll wait until you pass out, and then I'll come and change some rules," the wizard calmly voiced his plan, not fearing an attack by a semi-intelligent artifact, realizing that until it began to act, the core of the castle would not attack him either.

"Meow…" Lucky meowed sadly, watching with boredom what the Slytherin was doing. "I'll be here for a long time, if you want, I can return you to the room…"

"I'll be with you," the snake said sharply, looking at the hovering artifact with distrust.

"Mrrrrr…" the kitten began to rub against his cheek, but did not get off his shoulder. From their reaction and words, the smile on the Prince's face became warmer.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it …" stroking both on the head, while holding the Grimoire with telekinesis, after a few seconds he thought about something and looked at the ball again, "By the way, I thought about something ... You know who Myrtle Warren is, right?"

"Yes."

"As the core of the castle, you are obliged to protect the castle and the students. Based on your words, you should have protected her from the Basilisk, but …" grinning, he narrowed his gaze, "... could it be that one of the injuries affected the part aimed at managing defensive and offensive spells?"

"…" the artifact did not answer, this silence seemed to confirm his words.

"Then it's clear why you didn't react when Lucky taught those idiots a lesson," turning back to the books, he continued calmly transferring them to the Grimoire, "But I still won't bother you for now, by the way, when you switch off, won't the castle's defenses, moving stairs and all the other magical tools switch off?"

"No, when I stop functioning, the castle will work without me, as it does now. Control of all the charms will be transferred to the heads of the faculties."

"Thank you for answering…" Of course, the wizard could try to remake the artifact right now, but it was not safe, it was unknown what kind of protection Gryffindor had put on his creation, because he was definitely not an idiot, so Severus decided to just wait, because the wizard was in no hurry with this matter, and he was glad that he could postpone the issue of searching for the heirlooms of the founders of Hogwarts for the future and do other things...

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