~ Chapter Twelve ~

After sending his son and godson back to the Slytherin Common Room, Severus had believed that he would be allowed to relax after the second day of looking after those brats the other professors referred to as children. Potions should just not be a subject that is offered to those clumsy idiots who can't even understand the difference between the numerous cuts that they used for the ingredients. Yet it was approved by the Board of Governors for all years except sixth and seventh. No those older idiots had to pass his ridiculous high standards to even be considered a spot.

Along with that had been the horrible visit by the Dark Lord, his father-in-law. It made him cringe at what the Dark Lord expected from him. He was to keep Ciaran safe from everyone that might wish him harm. This wasn't as easy as he had first believed. He needed to keep Granger and Weasley away from manipulating his son… as well as the Headmaster and anyone else from the Order that might wish to sway his son's beliefs to their own side. In doing so they would gain yet another spy and this one even younger and their current.

Then he had to worry over his godson's attempt to woo his son. Against every fibre in his being he was allowing it though he wasn't very comfortable with it. He'd only just found his son… learnt of his son… why should he give time to others just because they wanted Ciaran's love as well? It wasn't like he had much of a choice though. The Dark Lord believed it to be a wonderful idea joining both families that were so high in the Dark Lord's Inner Circle even if until recently the two involved had been rivals.

And this had all been within the first two days of the school year. At least as Harry Potter, Ciaran never had made this much trouble at the beginning of a year… no he took that back. Second year, Weasley and his son flew that car to Hogwarts and crashed in the Whomping Willow followed by Third year when he was attacked by a Dementor on the train to Hogwarts. Thankfully all the other years had been relatively quiet.

Regardless of all of this, there would be no relaxing for Severus Snape this evening. As much as he wanted to have a few drinks and forget the muddle that was currently his life he couldn't afford to show up to this meeting while drunk. No, he had to meet with Albus Dumbledore... and he had to be sober.

Severus growled.

This was the last thing he wanted to be doing after a long, long day at work. Usually the old man simply wanted to speak about what had occurred during one of his Death Eater meetings and offer him lemon drops (which he always declined). This however would be different. Severus usually spoke about these meetings with Dumbledore directly after he had heard the information in case he "forgot" something important. That way Dumbledore would also have the information as soon as possible in case of an emergency. This… this would definitely be different.

Severus had the feeling that Dumbledore desired to speak about his son, a topic that Severus refused to speak about when the Headmaster was concerned. His personal life was something none needed to know especially if they were simply going to use it to get more information out of him and tie him further to the Light side. Blackmail was something that didn't sit well with Severus.

He was no Seer but he knew that this meeting would not go down well.

Arriving at the statue, Severus hissed out the password, annoyed that every time the old coot changed it, it would be to a candy of some kind whether muggle or wizarding. Honestly, what was a Mars Bar? It didn't sound too appetizing at all. Who wanted some bar from Mars? It was a terribly dry planet with no vegetation or atmosphere to speak of. It soundly ghastly.

"Come in Severus…"

Dumbledore's voice echoed through the door as he reached to top of the spiral staircase.

Severus refused to scowl as he entered the office. He would go about this as if it were any meeting where information would be passed. No emotions would be shown unless it was the occasional sneer that would aid him in convincing Dumbledore he was on the Light side. Otherwise he would remain a blank slate.

"Ah Severus, would you care for a lemon drop?"

As usual, Severus declined. Was it just old men who enjoyed sweets or was it just this old coot? He had a feeling it was just this old coot however as the Dark Lord would never offer anything at the start of a meeting.

"No? A pity, they are terribly good. No matter."

The same standard response was given by the Headmaster. They did this verbal dance every time Severus entered Dumbledore's office. It was always the same, verbatim. Nothing changed and it was a wonder the Headmaster asked at all. Perhaps it was a question to ensure his loyalty? Severus didn't know nor did he care to. If he continued with the spying it would be for the Dark Lord alone to protect his son.

"Straight to the point this evening I believe."

Severus kept impossibly still. This didn't sound good at all. Dumbledore enjoyed chatting before their usual meetings unless it was of major importance. To the old man, this conversation must have been of great importance.

"As you are well aware Severus, Harry is missing. He remains locked away from the eyes of the public by Voldemort and no one is more displeased than I that he was taken from us." Albus began. "With their being little to be done in the rescue of Harry without a location to go by, I have been thinking of other ways in which we can alleviate the panic the civilians must be feeling that this slip of information has caused."

It was subtle but there was a dig at him in amongst all of those words, still he kept calm.

"I have noticed that Ciaran has rather similar features that could easily be mistaken for Lily Potter…"

Oh, he knew where this was going. Severus couldn't be more pissed. The old man was going to attempt to con him into granting permission for Ciaran to waltz around with a glamour of Harry Potter on just to alleviate the people's minds. It was well known that someone with similar facial features would be better suited to the charm than others. His glare was fixated on Albus in seconds.

"Albus, my son, will not parade around the Ministry or any other location just so you can keep your head above the rubbish the Prophet is publishing about your skills to keep the brat safe. My son will not be one of your pawns like I. You will have to find another way to keep the people calm or better yet leave that to the Ministry. After all it is their job, is it not?"

"He is the best candidate, Severus. Will you allow the world to suffer because their saviour is missing?"

Severus glared. What kind of question was that? Honestly of course he would allow the world to suffer if it meant protecting his son, the only link to Lily he had left.

"Your plan wouldn't work after Yule, Headmaster."

This was not how he had wanted to go about protecting his son but if it meant keeping him safe than he would do anything in the world even if it meant lying about his son. Life for both him and his son was going to get very complicated after he told Dumbledore this. They would have to be extremely careful in what they said and who they spoke with. Every decision they made would have to be carefully thought out and practiced before they executed it.

"What do you mean, my boy?" Albus enquired, flustered.

"Ciaran is to be marked by the Dark Lord this coming Yule. It is a sign to prove not only my loyalty but my family's loyalty as well in the coming years. There is also no way around it since my godson shall also be receiving his mark at the same time. If it isn't done you shall have to forfeit your spy since I will more than likely be killed for disobedience."

It was a lie. Draco had been marked long before he was brought before Ciaran to make certain of his loyalties. The Dark Lord wouldn't have it any other way. Albus didn't need to know that however. He only needed the information that would keep Severus and Ciaran safe until the Headmaster was dead and the Dark Lord ruled Britain.

A spark in the Headmaster's eye caught Severus' attention. That wasn't a good sign. The damn twinkle in the Headmaster's eye never meant anything good for anyone but Dumbledore. This was about to get worse.

"Would Ciaran be willing to play both sides as his father does?"

Severus froze, shocked that the Headmaster would ask a sixteen year old boy if he would be willing to spy on the most feared Dark Lord in the past century. Not only that but someone the Headmaster believed to be more than a little insane and quite happy to dish out the Cruciatus on those he thought negligent of his time. Was he truly willing to risk the welfare of a child in an attempt to gain more information or more of the public's loyalty? Severus believed he was.

"I will not allow my son to play both sides as I do. Ciaran will not place his life on the line for your cause, Headmaster. If you can trick another into being your young spy then by all means but leave my son out of it. To the Dark Lord he will only ever be the son of his Potions Master, nothing more, nothing less." Severus spat.

"Come now Severus, surely it won't be that bad. Ciaran is after all your son. You could teach him everything he needs to know and more. He won't have to needlessly risk his life. You are the best after all and you know what the muggles say, "like father like son."" Albus said reassuringly.

All Severus could think about when he mentioned teaching Ciaran was the awful attempt at Occlumency he had tried on Harry Potter. That had been the most horrific thing he had ever done to any child. It had terrified him. He'd constantly questioned himself. Would Harry be alright emotionally and mentally when he left the session? Would he understand why he needed to learn this? In the end everything had gone south when he had found Harry in his pensive. He would never go through that again. Ciaran wouldn't be put through that again.

"No Headmaster, my answer is no. Ciaran shall only ever have to worry about pleasing the Dark Lord by completing missions correctly and pleasing his professors by completing his homework." Severus answered.

The Potions Master could tell Dumbledore was less than pleased at this. There was no twinkle in his eye nor was there any grandfatherly smile on his face. For some reason Dumbledore was entirely too focused on Ciaran. Whether it was because Ciaran was his son or was going to be marked soon, he couldn't tell. However for the moment Ciaran was safe from the Headmaster and he was safe from the Dark Lord's wrath should Ciaran be placed in any danger.

"Is that all, Headmaster?" Severus enquired.

Albus nodded distractedly so Severus eagerly took his leave. He could finally relax and forget all of his concerns for one night at least. Perhaps he could even manage some Firewhiskey… Severus could only hope.

x-x-x-x-x

The next morning Ciaran left on his own for breakfast. He knew he was meant to remain within a group of Slytherin's but honestly he couldn't stand them at the moment. Everyone except Draco was still asleep surprisingly and since Draco was still annoyed at him for last night he wasn't about to go and immediately start speaking to him again regardless of the consequence. If Draco wanted to pout and play the victim Ciaran wasn't going to stop him.

As it was Draco was being ridiculous over the silliest thing. Ciaran couldn't quite work it out. He'd begun to get protective and overbearing after he had entered the Great Hall for dinner. Draco had been angered at the fact he had entered at the same time as Weasley and Granger after what appeared to be them talking amicably. Was he jealous? Ciaran rather doubted it but with him one could never tell.

Half way through his journey through the dungeons, he heard someone attempting to catch up to him. If it was Draco he would be getting an earful of the "remaining in a group" speech. Luckily for him however it was only Blaise, one of the Slytherins in his year with a brain he could actually use. Though, Harry guessed, Crabbe and Goyle could have a useable brain if they were the same person.

"Good morning Blaise." Ciaran said pleasantly as they entered the Entrance Hall.

"Morning Cia."

His only response to using that dreaded name was a twitch.

"Alright, do forgive me. Draco was the one who insisted. Though if he had wanted to go with you to breakfast he could have just plucked up the nerve and apologized for whatever possessiveness has caused this argument between the two of you."

On the inside, Ciaran cheered. Finally, someone who wouldn't always side with Draco! Perhaps he had a chance at winning this argument after all.

"Does he ever realize he is in the wrong?" he questioned as they entered the Great Hall.

"I'm afraid he rarely does. However if it means being close to you again, I believe that nothing is beyond his grasp. Just give him a while to stew over it. He won't hold out for long." Blaise answered, smiling sweetly, throwing an arm around Ciaran.

Ciaran made sure not to blush at Blaise's remark. He could handle the flirting from the Italian because it was light and enjoyable. Blaise didn't force himself upon Ciaran, a fact he was most glad for. A number of students had already attempted to do so and it only made him uncomfortable. Yet the friendly flirting from Blaise he definitely could take.

Normally, Draco was the one who protected him from such advances but quite honestly his possessiveness was beginning to get unbearable. His friend believed that by protecting him from everything, Ciaran would be happy with him. But when it began to go too far Ciaran couldn't stand it. Yet the thought of Draco doing anything to be by his side was… nice. It definitely wasn't something any of his past friends would have done for him. Merlin… his emotions were so torn today.

First he'd hated Draco, then he couldn't particularly care, now he was back to caring about Draco again. His life was certainly unpredictable when Draco was around. Perhaps at least with Blaise around him for today, he might have a normal day. Ciaran brightened. Things could only get better then.

That morning not many people were awake. Ciaran couldn't help but be curious as to why so many were sleeping in that morning. By Blaise's glances around, he too was curious. Perhaps classes had been cancelled and they were allowed to sleep in? Yeah, for that early in the year, he rather doubted it. The answer however announced itself quite loudly.

The doors to the Great Hall opened with a bang, parting as their feared Potions Professor entered the room. A storm cloud had materialized on the enchanted ceiling as Severus stalked up to the Staff Table. Blaise and Ciaran traded looks. That was clearly why everyone was avoiding the Great Hall this morning, bypassing breakfast for a safer time to eat. Well at least as Slytherin's they were safe from their Head of House's temper, Ciaran more than most. So without much of a fuss or thought to why their snarky Potions Master was angry, they continued to eat.

Draco entered not soon after looking a little flustered. Ciaran and Blaise did their best to ignore the blond as he made his way towards them however they couldn't help noticing the glares that Severus kept shooting Draco. What was it that had caused Severus to become angered at Draco?

As Draco sat before them, he cleared his throat to catch their attention. Blaise and Ciaran simply continued to eat and chat between each other. They didn't need to hear his whining comment about how Severus was treating him unfairly or how he hadn't been able to sleep that night because Citren decided to sleep on him.

Yet he was persistent.

The throat clearing and subtle coughing continued throughout their breakfast. If Ciaran had been back in Gryffindor, he would have snapped easily within the first minute. His patience however was much better than it had been previously so he continued to ignore Draco. Knowing that, he would either begin to understand that he was in the wrong or that he had a lot to think about before Ciaran payed him any attention again.

Finally however he turned towards Draco who was looking very sheepish and apologetic.

"What is it Draco?" Ciaran questioned coolly.

"I realize that it was terribly childish of me to be angered at the Weasel, Granger and you. However seeing you with them only reminded me of the fact Harry Potter wouldn't befriend me yet they were fair game. I was jealous and yet I should have known that they wouldn't be able to do anything to take you away from me." Draco said.

Ciaran sighed. He knew that they had many things to talk through and settle. There were many things in their past that couldn't just be forgotten.

"Draco, I accept your apology. We should probably talk further about this but this isn't the time or the place for such a discussion."

The look of relief on Draco's face as he accepted his apology was astounding. Ciaran had never witnessed this particular emotion on his face ever however he believed it had something to do with his father. That man could make even the toughest of men cry.

Smiling, Ciaran stood with Draco and Blaise as they made their way to that morning's first class.

Of course their first class that morning just had to be History of Magic, the worst class anyone at Hogwarts could possibly take. At least this class was something that Slytherin's had alone. There wouldn't be any sleeping Gryffindor's or persistent Ravenclaw's or any quiet Hufflepuff's. This lesson could be spent learning without actually paying any attention to their teacher. Yet it wouldn't be History that they would be learning but Dark Arts.

A long time ago, the Slytherin's had decided that History of Magic could easily be substituted for Dark Arts since their teacher never paid any attention to them. The only time they had to be acting normal was when their ghost teacher turned around to give their homework at the end of the period.

As soon as Binns tuned around to begin their session, the class broke off into groups to discuss whatever they deemed to be appropriate. Usually it was two groups, the Death Eater's and the Neutrals. People only claimed Neutral though when they didn't want to take part in raids but still practiced Dark Arts. The Dark Lord gave them leniency but Ciaran knew that the Order did no such thing. To them there was no middle ground, just wrong or right.

Ciaran turned to Pansy as she sat beside him. This would be the perfect time to begin moving a few of their other plans in motion. With the other Slytherin's supporting them or covering for them it would be simple to keep everything on track. They would easily keep everything under cover and away from the Light's eyes.

"Hey Pansy, Draco and I have a task for you. Do you think you're up for it?"

Pansy immediately fluttered her eyelids at him. It was meant to be attractive and flirtatious but since Ciaran would only look at Draco in that way it was deemed pointless and irritating.

"Of course, Ciaran, what would you have me do?"

"We need you to help us with recruiting people from other houses. But in a way that makes it appear as if they have changed their minds on their own terms and without any aid from us. If we get caught it would only hinder us and the Dark Lord."

Ciaran was glad when he saw a spark of interest alight in her eye. If she was interested in this task then she would be occupied and wouldn't have been able to keep her mind off other important things such as prophecies. This way at least she would keep her mind on her task and wouldn't pay too much attention to those beyond taking them to the Dark Lord.

"You are the Gossip Queen of Slytherin. If there is anything you can do it is throw Dumbledore's name through the mud while bringing our Lord's name into the light, so to speak. All you have to do is spread certain rumours that are in fact truth about why the Dark Lord desires to rid our world of muggles and muggleborns. While doing this, you need to spread certain facts about Dumbledore that would be fatal to his attempts to gain support for the war." Ciaran continued.

Pansy looked absolutely thrilled to be ruining the Headmaster's chances of gaining support. It was more than Ciaran could have hoped for. If this went well then everything would be so much easier for his grandfather.

"Is there anything specific that I should begin with?"

A dangerous glint entered Ciaran's eye. Oh, he knew of more than a few things they could begin with…

x-x-x-x-x

It had been months since the beginning of term and Ciaran was finally relaxing into his role at Hogwarts. Quite frankly, Ciaran was glad that he was settling in. He lived a pretty hectic life with not only just school work over his head. He also had to contend with his family's protectiveness, Draco's possessiveness and the Order's persistence and that didn't have anything to do with the plans set in motion. What with everything that was occurring, it was more like a bloody miracle that he managed to remain calm and level headed at all times.

Thankfully, there were less than two days before the Yule holidays and everything was moving along well with his plans. There hadn't been any hiccup. With everything moving so smoothly, it definitely helped to keep both Draco and him calm.

The most important part of their plans was of course the Vanishing Cabinet. If this part of their plan failed then the Dark Lord would need to create another way for his Death Eater's to enter Hogwarts unnoticed by the wards held by the Headmaster. This would then place the failure on them and they would be punished, Draco more so than him. So they needed for this plan to work.

The first few months had been trying. Not only had the Vanishing Cabinet been broken but it had to be moved to the Chamber of Secrets so no one else could discover its location and tamper with their work. That had been rather difficult since they couldn't place any charms on the cabinet in case they broke it beyond repair. So in the dead of the night, Draco and he had moved the cabinet by hand down several staircases and a tunnel into the Chamber of Secrets. Severus and Charlie had fortunately aided them and covered their tracks or blocked wandering students from their path. Needless to say they slept undisturbed that weekend.

Of course then they had to make time to spend in the Chamber to fix the cabinet. Fixing the thing also wasn't as easy as it appeared. Sure they'd gained the spell from Borgin but not the correct pronunciation. They could say the words just fine but they didn't stress the correct syllables. Until then it was trial and error to fix the silly thing. Just last week they'd managed to send a bird to Borgin's shop yet it had died on the return journey so their success was short lived.

There really wasn't any rush but it would be better for the cabinet to be working well before their time limit was up. At least then they would be less stressed over the cabinet and could concentrate on something else entirely like spreading rumours. Of course Pansy appeared to be handling that rather well without them.

Spreading rumours about Dumbledore was the first thing on their mind when they began. To discredit him further would only make it simpler for them to take over. They didn't know it after all, but Dumbledore was the last hope for the Light.

The first rumour they had spread was about Dumbledore's inability to kill for his "Greater Good". The tale was supposedly heard from grandfather or great-grandfather of someone close to the family at the time. According to that person, Grindelwald and Dumbledore had grown up in the same neighbourhood and had similar ideas at the time. They were close, so close in fact that they were lovers which at the time wasn't heard of.

However as all love tales go, there was a betrayer to their ideals. It wasn't said whether it was Grindelwald or Dumbledore but they ended their relationship.

As the war began, led by Grindelwald in the Wizarding World and Hitler in the Muggle World, Dumbledore still couldn't pluck up the Gryffindor courage to kill his ex-lover. Many of the Light followers believed this to be because the young Dumbledore had never thought of killing another being before. He was after all the Leader of the Light and innocent to these ways of life. The Dark knew it was because the light inside Dumbledore couldn't bear the thought of killing his ex-lover. To this day Grindelwald was imprisoned in Numergard… alive.

When this first rumour had reached the ears of the Headmaster, it had been masterfully set up in the Great Hall at dinner. Everyone had seen as the great Albus Dumbledore paled beneath the scrutiny of the masses. It was not a sight that many were likely to forget in the coming years.

Ciaran and Draco and deemed the first rumour a success. The students of Hogwarts were casting doubts on Dumbledore. Not enough to leave his side, but enough to cause them to think on their choices. They would begin to doubt whether Dumbledore would ever be able to kill anyone. Many began to believe that Harry Potter was a scapegoat. He would be the one to kill Voldemort because Dumbledore could not. He was after all raising and training Potter, his young protégé as many were calling him, to lead the next war. Why not make him kill when the Headmaster obviously could not?

Of course once people began thinking of Harry Potter it was only too easy to begin the next stage in their plans.

Questions began surfacing about the physical appearance of the Boy-Who-Lived. He wasn't strong and he certainly wasn't all that tall. In fact he looked almost nothing like what a true saviour represented. He was just a scrawny teen who needed to put on some weight. Did he eat enough? Was the Headmaster making him diet to keep fit? What was the plan if Harry Potter wasn't strong enough as their saviour?

If their saviour died then all they had left was the wards surrounding Hogwarts. However even those were not infallible as Dumbledore seemed to prove unknowingly time and again.

Every year something new and different occurred at Hogwarts revealing that the wards weren't as safe as first believed. When Harry Potter had first arrived it was to be the Troll in the dungeons that was really on the second floor. How it got there, nobody knew but it wasn't meant to be there. Then there was the Basilisk in second year… the escaped convict, Sirius Black in third year… a Death Eater in fourth year and a blood quill in fifth year.

None of these occurrences should have taken place if the wards were working to full standard. The wards, if fully operational, would have told the Headmaster what was happening and blocked the source of the harm before it could enter the grounds. Unfortunately that wasn't to be so and every year the students were placed in grievous danger just because Dumbledore couldn't protect them properly.

This stage in the rumour mill had been the easiest to convince people of since many of the older students and a few of the younger years could confirm this as the truth. That only made their job equally simple. They started small and it always ended up on a large scale. So not only was Dumbledore ineffective at killing off their Dark Lord when the time came but he was also accused of putting the burden on Harry Potter and placing more students in harm's way. Dumbledore's reputation amongst the student body was pretty shot by then.

Their focus then shifted over to the remainder of the Golden Trio. Not only did Ciaran have to effectively dodge every attempt they made to befriend him they needed to discredit them.

That was easy. Ciaran merely told Pansy to spread the rumour (well it was the truth) that Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger had been paid by the Headmaster, using Potter's money, to befriend him and keep him from doing the "wrong" thing. That one hurt their reputation so badly because others could also confirm it by using the day they entered Gringotts and was denied their money.

It was safe to say they weren't pleased.

With this first stage in the rumour mill well and complete, they needed to move onto stage two. This stage consisted of bringing good rumours and thoughts towards the Dark Lord and his cause. Of course it would be more difficult and would need more planning but that wouldn't begin until they returned from the Yule holidays. Until then the rumours that they had used would begin to circulate further into wizarding homes and cause even more people to think.

Lastly, there was Trelawney. Pansy and Ciaran had been watching her like a hawk but it didn't appear that she had anything to say regarding any prophecy or anything of that nature. As it was her room was always filled with incense that no one could breathe through and she always turned up to class a little tipsy. They both agreed in the time that they had watched her that she would not be giving them any useful information.

At least that was something to be grateful for. They no longer needed to worry about Dumbledore using her further to gain more information or leeway into what was going to occur. It was a major relief for Ciaran at least.

However with the holidays approaching there was only one more hurdle that Ciaran had to partake and that was the old man standing before him, blocking the way into the dungeons. Ciaran could only stare at the man he once thought was perfect. So many of his illusions about the great Albus Dumbledore had been broken, he just wasn't sure what to expect from the old coot any longer. With that in mind, Ciaran couldn't help but wonder…

Just what did the Headmaster want with him now?


Yep so another chapter is down~ Thank you for all the reviews!

~MidnightEmber