A/N: Sorry guys for such the delay on posting, between birthdays and Christmas my mind has been elsewhere. Thank you all so much who have followed and favorite my story, it means a lot to me and is the continued inspiration I need to continue this story. Remember I will always welcome new ideas or anything you would like to see happen within the story, there is no set story path now that the massacre has been diverted.

Any mistakes are my own and I have continuously previewed my chapters to catch my mistakes, feel free to point out what I have missed :) Enjoy this new chapter

~S~

Chapter 10: Partial Remembrance

'The darkness is coming...'

Severus sits at his desk in his private rooms once more, a tumbler of whiskey in his left hand while a black leather bound book is in his right. Lucius Malfoy had just left after informing him about something that even their lord was afraid of, something infinitely more dangerous. A new threat, unlike anything the wizarding world has ever seen. Lucius had told him that even the branches all over the world were gearing up for this new threat, but no body knows what it is, or who.

'It is coming for you...the darkness...it fears you Severus'

A harsh gasp fills the quite room as Severus suddenly wakes and sits up all within a second, his chest tightening from the pain that makes itself present from the sudden action. His shaking hand comes to rest in the center of his chest as he tries to calm his breathing back to normal, why now was he starting to remember things? He had never heard the voice before, an almost angelic whisper in the back corner of his mind. He still cannot remember what had actually happened to him but there, just in the corners of his mind, he can feel the ghosts of something.

"Tsuyoi?"

He was so immersed within his own mind that he had not realized that someone else is in the room with him, Severus looks over to see Mikoto sitting beside his bed while Itachi and Sasuke are sleeping in the bed near the door. He quickly looks at the window and notices that it is night time, he winces when Mikoto lays a soft hand upon his left arm. She does not remove her hand until she leans forward and gently embraces him,

"I'm glad you are okay."

Severus can feel her tears on his cheek as she continues to embrace him, he leans into her and sighs. The exhaustion still wearing on his body, he had honestly not thought that the spell would take such a toll, but then again, he was no longer thirty in body.

"I'm sorry for worrying you Mikoto," Severus pauses as he leans back once she lets him go, "but I made a vow to protect those boys. Something I do not take or do lightly."

His eyesight is beginning to get blurry as his body becomes heavy, he can tell his body needs more rest to heal fully. Severus lays back against the pillow and closes his eyes,

"Rest, we will all be here for you."

'Severus you must fight...'

Severus sits at the head table in the center, overlooking the student body, he hated being headmaster but it is what his lord wanted. The housing system had been abolished the minute he had become headmaster, Minerva is sitting right beside him on his left while the new Dark Arts professor sits on his right. He honestly has no idea what his lord was thinking when appointing Bellatrix; of all people, to this position, he already has enough to deal with without the deranged woman running around with free reign. Though Severus does have to admit that she has actually settled down since the dark side became victorious, leaving a lot of her insane qualities behind. He still didn't like her. He can sense the dark lord approaching,

"To your feet now."

Everyone in the Great hall stands immediately upon Severus's command; including all of the staff, as the ten foot high double doors move open inward, revealing Voldemort. Severus notices the change in his lord, gone was the bald head, replaced by dark brown hair. The man no longer had slits for a nose and the red eyes had become a chocolate brown, this new image is the man Severus had originally followed, not the madman from a year ago.

"Bow."

Again the entire hall bows as man walks toward Severus with his arms open wide,

"Severus." Severus walks around the head table to greet his master, "How are you old friend?"

"My lord, I have been well." He turns toward the student body once more, "You may sit."

"Can we speak in private?"

Another change Severus has noticed, Tom is no longer demanding of his inner circle. He nods toward Tom and proceeds to lead the man to his office down in the dungeons, despite being headmaster he absolutely despises the office that was made for the headmasters and headmistresses. He leads Tom into his personal quarters and offers the man a tumbler of whiskey before pouring one for himself, he waits for Tom to sit first as is tradition within the ranks.

"You needed something Tom?" Severus drawls slowly.

"Yes, I need to know if you can feel it too?" His eyebrow lifts up, Tom continues. "There is something sinister coming this way."

"Yes I have, I have wondering for some time if I was the only one able to sense it."

Severus takes a swig of his drink before pulling out his black leather bound book once more, he hands it to Tom and sits back. He watches the man shift through the pages of what he had written, everything he has felt and observed since before Potter fell and up to this point in time. He watches as several emotions flicker across the mans face before it becomes impassive once more,

"So it isn't just me then..."

'Severus...it's coming...soon'

Severus wakes once more but feeling a lot better than he had before; true to her word, Mikoto and the boys are still in his room. All three look at him when he makes a slight pained noise, despite feeling well rested, his body still hurts really bad. The memory is still very fresh in his mind and so is the voice,

"Is everything alright Tsuyoi?"

Severus looks at Mikoto before looking back down at his hands, he still only trusts Itachi to talk about his past to. He nods hoping to appease her so that she won't question him, little does he realize that Itachi is watching him, studying his demeanor. He is startled slightly when Itachi speaks up,

"Mother, can you take Sasuke to the dango shop and bring us back some in a little while."

Severus can tell Mikoto wants to ask her son what is going on but he watches her close her mouth and nod, Sasuke apparently is use to Itachi doing this sort of stuff because said boy was bouncing on the edge of the other bed looking like he was going to jump out of his own skin in excitement. Severus locked eyes with Mikoto once more before she and Sasuke disappear from the room, he glances as Itachi stands up and takes the chair.

"My memories are starting to return, it's only bits and pieces though." Severus speaks softly. "All of them have this voice that seems to be warning me, I had not been able to hear it then but I can hear it now. I've only had two partial memories surface so far but both are in connection to whatever had happened to me."

Severus looks up to see Itachi looking out of the window, deep in thought. He knows that face all too well after the countless nights Itachi had spent with him when he first got here, it is definitely hard to miss now.

"Do you even want to know what happened?" Itachi asks while leaning toward Severus, "It might not be good plus the fact that you can't do anything about it anyways."

Severus snorts rather loud and stares at Itachi, right in this moment, the boy sounds just like a certain Gryffindor he can remember with no problems. He sees Itachi raise a brow and tilt his head and can't help but suppress a groan of agitation. He knows he is not going to like what Itachi is going to say next, he does not want to admit to himself or out loud that there is most likely no way back, that he is stuck here. Tom probably thinks him a traitor, Bellatrix is probably laughing manically thinking she was right the whole time since he joined. Lucius is the only one who knows where he is, maybe. The thought of Lucius being able to time travel or dimension hop is not sitting well with Severus, the rest of the Death Eaters probably have no idea what is going on, at least not the lower ranks. He looks down at the empty skin where the Dark Mark use to reside, wishing he could return for only a moment before realizing there probably is nothing to return to. Severus thinks about the ominous messages that are within his memories, the darkness.

Maybe Itachi is right, maybe it might be batter just to not know what happened. Not know who and how the man had so simply destroyed him, taken his memories; Severus assumes, and nearly left him for dead.

"You have admitted to me that there may be no way back to when or where you are from," Severus looks up to glare at Itachi. "I'm only repeating what you told me Severus."

Severus's eyes harden, the obsidian coloring turning sharp and eerie. He is not mad at Itachi, he knows it must be really important if Itachi is using his given name instead of the name Hiashi had given him. No, he is about to murder somebody.