The Truth of Roanoke
By LeapingWithFate
Summary: This is the true story of how the Roanoke colony vanished.
Warnings: character death (not graphic, they get turned into mist)
Word Count: 1106
QLFC Beater 1 Round 4 Prompt:
Team: Kenmare Kestrels
It's a Horror Story Out There! - Roanoke
Additional Prompts:
[au] Twisted Fairytale
[word] Collateral
[character] Severus Snape
Severus Snape grinned as he looked at the potion in front of him. He had finally finished his masterpiece, and while the Muggles might always wonder about what happened in this small village, his name would live on forever in the history books of the magical world.
Some might think the man was evil for what he was about to do, but if they knew the truth of what Severus' father had done, they would be thanking him. The rest of the small village was nothing more than collateral damage.
After all, Snape had to dispose of his father, leader of the village or not, for all of the pain and suffering he and his mother had gone through at his hands. The only person who could have stopped his plan was long since gone, moved on with another man.
Severus shook his head free of such thoughts and started his plan. It would take several days for the village to be completely disposed of. Then he would make sure to document and then publish the findings on his potion in as much detail as he could.
The first step was for him to head to the well and let the potion spill down into the village's water supply. When he finished that, he sat by the well and counted. The potion needed to mix in thoroughly before anyone got water from it or there might not be enough strength for it to affect everyone, and it had to hit everyone.
No one could know the truth of what happened here; it could lead to a witch hunt. After a few seconds, Severus found himself laughing lowly as a mist started rising from the well. Everything was certainly going to plan. The mist would be absorbed by the entire colony within half an hour and Severus, as the only person who had taken the antidote and survived, would disappear.
The first time that anyone noticed that something was wrong was when a woman who lived nearest to the well started screaming. She was unable to find her son and her sheer grief and panic made a small amount of regret stab through Severus' heart.
The potioneer steeled himself for the next set of screams and instead of getting up, he started writing down that it seemed children were the first to be affected. He couldn't allow himself to continue to feel bad for the collateral victims, as they had all sat by and watched as he was beaten by his father and did nothing because at least it hadn't been them. He would do what they had always done: watch while being grateful that he was safe.
It took three hours for all the children to disappear and somehow no one had seen a thing. Everyone was too worried over those who had disappeared to pay attention to those who hadn't, and by the time they realized more were vanishing, most had already come under the effects of Severus' potion.
Next to vanish were the elderly. It was at this point that the people in the town finally figured out how everyone was disappearing. It was Severus' father Tobias who finally noticed what was going on as the man watched his own mom get 'taken' in front of him.
The man immediately rushed outside of his home to see his son sitting at the well. "WHAT DID YOU DO YOU LITTLE FREAK!?" he yelled. "ALL OF THESE PEOPLE, ALL THE KIDS, AND YOU DID THIS FOR WHAT!?"
Severus grinned at the man in front of him, taking great joy in how devastated he looked. "All of this has been to torment you," he said with a bit of sadistic glee slipping into his voice. "The children and most of the town, have only been affected because I couldn't leave witnesses behind. They would have, however, never gone through this if not for you."
Tobias' eyes lit with rage. "I am going to make you suffer for this," he said in a hard, quiet voice.
Severus shook his head. "You can't do anything to me anymore, father. You are next after all."
The man didn't pay the threat any mind and charged forward. As he came within reach of his son with his arm pulled back, he froze. Then those still around watched as the village leader started dissolving into mist. The process started off rather slow, starting at the tips of his fingers and toes. Then once the small digits were gone the rate of dissolving sped up and within moments all that was left of the man was his head which dissolved as it fell towards the ground.
With that, Severus had all the data he needed and finished writing his notes before snapping the book shut. "For what it is worth, you all brought this upon yourselves for supporting that man. That being said, your children did not suffer and the potion is a rather peaceful thing. Too bad though, because I would have liked to see my father in pain. Then again, I am glad it is over now. For the record, the cause of this was a potion I have dubbed Croatoan." the man disappeared with a loud crack.
Harry sighed as he closed the book and looked over at his three children. "Now I know that isn't the most pleasant fairy tale, but can you see the lesson behind it?"
Lily shook her head and then Albus followed suit.
James on the other hand nodded once. "Don't overlook it when someone is suffering. If you do it just creates more suffering. That is the lesson, isn't it, dad?"
Harry smiled at his oldest and ruffled the boy's messy hair. "That is correct. It is because of this story that my life was made thousands of times better when I was a kid. After my parents died I was sent to my aunt and uncle and they were horrible people. My best friend, your uncle Ron, read this story once more after meeting me and talked to his parents and older siblings and they got me away from my relatives. My life has been peaceful since then and that is something I once believed would never happen. There is always a lesson to be learned from a fairy tale and learning them can mean the difference between someone being safe or in danger."
Harry made sure to look serious after he finished speaking. He stood to place The Brothers Grimm: Wizard Edition back on the shelf he had got it from. "Now all of you upstairs and brush your teeth before bed."