Hogwarts fell into chaos as soon as the students found the unmoving body of Severus Snape lying in a pool of blood at the bottom of the staircase leading to the Slytherin dungeons.

The group of first-year and second-year students in the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom was immediately interrogated by the teachers and Aurors who came over to investigate, and they all wondered what sort of Boggart the Head Boy had seen that he ran away in such fright.

"I'm sorry, sir," the children said tearfully, "I don't think he will want us to tell you about it."

"Give them time, Albus," Minerva McGonagall said to the Headmaster as they walked down the stairs after visiting the wounded student in the Hospital Wing. "Perhaps they too, were traumatized by Mr. Snape's Boggart."

The wizened wizard sighed, "Minerva, I'm sure it had been an exaggeration-"

"Don't think I forgot about what you did with him, Mr. Potter and Mr. Black two years ago!" she shouted, "I had expected better things from you, but you… You failed the boy. It sure was a wonder that he didn't send you to Azkaban, giving you house arrest instead. Or hell, even joining those Death Eaters!" She turned back sorrowfully to see a huge group of students were waiting outside of the Hospital Wing, all wanted to know the Head Boy's condition.

Poppy Pomfrey had informed them that the back of Severus Snape's head was slightly cracked and it might take a week at most for the boy to wake up, especially with the blunt head trauma.

Albus shook his head morosely. "Someone needs to step into Mr. Snape's position until he gets better," he muttered and Minerva frowned.

"Are you suggesting…?"

"I do think he will mature up a bit by holding up the job. And I'm afraid Miss Evans also will have to get her badge back."

Minerva bit her lower lip in concern; James Potter was not the one she would consider to be the honorary Head Boy, and Lily Evans proved herself to be quite unreliable especially with her Polyjuice Potion stunt of disguising as Severus Snape. Though as always, Albus Dumbledore's words had another meaning layered in them and she sighed before following the Headmaster to his room.

In the midst of the occurring chaos, an impostor managed to sneak into the Slytherin dungeons.

Lord Voldemort reached the skirts of Hogsmeade Village in record time.

The moment Lucius Malfoy had received a letter from Regulus Black about his supposed heir's injury, the Dark Lord had snagged out a few flasks filled with Polyjuice Potion induced with the blond man's hairs and Apparated immediately to the magical school, wanting to know more of the circumstances regarding the young teen.

The entrance doors were swung open by him with such strong force and he quickly strode toward the Hospital Wing as fast as he could, briefly nodding to the students who all saw him as Lucius.

He was almost there when an ear-splitting scream reached his ears and he barged into the room in utter panic, "What happened?!"

Though he was still unconscious, the Dark Lord could see how Severus Prince was writhing in utmost pain on his bed, with the medi-witch struggled to keep him down through magical-bound ropes. His disguised blue eyes widened with horror upon seeing what the boy was desperately clawing at: his heart.

"IT HURTS!" Severus called out to no one, eyes were rolled back while tears were streaming down onto his face, "IT HURTS; MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!!!"

With a dawn of terror, Lord Voldemort realized something terrible had happened elsewhere and rushed out of the Hospital Wing, heading toward the Slytherin dungeons. Cursing the stairs as he walked down, he truly wished he could fly so that he could reach his destination in a blink of an eye. Dragging along a student in silver and green, the two immediately entered the Snakes' common room as soon as the boy uttered the password.

"Where is Severus Snape's room?!" the Dark Lord asked, already brandishing his yew wand. The children there, seemingly not knowing anything that had occurred yet only pointed out to the farthest room in the dungeons and he quickly ran toward it, sincerely hoping nothing wrong had happened. When he stood in front of Severus' room, he gulped in utter fright and braced himself for any sorts of attacks before slamming the door open.

The place reeked of Dark Magic and as he took a whiff of breath, a terrified shudder spread along his body; someone had set the most cursed Dark Magic of all, Fiendfyre into the room. His heart then clenched in pure anguish at the barren state of the place and he dropped onto his knees upon seeing what was in front of him.

Lying all by itself on the cold stone floor was a charred feather.

Lucius Malfoy sat in waiting for the Dark Lord's return.

Running his fingers through his platinum blond hair absent-mindedly, he then sighed; at any rate he might go bald due to the intensive amount of hair Lord Voldemort had taken from him just to meet up with his promising protégé, Severus Snape. He turned aside to see a long brown snake had rose up so they could see each other eye-to-eye, and it was flicking its tongue out toward him.

"Just wait for him," was all he could say and the serpent went back down.

The mahogany doors of Malfoy Manor suddenly were blasted open and Lucius almost jumped in his seat out of surprise before standing up to properly greet his somewhat permanent guest.

"M- My Lord?" he carefully asked, not daring to invoke Lord Voldemort's wrath. He frowned upon seeing something innocuous was floating beside the Dark Lord; his curiosity was certainly piqued when he saw it was a charred feather being encased in a protective bubble charm. Was the item linked to the mysterious spectral raven that first made its appearance last year?

"Not now, Lucius," the man spoke in a hoarse voice, making Lucius wonder what had occurred in Hogwarts just then. He then noticed how the Dark Lord looked so shell-shocked and weary, as if he had seen something horrifying. What exactly had happened to Snape? Should he send a letter to Regulus Black for more details?

Though he was spared from such task when Lord Voldemort went on, "Gather up the rest; we'll have a meeting in an hour."

Lucius only watched as the Dark Lord's brown serpent slowly followed after him into the library before folding up the left sleeve of his robes and pressed his Dark Mark.

"Dobby!" he called afterward to which a small house-elf appeared with a crack and bowed down to him so low that it almost kissed the tip of his shoes, "Make some tea to the Dark Lord and prepare light drinks as well. We'll have guests in a moment."

"Yes, Master Lucius! Dobby will do this right away, Master Lucius!" the elf said eagerly before disappearing with another crack. Lucius only sighed; the new addition to his house was so energetic but at least it had done its job well. He then walked to the hall where the Death Eaters' meetings was usually held and waited for his peers.

"Lucy," a saccharine voice spoke and he turned around to see his to-be sister in-law, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange was sauntering toward him with a smug smile before draping her arm around his head, "What's the occasion?"

He pursed his lips into a small grimace at the nickname, "He will tell us later, though I suspect it's probably due to the Dark Lord's new recruit."

Bellatrix's grin fell upon knowing what he meant and she sniffed, "That boy is a menace, I tell you." Lucius merely hummed in disinterest and seemingly taking the hint, the woman went back to where her husband and his brother were before taking their seats next to each other.

Soon the hall was full of Death Eaters, to which Lucius greeted them all politely and told them to help themselves with the desserts and drinks the Malfoys' house-elves had set up for them.

When the hour was up, the doors to the hall were swung open and everyone sat in waiting for the powerful Lord Voldemort to take his seat at the front-most part of the long table. The bubble that protected the ruined feather continued to trail after him, and the Death Eaters began whispering to themselves what the item could mean to the man.

"…I'm sure many of us have heard about what had happened to Severus Snape from their children," the Dark Lord started after a long moment of silence. "I was there too, and merely to see how he had fared, when he was screaming his head off in utmost pain. Imagine… my horror when I got into his room, where… everything got destroyed, except for this feather." He then let the protective bubble flew for everyone to see; some were frowning at the feather's charred state while others began discussing among themselves.

Lucius saw Bellatrix raised her hand with furrowed dark brows. "Forgive me, my Lord, but I don't really see the importance of one feather to Snape's condition," she said.

All the Death Eaters jumped in their seats when the Dark Lord suddenly slammed his hand onto the table, "It has everything to do with him! That feather… h- he… He saved your children's lives!"

Silence fell into the room.

"Someone had set Fiendfyre into his room," he explained, though Lucius quickly noted how shaken the great wizard was from his steeple fingers. "I'm sure you all know that all the doors in Hogwarts are impenetrable by magic, even the strongest ones. Think of it: if it weren't for… Snape's brilliant invention with that feather, no one will ever know a thing. Someone may foolishly open the door and…"

Lucius' blue eyes went wide in utmost horror upon hearing such implications; looking aside, he realized everyone had thought the same and they stared back at the black feather with gratitude. The Death Eaters whose families had casted away their Squib relatives had groused on the fact that they had to take in the few Muggleborn students in return, but they quickly realized some of the children had gone through harsh lives and were currently striving to give the children the best protection they could offer.

Even now, when he was not present, Severus Snape had inadvertently saved all the Slytherin students' lives.

Lucius glanced at his peers who were talking among themselves and decided it was time for him to step into the conversation. "Forgive me for asking this, my Lord; but… how was Snape's condition?"

His blue eyes drooped upon the sight of Lord Voldemort's pale face turned whiter than ever and he cursed himself for querying that question.

"He…" the Dark Lord mumbled out, and Lucius almost didn't believe that they were all seeing the powerful wizard's human side. He then noticed the brown snake was curled up against the man's shoulder, nuzzling its face to his cheek as if to comfort him, "It… It was terrible. I went back to visit him after taking that feather and… That medi-witch… s- she told me… it would take a miracle for him to ever wake up again."

At that, everyone gasped and looked at the charred feather in utmost concern; whatever spell Snape had put onto the item was surely valuable that it had saved their children's lives, but at what cost?

"It seemed that Dumbledore had made his choices," Lord Voldemort continued, "he had made James Potter as the honorary Head Boy and reinstated Lily Evans' position in the name of so-called peace of the school. What about our children? Had he even cared about anything regarding us Snakes? Will he bat an eye if the massacre of the Slytherin students was to happen?!"

"No, he didn't care a whit about us. Severus had told me how the old fool had silenced him regarding Remus Lupin's werewolf condition; I'm sure that's more than enough evidence that he really thought we are the enemy of the state. Thus, I'm asking you: Will you be willing to sacrifice yourselves, to protect the younger generations of Slytherin families?"

"My Lord…?" Antonin Dolohov spoke, his black eyes were narrowed.

"Yes, my friend," the Dark Lord said in absolute certainty that Lucius could feel bile rose up into his throat. "We are going to rebel."

The Death Eaters turned to one another before they too came to an understanding and began to chant, "Rebel! Rebel! Rebel!"

Night fell, and two students were inside the Room of Requirement. One of them was a boy with grey eyes, and he was currently grinning at the other; a girl with emerald eyes that stared up to him in utmost fear.

"Thanks a lot, Evans. It was a shame to find nothing in his room but regardless, we got what we wanted, right?" Then he pulled out his wand.

"Obliviate!"