Chapter 1: Venom's Keen Sting

{A/N: Here's Another Update...this is a re-post}

My Thanks To All My Readers and Reviewers...Enjoy S.S.

{"I can't find the rhyme in all my reason...I've lost sense of time and all seasons...Feel I've been beaten down...By the words of men who have no grounds...Can't sleep beneath the trees of wisdom...When your ax has cut the roots that feed them...Forked tongues in bitter mouths...Can drive a man to bleed from inside out...What if you did?...What if you lied?...What if I avenge?...What if eye for an eye?"} What If, Creed

Outskirts Of Hogwarts Castle, Hogsmeade Village, Wizarding World...

Swollen clouds loomed in the sky above as ominous a sign of any for the things to come in addition to the air sending chills down the spines of all out and about to feel it. All of this relative strangeness was further punctuated by a great rumbling had been the first thing Hogwarts grounds Keeper Argus Filch noticed as he made his way toward the Hog's Head Inn in Hogsmeade Village. He had not gotten very far before the air was laced with a sort of thick green mist streaking down into the form of a serpent with a head on each end, mouth agape and ready to strike. It was reminiscent of The former Dark Lord's symbol during the first and second wizarding wars.

Trembling and needing to find shelter or at least get to Minerva to warn Hogwarts, Argus attempted to make a hasty retreat only to be set upon by a group of thick black robe wearing individuals with ivory white masks.

Unlike the death eaters of the past, their robes did not stick up at the hood in a seemingly cone shape, their hoods were modern and more like conspicuous thieves than a terrifying supremacist group.

Argus Filch's dark eyes took in the sight of the leader, he had been a tall bloke with the darkest black set of robes and the most painstakingly crafted ivory mask, to muggle's it was akin to The Phantom Of The Opera Mask and covered his entire face.

"Going somewhere?" asked the leader in a gruff tone.

"I-I don't know what the likes of you hope to accomplish..." began Filch not at all wishing to give in to his fear, he had survived the wizarding wars as well as Snape's reign at Hogwarts, there was no way he was giving these adolescents the satisfaction of anything passed their betters.

"Where is the boating house to Hogwarts, old man?" asked the leader of the strange dressed youths.

"W-What?" asked Filch stunned by such a request, no one in their right mind dared brave being near that place since the second wizarding war's end.

"You heard me loud and clear, old man" demanded the leader, his voice still gruff and cold. "Where is this "Shrieking Shack", the place where the one called Severus Snape was killed?"

Filch had been puzzled as to why the leader of this seemingly upstart organization wanted to known about where Snape had been killed by Voldemort. The second wizarding war had ended Nineteen years ago and aside from Potter, no one truly gave a damn about the deceased former Headmaster whom had left so much misery in his wake during his final tenure at Hogwarts.

The leader ripped Filch by the collar and apparated him to the gates of Hogwarts.

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The Shrieking Shack, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...

Blood still stained the far wall where Severus Snape had taken his final breaths following Voldemort unleashing his serpent familiar Nagini on him during the final battle of the second wizarding war.

The black robed dark wizard moved toward the spot and touched it with his black gloved hand. There had been so much of it, the crimson had seeped into the eerily creaking wood. A rage seemed to course through the young wizard as he balled his fist and turned his attention to Filch, whom had been brought in via the others.

The grounds keeper had been beaten and bloodied less than Snape during his final moments in this haunting place.

"W-What do you want from me?" asked Filch in agony from the beating he received.

The leader simply pointed toward the old blood pool where Snape's body had once been.

"I want you to think real hard old man." he said still in the same gruff and cold manner. "I want to you to tell me what went on here and spare no detail, lest you wish to incur my wrath once more."

Filch spit blood onto the floor a good distance from the strange dark wizard's feet. Whomever it was, they had even taken to speaking like Snape.

"What does Snape have to do with you?" he asked as the blood continued to pool in his aged and crotchety mouth. "It's been nineteen years since anyone has asked about him and all I can tell you is that the official story was Voldemort turned on him, killed him with a swipe to the neck and let the snake do the rest as Potter tells it."

"Potter?" asked the leader suddenly enraged. "What can you tell me about Potter?"

"H-He works for the Ministry of Magic." said Filch with a harsh glare. "Don't you read The Daily Prophet?"

"That hogwash is barely fit to be called a newspaper." replied the leader in a gruff tone as if insulted by the mere mention of the paper made famous by the relatively infamous Rita Skeeter.

"On that we can agree." replied Filch unabashed. "Now my turn for a question, why do you care so much about Snape, as far as much of the wizarding world is concerned he was no better than Voldemort but Potter put in a good word for him and got him dubbed a hero and all that, too bad they didn't see what became of this place with Snape at the helm, they might have reconsidered."

The leader blasted a hole in the wall as a result of his fury.

"You will watch your mouth when you speak of him." he said furious. "Filthy fucking squib, how dare you pass judgement on Snape, if it wasn't for him your sorry hide would have been tanned long ago."

Filch had not known why this strange dark wizard had gotten so upset but he knew it was in his best interest to respect this insane wizard's fascination with Snape.

"W-Well...Potter can tell you more about that if you'd be so inclined." he said gruffly. "He's the one with the former Headmaster's memories."

The leader suddenly grabbed the old grounds keeper by the collar and lifted him off the floorboards.

"Where can I find Potter?" he asked coldly.

Filch got an ominous feeling as the leader's seemingly black eyes stared into his very being with a coldness matched only by Snape during his tenure as Headmaster of Hogwarts.

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The Grounds, Hogwarts Castle, Wizarding World...

The sigil of the Snake hung in the air as the strange dark wizard and his fellows took their leave of a battered and beaten Argus Filch intent on sending a message to Auror Harry James Potter.

If one wanted the attention of an enemy, one had only to seek it out.