Chapter 61: Cold Comforts From Within

{A/N: Here's Another update...}

My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.

{"Have I ever thought of this before...Did I ever look behind the door...Have I ever tried to understand...Did I listen to the Other hand...Have I ever tried to see...Parts of you that aren't a part of me...Did I ever really want to know...Or am I just drifting with the flow...Lead me to the angle of your life...Let me see from there...Lead me to the angle and I'll try...To see the world from there...Why is it that I'm so full of hate...Why am I so dumb but so afraid...Have I ever tried to understand...Did I listen to the other hand...Why am I so dumb?...Why am I so blind sooo, Narrow minded..."}The Angle, Core

Unknown Cell, Azkaban Prison, Outskirts Of The Wizarding And Muggle Worlds...

Blood continued to drip from the latest wounds issued to a half weak and embittered Regulus Snape as he sat leaning against the same stone wall that had been his only source of support since he had been thrown into the lifeless stone cell. Between regular bouts of aggravation due to having no way to undo his current situation and the fact that Harry Potter had been successful at turning Hermione against him and feelings of misery due to utter hopelessness, Regulus found himself alone once more following a routine beating at the hands of Harry Potter's stanch supporters dedicated to making sure the enemies of the former "boy who lived" endured suffering until they begged for death that would not be granted to them.

His situation had been made all the worse due to being a Snape accused of murdering a former war hero leaving his widow and children to fend for themselves. Ever since his imprisonment the ailing young wizard found that many of the guards reference his father having been responsible for the death of notorious Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore during the second wizarding war changing the playing field so to speak in favor of the dark lord and his death eaters. Despite it now being common knowledge that Severus Snape was in fact a spy working for the former Headmaster no one was willing to accept anything aside from Harry Potter having been the one to win the war for the side opposing the despot and everyone with his backing.

Before hand, Regulus had not been bothered by the talk of his father's rather checkered past but given the guards took their hatred of Severus Snape out on his son they seemed to go out of their way to beat him into a bloodied pulp before casting him back into his cell before he was given a reprieve in death.

This afternoon...if one could call it that considering it seemed as if the sun refused to shine in this dreary place and telling the difference between day and night had been anyone's best guess with no window. Regulus wiped the blood from his head as he sat catching his breath and computing all of the notions of pain to memory, his only means of entertainment in the darkened cell as he sought a means of distraction from the maddening walls of gray.

One of the guards had been serving when his father had been placed here and went out of his way to inform the younger Snape of his father's trials in Azkaban long before he had been of the mind to venture from the shores of North America.

In the darkness of his prison cell, Regulus Snape's mind traveled back to the last time he saw his father. Despite being drunk and clearly upset as he moved through the house hold, the boy had been desperate to get his attention. His words were cold but none the less true in the eyes of the world around them even in a place such as this their bite held it's lasting stinging effects.

{Because you are my son..."} Severus Snape had said with contempt and bitterness in his tone as he spoke to his adult aged son for the first time since arriving that night. {"And you carry the same darkness in you that I have long denied in myself."}

Tears streamed down the younger Snape's sallow pale cheek as he recalled leaving his mother in tears to lose himself in various forms of vice much as his father had that night. The craving for a bottle of firewhiskey had never been stronger as he sat in the silence that filled his cold and lonely cell contemplating the turn his life had taken ever since. He had loved Hermione Granger, for whatever the trouble of pursuing a relationship had been worth for her to simply turn her back on him in favor of her best friend's lies. Yet it was never more clear that she had not reciprocated his feelings in the least.

His father's harsh words echoed in his mind again as he continued to sit in silence reflecting on his past mistakes.

{"Foolish boy."}

Regulus couldn't dispute him there. His pursuit of a a woman that obviously didn't care for him had been foolish indeed.

Feeling himself become even more exhausted than he had been before, the son of Severus Snape lied down amid the cold stone staring up at what passed for a ceiling, which had only been more stone as he seemed to give himself over to the embittered cold that swept through his darkened prison cell.

The world outside had been something of a distant memory as he found that he could not even recall the color of a tree or even water with no recollection of how long he'd been in this place of misery and twisted anguish. Even worse, it was as if the bitter cold had seeped into more than just his prison cell as he found himself slowly becoming numb to anything around him even his own emotions were beginning to become dulled in the wake of his stay in Azkaban.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Icy Mountain Top, Unknown Location, Unknown World...

The now unmasked wizard known as Arcturus stood alone amid the frozen wastes that he'd spent the vast majority living and training in during his unwanted formative years as Igor Karkaroff's apparent prisoner along the icy mountain, the enraged dark wizard had no use for a mask to shield his face and keep his true identity a secret as his plans continued to remain in motion.

"Everything is going according to plan father, I will fulfill my vow to ensure you are avenged." he said as his dark eyes looked over the icy grave where he had buried his father all those years ago. "Harry Potter will suffer for every insult to your legacy...the entire wizarding world will know what it is to suffer for all the pain they've caused you while riding off the victory over the despot as if their efforts could compare to what you've endured at their hands just to save the ungrateful lot of them."

There had been no reply, only the sound of the icy winds howling in the wake of spoken silence as a single tear fell from the sallow pale cheek of Lucius Arcturus Prince, The second born son of Severus Snape and Elaine Prince.