Chapter 74: The Boy With The Broken Halo
{A/N: Here's Another Update....}
My Thanks To All My Readers And Reviewers...Enjoy-S.S.
{"A sinister kid is a kid who...Runs to meet his Maker...A drop dead sprint from the day he's born...Straight into his Maker's arms...And that's me, that's me...The boy with the broken halo...That's me, that's me...The devil won't let me be..."}Sinister Kid,The Black Keys
Diagon Alley, Wizarding World...
Tension hung in the air with a thickness that seemed to be slowly choking the life out of the rather terrified citizens of the wizarding world as the stage had once more been set before them with the arrival of the now fully revealed Lucius Arcturus Prince, the long-lost second born son of the late Severus S. Snape and his long suffering muggle wife. Harry Potter stood amid the crowd of gathered citizens anxious about what other tricks the demented dark wizard had in store for them all as he removed his hood and glared out before the masses. Hijacking anything to do with the Ministry of Magic had been something of a long standing hobby of his it seemed ever since he revealed himself at the last mass rally.
"What do you want Snape?" hissed Harry attempting to keep everything under control.
His original intention for calling the attention of the people had been to reassure him that all will be well but his plans were derailed via The Serpent Brothers Of Destruction taking over and showcasing their will against the Ministry of Magic as per the usual.
Arcturus smirked at the use of his father's last name. If the so called hero of the wizarding world had meant it as an insult he had been sorely mistaken about the implication's meaning in the dark wizard's mind.
"Arcturus, will do just fine." he said in his usual cold tone. "As it so happens I am in something of a cheery mood, for we have a new member of our little family to introduce to you lot."
Harry's eyes widened as Hermione Granger made her way toward the stage where the grand announcement was to take place. She had not been able to get a hold of Regulus and knew all too well that his temperament would not allow her to properly get an apology in if they were to casually run into each other in person. She'd been thinking about how easily she allowed Harry's apparent prejudice color her actions concerning the matter of Ron's death.
Her guilt at having forsaken Ron's memory, no matter how idiotic it had been was the driving force behind her own subsequent stupidity and she wished she could communicate that to Regulus but he was intent on shutting her out.
She'd forgotten that he'd been the son of Severus Snape after all, and it was rather difficult to get through to someone as stubborn as he on the best of terms. What the enraged wizard had not known was that she'd spent the past two years following a trail of bread crumbs in a bid to know more about Regulus and his life in America, which she can only presume to be due to the work of the formerly incarcerated wizard's younger brother as she discovered a lot more about the twin sons of Severus Snape and the muggle known as Elaine Prince.
No one knew what strange surprises the dark wizard Arcturus had in store for them this time round but the mention of a new family member joining the ranks of The Serpent Brother's Of Destruction had the amber eyed girl worried.
Not a single person had seen hide nor hair of Regulus after he went into a self imposed isolation and now there was this unsettling talk about him having something to do with the very monsters that began to wreak havoc upon the wizarding world from the moment they arrived.
Three masked wizards dressed in refined black robes stood before the gathered crowd as a fourth stepped from the shadows. Silence filled the area as he stepped forward. Arcturus seemed to be quite pleased about the developments as he eagerly watched the masked wizard. Harry had been none too thrilled about the turn of events but he had been quite suspicious about whom the newest member of the SBD had been.
Hermione Granger's worst fears seemed to have been confirmed when the masked wizard removed his disguise and show all before him his true identity.
"No..." said Harry feeling much lower than all the worms in the soil standing before his newest arch-nemesis.
Regulus Snape had finally made his choice much to the horror of Hermione Granger and it seemed he was intent on standing with his younger twin brother in the wake of the chaos that created the newest unrest within the wizarding world.
"REGULUS!" said Hermione not willing to fully believe it despite seeing him with her own eyes.
"So you're a traitor after all." said Harry Potter with an embittered expression filed across his face.
Regulus Snape said nothing to him as he approached his younger brother. He had been grateful to him far beyond what he'd ever understand and then some. He had chosen to uphold their father's legacy despite all of the lies and grandeur on the part of Harry James Potter and those whom had propped him up before the wizarding world as a savior.
"Welcome to the family, brother." said Arcturus as he embraced Regulus whom had glared rather murderously into the crowd.
Harry had seen enough, he drew his wand and attempted to engage the leader of the chaotic group in combat only to find himself floored by a spell from an enraged Regulus Snape. His obsidian gaze had reminded the now stunned former boy who lived of his Potions Professor father long ago when they were forced to endure private lessens to keep the dark lord from reading and unhinging his feeble young mind.
"Your time is at an end Potter." said Regulus in a rather cold tone of voice that had also been like that of the deceased Potions Master.
He attempted to engage the scrambling wizard further when a burst of magic from inside the crowd sent him flying backward. Hermione Granger attempted to enter the fray to save Harry's hide only to be kept at bay by Arcturus himself.
Regulus scrambled to his feet in an attempt to attack Harry once more, the reminder of having been locked away for two years in Azkaban due to the spoiled man child's lies had been all the more infuriating as he advanced only to be knocked back by more spell work from whomever stood within the crowd.
"EXPELLIARMUS!" shouted a voice that seemed to come from the waking nightmares of the now confused new addition to the Serpent Brothers Of Destruction organization.
Regulus found himself knocked unconscious but not before registering where he'd heard that voice before and the intent in the spell work alike.
Arcturus retreated with his forces scooping up Regulus and taking off unsure of where Harry Potter was getting his assistance but whomever it had been, they had to be quite a powerful wizard to fell Regulus Snape so easily and not be noticed.
Harry found himself panting and searching for his wand as a lone figure approached him clad in ebony robes with a view of green that caught his attention.
"Albus Severus!" said Hermione rushing toward her young nephew very much grateful for the assistance and quite confused about how he had gotten out of Hogwarts unnoticed to join a fight with formidable wizard's half his age.
The figure had indeed been Harry Potter's youngest son, whom the grateful and equally confused wizarding world hero had found himself trying to wrap his head around what had just taken place.
"It seems I am once more saving your hide again, Potter." said Albus Severus in a cold tone as he ignored Hermione whom had wrapped her arms around him and held on to him for dear life.
"Albus what are you doing here?" questioned the now rightfully upset witch. "You could have been killed..."
"Silence...bloody insufferable know it all." growled Albus Severus in annoyance.
"Albus that is no way to speak to your Aunt..." said Harry narrowing his emerald green eyes at his youngest son. "And what's all this business about you calling me by our last name...apologize."
"You will make no such demands of me, Potter." growled Albus Severus once more. "And you wish I was Albus given your affection for him however misguided it may be after all he's done."
Harry had not understood in the least what had been happening and he had not liked it one bit.
"It can't be." he said in disbelief as he looked over what he had assumed to have been his youngest son.
"It seems you do have some working brain cells within that cavern you call a skull." said Albus Severus with his own emerald green eyes narrowed at the wizard whom had been his father. "If you wish to discuss this in real time I shall be at my home...given how nosy you lot have always been...I assume you know the way."
Hermione attempted to give Albus Severus a piece of her mind when he suddenly apparated from the scene intent on going home as he put it. Harry had been at a loss for words.
"It can't be." he said trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed.
Hermione had been quite thrown as well noting all too well that Albus Severus did not know how to apparate and his use of language was far beyond that of his years. She briefly reflected on his use of his father's surname and the disdain behind it.
"Professor Snape." she said in utter confusion.
Harry scrambled to his feet and disapparated from the alley after his son needing to know exactly what was going on and why this strangeness was happening.
Hermione trailed behind him needing a few answers in her own right. If Albus Severus was or at least had been possessed by their former Potions Professor, then it had something to do with Regulus and his twisted twin brother and perhaps he had been the key to putting a stop to the chaos once and for all.
From the looks of it, Severus Snape had returned and he was inhabiting or instructing Albus Severus Potter in some way.