Within the chambers of the Ministry's Spell-Crafting Section, Augustus Rookwood had his brows furrowed as he remembered the previous meeting amongst the Dark Lord and the Death Eaters, especially regarding the supposed outlier within their secret organization.
Severus Snape.
When the young man came to him for a job in the Ministry, Augustus thought it was a relief and gave Snape his old position, recalling Lucius Malfoy's words about Snape's unfortunate affliction years back and supposed the man deserved some peace within the Hall of Prophecy's serene aura. Though the prophecy Snape told was very puzzling; how could the man take out the crystal orb from his satchel bare-handed? Had the man omitted some parts of it when he announced it to the rest of the Death Eaters? Was he also involved with the prophecy?
No, he needed to know more about the deal between Snape and the Dark Lord.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Broderick Bode and his other co-workers, Augustus went to the Hall of Prophecy. "Snape?" he called out, frowning at the empty desk near the entrance of the room. Feeling something was amiss, he strode past the rows of shelves filled with glowing prophecy orbs, dreading what he would find the further he got.
Imagine his surprise upon seeing Snape lying on the floor at the 97th shelf, with the terrified Alastor Moody and James Potter stood over the young man.
"What the-" he started.
The two Aurors turned to him and readied their wands in an instant.
"Stupefy!" the bespectacled man shouted and Augustus ducked, the jet of red light passed above him with a whoosh. He quickly took out his own wand and a duel ensued between them. Augustus almost smirked at Potter yelling his spells out – Dumbledore's cronies in the Order of the Phoenix were too predictable – and summoned his other wand, made by the wandmaker that secretly allied with the Death Eaters, Corvin Adrick. Quickly casting a Stunning Spell onto Potter, he then saw Moody dragging Snape and making his way toward the entrance; the gnarly wizard's prosthetic metal leg clanked every other step and Augustus took the man down as well before rushing toward Snape who fell beside Moody.
"Snape!" he shouted, lightly patting the young man's face. "Snape, wake up! Are you alright?"
Snape groaned weakly in response, his black eyes unfocused and flickered wildly, gasping for breath and body trembling. Augustus turned to the prophecy orbs and terror sank in his heart.
Had Albus Dumbledore suspected Severus Snape over the prophecy the young man mentioned nearly two weeks ago?
"Come on, Snape, I got you," he said, gently hoisting Snape up and called for his co-workers in the nearby room to interrogate Moody and Potter before escorting Snape to St. Mungo's Hospital. He made eye contact with Regulus Black who turned pale himself and promised he would take good care of the young man.
When night fell, Augustus sighed in utmost dread as he Apparated to Malfoy Manor and knocked on the mahogany doors, in which Lucius Malfoy greeted him.
"You look terrible, Rookwood," the blond commented with a frown. "Something happened?"
"…Is the Dark Lord here?" Augustus almost squeaked the words. Oh, how he wished he was not the one to bear the responsibility over Lord Voldemort's favorite. But if he hadn't told the man the news, he would be subjected to great torture and Augustus would like to keep his body and mind intact.
"In the library-" Lucius started and he rushed to the room, noting the Dark Lord was at the desk while his brown snake, Nagini was curled near his feet. "My Lord," he bowed down to the man and kissed the hem of his black robes, trying his best not to show any fear especially when the serpent rose her head and hissed faintly beside him.
"Rookwood," the Dark Lord muttered. "You look tense."
Augustus gulped; he had hoped to muster an impassive look but Severus Snape was a rather delicate subject to talk of, especially to Lord Voldemort. "M- My Lord, I'm here to bear you a… a terrible news."
"And what could that be?"
"Snape… h- he got attacked by Alastor Moody and James Potter."
Lord Voldemort's visage went white. "…What?"
"In the Hall of Prophecy, my Lord; I wanted to ask him something but-"
"Where is he?!"
"A- At St. Mungo's, my Lord. The other Unspeakables had caught Moody and Potter; perhaps there will be a trial soon."
Silence fell into the library and Augustus had his head bowed, eyes flickered at the brown snake slithering across the place, presumably heading toward the doors. For once, he wished to uncover the old magic that made Salazar Slytherin and his descendants being able to converse with serpents.
Then the Dark Lord spoke slowly, "…Do we have anyone there, Rookwood?"
"Y- Yes, my Lord. Regulus Black had recently being promoted to a Healer."
"Is that so..." Lord Voldemort muttered rather absent-mindedly. After a long while, he went on, "…You may leave."
There was a mournful tone in the Dark Lord's voice and Augustus could only wonder the extent of the man's relationship with Severus Snape.
Death stared down to the young man sleeping in the one of the beds inside the Janus Thickey Ward, bony hand holding a satchel that kept the man's Horcruxes. Its red eyes narrowed in impatience at the male Healer that checked on the few patients before he finally left with a worried glance at the newest patient.
The Grim Reaper reminisced what happened earlier that day and hummed; it had used a mild blinding spell onto the young man and by taking Severus out of commission for a while, it hoped what happened afterward was enough to dissuade the other side of the war from meddling with its favorite ever again.
The Dark Angel waited about ten minutes before it hovered over Severus Prince's prone form, sensing the rogue Fiendfyre that lurked within Severus' wounded soul. It would be tricky to remove such Dark Magic that heeded its caster's intention even after his death, especially one that latched onto a living being. Death knew it could have done so during Severus' coma in his seventh year but feared the process would irreversibly destroy his weakened spirit, even with his deceased raven's sacrifice.
Death casted a silencing and cloaking spell around the bed before carefully taking out the items from the satchel, red eyes twinkling at their symbolism to Severus.
The amethyst spider necklace of kindness.
The golden ring holding Death's own creation: the Resurrection Stone.
The slender dagger of the Prince family.
The red box that once held the fallen raven's feather.
A copy of the stone locket Severus gave to his love.
And Eileen Prince's portrait.
It would be such a pity if they couldn't be salvaged after Death was done with the removal process, and was also the reason why the Grim Reaper didn't retrieve the last Horcrux for the moment, hoping the item wouldn't be needed.
The Dark Angel began its work onto the spider necklace first, focusing its magic to draw out the Fiendfyre. The Horcrux bind and the raven's protection spell protected the small soul shard inside the item, but by the time Death was done, the soul shriveled and writhed in pain. Seeing this, the Grim Reaper grimaced and crushed the contained black fire in its hand.
Such wild magic should not exist, but humans had always been too curious and ambitious for their own good.
"Soon," it muttered and continued the process with the other objects. The soul pieces curled within the objects after the Fiendfyre from each respective item was removed, but barely pulsing with life and Death narrowed its eyes. Perhaps it was a must to recombine the souls into their original host, to stabilize them again and made the young man whole again. It then turned to the unconscious Severus and readied itself.
The Grim Reaper placed its hand onto the young man's chest and channeled its magical might to pull the Fiendfyre out.
Severus convulsed and screamed in his sleep and Death gritted its teeth; the biggest portion of the black fire was in the main soul and it was clinging to the spirit per its caster's orders. When tears started streaming down the young man's face, the Dark Angel doubled its efforts. "You will live, boy," it whispered, skeletal hand resting on Severus' forehead. "Show me your inner strength that proves your worth to me! That you are worthy of my blessings as the ruler of all life!"
With a mighty pull and a sharp gasp of pain from Severus, the Fiendfyre emerged from the young man and Death crushed the cursed fire quickly, not knowing it had done something irreversible and proceeded to transfer the smaller soul portions into Severus' body.
The Grim Reaper then took out a glass vial that contained a small glowing orb and unbuttoned Severus' shirt before drawing out blood from his chest. Death took the few drops of blood and imbued them with the glowing orb while chanting seven times, "Accipio quae tua sunt ac tua mea."
The orb shone brightly and the Dark Angel smiled; young magical cores are much easier to be adapted to its new host and transfer the item into Severus, who still sobbed quietly after the agonizing ordeal. The magic surrounding them hummed before the silencing and cloaking spells were undone and after checking to see if nothing was amiss, Death then departed to Hogwarts and entered Francesca Zabini's quarters, removing the final Fiendfyre from the glass bracelet and pondered whether it should reunite the last soul shard with its owner.
Ultimately, Death decided the glass bracelet would be Severus' anchor to the mortal world before finally disappeared into the night.
The grueling deed was done, but what waited ahead was not what Death foreseen.
November came to an end, and Lord Voldemort in his Lucius Malfoy disguise sat beside his heir' bed in St. Mungo's Hospital alongside Francesca Zabini and other younger members of the Death Eaters, all paying visit to the young man every two or three days.
As expected, Regulus Black was in charge for the Janus Thickey Ward and though he and other Healers tried their hardest to heal and wake Severus Prince from his affliction, nothing had worked and so, they could only wait.
While Alaric Mulciber and Michael Avery were comforting Zabini, Lord Voldemort had his eyes on Severus, noting how the young man's rather labored breaths were almost the same as when he was in a coma back in his seventh year and narrowed his eyes.
Was Severus' current condition connected to the Fiendfyre incident? But from what Augustus Rookwood told him, Severus was found lying on the floor near the row of prophecy orbs alongside Alastor Moody and James Potter; both Aurors were now suspended from their jobs and on house arrest after a trial held by the new Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge and the Wizengamot members. Not to mention there were cases where some people had tried to retrieve prophecies unrelated to them and got struck by a blinding spell that rendered their minds damaged.
So, what exactly had happened? Surely Severus had put the original crystal orb that foretold the Rogue Prince befell the supposed chosen one at its place? Had someone else exchanged them? But who could it be? Would Severus' brilliant mind be the same as those unfortunate victims?
So many questions to be asked; but the Dark Lord was afraid of its answers.
His eyes caught the sight of Severus' fingers minutely twitch and his hopes soared; the mysteries would be unraveled soon!
Regulus Black too had seen it. "Back away, everyone," he cautioned and the others heeded his orders, curious over what Severus had to say after his near month-long coma.
The young man moaned and sniffled which worried them. "Can you get up?" Regulus said softly and after a shaky nod from Severus, the Healer gently sat him up. "Do you need anything?"
Severus was shivering underneath his clothes. "…C- Cold," he mumbled, arms huddling himself and immediately two small vials filled with Pepper-Up Potions flew into Regulus' hand. The others observed from the corner of their eyes as Regulus slowly fed his patient with Nutrition and Invigorating Potions as well to help Severus focus on his surroundings.
Lord Voldemort felt his disguise's effects began to fade and consumed a few sips of the Polyjuice Potion that he brought over, musing how none of the other visitors took notice of his calculated behavior but decided not to test his luck and watched as Regulus treated his heir diligently. If all went well, the Black family would be rewarded handsomely. The Riddle family's fortune was still mostly intact and he had bought the rights to the old manor in Little Hangleton.
Severus didn't tremble as much after his initial treatment but he gingerly wrapped himself with the blanket and clutched it dearly, eyes blinking owlishly as he scanned the ward and they all waited in anticipation for his queries.
When the young man's gaze was fixed onto Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord mustered his Occlumency shields and kept a calm facade, wondering if his heir had recognized him under the Polyjuice Potion's effects just like their first meeting over four years ago.
Then the young man said something that made his heart plummet to his stomach:
"…Who are you?"