A/N: Well… SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRY

I'm really so sorry! I don't know what kept me, except for my own laziness. Can you forgive me? Please? Pretty please with chocolate on top?

kneelingdowntobegforforgiveness

Chapter 13 – Christmas is all around part III: The Children of Darkness

Aven returned to his Quarters to find a note on his desk.

"I took the liberty of bringing your presents to the dungeons. Perhaps you will consider the possibility to celebrate Christmas with 'family'."

He shook his head and grinned after he had read his father's message.

"That's bloody blackmail, you know?"

But the teen was more than happy to join his 'family' for a bit of celebrating.

After some silly argument with Filch about whistling in the corridors, ("Up to no good, eh? Yer not goin' ter fool me!") he finally arrived in the dungeons at the old statue that guarded his dad's room.

: Blood is thicker than water : he whispered in Parseltongue.

His father had refused to give him the original password, but managed to let another password be set for Aven.

The statue cocked one eyebrow and stepped aside for the young Snape.

Avenarius entered and was greeted by the sight of his father, sitting in one large armchair, reading the Daily Prophet.

"Well?" asked the teen after a while.

Severus looked up and arched one eyebrow. "I presume you don't want me to look through your thoughts in order to find an explanation, so why don't you try and articulate your question?"

Aven smiled and launched himself on the big couch. "Nope."

"Ah, I guess we're going to have to talk about your manners some times, young man! But for now… launch yourself on your presents!"

Aven grinned. "Nope. You first!"

Severus' eyebrows climbed to knew heights. "Me first?"

"Of course! I guess there are some presents for you…" grinned Aven.

The teen watched, excited how Snape walked over to the pile under the tree and knelt down. The confusion on the older man's face grew bigger, as did the smile on Avenarius' lips. Slightly shaking hands took a parcel wrapped in black and green, with a label reading 'Severus Snape'.

"Open it already! I wanna see your face!"

Snape chuckled a bit with relief and tore the paper off.

"A chess set!"

"Yes," said Aven and joined his father in front of the tree. "I realized that you know quite a lot about chess but don't have a set of your own!"

Snape stared at the set, made of black and white marble, the board framed in silver and the tiny chess pieces very detailed and beautiful.

"It must have cost quite a small fortune!"

"No, it wasn't too expensive. See it as a big thank-you for doing so much for me… for saving me in all those past years and such."

Severus had picked up the black queen, who smiled at him. "Won't they break during the game? It would be a pity, they are just beautiful!"

The chess-piece chuckled. "Thank you! But don't worry, even if we break during the game – and we most likely will – we are spelled to be repaired when the game is over. And there is an unbreakable charm on us, so we won't break anytime else!"

Snape put the queen down and smiled at her. "Thank you for the information!"

When the older Snape turned towards his son again, he was offered another parcel.

"I hope you don't have it already."

A bit confused Snape tore the paper off it and stared surprised at the rather old and expensive-looking book. "Potions through the ages. Unlimited Edition. By Kenuann Ceilidh."

"Unlimited means that it has not only the rather pleasant ones in them, but the unpleasant ones as well. There are only a few of the books left, after a lot of dark textbooks were destroyed and 'forbidden' after the last two wars."

Snape smirked. "So, this one is… illegal?"

Aven smirked as well. "Naw, not so much of forbidden, or even illegal… the shopkeeper told me that you are rather advised to not show off with the knowledge drawn from this book, or someone might come and search your home for certain evidence!"

"Evidence, indeed!" smiled the older wizard. Then he gestured towards the pile of parcels. "Well, it's your turn then."

Aven took the first parcel. He carefully removed the paper from it.

"If only you would show this much carefulness when messing with potions!"

The teen gasped lightly when he saw book, bound in black leather with elegant silver letters on the cover.

"Defending against the Dark and the Light," read Aven. "Interesting title. It seems like it is one of those… secret books as well?"

"Well, let's say that not many shops sell this book."

"Often we think that the 'Light' is always fair and the 'Dark' is unfair. But there are some mistakes in that image. Some spells to block 'Light' spells are classified as 'Dark', which mostly are the most potent counter spells and curses. Of course not all spells blocking 'Light' spells are 'Dark' and not all spells to block 'Dark' are 'Light'. You have to prepare for anything when in a fight and have to broaden your mind to be better prepared than just by simple lessons from school!

"Let me indulge you in the art of Defence, no matter against which 'side' you want to defend against, and let me teach you the 'Light' and the 'Dark' and let it all become a blurry of true witchcraft and wizardry!

"If the contents are only half as good as the prologue, I'm going to enjoy this book a lot! Thanks, Dad!"

"It's my pleasure!"

Aven got a very annoying 'Do your homework' shouting journal from Hermione ("I guess she knows that those are pretty annoying!"), a Weasley Jumper along with a tin of shortbread ("You have to thank Mrs. Weasley for not letting me starve during summer holidays."), a box of Berty Botts Beans from Ron ("Well, I suppose that's fairly enough for someone who claims to not like me anymore!"), sweets from Isabeau ("Good thing she was as clueless as me!") and homemade fudge from Hagrid ("I hope he likes the book on interbreeding of magical creatures and he doesn't already have that one!" "I'd eat my wand if he ever read a book on it!").

Only one parcel was left under the tree. "Huh… that's for you?" asked Aven.

Severus looked at it. "For me? Who'd send me a Christmas present?"

"Not from Mrs. Weasley. Although, I'm surprised that she didn't beat the truth out of Dumbles with her handbag by now…"

Snape smiled and opened the parcel. "Chocolate?"

"Remus Lupin!" grinned Aven who had read the card. "He says that you definitely need to cheer up a bit. And there is a vial of chocolate flavouring, suitable for most potions. Alas, no such luck for the Wolfsbane, or so he says. 'But I bet your son will be quite thankful, if he ever gets the flu and has to stay in bed and has to swallow your evil concoctions!' That's really kind, isn't it?" laughed Aven.

"Yes, his concern is almost… heart warming!" said Severus and tried to not smile. "And so, I feel threatened to have to be concerned as well. It's quite late. You should go to bed, we will leave early." Severus stood up and guided Aven to the door. "Sleep well. And try to relax a bit!"

They left early, really early. At three in the morning Severus came to wake the teen.

"It's too early!"

The Potions master, already fully dressed, groaned silently and pushed a dozen small vials in Aven's arms. "Swallow this! And take these! One dose every five hours, or a sip every hour. Think about some good excuse to let them keep you the vials!"

"This is the blocking potion?"

"Yes!" answered Severus, a bit sharp. "I'll pack some things for you while you get a shower and dressed. NOW!"

"Can't you add a bit of the flavouring to 'em? They taste horrible!"

"No, I can't! Get moving!"

Aven walked over to the small bathroom, showered and, when he had returned to the bedroom, dressed in the clothes his father had laid on the bed for him.

"Really, that's not kind. Shoving your own son out of bed in the middle of the night!"

"Who said that I was kind?" Snape had sat down in the armchair and now waited for Aven to look over the things in the bag. "Do you really think I'm not capable of packing a bag?"

"No! And now please let me wake up slowly!"

Suppressing a groan Snape senior stood up. "No time for slowly, unless you can wake up while walking!"

"Isn't there a floo where we are going to? Or can't we even take a portkey?"

"I thought you hated those!" answered Severus, slightly amused.

"Of course I do! But anything's better than walking!"

"You might also crawl there!"

"OK, maybe not everything's better than walking, but there are a lot of things I prefer to walking! That's bloody unfair and I'm not even awake! And what about breakfast?"

"We can have a break for a sandwich or two when we reach the official portkey station."

Aven was stunned, but even his tired brain worked a bit.

"Official? But I thought we were going to meet Death Eaters! Can they show up on an official portkey station?"

Now Snape was really irritated. "Now, you have to learn that official and official can be two very different things when being around them. And now, stop wasting energy. Just shut your mouth and keep walking!"

Before the teen realized it, they had left Hogwarts grounds and even Hogsmead behind.

After almost three hours, they reached the portkey station, where they were handed a portkey and an instruction where to go after using the portkey. They silently ate their sandwiches while walking through some snowy field. Avenarius wondered where they would head next and where the next person or note they would find would send them, but he didn't ask. Eventually he would find out, if he cared about it or not.

When they finally arrived at the point of the meeting, it was evening. They had stopped for lunch in a small tavern, having two hours of a break from their walk.

Now, Aven was very excited about the upcoming events, even though he knew he shouldn't be. He had met Voldemort already. He didn't want to be in the same room with the monster ever again, not even the same country, if you asked him.

But he didn't have a choice in the matter. His father had advised him to put his hood up before they portkeyed to their final destination.

"They are not to recognize you at first sight," the older man had said before putting on his mask.

And now, not even half an hour later they stood in a large circle around a pile of wood, the children in front of their parents, some of them quivering, others standing proud.

And they all gasped when the Dark Lord himself entered the circle.

"Oh, what a beautiful sight, my friends! It is a pleasure to see all of you, united, at my side, fighting for our cause. But there is even a greater reason to me summoning you, all of you, tonight. There is something special about you."

'Now, he's gonna drop the bomb!' Aven thought.

"Some of you have powersss you never dared to dream of. I will show you how to use them, my little serpents!"

Voldemort approached to the two Snapes.

"Oh… Snape and hisss little serpent."

Voldemort pushed back Aven's hood. He slowly stroked his fingers along Aven's jaw and lifted his chin.

"How are you doing, my youngessst serpent?"

"I'm fine, my Lord," hissed Aven through his clenched teeth.

"Snape? How is your business at Hogwartsss?"

"Everything's fine, my Lord."

"Your son has shown immenssse powersss, hasn't he?"

"Yes, my Lord. I informed you right after…"

Voldemort let go of Aven and turned to the other Death Eaters.

"Enough! They will see it with their own eyes! Avenarius Snape, show usss what you are capable of! Light a fire!"

Aven stepped forwards and concentrated on the incantation to light a fire. He stretched one hand out towards the piled up wood in the centre of the Death Eater circle.

"Incendio!" whispered Aven and flames began to grow out of the midst of the pile.

"Excellent, little Serpent! But we don't want to strain him on his first day," hissed Voldemort and allowed Aven to step back to his father. "Better than any matchesss, isn't he? We should preserve his 'affection' for our caussse!" sneered the wizard.

"There are three among you, the Dukes and Duchesses. They will only take orders from myself. And they have the reign over Death Eaters as well as their fellow… Children of Darkness!"

Aven tried to keep his mind empty, to clear himself of every emotion as his father had taught him. But he felt the anger searing high.

"For now, we just have to find out, who of you are the blessed ones. Those stronger than the others. The rightful leaders. Each of you is going to be trained by one of my best and most loyal 'friendsss'!"

The children scattered and some of them were approached by some Death Eaters, while some approached Death Eaters themselves.

Aven turned around to look for some idiot Death Eater to be tutored by, and gulped when he looked into two amazing scarlet eyes.

"Avenarius… you will be taught by myself!"

Aven bowed his head. "Yes, my Lord!"

The training in the following days was straining.

After two days of magical training (Aven was really pissed after spending two days with Voldemort!) they were sent to the physical training.

The young Snape was intentionally paired with Draco Malfoy.

After another day of basic training, the recruits were ordered to practice physical attacks and defense with their partner.

"Well, now we are going to see how good you are at fighting without hidden knives!" smirked the dark-haired teen.

"Well, we will see when you're laying in the mud!"

Draco didn't get much more out because he was laying in the mud the next second.

"You… filthy…" spat Draco out, stand up and found himself in the mud once again.

"Really, this is going to be a very long week for you, if you are going on like that!"

What's on the next chapter
Second part of this one... I guess...