I am so so so so sorry for the very long wait. I went to the beach for a week and then my computer crashed again and then the computers at the library were all messed up!
Okay, now believe me when I say that the next chapters will be out very soon. Yes I said chapters, I am done with two already but I need to get them off my brothers laptop (he needs to burn it onto a CD). It might take a while to get him to burn them onto a CD but I'll try.
This is also unbetaed, I sent it to my beta reader and haven't gotten it back so I'll post the betaed up asap!
Thanks once again to my wonderful (patient) reviewers!! I love you all!!!
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Chapter Twenty Five- Darkness Rises
"Finally, I can go to a ball," Draco sighed as he admired his appearance in the mirror. Damien rolled his eyes as he straightened his robes unnecessarily.
The first week back had been peaceful. There had been one calling, which Draco attended to and the necklace Damien had given him for Christmas had done its job. Draco had noticed the lack of pain and realized immediately what it was charmed to do. Needless to say the blonde would never wear the necklace again. According to Draco, Voldemort seemed to have realized that Damien and Severus were trying to quit his services since they didn't appear for the meeting. Also, according to the blonde, he was absolutely furious about being betrayed by his so-called heir.
"I bet you anything that the Yule Ball is going to be better then the Halloween Ball," Draco smirked, drawing Damien back to the present. "Duh..." Damien sneered. "It is the Yule Ball and nearly everyone attends it, not to mention the fact that the girls try to dress up more for this one."
Both boys grinned at each other.
"You said that Granger and Weasley dressed up for the Halloween Ball, though," Draco commented as they headed into the common room. Damien shrugged nonchalantly, "Yeah, but I bet they'll dress themselves up even more, you know how girls are."
Draco was about to respond when Pansy headed down from the girls dormitory.
She was wearing an emerald green gown, her hair done up in a French braid. In Damien's opinion, she looked a lot prettier then she had for the fourth year Yule Ball.
"Ready to go?" Pansy asked as she looped her arm with Draco's. Damien smirked at the light blush that appeared on the pale face before nodding.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
The ball was in full swing by the time Ron, Hermione, Damien, Ginny, Draco, and Pansy arrived.
"Is there a such of thing as triple dating?" Ginny asked Damien as they approached the dance floor. Damien smiled in response but said nothing.
The Great Hall was decorated exactly like it had been in the Yule Ball of the fourth year; except there weren't as many tables.
Damien heard Hermione giggle as she pointed to mistletoe hanging above Ron's head. Ron gulped and turned red.
"Do they always book the Weird Sisters?" Pansy asked from beside Damien and Ginny. "I like them and all, but their getting kind of.......old."
Damien and Ginny danced to the first slow song in silence. At the end, Damien turned to see Draco sitting at a table with a very angry Pansy trying to usher him onto the dance floor.
"What's wrong, Draco?" he called to the Malfoy. "Don't know how to dance?"
Draco turned a full shade of red, which was the first time he had ever truly blushed. "Can it, Snape!" Draco snapped.
Damien rolled his eyes, "Touché."
He spotted his father sitting in a chair at a circular table with Dumbledore. He approached the table and Dumbledore smiled at him kindly.
"Good evening, Damien!" the headmaster said cheerfully.
Damien smiled, "Good evening, headmaster."
"Are you and Miss Weasley enjoying yourselves?"
"Yes, me, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Pansy are," Damien cleared his throat slightly.
"That's quite a list," Dumbledore commented before he stood up to ask Professor Sprout to dance.
Damien sat in the chair the headmaster had been sitting in and smiled at his father. "Enjoying yourself, Dad?" he asked in an amused voice.
Severus sneered at him, "I would very much like to leave, thank you," he responded through clenched teeth as he glared at some students.
"Aww come on, Dad! Lighten up for once and have some fun!" Damien told him happily. "Why don't you ask Professor McGonagall to dance?" he teased innocently.
Severus scowled at him, "Minerva was MY teacher when I was your age! She was my MOTHER'S teacher in her seventh year! It'd be like dancing with my Grandma for heaven's sake!" he exclaimed.
"But you would dance with her if she were younger?" Damien asked slyly. Severus snarled, "You're really pushing it, boy...."
Damien's smirk faded slowly as a rush of memories suddenly attacked him at once when he heard his father call him, 'boy.'
"Get over here, boy!"
"Boy, I'm warning you.........."
"If I hear one sound come out of you, boy, you won't come out of that bloody cupboard for the rest of the holiday!"
"If they cared about you so much then why do they always dump you with us every summer? Can you answer that, boy?"
"You should thank me for being so kind to you, boy. Most people would rather send you to an orphanage then look at you..."
"So you didn't finish you chores, eh? Saying you're too hungry? Is that right, boy? Well, that'll be another week without food then!"
"Get the hell over here you worthless piece of shit! You don't even deserve to be called boy anymore! No one cares about you; you don't have any feelings! Therefore, you are not a member of the human race anymore in my eyes!"
"Damien?"
Damien looked into the concerned, dark eyes of his father. The man had both hands on either side of his shoulders. Damien then noticed that a couple people were staring at him oddly.
"Are you alright? What's wrong?"
Damien shook his head. "Nothing," he mumbled, his head bowed slightly as he tried to fight down the rising urge to empty his stomach of all its contents. "Its nothing...."
Severus frowned, not convinced in the least. "Maybe you should lay down for a while."
Damien scowled. "I'm fine! Just a little caught up in some old memories, nothing serious," he insisted stubbornly.
His father arched an eyebrow at him, "Maybe it was just some old memories, but the important thing is what these memories were about?" Severus looked at Damien expectantly. He knew that his son had been thinking about the abuse he had suffered; Severus had seen the dark shadow come across Damien's face whenever he was drawn out of a memory of Vernon Dursley during occlumency. Severus grit his teeth. He would kill that man and no, it wasn't an exaggeration, he would literally kill the bastard for even thinking about touching Damien. His thoughts came back to the present as he watched Damien struggle with his words; he put an arm around the boy.
"Go lay down for a while. It's early and if you fall asleep, I'll wake you up in an hour, okay?" he asked, his voice was uncharacteristically gentle. Damien looked slightly unsure before giving a small nod and heading out of the Great Hall with small reluctance.
"Where is Damien going, Professor?" Ginny Weasley asked as she watched her boyfriend leave, looking slightly hurt.
"He isn't feeling to well," Severus told the girl absently. "He's just going to lay down for a while. Will you be able to manage without him for an hour?" He smirked at the girl's blush.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Damien was roughly shaken from his peaceful nap. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and turned to glare at the person who had awaken him but was yanked out of the comfort of his soft bed before he could even open his eyes.
"What the-" someone gripping his arm tightly cut him off. Still half-asleep, he dazedly felt the person yanking up his left sleeve.
"Well, well, well," came a familiar taunting voice. "Snape's son a Death Eater? Why am I not surprised? Take him away."
Damien shot awake instantly to see three figures in official-looking cloaks glaring down at him. One of them he recognized to be the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.
Damien's heart turned to ice as he realized that his left sleeve was pulled up, revealing the ugly Dark Mark. He paled dramatically at Fudge's cruel smile.
"Realized it, have you?" the small minister spat tauntingly. "I knew that You-Know-Who was recruiting students and of course, you were one of the ones suspected. After all, your father is a Death Eater no matter what Dumbledore might say...."
Damien tried to form a word-any word but his mouth was to dry to say anything. Where was his father? And Dumbledore? Where were they?
"I-I'm not a Death Eater anymore," he sputtered, knowing how stupid it sounded at the moment. Fudge started laughing, "Going to use the old, 'I-am-a-spy-for-the-light' trick? Pity. I would have expected better from the supposed 'brilliant' Potion Master's son. Oh no...no, no, no, Mr. Snape." Fudge smirked, "You're father may have won with that trick but I assure you, Snape, you will be sitting in Azkaban in a mere couple of hours."
"No!" Damien began but was cut off as one of the ministry wizards slapped him hard across the face.
"You will hold your tongue, Death Eater!" the wizard spat, glaring at Damien with hatred. "You have lost any and all right as a wizard and your wand shall be snapped after your trial."
"T-trial?" Damien had pressed himself against the headboard as a fresh wave of memories from his stay at the Dursley's washed over him.
Fudge sneered, "Yes, Snape, a trial. Dumbledore insisted that we give you, as well as Mr. Malfoy one...." The minister scowled darkly at the mention of Dumbledore's name. "I'm beginning to think that Dumbledore has switched sides. Honestly! Giving You-Know-Who's followers trials!" Fudge seemed to realize that he was babbling as he stopped immediately and smirked triumphantly at Damien again. "But until your trial, you shall be staying with my dear friend here at Azkaban."
The man who had slapped Damien smirked nastily at the trembling boy.
"N-no..." Damien whispered pleading. Not Azkaban. The dementors were still there, he'd have to listen to his mother's screams....Sirius dying...Vernon beating him....
"No," he repeated. "Please-"
He tasted blood as the man slapped him again.
"Take him away, I say!" Fudge barked to the two men. "Now!"
The men grabbed Damien roughly around the shoulders and practically dragged him out of his room. The boy kicked and thrashed as he continued thinking about going to Azkaban, with the dementors.
"No!" he yelled as they heaved him down to the common room. He was not going to Azkaban without a fight and there was no way he was going peacefully.
"Stay still!" one of the men demanded. Fudge drew out his wand and pointed it at Damien.
"Crucio!"
A scream tore from Damien's lips as he thrashed even more until the curse was lifted. Panting and convulsing slightly, he hung limply in their grasp, his emerald eyes wide and glazed at what the minister had just done. Fudge smirked victoriously as he slipped the wand back into his robes and they continued on as if nothing had happened.
The common room was completely empty and Damien wondered briefly if the dance was still going on. He immediately dismissed the stupid thought; the after-effects of the Cruicatus were making him slightly delusional.
They drug him out of the Snake Pit and Damien knew precisely why the common room was so empty.
In the Entrance Hall, every student of Hogwarts was lined up, staring and whispering fearfully to one another.
Damien spotted Draco being held limply by another ministry wizard, though he looked petrified instead of crucified. He saw a couple other Slytherin students as well as a couple Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor students being held carelessly.
"We've got all of the recruits, minister," one of the ministry wizards sneered at them all. Damien's eyes combed the crowd for any sign of Ginny, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, or his father.
"Excellent," he heard the minister reply. "Take them all to Azkaban."
Damien closed his eyes against the different whispers and murmurs among the students.
"Damien Snape, a Death Eater?"
"He always seemed to nice to be a Slytherin, let alone a Death Eater!"
"It's always the ones that you least expect."
"Malfoy isn't a surprise."
"Cho can't be a Death Eater!"
"She's not you idiot! She was supposed to be a spy!"
"Why doesn't she just tell them that?"
"That excuse has been used so many times that they won't believe it!"
"Yeah, I doubt that even if Dumbledore appealed they wouldn't let her go..."
Damien reopened his eyes when they started moving as he stared at his schoolmates. Some were glaring at him; others were staring disbelievingly at him.
"It will be alright, Damien. We'll get you out, just hold on."
Damien's head snapped up to see Dumbledore looking at him sadly, his blue eyes, usually so full of twinkles and cheerfulness, were now glazed and slightly dulled. That small detail brought Damien more fear then Vernon had ever inflicted upon him.
"Where's my father?" he tried to yell to the man pleadingly but only a whisper escaped his now chapped lips. Dumbledore seemed to have heard him anyway. The older man opened his mouth to respond but Damien was promptly struck hard in the stomach. The boy all but crumpled into a heap on the floor, gasping painfully for air.
"Move along!" the wizard holding him commanded but Damien didn't listen, as he was drug carelessly.
Stars clouded Damien's vision and he grit his teeth as he tried to regain his breathing. Cold air hit his fragile lungs, making them burn terribly. He could feel his eyes watering from the pain.
Dimly, he could hear voices shouting to one another before he was thrust into a dark carriage. He opened his blurry eyes just in time to see Fudge shut and bolt the door. Darkness reigned and Damien shuddered, it was always in the darkness where he was beaten.
"Damien?" he heard Draco whisper from somewhere beside him. He turned, reaching out his arms to blindly feel for his friend.
"W-where are you?" he whispered back. His knees buckled as they started to move.
"Th-they're really t-taking us to Azkaban aren't th-they?" a terrified voice broke the short silence that had fallen. Damien recognized it as Lisa Turpin's voice. He wasn't that surprised that she was a Death Eater, she always had been one to hang around the Slytherins. She came from an old, pureblood family which was about as old as the Weasleys.
Thinking of the redhead family that he considered as his own made him think of Ginny. He missed her so much at that time. He missed her laughter, her smile, her glittering brown eyes. How he wished that he could see her again.
Realization seemed to hit Damien at full force. He might not ever get to see his family again. His family.......Ginny, Ron, Hermione, his father, Dumbledore......even Draco and Pansy seemed to be included in his family. Draco was with him now, which helped tremendously. He could hear the blonde's fast breathing from right beside him and Damien reached out to touch his shoulder. He felt slightly comforted that at least one member of his espoused family was with him.
He missed them all. Even though he had just seen them before he had gone to sleep, he had a feeling in his gut that he would never see them again. It suddenly felt as if he were loosing them, as if their image was slowly fading away in his mind, being replaced with a cold emptiness.
He remembered all the times he had joked around with his friends, when he'd stay up late with Draco and Pansy in the Snake Pit, quietly doing their homework that was due the next day. He remembered staying up late with Ginny in the Astronomy Tower as they watched the moon, sometimes sipping on butterbeer or pumpkin juice. He remembered studying tediously with Hermione in the library, sometimes disputing about their opinions to each other about a theory or a spell for hours on end before they both realized that they had missed dinner. He remembered being constantly cremated by Ron at Wizard Chess while Draco snickered slightly in the background and Ginny, Hermione, and Pansy rolled their eyes at their immaturity. He remembered staying for hours in the Room of Requirement with all of his friends, laughing and talking about something stupid that had happened earlier that day. Most of all though, he remembered the nights that he had stayed at his father's rooms, where they'd sit in front of the crackling fireplace and talk about one another's day or when Damien would eagerly listen to his father's stories about his mother in her school days.
Damien sat down on the cold floor, those times seemed like heaven now. 'There's still trial,' a voice reassured him in the back of his head but he shook it off. Fudge hated his father as well as anyone or anything to do with Death Eaters. There was no way that he would get out of this one. He rested his forehead on his knees, his breathing rapid. He already felt cold.
Right at that moment, Damien wanted his father with him so badly that it surprised him slightly. He wanted his father to be there with him, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, to give him that feeling of protection that he got whenever he was around the man. For him to sneer playfully at him as he said some mock-sarcastic comment when his onyx eyes were glittering playful. What Damien liked the most was the way his father had changed since the discovery. It was obvious to everyone how much his father cared for him and Damien loved it when his father's cold gaze (though not as cold and uncaring as it used to be) would brighten immediately, even shining with a touch of pride whenever he, Damien, came into the picture.
Damien was drawn out of his musings when the carriage finally stopped and the door was opened, bathing them all with the light from the wizards' wands. Damien was yanked from his spot and he immediately felt heavy metal clunk around his wrists as a ministry wizard put a heavy set of shackles on him. His breathing quickened even more, he hated being bound and helpless.
Draco was shoved into him, causing him to fall on the ground heavily. The blonde looked at him apologetically (he was gagged). Draco reached out a hand to help Damien up, only to be snatched roughly away by Fudge to be handcuffed also. Damien stood up shakily, finding it much more difficult due to his manacled hands.
They were immediately forced down into a rickety, wooden rowboat. Damien's eyes widened fearfully as he stared at the small island that they were fast approaching, which was also home to the wizarding prison, Azkaban.
He felt Draco tense slightly from beside him and knew that the blonde was afraid also. Damien briefly wondered what the Malfoy saw whenever the dementors came near him.
A scraping sound reached the boys' ears as the boat harbored. They were heaved out of the boat and all but drug to the doors of the dreaded wizard prison.
Damien closed his eyes as he felt the familiar coldness wash over him; he shuddered as his mother's screams started ringing loudly into his ears....
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Albus Dumbledore let his eyes roam over the occupants in his office. There were four to be exact, each one were teachers here and also members of the Order. Remus, Minerva, Filius, and Severus were all gathered around his desk in chairs. Each one was quiet; each one lost in their own thoughts.
No one looked happy.
Albus didn't blame the saddened faces; he was not happy either. Nine students had been arrested and sent to Azkaban. Nine! Nine students had been expelled, nine children would never have a future all because of a simple mistake they made.
The mistake wasn't actually that simple. No, it was a huge mistake, a mistake that many children before them had made.
One of them was now sitting right in front of him.
Albus gazed down at the man he considered a son. Had it been any other circumstances, then Albus would have smiled at Severus's great worry for his son. But this wasn't another circumstance....no, this one was big, one not to be joked about.
Damien and Draco along with Cho Chang, his other spy, had been taken. The three were as innocent of being loyal Death Eaters as Albus was of being the Dark Lord. Cho had been working as a spy for Albus for about a year now. She had been Crucified only twice in that year and she hadn't been asked to do much of anything, except try to find a weakness in Harry Potter. That was mainly the reason why Albus had allowed Damien and Draco to be marked; he had thought that they would be treated as Cho had.
But, alas, even Albus Dumbledore could be wrong.
Obviously, since Voldemort assumed that the two had more pain tolerance and were more strong-willed, they were treated almost as he treated his Death Eaters. Except for Damien that is; Damien would have been treated better since Voldemort had planned for him to be the heir of Slytherin.
The thought of the determined boy made Albus's thoughts float back to Severus. The boy was so much like his father that it was uncanny. The only difference was that he didn't have the short fuse that his father had and the fact that the boy was so much more accepting and warm then Severus. Other then that (and of course the boy's eyes) Damien was exactly like Severus.
Albus was glad that Damien, unlike his father, had dealt with his unloving relatives easier and better then Severus had when he was a boy. Severus had become cold and uncaring because of the lack of love in his life. Damien, who had had friends to help him along the way, had instead taken the abuse and loathing that his relatives had given him, and used it to make him stronger. Even though Damien still had a small problem with raised voices and being called, 'boy,' he coped with it all better then Severus ever had.
Albus allowed his gaze to focus on the man in front of him. His thoughtfulness immediately morphed into sympathy for the man in front of him. He had never seen Severus so.......lost and.....devastated.....
The man was currently sitting in one of the chairs in front of the headmaster's desk. He was very pale. His face was in his hands, his black eyes, usually so cold or, when it came to Damien, warm, was now squeezed tightly shut, his breath coming out in hissing pants as he struggled to regain his composure.
Albus reached out a hand and put it on the man's shoulder. "Severus...."
Severus brushed his hand off his shoulder irritably. "Back off, Albus I don't need your pity!" he snarled, though it was obvious that he was shaking.
"Severus.....it is not your fault," Albus whispered gently to the man.
"Don't say that, Albus!" Severus snapped, taking his head out of his hands to glare at the old man. "You know as well as I do that it is completely my fault!"
"Severus..."
"I shouldn't have even let him get marked!"
"It was just a mistake, Severus."
"But I shouldn't have made the mistake! I'm the parent! I'm the one that is supposed to protect my child! Me!!" Severus was now standing.
Albus gave the man a compassionate look. "I'm sure he doesn't blame you..."
"That doesn't matter anymore!" Severus yelled, forgetting that there were others in the room besides the headmaster and himself. "What matters is that he'll spend the rest of his life in Azkaban! What matters is I am the one who put him there!" Severus seemed to falter at the last part and he slumped back down in his chair, still shaking.
"What matters is that I'll never get to see him again..." he whispered and the meaning seemed to hit him at full force.
He would never get to see his son again. He would never get to see Damien, the only person that was keeping him alive at this moment, the only reason for living, ever again. That the boy would spend endless nights, shivering in a cold cell in Azkaban, being forced to constantly hear his mother's, Cedric Diggory's, and his godfather's deaths over and over again.
It tore Severus up to know that HE did that to his son. HE put him in Azkaban. HE allowed the boy to get marked. It was all his fault.....
"There is still trial, Severus," Albus reminded him softly.
Severus snorted mentally. Trail? What good would that do? Fudge hated anything to do with Voldemort and if he finds someone with a mark, then they'll go to Azkaban no matter what. Fudge had made sure of that after Severus was let free due to Albus's appeal. Fudge had been furious, and ever since that moment, the minister had hated Severus with a passion. Another reason why the trial wouldn't work.
Severus closed his eyes as he felt an unfamiliar burning sensation in them.
He would never get to hear Damien laugh again, or chatter insensitively again, or just.....live again. He would never see Damien's twinkling emerald eyes that had once belonged to his best friend, never see Damien grow up and get married and have children of his own. He would never see the boy's smiling face again. He'd never feel the now familiar love and pride he felt for Damien.
He would never get to hear the word, 'Dad,' cross his son's lips ever again.
Severus felt like the world was crashing down upon him.
And things were just about to get worse.........
() DONE!
I know you are probably hating me right now but it will work out, trust me!