Chapter 57: Shades Of A Junior Snape

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

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

Potter. The name had been unimpressive to say the least and given what happened thus far with the pompous twit, Phaeron had not seen why he had to be so cautious. It seemed both his mother and his father had such a long standing history with the Potters and aside from his mother's adventures with the wizarding world's hero, Harry Potter in her youth, there was no further good will on either end. There had been many questions running through the young Slytherin's mind. Namely, why were the Potter were so dangerous to his family? Once the boy recalled attending an award ceremony where Lucius Malfoy had gotten overly drunk and verbally chastised every one in the room for their treatment of Severus Snape, the hero they had gathered everyone to honor. The senior Malfoy stumbled from his drunkenness and practically spit in the face of the new Ministry of Magic calling them all "Potter's Puppets" and saying that Harry Potter was a murderer.

Phaeron had been awfully young then and his mother had told him repeatedly that his godfather had been quite drunk.

Still.

Both his mother and father had been upset at the thought of the son of Harry Potter attending school with him.

The young raven haired Slytherin didn't think there was anything particularly interesting or fearful about James Potter. He simply thought him another overconfident nitwit on the verge of great failure and embarrassment beyond the repair of his arrogant pride and self-assurance. It didn't take much effort to best the boy during his repeated attempts at attacking him.

Phaeron ventured toward the lake where he was to meet up with Ursula Black. He had been so lost in his own thoughts concerning why his parents had such a problem with all things Potter that he failed to recognize an oncoming attack in the from of the so called New Marauders launching a simultaneous assault on his person. Before the younger Snape could blink he was set upon by various painful hexes with a near on crippling intensity.

Always the glory hound, James Potter jumped out making sure the younger Snape knew exactly whom it was that was causing the pain. The vicious little snot drew inspiration from the story of his arrogant prat grandfather when he decided that removing the young Slytherins clothing would be the perfect revenge.

Phaeron had nearly blacked out as James hung him in the air naked before everyone at the lake. He was almost completely out of it when he heard the familiar voice of Ursula Black casting very nasty hexes upon Potter and his friends successfully running them off. The witch got him to safety and he came to his senses. Unfortunately, it wasn't fast enough to avoid the unfortunate circumstance of being naked in front of the smiling witch.

"Well." she said amused. "Who would have thought all that was hiding just beneath your robes...apparently you are as pale as a ghost everywhere."

Phaeron rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. His embarrassment was more from the fact that Potter got the better of him than anything else as he clearly had nothing to be embarrassed about aside from completely pale flesh. He had been much like his father below the waist-line and lacked the malnutrition and scaring that would have mortified his father at the time. Being pretty fit also helped ease the horror of his position as well.

"Yeah yeah." said Phaeron rolling his eyes. "Can I have my blasted wand back now?"

Ursula smiled looking him over as he attempted some form of modesty by trying to cover himself with his hands.

"Not yet." she said with a lazy sigh. "Not that I am not enjoying the view, but we need to ensure this never happens again."

"Agreed." replied Phaeron agreeing with the "never happens again bit."

The young witch looked at him thoughtful for a moment. Then she waved her wand and suddenly Phaeron found himself clothed in attire similar to that of his late fathers. She added the Slytherin crest on the right side of his chest and a green and silver Slytherin tie to keep in compliance with his being a student but that was all. He wore nearly the same frock coat with numerous buttons and tight sleeves with black trousers as his late father. As an added bonus, she even conjured him a pair of his own dragon-hide boots.

Phaeron stood speechless as he looked at Ursula not sure what to say.

"Wow." he said amazed. "Kind of looks like his attire."

"That was the idea." said Ursula with a wicked grin. "And best of all it's completely Potter proof."

Phaeron had not known what to say or even how to thank the witch except for impulsively kissing her on the cheek much like she had done him on occasion.

"Thank you." he said meaningfully. "I-I...thank you."

Ursula simply smiled.

"Come along Snape jr." she said. "We have patrons to scare in the Great Hall."

Phaeron smiled knowing what she was getting at. The two of them made their way toward the Great Hall there was no doubt about every being shocked by his new chosen attire. His appearance alone would have scared even the most seasoned student from his father's term as Headmaster.

The Great Hall, Hogwarts, Wizarding World...

All eyes had immediately fallen on Phaeron as he approached the Slytherin table. Even the staff had been rendered speechless in the wake of the boy's new found attire. Draco had stopped mid-conversation looking in awe at the young raven haired wizard. Dumbledore smiled pleasantly noting just how much Phaeron did look like a mini Severus Snape and assumed it was due to father and son bonding as of late. Professor McGonagall looked as thought she had seen a ghost.

Ursula looked over at Phaeron and smiled.

It seems her conjuration got the desired effect.

Ziare had even stared at the young Snape in awe.

"Now you really look like your father." he said stunned. "Trying to give everyone a heart attack?"

"Maybe." replied Phaeron turning his attention to the large meal before him. "For now I was thinking about dinner."

This make Ziare chuckle before he too turned his attention back to dinner.

"Dinner and cursing Potter no less." he said taking up his fork once again.

"That too." replied Phaeron. "I don't see why my parents make such a big deal out of him...he's not all that dangerous, nor is he smart."

"Don't underestimate him." warned Ursula staring blackly at Phaeron. "He is an enemy none the less and being careless will only get you hurt."

Phaeron nodded.

"You're right." he replied. "But that doesn't mean I have to go around fearing the stupid prat."

"No it doesn't." agreed Ursula. "But you need to be on guard."

"Agreed." said Phaeron his temper boiling at the arrogant prat glancing at him and laughing no doubt recalling the events that happened before dinner. "Time to make dinner a bit more interesting..."

Unbeknownst to Ursula and everyone at the Slytherin table Phaeron had been quite capable of wandless magic, a must as far as Lucius Malfoy had been concerned a good thing too no one knew a boy his age was even capable of something like that, well his mother often suspected as much always mentioning his father being a Slytherin and how she would not be surprised if he ended up there. How right she was remained to be seen.

James Potter lifted his fork and shoved bits of food into his mouth as he continued to laugh and joke with his Gryffindor buddies. Only he had not expected his dinner to turn into sand. Choking on the harsh tasting stuff he immediately went for his nearby drink and found that it too had become sand. The same happened to his buddies and they all started coughing and gagging getting the attention of the staff table and everyone else in the hall.

The rest of Gryffindor house suffered for their part in indulging Potter's stories as their respective meals came to life and chased them all around the hall. The Slytherins snickered seeing their rivals taken down a peg and all was restored when Dumbledore raised his hand and everything reverted to normal. The twinkling blue eyes turned on Phaeron Snape the pleasant smile he wore widened.

"Like father, like son." said Professor McGonagall looking over the boy as well. "No doubt this is going to be an interesting year."

"Indeed." replied Dumbledore in agreement.

"Let's just hope it stays on innocent terms." said McGonagall noting the junior Snape's unmistakable appeal for darkness. "Merlin knows just how nasty Severus could get when he was on his vindictive course."

"As I recall neither James nor Sirius were any better." replied The Headmaster.

"No." replied McGonagall with a sigh. "They were not...neither was young Harry for that matter."

Dumbledore sighed sadly as he continued to watch the two boys who were not doubt progressive enemies by now. It seemed there was no denying the already blatant animosity brewing between them. He just hoped that this time he wouldn't drive another Snape into the wrong hands as he had during the previous years.

Later...

Dinner concluded and everyone made their way back to their respective dorms. Phaeron had been well on his way back to the Slytherin Dungeons when he was suddenly attacked from behind by an enraged James Potter. The two boys ended up in an escalated dispute where James meant to establish his dominance over the other boy the muggle way knowing that Phaeron would crush his spell work with little to no effort due to his mother's training. Slytherin and Gryffindor students took to the ensuing chaos as they bickered over who would win. They crowded the corridor in two large factions each getting a good look at the combatants.

"I'm going to kill you Snape!" shouted James Potter knowing full well who had hexed him at dinner.

"Fat chance Potter!" spat Phaeron equally enraged at being attacked physically when his back was turned.

James Potter did his best to break Phaeron's jaw being the more physically fit boy it proved a sound strategy.

Phaeron had been no push over in the physical department either it seemed and gave as good as he had gotten. Trying in equal measure to seriously injure James Potter.

Both boys when rolling around the corridor as many students jeered in the background. Draco and Professor Dumbledore went sifting through the crowd of students in a bid the end the tussle before it got any worse.

James tackled Phaeron onto the grounds and began using his weight to punish the young raven haired Slytherin. This resulted in Phaeron being bloodied by the raining blows coming from the younger Potter. Phaeron managed to break Potter's hand and forced him to shift his weight and gained the upper hand beating the lesser Potter in the face breaking the arrogant boy's nose in the process.

Potter became too weak to defend himself and simply slumped absently as the junior Snape continued to beat him bloody. He kept thinking about his parents always warning him away from Potter and how dangerous his so called family was suppose to be...he thought of how much contempt his mother and father showed when even mentioning anything Potter related and something in him snapped. He was filled with this unbridled rage and it only made him hit the unconscious Potter harder.

By the time the staff got to him it became clear that Phaeron had lost control of his temper and nearly killed the Potter boy before Dumbledore was able to stun him. Both boys were layed out on the grounds out cold. Dumbledore sighed as he picked up the young bloodied Potter. He shook his head as he looked over young Phaeron noting all too well the darkness that was lurking deep inside the young man. The same darkness that had been in his father for so many years.

Draco Malfoy picked up the young Slytherin and carried him to the infirmary.

He had barely believed what had happened himself as he held the boy to him. One thing was for sure, he knew Hermione was not going to be happy about Phaeron being in the infirmary much less locked in a rapidly escalating feud with the son of Harry Potter, the man that killed her husband and got away with it. As he looked down at the raven haired Slytherin Draco couldn't help but feel a hint of pride. He had gotten the best of Potter on two different accounts and all initiated by Potter himself. He had no doubt that once Hermione calmed down she would be proud of her son for defending himself. He knew he was proud of the boy as it were.

With his final thoughts fading into the distant sea of his mind, Draco took Phaeron to the infirmary not sure what to make of the boy now.