Chapter 68: In Dreams Of Terror
{A/N: Here's Another Update...}
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The Snape Flat, London, England, Muggle World...
Phaeron had been unusually quiet while he and his mother ate their dinner for the night, steak had been a favorite of his father's on occasion and it seemed to be true enough for him as well. The raven haired boy had been rather disappointed that he and his mother still could find no way to save his father as of yet. Bookstore after bookstore had been visited even a those confiscated from the public by the Ministry of Magic and still there was no sign of anything remotely close to pointing them in the right direction to help The Potions Master. Her son's sour mood had not been lost on her and in truth she was feeling a bit disappointed herself. She knew that Severus had relatively six years left before his magic supply ran out and then he would be caught between worlds forever.
The meal passed silently between the two remaining Snapes and then it was over. Phaeron collected the dishes and ventured into the kitchen. He had volunteered to do them this time and his mother made her way to her bedroom. She always liked to do a bit of light reading before bed since she was a girl and it had been the same for her as a woman. Phaeron went to bed after doing the dishes trying to rack his brain thinking up how to find the spell his father had used to they could reverse it and then the idea came to him that his father's memories held the key to that very information. The young raven haired Slytherin made up his mind to sift through his father's memories back at Hogwarts until he could find the book pertaining to the dark spell he used to project himself out of his body.
Hermione had come to the same conclusion that night but knew she had to wait until she could return to Hogwarts to make it possible.
A few days later...
Morning had arrived and Phaeron had not been in the mood to greet it. The raven haired Slytherin boy tossed and turned in his sleep from yet another night terror. Only this time he kept seeing his father battling some monster cloaked in shadow with emerald green eyes. The young wizard had tried to assist his father using his own magic to take out the emerald eyed demon attacking his father but it was to no avail, he had not been strong enough to make much of a difference. Snape had been covered in blood and too weak to lift his own wand. Phaeron continued to toss and turn in his bed, kicking the forest green comforter and black cotton sheets off his sweat blasted form. His pale lean chest heaving in ragged breaths.
{He saw his father unable to defend himself as the emerald eyed demon laughed towering over them.
His mother appeared as his father collapsed onto the cold stone floor of the strange place that held the battle. She held his father as more of the dour wizard's blood seeped from his ebony clad body.
"FATHER!" shouted Phaeron rushing over toward his parents.
Unfortunately, for the raven haired boy the more he ran the further he got from them.
His obsidian eyes took in the sight of his dying father and greif stricken mother as the emerald eyed demon laughed at their misfortune. Rage burned in the young Slytherin. He could feel his magic began to grow and start pulsing around him. It became almost uncontrollable as it manifested wrapping around the young boy in the form of flame.}
Hermione Granger-Snape awoke to the sound of smoke detectors going off in her London flat. The first thought that entered her mind was, her young son. Hopping out of bed and rushing toward her son's room she noted the heat coming from it.
"PHAERON!" she shouted wondering if this was indeed a fire by muggle standards or if it had been induced by him practicing spells in his room.
There was no reply.
"PHAERON SEVERUS SEBASTIAN SNAPE, YOU OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" shouted Hermione.
Still there was no reply.
Having enough and sensing her son might well be in danger, she kicked the door open and much to her shock and horror, Phaeron's entire room had been engulfed in flame. Hermione set to work dousing the flame with her aquatic spells and made her way toward her son. She was further rocked to her core to find that he had been the cause of the flames via his wayward magic and he was doing it while locked in the grips of a lengthy night terror.
Thinking quickly, Hermione aimed her wand at Phaeron in a bid to quell his wayward magic. She noted how it seemed to be coming from his apparent night terror.
"FATHER!" shouted Phaeron trapped in his night terror.
"Phaeron you have to wake up." said Hermione in a calm mother-like tone once she had done away with the flames. "You are having a night terror."
The raven haired boy tossed and turned some more in bed gripping his mattress with the crisp black sheet wrapped around him.
"Phaeron...your father is fine." she said trying to reassure him. "You and I are going to bring him home."
The boy remained locked in his dream.
Hermione had been at a loss on how to help him. Then suddenly, as if sensing Phaeron and her own distress, Severus appeared with a grim look upon his sallow pale face.
"Phaeron." he said in a stern tone. "Open your eyes."
The raven haired boy began to calm some as his magic began to subside.
"Father." said Phaeron with tears running down his own pale cheeks.
"Open your eyes son." said Snape concentrating on his son. "There is no demon."
Trusting his father's voice the raven haired boy opened his eyes and looked quite puzzled at both his parents.
"Mother?" he said looking at Hermione confusion upon his face then shifting his gaze to Snape. "Father?"
"Phaeron." said Hermione wrapping her arms around her trembling son.
"Father." said Phaeron looking over at Snape. "I dreamed you were..."
"I am here that is all that matters." said The Potions Master.
The boy nodded and let himself relax into his mother's embrace.
"I'm sorry mother." said Phaeron feeling badly for causing her to worry. "I didn't mean to have a night terror."
"Shhhh." said Hermione grateful to Severus for his assistance.
Her amber eyes took in the sight of her husband he looked to have been up for quite some time but then again she doubted he would need sleep as he was between the living world and that of the dead. His sorrowful obsidian eyes looked at him.
"Thank you, Severus." she said.
He held up a hand.
"No thanks is required." replied The Potions Master. "After all, he is my son as well."
"It's good to see you father." said Phaeron. "I'm sorry I let my night terrors get the better of me."
Snape smirked.
"Phaeron...you are not the only Snape who suffers from night terrors." he said. "I myself was often a victim of them being an ex-death eater and a war veteran didn't make it any better."
Phaeron smiled at his father it pleased him to know that he wasn't the only Snape to suffer from night terrors.
"Focus on what you know to be real and you'll be fine." said Snape.
The raven haired boy nodded.
"I will father." he said meaningfully.
Snape returned his son's smile, took one last look at his grateful wife and just as quickly as he arrived, he was gone leaving Hermione and Phaeron alone once more.