~ Chapter Eighteen ~

The following morning his grandfather's owl flew into the Great Hall at breakfast. No one bothered with it. After all it didn't stand out like Harry Potter's owl. Nope he had Citren for that. The damned cat was currently sitting on the Slytherin table and devouring every piece of orange in sight. It was rather an embarrassing sight but he knew that no one in Slytherin would dare make a comment. No one else would dare make a comment either with Severus Snape as his father.

Untying the letter, the owl didn't even bother with any food before it took off again. That owl certainly had the same cold disposition that his grandfather had, Ciaran smiled. As he opened it he realized the letter was written in parseltongue so there wasn't any need for the usual type of secrecy Slytherins used. Ciaran opened the letter at the table and began to read.

-x-

Ciaran,

It was quite extraordinary to hear that Sybil Trelawney had yet again made a prediction. Never would I have envisioned that she would be capable of making one let alone three given her record. Yet I have been proven wrong and now I will need to explain what it is, I imagine, she was attempting to warn you once again about.

"The Balance of Power shall rise. The Light shall fall to the Darkness of the world. The Light is doomed whilst the Dark legacy lives. Only once the Dark legacy dies can the Light remain all. The Light stands no chance against the Darkness of the World."

I find it rather amusing that once again she has made a prophecy that is to occur around you as the other two have directly affected you. I believe that rather than her ability being able to predict the future, Sybil Trelawny is able to predict how you will affect the world around you. Yet that is not the reason for this letter as you may have assumed.

The prophecy itself is fairly simple to decipher if you have the correct knowledge. Lucky for us that those people who could decipher it accurately are all loyal to the Dark.

The first line, "The Balance of Power shall rise", it is mentioning the continuation of our world. Many years ago there was a Balance between Light a Dark. It fed everything magic and even aided in the creation of Hogwarts. However a Light Lord decided that there wasn't any true need to the Dark Arts and began making a movement to dispose of it. Throughout the years this movement has been killing the balance and alongside it magic which is one of the reasons that Dark families suffer and yet Light families prevail during this time. The return of this cements my hypothesis that we shall prevail.

"The Light shall fall to the Darkness of the world." This line is rather vague in all translations. It could be many things however the most likely translation for this line has to do with the battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix. We are dark wizards. No one has ever doubted that. The fact that the Light wizards shall fall to the Dark is merely the confirmation that the Dark shall win the upcoming battle.

The next line, "The Light is doomed whilst the Dark legacy lives", to my understanding is about you. Ciaran you are the Dark legacy. My blood lies in your veins and as such without you the Dark would have failed in our quest against the Light. It was you that gave each side an advantage regardless of which name you chose to live under. If you had chosen the Light the previous prophecy, the one made at your birth, would have come into effect. However, as it is, you now know the truth. You are with the Dark and it is the Dark that shall reign supreme.

As such the following line, "Only once the Dark Legacy dies can the Light remain all", means if you die our hope of winning will also be void. Everything will be too even and the war would only decimate the world. Neither side would give up nor would we have anything left to fight for. You are the reason we fight Ciaran. You are the only person that gets to decide who shall win this.

"The Light stands no chance against the Darkness of the world." The last line… it is pretty straight forward so I doubt I need to explain that any further than necessary.

With this in mind I don't believe that we have any troubles ahead of us. Trelawney has seen that with you on the Dark side of this war nothing shall stand in our way. We have a chance to right the wrongs that have befallen magic and our world.

I hope, as such, that everything is going well on your end. If Dumbledore even glances in your direction at this point in time I'm not entirely certain that I will be able to simply leave it alone as your father has instructed would be best. Stay as far from that man as possible and remain with your friends. I do not desire to see you harmed.

Lovingly your grandfather,

Marvolo

-x-

Ciaran sat back and sighed. Once again he was to play some pawn in a prophecy. He was beginning to get rather sick of hearing these things. Did Trelawney not have anything better to do than to watch his life? His grandfather didn't appear to think so. In other ways it was rather handy. Trelawney had just proven that they would be the victors. He would finally be able to have his revenge against the Light.

Yet there were a few things that needed to be completed first and foremost. The cabinet was a few days possibly weeks away from working properly. Soon they would have the correct method to fix it and then all they needed to do was be prepared for the attack which wouldn't happen until his grandfather signalled. It was almost ridiculous how much they needed to gather from around the castle before then.

However with this prophecy Ciaran felt more at ease. He didn't need to worry whether or not he was making the correct decisions. He'd had a choice to make and everything surrounding him had changed accordingly. His grandfather, his father, everyone he cared about would live through this war. The prophecy didn't say those exact words but Ciaran wouldn't permit them to die. If he was the one controlling everything then that was how it was going to happen. His family would live and the Light would die.

"What was that about?" Draco asked.

Ciaran turned to look at Draco who was indicating the letter. It wasn't really anything terribly secretive so Ciaran explained a little about what his grandfather wrote of.

Draco hummed thoughtfully. That was definitely something that he hadn't expected. Yet considering Harry Potter was a magnet for just about everything it stood to reason that Ciaran Snape would be as well. The fact that he was the one to tip the balance for either side was just the icing on the cake.

"Do you believe that he will move up the attack date?" Draco questioned.

"Grandfather does whatever he believes will be the best. I believe that he will if only to trick any spies that have informed Dumbledore of the planned attack. He won't risk having Order members present when he starts his attack. That isn't something that he wants. As soon as we've finished the cabinet grandfather will set a date within his mind and will only inform us and perhaps Severus so we will be prepared in time."

There weren't really a lot of certainties within that. The Dark Lord may have favoured them but that didn't really guarantee them knowing everything that he was thinking. If anything they would only need to know as much as he deemed necessary while the lower ranks suffered with nothing.

"What do you think the chances are of everyone getting out of this alive?" Draco questioned.

There were people within Slytherin that he cared about not that he would admit it aloud. If they managed to get caught in the cross fire he would be saddened.

"Grandfather won't allow anything to happen to those or their children that support him. He will instruct everyone on the raid that none that wear a silver scarf are to be harmed. The scarves themselves aren't likely to be the only thing protecting them however. More than likely there will be a spell on the scarves that keeps certain spells from affecting them. Relax, Draco, you have to trust in my grandfather. He knows what he's doing."

Draco nodded. Ciaran was right. The Dark Lord wouldn't place anyone at risk that he needed. Future Death Eaters were something that would be in high demand in the future. Why would he hamper that now?

"Well then we shall just have to do our best."

Ciaran smiled. It certainly wasn't easy to place one's trust in someone especially for a Slytherin. They were naturally cautious of anyone and everyone even if they were family. There was always something that put them on guard. If they were lucky a Slytherin would have at most five people that they could trust explicitly. Everyone else they would simply call acquaintances. Within the Dark Lord's Inner Circle however it was different. They were all linked to each other. They knew each other's weakness and their strengths. The group needed to trust one another because if they didn't they could be dead the following day. Trust was something that was simply needed in the higher ranks.

"What are the Slytherins so pleased about?" Ciaran questioned.

Now that he wasn't so enwrapped in his grandfather's letter he noticed that every single Slytherin, though attempting to be innocent, had a certain wicked gleam in their eye that was standard of a huge prank war about to start. He knew that look from when Remus and Sirius started in on the Weasley twins. It had been utter chaos.

Draco smirked before replying, "They finally have permission to mess with the other students as much as they want. You can bet that they planned something huge for the first strike. The students and the professors won't know what hit them."

Ciaran smiled. That would certainly be interesting to see. Having only Gryffindors for friends provided only Gryffindor pranks. Slytherins were likely to be much more subtle in their attacks and with everyone pitching in more frequent than not. Even his father looked eager to see what his snakes would have in store for the entire school.

"Well we'd better leave. Classes are going to begin soon." Ciaran warned.

It was a shame really. If the Slytherins were to do anything it would be when most of them weren't present. They would only get to view the pensive memories. But at least they would have something and revenge would also be really sweet.

As Draco, Ciaran, Blaise and Pansy stood to go to their first class they noticed that Weasley and Granger also stood hurriedly. They didn't pay much attention to this as Gryffindors especially these two weren't worth their time. However as they realized they were heading in the exact same direction their suspicions began to rise. This morning they had History of Magic which they were fairly certain didn't include any Gryffindors. They were soon to be mistaken.

The role was called and their names were on it. Every single class the Slytherins had, Weasley and Granger were in as well. It didn't matter if they weren't actually apart of Slytherin. Headmaster Dumbledore had granted them special permission to share the same timetable probably to keep an eye on every Slytherin in their year. It was a poorly concealed move on the Headmaster's part but no one complained. If the Gryffindors wanted to play around them they would learn the hard way that they didn't play fairly.

It started off small. Weasley and Granger were obviously making small attempts at being welcomed within the snake house however they weren't getting very far. No one would pay any attention to them. Every time they opened their mouths and directly spoke to someone, that person would simply ignore them. Gryffindors were believed to be not worth the time so they acted accordingly and made sure to act as if they weren't even present.

This put Granger and Weasley in a hard place. They were meant, as many suspected, to become close to Draco and Ciaran yet no one would give them any leeway. The Slytherin group kept either ignoring them when asked a question or blocking their attempts at getting closer to the duo. Dumbledore wanted more information on them but they couldn't get anything. It appeared as if the Slytherin group were a lot closer than anyone ever realized.

Ciaran snickered as Weasley once again attempted to start a conversation in Charms only to be silenced with a cold look from Professor Flitwick. He knew Dumbledore was behind this. It was obvious to any Slytherin. This didn't really make him concerned however. The more responsibilities he piled on the pair the more they were likely to miss in their search for knowledge. As it was Granger appeared to be the one that Dumbledore had chosen to spill his secrets to while Weasley was kept busy training the D.A. With keeping an eye on them, it would only place more pressure on them to do everything right.

That only managed to give Ciaran an idea. If they were completely swamped now, then what would happen if they started to get attacked by Slytherin's subtly through their pranks? They weren't meant to start until tonight during dinner however he couldn't resist this. Truthfully, Ciaran believed they didn't stand a chance.

"What do you say we allow the Slytherins to start their little prank war early?" Ciaran asked Draco.

All he received was a smirk and a nod of the head in Pansy's direction. Keeping their eyes on their own work, they had no doubt that Pansy would spread the word and that by lunch time all Slytherins would start their attacks at their own pace. Things were about to get ugly.

x-x-x-x-x

Ron and Hermione weren't having much luck. After school had resumed, the Headmaster had personally called upon them. Together they had been given tasks that would change everything for the war or so the Headmaster believed. He'd given them instructions to follow for the remainder of the year and praised them on their work so far before motioning them to leave.

Hermione had been most honoured. She was being taught certain things about You-Know-Who that would have any Death Eater crying. This would have originally been taught to Harry so she was informed. But since they had lost their beloved saviour the responsibility fell to someone else and that someone was her. Hermione couldn't have been more pleased than if she'd been given access to the Restricted Section.

Any time spent in the company of Albus Dumbledore was an honour in itself. After all he knew so much about everything and had lived to kill a Dark Lord of his own or so the rumours went. If he was giving her the necessary tools to aid her in her own defeat of a Dark Lord then that was all the more reason to listen to every word he spoke. It wasn't likely, after all, that she would obtain an opportunity like this again.

Ron was of a different mind. He was glad that he was permitted to start the D.A. again whilst Hermione was learning from Dumbledore but it wasn't what he expected. Harry had always been his best mate not Hermione. Why wasn't it he, Ron Weasley, that Dumbledore chose? It didn't make any sense. However he took what he could get. At least Dumbledore still remembered that he had once been part of the Trio as well and given him something useful to do.

Of course without Harry the D.A. had been difficult to once again start. Not to mention that Neville and Luna refused to join once again. It didn't give him much credit with the other students. In fact it appeared to hamper him further. Certainly, it wasn't something he expected when agreed to start this. Yet he would work past it. There wasn't anything a Weasley couldn't do when they put their minds to it.

However the one other task that was given to them was rather difficult to complete. They'd been told to get close to Ciaran Snape and Draco Malfoy. For what reason, they were unsure for the Headmaster hadn't seen fit to inform them. Yet if they were to guess, it was because of their connections to Death Eaters and the Dark Lord. They were sons of two of his Inner Circle even if one was a spy. It stood to reason that they would be inducted soon becoming Death Eaters in their own regard. Soon Ciaran Snape and Draco Malfoy would be rather formidable on their own.

Why they would do this, Hermione and Ron didn't understand. Dumbledore was a perfectly good leader that they could swear to if they wanted. The Dark Lord wasn't the only option they had. If it went further than that belief, than Hermione and Ron couldn't quite grasp their reasoning.

However getting close to achieve any of this was made rather difficult by the other Slytherins. No one would permit them to speak directly to the pair even after they shared the same timetable made possible by Dumbledore. There was a lot of protection within the Slytherin year groups and it was something they couldn't understand at all. Slytherins were meant to be cruel and only look out for them self. For the groups to stick together was something else entirely and threw their beliefs right out the window. They truly had no idea on how to go around getting close to the Slytherin main duo.

They had to keep trying though. This was something that they needed to get down for the Headmaster. If they had to act like a Slytherin to get that way then that is what they would do. Hermione and Ron looked at each other and knew what they needed to do. It was time to act like a Slytherin.

x-x-x-x-x

Ciaran and Draco watched them closely. Granger and Weasley had obviously seen that acting like they usually did just didn't cut it with Slytherins. What worried them the most was what they would attempt to do about it. They knew that Pansy was getting word to the other Slytherins. Soon every house would be in an all-out prank war with really nothing in their way. After all the Professors wouldn't be able to contain and punish everyone especially when the Slytherins started something.

However that wasn't happening soon enough. History was over as was Charms and yet their attitude was changing. Now that they knew acting like their usual Gryffindor selves wasn't working, they were going for something else. They were acting how they perceived Slytherins to act and it was so far from the truth it was embarrassing. Not to mention it was beginning to get ridiculous as they made their way to lunch.

They were snarling at other students and pushing them aside in a seeming fit of rage. As they passed students that were younger they would make the contents of their bags spill onto the floor. Older students weren't any luckier. They were hexed in the hallways or accidently tripped as they passed. It was obvious who was responsible for it but no one did anything. Being close to the Headmaster did have some perks after all. If anyone attempted to even touch them the Headmaster would have some dire punishment for them.

"Is Pansy nearly ready?" Ciaran questioned as another second year cried out, her bag contents spilling to the floor.

A group stopped to help pick up the poor girl's belongings before moving off. Ciaran frowned but didn't move to aid them. Slytherins only aided their own not that he didn't want to help her. However it just wasn't done.

The Slytherins were ready to make everyone's lives hell but that didn't mean they were going to go about it in a nasty way. Bullying wasn't on their agenda especially not like this. Their only goal was to make the lives of the Professors and mainly the Gryffindors hell. Besides bullying just because one could wasn't the correct way to go about anything. It was purely wrong. Ciaran had learnt that lesson from his useless relatives.

"Yes, she made sure that every Slytherin knew that we were going to start now instead of at dinner."

Originally they had planned to start small with just the seventh years doing pranks and increase from there every week or so. However that decision was taken out of their hands by Granger and Weasley. Pranks on the Gryffindors especially needed to start immediately. They couldn't allow this to continue. Anyone would be able to wreak havoc on them all. No one would have a say into any timing. It just wasn't necessary anymore.

Just then a quiet pop seemed to echo around the hallway. If anyone heard it they didn't comment yet Ciaran and Draco knew better. This was the start of their version of war. Right on cue a mist covered them all. Ciaran grabbed Draco's hand as everything went white. No one could see a foot before them which was rather dangerous but there was nothing for it. If Slytherins wanted to keep their identity they would go to any length to do so.

Screaming began seconds later. The entire hallway flew into panic as, it sounded, the rest of the castle as well. Everyone would be affected with this prank. Without their eyes normal wizards and witches just couldn't comprehend anything. It was rather lacklustre. They didn't even bother to use their other sense or even their wands. Without their sight they were useless a fact that Slytherins had learnt to overcome and manipulate. Draco at least had enough sense to drag him until their backs connected to the wall. That way they knew that they couldn't be knocked to the floor in the mass panic.

They could feel the students running everywhere in terror. The movements caused the air to shift around them. People feel to the floor and were trampled as some were knocked about. Ciaran was sure that if Draco hadn't been nearby when this occurred he would have been overwhelmed with the fearful thoughts flying through their heads. It certainly wasn't a very pleasant realization. In moments such as this without someone like Draco or his father nearby he would be utterly useless.

Eventually the smoke began to clear and the students calmed. Yet what was revealed was enough to make them all panic all over again. Every student had their hair dyed the same colour as their house colours and it looked absolutely dreadful. Gryffindor red and gold just shouldn't ever be used for anything other than badges. The Slytherin and Ravenclaw colours weren't so bad yet no one could really stand having their hair this colour. It just wasn't an aristocratic thing to do. Hufflepuff colours made the students look like a danger sign. All in all it was rather obnoxious to witness.

Ciaran snickered into Draco's collar not trusting himself to turn around and see Granger and Weasley freaking out. Draco was also having a hard time keeping a straight face. It was only through pure will that kept it straight like that currently.

"Draco, whose idea was this?" Ciaran questioned softly.

"I do believe this belongs to one of the fourth year students. Even if they remain as stoic and colourless as every other Slytherin, student this one had a particular fascination with colour combinations much like Miss Lovegood."

That was hilarious. Though he loved Luna like a sister, there was no way her colour combination or her outfits were very attractive. Now he understood why everyone looked like they had a disaster at a Hair Salon. The colours were far from even. Everyone had different amounts of their house colours in their hair giving their hair almost a personality of its own. Quite honestly it was rather frightening.

Ciaran had hair that was mostly green streaked silver whilst Draco was nearly the exact opposite. Ron's hair was golden whilst Hermione's had gone red. The prank was rather brilliant. While everyone had their hair coloured no one could be blamed directly. The Professors wouldn't be able to pinpoint a person within the crowd if everyone was in exactly the same position. No one could pin this on them.

"What is going on?" Professor McGonagall demanded.

Silence entrenched the hallway. No one was willing to mess around with McGonagall demanding things. Only Slytherins would attempt to weasel their way out of this and honestly they wouldn't even have to try that hard.

"Professor!" Hermione shrieked. "Our hair has been… has been…"

She couldn't even find the words for it. To say she as speechless was an understatement. Never before had Hermione Granger been treated this way. The Weasley twins would never have dared to do something like this. After all she had been one of their little brother's best friends. Add to that Harry Potter and she had been untouchable in Hogwarts.

"It seems to be an improvement." Draco muttered.

Ciaran could barely contain his snort of laughter.

"Do you find something funny, Mr Snape?" McGonagall demanded.

He did. It was utterly hilarious but he wasn't likely to say that to her face, at least not in that way.

"Forgive me, Professor, it's just that I haven't ever witnessed anything like this before and it is rather refreshing."

Draco twitched. Ciaran had sounded remarkably like a mix of his father and his mother just then. They had heard tales of Lily 'Evans'. She was rather remarkable at keeping certain people out of danger once they had stumbled into it. Severus and Lily working together, well, even the most incriminated person was bound to get out of trouble. Ciaran had inherited both abilities or so it appeared.

McGonagall cast them a shrewd look before turning around to everyone else close by.

"Does anybody have any idea as to who is behind this?"

No one would and no one from Slytherin would ever incriminate another Slytherin. She wasn't going to get any information out of them. The silence was enough of an answer for her.

"Very well but when it is discovered who has done this atrocious prank they will be punished."

Yet all of the Slytherins knew that she wouldn't be discovering a thing.

x-x-x-x-x

The prank lasted an entire week. No matter how much anyone tried to rid themselves of the colours they remained. It still looked as utterly horrendous as the first time they'd witnessed it especially once everyone entered the Great Hall. There was no end to the colour that splashed everywhere when they ate. However, in the meantime many more had begun to crop up. The Slytherins were going all out with their ideas and no one had yet to pin them on any of it much to the frustration of the professors.

After the hair colouring incident there was the prank that left all of the professors with red eyes. That hadn't gone down too well with some of the younger students. Many of them were plainly horrified. Of course Marvolo was rather impressed with it once he'd found out but otherwise many disproved of that prank even more than the hair colouring. How that second year student had executed something like that many still wondered. He however wasn't about to give up his secrets.

Once that was done, being only a day, there was the prank that turned all of the stairs into slides for half an hour during lunch. It had been tremendous fun and probably the only prank that the students had liked so far. Professors all glared as they remained exactly on their level of Hogwarts. They weren't about to embarrass themselves by doing something as undignified as playing in a literal fun house.

Simple pranks like this continued to make hell for the Professors whilst Dumbledore was elsewhere. Occasionally he could be seen within Hogwarts but he never stopped when someone called out to him even if it were a professor. He muttered to himself and quite a few times would gesture wildly scaring many students who witnessed it.

Draco and Ciaran watched as the Headmaster walked past them completely lost in his own world. Throughout the past week they had taken to watch the Headmaster as the other Slytherins went into prank mode. It had been the best time because the other Professors couldn't call them out on it. However what shocked them the most was the Headmaster himself. There was just something about him that wasn't quite right.

As another prank was initiated behind them turning the entire hallway and anyone in it into a kitten, Draco turned to Ciaran.

"What do you think Ciaran?"

Ciaran frowned not quite daring enough to look back at the crazed man they had just past. Besides the hall of kittens was bound to get out of hand at any time now and he didn't want any part of the clean-up.

"He's planning something. I don't believe he knows anything of our own plans other than we are attempting to put something together for the Dark Lord. No, whatever he is doing has nothing to do with our own attempts. He isn't focused on stopping us. There is something else, something that he is teaching Granger. That has his entire focus and he isn't willing to let any of his plans slip from his already addled mind."

Draco snorted. "Then there's the fact that he hasn't even realized the pranks that have been occurring around the castle while he's been away in la-la-land."

Ciaran smirked.

"Of course we also have to remember that he is dying. Likely he is getting desperate and not paying any attention to what is occurring immediately around him. More than likely his mind is failing him and he is using all of his concentration to keep his plans from slipping away from him."

"That leaves us with all the time in the world to continue with our project."

Draco and Ciaran traded smirks and turned to head towards the girl's bathroom on the second floor. Soon they would be finished their project with the cabinets and all they would need to do is wait for the call.

Don't sue me I didn't check the spelling at all. So if there are mistakes I apologize. Thanks for all the reviews.

~MidnightEmber