Author's Rant-Disclaimer? First chapter please.

A heartfelt thank you to all those who took their time to review my story. I really never thought I would receive this much if I stopped putting the review target requests lol. Also, I am really sorry for the three month long delay. I have my reasons but they are just excuses- New college and new hostel life and all that. I just got back home and got time enough to put up another chapter.

MayaviPanchi- Yes. I am Indian. All of that (translating from Sanskrit and the Indian origin reporters) were just my musings lol. Thank you for reading the story, loved your reviews and hope I keep serving better chapters in near future.

You know the worst thing about restarting a story from where you stopped it? It is to read everything you wrote yourself to get in the mode and try your level best to give a chapter deserving to your previous works. I literally read all of my things from chapter one till fifteen and am still not sure if this chapter is up to the mark.

Other than this I don't have to say anything except that I don't have a beta reader. Therefore, please ignore my spelling and grammatical mistakes, Thank you.

Omakes are still open. Anyone who wants to publish an omake can write it and PM me or email me at devsagi/./black/ (the symbol vanishes on ff site but it's 'at the rate')/gmail/./com (remove the slashes '/')

Oh and there's a poll on my profile, if you haven't voted yet-VOTE NOW! :-D

Author Out!

"I am Talking."

'I am Thinking'

Spells

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There are a hundred ways out of a situation, one just needs to be persistent enough to either find it,

or devise one.

~ R-Kade

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Previously in SotW-

There was only one thought that coursed through the bloodied, blood drooling completely shattered boy's head as he saw Harry place his right foot on the fifth year's chest and raise the rod for the sixth and probably last strike, if the murderous glint in his green eyes was any hint.

"Get ready to feel numbness Yanerds he said and slammed the rod ful force on said boy's skull.

Yanerds just joined both his hands and whimpered out one single word, "Ma...Massss..terrrrr..."

Silence of the Winters

-by Dev Sagittarius Black

~~Chapter 16: S is for Slave? Snape? Slave Snape?~~

Footsteps echoed down the length of corridor at a regular interval, depicting that the time interval and distance between rise and fall of legs of the person is same throughout it's journey, speaking volumes about the time he spent in discipline. Hawk like glowing emerald eyes scanned the dimly lit corridor for any other living entity out for a stroll on the deserted corridor at this time of night, thankfully for them, no one was idiot enough to do so.

It was January 4th, 2 o' clock midnight and Harry Potter was on his way to solve the final mystery of his yule holidays- What lies behind the doors of the third floor corridor, though he had a very good idea what it was, courtesy to a single man who happened to be the Potions professor, coincidentally, he also happened to be the person whose entire life was stored in Harry's trunk.

Ergo, it of course showed the discussion between Dumbledore and Snape to protect something from the Flamels and how he suspected that Quirinus Quirell of all people would be after that item. This though, provoked him to dig in further to find what the item was and his suspicions towards his favorite DADA professor increased manifold.

He had yet to find anything other than sensor wards sewed in walls to tell Dumbles who trespassed them and with what intentions, unfortunately, this time they were against Harry Potter, the same first year teenage mage who had disbanded all of them in eight seconds, it took this long because he was not a fluent ward breaker. Pointing out, disbanded, not broken.

Finally reaching the wooden door, that was said to be guarding them from death herself, he closed his eyes and spread his sensor sheet out.

'Idiot man, again a stupid sensor ward. What the hell is he playing with? Why aren't there anything else other than these?!' He had been asking the same question throughout his journey and was unable to get a good answer. Dismantling the ward, he placed his hand on the dingy door knob before giving it a full twist and stepping inside.

"Shit."

.

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"May I know why are you reading Creatures unbound by Marius De Lamberto? Wasn't he the mad discoverer who in an experiment to discover a new species chopped his limbs off himself?" Su asked as innocently as possible as if she was asking about the suspected winner of next quidditch game between Chudley Cannons and Tutshill Tornnadoes. Though in hindsight, it's not a thing to ask in the first place.

"Yes he was the one and yes this book is his and I am reading because I want to read something other than the school books." Harry answered monotonously as he kept on reading about the three headed dogs also known as hell hounds.

This was actually his fifth book since he came from the third floor corridor last night, and to say that he was getting the answers he needed would be an understatement. He had been trying to get a way to subdue a hell hound, a particularly angry and starving hell hound who is standing behind the dingy wooden doors of the Hogwarts Third floor corridor without slicing its heads off its body.

There was some silence for a few minutes before Su again spoke, "Hey Harry, do you remember Norman Yanerds?"

"Yes, what of him?" Harry asked her without looking up from his book, actually he very well knew what happened but it would be better to hear the story that everyone else knows.

"They say he recovered from his fall just this morning and he is not in good condition, I say this is why we should have faith in god, serves him well." Su muttered angrily looking away from Harry.

"That's not how one should think Su, he fell from fourth floor staircase. He suffered much more than he could have hurt others." Harry tried to placate her just to see her reaction.

"You Harry, the person he punched is you. Not others. You are too much of a noble hearted idiot, understand it Harry, this world is not all black and white. There is gray and dark grey that dwell with us and need to be taught a good lesson." She shook her head muttering a few choice words before looking straight at him and narrowing her eyes.

"May I know what happened to the apology letter that his father wrote to you on behalf of whole of house Yanerds?" Harry just smiled and looked towards the horizon.

"Accepted it."

"Accepted it? Just like that? Nothing else? No public apology? No debts? Just accepted it like that?" Su asked him flabbergasted and became more irritated when she saw the idiot boy keep up his charismatic smile on the baby pink cupid bow chewable lips that were just begging her heart to draw blood by snogging 'em.

In the end Harry smiled when he heard Su muttering about how innocent he was. Oh how much he wanted to prove her his innocence, that Norman Yanerds was the same Norman Yanerds he was a month ago, that he was completely free, that there was nothing wrong with the boy's soul, that the boy would again try to corner him and 'beat the crap out' of him again…..but all of this would just be that, lies.

Because in reality, Norman Yanerds…..was now a soul slave of Lord Hadrian James Potter, now….and forever. The first of his kind.

.

"Harry?" Su asked him timidly from his side.

"Yes Su?" Harry asked her without removing his eyes from the book Untamed and Unbound by George J L Markinsons.

"They are coming today, aren't they?" She asked him and wanted to ask the next question very badly 'Are you happy with them or just us alone?' She was just confused if this was the right time or not.

"They are and don't tell them this but I did miss them." Harry said and smiled at her before looking back in the book.

'Alright, so….not the right time then.'

Harry had indeed missed his fellows, he didn't know why this was so but the holidays had been boring, no Terry with his cheekiness, no Susan with her rants, No Tracey with her PJs and poor imitations of various teachers, no Hannah with her soothing nature….Hogwarts felt empty without them.

Maybe this was what Friends were for? Having your back at all times and helping you maintain your balance in life. Earlier they were just a group of students he interacted more with than others but now? Now they were a group of students he (even though very small) wanted to interact with more than others.

He won't call them best buddies because relations like that don't form within four months but they are still quite close. Not as close as his guardians but they do come in top five levels on his priority list. Maybe the fifth one.

Harry knew he might have missed Su too if she had gone, after all this was Human nature- To work for something you don't have, to throw it away when it's yours and to cry for it when you have lost it. And even though Harry wasn't completely human, still most of his body was and so he was more accustomed to its tendencies.

The emotions were new though. Before this, he just had his guardians who were older than him and he just couldn't connect with them even if he had wanted to. Now though, he had a group of teenagers who were his age and had quite more than a few things to be learnt from. For example- How to really live like a teenager. He still needed to learn that quality and stop behaving like a pre-programmed puppet that everyone in Hogwarts thinks he is, How did he know? Guess it yourself.

The doors to the great hall opened and students of various age groups came inside, chatting and laughing merrily, they sighed as the castle's motherly magic engulfed them and soothed their cores off the work of keeping their owners warm.

Harry felt someone grab his hand and looked down to see a petite thin hand in his. He traced it back and quirked his left eyebrow at the owner, she blushed.

"I-I just wanted to tell you that, thank you for having my back when they weren't here. I might not be able to express myself within groups but I did lo-like the time we spent together." Su said and released Harry's hand. Said boy nodded and tentatively squeezed her hand a bit before looking back towards the door.

And there they were, a group of four very cute witches, laughing joyously at something Tracey had just said before patting each other's arms and moving towards their respective tables. Susan and Hannah left their tables and instead moved towards the Ravenclaw one where Harry was sitting with a small smile on his lips. She saw him and took on a run.

Harry just had seconds to stand up as he took the auburn-haired missile straight on him. Susan engulfed him in her legendary 'bone' crushing hug and both of them remained silent for a few seconds before Susan spoke, "Missed me?"

Harry nodded in affirmative "I did, wasn't able to find anyone who rants as much as you do."

There was a beat of silence before the gaggle broke out laughing. Susan was red as tomato as she slapped his chest and looked down before laughing. Terry joined them too as he patted Harry's back.

"Hope Hogwarts remained safe without us around you." Terry gave a cheeky grin before sitting on his right side.

Hannah gave him a small welcoming hug, though smaller in duration than the parting one while Tracey jumped in his arms muttering continuous 'Thank yous' and 'How did you know about it?' and ''I have been wearing it everyday and will wear it forever.'' Harry just nodded silently and released her.

Tracey had lost her watch before she went home for yule holidays. No one except Harry had known that, so he just took time to order one of the best girls watches out there, took time to charm it with protection and alert charms before parceling it as a Christmas gift.

"How did you spend your time Harry?" Terry asked him as Susan, Hannah and Tracey went back to their respective house tables for the re-welcoming feast to begin.

"Just doing things and finishing some homework." Harry muttered and went back to reading his book. Terry shook his head in pity before sighing and beginning his train of winter tales and how his family reacted and what not.

.

"Good morning everyone!" Tracey announced to the group of five who were sitting beneath the large oak tree near the frozen black lake. It was a Sunday morning and so of course an extra holiday, Dumbledore had planned it like this because, in his views, students will get a day to be re-accustomed to Hogwarts life and leave their homely habits out.

Students just took this day to laze around and/or do some homework which they left during their holidays.

"Morning Trace, where were you?" Su asked the bubbly Slytherin girl who gave a huge grin before sidestepping to reveal the girl standing behind her.

Flawless porcelain white skin, luscious blonde hairs that looked like interwoven silk, cold blue eyes, high cheekbones, small button nose and uplifted pink lips. Wearing a white colored high neck with dark blue jeans and a long knee length leather overcoat with silver embroidery and laced with the best quality warming charms the wizarding world could offer was none other than….

"Myself Daphne Victoria Greengrass, heiress to the Ancient and Noble house of Greengrass, pleased to make your acquaintance." Daphne said and gave a small bow before standing in the pure heiress-que manner.

Harry just looked up and gave a small nod, Hannah and Susan grinned widely at seeing Daphne join their group, Su reciprocated Daphne's greetings and welcomed her while Terry remained silent and completely red till the tip of his hairs as he looked away towards the lake.

"Alright, over with this formal introduction" Tracey burst through the bubble and pointed towards Daphne "Everyone, this is Daphne Greengrass, yes she is in Slytherin, I already told you she will be joining us after yule and so here she is, and Duph? Meet Su Li, Terry Boot and you already know Sue, Har and Hun."

Tracey said as innocently as plausible and ignoring Harry's quirked eyebrow at being called 'Har' like an everyday nickname and Daphne's twisted-in-distaste lips as she took her seat on Harry's left side because again, right was pre occupied by a certain Bones Heiress.

All the while Daphne was cursing Tracey as 'she' was the one who was going to sit on Harry's immediate side to see if what the Potter boy said was truth or false. But now her dumb friend took that opportunity of the market and by her sly smile she knew what she did and was very much enjoying it.

"Here Daphne, you can sit here." Terry said and patted the ground beside him, Daphne gave a small smile to the curly haired boy and took her seat while the rest of them started discussing whatever they were discussing before she joined them.

"…And then he served us the crab apples bouncing on one foot for five minutes!" Terry said and laughed along with others who were listening his 'Street boys Jokes'. Maybe everyone was listening except Daphne, why? Simple, she was here because she wanted to study Harry Potter more closely, not laugh on a boy's simple jokes half of which she couldn't even understand.

But out of sheer humanity, she took the pain to give a small giggle and internally sighed. She knew that one of the boys of the group was already wrapped around her finger, how you may ask? It was clearly evident with the way Terry Boot's face lit up when he saw her laughing or how he would look at her while starting anther of his PJs. Fact was, this happened every time and so she had started to ignore the drooling idiots, instead she was more focused on her targets.

Which, right now was no one other than Harry Potter who was reading their Charms book. Daphne so wanted to see what was written inside the book. Because….because she wanted to see if he was really reading what the title said he is or was he bluffing them and reading something else? And for this she needed to sit beside him not in front. DAMN YOU TRACEY DAVIS!

But Daphne knew one more thing, she just couldn't tolerate another of Terry's PJs, so instead of letting him start another one of his she spoke up "I would like to know if my gift was any useful?" She asked looking straight at the pinnacle of her curiosity.

…

"Err…Harry?" Susan called him from his right side.

"Yes?"

"Daphne asked you a question."

Harry looked to his right before looking towards Daphne "Apologies heiress Greengrass, I wasn't able to understand who you were asking it from since you never spoke my name." Harry said in the most unapologetic manner and both of them understood it very well but none spoke about it.

"About your question, Yes, it did. I am thankful for the gift as it helped me writing the next seven pages. I will return you your book by evening fall the morrow. I didn't bring it here because I wasn't knowing that you would be joining us today." Harry spoke looking straight at the blue-eyed goddess and none of the duo broke the eye contact till he finished.

"No worries Heir Potter, it was a gift from my side not a loan, you can return it if you want and any moment you are comfortable with. I am happy it was useful." Daphne said and gave Harry her best smiles. He just nodded once in acquiesce.

"Now, since I am planning to stay with everyone, I would like to know if I can call you by your first name Heir Potter?" Daphne again asked him.

"You can." Harry said nodding in affirmative before moving back to his book. Daphne waited for him to ask the question where the second one asks to call the first one by their name. But no such thing happened 'Is he planning to call me heiress Greengrass every time we meet? Or is he planning to not to talk to me ever again?' Her thought process went in vain as Tracey giggled much to her confusion.

"Woah Daphne, looks like we finally found someone capable enough to challenge your pureblood skills girl!" Tracey cheered while others laughed. Daphne on the other hand just shook her head and smiled 'Challenge MY pureblood etiquettes? In your dreams Potter. I have been learning from the best player out there…'

.

"Class dismissed, you are to write a foot long essay on various uses of the 'Draught of Peace' and submit it in next class, failure to do so will see you writing the same essay five times. Now, get out!"

Every single person in the room rushed out ASAP, Potions was the last class of the day and no one knew what had gotten into their beloved bat of the dungeons. He was much more grumpy, easy to provoke and had an insatiable urge to verbally abuse his students and then deduct points. Combined with Hufflepuff, their class had lost seventy-five points in total with three boys and two girls in detention on various days. If this was how Snape welcomed his students then they were better off without returning.

"Potter you will be writing an extra foot for the amount of casualty you show in my class, you are having a very wrong impression of knowing everything as you are nothing more than a bighead fool who doesn't even know the 'P' of Potions. Failure to give this assignment would result in a week worth of detention with me and of course, writing it again five times." Snape glared Harry who still looked at Snape with a very much composed posture.

"Yes sir." Harry said and picked up his Scholar's Satchel following his group out of the room.

"This is too much! I am telling you Snape had never been this bad." Terry cried throwing his hands up in exasperation and shaking his head. "He was bad before but this is worse, we should report this to our head of houses or maybe headmaster. They will at least have something for that overgrown bat."

"Terry! He is a teacher!" Hannah reprimanded the curly haired Ravenclaw as they took the stairs to the ground floor "Though what you said is right, he has changed for the worse and will eat us alive if we didn't do something, we should tell our head of houses first and keep headmaster as the last resource, right Harry?"

Said boy was contemplating something and broke up from his reverie the moment he heard his name "Yes, professor Snape needs some awakening." He said and saw others nod, they were too gullible to understand the real meaning behind his words. It was finally time. The moment he had been waiting for since the day he saw Snape's memories.

"Harry, you especially need to report to Professor Flitwick, if professor Snape is worse for us, he has turned worst for you." Susan said clinging tightly to the Potter heir who just nodded his consent "I will be more careful next time."

.

It was night by the time Harry got the chance to finally move out of his 'friend circle', honestly, they were good and all but they had an incessant need to know everything he did and what was the reason behind it. He didn't want to be rude to them and so kept on minding his own business till he got the right time to move out and finish the work he had started before yule holidays. After all if Snape could wait this long, a few more hours won't hurt.

There were twenty-three simple ways he could surprise dear ole Snivellus about new developments in his messed up shitty life like blasting the door to smithereens, direct encounter, sneaking in and doing a Legilimency show to show Snape how weak his mind was….endless possibilities and Harry choose the simplest one of all.

'Knock Knock'

Harry knew that by now Snape would have known that there is someone at his doorstep, therefore he simply pulled the cloak over himself, changed his voice and waited patiently for the locking charms to be removed and the pitch-black mahogany wood door to open.

Minutes later it did and Snape stood there peering out of the door in his Black and Green night robes with his wand in his right hand and a curse on his tongue tip.

"Who is it?" He called out and moved out of the threshold and into the corridor only to find no one.

"Homenum Revelio" Snape intoned in both back and forward directions only to find the corridor completely devoid of any living human being. He frowned at that but since he couldn't do a thing, he went back into his room grumbling about Weasley twins for trying to prank him and how he will see both of them in the morning.

"Hello Snivellus."

Snape froze midstride and swished his wand in reflex action. There were only a small group of people who called him by that name- Two were dead, One was in Azkaban for lifetime and the last one was out of country. Therefore, this could only be the last one, problem was no one was visible in that room, ergo all he had were just that, assumptions.

"Accio Remus Lupin!" Snape snarled and jumped to the side for an impact to occur where he was standing, to his surprise there was no impact and instead came laughter. Cold, hollow laughter that gave the first wave of fear to the Potion master's spine.

"Who is it? Homenum Revelio!" Snape snarled pointing his wand in the direction of sound and was still surprised to see nothing even though the laughter was literally coming from that direction only, he was damn sure about it.

"Are you really that sure Snivellus?" The same voice called from behind him and he turned around with his wand and mind on alert only for the room to fall into utter darkness as all the torches and candles were blown off while that same person laughed from behind him sand the sound of boots hitting the cold stone floor came from his front.

"Lumos Maxima" Snape threw a large ball of light over him that temporarily blinded him. It was a blunder. A blunder that he would curse throughout his life. Because as soon as the ball of light blinded him, Snape was at the receiving end of a sharp jab at the wand arm's elbow, his wand was snatched out of his grip and then his left hand was twisted behind his back very painfully as his secondary wand was ripped off from the holster. In a nutshell, within milliseconds, Severus Tobias Snape was at the mercy of his new lord.

Snape screamed in pain as the person let his hand fall limply and kicked straight on the back of his solar plexus making him topple and fall face first on the cold hard stone floor.

"Tut Tut" Harry tutted as he held both of Snape's wands and tilted his head to a side looking at both of them closely "I so wish to break them, but then you would be completely useless. Even though your proficiency with potions is at par with me when I was ten years old, a wand is what every magical person needs now-a-days."

Snape immediately turned his head to look at the intruder and was shocked out of his brains before unbound rage fell over his mind on recognizing the person "POTTERR!"

"Ah, so you do recognize me, though we will have to change it to master when alone." Harry said nodding as if he was telling this to a five-year-old kid.

"What. The. Hell. Are you doing. Potter?!" Snape asked the boy through gritted teeth as he glared a lifetime of hate at the boy.

"Funny how that one sentence brings back memories. Fells like Déjà vu isn't it?" Harry asked the fallen mam with a faux grin before he widened his eyes and slapped his forehead shaking it and sighing tiredly "Forgot that I completely removed that meet of ours. It was quite memorable you know, I will show that today again." He told Snape as if giving him condolences.

"Stop making stories Potter. And answer me what I asked or else you will regret stepping in here." Snape threatened and was surprised when Harry just started laughing.

"Mer-merlin Snape, you really th-think I would…Damn this is good. I have missed this so much." He said and started laughing again confusing Snape and forcing the man to be more precautious with what appeared to be a slightly deranged boy.

Slowly Harry's laughter subsided and he looked at the two wands he held with a soft smile that lied the world of the devil that was inside him "Well, not wasting much of my time, cause even your existence doesn't matter, I am here to finally make a deal with you, a deal, which I am sure you can't deny."

"A…deal? You are out of your minds Potter if you think I would even think of making a deal with the spoilt braggi-" But Snape wasn't able to continue his line of thought as Harry had completely silenced the man windlessly.

"You speak way more than needed Severus, did I make that sound like an option? Sorry, my bad, let me rephrase it- I am here to give you something and take your everything, you don't have a choice but to say 'yes'. Now, it's up to you if you want to agree without anymore physical harm or you want to test the waters?"

Harry quirked his left eyebrow at the man who was slowly standing up, having recovered from his previous encounter, and flexing his fingers he cried out "Incarcerous!"

The younger wizard just shook his head tiredly as he dodged the spell "One day I will cure you out of your foolishness Snape."

.

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office, stroking his long silvery-white beard with one hand while sloshing a glass of firewhiskey with another pondering over the recent changes that had affected his plans.

First and the biggest was the misplacement of the Potter cloak of invisibility. No one knew where it was. He had planned to give it as a gift to Alandale on Christmas and then hint Molly into telling him that it was him who procured that cloak and gave it to Alan, telling the boy how selfless 'he' was and how 'he' didn't need cloaks to hide anymore.

This would work in his favor as this would show how powerful and selfless he was whereas this would also push Alan into doing a lot more things that would have needed the invisibility cloak. But now…now what?

Dumbledore suspected he knew where the cloak was at the moment and why it reacted like how it did when Alan received it as a Christmas present.

The cloak was an old treasure of the Potter family which was bestowed in the line when Ignatia Peverell married Henry Potter II. Since then, it had been passing down the generations. No one knows why but no one has ever been able to steal that cloak from the Potters. Maybe Dumbledore was the first non-Potter holder of the cloak in centuries, who it for twelve long years.

But that was only possible because he had been permitted to use the cloak by the then holder James Potter to stand guard to the Longbottom Manor in Wales, since the Longbottoms refused to move to a smaller home and go under Fidelius. This was why, he took the cloak and stood guard at the Longbottom Manor but things hadn't gone as planned.

Point is, Dumbledore knew that he had been 'Permitted' to use the cloak by the then holder James. Meaning he had been permitted to use it by the then senior most Potter. But since both Harry and Alan were nothing more than toddlers then, the permission wasn't passed over.

James death before permitting his boys for the cloak brought in a new twist, Dumbledore who had been permitted by the cloak's previous owner was allowed to keep and use that cloak but now the ability to use the cloak and 'allow' people to use it laid in the hands on the new senior most Potter or Harry Potter.

Therefore, it was no surprise when the cloak pricked Alan and took a sample of blood of the new wizard that held it and Dumbledore was sure that it was only because the blood was of a Potter that the boy wasn't cursed on the spot or else Merlin only knows what happens when one tampers with the powers of death.

So, that brings Dumbledore to the suspected holder of the cloak- Harry Potter. Why suspected? Because…Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had spent Twelve long years researching the cloak and had finally been able to devise a method to permanently sew charms in it. He had himself taken the Elder Wand and had sewed various security and detection charms in the cloak to stay there for infinite amount of time.

The Elder wand was used to counter the cloak's power of death, both being the gift from the same entity and Dumbledore had used almost all his power to successfully charm the cloak to completion. And a mere teenager who had not even went half through his first year and was average at best with charms magic could NEVER and repeating it NEVER EVER remove all the charms sewed meticulously with diligence. Therefore, Harry Potter was simply NOT a plausibility even.

This had to be someone else, someone as powerful as himself and blessed with the gifts of death to counter the cloak's power. Which yet again brings him to one single person, and if the cloak was really in his hands, then no one could save this world from crumbling to pieces, again.

Dumbledore sighed as he looked at the empty glass in his hand, he kept it aside and sat back devising another plan to push his plans further. The cloak was out of his hands for now so he needed something else that would motivate Alan to start sneaking out and do as was needed to be done for the greater good.

But what else could take the place of the third deathly hallow that protected a person completely from anything?

All of a sudden Dumbledore's eyes started twinkling madly as he remembered one such artefact, it was not as good as the cloak, still it was good enough to push his plans into fruition. He clapped his hands twice "Toffee."

There was a soft 'pop' as a small grey elf with big blue eyes wearing a pillowcase with Hogwarts crest on it came into Dumbledore's line of vision. "Did Master Dumblees called Toffee? What can Toffee be doing for old Master?" The elf spoke in a squeaky raspy voice.

"Get Filch and ask him to bring the prank parchment he confiscated years ago from a group of boys called Marauders. Tell him I need that parchment." Dumbledore said and sat back in his chair as Toffee nodded and went with a soft 'pop' sound. It was good that in his later years he was close enough to the marauders that they told him their secret weapon which they used to roam around freely during night time.

"There are a hundred ways out of a situation, one just needs to be persistent enough to either find it, or devise one." Dumbledore said smiling as he patiently waited for Filch to arrive with his key to success.

.

"So, did we establish that all you have is cheap troll-balls for brain and sucked up shit fighting elegance? Yes, we did. Which means you won't try to get any idea that you could in any way best me anytime." Harry said sitting on Snape's soiled up back as the said man panted, taking heavy breaths and gulping down as much air as humanly plausible.

"Literally Snivellus? Just Three-and-half minutes? And you are one of his bests one? Merlin's saggy balls. How the hell did you lot cause such a ruckus last time? If this is what the best one took. I don't think I need more than hour to finish you lot and go for the cheery of the cake. Totally disappointing." Harry said and shook his head tiredly while Snape just whimpered pitifully beneath him, no level of occulomency could hide his pain now.

"Well" Harry shrugged as he raised his right hand and all of his finger tips lit with ethereal magic, pure white in color glowing with an unearthly power "Let's begin with the memory revival game, shall we?" He said and placed his fingers on the five knowledge senses of his brain.

All Snape knew was utter pain as a huge load of memories avalanched on his brain. His physical and mental condition wasn't good enough to resist a single hit even. Therefore, it was no surprise when within seconds Snape lost all his power and succumbed to utter blackness.

When he next opened his eyes, it was either of the three things-

A. He was back in past.

B. He had been sleeping till date and just woke up and what he just saw was going to repeat itself in real world.

Or the last option which he very much suspected to be the most appropriate one, Harry had deliberately carried him to his office, threw him on the same stiff metal chair, bound his hands behind his back in magic suppressing handcuffs and was himself sitting on the same plush silver and black throne with one leg over the other, reading his personal journal while both of his wands were placed on a table beside it.

The only thing different were their clothes and their situation, last time Harry started the show but this time he was here to end it. And they both knew it very well.

"Welcome back professor, feeling homey sir?" Harry asked with faux joyfulness as Snape drilled a hole in his skull with his glare. "Life is such a cruel thing, isn't it? We started this game with the same things around us and so we end it the same way. I just felt a bit metamorphological and so did all this nonsense to show you that whatever you saw was indeed real. Hope you don't mind? Thank you."

"Do what you have come here for Potter and get lost, if you want to kill me, just do it." Snape said gritting his teeth. All of Harry's joyousness left him the moment Snape said these words and keeping the journal aside, harry leaned forwards looking straight into Snape's onyx eyes.

"If I had to kill you Severus Snape, I would have done so the moment I saw the prophecy part." Snape's eyes widened a bit at the revelation "But then had to control myself because even you have some uses."

Harry then dug in his pockets and pulled out a memory vial with the inscriptions S.S-PRCY written on it. This vial contains your memory of that night in Hogshead inn. The night you heard it and messed up my life Snape. I have so wanted to bind you and the deliver you straight to the Azkaban with this memory vial stuck in your throat but I stopped myself."

"There are only two options for you Snape- Either I come here every night, play with your brain, reveal all of your dirty little secrets in the most painful ways, torture you till you beg me to kill yourself and finally at the end of year give this vial to Amelia Bones and see that you are given a life sentence in Azkaban…..or you become my eternal soul slave."

There was no choice really. They weren't options, they were Snape's little room to breathe and live. Living for thirty-four years on earth and serving two masters had taught Snape a few things. One of them was to accept whatever you get and work till you make it your best. And right now, there was only one thing he could get from this messed up situation.

"You are one of the worst wizards to ever live on earth Potter. Mark my words, one day you will regret following this path." Snape said through gritted teeth as he glared the stoic and calm boy.

"I am not that bad Snape, I have been blessed with a heart and some compassion even though you don't deserve it. I am willing to cure you out of your nightmares." Harry said and smirked when he saw realization dawn on the Snape's bloodied face.

"Yes Severus, I began your punishment that day itself. Killing you wouldn't have made you suffer every day and believe me when I say this, I could be much worse than just show you your bad deeds." Harry said with all of his seriousness and the gravity of the situation made Snape believe it immediately. He had been utterly wrong with regards to the eldest Potter and he knew he would regret it till he reached his grave.

Resigning himself to his fate he looked up towards the icy green eyes that were looking straight at him, maybe even now the eldest Potter was reading his thoughts? The smile that crept on the boy's face proved his assessment to be true.

"What will I have to do?"

Harry gave a really malicious grin.

.

Moving out of the dungeon room Harry sighed in relief as he rechecked his belongings. Having been assured their presence he took on a leisurely stroll under the invisibility cloak. Subduing Snape without using magic was not an easy thing but was necessary so as his magical signature didn't solidify. He couldn't use his other signature as he had already used it to become 'punishment'. And Snape would have made the connections way more easily than most.

Looking back, Harry couldn't help the small smile that escaped his lips, halfway through his first year and he already had two soul slaves to serve him till he lived and had dirty little secrets of Wizarding Britain in his tiny hands. Not too good but not too bad either. He was proud of what he had accomplished till date. Especially the last part with Snape-

"For now, I don't have any task for you Snivellus except for one simple thing and I want it done without any mistakes" Harry said with pure seriousness "Understood?"

Snape just kept sitting on his knees with his head bowed and bobbed his head twice. Harry didn't want to push Snape into calling him Master or lord yet because it made himself a bit uncomfortable.

"There is this ugly, idiot, bastard of a creature who works as the Potions Master at Hogwarts. That Hippogriff shit gave me two-foot-long essay on various uses of 'Draught of Peace'." Harry said and grinned when he saw Snape look up at his face completely confused.

"I want you to finish that essay by tonight and give it to me by tomorrow morning. And I don't want any mistakes because if that gobshit, grain brain of a human scolds me for bad work and calls me for a weeks worth of detention and forces me to write it five more times then you would be suffering my wrath, understood?"

Snape just looked at Harry with wide eyes trying to think if this was some kind of joke but when Harry again barked an 'Understood?' he immediately nodded his head and bowed his head down. This was certainly the weirdest task he would have ever done for any of his now ex-masters.

Harry still couldn't stop laughing at the memory as he crossed the fourth floor staircase and moved towards the Ravenclaw common room. This day had certainly ended for the best. It was such a shame that all good things come to an end and Harry was waiting for his good times to end too. Cause he knew that by the end of his school year, if his good times didn't end then someone else will win the game.

Which was Totally UNACCEPTABLE!

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Ending note- There you have it fellas, Chapter sixteen of 'Silence of the Winters'. Liked it Loved it? Hated it? Please tell. I am waiting for all your reviews! Also, those who have been with me since the beginning know how much I appreciate constructive criticism and new ideas. So if you have one, DO SHARE IT WITH ME! Put it on a review or PM me, whatever you like. I will for sure respond to it. This chapter crossed 7.7k+ words!

Oh and to those who would come to me complaining about things wrong in this chapter- Read 'Chapter 8: Punishment and Politics', there is one paragraph where Dumbledore describes how there were three trolls instead of one and Snape, Quirell and McGonagall were busy fighting one of them. Therefore, Snape never got the chance to encounter Fluffy. So, he has no idea about Fluffy.

Also, Thank you so much for ignoring my spelling and grammatical mistakes, I am sorry for the late work and because I don't have a beta reader the work takes even more time than usual, so if anyone is willing to help me out, please feel free to PM me, Thank you.

Also, I told you in the first chapter that this story was pre-written in my notes but in the beginning of 'Chapterr 12: Severus Snape Slayed', I told you that it was an accidental chapter which was not in my notes. Again, yes it was and it was such an impacting one that it completely changed my plotline. So, I am trying to keep it as entertaining as plausible without breaking Harry's or anyone's character.

Again, a huge thank you for reading it. Please review because they are my motivation. I promise to write another chapter ASAP because it's quite an interesting one. My only request is- Can I get 20- 25 more reviews please?

With Regards

Dev Black