Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

2000

2000

Shaylah stood with her wand drawn and her feet firmly planted. She and two other members of the Order had tracked three of Voldemort's followers to the Hogshead in Hogsmeade and though Shaylah didn't recognize their faces, or know their names, Brawn knew. He was exceptional with things like that, which is what made him so indispensable. Not only was he intimidatingly massive, as his name implied, but he had a mind like a steel trap.

As soon as the other member, Cross, had entered the pub, a shot was fired, barely missing his head. Their targets wasted no time in openly blasting spells at the three of them, forcing them out into the street, which played in their favor. Luckily, the path was empty, where the pub was not. Though the Hogshead sheltered mostly dark wizards, the less accidental blood on their hands or wands at their throats, the better. Hands wiped away grime to watch from inside filthy windows, but no one else stepped in.

Shaylah dug her boots into the dirt and gritted her teeth. The follower with a long braid of black hair fired at Cross first, a wicked grin slashed across her face, but he deflected it as if it were a pesky fly. Cross was a muscular man, his build constantly on display, even in the winter he wore only a black leather vest and dark colored jeans. Shaggy brown hair hung in his brown eyes as he waited for the next shot, but Brawn didn't wait, not with the thought of his mother rattling against his skull. Like Shaylah, he had lost her to Voldemort, but not because of her blood status. No, she had been a casualty of war, taken during a battle in which she had no involvement.

A thick red light shot at the scrawny, long haired man in the middle, scratching across the sky like a bloody bolt. The target collapsed, a heap of suffering, his body convulsing as his teeth audibly clacked together, his body writhing against the filthy street.

His comrades shared a glance, stepping away from the huddled mass between them and Shaylah took the opportunity to paralyze them all, quickly. The two still standing went rigid, their bodies locked in place, falling forward and back, bodies thudding against the cobblestones as they landed. Though these were nothing but low level recruits, they were the ones working the streets, attempting to turn young minds for their cause. They would be unable to do so from inside Azkaban.

Though the prison had been purged, its shell remained and Vex was excellent with enchantments. Thanks to him, the prison was more impenetrable than it had ever been. It was by far the most secure location she could think of, aside from Headquarters, guarded by other members. Cross' wand cast an eerie glow as all three of their target's stiff bodies began to writhe, both locked in paralysis and twitching with pain, tense muscles spasming though they couldn't move. If their jaws hadn't locked shut, they would be screaming. She could feel the tension in her own nerves, having felt that all consuming pain more times than she could count. It was something you didn't forget, though the pain dwindled, it left scars.

"Why would you do that?" spat Shaylah, "They were incapacitated."

"They deserve it," growled Cross tersely.

She agreed, of course, but doling out their rage on incapacitated victims made them no better than those they sought to topple. The bodies in front of them went still, no longer convulsing and Brawn kicked the foot of the long haired boy, but there was no response. Shaylah cast the counter curse to unbind them, their limbs going limp, but still there was no voluntary movement. No one had cast a curse, or uttered a word, their wands all dangling at their sides.

Brawn knelt, and Shaylah's grip tightened on her wand, something was wrong. Two fingers pressed to the man's throat, he shook his head. They were dead, all three of them, simultaneously. What the fuck?

Shaylah and Cross shared a glance before scanning the row of buildings for any sign that someone had joined them but neither the shadows nor streetlamps revealed another aggressor. The three of them apparated quickly, leaving the bodies in the street, not waiting to see who might come to collect them.