The Fall of Dumbledore: The White King

A Commotion

The next several weeks saw Hades settling into the familiar cadence of life at Hogwarts, though his circumstances were anything but ordinary. His days took on an almost militaristic schedule - being escorted by his hulking Dansker bodyguards from the Slytherin dormitories to the Great Hall for meals, then on to whichever classes or activities were next.

At first, both Hades and Draco bristled against the ever-present phalanx of looming knights trailing their every move like petulant children requiring constant supervision. However, neither could deny the reassuring sense of safety and prestige their imposing presence conferred.

"This is bloody ridiculous overkill, even for Dumbledore's usual barmy antics," Draco groused one evening as they made their way back from the Great Hall flanked by the clanking knights. "Assigning an entire foreign security detachment just because of one raving lunatic on the loose?"

Hades shot his best friend a sidelong look but remained silent. He could hardly reveal the deeper truth about Sirius Black's rumored connection to his parents and their betrayal. Not without risking a potential breach that the escapee might somehow discover.

In truth, despite his outward nonchalance, Hades was deeply unsettled by the revelation that Sirius Black may have once been named his legal guardian by Lily and James Potter. That lingering shred of horrifying doubt planted by Remus Lupin's words aboard the Hogwarts Express had begun to fester within him like an insidious malignancy.

What if Black hadn't been the one to betray the Potters to the Dark Lord after all, as history recorded? What lurking darkness from that fateful Halloween remained obscured behind lies and false assumptions? The thought caused an involuntary shudder to ripple through Hades each time he allowed his mind to linger on it.

Which, to his dismay, had become disturbingly often of late - especially during his private Defense lessons with the increasingly evasive Professor Lupin. The older wizard's comments seemed tailored to slowly erode Hades' convictions while strategically dangling tantalizing hints about possessing deeper truths surrounding the Potter massacre.

Thankfully, whenever doubts began spiraling out of control, Hades found solace in completely immersing himself in his studies. He attacked every discipline with the fervor of one possessed - determined to leave no potential weakness unaddressed in case of unconventional threats. Potions, Transfiguration, Charms...even Herbology saw the young Slytherin rapidly outpacing his peers at an almost supernatural rate.

In Defense Against the Dark Arts especially, Hades took to the body of combat training like a prodigy. Where other students could scarcely muster a wisp of vapor with the Patronus charm, the heir to the noble houses conjured an enormous three-headed Runespoor to materialize at his side, the serpentine lengths of its spectral bodies coiling and hissing with ethereal menace.

"Preternatural talent, as I'd have expected from the last remaining scion of such an auspicious lineage," Lupin murmured one afternoon, observing Hades' massive Patronus slithering across the classroom floor like a bodyguard of blinding cosmic energy.

As always, the professor's words seemed loaded with double meaning and implication. Hades regarded the older wizard evenly, determined not to be baited into whatever mind games Lupin appeared to delight in playing.

"I demanded nothing less than total mastery, sir. Unconventional threats must be guarded against with equal commitment to the disciplined arts."

Lupin's eyebrow quirked upward fractionally at that, the barest hint of a smirk twitching at the corner of his mouth. "Wise words indeed, Hades. Though I suspect even your prodigious talents may be put to their limits before this dark hiatus is concluded."

The words hung ominously between them, and Hades found his wand hand twitching with the urge to lash out before the memory of his Dansker protectors stayed his aggression. This deadly little game of riddles and veiled threats would reach its inevitable climax soon enough, he feared.

And on the bitterly cold morning of November 5th, everything was kicked into terrifying clarity.

It began with a thunderous impact that sent Hogwarts' ancient stones groaning in protest. Hades jolted upright from where he and Draco had been reviewing supplemental texts in their private dorm, the massive tomes clattering to the floor.

Alarmed shouts soon followed, accompanied by the unmistakable sounds of heavy armored boots clattering at a dead sprint from the common room's entrance. Exchanging a single terse look with his best friend, Hades was already on his feet with wand in hand when the Dansker knights came crashing through their dormitory door.

"My lords!" The hulking commander bellowed, his fist clenched around the shaft of a wicked halberd. "Sirius Black has infiltrated the castle's lower defenses! We must evacuate you both at once to a secure redoubt until the threat is neutralized!"

For an endless, breathless moment, Hades was frozen - assailed by fractured memories of trembling in that wretched cupboard beneath the stairs of Number Four Privet Drive. Vernon Dursley's drunken rages. The splintering wood and his aunt's terrorized wails as the horrifying violence mounted...

"Hades!"

Draco's sharp hiss pierced the fog of childhood trauma. His platinum eyes shone with a mixture of fear and unbridled anticipation as he gripped his ebony wand.

"We can't simply flee like cowards when that lunatic Black is on the loose! He'll butcher every lion-hearted half-blood in this cursed castle given the chance!"

The accusation - that Sirius Black had infiltrated Hogwarts to enact some sort of pureblooded genocide rather than pursue a personal vendetta - snapped Hades back to the present with jarring whiplash force. Meeting his friend's determined gaze with an infinitesimal nod, he pivoted to confront the waiting knights.

"Disregard extraction protocols," he commanded with an air of noble authority belying his years. "We must ascertain Black's objectives and motives with precision before acting rashly. If his target is more surgical, rushing in could endanger more lives."

The armored commander seemed to waver for a moment before the resolve in the young heir's words sank in. With one resigned look shared between the Dansker elites, he pivoted on his booted heel toward the exit.

"Very well, Lord Snape. We shall secure this level fully before proceeding to the Great Hall for a full briefing. But by the ancient oaths, your lives remain our prime directive regardless of circumstance."

As the hollow clanking of steel boots faded down the corridor toward the common room, Draco leaned in close.

"What are we doing, Hades?" he muttered under his breath. "I know that half-wit gamekeeper said Black's fixated on you...but can we truly put those worthless mudbloods above our safety?"

Hades felt the dull throbbing of his scar flare to blistering life at his friend's words. A dozen truncated visions and half-remembered nightmares swirled dizzyingly behind his eyes in that instant.

A towering fire burnished from flickering emerald...the blurring shadows of figures dueling in silhouette...mal-intent glyphs seared in toxic crimson...a looming specter cloaked in roiling blackness...

When the disorienting phantasms passed, Hades found himself gripping Draco's shoulder with an intensity bordering on mania.

"This is bigger than blood prejudice or safety, Dray - this goes to the very heart of everything we've been indoctrinated to believe."

His brilliant green eyes blazed with fevered conviction as if staring through realms of reality invisible to his friend. "When Black is caught, I'll force the truth out of him even if I must shred his mind to the last layer. Only then can we finally understand our purpose in the grande exalted design."

Despite Draco's obvious confusion, the blonde simply inclined his head in obedience to his liege's vow. Outside, the cacophony mounted as the search for Sirius Black raged onward.

And with it, the moment when Hades Evan Snape would at last confront the primal truths of his shattered past.