The Black Prince

A/N: I am so sorry about the wait. I had problems connecting to the internet last night so I couldn’t post it then. Sorry! I really need to suck it up and just get DSL. Hopefully I can soon.

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Chapter 5

Severus and his team arrived at their destination and all were immediately repulsed by the very…muggleness of the area. Severus lead the way to Number 4 and he quickly walked up the steps and spelled open the door with a whispered Alohomora. Everyone followed him silently into the home, once again sneering at the things that surrounded them. On nearly every available surface there were unmoving photographs of an enormously fat boy staring blankly back at them. It was revolting. Severus nodded to his team and Ava immediately started casting silencing spells, Lucius started casting a spell to make the house appear dark even if they turned on lights, Bella cast a quick proximity warning so that they would know if anyone came within a hundred feet of the property and Rodolphus cast a dark sleeping charm over everyone muggle within the house.

Draco merely watched, as his position on this mission was more of an observational one than an active one. This was an opportunity to learn from the best and he knew better than to blow it. He was still reeling from the revelation that the Dark Lord’s special ally was the Boy Who Lived himself. He internally shook his head—the Black Prince, now. He had always known that Harry was devious but he had never expected such a move from the Golden Boy. Evidently he was not all that he appeared to be. He wondered if this new persona was the real Harry Potter or if this, too, was an illusion designed to fool whoever he needed to fool.

Severus was already moving up the stairs toward his pet’s former room, confident that his force would correctly perform all the necessary spells without his guidance. He arrived at the door that was still covered in locks although they were all left undone now that Harry had left and he performed quick locking spells on all of them. He intended to destroy all of them in the \"fight\" to get into the room but he wanted to make sure that if someone were able to discern anything from the melted and blasted lock bits that they knew, for a fact, that they had been locked before they were destroyed.

The other five members of the team came upon Severus as he was locking the final one. Now that the muggles were safely asleep and unable to wake up, they spoke in normal tones. \"What in nine hells are you doing, Severus?\" Bella asked.

\"This is our Prince’s room. They lock him inside his room when he is here. The Order knows this and so I need to make arrangements appropriately. Do not do anything inside that room unless I give you permission. There are a great many details about his everyday life that you are not aware of yet and I will need to match each one exactly.\" Everyone nodded silently and stood still, allowing him to concentrate on his work. It was simple but they didn’t want to distract him and have him miss something important. If Severus Snape admitted that there were a large number of details that they needed to match then the number of details must truly be astronomical.

Severus promptly destroyed all eight locks with blasting curses, allowing the pieces of the locks to be embedded in the walls and floor around them. It would be blatantly obvious to anyone who closely studied the fragment pattern that six figures had stood in the hallway when the locks had been destroyed.

Severus had to carefully think through every tiny aspect of this. He was, in essence, trying to set up the perfect crime scene for a crime that never took place. Alongside setting up the scene though he needed to set up a few \"mistakes\" like that last one which would reveal the number of soldiers in the attack force. No crime was ever perfect and if this came across as too clean then the Order might think that it had been a set up.

Severus walked into the small, dark, and filthy room slowly, careful not to disturb anything until he had studied it all. He had heard the details about the room but he had never seen it in person apart from Harry’s occlumency lessons. It was worse than he had ever imagined.

The muggles had never abused his pet. Oh no, they had done something that in some ways was perhaps worse. They had never touched him in his memory. Ever. Not to help him up when he fell as a child, not a quick spanking for misdeeds, not a hug when he was sad…nothing. They locked him in his cupboard for days on end, convincing him that they couldn’t hear his cries for help from outside the cupboard. Harry learned to simply stay silent. No one could hear him anyway.

Harry had entered the wizarding world emotionally broken and touch-starved. He was quiet most of the time because he simply couldn’t grow accustomed to the idea that people not only could hear the words he spoke but that they wanted to hear them. He craved touch in any form but was unable to articulate his needs. He didn’t make a major change until the end of his fifth year when he had approached his potions master, finally ready to ask for what he needed.

Severus had reluctantly accepted his position as the boy’s Master. Oh, he wanted the beautiful young man—desire had never been an issue. He had been worried about reprisals for such actions from the world if they ever heard of his relationship with the Boy Who Lived. The first few months were rocky as he started to learn the damage done to his pet and how to deal with it. He never would have admitted it at the time but just as he was able to give Harry what he needed, Harry was able to give him something that no one else had given him in many, many years. By handing over control so fully he showed his undying trust in Severus and his devotion to the surly man.

Both men lived lives that pushed them into roles that they were skilled in but needed breaks from. Harry was born to lead and he was, in fact, a brilliant leader, with a natural charisma and charm that would put the best leader to shame. Severus was in a position of service—not servitude perhaps, but definitely not an official leader regardless of how many missions he led for his prior Lord. He, too, was likewise skilled at all that he did and knew that he would not make a good leader at the larger level—he simply didn’t have the diplomacy for leadership or the charisma to attract a following. Just as Harry needed a break from being an assertive personality and a leader who was responsible for the multitudes, Severus needed a break from his service and careful attention to those who were in authority positions. They were perfect for each other, each one craving what the other needed to give up.

Severus was brought back to the present by Draco’s whispered \"Merlin’s balls!\" as he took in the revolting room that had served as his new Prince’s prison while he lived with his family. Everyone else looked shocked as well when they saw the tiny, bare room. This was where the savior of the wizarding world had lived for his entire childhood?

Severus decided that they had enough time to gawk and decided to begin work. \"Draco, Ava, Bella—go down to the Prince’s cupboard under the stairs and collect his trunk. You will need to destroy the locks in a similar manner. Take anything that might have value to our Prince.\" The three soldiers nodded and turned to go downstairs. Severus had debated leaving the trunk there but he knew that there were things in it that his pet wanted, although he probably would never have admitted it. He decided that if they truly were kidnapping the young man that they probably would have taken the trunk anyway for Voldemort to search through for anything useful or any clues about the war.

Severus, Lucius and Rodolphus turned once again to the sad little room. Harry had straightened up as much as he cared to before he left, vanishing the remains of his food, making his bed and straightening Dudley’s broken toys. Lucius stepped forward and mussed the bed sheets a bit more, making it look as if the young man had been pulled from his sleep by the attack.

Severus started carefully sending spells with his pet’s wand toward the general direction of the door. He sent Rodolphus to stand outside the door and hit him with a partial stunning spell so that the spell backwash on the wall would make it clear that someone had been hit in the shoulder. The Order knew that Harry was no incompetent wizard. There was no way that he could be attacked without hitting at least a few wizards. He carefully undid the damage with his own wand and then sent a few spells at Lucius who stood just inside the door and a bit to the side.

Once that was complete Severus and the men started throwing their own spells toward the bed, hitting the walls around it. Draco and the women arrived upstairs with Harry’s trunk in tow, all grimly quiet at the revelations they had made by looking into the tiny cupboard downstairs. It was all too clear that the space had once served as their Prince’s room. A few drawings were still taped to the walls: a man on a flying motorcycle, a snake, and a drawing of what could only be a tiny Harry with a large black dog. They were all horrified by this new knowledge.

They each privately acknowledged downstairs that obviously Severus had known what they would find down there and that he had decided that they could know the truth or else he would have collected the trunk himself. They were all elite members or else soon to be so, and they were all highly trusted individuals. They would never break their Prince’s trust by gossiping about what they had found there. He had clearly known that the group would find out certain truths about him that night and he had deemed them all worthy of such information. It was no wonder that he had chosen a team entirely of elites. Each person was touched by his trust in him or herself—surprising because many of them had personally seen to his misery in years earlier. Ava perhaps not as directly as the others but even she had her hand in some of the plots over the years to hurt him. Draco especially was shocked that he had been chosen to go on this mission to his schoolboy rival’s home.

\"Lay on the bed, Draco,\" Severus ordered the young man when he spotted him standing outside the doorway. Draco thought the order odd but kept silent. He knew better than to question a direct order from his superior on such an important mission. Severus immediately sent a few spells at him, some hitting him partially and some hitting him nearly full on. Lucius helped him out of bed and quickly undid the spells, careful to hit him full on so that there would be no evidence of any spells being undone inside the room.

Draco understood after the third spell hit him that he was standing in for his Prince. He was closer to his size than anyone else. The women were both under 5’6\" and the completely wrong shape which might have been able to be seen with the spell backwash. Draco was a few inches taller than Harry but was built similarly and their deception would be nearly impossible to discern. He stepped closer to the bed to make sure that none of his silvery hairs had remained on the pillow. That was the last thing they needed. He carefully removed the single silver hair that he found and placed it securely in his pocket. His hair would have instantly given him away. No one had hair like a Malfoy and his hair was still much shorter than his father’s was so it would be immediately clear to the Order that he had been present if they were to find such evidence.

When Severus was satisfied with the room’s work he pulled out Harry’s wand once more and snapped it in two, dropping the broken wand to the floor near the door. Everyone cringed as the wand snapped. Breaking such a powerful magical object was unpleasant for anyone near it for the backlash. They knew that it needed to be done though. There was no way that the Order would believe them stupid enough to allow such a dangerous wand within a hundred yards of the Boy Who Lived while it was still in working order.

Severus silently surveyed the room. \"We need some old food containers to set on the floor. Harry typically vanished the containers every few days so there should only be two or three days’ worth.\" They all looked at his like he was insane until he nodded to the cat flap on the door. The women turned pale and the men looked murderous at such treatment of their Prince. No one deserved that, especially not their leader. \"We need to find what muggles call tins of food—food that muggles have put into a round metal container to be opened and eaten later—and very old, stale food.\" No one bothered to question why their Prince would be given old food. Just a single glance at his living quarters answered the question for them. The group quietly went downstairs and hunted through the cupboard, looking for the type of food that Severus had been told they gave him.

Bella pulled out some old bread from the cupboard and set it on the counter. Lucius and Ava found a plate of clearly old leftovers—meatloaf and some sort of unidentifiable vegetables. Draco, Severus and Rodolphus had found the tins of food that had been described to them and struggled to open them the muggle way. Severus looked over the food that the others had found. He shook his head at Lucius. \"They wouldn’t have given him the meat, no matter how old it was.\" Ava silently put the revolting plate back, seething. Her Prince wasn’t even allowed that.

Severus nodded at Bella but told her to spell the bread a bit older. He put it on the plastic plate that was stored under the sink that Harry had told him about and put the bread on it. He carefully removed the contents of the two tins of soup and the three tins of vegetables, leaving a tiny trace of them there to make it look as if the boy had eaten the contents from them. He vanished the contents that he had dumped into a bowl on the counter. After looking at the bowl for a moment in contemplation he sighed, shrunk the bowl and put it in his pocket. The Order might check the entire house for magical residue but they wouldn’t think much of a few missing dishes. Everyone broke a dish or two and muggles couldn’t fix them.

The small group carried their finds upstairs and set them on the floor, kicking one under the bed to make it look as if a small struggle had taken place. The plate was set on the rickety desk near the window, made to look as if Harry was saving it to give to Hedwig when she came back from delivering her letter to the youngest Weasley. Everyone knew that he worshiped the damn bird and would feel her before he himself would partake of the meager offering of food.

Since Harry had straightened the room a bit before leaving that morning Severus had to restore the general lived-in look. Severus moved around the room silently, adjusting things slightly as he went, making tiny changes. Luckily, Harry hadn’t been kind enough to do any true cleaning before his departure so they only needed to worry about making sure the broken toys and Harry’s few belongings weren’t too well organized. When he was finished it appeared as if a young boy had been kept prisoner there for a month and had just finished a long and unbalanced fight with Death Eaters.

They were finished. \"Lucius, you and Rodolphus will collect the boy. I believe it may take both of you to safely apparate him. He is…enormous. Bella, you will help me with the father. Ava, you can take the woman by yourself. Draco, we shouldn’t need you to assist but do not leave until all of us have safely left in order to ensure that everyone leaves safely and then apparate from our Prince’s room.\" Everyone nodded and went to their respective rooms. They decided to leave their silencing and privacy spells up since they weren’t bothering to make it look as if it hadn’t been an attack.

Lucius and Rodolphus stared in horror at the monstrosity before them. They had seen the pictures downstairs but somehow it hadn’t prepared them for the reality of the boy. They both had struggled to properly look at the still photographs that muggles used and they hadn’t fully understood what the boy would look like. Rodolphus sighed and used a spell to lift the boy and stand him up straight in between them. The two men cringed and wrapped their arms around the boy, focusing carefully and then apparating back to headquarters.

Severus and the women followed a similar procedure. Draco shuddered when the last of them left with the wretched muggles. For the first time in his life he felt bad for Harry Potter. He shook his pity aside quickly, knowing that not only would Harry never want his pity but also that it was not his place to pity his leader. He quickly walked back to Harry’s room and apparated back to headquarters, seeing the others in his group struggling with the heavy weight of the two men. They were finally able to steady them with a multitude of lightening and lifting spells and they passed the prisoners off to other soldiers, making their way quickly to the war room to report. Exactly fifty five minutes had passed so they would arrive within the hour that Severus had claimed that they would.

Severus knocked lightly on the door and waited for a response. Voldemort called out an impatient \"Enter\" and Severus pushed open the door.

Harry once again stood near the fireplace and Voldemort stood a few feet away from him. \"Report,\" Harry said coldly.

\"All went according to plan, Prince. The muggles were put into a spelled sleep so they provided no problems. We set up everything according to your orders. It should be impossible for the Order to ever tell what truly happened there.\"

Harry nodded. \"And the prisoners?\"

\"We passed them off to Rookwood and his company to take down to the dungeons.\"

The Black Prince and Voldemort nodded their understanding. \"Did you have any problems?\" Voldemort asked, knowing that any tiny slips could reveal their hand much earlier than they wanted to.

\"None, my Lord. We brought back Harry Potter’s school trunk, assuming that our Prince might want something from within it. The Order will think that you confiscated it in order to search for clues as to their plans for the war. I can help to further that theory when I next report to Dumbledore, should you wish.\"

The Prince looked coldly at the trunk, not even a flash of recognition breaking his carefully constructed façade. The team members reigned in their shudders at his expression. He didn’t look violently displeased though so they all silently offered up prayers to the gods that they wouldn’t be punished for doing this. It hadn’t been part of the orders but they had all felt that he might wish to have a few of his old belongings.

\"Did you search it for tracking spells?\" the Prince said icily.

\"Yes, Prince\" Ava stepped forward. \"We did so before touching it or removing it from its position. It is completely clean now.\"

The Prince nodded his acceptance to her. He had long known that Dumbledore placed tracking charms on his trunk. The old man had believed that Harry was unlikely to run away without trying to take his magical belongings with him. This was one of his ways of keeping an eye on Harry, supposedly without his knowledge. \"You may place it in my private rooms.\"

\"You have done well tonight, soldiers. You will be rewarded when the time comes. You are released to your homes,\" Voldemort said, sending them all away. Draco stood outside the room, waiting for his Father who had remained behind with Severus to speak a bit more with their leaders. After about twenty minutes the four stepped from the room and he watched in fascination as his former rival walked quickly toward his rooms, still clad only in his dressing gown and followed closely by his Potions Master who was conversing with him in low tones. Lucius grabbed his arm and pulled him away toward the floo as the Dark Lord walked to his own rooms, in the same wing as the Black Prince’s.

\"Father…what is going on between the Black Prince and Severus?\"

\"It is hardly our business, Dragon,\" Lucius said shortly, throwing the powder in the fire. The two quickly arrived at their manor and Lucius took a bit of time to explain what he knew about their new leader and his son’s godfather. Officially, they couldn’t gossip about their leaders but in the privacy of their home there was nothing wrong with a bit of conversation about them, as long as nothing that they did was denigrated.

The two Malfoys settled into comfortable chairs near the fire and accepted drinks from the house elf who immediately appeared bearing brandy. \"They appear to be lovers of sorts,\" Lucius said suddenly. \"When I went to the Prince’s private rooms to ask him to come to a meeting with our Lord they were both dressed only in dressing gowns. Were they in a relationship at school?\"

\"Not that I ever saw. I can’t imagine.\"

\"They must have been though since it appears to be completely consensual. There has been no hint that Severus is being kept as a sex slave of any kind. He didn’t seem to be uncomfortable in his Prince’s private rooms, nearly completely undressed, and he stood at the Prince’s side, not kneeling on the floor or tied down to the bed. His ease with the situation leads me to believe that they are familiar with each other already.\"

\"I wonder when they got together. What an odd relationship that must be. Do you suppose that is why the Prince demanded that Severus be given to him?\"

\"I can only assume such. It is odd though. I can’t imagine Severus belonging to anyone like that and out Prince’s actions can be interpreted as nothing less than complete and total ownership. I will try to get a bit of information from Severus when I can, son. I’m sure though that he is content in the relationship or else we should know of it. Severus might not be terribly expressive but if he was forced into a slave position for our Prince’s pleasure surely we would know of it.\"

\"I can’t believe that our leaders sent me on the mission. When I saw who our new ally was I was convinced that I would never rise in the ranks above common soldier, if I would be allowed to live at all. He has every reason to hate me.\"

\"He has every reason to hate all of us. I can only assume that his treatment by the muggles and Dumbledore has convinced him to accept us with all of our previous misdeeds over the side of the Light. I am curious as to what precipitated his sudden move.\"

\"Me too. I am beginning to think that the boy I had known as Harry Potter never really existed. The more I see of our new Prince the more I want to know about him. There is something about him that pulls you to him, don’t you think?\"

\"There is. There has always been but it has grown significantly stronger in recent years.\"

The two men chatted a bit more before going upstairs to bed, exhausted after their incredibly long day. Figuring out the mystery of the Black Prince would have to wait for another day.

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A/N: Just a quick reminder to anyone who objected at my abuse comments. I am not in any way trying to \"rank\" the levels of abuse or decide which is worse than another. I meant by my comment that for Harry personally, this was the worst type of abuse. I do not believe that anyone can ever claim that one form of abuse is categorically worse than any other. Each one is terrible and completely unjustifiable in it’s own right.