Who's My Daddy?-Chp10

CHAPTER 10: GETTING HARRY BACK

The hallway of an old abandoned manor was dark and gloomy as it was only lit with small candles running out of wax on old worn-out chandeliers. There were old, torn furniture that have seen better days scattered around the hallway in a careless fashion. In the middle of the hallway, there gathered a huge group of hooded people with skeleton masks across their faces. Among them were ours truly Severus Snape, Ron, Hermione, Draco, Remus and Sirius-Kiaran, all dressed in dark and hooded, blending into the crowd.

“Are you sure this is going to work? I’m feeling rather out of place right now,” Ron whispered, almost going into the verge of stuttering.

“Relax, Ron. Just try to blend in,” Hermione whispered back, looking around warily to see if they were being watched.

“Blend in? How do you expect me to blend in when we’re surrounded by the enemies?”

“I don’t know! Just pretend that you’re one of them. You know perfectly clear that this is the only way we can save him.”

“Oh, that’s really reassuring for a start.”

“Honestly, you two,” Draco sighed tiredly. “Another one of your bickering and you’ll get us all into serious deathly trouble.”

“It’s not my fault that…” Hermione’s retaliation was stopped short by Remus’ hush.

“Quiet down, all of you. You’re blowing off our cover,” Remus hissed before turning to Sirius-Kiaran and asked, “How are you holding up, Padfoot? You’ve possessed that body for a long while. I worry about the host.”

“Don’t fret, Moony,” Sirius-Kiaran replied. “I’m holding up fine and my host’s spirit is sleeping rather peacefully right now. If he can survive my previous possession, I’m sure he can survive this one.”

“Hush,” Severus’ warning tone brought everyone in attention. “The Dark Lord is approaching.”

As soon as he said it, the atmosphere of the hallway became dark and grim. An aura began to emerge in front of all the gathered Death Eaters as Voldemort slowly apparated into the clearing they made for him. The candles on the chandeliers flickered viciously, threatening to blow themselves out upon the presence of the dark entity that invaded the place. Soon, Lord Voldemort stood in full form with a bundle in his hand. The younger fake Death Eater, namely Ron, Hermione and Draco, held their breaths as they witnessed the legendary Dark Lord face to face for the first time. Remus, Sirius-Kiaran and Severus narrowed their eyes with wary, the sight of the Dark Lord all too familiar to them to be awed at.

“Welcome, my faithful friends,” Voldemort spoke in his devilish tone as he removed his hood and unwrapped the bundle in his arms, revealing a tiny pale baby sucking his thumb as he slept peacefully. “Tonight is a night of celebration, for I, Lord Voldemort, have officially become the proud father of a child worthy to continue my legacy and reign of terror. Behold, my son Naga, your Prince!”

“Hail, Prince Naga!” the Death Eaters exclaimed in unison, repeating it almost five times before Voldemort raised his hand to silence them. He signaled for Peter Pettigrew a.k.a. Wormtail to come forward.

“Wormtail, bring me the solution.”

“Yes, master,” Wormtail replied in his raspy voice and reached into his robes. He fished out a hexagon-shaped bottle made of glass that contained some sort of milky-brown liquid. Voldemort took it and fed it to the baby while chanting some sort of monotonous spell. As if in cue, the Death Eaters chanted along with him without hesitation. Severus gasped a little. He knew this spell well.

“No…it cannot be…”

“What? What is it?” Sirius-Kiaran asked, pretending to follow along the chanting.

“It’s a Rapid Growth Serum the Dark Lord is feeding the child,” Severus whispered. “The serum has to come along with a spell to take effect. The Dark Lord is trying to force the child to grow up…”

“To let the child inherit the legacy throne quicker!” Remus finished his sentence. “That devil…!”

All of a sudden, a blinding flash engulfed the entire hallway and extinguished all the candles on the chandeliers. Everyone, even Wormtail and Voldemort had to shield their eyes from the light as the baby floated off the Dark Lord’s arms and into the mid-air. A change began as the mop of hair on the baby’s head grew longer and his limbs stretched. The baby cried at the sudden transformation he was going through—it sounded like the pain was killing him. After what seemed like hours, the blinding light finally subsided and darkness engulfed the hallway. The Death Eaters muttered worriedly at each other, wondering what had just happened. It was only when Voldemort used his wand to relit the candles that they saw what replaced the small, innocent-looking little baby was a naked pre-teen with bright brown eyes, silver-blonde hair and skin as pale as the moon. He was kneeling on the ground hugging himself and crying, shivering in the cold, and while he tried to look up and blink his eyes open, a small birthmark shaped like a lightning bolt could be seen just near his nape.

“Behold, everyone!” Voldemort’s voice boomed. “Bow down to your future master, your Prince Naga Marvolo Riddle!”

“Hail, Prince Naga!” the Death Eaters went down on one knee as they knelt before the little boy still shivering with cold and trying to hold back the upcoming tears. It seemed to him as if the transformation still hurt him to move.

“I am grateful to say that if it weren’t for the traits I have chosen from Lucius Malfoy’s son and Severus Snape, my son wouldn’t have come to being. Lucius, Severus, stand up to receive your ovation.”

Lucius stood up almost immediately while Severus tried to act as casual as he could as the rest of the Death Eaters clapped their hands and congratulated them. Draco looked at his father in disgust. Was this the person that he had looked up to all these years? Being pathetically submissive and law-abiding when he was taught not to? He was disappointed at him during his fifth year when Voldemort was rumoured to be in full reign. That disappointment had just gone up a notch.

“F…Father…?” the boy voiced out tentatively as Voldemort took one of his hands and helped him up. Wormtail immediately went over to the young prince and wore him a dark green cloak. Sirius-Kiaran grimaced in disgust at Wormtail’s actions. Always the butt-kisser and the idolizer, he thought.
“My precious Prince Naga,” Voldemort caressed the boy’s face, his expression a mixture of pride and malice. “Welcome to the world. I have waited so long for this.”

“Mother…? Where is Mother?” Naga asked, looking around questioningly at all the hooded people in front of him.

“Your Mother is right here,” Voldemort said as he snapped his fingers. All the Death Eater, including the fakes, gasped as the Cloaking Spell was disabled to reveal the famous Boy Who Lived Harry James Potter chained onto the dusty wall of the hallway, slumped in a stupor. He was only dressed in an old, smudge-filled T-Shirt dress and he looked like he needed a nice long bath.

“That’s right, my faithful friends. For those who did not know, he is the person I used to carry Naga to term. I do not deny that he is powerful in his own way, which is why such worthy a foe is perfect to be the mother of the child I have planned to lead you all.”

“Mother!” Naga wanted to rush up to Harry but Voldemort stopped him.

“Are you willing to accept a mother who hated you ever since you existed?”

“But…” Naga’s face bunched up a little as if remembering something from a long, distant past. “But it’s not Mother’s fault. He was just angry. He never meant what he said…”

“Anger is something no one can truly subside,” Voldemort said as he turned him away from Harry. “Your mother had always been angry with me, and now knowing that you’re part of me, what are the chances of your mother not being angry with you again and not mean anything he said?”

“I…I don’t know, Father…”

“Look around you, Naga my son. You are born of privileges. You are born to serve the greatest destiny ever. You are born to lead these people who would love, honour and fear you more than anything else, and you will continue my righteous legacy and spread the reign of terror and tyranny among the wizarding world. You are born out of the most prefect traits and powers I had chosen to bestow upon you and I have chosen your mother as the final piece of the puzzle because he had survived the Killing Curse when others could not. Your mother did not appreciate this great opportunity to rule alongside you and I and was angered by my plans. He doesn’t deserve to be part of this legacy. He doesn’t deserve to live, as I believe you think the same way.”

“But…” Naga stole another glance at the unconscious Harry. “He’s still…my mother…”

“Remember what he called you before?” Voldemort whispered at his ear.

“No…He didn’t mean it…” Naga was still in denial.

“He called you a ‘troublesome piece of growth that wasn’t supposed to be there’,” Wormtail grinned as he whispered at his other ear. “I was there in my rat form when your father asked me to search for your mother’s whereabouts. I heard everything.”

“No…Stop…Please…” Naga cried as he put his hands over his ears, not wanting to hear those venomous words repeated again.

“It’s either hearing those words again for the rest of your life with your mother,” Voldemort laid his hands on Naga’s shoulders, “or taking control of the situation with me.”

With tears flowing down his cheeks, Naga’s brown eyes became icy cold as he slowly got rid of his self-denial and self-pity. He held out his left wrist, ready to be branded with the Dark Mark, and whispered coldly, “I don’t have a mother. Not anymore.”

In the midst of the triumphant Death Eaters, Ron’s heart ached worse than what the other fakes were feeling, unable to watch anymore of this display. He turned to Draco with determination written all over his face.

“We gotta save Harry now! It’s the only chance we’ve got while they’re distracted.”

“Don’t be daft, weasel! This isn’t the time to be brash about this! I’m not going to be gallivanting around…”

“You’d say anything to watch Harry go down! I don’t care! I’m going!” Ron finally said out loud, then threw off his hood and cloak and yelled as he ran through the crowd, “Hang on, Harry! We’re coming to get you!”

“This is what you get when penniless ignorant wizards and witches reproduce,” Draco groaned in dismay.

Their cover was blown. There’s no use in hiding and blending in. Ron, Hermione, Draco, Remus and Sirius-Kiaran whipped out their wands and started attacking the Death Eaters as they made their way through them to get to Harry. Harry stirred a little at the noise but made no attempt to wake up. Severus was a little torn. Should he prove his loyalty to Voldemort by pretending to fight alongside with the Death Eaters? Should he blow his cover and join the rest to fight the dark league? Should he take this chance of relieving himself off the burden of a double agent or should he continue playing both sides to stay alive?

In the end, his conscience betrayed his intentions. He removed the Death Eater attire he had worn since he first joined the League of the Dark marks and ran through the clearing made by his teammates. He used the Disarming Spell on both Wormtail and Naga who ended up being thrown back and hit Voldemort off balance. He then yelled “Alohomora” to undo the chains on Harry and caught him before he lands face first on the floor. Everything happened almost less than 30 seconds.

“Let’s leave this place! Now!” Severus ordered as he closed his eyes tight and, with Harry in his arms, willed himself to apparate. The rest followed one by one, leaving the remaining dazed Death Eaters, Wormtail, Naga and Voldemort to fend for themselves.

As Voldemort slowly picked himself off the floor, he smirked knowingly and hissed, “So, Snivellus, you wish for death? So be it.”