[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Prince Mansion.
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The sound of ants walking around the place could be heard, while, in a corner of the Gryffindor tower, a little boy trembled. His name was Ethan Woodcroft, a third-year student. He didn't even know where those monsters had come from. All he had seen was that they were still arguing about the matter of the court and the sentence of Severus Prince.
He personally thought Severus Prince was a monster who should be thrown into Azkaban. He was afraid of Severus and believed he was a bad man, remembering him from last year and throughout this semester—how terrifying he was and how no one could bully him anymore—no, he bullied the entire school.
Everyone feared him.
He still remembered when he entered Hogwarts in his first year and heard the older students calling that Severus Snape guy "Snivellus" here and there, and he thought the Marauders were amazing.
Ethan wanted to be like them and even joined them once when they had caught Snivellus and turned him upside down on the banks of the Black Lake. But everything changed when the next year came.
Severus Snape had changed—both his appearance and his way of acting. He was no longer the bullied one; he had become the school bully. No one could mess with him anymore, not even the Marauders, not even Slytherin itself, which, according to rumors, tried to intimidate him.
Ethan, personally, when he saw him walking down the corridor, would shudder, avoiding looking at him, while Severus didn't even seem to notice his existence.
At the beginning of this year, no one persisted in trying to oppose Severus anymore, not even the Marauders, who seemed afraid of him. Ethan thought Severus would start doing whatever he wanted, but strangely, he noticed that if no one messed with Severus, Severus wouldn't go after anyone.
He was even the favorite for the dueling tournament when Professor Flitwick summoned everyone to the Durmstrang Institute—and he won among all the students from schools around the world.
Everyone received that news with pride. However, soon after, information emerged that Severus was trapped inside a painting, just as the rumors said, that he sought out paintings to enter others. The paintings themselves were constantly complaining, as well as the second Dark Lord invading magical properties.
But that wasn't mere coincidence between Severus and the second Dark Lord. When it was finally revealed that Severus Snape was also known as the Hogsmeade murderer—and also the mysterious alchemist—it became clear that he was involved in all those deaths and crimes, even massacring dark wizards, but in a cruel way.
Then came the battles over a few days; there was news that Severus Snape had defeated "You-Know-Who" and slaughtered countless of his followers—almost all of them.
When the trial happened, obviously, the boy Ethan didn't have a good opinion of Severus. And everything was interrupted when those monsters began to appear that night. Some students arrived with teachers and began shouting that everyone should go to the common room. He was delayed because he wanted to fetch his cat, Vane, which he had received from his grandmother and was in his dormitory.
The cat didn't want to be caught, and Ethan began a chase after it, which, in the end, led him almost to the girls' dormitory. And as soon as he came back, he noticed the place was silent.
It didn't take long for him to realize that there was no one else in the common room. All of Gryffindor had gone, and he had been left behind.
He immediately ran outside while the Fat Lady shouted for him to hurry. But soon, she herself told him to hide, for outside, the ants had begun to appear. That frightened him, and he immediately ran anywhere he could, curling up under the staircase while he listened to the screams of the Fat Lady shouting for the monsters to go away.
Everything stopped when, suddenly, the door was destroyed, and the ants appeared. The boy shrank into a corner, hiding as the creatures entered the place, ignoring the protests of the Fat Lady's portrait—still there with her torn painting, complaining and roaring at the creatures that began to ignore her.
He stayed there, motionless, as the common room filled with three ants searching for any prey. He hugged his cat, Vane, who also seemed quite nervous.
But something unexpected happened at that moment.
"Attention, all portraits and ghosts of Hogwarts!" The castle seemed to tremble as it was overtaken by a voice that roared throughout the school.
It was young but powerful and sounded very much like Severus after his transformation.
"If you see any students hiding, lead the shadows to them! They are fighting the ants and will protect any student who isn't inside the main common hall!"
The voice finally ceased, while the ants lifted their heads, enraged by it. They were ready to leave and go after whoever had spoken, while some were already entering the dormitories in search of any student.
However, Vane, whom the boy held in his arms, suddenly escaped, frightened by the voice and the monsters, running out of the hiding place into the middle of the room.
"Vane! Come here!" the boy shouted desperately, as the ants already noticed the animal. Two of them began to advance, and the boy cried out in fear, grabbing his cat after leaving the hiding spot, expecting the ants to come and kill them.
But before they could touch him, monsters made of red skin and darkness appeared, punching the ants before they could attack him.
The orcs quickly advanced against the ants, crushing them easily. With their own fists, they smashed the two inside the common room, blood splattering, and the last one, which was in the dormitory, also rushed toward the common room but was surprised and destroyed by the shadows of the orcs—its lifeless body fell to the floor.
The boy looked on in shock but couldn't help feeling fear before those monsters standing in front of him. They looked like muscular humans with large teeth but were shrouded in darkness.
However, they didn't attack him—they only gestured for him to move toward the outside. He was uncertain but realized he had no choice. He stood up carefully, as long as they didn't attack, and followed them.
"Listen, boy! If that voice is right, they'll take you to the Great Hall! Follow them!" said the Fat Lady after seeing that they hadn't attacked Ethan but the ants instead, while the boy, still clutching his cat, trembled in fear of those shadows.
Soon, the portraits and ghosts began reporting the shadows spreading throughout the castle, finding hidden students and guiding them to safe points within the school where they were being gathered.
Some students quickly reached the portraits, asking for rescue. They were already communicating, passing information to one another. Soon, a vast network of communication was formed, indicating where each student needed help.
The common room was no longer sealed, still protected by the shadows Severus Snape had left behind—three powerful soldiers guarded the door, protecting the other students, who were still restless. Other shadows began appearing in the corridor, bringing the first students running as soon as they spotted the others.
"Oh my God, are you all right, Ethan!?" Professor McGonagall exclaimed, embracing the lost third-year Gryffindor student who had been hiding.
"Mathews, are you okay?" another Slytherin girl asked, running toward a young man who arrived shortly after. He had been trapped in Slytherin.
"I'm fine. Those shadows found me in a corner of Slytherin. They killed all the ants on the way… who are they?" the boy asked, not only excited and relieved but genuinely surprised. He was less afraid than before, thanking the shadows—Severus's soldiers.
"They're Severus Prince's summons, you know… He's managing to bring the students in," the girl told her friend.
"Severus is saving them!" Professor Slughorn sighed in relief beside the headmaster as he watched the scenes repeat.
In several areas of the castle, the ants were being massacred by hundreds of shadows that Severus had released after leaving the Great Hall, and students kept arriving at the common room to reunite with their friends.
Aurors were now arriving at Hogwarts in large numbers after hearing what was happening. Even the ICW team came along, entering the castle and finding a sea of dead ants and blood everywhere.
It didn't take long for them to reach the Great Hall.
"We must take the students outside! Why stay here?" Professor Minerva suggested to the headmaster.
"All right. If the path is clear of monsters, it'll be easier to get them out now."
With that, they began moving all the students. Some trembled in fear at the sight of the dead monsters, others screamed, but there was nothing to be done. They were taken to the school courtyard while leaving the castle, still hearing roars here and there—from the towers and other places—as the shadows spread.
Severus was walking through the area beside Rosaria, while Igris himself continued slaughtering all the ants until he reached the third floor, where they found the entire wall of the girls' bathroom destroyed—they had needed to open a path wider than the door to get through.
"Igris, go ahead and exterminate all the ants in the way," Severus ordered. He could already feel the energy pulsing in the place.
Igris advanced, and Severus soon jumped into the hole after eliminating all the ants that were coming out. They seemed never to stop appearing, as if there were an infinite number of them.
Severus examined the completely shattered bathroom. He heard Moaning Myrtle crying somewhere, but he didn't bother with her as he turned to Rosaria.
"Whatever's down there, there must be thousands of ants—if not more. You must not come with me," Severus said in a serious tone, while she immediately tried to protest.
But he raised his hand.
"This isn't a game, Rosaria. I feel something powerful down there. Something stronger than anything we've ever faced before—I've felt it since I got here. That's why I'm going to handle it myself, alone," he said.
She seemed reluctant but nodded.
"Go to where the others are and protect them. Do that, and I promise I'll teach you how to fly. How about that?" he said with a faint smile.
She nodded, even though the offer sounded like a veiled farewell. "All right. I'll accept that then, but I'll hold you to it."
With that, she turned around while Severus summoned two more shadows to accompany her. He looked downward—there were no more ants in the path, but he could still hear the sounds of battle below, with Igris clearing out the rest.
Severus nodded and shot downward, entering once again the Chamber of Secrets, disappearing with the teleportation of the shadows.
He could have teleported straight there much earlier, but he wanted to see the path, observing and eliminating the monsters along the way.
When he reached the Chamber of Secrets, the place was infested with ants—even on the ceiling—while Igris fought, slaughtering them swiftly. Severus watched closely, searching for where they were coming from.
The door where Salazar's portrait was remained locked, so it wasn't from there. Soon, Severus found a hole below, its enchantment completely destroyed.
"So that's where they're coming from… We're at the lowest point of Hogwarts I've ever reached. There must be more places I haven't explored yet," Severus analyzed, moving forward to help Igris, clearing the way before heading toward the hole—wherever it might truly lead him.
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