HP - Shadow Monarch - Chapter 127 - Beginning the Hunt for Wizards in the Wizarding World 01.

[Chapter Size: 1900 Words.]
Third Person POV

London.

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Astraea ended up taking Snape to see the shop that was closed in Diagon Alley. The place had two floors plus a basement, with the fireplace in a corner upstairs, serving as an administrative office.

“The place is free for you to make whatever renovations you want,” she said as Snape nodded, looking around the empty space. He approached the window, gazing down at Diagon Alley below, observing the bustling activity. Aurors were still patrolling the area after the recent kidnapping incident.

“Did you hear?! A dead body was dumped in front of the Ministry of Magic!” Snape caught snippets of conversations from the people below but quickly dismissed them. Turning back, he rejoined Astraea, who waited for him to finish inspecting the shop.

He followed her to the floor below after checking out the upper level. The shop floor was quite spacious, enhanced by an extension charm that made the room even larger. It was far more luxurious than Ollivander’s but lacked the same draw of clientele. With Ollivander holding a monopoly on wand-making, the Blacks’ business here had ultimately failed, leading to its closure.

Beneath the shop was a basement used for storage. Snape had seen this shop before but had never ventured into the basement until now. He made few remarks about the space and returned upstairs to Astraea.

“I believe this will suffice. Let’s just set up the fireplace so I have control,” Snape requested, and Mrs. Black nodded in agreement.

They went back upstairs, where they found Genini still frozen in place. Snape sighed but focused on the fireplace. Together, he and Astraea drew their wands and cast a configuration spell, granting Snape exclusive control over the entrance and exit of the fireplace. After all, the shop was now his.

“I suppose you won’t need me anymore,” Astraea said, clearly eager to leave. She feared Snape more with each passing moment.

“You may go,” Snape replied curtly. She nodded, using the Floo powder to disappear. Snape turned his attention to the house-elf, who seemed even more frightened in his presence.

“Listen, Genini. If you can hear me, I want you to take care of this place. Here’s some money; use it to stock up on food for yourself while I’m away. I’ll return in a few days. Until then, keep cleaning the shop and don’t let anyone in,” he instructed. The elf, trembling, looked up at him with difficulty and slowly nodded.

“I-it will be done, Master Snape,” she murmured, her voice shaking.

Snape had nothing more to say. Without another word, he turned to the fireplace, used Floo powder, and returned to a location near his old home.

Meanwhile, Snape’s father wasn’t having a good night. He drank alone, grumbling and cursing at life—and at his son—for all the misery he endured.

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Groaning, he got up, stumbling down the stairs toward the entrance as the knocking grew louder and more insistent.

“Can’t you wait a moment, you idiot? Can’t you see I’m coming?” he shouted angrily, assuming it was one of his annoying neighbors. Just as he was about to open the door, he felt something touch his side—a small stick pressed against his chest.

Startled, he turned quickly to see a young man, likely in his 30s, standing inside his house. The stranger was pointing a wand at him. Snape’s father blinked, unsure if it was the alcohol or the shock that made him doubt his eyes.

“Who are y—?”

He couldn’t finish the question before being hit by a spell from the man’s wand. The impact sent him flying backward, crashing to the floor and rolling to the far end of the entryway. The stranger laughed as he watched Tobias Snape groan in pain.

The man ignored him and went to the door, opening it with the handle to let other wizards enter shortly after.

“Looks like you’re already having fun with a Muggle, Victor,” one of them commented, amused by the scene as they entered the house.

“How could I not? Did you see the way he was talking? Typical of someone inferior to us, thinking they can say whatever they want until they realize what we’re capable of. I love seeing their faces when they realize it,” Victor said casually.

More and more wizards appeared until, in total, there were eight of them inside the house. The door closed with a flick of a wand, and they turned their attention to the Muggle groaning in pain on the floor. The man looked at them with a terrified expression.

“Who… who are you?” he murmured.

One of the men stepped forward, pointing his wand at him. “Doesn’t matter, Muggle,” he said, casting a green spell from his wand moments later, purely out of cruelty.

The curse hit the man, subjecting him to pain he had never experienced in his life. The unforgivable curse invaded his body, and he screamed like an animal. “AHHHHHHH!!!!”

“Listen to him scream! It doesn’t even seem like my silencing spell is working with all this torture!” one of the men mocked, finding the situation amusing as they watched the Muggle writhe in agony.

They let him suffer for a while until he finally began to calm down, looking at the wizards around him with terror.

“Why are you doing this? I can call the magical police…” he murmured, and the others exchanged glances before bursting into laughter.

“Seems like you don’t understand your situation, you foolish Muggle. We’re here to torture you before taking you. In the end, we’re after someone, and you might help us...” one of the wizards replied.

“Who?” the man asked weakly, barely able to keep his gaze steady.

“Severus Snape. Your idiot son managed to anger many families, so we’re trying to capture him, and we’ll use you to lure him out,” the wizard said, leaving the man speechless.

If he could have responded, he might have expressed how much he hated his son, but there was no chance. Another spell was cast, hitting him again and making him scream like an animal once more.

They continued like that for some time, laughing at the man’s suffering. Finally, one of the dark wizards decided to approach.

“Well, I think we’ve dealt with him enough. It’s time to take him,” he said, and the others nodded in agreement.

“Alright, let’s get out of here.” One of them moved toward the fallen man, ready to leave.

“!!!” But suddenly, all the lights in the house went out.

“Lumos!” The nearest wizard quickly raised his wand, illuminating the area, and the others followed suit. Several light spells lit up the room as one of the men scanned the surroundings, trying to figure out what was happening. When he finally looked ahead, his eyes widened in shock— the man they had been torturing was no longer there.

“Where did he go?” they exclaimed quickly, frowning and sensing that something was wrong.

“You like to play? Then let’s begin…” a voice emerged from the darkness, prompting everyone to point their wands toward the sound. However, they saw nothing near the staircase.

A second of silence was all it took to break the tension, and suddenly, the first man screamed. His wand dropped, and he fell lifeless to the ground. The others turned quickly to the source of the sound, alarmed.

Snape began attacking them mercilessly, killing every one of his attackers. He used the darkness to his advantage, eliminating those who tried to flee. His teleportation, faster than Apparition, allowed him to intercept those attempting to escape. Anyone who tried to use an Apparition spell met a grim fate, as Snape intercepted and cut them down mid-dematerialization.

In the end, Tobias was left breathless, collapsed in the middle of the kitchen, unable to comprehend what was happening. He had found himself there suddenly, hearing only the screams and spells being cast as the house lit up with bursts of magical light.

Suddenly, everything fell silent after a few final flashes, and in the next moment, only the darkness of the corridor leading to the place where he had been tortured remained. Then, footsteps began to echo, making the floor tremble slightly with a calm rhythm. He didn’t want to believe that he would suffer even more from the magic that had been cast on him. Even without understanding what was happening or who was attacking, fear grew within him.

The light finally illuminated the house, revealing Snape walking calmly. The surroundings were littered with bodies, their faces frozen in expressions of suffering and what appeared to be painful deaths.

“It’s truly a pleasure to see you again, Father,” Snape said openly, looking at him with disdain.

The man on the floor didn’t know whether to look at Snape with hatred or fear, still stunned by the bloodbath around him.

“What are you…?” he murmured, unable to find the words to continue.

“Don’t worry about it. You won’t remember anything,” Snape said, looking directly into Tobias’s eyes. With a swift Obliviate, he wiped all memories of the event from his father’s mind, even though his body still trembled from the effects of the Cruciatus Curse. Snape knew it wouldn’t be good for him to remember any of it. Despite his dislike for the man, he didn’t conceal himself.

After erasing Tobias’s memories of the night and putting him to sleep with a spell, Snape left him lying in the middle of the kitchen corridor. Then, he disappeared, reappearing on the rooftop of the house.

His gaze turned to one of the nearby windows. There, he saw Lily, staring out of her window in shock. She had been quietly stargazing that night, trying to make sense of the strange feelings that had been troubling her lately.

She hadn’t noticed anything unusual at Tobias’s house. Yet, for a moment, her eyes locked onto Snape as he suddenly appeared on the rooftop.

“Severus!” she exclaimed, startled to see him there.

Snape ignored her entirely. In the next instant, he raised his wand to the sky.

“Expecto Patronum!” he exclaimed.

Lily’s eyes widened in astonishment as she watched Snape’s magic unfold so openly. She knew this would summon the Ministry of Magic directly to the area. He had cast a Patronus in the dead of night, and moments later, Lily’s disbelief deepened.

“What… what is this?!” she gasped. She had never seen a Patronus like that before, nor could she have imagined anyone creating something so extraordinary.

The entire neighborhood was bathed in the light of Snape’s Patronus, which shot into the sky. This was his way of drawing the Ministry of Magic’s attention while remaining protected from detection. Such an overt display of magic in plain view was too much for them to ignore, and it would attract the necessary attention to the location. After all, even the Muggles must have been seeing the dazzling spectacle at that very moment.