The Devil's Son

A deals a deal

Severus was shocked. He had nothing to say, nothing to suppress his surprise and fear at what he had discovered. It was very amusing, but Harry decided to play nice, relighting the room and taking a seat. He waited a while to allow the man to adjust, but after ten minutes of heavy silence, rolled his eyes and began to talk. "As a child I was beaten and abused by those muggles. When I was five, I was hurt so badly I almost died. In my state of pain, I began to draw strange sigils in my blood. I had know idea what they where, or why I was doing it, but I did. That was the day I summoned my father." The potions master was shaking, but seemed more settled at recieving an explanation. "Lucifer Morningstar." Oh, he'd forgotten about all of that. "No, Uncle Lucifer has more dealings on earth so we used his name. My father is Asmodeus, Demon Lord of Lust. My uncles are Satan of wrath, Belphegor of sloth, Lucifer of pride, mammon of greed, Beelzebub of gluttony and Leviathan of envy. My family is the seven princes of Hellion, which has been my home since that day. I was adopted by them as another prince, one of chaos."

The professor looked confused but apparently following enough as he asked no questions. He was taking things surprisingly well considering. "So that's why you're here. To sow chaos." Harry nodded, there wasn't much more to say. It was his fate. "Why you? No one can summon a demon anymore, much less a demon prince, and you just know?" Hadrian had once questioned that himself, until his father's secret had been unveiled. "That night, when I was a baby, I survived. That night, death chose me to be his servant on earth, an emmisary if you will. One of both life and death, Hellion and Earth."

Severus finally gave in to the urge to drop his head in his hands, a loud thud reverberating through his skull. He had no choice in this. He'd promised both Remus and Albus to stay at Harry's side. And he'd promised to serve the Dark Lord, who now belonged to the boy. If he did not agree, he would lose his magic, a fate worse than death. "So how would this deal work?" He looked up to see the smug smile on Harry, on Hades face. He reached out a hand, and Severus winced at the burning sensation on his hand, not needing to look down to know he now shared a mark with the dark lord. That his soul now belonged to a demon. To Harry Potter. He'd kept his promises. He could only hope he could be forgiven for this. And that Remus would never discover just how far gone the child was.

The next morning Hadrian walked into the hall with a smile on his face. He now owned two very powerful wizards, and was proud of his little collection. Of course that was nothing compared to those his father and uncles owned.... He tried not to think about them, as of yet unsure how to approach the situation, and took a seat besides Theo, who watched him curiously. "I wouldn't have thought you'd be so happy?" Confused, Hades tilted his head, looking over at him, but Draco interrupted before he could ask. "So how was detention with Lockhart last night?" He froze for a second as he remembered what he's done to the teacher before recovering. "Oh, um, it was really boring. He just made me help him sign a bunch of fanmail. I got back pretty late, just glad it's over." The other Slytherins nodded sympathetically, although Theo still seemed rather suspicious. Not a moment later, Professor McGonagall ran through the hall, catching the attention of the students. Normally so composed and stern, the transfiguration teacher looked worried and flustered. Everyone watched as she ran up to the headmaster, whispering into his ear, before he too began to run from the hall. Even the teachers looked surprised. Except for Severus of course, who simply watched Harry accusingly. It wasn't much longer before the death of Gilderoy Lockhart was announced, and the children were sent to their dormitories as aurors flooed into the grounds. All the while, Theo's eyes never wavered from him. He knew what Hades had done.

The second he was alone, Theo rounded on him, dragging him up to their rooms as the other students chattered restlessly. "Did you kill him?" Harry looked at him with a confused expression, almost as if he was struggling to comprehend the question. "What!" Theo frowned, quite clearly annoyed as he sat on the bed, arms crossed. "Hadrian! Don't try lying to me!" After watching the mortal with a blank expression for a moment, he sat on his own bed, prepared to attack if necessary. "If I did?" He blinked, apparently not expecting Hades to admit to it that quickly. He sighed before answering. "I suppose, if you had, I'd want to thank you." He snorted, Theo was certainly not what he'd expected from a human. "Why did you hate Lockhart so much?" The boy looked down at his hands which twisted into the emerald sheets. Sighing he finally spoke. "I don't remember much of my father. But my grandfather always said he had no patience for fools. I remember once, he came home and threw a book to the floor before turning to me. He said, fools will always be remembered as fools. Genius can be forgotten, but legendary. It's the only memory I have of him, and then people like Lockhart get to stride around, famous whilst my father rots in Azkaban!" He was practically shouting by the end of it, and Hadrian was almost sorry he asked, but was amused nevertheless. "Well, I suppose it's a good thing he's dead now, isn't it." Grinning sheepishly, it was clear that Theo agreed.

Dumbledore was worried. None of this made sense, they'd found Lockhart lying on the floor of the DADA classroom, blood and body parts strung up everywhere. There was little left of his body intact, but the bloodied, skinned head had been pulled into a wide horrifying smile. A maniac had done this, and usually Albus would assume it was Voldemort. Considering the information he had discovered last night however, he worried this was something much darker. Upon looking at the worry on Severus's face, he clearly agreed. A demon had entered the halls of Hogwarts, and the school was no longer safe. He immediately walked over to the shelf, hoping that book could reveal more information on the Princes of Hellion. If he could discover exactly which prince it was, perhaps he would find some way to control them. "Albus!" Minerva was shouting, and he composed his face into weary concern before turning to face her. "I apologise Minerva, I was lost in my thoughts." She sighed before taking a seat along with the other professors. "The aurors are investigating what happened, and I've sent notice to all the parents. It's going to take a lot of persuasion to stop them from storming in and taking their children home." That was the least of Albus' concern, and he poured some calming potion in his tea before addressing the staff. "I'm afraid I know what happened." Confusion crossed all their faces, except for Severus whom looked as tired as he felt. "Voldemort has returned." It took a long time for them to settle down from their panicked shouting and disbelief before he could address their issues. "Severus was recently summoned by him, I believe this is what happened to the philosopher's stone. I shall recall the order of the phoenix but for now our priority is keeping the students safe." There was no need to concern them with knowledge of the demonic involvement. After all, many simply did not believe in them. The teachers eventually nodded, still shocked by what they had discovered. He'd need to speak to Fudge, to inform him of the dangers, but for now, he could use this to his advantage. He had just the person to take over the DADA position.

Remus didn't understand why Dumbledore had finally responded to his letters, or why he decided now would be the perfect time for Remus to not only visit Harry at Hogwarts, but to teach there. It didn't make any sense, and perhaps if this had happened sooner he would have questioned it. As it was, he hadn't heard from Severus in months, and desperation had pulled him to the very edge of his sanity. Full moons were so much more difficult than ever before, and his wolf so desperately needed it's cub. He'd replied instantly, already packing to go to Hogwarts, and flooed in only a day later. He'd been unpacking his things when Severus had entered, arms full of papers.

"Severus what is going on? You haven't spoken to me in months, I thought we agreed that Harry..." Severus cut him off, waving his hand dismissively as he set down the stacks of tests and records. "Harry is fine, you needn't worry." Remus frowned, that didn't make sense, Dumbledore had told him what happened to Lockhart. "But in your last letter you said you were worried Harry had got mixed up in something bad. That he wasn't acting right. That just changed did it?" He asked incredulously, and Severus still wouldn't look at him. "Potter is fine, and no longer of concern Lupin." Remus frowned at that, something had changed, Severus had changed. "Back to a last name basis are we now Snape?" Severus finally looked up at the bitter remark, sending an unreadable look towards him before simply turning and walking out, leaving Remus shocked and upset in the empty classroom.

It was more than enough for Harry to know what to do next. Chaos would reign, and it would be magnificent.