The Fall of Dumbledore: The White King

Heir of Shadows

The day of Harry's scheduled visit to Gringotts arrived with an air of building anticipation. As he prepared to depart Malfoy Manor that morning, Harry couldn't shake a gnawing sense of trepidation. Lucius's words about unlocking his "buried family secrets" at the wizarding bank echoed incessantly in his mind.

What else could be lurking in his shadowed lineage, beyond the horrors he'd already uncovered about his connection to Voldemort? Harry steeled himself, slipping the replica Death Eater mask into his traveling cloak just in case. One could never be too careful these days.

The grand marble lobby of Gringotts bustled with its usual frenetic activity as Harry crossed the threshold. Witches and wizards of all ages jostled this way and that, filthy dung bombs and leprechaun tricksters darting between their legs. But Harry paid it all little mind, his gaze locking onto the sneering goblin up ahead.

"Harry Potter," the vile creature intoned in its reedy croak. "The inheritance managers have been expecting you. Right this way."

With a curt nod, the goblin turned and skulked down a side passage, not waiting to see if Harry followed. The young wizard quickened his step, pinpricks of unease prickling the back of his neck as the sounds of the bank faded behind him.

He trailed the goblin through a dizzying labyrinth of cramped corridors and spiraling stairwells, all hewn from the same severe gray stone. The air grew staler and thicker with gloom the farther they traversed, as if the outside world had been shut away entirely.

At last, they reached a secluded chamber, where a quartet of goblins in austere black robes presided over an ancient table of obsidian. Harry's guide muttered something harsh in Gobbledegook, and the coven of bankers turned their beady eyes upon the newcomer in eerie unison.

"Mr. Potter," the eldest rasped, spreading long spindly fingers over the table's surface. Runes ignited across the black stone, tracing faintly pulsing lines and sigils. "We have much to discuss regarding your most...singular inheritance."

Harry swallowed thickly, taking the single chair opposite the goblins. The runes swirled hypnotically in the table's inky depths, ushering his consciousness into a strange twilight state. He understood with chilling finality that his life was about to be forever cleaved into before, and after.

"Your lineage stretches far beyond the mortal coil you've been led to believe, Mr. Potter," the eldest continued in a droning rasp. "Your father's bloodline is one of darkness, of ancient shade and raw magic...and now it falls to you, as patriarchal heir, to embrace its burden."

The runes turned a sickly green as the goblins uttered a harsh invocation in their guttural tongue. A sudden blistering pain shocked the back of Harry's right hand, like a white-hot branding iron searing his flesh. He bit back a scream as the agony blossomed, smoke sizzling from the newly formed markings burned into his skin-

HADES EVAN SNAPE

When the pain finally subsided to a dull throbbing, Harry stared in dumbstruck horror at the name seared into his hand, undeniable truth sinking in. Snape...was his real father. His entire life had been a fabrication, orchestrated by that meddling old fool Dumbledore.

"Potter is merely the name you were given to conceal your heritage...and destiny," wheezed the goblin, his beady eyes glittering with cruel delight. "Your true identity is that of the dark heir. Your power and titled birthrights are yours to claim should you prove worthy. The choice is yours, Hades Snape."

Head swimming, Harry rose unsteadily to his feet as the goblins muttered a dismissal. Every gasping breath burned like shards of ice in his lungs as he staggered from the dank chamber, colliding with the cool stone walls of the corridor. He was more than the Boy Who Lived, more than a mere orphan raised by muggles.

Severus Snape's son, the heir to untold power and influence in the wizarding world. And if the Potter inheritance and vaults still belonged to him, he could be utterly unstoppable. Harry's ascension would be unchallenged with both light and darkness at his command.

The goblins weren't done, however. They summoned Harry back into the chamber, their voices taking on a formal, ceremonial tone. "Hades Evan Snape, heir to the noble houses of Snape and Prince by patrilineal descent. You have been judged worthy to claim your full birthrights and inheritances."

With a series of gravely intoned incantations, the goblins established Harry's supremacy over all Snape and Prince holdings - their vast liquid assets, properties across Britain, and troves of powerful artifacts and rare tomes.

But they didn't stop there. "Per the final will and testament of your legal father, James Potter, you are also entitled to inheritance as the last scion of the most ancient and noble House of Potter."

A sickening lead weight seemed to drop in Harry's gut as the additional windfall washed over him. He now commanded not just the power of darkness, but the full prestige and wealth of one of wizardkind's most revered family lines as well. It was almost too much to comprehend.

When all the rituals and confirmations had been completed, the goblins turned expectantly to Harry. "What is your chosen name to be recognized by, from this day forward?"

Harry didn't even have to think about it. His future self - his true self - crystallized in that moment with perfect clarity. Drawing up to his full height, he lifted his chin and spoke the words that would sever his last ties to the fabricated "Harry Potter."

"Hades Evan Snape. I claim my birth name and all it entails, as heir to the Houses of Snape, Prince, and Potter."

The words hung heavy in the air, binding him to his destiny. When Harry... no, Hades now...looked down at his right hand, the scar blistered there from the goblins' brandings shone like smoldering coals. He knew what he must do next.

First, he would inform Lucius and the Dark Lord himself of this revelation. Then, the boy resolved as the cold enormity of it all washed over him...he would seek an audience with his true father, Severus Snape. And may all the Gods and Powers have mercy on any soul that dared stand in his way.