As expected, Chris failed to report for detention that evening. In fact, Chris failed to show up to any lessons for the rest of the week, except for, amusingly enough, Defence. Dolores was quite sick of him as she stated quite loudly and repeatedly during the staff meetings that now seemed to be a weekly event. Severus was sure that he would wind up killing her before the year was out, he had no doubt that that high pitched self-righteous voice was enough to send even the great and mighty Albus into a murderous rage if one was exposed to it too often. As for the young man in question, Draco had assured him that the boy had most definitely not been in the Slytherin dorms during his periods of absence, which begged the question, where had he been hiding?

A sharp pain in his left arm ripped a hole through the current dunderhead's homework assignment he was marking, not that it made any difference to the overall presentation considering the appalling state the work had been handed in in, and Severus bit back a groan. Just one night, just one night he'd like to not be at the beck and call of his masters. Was one night really too much to ask? He slipped into the back of his office and shrugged on his robes, wincing as the pain of the summons increased in intensity 10 fold. Dear God what had Potter done to annoy the mad man this time? The last time he'd been this annoyed… Severus shook his head, it wasn't done to dwell on the past, and especially not when his survival depended on exactly how well he could shield his mind from the Dark Lord.

Malfoy Manor had slipped into a state of, well, disrepair since the Dark Lord had taken up residence. The main hall, which used to be gleaming and polished to an inch of its life by the resident house elves, was now covered in spell marks and blood with the majority of the house following suit. Only Draco and Narcissa's rooms had escaped the onslaught. As Severus made his way through he was struck by how quiet it was, usually there were the echoes of some unknown muggle screaming at the very least, if not the Dark Lord's screams. The sudden presence of Nagini at his side caused him to jump and quicken his pace. His presence was most definitely required.

He passed through the doors and dropped to his knees, his head bowed and every muscle screaming apologies.

"Ah, Severus, so good of you to… join us." Voldemort's voice dripped with sarcasm, if such a thing were possible. His snake like hisses often seemed to only have two settings; angry and angrier.

"My Lord, I beg your forgiveness, the Old Fool, I came as soon"

"Tom. Leave the man alone." A sharp voice cut across Severus' degrading pleas and he glanced up at the stranger, shifting slightly to alleviate the cold discomfort in his knees. "I do not have the time to waste to listen to your petty squabbles. If you're going to work with me you need. To. Grow. Up." He glanced disdainfully at Severus on the floor. "Get up and go stand wherever it is you're meant to be."

Summarily dismissed Severus quickly slid into his place in the ranks and stood to attention. Occlumency shields firmly in place and shifted his gaze ever so slightly towards the Dark Lord and the newcomer.

"Christopher, if you are going to insist on acting like a child I will treat you like one."

Severus gasped, a barely audible intake of breath as he realised just who was behind the two men of his attention. So, the cursed brat had made it out of the wards then. So the question became, why did he keep coming back?

"I don't know Wy, why don't you take me over your knee and spank me like dear old Daddy used to do?"

The sarcastic reply caused ripples of muted muttering to pass through the assembled Death Eaters. Wyatt however merely sighed and flicked a hand towards his brother. Chris' sharp intake of breath was the only clue something had taken place.

"You'd like that wouldn't you, my little masochistic freak? As it stands I have more pressing matters to attend to than your ramblings. I gave you your powers back, I could quite easily take them away."

Chris scowled and looked at the floor, "And what use would I be to you then dear brother?"

Wyatt, to his credit, ignored this last comment and turned towards the assembled wizards, all of whom not quite believing the scene they had just witnessed. Of course, many in the room had realised who they were dealing with the second they had entered the room, still others had worked it out as soon as names were mentioned, and those who had remained in the dark had soon been filled in by their colleagues while the two teens were discussing amongst themselves.

"Ladies, gentleman, and everyone else, whilst I am sure you are aware of my identity let me formally introduce myself. My name is Wyatt Halliwell, the prophesised Twice Blessed, Arthur Incarnate and current ruler of the United States, both this realm and the Underworld. My aim is simple. I will take control everywhere. Power is everything and that is something that you people are likely to sympathise with. There are those that would still fight me, as there are those that fight you. I will lend you my forces, witches, demons and warlocks alike. Creatures of darkness that your Order of the Phoenix can do nothing to fight. In return you will aid me in my conquest of South America and Canada.

"Should you be agreeable to this I shall allow you all to keep Britain as your playground. With my help this war shall be won quickly and bloodshed on our side minimal. In return for this you will all ultimately answer to me. I am not unreasonable. I will not interfere in the simple matters, merely the larger decisions that I feel merit my attention. Your leader has agreed to this. So I ask you all – will you join me?"

The room was silent.

"Basically kids, you don't have a choice. But save face won't ya and just say yes?" Chris drawled from his new spot, and Severus was sure he'd not seen the kid move at all, directly to his brother's side looking every inch the dark prince that he was and being slightly terrifying with it. For the first time Severus really took in the teen's clothing, noting the slightly darker section at the bottom of his jeans and the scuff marks on his leather jacket. The boy had definitely been in a fight. Magical or otherwise he couldn't say for sure but obviously Chris had come out on top.

"Enough!" Voldemort hissed. "You will obey or you will suffer my… wrath." It was bad enough that the Halliwells were undermining his authority over his Death Eaters, the least those Death Eaters could do is obey the simple instructions given them. Wyatt was capable of much more painful things than a crucio, and even Voldemort was not afraid to admit that he had no desire to be subjugated to Wyatt's form of persuasion any time soon.

"Or mine," Chris piped up with, "And I assure you, I am much, much worse." His face took on an almost feral grin as he spoke and a few of the weaker Death Eaters shuddered a little, that face on one so young could turn the stomachs of even the strongest men. "Aren't I Wyatt?"

"Be quiet Christopher." Wyatt spoke with a finality that should not have come out of any teenager's mouth. It spoke of pain and hardship and growing up way too soon and way too fast, of true knowledge of exactly what this world held and just how much effort it would always be to keep on living because you always had to be on top. To Severus however, it sounded like a boy who'd lost him mum and only knew what was easy. Or maybe that was just Albus' optimism rubbing off on him.

"I and my brother will take our leave now, there are a great many things that require our attention elsewhere. I'm sure any questions will be adequately answered by Tom here. Severus. A word." Wyatt walked out of the room, closely tailed by his brother, and rather more resignedly Severus, already calculating all the possible ways Halliwell could ensure his silence. In the two minute walk he reached 56, each more painful than the last.

After a few minutes of painful silence Wyatt finally spoke.

"Severus, I understand you work at this infernal school our Aunt has forced Christopher into. I also understand that you are the head of the house he has been placed into. Based on your presence here I can assume that your loyalties are not exactly with this Dumbledore man. I can also assume that you have some way out of the wards. A way that you will let Christopher use as and when I please because intelligent as those whitelighters are they never quite stop believing in the good of a human soul. Every single ward they put up allows Christopher to leave accompanied by, or with the express permission of another. Do believe me when I say that it will be very beneficial to your health for you to agree, and to not tell the old man that we have worked this out. Do you understand me?"

Severus nodded minutely and Wyatt turned to look at his brother an expectant look on his face, as if this was a well-rehearsed routine.

"Well?"

"He's telling the truth. For all that that means anyway,"

"Not now Christopher. Malek wants you in Massachusetts anyway. Go, get out of my hair and get that damn lip out of your system before I have to beat it out." The smile on his lips belied his words, or so Severus hoped, it didn't fare well for the younger Halliwell if that was not the case, and despite himself, having spent even a small amount of time with Chris he felt some sort of duty to look after him. Only that of a student and teacher mind you, but it was enough to make him wonder exactly what had led these boys to do what they were doing. Teenage idealism can only take you so far after all.

"But," A pointed look from his brother and Chris disappeared in a whirl of black orbs and manic smiles and childlike glee and Wyatt sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Watch out for him when he gets back Severus. He's still just a child, no matter what he tries to tell you. He's too enamoured with the idea of killing to truly understand it, means he gets on well with the more unsavoury characters I have to associate with but I do hate seeing magical blood spilled. It seems such a waste. Oh, and make sure he eats. He has an awful habit of forgetting that he needs food to survive. Seems to think he can live on air and bloodshed."

"If I may sir, you seem little more than a child yourself."

Wyatt let out a bark of laughter. "That I am Severus, that I am. But what's that old saying, out of the mouths of babes?"

Like his brother before him Wyatt disappeared into a flurry of black orbs and Severus let out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding. Things had definitely got more interesting, and infinitely more dangerous. He'd have to be careful or everything he'd worked for could be in danger.

….

So, yes I am alive, yes I'm very sorry and yes this fic is turning a hell of a lot darker and will likely stay that way for quite some time, no promises on the next update because I'm not in a great place right now and I want to go back and improve the earlier chapters of this first, honestly, I read some of this stuff and I cringe.

Ldf x