54) Patrols and conversations

There was a moment of silence in the corridor.

Severus continued looking at the corridor. The first disillusion dropped after twenty seconds of his warning. A shimmer started to happen in the air which was followed by another two instantly within a moment.

Severus looked at the face of the first person and was a little surprised inwardly. He hadn't thought that they would confront him now, considering it has been several days after the event.

"Miss Black, Black, Crouch," He said with a calm and straight face, giving nothing away to them. The perfect poker face of his, which he had perfected over with practise.

"Prince," came the calm greeting back from Regulus as well as Narcissa. Bartemius Crouch Jr however simply remained silent as he followed the lead of his two cousins who had roped him into this situation with them.

"May I enquire, why you three are following me at the dead of night? And that too with a disillusionment charm upon you," Severus asked slowly with a smooth voice. His empty black eyes boring into them. He will not resort to use Legilimency. They were from influential families and he for a fact knew, trained in the art of occlumency a little.

Barty was a little surprised at the smoothness of the tone. He had never seen Prince use that tone in his whole time in Hogwarts till now.

Regulus was unfazed however. He had searched for an oppurtunity till now to have a private talk with Severus Prince. But his luck seemed to didn't favour him as Prince disappeared like a ghost most of the times from the eyes of people. He was getting harder to track.

He appeared in classes and exited with his friends but disappeared half way for the next class. Unlike previous stays in library, this time he hardly sat there for more than fifteen minutes.

Infact it seemed he was there only to help Laena Greengrass. Both of them studied in library together, even Greengrass' group spied on them from distance, trying to guard Greengrass.

Noone knew of his whereabouts after dinner and even Regulus had heard from Evan that he returned around 3 in the night.

At first Regulus had suspected that Prince was perhaps staying this late to meet or shag his girlfriend, if he had any. But the man came back imaculate as ever like no such activities had ever taken place.

"We wanted to talk with you," Narcissa replied back calmly giving nothing away like always.

"Fine, converse within youselves and then decide who will speak to me. I will talk to only one of you," Severus spoke up after a moment, he didn't wanted to deal with three people at once. It would be best if they selected a representative among them.

"Fine, I will talk with you," Regulus said as he stepped forward. He was not going to shrink back now, not when he had come this close.

"I want you to remove my blood traitor of a cousin Andromeda from your factory," Regulus spoke with steel in his voice.

"Your opinion was intriguing, and the demand you make is something I understand well. But sadly, I have to reject your request," Severus replied back calmly, as he pinned Regulus with a bored gaze.

Narcissa who had expected something like this, sighed inwardly at the words spoken by Severus. In her time at Slytherin, she had known by now that Severus was a prideful boy. And his pride wasn't a result because of his blood or background but due to his belief in his skills and capabilities. She had suspected that he wasn't going to be cowed, but the words just confirmed her doubts.

"You may not like the consequences. The Black family don't take slights against it well," Regulus warned coldly. The warning was clear, hiring Andromeda was a slight against the Black family and it wasn't going to go well for Prince and his factory if he didn't removed her from his service.

"If you are here as Heir Black, Fine," Severus commented making his voice a little amused at the notion.

Regulus continued looking at Severus after his comment. His face changed back to his usual blank state but this time his eyes became cold and unyielding.

"The Black family holds no influence over the Prince family, remember this Heir Black. If you want to play, then remember the playground is always open. However don't go back crying when the game becomes tough for you," Severus said as his voice became as cold as his eyes.

"And regarding Andromeda, she might have brought shame upon you and your family with her actions. Your family's reputation was lowered in the Pureblood society because of that. But all that are personal matters between her and your family. I will not bring myself between it," Severus continued as his voice became a little less cold than before. His gaze however didn't. Regulus was a little cowered by the intensity of his gaze however at that moment. He had a power in it, a power which Regulus had never seen before in him.

"However her daughter; little Nymphadora is my goddaughter. Should any harm fall upon her and I find the reason behind it as you and your family. Then nothing will come between me and your family. And I swear, that blood will be reimbursed by blood," Severus finished, his voice becaming dead cold and serious at last.

The three cousins were shocked when they heard the news of him being the godfather of little Nymphadora. Narcissa hadn't expected it even among her wildest imaginations. She couldn't help but admire her sister for her shrewd plan at that moment.

"Is that a threat?" Regulus asked with thinly veiled anger in his voice.

"It can be a threat, advice or whatever. It depends upon you, as how you take it for. However remember, these are the words of Heir Prince." Severus commented, as he turned back and walked away from the scene. He didn't bothered to wait there, the message was said and everything was clear between them.

Besides the Black family could do nothing for the moment.

The Dark Lord had hopes of him joining his ranks. If he was made aware of this, then the Black family would suffer displeasure at his hands. Afterall they were coming in between him and the Dark Lord, it would only make Lord Voldemort angry and mad for losing a powerful ally.

The Dark Lord was not a fool, he knew, that in order to win the war which was being fought currently he needed allies. More importantly powerful allies who could benefit his cause.

While in the original timeline, he would even go on to cripple the ministry totally. It was not the same for this moment.

The people of the Wizarding World knew that there was a Dark Lord. They still didn't knew his official purposes or motives completely. In fact most of the people considered him as a rogue wizard who was going against the entire Ministry of Magic.

While the Dark Lord was no fan of muggleborns, he was still not going to publically say that all the muggleborns should be killed. He was hiding his intentions behind a veiled promise of betterment of Wizarding World. If he had proclaimed his intention of mass slaughter of Muggleborns, he would have very less followers. Infact many would not join him due to his extremist methods and views. While the people of Wizarding World placed importance on the purity of blood. They too knew that the muggleborns and halfbloods constituted a very large number of population of Wizarding World.

"Well that was unexpected," Barty commented as he looked at the empty corridor. While he was here on the request of Regulus, he hadn't expected that the matters would go like this.

He had thought that there would be wands drawn, spells fired, curses and hexes thrown on each other. Infact he had come in mind with the intention of being a martial support to Regulus and Narcissa. While he had wanted to end the things diplomatically, looking back at the whole encounter, he did thought that they ended everything good terms.

"Indeed," Narcissa commented simply as she continued looking to the front where he had vanished some moments before. What had happened to the antisocial and awkard boy? She thought inwardly. He was completely changed from before and Narcissa wanted to know the reason behind his change in behaviour and all.

"I will tell father about his reply," was the only reply from Regulus who started to walk back to the common room.

The other two simply followed him.

Regulus was annoyed at the behaviour of Severus Prince. From the moment he was born he was told to take pride in his family and their beliefs. He had always valued his family stance and beliefs and suited him according to it. Sirius could never do it but Regulus had adjusted.

Prince was not listening to simple logic and looking at what would be the best for him. If he wanted a confrontation with the Black family, then he will get it for sure.

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It was past midnight there was another meeting going on in a bar in Hogsmeade.

"We will be there for the patrols, Headmaster," a man in his early twenties spoke up as he looked at the figure of the old man with long beard and half moon glasses. He had reddish orange hair and was completely clean shaved.

"Worry not Headmaster, Fabian and me would be there to prevent anything with the purpose to foil the tournament," another man with the similar appearance to the previous speaker, spoke up this time. The man was Gideon Prewett, the twin brother to Fabian Prewett.

"You two have barely entered into the service, Prewett and Prewett," a harsh strict voice spoke up. The man in question was having battle scars in his entire body to prove the dangerous life he had lived till now. His eyes and legs were still intact and nice, unlike his future self who had a magical eyes and stump for leg.

"But you forget Sr Auror Moody, that we were," "Top of our classes," both the brothers finished each other sentences.

Albus smiled warmly at the whole bantering. The scene reminded him of a memory of Harry.

The memory of another two twin redheads who were just too similar with their uncles. Mr Fred and Mr George Weasley. He vowed to not let their uncles die this time. Afterall mischeif needed to be spread sometimes.

"It doesn't matter, you are assigned to patrol duty. It doesn't mean you will go around pranking students and giving them suggestions on pranks," Moody said with a strict tone in his voice. While both the Prewett twins were incredible wizards, they were reckless. Their playfulness was fine but life wasn't a game, that they could play happily always.

And while he didn't liked their antics, he nonetheless tolerated them. Good wizards were hard to find and wizards like Prewett twins were harder.

"Now, I must stress you that the Ministry wants the whole tournament to be finished smoothly. You will be incharge of the protection of students and the delegates to school along with foreign aurors," Albus said calmly as he looked at the three aurors.

"Aye, the Minister told me so. He placed Crouch for the Death Eaters and told me to be at Hogwarts as it is more important for now," Alastor said not pleased with the decision. He was a fighter and he was stuck doing guard duties for the Ministry. He should be out there, capturing more of Voldemort's Death Eaters. He had seen what they had made of the whole Wizarding World and he had vowed to not let that happen again.

The Potter boy was skilled but extremely lucky too, to come out of deadly scenarios like he had been without much harm.

He had seen worse in his time at the Magical law enforcement. The boy would make an excellent auror if he was guided for it. It also brought another thing to his mind which he had forgotten before.

"The Minister wants me to guide some of your selected students for the duelling championship between three Schools. He wants the winner to be a Hogwarts student," Alastor said as he looked at his old friend Albus who was surprised at the information.

Albus pondered over it for a second before happily nodding. Alastor would be a great help for many students, who dearly wanted to improve in the arts of duelling.

"You will find worthy students Alastor," Albus said with a smile as his thoughts went to the potential future members of the Order. Frank Longbottom, Dorcas Meadows, Benjy, Kingsley Shacklebolt etc.

"That I will see," Alastor said grumpily. He hated teaching snotty brats who thought that they knew best but then perhaps he would enjoy it too. He thought with a feral expression on his face.

Fabien and Gideon who were there shivered involuntarily a little, thinking about their training and the hexes thrown on them.

They just hoped that the students would be able to handle Moody well.

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