The Dark Prince

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Sorry-eyed we spent so much of your time

Now I'm tryin' to put your riddle to a rhyme

Now it's up up up I'm headin' for this evenin'

And it's up up up I'm headed for the clouds

Comin' down ain't the worst part

It only takes a second

To make a change that's gonna last

Goo Goo Dolls - Up, Up, Up

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Chapter 9

...only takes a second...

"Here."

"Your sure?"

"Miss Bennett, I have used this entrance much more often than I wish to comprehend. I do believe that I am sure it will take you where you wish to go."

"Good," said Natasha, eyeing the dark portal in front of them. It was hidden in a narrow crevice of a cave in the Forbidden Forest. As Natasha moved towards it, Snape grabbed her arm suddenly in a tight grip. She whirled, her face coming to a stop millimeters from his own. They were close enough that she could feel his breath.

"Miss Bennett, I shall warn you once more to get help. You will be in need of it and if you do not have it - you will die."

Natasha looked into the dark eyes and hissed, "Are you trying to scare me, professor?"

"Nothing of the sort, Miss Bennett. As inconceivable as it may sound to you and Weasley, I am trying to save your lives."

Ron snorted.

"Yeah, right. I'll believe that when Harry joins Voldemort."

Snape looked sideways at Ron, still holding Natasha's arm. She caught the look and frowned. What was that about?

"As the two of you seem to be quite adamant about this, I shall leave you to it. I only hope that the lions may make it out of the serpents nest before they are bitten."

With that Snape released Natasha's arm and left, his black cloak swirling behind him. Natasha frowned after him, wondering why on earth the man was helping them.

"C'mon, Natasha. Let's go."

"Coming."

Natasha glanced after Snape one last time then turned towards the portal. Drawing her wand, she strode into it, followed quickly by Ron.

Snape closed his eyes as they vanished into the black maw and pinched the bridge of his nose. He muttered, "Damn it all to Hell." Checking for something in a pocket of his cloak, he drew his wand and started for the portal.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

"Whoa..."

"Its so..."

"Dreary? Dark? Gothic?"

"All of the above."

Ron and Natasha peered at the hallway they had appeared in, which was grim looking stone and flickering torches in serpent shaped holders. The bright emerald eyes of the snake's flickered in the light from the torches they held.

"C'mon," whispered Ron as he crept forward. Natasha followed him. They rounded the corner just as a dark figure appeared behind them from the portal, muttering curses as it slinked along after them.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

"Good morning."

Hermione lifted her head from the damp floor and saw Harry - no - the Dark Prince standing above her. She could never again think of him as Harry. Not the Harry she knew at least.

She snarled incoherently at him and rolled over so she faced the wall.

He tutted.

"Now, now, Hermione. Let's be a bit more sociable, shall we?"

Hermione suddenly found herself sitting up with her back to the wall, facing the smirking Prince.

"How...?"

"Uh-uh," said the Prince, waggling a finger. "Only I get to ask the questions, my dear, not you. Perhaps when you're one of us..."

"One of you? NEVER!"

The Prince laughed coldly and Hermione shivered.

"Never is a long time, Mione. A very long time. I believe we shall have to shorten Never a bit, don't you?"

Hermione snarled incoherently again then spat, "Don't call me that."

"What?" asked the Prince, arching an eyebrow behind his mask. "'Mione'? That little term of endearment? Now, why can't I? I thought we were friends."

"We were once," said Hermione sadly. She then looked up at the Prince, fire flashing in her eyes, as she continued softly, "Not anymore."

"Oh, I'm hurt, Mione. Right here. In my heart." He laid a gloved hand over his chest.

"You don't have a heart anymore, you bastard. If you did, you wouldn't be here."

"Perhaps," said the Prince. "Perhaps not. One never knows, does one?"

Hermione suddenly asked, "What do you want with me?"

"Now that's a secret. Can't let our secrets out, now can we?"

"Certainly not," snarled a new voice. The Dark Prince turned and Ron slugged him across the jaw.

"Ron! Natasha!" hissed Hermione. "What in Merlin's name are you two doing here?"

"Rescuing you," replied Natasha as she bound the Prince in ropes.

"Yeah," said Ron as he looked Hermione over.

"I'm fine. Let's just get out of here."

"What about him?"

Hermione looked at the Prince, who Natasha had leaned up against one of the cell walls.

"Leave him."

"What? Mione..."

"Leave him, Ron," she softly said. "He's where he wants to be."

Ron and Natasha shared a look then the red-haired wizard wrapped his arm about the brunette's waits.

"C'mon, Mione. Let's go home."

"You won't be going anywhere."

A robed figure suddenly appeared at the door of the cell, his wand aimed at Natasha's heart.

"Move and she dies. Painfully."

Ron pointed his wand at the Dark Prince and snarled, "Kill her and he dies. What would your master think of that?"

The Death Eater sucked in a rattling breath, eyes shifting from Natasha to the unconscious Prince. That was all the time Natasha needed. She moved swiftly and made a strange move at his throat. The Death Eater fell quickly to the floor.

"What did you do?" asked Ron.

"Ancient method of disabling somehow. You hit a certain bone in a person's neck and they lose the ability to move. Now let's go. Where there's one Death Eater, there's always more."

"How right you are, my dear."

Natasha, Ron, and Hermione sucked their breath as Death Eater's suddenly filled the corridor outside. Voldemort himself appeared in the doorway, smiling coldly, his eyes glinting darkly.

"I'm afraid Miss Granger is our guest as the moment. And now, so are the two of you." He turned to a Death Eater as his left and snapped, "Thomas, Avery, take the boy. Mandrake, Lestrange, the woman. Take them to separate cells then bring me their wands. Malfoy, Nott, Crabbe, take care of the Prince."

Voldemort then disappeared and the Death Eater's moved swiftly to follow his orders. Ron was dragged to a cell down the corridor and Natasha was dragged in the separate direction. Hermione was left in her own cell as the Prince was taken away by the three Death Eaters. As soon as all of them were gone, Ron remarked, "Well, this is spiffing."

From the shadows, a figure watched all of this, cursing mentally. It then followed the three Death Eater's carrying the Dark Prince. It would find out who this new Prince was.

And then it would show whoever he was what real power was.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

Ecstasy is all you need

Living in the big machine

Oh you're so vain

Now your world is way too fast

Nothing's real and nothing lasts

And I'm aware

I'm in love and you don't care

Goo Goo Dolls - Big Machine

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Chapter 10

...world is way too fast...

"This is all your fault, Ron."

"My fault! How in Merlin's name is this my fault, woman? You dragged me into this!"

"Me! You wanted to rescue Hermione as much as I did!"

"Well, it didn't work, did it?" snapped an irritable voice from a cell inbetween Ron and Natasha's. Hermione stuck her face up to the bars and glared down at Natasha then down at Ron.

"I've been listening to you two badgering at each other for two hours. Enough! Just shut up! They have a detector in here that senses anyone that's not a Death Eater. That is how the two of you got caught. Now - sod the bloody heck off!!"

In his cell, Ron blinked and wondered when Hermione had started cursing.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

In a chamber of the fortress, the Dark Prince groaned and lifted his head. He lifted a gloved hand and removed his mask, letting it fall in his lap. Rubbing his jaw, he wondered what had hit him so hard.

"Mr. Potter."

Green eyes flew open to stare at the dark figure in the shadows.

"Professor."

Snape stepped out of the shadows and said, "I never imagined you would join the Dark Lord, Potter."

Harry smirked.

"Surprising, isn't it?"

"Yes. Especially that you are the Dark Prince."

"The one and only."

Snape smirked now.

"No," he said softly. "No, I don't think so."

Harry's eyes narrowed and he growled, "What are you talking about?"

"Surely Voldemort told you of the first Prince? No? Such a pity."

"He told me the first Prince was dead."

Snape laughed.

"Oh, he most certainly is dead! But - he could quite easily come back."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see, Potter. Very soon, you'll see."

With that Snape swept out of the room, leaving Harry to stare after him. Grunting, Harry rose, muttering a healing spell over his jaw. As the purple bruise slowly healed, he slipped his mask back on and the Dark Prince left his chamber in the fortress after Snape.

/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/

"Mione, what do they want with you?"

"I don't know, Ron."

"What about us?"

Hermione sighed and laid her head against the cold stone of her cell wall.

"They'll most likely kill the two of you. And me after they do whatever they want me for."

"Aw bloody hell..."

"What a tight spot you're in, Weasley."

Ron leapt to the door of his cell and hissed, "Snape! Get us the hell out of here!"

Snape tutted from his hiding place.

"I'm afraid that is impossible, Mr. Weasley. If I were to enter the cellblock, I would be revealed. Already the Prince knows I am here."

"What about Nott?" asked Hermione.

"Ah, Miss Granger. Nott is currently disabled. Do you have any idea why they captured you?"

"No."

Snape sighed.

"Well, then. Something that must be found out. I shall linger as long as I can and find out what they wish to do with the three of you. You especially, Miss Granger. I will return with help."

"You're just going to leave us here?" spat Natasha.

"I am afraid so, Miss Bennett," said Snape in a rather sad way. "I cannot take on all of the Death Eaters on my own along with the Prince and the Dark Lord."

"Coward!"

"I assure you, Miss Bennett, that I am not a coward. I have already risked my life by coming here. Do you have any idea what Voldemort will do to me if I am captured?"

Natasha was silent.

"I thought not," said Snape. "And you do not wish to know. It would be a long, slow, torturous death. I do not intend to go through that, but if I must, I will."

"Hurry, professor," said Hermione.

"Of course, Miss Granger," said Snape then turned and was gone, releasing Nott from the Time-Freeze Spell.

Ron muttered, "We're dead."