Severus Snape apparated along with the Carrows in a dark and dirty alley a couple of blocks away from their objective. They wore muggle garbs as they would infiltrate the growing tumult of attendees crowding the entrance to a famous nightclub. Although Severus considered Amycus to be little more than a troll, he had to agree that he had a sinister mind, the site chosen was the ideal one to attack a large number of muggles and create as much panic as possible.

The attack was intended to end the tranquillity of muggle society and undermine the confidence wizards had in the Ministry of Magic's ability to control Death Eaters. The plan itself was simple enough, Greyback and Goyle would slam into the crowd torturing and cursing left and right, revealing the might of magic to muggle eyes. Later Amycus and Severus would be responsible for conjuring the Fiendfyre curse that would destroy everything in its path. Alecto and Selwyn had to oversee the blocking of all exits of the building and attack all the emergency services that might appear. They expected it to be a swift, accurate, and deadly attack.

As they emerged onto the main street, Severus quickly scanned the surroundings expecting to see the agreed signal indicating that the Order's members were in their proper positions. Tonks and Weasley should be already inside the building making sure to save the lives of as many muggles as possible. Moody, Lupin and Jones must have been surrounding the building, ready to cast anti-deflagration spells at the moment of hearing the first blasts. 

Severus hoped that his fellow Order members were competent enough to stop the attack without needing his direct help. He avoided getting physically involved in Death Eater attacks and always stayed in the shadows, protecting his status as a triple agent. This time, there was no way to get away, as Amycus would be suspicious of him if his plan were suddenly hampered by aurors after his insistence on being included in the attack. He was to stay on the side of the Death Eaters and play along.

Severus frowned when he saw no sign of the Order's presence in the surroundings, however, he continued walking with a determined step and entered the noisy building with Amycus, there they would wait for the right moment to attack.

"Not bad, huh?" -Amycus said with a lascivious smile when two girls passed by him wearing rather scanty skirts. - "I can hardly wait to hear their little screams."

Severus ignored that comment and sat next to him at the bar. Amycus cast the Imperius Curse and the bartender immediately walked over to him bringing a pint of beer.

"What do you want? My treat."

"Whisky. Neat."

Severus was in no mood to drink but decided it was better to join Amycus while he waited for some sign of life from the other members of the Order. He cursed under his breath. How could they be so stupid? He blamed Lupin especially and not precisely for a rational reason, but because he still held a great resentment towards the former marauder. His calm eyes roamed the room and finally something caught his attention. He took in the various graffiti adorning the wall in front of him, the muggle Queen's spray-painted face shaking her crowned head almost imperceptibly. Something was wrong, some member of the Order was not yet in position. He had to buy time.

Amycus drank his beer, his gaze wandering over the cleavage of the women around him. Every so often he would glance at his pocket watch.

"Greyback must come in at any moment. Do you think he will behave like a decent wizard or will he start barking and biting like a dog? " - Amycus said with a giggle.

Severus cast the muffliato spell and narrowed his eyes in anger.

"Do you think this is a joke, Amycus? Talk so blatantly? Someone could hear you! "

"Muggles don't know how to listen."

"I'm not talking about muggles. Someone from the Ministry could be around here. "

"The Ministry doesn't give a damn about muggle lives. They only care about maintaining the Statute of Secrecy, trying to mitigate and hide our ravages. They will appear only when we are done here. "

And once again Severus had to agree with Amycus. He looked at the portrait again hoping to find an affirmative sign, but the Queen kept shaking her head. What the hell was going on?

"It's almost ten o'clock, the party must be about to start."

"No, stop them. Haven't you seen the line outside? We must wait a little longer."

"You are right. We will give it one more hour." - Amycus replied as he sipped the rest of the beer and ordered the bartender to bring another one. - "Besides, it's not such a bad place to hang around."

The minutes passed and Severus became more and more desperate, he was about to go out and send a patronus but he held back. It would be very dangerous for him to expose himself that way. Amycus was already losing his patience.

"Greyback is ready to go. He's waiting in the alley with Goyle, I don't know why you want to delay the plan any longer. "

"It's still very early, Amycus. Muggles will start arriving in more numbers at midnight. I thought you at least knew that ... "

Suddenly a woman with long dark hair had approached them. Severus looked at her hopefully, wishing she were Nymphadora Tonks in disguise and ready to greenlight the plan, but as he met her gaze, he realized that she was merely a muggle.

He turned his eyes to the exasperated Amycus, who was glaring at him. Of course he knew! He had studied muggle customs. It had taken him a couple of weeks to prepare that plan and he was proud. It would be his moment of glory before the Dark Lord, but Severus Snape had to show up and intrude. If it was up to him, he would have never allowed it, but his Master would accept any request his adored lapdog made, and he had no choice but to include Snape in the plan. Severus noticed his antipathy and his jealousy; he hadn't needed to use his legilimency. With an arrogant smirk on his face, he finished his sentence:

"Tell Greyback I'll send for him in due course ..."

"Don't you dare give me orders, Severus! I came up with this plan, not you. "

The sound of breaking glass made both men turn their heads towards the young woman standing next to them.

"What the hell is wrong with that muggle?" - Asked Amycus disgusted.

The woman staring at Severus asked in a high, trembling voice:

"Severus. Are you Severus Snape? "

Snape thought he had misheard, but Amycus's surprised face implied that he had heard the exact same thing. It was the first time Severus felt like he was starting to lose control during a mission. He glanced quickly at the Queen's portrait and to his irritation she still responded with a negative gesture.

"What the hell... Who is this, Snape?"

Snape had no idea what was going on. He stared into the bright brown eyes of the woman trying to use legilimency to decipher the muggle's intentions, but he was so nervous that he was unable to get into her thoughts.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't help hearing your name, Severus. It's not very common, you know. An acquaintance has the same name, and he looks so much like you... I thought maybe it was the same person... Tobias Snape, have you heard that name? He was his father... maybe I am mistaken... but I was sure... "

Laurel was so nervous that she could not stop the verbal vomiting she was suffering at that moment. The sallow-skinned man with long greasy black hair was staring at her so intensely that she almost had the feeling that he was trying to read her mind.

"Hear? HEAR?! Didn't you conjure up the muffliato?!"- Amycus yelled.

Without a word, Severus immediately cast the Imperius curse against him and a sleepy look washed over his face. Laurel looked worriedly at the pig-faced man who suddenly fainted into his chair.

"Something's wrong with your friend." - Laurel said quietly.

"He's not my friend." - Severus replied.

"So... sorry" -Laurel felt her cheeks burn with shame. - "I didn't mean to be rude or intrusive. But I could not help it ... I knew Tobias Snape. I took care of him, and he told me so much about his family, about his son Severus... "

"I do not have a father." - Severus cut her coldly.

Laurel was mortified. How could it ever have occurred to her to address a complete stranger like that? She was sure it was Severus Snape and his reaction was perfectly understandable. He obviously must hate his father and he would not want to know anything about him at all. Laurel was tempted to apologize for ruining his night and leave the place immediately. However, the man's penetrating and dangerous gaze seemed to bolt her to the ground.

Severus felt how his heart began to beat uncontrollably. Drops of icy sweat were beginning to form on his forehead and over his upper lip. At that moment he completely forgot that he was in the middle of a mission. He only had eyes for the woman in front of him. He assessed her quickly trying to discern if he had met her during his childhood, but he could not recognize her in any way. She was a simple muggle, dressed in skinny jeans, a black crop top that let her midsection exposed, and a denim jacket. But then something caught his eye, something shiny dangling from her neck. The Prince family crest flashed silver glitters every time the strobe lights hit her body.

"Who gave you that?" - he asked sharply, pointing to the young woman's chest.

"To ... Tobias, he has left it along with his diaries and photographs." - The young woman replied, stroking the emeralds in the medallion with trembling fingers. - "I can give them back to you. Everything."

Laurel bended her body a little closer to Severus until their eyes were on the same level and he was able to smell her floral perfume.

"Look, I know it's pretty weird. I cannot believe it myself... only yesterday I said goodbye to him for the last time... and now I find you. It looks like magic, doesn't it? " - She said with a sad smile. - "Tobias... he was deeply sorry. During the last years he only talked about you. About Eileen. "

Severus stood up immediately. His body trembled from head to toe. Without thinking, he pulled the wand out of his pocket, clenching it so hard that he had lost the colour in his knuckles. A few red sparks shot out of it uncontrollably. The few people who noticed it applauded thinking they were simple pyrotechnics. Yet Laurel felt the same shock as if a bullet train slammed head-on into her. "He's a wizard. Severus can do magic, just like his mother." Tobias's words echoed in her head and Laurel was immediately convinced. She took a trembling step back, gazing open-mouthed at the towering, slim figure of the furious wizard in front of her.

"Don't you dare pronounce my mother's name." Severus hissed with hatred. - "Or to mention the bastard of my father. You have no idea..."

But then a loud bang deafened the entire building. Laurel thought for a moment that Severus had attacked her but then realized that he looked as surprised as she was. Screams and shrieks invaded the venue as two men walked around laughing and casting curses. A mass of people ran toward the already blocked exits. Severus suddenly remembered that he was in the middle of a mission and turned his gaze to the Queen's graffiti. She winked at him and nodded. Finally.

He looked for the dark-haired woman, but she had already disappeared into the crowd. Severus felt a feeling of anger mixed with a pang of concern. He hoped that Bill and Nymphadora could rescue her with joint disappearance along with the other muggles. He would take care to look for her later.

He quickly removed the Imperius from Amycus and he stood up as if nothing had happened.

"Where has the muggle gone?" - He asked as he lazily looked at the chaos around him with a smirk.

"That doesn't matter now Amycus." - Severus replied. - "Greyback and Goyle are having a blast. Do you want to join them? "

The wizards raised their wands in the air and shouted in unison:

"FIENDFYRE!"

Jets of fire emerged from the tip of the wands, devastating the entire enclosure. Severus could see through the flames the almost imperceptible figures of Weasley and Tonks appearing and disappearing at the speed of light, evacuating muggles in numbers.

Laurel was yelling desperately for Rebecca and Edward, the fire consuming everything around her. She could not breath and she threw herself to the floor, trying to avoid the thick black smoke that was filling up her lungs. A figure appeared next to her suddenly, a woman with a heart-shape face and mousy brown hair grabbed her by the hand. And then, as Laurel felt how the grasp of her hand went through her own like a ghost, the woman disappeared leaving her behind. Laurel was in absolute shock when a second later the woman appeared once again and this time, she grabbed her whole arm, but it happened exactly the same.

"What is happening?! Why can't I just disappear with you?! "- The woman exclaimed as she appeared next to her again.

Laurel did not have time to respond, a beastly-looking man cast a spell against the woman and she responded with a counterattack that the man dodged by jumping like an animal would. The woman let out an exasperated cry and she disappeared again. Laurel started to run, but the fire blocked her way. She threw herself on the floor in exhaustion, behind her the wild-looking man with sharp teeth pointed his wand at her.

"Crucio!" – He growled

The curse hit Laurel's body squarely, but to Fenrir Greyback's surprise the woman didn't begin to squirm in pain. She just kept gaping at him, crying terrified from the ground.

"Crucio, crucio, CRUCIO!

Fenrir brandished his wand furiously, his anger growing more and more as he noticed how the girl was completely unaffected by the unforgivable curse he was casting. He finally put the magic aside and decided to attack her with his bare hands. He pounced on the woman and was about to sink his teeth into her neck when a spell struck him in the face causing several cuts.

"Get away from her, Fenrir." - Snape's silky voice said. He appeared in front of the girl, defending her as he pointed his wand at the werewolf.

"Now you protect the muggles huh, Snape?" - Fenrir snapped with a mocking laugh. -"What happened? Did you like her little ass? I wouldn't hesitate to take a bite of it either. "

Severus narrowed his eyes in anger and was about to cast another spell on Fenrir when the Carrow siblings appeared next to them.

"The blood traitors are fighting outside; they have caught Selwyn... What is happening here?" - Alecto looked incredulously at the scene in front of her.

"Traitor!" - Fenrir yelled pointing at Snape and Laurel who was cowering behind him. - "Muggle defender, that's what it is!"

Alecto did not think twice, pointing at Laurel she yelled:

"¡AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The bright green light came out of the wand and hit Laurel's chest, but she barely gave a cry of surprise when she saw how her body lit up with the green glow and then disappeared instantly. She tried to get up again, but when she couldn't, she crawled trying to get as far away from them as possible.

The four wizards in front of her were staring at her totally dumbfounded, their eyes and mouths wide open. It was impossible...

Snape was the first to react. He had no choice. He took Laurel, lifting her off the floor and summoned the incantation he had learned from his Master just a short time ago. Suspended in mid-air, he flew off, blending into the black smoke billowing through the open windows of the club.