Severus Snape sits in the Headmaster’s chair with Dumbledore’s shadow still clinging to the walls, furious at the old man and terrified by one thing he cannot control: Harry has vanished off the map. With the Carrows installed and Hogwarts turning into a trap for anyone who dares return, Snape plays his role to survive and to limit the damage. Then Bellatrix Lestrange arrives, suspicious and snarling, and Snape seizes a rare chance. He takes a key, rides into Gringotts, and steps into the Lestrange vault where luck and horror collide. There, he finds Helga Hufflepuff’s cup. A Horcrux. One more piece of Voldemort’s immortality within reach.
Snape steals it under the goblins’ eyes, carries it back into the school like a blade hidden under silk, and destroys it with a basilisk fang, listening to the shriek of dark magic dying. But victory tastes bitter. Harry is still gone. When Dobby reports that Zar has been seen at Prince Manor, Snape clings to the only comfort he has left: proof that his son is alive, somewhere, and the war is not over yet.
