Snape stared up into Alister's glowing sapphire eyes for a long, agonizing moment.
His breathing was ragged, but slowly, the shock gave way to his own obsession which ran too deep into him.
He took a shuddering breath and finally opened his mouth.
"Are you... truly Lily's son?"
Alister let out a sharp, echoing bark of laughter after hearing it.
"Haha! I knew it."
He shifted his weight to stand up, offering his terrifying, clawed hand down to the Snape, who stared warily at the obsidian scaled claws that had been crushing his windpipe mere seconds ago.
After a tense hesitation, he reached up and accepted the grip. Alister hauled him effortlessly to his feet.
"I reveal myself as the Architect," Alister mused, his deep voice vibrating through the room.
"The most wanted, most revered entity on the planet right now... the one who just turned the entire wizarding world upside down... and that was the very first thing that came to your mind?"
Alister shook his heavy, horned head in amusement.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I've already deduced most of your backstory by now."
"But I wanted to hear it directly from you. And just to save your remaining sanity, yes. Astra and I are both Lily Evans's biological children."
Snape remained perfectly silent, though his dark eyes flickered as he instinctively tried to access the Arcane Network interface in his mind.
"Seriously, Severus?" Alister interrupted smoothly.
"Are you in such a state of shock that you forgot who created the Arcane Network?"
"Don't even try to open it. It's just a toy to me; I can destroy it just as easily as I created it."
Snape froze, his hand dropping back to his side.
"Now, let's come clean. Tell me everything," Alister demanded.
Snape just stared at him, his jaw set like stone. Looking at the rigid man in front of him, Alister realized Snape wouldn't speak even if he threatened to rip his soul apart.
Alister let out a heavy sigh, the glowing blue veins on his chest dimming slightly.
"My mother was incredibly lucky to have a friend like you. Someone who still remembers her when her own sister forgot her... someone who takes the blame for her death upon himself and has lived in that agonizing guilt for over a decade."
Snape flinched violently, the words were striking him harder than the physical blows Alister gave him earlier.
"Fine. Since you won't speak, let me tell you my story instead," Alister offered.
Snape's dark eyes instantly snapped up, a desperate, burning interest clearly rising in them.
"Oh, that got your attention, did it?"
Alister smirked, extending his clawed hand once more.
The air around his palm warped as raw, ancient magic began to gather.
"Here, take my hand. But be warned, the moment you do, you will be bound by a Soul Contract. You will never be able to reveal a single thing that happens in this room today. Even the most invasive Legilimency won't be able to pry it from your mind."
Snape looked at the extended, scaled hand. He was desperate to know what had truly happened to Lily's children, the very children who were the only reason he hadn't ended his own life out of overwhelming, suffocating guilt all those years ago.
Given the god-like power Alister had just displayed, Snape knew the boy had absolutely no reason to lie.
Without a second thought, Snape reached out and firmly grasped the hand.
After a blinding flash of crimson light, the ancient magic sank into Snape's skin, binding his souls. Alister pulled his clawed hand back, signifying the seal of the contract.
"Right, then," Alister began, pacing slowly, his heavy tail dragging across the stone floor. "Let me start from the beginning. I was born into this world as the son of James Potter and Lily Pot... ah, excuse me. Lily Evans."
Snape's jaw snapped shut so hard his teeth clicked. His hands curled into tight, trembling fists. Seeing Snape emote more in ten seconds than he had in Alister's entire first year was immensely amusing to the teenage him.
"But two months before I was supposed to join Hogwarts," Alister continued casually, "I caught a severe fever. It escalated quickly. I was on the absolute brink of death."
Snape's dark eyes blew open. The terror he hadn't shown for his own life suddenly flooded his face. He actually lunged a step forward.
"Ah-ah, don't get excited." Alister chided, raising a scaled finger.
"I didn't actually die. I'm standing right in front of you. Honestly, it's fascinating that my Tier 3 aura didn't scare you nearly as much as the mere thought of Lily's son dying in a bed somewhere."
"The only thing stopping you from trying to hex me right now is my mother's blood in my veins. You are a seriously crazy bastard, Severus. But... that insane devotion is also the exact reason I didn't snap your neck the moment you showed an unnatural interest in Astra."
Snape chest heaved as he forced his frantic protective instincts back down.
"Right, let's continue. I got off track," Alister sighed, tapping a sharp claw against his chin. "Where was I?"
"You..." Snape croaked, his voice raw and shaking. "You were about to die."
"Ah, yes, Thank you. Well, in the moment my heart was about to give out, something snapped. I ended up recovering and remembered my previous life."
Snape blinked and stayed silent showing that he clearly didn't believe what Alister spoke.
"Don't look at me like it's a joke. You're staring at a Dragon Animagus who built a global telepathic network; open your mind a little," Alister deadpanned. "But that's not even the most absurd part. When my memories awakened, I learned a very fun fact: this world is rapidly running out of magic."
"That... that is impossible, Dumbledore and those old guys were clearly bluffing. Magic doesn't just 'run out'..."
"Tell that to the Will of the World," Alister interrupted, tossing his hands up in sheer exasperation. "Because right after dropping that apocalyptic piece of shit on my head, the Will of this world literally died. And in its infinite cosmic wisdom, it made me responsible for keeping this entire dying rock from completely falling apart."
Snape staggered a few steps back, his knees hitting the edge of his desk. He had spent decades preparing to repel dark lord who might come after Astra, but he clearly wasn't prepared for anything this big.
"Now, it's your turn, Severus."
END OF CHAPTER
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