August 4th, 1985
Severus Snape stared down at the bundle on the floor, trying to quell the panic that he could feel bubbling up in his chest. His face was impassive, of course, but in his mind he was swearing up a blue streak that would have made his father proud.
"Ain't it wonderful, Mr. Snape?" said Regina Fellows. Severus forced his lips into a sneer.
"Indeed," he said. "The Dark Lord will reward you handsomely for this."
The bundle shifted, whimpering slightly, bringing its tiny hand to its messy black hair. There was a goose egg there, Severus knew. Fellows, for all her ferocity, had little talent in magic, which was probably why she was so attracted to the Dark Lord in the first place. The weak sought strength; the humiliated sought validation. There was always a part of Severus that understood that and hated understanding. The bundle opened its eyes and – fine, it wasn't a bundle. It was Potter, Harry Potter, and Severus had never felt so ridiculously trapped in his life.
"You 'ave to call Him, Mr. Snape," Fellows said. "You're the only one of us able to, the only one with the Mark." Her voice was throaty with awe and jealousy. Severus nodded.
"Are we certain, absolutely certain that this is the right boy?" he said. "If we call Him and we are wrong, it will be-"
"Looks just like 'is father, 'e does. James Potter was Quidditch Captain my second and third year."
"Indeed." There was nothing to be done. To refuse to call the Dark Lord now would only serve to blow his cover. He would call the Dark Lord, and Harry Potter would die. "Give me some privacy. To contact Him is no small task." Fellows nodded seriously and left the room. Severus sighed, closed his eyes, and flicked up his left sleeve, trying to reorder his Occlumency shields.
Replace the panic with eagerness, replace the worry with revulsion – no, wait, hatred is better. No matter what, his Master always believed in his hatred. It seemed that Potter and Black had been good for something, if only for the emotional material to make his thoughts seem convincing. Lock the half-formed plans of rescue in a box in the back of his mind and throw away the key. Muster some doubt of the boy's identity, so that the Dark Lord didn't realize why it took Severus so long to call Him.
"Who're you?" Severus's eyes snapped open. "Where am I? Where's Mum and Dad?"
"Shut up, boy," Severus growled. He gave his mind another once-over, and then he pressed the Mark on his arm.
Ssseverus, the Dark Lord hissed through his mind. Severus fell to his knees.
"My Lord," he gasped out. Most would say that they felt Legilimency in their head, but Severus always found it to be a full body experience. Of course, the Dark Lord was hardly gentle as he tore through his thoughts, his memories. It was a violation, pure and simple, his Master thrusting into him, grasping at his deepest places and twisting them until they were exposed, ugly and pulsating, to all the world. Severus had never bothered to hide his fear and revulsion at these moment. His Master expected nothing less.
Why have you disturbed me, my Severus?
"My Lord, we have found Harry Potter." A burst of gleeful anticipation broke over Severus like a strong gust of wind.
My, my, this is a lovely surprise. You and your Unmarked will be greatly rewarded when I return to you.
"I live to serve you, my Lord."
I will come to you in three days. You may hurt the boy, make him bleed, make him fear, but do not kill him. That pleasure shall be only for me.
"Of course. Thank you, my Lord." One last wave of horrifying intrusion and his Master left. Severus stood shakily, letting his sleeve fall back over the Dark Mark and pulling in deep breaths. He opened his eyes to find startlingly green ones staring at him.
"Are you okay?" the boy said. Severus felt his jaw clench.
"I'm fine," he snapped. "You, on the other hand, will not be."
"Do you know where Mum is? She told me to stay by her, but I wanted to see the Qui – Qui – the broomsticks an' stuff. She's looking for me right now, I bet."
"I'm sure you're right," Severus said softly. He knew that he would have to edit this conversation later, but he couldn't bring himself to be crueler than he would have to be already.
"Mum's really nice, but she didn't want me to go with her and Dad. I don't know why. I'm not allowed to go anywhere."
"A wise decision. It's a pity that she allowed your father's rashness to overcome her sense."
"Why's your invis'ble friend so mean?" Severus stifled an unexpected laugh at that. "It's okay, I won't tell. I have lots of invis'ble friends. There's a centaur named Hilbert an' the Bald Prince an' a pig who thinks he's my cousin, but he isn't, because that doesn't make any sense." Harry paused, looking thoughtful. "None of them are mean, though. Why's your invis'ble friend mean to you? Friends should be nice."
"I was not speaking with an 'invisible friend.' I was," Severus swallowed, "I was informing my Master of your capture. In three days' time, He will come here."
"Oh. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"He intends to reward me beyond my wildest dreams. So yes, Mr. Potter, it is undoubtedly a bad thing."
"That doesn't make sense."
"It doesn't have to." Severus rubbed his eyes. "My apologies."
"What a 'pologies?"
"It means that I'm sorry, very sorry, for what's going to happen to you. Believe me, if I had any choice in the matter…"
"Is your Mum making you?"
"What?"
"Mum makes me do things I don't wanna sometimes. Like eat cabbage! Is your Mum making you talk to your invis'ble friend?"
"No, my mistakes are my own."
"So you don't have to do whatever you're doing."
"Do you have any idea what the Dark Lord-" Severus cut himself off. "Of course you don't, you're five. Apologies. I… forgot, for a moment."
"That's silly," the boy said with a giggle.
"Indeed." Severus stood reluctantly. "I… I regret what must happen. To you. I…" He shook his head. "I am truly sorry."
"What's gonna happen?" Severus didn't answer. He couldn't. All he could do was leave the boy to his fate.
Fellows and the other two new recruits he had been given charge of, Winston Porter and Septimus Yarrow, were waiting for him in the sitting room of the old house that served as one of the Dark Lord's many bases. This was a relatively minor one, and not worth the trouble of the Order shutting it down, for which Severus was guiltily grateful. He had no desire to face the Order in battle.
"Well," Fellows said eagerly, "what did our Master have to say?"
"He will come in three days," Severus said. "You three are welcome to torture Potter, but the Dark Lord intends to kill the boy himself."
"Damn," Yarrow said, "I suppose that means that I shouldn't use your little severing charm, should I?"
"I wouldn't suggest it," Severus said dryly. "The Dark Lord wants the boy to stand in front of him when he kills him, so I would also suggest not damaging him physically, at least not greatly." It was risky to embellish the Dark Lord's directives, but all of the plans that had been brewing at the back of Severus's mind involved somehow getting Harry beyond the wards that surrounded the base, so he couldn't risk the boy being unable to stand, much less run.
"Fine," Fellows said. "Come on, boys. I want to see how the kid looks when 'e's screaming."
"Do what you will. I have potions to brew," Severus said. Fellows gave him a sympathetic look.
"Too bad, Mr. Snape, missin' all the fun."
"There is no greater pleasure to me than to serve the Dark Lord."
"See, tha's why you're 'is favorite," Fellows said admiringly. "You're always so good at bein' 'is." Severus didn't dignify her brownnosing with a response, instead going upstairs to the small room he had commandeered as a potions lab.
After a few moments, the screaming begins. Severus forced himself to remain impassive, taking out the ingredients to prepare a large batch of the Blood Replenishing Potion. Brewing potions was one of the few times when he allowed himself to consciously scheme in the service of the Order, since modifying those memories was a simple matter of concentrating on the part of his mind wrapped up in the potion and locking away the rest. Bringing the plans that had been in the back of his mind for the last two hours, he began to consider the different threads of thought, discarding and keeping them in turn.
No plan will guarantee the boy's safety, of course, but Severus couldn't imagine simply doing nothing. It had been one thing when he had thought the Dark Lord would come immediately, but now… now there was a chance. Severus had three days to find a way to save the Chosen One, and he wasn't planning on giving the boy up to his Master until he had damn well exhausted all other options.