He needed it. It was right there in his pocket, if only he could reach it. Just a little bit more, only an inch or so and it would be in his hand, and he would be gone. Almost.there.

"Crucio.", a voice whispered, and the bound body of Severus Snape writhed and twitched in agony, as though a million hot knives where ripping at every square inch of his body. Lord Voldemort stood over Snape with his wand held out and said so all of his Death Eaters could hear "This one thought he wouldn't be caught. Severus, I knew you were traitor all along. Your eyes said it all."

A few more inches into his robe pocket and he would have it. The small piece of candy that doubled as a portkey, given to him by Dumbledore. Almost, yes! He had gotten it. And at the very second he grabbed onto it, he felt a tug behind his navel, transporting him to the Hogwarts Infirmary.

Madam Pomfrey was sitting down on the side of one of the beds, glad that she had sent her last patient back to their house. A Ravenclaw and a Slytherin had gotten into a fight and the Ravenclaw boy had definitely come out the worse for it. She had mended the boils that had sprouted on his face remarkably well. She was positively tired. Just as she wiped a handkerchief across her forehead, she heard a popping sound. Severus Snape appeared on the ground in front of her, bound by hand and feet and covered in cuts and bruises. His face was barely recognizable due to the sheer amount of blood covering it.

Severus's breathing was coming in ragged intervals as Madam Pomfrey freed him from his bonds and put him on the bed beside her. As if on cue, Dumbledore and McGonagall burst through the door and ran over to Snape. Pomfrey was waving her wand over him and making him drink as many potions as she could get her hands on. Snape waved her away as Dumbledore and McGonagall were up beside him. "Headmaster.he knows, he's always known." How could I have been foolish enough to not have known that he knew, Severus thought.

Severus talked with the witch and the wizard for about an hour, then was released from the Infirmary. He slowly trudged back to his dungeons. He stepped up to his door and said the password "Drudgeroot" and the door opened automatically. He waved his wand at the fireplace in front of him and a fire appeared, crackling merrily, unaware of the dark events that just transpired.

Snape tapped his wand on a faucet and water gurgled out into a basin underneath it. With another tap of the wand, the water stopped flowing. He looked down, seeing his reflection staring back up at himself. God, how I look these days, he thought to himself. My eyes even look different somehow.more cold, emotionless. He dipped his hand in the icy cold water and splashed some of it on his face and hair. The water dripped down his long hair back into the basin. He watched as the blood from his hair intermingled with the water, staining it a slight pinkish color. Snape closed his eyes, thinking of all that he had done in the past year. Voldemort knew, he knew all along. He was toying with me like a cat toys with a mouse. Snape set himself down on his bed, his wet head buried in his hands. And what was this Voldemort mentioned about finally being able to attack Hogwarts? Was it a bluff, or was it actuality? If only I knew.