Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.

This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe ("Play with me" by kantellis on deviantArt) and the words are mine though so please don't take them.

This story is a sequel to "Harry Potter and a dance with the devil" and while I suppose it's not obligatory to read the story to understand this one, I strongly recommend it of course ;) You can find "Harry Potter and a dance with the devil" on my profile.

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Chapter 1: Whispers in the dark

Severus Snape kneeled in front of the throne of his Dark Lord, head bowed in a perfect picture of submission. They were alone in the room, heavy silence weighting Snape down even more than the steely gaze of his Lord.

'Raise, my friend,' a hiss broke the silence and Snape raised his head slowly, looking into the inhuman face of the Dark Lord.

'My Lord,' he spoke slowly.

'How was the ceremony?'

'My Lord knows that I do not appreciate this kind of gatherings,' Snape spoke cautiously. He could not, under any circumstances, betray his true thoughts on the apparent new favourite of the Dark Lord. 'The marriage was a Muggle ceremony, as my Lord surely knows, and I find it revolting,' there was no problem, however, in pointing out the bad sides of Duke Durless.

'Ah yes, the Duke of course had very good reasons,' the hissing voice carried a note of displeasure and Snape smiled mentally.

'Of course,' he said smoothly. 'I have delivered my Lord's gift for the newly weds in private, to avoid the possible speculations.'

'Good.'

'I have left the party, however, as soon as it was polite to do so,' Snape continued. 'To do anything else would have been out of character for me, no matter how happy I am for the newly weds,' he allowed sarcasm to tint the last statement.

Another silence weighted down the mood in the room as the Dark Lord studied his servant carefully, doubtlessly scanning the memories and emotions that Snape readily produced up for inspection. The last one came unbidden – an aftershock of the whole affair.

'Ah yes, I have heard that Sirius Black made another appearance,' the hiss sounded vaguely amused. If he could, Snape would have groaned. Some Muggles discovered Sirius Black, beaten up and bound in a truly masochistic way, in the church, the day after the ceremony. They called the police and it was only by a miracle that Flitwick and himself came just then to clean up after the anti-detection spells and managed to convince the Muggles that he would take Sirius Black home.

'Yes, my Lord. I am not aware how he came to be there and why he bothered, but if I was to guess, I would assume that he wanted to come and show who is the man,' he didn't even try to hide contempt from his voice. In the race to his most hated human, Black still won and it was with infinite pleasure that he memorized the picture: tired and hungry, beaten up and bound like a dog his was – Sirius Black. Of course the Dark Lord would interpret it his own way, but for once that was not Snape's problem.

'Most amusing indeed,' the Dark Lord said flatly. 'Tell me, Severus, is the Order hiding more surprises that the supposedly dead Sirius Black?' there was steel in the hiss and even the candles flickered.

'Not to my knowledge. The Order is most worried with the recent events, however, and in rush to find a way of preventing more deaths.'

'Things are looking good for us, Severus,' the hissing voice grated Snape's nerves.

'Yes, my Lord. The recent raids have been most satisfying,' he said, fighting to hide his true feelings. He bowed his head to hide his revolted expression. He abhorred the idea of casual killing sprees that most of his fellow Deatheaters were enjoying so much.

'That is not what I meant.'

'My Lord?'

'The unfortunate accident of Vincent has been, in the end, fortunate…' the hissing voice took on a speculative quality. 'I am sure you are aware that now, after the unfortunate death of Lucius, you, Severus, are my most trusted Deatheater.'

'It is an honour, my Lord,' Snape said, bowing his head again, wondering if there was a connection between those two deaths. He knew better than to ask, however.

'It is also a responsibility, Severus,' the Dark Lord hissed. 'We have now managed to insert a perfect spy into the very heart of resistance, Severus, and it will be your main task to make sure that it stays that way.'

'My Lord?' Snape questioned, although the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that he already knew the answer.

'You see, people suspected Vincent of being a Deatheater and that would have not worked. Dumbledore would never let somebody like that into his school. However, with the death of Vincent, there was a void and what better than filling it with somebody who has a past as clean as snow? Nobody knows about Cain's true allegiance, or am I wrong?'

'Nobody knows, my Lord.'

'It has to remain that way, Severus, because you and I are now the only ones that know. Vincent knew of course, but that has been taken care of.'

'My Lord! Nobody else knows?' Snape exclaimed. This was alarming – that way there was absolutely no way he could get away with betraying the secret and blaming it on somebody else.

'Nobody.'

'Not even Duke Durless? The future duchess?'

'He might suspect the truth, yes. But neither him nor the future duchess would risk any sort of rumour about that going out. It is also a chance for the Duke to purify a bit the name of his family in the eyes of the wizarding community.'

'Of course, my Lord,' Snape said, thinking furiously. The Dark Lord was correct in that assumption. Neither of the two would risk as much as a slip of a gossip escaping the household, not when they were riding high on the pity after the Phantomhive tragedy, not when they could permanently get any suspicions off their backs.

'That is why your role is so important, Severus. Everybody knows that you were once a Deatheater, but you have the trust of Dumbledore. Use it if you must. If Cain's foot slips you have to be there to cover up for him, because it is essential that he gains the trust of Dumbledore as well.'

'Of course, my Lord,' Snape said, very careful to not speak through gritted teeth.

'I will limit any direct contact with him to minimize the risk and of course he is exempt from our regular meetings, so you will have to keep him informed about our moves and my orders.'

'Of course, my Lord.'

'Very good. I expect that you and Cain work together without fault, I have high hopes for you and I don't want any petty fight for the power to ruin that. Neither of you is worth to me as much as the two of you working together, so make no mistakes, Severus.'

'Of course, my Lord.'

'Now please send in the young Greengrass, I think he will make a fine replacement for Vincent in his other operations and he will hopefully find me a replacement for Cain in Germany fast. Those two were really marvellous together, it's such a pity that Vincent perished like that,' the Dark Lord said with no hint of sadness in his snake-like voice.

Wordlessly, Snape bowed and left the dark room. He let the nervous, young man know that it was his turn and felt pity for him, when he went in eagerly. Vincent Phantomhive was very good in his job and any replacement would have a difficult time living up to the expectations of the Dark Lord.

That, however, was not his problem. He disappearated as soon as he could and already formulated his report to Dumbledore in his head. With the new information they needed to thread even more carefully. Also, he would need to think on how to give his new partner absolutely no suspicions about his true allegiance, while still hampering all his projects. Really, it would have solved all his problems if Dumbledore appointed a new teacher, but there was absolutely no reason to fire Cain Kruspe.

With a sigh, Severus Snape entered the building of the school of witchcraft and wizardry. He and Dumbledore had a week to prepare their strategy before the other teachers would come back to prepare the new school year and the "perfect spy" would come back from his honey-moon.