I awoke screaming from my bed, my mark feeling like it was just being branded onto me. Come to me His voice whispered, and I shook my head trying to fight the sudden fear that came with every time I saw the Dark Lord. Ana swung out of the bed next to me, throwing on the Deatheater's robe without grabbing her mask. Her face was screwed up in pain, but I could see the fright in her eyes. After getting ready we stepped out of our small flat in Surry, and with a single turn, dissapparated into the courtyard of the Malfoys.
The weather here was cold and wet, and the sky almost seemed to be crying. We made our way inside, however it was no less cold…just a bit more dry. Moving through the halls we spotted other death-eaters, the obviously imperiused just staring straight ahead toward their goal, others casting glances at Ana and I with smirks and sneers on their faces. I could feel a hard knot growing in the pit of my stomach, and I grabbed Ana's hand. We all filed into a large dining hall, and we stood in a semi-circle around one end, while our lord sat at the other. He waited for us to quit our jockeying and whispering, then spoke in his quiet fashion that somehow burrowed into our ears like worms with teeth, "I have gathered you all here today because we have a traitor in our midst."
A barely murmured gasp swept through the ranks of his most loyal, and he scanned his eyes through the crowd, "Someone that we have relied on again and again, who has an ability that none of us do. Our best liar and spy has sank the blade of her knife into our backs with a smile."
I grimaced, the knot growing tighter as his words, though vague, began to pinpoint the one thing I was hoping he would never notice. She looked up at me, the look of fear changing into something else. She leaned up and gave me a kiss…the best kiss I had ever received, one bitter with never being able to give another one, and sweet in what it said to me. She broke it off gently, and I cupped her face with my hand to wipe away a tear with my thumb, I knew what she was doing. She stepped forward, interrupting The Dark Lord's sentence with her own defiant confession, "That's right."
Her hair came down from being pin straight, and became its original curly brunette. As she turned I could see her freckles peppered across her nose and cheeks, and I felt a tear slide down my own face. She faced him without fear, just cold resolve, "It was me you son of a bitch. I've been in your midst for nearly a year now, and it took you this long to weed me out. Luckily for me," She pulled out her wand and said, "I can duel as well as I can hide."
Flicking her wand, a green jet of light smashed the nearest Death Eater to his death, and she danced out of the way of the spells that only the quickest had managed to cast. She cut down several more, using her history as a dancer to her advantage as she ducked silver spells and pirouetted past several others. A red spell slammed her off the table and into a nearby wall, and I could see her wand snap. A large hooded figure swooped toward her, and I began to push through the crowd. I couldn't let her die. I had to get her away! She swept his legs out from underneath him, and delivered an axe kick to his skull before spinning low beneath a spell to deliver a killer roundhouse into her attackers face. Another red spell knocked her to the floor, and before she could get up Bellatrix had her pinned by the neck with her wand. I saw her take a breath, and I screamed, "PROTEGO!"
The sound echoed through the empty room as Bellatrix was blown backward, and I stepped between Ana and the rest of the Death Eaters. The Dark Lord, seemingly entertained by the duel and his several dead and injured men, rose from his chair to stand before me, "Do you have something to say Severus?"
I opened my mouth, and a jet of red lifted me off my feet. I hadn't seen him draw his wand, and the Cruciatus Curse now peeling every fiber of my being apart had every touch of Voldemort in it. He released it, and I sat on my knees, "My Lord, my apolo-"
He hit me with it again, and I heard Ana scream as she dove at her former master. I saw him smile, and he turned his wand on her. She fell, unable to scream from the amount of pain his curse was causing. She looked at me, not pleading, not asking for saving. Just love, and a fresh reminder of that agreement that we had made all those years ago, that one of us would go on.
Bellatrix lifted Ana's writhing body and dropped it onto the table top. She climbed on top of her, and the Dark Lord released his curse, "No Bellatrix, this is not your job this time."
She frowned, and climbed off the nearly unconscious girl. Voldemort looked at me, and handed me an ornate knife with threads of ebony running throughout. It was Ana's knife. I looked up at him, "My Lord, please."
He gestured with his wand, a cruel look on his face, and said "Go on Severus. Unless you're saying that you helped her? Prove to me that you are innocent."
With heavy feet and a heavier heart I moved my protesting muscles to climb up onto the table. I crawled towards her, tears falling like the rain outside. She sat up on her knees, and pulled me to her. We sat like that for a moment, an eternity trapped between my black eyes and her silver. The yin to my yang was going to die…and I would have to be the one to do it. She pulled me in close, barely moving her lips with a whisper, "It's okay Sev. I forgive you."
She guided the tip of her knife until it sat above her heart, and tears streamed down my face, landing on the blades, "Live for me Severus, and always remember…I love you."
She grasped the handle of the blade as her lips found mine, and I helped her pierce the knife through the thin fabric of the death-eaters robe, her pale skin, the muscle and bone, and finally found the meat of her heart. She shuddered, and I felt the dying breath leave her body as she collapsed into my arms. I laid her down, running my hands over her eyes so that she could just be sleeping if not for the beautiful weapon embedded in her chest. I stepped off the table, my face a careful mask. I had lost everyone that I had ever cared about, and was now surrounded by enemies. I looked to Voldemort, "You were right My Lord, you really can't trust anyone."
He smiled and dismissed us all. No one saw my tears fall beneath my mask.