This is a random plot bunny I thought of while being bored to tears in science. I think it's quite a good one, and so do my friends. So… here it is!
There will be ten chapters in all, by the way.
I'm not JKR. But I do love chocolate. And reviews… -hint-hint-
A Battle of Wills… and Other Things.
Severus Snape sat at his desk in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts' School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, staring murderously at the pile of papers lying in front of him. The Dark Lord didn't mention this when he said he wanted Snape to become the Headmaster.
Snape reached out with his pale hand and snatched the top paper from the toppling pile, before leaning back in the shadows as his dark eyes scanned the scrawl littering it.
Neville Longbottom: refused to practise Cruciatus curse on Colin Creevey. A week of detentions. Alecto Carrow.
Snape sighed heavily, picking up his quill and dipping it in ink. Scrawling S. Snape at the bottom of Carrow's report, he glanced up at the teetering pile of papers to be read, and at the clock, before deciding to give up. He'd have Amycus do it another time.
Snape stood up and made his way towards the door to his rooms, but a searing pain in his left forearm distracted him. Glancing down, even though he knew immediately what he would see, he saw his Dark Mark glow black against his sallow skin.
He grabbed a travelling cloak from the coat rack by the main door to the office, and apparated away. The Dark Lord had made sure that the anti-Apparition spell didn't apply for the Headmaster's office, so that he could get to Death Eater meetings faster, without attracting the attention of the students.
When Snape arrived in front of the Dark Lord, he knelt down and kissed the hem of the snake-eyed man's robes, noticing a dark red lipstick smudge already there. Oh, Bellatrix… he thought, silently laughing inside.
The black-haired man stood up straight, but with his head respectfully bowed. "You called for me, my Lord?"
"Yes, Severus… Wait in the side room for me."
"Yes, my Lord." Snape turned and headed towards the oak door behind his throne. Pushing it open, he saw a very odd sight.
Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy were glaring daggers at each other over the huge table that usually served as their main meeting point. Neither of them spoke, though their hatred for each other was evident in the way they looked at each other. Lucius was leaned back in his seat; the Malfoy distaste etched on his smoothly chiselled pictures, while Bellatrix sat forward, insane hatred burning from her dark eyes.
They both looked up when Severus walked in the door. Bellatrix wrinkled her nose a bit, sneering.
Lucius nodded slightly at him. "Severus…"
Snape nodded back. "Lucius… Bellatrix…" He smirked slightly at the look of hatred on his fellow Death Eater's once-beautiful face.
"Snape." She spat, as if his name were an unmentionable disease. He smirked, and nodded mockingly at her. She opened her mouth to scream at him, but Lucius intervened.
"Spare us, Bella." He drawled, rolling his grey eyes. Severus smirked. Bellatrix sat back, ignoring his comment, and tried to look natural.
At that moment, the door banged open, and in walked the Dark Lord, Nagini resting peacefully on his shoulder. When the no-nosed man reached the head of the table, the huge snake slithered off his shoulders and onto the wooden table. "Severus, sit." The Dark Lord nodded to a chair as he spoke in his cold, high voice.
Snape sat.
"Bella, Lucius, Severus… you all have something in common. Yes, Bella, you do." He added, as Bellatrix had started an angry outburst at being compared to Snape. She shrank back in her seat under her beloved master's red-eyed gaze. "Yes, you all have one thing in common. And this is, you have all claimed to be my most faithful servant."
Immediately, the room was filled with the three Death Eater's protests. 'My Lord, I am your most faithful! I would do anything for you!' or 'Sir, you know I am your most faithful! You said it yourself!' and 'Please, my Lord, I do not claim to be. I am.'
The Dark Lord held up his unnaturally long-fingered hand, and silence fell almost instantly. "I need to find out who is my most faithful. In exactly one week's time, I will review who has served me most faithfully. They shall be rewarded with more than they ever could have dreamed. That is all." And before anyone could say anything, the Dark Lord had stridden from the room, Nagini slithering close behind.
The three Death Eaters sat in silence, until Bellatrix laughed loudly, and quite insanely. "Oh, please, as if there's any competition…"
Lucius smirked arrogantly at his sister-in-law. "I know. I've got this thing in the bag."
A corner of Snape's mouth turned upwards at Lucius' reply. Bellatrix, however, stood up, knocking her chair over. "How dare you?" She fumed. "Do you seriously think that you have any right to that title? I am the only person here who deserves it! I who spent so many years in Azkaban for him, I-"
But Snape interrupted her rant. "I have said it before, Bellatrix, and I will say it again. A fat lot of good you did him in Azkaban. Now, instead of giving him useful information, what do you do? Bore him to a near death with tales of how terrible Azkaban is?"
Bellatrix seemed to have lost her flair. "Sn- Snape, you filthy… half-blood, you…"
Lucius chuckled, leaning back in his chair and looking at both of them. "Ah, it will be fun to watch your faces when the Dark Lord announces that I am his most faithful."
Snape looked malevolently at Lucius, opening his mouth to retaliate, but Bellatrix cut him off, insane fury radiating from her malnourished body. "Really, Lucius, what in the world makes you think you are our Master's most loyal?"
Lucius smirked, looking from her to Severus and back again. "Why, my family, of course." He chuckled again at the blank looks on their faces. "Think about it. I am a Pureblood," Lucius shot a scathing look at Severus as he said this, "And, yes, Bella, so are you, I'm not saying that you're not. The Blacks are an incredibly pure family. I respect that. But, Bellatrix, but, unlike the Blacks, the Malfoys have never had a Blood-Traitor taint their family."
Bellatrix glared at him, but with something else, that neither Lucius nor Severus could place, flickering in her black eyes. "I- I don't know what you're talking about, Lucius." She said finally.
Lucius smirked as he watched her wasted face turn a blotchy red with embarrassment. "You know, Bellatrix, I think you sometimes forget that I am married to your sister. I went to Hogwarts with you. Do you honestly think I will believe you when you say that you have no sisters besides Narcissa? I know full well about the other one. And not forgetting your cousin you recently polished off. Though, you can hardly be given full credit for that… if the veil hadn't been there, he'd still be alive and well. A Stunning spell, Bella? Not exactly the most inventive spell to use on an estranged cousin, especially with your reputation. Who knows, maybe you did still have feelings for the mongrel after all."
Bellatrix was furious, now. Static seemed to be crackling around her, and her eyes were blazing with insanity, anger and hurt pride. "H-how dare you…? The Blacks are… always have been… Dromeda has no relevance to this situation…" She gave up with words, whipping out her wand and pointing it at the blonde's head.
Lucius was intent on angering her further, despite the fact that he knew of her talent in the Cruciatus curse. "Chosen an outfit for your nieces' wedding yet, Bella?" He quipped, hand on his wand inside his snake cane for safety.
Bellatrix screamed, on the verge of killing him right then and there, but her wand flew out of her hand and into Snape's. He pocketed it, ignoring her second shriek of anger.
"To be fair, Lucius, I don't think your family is your strongest point." Snape said smoothly. "I taught your son for six years, you see, and he was beaten by a Mudblood in every lesson he had."
Lucius choked and stood up. It was his turn to go red with embarrassment. "S-Severus, I…"
An insane cackle came from the other side of the table. "Not so cocky now, are we, Lucius?"
Lucius snapped his head round to glare at Bellatrix. "May I remind you that he's your nephew, Bellatrix?" He snapped.
Bellatrix looked from him, to Snape, and back again. "Shut up, Snape!" She said when she realised that he'd insulted her family. Both men smirked at her sudden change of opinion. "And besides, Snape, there is no need to bring Draco into this! Lucius has no hope of winning this little feud! I am his favourite, his most loyal servant, his most faithful…"
"Well, you're certainly his favourite whore." Snape put in.
Bellatrix's jaw dropped, and she grasped in her pockets for her wand, which Snape still had. Lucius burst out laughing.
"H-how…? I… you… Sn-Snape, I…" Bellatrix stuttered, looking at him. When words failed her, she sat down heavily and stared at her high-heeled leather boots.
"But, you know, Snape…" Bellatrix hissed, her eyes alive with malice again as a new idea came to her. "I remember Sirius telling me something… years ago… about you and a certain Mudblood?"
Severus paled. Lily. She was talking about Lily. How could she? In one fluid movement, Severus had grabbed his wand and was pointing it at her head. She smirked, and Snape could suddenly see that shocking resemblance to her late cousin who'd taken it as his duty to make Snape's life hell.
"Tetchy subject?" She mocked.
Snape's pallid face contorted in anger. Pushing past a bewildered Lucius, he strode round the table and stopped in front of, pushing his wand into her pale throat.
"Now, now, Snape…" She taunted, but he didn't miss the flicker of fear behind her masquerade of confidence.
"Erm… Father? Auntie Bella? P-Professor?" A quiet voice came from the doorway.
Severus stepped back from Bellatrix, pocketing his wand when he saw Draco in the doorway.
Lucius spoke first; Bellatrix and Severus were to busy glaring at each other. "Yes, Draco? What is it?"
"Erm… the Dark Lord sent me in here to make sure you weren't killing each other…" He sent a meaningful look at his aunt and ex-Professor as he said this, "Oh, and Auntie Bella, Mother says that she wants the hundred galleons you owe her back tonight or you'll regret it. Her words, not mine."
Bellatrix nodded, massaging her throat where Snape's wand had dug into it and glaring at the back of his greasy head.
Lucius sat back down in his chair, pulling one up for Draco as well. His son obediently sat down in it.
Severus turned back to look at the mad witch still glaring at him hatefully. "My wand, Snape?" She snapped, holding out her hand.
Severus reached into his pocket and took out her wand. He laid it on he table, and she snatched it up, pointing it at her opponent's head. "Now, Draco…" She hissed, her black eyes still fixed on the Professor, "Let me show you the correct way to ridding the world of scum."
Lucius leant back in his seat, watching his insane-looking sister-in-law amusedly. "Bella, please, will you stop doing that?"
She was put off at this. "Like what?" She said, lowering her wand subconsciously.
"Being all insane. It gets quite annoying."
Bellatrix's eyes blazed with anger. "I AM PERFECTLY SANE!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Sure you are." Lucius smirked. Narcissa had told him how tetchy she was about her sanity, especially since Azkaban, and he'd been dying to try it out on her. His wife was right; the results were hilarious.
"I AM!!" She shrieked back.
Snape intervened. "Bellatrix, I assure you, you are not sane."
"SHUT UP! I AM AS SANE AS ANY OF YOU!!"
"So the excessive shouting is…?"
Bellatrix looked, for once, lost for words. She opened and closed her mouth, looking from Snape, to Lucius, and back again.
"Erm…" Draco put in subconsciously, blushing a furious red as the three adults turned to him. "Nothing." He said, looking down.
Lucius tapped his son's shoulder with the head of his snake cane. "Well, Draco, who do you think will win?"
"Erm…" He said again. "Well, err…"
Lucius answered for him. "Me. You think I'll win, don't you, Draco?"
"Erm…"
Snape leant over the table. "Draco, may I remind you that I am the Headmaster of the school you are meant to be attending this very moment, and it would be unwise to anger me."
Draco gulped as he said, "Erm…" again.
Everybody looked at Bellatrix for her threat to her nephew, but she just narrowed her eyes at him. Subconsciously, Draco shifted back in his seat a little as his insane aunt glared at him.
"Bella!" He blurted out when he could take no more of her glares. "Bella's going to win!"
Bella smirked, sitting down in her seat. Lucius and Severus glared at the teenager.
"What?" Draco said defensively. "She gave me the Glare and she's… insane, and stuff, and-"
"I'M NOT INSANE!!" Came the woman in question's shriek.
But before any of the others could answer her, their forearms burned, the skulls tattooed on them turning black. With a parting glare, Bellatrix apparated away, closely followed by the other three.
So, what do you think? Drop a review and let me know!
Thanky yous,
Ellie xxxx