Payback
A/N:First chapter of the sequel! I'm excited. Anyone else excited? Basically… Severus gets revenge. Read and review!
Three years had passed since Lily's death.
The world had dulled since then for Severus.
Harry was growing up happily with Sirius, whom Severus suspected would have been broken if it wasn't for Harry.
James was dead.
Lily was dead.
Remus was dead.
And Voldemort still lived.
It sickened Severus to think of that. He took comfort in the fact that while Voldemort was alive, he was no more than a wraith, and therefore couldn't do much of anything. The bastard couldn't even eat or piss himself without a body to inhabit.
It had completely dumbfounded even Nicolas Flamel as to how old Moldy-wart could feel a need to relieve himself without a body, or how pissing through another body emptied his bladder, but it did, so the Ministry allowed in one Engorged but completely harmless grass snake into Voldemort's cage-like confinement every three days. The poor things died after only a day of sharing their bodies with Voldemort, but there were too many snakes out there anyway. Might as well stamp out the lot while you could.
Three years of this miserable existence, and finally the old coot quit trying to bar Severus' way to the destruction of the wraith.
Three years of doing everything he could to avenge Lily, and Dumbledore pretended the prophecy dictated everything.
Severus spat on the ground contemptuously, glad he didn't work at Hogwarts anymore. It was much too painful to stay where he and Lily had grown so close, so he left six months after Lily's death and brewed complex potions for the Ministry and whoever else wanted to pay for it.
Ah, the life of a freelance Potions Master.
He stalked around the living room of Spinner's End, pausing to look at a small picture of himself and Lily, celebrating Christmas at Hogwarts their first year. His lips twitched slightly before the familiar tug on his heart forced him to tear his eyes away. Severus sank into a saggy chair and picked up a Potions journal to take his mind off of his loss.
Their loss.
Poor Harry.
Poor Sirius.
New Potion Promises Normal Life for Lycanthropes!Severus threw the paper down in disgust.
Three years too late.
At least.
Severus could have brewed that next to no charge for Remus. He was the trustworthy one in the end, after all.
It had only taken Severus three days to track down Pettigrew. He'd made sure the rat died a horrible death.
Severus decided to see Voldemort, and try once again to get information out of the wraith-man.
"Nothing! I'll never tell you anything, you traitor!" the mist hissed. Severus towered over the wraith haughtily, looking down at Voldemort over his hooked nose through the spelled glass separating the two. A snake slid into the containment room slowly and sinuously. The wraith-man descended upon it quickly and Severus watched, fascinated. In three years, he'd never bothered to see Voldemort on a "snake day".
The snake convulsed for a moment as the mist seeped into its skin. The snake's eyes turned blood red and immediately the Voldemort-snake made its way to a bin of mice, feeding hungrily.
The snake-man stared straight at Severus fleetingly, and Severus had not felt the normal resistance of Occlumency.
Thrilled, Severus realized the snake-brain simplified Voldemort's mind and thought-processes enough to weaken the wraith's Occlumency shields considerably. Maybe Severus could finally figure out how Voldemort was still alive!
Wand out, Severus called the Ministry guard over. "Let me in," he hissed.
"But, Master Snape, You-Know-Who is classified as highly dangerous-" the Ministry official began before Severus cut him off with an angry hiss.
"Listen, man, that thing in there killed the only woman I ever loved. Either you let me in, or I shall Stupefy you and force my way in," Severus growled, his wand sparking intermittently. The shorter man let out a small, embarrassing squeak as he unlocked the door and stepped back.
Severus strode into the containment and shut the heavy door behind him. The snake looked up from its dinner and hissed angrily. Defiantly, Severus grabbed the snake's tail and pulled it towards him as the snake struggled to get away from his grasp. Reaching for its head, Severus forced the snake-man's eyes to meet his own unblinkingly.
"Perfect," Severus said maliciously as he tried to get the snake under control. "Snakes can't blink. Legilimens!"
Instantly Severus was bombarded with images of greenery and scared, crying children. Angrily he realized Voldemort had forced the snake's mind up before his own, and Severus cast aside the unimportant memories as forcefully as he could. The snake twitched horrendously as he delved deeper, trying his hardest to reach Voldemort's mind.
There!
Images of torture and the smell of burning corpses permeated the appalling memories. For a fleeting second he saw Rodolphus Lestrange crying over Bella's body and Voldemort had even wiped away a rare tear. More images of screaming, tortured people… Death Eaters laughing raucously as a Muggle's house went up in flames and the inhabitants screamed as they burned to death…
And, oddly, an image of a slightly battered red diary appeared. Before Severus could determine whether or not this was important, a loud mental snarl sounded and Severus felt himself pushed out of the thing's mind. His eyes focused on the snake, which was strangely limp in his hands.
Horrified, Severus realized Voldemort was coming out of the snake. He screamed and fell to his knees as the vengeful mist snaked its way out of the weakened grass snake and seeped into his own body. Severus' nerves were on fire and he valiantly fought the urge to scratch at his skin and eyes, knowing it would do no good.
"Your filthy Mudblood girl is dead, Severussss… and I still live. How DARE you enter my mind? You shall pay…. Oh yessss… I find this body suitssss me quite well…."
Severus cried out again, cursing the incompetent guard who had yet to come into the room. With a loud bang, the door swung open and Albus Dumbledore swept in, his eyes blazing.
"Spectralis repellio!" Dumbledore boomed, pointing his wand at Severus, who was rolling on the ground in agony. Voldemort screamed in his mind and the horrid wraith flew out of Severus and back into the snake. Hurriedly, Dumbledore grabbed a limp Severus under the arms and dragged him out of the containment room as the dazed snake-Voldemort came to his senses.
Severus, who was coming in and out of consciousness, was barely aware of going through the Floo with Dumbledore to Hogwarts. The Headmaster looked livid as he Levitated Severus down to the hospital wing and informed Poppy Pomfrey what had happened.
As Severus sank into a comfortable bed, he remembered the diary and Voldemort's anger once he'd reached that particular nugget of information.
"…Blasted young man thinks he can do anything….lucky I arrived when I did…could have died…" he heard Dumbledore ranting. Severus suddenly wished to sleep for days… hopefully Dumbledore would be a little more forgiving then.