Chapter 1
Dark Surprises
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Severus Snape nor Hermione Granger. I wish I did, but I don't.
Arthur's Note:I hope you enjoy this chapter! I had more fun writing this chapter than all of the chapters from Snape or Potter combined. For all of you who love or like that story, don't worry- I'll still finish it, but I have more fun with this story, so that means more updates for this one. Please Review and as always enjoy! Happy Holidays!!
Snape was working on a basic Pepper-up Potion in his private lab. His whole mind wasn't really in it, since he'd made the Pepper-Up Potion about a million times; it didn't require him to be all there.
He was just about to add a cup of bail root when he was knocked out of his trance-like state by a sharp pain coming from his forearm. The mark seared for a second before it slowly died away, leaving his heart pumping fast from the sudden onslaught of pain.
"Damn," sneered Snape. Why did the Dark Lord always have to call when he was in the middle of a potion?
Snape slipped out his wand and put a charm over the potion to keep it in limbo before he cut the flame. And with a silent summoning charm he called forth his silver death eater's mask and his black hooded cloak.
Snape made his way swiftly from his private lab, through the god forsaken potions classroom and into the dungeon's dark halls. After looking around and assuring himself that no one was coming, he slipped his robe and mask into an inside pocket.
Now all he had to do was get out before Dumbledore noticed him leaving.
All Snape wanted was to be able to go straight to bed after a meeting. He hated going to see the Headmaster after one; the fool knew nothing of what he went through there. All he seemed to care about was the information that Snape brought him.
Oh, sure. The Headmaster cared about the wellbeing of his spy, but the Headmaster didn't have a clue how much work it was to be a spy, not really. The Headmaster understood how hard it was for Snape to lie to the Dark Lord, but he didn't understand how hard it was to act the part day in and day out. Nobody could really sympathize with that.
After reaching the moonlit grounds of Hogwarts, Snape made his way as swiftly and as silently as possible over to the main gates.
The full moon shone high above, illuminating the gates as he neared them. He had almost reached the gates when there was a slight breeze. In front of him, blocking his way to the gates, was a bright silvery phoenix.
Snape had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. That meddling fool had noticed his absence! Only a few more seconds and he would have been out of the gate.
"What do you want, Headmaster? I need to go. You know the Dark Lord doesn't except tardiness," sneered Snape. The thought of his last time when he had been tardy made him wince. Snape was used to being cursed, but that night had been a bad night to be late. The Dark Lord had been in a horribly foul mood.
"I know, Severus," replied the phoenix in Dumbledore's calm voice, "just try to be safe and please report back to me as soon as you get back. I have a feeling that this is an important meeting."
Snape actually rolled his eyes at this; the Headmaster always said that he had a feeling that this meeting or the next meting would be an important one. He didn't know if there was ever going to be a meeting that the Headmaster didn't consider important.
"Fine," spat Snape, "but don't expect a warm conversation from me."
"I never do, Severus," sighed the phoenix.
Reaching up the sleeve of his robe, Snape pulled out his wand and vanished the phoenix with a slash. He then moved through the remaining mist to the gates, where he stopped for just a second to undo the wards and, with a flick of his wand, the gates opened.
Snape glared at the gates as he passed through. It was almost like they were the gates that opened up to welcome him to hell. The moon overhead only heightened that idea.
Once outside the grounds, Snape paused to reinforce the wards before closing the gates that would keep out any unwelcome visitor, should one happen to come along.
Snape walked for another minute or so to the apparation point located just outside the nearby forest.
Before disapparating, Snape donned his Death Eater cloak and mask, calmed his mind and erected more barriers. Then, focusing on the pain in his arm, he disapparated to the Dark Lord's side.
Seconds later, Snape reappeared with a crack. Looking around, he found himself at the bottom of a small green hill. The breeze brought him the smell of lavender as he started to walk up the slope. Snape looked around and noticed that they were near a small village, one that he had visited on occasion.
Sooner than he would have liked, he found himself at the top of the lavender covered hill. A circle of hooded figures stood near the center, but there was a gap left open for him.
Falling to his knees, Snape crawled into the space left to him in a ring of dark cloaks and masks.
"My Lord," he choked out, "Please forgive my lateness. That meddlesome fool who calls himself the Headmaster wanted a bottle of Dreamless sleep. Naturally, I gave it to him, though I made it a little stronger than he might have liked, but it will keep him out for the night."
The pale figure in the middle of the circle glowed from the light of the moon. Red eyes glinted and a smile appeared on his face.
"Tonight, Severus, I will forgive your lateness, but do not disappoint me again. I want you here on time next time I call," rasped the Dark Lord in an evil whisper.
"Yes, my Lord, you are too kind."
The Dark Lord smirked. "Rise, my friend. We have a lot to discuss tonight."
Snape rose from the ground, hating the figure that stood like a god in front of him for making him grovel like a house elf.
"Tonight, my friends, I have received the surprise of my life, and you all know how much I usually hate surprises."
Silent laughter rippled though the circle. The Dark Lord smirked and continued.
"But tonight, my friends, my loyal Death Eaters, I received a very welcome surprise, a very nice gift as it were from one of my loyal Death Eaters. Lucius, bring her forward."
Snape's ears perked and his heart raced. Who the hell did Lucius get his filthy hands on? He had a feeling that he wasn't going to like who it was no matter what.
Lucius mask was off and the smug bastard looked as happy as if Christmas had come early. In front of him, glaring at everyone in the circle, bruises dotting her face and arms, was…Miss Granger.
She was pushed to her knees at the Dark Lord's feet and to Snape it looked like the girl was looking up at the Dark Lord with admiration. Something is definitely off, thought Snape.
"Lucius tells me that you have come willingly, Mudblood. Tell me, why is this?" asked the Dark Lord in a silky voice.
"My Lord, please, I want to serve you. I wish to bring you Harry Potter," spat the girl. "He is nothing compared to you, my Lord, please, I can bring you Potter and I can do so much more for you…"
Her sentence hung in the night's breeze as the trees seemed to stop swaying at these words.
"Bring me Harry Potter... that would be a great gift, Mudblood," whisper the Dark Lord. "But what use is a Mudblood to me; you are nothing more then a filthy muggle with powers."
"Please, my Lord, I agree that mudbloods have no right to even lick the dirt from your shoes, but I have proof that I am no Mudblood," whispered the girl.
At these words, murmurs rippled through the group that watched the girl who knelt in the moonlight. Her face was filled of joy at the apparent knowledge that she wasn't a Mudblood. To Snape, it seemed like the girl was proud to kneel before the Dark Lord and be at his mercy with these facts laid bare.
"Not a Mudblood," whispered the Dark Lord. "This night is indeed filled with pleasant surprises. Explain, girl!"
The girl looked up and made eye contact with the Dark Lord, allowing him to not only hear her story, but see its proof in her mind.
"Yes, my Lord. Well, it all started when I was forced by my filthy muggle parents to donate blood two weeks ago. They were testing to see what my blood type was and, to my surprise, I had blood type AB, which isn't possible considering that both of my parents are type O negative. My parents didn't notice and, after I had finished at the blood bank and after I had gotten home, I waited until my parents were asleep before I searched the house to find my birth certificate. I searched in vain for two nights. On the third night, I snuck out of the house and broke into our bank ,which held our safety deposit box. After searching through many papers, I found my birth certificate. I am neither Mudblood nor am I even closely related to the Grangers," spat the girl. "I'm half- blood, I am a Malfoy."
There was no noise. Silence filled the hilltop. The breeze seemed to freeze. Leaves that had been blowing about froze in mid-dance. The Dark Lord looked down at the girl kneeling at his feet. The closest thing to a smile slid across the pale face, red eyes glittering in the moonlight.
"A Malfoy, that is very interesting," whispered the Dark Lord. "Lucius, did you know before you brought the girl here that she was a Malfoy?"
Lucius stepped forward from the circle, cold gray eyes looked disdainfully down at the bushy-haired girl. "Yes, my Lord," drawled Lucius, "the girl came to me last week. It seems that right after she found out, she attempted to test whether or not she was indeed a Malfoy. She attempted to get a sample of my blood without using detectable magic," smirked Lucius. "Of course she failed miserably, so I stunned her and took her back to my Mansion. After questioning I found out what she was up to and I tested her blood, and she is indeed a Malfoy, though she is still only a half-blood."
"Only a half-blood, you say?" The Dark Lord's face seemed amused, or as amused as a snake-like face could look. "Severus might disagree with you on that point, am I correct, Severus?"
"Yes, my Lord," answered Snape without expression, although he struggled not to roll his eyes. The Dark Lord never tired of that subject.
"Why is it, Lucius, that you took so long to bring me this, beautiful," the Dark Lord stared down at the girl, red eyes glinting, "piece of information?"
The girl stared up at the Dark Lord with a slight smile on her lips.
"My Lord," Lucius lost his usually drawling voice, "I, I, there were complications and it took longer then I thought to test her blood…."
"Enough," The Dark Lords eyes turned cold, "Lucius, you disappoint me."
And in a blink of an eye the Dark Lord had brought up his wand and had it pointed at Lucius. And before Lucius could make a noise, the Dark Lord shouted, "Crucio!"
Lucius's screams filled the surrounding air as he dropped to the ground. His black cane fell to the Dark Lord's feet as he writhed on the ground. The sleek blonde hair seemed to have a mind of its own as its owner thrashed.
Then, just as suddenly as it had started, the Dark Lord lifted the curse.
"Now, Lucius, I hope that you have learned your lesson. One more slip up and you may find yourself back in a cell in Azkaban."
"Yes, my Lord," drawled Lucius as he stood up, righted his hair, and grabbed his cane. "I live to serve."
"See that you serve me better in the future. Don't disappoint me again."
The Dark Lord turned his red eyes to the girl kneeling at his feet. A smile lit his eyes but somehow made the pale face look madder than anything.
"Miss Malfoy," whispered the Dark Lord in a marginally kinder voice, "please stand."
The girl rose slowly to her feet, but kept her head down in a natural bow.
Smart girl, thought Snape, now just don't do anything stupid and you can get back alive. And, if possible, I can take you to Hogwarts.
The Dark Lord continued, "Miss Malfoy, you say that you want to give me Potter. As lovely as that would be, I would hate for you to risk your education at Hogwarts... though you are no doubt smart enough to work undetected. For now, I will wait for Potter to come to me; there are more pressing matters at hand. But we can talk of that later. As for now, I don't know what we can do with you."
There was silence. Snape hoped that the girl would take the opportunity and escape. Somehow, though, he knew that this was the moment Hermione'd been waiting for since she got to the circle of Death Eaters.
"My Lord, there is only thing that I want," whispered the girl in an excited voice. "I want to be branded with the Dark Mark; I want to carry your symbol. You are the only one that I wish to remain loyal to, and I would be deeply honored if you could grant me this one wish."
The silence deepened. Nobody had ever been branded on their first trip to see the Dark Lord, yet here this girl sat practically begging for it.
Snape couldn't think of anything worse that the girl could have asked for. She was only, what, fifteen, sixteen, about to enter her sixth year at Hogwarts, and here she knelt asking to take the Mark, the Mark that had been a curse to him for as long as he could remember.
The Dark Lord stared down at the girl, eyes glinting, a smirk grazing his lips. He seemed deep in thought, but Snape knew that he had already made his decision and that he was just lengthening the silence for effect.
Finally he spoke, "Then it is done."
The girl looked up, excitement written across her face, though Snape thought for a second that he saw a flash of fear in the girl's eyes, but when he looked again there was nothing but excitement in them.
The girl got back down on her knees and held up her left arm palm up, her hand closed into a fist.
Taking hold of the girl's wrist, the Dark Lord caressed the pale skin that lay exposed. With the other hand, the Dark Lord brought up his wand and touched the tip to the girl's skin.
"Morsemordre!"
There was a flash of green light and from the point of the Dark Lord's wand black lines streamed out, marring the girls flesh, burning it black.
The girl didn't scream, but it clear that she was in pure agony, for she seemed to twitch violently. Yet the Dark Lord held on tightly to her wrist as she was branded. Enjoyment was clearly written on his face.
When the spell had finished, the Dark Lord released the girl's arm and watched as she examined the black mark that marred the now red skin.
"My Lord," whispered the girl, excitement filling her voice, "Thank you, my Lord, thank you."
The girl crawled forward and kissed his offered hand and then the hem of his robes before she backed up, still kneeling.
"Now, Miss Malfoy, whenever you feel it burn, you are to come straight to me and, with time, I will grant you the privilege of a Death Eater's mask and robes. Until that time, you will be my eyes and ears and relay any important information to me about Potter."
"Yes, my Lord," whispered the girl.
"Now, what to do with you until you go back to Hogwarts... normally, I would have had you go back with Lucius, but I can clearly see that your health would be in question. But where should you go until then?"
Severus took his chance and decided that now was the time to speak up.
"My Lord, I have a suggestion," whispered Snape.
"Yes, Severus, what is it?"
"With your permission, my Lord, I could take her back to Hogwarts with me. I'll tell that old fool some lie or another and then give Miss Malfoy some proper training in the Dark Arts."
The Dark Lord considered him for a moment, looking him straight in the eyes. Snape felt him enter his mind, pushing in forcefully, looking at different pictures that Snape called forward. The Dark Lord looked around for a while longer, then pushed his conscience from him.
Snape waited for an answer. He had no idea why it was taking the Dark Lord so long to decide, but he waited as patiently as he could. The breeze had now turned into a wind that played with the hems of their robes, which flapped and swirled around their owners.
Finally the Dark Lord answered, "Fine. Severus, take her back to Hogwarts with you. Tell the Mudblood-loving fool what you want. I expect you to have her up-to-date with all of the Unforgivable Curses in four months. Of course, I will expect you to keep Miss Malfoy's true patronage a secret. There is no need to cast extra suspicion on her."
The Dark Lord turned his attention back down to the girl still kneeling near his feet.
"Miss Malfoy, you are to listen and do what ever Severus tells you. I want you fully armed and prepared in four months, which should be more then plenty of time for you to learn those spells."
"Yes, my Lord," whispered the girl.
"Good. Now, Severus, take her and go now. I will arrange for you to hear of what happens at the rest of our little meeting."
Snape nodded and turned to the girl, "Come, Miss Malfoy," Snape sneered.
Snape turned, robes billowing, and walked down to the base of the hill. The chit of a girl scrabbled behind him. He would have to knock some sense into the girl. What the hell was she doing in front of the Dark Lord? And since when did Lucius keep anyone alive that wasn't his wife after having his way with them? There were too many questions with too few answers.
When they had reached the bottom of the hill, Snape turned sharply and grabbed the girl by the upper arm. She gave a squeak of surprise that was cut off when he disapparated with a "crack."
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