Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character Davies Brennandez. All hail JK.
Summary: This dark story consists of slices from the life of Severus Snape as a young man, and the lives of his two best friends from Hogwarts, as Voldemort beckons. Begins at the end. More to come.
Note: Links in with the events of the 'Wedding Bells Just Turn To Rust' trilogy by 'Weasleylover1'. If you have read that you may well remember the characters Davies Brennandez and Evan Rosier popping up in the memories of Narcissa Malfoy and Severus Snape. However, you do not have to have read that trilogy to 'get' this story. It's a fairly simple idea - to write about the past life of Severus Snape, using what clues we get from the books as a guideline. It just became hideously complicated along the way, about the time I decided to use 'the end' as the beginning... Hmm... Anyway, the events in this story, the characterisations, the descriptions, everything, were all devised before the fifth book came crashing into our lives, so it doesn't really tie in with the ideas presented there. Still, if you are interested in speculations on Severus Snape's youth, then you may well find this story of some interest. Oh, and I will refer to Snape as 'Sev' in this story. It's what I see his best friends haing called him at school, and, as you can see in Chapter Two, which is from Snape's point of veiw, it's also how I see him refering to himself. All I can ask is that you give this story a chance...
The End
Davies looked at them, at least 15 of them. Grown men, but wearing masks
like frightened children. The obvious leader of the pack, head cocked to one
side in a question, wand arm outstretched, pointing, waiting.
I'll never be one of you, he thought.
How pathetic they were. It was so easy to see now, at the end. Why couldn't
things always have been this clear to him?
"No. I'm afraid I must decline your kind offer, gentlemen. I'll never join you.
I'd rather be dead." Davies wasn't afraid now. He just waited for it to happen.
A flash of green light, and it'd all be over for good…
At least Davies knew that Sev wasn't among the Death Eaters that encircled
him. Sev was in St. Mungo's, visiting Lucius Malfoy's wife and newborn child.
Well, someone has to take care of Lucius' family. God knows, he'll be too
busy ridding the wizarding world of muggle-born scum.
"And soon enough, you will be dead, Mr. Brennandez. Obviously, we were
sadly mistaken to expect your loyalty." Said the cold voice of the leading
Death Eater.
The wand was now pointed directly between his eyes.
This was it.
But Davies still wasn't afraid. He knew he had made the right choice.
"Avarda Kedarvra" the lead Death Eater uttered the words in a distinctly bored
tone.
Davies Brennandez's body crumpled and fell sideways. It impacted on the
ground with a sickening thud. Then he lay there, still and cold, like all the
others.
But there was one Death Eater present for whom Davies' death wasn't just
'another one down'.
Evan Rosier was frozen to the spot.
Had he really just let that happen?
Lucius Malfoy, who was the gang leader of this particular spree, had just killed
his best friend of old.
Evan looked down at Davies on the ground, and felt as though the very last
lamp burning in the deep recesses of his mind had just been snuffed out. He
felt really, truly insane. But there was no way out of this for him now. He
was what he was. He had made his choice, many months before.
And, one way or another, Evan Rosier knew he would never be free. Not
now. Not after everything he'd done.
It was true that Evan had always been a cold, dead, merciless sort of person,
but now he had no emotions, no mind, left.
This was the last straw.
Out of the corner of his eye, Evan could see the blank expression on Davies
face.
Davies hadn't even known how much Evan had valued his friendship at
school.
Davies had thought that Evan only cared about Sev. Now Davies would
never know the truth. In some deep, forgotten place, that bothered Evan a lot.
Lucius Malfoy was yelling that they should get out of there.
Evan laughed soullessly. Yes, he supposed they had to go back to they're
wives, families, and cushy ministry jobs at some point. Well he had nothing to
go back to.
It was at that choice moment the Aurors put in their appearance. They just
had to get a piece of the action, didn't they? It was always that way with
Aurors, he well knew by now. They always burst in, wands blazing, at the
most terribly inopportune moment. Always, always when you weren't
prepared.
Two Death Eaters went down instantly. They were dead. Barty Crouch, who
batted for the Ministry, had just authorised the use of the unforgivables
against dark wizards.
Then an Auror went down at Lucius' hands. Needless to say, the Auror was
dead.
Lucius Malfoy didn't take prisoners.
A suffocating sense of claustrophobia crept steadily in on Evan. The situation
going on around him seemed surreal, far away. Yes, he'd been here before
all right.
A Death Eater down, an Auror down. And so on.
But this time was a bit different. This was end game for him, he could feel it.
Evan stared numbly down at his wand hand. It wouldn't move. He couldn't
even make himself want it to move.
There was chaos all around him.
It was a miracle that he hadn't already gone down by way of a stray curse.
No, not a miracle. It was a pity he hadn't gone down.
"I'd rather be dead" Davies had said. And Davies had had plenty of reasons
to go on living.
Evan had nothing. He couldn't even feel guilty. He was lost in his sins.
How had it ever come to this?
Of course, he was a cruel man. And he'd always been a cruel boy. Evan
knew that he'd never been a good person.
But seeing someone he had once cared for be wiped blank like that…
It was rather like a splash of icy cold water across his face.
It had pushed him over the edge. Funny, he'd never actually realised how
close to the edge he'd been until now.
Thoughts of himself, and Davies, and Sev at school kept flashing across his
mind.
Then other, less pleasant, memories came, unbidden, to his mind.
Things he'd done.
Things for which he could never be forgiven.
Evan had done terrible things during his time as a Death Eater. And he knew
that he had done things that went beyond his call of duty. He had wanted to
do those things, not because he was a servant of the Dark Lord, he had just
wanted to.
He couldn't always use the Dark Lord as his excuse.
Sev had reminded him of that recently, when they'd last argued. Evan had
known already, of course.
Sev had become slightly repulsed by Evan, of late. Though he must always
have known what Evan was capable of. But then, Sev was green by any
Death Eater standards.
Always was an altruistic bastard, Evan thought wryly.
Like Davies.
Then Evan suddenly found himself facing the tip of a wand. He realised that
he'd slipped his own wand back into his robes. It was a young Auror, a boy
who Evan thought looked slightly familiar. They stared at each other for a few
moments. Evan didn't reach for his own wand, though he fancied himself
quick enough to draw it and blow the Auror away before he'd even realised
what was happening.
But then, the Auror was forced to turn away anyhow.
He dashed off to help a curly-haired lady Auror who was being crucioed
mercilessly by some masked Death Eater or other.
Evan took off his own mask. It wasn't altruism. He just didn't much feel like
being one of them anymore.
When the Auror-boy had helped his colleague, and turned back around again,
he looked surprised to see Evan still stood there, waiting, wand still not drawn.
Evan stared into the Aurors eyes. The boy looked terribly strained and
confused.
Probably his first raid, thought Evan.
Lucius Malfoy, and a few other senior Death Eaters disapparated away,
leaving some of the newer recruits to fight it out. Obviously it was a losing
battle. There were too many Aurors. And now the Aurors were licensed to
use any curse they wanted. Made it a bit more even.
The Auror-boy now had his wand pointed directly between Evan's eyes, which
stared back unflinchingly. They were so close, Evan could smell soap and
sweat and ministry buildings. The boy was wavering.
Probably never killed anyone before.
Evan continued to gaze soullessly into the Auror-boys eyes, rather
encouragingly, he thought.
Oh, just do it!
Evan was ready. Hadn't he been ready for this ever since he'd joined
Voldemort? Hadn't this even been one of the pulls of joining the Death Eaters
in the first place – the thrill of skirting the fine line between life and death?
He wanted to be dead.
Just do it, boy.
But the boy was disheartened because Evan wasn't fighting back.
If only you knew some of the things I've done.
"Avarda Kedarvra!" Shouted an unexpected voice from behind Evan. It was
an old, experienced, merciless Auror, who knew his job better than the boy
did.
Evan was enveloped in a haze of green light, and his mind went completely
blank. He was aware, for a fraction of an instant. Then he was gone.
His body fell like a stone. His head hit the ground with a sound like a coconut
being broken open on a sharp rock.
Evan Rosier was gone. He had gotten what he had wished for for so long.
His body fell to the ground near to where Davies lay. They both wore the
same vacant, empty expression.
In death, the two lay side by side, and no onlooker would have been able to
tell innocent from guilty, nor good from evil. In death, they were just two
unfortunate boys, in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Eyes open startlingly wide, both were safe and innocent now, in their sleep.
And the old Auror glared down at the boy, who stared at the ground.
"He, he took off his mask…" the boy said, by way of an explanation. He could
see the mask of the Death Eater who'd just been killed on the floor, a foot or
so away. He stooped to pick it up.
"Boy, you never hesitate. I never want to hear of you hesitating again.
Understand?" snarled the old Auror.
The boy nodded, and mumbled "Yes. Thankyou. Sir.", his head still down.
The boy hadn't expected the Death Eater to take off his mask. He'd never
actually seen one unmasked before. And the Death Eater had been so
young. So much like himself. The boy hadn't been prepared for that.
He didn't think he could ever kill an unarmed man. He didn't like using the
unforgivables at all.
The boy surveyed the carnage of the fight – which they had won. Then he
helped the old Auror to sort through the bodies on the ground.
All the while the eyes of the unmasked, nameless Death Eater seemed to be
staring up at him.