Chapter 1
"Dumbledore is dead. I killed him." Snape whispered to the otherwise empty room, his voice full of a mix of fear and jubilation. He had just woken from a dream of horrific proportions, involving his midnight escape from Hogwarts, and he wearily stared around his dimly lit living room, where he had fallen asleep.
"What achievement that was." said a high pitched voice. Snape turned around in his seat to find Wormtail standing in the entrance of his bookshelf hiding place.
"You, Wormtail- I need to relax; fetch me a cup of…" Snape started to say, but Wormtail cut him off.
"I've made it clear that I am not your servant!" Wormtail stepped out from the shadows and he looked as porky and clumsy as ever.
"You would look better with a gash across your face, wouldn't you Wormtail? I warn you not to be rash," Snape teased coolly. "The Dark Lord assigned you to me. And of course, you said last year that you would speak with him about your uses, or lack thereof, by yourself. I continue to treat you like a servant because you, so like yourself, played a coward." He laid a stress on the word, and Wormtail jumped at him in anger. But Snape raised his wand lazily, causing Wormtail to stop in mid leap, floating in the air. "Relax," Snape chided, placing the neck of Wormtail's ragged robes on a hook on the wall. "Just hang around for a while."
"Why, I ought to! You- let me down Severus!" Wormtail spluttered squeakily. But with a flick of his wand, Snape silenced him. The tiny man kicked and fought as much as he could, which made Snape smile. He relinquished Wormtail's voice.
"You are not much threat to me," he said. "But if you stop sneaking up on me and cooperate, you may be rewarded."
"And how is that?" Wormtail breathed, still lashing out.
"I will spare you a nasty scar, and the Dark Lord, he will be pleased with you. You remember what he did for you when you pleased him at his rebirth." Snape gestured to Wormtail's glowing white hand, which Wormtail was using to extricate himself from his robes in an attempt at freedom.
"Severus, why must you torture me? I… did- nothing to you."
"It is quite the contrary, Wormtail. Back at Hogwarts you were little Peter Pettigrew, one of James Potter's pathetic fans." Snape's eyes were alight with malice, almost mocking Wormtail. "You followed Potter and Black everywhere, applauding their every breath. I, on the other hand, I was Severus Snape, the greasy haired lover of the dark arts who everyone loved to hate. And when Potter ruthlessly ruined my school years and used my own spells against me, you were right there to beg for an encore. You claim you did nothing to me, nothing but encourage Black to kill me! But the tables have turned," Snape whispered with ice cold venom, a vein throbbing in his temple. "You betrayed your friends, and now the Dark Lord has handed you to me." Snape advanced on Wormtail, but was interrupted by a knock at the door.
Snape looked over, his expression unreadable. "Enter." He declared, as he sent a shower of sparks in Wormtail's direction. The magic caught Wormtail in the air, and he disappeared with a pop. The door opened and a blonde head poked out from outside. "Narcissa, I welcome you back. What causes your return to my happy home?" Snape said silkily, his eyes now turning to the entrance of his dark house; he re-lit the candles on the chandelier.
"Severus, I need your help," cried Narcissa Malfoy, running into the room. Behind her trailed a tall, cloaked figure. Snape bit back a retort, almost sympathetically.
"Please take a seat, make yourself comfortable." Snape gestured to his moth eaten sofa. As soon as the pair had taken seats, he summoned three glasses and a bottle of wine. They zoomed in and landed on the table, and Snape sat down.
"Severus, I need your help", Narcissa repeated. She was rather nervous, thus she couldn't sit still. She shakily downed a glass of wine, twitching and ringing her hands. Snape grabbed her wrists as he had a year before, nodding to the cloaked figure.
"Bellatrix, I presume?" Narcissa frowned awkwardly, and whispered to Snape.
"No, not exactly;" she nodded to the person beside her, who lowered his hood. Snape found himself staring into the face of a former student, his favorite student.
"Draco, what a pleasant surprise this is." He looked to the boy's mother. "I presume you want me to…" But Snape could not finish his sentence, for Narcissa had bursts into tears while she fought to remove her wrists from Snape's grasp.
"Protect my son Severus! Protect him from the Dark Lord, please!" Draco looked as though he wanted to interject, to say he didn't need protecting, but he held his silence.
"The Dark Lord wished your son to kill Dumbledore. I committed the deed as I promised, my job is done. Why would the Dark Lord be angry? The job is done." Snape stated, with finality in his voice.
"I told you last year! He wants to kill Draco, have revenge on Lucius. But you promised; we made the unbreakable vow!" Narcissa shrieked.
"That's why you kept badgering me last year, to save your own skin!" Malfoy yelled; Snape ignored him, but he let go of Narcissa's arms.
"You promised to…"
"Protect him from harm," Snape finished the sentence for her; he was caught. He could comply with Narcissa, and anger the most powerful wizard in the universe, or die; Snape weighed his chances. "Narcissa, what will happen if the Dark Lord discovers what I am doing for you, and finds my whereabouts? He will kill me, your son, your husband, and you."
"He trusts you Severus!" screamed Narcissa, her face obscured by her fair hair. "Surely you can convince him that your actions will aid him!"
"But I do not know how saving Draco will help him take over our world!" Narcissa started shrieking even louder at this. Snape lost his temper, and banged his fist upon the table causing his wine glass to fall off over the edge. "Contain yourself. If you wish to hide something from the Dark Lord, you mustn't wear your heart on your sleeve!" Snape took deep breaths after saying this, realizing he had not felt as furious since the fateful night when he had murdered Albus Dumbledore.
"Don't I have say in this? You kept bothering me last year to save yourself from death and now you decide my fate? I won't accept that, Snape!" Draco let the words burst from his mouth, as he stood up in indignation.
"Though I no longer teach you, you are to call me Sir, Draco. Narcissa, I will protect him for you. He will stay here, where I can watch him, and we will use the Fidelius Charm. I will be the Secret Keeper; the Dark Lord trusts me. And that way, there will be no little rats telling tales." He gave the book shelf a meaningful look and sent a spell at it, which made a bang. The three in the living room heard something scurrying away.
"But I don't need to be watched!" Draco said loudly, angering Narcissa; she glared at him and drew her wand.
"Hold your tongue! This man will save your life, be grateful!" she croaked. Draco cowered under his mother's shaking wand hand. "You act as if you don't need the aid, yet you cower under your own mother's wand!" Narcissa looked at her watch, "I must go now. Draco, here are your clothes and food." She gestured to a suitcase that Snape had not noticed before. She raised her wand higher. "Severus, will you charily watch over my son?"
"I will," Snape said flatly.
"Will you keep this secret from everyone, no matter what?"
"I will," Repeated the man. And he twirled his own wand, whispering incantations, and Narcissa disappeared.