Severus stumbled out of the Death Eater meeting, his mind was spinning. His simple intelligence gathering mission had turned into a complete mess. He had thought that he was simply passing on the information so that the Dark Lord would know what Dumbledore was going to try and pull on him, but no, the Dark Lord actually believed the prophecy and believed it was about Lily's son.

Severus started pacing the corridor. He had to stay because the Dark Lord had wanted to speak with him, but only after he had spoken to several others first. In fact, he made it clear that Severus would be the last person he would meet with tonight.

How could this be? He had done so many things to keep Lily safe. He had gotten the Dark Lord to offer her a position as a Death Eater, which she turned down for all the brain washing that occurred in the Gryffindor house. He defended her in battles as discreetly as he could, but now she was a target. There was no way that the Dark Lord was not going to kill every single person in that family. It was how he worked.

Maybe there was a way he could steal the baby and deliver him to the Dark Lord himself? The thought of kidnapping a child and bringing it to its death made Severus's insides crawl. It would be for the greater good, he tried to convince himself. One life in exchange for two. Severus sighed. There was no way he could live with that.

Maybe he should go rogue, go to Dumbledore and tell him that the Dark Lord means to target the Potters. Fear crept through his body as he remembered their encounter right after Severus had overheard the prophecy. It would be worth it if it saved Lily. He could give Dumbledore all the information he needed to protect Lily and her family. Now what would he tell the Dark Lord…

It was simple. He needed to try and see if he would spare Lily. Beg, offer to go on an intense mission, something. The Dark Lord was clearly the one winning as of now, no one could deny the momentum they finally built and had going. He would work both channels to save Lily.

What would he tell him? What would be believable?

I want to you to spare the life of my childhood best friend, Severus imagined telling the Dark Lord.

Why? His icy voice scratched inside his head. You haven't spoken in years.

I promised her I would save her when we were younger, no matter what.

A memory of the Dark Lord's laughter filled his mind.

Severus cringed. That wouldn't work. What would be believable?

Severus remembered from a few weeks ago when Mulciber had spoken up about wanting to join a raid in the neighborhood where the McDonalds lived. He told the Dark Lord that he had been desiring Mary since he laid eyes on her. The Dark Lord had smiled and then granted the request. That was it! He could pretend to want Lily and needed Potter and her son out of the picture. He would believe that.

"Snape," Karkaroff's annoying voice pulled Severus from his mind. "The Dark Lord wishes to meet with you now."

Severus tried to think lurid thoughts about Lily and desiring her. He had never delved into things of that nature. It wasn't working. This plan was going to fail.

Severus took a quiet deep breath. It was not the time to let his emotions get the best of him. He needed dirty thoughts in order to save Lily. Then he remembered Potter gazing off in class fifth year and he took a stab at using legilimency and caught Potter imagining Lily undressing in front of him. That's it, he needed to remember all of those inappropriate thoughts he hexed Potter for.

He moved methodically through his memories and started extracting Potter out of them. It had been himself that had been thinking those thoughts, not Potter. This would be stuff the Dark Lord could not disbelieve.

Karkaroff indicated for Severus to enter the throne room first. Once they both were in, he closed the door and knelt before the Dark Lord.

"My Lord, here is Snape," Karkaroff said before standing up and getting out of the way.

Severus took his turn at the feet of the Dark Lord and mumbled the appropriate greeting, "My Lord, what is it you desire from me?"

"Snape," the Dark Lord said with a smile as Severus looked up at him. "I have a mission for you, but I can tell there is something on your mind. Care to tell me what it is?"

Severus had the haunting suspicion that the Dark Lord had expected him to come and ask him about Lily, but he needed to ask anyway.

"Lily Evans, my lord." Severus replied.

"Who is that?" The Dark Lord asked sarcastically. "I don't recall talking about anyone of that name."

Severus let out a sigh, he knew what the Dark Lord wanted him to say.

"Lily Potter, my lord," Severus shivered as he spoke her new last name. It had been the most malicious act Potter ever could have done, marrying Lily. He would have preferred her to marry the werewolf over Potter.

"Ah yes, I seem to remember you getting along with her well during your early years at Hogwarts. What is it about her that is currently on your mind?"

"How I greatly desire that she is spared while you seek to kill the rest of her family," Severus knew it was the time to play the lurid thoughts as he looked into the Dark Lord's eyes.

The Dark Lord smirked in approval. "You desire her?"

"Greatly, my lord," Severus replied looking down and keeping down his guilt at the inappropriate thoughts.

"Well, I might be able to promise her safety if you manage to fulfill this mission." Severus looked up at the Dark Lord in anticipation of the difficult task he would require for sparing Lily. "In fact, it might even help you in this mission. Could you think of what that would be?"

Severus stared into his eyes. He had no idea what the Dark Lord would be requesting of him that his wanting Lily would be of use. He gently eased into the Dark Lord's mind, hoping to gain credit by finding what he was supposed to respond without being detected. All he saw was the image of the three Potters dead.

Severus stored that thought away and quickly searched through past interactions in hopes of piecing together what the Dark Lord wanted from him. He had taught him to duel, even had him come and watch his duels with Dumbledore. He had worked on developing Severus's occlumency skills…

"I think you found the mission," the Dark Lord said with a smile as Severus stood up in shock. "You know the old man's weakness. You know how your bullies twisted their words to seem remorseful to get out of severe punishment. Now it is time for you to get your revenge. Ask him to spare Mrs. Potter as you asked me and spill him a tale of remorse. I guarantee that he will lap it up. You will be my spy at Hogwarts and you will take down Dumbledore when it is time."

"Yes, my lord," Severus responded, for there was no other acceptable response. He knelt back down before the Dark Lord, reigning in his fear. "I will go and seek an audience with him right away."

Severus rose to leave, keeping his eyes averted from the Dark Lord. He wasn't sure he could keep the flood of emotions at bay any longer.

"Hold on," the Dark Lord hissed. "Look me in the eye."

Severus knew the Dark Lord wanted to make sure he would do everything he asked. Severus turned and looked at the Dark Lord, willing his mind to go blank. It didn't. The Dark Lord pulled up the disgust at the death of the Potters, the wishing that the Dark Lord hadn't acted on the prophecy, the lack of desire of giving up the son to spare the life of the parents.

"Figures," the Dark Lord huffed. "Know that you will die if you fail this time around and there will be nothing stopping me from making each of the Potters die a slow and painful death and tell them it was at your request."

Severus bowed, "Yes, my lord."

He left. The Dark Lord must be very angry to threaten slow and painful deaths on the Potters. He preferred to kill entire families with the killing curse. It was quick and clean. To threaten that he would go out of the way to cause them pain himself, instead of sticking torture happy Death Eaters on someone, meant that he was thoroughly irked.

The meant Severus was not likely to make it a month.