The Odd Couple
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Author's Note: Thanks and blame to Milla for inspiring the Snape/Sinistra craze among our little group. Thanks to Nita for her Snape/Sinistra proof post that more fully inspired this story. Thanks to JKR herself for creating the sexy Slytherin known as Snape.
To save Ciera Sinistra from the fate of Azkaban, Severus Snape marries her out of necessity. Though passion never existed between them, when an ex-Auror comes to teach at Hogwarts, they must pretend to be in love or lose all they have worked for. But like all make-believe, the lines between pretend and reality can become blurred. Takes place during GoF.
* * *
Chapter One: To Die, To Sleep
They Apparated into the clearing, a band of black-robed, masked figures, right in the midst of the company of Aurors, and immediately began shooting curses from a variance of wands, screaming hexes and aiming to kill. The Ministry witches and wizards were taken by complete surprise, and therefore nearly five of their number fell before they gave the first return curse.
But when they finally retaliated, they moved with precision that nearly matched that of the well-trained Death Eaters. A Cruciatus flew by her head, so close that the energy singed the strands of hair that escaped her hood. She whirled to find a young Auror aiming at her. Before he could speak, she raised her wand, "IMPERIO!"
He froze, his mouth open to form the curse, then slowly his arm lowered back down to his side. She smiled crookedly behind the mask and whispered, "Kill them."
From where she stood, she could see the shock that leapt to his eyes briefly before dying away to the blank stare that had been there before. Jerkily, he turned and raised his wand again, aiming it at the nearest Auror. "Ava..." he trembled, and she focused more on her control of him.
"Kill them now."
"Avada... Ke...davra." Despite his fumbled words, a familiar green bolt of energy flew from his wand tip and struck down the witch. A moment later, he repeated the curse, killing another of his fellow Aurors.
Pleased with her work and knowing it unnecessary to watch more, she turned away and shot a blast of red light at the nearest figure, causing them to scream and fall where they stood, writhing in pain. Behind her, another scream let her know that the Aurors had killed the young boy she had Imperio'd. Ah well. There were always more.
A cloaked figure appeared at her side, giving her ribs a brief tickle. She jumped, whirling to face him before breathing a sigh of relief. She could not make out the face, of course, but knew the form to be that of Tomas Derian, her... paramour, of sorts. She smiled to herself. "Having fun?" he asked teasingly.
"But of course. And you?"
"Never better." He lifted his mask briefly and kissed the top of her head. "Almost ready to head home, love?"
"Enough death and destruction for one day?"
"I'd suppose..."
"EXPELLIARMUS!" The spell caught her by surprise, sending her flying back into a tree trunk and ripping the wand from her hand. She slumped to the ground, dazed from the impact. Her vision blurred even as she fought to see even five feet in front of her. An Auror was standing above her, a white-knuckled hand gripping her wand. She glared down at the Death Eater, hatred burning in her blue eyes. "You killed him," she whispered hoarsely. "You killed him, you fucking bastard."
A heavy fist collided with the Auror's jaw as Tomas lashed out at her. "That would be fucking bitch, you stupid cow..." he growled low, then pointed his wand at the fallen Auror. "Avada Kedavra."
He knelt over her. "Ciera?"
"Ow."
"Hurt much, love?"
"Just a... ow... bit." She struggled to sit up, but he pushed her back suddenly and whirled just in time to block her from the green light speeding towards her. It struck him instead and he stumbled, falling back against her, his head landing lifelessly against her chest.
There was no time to scream or react. His heavy form pressed into her, but she didn't move, couldn't move. Her eyes fastened, horrified, on his still corpse. It had happened too fast... it wasn't supposed to have happened. He wasn't supposed to die.
She allowed her hand to come up to tangle in his dark hair where it was revealed as his hood fell back. Then she took his wand from his fingers and pointed it at herself. "Dormio," she whispered. The effects would be almost immediate, she knew. Her heart and breathing rate would drastically slow until hardly noticeable, and she would appear as dead to the world for around ten hours, which would give her time to pass herself off as dead to the Aurors, and to the rest of the Death Eaters.
Her hand fell lifelessly to the ground moments later, Tomas' wand rolling out of her fingers, a dull and useless thing.
* * *
A tall, thin, and handsome figure paced in front of the fireplace. "And how many dead?"
"Ten, my Lord."
"And what of the others?"
"I counted twenty-three of theirs fallen."
"Good, good... then it is true that the Ministry is still shy of using the Killing Curse against us. Fools." He glanced up. "Who was lost?"
"Peleus, Estrelle, Morius... Icar, Orian, Rete, Shanaman..." he paused briefly. "Oh, and Derian and Lanen."
Riddle turned. "Lanen? Ciera Lanen?"
The Death Eater nodded. "Yes, my Lord. I saw both of them... they died together, it seems."
The Dark Lord snorted through his nose. "Touching, don't you think? To die in each other's arms... isn't that what Muggles call romantic? I suppose some of the softer wizards would consider it so as well... but not I. Love is for fools." His sharp green eyes perused the man before him. "Are you in love, Rogers?"
He shook his head quickly. "N-no, my Lord."
"Good. Keep it that way, shall you?" He turned back to the fire. "Now go, and tell the others to return home until I wish to make the next move."
"Yes, my Lord." After bowing low, the Death Eater turned and hurried from the room, the door closing heavily behind him.
* * *
The Ministry wizards worked quickly at their tasteless duty of separating the fallen Aurors from the Death Eaters. One group would receive an honorable burial, while the other would be sent to respective families, if they had any, or buried en masse if they didn't.
Crysies Trelain bent to pick up a fallen wand that lay scarcely a foot from a pair of corpses. She glanced over at her friend as she straightened. "Looks like they won this one, doesn't it Lace?"
Lacey Portra pointed her wand at another corpse, sending it towards the growing number piled on a cart at the edge of the clearing. "Perhaps. But we'll get them in the end, you know."
The first snapped the wand she held in two and stuck the pieces in a bag at her feet before bending again to search the two bodies. "How do you know?"
She shrugged. "I just do. Don't ask questions, just work. I want to get this over with."
"Me too..." Her voice trailed off as her fingers brushed over the skin of one of the bodies after moving aside the one on top. It was still warm. Surely, it wasn't... Hesitatingly, she lifted the mask from the face and held her hand over the slightly parted mouth. It was faint, but she could feel warm breath wash over her fingers. She stepped back, her eyes widening. "Lacey... this one's... alive..."
The other girl whirled towards her. "What?! Are you sure?"
They both stared as the raven-haired woman stirred, letting out a low groan. "Uh... I'm pretty damn sure."
Lacey drew her wand and pointed it at the awakening Death Eater. "You are under arrest by order of the Ministry of Magic."
The woman stared up at them, unblinking, a lost, defiant sort of look in her brown eyes. Then the gaze slid down over the still form of the body lying beside her. She shook her head slowly. "It doesn't matter."
She didn't even struggle against the ropes that shot from the Ministry witch's wand, looping around her body and binding her tightly.
* * *
Severus Snape ran a nervous hand through his shoulder-length black hair as he stood with Albus Dumbledore outside the office of the Administrator of Azkaban. "Are you positive about this, Albus?"
"Of course, Severus. When am I not?"
"It just sounds... bad."
The Headmaster smiled beneath his beard. "Your outstanding way with words never ceases to amaze me, and constantly reminds me why you are our Potions instructor, NOT our Language professor."
Snape considered it beneath him to bother responding to the remark, and instead stared stonily at the door. This was a bad idea... a very, very bad idea. It would never work, not in a thousand years. Not in a hundred thousand years. It was bad enough to land him in Azkaban for the second time, and to gain Dumbledore a very dishonorable dismissal from Hogwarts. Perhaps they could share a cell. Wouldn't that be pleasant?
Why did the man never cease to embark on his damn fool crusades? And why did he never cease to drag him along on them?
"But this girl, Albus... I know nothing of her..."
"Pretend, then." Snape stared at him. "Oh, come now. Surely you were a child once. In fact, I know you were. And a very moody one at that."
"Could we not bring up the past, please?"
Dumbledore shrugged. "Very well. But you brought it up."
"I did-"
His exclamation was cut off as the door opened to reveal Jasper Bane, the Administrator to the horror known as Azkaban. He stared at them from sunken, lifeless eyes. "Yeah?" he asked gravelly, though cracked lips that looked as if they hadn't smiled in a century.
Despite his dismal appearance, Albus stuck out his hand and smiled jovially. "Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We've spoken through fire, if you recall."
The man stared sullenly at the proffered hand, then turned and disappeared into his office. As if nothing had happened, Dumbledore followed him, and, with a sigh, Snape did the same.
The office inside was just as dismal as the man who occupied the quarters. He sat behind a ramshackle old desk and glanced at a molding file. "Ya wanted to see a pris'ner?"
"That's correct. Her name is Ciera Sinistra."
"Well... s'good someone knows her name. Haven't been able to get a word outta 'er. We call 'er the tenth Death Eater, cause she was the only one outta ten that they found alive. An' she was only just." He looked up gloomily, as if saddened by the news that she had survived. "Whadda ya want with 'er?"
"We want to explain a bit of a... misunderstanding that seems to have occurred."
"Misunderstanding, eh? How so?"
"Well, you see... Ciera Sinistra is no more a Death Eater than I am. She was, shall we say, framed."
Behind him, Snape cringed at the words. Albus Dumbledore- upright Headmaster, role model to thousands... expert liar.
Jasper Bane stared at Dumbledore for a few moments, then abruptly burst into laughter, the action contorting his already-hideous face horribly. The expression made Snape cringe again. "Framed, eh? That's a story if I ever 'eard one."
Dumbledore was unfazed. "I assure you it is no story, as you say. Now, if you would give me leave to explain."
Bane leaned back in his seat and waved his hand. "Go ahead. I could use a good laugh."
"Thank you. First, allow me to introduce Severus Snape, Potions Professor at Hogwarts."
At this, the Administrator leaned forward. "Snape, did you say?" His eyes narrowed at Severus. "You're one of the ones that escaped, aren't ya? You should be rotting in here, you."
Severus bristled, though the words hit their mark, and stepped forward. Albus held up a hand to stop him. "He was once convicted of being a Death Eater, it is true. But the claims are no longer valid, and I would thank you to respect that." Bane leaned back again, still glaring coldly at Snape. "But it is on that point that I would like to base my argument. It was once well known that Severus was considered one of Voldemort's (Bane flinched at the name) followers. And as you know, many still bear very hard feelings towards anything related with Him. Many of these people are in positions of power..."
"What're ya sayin'? Out with it now."
"What I'm saying is that one such person had Ciera Sinistra kidnapped, overpowered, and placed at the scene of the fight."
Jasper slammed his fist down on the desk. "Ridiculous!"
"Is it?"
"Absolutely! First off, why?"
"To involve Severus, of course."
He paused, thinking about what was just said, as if allowing his slow-witted brain time to process the information, before responding. "Explain."
"Gladly. You see, Ciera Sinistra is Severus'," at this, Snape fought the urge to cringe at the words he knew were coming, "fiancee." Instead, he swallowed hard and nodded once as Bane's eyes moved slowly to him, trying desperately to keep the vein in his temple from twitching.
"Really now?" He didn't sound convinced. Surprising.
"Yes. And of course, you see, by involving his fiancee with the Death Eaters would involve him, landing him once again in Azkaban where they want him."
Snape watched the man carefully. If he actually believed the lie that Dumbledore was feeding him... then he had been in the confines of Azkaban for far longer than he should have been.
Slowly, he rose, reaching for the keys at his waist. "Let's just see how your story holds up, alright? We'll go and see your tenth Death Eater."
* * *
Several minutes later, Severus found himself looking through a one-way glass window at a black-haired woman. She was lying on her side on the hard floor, halfway curled into a ball, her right hand drawing patterns on the dusty floor. Every so often, she would sneeze, stare blankly at the spot on the floor, then resume her drawing. Her matted curls fell over her face, partially obscuring her features, but even still, Severus could tell that she had, at one time, been beautiful.
"Well?" growled Bane, tapping his foot impatiently. "Her trial's tomorra, if ya got somethin' to say."
Dumbledore looked to Snape, who was still staring at the girl. He didn't want to do this. Finally, he nodded. "It's her."
"You'll wanna talk, I suppose."
This time, Albus answered. "Yes, if you don't mind."
The Administrator shrugged and gave an unintelligible grumble, inserting a key into the lock in the door and turning in with a loud clang. He allowed them in and gave them a cold glare. "I'll be back in ten minutes, got it?"
Dumbledore nodded cordially. "Thank you."
The door closed behind them, leaving them alone with the tenth Death Eater, who had not yet shown any sign of acknowledging their presence.
"Now what, Albus? The girl is most likely half-mad, and we're supposed to get her to follow along with this ridiculous story you've brewed?"
A feminine voice answered him. "I'm not mad." Snape whirled to find her staring up at him with hollowed eyes, eyes reminiscent of Sirius Black, and of his own. She blinked, her hand straying to a tendril of hair that hung down the middle of her face, bringing it to her mouth to absently chew on. "Who are you?"
Severus didn't know what to say, and turned, helplessly, to Albus. The old Headmaster knelt in front of the woman. "That, my dear, is a very, very long story."
END CHAPTER ONE
Notes Part Dos: I wasn't expecting it to be this long, or this confusing. But never fear, all shall be explained next chapter. Just let's hope that next chapter isn't this long, shall we?
I reeeeeeeeeally like this idea, and hope you all do as well.
Dedicated to Milla, Captain of the Good Ship Snape/Sinistra!
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Author's Note: Thanks and blame to Milla for inspiring the Snape/Sinistra craze among our little group. Thanks to Nita for her Snape/Sinistra proof post that more fully inspired this story. Thanks to JKR herself for creating the sexy Slytherin known as Snape.
To save Ciera Sinistra from the fate of Azkaban, Severus Snape marries her out of necessity. Though passion never existed between them, when an ex-Auror comes to teach at Hogwarts, they must pretend to be in love or lose all they have worked for. But like all make-believe, the lines between pretend and reality can become blurred. Takes place during GoF.
* * *
Chapter One: To Die, To Sleep
They Apparated into the clearing, a band of black-robed, masked figures, right in the midst of the company of Aurors, and immediately began shooting curses from a variance of wands, screaming hexes and aiming to kill. The Ministry witches and wizards were taken by complete surprise, and therefore nearly five of their number fell before they gave the first return curse.
But when they finally retaliated, they moved with precision that nearly matched that of the well-trained Death Eaters. A Cruciatus flew by her head, so close that the energy singed the strands of hair that escaped her hood. She whirled to find a young Auror aiming at her. Before he could speak, she raised her wand, "IMPERIO!"
He froze, his mouth open to form the curse, then slowly his arm lowered back down to his side. She smiled crookedly behind the mask and whispered, "Kill them."
From where she stood, she could see the shock that leapt to his eyes briefly before dying away to the blank stare that had been there before. Jerkily, he turned and raised his wand again, aiming it at the nearest Auror. "Ava..." he trembled, and she focused more on her control of him.
"Kill them now."
"Avada... Ke...davra." Despite his fumbled words, a familiar green bolt of energy flew from his wand tip and struck down the witch. A moment later, he repeated the curse, killing another of his fellow Aurors.
Pleased with her work and knowing it unnecessary to watch more, she turned away and shot a blast of red light at the nearest figure, causing them to scream and fall where they stood, writhing in pain. Behind her, another scream let her know that the Aurors had killed the young boy she had Imperio'd. Ah well. There were always more.
A cloaked figure appeared at her side, giving her ribs a brief tickle. She jumped, whirling to face him before breathing a sigh of relief. She could not make out the face, of course, but knew the form to be that of Tomas Derian, her... paramour, of sorts. She smiled to herself. "Having fun?" he asked teasingly.
"But of course. And you?"
"Never better." He lifted his mask briefly and kissed the top of her head. "Almost ready to head home, love?"
"Enough death and destruction for one day?"
"I'd suppose..."
"EXPELLIARMUS!" The spell caught her by surprise, sending her flying back into a tree trunk and ripping the wand from her hand. She slumped to the ground, dazed from the impact. Her vision blurred even as she fought to see even five feet in front of her. An Auror was standing above her, a white-knuckled hand gripping her wand. She glared down at the Death Eater, hatred burning in her blue eyes. "You killed him," she whispered hoarsely. "You killed him, you fucking bastard."
A heavy fist collided with the Auror's jaw as Tomas lashed out at her. "That would be fucking bitch, you stupid cow..." he growled low, then pointed his wand at the fallen Auror. "Avada Kedavra."
He knelt over her. "Ciera?"
"Ow."
"Hurt much, love?"
"Just a... ow... bit." She struggled to sit up, but he pushed her back suddenly and whirled just in time to block her from the green light speeding towards her. It struck him instead and he stumbled, falling back against her, his head landing lifelessly against her chest.
There was no time to scream or react. His heavy form pressed into her, but she didn't move, couldn't move. Her eyes fastened, horrified, on his still corpse. It had happened too fast... it wasn't supposed to have happened. He wasn't supposed to die.
She allowed her hand to come up to tangle in his dark hair where it was revealed as his hood fell back. Then she took his wand from his fingers and pointed it at herself. "Dormio," she whispered. The effects would be almost immediate, she knew. Her heart and breathing rate would drastically slow until hardly noticeable, and she would appear as dead to the world for around ten hours, which would give her time to pass herself off as dead to the Aurors, and to the rest of the Death Eaters.
Her hand fell lifelessly to the ground moments later, Tomas' wand rolling out of her fingers, a dull and useless thing.
* * *
A tall, thin, and handsome figure paced in front of the fireplace. "And how many dead?"
"Ten, my Lord."
"And what of the others?"
"I counted twenty-three of theirs fallen."
"Good, good... then it is true that the Ministry is still shy of using the Killing Curse against us. Fools." He glanced up. "Who was lost?"
"Peleus, Estrelle, Morius... Icar, Orian, Rete, Shanaman..." he paused briefly. "Oh, and Derian and Lanen."
Riddle turned. "Lanen? Ciera Lanen?"
The Death Eater nodded. "Yes, my Lord. I saw both of them... they died together, it seems."
The Dark Lord snorted through his nose. "Touching, don't you think? To die in each other's arms... isn't that what Muggles call romantic? I suppose some of the softer wizards would consider it so as well... but not I. Love is for fools." His sharp green eyes perused the man before him. "Are you in love, Rogers?"
He shook his head quickly. "N-no, my Lord."
"Good. Keep it that way, shall you?" He turned back to the fire. "Now go, and tell the others to return home until I wish to make the next move."
"Yes, my Lord." After bowing low, the Death Eater turned and hurried from the room, the door closing heavily behind him.
* * *
The Ministry wizards worked quickly at their tasteless duty of separating the fallen Aurors from the Death Eaters. One group would receive an honorable burial, while the other would be sent to respective families, if they had any, or buried en masse if they didn't.
Crysies Trelain bent to pick up a fallen wand that lay scarcely a foot from a pair of corpses. She glanced over at her friend as she straightened. "Looks like they won this one, doesn't it Lace?"
Lacey Portra pointed her wand at another corpse, sending it towards the growing number piled on a cart at the edge of the clearing. "Perhaps. But we'll get them in the end, you know."
The first snapped the wand she held in two and stuck the pieces in a bag at her feet before bending again to search the two bodies. "How do you know?"
She shrugged. "I just do. Don't ask questions, just work. I want to get this over with."
"Me too..." Her voice trailed off as her fingers brushed over the skin of one of the bodies after moving aside the one on top. It was still warm. Surely, it wasn't... Hesitatingly, she lifted the mask from the face and held her hand over the slightly parted mouth. It was faint, but she could feel warm breath wash over her fingers. She stepped back, her eyes widening. "Lacey... this one's... alive..."
The other girl whirled towards her. "What?! Are you sure?"
They both stared as the raven-haired woman stirred, letting out a low groan. "Uh... I'm pretty damn sure."
Lacey drew her wand and pointed it at the awakening Death Eater. "You are under arrest by order of the Ministry of Magic."
The woman stared up at them, unblinking, a lost, defiant sort of look in her brown eyes. Then the gaze slid down over the still form of the body lying beside her. She shook her head slowly. "It doesn't matter."
She didn't even struggle against the ropes that shot from the Ministry witch's wand, looping around her body and binding her tightly.
* * *
Severus Snape ran a nervous hand through his shoulder-length black hair as he stood with Albus Dumbledore outside the office of the Administrator of Azkaban. "Are you positive about this, Albus?"
"Of course, Severus. When am I not?"
"It just sounds... bad."
The Headmaster smiled beneath his beard. "Your outstanding way with words never ceases to amaze me, and constantly reminds me why you are our Potions instructor, NOT our Language professor."
Snape considered it beneath him to bother responding to the remark, and instead stared stonily at the door. This was a bad idea... a very, very bad idea. It would never work, not in a thousand years. Not in a hundred thousand years. It was bad enough to land him in Azkaban for the second time, and to gain Dumbledore a very dishonorable dismissal from Hogwarts. Perhaps they could share a cell. Wouldn't that be pleasant?
Why did the man never cease to embark on his damn fool crusades? And why did he never cease to drag him along on them?
"But this girl, Albus... I know nothing of her..."
"Pretend, then." Snape stared at him. "Oh, come now. Surely you were a child once. In fact, I know you were. And a very moody one at that."
"Could we not bring up the past, please?"
Dumbledore shrugged. "Very well. But you brought it up."
"I did-"
His exclamation was cut off as the door opened to reveal Jasper Bane, the Administrator to the horror known as Azkaban. He stared at them from sunken, lifeless eyes. "Yeah?" he asked gravelly, though cracked lips that looked as if they hadn't smiled in a century.
Despite his dismal appearance, Albus stuck out his hand and smiled jovially. "Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We've spoken through fire, if you recall."
The man stared sullenly at the proffered hand, then turned and disappeared into his office. As if nothing had happened, Dumbledore followed him, and, with a sigh, Snape did the same.
The office inside was just as dismal as the man who occupied the quarters. He sat behind a ramshackle old desk and glanced at a molding file. "Ya wanted to see a pris'ner?"
"That's correct. Her name is Ciera Sinistra."
"Well... s'good someone knows her name. Haven't been able to get a word outta 'er. We call 'er the tenth Death Eater, cause she was the only one outta ten that they found alive. An' she was only just." He looked up gloomily, as if saddened by the news that she had survived. "Whadda ya want with 'er?"
"We want to explain a bit of a... misunderstanding that seems to have occurred."
"Misunderstanding, eh? How so?"
"Well, you see... Ciera Sinistra is no more a Death Eater than I am. She was, shall we say, framed."
Behind him, Snape cringed at the words. Albus Dumbledore- upright Headmaster, role model to thousands... expert liar.
Jasper Bane stared at Dumbledore for a few moments, then abruptly burst into laughter, the action contorting his already-hideous face horribly. The expression made Snape cringe again. "Framed, eh? That's a story if I ever 'eard one."
Dumbledore was unfazed. "I assure you it is no story, as you say. Now, if you would give me leave to explain."
Bane leaned back in his seat and waved his hand. "Go ahead. I could use a good laugh."
"Thank you. First, allow me to introduce Severus Snape, Potions Professor at Hogwarts."
At this, the Administrator leaned forward. "Snape, did you say?" His eyes narrowed at Severus. "You're one of the ones that escaped, aren't ya? You should be rotting in here, you."
Severus bristled, though the words hit their mark, and stepped forward. Albus held up a hand to stop him. "He was once convicted of being a Death Eater, it is true. But the claims are no longer valid, and I would thank you to respect that." Bane leaned back again, still glaring coldly at Snape. "But it is on that point that I would like to base my argument. It was once well known that Severus was considered one of Voldemort's (Bane flinched at the name) followers. And as you know, many still bear very hard feelings towards anything related with Him. Many of these people are in positions of power..."
"What're ya sayin'? Out with it now."
"What I'm saying is that one such person had Ciera Sinistra kidnapped, overpowered, and placed at the scene of the fight."
Jasper slammed his fist down on the desk. "Ridiculous!"
"Is it?"
"Absolutely! First off, why?"
"To involve Severus, of course."
He paused, thinking about what was just said, as if allowing his slow-witted brain time to process the information, before responding. "Explain."
"Gladly. You see, Ciera Sinistra is Severus'," at this, Snape fought the urge to cringe at the words he knew were coming, "fiancee." Instead, he swallowed hard and nodded once as Bane's eyes moved slowly to him, trying desperately to keep the vein in his temple from twitching.
"Really now?" He didn't sound convinced. Surprising.
"Yes. And of course, you see, by involving his fiancee with the Death Eaters would involve him, landing him once again in Azkaban where they want him."
Snape watched the man carefully. If he actually believed the lie that Dumbledore was feeding him... then he had been in the confines of Azkaban for far longer than he should have been.
Slowly, he rose, reaching for the keys at his waist. "Let's just see how your story holds up, alright? We'll go and see your tenth Death Eater."
* * *
Several minutes later, Severus found himself looking through a one-way glass window at a black-haired woman. She was lying on her side on the hard floor, halfway curled into a ball, her right hand drawing patterns on the dusty floor. Every so often, she would sneeze, stare blankly at the spot on the floor, then resume her drawing. Her matted curls fell over her face, partially obscuring her features, but even still, Severus could tell that she had, at one time, been beautiful.
"Well?" growled Bane, tapping his foot impatiently. "Her trial's tomorra, if ya got somethin' to say."
Dumbledore looked to Snape, who was still staring at the girl. He didn't want to do this. Finally, he nodded. "It's her."
"You'll wanna talk, I suppose."
This time, Albus answered. "Yes, if you don't mind."
The Administrator shrugged and gave an unintelligible grumble, inserting a key into the lock in the door and turning in with a loud clang. He allowed them in and gave them a cold glare. "I'll be back in ten minutes, got it?"
Dumbledore nodded cordially. "Thank you."
The door closed behind them, leaving them alone with the tenth Death Eater, who had not yet shown any sign of acknowledging their presence.
"Now what, Albus? The girl is most likely half-mad, and we're supposed to get her to follow along with this ridiculous story you've brewed?"
A feminine voice answered him. "I'm not mad." Snape whirled to find her staring up at him with hollowed eyes, eyes reminiscent of Sirius Black, and of his own. She blinked, her hand straying to a tendril of hair that hung down the middle of her face, bringing it to her mouth to absently chew on. "Who are you?"
Severus didn't know what to say, and turned, helplessly, to Albus. The old Headmaster knelt in front of the woman. "That, my dear, is a very, very long story."
END CHAPTER ONE
Notes Part Dos: I wasn't expecting it to be this long, or this confusing. But never fear, all shall be explained next chapter. Just let's hope that next chapter isn't this long, shall we?
I reeeeeeeeeally like this idea, and hope you all do as well.
Dedicated to Milla, Captain of the Good Ship Snape/Sinistra!