This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Prologue

Severus knew that tonight was the night it would all come crashing around him; he was completely unprepared for the revel that night. He hadn't had time to tame his emotions, as it had been one thing after another this day.

They stood there in a clearing inside a dark forest somewhere, he assumed, in the heart of England. The others were apparating into their positions with great 'cracks' and loud 'pops' every few minutes and it was not helping to control his nerves.

He couldn't believe what he had done that evening, the shame he felt was suffocating his control.

An image flashed before his eyes of a young girl's broken body on the floor of his lab, her legs sprawled and her head turned to one side, but it was the robes she was wearing, the Gryffindor uniform of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, that made him balk again.

Lucius eyed him wearily, clearly sensing something was amiss. Severus hastened to correct his outward stance, legs apart slightly, arms casually at his side. He tipped his head to Lucius Malfoy who quickly turned away again.

Something was definitely wrong. Lucius would never dream of not returning a nod of acknowledgement, not from a Death Eater Brother during a Revel. His heart constricted and fear arose again. Lucius knew! The Dark Lord knew! Lucius had been the one in the hallway. It had been he who had witnessed the consequences, had seen him holding the blasted Gryffindor girl in his arms and… Crying of all things. He would have tried to hex the bastard into the oblivion if he wasn't out numbered twenty to one! Oh how he want to tear his face off.

Her image swam before his eyes, her ample chest and voluptuous lips had enticed him, and before he could think twice he was doing as she asked, as she begged him to, all against his own better judgement.

They were kissing, it was beautiful, magical, and then it was more. She wasn't stopping at the kiss as she had promised, she was unbuttoning his robes, she wanted him, and he could feel her lust boiling in her body. He tried to stop it at first, he really had tried, but her tongue had found his ear and she whispered 'take me I'm yours' into his ear, and that was it. He took her roughly and quickly and delighted in her body, until he lifted his head as he came and saw her eyes were vacant and glassy. He realised that her voice had been slurred and fuzzy. He had been too blinded by passion, by his love for the young girl that he hadn't noticed that she had been under Imperious. He had just raped his student, and he wept; he cried for her innocence taken from her, cried for the rape of her body but also of her mind and she would remember everything.

There had been a sound from the doorway of the classroom and Severus was up and out the door like a shot, but he hadn't been quick enough. All he had seen before his left arm seared in pain as the dark mark branded him again, was a shadowy figure ascending the stairs to the entrance hall. He had quickly written a note to the Headmaster and grabbed his owl roughly, forcing the letter upon the bird before throwing it out of the high windows. One, if not both, of his roles would end tonight.

He gulped as the dark lord appeared. He hoped with all that was left of his small black heart that tonight's meeting would be quick.

The meeting began quickly; all missions had gone very well and he was relieved that he would be back within the next half an hour. A new record he sighed.

Then the dark lord looked at him, his snake like eyes burning into his raven orbs, penetrating Severus' soul. He cursed himself for his lack of concentration. The dark lord stood upright and made a step towards Severus, without a thought Severus stepped back. The group gasped and muttered at the action. Without another thought, he turned and ran, dodging a number of hexes Lord Voldemort threw at him.

'Don't just stand here - get him, and get him alive! I want the pleasure of torturing the snake!'

And so the chase had begun. Severus wove his way through the trees and jumped over the overgrowth. The low branches caught his face and stung his skin. He could hear his robes ripping and tearing as he wrenched himself through the dark shadows of the pressing woods. He could hear them behind him, crying through the trees, screaming for his blood; each of them wanting the prize and the glory.

Suddenly his ankle caught and he fell through the air, his hands splaying and his body hitting the ground with a thunk. He groaned as he shook his head free of the pain and twisted to see what had grabbed at him. He turned and looked into a pair of startling blue eyes, eyes that belonged to one of his most favoured pupils, the child he wished was his own; Draco Malfoy.

'Draco!' Severus whispered, 'What on earth are you doing here? I thought you were at the Revel tonight, I saw you there.' The younger wizard looked around quickly.

'No,' the blue eyed boy whispered back, 'I found out what was planned and I had to make alternative arrangements, a 'friend' took my place.' He looked around anxiously again. Without warning a dark figure dropped upon them, the silver mask catching in the moonlight as it looked at each of them before dropping to their level. 'About time,' Draco muttered before returning his attention back to his professor. 'This is a portkey,' he stated as he held up the leaf, 'it will take you right to the Headmasters office. Take it now,' he hissed as the cries of the bloodthirsty brood grew closer. Severus grabbed at it and waited. Nothing happened.

'We're going together,' whispered a heated voice of the strange Death Eater. 'Here's your mask, Draco,' as he removed the mask he too touched the leaf. The familiar pull at his navel grabbed Severus as he lunged forward through space and time and landed gracelessly on the floor outside of the Headmaster's office, his eyes wincing shut at the sudden change in lighting. When he opened them again, the man in the robes was crouched before him, worry in his vibrant green eyes. Severus pulled back when he saw that the Death Eater was in fact, Harry Potter.

A/N - Thank you to Claudia who Beta'd this chapter for me. I really appreciate your help!