ONE: Sheavesden

The town of Sheavesden, like so many other towns inhabited by Wizards was nestled within a community of poverty-stricken Muggles. Located at the tip of Northern Ireland, Sheavesden was once a bustling mill town until the great depression era in the 1940s, now Sheavesden looked like a town that might be featured in a Muggle horror film. The giant Sheavesden Mill still stood, a sentinel in the night sky, and while its size was as impressive and intimidating as ever, most of the inhabitants of Sheavesden now agreed that it was one of the most haunting buildings around. A 12 foot tall chimney stood in the central part of the mill, towering, dusty and falling apart at the seams. The various buildings that made up the mill, though they showed signs of once being impressive in grandeur, they now looked cold and unwelcoming, and there wasn't an intact window left on any square foot of the building. There were spots where the walls and roofing had completely caved in, too. There was still lumber left over from its active days, but it was so rotten that when the sons of the town's carpenters suggested to their fathers that they could help themselves, the older men would answer that the wood was probably more than 40 years old, and would most likely disintegrate should they put even a finger on them, and tell their sons off for not thinking this fact obvious.

The inhabitants of Sheavesden were another matter entirely. Most were the old workers of the Sheavesden mill, some as old as the mill itself, and most, due to years of unemployment, lived in houses that were not much better off than the mill. The town now screamed depression amongst its inhabitants, and the drug usage was astronomical. Because of this, not only were the old declining in health, but the young as well. Due to extremely violent gang situations among the few remaining inhabitants who were around the ages of 20 to about 35, most of Sheavesden's inhabitants rarely went roaming about, and those who did were usually children who went roaming around the mill for a dare.

This, however, appealed to Ireland's wizarding community, as they tried to set up communities in recognizable places, but places where Muggle interference could be kept at a minimalist bay. Even though they really would not have needed to worry about being spotted, two wizards who had just chosen to apparate into the village had arrived a good 30 feet away from the mill, the nearest building to the large field that they had chosen as their arrival spot.

The two wizards who had just appeared out of thin air were both men, one very tall, the other looking as though he weren't all that old. No older, perhaps, then 17 or 18. Both were cloaked in black robes that, in the dying daylight, made them nearly invisible. The tall man made to grab the young man's arm, but he dodged out of reach, instead choosing to cast the man a furious stare as he followed in the other man's hurried wake.

"Where on earth are we going?" the young man called. "Stop fooling around and answer my question Snape!" he spat. The older man, Severus Snape, the former Potions and Defense against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, looked back at his young charge, clearly irritated, as though the question had been asked at least twice a minute during the trip.

"We are going to your aunt's house, Draco." Snape said silkily. "I have arranged a small meeting. Your mother will be there." Draco Malfoy stopped dead in his tracks, the look of dislike on his face doubled.

"My mother?" Draco said, sounding revolted.

"Yes." Snape said, simply, "Now hurry up, I do not want to keep your aunt waiting." He set off again, Malfoy following at a distance, clearly wishing he were anywhere else, in very different company. Snape strode along a road parallel to the mill, passing houses that, like the mill, held signs of once being good looking, but were now damp, derelict, and covered in moss, crumbling plaster and peeling paint. Some had broken windows or roofs. The front of the houses looked like they might have once had gardens, but like everything else, age and neglect had taken its toll, and the only clue of any past gardens were that the boarders of the front of the houses, where the gardens would be, had grass that was thinner and less healthy than that of the rest of the front lawns, which were very overgrown. At the end of the road, Snape made a left onto another, smaller lane, where, if anything, the houses were more shabby than the ones on the main road, and every now and then, the smell of Marijuana being smoked and the sound of coughing could be heard from the occupants of the houses that had broken windows, as the inhabitants dealt with their sickeningly blackened lungs and the constant drafts that purveyed their houses.

Finally, Snape stopped at a bare looking, but perfectly square bit of front lawn. There was no house, however, and Malfoy wondered if Snape had perhaps taken a wrong turn. Snape, however, strode forward, stopping where the door would be. Snape extracted a wand, made some motions, and then, as if summoned, a house scarcely more appealing than it's neighbors, appeared out of thin air, in much the same way Snape and Malfoy appeared. Snape proceeded to ring the doorbell.

A woman with heavy lidded eyes and a strong jaw answered the door. Rather heavyset and looking as though she would give her arm to set fire to something, or observe some form of torture, this woman wasn't a sight for sore eyes.

"Ahhh, Severus. You've come. Excellent. Narcissa will be most pleased."

"Good evening, Bellatrix," Snape responded. 'May we enter?" His manners were clearly no more than an act, for his words were hollow, sarcastic, and devoid of any proper feeling. Had Snape had his way, he would have simply walked in without any greeting at all.

"Please, make yourself at home." Bellatrix Lestrange responded, matching Snape for his sarcasm. She merely glared as Malfoy crossed the threshold into her house.

A scream distracted the three, and a woman with a very pointed, and potentially beautiful face, had she not seemed to have etched in an expression of sourness permanently onto her face, had thrown herself at Snape and Malfoy. Narcissa Malfoy broke into tears as her eyes met with her son's.

"Oh Draco, you're alive!" She sobbed, reaching out for Malfoy's arm. Malfoy backed off, looking revolted. Narcissa, however, would not be put off. "How on earth did you manage to evade capture?" she continued. "I got a Patronus message from Severus…you were…" she was cut off by Snape.

"Narcissa, calm down. I will tell how we have achieved this, as it is very pertinent to why I have called this meeting in the first place. I have to insist, however," his eyes lingered on Narcissa and Bellatrix, her sister. Narcissa was still sobbing dryly, and Bellatrix was looking callously amused, as if she was not truly interested in anything Snape might have to say, "That you two keep from interruptions. My time here is very limited, and it is crucial that we decide something before I have to leave." Narcissa was able to calm down enough to control her sobbing, and Bellatrix's expression of amusement was replaced by one of very dim interest. Snape took no notice of them except to take in their apparent willingness to listen.

"Now," Snape began, "as Narcissa has just said, Draco has failed to complete the task the Dark Lord imposed on him. As you are no doubt aware, this act has made the Dark Lord very angry, and I know he would be most happy to dispose of Draco." At this, however, Narcissa broke out in renewed sobs. "Narcissa, that's enough." Snape said firmly. "I have volunteered to pass on to the Dark Lord the information that the deed was done, just not in the manner he had hoped."

"Yeah, you and your stupid Unbreakable Vow." Malfoy said in a hiss. "I would have done it fine, but you interfered!"

"Foolish boy!" Snape spat. "You could not have completed the task on your own." Malfoy made a move as if to retort, but Snape held him back with a look. "As I say, the Dark Lord is most displeased. However, I am willing to arrange that you, Draco, go into hiding with your mother. I believe I can sort out the rest with the Dark Lord."

"I will not go into hiding!" Malfoy protested. "I am not a coward!"

"This has nothing to do with you being a coward…" Narcissa began, again trying to come closer to Draco, but he pulled away.

"I don't care! I'm not going into hiding!" Malfoy bellowed.

"You will do as I say!" Snape shot back, matching Malfoy's anger. "You may think yourself manly and that you would have been able to complete the task, but you are neither! You are a foolish child and you are in danger. Therefore, you will go into hiding as I have planned!" Where another person may have shriveled up from fear after Snape's lash, Malfoy's rage increased, his face purpling.

"I…AM…NOT…A…CHILD!!" He roared, with all the volume he could muster. Snape, however, lost his temper. In one quick movement, he had crossed the room, grabbed Malfoy's arm, forced his hand onto his mother's arm, and rapped Narcissa over the head with his wand, forcibly apparating Narcissa into his preplanned hiding location, dragging Malfoy unwillingly along.

After the pair had evaporated, Snape turned to his hostess. Bellatrix did not seem to have raised a single eye throughout the drama that had unfolded in her house, and remained unfazed.

"He's in the back room, isn't he?" Snape said, softly. Bellatrix nodded, taking out her wand, pointing it at a rather large bookshelf, and muttering some words under her breath. A door appeared in the middle, and Snape, with no words of thanks, stepped in, shutting the magical door behind him.

He stood in a vast tunnel which was more like a large cavern than anything. Snape pulled out his wand and muttered,

"Lumos." The tip of his wand flared, illuminating the long passageway in front of him. Careful to tread on nothing but the marble steps that had been laid down, he proceeded to walk, his wand continuing to light the way across the cavern. About five minutes later, he saw the end of the tunnel, and stopped at another door. This one was much, much larger than the one he had left, and though there didn't seem to be any light coming from inside, the door, like the front doors of a 15th century Cathedral, glimmered with a light that would have made any other man's spine tingle, and make him reconsider his decision to enter. The fact that a sound, much like an eerily high and menacingly bowed violin was being played from within would not have eased any man's apprehensions about this place.

Snape, however, approached the door with no hint of fear, but instead, let his eyes rest on the rather large twelve karat gold knocker. It was shaped like a giant snake, to mirror the one that had been carved on the door itself. Had this snake been real, it would have been at least twelve feet or longer. Snape rapped the knocker smartly. No one answered, hollered "come!" or given any show of welcome, but after Snape had knocked on the door, in a particular pattern, the door swung open, leading Snape into a huge room that was beyond description.

At least forty feet high, and twice as wide, the room did indeed resemble a Cathedral, except that there were no windows, and it seemed to be hollowed out of the same type of rock that made up the rest of the cavern through which Snape had traveled. It was this, perhaps, that was most fascinating. Though the Cathedral like room was indeed a giant cavern, it seemed far too immaculately conceived to be done by nature's forces alone. The whole room looked as though a professional architect had designed it, and the whole room was perfectly square, nothing overdone, and though the room did not have any windows, a light that was green-white in color, and had the flickering qualities of a candle, permeated the room, giving it the same haunted feel as the door that led to the room. The scariest part was the person seated upon a throne like chair that sat before a fireplace in the middle of the room.

"Lay down your wand, Severus." A cold voice commanded. Snape did so quickly, while trying to not break his eye contact with the throne. "Come closer, Severus." The cold voice commanded again. Snape approached the throne, taking in a man with watery eyes, a balding head, and rather overlarge front teeth, so that he rather represented a rat in appearance. The strangest thing about this man was a silver hand that rested upon the throne. This man was clearly a servant to the man sitting upon the throne. As Snape approached, the silver handed man, Peter Pettigrew, or better known as Wormtail, turned the throne to face Severus.

"My Lord Voldemort." Snape said, bowing. Lord Voldemort was perhaps as indescribable as his surroundings. He had the body of a man, but his squashed face resembled a snake's, and he had mere slits for a nose, and narrow, catlike eyes which were the color of blood. He looked about a good two feet taller than the tallest man, and his voice, for a man's, was unusually high, and so cold that to hear him speak was like to be drenched in a shower of ice, and would indeed freeze the blood of any normal man who would hear him. Voldemort scrutinized Snape for a moment.

"You have disappointed me, Severus." Voldemort said softly, "you were not supposed to interfere."

"My Lord, Draco Malfoy's mother convinced me to…"

"Enough!" Voldemort spat. "I do not wish to hear any sniveling apologies, Severus. You played into that foolish woman's love for her useless child. That is not the way things are run with me."

"Yes, sir." Snape said.

"I think that either you or the boy should be killed," Voldemort said casually, "however, why? Dumbledore is dead. The task I assigned has been completed, but not in the way I expected." Snape bowed his head even more. Voldemort however laughed. He raised his wand. "Crucio!" he said, pointing the wand at Snape. For a few minuets Snape was on the hard floor of the cavern screaming in agony until Voldemort released him from the curse.

"You deserved that, Severus," Voldemort said. "You know better than anyone that I do not forgive, and you, Severus, you have let me down. I know that you killed Dumbledore, even though I assigned the task to young Mr. Malfoy, and I know that just earlier tonight, you sent the aforementioned Malfoy, along with his mother into hiding. Get up!" His last word was a command, and Snape straightened up quickly. Voldemort's red eyes bore into Snape's. "I will spare your life for now, and Mr. Malfoy's as well."

"Thank you, my Lord, you are merciful." Snape said, bowing once again.

"Enough, Severus!" Voldemort spat back. "Get up! I am only sparing your life for the moment, Severus. I have a job for you, and I hope you will not dash my hopes. Listen closely. Wormtail and I have been successful in recruiting more and more Death Eaters and various, shall we say, volunteers. I have found the time right for some more serious attacks. We needn't be so discreet this time, Severus. You will lead these Death Eaters and volunteers in an attempt to bring down any remaining order. Induce chaos. You should start by a rampage in Muggle London, give those Muggles a taste of what is to come, and then you are free to start in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Kill any and all, and be sure to show no mercy, especially if you encounter any of Dumbledore's old crowd. Do I make myself plain?"

"I understand clearly, Master." Snape responded, sinking into his deepest bow yet.

"Very well," Voldemort said, "take Wormtail here with you. He will introduce you to our new charges." Voldemort again scrutinized Snape. "You are dismissed, Severus, but be warned: I shall not tolerate your interference again. I expect more faithful service from now on."

"Yes, my Lord." Snape said, bowing as Voldemort returned to facing the fire. Snape walked quickly to the front door, Wormtail following along in his wake.