Chapter 3:
When they were done Severus discovered that his face was wet with tears he couldn't remember to have shed. Quivering and still in shock he simply continued to lie in his own blood and dubious other bodily fluids as the Death Eaters slowly cleared out.
Only a couple of them remained, one being Malfoy, the other being Crabbe, who seemed to have become Lucius self-proclaimed bodyguard. Standing right behind Lucius he shot Severus a vicious glare. Severus couldn't help but find that amusing. Just the way it's always been. Malfoy and his minions. 'What did he expect him to do? Jump up and knock them out? Certainly not in this condition.'
Malfoy, obviously as annoyed by the presence of his 'caretaker', made a dismissive gesture and rested his eyes on Severus, "You can wait outside. He's in no condition to harm me and I want to be alone for this."
Crabbe eyed them suspiciously, but left.
Malfoy's full attention now rested on Snape.
"Severus, to make a comment about my wife wasn't awfully wise, but I'm willing to forget about it.", too weak to look at Malfoy, Snape simply continued to stare at the stone floor. Maybe if the silence dragged out long enough Lucius would simply get bored and leave. But Severus had no such luck. Instead of leaving, Malfoy moved to stand in front of him.
Finally almost whispering he asked, "Are you alright?", 'What?', Snape's head shot up. Malfoy's pained expression told him that he hadn't misheard the words.
"I'm feeling great, thank you. Being in your presence always has this effect on me. Almost makes me forget about the pain...and the rape", sarcasm dripped from his voice.
"Please Severus, you know this didn't have to happen."
"What didn't have to happen, Lucius? The rape, the torture, my betrayal or yours? Please be more specific."
Lucius sighed, "All of it. 'Though I never betrayed you. You did that all by yourself."
"Interesting concept. I'll simply forget about the many times you used me for your own advantage then. I'm sure you didn't enjoy today's torture either, or yesterday's. And now that I'm out of the way, you surely don't have any ambitions to claw your way back into the inner circle.", he snorted, "You're no longer the man you used to be. Neither am I. We changed, so stop trying to pretend that you still care about our friendship. Now please get to the point and tell me what you really want. Why are you still here?"
"Don't you dare accuse me of taking advantage of you. I think you forget, that I vouched for you, when the Dark Lord questioned you loyalties. I assure him, that you would never betray him. You made me look like a fool when he found out about your betrayal."
Severus forced a laugh, "Don't flatter yourself. You vouched for me, because you wanted me to be indebted to you. You live under the illusion that power is everything and you're craving to hold some power yourself. Although deep inside you know that you're nothing more than his puppet. You wanted to control me.", he heaved himself up into a sitting position, looking Lucius straight in the eyes, "What you don't realize, Lucius, is that the Dark Lord lost his trust in you long before my betrayal. He wants Draco to finally join the Death Eaters in order to keep you from acting independently. Now, tell me why you stayed. What do you want from me, that you haven't already taken?"
Malfoy's eyes had lost all of their concern. Coldly he replied,
"I shall let you know when the time is right. At the moment, I just want you to suffer. How about one of your own curses for a change? Sectumsempra!"
Severus screamed in pain.
"Sometimes people need to be reminded of the position they are in."
Lucius laughed as Severus struggled to contain himself. Showing weakness to Lucius meant to give up his dignity. He wouldn't give him that.
SBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSBSB
Sirius woke up when they dropped Snape off into the cell.
"You alright?" he sounded bored, but if Severus would have looked at him he would have seen a hint of concern.
Severus just shook his head and Sirius didn't ask any more questions. He didn't even mention the wetness on Snape's face and the blood on his robes as he slumped to the ground in the corner of the cell. Instead Sirius decided to keep quiet and watch. 'What the hell was going on? So they found out that Snape is the traitor.', about that he had no doubt. 'But how? And why didn't they kill him already?', with these questions in mind, he slowly went back to sleep.
The next morning Goyle brought Sirius some breakfast, leaving Snape behind without. 'What were they trying to do? Starve him?'
"Here." Sirius offered Severus some bread. Severus stared at him impassively.
"Oh come on. Stop sniveling. We'll need the energy, if we want to escape."
Severus snorted, "Yeah right, Black. Tell me, how are you planning to escape without your wand? No wait, I know. You have miraculously developed the ability to make yourself invisible and walk through walls. That must be it! I'm deeply impressed.", although his voice sounded weak, Severus was back amongst the living. Sirius decided that he preferred the silent Severus. He frowned and said:
"Fine, be that way. But I'll be out of here by tomorrow, while you...!"
"You know, you might!", Severus interrupted, "But as much as this may sadden you to hear you'll have to do it without me because in case you haven't noticed I can barely walk, let alone disarm a dozen of Death Eaters and fight my way out of this underground labyrinth."
Silence.
"Severus, what did they do to you?"
"It's Severus now, is it? Black, rest assured that your newfound concern is absolutely misplaced and unnecessary. Besides", he added, "you wouldn't really want to know everything they did to me. Now kindly refrain from talking to me. Preferably for the entire rest of our stay in this rat hole."
"Fine forget I asked." for a moment he looked as if he was about to add more, but decided to stay silent for now.
'No matter what they did to him, he's still an insufferable bastard. I'll leave without him.' Ignoring Remus' voice, that told him to put himself into Severus shoes more often, he began to form a plan, that didn't involve Severus, to get out of there as soon as possible.
As the evening approached both of them had been left unharmed.
While Sirius had finally come up with a plan, Snape lay motionless in the corner of their cell, probably sleeping. Excited Sirius went through his plans one more time. When he opened the door in the morning he'd knock out the Death Eater in his dog form. Then he'd steal his wand and fight his way out. Snape for all he cared could die in this room. There was only one problem.
"Snape, what did you mean earlier when you said, that this is an underground labyrinth?"
No answer.
"Snape? Come on, don't act like a four year old. I even apologize for earlier."
Remus would be proud of him, apologizing for something he didn't even do. He smirked at the thought, but still Snape showed no signs of life.
Annoyed and slightly worried about Snape's lack of response he spared another glance at him. Something just didn't seem right. He carefully approached Snape, paying close attention to his breathing. It was…shallow.
"Snivellus?! Come on, wake up!", he grabbed his arm. Snape moaned. He felt warm. 'Probably running a fever'. Great, now he was trapped in here with Snape's semi-animate corpse.
Nonetheless, seeing Snape helpless didn't make him feel as good as he'd always thought it would. He took some of the water, the Death Eaters had left with them in the morning and carefully dabbed it onto Snape's face. Maybe he shouldn't leave him behind after all.
Snape's eyes fluttered. He was waking up.
"Too bad you wake up. Call me a fool, but I already thought I got finally rid of you." Sirius said, trying to sound annoyed, "What's wrong with you anyway?", but Snape simply shook his head, his eyes rolling back in his head, slipping back into unconsciousness. Dumbledore would skin him alive if anything were to happen to Snape, he knew it. That's when he noticed the blood soaking Snape's robes.
He carefully unbuttoned his clothes and pushed them aside to get a better look at the wound. Or...collection of wounds. Sirius couldn't believe his eyes. Snape's entire front was covered in gaping cuts. He had a vague idea of the spell that was used, but didn't comment on it as he ripped pieces off Snape's robes to use them as a bandage.
When he looked back up, Snape's eyes were open.
"You know, you could have told me that you're bleeding to death. That would have spared me some trouble."
"Black, leave me alone.", it was barely a whisper.
"I'd love to do that, but you know how Dumbledore would react if I were to tell him that I left you to die. He would never forgive me. I can't imagine why, but he cares about you."
Snape snorted, "You're wrong. He needed a spy and I was convenient. Now, that I was exposed I lost my value to him. You go back, Black. He will be delighted. And if you're concerned about his anger, tell him that they killed me. They likely will, so it technically won't even be a lie."
Sirius barked a laugh. "He would never believe me and I certainly won't risk my position in the order because of your stubbornness Snape. We are going to escape tomorrow, whether you are comfortable with the idea or not. I already have a plan.", Sirius said firmly.
Snape threw him a doubting glance, but Sirius rolled his eyes at that. Slowly he applied more pressure to Snape's wounds.
Alright if Black helped him out of here to please Dumbledore, Snape didn't have to feel indebted. Besides, he really didn't want to give Voldemort the satisfaction of killing him, "And how pray tell do you wish to escape?"
Black had the nerve to laugh at that.
"Oh Snivellus, trust me! Now tell me some more about this underground labyrinth as you call it."
...tbc
Authors note: Thank you for the nice reviews! I really appreciate that you take the time to comment on my work. ^^
I know this took me a while to upload. I promise I won't abandon my stories. It'll just take a bit to finish them.
