The manor was quiet tonight. Indeed, it had been quiet almost every night for the past month, Severus reflected as he made his usual rounds, ensuring the manor's security. The only sound, beside his echoing footfalls, was created by the bitter winter winds, howling as they wrapped around the building, blanketing it in icy frost, and periodically creating drafts from the many fireplaces. The flames flickered and sputtered in the gust, and the many draperies occasionally began to flutter in the darkened hallways. Severus was often accused of cowardice, but he was no coward. That wasn't even his own conceit speaking, he simply couldn't be accused of it, given his task, and how long he'd been carrying it out. Even so, the silent manor was unnerving.
Focus! You're a double agent, the most dangerous job in the world, especially under these particular masters. What's a breezy old manor?
One of those two masters had been absent for some time and ordinarily, Severus Snape would have been overjoyed to be spared the...difficulties that inevitably arose when dealing with the dark lord, particularly given his heightened paranoia and frustration in recent months. However...
It's not like him to be gone so long, with no word back. He hasn't done so since, well, since his last downfall.
Severus wouldn't allow himself to become too hopeful however. For one thing, Potter had been nowhere near the dark lord since the summer, and there was every reason to think, if what Dumbledore claimed was true, that the dark lord could be defeated by no other. Much though Severus pained to admit that particular truth, he was nothing if not the undisputed master in facing up to painful truths, even if it took him years to do it.
Still this was most unusual indeed, and all that kept Severus in the company of the death eaters, beyond Dumbledore's instruction to remain, was the sense they all of them had that the dark lord would be back. Glancing down at his forearm, he could see the reason why: the dark mark.
It hasn't faded, hasn't lost it's magic as it did when he was last defeated.
That fact alone was proof enough to Severus. Whatever magic the dark lord had used when he crafted his mark it was indisputable that, so long as the mark existed, the dark lord lived, and indeed, if it still pulsed with magic as it presently did, it was logical to assume the dark lord was very much corporeal and active too.
Continuing to brood on these thoughts, Severus finished his circuit of the manor and made his way back to the main hall.
Throne room, more like. All we need is the noble king back in his high chair at the high table.
However, as he entered the hall he found it, unusually, not empty at all. Assembled within were a group of, by his estimation, about seven death eaters. They were masked and hooded, never a good sign as that usually indicated they were planning something imminent. Knowing he needed to find out what, exactly, they were up to and relying on his privileged status within the dark lord's inner circle, he moved up to the group openly and without haste in the hope a display of confidence would not raise their suspicions. Sadly for Severus...
"Snape, how lovely to see you this wretched evening."
Lestrange.
"Bellatrix. I wasn't aware the dark lord had summoned his circle." Snape replied crisply and without emotion, knowing how to handle Lestrange by now, and surveyed the other figures assembled. Lestrange was the hooded figure stood in the centre, clearly directing whatever plans they were scheming up and unmistakeable, as her black hair cascaded down her robes.
Really, why does she even bother with the robes anyway. A disguise is meaningless if everyone knows you're a fugitive to begin with.
He recognised no others present however and turned his eyes back to Lestrange, raising an eyebrow in unspoken question, as she still hadn't answered his implied rebuke.
"The inner circle requires no summoning tonight we are doing the dark lord's will and, being well attuned to our lord's wishes as faithful servants, are preparing to carry it out in his absence."
Lestrange really did have a vanity problem, reflected Severus. If he was honest though, he did too in a certain sense, but choosing not to comment on the ever-inflated-ego of Bellatrix Lestrange, instead tried a different tack.
"Indeed? I'm sure our lord will be pleased by your devotion, as ever. Is it wise to leave the manor defenceless, however? You seem to have summoned everyone for this task."
Lestrange sniffed, clearly growing irritated that Severus hadn't just left yet but, too aware of the dark lord's trust of Severus, seemed to force herself to remain civil.
"Not everyone. You'll be here and the manor will be well tended to, I'm sure, Snape. You are capable, after all, and can handle any attack."
Severus ignored the petty insult entirely as he'd gotten part of what he wanted already. She had, indirectly, admitted that the inner circle were up to something and would indeed be leaving the manor empty to carry out their task. Of course, any thought of calling the order in was out of the question. He was after all, the only death eater besides Lestrange's group who knew now the manor would be empty and if the order turned up conveniently, Lestrange and the others would know they had a rat. And who. He'd rather not give her the chance to act on her hatred of him.
The other problem with taking the manor was, of course, the presence of the Dementors. Very restless Dementors, it seemed. The dark lord's absence had, to his surprise, not resulted in the Dementors abandoning their posts, but it had created noticeable...agitation in their ranks. They approached everyone who entered the manor very closely indeed and with undisguised relish, as he himself had found out to his displeasure, earlier that night.
Still, he had one more piece to the puzzle that needed solving. What are they going out to do?
"I can, indeed, handle the manor in your absence Bellatrix and appreciate your faith in me. However, I would need some idea of when to expect you back. I am not the dark lord and do require times of rest; I cannot hold the fort indefinitely alone."
"We won't be gone long, don't worry Snape. We're just going to remind the muggles why they need to sleep with their lights on at night." Lestrange snorted with a cruel smirk but for a change, made no comment on Severus' character.
We're making progress.
So, a muggle attack was the order of the day then. Unfortunately, Severus would be unable to do anything to prevent that, as the risk of exposing his secret role would be too great. He regretted that, truly he did, but he had been in this role too long to not know that he needed to remain where he was. They could save one muggle family today, but hundreds more might die in the days and weeks to come if he wasn't there when the moment finally came to strike the dark lord himself.
Still, it made him feel sick to watch Lestrange's enthusiasm for her 'work', and, having garnered all the information of use that he could gave a curt nod and a sniffy assurance the manor would still be here when they returned. Lestrange simply ignored him and turned back to the assembled death eaters to prepare their attack.
As Severus left the hall however, he did reflect on two things. The first was that he was sure, whether this attack tonight was or was not simply a 'diversion', a way for the death eaters to amuse themselves, something bigger was afoot. They were up to something, and it wasn't going to be a simple attack. Bellatrix and the others had met too often, for too long, for it to be a simple raid. He was sure it was Bellatrix's idea though, as the dark lord certainly didn't leave any standing orders when he departed. Didn't even leave a goodbye note, for that matter.
As such, with Bellatrix in charge, it won't be nearly as well planned or coordinated as it should be. If I can find out what they're up to, the chances of being able to stop them are that much higher with Lestrange as the 'chief of staff'.
The second reflection, and a more worrying one for his personal safety, was focused on the Dementors. Not their agitation, though that too was a concern in itself, but the fact of their presence. He knew the dark lord had only planned to house them around Malfoy Manor temporarily, but his abrupt departure had extended that schedule and, Severus knew, the presence of those dark demons would be noticed by the ministry sooner or later.
Perhaps there, the opportunity to take out this manor presents itself.
Yes, as he thought on it, that could well be the opening he needed for Dumbledore to accept the plan to recapture at least some of the dark lord's inner circle. An attack on the manor now would be suspicious. After all, nobody in the ministry had any reason to be suspicious now Lucius had gone on the run, he'd never hide here, it'd be too obvious.
Severus snorted as he reflected on the short sighted thinking in the Auror department.
Even so, if Dumbledore framed it right...an inspection, reports of unusual 'mists' around the manor, fears of infestation of some kind. The ministry can argue it thinks the Dementors are here, which of course, they are, and launch a pre-emptive 'attack' which, with Order participation in secret, might be able to secure some of the dark lord's henchmen.
As Severus stood now in the upstairs corridor looking out into the night, he smiled to himself slightly. After all, whatever Potter or Lestrange or anyone else said about him, Severus Snape could never be called any man's fool and as he reasoned it, this could be a plan able to prove that. To Dumbledore and to the others in the Order who sneered at him. It wouldn't be easy, but it was an option to consider.
- Moments that define us -
As night fell on Britain, most of the wizarding world had retreated into slumber and this night, like many others, seemed no different than the last. Around Malfoy Manor, the dark robed figures continued their usual circles of the woods, sniffing out small animals for nourishment. It was a little known fact that the souls of animals would feed a Dementor too; after all, if they simply attacked people all the time a more concerted effort to exterminate them would long have been carried out. Still, it was unfulfilling to them and they had been close to mutiny at times.
Then, the dark master returned again.
The rustling of robes over grass, almost imperceptible, was the first hint that anything was amiss in the woodlands. This was unusual as Dementors float and do not make such noise. It would alert their prey and they picked up on it immediately. Then, they felt him.
The dark master is back.
As he approached the manor the dark lord stopped, tilting his head slightly, seeming to consider something, before turning and moving into the forest to where the Dementors, as he knew, most usually congregated: the centuries old oak tree at the centre. It served as the magical focus of the region and was the reason the Malfoy family built this manor here to begin with. Magic is not, he had learned in his long years, a quantifiable substance, a 'thing' you can gather, but even so, some areas do seem to attract it, to congeal it into one dense location, and this wood was one such place.
The dark lord passed swiftly through the trees, virtually silent, and unmoved by the presence of the Dementors, who recoiled slightly as he passed.
A tainted soul, poisonous to eat, yet irresistible to follow.
He was at this point in many ways the human shadow of a Dementor, and it was partly this sense of connection, of kinship of a kind, that drew them to him. His soul, like theirs, was fractured and broken though, unlike theirs, his required no sustenance to be maintained. He fascinated them in a primitive way, as they fascinated him.
As he reached his destination the dark lord stopped and waited, letting his magical aura out around him in waves.
What is the dark master doing?
A group of Dementors gathered, watching their enigmatic leader, wondering at the flashes of magical energy sweeping out from him. It was not his summons, so what was he doing? The dark lord gathered more power around him and pulled out from a bag a snake, his snake, and a stick.
A wizard's stick.
As they watched he took the snake and, to their surprise, he began to draw the life out of it. He was trying to absorb the soul of the creature into himself. The Dementors grew even more agitated, recognising this process immediately. But the dark master was not meant to have that ability, it was why he prized them so, after all. As they watched, the soul of the snake moved out of the new dead serpent and into the dark master, connecting with his own.
No, not just the soul of the Snake. Another, faded and damaged like his own, but there and distinct.
His magic now accelerated in intensity and they could feel him drawing power from the magic centred on the tree, using it to forcefully absorb the soul of the snake and the tainted other together into himself. If the Dementors were capable of surprise, they would have shown it.
Does he now hunger, as we do?
But no, he hadn't consumed the souls, he'd absorbed then, attached them to his own somehow. Then, as his energy began to crescendo, they felt rather than saw the spirit of their master cry out. It was a cry of power, of joy and success and, most curiously of all, reunion.
What has he done?
As the Dementors moved away, disturbed and agitated by the excess of magic, they watched the dark lord turn and before them was a sight that did something to them no other sight could barring a patronus. It made the Dementors pause, then move further away again.
The master smiles, and has regained his face.
Lord Voldemort raised his arms out to the sky and shouted in success, sending a jet of pure red light coursing through the sky in celebration.
"It worked!"
- Moments that define us -
From the windows of Malfor Manor Severus Snape, still patrolling, paused and gazed out at the forest in curiosity.
What is that sensation? Is that...magic?
He was disturbed. He had never felt anything so powerful as this, not even when the dark lord became enraged. If the power that rolled off the dark lord at that time was a waterfall, this was a tsunami to crown all tsunami's. Wave after wave of magic poured through the manor, to the point that the walls seemed almost to distort with it and Severus, for the first time in a long time, was truly afraid.
Is it the Dementors? The Order? Has the dark lord returned?
He rushed out into the grounds, wand in hand, in time to see a bright streak of red light shoot into the sky and heard the distant sound of someone in joy. Enormous joy. But he knew that feeling now, the signature of that magic. It was the dark lord, no doubt and he was happy, very happy.
Severus was worried by that sound, extremely worried and, fearing to move out of the manor itself, waited at the entrance, wand still ready for whatever had just happened out there to come to him. After a few minutes, it did. Moving up the pathway towards him was the dark lord, no doubt about it, and he was happy. It was obvious something enormous had happened and this worried Severus more. You could see the happiness almost radiating from the dark lord's smile.
Wait, his smile! What on earth has he done?!
Severus waited, truly scared now by the dark lord's strange behaviour and appearance, and it was with great effort indeed he maintained his composure as the dark lord approached and greeted him with a simple "My lord, welcome back. I trust your journey was successful?"
The dark lord, still smiling, and the sight disturbed Severus to see, turned to him and held his arms out, almost as if to embrace him though thankfully he did no such thing.
"Very successful Severus, very much indeed. There's a story to be told. Ah, but not without all of us assembled first. Your arm, Severus."
Severus held his left arm out, making no comment, and bracing himself as the pain of the dark lord's touch to his mark coursed through him before he released him. Severus pulled the robes back down over his now jet black and moving mark.
"I am pleased to hear that my lord, how may I serve?" He spoke calmly and smoothly, in the tones that always seemed to please the dark lord and sincerely hoping nothing had happened at Hogwarts.
I won't fail you, Lily.
The dark lord smiled wider and as he did, Severus observed his face more closely. It was...different. The eyes were still bright red, and his nose smooth and deformed. Yet, the signs of age had worn away somewhat and it seemed as though the beginnings of hair had appeared on his skull. Severus truly had no idea what had happened that night and was desperate to know, though of course, he kept that to himself.
"You may serve, as you always do, my friend, by accompanying me to the hall. We all have reason to celebrate, yes, great reason to celebrate indeed."
As Severus followed his lord into the manor his thoughts continued to whirl in his mind, but repeatedly just one came back, again and again.
Please don't let me have failed Lily. Never that.
Following his lord inside the night fell, for a time, quiet again. He didn't notice the Dementors had followed the dark lord up the hill, or the excited and eager way they now rapidly circled the manor. He only knew that the dark lord was back, and if anything he'd seen was an indication, dark times were sure to follow.