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CHAPTER 21
With his heart in tatters, her teary eyes etched deep into his tortured soul but his Occlumency walls still holding everything in, he closed the door of her cell and returned to the meeting room, waiting.
He did not have to wait for long.
"It seems you really are an excellent teacher, my friend. That was very impressive indeed!" came a voice and the Dark Lord materialized just a few feet away from him.
Severus only bowed in response.
"You may take her to your home if you wish. She appears to be obedient enough for me not to worry about your safety," he continued and Severus nearly smiled with relief at that. Nearly. The monster was not finished yet...
"On the condition that you brand her first, of course." SHIT! "There is no way to trust a follower who has not been marked. You have to be able to control her fully, just in case. The very same way I am with all my Death Eaters... And for that she must be willing to accept the Mark, it cannot be done successfully against the servant's wishes as you very well know. As soon as you manage that, she can leave with you. Just tell the guards you are taking her to me, I will check the magic was done properly - there is no one else in the world who would know the curse as well as I do - and you may leave. To Spinner's End, you say?"
FUCK! Did the potion really have to stop working now?! He had used all the lethifold skin he had and got very close to the toxic dosage even as it was...
"Yes, my Lord," he answered calmly, not revealing even a hint of his inner turmoil.
"Very well. Thanks to you, I have three new Death Eaters enthusiastic about proving themselves. They will all be ordered to help you guard the house, watching it at all times and making sure she will not leave your property," the creature informed him and his heart sunk even further. So just another prison for her...
"Any questions?" the thing asked, a glint in its eyes.
"No, my Lord. Thank you, my Lord," he answered, not daring to negotiate. He was out of luck now.
"You are welcome, my dear!" the Dark Lord sneered his ugly smile at him and waved its horrible claw of a hand to dismiss him.
Bowing deeply, Severus left the room, catching only a bellow of "Bella, to me!" and the subsequent bang of the woman being transported. He'd managed to arouse the monster with his actions towards the girl today... He knew what the scenario for their coupling would be that night.
He wanted to puke.
After exactly 8 minutes, he did and it was not from seeing the Hogwarts gates...
It had been four days since that night now and he was prepared. Today there was going to be a session. Today he was going to see her and tell her. Today, he was going to take the girl out of that shithole.
If only she consents to accept the Mark. His Mark. Making her a slave of his until the end of his life. For a year, in other words. What a wonderful idea to anyone! Severus thought darkly. But he would make that time shorter as soon as he was finished here. The bottles with the poison were stored safely in his pocket...
He planned carefully what to say to her so she would at least consider the offer and not laugh outright at him for even bringing it up. It was very likely she would prefer being locked in the cell over being kept in his house. If one could even call the ruin a house...
This was his typical fucking luck. Luck!? His life was full of shit even when he was lucky!
Squeezing the stone in his palm so hard it hurt, he focused on the regular beats. She was alright. That was all that mattered now. The rest could be solved somehow, one day. She was alright...
Severus was sitting by the Dark Lord's right hand again and waited for that horrible meeting to end, cursing silently anyone who did anything to prolong it. He will tell her tonight. Maybe she will leave with him in only a few hours! She will be safe!
He felt for the stone in his pocket, as was his habit nowadays, and counted the pulses.
103, 104, 105, 106... But wait, they are rather quick! Too quick for it to be normal. Something is happening!
His chest constricted and even his strictly schooled features nearly betrayed his worry. No, she has to be alright. Today is perhaps the last day. This HAS to work out!
But the stone was beating madly now, not slowing down even when he squeezed it with all his strength. After a few minutes, he heard quick, running footsteps heading towards the room.
It was then that everything went to hell.
It was only luck that it was him who was the first to curse the girl; had he not been on high alert, someone else would have fired instead and the girl would be dead on the spot. If his fortune holds, she would look harmless enough immobilized and the monster would get curious just sufficiently about this to let him speak to him before he killed her.
She was writhing in the chains and shooting him furious glances and he had no choice but to add Silencio and Petrificus to her when he saw her opening her mouth; to start cursing him, no doubt. She was not helping.
Just look innocent and harmless, for Merlin's fucking sake! Look like you always do except for now! he tried to order her with his eyes as he was staring at her.
"Well, now that is certainly an unexpected surprise..." the Dark Lord drawled and Severus started breathing again. He IS curious!
"Isn't this that whore of yours, Severus? The one you were training?" Severus could only nod and bow his head. His throat was still too tight to speak.
"Is this part of the training, my friend? Letting her run around the playground, unchecked?" there was a note of reproach in the Dark Lord's voice.
"No, my Lord, I have no idea what is going on here," he answered honestly, still pointing his wand at her to strengthen the impression that she was under strict supervision and entirely powerless now.
"Avery, Nott, go and see what happened to the guards. Talk to them and then kill them. Swiftly if they won't whine about it. I won't have anyone in my ranks who can be overpowered or outwitted by a little snotty girl!" the thing barked its orders and reminded everyone exactly why there were never enough followers. The Dark Lord managed to kill more of them weekly than the Order did in a whole year...
The men quickly left the room and the creature stood up, apparently to examine the girl. Severus subconsciously made a step towards her. He must protect her. He won't let the thing come too near. She is too precious, too pure for this monster to spoil her by its presence...
The Dark Lord waved his wand at her - her eyes were impossibly wide and she was scared out of her wits, no doubt - but Severus recognized the wand movement and forced himself not to start firing curses for he knew that the would-be-man only wanted to summon the wands that were still in her possession. The three hidden in the cloak's pocket flew to him along with the one that had clattered to the floor when he'd chained her to the wall. The thing came nearer still, only a step away from her, observing her closely and Severus' breath quickened to a panicked rhythm. Stay calm! She is going to be fine. He won't harm her. Don't lose your head and don't curse him. She won't survive if that happens! Stay calm! was his inner mantra as he made himself stay where he was. Hopefully the Dark Lord wouldn't notice it was HIS cloak around her, not some guard's.
"At least I see now what it is that makes you enjoy her so much," he remarked, staring at her naked breasts and pussy, both now revealed by the cloak that opened at her front and Severus squeezed his wand so hard his knuckles went white and his hand shook slightly. HOW DARE HE OGLE HER SO! SHE WAS HIS!
But he made himself bow his head as if he actually agreed. Anything to make him happy. Happy enough not to kill her. She HAS to survive!
The monster raised its paw to move the curly brown hair out of her beautiful face almost tenderly and Severus would swear he heard his wand crack by the sheer pressure he was putting on it. With some luck, it was just his strained knuckles...
"Indeed," the monster said, likely to himself. "Too bad she betrayed you, my friend. With all the effort you were investing into her, she still did not learn what is her place. How very sad..."
Severus felt his heart beating madly against his rib cage. This was not good! He has to do something now! Even if it gets him killed for talking back to the thing!
"There is still a chance she did not disobey, my Lord. There might have been a traitor or someone incompetent..." He used the two words that always got the Dark Lord's attention. He hated traitors and incompetence. Maybe he would choose to punish the guards himself and wouldn't take it out on the girl...
"Well, let's wait for the boys to return to us and tell us what they have discovered. In the meantime we could perhaps entertain ourselves with her..." he suggested and raised his clawed hand towards her gorgeous breast. Severus lost the fight with himself at the moment and just started turning his wand against the disgusting thing - SHE WILL BE PROTECTED - when the door opened and Avery tumbled in, breathing heavily.
Both men put their hands down, their attention diverted, and Snape gained his control back at last. His hands shook badly and he hid them in his sleeves. With some luck, no one noticed; the rest of the Inner Circle were still sitting around the table, not daring to make a sound. They would not say. They would keep quiet...
"Timing has never been your strong point, really... Though we have been waiting for long enough, I suppose. So?" the Dark Lord bid the man to speak.
"The guards in the Jail Chamber were found unconscious, bound and Silencioed, apparently by the whore who took them by surprise. We left them there for the moment and went to see the dungeon area. Frank Willington was obviously cleaning up the cells when he was hit by something surrounding the girl's cell, some kind of wards evidently. Nott got hit and caught by that too when he was trying to check on him, that's how we found out. I called the Healer and he took both of them to St. Mungo's, not knowing how to help them here himself. Nothing he tried was working. He said they would probably not make it," Avery panted with difficulty and Severus' blood froze. The wards...
"Now, that is interesting... Care to explain just who put the wards there? Unauthorized? Severus?!" the monster narrowed its eyes at him and Severus did not even manage to open his mouth before the curse hit him.
Falling to the floor and clenching his teeth together to stop himself from screaming, he tried to breath through the pain as it seared across his bones and flesh, putting daggers into his brain and every nerve ending he possessed. It's him, not her. He could endure this. It's easy, even. It's him...
The pain stopped finally and he gave himself a few seconds before he stood up gingerly, his head bowed respectfully even though he was still shaking from the shock that the agony had caused to his system.
"My apologies, my Lord, I didn't know we were forbidden to..." he started hoarsely when there was another jet of light and he was knocked down again, violent spasms raging through his body, making him see white. It is HIM. Not HER! It was good!
The curse was lifted once more and it left him drained, his limbs twitching. There was no time to crawl around though. She needs him.
Moving slowly, carefully putting his legs back under him, he raised himself up again.
"I am very sorry, my Lord." His voice was hoarse simply from the sheer pressure the curse put on his throat muscles although he had not uttered a sound for the past few minutes. Everything hurt so damn much and his whole body was trembling. But it could be taken care of later. Now it was about her.
"As you should be. The whore betrayed you. It is your job to remedy that. Kill her!"
The order resonated in his pounding head and he nearly lost his footing again. Kill her! Kill her! KILL HER!
He couldn't kill her. That was not something in the scale of possibilities. Impossible. It could not be done. She had to live! Everything would be lost for ever if she did not live...
"I can't..." he said quietly and it sounded lame even to him. Why was there no brilliant lie to tell? Why was his brain so empty? Why was he panicking so much right now after 20 years of smooth deceptions?!
The curse hit him with a force that knocked him down again, immediately. He did not even feel his knees colliding with the ground. Such things were simply not registered when one was being tortured with that. He knew a lot about the curse. He has had it many times before. He knows how to deal with it. He could do it. It alright as long as it's not her.
After an eternity, his weakened limbs finally gave up under him and he fell down, hitting his head against the hard stone floor and making his vision blur. He could not lose it. He must stay conscious. She is not safe. He needs to stay around to protect her! He clenched his teeth even tighter together.
Then the pain stopped and he was lying there limply. He could not even open his eyes and his head pounded fiercely, making the whole world swim around him. Someone was speaking though and he made himself listen to the sound. She is not safe...
"Why is it that even the best of men always succumb to low passions, letting themselves be controlled by lust and jealousy... That was irresponsible, Severus, and you know I have no patience for that. You nearly killed two of my servants with your carelessness today," the Dark Lord sneered and then there was a crack. It was one of his fingers being broken.
"I..." another crack, his index this time, "won't" his thumb snapped, "tolerate" his middle finger, "that!" and the monster stepped on his hand, putting his weight on the broken fingers. The crunching sound echoed through the room and Snape heard some of his fellows gasp at that. Severus squeezed his eyes shut, fighting hard to stay aware and silent. That was important. Not his fingers. Not his pain. She is not safe!
"Fortunately for you, my friend, I still have some use for you. You will have to live for some time yet. At least till you give me some heirs - I will make sure they do not share the lesser sides of your character... Heirs you produce with another bitch, though," NO! NO! Don't hurt her!
"Crucio!"
He did not feel the curse this time. It was NOT him!
As always, many thanks to Pirocantha for editing! She even implied I was getting slightly better at not driving her crazy with my errors :-D
The next chapter will go to Hermione :-)
Please review, if you have the time, it is always much appreciated!