Late Arrivals and Lifetime Rivals: Snape's Worst Halloween
Chapter 25: A Beard And Snape's Beard
"Get it? Dumbledore! But, I am Lord Voldemort! It is quite a jest." said the Dark Lord to the guests bowing down before him.
As they rose, the silence was deafening at the Riddle House. The Dark Lord was dressed as Albus Dumbledore.
The robes and pointed wizard's hat were quite accurate, as well as the half-moon spectacles. The red, evilly glinting eyes behind them were not.
Professor Vector believed that had he transfigured blue eyes they would be cold and empty. Surely not warm and twinkling, as her thoughts turned to the real Dumbledore with a rush of affection. The nose was pretty bad as well or was it even a nose?
He was horrifying to behold; the man next to her in a basilisk costume was soon forgotten. Septima was shaking slightly and sincerely hoped that no one had noticed. She gripped Snape's hand. She had never seen the Dark Lord in the flesh and its effect on her was terrifying.
Several of the Death Eaters noted the fake-looking beard looped around Voldemort's ears and cringed. They did not find this display humorous in the least. If anything it showed a vulnerable side to the Dark Lord. Their suspicions going back years were correct. Lord Voldemort WAS obsessed with Albus Dumbleodore, and quite a bit jealous, too.
Snape noticed Septima's hand just then.
Hags had such bony fingers, he thought to himself. He had recovered quickly from the stunned silence he had been in due to the Dark Lord's arrival and his…appearance.
It was the interlocked hands that Lord Voldemort also noticed. His eyes took in Severus Snape and the hag in a calculating way, as he approached them…
"Ah, Severus, a basilisk…my ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, would be pleased," quipped the Dark Lord.
Before the Dark Lord could address the hag, Bellatrix Lestrange sidled over to his side. The Dark Lord feared nothing except Dumbledore and Bella when her advances were ignored.
"Er, why don't you change, Bella? I think Medusa, perhaps, would be more to my liking…snake hair and all. Bride of Voldemort is quite flattering, but…"
The Dark Lord looked nervous. If a snake-like face with gleaming red eyes could look sheepish.
Snape and Septima looked behind an argumentative Bellatrix and a guilty Dark Lord to the room behind them where two piñatas hung. One resembled Igor Karkaroff and the other Lord Voldemort's nemesis, Harry Potter.
"…get one for my office…" muttered Snape.
"Hush," whispered Septima.
"Even the greatest dark wizard in a century has to quell his frustrations from time to time," offered Snape.
However, Snape turned to look around at the faces of his former colleagues from his Death Eater days. He agreed with what they were thinking and what was plainly readable on their faces.
The Dark Lord was never the same after the Avada Kedavra backfired…
They were interrupted by Bellatrix's husband…who was dressed as Lord Voldemort.
"Kissing up to the Dark Lord?" mumbled Amycus.
"What was that, Amycus?' queried the Dark Lord.
"Nothing, master," he said quickly.
"Trying to show me up? A bad call on your part, but I see you are devoted. You are forgiven for this evening at any rate," intoned Lord Voldemort.
Nobody looked at Belltrix's husband---they understood. Dressing up from time to time as Lord Voldemort was the only way Bellatrix would ever speak to her husband or merely hold his hand for that matter.