50

A Friend In Need

Snape residence

Directly after the meeting with Voldemort:

Regulus was on fire, or at least he thought this was what it felt like being burnt alive. The newly branded Dark mark upon his left arm throbbed and seared him down to the bone, it radiated agony, making his head spin and his stomach churn. He could feel the dark magic slowly seeping through him, poisoning him with its shadowy taint, making his magical aura flicker and surge as it fought for dominance. "Sev . . .was it . . .this bad for . . .you?"

Severus had his arm about Regulus' shoulders, holding the other upright as they stepped through the Floo and into his living room. He looked at his best friend, who was really more like a brother when all was said and done, and felt a terrible guilt surge through him. He hated seeing those he cared for in such pain, and even though Regulus had chosen this path, it still hurt to see the young wizard in such awful pain. You sponsored him, Snape. You let that monster hurt him while you watched and did nothing. Some friend you are! sneered his conscience.

"It'll pass, Reg. Just give me a minute and I'll get some Pain Reliever into you."

"Hurry," Regulus hissed through gritted teeth.

Snape nodded. "Lily!" he called. "I could use some help here."

Lily appeared at the entrance to the den, her face ghost pale in the light of the overhead magical globes, her hair falling over her blue nightgown like fiery wings. She was barefoot, and her emerald eyes were bright with sorrow and concern. "Sev? What's the matter? Oh Merlin! Can you bring him into the guest room?"

"Yes." Severus said, panting slightly as he attempted to walk Regulus across the room and down the small hallway to the unused guest room, which had been intended as a nursery someday.

Suddenly, Regulus' knees gave way, and he stumbled, nearly pulling Severus to the ground along with him. He let out a sharp cry of pain.

"Easy there, little brother." Severus murmured, knowing that the dark magic was weakening the youngest Death Eater. "Looks like I'd better carry you the rest of the way."

"Sev, don't strain yourself," Lily cautioned. "You could throw out your back."

"Don't worry, Lily. He's not that heavy." Severus grunted, kneeling down and pulling the nearly comatose Regulus over his shoulder. Then he stood, holding the youth in fireman's carry, his arm about the back of Regulus' knees. "All right, Reg. Let's get you in a bed. Lily, please get me a strong Pain Reliever and some Extra Strength Fever Reducer."

Lily obeyed, Summoning what he requested with a quick gesture and a word. She was not quite the master of wandless magic as her husband, who seemed to have a knack for it, but she could cast basic spells wandlessly. She threw a worried glance at her husband's back as Severus walked quickly down the hall and into the guest room. Poor Reg! Watching Severus go through this was bad enough, now I have to witness this a second time. I wish I could brew a potion to totally put him under, like anesthesia in a Muggle hospital, but no one's ever invented something that strong, probably because most wounds are mended magically in a few minutes and no wizard suffers crippling pain like this for days on end. Unless they're repeated victims of the Cruciatus, and usually too much of that kills the victim.

She followed Severus into the bedroom. He had already stripped Regulus down to his skivvies and managed to put him in bed, but the young Slytherin was thrashing about so much that he nearly fell out of the bed. "Merlin, Sev!" she said, tears standing in her eyes.

Severus was pinning Regulus to the bed with brute strength, unable to retrieve his wand to cast a Sticking Charm because of Regulus' frenzied writhing. "Lily, get that Pain Reliever down him!" He snapped. "Relax, Reg! It's just me. Stop fighting me, little brother. Calm down."

Lily approached and managed to get the Pain Reliever down Regulus' throat by pinching his nose shut and making him open his mouth. She stroked his throat until he swallowed, waited a minute, then got the Fever Reducer into him as well. "There! It's not enough to totally counteract the pain, but it's a start. Bloody damn Voldemort!"

Severus cautiously drew away as Regulus relaxed and stopped thrashing. "Draught of Peace next and a Stomach Soother," he murmured, Summoning them with a flick of his wrist.

Once all the potions were down him, Severus gently pulled the covers up over his friend. Regulus was sleeping, but every so often his mouth would twist into a grimace of pain or a strangled whimper escape his lips. Severus sighed, knowing that the nightmares were yet to come, and those were worse than the burning pain. But hopefully the Draught of Peace would stave them off for tonight.

He started to settle into a chair for the night, since Regulus should not be left alone in his present state, lest he injure himself accidentally. Lily touched his shoulder.

"Sev, go and sleep in our bed. I can watch him for part of the night. You look like hell. You need to rest."

He opened his mouth to argue with her, but then he silently shut it. She was right. Tonight's ordeal had exhausted him and he wanted nothing so much as to sleep. "Wake me if you need to," he said, though he knew she would never do so unless Regulus was in danger of dying.

"Good night, Sev," she called after him, then she Transfigured a feather into a recliner and settled down to keep vigil over her oldest friend besides her husband. She felt the burden of guilt settle upon her shoulders as well, since it had been her vision that had led to all three of them becoming spies for the Order of the Phoenix. She wondered bitterly when this war would be over, and how high the cost would be before it was through?

By the next morning, Regulus was worse, his fever had soared dangerously high and he was delirious, calling out for Cindy, his mother, and Severus, begging them to forgive him. The skin where the brand was burned onto his arm was puffy and red. Lily tried applying some Burn Paste to it to see if it would lessen the redness and swelling. It seemed to help a little. She kept a bandage Stuck to the Mark because Regulus kept trying to claw at it, and making himself bleed as his nails scratched his skin to ribbons.

Severus wrote a note to Orion and Walburga, explaining that Regulus had come over to visit and then contracted a virus, he had decided to stay at the Snape residence rather than bring the contagion home. That way they wouldn't worry over their youngest son. In a way, the letter was even true, for Severus regarded the Mark as a kind of parasite, and both he and Regulus were infected by its darkness.

Then he tried to bring down the raging fever with ever stronger solutions of Fever Reducer. He feared for Regulus' sanity, between the fever and the terrible nightmares. Like Severus, Regulus' magic fought the Mark, but unlike Severus, Regulus' guilt was consuming him. He feared terribly the rejection of his family should they learn he had taken the Mark.

"Mother! Mother, forgive me. Please . . .Please . . .don't cast me out . . ." he would beg, until his voice cracked, over and over. Sometimes he would switch to Orion or even Sirius, crying out in a tormented quiver, "Don't hate me! I had no choice! I did it to save you . . .!"

Both Lily and Sev tried to soothe him, but he did not seem to hear them, and would fight their hands until he was exhausted. Sometimes he fought imaginary demons and monsters, when that happened he would often grow violent, and after he had smacked Lily during one of those episodes, Severus put a Body Bind on him. Snape hated to do so, but he wouldn't risk Lily getting hurt because Regulus was unable to control himself.

"Sev, he's getting worse," Lily said once the spell was set. "If we don't get that fever down, he could die. Or become brain damaged."

"I know. Let me try one last triple strength potion and if that doesn't work we can try an ice bath. I just wish I could keep him calm without using the Body Bind. I really hate doing that to him, immobilizing him like he was an animal." He spread his hands helplessly. "But what else can I do? I don't want you getting hurt when he flies into a rage and thinks you're the enemy."

Lily was thinking hard. "When you had nightmares like that, I would hug you, and you would get quiet after a few minutes."

Severus looked at her askance. "What are you saying? That I should . . .hug Reg? Lily, he's like my brother, but I'm not going to play mummy that way. Besides, I doubt if it would work. He's not attracted to men."

"What does that have to do with anything? It's for comfort, not . . .wait a minute!" Lily cried, smacking herself in the forehead. "What an idiot I am! We need to call Cindy. If anyone can bring him out of this, she can. He loves her, Sev. He'll come back for her."

Severus nodded. "You're right. Love eclipses friendship. You were what kept me anchored to here and now. Let's hope Cindy can do as well." He recalled that nightmarish time with a shudder, knowing that only Lily's voice and touch had enabled him to battle the dreadful smothering darkness within.

"I'll go and Floo call her. You stay and monitor Reg," Lily ordered, then she ran down the hallway to the den.

Regulus wandered in a featureless shadowy land. Nothing grew, it was blasted and blackened as if a great fire had scoured the earth. Indeed, it was as hot as an inferno, and each breath he took felt as if he had blistered the inside of his throat, it scorched a fiery trail down to his lungs and made him cough. Coughing only made his chest explode in agony, and he doubled over.

He crawled upon his hands and knees across the thick ash-laden ground, trying to breathe in panting shallow gasps. His eyes streamed tears of pain and he though surely he must be in some version of hell . . .he lifted his eyes to the horizon and saw fires burning in the distance. There was no end to the devastated land in sight, it went on and on. He licked his lips thirstily, they were dry and cracked and he could not recall the last time he had drunk anything.

He hated the bleak land, and he was so tired he could barely lift his head, but he knew better than to stop. Every time he rested, the demons came. They attacked en masse, and tried to tear him to shreds with their long claws and sharp fangs. They taunted and mocked him, laughing at his pitiful attempts to defend himself. His wand had been broken some time ago, and now he fought with what little wandless magic he could summon.

Give up. Give in to us, Regulus Black. You are tainted . . .the black sorcery is inside you. You are like us now.

Just like us.

Stop fighting and give in.

Give in.

Join us!

Join us!

You are the Betrayer, the Dark Son, join us and know the joy of unending power and destruction!

A part of his soul shriveled in horror when they spoke of him joining them.

But another part rejoiced and it was that part that he feared most of all.

"No! I'm not one of you!" he shouted.

But of course you are! You bear the Mark. You belong to us.

Sometimes he heard other voices too, voices of his family and friends. All of them hated him. All of them spit on what he had become. He was lost to them forever. Lost in the dark.

He saw his mother walk away from him, though he pleaded with her to stay. "You're no son of mine, Regulus Arcturus Black!" He saw Severus turn his back on him, a sneer upon his face. "Sev! Sev, please! I tried not to give in!"

"You are weak, Regulus. That's why you turned traitor."

But the worst was Cindy, his beautiful Cindy, with her golden hair flying, glaring at him with fury in her eyes, her wand pointed at his heart. "You betrayed me. You promised you'd never go down the dark path. And yet here you are! It was all lies, wasn't it? You lied to me! You're a Death Eater and I HATE you, Regulus Black! We're done!"

Then she Transfigured her wand into a sword and stabbed him through the heart while calling him a lying faithless coward.

"No! Cindy! NO-O-O-O!"

He woke up hearing the sound of his own scream echoing in his head.

His eyes darted about wildly, fearfully. "Where am I? Where . . .?" he coughed.

A slender white hand held a cup to his lips. "Shhh. Drink, Reg. You're dehydrated, you need liquids."

He swallowed, the water was blessedly cool, it washed the grit from his mouth. Blearily he looked up at the person holding the cup. And he nearly spit out the mouthful of water he had just taken. He started to cough, and the cup was withdrawn and a hand was patting him firmly on the back.

"There now, Reg. Don't choke to death. Sev would never forgive me if I killed you instead of making you better." Cindy said sheepishly.

"Cindy? Is that . . .really you?" he cried, reaching out to touch her, fearing she would be another mirage, and vanish just as his fingers grasped her.

But his fingers encountered a shapely arm and shoulder and he pulled her to him and held her close.

"Whoa, star boy! I know you missed me, but this is getting intense!" she joked, though his haggard appearance made her want to cry. He was deathly pale, except his cheeks, which were flushed with fever, and his hazel eyes burned with fear and need. She put her arms about him and drew his head to her shoulder. "Reg, it's okay. I'm really here, you're not dreaming." She began to stroke his sweat-dampened hair.

"Not a dream?" he repeated. "Real . . .you're real . . ."

"Real as rain." Cindy said, struggling to keep her composure. He was so hot, it was as if a bonfire had been ignited within him. "Poor Reg! You're so sick. Let me help you, okay?"

"Then . . .you don't . . .hate me?" he whispered, afraid to even speak the words aloud. "You don't think I . . .betrayed you?"

"Betrayed me? Reg, what you did . . .what you're doing . . .it's the bravest thing I've ever seen . . .you agreed to spend time with a monster in order to save us all. How could you ever think I wouldn't understand?" Tears were standing in her eyes now, despite her best efforts. It tore her apart inside to see him so broken, so frightened.

"Then you forgive me?"

"Forgive you? For what, Reg?"

"For . . .for . . .being a gutless coward . . .for lying to you about . . .this . . ." he lifted his bandaged arm with the Mark on it and waved it in front of her face. Then he tried to rip off the bandage.

She caught his hand. "Reg, stop! Leave it be!"

"No! It taints me!" He tried to shove her off, but she refused to let go.

"Regulus, listen to me!" Cindy said sternly, drawing his chin around so he looked directly into her eyes. "You have to let the Mark alone! I know it hurts, I know that you hate it, but it needs to be there. You have to act like you belong."

"No! I don't want to be one of them!"

"You aren't, not really. It's all pretend. You're a spy, remember? You and Sev and Lily. You work for the Order of the Phoenix. And only I know the truth about you. Don't you remember that?"

His eyes clouded for an instant as he tried to recall what she was talking about. "I . . .yes . . .I do remember that . . .I'm not one of them . . .not really . . ."

"No, you're not, luv. And you never could be." She tilted his head up and then she kissed him. "I love you, Reg."

Her lips were sweet, sweet as nectar, and he craved them the way his parched throat did the cool water she had given him. She was ambrosia and he kissed her as if there were no tomorrow, which he wasn't entirely sure there would be. He drank in the taste of her and felt his dead dry soul come to life, revived by her love for him.

She felt him respond to her, weak as he was, and her relief was so great that she cried, tears spilling down her cheeks to land upon his burning skin. "Reg . . .Merlin, Reg . . ."

"Don't cry. Cindy, please . . .I'm sorry . . ." he apologized, though he wasn't sure what he had done that he had to be sorry for.

"Hush, you fever-riddled serpent brain! Don't ever apologize for kissing me! You hear me, Regulus Black?"

He stared at her, confused. "Then . . .you're not crying because I kissed you?"

"No, noddlehead! I'm crying because . . .well . . .you're finally awake and talking and . . .never mind. Kiss me again, won't you, star boy?"

Regulus obeyed.

That was how Severus found them when he came in to give his friend another round of potions and to see if his fever was abating. The potion maker halted upon viewing the intimate little reunion, and said softly, "Looks like you're feeling better, huh, little brother?"

Regulus didn't even look up, though the back of Cindy's neck flushed scarlet. "Err . . .hi, Severus! I just figured that . . .ummm . . ." her words dissolved into incoherence as Regulus's mouth found hers again.

"I understand, Cindy. A kiss is the best medicine. Give him this when you're done." He left the potions upon the nightstand then left the room quickly. He met Lily in the hallway.

"Well? How is he? Did it work?"

"I'd say so. He's awake and snogging the hell out of her."

Lily gave a little victory dance. "Yes!" Then she grabbed her husband and kissed him in celebration.

Severus was a bit surprised, but he didn't question her impulse. He just kissed her right back.

Sometime later, after Regulus had drank his potions and managed to eat a small bowl of broth with a slice of bread, Severus decided it was time to go and speak with Dumbledore about Voldemort's proposition. Leaving his friend to the care of the two witches, he Apparated to the gates of the school, which was where Dumbledore's Patronus had told him to meet.

Severus carefully pushed open the wrought iron gates and entered the familiar grounds, walking swiftly down one of the flagstone paths to the castle.

He found Dumbledore in his office, eating lemon drops. "Ah, Severus! You're looking well. I take it married life is agreeing with you?" the Headmaster asked, his blue eyes twinkling madly.

Severus nodded. "Very much so."

"Do sit down," Dumbledore invited. "Would you like some tea? Lemon drops?"

"No thank you." Severus declined politely. "I cannot stay long, Headmaster. I left Regulus at my home, recovering from being Marked. He still isn't well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Dumbledore, and he did indeed sound extremely sorry.

But not sorry enough to pull Reg off the mission and find someone else to do your dirty work, Severus thought angrily. Then he smothered his temper. It would do no good to get angry with Dumbledore. Regulus had made a choice, just as he had. "Yes, well . . .I came here to apply for the position of Potions Master. On You-Know-Who's suggestion."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow. "Indeed? He wishes you to teach here?"

"He wishes me to spy on you and report back to him." Severus corrected. "I couldn't very well refuse him, now could I?"

"No. Not without making him suspicious. I am curious though. What sort of information does he wish you to gather?"

"Probably your plans for thwarting him, or trying to ferret out your secrets and weaknesses."

Dumbledore rubbed his hands together, looking like a child who has just learned Christmas came early. "Ah, just as I thought. And I shall give you some juicy tidbits, Severus. This will be fun, hoodwinking Voldemort. He always did take himself too seriously."

"Then I have the position, sir?"

"Of course, Severus. There is no one better at brewing potions than you. And no one else who could ensure the students safety like you can."

Severus, uncomfortable with the effusive praise, especially since he felt he did not quite deserve it, said, "I shall try my best, sir. Do I need to fill out a contract? When shall I start?"

"September 1st," replied the Headmaster, then rummaged about in his desk drawers for the correct forms and last year's curriculum. "Ah, here we are. This is a standard teaching contract and here is a sample of what the last Potions Master did when he taught. You may use your own discretion when it comes to brewing and selecting drafts to teach students, though here is a list of Ministry approved drafts and their requirements for what you need to teach students before they finish school. You'll find everything you'll need in the school potion supply closet. If you need anything extra, feel free to charge it to the school account." He handed the papers, quill, and ink to Severus.

Severus read the contract and requirements over carefully before signing his name on the bottom. One line caught his attention, under the discipline policy. There shall be no use of canes or other instruments of corporal punishment upon students, detentions are to consist solely of non-magical punishments, such as lines, chores, essays, ect. Absolutely NO USE of magic as a disciplinary tool!

"There was a time when corporal punishment and magic were used upon students who misbehaved?" Severus queried sharply.

"Oh, yes. Back in the day it was quite common for a teacher to use small magics punitively upon a student, or a cane or switch if they preferred that method." Dumbledore grimaced. "But I, having been on the receiving end of such actions as well as observing them, thought them too harsh and felt that it opened the door for some unscrupulous teachers to cross lines and hurt students badly. So when I took over from Headmaster Dippet, I banned all use of magic and corporal punishment. I think it has worked out well."

"For most, yes. Though I will say that Potter and his friends might have benefited from a few smacks with a cane." Severus said.

"Mmm . . . perhaps. Nevertheless, such is my discipline policy. I trust you will abide by it?"

"Yes, of course. I see no need to hit a student or hex him. I can think up plenty of ways to discourage misbehaving children in detention without using those methods," Severus said, his lip curling in distaste at ever considering beating a student the way his father had beaten him. Or hexing someone like Voldemort did.

"Good."

Severus perused the rest of the application and then signed it.

Dumbledore then discussed pay rates, bonuses, and such.

They agreed upon a sum of two hundred Galleons and fifty Sickles a week, with holiday pay and sick time, plus a retirement plan after ten years.

Severus was satisfied with those terms, and agreed to meet with Albus once a week to discuss the false information he needed to send Voldemort. Severus was unsure how often the Dark Lord would want an update, but figured twice a month was good.

"Then we're agreed. Welcome to the staff, Severus. I hope you find it to be a rewarding experience. Oh, and if you wish, Lily may come and live with you in your quarters at school. I do not like separating married couples if I can help it. Have you told your stepfather and mother yet?"

"No, but I shall very soon," Severus said, wondering how Eileen and Dickon would take the news.

"I look forward to having both a father and son on my staff this year." Dumbledore said happily.

Severus hoped all would go well for a change. Voldemort had to have a weakness. He wasn't invincible, no wizard was. He would just have to ferret it out, Severus resolved. Then he bid Dumbledore goodbye and returned home to find Lily and Cindy playing Wizard Chess while Regulus called out moves to his girlfriend and Lily scolded him for cheating.