Draco Malfoy Promises To Be A Good Boy This Year
Chapter Seventeen
Professor Snape's Story
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It was a tense few moments. Snape and Tom glared at each other for some time before Snape let out a laugh. "So, what happened to Voldemort, Riddle? You're not so tough in your old form."
Tom crossed his arms. "I can become Voldemort again whenever I want!"
"Are you sure?" Snape pushed Ginny and Harry behind him. "So, what are you doing by bringing these kids here? How is this supposed to help your plan of evil domination?"
Tom shrugged, looking at me. "I can use them. Draco and Ginny have two of the most brilliant dark minds of the age."
Snape grasped Ginny again, knocked off her hood, and hoisted her into his arms, holding her up so everyone could see her. He looked at Tom skeptically. "Ginny?" Indeed, she looked tiny and overwhelmed against tall brooding Snape. Hardly evil – rather a messy-haired little nymph.
Tom glared. "She's a lot more powerful than she looks. Besides, she's the mother of my son. And you…what are you doing here, anyway? I should kill you right now! You're nothing but a traitor and should be made to suffer!" Tom whipped out a wand, pointed it at Snape, and screamed, "Crucio!"
Snape turned his back so that the spell rebounded off him and didn't hit Ginny. It turns out that he needn't have bothered, since it took no effect. He then stood up tall again and set Ginny down, smiling at Tom. "I think someone is loosing all of his powers." You could tell that Snape was loving every second. He had Tom under a complete power game.
We all stared up at Tom in amazement. He couldn't even curse Snape. Even Ginny had been able to work the Cruciatus curse on Snape last summer. I honestly didn't understand. Tom had killed Pansy just weeks ago, but now he couldn't do anything to anyone? What was going on?
Tom stood up on the stone platform, positively quaking with fear and fury. Snape moved towards him. "Come on, Riddle. Why did you need these children? Tell all of your worshipers just how weak you really are."
Tom looked down at him. "I..I needed help. I needed them so they could perform my magic. Because…I can't!" He howled these words in agony and the students of the Black School shook their heads in disbelief. My mouth dropped open. So Tom Riddle, the great and powerful Voldemort, had no strength of his own left. But why? Why?
Snape nodded. "That's right. Now, if you don't mind, I'll just take my bunch and we'll leave. I suggest you find a place and settle down. You'd hate to risk any more…embarrassment from the wizarding community." He smirked at Tom and took Ginny's hand. We all turned to go.
"Wait!" Tom yelled, hopping down off the platform. He didn't seem at all menacing anymore, now that we knew he was almost drained dry of power. "The headmaster will never let you go!" He started to laugh evilly.
"We'll see about that!" Hermione snapped. She took off running in the direction that Snape had entered from. She was almost to the long hallway when she slammed up against an invisible barrier. She fell hard and tears of shock and pain sprang to her eyes. Snape ran to her and pulled her to her feet.
"Just relax, and don't worry." He straightened up and observed Tom. "So…I request a word with the headmaster."
Tom's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open a bit. "Severus…are you mad? No one meets with the headmaster. It's not...not possible."
"If it's possible for five young kids to drain most of the power out of Lord Voldemort, then it's possible for me to have an audience with the headmaster." Snape smiled up at him smugly.
Tom blinked and said in a soft voice. "Can't you just leave them? They're…all I have." He was sad. He was not lying. I tilted my head and studied him. He looked so miserable.
Snape crossed his arms. "Arrange it, will you? We'll be waiting in the east hallway." He put a strong hand on the shaken Hermione's shoulder and led us out of the main cavern, leaving Tom stuttering behind us. As soon as we were away from the other students, Snape dropped to his knees in front of me and pulled me into his embrace, wrapping me in his black robes with relief. I hugged him gingerly, surprised at this burst of affection. "I'm so sorry, Draco. It's all my fault. I should have known who he was when I saw him in my flat, but it didn't click in. It's my fault you were brought here."
I patted his shoulder. "It's all right, Professor." I could feel tears filling my eyes. He loved me. My crotchety old Potions teacher actually loved me. I had never really been loved so much by an adult and I felt like my heart was going to burst. Instead, I broke into tears.
The others looked at the two of us in surprise, but as soon as Ginny's tears were added to mine with a plaintive cry of "Mum!", Harry, Ron, and Hermione started to sniffle too. In the end we kids were all crying from the flood of emotions. Despite how grown up we tried to be, we missed having affection from a grownup. Snape let me go and looked at Harry. Harry moved forward and threw himself into Snape's arms, something I never thought I would live to see. "I'm sorry," Harry muttered.
Snape awkwardly patted his back. "Come on. Let's get you home, Potter."
Harry backed off and wiped his eyes. "But how did you get here? How did you know?"
Snape reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.
Hermione cried out. "Hey, that's the…!"
"…Coin Tom used to transport you here," Snape finished. "Yes, it is. It looks like a plain old Muggle coin. The Ministry searched my flat and they touched the coin, but its magic had worn off after you used it. You would have been lost to us for good, except for the fact that once I got a look at it, I could see that it wasn't an English coin. It was Spanish. That tipped me off to your probable location. My old school, of course. A haven for dark arts."
"So you were really as student here?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, I was when I was very young. This is where I first met Voldemort, who was still Tom Riddle at the time. We were both students here, after Hogwarts. He was older than I was and more powerful, and so I became one of his Death Eaters out of awe of him. I studied here at this school on and off during his rise to power and his reign." He looked around at his surroundings. "I haven't been back here since Voldemort started to go out of control and kill all the innocents. I had had enough so I joined up with Dumbledore."
We all stood dumbfounded. I had never heard Snape's story before and it made me appreciate him even more.
He continued. "I was just always lucky that I wasn't one of the students who had to stay."
Ron gulped. "Stay?"
He eyed Ron sorrowfully. "Yes…this you will see soon enough. Come. We'll see if Riddle is ready for us yet." He stood and looked down at Nathaniel, who was tugging at his robes. "I just hope…I hope it's not one of you."
I looked at him solemnly. I had the distinct feeling that this wasn't going to be as easy as walking out the door. But what did Snape know that we didn't?
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Note: Gosh, this was one of the hardest chapters to write! So much info thrown at everyone at once! I think I'm as overwhelmed as the kids are. And could this be a new start for Harry and Snape? Hmmmm. I hope Snape's story made sense and stuck as close to the original as possible. I'm not sure if Snape was a real honest-to-God Death Eater or if he was just in as a spy, but in this particular fanfic he really was a follower of Voldie. So if anyone knows for sure…just let it slide. :)
I'll be back next time (hopefully sooner) with Snape's deal with the headmaster and a Draco & Tom moment. See you soon, and thanks for the reviews!