The Story so far: Harry's back in school. Draco's sister has arrived and both her and her brother are now against their father. Voldemort has decided to bring Slytherian back from the dead, but Dumbledore and Sirius are planning to bring Lily back instead. Draco and his sister want to stop the entire process and ruin their father.
CHAPTER 10
In the dark, just before dawn.
Soon you will feel, that your nightmares are real,
In the dark of the night, you'll be mine!
--In the Dark of the Night, from Anastasia
Snape quietly slipped out the gates of Hogwarts, watching carefully for anyone who should not have been there. Seeing no one, he apparated to a garden about 150 miles away. He hid his face with his black hood and slid into his pace in the circle of death eaters.
He pulled his hood around his head a little closer, and let his eyes roam across the circle. The death eaters waited for their lord in silence, heads bowed except for Snape. There were still two people missing. One was dead, the other was running for his life. Barty Crouch had been killed earlier that year. The headmaster of Durmstrang was running. Snape remembered the discussions between the two last year. He shook his head slightly. The man was fool.
Voldemort had finally arrived, Lucius Malfoy at his side. Snape bent his head and sneered to himself. That piece of trash was the closest to Voldemort, but Snape knew better. Malfoy wasn't truly working for Voldemort. He was working for himself.
That man was a bigger fool than anyone else. The only person alive who was as strong as the Dark Lord was Dumbledore. Well, Snape thought reluctantly, Potter might live long enough to defeat Voldemort. Snape did not doubt that. Potter was stronger than anyone thought. He was almost as strong as his father.
Snape did not let his thoughts turn to James Potter. He needed all his attention to the process ahead. Voldemort did not believe in his loyalty yet. Snape was worried about the task Voldemort would assign him. Something impossible.
Voldemort's red eyes scanned the circle. His eyes glowed with anger as they passed Crouch's empty spot and Karachoff's (spelling?) missing body. The eyes cooled when they scanned over the people that had been "rescued" from Azkaban.
Fudge had been stupid enough not to listen to Dumbldore's warnings. Just a few days ago, Voldemort had broken into the wizarding prison and loosed his followers. He had recruited the dementors to his side. No one was safe anymore.
But then, Snape thought bitterly, were any of us ever really safe? He refused to answer the question, not wanting to know the answer. Instead, he watched Voldemort from lowered eyelashes. Voldemort's eyes finally stopped at Snape, who could feel their penetrating stare. Snape slowly raised his head and met Voldemort's eyes. Voldemort's eyes were filled suspicion and hate; Snape's eyes were blank and his face expressionless. Black eyes vs. Red. Both refused to give away.
Snape, what are you doing! Snape lowered his eyes quickly. Stupid, stupid, stupid. That was one sure way to get him killed. Voldemort hated opposition. If Snape kept doing things that challenged Voldemort, the potions master would soon be killed.
Voldemort stared at Snape for a few minutes more after Snape had lowered his eyes. He didn't trust Snape, but he needed him. Especially for the potion. Snape was the only in the world who was up to making this potion, a fact that the Dark Lord detested.
"There has been a traitor in our mists," Voldemort began. No death eater moved. "This traitor decided that there was good and evil. He didn't realize it was all power. He has betrayed me. For this act he will be punished." Voldemort motioned to Malfoy, who immediately went to the a death eater and dragged him to the middle of the circle, facing his master. "Sagittarius, have you betrayed me?"
The man tried to stop himself from trembling. "No, master. I swear I have not."
Voldemort glared cooley at him. "Crucio." He watched in pleasure as the man fell to the floor screaming. The Dark Lord knew perfectly well that Sagittarius hadn't betrayed him at all. Nor had he any thoughts about betraying him. Voldemort was doing this to torture Snape. Sagittarius was his brother.
Voldemort glanced at Snape. The man's head was still bowed, but the tension in his back was obvious. Voldemort smiled grimly and considered killing Sagittarius. He abolished that thought after a moment. He had work for Snape's brother. Important work.
Voldemort's attention was shifted back to the screaming man on the ground. With a quick flick of his wand, he had the man just laying there with silent tears pouring down his face. Voldemort shook his head in digust and motioned two death eaters to drag Sagittarius back to his place.
Voldemort left the doubt in the air. He said nothing more about the betrayal. He knew every single one of his followers were wondering why he hadn't killed the man. Voldemort shut his red eyes. Let them wonder.
"Snape," he commanded.
"Yes, master?" came the death eater's low voice, cold and emotionless.
"You will stay after the rest have departed."
"Yes master," Snape murmured.
"X." Voldemort snapped.
"Yes?" came a soft female voice.
"You too will stay."
She made no reply. The other death eaters glanced at each other. No doubt "X", whoever she was, was keeping their mastered entertained. No one knew who she was, but she had recently been promoted to Voldemort's second advisor, so no one asked. Not that being the lord's advisor was really a job. It was just a name that gave power. Voldemort did his own advising.
Voldmort went through each of his follower's achievements or failures, punishing those who had not succeeded. At last, he was done and each death eater knew what his next job was to be. Voldemort dismissed them and they apparated away, leaving Snape and X alone with their master.
"Snape."
"Yes master?"
"You need to make the potion for the boy."
"Yes, master."
"You will do it in the lab at my castle."
Snape looked up angrily. "But Hogwarts is much better."
Voldemort leaned down. "Are you question me, Severous?"
Snape looked down. "No master."
"Good. I don't want old Dumbldore 'accidently' catching you making the potion."
Snape nodded, and silently cursed the man in front of him.
"Good. The potion must be done by Christmas. Understand?"
"You are understood, master," Snape muttered quietly.
"Now leave."
As Snape apparated away, he overheard Voldemort ask X what new things were happening at Hogwarts. Snape blanched and nearly splinched himself. Hogwarts. The dark lord had another spy at Hogwarts. Damn. That posed a serious problem. A very serious problem.
Snape slipped though the gates of Hogwarts and walked slowly to the great hall. When he was almost there, he changed his mind and turned left. He had to talk to Dumbledore.
Shortly after he arrived at the annoying gargoyle. "Canary Creams," he muttered. The gargoyle opened and Snape slipped through. He neared the door to Dumbledore's office and heard voices.
"No. Absolutely not," the minister of magic was saying hotly.
Dumbledore's usually patient voice was now laced with anger as he replied. Snape winced at the tone and was silently glad that he was not Fudge. Then he remembered his own position and silently wished he was not himself.
Snape sighed. He knew exactly what this argument was about. Fudge was an idiot and would not form a treaty with the giants. Snape idly wondered why some giant wouldn't just eat the stupid man. He shook his head slightly. If they didn't watch out, Voldemort would have both the dementors and the giants. They'd all seen what had happened in the last war. This war was no better.
Snape knocked and opened the door. Instantly the voices fell silent. Snape shut the door behind him and turned towards the three men in the room. He was unsurprised to find Sirius there also.
"Fudge," he said coldly. He nodded to the man who was glaring daggers at him. Fudge hated Snape, but Snape wasn't positive of the reason. He didn't trust Fudge at all, so the man didn't know Snape was the spy. In fact, if Snape could help it, Fudge would never know anything about his double-crossing.
Dumbledore smiled. "Severous. Good to see you."
"I came to see you about one of your students," Snape replied.
"Ah yes, Draco Malfoy seems to be overworked lately. I remember," Dumbledore replied without missing a beat. "Take a seat. Please wait a minute while I finish up with these men." He motioned to a chair which Snape gratefully dropped into.
Fudge cleared his throat and pointedly stared at Snape. Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and Sirius snickered. "Cornelius, I trust Snape. You may talk in front of him."
Fudge glared. "No, this matter is finished," he snapped and turned angrily on his heel. He slammed the door behind him.
Snape raised an eyebrow and muttered, "That man has some anger problems."
Sirius laughed out loud while Dumbledore grinned. "So what was it you really came here for?"
Snape groaned and leaned back in his chair. "We've got major problems."
"Tell us something we don't know," Sirius replied.
Snape glared at him. "Voldemort has another spy in here, and I don't know who it is."
Sirius paled while Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Do you think you could find out?"
Snape shook his head. "Sorry, Albus. She's Voldemort's pet and doesn't have anything to do with the rest of us. And she's new."
Sirius swore viciously and Snape agreed with him. This was no laughing matter. "Also, I'm to brew the potion at Voldemort's lab in his castle."
Sirius frowned. "Castle? He moved?"
Snape nodded. "Yeah. He's taken over Slytherian's old mansion."
Sirius shrugged. "I'm surprised he didn't do that sooner."
Dumbledore frowned. "That's not good. There's a lot in that castle that will aid him."
Snape frowned. "Spells of the past that were forgotten? Ones that we have to counters to?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I don't know. Probably. Spells none of us have ever encoutered."
Sirius frowned slightly. "When's the potion have to be done by?"
"Christmas."
Sirius exchanged glances with Dumbldore. "That gives us about two and a half months to plan."
Snape looked between them. "What are you planning to do?"
Dumbledore sighed. "Does Voldemort trust you yet?"
"No."
"Then we can't tell you. Sorry, what you don't know can't be tortured out of you."
Snape winced at the memory of the torture sessions. They were all too clear in his mind. "I understand," he replied slowly.
Dumbledore smiled. "Good. Now what should we do about this new informant of Voldemort's?"
Snape shook his head. "It's a woman, but that's all I know."
Sirius frowned. "Size, shape, voice?"
Snape shook his head again. "That's all disguised."
"How do you know?"
Snape shot an exasperated look at him. "Because I'm not stupid!"
Dumbledore glared at them. "Stop it, both of you. Severous, don't say anything. Does Voldemort know you know this?"
The potions teacher shook his head. "No. I overheard it as I was apparating away." He frowned. "The spell went berserk on me. I was still there, but I was invisible for a second. It's never done that."
Dumbledore nodded. "Interesting. I've never heard of that happening."
Sirius nodded. "Neither have I. Might me a useful tool, especially if you can stay there even longer. It's like your trapped between two worlds."
Snape shrugged and stood. "I'll try to look out for who it is. The problem is that I don't know how long the teacher's been a spy."
Dumbledore nodded. "Just look out for her. Hopefully we'll catch her and then use her to feed Voldemort the wrong information that you can confirm to." Suddenly, it was even more important to find the other spy.
Snape nodded. "The nightmare's been again. Good night, Albus, Black." He laughed at the conflicting sentences and left, the door clicking shut behind him.
Sirius waited a minute and then said, "Damn. That could be a problem."
Dumbledore nodded. "Start planning. And it might be a good idea to form anoither plan with Harry in it in case he's not left behind."
Sirius nodded. "Good night, Professor."
"Good night, Sirius."
Sirius transformed into Padfoot and let himself out. The big dog padded soundlessly down the halls toward his own secret rooms that Dumbledore had given him.
His thoughts wandered. He realized Snape's words were true enough. Besides, everything happened at night. His best friend had died, along with his wife. Sirius' own girlfriend had been killed the night before James'. The Longbottoms had been tortured beyond sanity. Every god damn event that had ruined his life had happened at night.
He couldn't fall asleep and he decided that he might as well start planning. He probably have to go through a hundred plans before he found the right one. Besides, nothing ever went according to the plan. Not unless you were damn lucky or damn unfortunate.
A/N. *Grinz* Sorry, I thought we needed some more Snape in this story. So here we are with another spy in Hogwarts and we don't know who it is. Ahem, correction. You don't know who it is. Any guesses? Hm....Well, I probably won't tell you guys until a few chapter down the road. Let you wonder. Next chapter-I think we'll do a quidditch match. I'm not sure which houses though. We'll see. Don't expect it until the last week of July or the first week of August earliest. I'm going out of town again on Sunday and I won't be able to write for two weeks. Doesn't mean I can't stop planning though. Ok, now I'll stop and thank a few more faithful readers.
Joe: Um...well actually Harry's not the one being sacrificed. It's Draco's half brother-who's blood related to Lily, not James. But we'll see. I've got some interesting ideas that could bring both Lily and James back. But I don't know. Thanks for reviewing. I love reviews.
Lishel Fracrium: *grinz sheepishly* Sorry, can't spell. Do you know anyone out there who'll beta read for me? J/k. Yes, there will definatley be lots lots more about Draco's sister. She's a good character to write about since we know so little about her.
And to the rest of you out there...PLEASE REVIEW!!! Sorry. I just like review. Please. Pretty pretty please??????