This took longer than usual because a) I was ill for a couple of days L and b) I couldn't think of any ideas! But now the eighth part is done and I'm working on the ninth. Still.
It was past midnight at Hogwarts when Severus Snape, unable to sleep, felt the now familiar burning in his left arm. Rolling back his robes, he saw the shape imprinted on his mind: the Dark Mark. He was being summoned, and steeled himself for what he had once again to do.
He wrapped more robes around himself, meagre protection against the winter night, and hurried from the castle to a point sufficiently far to enable Apparition. Then, wand in hand, he moved to his unknown destination.
It was the first time he had seen Voldemort's present residence. The air around the house trembled with evil and Snape shuddered in revulsion. He must pretend to be the same as these people. He must take responsibility for everything they did.
He entered, shaking, trying to make it seem because he was cold. A man lay dead in the corner. Snape recognised him and recoiled. He had never liked Ludo Bagman, but to die at the hands of Voldemort, who was as merciful as he was good…
Death Eaters were assembled, rosy-cheeked and red-nosed, but not Voldemort, who stood in the centre of the room as chalk-white as ever. 'My Lord,' muttered Snape, eyes down. He joined the circle.
'The time has come,' Voldemort said abruptly. 'Severus Snape, you have yet to prove your worth as a Death Eater. Hogwarts remains the single impenetrable fortress. I have contacts everywhere, I have ways into everywhere – except there. Snape, you will assist me. A week from now, you will provide me with a way into the school, and we will destroy it.'
This speech provoked approving, admiring mutters from most of the Death Eaters. 'I will, my lord,' Snape said. He cannot even find a way himself, thought Snape with contempt. I am ashamed to call him my lord.
The meeting was a short one, and Snape was glad to leave. But deep inside him, dread was brewing. How could he meet Voldemort's demands? How could he appear to betray Dumbledore?
Unlike Snape, Harry Potter was asleep, but it was far from peaceful rest. He dreamt three times, or that was how many he recalled upon waking; none of the dreams comforted him.
It was dark, wherever his first dream took place; a kind of profound night which never touched the rest of the world. A little house, cold and unfriendly, charged with some sort of frightening power, stood in the centre of a forest, in a place that was never warm. There was someone inside, someone whose face he couldn't see; but then he saw a dead body lying on the ground, the body of someone familiar, and then he knew who it must be.
Second, he dreamed of Snape. He didn't want to dream of Snape, and tried to wake up; but of course, he was only dreaming that he was trying to wake up, so it didn't work. Snape was approaching the house from the first dream. He took out his wand and pointed it at someone, and then Harry could see the figure frozen still in front of the house – the figure with messy black hair, green eyes and a scar on its forehead. Snape shouted 'Avada Kedavra!' and Harry watched himself topple to the ground.
His last dream, though the least graphic, was the most horrifying to Harry. He was a man – at least thirty, he assumed. Not remembering much about anything, he arrived in front of his house, saw the Dark Mark hovering there and knew, for the only time, truly why it was so feared. He knew that Andromeda was inside.
Deep in the school, while the boy called Harry Potter was sleeping troubled, Severus Snape and Albus Dumbledore were discussing an important matter.
'Severus, this will be a difficult time for you, more than you have ever known,' Dumbledore told him gently. 'But if you persevere on the side of good, if you continue to fight against evil while standing in its midst, only good can come of it.'
'But how can I do it?' Snape asked desperately. 'How can I possibly trick him without letting him into the castle?'
'We will have to tell him of a genuine passage into the school,' mused Dumbledore, 'and make sure that it is heavily guarded and protected. That is all that I can think of just now. But I am expecting visitors, Severus. You may remain here if you wish…'
Before he could warn Snape, a popping sound could be heard, and in the heart of Dumbledore's fireplace appeared a head. It was Remus Lupin, and to his dismay, he saw Severus Snape standing in the room, glaring at him. He glared back. 'Hello, Professor,' Lupin said.
A second later, another head appeared with a second pop. 'Ouch,' complained Sirius Black as they momentarily jostled for space – a very strange spectacle. Then they finally hovered eerily side by side. 'Hello, Professor,' greeted Sirius.
'Greetings, Remus, Sirius,' said Dumbledore, looking expectantly at Snape, who muttered something almost inaudible. With a resigned smile, Dumbledore stepped forward and crouched down before the fireplace. 'Any news?'
'The Ministry's still searching for Bagman,' said Lupin with a sigh, 'haven't even got any leads. I heard they followed up on those Russians – too late to really find out anything, though it does sound like they've seen him.'
'Any more disappearances?'
'Not that we've heard,' said Sirius. 'Well, they were a bit worried about the whereabouts of Isabelle Drew – you know, she was acquitted of being a Death Eater right at the end – but it turned out she'd just been visiting family away from home. That's about it.'
'And Karkaroff?'
'Caught,' said Sirius triumphantly. 'Just this afternoon. That's why we wanted to see you.'
'That's excellent,' said Dumbledore, beaming. 'One good thing, I suppose, with the Ministry still torn between who to believe. They will never get anything done if they do not listen to reason. Anyway, what are the details on Karkaroff?'
'They found him when they went to look for Bagman in Russia,' Lupin said. 'He'd been hiding out in the south.'
'Didn't actually get him back here for three days, though,' cut in Sirius. 'Being typically inept, and lost him just past Durmstrang – don't know how an idiot like him managed to escape. He's being called to trial in just over a week. I expect you'll be invited very soon.'
'I won't bank on that,' said Dumbledore with a wry smile. 'Since Cornelius Fudge decided to try and fool everyone else as well as himself, I have become far less indispensable at the Ministry.'
'But surely they'll still invite you?' Lupin looked bewildered. 'They always have before.'
'Things have changed.'
Dumbledore and Snape talked for some time, even after Sirius and Lupin had left. The matter of Voldemort's planned attack on Hogwarts was an important one, and had to be discussed in depth. Neither slept that night.