Moon Bright Eye Bright: The Dark Lord's Princess

Moon Bright Eye Bright: The Dark Lord's Princess

The ghostly light of the full moon shone down from the night sky. A ring of cloaked figures stood in the clearing of a forest, the moonlight casting flitting shadows across their masked faces.

Only the shrill shriek of an infant's cry shattered the silence and stillness of the night. The baby was wailing and squirming in the arms of a man, but she quieted when her mother took her in her arms. The woman was ashen, from both natural paleness and from the strain of child-birth. A weak smile curled her lips as she rocked her baby in her arms, letting a beautiful face shine through the tired mask.

A sudden blast of icy-cold air that made the mother hold the baby closer to her breast. A voice equally cold, "Let her drink from her mother's breast a last time."

A last time. The first, last, and only time. The mother pressed her child closer to her, crooning softly, trying to be brave for the both of them.

The baby stilled and slept peacefully within her blankets, unknowing that her fate would soon be determined.

Another figure took the child from her mother. The infant squirmed slightly but then quieted.

A tall figure, cloaked and hooded as the others, stepped forward. "Wench! Traitor!" he hissed at the woman. "Muggle offspring!" These words were spoken venomously, as if he had uttered a vile swearword.

The woman bore the insults with dignity. "I cannot change what I am," she replied calmly, "only how I act, for good or evil. I am willing to bear the name Traitor with pride as long as it is you whom I have betrayed."

Blood-red eyes flashed. "Then perhaps you can have another title: Victim of Lord Voldemort. Avada Kedavra!"

There was a brilliant flash of green light that illuminated the dark clearing. A stricken cry, "Virginia!" A man rushed forward.

The light dimmed, and the man was left at the woman's side. The woman was not moving.

"Snape, stand away from that wench," Voldemort commanded. The man squeezed the dead woman's hand a moment longer but did as he was told.

"Give me the child," the cold voice hissed. The baby was wailing, and Snape showed an utter unwillingness to hand her over but obeyed. The baby cried louder as the cold hands touched her, but the Dark Lord made no notice. He pushed back his hood and raised the infant up. The lipless mouth brushed the infant's forehead, and her shrieks got even louder.

"Salenia Snape, Moon Bright Eye Bright, the Dark Lord's princess," he whispered.

A/N: Before the flames come, my good friend Alli-son handed this story down to me when she decided that she was never going to finish it herself. ~glares at Alli-son~ Grr…

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Our good friends Snape and Voldie belong to the almighty JK. Nothing belongs to me, not even Salenia, who is the property of Alli-son. (I hope I haven't botched the story up too badly, Alli-son!)

Please R&R. I've got the fire extinguisher and the marshmallows ready for the flames!