A.N. Thank you to all of you who reviewed!!!! And thank you to Marc Anthony, Fuel, and Linkin Park for the use of their songs!!!!!

Malena

~*~

does it feel like night today?

Something in here's not right today.

Why am I so uptight today?

Paranoia's all I got left

~*~

"Remus, will you stop looking out the window!" exclaimed Arabella Figg. "For goodness sake, you're acting like we're going to be attacked at any moment right now." Remus shrugged and closed her drapes. He turned to the small group of people who were sitting around Arabella's living room. Sirius was sitting on the couch, next to her. He was eyeing the small plate of cookies hungrily. He had been constantly hungry ever since he had arrived at Remus's house, and Remus could tell that only proper manners were keeping him from wolfing down on the cookies.

Mundungus Fletcher was sitting next to Arabella, also on the couch. He was nervously looking at Sirius from the corner of his eye. Albus Dumbledore was sipping on a cup of tea in a chair near the fireplace. They were all waiting for one more person…

"Where is Snape?" Sirius asked with a bite of impatience.

"He said that he might be late," Dumbledore said. "Remember, he has a difficult task to complete."

Sirius rolled his eyes slightly. Remus glanced out the window again.

"REMUS!" Barked Arabella. "If you look out that window again I'm going to rip out your eyes and feed them to Tibbles and Mr. Paws!"

Sirius snorted into his cup of tea. "Mr. Paws?"

"Hey! I have to pretend to be an "old cat-lady" almost 24 hours a day, I'm entitled to give my cat's names such as Mr. Paws," Arabella snapped. "You're the one who's named after the "Dog-star."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Let's just get started," Mundungus said slowly. "Severus will just have to catch up when he gets here."

"Yes… here's what I have planned. Remus-"

"What is Snape doing anyway?" Arabella interrupted.

~*~

"Oh my god I'm going to die. Oh my god I'm going to die. Oh my god…"

Voldemort was circling around him, never taking his eyes off of his face. The other Death Eaters were looking curiously at Severus too.

"Severus Snape…" Voldemort hissed slightly, standing in front of him and staring deep into Severus' black eyes. "You want forgiveness?"

"Yes my lord. I have-"

"Why should I forgive you?" Interrupted Voldemort. "Why should I forgive the double-crosser who went to work for that crooked nosed fool?"

Severus felt a slight rush of anger, but he said, "I am sorry my lord. I didn't know that when I went back to him I would miss this group."

Voldemort snorted indignantly and said. "Miss? Ha! If you had missed me so much than why didn't you come looking for me after I fell."

"Dumbledore would have grown suspicious… what would be the point of having a spy at Hogwarts if he was constantly being watched?"

"I already had a spy at Hogwarts," Voldemort said silkily, slightly twirling his wand in his long fingers. "If it wasn't for that moron, Fudge, he would still be there, and not lying six feet under after getting his soul sucked out."

A shiver ran around the circle of Death Eaters.

"I am sorry for the loss of a great Death Eater, my Lord," Severus said.

"Of course you are," Voldemort replied with a bite of impatience. "Crucio!"

Fire. Fire on every inch of his skin. In every muscle in his body. Coursing through his blood. Severus bit back a scream as he fell to the ground, twitching violently.

"Get up Snape," Voldemort said softly. Still shaking, Severus struggled to his feet.

"Crucio!" He cried again. Once again, Severus fell to the ground in pain.

"Are you sure that you want to leave that Muggle lover and join us?"
"Yes," Severus managed to choke out.

"Are you sure? Crucio!" There had been a second of relief before another Cruciatus Curse had been cast.

"Yes…. I'm… sure…"

"Prove it." Voldemort snapped his long fingers and pointed at Lucius. Lucius took out his wand and pointed it at Severus.

"Crucio!"

The pain doubled. It was like Severus was caught in the middle of a lighting storm wearing all metal and standing on top of a hill. He had no where to hide.

Finally the curses stopped, and Severus lay whimpering on the ground, twitching and moaning.

"Welcome back Severus…"

~*~

I don't know what stressed me first

Or how the pressure was fed

But I know just what it feels like

To have a voice in the back of my head

It's like a face that I hold inside

A face that awakes when I close my eyes

A face watches every time I lie

A face that laughs every time I fall

So I know that when it's time to sink or swim

That the face inside is hearing me

Right underneath my skin

~*~

Harry's eyes snapped open suddenly. For a moment he thought that he was back at Privet Drive, in the smallest bedroom. When the wave of coldness swept over him he remembered where he really was. Azkaban. He shuddered as another wave of coldness tore through him.

"Lilly run!" And then the laughing…

Harry gasped as the coldness became worse. The voices were getting louder and louder… echoing around inside of his head. Visions of his family and Cedric were flashing inside his mind.

"Take my body back for me…"

"No! Please! Not Harry-"

And more laughing. More of that cold laughter that had haunted his dreams before he even came to Azkaban.

Harry was still shaking. He glanced up and saw a Dementor standing only a few feet away from him. A small tray of food lay on the floor, but the Dementor remained. There was a slow, rattling breath as the Dementor kept on feeding off of his emotions. Then the Dementor turned and exited Harry's small cell.

Harry was left quivering violently in the corner. New visions had appeared in his mind.

He was in a boat… his hands were magically handcuffed and he was shivering from the icy spray of the water. There was some kind of enormous sea creature circling the boat. There was a flash of teeth. Somewhere in the back of Harry's mind he knew that this creature kept prisoner's from escaping. "Wonder how Sirius got past that…"

That vision faded, and another one replaced it.

He was being roughly pulled down a hall. He was passing cells and cells of prisoners. The Dementors had been moved to a different part of the prison so the guards taking Harry there wouldn't be affected by their powers.

There was the sound of a key in a lock and then Harry was thrown into a cell. Whack! His head slammed into one of the stone walls. He felt blood trickle down his forehead…

"Call the Dementors back," barked one of the guards. "He's their problem now."

Harry moaned and started to stand up, but a familiar wave of coldness swept over him and all was dark…

That vision had been far more vivid then any of his others. He could clearly replay it in his mind… watch it over and over again. Harry slowly moved one of his hands up to his forehead where there was a half-healed wound. That was where he had hit his head on the wall. His wounds seemed to heal slower when he was here. He looked at his hand, and saw the fingernail marks on his palms that still had dried blood on them.

"I'm never going to get out of here," Harry muttered to himself, surprised at how his voice sounded after weeks of not being used.

~*~

I know I've got a face in me

Points out all my mistakes to me

You've got a face on the inside too and

Your paranoia's probably worse

~*~

Wormtail glanced out the window into the darkness. It had been a full moon a few days before, and Remus would have transformed into his wolf form. Wormtail amused himself for a moment, remembering the adventures that he, James, Remus, and Sirius had had during the full moon. He snorted with laughter as he remembered the time that-

"What on earth are you laughing about Wormtail?" Snapped the familiar voice of Lucius Malfoy. Wormtail turned and saw him standing in the doorway.

"Nothing," Wormtail said softly.

"Like I'm going to believe that," sneered Malfoy. "The Dark Lord wishes to speak to you. And don't upset him. We have a meeting planned for tonight, and I would rather not be tortured because you did something stupid."

"Yes, Malfoy."

"Mr. Malfoy."

"Mr. Malfoy," Wormtail repeated exasperatedly. He timidly walked out of the room and down the hall to where Voldemort spent most of his time. He knocked and waited for the Dark Lord to invite him inside.

A fire was crackling in the fireplace, and it sent spooky shadows flickering over the walls and the chair that was sitting in front of it.

"Wormtail," said a cold voice from the chair. "You got my message?"

"Y-yes my lord," He stuttered.

"I need you to write down what we need to do tonight," Voldemort said. "I will dictate. You will-"

"I know my lord," Wormtail said, conjuring up a piece of paper and a quill. His wand shook under his fingers. Voldemort stood up out of his chair and turned toward Wormtail. He was a good foot and a half taller than Wormtail.

"Don't ever interrupt me, Wormtail," Voldemort hissed. "Ever."

"Y-yes my lord!" Wormtail squeaked. "I'm sorry my Lord! I didn't me- AARGH!"

Wormtail had been hit with the Cuciatus Curse. He lay twitching on the ground, screaming.

"Good, you have learned your lesson," Voldemort said with a slight laugh. "Now, copy this d-"

Voldemort stopped in the middle of his sentence, and stared out the window.

"What is that Death Eater doing here?" He snapped. "I haven't even given the signal yet."

Wormtail scampered over to the window and looked. Sure enough, there was a Death Eater standing in the middle of the graveyard, looking at one of the graves.

"Go down and tell him to come up," Voldemort snapped at Wormtail. "And then return to copy."

"Yes, my lord." Wormtail walked hurriedly out of the room. He almost tripped over Nagini and stumbled out the door.

The Death Eater was just standing there. Wormtail watched him for a second from the broken down porch. There was something wrong. He had been the best at Divination during school, and he was still rather talented in it. It had been the only thing he had been really good at. Wormtail changed into his Animagus form and crept through the tall grass to the graveyard.

Through the darkness Wormtail tried to make out the face of the Death Eater, but under the hood of the dark cloak he could see nothing. He was about to change back into his original form, but the Death Eater moved. It shifted slowly and walked closer to Wormtail. Wormtail was about to run, but before he could move he was suddenly scooped into a box and a lid was placed over the box.

Remus Lupin put an Unbreakable Charm on the box so Wormtail couldn't escape, and then Disapparated out of the graveyard.

A.N. PLEASE REVIEW!!!! And I really recommend reading the story that I did with Tadariada and SEEKER_2000 (Who are some of the bestest authors on ff.net in my opinion…) The story is called Harry Potter and the Torch of Darkness and it's under the penname Define Normal!! Thanx!!!!
Malena