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PATH to DARKNESS by Tyde
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Chapter Twenty Two – Coercion
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Snape had been teaching at Hogwarts for just two weeks before his fellow Death Eaters decided to visit one weekend. Voldemort had not been happy about Severus taking the position of Potions master but after he explained that it was about having a spy on the inside did Voldemort relent. Dumbledore and his Order were thwarting the Dark Lord's plans slowly and steadily and if Snape could wedge himself in there and perhaps sabotage some of it then maybe the gamble would pay off after all. They sat around drinking shots of Firewhiskey in a dark corner of the Three Broomsticks whilst Madam Rosemerta chatted to them as she mopped up a spilled drink on the floor.
'Amazing lot your year turned out to be boys. Aurors, ministers, some of them even opened up a shop down the road. Making a fair bit of business too'
Malfoy looked at her coldly. 'We came for the drinks, not the prattle – bugger off Rosie.' She looked highly insulted but knew not to push her luck with this lot. There was a sinister air about them. She gathered her mop and bucket and headed back to the register.
'So what's the situation with you Snape?' Chris Crabbe hadn't changed since school, he still spoke slowly and still sounded like he'd by-passed the counter giving out brains when he was born.
Severus's head shot up from his glass. 'What do you mean?' He'd been thinking about the Order of the Phoenix and was wondering if they could hear his thoughts.
'Birds Sev, you ain't got one. Nothing catch your eye here?' Crabbe gestured around the bar at all the twittering girls sipping their Butterbeers and Elderberry wine coolers through a straw.
Lucius's drawl broke through the cacophony. 'Not likely Crabbe. He's into a classier type of bird'' he said the word like it was a cockroach that had just chosen to swim in his drink 'than the likes of these. He's an ice maiden type, the queen bitch, the wildest in the bunch'. Snape crammed some crisps into his mouth so it wouldn't betray the uncomfortable feeling that was creeping up on him with every word Malfoy uttered. 'Likes them tall and blonde, like Narc. Am I right Snape?' Severus tried to swallow the crisps and in the end had to wash them down with another drink when they became lodged in his throat.
'Back in the day Malfoy, back in the day. Of course she had to go and marry that Slytherin git, what was his name, Muffy or something? Totally changed my opinion of her then' The Death Eaters roared with laughter at this admission while Lucius just glared at Snape.
'Heard you've been fancying them innocent now, just like you did at school, something along the lines of a Potter' Malfoy's sneers were legendary.
'What, James?' Crabbe asked stupidly.
'No Lily, you twat! I'm right aren't I, Sev? She tickles your ivory doesn't she?' His cold eyes locked themselves on the potions master and Severus almost squirmed under his gaze. Snape knew what he'd really like to do and say in response to that comment but if he did his cover would be blown as a double agent for Dumbledore and Rosemerta would be cleaning his innards off the pub floor for weeks. He smiled instead.
'Haven't you ever fantasised about turning a good girl bad Lucius? Those fluttering eyelashes and those Oh but Sevi I couldn't, it's naughty! remarks. But alas now I find it is too hard' his comment was interrupted by boyish giggling from Crabbe and Macnair 'and I give up on Lily Potter. Don't know why I even tried in the first place, silly, I just think it was the challenge, you know. I mean she is a Mudblood after all – imagine that?!'
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Every time Snape walked into Voldemort's latest hideout he couldn't put aside the feeling that he was walking into a pit of vipers. Sure Nagini was always circling around but it was the people more than the actual snake that instilled the fear in him. His fear stemmed not from a notion of losing being killed, but being killed before he had the chance to do some good, to fix the wrongs that he had done. Those that he could fix anyway. After the show he'd put on at the Three Broomsticks he felt it was time he planted the seeds of it in Voldemort's brain, get his master thinking he was definitely on the straight and narrow, as it were. The Dark Lord looked at his follower sharply as Severus opened his mouth.
'A revelation of sorts my Lord. She'll never join us. Kill her. I can't believe that simpering little Mudblood ever thought she could have a hold of my heart. I ought to shower for years just to get the stench of her off my skin and out of my hair. How dare she spread her filth to me?' Snape's tone didn't belie the fact that his insides were squirming in protest to his besmirching of Lily's character.
'Took you a while to wake up' was all Voldemort said coldly to his offsider.
'Can you ever forgive me my Lord?' Snape kneeled on the ground in front of Voldemort, his head bowed in respect.
'In due time and provided you become as ruthless as you once were. You've softened lately Snape – I don't like it.'
Severus lifted his head so that his cold charcoal eyes would meet with Voldemort's dangerous red ones. 'What would you have me do to rectify myself in your glorious shadow sir? Kill the Potters – consider it done, I would think of no greater pleasure nor honour to off them for you'
'No. The Potters are mine, I have my spies in their closest circle and when it comes the time I will take them myself. You would not deny me such a pleasure now Snape. You have after all but a sliver of my greatness' as his snake like eyes turned towards his follower Snape found his skin crawling like there were a dozen bugs underneath it. The Dark Lord ordered one of his minions to bring them something to drink. He filled two goblets full of the sparkling wine and pushed one into Snape's hands. Raising his own to his mouth he took a long satisfying drink. His eyes flicked to Snape and he motioned at the goblet that had not been touched by the potions master. 'Drink to your victories Severus' The Dark Lord's red eyes pierced him with a look that said 'Refuse and die'.
Snape raised the goblet to his lips, drinking deeply and as he swallowed the last gulp a familiar tingling filled his mouth. Imperio potion he sighed to himself. Voldemort sensed something was up, he didn't really trust him anymore, perhaps he knew his loyalties lay elsewhere.
The Dark Lord smiled at him like you might smile at an insect squashed under you shoe. 'Feeling better now?'
'You're using my own potions against me' Snape struggled to get the words out as a cloudiness filled his brain and he found himself soon unable to say anything but 'Yes master' and 'As you wish'. It was in this state that Voldemort dispatched Severus on a mission to dispose of James Potter's parents.
'You're my star hit wizard Severus, I can't have you going soft now, do you agree?'
'Yes master' it was an almost zombie-like representation of Snape that Apparated out to Harold and Dulcie Potter's residence. Voldemort had used the stronger dosage, it would last for weeks. Snape would never forget their screams and they would haunt him in his dreams once the Dark Lord fell, just like Hortense's did now.
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Dropping a fair amount of floo in the fireplace Lily and James stepped in the flames with Harry and gave the fire directions. It was only a matter of minutes before they were deposited in the fireplace of James's parents. The fire was almost dying and James looked at it confused. 'Mum and Dad always have a fire going, day and night, winter or summer, just in case we pop in. I wonder where they are?' His eyes scanned the lounge room but his parents were nowhere to be seen.
'I'll check the kitchen' said Lily and she settled Harry into a bouncer by the fire. A flick of her wand added fuel to the fire and the flames flared up once again. James headed up the stairs towards their bedroom thinking maybe they'd taken a nap before dinner time. It was odd for his parents not to be sitting in the lounge room at 6pm on a Sunday evening, when James and Lily always came for tea. He trudged up the stairs and to his puzzlement did not find them there either. Lily's inspection of the kitchen and laundry also turned up nothing. 'Maybe they went for a walk?' Lily suggested.
'Quite possible, it's a lovely evening out and there is that little pond down the pathway behind the house that would be nice to sit around with the stars out.' He picked Harry up (who started to whimper a little) and headed out the back door. The surroundings were coloured a misty green instead of the usual inky blue of dusk. It was as if the moon had turned green and the moonlight shimmered in a green shade accordingly. Lily knew that green glow and she knew that the dark shapes lying by the garden shed were undoubtedly James's parents. She raised her head reluctantly skywards and the skull shone there, sneering at them, with a hissing snake protruding like a tongue from it's haunting mouth. She heard the scream of pain from James as he ran towards the bodies, falling on the ground nearby and sobbing over them, Harry clutched to his chest. Goosebumps crawled all over her skin and it wasn't from the cold, it was from a strange sense of foreboding – He Who Must Not Be Named was killing off those they held near and dear. Harry was crying now, loudly, and she numbly walked towards her grieving husband, taking their child from his grasp. 'James' her voice sounded odd in these surroundings, like it didn't belong.
'My parents Lily, how could he take my parents?' He hadn't bothered to take off his glasses and they were splashed with tears that were still steadily running down his cheeks.
'He's a cold, calculating bastard James. There are no reasons to him. He just does what he wants' She rocked her son and husband in her arms for what seemed forever. James's heart felt like it had been ripped out of his chest. His insides turned to ice as he realised it was You Know Who's way of getting at them so they'd be off guard. He grabbed a shovel from the shed and started digging graves for his parents.
'Darling, what are you doing?'
'Burying them. Get inside Lily, take Harry with you. I didn't believe Dumbledore before when he said You Know Who was after us. I didn't think we were important enough, but that's just it isn't it? He'll take everything and everyone, and he'll do it while you're at your most vulnerable, so you feel the pain of a thousand tortures. We have to get away. We're not safe here anymore, we're not safe anywhere'.
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A scruffy looking James and Lily Potter showed up at Hogwarts that evening with a sleeping Harry in a basket. They desperately needed Dumbledore's help. Some old magic perhaps? Magic that books and most people had forgotten about, something that could keep Harry safe from the clutches of the evil lord. He was ready to help of course, however he resisted calling in the rest of the members of the Order of Phoenix to set about devising a plan of concealment. Several small facts, very small but nonetheless significant, had escaped their secret meetings of late and Dumbledore smelled a fox amongst the chickens. He just didn't know which feathered friend was hiding a coat of fur and he didn't want to chance the lives of the Potters on it.
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Author's note: Thank you very much to Big Blank Space No Name person who asked me to 'Continue please.' You dragged me out of a depressing time and couldn't have made me happier. Continue I will do! Can't leave it just hanging in the balance. It'll go up until Harry's first day at Hogwarts, that's when it will end. I think there is probably about four chapters to go, unless I go in-depth with the Death Eater trials, which I'm considering.
Another old school friend moved in to the house last night and she's a storywriter as well and she's offered to proofread this for me. Which is just as well cause I get too excited to proofread a chapter once I've finished writing it, I just want to put it out there.