*~* A Long Dark Walk *~*
Chapter 2 – The Shit Hits The Fan
Disclaimer: There's no point in suing me since all I own are these Gummi Bears and a Pepsi Blue =/
A/N: Here's
chapter two! I worked forever on this one trying to get it just right… oh and Rachie,
if ya didn't like the first part then BEWARE of this one... sometimes I scare
myself... ;p well heeeeere's sevvy:
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As the light from the flame in the fireplace flickers gently against the cold
stone floor and owl screeched. Severus awoke with a start once again, and,
glancing at the clock, cursed violently. Missing breakfast completely, he would
only just make it to potions. After a double take, though, he stared curiously
at the owl, which sat glaring at him from the headboard of wooden bed frame.
"What do you want bird?" Severus asked sneering.
The owl screeched once again, like nails on a blackboard and dropped a fancy
envelope on Severus' lap. Screeching again as if a challenge, it flew out of
the door and made its way out of the dungeons. Raising an eyebrow at the
envelope he carefully opened it, half expecting an explosion of some sort from
the Gryffindor Golden Boys. Glancing at the neat loopy handwriting, he realized
with part relief, part defiance, and part pure terror that the letter was from
his father.
Severus -
The Dark Lord had called upon you early, as if to prove that you will not be
ready by tonight to serve him and are therefore not worthy of his presence. You
will not fail. Tonight at 2:25am go down to the potions room. On the floor in
the left-hand corner there will be a book. Hopefully you are smart enough to
realize that this book is a portkey and will take you directly to the Dark Lord
and I. There you will be given a task to perform and initiated on the spot.
Afterwards you will be given another task to work on while you are in that
damned school. Make me proud. Do not fail.
- Your Father
Severus, reading in between the lines, bared his teeth maliciously and set the
letter on fire watching it slowly burn down to his fingertips. What his father
had failed to write was "or else", but it was taught at a very young
age among the Snape's that anything done against you're family will be taken
from you're life as a sacrifice, and Snape had no intention of letting himself
die when there was so much destruction in the world yet to do.
He hissed silently as the flame reached his fingertips, snapping him out of his
daydream. He watched them slowly burn the tips of his fingers for a moment
before blowing them out and getting dressed and gliding swiftly to the potions
classroom where the first class of the day was Gryffindor-Slytherin. Oh joy.
*~*
Chopping up his Tongue of Serpent delicately and slipping exactly 18.34 pieces
into his potion, he smiled slightly and his eyes lightened as the potion turned
Urple, showing that it was complete and ready for testing. Carefully and
fluently he picked up his caldron and poured the contents into five little
vials. One for the teacher. Four to be used as revenge.
Sitting back down after cleaning up, he grinned with strange satisfaction as he
watched the teacher ridicule and insult the Gryffindors on their poor performance.
Stalking up and down the aisles very much like Severus himself, the teacher
barked orders to the pupils, orders that Severus blatantly ignored, intent on
forming a plan on what he should practice for his meeting with the Dark Lord.
Voldemort. His one shot at the fame and glory he deserved that he was never
given simply because he looked like he had been left to die in a burning
building while he was a baby. Which he had. Shaking his head slightly as his
imagination ran away with him, producing many grotesque pictures of what could
have happened on that almost fatal day. They were dismissed and allowed to go
to their next class.
*~*
1:45am. Time for Severus to head downstairs. Dressing quietly in his best robes
he slinked and glided in the dark cold corridors until he came to the potions
classroom. Undoing the charms on the door with a few quick and well-practiced
spells, he glided to the corner and found the book with ease. Glancing at the
cover, he shook his head. Damn - you would think since this is a secret
organization they would be more careful where they left Dark Arts objects... oh
well - their fault!
Opening the book carefully, he drew his wand and placed the forefinger of his
free hand on the book and was swept into the void.
When Severus opened his eyes, which he did not know he had closed, he was in a
completely black room. If it was a room. Nothing could be seen except darkness,
but he could feel bone-chilling mist on his face and neck as he stepped forward
bravely, and possibly stupidly.
A dark violet light appeared. It was hard to look at it, but Severus had never
backed away in fear from anything other than his father, and that had only been
when he was very little. Staring straight into the light he saw a weak figure.
Completely bare with skin so pale he was pure white, the evil glowing off of
him to create the violet light. Voldemort.
Bending down to kiss the floor Voldemort was about to walk on while never
breaking eye contact with the creature before him as he had been taught,
Severus spoke the silent request to join the Death Eaters.
"Oh sacred Dark Lord, ruler of the Night, blessed among those who have
been Wronged, the most worthy of any man's devotion, lend me your malice, your vengeance,
your soul."
The glow around Voldemort grew brighter, to the point where Severus thought his
eyes would explode from the inside out. Not even hearing the curse, Severus
felt the steel of a thousand knives on his skin, ripping him apart, intent on
having his intestines touch the floor at least once that night.
After what seemed like an hour to Severus, the Crucio was removed. Severus
stood slowly, painfully, blood covering every inch of his body. Stone faced, he
waited for some command from the Dark Lord. Then, what was almost a strained
whisper was heard, although none of the malice had gone from its voice.
"Very good... You have done well Lucius... That curse would have killed a
grown man easily but this boy... this boy resisted... brilliant."
Severus, silently beginning to panic about what he had gotten himself into,
stood as still as a man under the Niagara falls during the ice age.
"He shall be... initiated... tonight!"
With that final world they were swept into what seemed like a living hell to
Severus. Fire was burning everywhere, and while fire enchanted him, it was a
different sort of fire. Fire that caused the greatest pain imaginable to
people, fire that sent maggots into the stomachs of men, eating them alive from
the inside. Fire that was not beautiful to watch, only sending terror into the
heart of the one who glanced at it.
Bodies, those of both living and dead people, were scattered everywhere. The
ground was charred with all the ashes of the world, while the sky was a dark
and bloody red. Walking respectfully behind his father, Severus took it all in.
After a few minutes of following the limping, glowing form in front of his
father, they all stopped. Before them lay a pit of lava, with the lost souls of
victims before Severus moaning, screeching, to get out, their bodies nothing more
than burnt skin over skeletons. Severus tried to stop the shudder, but couldn't
contain himself. Voldemort noticed.
"So... you like my growing collection?" he hissed with a violent look
in his eye. Severus did not respond, too fearful that he might throw up if he
had to open his mouth.
"Christoph... show him his task..."
Severus slowly pivoted on the ball of his foot to look his father in the eye,
but the man diverted his gaze. Instead, Christoph raised his wand and removed
the black cloak thrown over something with a simple levitation charm. Bloodied
and mangled, just like in his dream, was his friend.
"Severus..."
Severus stared opening at the whimpering, disturbing sight before him. Without
even hearing Voldemort's words, he knew what he was to do.
"Throw her in...."
He didn't respond. Not at first. Then a searing pain in the back of his head
reminded him that his father was still watching. He tentatively took a few
steps forward to the girl.
Twitching and heaving violently, the girl woke up. Staring into Severus' eyes
while blood poured from them and her mouth she pleaded.
"Severus no please! You can't... we were friends! Severus no what have I
ever done to you?! Please Severus no!"
Now sobbing big droplets of blood, the girl crawled weakly to Severus' feet,
and clutching his robes with her filthy, bloody hands she continued to cry and
plead.
"Severus please listen to me! Who taught you to use the silencing charm on
annoying people?! Who gave you your first lighter?! Who snuck out with you around
midnight on Saturdays and went to wizarding bars?! Severus please don't do
this!"
Feeling the rage of his father's gaze at this new piece information, as well as
the expectant murderous feeling of Voldemort, Severus did the only thing he
knew how to do at that point.
"Wingardium Leviosa"
*~*
Back in his bed a few hours later, staring up at the ceiling with bloodshot
eyes, he relived the whole thing. The sound of her sobbing and pleading. The
sound of her screams as the lava hit her body. The content gurgling sound the
lava made as it ate through her flesh and into her very soul, trapping it there
along with the rest.
And the most terrifying sound ever heard to a wizard. Voldemort's chuckling.
Evolving into full blown, evil, malicious, morbid laughter.
Shivering uncontrollably, he buried himself under the blankets, trying to shut
out the memory that will forever be burned into his brain.
Unconsciously rolling onto his arm, he gasped in pain and rubbed the branding
scar of all Death Eaters - the Dark Mark.
Not getting one ounce of sleep that night, he just sat and reflected on the
previous day and that night...
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Thursday -
Three days since my first meeting with the Dark Lord. Blasted Dark Mark still
burning like hell. Had to do a numbing charm on it today... Lucius accidentally
spilled hot soup all over it during lunch today. His father probably told him
what happened and Lucius decided to "help". Well what would he know -
I know for a fact that bastard isn't a Death Eater even if his father is the
Dark Lord's best friend. Mental Note: Use Shrinking Charm on Malfoy's dick.
Memory of Adriana still painful - the worst is when I think of the look in her
eyes. Of course, now I am higher on the social status with the Dark Lord -
almost as high as my father. Still. The recent events concerning her have made
me go slightly soft. Potter and his posse made a comment along their usual
lines of "no wonder he has no friends". Unable to restrain myself I
broke black's leg and potter's collarbone. People were fascinated in the hallways
as if they have never seen people scream before... then again they probably haven't.
Not like I have.
Had a sort of flashback in potions today. Actually dropped a beaker. The whole
class was in shock. Cursed them out. Bunch of dipshits if you ask me. Anyway.
It was strange. It was like I had a vision. Mental Note #2: DO NOT under ANY
CIRCUMSTANCES mention this to Trelawny that freak.
Ok - so what I was saying was that I completely blacked out but continued my
movements of doing the assignment. It was only when I snapped out of it that I
dropped the beaker. It was of my and Adriana when we were about ten and we were
running loose in Muggle London on a Saturday night. Got a little drunk, and she
was completely gone. I actually miss the times like that, although I was beat
to within an inch of my life for sneaking out - all those times were worth it.
See?! What do I tell you - I'm going soft. I must stop this nonsense before I
start acting stupid in front of Father. He would not be pleased.
Continuing right along, we were on our way back at about 4am when we crossed a
street on a red light not seeing any cars. Well, whether we were too
intoxicated to care, see, or hear, a car full of drunk teenagers can tearing
around the corner of the street on my side, sending us both flying. When we
came to, I was covering Adriana as if shielding her, and we were both fine.
What we didn't understand was the huge dent in the front of the car. Or how we
lived when all the passengers of the car were dead. Too drunk to believe it or
really fully comprehend what it was, we just went to our separate homes and
forgot about it. Until now. What suddenly made me think of that is something
that I do not know. Although I know for a fact that, even with both of our
magical abilities showing, there is no way we could have both survived from our
magical capabilities alone that night.
For the rest of the day I have been thinking about it. The answer seems so
simple, as if it's right in front of my face. Yet, the only thing that's in
front of my face right now is a paragraph from Lord Of the Rings, reading:
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all,
One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all,
And in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where Shadows lie.
The only parts of it that might have something to do with this world is the fact
that there are Dwarves, just not the kind described in this story; mortal men
are doomed to die; and that there is a Dark Lord. This makes me wonder if the
Dark Lord has a ring that could bind all the evil of the world together to
bring hate and torture to the world... if so, my world wouldn't change much.
But that's just ridiculous. And the fact that Mortal Men die is just a fact.
There must be something special about the dwarves. Mental Note #3: Look up the
evolution of Dwarves for any relation to the text I am now reading.
On a some-what lighter note I managed to get back at the Potter Posse for
shortening my hair so I look like some sort of Muggle Punk Rocker. I smirk as I
write the next sentence: I managed to please all the female population in Hogwarts,
as well as a few particular boys, including Malfoy, by de-robing the Gay
Gryffindors during the quidditch match. Let just say Lupin was feeling a BIT
chilly... and no doubt Malfoy laid Pettigrew after the match - that damned
wanna-be is always trying to get into our common room... last time people even
dared to send the Head of Slytherin House after him. Let's just say Pettigrew
spent an awful lot of time getting friendly with the school toilets.
Now, by getting an attack of hand cramps from writing so damn much, I must bid
adieu and return to my reading. I still have homework but I did all the potions
and defense against the dark arks homework and that's all that counts. Father
said as long as I do well in those subjects he would get people to make special
arrangements and I will end up passing all my other classes. Maybe it does pay
off to have a bastard of a father and a prick of a Lord.
~ Severus Snape
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A/N: *shudder* I don't believe I wrote THAT! Oh well… I gotta get my anger out somewhere right? =P It's better than going bonkers and end up killing people… Ahh wondrous Severus *ebil grin* Please leave a review!!!!