Chapter Twenty-Two: Will Be Used Against Us

            Two men traveled through the dense forest, one slipping through the trees like a shadow, the other stumbling blindly amongst the roots.  A fog followed them like a faithful companion, enclosing them into the heart of the forest.  They reached the core of the woods and succumbed themselves to absolute darkness.  Only a follower of the Dark Lord would have been able to see the circle of Death Eaters that had gathered in the night.

            A man leant casually against a tall oak tree.  However, the man was not as much of a man as the oak was a tree.  His pale skin gleamed from the glow of his red eyes, causing sinister shadows to appear where his eyebrows should have been.  The pallid slits he had for lips parted into a sneer, causing the severe slashes of his nostrils to flare.  He moved toward the crouching man, walking in an awkward fashion, like one who has not been acquainted to their body for long.  Extending a thin hand to the darker man's face, the monstrosity stroked the Death Eater's cheeks with his needle fingers, every touch seeming to burn the man's flesh. 

            "Severus," he said in a slurred hiss, "How kind of you to join us."

            With strength that surpassed his physique, the ghastly man lifted the pained one by his neck, holding him above the ground before throwing him into the oak tree.

            "Did you think, that somehow, I would not find out about the Shangri-La and its effect on you?" the fiend asked, so close to the other man's face that Severus could feel a bitter cold creeping onto his skin.  He looked up to the pair of sickly red eyes that blazed before him.

            "No, my Lord, I dare not think that." said the man, straining to keep the pain from entering his voice.

            The Dark Lord smiled, showing a row of broken glass-like teeth.

            "Well, Severus, how nice to know that you would lie to me, as well as betray me."  Peering closely at the Death Eater, he flicked his tongue out, almost touching the man on the nose.  He kept his tongue there and rolled it all around the man's face, savoring the air that lay between him and the other's skin.  Slowly retreating his tongue back into its lair, he whispered,

            "Do you want to know what I taste, Severus?  I taste fear, luscious, mouth-watering fear…and something else also."  He traced the man's face with his skeletal finger.  "I taste, smell, and sense…deceit."  The Dark Lord hissed the word out and let it resonate through all the ears of the Death Eaters.  From beneath his dark silk robes, he drew out a wand and placed the tip of it on the man's head.

            "You truly deserve punishment, Severus, but I will be lenient.  I have other purposes for you tonight." 

            Three thundering claps resounded from the Dark Wizard's hands, drawing all light from the sky.  A deadly silence bled through the forest, suffocating all who breathed with a hush. 

            A lone Death Eater gurgled a guttural sound that swelled from within his throat.  All eyes lay on him as him clenched his neck, retching up surges of blood, which ran down his neck, forming a pool at his collar.  Black hairs sprouted on his head, ripping their way out of his scalp, his face splitting apart like a broken mask.  Within minutes, his skin cracked and peeled away, his organs giving way to another body.  A willowy figure took place of the Death Eater, forming itself into that of a woman's.  Her almond eyes shown in an amber light, gentle and deceiving, lovely like a siren's song.  She was deep within herself, like a woman that had woken from a long slumber to find a different world around her.  Charcoal hair fluttered around her in the silent breeze.  She looked at the Dark Lord, in complete ease under his crimson stare. 

            "Who are you," she said, softer than the rustle of a feather, "That frees me from my confining slumber?"

            Taking her by the hand like a child, he led her to the fallen Death Eater.

            "I present to you a gift," he answered in his hissing tones, "That will restore your powers." 

            He wrapped his fingers around a lock of Severus' hair, pulling his face up to expose the delicate slope of his neck.

            "Severus," Voldemort drawled, "I want you to meet someone," he drew the woman next to him, "This is Mab, known as Queen Mab to the Mudblood world.  She," he smiled almost pleasantly, "Will be bound to you, leeching your power to regenerate herself."

            From the air, he plucked out a flask of smoky gray liquid smelling of burnt olives.  Still clutching Severus by the hair, he muttered "Diffindo", and from the Death Eater's mouth flowed a steady fountain of blood.  He caught the spilling life in the flask, filling it to the brim, and then released the man, leaving him to drown in his own blood.

            Turning to the faerie, he held out the potion, urging her to drink it.  She looked at him warily and inspected the liquid. 

            "Why are you offering me a Revitalizing Potion?" she whispered, sinister undertones layering her barely audible voice.

            The Dark Wizard looked at her patiently, gesturing to the bleeding Death Eater on the ground.

            "Severus is one of my most powerful wizards, Mab.  Merlin imprisoned you in a weakening slumber so that you would never be able to restore your capabilities again.  Through this," he said slowly, "You will be able to regenerate your strength through Severus' power."

            The woman looked at the scarlet-eyed wizard and smiled.

            "But then I will be bound to you by debt, therefore wholly under your control."  She leaned into his pale thin ear, "What makes you think I would do that?"

            Even Voldemort shuddered faintly under the deathly chill of her breath.  He narrowed his lashless eyes, saying in a cautiously quiet hiss,

            "You are far too weak to use any of the power you had before.  The sleep of imprisonment Merlin cast on you has drained you of your abilities to use magic.  Even with this potion, it will take at least a thousand years for all your strength to return to you.  My offer is this: By taking the Revitalizing Potion, you can abstract power from Severus until you are fully invigorated, but until that time comes, you will be under my command.  After that, you will be free to do as you please.  I suggest you take this offer, unless you intend to stay dormant for another century."

            Her voice turned into an inhuman growl. 

            "You forget that I am the Queen of treachery, wizard.  Even you cannot fool me.  Do you expect me to willingly take the potion without seeing this one take the Depleting Potion first?"

            Smiling like a broken mannequin, the Dark Lord replied,

            "Do not worry, Mab.  I have already given him the concoction.  Look inside him, you will see my Mark and the Potion running through his veins."

            The woman's eyes illuminated with an unnatural glow, piercing under the Potions Master's skin and into his veins.  Satisfied with what flowed within him, she poured the metallic tasting potion down her throat, allowing it to sink beneath her bones and into her marrow.  She licked her bloodstained lips and crushed the flask in her hand, showering the shards over Severus.  Grasping his face in a rigid grip, she pressed her lips onto his, invading his mouth with her tongue, sucking power from his bleeding wound.  Muted, choked cries escaped from his mouth into hers as she drained him of his strength, eventually leaving the wilted man slumped at her feet.  She shivered from the afterglow of the power surge, stretching like a cat after killing its prey.  Leaning down to the Death Eater, she pressed her lips softly against his ear, whispering,

            "I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.  But if you did not, do not fret–you have centuries to acquire a taste for it."

            She scooped his trembling body up in her arms and turned to Voldemort.

            "I must thank you, I have not felt this good for the longest time.  However," she looked down at the convulsing man, "Where shall I leave him to recover?"

            The Dark Wizard gleamed in delight at the grotesque scene.

            "He is a professor at Hogwarts.  Return him to the school, but make sure no one brings him out of his chambers; I want him to feel the full effect of the consequences for betraying me."

            The faerie left the forest swiftly with the Potions Master lying in her arms like a tattered rag doll.

            A sickly glow was cast over the draperies.  Natalia awoke in the unusually scorching heat of the sun.  She opened her eyes and peered outside.  The sun shone with a wan orange light, seeming to be a warning of things to be.  She placed a hand on her parched throat and pattered to the bathroom, turned on the cold water and dipped her face in a sink full of icy liquid.  She took a deep breath after raising her head again, water dripping down her face, and running its cool fingers down her body.  The nightmares from her sleep still disturbed her.  She felt an intense anxiety the whole night, dreams of a deadly power being summoned plaguing her sleep.  She needed to get out of the room.  After taking a hasty shower, she headed to Snape's office to feed Amicus.

            Upon reaching the Potions Classroom, Natalia felt a deep dread flood through her.  Shaking her head, she reached to her side, only to find that she had left her wand in the chambers.  Making a mental note to herself to get it before heading to breakfast, she entered the classroom.

            Cold air stung her instantly as she saw a woman lounging leisurely in front of the Potions Office.  She had tilted her chair against the closed door, eating apple slices from a blade in her hand.  Natalia approached her quietly, careful not to disturb her silent reverie.

            "Pardon me," she asked in a hushed voice, "May I go in to feed my dragon?  Professor Snape keeps him for me."

            A pair of amber eyes peered curiously at her, seeming to scrutinize and evaluate her very soul.  In between bites, the woman asked courteously,

            "What is your name?"

            "Natalia."

            The woman smiled, seeming pleased with the answer.

            "How do you do today?"

            Natalia frowned.  There was something ferocious behind the gentle mask that the woman wore, but she could not tell what it was.

            "I am doing well, thank you."

            The woman nodded, watching the girl that stood in front of her.  She had sensed the girl's power since she had first set foot on Hogwarts ground the night before.  And now that she was so close…the faerie's heightened senses shivered beneath the amount of power that stood before her.  She knew that even she, Mab, Queen of Faeries, possessor of magic even beyond wizards' comprehension, could not stop the girl from entering if she really wanted to.  Seeing that she would not do harm, Mab got up from her chair.

            "You may go and feed your dragon."

            Natalia thanked her quietly and entered the room, closing the door behind her.  She turned to see a man crumpled on the floor, pale from blood loss, with the same liquid flowing steadily out of his mouth.  "Professor…"