The cold dungeon atmosphere draped itself around her, blanketing her in coldness. She melted into the cool crush of midnight blue satin sheets. Tears glimmered against her eyes, threatening to swallow them up and then slide down her cheeks. Indeed, with one soft and swift shut of her eyelids the tears fell in great gushes over her face, landing in the nest of black hair flattened behind her head.
Her dreams were a murky sea, hot and damp. Sweat slid down in tiny rivulets over her forehead. A sultry haze shadowed her eyes; everything was cast in an oily black fog. Something wet placed a dark kiss over her lips…but before she could reach out and touch the mysterious person, they were gone. Vanished like smoke. They left behind a vague scent…Caleb? Was that him? Where was he? Something soft brushed past her and was gone. There was a scream so she started off toward it, yet couldn't find its source. It was familiar, but started to fade the harder she thought about it. The scream was her own, but it had to be an echo, she wasn't screaming right now. Blindly she moved through the darkness, terrified suddenly of things she could not see. Out of nowhere, hands wrapped themselves around her throat from behind, and she was pulled backwards. Strangely though, she was not troubled. She sank into dark cloaks and wondered…is this death? A pale face she had never seen before danced in front of her, looking down, she must be lying on the ground. Cold rock appeared beneath her, stabbing into her back. The face passed in front of her again, this time with an ugly twisted grin plastered across it. Distorted, it stopped and disappeared. She was all alone. Getting up, she moved forward and there was a light that beckoned to her, but before she reached it, it was gone.
Cold sweat was soaked into the sheets around her. She had awaked half off the bed. There was a heavy, ominous feeling choking her. The watch she had with her told her that she was about twenty minutes late for her meeting with Severus Snape and the Order. Great…I'm off to such a wonderful start, first I hit the man, and then I decided to be late. Somehow I don't think he is going to let this slide. I just can't do much of anything right can I? Life can be so grand sometimes.
"Good afternoon Miss Joseph. It is simply wonderful that you finally decided to join us. You are the reason for this meeting after all." His eyes carved her up and down.
"I'm sorry." Her eyes didn't wish to meet the scornful black ones fixed on her, so they wandered taking in the three other people in the room.
"Yes, well…we were just about to go and search for you, since you are so far away and it is so easy to get lost walking in a perfectly straight line." He was so relaxed sitting there in his chair. There were no robes now, just a black shirt tucked neatly into black pants. He was quite slender. Behind his head rested his arms, cradling his lank hair. "My, it is a wonder you made it through the door without getting confused." There was a smug smirk turning up one corner of his mouth and she hoped the look she shot him was as dark and disgusted as she felt inside.
"Alright Severus. That's more than enough, I do believe Melody gets the point." An older woman stood and stepped toward Melody, who was still poised in the doorway. As she drew closer her motherly expression faded and she looked strangely at Melody before offering her hand. "Come inside child. Minerva McGonagall, Transfiguration Professor and headmistress of Gryffindor House." I don't really care who you are…Melody couldn't help but be turned off by the woman's queer, lingering stare, she shook Melody's hand hesitantly, almost fearfully. Fortunately the two weren't forced to speak anymore, Snape began the introductions with an irritable tone.
"This is Melody Joseph, and I do believe the only daughter of the Dark Lord. She has agreed, although not graciously, to help the Order." Although not graciously…well do excuse me. Melody rolled her eyes at Snape's cutting reference to the awkward conversation in Dumbledore's office. "Melody, you have already had the absolute pleasure of meeting Professor McGonagall, this is Remus Lupin, and of course…Harry Potter." Snape spoke Harry's name like it was a curse, a tainted slimy thing. The expression of pure hatred aimed at Harry Potter stunned her for a moment, why did he seem to hate the boy so much…because he was famous, or was it something more?
Melody shook both Remus's and Harry's hands. The latter handshake was surprisingly strong and confident. The boy was only sixteen like herself, and seemed to take everything that had happened so far in perfect stride, completely ignoring the obvious loathing in Snape's voice. He was friendly, and gave her a small handsome smile before retreating and pulling out a chair for her at one of the front desks.
Melody thanked him and sat down, to her left sat Remus atop a desk, in front of her was a smirking Snape, to her left was Harry, and behind her stood Minerva McGonagall.
With a brisk clearing of her throat, Minerva started the meeting. "Well then, what do we know thus far? Has Melody been completely informed?"
"I do not believe she has Minerva, and I trust you will waste no time telling her everything." For a brief moment Minerva eyed the other professor, straining to figure out what he meant.
"Melody, we believe that you have a strong connection with the Dark Lord…do you dream of him at all?" The question was quick; she moved around Melody and stood in front of her, blocking Melody's view of Snape.
"I don't know, I don't know who he is, what he looks like or anything."
"Oh…well…do you have odd dreams?"
"Err, sometimes…is this going anywhere? I don't see what this has to do with anything." Melody knew she was being rude, but why couldn't the woman just spit it out, instead of asking her about some damn dreams. Snape rose from his desk, and came up behind Minerva, startling her as he moved soundlessly. She quickly moved away from him and he spoke directly to Melody.
"Well said. From what Dumbledore has mentioned, it is likely that you and your father share a bond that connects you; that he knows where you are, and if you were to set off to find him, you would end up wherever he is hiding. All we have to do is tap into this source and control it, thus leading ourselves to his hidden fortress. Indeed you will eventually come face to face with him, are you prepared?"
"I don't know…and no, I don't feel any supernatural power that is guiding me anywhere. But if he knows where I am, why doesn't he have someone bring me to him? I don't understand any of this."
"I do believe that he wants you, he knows you are powerful. That is why he has sent his Death Eaters after you. I also believe he is afraid of you, you do not show any signs of joining with him, which means you are likely to fight against him. I can't see why he didn't have you brought to him the night Lucius came to your house." Severus almost grimaced. Now she would want to know more about Lucius, and how Severus knew him, that was an ugly area.
"Lucius? The bastard has a name…how do you know him? You spoke his name like he was a friend." The suspicion in her tone was evident, painfully so.
"He is no friend of mine, but I do have dealings with him, it is my role as part of the Order. I am a spy for Dumbledore." The girl watched him suspiciously. Damn Voldemort's paranoia, it was in her blood as well.
Carefully she spoke, dancing lightly over the subject she ached to discuss, Death Eaters. "How did you just get this role as spy? I don't think Voldemort would just let anyone join his ranks."
Eyeing her wearily, Severus decided he had no choice but to just tell her, it would be better in the long run, then she would be more likely to trust him. Though she undoubtedly would not trust him for a while after hearing the information he would be sharing with her. "I have convinced Voldemort that I am a Death Eater."
"How?"
"Fairly easily…I was a Death Eater long ago. He simply thinks I still am."
There was quite a long pause. Everyone else in the room already knew his secret, though none were comfortable with it. There was always that nagging voice in the back of their minds: what if he still was a Death Eater?
"That's good. That's really good. Actually, I shouldn't be so surprised, your whole demeanor screams: I am a vicious bloodthirsty murderer. Tell me, how many people did you kill before you found it in your heart to repent? How many lives did you tear apart, how many women did you rape? How many babies did you kill?"
"That is enough!"
"How many? Or did you lose count?" They were both standing, glaring wasn't even the word, the solid stare that tied them together was frightening, and all onlookers knew to stay away and leave them alone. "Did you have anything to do with the death of my mother…or his parents?" She pointed at Harry, and Severus refused to look his way, the sick truth was, he had a lot to do with the death of the Potters.
"That has nothing to do with what is at hand, once again you have gone off onto a subject that doesn't matter. My past and your pathetic suffering have very little to do with the war. Yes, I was a Death Eater, I killed people, and bloody hell I enjoyed it. There is nothing you can do to change this." The room was in shock, never had he spoken such things to anyone, but something about this girl was insufferable, she set him off like no one ever did. For a moment he was ashamed, he prided himself on his control, and just seconds ago he had lost it, she was lucky he had refrained from striking her in much the same way she had hit him earlier.
Rage boiled inside Melody. She was blind to everything else except the tall pale man in front of her. Oh how badly she wanted to hurt him. Make him feel some of what she felt. He enjoyed killing people…how could he say something like that? There was one brief comforting thought…he'll burn in hell. But the relief was turned into twisted confusion; did she even believe in hell anymore?
"How am I supposed to work with…how am I supposed to trust somebody like you?"