Author's Note: Ha! See? I took less than three months… I took two. Shush shush, I tried. I got a snow day so I had the chance to work on it allll yesterday. It turned out a little long, but I think it's an ok chapter. You might have to read the last part of my last chapter to remember where we are. I know I said this chapter would be short, and it is shorter, but it's 28 pages….yeah. Shush. DAH! Big thanks to my editor, she's awesome, I'll probably have a ramblefest about her in my epilogue.
Yup, still don't own anyone except Cassi and Donovan, and even then I'm not making any money, so support your starving artist with the one thing she feeds off of, reviews! Yes dearies, review or I'll majorly delay writing, and I don't think you want that after this chapter. Oh yeah, and I figured out a way to prolong the ending process, so there are two more chapters to come after this, and an epilogue… I hope to get this done before Book 5.
Ok, this chapter I would go ahead and say is R, but not for the usual reasons. Lots of violence, and if you get queasy at the reading of blood, um…. Skim over it? This chapter is important, but bloody. If anyone whines, don't say I didn't warn you, because you can stop right now. Ok, read and review! *glare* Or else…. ;)
Chapter 9: Wait for Me
They walked. For hours it seemed that they trudged through the forest blindly, led roughly by their assailants. Dead leaves crunched under their feet as they marched, and the scent of the forest became mustier and staler as they neared its heart. Tree roots stumbled Severus and Cassi, sometimes causing them to topple over entirely, choking as the leashes around their necks were pulled suddenly to keep them from running off. This only gave way to being kicked in the side, for the kidnappers seemed startled every time they fell, as if half expecting a well-planned attack.
"Don't you think this is far enough?" whined one of the men to Severus' left.
"No, the Light side has the advantage of knowing the forest. We'll go until we get into the oldest part of the woods, then Apparate," instructed the leader in a cruel voice.
Cassi walked with her head hung, thinking hard. An old feeling crept over her; suddenly she was tracking the positions of the people near her in her mind, listening to them and guessing their weaknesses. Strategies ran through her mind, several ways of escaping were half plotted out already, if it were not for the one looming fact that Severus would be killed the moment she so much as stepped out of line. She believed he was more than capable of escaping as well, but knew that he was holding himself back for her. Self-disgust rose within her heart; how she wished he would just save himself and let her fate play out. Angry, she growled to herself, though the leader heard her.
"Something wrong Ms.… what are you calling yourself? Talin?" asked the leader in a silky but confidently smug voice. A second later, she felt her gag untied, and she bit her lip to regain feeling in her mouth, which now tingled as the blood ran back to her flesh.
"Talin, yes. And no sir," she started darkly, her civility punctuated with venom, though she looked off at him blindly, "I was just growling because I can't decide whether I'm going to kill you or the guy next to me first."
"That's big talk for someone who's tied up," said the guy next to her who was holding her rope.
She turned her head to him, though she could not see. Immediately, she felt his fear, and knew that her reputation preceded her. "And that's a lot of confidence for someone as young as yourself. What are you, 24, 25? You don't know what you're dealing with, child."
"…oh yeah?" he said, trying to sound less scared. She heard him pull out his wand and take a step back, the leaves crunching beneath his reluctant feet. He dropped her rope in his fear.
She smiled at him briefly, more like a smirk than a gesture of kindness. In the next second, she jumped up high while pulling her knees up to her chest, then brought her hands (which were tied behind her back at the wrists) under her jump so they were now in front of her. Before the young man could react, she stepped forward and clubbed him in the side of the head with her bound hands, knocking him senseless to the ground. "Yeah," she spat at the figure on the ground. She then looked towards the leader. "Leave me ungagged, and ungag the professor as well. We're not going to scream like little school children."
"Very well," said the leader reluctantly, though still sounding smug. She heard a man move to Severus and ungag him, and then revive the boy on the ground. "Only about a half mile more and we'll be to the Apparating point," he announced, and then added in a lower voice to one of his brethren in Darkness, "Watch the girl." Cassi felt the boy tug her rope hard and she began walking again.
All the while, Severus was thinking hard as well. He knew he could escape, and he knew she was capable of escaping, but neither would risk the danger it would put the other in. Knowing there was no way, then, to escape now, he decided they would make plans at their destination. If his assumptions were correct, Potter would be at the same place, and they could free him as well. Even if he was not partial to the overly famous, smugly confident boy who tried to blackmail him earlier that year, he still had a moral obligation to find him and bring him back, seeing as he was the child's teacher. As dangerous as it was, it was now his job to make sure both went back to Hogwarts safely... with or without him.
~
Harry Potter awoke to a cold stone floor pressed to his cheek. Quickly, he sat up by pushing himself up from the grimy floor and adjusted his glasses, becoming aware of the chained shackles he had on his wrists as they rattled with his movement. The lines of his world became crisp as his glasses moved and his eyes focused, and he now looked upon his prison.
He was in a dungeon, dimly lit by torches along the old stone walls. The rectangular rocks the walls and floor were composed of were worn and greening, giving him the impression that wherever he was, it was an old place of residence. The dungeon room wasn't particularly big, roughly two Hogwarts classrooms put together in all, but the darkness of the room made the shadowy corners seem endless. Vaguely could he see two other cages of metal bars like his own on the other side of the room, side by side, as if patiently waiting for their inhabitants. A single chair stood between his cell and the other two, one with arms and shackles on it. It seemed ominous as to what his fate would be.
Sitting back against the wall, he sighed and pulled his legs up to his chest. Just this morning he had been perfectly fine, walking outside the walls of his school to clear his mind. Now he had no idea what time it was, and he had a bruise on the side of his head, a token of his struggle with the assailant in black from that morning. Though he had yet to see anyone (besides an older man sleeping in a chair in the corner), he knew what this was about… Voldemort. Harry knew Voldemort had grown in strength, and so he knew he could not battle him. Instead, he would have to make an escape, though his prospects looked bleak, as chained as he was and without his wand. This is the end of your luck, he thought to himself. He had known all along that he couldn't cheat death forever, and there was only so many times that he could run and escape the Dark Lord's grasp. Just as he was beginning to accept this fact with a depressed but determined heart, he heard a series of noises and raised voices coming from near the door. Lifting his head up, he watched and waited.
Two men flung the heavy wooden door of the dungeon open, leading in a group of people all clad in black. Harry was completely shocked when he saw his Potions Master and Defense professor amidst the group, blindfolded, dirty, with bound hands. Their faces looked resolute and stern, and did not show any sign of weakness as they were marched over to the two steel cages, blindfolds removed, and shoved into their cells, the doors creaking shut and rattling the cage as it was slammed.
"There, they're in. Go inform McCleland and Malfoy that they have arrived, and I shall go speak with the Master," Harry heard one man say to another, obviously the leader to his assistant. Both men disappeared through the dungeon door, and four more men followed them, not really knowing what to do now.
"Harry?" Talin whispered to him from across the room. The man in the corner (obviously a guard, though a rather pathetic excuse for one) snorted in his sleep, then went back to snoring softly.
"Yes Professor?" he answered her, making sure to keep his voice low.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, I just woke up."
He heard her murmur a praise to Merlin. "We'll figure something out," she said reassuringly to him, and he nodded in a hopeful manner.
~
Cassi looked over to Severus after she had finished conversing with Harry. Severus looked battered, his black hair mussed with dirt smudging his face and a cut on his cheek. She was sure she looked just as bad, if not worse, for her sides already ached from the kicks she had received.
"Severus," she said softly. He looked up at her, his gaze turning from the floor to her eyes. She smiled faintly and took a step towards him. "Press your back to the bars and I'll loosen the ropes on your hands," she offered, and he did so. With bindings still wrapped tight over her wrists, though in front of her, she used her fingers to loosen his tightly woven ropes, revealing livid red burns winding around his own wrists.
"Mm, thanks," he said with a grimace as the burns were being rubbed against the ropes again. He turned around to face her so their faces were barely three inches from the others, peering through the bars.
"I don't like the fact that our cells are adjoined… it's a mark of arrogance that we won't break out no matter how perfect our conditions are," she said grimly.
"Pride goeth before a fall, their pride will be their mistake. We're escaping regardless."
"Any plans though? I think one well placed kick in the guard's throat and he won't be yelling for help anytime soon…" she said, sneering over at the guard as she glanced over at him.
"Cells first Cassi, then house."
"I work my plans out in reverse."
"Backwards. How typical of you."
"Forwards. How predictable. How you."
"I'll win this argument with you later," he said impatiently, though somehow comforted by the fact that she was still willing to argue with him. "We need a wand or a key, and the rest is running and Apparating."
"We'll have to run for awhile, we didn't Apparate directly here; we walked after Apparating, which means this ground is hidden. And don't forget we're in a building full of Death Eaters, which we must go past unnoticed. I'm assuming this is headquarters, but for all I know this could simply be a branch… why haven't we noticed Dark activity here before though?" she asked, deeply disturbed by this fact.
"If it is hidden, than it won't show up on our Darkness Map," he said, looking around the room. She looked pensively at the floor.
"Then the Defense group can't see us to rescue us, and the odds of running and making it aren't…. favorable," she said, and he nodded once. The dungeon door slammed open again and Cassi and Severus stepped apart, standing decisively, as if holding their ground.
A large, red man dressed in black with his hood down walked pompously into the room. Sneering, he looked around at everyone in the cages, and then locked eyes with Cassi. He stormed over to her cell purposefully, standing just out of arms reach. "So," he said. "This is the face of the Killer? I'd always had you figured as a hag the way you hid under that hood."
Cassi did not retort, but stood stiffly before him with dignity.
"Silence eh? My my, you would think that they would teach you manners in that goody-goody society as well; speak when spoken to." More silence. "Apparently not so. Of course, some things never change, isn't that right?"
"No, I suppose they don't, for I see that you are still overconfident, prideful, and a distasteful maroon when you're nervous," she replied coldly, unable to keep her silence a second longer. Damn pride.
He laughed mockingly. "So the dirty tramp does still have a tongue in her head! …Probably puts it to use too, no doubt," he said whilst eyeing Severus, then directed his next comment to him. "Well, does she?"
"How dare you!? Take a step forward, coward, and repeat it," she answered hotly, eyes flashing with a look that could have incinerated him in her anger.
"No thank you, I'd rather not."
"Dirty, filthy, red little man, you'd sooner run from your own shadow than take that one step forward. You're the largest vermin I've ever had the displeasure to lay eyes on," she hissed quietly, pressing her face between the bars to glare at him with seething eyes.
The already red man grew even more brilliantly scarlet, and stepped forward angrily. She launched her hands out and grasped his cloak in her free fingers, and slammed him against the metal bars of her cage face forward, hitting his skull squarely on the bars. He swore vehemently, and caught her wrists, twisting both arms until she was forced to kneel to avoid their breaking.
"That's quite enough!" shouted a cool voice from the doorway, and her arms were released, letting her sit back and flex her fingers until the feeling returned, then looked to the door. There, in the light of the torches, stood the tall, lean figure of Lucius Malfoy. Lucius was, and had always been, a thin man with the gift of rhetoric, offset by his respectable and noble features, along with his old wizarding blood. Cassi stood, observing Severus tensing as Lucius slowly walked into the room, cane in hand, tapping it along the floor as he walked. "Dear me, McCleland, save your temper. Remember, you'll have them for playing with later," he announced lazily, then stopped at Severus' bars, the two faces very close, both calm, both pairs of eyes seething hatred. "He's been put in charge of torture, you see."
"Lucius Malfoy," said Snape rigidly.
"Severus Snape," he answered. "So how goes life at Hogwarts? Or went, I should say. Were you happy hiding in the shadows of the twit Dumbledore? Protected by his wings, like a small chick to its mother hen?"
"How's the Ministry work? Stabbed anyone else in the back of late, or corrupted any more files? I do know how you like that," answered Severus.
"As a matter of fact, just this morning I destroyed three files of evidence against two Death Eaters, and had one official assassinated. I'm having a rather fine day, though I don't suppose you are…. Ropes, how primitive. Shocking, this maltreatment is," said the long haired, blonde wizard, voice dripping in pride and mockery.
"Yes well, there are certain expectations one has in being kidnapped; and I expected no less," he drawled boredly.
"Indeed. Oh, one last question, how's young Draco doing? I haven't had the time to owl him yet this week," said Malfoy, though his tone gave away that it was not fatherly concern that made him ask the question, but business.
"I'm sure he's just fine, pleased as ever that his father has his teachers captive," replied Severus, looking as if he'd lost all interest in the conversation.
"Ah, good boy. You know, it's truly astounding what one learns from school gossip… wouldn't you agree Anya?" Lucius asked, now turning from Severus and taking a step over to Cassi, who was not flexing her fingers now, but standing stiffly before the bars. "Oh, I am mistaken… you go by eh, Cassandra Talin, do you not?"
"Yes, I do, Lucius Malfoy," she answered, tone hard.
"It's been a very long time."
"Indeed it has." He paused after she said this, studying her face and height, then taking a hand off his cane and reaching through the bars to stroke a bit of hair out of her smudged face. Immediately, she flinched at his touch and drew back slightly. Severus stood, staring.
"So lovely, as ever. And we still don't like people to touch us, do we?" he said, his fingertips floating off her hair and traveling down her cheek, down her neck, then retracting to grip a bar of her cell. All the while, her face read murder and she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth in attempts not to lash out and break every bone in his body she could reach.
"Don't touch me again. Ever," she spat through clenched jaws. His eyes grew dark and he snatched a fistful of her robes and yanked her against the bars hard, so she was barely centimeters from him. She could feel his hot breath on her lips and she narrowed her eyes at him, anger flaring.
"You never used to mind me," he hissed with mirthless laughter hiding in his voice.
"I always minded you, and you know it. It drove you crazy. You went mad to trying to have me as your own, but you failed," she hissed back, a cruel smile appearing on her lips. "You were too craven."
"You'll find that you underestimated my boldness," he said in a deadly whisper.
"I doubt I did," she replied, amused. His grip on her tightened, and his cane clattered to the floor as both arms wove through the bars to pull her against them, one arm holding her in an odd embrace, while the other grasped hair at the back of her head, rendering her without control. She yelped in panic. He then leaned forward with an evil smirk and kissed her roughly, drawing it out with a passion. Long moments passed before she made another sound of panic in her throat, and moved bound hands to his chest in attempts to push him away. The second she sought for release though, he threw her down, and she fell back, hitting the ground hard, then laying there still even after her impact.
"You are to be tortured in less than an hour's time, enjoy your last minutes on this earth, you miserable wench. Severus, I always knew you had bad tastes, but I never thought you'd sink as low as this dirty slut," he said stiffly, with refinement while he picked up his cane and left the dungeon. Two pairs of steps left the room at a brisk pace, and with the slam of the wooden door it was back to the three prisoners and the guard. Cassi still lay on the stone, heat-forsaken floor, shaking, and Severus stood at the bars that they shared, grasping them tight with white knuckles, as he had been during her whole interview.
Finally calming herself enough to speak, she crawled over to where Severus stood and leaned against the bars in defeat. He crouched and stared at her blankly. "I. Hate. Him," she said, and he noticed she was still trembling.
"Why didn't you struggle?" asked Severus, sounding hardened and bitter. She snapped her eyes up to his when she caught his tone.
"What? You think… oh God Severus please," she begged, leaning her bowed head against the bars. "No please don't think that. I learned long ago that it's better not to struggle. Please understand, believe me-"
"I do," he said, his tone softening some. He knew she knew he was a jealous one, and she suspected it had hurt him to watch that as much as it had hurt her to experience it. She reached out her hands and placed them on his own. Immediately he looked at her strangely as she pressed something hard into his hand.
Removing his hand from hers, he looked down at his palm, where there lay a silver, shining key. "It's your or Harry's cell key, my padlock is a different metal," she whispered, "I had my reasons to come in contact with the both of them. Think not the less of me."
"I never do," he said, kissing her quickly. "I only really needed the key, the guard has a wand. If we hurry-" But his sentence was cut off, for the door had opened once more, and it was not Malfoy or McCleland that shadowed the doorway. It was a man taller and thinner than both, a man still cloaked though indoors, a man who cast shadows. It was Voldemort.
~
Severus looked back at Cassi's face quickly to see the color drain from it and the fear flash in her eyes. He sensed the fear that servitude inflicted on her pour from her eyes and posture. However, it was masked quickly, and she stood as he did.
"Cassandra, if he asks, deny me," he whispered quickly to her, his eyes set with resolute.
"I can not," she replied.
"Do it."
The black figure walked not to their side of the room, but to Harry's. Both adults seemed to be watching over him from across the room, while looking quickly back at each other. "The famous Harry Potter," hissed the man in a cold, high-pitched voice. "How nice to see you again, and under lock and key." Harry, who had watched horrified when Malfoy and the other man had come in to converse with his teachers, took a leaf out of their book and stood quietly, saying nothing but looking venomous. "So the impudent brat is caught at last, and on the grounds of Hogwarts for the second time! This ought to make waves in the community, for you know how I enjoy public chaos. This is the last time you'll be captured though… it won't be physically possible once I'm done with you to run away again." A cruel smile grew on the skeletal face of the man. "I also wish to send my condolences to you for the loss of your oaf of a friend, Rubeus Hagrid."
"What?" asked Harry, breaking his silence.
"Oh, have you not heard? That is most tragic, let me inform you then. Your half-giant friend is dead, he interfered with the plans to bring back your two teachers, so he naturally had to be disposed of," he said, feigning pity in a most malicious manner.
"No," breathed Harry.
"Yes! He was out looking for you when he met his death. Looking with the professors, who will die too, though that's only partly your fault. Severus Snape and Anya Virtov die for being traitors," he said, turning his stance to gesture between the two, but he looked back fast enough to catch the puzzled look on Harry's face. With cool delight, the Dark Lord gestured for two guards who had come in with him to unlock her and bring her to him. Somewhat nervously, they walked to her cell, unlocked it, and each grabbed her arm, walking with her to the other side of the room. She did not struggle, but walked with her head up confidently. When she was led to his side, they forced her to kneel by pushing hard on her shoulders until she fell to her knees, sitting back on her heels.
"Nice to see you again, Servant Anya," said the voice of her former master, causing her to flinch as if a whip had been brought down over her shoulders.
"I can not say the same for you," she said with bitterness.
"Of course you can't, you've renounced your old ways, haven't you?" he said, voice smothered in evil, sly glee. "You see Harry, Anya, your Professor Talin, was one of my best Death Eaters when she was just a little older than you. She came straight from the taiga of Russia to me here in England, hoping to fulfill her dream of belonging to the Dark side."
Harry looked over at her, his trust in her beginning to waver. She had been so outspoken against the Dark side, but this revelation brought doubt to him. He had had many teachers whom he believed to be good that turned out to be the agents of the Dark Lord, so why should she be any different? His only trust (and this was quite a surprise to him when his mind unveiled this) lay in the fact that Professor Snape had such confidence in her, for after his fifth year, it had finally become clear to him that Snape was indeed a member of the Light side, his side. He was still a greasy haired git with some serious anger management problems though.
"You look startled Harry, didn't expect to have yet another Death Eater as a teacher? That brings your grand total up to four, doesn't it? Quirrel, Crouch, Talin and Snape; how very ironic. You look so astounded, perhaps you had better sit down," he said, his voice turning to a growl. As he commanded Harry to sit, the boy felt a huge weight appear on his shoulders, and he crumbled to the ground, though sitting up as soon as the weight had passed. "Now, Anya, the boy has a right to know about his teacher, so break the news to him. Go on…. Well? You won't do it? Then I shall.
"She was my assasin from the very beginning. She alone is responsible for over a hundred Muggle and wizard deaths. My favorite, I chose her as my pet, and a good pet she was; calm, obedient and clever, the best I had. However, I soon suspected her of corruption in loyalties, and executed her. Through my own arrogance she survived, but conveniently forgot everything. And how convenient it was, until Severus was so good as to remind you. Do you deny it?" he asked, directing his last question to her.
"I… do not," she said, and hung her head, but looked back up, pleading. "Harry, I made a mistake when-"
"Silence, Servant!"
"When I came into his service. It was the my worst decision."
Voldemort sneered and pulled a metallic scepter from his pocket, then waved it once in front of her. Tremors waved over her at the sight of the weapon, and she hung her head, but her mind raced. She knew that weapon all too well, she had been struck down with it quite often when she was young, though it was different than she remembered. At the end of it was an orb, the color of it a swirling navy blue and deep purple, which had definitely never been there before. The Dark Lord waved his hand in Harry's direction, and the boy fell unconscious in an instant. This was a very strange occurrence, because Voldemort was not supposed to have all his old power back yet, yet his abilities showed he had acquired it.
"Come back to the Light side, did you? I should have run you through with my blade instead of slitting your throat," he growled now at her. "Foolish Anya, thinking you can deceive yourself into believing you've become good. You know you were meant for our side, you will never be able to renounce us, and you shall pay for your infidelity to your cause!" He twisted the shaft of the scepter and a knife blade sprung from the end, a shiny silver extension on the weapon. For a moment, she thought he was going to finish her off right then, and she awaited the blow with neither movement nor words, yet seconds passed and she remained unharmed. Instead, she felt him grab up her long black braided hair in his fist and cut it cleanly with the blade, then holding what was cut off in his hand and laughing in a low voice. She looked up at him blankly, and watched as her silken long black hairs catch fire and disintegrated into nothing. He put the scepter back into his pocket.
Grabbing her robes in the back, he stood her up roughly. Then, he took his wand from his belt and drew an oval in the air which glistened yellow, then formed a mirror, wild fingers of electricity spurting across the glassy surface at random intervals. Reluctantly, Cassi reached forth and grabbed the mirror with both hands, looking into it to see her eighteen-year-old self staring back at her, smudged in dirt and with shorter black hair. Her eyes were wide and horror struck in the mirror, staring up at her in disbelief, as she was sure she looked at the moment. So much pain and sorrow filled those eyes that she felt a wound in her heart reopen, but she watched the picture change subtly to her current image, so strikingly similar from the last one. She felt herself gripping the mirror tightly, bolts of electricity shooting around her hand. The image threw its head back and laughed mirthlessly, then glowed a brilliant red, flaring in heat and color until she gasped and dropped it. The mirror fell and shattered on the stone floor, and the shards immediately melted into tears of silver, then boiled and evaporated.
"I am not that," she stated in alarm to the vanishing mirror, shutting her eyes tight.
"Oh, but you are," he said quickly in a low voice. She felt a warm, round touch under her chin and realized it was the end of the fearsome scepter. He lifted her face to him, and her hands balled into fists for protection or preparation of pain. He noticed her interest in the orb and bared his teeth in a malicious grin.
"Do you like the addition? Dumbledore would love this, it makes his task that much more interesting. This, my dear, is a Power Crystal. Hard enough to come by, but we manage. It restored me to my full power, with new capabilities. Not only does it do that but also it has provided me with strength enough to shield this house with a charm to hide it from your Darkness Map. I don't need silly Light side saints swarming my fortress, and the Crystal prevents that." He smirked and turned the scepter over in his hand to admire the orb, then lashed out and struck her across the cheek with it, burning her skin and throwing her painfully down against the floor.
"I may die today at your hands, but my side will remain. And I will die Light," she hissed quietly as she pushed herself from the floor, spitting blood.
Voice raised in sick excitement and mounting anger, he said to her, "Look at you Anya! You cannot change what you are! You are pathetic and weak, lowly and without a cause. Nothing, you are nothing, and you will die as nothing. Guard! Pull dear Severus out of his cell and let's see what we make of them. Collect McCleland and Malfoy as well."
Cassi sat there on the ground, spirit slowly cracking as she realized the impossibility of the situation. Even if they were to escape, no one would ever find this place again, and the cycle would be repeated. The best they could do was to try to make it out alive. Wiping the blood from her lips, she looked up to see Severus taken out of the cell by the awoken guard and dragged out to the middle of the room, standing bravely. Voldemort walked to him, then paced around him.
"I see you've done well for yourself. You have a stable job, you're highly respected from what I hear, and you've also got that dirty brat at your beck and call. Almost like your father," said the man in a cruel voice, though it sounded offhand. Severus stared him level in the eye, face blank but every curve in it as if chiseled in stone. "Don't pretend not to listen, for I know you are hanging on my every word! Yes, you remind me of your father. He craved power as well, and sought me for it. Once given to him, he became even more of a tyrant, but he was my steadiest man. He wanted you to be trained up like him, and despite your best efforts, you become him more every day. Obviously your strict and detached upbringing worked well."
"My father was nothing more than a man with a temper and a thirst for what he didn't have," Severus stated plainly. Cassi was watching this from her side of the room now standing shakily, sometimes stepping forward in concern for Severus. He had never spoken long on the subject of his upbringing, but it had impacted him as hers had.
"And what are you? Are you not the Potions master who flies into rages over Potter and his friends? Did you not want Anya because you could not have her? What evidence do you have that you are any better?" growled Voldemort, acutely aware that everything he said was deeply effecting them. Stepping back, he smirked. "Yes. Think about it, Severus. Anya, come. I said for you to come," he hissed. His last sentence made Cassi feel as if ropes were tied around her and drawing her to him, an overpowering force. He grabbed her with is long arms and pulled her against himself, so she was facing Severus from inside the Dark Lord's arms. She struggled for a moment as she felt pain seep into her skin as if coming from his very aura, but found it useless. He was cold and thin, though his strength crushing and his evil detectable through the mere touch.
"You see? You just thought to yourself that you needed her back, because it was not your arms she was in. Ah, yes, I can read you like an open book." He sneered. "Guard, I want you to remove Severus' bindings and put him in the chair," he said in a cold voice. Fearfully, the guard approached Severus, removed his ropes from his chafed wrists, and pushed him back into the chair. With as much dignity as he could muster, Severus placed his own arms on the arms of the chair, the metal clamps slamming themselves over his wrists. Shackles at the bottom of the chair clamped to his ankles. The guard then gagged him again. Voldemort arrested Cassi's shoulder and pushed her forward until she was half a meter from Severus, then was once again forced to kneel. "You forget procedure, Anya. You always kneel when prompted to or in my presence."
Cassi looked up at Severus through her shorn hair that fell against her face, her eyes trying to read his. She wanted so badly to be the one in the chair and not him.
Voldemort observed them quietly, then chuckled and began. "How sentimental. Tell me, Anya, how long have you been working at Hogwarts? Lie and he shall be the one to feel your sin's retribution."
"Roughly over seven months," she replied simply, looking at the ground.
"And how long did you know the professor before he told you that you were formally under my command?"
"Six."
"Hmm, peculiar. He must have suspected before this… Did Dumbledore know before Severus?"
"No."
"The old fool is becoming dim then, how delightful. You attend Defense meetings with him, don't you? Donovan overheard someone speak of one once."
She did not say anything. If he was going to pump information from them while messing with their minds, she would not have it.
"Silence confirms you. Who attends them?"
Silence.
"We have suspects, let me list them: Dumbledore, the five teachers McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick, Snape and yourself, Lupin (a former teacher), Fletcher, Black (surprisingly enough), and Smith and Hall of the Ministry. As for the rest, it's only a matter of time to learn their names." Voldemort reached down and patted her head, the gesture cruel and sickening, much as a twisted owner would a cat. "You are quite the loyal pet, aren't you?"
"I am no one's pet," she replied bitterly, jerking away from his touch.
"You are his, are you not?" said Voldemort, maliciousness mounting in his voice as he gestured to Severus with the wave of his hand.
Cassi looked up slowly from the ground, looking meaningfully at Severus to indicate that she would heed him and deny their relations. "No. I belong to no one."
"You cannot deny that you are on intimate terms with him. Donovan wrote to me about his escapade in the hall with you, and Malfoy's boy confirms it, and also adds that he once found the two of you in his dungeons under suspicious circumstances," he stated in sophisticated evil glee.
"Your sources are a novice Death Eater and a teenage boy? Has the Dark Lord sunk so low, is he truly that desperate?" she hissed, turning her head to look defiantly up at him.
"I use what I have. The Dark Lord is never desperate, for the Fates favor me. Look how I have returned against all odds!"
"Your reign will be short-lived and weak, for we are ready for you."
"You couldn't be ready for what I am about to unleash. Now, since you insist you belong to no one, let's have a demonstration of such," he said, pulling his wand from his belt and pointing it at Severus, who looked back at Voldemort with a steady gaze. To Cassi's horror, he said, "Crucio!"
Immediately, Severus' back arched in pain and he began to writhe in his limiting chair. Eyes shut tight, his expression of one wracked with pain, hands flexing, body flailing, it all killed her as she watched horrified. After long moments, he gave short screams from beneath his gag and his movements became tired, and Cassi found herself screaming as well.
"Stop it!" she cried. "Stop stop stop!"
The Dark Lord laughed in high tones and stopped a short while later. Severus' body slumped in the chair and he opened his eyes again, breathing hard. Cassi was shaking and looking at the floor again.
"So much for your lack of caring for him," Voldemort sneered, and he stepped away from Cassi to remove Severus' gag roughly. He breathed in deeply, and straightened himself. "That hurt, didn't it Severus? It wasn't enough to kill you though. However, half a minute more and you would have been gone. I know you can still feel the pain from that… do you wish that for her? Why won't you answer?"
Severus gritted his teeth and kept his silence. Voldemort raised his wand again, but Cassi called out before he could say anything, "No don't!"
Amused, Voldemort replied, "Why? He worked as a spy against me; he will be tortured and killed before the sun sets today. I have similar plans for you, though something else in mind first." Cassi shut her eyes briefly, for she knew exactly what he meant.
Severus started in his seat, but restrained himself, for he also caught Voldemort's meaning. "If you so much as-"
"Your threats do not alarm me, Severus! How noble of you to protect her honor, especially since you are the one sleeping with her every night outside of wedlock," he retorted with an evil mirth in his voice at the irony.
Cassi lifted her head with the intention of saying something, but at that moment, the door to the dungeon swung open and a man with black hair marched in, standing near Cassi.
"Sir, the man you sent out on mission is here to see you. He says it's urgent," stated the man importantly.
"Fine, I shall go," he said with a cruel, malicious smile. "I will be back for you both shortly, with Malfoy and McCleland. Enjoy your last moments together while you're still sane. Guard! Watch them." He took two steps towards the door, but stopped next to Cassi to pat her head again and run his fingers through her hair. He then continued on with long strides, slamming the door ominously as his two bodyguards followed him out as well.
Cassi leaned forward and rest her cheek against Severus' knee. "Let's go," he whispered, and he felt her nod. She looked up at him, kissed his knee, then set her face in anger.
"Well, it's your fault we're here in the first place!" she spat.
"I'm not the one who got myself captured!" he seethed loudly.
"At least I am capable of getting myself out, I don't need you to hold my hand! Why didn't I leave when I had the chance?"
"Because you need me!"
Cassi hopped to her feet and loomed over him. "Ha! Anya Virtov needs no one!"
The guard had awakened during their noisy mock fight, and was now standing, unsure of what to do. "Sit back down," he said to her, though it sounded more like a suggestion.
"I'll sit down when I want to, and when I'm done with him," she growled. The guard walked up to her cautiously when she had turned back to look at Severus, eyes burning with fury.
"You wouldn't dare," Severus said in a smug tone, then nodded at her. She turned around and punched the man firmly in the chest, causing him to fall back on the ground. He made an 'oof' noise as he collided with the ground, and she sprung onto him, pounding him once in the face with her bound hands, his head smacking the floor with a strange thud. His limbs went lax, and she took the keys from his belt, looking at them quickly.
"Harry's isn't on here! Do you have the key that I gave you?" she said quietly.
"Yes, it's in my pocket," he answered quickly. She pulled the wand from the man's belt and turned to Severus, whispering frantically under her breath as she tapped each of his shackles. In unison their jaws snapped open and he was released from the chair and sprung out of it, reaching into his pocket and handing her the key. Taking it from him, she paused to hug him quickly, just to know he was alright. She ran to Harry's cell then, unlocking it quickly and stepping in, then crouching down next to his limp figure. Pulling another key from the ring, she tried it in his shackles, but it didn't fit. She tried another, but it didn't fit. Her hands were shaking, for she knew her time was limited. Finally, she grabbed a key randomly off the ring and shoved it on the lock, twisting it and hearing his shackle fall off him. She repeated the process until all his chains were lying on the floor and she was shaking his shoulders to get him to wake up.
"Harry, Harry please," Cassi whispered to him. His eyelids fluttered open confusedly, and then narrowed at the sight of her. "Yes, Harry, I realize you're not that thrilled with me, but you must come with us, we're leaving."
"Ok," he said sleepily, and stood quickly, senses becoming sharper as adrenaline raced through his veins. He wasn't sure about her, but as long as she was leaving, he would follow. He stepped through the cell door with her following, and both walked briskly to Severus, who was at the dungeon door listening for people coming.
"Keep close and don't speak," Severus said to Harry in a stern, cold voice. Harry nodded.
"Wait Severus, what are we going to do about that Power Crystal?" she asked.
"We leave it, we don't have time and it's not worth the risk when we're this outnumbered," he said, matter-of-factly.
"And if we leave it, what then? They can continue to hide here away from our view and further run Dark operations?" she responded.
"It's too risky Cassi. At least we know they have one, Dumbledore will figure out something. Here," he said in finality, and handed her a dagger from the fallen guard.
"Thanks. Shall we go then?" she said, smirking. He returned it and opened the door a bit, guard's wand in hand. All three slipped out the door and down a dark, torch lit hall. A coat of arms hung on the wall with two knives crossed through a raven, and Severus saw it and silently pulled a knife off it, Harry catching a look in his eye that let him know he would use it too. The continued down the dark hall cautiously, though it appeared that it was empty. The silence made them uneasy, it should be harder than this. They turned right with the hall and found themselves at an end of the hall where it was stairs leading up to the low ceiling.
Severus looked up and pointed, noting that the stairs was under a floor, indicating that this was a secret section of the basement as a whole, used as a place for torture and hiding things from Ministry raids. A square was cut from the ceiling, and hinges were visible from the wood. Whispering, Severus touched the wand tip to each hinge, then pushed the trap door open slowly. Cassi pressed Harry's shoulder, telling him to stay until they sent for him, and stepped around him, running up the stairs behind Severus as both stepped up into the room.
Two guards at the door had drawn their wands at the sight of the opening trap door, and shot red beams at Severus and Cassi as they emerged, ducking. With two shots, Severus had them both lying on the floor unconscious, and Cassi strode over and took one of their wands for herself, now armed with a sword in her left hand and a wand in her right. She waved her wand a little, shooting a few green sparks from it, then shrugged.
"It works," she said in a low voice. "Harry, come up now." The boy emerged from the trap door and gave a glance to the slumped forms of the guards. "They'll wake up in a few hours," Cassi said, answering his unformed question.
Severus peered through a crack in the door and then looked back. "There's another hallway that turns right, with three people in it, then we want to stay straight."
"Alright," she said, watching him open the door. Both stepped through it boldly, leaving Harry in the room safely. The three Death Eaters chatting idly in the hall spotted Severus as soon as he pushed the door open.
"Hey!" one of them shouted. Severus drew his wand and Stunned the one who spoke. The others drew their wands quickly, pointing them at Cassi and Snape.
Cassi stood near Severus and engaged one of the Death Eaters in an informal duel. Her partner, a woman, was smirking as they shot blows as the other, dodging and blocking them without thought. The battle had started next to her, but she dare not take her eyes off her opponent. Just as the woman was beginning to show her weakness in blocking, she heard Severus make a noise of pain in his throat. Cassi turned her attention to him briefly, spying a slash in his robes and scorched skin showing through the tear. She shot one curse at the man Severus had been dueling, leaving him lying blacked out on the floor at the unexpected hit. She then took two strides forward and punching the woman square in the jaw, smashing her to the wall where she fell quiet. Cassi growled and rubbed her knuckles. "Out of shape," she muttered. "Severus, are you alright? Let me see your arm."
"I'm perfectly fine, let's get the boy and go," he said while she peered into his torn robes to survey the blood soaked burn with a grimace. She took his advice however and called to Harry, who looked as the scene in the same curious wonder that he had in he room before, thinking about what type of people he had for professors.
They ventured quickly down the hall, taking the right immediately. They knew they had started at the back of the house near the center, so they blindly made their way forward to the only door they knew of, the front entrance. When they took their turn, they entered a room that was clearly the crossroad of the house; a door lay in every cardinal direction. However, for a crossroad, which is supposed to be full of activity, the room was dusty and barren.
"Straight," narrated Snape, who led them to the door that lie ahead. The brass knob wouldn't turn though, so he tapped it with his wand and tried again, but to no avail. "Damn it!"
Cassi moved to the door on their right, but found it to be locked in the same fashion. With diminishing faith, she tried the other door, but found it to be working as the doorknob gave under her hand. She crossed herself as she opened it fully and ushered Harry and Snape through.
Another long hallway lay before them, all doors lying to their left, the wrong direction for their escape. "Follow it," she heard Snape say, so they continued down the hall with careful footsteps. Tired boards creaked under a worn rug, causing them to wince as each sound seemed to thunder across the hall.
About halfway down the hall, Harry trod a loud one, making him jump back from it and in front of a door. The 2 adults stopped to listen, eavesdropping for sounds of aroused interest in their plodding steps. Voice could be heard from inside the room.
"…Four captives, all in one day. The Master must be half-crazy if he thinks it will go unnoticed by the Ministry! He's upstairs right now, finishing Octavian off. I swear, our strongest ally is Fudge's incompetence, but if we continue…"
Gently, Cassi pushed Harry's shoulder, and he looked back then walked forward, creeping down the hall, the squeaking floorboards going mercifully unnoticed. As they came to the hall's end, the sound of many voices grew louder. By the time they had reached the door, they knew a crowded room awaited them.
Cassi exhaled. "Now what?"
"We run. Ultimately, we want to turn right, but any door will do. You go first with Potter and hopefully their chock will give you time. I'll follow," he answered with resolute.
"I don't like your plans," she grumbled, but took Harry's wrist. "First, let's try this, decies contego. That's a shield good for up to ten hits… Ten isn't a lot, but its the longest range there is." She had pointed her wand at the both of them, then herself, and now they faintly glowed blue. Resting her hand on the handle, she asked if they were ready, then pushed the door open quickly, putting her shoulder into it.
The room chattered at first as the door opened, paying no heed to the woman and child who came barging in, but quickly fell quiet as they ran through. There were people in every corner of the room, chatting in small groups, and Cassi guessed the occupancy to be roughly 25.
"Who are they?" someone shouted.
"What the hell?" another person called.
"That's Harry Potter!" one said, and immediately they drew their wands and shot spells at the two as the raced for the door, graciously on their right. Harry was nervous and breathing hard, but felt himself being dragged along by his professor, who inadvertently was digging her nails into his skin. They made it to the doorway before people began to shoot spells at them, which deflected off and hit the walls and floor harmlessly. Cassi listened hard through the noise of the crowd for sounds of another running person, and soon heard another wave of indignation from the Death Eater crowd. Passing through the door, she pulled Harry to the side and waited for Severus, holding her breath.
A thud was heard inside the room, and Cassi's hand flew to her mouth, then ran her fingers through her shorn hair, breathing his name. A second later, Severus ran through the threshold and shouted to close the door, which she did quickly, releasing Harry's hand.
"Run," he said shortly, and run they did. After about five strides, they heard the door reopen and a mob of people follow them down an eastbound hallway. Spells deflected off them for as they raced, but soon Cassi's shield ran out, followed by Snape's. He grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, then snatched the back of Harry's robe and dragging him back. They fell back through a niche in the hall, and through one set of doors into a small space between two sets of doors, like a formal entrance. Cassi slipped through his grip and shut the doors they had just fallen backwards through, tapping them furiously with her wand. Chains shot across the double doors and locked themselves in the center. Then they went through the other set of doors and she chained them again.
"That should hold them for a bit, I meant the chains to be thicker but with this wand, ugh," she said, then turned around and surveyed the room they had entered, finding it to be a gray entrance hall, empty of people. The big set of doors looked promising. Severus started towards them with Harry following, but Cassi stopped him before he could go anywhere.
"Severus, take Harry and Apparate as soon as you're out of the gate," she said to him firmly.
"Alright," he said slowly, not quite understanding her until he saw her step away from him. "I don't think so, you are NOT going anywhere."
"Yes I am, I'm going after the Crystal," she said.
"No. You. Aren't. Cassandra Talin, it is not worth it, you're coming with me."
"Severus Snape, no I am not!" she replied hotly. "How many more people are we going to let be killed here without anyone noticing? How many innocent lives are worth my safety? I'll be fine, I'm a big girl. Tell Dumbledore to watch his map."
"Cassandra, you're incredibly foolish," he said sternly, but she wrapped her arms around him and rest her head on his shoulder for a moment, and his tenseness relaxed some.
Looking up, she whispered in his ear, "I love you too, Severus." He pushed her back slightly to kiss her passionately, one last time. He tasted the blood in her mouth, a souvenir of the blow Voldemort struck her, and prayed that it be the last blood she shed because of him. She stroked his hair to touch him again, anything to touch him again. Harry looked away, flushing faintly, but Severus neither saw nor cared, he only wished to make her see reason. The mob of Death Eaters had caught up to them, and was banging on the door, chipping it away with curses.
Finally, she stepped back from him, and he shook his head. "Utter foolishness. Fine, the crystal is a rare dried, compressed mineral, cursed every which way to get it to hold the magical properties it does. All you have to do is-"
"-get it wet," she finished, nodding along. "Easy enough…" He was staring at her so tensely that she wanted to take it back and simply go with him, but she shook the feeling off and sighed. "Get going, they're going to break down that door any second. Go on, go. I'll Apparate when I can."
With one last look at her, he tore his eyes from hers and gestured to Harry to run ahead, which he did. A second later, Severus followed, turning sharply from her and not looking back. Harry and Snape pushed the heavy door open and continued to run, out into the open. Cassi watched them go, then turned to the staircase on her right and started up the steps, one by one, slinking up the stairs.
***
As soon as Severus had torn his eyes from hers, he thought he was making a mistake. As he bound through the threshold of the door, he knew he was making a huge mistake, and as Harry and him raced for the gate to shelter themselves in the shadows of the forest, he realized that there was no bigger fool on this earth than he. However, he pushed it from his mind for the time being to escape the rush of Death Eaters chasing after him, their spells flickering to all sides of him. Harry ran in front of him hard, using his nervousness and training in Quidditch to keep well ahead of the group. Gravel was flung under their feet as they bolted down the path and towards the wrought iron gate.
Harry reached it first, and flung it open, then slipped through it and continued to run into the dark forest. Severus was only a step behind him, keeping up with the boy's youthful run with his long legs. The Death Eaters neared them, and Harry and Severus had to duck and dodge their spells more as they entered the forest. Shadows fell over them, and a strange mist hovered waist high in this forest, which seemed to have taken on the Dark qualities of the house it shrouded.
With the Death Eaters gaining on him, Severus had to make a decision. They needed to Apparate out of there and back to Hogwarts, but if he left now, he wouldn't be able to come back, for this place is hidden until that Crystal was destroyed and the house was visible on the Darkness map, but by then it could be too late. Angered, he made a quick decision. Pushing Harry off to the right, they both sprinted to the side and off the path, disappearing into the trees, now having to jump over roots and duck branches. After a short run, Severus spied a thick old tree that had been struck by lightening, and the back half of it had been split away. Grabbing Harry's robes, he yanked the boy back and they stepped into the hallow of the tree and waited there quietly, hushing their exhausted breathing.
"Where'd they go?" a voice said soon. Snape gripped Harry's shoulders in front of him to keep him from running in panic, and his wand pointed out of the hallow side from his right hand, ready to attack. Feet churned leaves around them, and Harry shut his eyes as the Death Eater's searched for their missing captives.
"How far are we from the mansion?"
"Far enough to Apparate…. Damn, we lost them."
"The master is going to be furious…"
"… then we better find the girl or we'll be dead. Come on, let's go." The sounds of heavy footsteps receded into the forest, and Snape's grip on Harry relaxed some. Finally, when the silence had lain thick in the misty wood for some time, he pushed on the boy's shoulders, indicating that they could leave their tight quarters.
Severus stepped out of the tree hallow after Harry, who was watching him tentatively, but Snape didn't notice. He simply stood, arms crossed and head bowed, thinking hard. The silence became tense as he remained there, staring bitterly at the ground. Without warning, he broke his silence with a growl and pounded his fist against a nearby tree, then leaned his head against it in defeat.
"Professor?" said Harry with caution. "What are we going to do? I don't think we should Apparate and leave her…"
"I need to take you back to Dumbledore, Potter. You need to go back where it's safe," Severus said after a long pause.
"Well… I think they're gone…"
"That's not the point."
"Then what do we do?"
"I …" Severus started, but shut his mouth and shook his head, slouching his back against the tree. "Logically, the only thing we can do is…is…. to call Dumbledore…" A weird dreamy look crossed his face, and Harry wondered if he had gone mad. Severus knelt on the ground at the base of the tree, staring at a shallow hole near a thick root where water has collected.
"Um, Professor…what are y-" tried Harry, but he was hushed by Severus immediately.
"Quiet, child. I'm trying to remember something…." He stared hard at the puddle as if it was talking to him. He then dipped the tip of his wand into the puddle and murmured to himself, chanting something long in a language Harry didn't understand. The water turned black and spun, then a man's face appeared in it.
"That's Dumbledore," said Harry, trying to peer over Snape's shoulder.
"Yes yes, please stand back, I don't need you falling into Dark water," he said irritably, then he spoke to the face in the water. "Dumbledore, Dumbledore."
"Severus? Severus? Where are you?" said the voice sternly, the note of power quite detectable as it always was in times of crisis. "Where are Potter and Talin?"
"Potter is here with me, sir. We're in a forest outside of a mansion, but we really have no idea where. We're not detectable on the Darkness map because Voldemort has a Power Crystal. The Death Eaters think we've already Apparated to Hogwarts, but… Cassi has gone after the Crystal, she still in there…" He spoke quickly and firmly, keeping his facts straight. "What do you want me to do?"
Dumbledore looked pensive and tired. "Don't leave her, if she manages to destroy it, I will Apparate there with the old crowd and we'll send you back. Stay there with Harry and keep him safe. She has thirty minutes… if we're not there in that amount of time, Apparate without her."
"Dumbledore-"
"Severus, it's very important that Harry stays safe."
"Yes sir, we will wait."
"Good. I'll be watching the map."
"Alright," said Severus, and he placed the tip of his wand in the water again and it went clear. Silence ensued.
"What was that?" asked Harry, trying to take his mind off of their orders.
Severus frowned slightly. "I had to use Dark magic to talk to him. That spell allows you to communicate with people through glassy surfaces. Not all Dark spells have negative effects…"
"Oh," replied Harry. Another pause fell on him. Severus stood up and brushed himself off.
"I'm going to go find her," he said finally.
"Ok," agreed Harry.
"When the Headmaster comes, tell him I'm a horrible listener," said Severus. "Stay here in the tree and listen for Dumbledore. Be careful it's not a Death Eater, and if you end up getting yourself hurt and I get into trouble, you're going to regret it didn't kill you." Somehow, his threat made Harry feel better, and he nodded and walked to the hollow tree, waiting there. Severus took off in a sprint, reaching the gravel path in no time.
***
Cassi walked quickly up the stairs after Severus had left with Harry, more and more set in her task. The house was old but prestigious, decorated in antique tapestries and paintings, though all were covered in a light coat of dust. She reached the top of the stairs and disappeared into a hallway just as the angry group of Death Eaters burst through the chained doors downstairs and ran across the hall in a clatter.
Tiptoeing down the hallway, she listened for any sign of Voldemort. Her silence paid off, for a moment later, she heard a tortured scream from somewhere in front of her, though distantly. Quickly, she continued down the hall.
"Hello, wait a moment, who are you?" called out a voice behind her. She turned around, wand in hand, and glared at a heavily cloaked man. If he made any loud noises, it was going to mess up her plans.
"What do you want?" she growled.
"I don't recognize you, do you belong here?" he asked, and she bared her arm to show her Dark Mark, which burned black and ugly as she was among other Death Eaters.
"Oh. I still don't recognize you, what's your name?" he said roughly, looking angry when she didn't answer.
"We're about the same height, right?" she said to him, her voice changing to seductive. She put her wand back in her sash and circled him once, trailing her hands along the folds of his cloak.
"Yes we are," he said, immediately interested.
"Hmm," she said quietly, pushing his cloak hood down, then unclasping it to let it fall to the floor, running her hands along his arms. He tried to kiss her but she pressed a finger to his lips and smirked, taking one of his hands and leading him to a nearby door.
"I like it rough," he whispered to her in a growl. She opened the door.
"That's incredibly fortunate for you," she said, then shoved him inside and drew her wand. "Stupify!" The men fell to the floor roughly, banging his head on the rug. She shut the door quickly and locked it, shuddering.
"How disgusting, some things never change," she murmured, and she picked up his fallen cloak and pulled it over her shoulders, clasping it and then spelling the shadows of the hood to become darker, hiding her face. Now she could walk freely through the halls without being seen. With her wand still in hand, she continued down the hall, trying to find the source of the scream.
Coming to the end of the hall, she sighed. She could go left or right, or there was a small flight of stairs which she could go up and retrace her steps, though on a different floor. Taking the stairs, she was nearly relieved to hear another scream come from above her and just down the hall. As she reached the top of the stairs, a group of people passed her without question, and she smiled to herself. Stepping down the hall, she came to a door from which she could hear through, the room that her target was in.
"…and we say goodbye to Octavian," said a cruel voice, and another scream was heard, then a horrible ripping sound, followed by a liquid splashing. Cassi braved it and pushed the door open to reveal a body sitting at a chair, though it only remotely resembled a body, for the skin lay in shreds on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood. The sight did not make her sick, for she had seen worse in her days.
"Hm, that wasn't very satisfying," Voldemort said to her as she entered the room, looking at the corpse. "Get out, you're not supposed to be in here, or I'll find my satisfaction in killing you!" He looked up, then laughed. "Do my eyes deceive me? Has my little Russian pet come to see her Master?"
"Yes," she said, letting her hood down. "But for reasons that would not please the Master." She pulled her wand from her sash, and her dagger which she had placed in her sash next to her wand.
"What are you here for?" he asked. "To kill me? To seek your revenge for the pain I've instilled in you life, or for Severus'?"
"That would be nice, but I'm a simple girl," she replied. "Simple girls want simple things… I want the scepter." She pointed her wand at him. "Now."
With a smirk, Voldemort pulled it from his pocket. "Why should I give it to you? You can't kill me."
"You'd be surprised what you can live through," she said through gritted teeth.
"Like slit throats for instance?" he suggested. He sounded so mocking that it was annoying Cassi greatly.
"Yes," she said. "Like slit throats. Or gouges in your back. Or nights spent with you."
"You're so sensitive, even though you've been callused. Even now, I can see in your mind that you would rather break down crying than take the scepter from my hand. My my my, does your disdain for me run deep. I'm touched," he said slyly.
"Roll the scepter to me," she said firmly.
"No, I don't think I will. Come get it. If you can get it from my hand, you can have it." He laid it on his palm and offered it to her, taking a step back.
"You lie and cheat, I don't think I will," she growled. "Roll it."
"At least you learned one thing from me, never trust anyone."
"I trust plenty of people."
"You trust the wrong people. Where is your Dumbledore now? Do you honestly think Severus is going to be there for you for everything? Support you in all your dreams? Think again child, think again."
"Roll the scepter right now, or you'll soon be examining that inch from death you're guaranteed," she said loudly, trying to ignore what he was saying.
"No, take it!"
"FINE! Accio scepter!" she cried, and the scepter zoomed out of his hand. However, as her wand was mismatched from it's owner, it's power failed as a fluke, and it fell right to the edge of the pool of blood the man was in. Voldemort and Cassi looked at each other as the scepter teetered on the edge and rest there, then both dove simultaneously to get it. The chair with the man in it tipped over as they struggled in the blood, both with a hand on the short staff.
Voldemort was quite a deal stronger than the average person, and it was soon evident to Cassi that she would get herself killed quickly if she kept this up. Therefore, she splashed her other hand into the blood and then placed it on the orb, smearing it in blood. Almost instantly, the orb began to crack and shine with blue light.
"You stupid girl!" he shrieked. "It's going to explode!"
"Oh, good!" she said, scrambling to stand, then bolting out the door. Voldemort was following her quickly, grasping at her cloak laden in blood. As soon as they were two steps out of the room, there was a massive explosion that sent a pillar of fire through the ceiling and through the floor below them. Smoke them billowed through the house, and random boards and shingles rained on the roof as Cassi ran for her life.
Down the hall, down the flights of steps of the stairs, Cassi desperately made her way to the front door. Just as she reached the bottom of the stairs, placing her on the second floor, she felt a tug around her throat of Voldemort grabbed her cloak up. Choking, she unclasped it quickly and continued to run, her robes wet in blood sticking to her legs.
"No, girl!" the Dark Lord hissed, and he reached a long arm out and knocked her through a door on the left. Wood splintered around her as she fell through it, but she stood up quickly and felt at her sash. Her wand had been lost in the scramble of things, but she had managed to put her dagger back, so she drew it and stood her ground. Voldemort pushed the door open from it's remnants of a handle, and walked into the room with her, a storage room lined with colorful bottles, wooden crates and books.
"We finish this now," he said.
"Yes, yes we do," she growled, and she lunged at him.
*~*
Severus pushed the gate open, running. Past the gate, down the gravel path, he tried not to think of the worst-case scenarios that were bustling into his mind as he re-entered the premises of the exact place he had escaped from. He berated himself for being silly enough to let her go, he scolded himself for not going after her sooner, and he mentally degraded himself for thinking it was possible for her to go after the Dark Lord without being hurt. As he entered the house by pulling the door open, wand at the ready, he heard a huge explosion that shook the house. A chandelier fell from the ceiling of the hall and shattered on the floor in front of Severus, sending glass shards gliding across the floor. He hardly noticed though as the color drained from his face, and started up the stairs quickly.
At the top of the stairs, a group of people scrambled towards him in their attempts to get out of the house before it burned down, taking no notice of Severus. He pushed against them, elbowing and wading his way through the crowd, then set off at a run again, though his muscles were aching and he felt he'd never breathe properly again. A hallway stood there, and Severus began to walk down it cautiously, listening. A loud struggle was taking place at the end of the long corridor, so he took off that way. He soon spied a door smashed in at the end on his right and he knew the noise was coming from in there.
"Agh! Get off!" a woman screamed with strain, and he was both relieved and worried to recognize the voice.
"Goodnight, Anya!" said another voice, half-crazed in laughter. Severus bound to the doorway to find a horrible scene lying before him.
Cassi was on her back on the floor as the Dark Lord struggled over her, his red eyes glinting dangerously. Her dagger was in his hands and pointed at her chest, though she struggled with all her might against the hilt to push it away from her. Her battle was a losing one though, for the shining point inched closer to her every moment, but she held him off. She turned her head slightly and spied him out of the corner of her eye, and her eyes went wide in shock. At the same moment, her hand slipped off the hilt and knocked the evil Dark Lord's shoulder, but the dagger drove into her chest, just below her collarbone on her shoulder with a crushing sound, then a thump as it hit the floorboards of the room. Voldemort laughed and drove it in farther until she kicked him off.
Without thinking, Severus started forward. He stepped over the door and into the room, kneeling next to her, in an almost dream-like state. Voldemort surveyed the scene delightfully.
"Severus, Severus, I'm fine, I'm fine," she said hurriedly in a whisper, blinking hard and staring at him intensely. "He missed, I'm fine." With her hand, she searched blindly over her chest for the dagger, and felt the blade that was buried almost to the hilt. Taking the handle, she wretched it out of the floor, then her body, and blood poured from her wounds in her back and chest. Pressing her hand to her chest, she tried to stop the blood flow, and he scooped her up to take her back, but she was snatched out of his arms by Voldemort.
"Now now, she's my prize, I won her fair and square," he taunted, holding her cradled upright in his arms so her feet dragged the floor while she clung to his arm to keep from slipping. "Drop your wand." Severus dropped it, listening to it roll across the floor and under a shelf.
"Give her to me. Now," Severus demanded, his arms open so he could hand her over.
"I don't think so," he replied. Cassi was gasping hard, but shut her eyes and screwed up her last bit of strength. With the dagger still in hand, she stabbed her attacker in the back, and he gasped, eyes staring ahead with fury.
"Da svidaniya," she murmured, taking the blood-smeared knife out and throwing it in the corner. Voldemort stayed standing though and glared.
"Give her to me!" Severus demanded of the Dark Lord as he gasped.
"Come any closer and I'll kill her!" he growled while looking around, then smiled with blood staining his teeth. "I'll make you a deal," he said, shaking slightly and with a sly grin. "You see that bottle on the shelf to your right? The green one? Drink it and you can have her."
"Don't you dare do it!" she cried at him from his arms, glaring so intensely at him.
"What is it?" Snape asked cautiously.
"It's poison, to put it bluntly. It will also restore half of your strength to me." Voldemort sneered as Severus took the bottle off the shelf and looked at it. "Tick tock, she doesn't have much time. While I will heal in my own good time, surrounded by my followers, she either wastes away in your arms or mine. Pick."
"Severus Snape, I swear that if you take that potion, I'll never look at you again! I hate you! Don't take that potion! I hate you!" she sobbed at Severus with an angry passion as tears pouring down her cheeks. He watched her cry.
"Hmm, maybe not… doesn't seem to be worth it anymore," Voldemort sneered.
Severus continued to stare at the glassy bottle he held it in his palm, feeling the cool surface and watching the black liquid within tumble against the sides. Then, without any warning, he uncorked it and brought it to his mouth, drinking its contents quickly. Staggering, he threw the bottle down and shattered it, then opened his arms.
"Give her…to me… now," he snarled dangerously.
Voldemort sneered. "Die with your slut, it's a suiting end for my two traitors. Enjoy your prize while you still can, Severus Snape." He opened his arm that she clung to for support, and she crumpled to the ground, having no strength to even attempt to stand. Severus sneered at him, then stepped forward and knelt at his feet to scoop her up, just as he knew Voldemort had planned.
"Just like your father, you take what's yours at any cost," Voldemort sneered.
He held her safely in his arms and scooted back slowly. "I am not my father. My respects lie in the correct places." He backed himself into a corner and rest his head against the wall.
"We'll see how far those respects get you. Watch yourself and those you love from the afterlife, Severus Snape, for anything you love is my target." With that, he grabbed a bottle off the shelf, and threw it on the ground, only to disappear into a puff of gray smoke. Severus exhaled loudly, sitting with her cradled in his arms, half-resting in his lap. There was silence finally, though they could hear the crackling of fire nearby.
"Severus," she begged in a whisper. "I didn't mean what I said, I don't hate you, I didn't want you to-"
"I know, I know," he whispered back, stroking her hair. He pulled her closer to him, and she snuggled her face against his chest.
"Why didn't you Apparate? Why did you do that?" she asked him softly.
"I think you know why," he replied. It was a struggle to breathe now, and his energy waned quickly. She was shaking violently, but gripping his robes to stay close to him.
"I love you so much, Severus," she said, struggling with the words. He kissed her forehead. "I'm sleepy…"
"Rest your eyes then," he choked, moving a hand to support her trembling head. "Wait for me…"
"Always."
And darkness fell over both of them.
*~*~*
Review please, spasibo (thank you).
Oh, and da svidaniya is goodbye, well, it's more like 'see you next time', but she was being sarcastic… yes. Review!