Author's Note: First: thanks to Mordred for the encouragement! Now: here is chapter 6, but it's definitely not my favorite chapter. It's ok, I suppose, but the future chapters should be a great deal more interesting. At least the situation presented here was good for introducing some of the other Death Eaters who will figure more prominently in the story's future. Voldemort is kind of annoying today, which sort of bugs me, but he's evil, so I'll let it slide. Anyway, on to chapter 6.

*** Like most of Knockturn Alley, the room into which they apparated was cramped, dark, dingy, and slightly smelly. Neither the weak daylight coming in the windows nor the light of the candelabras was strong enough to win over the gloom of the place.

"Exactly where are we, Lucius?" Snape asked in lowered voice, looking about the room. The confusing clutter of dark magic paraphernalia drew his eyes about the little space, focusing occasionally upon objects of particular interest. Shrunken heads peered out through the window display, staring across the street at shop with the words "Borgin and Burkes" painted upon its own front window. Like the rest of the items in the room, the heads were covered with dust and obviously had not been touched for ages.

"Not now, Severus," Malfoy hissed. The Dark Lord awaits." He swished his wand through the air. "Portus Aprecio," he said quietly, and upon one wall a pile of junk faded out of existence, uncovering a door of heavy reddish wood.

"Useful spell," Severus commented in a whisper.

"Our master's own design," Malfoy whispered back, sounding rather proud. "Quickly, find your mask and put up your hood!" he instructed, fishing his mask from inside his robes. Snape quickly followed suit with his black face covering.

"Oh no," Lucius exclaimed softly as he pulled his hood around his face. "I'd forgotten; you'll be in need of a Death Eater's attire. The master prefers that we all look the same." He reached again into his robes and took out a small, polished wood box with a silver snake and skull inlaid on the lid. Malfoy touched his wand to it and with a click it opened, revealing a tiny doll-sized mask, cloak, and robe that looked exactly like the ones that Malfoy wore. "I saved Kerchel's uniform for you." Holding the box in his right hand, he removed the robe first and shook it out quickly. As Snape watched, it expanded to a wearable size, and Lucius handed it to him hastily.

"Just put it on over your regular clothes," he whispered, shaking out the cloak and then the mask and passing them to Snape, who had just finished pulling the robe over his head. As quickly as he could, he threw the cloak about his shoulders and fastened it at the neck with its attached silver snake clasp. The mask he placed over his face-it fit over his sharp features with a definitely magical snugness- and over his head he pulled the black hood. The only difference between he and Malfoy was now height- Snape was taller- and style of footwear.

"Finished," Snape whispered through the mouth hole of the mask, and Malfoy nodded his well-disguised head.

The two Death Eaters approached the door, and Malfoy reached out a smooth hand to grip the handle. He slowly pulled the door open just wide enough to fit through and entered silently, his hand motioning for Snape to follow. He could not see around Malfoy to look inside, and all that he could do was catch the door and squeeze through behind his Death Maker.

The room was no wider than the Slytherin common rooms at Hogwarts, but its gray-green walls stretched upwards almost twice as high. Reflecting light off of the hard wood floors, a few dozen candles burnt silently in a chandelier which seemed to float in midair in the center of the room, illuminating the black-clad figures grouped there.

They stood in a ring around someone standing in the middle, almost unquestionably Voldemort himself. Snape could not tell through the mask and layers of black whether Lucius was apprehensive, but as for himself, he felt a cold dread. The mercy of nature had allowed him to forget the feel of the pain itself, but he remembered clearly that the cruciatus curse had been horrible.

"Malfoy," said a demonic voice from the direction of the crowd. It could be none other than Lord Voldemort speaking. "Snape. Come here."

As Lucius strode up to the ring of Death Eaters, Severus a few wary steps behind, the circle opened like a set of human double-doors. A few of the men inclined their heads towards Malfoy in greeting as he hurried by them and into the center, where Snape could now be certain Voldemort awaited them.

"My Lord," said Malfoy sincerely, kneeling before his snake faced master. Uncertainly, Snape knelt down beside him.

"You are late," said the Dark Lord blandly, allowing the two Death Eaters to remain prostrate before him.

"Yes, our apologies, My Lord. We encountered difficulties-" began Malfoy, his eyes darting nervously over the hem of Voldemort's robes.

"I don't see what was so difficult about a simple apparition spell," said the Dark Lord, and the re-formed circle of death eaters sniggered accordingly. "What was the trouble, then? Look at me, Lucius." Malfoy raised his masked head slowly.

"Snape cracked his wand," he began accusingly, glancing at the man beside him, "so we had to get further away from the Yard in order to apparate both of us." Snape glared at Malfoy through his eye holes, but dared not call the Dark Lord's attention to him.

"Ah, a half-truth," Voldemort smirked. "Would you care to amend your excuse?" The Death Eaters fidgeted in their ranks, whispering among themselves in amused tones. The Dark Lord's fingers, Snape could see, were caressing the wand with anticipation.

"Forgot the spell, Lord, and I do regret it," Malfoy said hastily. "But we met a muggle, my lord! And killed it! His dogs, as well!"

"I see. Although with you, Malfoy, torturing muggles is not exactly the thirteenth labor of Hercules." Again a tittering was heard from the surrounding Death Eaters. Voldemort turned his gaze upon Snape, and despite the fact that the Death Eater's eyes were fixed upon the floor, he could feel the Dark Lord looking him over.

"What did you think of it, Snape?" Voldemort queried conspiratorially. "Look at me."

Snape raised his head and merely stared for a moment before answering. By candlelight, he realized, the creature was even more grotesque than when seen by moonlight; more obviously a perversion of humanity. His gray-pink skin hugged his misshapen skull like a silk mask, occasionally wrinkling, reptile-like, when his features moved or his head turned. The few small vestiges of a recognizably human appearance- the thin remnant of lips, the protrusion of a pair of shriveled, twisted ears, the fuzz of black hair- made him more fearsome than a wholly alien form. Snape held his breath for a moment to keep from shuddering like some silly child.

"I-thought it was... interesting," he said, not really lying. After all, it was an event that was likely to stick in his mind...

"Really?" Voldemort said, smirking. "Because it seems to me, you felt a bit... sorry for him?"

"No," replied Snape resentfully, "A bit for the dog. Not for the man."

"That's better," said Voldemort, flashing his nasty grin to the circle of Death Eaters. "The basest mongrel can stir in our hearts what a thousand muggle deaths cannot. I am glad to hear it. It is always a sad thing to find that a promising follower has no stomach for the work we do." Snape's body relaxed when he realized that he had passed one test today, at least.

"Now get up, both of you!" commanded Voldemort, and the men before him rose quickly to their feet at his command. Snape watched, interested, as Voldemort lifted his wand and began to trace a collection of fiery letters into the air. It was backward writing to Malfoy, Snape, and half of the other Death Eaters, but it was still readable with a little effort.

" 'Aparecicum Duo?' " Snape wondered quietly aloud with a look at Malfoy, as Voldemort finished the second word. Lucius nodded curtly, without turning away from his master.

"This is for you, Malfoy," said the Dark Lord brightly, and he made a stabbing motion with his wand. Instantly the letters rushed forward at Lucius, blazing hellishly and shrinking as they moved. Snape wondered, for a moment, if they were meant only to scare the Death Eater, and would fizzle out before reaching him.

He realized he'd been wrong when the flaming words collided with Malfoy's face and bore him to the floor. He rose immediately, his expression slightly dazed, but upon his forehead the words "Aparecicum Duo" were settling into his flesh with a satisfied sizzle. Malfoy clapped a hand to the obviously painful injury and stood up with a hurt look.

The Dark Lord leveled the cruciatus curse at Snape before his new victim was aware that he was to be targeted, though he might have guessed he would be next, if he had found the time to consider it.

Snape kept his feet for a whole two or three seconds of head splitting pain before collapsing onto his hands and knees. The eerie, half scream, half moans coming from his mouth ended a few seconds afterward with the dissipation of the torturous pain.

"I expect punctuality from all of you," snarled the Dark Lord as he pointed his wand about the circle. "And I will punish stupidity accordingly! Both of you: find your places!" If he had not spoken in such a very frightening voice, he would have sounded exactly like a rather foul grammar school teacher.

Snape pushed himself upward with difficulty; he was getting tired of falling, but this time felt it would be wise not to mention it. He supposed that he was getting the point, at least: the Dark Lord could tell when you were lying, and he would punish anything he did not like. Snape's head cleared as he staggered after Malfoy to a place in the circle that opened up for them and turned dizzily about just before the Dark Lord again began to speak.

"There is not very much to discuss, today. I have called this meeting for two purposes: first, to remind all of you that the day is quickly approaching when we will make ourselves know to the world. My faithful servant Rookwood informs me that a few highly placed ministry officials have demonstrated sympathy for our cause. They will reveal themselves at the proper moment, though they do not yet wear my mark. Correct, Rookwood?"

"Yes, my Lord," said a man standing next to Lucius. Snape looked around at the man who had spoken the words so calmly, recognizing the name from school. Augustus Rookwood had been a Ravenclaw in Lucius' year-two years ahead of Snape- and had seemed such an ordinary, rule-abiding boy. Severus reminded himself that he, too, had generally played by the rules, and wondered how many other Death Eaters happened to be former classmates.

"My second reminder is to keep up the work that I have assigned you. Malfoy, Macnair-your lot are to continue the attacks on loan muggles or muggles in small groups. Have patience; we will graduate to mudbloods very soon."

"How soon?" asked a nasal voice.

"Whenever I say, Macnair!" snarled the Dark Lord, pointing his wand at the speaker, who raised his hands defensively. Voldemort lowered the wand after a moment, and Macnair visibly relaxed. "No more interruptions today! Mulciber, Jugson: you two will be visiting any ministry officials whom Rookwood and Avery cannot convince to support us. I'm afraid there will be quite a few of those," he finished, narrowing his eyes at one of the Death Eaters.

"I am trying, Master," mumbled the man, bowing his head slightly. Voldemort turned away, disgusted. "The rest of you will report to the men whose names I have mentioned. Any of you who I have not yet made use of, your time will come." He smiled around the circle again, apparently without noticing the sour look in Severus' eyes.

"We have two new members with us, today," said Voldemort after a moment's silence, "for whom this meeting is the first. These men and their Death Makers will remain with me. The rest of you will promptly return to wherever you came from. Go!"

"Thank you, Lord!" said a chorus of men and, Snape realized, at least a few women. The majority of the Death Eaters dissaparated with a loud, cracking sound, none of them eager to remain behind with Voldemort in the emptying room. Only four men held their places: Malfoy, Snape, Augustus Rookwood, and a slightly twitchy Death Eater with nervous hands.

Rookwood, a man of small stature, looked at Snape with what appeared to be curiosity. "I thought you were bringing in Pettigrew, Lucius?" he said interestedly, addressing Malfoy.

"The little bastard never showed up at the meeting place," Malfoy answered with a sneer in his tone. "I waited nearly an hour before I caught sight of Severus sulking in the corner, and thought to myself that he would be at least as fitting a candidate as that blubbering little man. You remember Severus Snape, of course."

"Hardly. A Slytherin, weren't you?" asked Rookwood. Snape nodded impassively. He could tell that the former Ravenclaw intended to say more, but by that time the room had cleared, and Voldemort's attention was fixed on the four men.

"A Snape and a Karkaroff. Hmm," he said. "Karkaroff; as I mentioned before, is not a name I am familiar with." He looked the anxious man up and down.

"I was just visiting, at the Ministry, and I met Augustus, and he- he gave me a bit of paper and said if I hated mudbloods I could help him out," Karkaroff sputtered with a very slight, unidentifiable foreign accent. "He said- he said 'come,' so I came..."

"If you are pure of blood and pure of purpose, that is all that matters," the Dark Lord broke in. "Karkaroff, to the center of the room. I have already had a chat with Master Snape. He will join you."

Voldemort fingered his wand. "I have other business," he said lazily, "but you four shall remain here. I expect both of these men to be proficient with the use of the Three Great Curses by the next time we meet," he said pointedly to the two Death Makers.

"Yes, Lord," said Rookwood quickly.

"Yes, of course Master-though Snape will be in need of a wand..." Lucius reminded the Dark Lord with a trace of uncertainty.

"Then take him to get a new one!" Voldemort hissed, sounding as snake-like as he appeared. "And then return here!"

"Yes Lord," said Malfoy, relieved. The Dark Lord dissaparated without speaking another word, his exit noticeably lacking the tell-tale "crack!" of air and magic that followed the apparition spells of every other wizard Snape had heard of.

The disappearance of Lord Voldemort put everyone at their ease, and Karkaroff actually sighed with relief.

"I though he was going to do the cruciatus on me!" he said, smiling at Snape. "It looked like it hurt." With the threat gone, the accent had disappeared entirely.

"How perceptive of you," Snape retorted.

"Now, now, Severus," said Malfoy, mockingly. "Save the attacks; you'll have a chance to tap that healthy anger as soon as you get a wand."

"What are you waiting for, then?" asked Rookwood with friendly impatience. He removed his mask and pushed back his hood to reveal a round, Italianate face framed by caterpillar eye-brows and sleek black hair that was plaited down his back. Snape vaguely remembered him from transfiguration classes.

"So it's alright if we take off all of this?" Karkaroff demanded, pushing back the hood before anyone could answer. From under the mask, a long-faced man with a thin goatee appeared.

"It doesn't really matter at the moment," said Lucius, and removed his disguise with a nod to Severus, who sullenly followed suit.

"I hope you don't mind if Karkaroff and I take a look in Borgin and Burkes while we wait for you? There's nothing to do here, after all," Rookwood reasoned.

"Not at all, Augustus. We'll alert you when we return. Come, Severus."

Snape followed Lucius through the doorway, into the dusty shop and turned his head to watch as the door changed again to resemble a wall obscured by rubbish, through which Karkaroff and Rookwood entered the room unawares.

In silence, all four men removed their Death Eater attire, and Snape watched as each one took out one of the little wooden boxes and easily fit their clothing inside.

"Severus, here is your Cloak Chest," said Malfoy, holding out one of the boxes for him to take.

"Just how does this work?" Snape asked, inspecting the lid. "I don't have a wand, if you'll remember.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to open it without one," said Malfoy with a shake of his head. "It's spelled to respond only to the wand of the first person to open it, and yours is brand new."

"Evan Rosier makes them," volunteered Rookwood as he pushed his mask into the little box. "Quite ingenious. He's a very loyal man, and very odd. But he is an excellent craftsman, in spells and beautiful objects."

"Avery told me that everyone here has a purpose," said Karkaraoff importantly. "Rosier's here for the spells, Macnair for the disposal of muggles. He said I'm here to represent my country in the coming great war, and that I have demonstrated a talent for the Dark magics. What's your reason?"

"Potions, of course. And a thorough knowledge of the Dark Arts. Have you ever used the killing curse, Karkaroff?" Snape snarled. He wished he had a wand to brandish at the impertinent man.

"Don't listen to him!" said Malfoy sternly, turning to Karkaroff. "He's not as exceptional as he'd like to think."

"I have a feeling that it wouldn't be very difficult for the smallest child with this one as a practice partner!"

"Steady on, Severus!" said Rookwood lightly. "We'll find you a victim soon enough! I thought at first you'd be with either Rosier in spellmaking or me and Avery in intelligence, but I detect a distinctly vicious streak! Malfoy, I think he may be one of your lads after all!"

"Yes, well, the Dark Lord will make his decision on both of them very shortly. It isn't our place to say," Malfoy sniffed, smoothing his brocaded green robes.

"Do I have a choice?" asked Snape with trepidation.

"You can try to sway him, but if you aren't exceptional at your post, he will quickly make a change." Rookwood shrugged sympathetically. "It's all for the best."

"Perhaps," mumbled Snape. "Should I leave these clothes in here?"

"Yes, put them anywhere. They'll get a bit dirty, perhaps, but you can just give them a wash when you return home." Malfoy crossed his arms, waiting as Snape found a relatively convenient corner and dumped the pile of robe, cloak, and mask. "Finished? Good."

Snape sniggered at Lucius as he moved towards the front door.

"What is it?" demanded Malfoy, whirling about suspiciously.

"Do you really want to parade about Diagon Alley with the Dark Lord's little 'gift?' " he smirked.

"What? Oh, good heavens-" Lucius put up a hand to feel the little furrows of the letters in his flesh. Karkaroff hooted and put a hand to his mouth.

"Here, Lucius," laughed Rookwood. "I've got a spell that will conceal it until you can get your hands on some burn-salve." He poked his wand in the direction of Malfoy's forehead and mumbled something under his breath, and the words faded into the flesh of Malfoy's forehead.

"If you're decent, now, Malfoy, I'm rather anxious to procure a wand," said Snape, striding over to open the door. With a scowl upon his face, Malfoy brushed past him and out into the empty alleyway.

"Thank you, Severus," beamed Rookwood, taking advantage of the opened door. Snape let go of the handle and stepped through before Karkaroff had the chance to slip past, but he caught the door before it could shut and shot Snape a smug grin.

"We'll see you shortly," said Malfoy, sweeping down the alleyway pretentiously. Snape glared at the back of his head and followed.

***

And that's chapter 6! Next chapter should prove more interesting. Anyway. If you liked, review. If you didn't, please review and tell me why. Thank you for reading!