When he woke up, he realized that the ceiling was white, with bright lights shining down on him.
The Infirmary.
Damn it, Albus.
He attempted to sit up, but realized that both of his wrists were tied rather tightly to the sides of the bed. Severus Snape bit back another curse as movement to his left made him squint in that direction.
At least the pain was gone.
Mostly.
He cringed as a lesser, burning wave emanated from the dark tattoo on the inside of his left forearm, as if it flared up to his thoughts.
"Does it feel a little better, Severus? It looked like it hurt quite ---"
"Damn it, Albus. You should have let me go." He felt guilty as he saw the Headmaster's shoulders slump as if there were a great weight pressing down on him. "Headmaster, I'm ---"
"I know, I know, Severus. It's just that we're worried for you. You have enough to worry about with Voldemort, you don't need some monster attacking you whenever you leave Hogwarts, too."
"The monster probably is Voldemort. We don't know anything. I never saw anything. Only the word of some strange woman who apparently lives in the Forbidden Forest, along with a bad dream on Potter's part, have alerted any of us to danger." Severus closed his mouth as the pain began to flare again.
"Here, Poppy gave me this for you. It's another Sleeping Draught."
"No," he managed to choke out.
"Oh, sometimes I think you weren't disciplined enough as a child! Will you just take it?"
"It's not good to take it more than once in 24 hours …"
"Severus, it has been 24 hours."
Over the course of the next week, there were only flashes of pain and blurry faces. The Dark Mark flared in waves, and it just kept getting worse. The Potions Master woke up more than once screaming in pain and soaked in sweat.
Albus had by now figured out that he wasn't being summoned for a meeting. For the pain to last this long, it was obvious that Voldemort either wanted to torment the spy or summon him for a private conference, and was getting more irritated as the days went by and his Death Eater didn't put in an appearance.
Voldemort was feeling particularly murderous. Harry Potter had wound up in the Hospital Wing more than once because of the pain in his scar. The child looked terribly haunted, and was obviously plagued by nightmares.
"Albus …Please, j-just let me go …"
Dumbledore grasped Severus's hand in his, squeezing tightly. He resolved not to give Severus any more sleeping potion.
The world slowly came into focus around the waves of brutal agony. The edges of his vision were blurry, colorless. He attempted to move his arms, and felt no resistance on his wrists. Surprised, he looked around for signs of other human activity. He found none.
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed proved more difficult than he had thought, but he managed to stand up and find his black Death Eater robes, along with clean clothes for under it, which lay on a chair next to his bed, concealing his silver mask and his wand. His shoes were under the chair.
The wave of pain slowed enough for him to put on the black slacks and white shirt, not bothering to tuck it in. Severus put on the shoes and robe, leaving it open because he was so hot. He put his wand in his belt, and the mask was shoved into one of the inner, breast pockets. Then he left the Infirmary through the less conspicuous door.
Once he made it to the fresh, cold air, he inhaled deeply, feeling some of the pain in his arm lessen. The powdery snow was not yet ankle deep, but it was still snowing furiously. He trudged onward.
"Professor Snape!" A distant, rumbling voice was running up behind him. "I didn't expect you to wake up so quickly, Professor. Headmaster Dumbledore asked if Fang and I would escort yeh to the apparation boundary," Hagrid and his huge dog stormed up beside the spy, slowing to match his unwavering speed. "If ya wouldn't mind, that is."
Knowing better than to send Hagrid back to Albus, Severus held back his original biting remark and instead said, "I wouldn't mind, Hagrid. I could use s-some company, anyway." The damning quiver in his voice was back. He cradled his pained arm in his other arm, indifferent to whether Hagrid saw him in his moment of weakness or not.
Thankfully, though, Hagrid was silent as they walked to the cast iron gate and through it. The forest wasn't nearly so foreboding in the daylight, though the sun was beginning to wane. Black trees swayed ominously, rubbing together to make an eerie, musical sound. The path they were following was wide enough for four people to walk abreast of each other, and was only a half-mile to the town of Hogsmeade.
When the familiar tingling of leaving a ward began and ended, Snape stopped and addressed the Care of Magical Creatures professor. "Thank you, Hagrid, but you'd better go back now. I may be hours yet, and night ---"
"Sorry, Professor, but I ain't leaving yet. I'll start a nice campfire and Fang and I'll wait for ya to get back, if it's alright with you, sir."
The pain in his arm was building again, so Snape simply nodded touched his wand to the mark on his arm, apparating to an unknown location.
"Finally." A hissing voice said from behind him. "I thought you'd given up on me, Severus."
Voldemort moved around the spy in a slow circle, his feet not touching the ground. Snape belatedly knelt on one knee after noticing that he and the Dark Lord were alone.
"I live to serve, My Lord, but I was detained for a long while by Dumbledore."
"Of course, Severus …" Snape's name rolled off of his tongue as he looked down at the professor. "But you have arrived, at last."
No reply was necessary to that statement, so Snape continued to look at the dried grass he was kneeling on. It was closer to the equator than Scotland, then, since there was no hint of snow on the air.
"You can't have tried very hard to get away, Severus, because you did not actually get away. Tell me, am I that bad a master?"
Merlin, stop saying my name …"No, My ---"
"Enough! I have eyes and ears in that damned school, Severus. I know that the Headmaster knows you possess the Dark Mark. And what did he do, Severus? He gave you a sleeping potion and put you in the Infirmary! Is that the act of a fool, or a man who knows everything about you and is using it to his advantage?"
"My Lord, I have no idea ---"
"No. No need to play idiot with me, Severus. I know what you are. Do you not think the dreams that young Potter receives are only one-way? I can see what he sees, occasionally, when he is under great emotional stress. I know what he saw in Dumbledore's pensieve, but I thought it must have been the guise you used to get yourself a position at that school. I now realize my overconfidence in you, Severus.
"Crucio!"
Snape felt the ground tilt up to meet him at an odd angle. A booted foot met his ribs, and he heard a loud snap.
"Was I wrong, Minerva?" Albus Dumbledore paced in front of his fireplace with his hands clasped nervously behind his back. "Should I have let him go immediately? Should I not have let him go at all?"
"Albus, if you had kept him here, he would have gone insane. I know it. The man is under stress. There's nothing you can do to protect him, anymore. He must be trusted to make his own decisions." Minerva stopped to blow her nose quietly.