'Goodbye.' Draco whispered to the silence. His grey eyes grew cold as he turned to look at Snape in his bed situated by the ashen circle.

'Come, let's leave.'

Vibora looked grave as she turned to her cousin. Her mournful eyes lingered on Snape and she blinked as her eyes grew bright. She looked down at the scar on her hand and approached the bedside. Pulling back the sheets covering the Potions Master, she revealed a deep wound in his abdomen. She silently healed it with the touch of her hand, displaying her powerful brand of wandless magic. With a dignified swish of his wand, and an utterance of 'Evanesco,' Draco cleared the spilt crimson blood from the sheets and the floor.

At the same time, luxuriously sprawled across his throne within the dank cavern he had adopted for his meetings during the day, the Dark Lord raised a chalice of the same blood to his lips and flickered his tongue out over the rim of the goblet, dipping appreciatively into the viscous substance.

Lucius grimaced and looked away, meeting the eyes of Bellatrix Lestrange, who laughed at his cowardice. 'It's good to hear from Vibora that a father and his son are so alike,' she cooed mockingly.

Lucius sneered and said, 'Maternal inheritance, you'll find.'

Bellatrix silently fumed but feigned ignorance and turned back to admiring her Master. Rodolphus appeared amongst their ranks and knelt before their Lord Voldemort before hastening forward and whispering confidences in his ear.

The pale wizard grinned his reptilian grin and signalled for Rodolphus to leave. He was obeyed instantly.

Voldemort stood to address his followers. 'We have good news, my friends. A spy has been found to swell our ranks with both the courage and intellect to provide us with useful information.' A figure swathed in shadow stepped up to Voldemort and knelt to swear his allegiance. Lucius' eyes widened in indignated shock as he recognised the vivid red hair contrasting with the cool silver mask.

'Morsmordescra.' The Dark Lord stained the freckled skin of the Weasley with the serpent-tongued menace which adorned the forearms of all of Voldemort's subjects. As the initiation occurred, Lucius felt a familiar burn scorching his own flesh; the mark was blackening.

After witnessing the intrusion into the hospital wing by a notorious Death Eater by way of his own scrying mirror, Dumbledore flew with the speed of eagles to the hospital wing, cursing its lack of a fireplace. Despite his status as Headmaster obliging the staircases and floors of the castle to aid him on his way, he arrived too late to apprehend the villain or his summoners. Cursing in fury, he checked the wounds of the Potions Master and, once satisfied that they were successfully healed, administered wards and alarms around both the hospital wing and Snape himself. The time invested in this led to such a delayed departure that Dumbledore had not yet left when Severus sprang, as if on fire, from his bed and began raking at and savaging his own forearm. The noise of his anguished howls roused Madame Pomfrey and she dashed into the hospital wing to immediately notice the charred circle on the floor and shriek at the mark blazing on her colleague's forearm. Suppressed by their combined efforts to subdue him, Severus thrashed wildly, apparently no longer intent on destroying his own limb but instead focussed on escaping his friends clutches. Resigned to what was proving itself inevitable, Dumbledore drew his wand and, relenting his grip only slightly, stunned the younger professor and levitated him onto his bed once more. Lifting his bleeding and swollen arm from the sheets, Dumbledore's eyes grew dark and pensive. 'Someone else has gone,' he said solemnly. 'An Order meeting must be held at the soonest possible time. Poppy, please inform Minerva that owls must be sent to all members of the Order at once, paying particular attention to those with knowledge of Voldemort's inner circles and members of the Ministry of Magic.'

Madame Pomfrey sighed and, in an exasperated way, waved her hand at Snape's condition.

'I assure you, it is far more important that we investigate the reason for Voldemort's renewed vigour. After that investigation has been instigated you may provide Severus with all the attention he will allow.'

A/N - obviously I'm getting few reviews. This would bother me if I was writing this for anyone else's sake. Luckily it's all for my pleasure! Should things get better for Snape now or should I put him through more trouble? Suggestions would be nice!

Grey Grim, xx