Snape led Amelie through dark back passages of the school, along musty unused hallways and through dank dungeons. She was fervently glad she had put a dirt-repellant spell on her shoes, and was relieved when, on stepping out of the castle via a hidden side door, her shoes were still in mint condition.

Snape strode off in the direction of Hogsmede, and Amelie followed quickly. Almost as soon as they were off Hogwarts grounds, he pulled the silk deatheater mask over his face, making him just yet another nameless minion of the dark lord. He offered her his arm, and she took it. Then there was the familiar pull of apparation, and their surroundings dissolved, and quickly solidified into quite different surroundings. Ones that Amelie recognised instantly.

"Malfoy Manor. He's taking risks, having the meeting here."

"Who? Malfoy or the dark lord?" Snape questioned quietly.

"Both." Amelie disentangled her arm, and pulled her spacious hood up over her head, careful not to ruin her hair. "Follow me, and stay just a little behind. Not enough for it to be hugely noticeable."

"Of course, my lady." Amelie nodded, steeled herself, and then strode up the road to the gates of Malfoy manor, Snape following behind. The gates opened automatically to her, and they passed through them and along the gravelled road and up the stairs to the house.

Deatheaters positioned at the doors looked at her carefully but did not stop her nor speak to her. Instead, they merely opened the doors silently at her approach, and she strode through them carelessly without a word to them.

Her stiletto heels clicked noisily in the silent house against the black and silver marble floors. Snape guided her with subtle touches to her elbow, so she seemed to make her way through the house with intricate knowledge of its layout.

They came to a large hall, at the end of which were two large double doors. The hall was lined with deatheaters, high ranking ones as well. The tiny silver snake embroidered on the collar of their cloaks gave them away.

Rank after rank they closed against her, but she merely waved her right hand, the one with the silver and emerald ring on it, and they fell apart to let her and Snape through. Only when she reached the main doors did she actually have any confrontation.

Lucius Malfoy stood before the main doors, maskless. He was incredibly handsome, Amelie had to admit. A perfectly chiselled face with two beautifully cold grey-blue eyes and long straight shining white-gold hair. And his body, what she could make of it, wasn't terribly bad either.

"What authorisation do you have to be here?" He drawled, his eyes flicking to Snape behind her. She knew he couldn't see her face, shielded as it was by the cloak. Mind you, the face of Hermione Granger probably wouldn't make that much of a positive impact anyway. "He certainly doesn't have the clearance." He added disdainfully.

Amelie gestured with her beringed hand, and he caught it in his own gloved hand. He raised the hand so he could see the ring better.

"This is your authorisation?" he asked mockingly

"It is enough, Lord Malfoy, don't you think?" Amelie asked softly. There were soft intakes of breath behind her, and a soft murmur regarding her gender.

"We don't often get very many women coming to deatheater meetings." Lucius purred, lifting her hand to his lips.

"Yes, you deatheaters prefer to keep your wives at home, don't you?" Amelie replied softly. "Are you going to let me in, or are we going to stand here all night?"

"I still have no proof of who you are." Lucius answered, releasing her hand. Amelie sighed, and carefully pushed her hood back, avoiding her hair.

"I am Princess Amelie Lily AnnaBella Marvolo Voldemort, and if you don't let me in, I'll just have to explain to my father why Draco Malfoy became the new Lord Malfoy." She said sweetly. Malfoy's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"My son will never inherit Malfoy Manor." He spat. "He's betrayed us for a mudblood girl!"

"Careful." Amelie warned. "Watch who you're calling a mudblood. Now let me in, or I really will kill you."

"He doesn't have the authority." Lucius commented, looking to Snape. Amelie stared him down.

"He comes with me, Lucius." She said dangerously. "I'm giving him the authority, right now."

"Amelie, my pet. Welcome back to us." The voice echoed from behind the closed doors. "Please, all of you, come in. Including my daughter's companion."

Malfoy opened the doors, and Amelie swept inside, followed closely by Snape. She strode down the hall to where there was a large throne at the end of the room, set of a dais. She stood before it, and Snape knelt and touched his forehead to the floor behind her. Father and daughter waited while the room filled with deatheaters, standing in neat rows in the room, line after line of them. When everyone was in, and the doors were shut and bolted, Amelie waited while Voldemort descended the steps of the dais, and when he arrived before her, she knelt, head bowed and hands in her lap.

A white long-fingered hand appeared before her face, and she took it gently in her right hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. The hand closed around her own, and the other hand appeared before her face and she repeated the process with the other hand, and then looked up, her hands held in Voldemort's.

His red eyes stared down at her from a milk-white flat face, and then he gave a small smile and pulled gently on his hands, a gesture for Amelie to rise. She did so, and then curtsied deeply, with the full imperial reverence.

"My lord father." She said, her voice echoing around the room. It was a nice touch, that phrase. It made clear the fact that Voldemort was her lord despite the fact he was also her father. That her loyalties to Voldemort as the dark lord preceded her loyalties to him as her father.

"My precious daughter." He replied, kissing her cheeks. "Welcome back. It has been long since you have stood before us."

"Too long." Amelie agreed. Voldemort turned to the prostrated form of Snape behind her.

"Severus Snape." He said, the words a hiss. Amelie mentally frowned. This was not good. "Rise."

Snape stood, his head bowed. He said nothing.

"I have called this meeting for two parts." Voldemort addressed the entire room. "Firstly, of course, is to discuss plans for the attack. Secondly, however is the matter of Severus Snape's betrayal of us."

Amelie really did frown this time. Who the hell was messing with her people? This could spoil some seriously important plans.

"Malfoy, step forward."

Ask a silly question, get a silly answer. Well, duh. Who else?

Lucius Malfoy stepped forward, the silken mask drawn over his features. Amelie moved to stand at her father's right hand, and she could see the silk ripple as Lucius frowned. Of course. After all, he was meant to be Voldemort's right hand, not her. In fact, he knew she could form a huge problem to the Snape-betrayal case. She fully intended not to disappoint him.

"Malfoy, what is your accusation?" Voldemort demanded, sitting back down on the throne and transfiguring a slightly smaller one for Amelie. She sat gracefully and crossed her legs, leaning back in the chair with her arms on the gilded armrests.

"Snape has betrayed us." Malfoy said bluntly. "He has been telling our information to Albus Dumbledore, allowing him to counter our every move."

Voldemort looked at Amelie. "Well, do you have anything to say on this issue?"

"Not yet." She replied softly. "Let's see what proof Malfoy has to convince us."

"Every major plan we have had that he has been privy to has been countered by Dumbledore." Malfoy said flatly. "On occaision he has deliberately sabotaged our plans, ruining chances we could have had to overthrow Dumbledore and win this war."

"Is that all?" Voldemort asked.

"It is my accusation, my lord." Malfoy said, bowing low.

"Snape, do you have a defense?" Voldemort hissed.

"What he says is untrue." Snape said blankly.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Malfoy snarled.

"No. I am." Amelie stood, her arms crossed across her chest and her skirt swishing about her knees. "Lucius Malfoy, I reject your accusation on the basis of my own experience."

"Which would be?" Malfoy asked mockingly. Amelie looked at Voldemort.

"You didn't tell them?" She asked, surprised.

"And ruin this perfect spectacle? No. Continue."

"Snape has showed his utmost loyalty to our cause unfailingly for the past six months, and never has he wavered in all the time I have known him since."

"Unfailingly? I don't suppose you have taken into account the large amount of time he spends at Hogwarts as Dumbledore's lapdog." Malfoy sneered.

"Malfoy." Amelie stepped down off the dais and came to stand directly before him. "Aside from the staff and Dumbledore, who are the three most influential people and important people in this war fighting against us?"

"Potter." Malfoy spat. Amelie raised an eyebrow.

"And?"

"The Weasley boy. And the mudblood." He sneered.

"Whose name is?"

"Hermione Granger." He said grudgingly. Amelie turned away from him her back to everyone but Voldemort. She passed her hands over her face and hair, then turned back around, the exact image of Hermione Granger.

"Good evening, Mr Malfoy. You remember me, of course. I'm Hermione Granger, and I'm the mudblood your son has been fucking. Lovely to meet you again." She altered her voice to sound as much like Hermione's as possible. She succeeded and Malfoy's eyes widened.

"You…you…"

"Replaced Miss Granger as Head Girl at Hogwarts this last year." Still facing him, Amelie passed her hands again over her face and hair, returning it to their original state. "That is how I know that Snape has been loyal to our cause. And how I know which students are loyal to us and which ones waver in their loyalties. For the past six months, Snape has worked closely with me, ensuring that I pull off being Miss Granger flawlessly. No one knows of my presence there but Snape and Draco Malfoy."

"And their loyalties?" Voldemort asked.

"Are solely for us. I know both would die at your command, my lord." She turned and curtsied slightly to Voldemort, who nodded regally.

"Very well. For now, Snape has been pronounced loyal." Voldemort said so the entire hall could hear him. He rose from his throne, and held out his hand to Amelie. She reached to take it, but before their fingertips brushed, Malfoy spoke again.

"I have another question." He said humbly. Voldemort and Amelie's attention focused on him. "The loyalties of Snape are no longer in question. But what of Lady Amelie's loyalties?" Amelie smiled, and she began laughing softly and slowly. The small sound echoed strangely in the silent hall.

"My loyalties? They are precisely where they belong."

"Which is where?" Malfoy retorted. Amelie's laughter stilled, and her smile took on a predatory look to it.

"Surely if you need to ask that question of me, Mr Malfoy," she said slowly. "You should be asking it of yourself. Am I not right?" His face hardened in fury at her question.

"My loyalties are with Lord Voldemort!" he defended himself.

"Well then. You have answered your own question." She nodded slightly, before taking Voldemort's offered hand.

"My most trusted deatheaters will come with me now." Voldemort said. He led Amelie away, through a back door of the hall.

"What about Jula Snape's influence on her?" Malfoy's question followed them. "She was a squib and a muggle lover!"

"The late Jula Snape is no longer nor ever was an issue." Voldemort answered. And that was the end of the conversation.

&

In the back room was a long table. Voldemort stood at the head of it with Amelie at his right side and Malfoy on his left. When everyone was in and the doors were locked, Voldemort sat down and all the other deatheaters present followed suit.

"Amelie's position at Hogwarts gives us an edge that we might not have otherwise had. While I would have liked to be told of your position, I condone completely your initiative." Voldemort said with a nod to Amelie. Amelie bowed her head. "So what have you discovered?" Voldemort asked.

"Several things of varying importance." Amelie answered, raising her head and looking around the table. "My proximity to Potter at Hogwarts and also my position as one of the Head Students allows me to find out information normally held from others." She began. "For a start, for all their late success against us, they actually have almost no idea what's going on, and they merely react to what we do. Their victories are largely based on luck."

The room was silent, listening to her twisted words and lies.

"Harry Potter, while famous for his so-called destruction of Lord Voldemort, remains a seventeen year old male that barely knows how to look after himself, much less anyone else. He does what Dumbledore tells him to, and Dumbledore is guessing."

"What of the loyalties of the students?" One of the deatheaters asked.

"For the most part, the students are allied with Dumbledore. By most part I mean the majority of students in Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. In Slytherin the situation is much more complicated."

"How so?" Voldemort demanded.

"Not everyone is being truthful with their alliances and loyalties." Amelie answered. "Some, like Draco Malfoy, are pretending to be allied to Dumbledore. The most conclusive proof of this is his relationship with Hermione Granger. The entire school sees this as a sign that he has been won over by his emotions, and supports her and her friends. They do not realise that their precious Hermione Granger is actually Amelie Voldemort. The other side of this is the betrayal of several of our supposedly staunchest supporters, namely Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini." Amelie shut off her conscious at this point. She knew, by saying their names, she was signing their death warrants. She just wouldn't tell Hermione about it.

"You lie!" A deatheater sprung to his feet and banged on the table with his hands.

"Sit down Parkinson." Voldemort said coldly. He looked to Amelie.

"Are you sure?"

"They have attended meetings led by Dumbledore where plans are designed to counter your moves." She said with a delicate half shrug.

"You say my son is loyal?" Malfoy asked. She nodded. "Do you have any proof of this?"

"Other than the fact that he hasn't betrayed me to Dumbledore when he had every opportunity? No. Do you have proof that he has betrayed us?"

"He has had feelings for the mudblood." Malfoy said flatly.

"We have already explained that I've been playing the part of the mudblood."

"Before this year." Malfoy explained. "His journal records feelings for her."

"Were they deep feelings? Or just comments along the line of how ridiculously beautiful he thought she looked?"

"The latter."

"Then it's nothing more than what any seventeen year old male thinks about a girl." Amelie said dismissively. "I happen to believe that Ron Weasley and Seamus Finnegan are quite good looking. But that doesn't mean I'll betray our side for two bumbling idiots."

"Indeed. But now, we need to discuss more important plans, the assault on Hogwarts." Voldemort announced. Amelie nodded and leaned back in her chair, expectant. "We attack at Easter, all our deatheaters, with the dementors and our other allies. Together with Amelie's pheonix, the fools at Hogwarts will not be able to stop us."

Amelie frowned internally. Voldemort knew that for her to use the pheonix to its full extent, it could kill her. And judging by the pheonix's performance two weeks ago, the pheonix would burn itself out the first opportunity it got, killing both Amelie and Hermione as it went.

Voldemort would sacrifice his only daughter for the sake of killing a boy and an old man.

Hell, Amelie could kill them with minimal deaths if she wanted to. Surely it was unnecessary to kill as many people as possible as well.

Unnecessary but fun in a really twisted, insane power-trippish way.

And what was Voldemort if not twisted, insane and power-tripping?

Her father was murdering hundreds for fun. Her mother abandoned her daughter and rapist for her lover and son. Only to be murdered a year later by said rapist, leaving son at the mercy of her magic-phobic sister and their family.

Amelie couldn't decide whether she or her brother had the better half of the deal.

Her family was dysfunctional, to say the least.

&

After the meeting, Voldemort insisted on a one-to-one meeting with his 'dear estranged daughter' which included a dinner that turned to ash in Amelie's mouth as Voldemort expanded on his plan to attack Hogwarts, filling it out with detail after deadly detail.

Voldemort was a genius. The plan he was outlining had one flaw, and Amelie wasn't sure it would be enough to topple the battle in Dumbledore's favour.

The flaw being the fact that Voldemort trusted her implicitly.

With any luck, it would be a deadly flaw.

If not, Hogwarts didn't have a chance in hell. Voldemort had managed to employ the help of creatures that people werent even sure existed.

Amelie knew they existed.

She knew how bad this was.

Lots and lots of very bad.

She was screwed.

&