A/N: Sorry this chapter had taken so long. I apologize, especially to the people that have been nice enough to review for me : )
Severus stood in the small garden, his back hunched as he surveyed the damage that had been done. The plants that his house elf Tiffy had so carefully planted had been yanked from the ground, and lay scattered about in mess of leaves, stems, and soil. He had no illusions of what he would return home to, but he had not expected this.
Tiffy sat on the back steps, sobbing into the pillow case that she wore fashioned as an apron. Her small thin body was trembling so violently Severus was afraid she was going to make herself sick.
"Stop crying Tiffy!" Severus ordered, not meaning to be harsh but not knowing any other way to get her attention.
Tiffy stopped sobbing at once, but continued to sniffle as Severus kicked aside the butchered plants, sighing sadly.
"Do you think it might have been gnomes?" He asked.
The house elf shook her head, and blew her nose into her apron. He cringed, and then glanced fearfully at the back door. His father was probably still asleep, but if he saw this mess he would be angry...
"Tiffy, let's just clean this up." He sighed. "I don't care how it happened, but let's not give my father a reason to get mad."
This was the first year that Severus had been allowed to use magic outside of school. Not that it had ever stopped him before. In fact, he felt as if he used more practical magic at home than he ever did at school. Casting a few well placed charms, he watched as the plants began to repair themselves, and then slowly sink back into the warm brown soil.
He was startled by a sudden screech, and nearly thrown off of his feet when Tiffy ran to him, launching herself around his legs. On instinct Severus looked up, losing his balance in the process. Tiffy was sobbing again, but she was ignored. His attention was on the unfamiliar owl that was circling the fallow field that lay beside their house. From a distance it was hard to tell if it was carrying a message. It might just be out hunting, though that would be odd during the day. There was another wizarding family that lived a few miles away, perhaps it was theirs.
"Tiffy, get off!" Severus ordered, rising to his feet and repairing the last of the garden with a flick of his wand.
He glanced up at the sky, but the owl had disappeared. After warning Tiffy to be quiet, Severus led her into the darkened house. Thankfully he was right, his father was still sleeping. He had left Malfoy Manor as soon as it was light, mostly to avoid a confrontation with his father. Whenever he left home he always arrived back to some kind of disaster, either his father was slapping Tiffy around, or he had gotten drunk and gambled away the last of the jewelry his mother had left behind. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.
It was better to get home early and assess the damage right off, than to just have to deal with it later when it might be worse.
How badly he had wanted to stay! He desperately wanted to see Livia again, to speak to her, to breath in her beauty with his eyes. She noticed him, he finally convinced himself that she had. If only he could just have a few moments with her. Of course, in the world of fantasy he knew exactly what he would say. In reality, he knew would stammer over his words and look like a fool.
He had wanted to see Bellatrix again as well. The details of their darkened meeting seemed so unreal he was not completely sure that it had not been a dream. He could see it all being a joke. There really was no secret group, and if there was, what would they want with him anyway? He had never been well liked, and even though he dark magic was something to be admired, he doubted that would be enough to earn him anyone's attention for very long.
"I'm going to go and study for a while." He whispered to Tiffy.
The house elf didn't respond, she was sittingbeside the garden,staring off into space. Severus frowned, Tiffy had been with them since before his mother had left. Maybe she was getting senile? How old were house elves supposed to live anyway?
Silently cursing himself for thinking that way about Tiffy, Severus walked quietly upstairs. It was hard to keep the wood floor board from creaking under his feet, and he began to perspire from the effort. He swore that his father had some sort of supernatural hearing, especially if he was looking for something to be angry about.
Carefully pushing his door shut, he sat on his unmade bed (what had Tiffy been doing this whole time?), and took out his wand. He bent over, and reached under the bed for the book he kept hidden there. He guessed it had once been his father's, because he had found it in the attic, stuck in a pile of discarded old school books. In this book were some of the worst spells that Severus had imagined, along with very detailed instructions on how they could be used. Every so often, as he read, Severus would feel his heart start to race as he recognized a particularly nasty spell that his father had used on him. Even though his father was intent on teaching him dark magic, he was sure there was only so much he wanted him to know. Surly not more than he, because then what would stop Severus from using what he had learned against his father? It was better to keep this book hidden.
He read over a particularly damaging spell several times, and then searched the room for something to practice it on. He liked using spiders, but flies would do. He saw one in the corner beside his next, resting on its web. Severus trapped it between his hands, and then lay it out on the desk. The spider appeared to be paralyzed with fright, its small body pressed up against the worn splintery wood.
Just as he was about to raise his wand and attempt the spell, a hooting sound caught his attention. Startled, Severus turned on his heels. The owl he had seen before, it was now sitting on his window, something clutched in its beak.
"Get out of here you stupid bird!" Severus hissed, hoping the noise had not woken his father.
The owl looked at him indignantly, and then with a flap of its large wings, flew into the room and sat on his desk.
"You squashed my spider." He said quietly, annoyed that he would now have to find another.
The owl cocked its head, confused. Severus groaned as it droppeda dead mouse from its beak, and then used its talons to push it towards him.
"You brought me a present?" He sneered.
He was seriously considering hexing the mettlesome owl, when he caught sight of something tied to its leg. Lowering his wand Severus took a tentative step towards it. The owl hooted softly, but did not protest when he reached underneath its feathers to untie what it carried.
It was a small piece of parchment, which Severus quickly unrolled. His heart sunk when he realized it was blank. He wasn't sure what he was hoping for. Maybe a message from Bellatrix? Feeling extremely dumb he threw his arms up in the air, frightening the owl away. It flew onto the windowsill, and after hooting angrily at him for a moment, flapped its wings and took off into the sky.
"Good riddance!" Severus whispered fiercely.
Why would someone send him a blank piece of paper? What was the point of that? Deciding it must have been meant for someone else, someone who didn't like to buy parchment, Severus turned his attention to the mouse laying on his desk.
He was use to handling dead animals, he had cut up frogs in potions class after all. Grabbing it with his bare hand, he decided he would just throw it out the window and be done with it. He had actually gotten half way across the room before it hit him. There was an intense, almost painful tugging sensation around his navel, and the room began to swirl around him so quickly he feared he might be ill.
A portkey! Steeling his eyes shut, Severus had no time to wonder where it was taking him. Before he had time to even drew in another breath he felt solid ground under his feet again. He staggered, throwing his eyes open. Fighting the urge to be sick, he dropped down onto his knees until the room stopped spinning. Once he was able to see straight again, he gave a cautious look to his surroundings. He was in a large, musty stone room. It appeared to be someone's cellar, only larger. It also appeared that he was alone.
Brushing the dirt from his pants, Severus got up and looked around. There weren't any windows, the room's dim light coming from the row of sconces that lined the walls. There was only one door. He tugged on it, gently at first in case anyone was out there waiting, and then harder. It was either locked or stuck.
Severus fought the urge to panic. What if he was stuck in here forever? No one would know where to look for him, not that his father would even bother looking. Of course, he always apparate out. But he would much rather have some idea of where he was before trying.
He paced the room for a few minutes, and then gave a frustrated sigh. This was by far the strangest thing that had ever happened to him.
A shout of surprise escaped his lips when a loud crack broke the silence around him, and Bellatrix appeared before him.
"Don't be so excitable Snape." She said calmly, taking a moment to smooth her dark hair down into place.
Severus took a moment to collect himself. He wondered if he should be afraid.
"I wasn't expecting you so soon." Bellatrix continued. "But here you are."
She sauntered over slowly, and placed a hand on his shoulder. She stared into his eyes, her gaze so intense that he became frightened. His eyes darted away, and rested on the cold stone wall behind her. He could tell she was still staring him down, and he felt a unnatural shiver rip through his thin body.
"W-What am I doing here?" He asked hesitantly, nearly too afraid to breath.
She was standing so close that he could smell the heavy scent of her perfume. He wanted badly to back away and put a safe distance between them, but he was to scared of what she might do if he made her angry.
"You didn't read my message, did you Snape?" She asked, pressing her hand down so hard on his shoulder he knew it would leave a bruise.
"I didn't know...I didn't think to try and decode it." He confessed, his knees beginning to quiver which such an intensity he feared they would give out at any moment and send him crashing to the floor.
"You can't be very clever, can you Snape?" Bellatrix whispered in a soft, meaningful tone.. "But that's no matter."
Severus swallowed audibly. He wiped his sweating palms on his pant leg, fearing to even wonder how this would end. Maybe she had lured him here to murder him. Bellatrix had never seemed the sanest person to begin with, and he had heard of cases like this. Youngstupidteenagersgoing missing, their bodies never found. Suddenly he was too scared to glance anywhere but straight ahead. Could their be dusty piles of bones in the darkened corners. Had he not looked closely enough?
"I'm going to tell you a story." She said, pulling her hand off his shoulder and pacing the room. "Have you ever nearly drown?"
She waited for his reply, which he gave as a quick shake of his head. He was suddenly too frightened to speak, wondering if this story would someone end in his untimely demise, but very perplexed at the same time.
"I did once, when I was very young. I had gone swimming in the river, and waded out too far. The current pushed me under, and it seemed I was lost all at once. I couldn't tell the river bottom from the sky, and the frigid water was in my mouth, burning in my throat. There was the curious feeling of pain in my chest, of a single breath yearning to be free. Soon it became unbearable, like a fire that was going to rip me apart. Just as the world began to fade away, my father dove in and grabbed onto my wrist, and he pulled me to the surface. Snape, there is no way to describe that first breath of glorious air. You know its all you've ever wanted and you'll never need anything more. It's the moment you've come alive again after lingering so close to death. Nothing else will ever be so beautiful again."
Severus watched her lips as she spoke, listening so carefully to eveyr word that nothing else existed in that moment except for her, and the story she weaved from her blood red lips. He had completely forgotten himself in the moment, for he too could feel his chest burn. He could feel the water splashing about his ears. He could taste the sweetness of that first wonderful breath as it caressed his lips.
"Do you know why I'm telling you this Snape?"
She continued, without giving him a chance to answer. He knew she did not expect him to understand.
"That is what he is like. That breath, that feeling. He is all there is, until there is nothing else. And you need nothing else."
Bellatrix stated at him, waiting for a great moment of revelation. Severus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, trying to mask his confusion for as long as he possibly could.
"Is that all Snape!" Bellatrix shouted. "I am trying to make a point, and all you can do is look down at your shoes like a idiot?"
"I don't mean to." He said quickly. "I just don't understand. Who is 'he'?"
Bellatrix stared at him for a moment, her mouth hanging open slightly. She looked like she was going to speak several times, but then continued to gape at him.
"I know you aren't witty enough to be joking, and you have thank Merlin for that." She said at last. "I really thought you were brighter than this Snape, but I suspect not."
His face reddened, and he anxiously picked at a loose thread hanging from his sleeve. It wasn't his fault that he was always left out, that everyone should know the prized information that he did not. Thankfully, he realized that Bellatrix must have understood this, because she did not seem really displeased, merely surprised.
"I'm speaking of the Dark Lord." She whispered with a deep reverence in her voice. "Of our Lord, that is, if you still are interested Snape."
He took in a deep breath, still unable to grasp that this was really happening. Had he really been in his bedroom only moments ago? This was till too unreal to seem anything but a dream.
"You must decide now, because after this point there is no turning back." Bellatrix warned. "Big things are happening Snape, things that your dull little mind could not even begin to comprehend. He can give you power, he can make you one of us. Everything is going to change, sooner than you could possibly believe. You will the world's greatest fool if are not part of it, with us."
Severus was intoxicated. There was a weight to her words, a promise of an existence not yet explored. There were times when life seemed an impossible obstacle, a great ocean that could never be crossed. What she was offering him was beyond the tangible, it was hope and belonging, that glorious feeling of having done something with his life.
"How do I..."
Bellatrix cut him off with a wave of her hand. There was no anger in her dark eyes, and she wore a serene smile that seemed out of place on her sharp, angular face.
"Everything has been taken care of. Why did you think I brought you here today? For tea?" Bellatrix laughed, a deep throaty sound that made the fine hairs on his arms prickle with electricity.
Severus stood silently for a moment, considering something. He wondered if he dared to ask her, but suddenly it didn't seem he had so much to lose anymore. Obviously she approved of him, or else he wouldn't be here.
"What if I had said I wasn't interested?" He asked her. "What would have happened then?"
"Snape." She said, sighing deeply. "I knew you were going to say yes. I know your type, I know everything about you."
He nodded, satisfied. Still, she continued.
"And if you had said no, it would not have mattered much to me. However, I'm sure it would have mattered a great deal to you. There's a funny thing about life Snape, you do manage to become rather attached to it."
Bellatrix turned towards the door, but slowly enough that Severus could catch the brutal grin on her face. The rational part of his mind tried to convince him that she had been joking, but in his gut he knew it was true. If he had more time he might have sat and wondered what he gotten himself into, and pondered what exactly the fates had conjured up for him.
"It will be tonight Snape." Bellatrix said, smiling wickedly. "You might as well stay with me in the meantime. There are some people I'll want to introduce you to..."
There was no time for thought or fear, only action. With hesitant steps Severus followed the dark beauty out of the dungeon door, and out to face whatever fate awaited him.