Getting fired...

"Yes, my lord," Severus choked from his place on the ground. He could barely think, let alone answer the dark lord's questions. How had Malfoy seen him?

"Crucio!"

All thoughts of his discovery were put on hold as a new wave of pain washed over him. His last coherent thought before he fell unconscious was of that little girl, and whether she made it away safely.

Several hours earlier…

Severus walked briskly up to the house, feeling almost nervous. Voldemort never sent him on actual raids, only used his position as "loyal spy" on Dumbledore. But this time he insisted. Severus knew something was wrong but couldn't refuse lest he cast even more suspicion on himself.

"Feeling nervous?" asked a sneering voice beside him. Lucius Malfoy could make even the most innocuous phrase sound vindictive.

"Why should I be? Our Lord wants me here, so here I am. I have no reason to be nervous." Severus replied, with equal venom.

Lucius just raised a pale eyebrow and turned to a smaller figure on his other side.

"So what are we expecting?"

"Two muggles, married."

"No children?"

"There was a little girl, but we've been informed she made an unexpected trip, so she won't be in for the show," the smaller man replied.

Severus breathed an inward sigh of relief. At least she wouldn't be witness to her parents' murders.

They continued in silence up the walkway to the brightly painted door, which Lucius opened silently, and walked inside.

It was a quick affair, Lucius being the main character, making his superiority speech, then torturing and killing the audience. All the other Death Eaters had to do was stand behind him looking intimidating or look around the rest of the house. Still intimidating, of course.

Severus chose to wander around the other rooms rather than listen to Lucius acting superior. Most of the house was very plain and unremarkable; there was nothing suspicious anywhere. There wasnothing to even suggest why this particular household was chosen for attack, not that he expected there to be.

When he stepped into the kitchen, however, he thought he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Pretending not to notice, he waited until he saw where the motion came from. Bending down to look under the table he saw a little girl, about ten years old, with dark red hair and blue eyes, hiding. She looked at him with fear and a little defiance. He instantly liked her.

"Come with me. I'll get you out," Severus whispered to her.

"No!" she whispered, tears in her eyes.

"Listen," Severus whispered urgently, "they've killed your parents. You need to come with me if you plan on living any longer than the next few minutes." He was starting to get annoyed and remembered why he hated teaching so much.

"No, you'll just take me to them!" she said, almost a bit too loudly, attempting to crawl away.

Thinking quickly, Severus grabbed her arm and hauled her out from under to the table and made for the back door. She squirmed, but he kept an iron grip on her and dragged her outside.

"Quick, they don't know you're here. Run!" Severus whispered, while trying to stay out of view from the windows.

"Why should I trust you? You're one of them." She looked distrusting, but a little hopeful.

He looked her straight in the eye. "Because you're not dead yet. Run."

She got the point and made her way around the side of the house. He watched her until she was completely out of sight, then snuck back into the kitchen and waited. A few minutes later he walked into the room as if nothing had happened and waited for Lucius to speak.

"Our master wants us to meet with him immediately," he said, somewhat smugly.

They walked outside again, and the small Death Eater (what was his name again?) cast the Dark Mark into the sky above the house. Right before they all apparated to the scheduled meeting point, Severus saw Lucius look at him in the rather unsettling I-know-something-you-don't-know way, but everything was soon a blur, and Severus soon had other matters in mind.

In retrospect, Severus should have known he was taking too big of a risk by helping that little girl; he should have known he would be seen. In retrospect, Severus should have apparated straight to Hogwarts and told Dumbledore his cover was blown, but at that moment he didn't know he was caught in the middle of the biggest catch-22 of all time. All he knew was that the Dark Lord wanted to see him.

They apparated into the middle of a rather large circle of Death Eaters. Lucius and the smaller man immediately melted into the circle, but when Severus moved to take his place, a high cold voice spoke.

"Not you, Severus. You stay right there."

In the next few minutes it was revealed that Lucius had indeed seen Severus warn the girl. In fact, the whole deal with the girl not being at home had been a test. Lord Voldemort had already had his suspicions about Severus Snape, and this was just his way of finding out the truth. Had Severus brought the girl to Lucius without hesitation, he would have been "cleared", in a sense, of all suspicion. But Severus did not, so he was branded traitor, and treated accordingly.

Present…

Severus groaned. He knew exactly where he was: in one of the many "guest rooms" at the remote mansion Voldemort had adopted as "home". The house used to belong to his father's rich family and Voldemort had used it as a hideout during the year before his rebirth. It was only natural that he pay the old place a visit. In fact it was an ideal location, as it was ignored and avoided by the muggle villagers below, who would rather wonder about their own social dilemmas than the fact that the old Riddle house had lights in the windows again.

Severus rolled to lie on his back and prepared to fall deep into unconsciousness when he heard a strangely familiar voice hoarsely whisper:

"Professor Snape?"

A/N: Chapter 2! Yeehaw! Any comments, suggestions, or random thoughts,you can leave a review or email me. I believeit is listed on my profile page.