Disclaimer: Suuuure. Harry Potter is mine. And I'm also the Queen of England. What do you mean my pants are on fire? It's the truth! I swear it on the man who lives in the moon!
A/N: La la la...
Snape stood among the ranks, another link in the circle of Death Eaters. The wind made his robe flap sharply, as it did the identical robes that the others wore. He stood attentively, committing every word the Dark Lord said to memory.
Not that he hadn't heard most of it before. The same pureblood supremacy nonsense, along with a long, detailed description of life without the mudblood and muggle infidels. Purebloods shall rule the world! and so on, and so forth. He must have heard this speech at least once a week since he had joined the Death Eaters.
Not that he believed any of it. No, not even when he was a full-fledged Death Eater, he never believed that the purebloods were any better than the muggle-borns. He'd joined the Death Eaters in the first place for the glory. The power. But he had realized soon enough that this wasn't the way to go about it.
Snape snapped out of his short reverie. "Snape!" the Dark Lord snapped.
He took a short step forward into the circle. "Yes Lord?" he said reverantly. Always the perfect actor.
"Lucius tells me your mission is not yet completed. You have had sufficient time to complete it, nearly 2 weeks. I will not tolerate this much longer Severus." the Dark Lord said curtly, with a dangerous edge to his voice.
"My apologies, my Lord. I was merely waiting until my preparations had been finished." Snape said, bowing his head slightly and looking up through his mask. He was surprised that he had been able to come up with an excuse so quickly. But after all, one tends to learn to do these things when they become a spy.
"Preparations?" the Dark Lord said questioningly, raising his wand slightly, as a reminder that he had better have a good answer.
"While I am more than happy to comply to your will, my Lord, I felt it was pertinent that I not sully myself with the mudblood any more than necessary." Snape said, internally wincing at his own words. Hermione wasn't just some dirty mudblood. She was so much better than that. Of course he used the only excuse he could, that he was making fertility potions so he wouldn't have to do the deed more than once.
The Dark Lord looked at him with what might have been approval. "Very well Snape. But get it done soon. I will not tolerate failure!"
The Dark Lord flicked his wand and Snape fell to the ground, gasping in pain. He assumed he had been hit with a variation of the crutacius. The Dark Lord was fond of developing new ways to maime and torture.
"Now all of you, out of my sight!" the Dark Lord snapped. He gave a fierce look around his circle as the Death Eaters started disapperating.
Snape stood up hastily and dusted himself off. He noticed that Malfoy and another, most likely Wormtail, hadn't moved yet. The Dark Lord turned his gaze to him and Snape disapperated as well.
He reappeared a moment later about 20 feet where he had stood before, behind a small cluster of bushes. He knew he was taking a risk, but something wasn't right about the way they were dismissed tonight. Usually the major part of the group went off to raid and pillage, and the Dark Lord disapperated. Yes, something was definately up.
"You wanted a word Lucius?" The Dark Lord said icily, his courtesy laced with tones of irritation.
Malfoy took off his mask, taking a few steps forward, twords the Dark Lord. "My Lord, I wondered if you might enlighten me to the need of the mudblood."
The Dark Lord eyed the blonde man carefully. He waited a minute, then finally answered. "I will tell you Malfoy."
Lucius Malfoy took on a rather smug look and the Dark Lord continued "And before you congradulate yourself, it's only because I have the feeling that if you aren't made aware, you might cause the whole thing to ruin."
The smug look soon turned into a slight frown. "I ran across a mudblood girl this summer, I'm sure you remember her Lucius."
Lucius remembered. The Brown girl. She'd been an ideal target for attack that summer. Her parents had gone out of the country to visit her sick grandmother, and she had stayed behind alone. What was her first name again? Oh yes, Lavender. Lavender Brown. She'd gone into a prophecy halfway through his rape of her. Needless to say, it had been less than satisfactory.
"She said something very interesting among all of her nonsense." the Dark Lord said carefully.
"The friend of an enemy and the enemy of a friend together shall bring forth one to end the struggle.
The tide will turn and the two will find themselves a new path.
As the waves turn to crimson, and the loss is felt on both sides, a choice will be made.
Our loss is our gain, and the one shall provide the way to victory." the Dark Lord recited.
"Albeit short, but powerful." the Dark Lord said.
"My Lord, I fail to see what this has to do with Snape and the Granger girl." Malfoy said, his face carefully devoid of emotion.
" 'The friend of an enemy' would describe the girl quite clearly, she is the best friend of Potter." the Dark Lord spat, his anger rising at the mention of the bane of his existance.
"And your, animosity with Snape is well known, which fits the 'enemy of a friend'."
A look of comprehension spread over Malfoy's face. "I see..so their child would be the key to our victory?"
"Precisely. Which is why they are so important to our cause at the moment."
Malfoy looked slightly uncomfortable. "I must be going my Lord. Thank you for sharing this with me." Lucius said with a bow, and the Dark Lord nodded slightly. With a slight 'pop' the Dark Lord disapperated, followed by the second Death Eater and then Malfoy.
When he was sure the coast was clear, Snape stood up from his crouching position behind the bushes and straightened shakily. This was not good news. If what the Dark Lord said was true, this baby could never be allowed to be born. But, without the conception of the baby, Hermione would die. Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. There was no easy solution to this.
A/N: I'm so sorry. I know you're prolly all sick of the prophecy nonsense, and believe me I am too, but I couldn't figure out another way to put this and still take the story in the direction I wanted to. Just remember, I'm not giving it all away that easily. Just don't take the prophecy for what it's written for.