The Dog Star

I Apparated to Drakken Forest in northern Scotland. I was surprised to find myself so quickly back in the field after the Dark Lord's words earlier. However, as the Dark Lord deemed this mission vital enough to lead himself, he must have felt it required all hands on deck.

The area before me was beautiful -- nature at its best. Autumn was at its peak in Scotland with the forest draped in fiery orange and deep scarlet. However, I was not allowed to linger.

"Come on, Snape!"

I had no choice but to follow my fellow Death Eaters who, apparently, had no appreciation for nature. I followed them reluctantly, snapping at anyone and everyone in my path. The moment we reached our rendezvous point, the perfect place for an ambush, Voldemort's voice called to us, "The Aurors are approaching! Get ready!"

I put a Disillusionment Charm on myself and hid behind a large oak tree, while the others either levitated themselves onto high branches or hid behind bushes. We all waited in complete silence broken only by the slight drizzle pattering on the leaves. Even the animals respected the tense silence. I strained my ears and heard the unmistakable pops of at least twenty Aurors Apparating into the clearing.

A voice blasted into the silence. "Is everyone here? Ok people, this is the place where we hold the weekly mentor–student duels. I brought you here so that no one will have to accompany you when you reach this point in your training. Ok! Get ready —"

I felt my mark burn — the signal. I stepped out from behind the oak tree, calling up all the nonverbal spells I had ever learned, just as a familiar voice shouted, "Look out! It's an ambush!" I was not surprised. Sirius Black was the only idiot who always stated the obvious.

The Aurors started throwing defensive spells and curses as the other Death Eaters materialized out of nowhere and joined the battle. The forest had become a battleground in a matter of seconds. Aurors and Death Eaters were falling almost at the same rate, stunned, dead or bound.

I was battling two Aurors at once, Dorcas Meadows and Heistia Jones. I sent a strangling curse in Meadows's direction and shoved a Levicorpus at Jones. Meadows was struggling with the curse, so I Stunned her, bound her, and removed the strangling curse. I turned to Jones, expecting her to be still hanging but, to my surprise she was already on her feet, having found the counter-curse. The girl was good! I threw curse upon curse at her, but she kept on blocking. She managed to push a powerful bone-breaking curse at me. It hit me full-force on the chest, and I was thrown backwards, but not before I whipped my wand around, casting my favorite spell. "SECTUMSEMPRA!" It cut deep gashes across her chest and arms.

I fell down, wheezing, near the edge of the clearing where, thankfully, no one was fighting. I felt my chest and was not surprised to find that almost all of my ribs were broken. I could hardly breathe. While performing certain dark Healing spells, I also cast a Disillusionment Charm around myself, just in case. I licked my lips, tasting blood, and looked up to see how Jones was doing. She was no longer alone. James Potter stood over her, performing a counter-curse, which seemed to be working. After he was done, he gave her over to another Auror who Dissaparated the moment he took Jones into his arms.

I watched as Potter turned towards another Death Eater who was fighting Black, and disarmed him. Black shouted out a curse that uprooted a seventeen foot tree and hit the Death Eater with such force that he was thrown thirty feet into the air before landing on the ground with a sickening splat. Potter and Black exchanged high fives and looked around for more Death Eaters. As I was in no position to fight both of them, I did the only thing that came to my mind — I played dead.

When I opened my eyes two minutes later, I saw Potter and Black working together to capture two Death Eaters at once. Within seconds they had them bound and unconscious. I watched Black turn to duel another Death Eater, and blinked in disbelief as I saw a stream of green light shoot out of Black's wand and hit one of the new recruits squarely in the chest, sending him flying straight into a tree, completely and utterly dead. I could not believe what I had just seen — Black had just killed! No Auror could kill unless it was absolutely necessary (Black had been already winning), but then when had Black ever played by the rules?

A person, who had just walked past me, obstructed my view of Black and Potter for a moment. My eyes bulged out the moment I saw who the figure was — Lord Voldemort. I watched in fascination as the Dark Lord cut a path straight towards Black and Potter, who were still hadn't seen him, cursing anyone and everyone who stood in his path, Death Eaters and Aurors alike. Just as the Dark Lord stopped a few feet in front of Black and Potter, they turned their wands in unison straight at Voldemort's heart. The clearing got very quiet and everything that was happening around me blurred as I focused all my attention on the three people in the middle of the battlefield. I watched wide eyed as the Dark Lord and the two Marauders confronted each other eye-to-eye. For almost five minutes, Black and Potter struggled to fight the Dark Lord's Legilimency. It seemed as if they had won because the Dark Lord broke the silence. "I have heard a lot about you, Mr. Black and Mr. Potter. I have been watching you for some time now, and I am most convinced that your abilities are exceptional. I have to say, though, that such abilities would be better rewarded if put to the right use. Under my guidance, you would learn much more. You would gain power, power beyond your imagination. Only by joining me, will you achieve your fullest potential." Voldemort smiled, having clearly captured Potter's attention.

"Who are you? And what do you know about my abilities?"

"I am Lord Voldemort, the leader of the Death Eaters, and I am offering you the chance to join my army."

"Join you! The bastard fulfilling what that Slytherin started, killing all the Muggleborns? Don't make me laugh!"

Red eyes flashed, but Voldemort remained calm.

"You refuse? I expect better from you, Black."

"Sorry, Moldy. Thanks, but no thanks," said Black.

"Then I have no further need for you two. "Avada Kedarva!" Voldemort shouted.

Potter jumped aside, avoiding the Killing Curse and, swishing his wand left and right, pointed it at Voldemort. A bluish-black light streaked out of Potter's wand and hit the orange light of Voldemort's next curse. The result was instantaneous: an explosion that carved a deep crater in the forest floor and reduced the nearby trees to ashes. I was surprised. Potter had certainly learned a lot under Alaster Moody.

Black, on the other hand, had rolled off to one side and come up in a sort of crouch. He had his left arm extended with his palm held open and his right arm drawn back with his wand in hand. The crouching position allowed him to move around the clearing, raining spell upon spell at the Dark Lord from all sides, while Potter dodged and sent an occasional curse in the direction of Lord Voldemort. What I noticed was, while Potter utilized only Light magic, Black used all kinds of magic, Light, Dark and Ancient. I was not the only one who had noticed; even the Dark Lord was starting to give Black looks of surprise every time he used Dark Magic.

I felt my breathing becoming normal again, so I quickly put another Healing spell on myself and stood up, feeling exhausted, but very much alive. I started towards the nearest Auror and, to my surprise and horror, it turned out to be Potter's mentor — 'Mad-Eye' Moody. As I was weak already, I did not dare use wordless magic, which gave Moody a split second advantage over me. I had to duck and weave around the trees on the edge of the clearing. Moody tripped over a splayed root, and I made my move. I streaked my wand through the air, cut left and shouted, "Equires Desistus!" The spell was designed to give the caster half of an enemy's energy, while making the enemy's limbs temporarily lifeless. But the Auror dodged it by Dissaparating, and Apparated back in the middle of the clearing, shouting, "Every one, to Hidden Grove!" I watched as another Auror grabbed the bound Death Eaters and Dissaparated, while a tough looking brute grabbed Potter and Black roughly (Black and Potter showed every sign of fighting), and Dissaparated. I walked up to the clearing and looked around — total destruction. I found at least nine bodies as I walked around reviving those who could wake up. Out of the nine, three were Aurors and six were Death Eaters.

I looked up at Voldemort after I revived Lucius. From the look in his glowing red eyes, we both could see that he was livid.

"Doesn't look like he's in a good mood anymore," Lucius stated.

"Yeah, I hope I don't have to go through another round of Cruciatus," I muttered.

"Ah, cheer up, Snape. At least you won't be the only one this time!"

"You owe me"

"Why?"

"The bet"

Lucius threw me three galleons and dissaparated.