They apparated to an old, deserted house near Ramshead. The area was safe, it had been secured beforehand and was guarded by a few of them, so they had the chance to check on their injuries and to see who was there and who had been captured or killed during the raid.
"Went the day well?" Those were the first words out of the Dark Lord's mouth.
"Dumbledore is dead."
"Well done, Draco," the Dark Lord said, making a twisted movement with his lips that might have been a smile. But then he spun round, wand hand at the ready. "Except Draco was not the one who killed him. Who was foolish enough to disobey my order?"
Snape stepped forward. He might as well get this over and done with.
"I presume you have an excuse."
"We were about to be caught on the tower, I thought,"
"Oh, Snape thinks, does he? Crucio!" The rest of the Death Eaters weren't surprised. What else could Snape expect if he went against the Dark Lord's direct orders? At least he wasn't trying to explain himself, some of the older ones could remember the way he used to, more like Wormtail did even now, squirming with the agony of it but still trying to explain why they did whatever it was that had earned the Dark Lord's displeasure. It was easier to just take the punishment and be done with it, plus talking back always angered the Dark Lord and made him curse you for an even longer time.
Of course even the Dark Lord tired of his sport eventually and let Snape go. Snape stumbled off, trying not to show that he was in agony, which he must have been, judging by the blood dripping from his nose and the uncontrollable twitch in his left arm. Narcissa Malfoy trailed after him in a manner that set tongues wagging.
He had collapsed onto the nearest chair in one of the smaller sitting rooms. Narcissa scurried in after him, taking a handkerchief from her right cuff. She tried to dab the blood from under his nose. He batted her hand away.
"Oh, stop fussing woman." He wiped it away himself with his robe sleeve. The twitch was starting to subside.
Narcissa was making little hitched noises. That was all he needed. Snape had the great grandmother of all headaches brewing. He needed peace and quiet, no people and preferably a simple potion to brew. It would be lovely to be back in his old rooms with a light painkilling potion to brew, dark and quiet and something to take his mind off this intolerable ache. At least he could do something about the sniffling noise if nothing else. "I'm sorry Narcissa. I've had a bad day. Potter has sworn eternal vengeance, the Aurors will be after me from now on, not to mention the rest of the Wizarding World that haven't seen sense and joined us. The Crucio is not helping matters."
"I'm sorry Severus. I just wanted to say thank you, for Draco. I heard what happened from Amycus, and I know what the Dark Lord would have done to Draco if he hadn't completed his task." He'd seen her cry twice before, once when she and Lucius had had the most inconveniently loud and dreadful row the week before the NEWTs and she'd been so upset because she was going to have to marry him and she hated him, hated him. They'd made up within the month or at least appeared to. The second time was at Draco's christening, four months after the fall of the Dark Lord, Lucius was still under investigation, Snape as it turned out would be dragged away the next day and everyone was stressed, and Blacks did not cry when under pressure, but a christening you could cry tears of joy and that would be fine. Draco twice christened, once with water and once with his mother's tears.
"Shh, it's all right. I promised I'd make sure Draco was all right." Draco, where was the brat? Hopefully he wasn't plotting something else irretrievably darkening to his soul; Snape was certain he himself wasn't up for another Unforgivable tonight, saying or being hit by one. He was shattered. What he needed was sleep. And peace and quiet. But it didn't look like he'd be getting any of those soon.
Draco crept in the room, looking for his mother. The two of them didn't see him, exactly what he wanted. Why was his mother being kind to that monster? He was the man who killed Dumbledore when the old man had all but surrendered. Draco could have brought Dumbledore back to the Dark Lord and they could have sorted something out and Dumbledore wouldn't have had to die. The Dark Lord was reasonable. Something would have to be done about this, and Draco would be the one to do it.