HBP spoilers galore. For a taste of where this fic is going, make sure to read to the end.
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"GET AWAY FROM THE BLASTED DOOR!"
Wormtail yipped as the front door swung violently open. He attempted to step back as it did so, but slipped on some of the rain water pouring in from the streets of Spinner's End. His heel twisted, and he fell backwards onto the floor.
Landing with a painful thud, he looked up wildly to catch a glimpse of a hooded figure filling the door frame, outlined by curtains of rain. The figure threw back his hood, and to Wormtail's increasing terror, he saw that it was a livid Severus Snape. The Death Eater was even more frightening than usual, with his hair plastered wildly to his cheeks, and a look of fury contorting his features unrecognizably.
"Get out of my way!" Severus screamed over the howl of the rain. Wormtail quickly obliged, scuttling backwards out of the entryway, leaving a wet trail behind him.
Severus stepped in then, turning to close the front door with great effort. As he moved, Wormtail could see the man was carrying something under one arm. Something quite large, also wrapped in a dark cape.
The noise from the storm instantly ceased as the door was bolted, leaving only the sounds of dripping water and Severus's footsteps across the pantry way. He ignored Wormtail as he let his heavy burden slip from his grasp and drop onto the floor. Wormtail gave a small gasp when he recognized Severus's baggage to be human; the sprawled legs and pale skin peeking through the cloak gave it away. But the face was too far away to be recognized, and Wormtail dared not approach any closer for fear of igniting Severus's anger. Speaking of the Death Eater, Wormtail noticed that the man was bleeding--from a cut on his face and a wound in his side–and felt a little better about being yelled at.
Severus stripped off the saturated robes and let them slip to the floor as well. Touching his side wound gingerly, he muttered something that sounded an awful lot like, "damned hippogriff."
"Wuzzat, Severus?" Wormtail broke the silence, motioning to the figure pooling water on the tile.
Severus ignored him, but did return his attention to the body. His knelt down, his fingers passing over the cloak until he snagged a corner of it, and began stripping it off. Feeling a little braver now that the wizard's attention was elsewhere, Wormtail stepped forward to get a better look. The heavy soaked fabric was pulled away, revealing a pale and shivering boy, and one quite young at that.
"Oh-ho! That there is Malfoy's boy! What 'er you doing with him, Severus?" Wormtail crowed.
"The Dark Lord has placed him under my care for the time being," the wizard answered quietly. He dropped Draco's sopping cape and muttered a drying spell over the unconscious boy. Draco's clothes instantly warmed, but he still lay quivering.
"Why has he done that, then?"
"I do not make a habit of questioning the Dark Lord."
"But this is all you bring home after killing the master's greatest enemy? Surely he has rewar--"
"Be silent, rodent." Severus snapped, standing back up.
"Did you ask to be given the boy, Severus? I cannot imagine Narcissa giving her son up so easily..."
"Narcissa is dead."
Wormtail blinked in surprise. He had not been fond of Narcissa–no, he was not fond of anyone anymore–but he had admired her beauty, had envied her powerful family. He contemplated his next question for a moment.
"Did she anger the Dark Lord?"
Severus's eyes flicked towards the blonde boy laying on the tile before he answered. "Both she and Lucius have gravely aggravated him," he answered. After briefly considering leaving the explanation at that, he continued, "During the attack on Hogwarts, Bellatrix and some others led a raid on Azkaban, but Lucius refused to escape. He fled rather than return with them".
Wormtail squeaked, but he looked more amused than upset. "He was afraid, and rightfully so of facing the Dark Lord's wrath! But betraying the master? How stupid of him! "
"Perhaps Narcissa would have been spared...but the Dark Lord turned his anger towards Draco and she lost control. She had already been accused of defying Him...but her son has always been her soft spot."
"And now she's dead for it!" Wormtail chimed in gleefully.
"It is a waste!" Severus growled, but stopped abruptly. Wormtail was eyeing him quizzically, too much so. "Regardless," he continued, all emotion drained from his voice, "the Dark Lord has spared the boy and placed him in my keep. It's certainly none of your concern".
Wormtail grunted in response, his beady eyes flashing in the dim light.
"No--your concern is getting your necessities together. This house isn't safe for us anymore. Too many wizards know I take up residence here...and the Dark Lord has asked us to join him".
Severus went to leave the foyer, but stopped when he felt an odd sensation at the back of his neck. Turning, he saw Wormtail crouched over Draco, his yellow fingernails stretched out towards the boy's face.
"So pretty..." Wormtail was murmuring. "What a pretty little thing you are..."
A bolt shot from Severus's wand and hit the man between the eyes; he squeaked and fell back once more, holding a hand to his face.
"Don't touch him again, rodent," Severus warned. "I shall know if you do." With a flap of his dark cloak, he disappeared into the dark house.
Severus sat on the edge of his bed. He had been sitting there for many hours now, his pale, bony fingers laced together, his back bowed and still. The room was pitch, the only light coming from random bursts of lightning which illuminated a night-stand where a wand lay harmlessly.
Everywhere was stillness, every room was quiet. The only sounds in the whole house were muffled crying sounds, drifting up through the floorboards. At least the boy had regained consciousness.
The Death Eater looked up at the window; his greasy hair fell messily against the translucent skin of his hollowed face. He looked years older than he had a few days ago.
His vision eventually blurred, but still he stared out, silently, into the rain.
In the early hours of the morning, far before the sun's return to the sky, Severus descended the staircase with several suitcases willed with essentials.
Before he could even reach the last step, Wormtail came rushing up to him, wailing.
"Severus! Severus! That boy is chucking things at me! He's destroyed the kitchen–h-he broke the teapot–did you hear that? There he goes again! I tried to stop him but h-he tried to stab me with a kitchen knife–!"
Severus scowled deeply at the little man. "Stop your squealing–and never mind the boy. I'll deal with him. Have you gotten your things together? We're apparating in a few minutes."
"A-almost everything..."
"Then finish. Now."
He watched Wormtail scurry away before entering the kitchen. A tea cup whizzed by his head the moment he walked in. The next one was aimed surer, but he deflected it with his wand.
Draco was across the room, wrenching another cabinet door open, looking for more projectiles. When he looked up and saw Severus, his eyes burned with renewed anger.
"There are more glasses in the cabinet by your legs," Severus remarked, frowning at the state of things.
"I hate you," Draco hissed, his hands trembling. "You've taken everything away from me!EVERYTHING!"
"But it's because of me that your alive, need I remind you."
"Oh, yea!" Draco's voice was strained and peaking, and as wild as his eyes."I forgot to thank you for that, now didn't I? Yea, well thanks-a-fucking-bloody lot for d-destroying me and leaving me alive to suffer! Thanks for not finishing the job, Severus!" He let out a hollow laugh.
Severus didn't say anything for a while; he just watched Draco put a foot threw his cabinet when it wouldn't open for him. He shrieked and tore at it for a while longer, his whole body spasming, before abruptly stopping mid-swing and sliding down to the floor.He just sat there and breathed heavily, glaring at Severus with as much malice as he could summon. It was quite a bit, considering the circumstances.
"We must get going, Draco. That is, if your through throwing this tantrum." Severus looked down his sharp nose at the boy.
"Shut up!" Draco snapped, his voice shaking. "I hate you. I h-hate you. You aren't going through what I'm going through. You d-don't know–you have no idea!"
The Death Eater's lips curled into a wicked sneer. He crossed the kitchen quickly, to where Draco was curled. The boy shrank further when he saw Severus's fast approach. But he was unable to stop Severus from seizing his face in a cold, painful grip and jerking it up to stare eye-to-eye with the man.
"I have no idea? You're a revolting little brat, aren't you Draco? You've been so coddled your whole life, and now that you think you've been abandoned, you have no will to live? You're ready to become a sniveling nothing now that you have to stand on your own two feet? Look at you! You dare call yourself a pureblood? A Malfoy? Narcissa would spit on you now."
Draco was listening in silence until mention of his mother. With that, his eyes flashed open and he through his elbow out violently. Snape blocked the assault by grabbing the arm, then the other. He shoved Draco into the cabinet, all the while the boy was screaming in his face, "don't you dare use her name! You have no right to use HER name! You are nothing like her! She trusted you, and you betrayed her!"
"I did no such thing," Severus snapped back. "She valued your safety over all others–the vow I made only concerns you, not her! She knew I would protect you, and I have."
"RUDDY JOB YOU'VE MADE OF IT!"
"I offered you my support, or have you forgotten?" he hissed. "I offered you a chance, but no–you had to kill Dumbledore without any assistance. You could have claimed all the glory, and perhaps saved your mother, but I had to finish the job for you, no didn't I? The only favor I got from the Dark Lord was your worthless life!"
Draco turned away, his next words dying in his throat. His jaw flinched, and several hot tears squeezed out of his eyes. Severus released him.
"That's right, boy. You are more responsible for Narcissa's death that I. I know it's occurred to even you." Severus stood upright and straightened his robes. "But because of her sacrifice, the Dark Lord has released you. Very few can walk away like you have, do you understand? Now you have the chance to make her death mean something, if you can stop wallowing in this nauseating self pity."
Severus heard shuffling feet, and turned to see Wormtail standing in the doorway.
"Er...I've gotten everything packed, like you asked," he muttered.
"Good. Go wait for me."
Draco didn't lift his head to meet his eyes, but quietly asked Severus where he was planning to go.
"Wormtail and I's whereabouts are no longer your concern, since we won't be with you after today. You' be going, of course, to the Ministry."
Draco looked up, his pale grey eyes wide and wet.
"What?"
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Thanks for reading! This should only be a simple, three-four part fic if everything goes according to plan.
What do you think about the Snape-Draco interaction? Pretty accurate or way off? I'm trying to reflect the relationship they seem to have in HBP.
Speaking of HBP, the only wrench I'm throwing into the normal course of things us Narissica's death. What was your reaction? To me it just seemed so possible–what do you think?
PLEASE DROP ME A LINE–even a couple-word comment is treasured.
Severus Forverus,
The Sneeze