Summary: The man who is an enigma, who flawlessly played both sides, is found out to have solely goodness in his heart. But he keeps one more secret. A secret that nearly destroys him. Severus Snape had a sister, and now, she's in Voldemort's cluthches. Pre HBP.
Warnings: This is a serious, angsty story. Torture, rape and murder are mentioned throughout. This fic is not for the weak at heart, or people who get offended by content that doesn't fit into their perfect model of the world. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine. You can't sue mebecasue I'm broke.
A/N: Does anyone know what these dagger type thingsare that I'm using in the partitions between POV?They look really cool, and I just want to make sure that they don't mean anything. If they do, please tell.
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The weather was cool for a summer night. Beams of moonlight arced through shuttered windows, landing on the wooden floorboards of 12 Grimmauld Place. The most ancient house of Black was nearly empty, with only three occupants to grace its halls.
They were all gathered in the kitchen by some twist of fate. None had planned it, but each had come down to the kitchen of their own volition.
Harry Potter had been the first to come down the stairs. Truth be told, he hadn't been getting much sleep since he had been rescued from the Dursley's two weeks before, having only stayed there for a record one week. Vernon had finally thrown his sanity to the wind and had beaten the boy, starved him, and many other things that were still having an effect on the green-eyed wizard. It didn't help that visions from Voldemort plagued him whenever his other nightmares didn't.
Sirius Black was the next occupant. After the events in Harry's fifth year, Sirius had spent a year in the realms beyond the veil. Voldemort had finally brought him back from the veil in a show of Dark Magic in an effort to bring Harry to the Dark. It had failed of course with the Order sending a party to retrieve Sirius and succeeding. Ever since, Sirius's name still hadn't been cleared and his animagus form had been made known to all Death Eaters. Sirius had been cooped up in his ancestral home for a year now, and he was stir crazy.
But by far the most interesting inhabitant of the house was Severus Snape, the Potion's Master at Hogwarts. Snape had been found out as a spy for the order two weeks before the end of term that year. Indeed, the only reason why the man was alive right now was a clever emergency portkey that Dumbledore had given him and sheer luck.
If Hagrid hadn't been patrolling the grounds that night to keep students away from the forest, he would never have heard the low moan that escaped the mangled Potion's Professor.
It had been quite a sight when Hagrid had kicked down the infirmary doors in his haste to get Snape to Madam Pomfrey. The giant had a soft spot for the taciturn Potion's Master, stemming from the fact that many times the half-giant had seen the stoic man limp into Hogwarts after a rough Death Eater meeting, or walk with shoulders hunched and a stiff, shamed gait when returning from a Dark Revel that he had not been able to worm his way out of.
Needless to say the Potions professor had spent almost three weeks in bed recovering from various injuries and crucio induced side-effects. The Potions Master had arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place as soon as it was safe to move him so that none would know of his injuries until the start of term the next year.
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No one knew what exactly it was that had made the Potions Master loose control of his Occlumency that night, and Snape hadn't spoken to anyone about it. The haunted look in his eyes seemed to say enough.
Even Sirius couldn't find it in himself to annoy the Potions Master, which was a rare occurrence indeed. Harry and the escaped convict were growing more worried about the silent man day after day.
The blue-eyed ex-convict studied the Potion's master. The detached man sat in his seat, his shoulders hunched ever so slightly. His eyes were fixed on the table, his head bowed. The posture was one that Sirius and Harry had grown familiar with over the few weeks that they had been in the man's presence.
"What is it, Black?" The man said, his dark eyes suddenly pinned Sirius to the spot.
"Nothing, Snape." Sirius said quickly. He didn't know what had caused Snape to confront him. The man rarely said anything at all.
"Black, I'm tired of this game. I am not some invalid to pity. When will you start being your usual bastard self?" The man looked at him with slight confusion in his eyes. Sirius was taken aback.
"Snape, while I may not like you, I've had a lot of time to myself in this house, and it's made me think about a lot of things. I wanted to forget about our conflicts in school and start anew," Sirius tried to explain.
Snape snorted. "Again, I do not need your pity. You must be having the time of your life. I am in the situation that I ridiculed you for," the man's dark eyes hardened.
"No, Snape. I made that decision long before… what happened to you. It was Remus that convinced me. He was always trying to get us to lay off you in school. We never listened though, and after a while, he gave up."
Snape looked deeply into Sirius's eyes, as if trying to see the honesty in them. Finally, he seemed to come to a conclusion. His expression softened fractionally.
"I… have also had a lot of time to think. What… happened made me think about many things." Snape started guardedly. "I am willing to try this, Black, but mark my words, if this is some kind of trick, you will regret it."
Sirius smiled, knowing that there was no way that the Potion's Master would believe just his word. He would have to work on gaining the other man's trust.
Snape was starting to return his gaze to the table, when a loud crack sounded in the kitchen. A large puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the table, and from it flew a great black owl. It looked fearsome. In its beak was held a piece of torn and dirty parchment. It dropped the letter near Snape and then flew right towards the man.
Before the Potion's Master could react, the owl opened a large gash in his cheek, causing both Harry and Sirius to flinch. Sirius drew his wand lightning quick, but before an incantation could pass his lips, the great bird disappeared with another crack and puff of smoke.
Sirius turned his attention back to the man who was now looking at the parchment before him. He seemed to barely notice the blood on his cheek. The gash ran from the corner of his eye to his jaw.
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Severus noticed the blood stains on the parchment, and had recognized the black owl that had appeared in the house. Voldemort wanted to get in contact with him for some reason. With a slightly trembling had, which he was sure that Potter and Black wouldn't fail to notice, he grasped the parchment and started to read.
Dearest Severus,
We've found her, Severus. Did you really think that you could keep her from me? New York, New York is all you could think of, how… original. You had better come quickly, Severus. She might not last the night. She's screaming for you.
His vision clouded. His mind went absolutely blank as deep shock set in. "No…" he rasped without realizing it. His fingers stiffened and he watched the parchment fall from his hand.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Black reach for it. "No Black!" he said.
The mutt only glared at him. "Snape, you're paler than normal. You look like you're in shock. I have to see what was in that letter." The man was visibly restraining himself from snapping. Severus was now even surer that the man had been honest about his intentions to start anew.
He watched as the blue-eyed man grabbed the piece of parchment. He watched the myriad of expressions cross the ex-convict's face. Confusion, shock, and the anger.
"Who?" Sirius snarled, looking into Snape's eyes with burning blue eyes."
Severus found himself incapable of say it aloud. "Sarah" he finally rasped.
Sirius looked at him in confusion. "Who?"
Suddenly he cloud that had slowed his though cleared. "My sister…" he whispered. "The bastard has my sister!" he raged. Then the fight went out of him. There was nothing he could do. He could not protect his own kin, that was what he had been reduced to.
He watched as Black's face turned from confusion, to surprise, to absolute horror.
"You have a sister?" he asked.
The Potion's Master merely nodded.
Suddenly, a burning pain shot through his left forearm.
†††
Harry watched with horror at the scene that unfolded before him. He had never seen his professor show so much emotion before.
When the professor clapped his hand over the Dark Mark that was still on his arm, Harry felt a corresponding pain shoot through his scar. However, Voldemort was not angry, as he had expected, but was expressing anticipation and sick amusement.
He watched as his professor's eyes widened and then a look of pure fear crossed the usually stoic man's face.
"Black," Snape rasped. "Take Potter and get out of here… The Dark Lord… he's taking over." The man grunted. He seemed to be in intense pain. He staggered out of his seat, trying to get away from Harry and Sirius. He leaned hard into the wall at the edge of the room and slowly sank to his knees, closing his eyes.
Harry looked at his Godfather. Sirius was looking at the Potion's Master with horror.
"I thought that he couldn't posses through the Mark." He exclaimed.
The dark-eyed man opened his eyes in a half-hearted glare. "He can't…" the man writhed until he was curled over, then tried again. "can't… take over… can only hear, see…and speak."
Sirius's expression then turned to resolve. "We're not leaving you with him alone."
"Black, you fool." The professor said, looking straight into the man's blue eyes. "You must go… I have… dealt with this… since my escape." He gasped. "He cannot see… Harry here… nor you."
Sirius shook his head stubbornly.
Snape writhed yet again. "Black… please." He whispered brokenly.
Harry started, hearing the tone of the Potions Master's voice. He quickly made his way to the man. But as he knelt beside him, the man shuddered oddly.
Crucio. A disembodied voice said. It's high pitch identified itself to Harry as the voice of his enemy.
The professor started to spasm. Harry grabbed hold of the man's upper body, pinning him to the floor with his slight weight. He was surprised to see that the professor was so thin. He could feel the bones in his shoulders through the cloth of his robe.
The green-eyed wizard tried to hold down the man as best as he could.
"Sirius, get professor Dumbledore!" he yelled to his Godfather.
He turned back to the Potions professor. He knew that most of the enmity that had existed between them had been mutual. He was going to forget the pat and star anew, like Sirius.
Suddenly the spasms stopped and the Potions Master fell forward into his arms. The mans face was pressed into his shoulder. He could feel the man's breath, coming in pants, on his neck.
A high pitched cackle filled the room. Voldemort was extremely amused. Harry felt the professor shrink back. He felt minute trembles pass through the man's body.
Hello Severus.
The man jumped, pulling away from Harry's hold. However, the majority of his weight still leaned against the smaller boy.
I have your sister here. She's screaming for you, calling out your name. Begging for you to save her.
Harry felt the man go stiff. He carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. Slowly, so as to not startle him. The man relaxed a bit.
The action, however, brought Voldemort's attention to Harry.
The cackle filled the room again. Harry Potter, what a pleasant surprise. Now, what are your doing… you aren't helping you dreaded Potions Master, are you?
Harry felt anger course through his veins. "Dreaded Potions Master indeed. Tom, are you really so stupid as to think I don't know it was all an act. Professor Snape is one of the bravest men I know. He stood up to you in person, in danger of his life more times than I could probably count. He fooled you Tom Riddle." He didn't know where the words had come from, but as they left his mouth, he felt the truth in them.
Voldemort roared in rage. How dare you! You insolent child. You know not the power I hold over him, nor over you. I have been lenient in the visions I send you. I could make it much worse.
Suddenly, Voldemort cut off. Snape uttered an odd choking sound from where Harry was holding him. It seemed as if it was too much effort for him to move.
Then the Dark Lord was back, causing another strangled gasp. The insane creature laughed again.
Severus, your sister's screams are so…arousing.
Harry felt the man in his arms jerk.
"Stay… away from her… you bastard." Snape gasped.
Crucio.
Harry tightened his grip in the man once again. The curse ended soon.
Don't worry Severus, we're not doing anything that she hasn't been through before.
Harry jerked with surprise. What was Voldemort talking about.
Harry. You look surprised, Voldemort cackled. Oh no… hasn't he told you yet? Don't you know about big, bad, daddy?
"No…" Snape rasped urgently. "don't…"
"What are you talking about Tom?" Harry asked viciously.
Severus here was his daddy's punching bag, mot to mention fuck toy. His sister too.
"No…" Snape gasped.
Harry tried to sooth him, tightening his grip on the man for a second, but the man persisted.
"Not… something she's been through before." He gasped.
Harry's brow furrowed. What did the professor mean?
Oh, Severus. Did you really think she'd tell you. You were helpless as was. That summer, when your father found out about how you had been tricked by the marauders. He killed your mother in front of you, made you watch. Made you watch as he forced himself on her. Made you watch as he tore her limb from limb. Then he turned on you. After you fell unconscious, he turned on your sister.
She never told you, but I saw the memories of those summer months in her mind. You made her swear to tell you if he ever hurt her. She couldn't bring herself to dash your hopes that by not fighting back, you were saving her. She knew that if you fought, it would only be worse for you.
The man shuddered in Harry's arms. Harry threw all reservations to the wind and pulled the man into an embrace. He could not bear the palpable pain that rolled of the man as his false hopes were shattered.
"Sarah…" the dark-eyed man groaned, his voice broken. "Sarah."
Voldemort's high pitched cackled filled the air. Maybe you would like to talk to her, Severus? Do you want to hear your sister's voice? Lucius has just concluded his fun. Well, frankly I don't care what you think.
There was a short silence, then Voldemort started to speak in a singsong voice. Sarah, oh Sarah. Your brother wants to hear your voice.
Harry waited with bated breath, and he felt Severus freeze in his arms as well, straining for any sign of his sister.
Voldemort quickly lost his patience. Speak up, bitch. A loud smack resounded in the air, followed by a small feminine yelp.
Then a small, terrified voice pierced the silence. "Severus?"
The professor's hand made a fist in Harry's robes when he heard that voice.
"Sarah?" he asked, his voice low and raspy.
"Severus, they found me. I tired so hard to get away. I'm so sorry."
"No Sarah, shh." The man said. His voice was smoother, calmer. He put his own discomfort on the back burner and focused on comforting his sister and reassuring her.
"Shh, just hold on. None of this is your fault. Just… hold on Sarah, I'm coming. I promise."
Harry was startled by the tone that the Potions Master's voice carried. The gentleness was something that the green-eyes wizard would have never expected from the stern taskmaster that he was used to.
Well, I find that I grow rather bored with this conversation. I'll say goodbye for now. You had better join us, Severus, or your sister will be dead by sunrise tomorrow.
Again, the Potions Master shuddered oddly in his arms.
The burning pain in his scar that he had been ignoring suddenly ceased, as did the writhing of his professor.
To Harry's surprise, the man did not move right away. The usually stoic man seemed to lean on the teen for a few fractions of a second before pulling away as much as he could in the state that he was in.
Harry quickly helped the man lean against the wall behind them before he carefully removed the arms that had been supporting the professor.
The man opened his eyes, peering at Harry. "Thank you," the man said. Harry started at those word coming from the professor's mouth, but smiled in reply all the same.
Suddenly, Snape's eyes fixed on something over Harry's shoulder, and widened.
Harry quickly turned to be greeted by the sight of Albus Dumbledore and Sirius Black.
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Sirius stood in the doorway to the kitchen, having witnessed on of the most horrifying things that he could think of. He was startled out of his shock when he heard his godson ask what he had seen. He cleared his throat, quickly glancing at Snape, who was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed and an intense look of pain on his face.
"Harry… Severus… I, I saw everything. Albus had just walked in because he wanted to talk to Severus, and we came straight back here."
Harry closed his eyes. "Sirius, I know that you said that you were going to start over with professor Snape, and I'm holding you to it. If I hear one, one, comment about any of this, I will personally hand you back over to Voldemort, understood."
Sirius looked at his godson with wide eyes. There was a light in the emerald eyes that said that Harry was completely serious. Sirius knew where that had come form though. Reflecting on what had happened this summer, it was not a surprise that Harry was defending the Potions Master. Sirius still felt the blood in his veins boil when he thought about Harry's pedophile of an uncle.
"I would never think of it, Harry. I give you my word that I will never use that information about Severus to harm him in any way."
His godson nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer.
Sirius watched as Snape opened his eyes. He could not comprehend the desolate look that the man had in his eyes. He felt the air move as Albus hurried over to where Harry and Severus were leaning against the wall. He himself made his way toward them.
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Severus couldn't think. His mind was foggy, and his body ached from the cruciatus curses that he had withstood. He mentally cursed as he couldn't hold back the groan that made its way through his lips.
Gods, he hurt all over.
He had seen the mutt and Albus as soon as he opened his eyes and regained his bearings. Even now, he gathered strength from the memory of a person actually embracing him without any motive other then to give comfort and to protect.
He had been afraid when he found out that they had heard everything, but relieved when he heard the finality in Black's and Potter's tones. They wouldn't say anything.
He felt a hand brush back his hair from his face and looked up in surprise. Albus was crouched in front of him sorrow in his usually twinkling eyes.
"Oh Severus, why didn't you tell me he could do this. Why didn't you tell me about your father, your sister. Why didn't you tell me not to send you home that year."
Severus's control broke at the sorrow in the old man's voice. All the anger and resentment that he had hidden finally broke loose.
"How?" he bit out. "Because I had no choice, Albus. What would you have done if I had told you. There was nothing you could do and doubtless you would have found a way to use it against me. You always have the concerns of the wizarding world at heart, never the concerns of one person.
"How could I not tell you about my home life? Because you never cared; you would have never believed me. My father knew well how to act the perfect gentleman. He would have had you fooled and then I would have had to pay the price. Sirius almost killed me, and all the mutt got off with was detention for a month. I had to watch my mother be brutally murdered in front of my eyes. And what happened on the train the minute he saw me, when I was broken and was barely holding myself together, he hexes my clothes off so that everyone can see my old, dirty underwear. I barely got a glamour on in time to hide the wounds that had been inflicted on me.
"Face it Albus, the Marauders were always more important to you. You would always place them first. And my sister? My sister was so young at the time, Albus. She's much younger than I. Father didn't want anyone to know about her until she got her Hogwarts letter. There was nothing I could do. Any of my actions could have caused my father to punish my sister to punish me.
"I was helpless, Albus. And you never cared enough to check why I usually limped when I came back from home after summer holidays. You never cared to check where all the scars on my body came from even as an eleven year old. Whip marks leave a very unique mark, Headmaster. You cannot mistake them for anything else."
Severus abruptly stopped his tirade, and turned his face away from the man that had controlled his life for so long.
"I owe you my life, my loyalty, and my salvation, Albus, but you have never held my trust. I have been betrayed far too many times to trust someone who must have seen the signs. What did I do, Albus? What did I do to make you ignore me. What did I do to deserve all of this?"
He looked back into the old man's eyes and saw pity in them.
"I'm sorry Severus. I was blind. I never noticed. I don't think I ever really looked. I know that I showed much blatant favoritism at the time when James was at Hogwarts."
Severus clenched his hands, making them into tight fists.
"Well, I have nothing left to loose Headmaster, and everything to gain." With a surge of strength that was of unknown origin, he sprang to his feet and was by the fireplace with floo powder in his hand in a heartbeat.
"I will go to the Dark Lord and save my sister. Don't come after me."
With that, he steeled his nerves and cast the powder into the flames. He saw Potter and Black lunge toward him with expressions of horror. They were going to try and stop him He saw Albus still crouching where he had been. He saw the tears rolling down the old man's face. The last thing he saw before walking into his personal nightmare was the swirl of fireplaces flying past him, and the fireplace that was his destination. And the last thing he noticed was the portkey spell that Albus had put on the necklace that his sister had given him before she went into hiding.
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A/N: Tell me what you think. Any good? Should I go on with this? And for those of you who have read my other fic. Yes, I'm working on the next chapter. I just have really bad writers block, not to mentin I got the muse for this story. So, never fear, the other story shall continue.
-Draconigena