The Night Descending

By penpunk

Chapter 1: Bleeding into the Blackness

In the middle of a small room, a boy with a greasy curtain of black hair concentrated on the water stained ceiling above him. As he lifted his wand, he aimed and shot a burst of green sparks into the air, hitting his tiny black targets and causing them to fall. The dead flies hit the yellowed sheets of his unmade bed with a tiny sound of impact before he brushed them away onto the floor. He lay back onto the mattress, the spidery strands of hair falling away from his face, revealing a hooked nose, black eyes and sallow skin.

Severus Snape looked about his small bedroom idly. The walls seemed closer together in the hot August afternoon. Scattered about the floor were piles of books, rolls of parchment, most filled end to end with tiny cramped writing. In one corner, a small, scraggly black cat stretched in a padded box before turning in a circle and settling itself back down.

The dirty walls of the room were bare, save for a yellowing star chart pinned up next to the small window. The threadbare curtains were pulled over the window, allowing in ample amounts of sunlight. Severus couldn't wait to go back to the dark corridors and chambers of the dungeons and Slytherin common room. There, it would be quiet, without the constant chastising he got from his father about his constant studying. At least the Slytherin's left him alone.

His eyes narrowed at the sound of a door being slammed. The rickety house shuddered and the windows rattled at the sudden noise. A voice came from the next room, sounding agitated and intoxicated.

"Eileen? Eileen, where are you?"

Severus tightened his grip on his wand. It was only mid-afternoon and the sudden appearance of Tobias Snape's voice meant that the rest of the evening would be spent in an uneasy tension

"Eileen, where are you, you lazy woman?"

Severus could hear his mother shuffle out of the room across from his. He could hear the reluctance in her steps as she went out to meet her husband. And then the argument started.

Severus rolled over onto his stomach, resting his chin on his clenched fist as he listened to the exchange of words between his parents. His mother's low and sullen voice battled fruitlessly against his father's snarling and sputtering words. He was all too use to the arguments that ensued every time his father showed up, unexpected or not. Pulling out a book from under his bed, Severus concentrated on the page, trying not to hear the shouting from the next room.

"Tobias, that was your fourth job this month," said his mother, her voice rough with frustration. "Severus is going back to school. He needs his supplies."

Severus looked up to the calendar on his wall, which he used to mark the days off before he would be boarding the train to Hogwarts. Only a fortnight remained and the end of the holidays couldn't come soon enough. Though, in all reality, he was trading one hell for another, he would at least be matched against wizards his own age, not angry drunken muggles with a distaste for magic and meaty, eager fists.

"What's the use? Fat load of help magic has done for this family. I have the mind to pull him out of that mad house and put him to work. Get his nose out of those bloody books and into something respectable."

Severus' lip twitched at the words. He had heard them a million times before but they had yet to become less biting every time he heard them. He could hear his mother retort and then came the sound of skin contacting skin. His mother's sudden whimper caused him to jump off his bed, and out of his door, wand already held out in front of his body.

He had heard his father hit his mother numerous times. He knew that if he interfered, he would be on the receiving end of his father's rage, but something in the way his mother's voice sounded and the sharpness of the slap struck a nerve with him. He was a wizard. This dirty muggle shouldn't be a match for him. If his mother was just going to stand by and let him use her as a punching bag like some helpless muggle, Severus was going to have a say in the matter.

His father stood in the house's tiny kitchen, next to his mother who was holding her cheek. A red hand mark was appearing over her pallid skin. Her heavy brows knitted themselves in apprehensionas she glanced up at her husband and then to her son as he stood in the hallway.

"Severus, dear, go back into your room," she said in a low, almost whisper as she looked up contemptuously at Tobias, who turned as his wife mentioned the boy now standing defiantly in the hallway.

Father and son expressions were similar. Black eyes narrowed malevolently, staring coldly into each other. Hissing sounds were emitting from both Snapes as they breathed through clenched teeth. Tobias Snape turned his back on his wife, who was looking fearfully towards her son.

"And what do you think you're doing, boy?" he said as he walked toward Severus, his rounded shoulders squaring toward his son. "What do you think you're doing, pointing that stick at me?"

Severus could see the slight stagger in his walk and the smell of stale alcohol on his breath. His white collared shirt was stained and disheveled. Severus' lip curled in disgust as he looked into his father's eyes.

"Leave my mother alone," he hissed as the tried to control his emotions. As much as he wanted to appear brave, he couldn't help but to fear. His wand, held by long pale fingers, was starting to shake slightly. "She didn't do anything to you."

The older Snape barked a loud and cold laugh.

"Didn't do anything?" he sneered. "Boy, your mother's dirty little secret is the cause of all this. She could have warned me of all this unnaturalness and nonsense before she roped me into this marriage. And then there's you. Just as foul and magical as her, eating away at every penny I make to go to that bloody school."

"If you could keep a job, Tobias," said Eileen in a quiet, yet unwavering voice, "and didn't waste what little money we have on drink. We being magical has nothing to do with it."

Tobias reached back and hit Eileen again, causing her to fall back into a chair behind her.

"Well, why don't you wave your little wand and make some money appear?"

"Stop it," said Severus again, raising his wand a little more, stretching his arm closer to his father, as if he was willing it to explode at him without having to do anything.

"What are you going to do Severus? What are you going to do, boy? Curse me? You don't have the guts."

Severus kept his wand on his father as Tobias walked back to his mother. Tobias took a great clump of Eileen's thinning black hair and wretched her head back.

"Leave her alone," shouted Severus, though he couldn't keep the shakiness caused by the white hot rage and the blatant fear he was feeling at that moment.

"Do it then. Curse me. Show me what my hard earned money has gotten you these last three years. Go on," Tobias said sharply. "Show me one of your magic tricks. Something you've learned in one of those books that my money has paid for."

Eileen was sniffing loudly as Tobias pulled up on her hair, her heavy brows scrunched and wrinkled in pain. Severus' black glare gleamed as he looked his father up and down. They stood like that for a while, silent except for his mother's quiet whimpers.

Severus steadied his hand with a deep breath before a hex flew from his wand. His father staggered back before releasing his wife's hair. He brought a hand to his cheek, which had a wide gash across it.

Tobias advanced on Severus before the boy could react. He knocked the wand out of his hand with one swipe. Severus recoiled, turning toward the wall behind him.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Tobias sneered. He grabbed Severus by the shoulder and whirled him back around. "Face me like a man, you great bloody coward."

Severus tried to pull himself out of his father's grip but it was too strong.

"No you don't," he said as he grabbed Severus by the hair. "Fight me face to face. Not so tough without your wand, are you?"

Severus felt his father's hot breath on his face. The man before him stared him straight in the eye, his body swaying slightly in unbalance, waiting for Severus to retaliate.

"You coward. You stupid bloody coward," hissed the elder Snape as he shoved his son back down the hall. With a rough push, Tobias threw Severus into his room. Severus tripped and his nose collided with a bedpost. It immediately began issuing blood all over and he realized with defeat that he had no wand to fix it.

"You stupid worthless coward. No magic to help you now. Coward, that's what you are. Ugly greasy little coward."

Severus Snape's eyes opened with a start. He rolled off his back and groped along the bedside table beside him, his hand clenching around his wand.

Coward.

He could still hear his father's voice echoing in his ears. However, it gradually melded with another louder and filled with rage, more so than his past memory. He shook his head of the memory as he sat up in bed, his legs twisted and strangled by the sheets covering is angular body. The same curtain of greasy black hair framed his older sallow face and prominent nose.

With a flick of his wand, the candle next to him lit, casting an eerie dancing light around the small room. A tiny window above him leaked in a slight breeze, rustling the insect-eaten curtains that covered it. Across the room, another small bed was occupied by Draco Malfoy's sleeping figure. His disheveled blonde hair flickered silvery in the candle light.

Snape pulled his legs out of the tangle of sheets and rested them on the worn and dusty floor. He stood and glided over to a cabinet in the corner. Drawing out a cloak, he threw it over his thin shoulders and swept out of the room.

The stairs leading to the first floor creaked under Snape's feet. He could hear faint voices in a room beyond him. As he reached the bottom of the flight, shuffling steps revealed a small man with beady, watery eyes and a pointed pale face.

"Oh Snape, it's you," he said as he stopped before the taller man.

"Who else would you be expecting?" Snape said as he looked at Wormtail with a controlled amount of contempt.

"Oh, never mind," said Wormtail as he wrung his hands, one of flesh and the other of silver. "Everyone is in the kitchen."

"Everyone?" Severus' eyebrows lifted slightly.

"Amycus, Alecto, Yaxley," he said, ticking names off his silver fingers. "Bellatrix."

Snape's thin lips curled at the mention of the last name.

"So Bellatrix has decided to grace us with her presence," he said darkly.

"The Dark Lord sent her," said Wormtail. "She sent me to get Malfoy."

"Leave him," said Snape. "Let him sleep. Whatever it is Bellatrix has to say, it can wait until morning. At least for Draco."

Both men walked to the back of the house, where candles lit a small, dirty kitchen. The hushed voices fell silent as they approached the entryway. Two wizards, one squat and lumpy with thinning brown hair, the other large with blonde locks, sat at a rickety table in the middle of the room. A stout witch with frizzy brown hair was leaning onto one of the counters, her large jaw resting on a stubby hand as she burned circles into the surface with her wand. In the far corner, stood a dark haired woman with heavy lidded eyes. Those eyes darted to the entryway as Snape entered, followed by Wormtail, who sat at the table and resumed drinking a cup of tea.

Snape retreated to the corner opposite Bellatrix and watched the room with slight interest playing on his face.

"Anyway," said the heavy jawed witch. "What is it you were saying, Bellatrix?"

"Nothing of importance, Alecto," she said with slightly pursed lips, casting a meaningful look from Alecto to Severus, who had his arms crossed over his chest.

"But-"

"Yes, Bellatrix," said Snape, smirking. "Do continue."

"It's nothing," she said, anxiously twisting a ring on her long tapered finger.

Snape made a derisive noise in the shadows of the corner. Alecto looked back and forth between Snape and Bellatrix as she tried to piece together the previous exchange. As she did, she screeched sharply as unnoticed flames from the counter top caught her on the hand.

"Alecto, if you insist on being a great bloody pyro," said Bellatrix, "at least pay attention to what you are catching fire to." The lumpy man at the table let out a wheezy laugh.

"Oh, shut up, Amycus," said Alecto, her round face reddening as she shot a jet of water from her wand onto the small flames.

"Where's the boy?" asked the large blonde at the table, in a slow, deep voice.

"Sleeping, Yaxley," said Snape, still watching Bellatrix, who was averting her eyes to the small kitchen window next to her. Snape was sure she'd detach her finger with all the twisting she was doing with her ring. What reason does she have to be so anxious?

"Why are we just sitting in this slummy old house?" said Peter, breaking Snape from his reverie. "Why haven't we been recalled to the Dark Lord's side?"

"Because he tells you to wait," said Bellatrix coolly, all trace of anxiousness gone. Snape could even hear the slightest bit of arrogance in her voice, as if she was privy to something the others were not.

"Besides," said Snape silkily, "what good are you to the Dark Lord when you are believed by everyone to be dead?"

"I'm just as useful as you, Snape!" snapped Peter, his voice becoming high and squeaky.

"Indeed," said Severus. "Tell me, when was the last time you did anything for the Dark Lord outside of dishes and serving drinks?"

"I- You- Look at my hand!" said Peter, his pudgy face reddening.

"Shut up, both of you," snapped Bellatrix as she moved out of the corner.

"What is it that you are doing here, Bellatrix?" asked Snape. "If you've come to simply referee and assuage Wormtail's restlessness, I see no reason for you to stay longer."

"Like I told everyone before you interrupted, the Dark Lord wishes for you to stay where you are," said Bellatrix.

"Ah, well," said Snape, "that much I figured for myself."

"But why?" asked Alecto, who was curling her wand through her frizzy hair.

Bellatrix snatched the wand from Alecto's hand as the side of her unkempt mane started to smoke slightly.

"Because," said Bellatrix, making herself heard over another outburst of Amycus' wheezy laugh, "everyone knows what happened at Hogwarts. Everyone knows that Snape killed Dumbledore, and that all of you were there, too. It was in the Daily Prophet."

"But Dumbledore is dead!" said Amycus. "Why bother to be discreet anymore? What do we have to fear?"

Snape looked calculatingly over Amycus. As dense as he was, he had a point. Dumbledore was the only wizard the Dark Lord ever feared. What was keeping the Death Eaters back from having full reign on the entire wizarding world?

"Timing is everything, Amycus," said Bellatrix. "The Dark Lord still has one obstacle to over come, but now that the old man is gone, it should be simple. Of course, if things had gone differently the night Dumbledore died, we wouldn't need to have this conversation…" She trailed off darkly as her eyes passed over Severus.

"Seeing as how the information, as useful as it is, has been relayed, I see no reason for you to stay," said Snape, trying to avoid the inevitable conversation that would surely follow.

"The Dark Lord also sent me to check in on you lot."

"Why, Bellatrix," said Snape smoothly. "Are we not capable of taking care of ourselves? Do you not trust us to handle this simple task? Surely the Dark Lord hasn't sent his most faithfulDeatheater on such a mundane task."

"I don't trust you, yes, but for other reasons," she hissed. "Yaxley tells me that you wouldn't let anyone touch Potter after you killed Dumbledore."

"Bellatrix," said Snape softly, "we have already had this conversation. The Dark Lord wishes to finish Potter himself. When we spoke afterwards, he did not fault me for my decision to leave Potter untouched."

"But he was there! Defenseless and without a wand. Amycus said that you shot it away from him."

"Did Amycus fail to mention that we were being chased by members of the Order, not to mention a crazed hippogriff?" said Snape.

"I didn't, now that I think of it," said Amycus. "Boy, it was screeching something unnatural. Wings flappin'-"

"Thank you, Amycus," said Snape calmly, as he raised a hand and looked back across the room. "I was more concerned with the present mission than dealing with the Potter brat. It was not in our orders to do anything with him. We did what we were instructed to do to the letter. The Dark Lord was please, was he not?"

"Well, yes he was," said Bellatrix. "But-"

"Then what more do you need to know?" said Snape, a little impatiently. "I do not wish to defend my loyalty to the Dark Lord to you again. What's done is done."

Bellatrix said no more but stared moodily at Snape as she crossed her arms.

"Now, if we're quite finished," said Snape as he turned on his heel and made to leave the kitchen.

"Not quite," she said. "I'm here to take Draco with me."

Snape stopped and turned back to her.

"Why?" he asked, his black eyes boring into Bellatrix's.

"That," she said as uncrossed her arms, her face brightening with arrogance once more, "is between me and the Dark Lord. Now if you are quite finished. Just bring the boy down here and I'll be on my way."

After climbing the stairs and reaching the landing, Snape turned left into the room. Draco lay sleeping, tightly curled on the naked mattress, a gray blanket covering him. Snape watched him for a moment apologetically, before shaking the boy on the shoulder.

Draco Malfoy turned twitchily at the touch and looked up at Snape.

"Get up, Mr. Malfoy," said Snape as he stepped back from the bed. "You're leaving."

" Wha s'matter?" Draco said sleepily as he ran a pale hand through his messy blonde hair. "Where are we going?"

"You are going with your Aunt Bellatrix," said Snape coolly. "Get up. Let's not keep her waiting."

Draco pulled the blanket off of him and got out of the bed. Sliding on his shoes, he grabbed a cloak from the end of his bed, made sure his wand was in the pocket and put it over his dirty robes.

"I'm ready," he said as he avoided Snape's eyes.

"She's downstairs," said Snape as he nodded toward the door.

Draco opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it after his eyes met his former professor's. Snape raised an eyebrow slightly, but then Malfoy turned and walked out of the room. He waited as he listened for the front door of the house slam before exiting the room.

Snape knew that he had come close to crossing a line that would bare great consequences if it got back to the Dark Lord. It was obvious that Bellatrix knew something that they all did not. Her sudden closeness with him was worrying and Snape knew he needed to watch his steps, lest his dislike for the woman come back to get him in the end.

Walking back into the kitchen, Severus poured a cup of tea for himself. Yaxley and the Carrows had left, leaving Wormtail in the kitchen to himself. He was still sipping at his cup of tea, a dark expression etched into his face. He was muttering to himself, the sound of his voice amplified strangely by the cup.

"Who does she think she is, talking to us like that…hrumph… Thinks she's something special to the Dark Lord… Well, we'll see how long that lasts."

Snape paid Wormtail no attention, but heard his mutterings.

'Indeed,' he thought. 'Who does she think she is? More importantly, who does the Dark Lord think she is?'

Sipping his tea, Snape walked over to the small kitchen window, watching the first signs of day bleed into the blackness of the night.

A/N:

Yes, the description of the story says Harry. I promise this story is about him. Snape got his way with this first chapter though.