Chapter 3

31.10.1983

Voldemort regarded the child who slept peacefully in his little bed. It wouldn't take long anymore until Harry would be able to learn magic. So he would soon have to choose a teacher. The best decision would be a Death Eater whom he trusted most since at the moment nobody was aware of Harry's existence, apart from the house-elf who was taking care of the child.

The Dark Lord wanted however to hide Harry from the world, until the right time had come. Only then the world should hear about the heir of Voldemort. Harry turned aside and Voldemort began once again to ask himself how the child could have survived his curse. Although he had consulted all the books which he could have found in his library, no one had been of any use for him. The fact remained that no wizard had ever survived the Killing Curse.

It was actually impossible and yet Harry had done the impossible. The Dark Lord cast a last glance at Harry, went past the trembling house-elf whose eyes had observed every step of him, left the room and walked back to his study while he went through his followers in his mind's eyes and pondered who would be suitable the most for teaching his heir magic. He didn't need to rush anything. He would still have time for a wile after all.

Arriving in his study he set down and called a house-elf to him.

"Have Lucius, Severus and the others already returned?" he asked.

As the house-elf said no he leant back in his arm-chair, looked into the dancing flames of the fire and began to plan his next move in this war.

Severus Snape stifled a curse. Unfortunately he hadn't had the opportunity anymore to warn the Order of the Phoenix about the planned attack against the Lennox family. The wizard family fought against the Dark Lord and Mr. and Mrs. Lennox were in the Order and moreover high-ranking employees of the Ministry, so that it wasn't surprising that Voldemort had sent them here with the order to kill them.

And now he couldn't do anything to prevent the murders. Tensed Severus waited until Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy plus Bellatrix Lestrange had destroyed the wards which surrounded the house of the Lennox so far that they could sneak unhindered into the garden. A little while later the Death Eaters quietly entered the house and went upstairs. Severus separated from the others and checked the rooms on the right side. When pushing open the door of the last room he saw a woman sleeping on the bed. Because the moonlight fell on her face he immediately recognized her.

It was the daughter of the Lennox'. In Hogwarts he had been two years above her. He stared at her and he didn't know exactly why he did it but he put a sleeping charm on her, picked the motionless figure up and hid the young woman under the bed. Then he placed an invisible charm on her. In that moment terrible screams echoed through the house and Severus flinched. After making the bed with trembling fingers, he hurried to the others. His heart raced and he felt ice- cold. If the other Death Eaters or Voldemort would ever find out what he had done he didn't want to know which consequences his high-handedness would entail. When finding his companions he saw Mr. and Mrs. Lennox and their only son lying dead on the floor. Lucius Malfoy looked shortly at every one of them and ordered in a cold voice,

"Search the house if we have overlooked someone."

Severus followed Lucius out of the room, paused and waited with thumping heart. Seeing how Bella came out of Alison Lennox' room he felt how relief spread in him. No one had noticed anything. As soon as the Death Eaters had established that no other person was in the house anymore, they left. They had hardly reached the garden when Lucius took his wand and cast the Dark Mark in the sky. Lucius glanced at him:

"Are you coming with us?" he asked coolly.

Severus shook his head and replied,

"No, I've to return to Hogwarts."

The silver blond man nodded and gave the others the signal to leave. One moment later they apparated and Severus stayed behind alone. He sighed relieved, glad that he hadn't needed to kill this time. A noise caused him to whirl around. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stood in front of him. He hated them just the same as he had hated Potter.

But Potter had managed to get himself killed. If it hadn't been for Lily, Severus hadn't mourned at all two years ago. Lily had been a friend however who had trusted and believed him that he wasn't on Voldemort's side. Although he worked as a spy for Albus Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix, many members still distrusted him and to those Black and Lupin belonged. Potter had also seen always a supporter of the Dark Lord in him.

He remembered the night two years ago and the sight which had greeted him, having arrived there. Why had Godric's Hollow been destroyed so much? Such a thing had never happen before. The Death Eaters didn't destroy the houses of their victims. So why had the Dark Lord ordered to destroy the house of the Potters then? "Couldn't you have warned us? Or have you switched to the Dark Side?"

Sirius Black's sharp voice cut through Severus' thoughts. But before he had any opportunity to reply something, the rest of the Order appeared. Albus Dumbledore looked at him and asked calmly,

"What has happened?"

"They are dead, apart from the daughter. I've hid her under the bed," Severus answered tiredly.

The headmaster of Hogwarts nodded and sighed.

"At least one survived."

One hour later they arrived at Hogwarts and Alison Lennox was brought to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey took care of her. To discover that her family had been killed had been a terrible shock for her.

Seeing the pain in the sea-blue eyes of the young woman, Severus felt guilty. But he couldn't have prevented it, he said to himself. He had done everything what had been within his power. Turning around he wanted to leave the hospital wing as a soft voice called him back. She looked at him.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Severus looked at Alison for a moment and nodded shortly. Unable to say something he fled out of the room while his thoughts strangely lingered still on Alison. As he went through the Great Hall on his way to his chambers, he didn't even notice that he was passing Sirius Black and Remus Lupin who were sitting at one of the tables.

Sirius gazed after Severus who hurried out of the hall and asked himself what use the spy actually had for the Order if Snape didn't even manage to warn them before someone of them was killed. Had Snape been only able to warn them then that James and Lily would be Voldemort's next victims, had he himself only realized that Peter was a supporter of the Dark Lord and hadn't he only persuaded James to entrust Peter with the safety of his family, then his friends and Harry would be still alive today. But what was the use of all his anger, his pain and his feelings of guilt which weighed him down?

It had happened and no one of them could change the past, how much it might hurt him. He missed them so much and although two years had passed since this fatal night his sorrow hadn't decreased. Sirius raised his head and looked at Remus who sat opposite of him. Their gazes met and in Remus' eyes grief was mirrored as well. Sirius wondered if Remus had forgiven him meanwhile that his decision had led to the death of their friends in the end. Suddenly he remembered the day on which he had seen James, Lily and Harry for the last time and the sorrow threatened to overwhelm him. Abruptly he stood up and seeing Remus' questioning eyes, he said with a quivering voice,

"I'll go for a walk for a while."

As soon as he had left the castle, he paused for a moment and deeply inhaled the cold, icy air. While sauntering slowly over the grounds of Hogwarts, he decided to apparate to the graveyard. He wanted to be alone. He glanced over at the Forbidden Forest and involuntarily clenched his fists. Thinking how often James, Remus, Peter and he himself had sneaked in their Animagus figures into the forest; four friends who had sworn everlasting friendship to each other. Gazing up into the star-strewn sky he wondered once more why Peter had betrayed them and had become a supporter of Voldemort. Would he ever find an answer to his question?

At the same time in London a big dark brown rat tried to find a way into the Ministry of Magic. Since the Dark Lord was planning to conquer the building, he should get knowledge about the exact ground plan of the Ministry. Peter sighed while trying to remember where the entrance was, he had used the last time he had sneaked into the Ministry to gather information.

In the last two years he hadn't managed to become a Death Eater in the Inner Circle. He hadn't been very valuable to the Dark Lord since that Halloween. But he had had such a bad luck. Why for god's sake they had believed Sirius that they had switched secret-keeper? If they hadn't Sirius would be in Askaban and he would be still in the Order and it wouldn't be necessary to hide.

Sometimes he asked himself, if it had been worth it, to betray the people who had trusted him, for becoming a servant to the Dark Lord. But he hadn't had a choice he persistently assured himself, as he finally found the right pipe that would bring him straight into the Ministry.