Chapter 17

March 1990

Harry sighed. Somehow he wasn't making any progress with wand-less magic anymore. He could now perform easy charms without a wand but that was it. Even to come so far had taken him incredible much time. At the beginning he had got immensely tired but after many attempts he had become better. But now it seemed that he had reached a point where he didn't make any progress any more at all. Perhaps he should have a look in the library if he couldn't find a few useful books which could help him along.

So far no- one knew that he could do such things. He even had begun to study Animagi in secret. This topic fascinated him greatly and he would give everything up to be able to change into an animal. He began to concentrate – he wanted to perform a wand-less spell once more– as the door opened and his adoptive father stepped in.

"Harry, we can continue your lessons now."

Harry turned around and saw the Dark Lord standing in the doorway and sensed how he begun to feel uneasy again. Since the fight in Diagon Alley his adoptive father had begun to teach him the Cruciatus - and the Killing Curse. To teach him those curses the Dark Lord had used little black spiders and Harry had hated to kill and torture them from the very first moment his adoptive father had demanded this from him. Harry watched tensely as the Dark Lord went to the table and fetched a middle-sized wooden box from a pocket of his robe. He opened the box and a dozen black spiders rolled onto the table.

"So, Harry, you may begin," he ordered in a cold and demanding voice that wouldn't tolerate any contradiction and stared with his red eyes at Harry.

Reluctantly Harry went in front of the table and pointed his wand at a big crawling spider.

"Crucio," he said and he had hardly spoken out the word as he saw how the spider began to tremble and to writhe with pain.

A moment later he stopped the curse and the spider rolled helplessly to the side.

"Now kill it."

Harry gulped. How he hated that! But nevertheless he pointed the wand once more at the spider and said,

" Avada Kedavra!"

While watching how the green light killed the tiny creature he flinched and suddenly had an image of his parents before his eyes who, as he knew, had been murdered in the same way in which he had just murdered the spider. Harry shuddered slightly. He didn't want to imagine the death of his parents.

"Very well, Harry. So far it was excellent. But now we should take another creature on which you can practise the curses. The bigger something is the harder it is to perform the curses successfully. Something that is larger than those spiders," his adoptive father said while waving impatiently his hand through the air.

He snapped his fingers and like from nowhere Nell appeared in the room.

"You'll cast the Cruciatus Curse on that house-elf. For the moment it has the right size. Then you will apply the Killing Curse to it. Luckily we've enough house-elves, so you can use as much as you need to learn the curses properly."

Harry looked unbelievingly at his adoptive father, while everything in him was refusing to do the demanded.

His eyes fell on Nell who was trembling madly and was looking up at them with fearful eyes.

"No, I can't do that and I won't do it."

His voice was soft but nevertheless it sounded determined. Although he slowly felt fear rising inside him of the Dark Lord's reaction, he knew that nothing could bring him to hurt Nell; Nell, the only one, who had shown him that he was loved as he had been little; Nell, who had comforted him so often and had taken care of him.

"You can not? You won't do it?" His adoptive father stared at him as if the thought had never crossed his mind that Harry could ever disobey him.

"You don't want to tell me that you aren't able to torture this worthless creature?"

His voice was now icy- cold and had a threatening undertone.

"She isn't worthless! " Although Harry's heart was beating rather fast, he lifted his head up and stared directly into the red eyes.

"She? How touching, Harry! The son of the Dark Lord has become attached to a worthless house -elf!"

Now his voice dripped with sarcasm. He just wanted to speak again as a high-pitched voice could be heard.

"Please, young master. Curse me! Please, don't enrage the Lord any further. Please, curse me, My Lord!"

Nell prayed urgently that her young master would do it. She knew that she would do anything for him. She had to protect him from the anger of the Dark Lord and she could never allow that he would punish her charge, only because he didn't want to curse her.

"So, the love is also mutual. But you heard it, Harry. It wants it too. Stop the nonsense finally and curse the elf! You've to learn the Unforgivable Curses after all. As my son you have to be able to control them. Do it finally! I don't have time forever!"

But Harry shook his head.

"No, I won't hurt her."

The face of the Dark Lord contorted with rage. He wasn't exactly used to his orders not being carried out immediately. Seconds later however his features had dissolved into a cold countenance and a calculating expression entered his eyes.

"You will cast the Cruciatus Curse on the elf. Or I will kill it."

Harry knew his adoptive father well enough to know that he would carry out his threat without hesitation.

"Please, don't do that!" In this moment Harry nearly hated himself for sounding so weak. .

Although he hadn't much hope that a plea would help him very much, he couldn't stop himself from trying.

"Then do it."

The Dark Lord looked at him with a merciless expression in his eyes and Harry knew that all debates of the world would not help him now. To save Nell's life he had to torture Nell. There wasn't any other solution. He hadn't a choice.

With a fiercely shaking hand and as white as a sheet he pointed his wand at the small house-elf, while hoping that he would manage it. He knew that if he didn't manage to curse Nell that his adoptive father would kill her then.

"Crucio."

Though his voice quivered terribly, his curse was surprisingly successful. As soon as Nell started to scream however and to writhe in pain he broke the curse.

"That was much too short! Do it again. If you torture your prisoners later in the same way, you'll never hear any useful information from them."

Harry did as he was told and at each scream from Nell he flinched. When he couldn't bear Nell's crying anymore he stopped the curse.

"This was far better. And now kill that worthless creature."

Harry's head shot up. He couldn't believe that his adoptive father had just said that.

"You said you wouldn't kill her, if I would torture her!"

"Exactly. But you will kill it. You have to learn the Killing Curse as well after all."

"No! Please, father, don't force me to do that! Please!" He didn't realize that for the fist time in months he had called the Dark Lord ' father ' again but now he looked up to his adoptive father with his emerald eyes that were full of emotion.

For a moment they stared at each other and something in Harry's eyes must have warned the Dark Lord to not overstep the mark since he finally nodded,

"All right then. It may stay alive."

He went to Harry and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"In spite of everything you did well. In one hour a Death Eater meeting will be held. You will attend, too. It is time that the Death Eaters hear who you are. Come in one hour to my rooms."

Then he turned around and left the room, while Harry flung himself next to Nell, who was curled up motionlessly on the floor.

"Nell? Nell! Are you alright?" His voice nearly broke while he carefully lifted the small house-elf up and laid her on the settee. Nell's eyelids fluttered a bit but she didn't answer him.

Harry ran frantically to the window, ripped it open, leaned out and a shrill scream escaped his mouth. Luckily he didn't have to wait very long before his phoenix finally came flying through the window.

"Rainbow, please help Nell."

Rainbow bowed its head, trilled shortly and flew to Nell. While his phoenix took care of Nell a wave of nausea suddenly rushed over him. He staggered to the bathroom and began to vomit fiercely while his whole body was trembling like a leaf. After a few minutes he slid exhausted to the ground where he remained and began to stare at the opposite wall.

Too shocked, too dismayed to really realize the events that had happened. He just didn't want to believe that his adoptive father had really forced him to do such a thing. There he still lay one hour later when one of the many house-elves, whose face looked frightened, appeared and reminded him of the meeting. Dazed, he struggled to his feet and began slowly to go to the rooms of the Dark Lord.

Severus Snape stood in the hall of the castle and waited with the other Death Eaters for the arrival of the Dark Lord. Suddenly whispers broke out among the gathered wizards and witches and Severus lifted his head to see what the reason for this was.

His eyes fell on the Dark Lord who had just entered the hall. But this time he wasn't alone. Next to him a raven-haired boy was walking and Severus knew immediately that it was the one who had knocked out so many Aurors half a year ago in the fight in Diagon Alley. All attempts to find out the identity of the mysterious boy had failed in the last months. No- one had known anything about him. Severus felt how his curiosity increased while he watched how the Dark Lord sat down on his throne and conjured another throne next to him where shortly afterwards the boy took a seat as well. As soon as the Dark Lord began to speak every noise in the hall stopped.

"My faithful followers; let me introduce you to my son and heir!" he said and pointed with his hand at the child sitting next to him.

Severus' eyes widened while he tried to grasp the meaning of those news.

"You will obey him in the same way as me. You will protect him with your life and show him the same loyalty as me," the Dark Lord continued.

Severus noticed that Lucius Malfoy's and Bellatrix Lestrange's faces didn't wear the surprise and the shock like the other Death Eaters did and he realized that they had known it and that they had lied to him as he had tried to ask them carefully about the boy's identity months ago.

He looked at the young Lord who seemed to be not very interested in the happenings. His head was hanging down and he stared on the ground.

Severus still couldn't believe it, while he wondered why no- one had ever thought of the possibility of the boy being Voldemort's son. Now, of course, everything made sense, even why the Dark Lord had been so worried and had appeared personally in the fight, was now understandable. Suddenly the boy lifted his head, as if he had somehow felt Severus' gaze on him. Their eyes met and he looked into strangely lifeless emerald eyes. Then the boy stared again to the ground.

In the meantime Severus shook his head. For a moment the child had really reminded him of James Potter, his archenemy from Hogwarts and of Lily Evans. He could have sworn that the boy had had her eyes. But that couldn't be. That was completely out of question. The strain of the last months had obviously gotten to him, more as he had believed, if he already began to see ghosts. To see James Potter in the son of the Dark Lord! Ridiculous! Goodness, he desperately needed a holiday to recover from his work as a spy. He shook again his head and realized that he hadn't heard a word of what had been spoken in the last minutes.

But those eyes. Sadly he thought back to Lily Evans. Her eyes however had been full of life with an incredible sparkle, whereas the eyes of the young Lord had been dull, nearly lifeless. Only the colour was the same. Severus was so confused and so occupied with his memories hat he hadn't been able to pay much attention to the rest of the meeting anymore. Lost in his thoughts he didn't even notice that the meeting was over long ago. Only when a voice shouted,

"Hey, Snape, do you want to stay here forever?" did he come to his senses again, realized that the Dark Lord and his son had gone already and began to leave the now nearly empty hall. When he entered the park his eyes fell on a small figure. He held his breath as he recognized that it was the son of the Dark Lords, who was sitting on a bench.

Severus looked quickly around and when he saw that he was currently alone in the park, he made the decision to kidnap the young Lord. What a success it would be, if he would bring the Dark Lord's son into his power. When Albus would discover that he was the son of Voldemort he would surely give his agreement to the abduction. Furthermore Severus hadn't forgotten what Alastor Moody had told them that the boy could become dangerous for them in the near future.

With a determined face he began to walk silently over the lawn, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks. He had just noticed a few guards who were guarding one of the entrances to the dungeons. Actually he had wanted to put the boy out of action with a Stunning Charm but now he thought that it wouldn't be such a good idea any more. It would be rather conspicuous if he would suddenly carry an unconscious boy in his arms. Surely the guards would immediately become wary.

Apart from this they had very probably heard by now that the boy sitting on the bench was the heir of the Dark Lord, if they hadn't known it already. It was a mystery to him how Voldemort had managed to hide this for so long. Some, like Malfoy, had known it however. But whether the guards knew it or not, he just couldn't risk it. No, the kidnapping had to look normal, so that they wouldn't become suspicious.

His only advantage was that they were standing relatively far away. Perhaps…yes, he would cast the Imperious Curse on the boy and then they would go together to the apparation place. So it would look like to the guards that he was only accompanying the young Lord but never would they suspect him of kidnapping the young Lord. Satisfied with his plan he marched over to the boy, who was sitting with his back to him, reached for his wand and said softly,

"Imperio!"

He ordered the boy to stand up and to turn around. When the child did so, he was again taken aback by the similarity to James Potter. Only the eyes were different and he had a strange scar on his forehead which looked like a lightning bolt. His eyes however were glazed over and without emotions now. Severus shook himself out of his thoughts while cursing James Potter at the same time. Recently he had just managed to forget his former archenemy and now he had the fortune to run into a nearly exact copy of him.

He ordered the young Lord to come with him and together they began to walk through the park. Severus cast a glance at the guards and was relieved to see that they hadn't noticed anything. He had done it. He had kidnapped the son of Voldemort. When they were only a few metres away of the apparation point, he suddenly became aware of a quick movement next to him but before he could react a brilliant red light hit him in the side.