A.N.: I am terribly sorry for my delayed update. In my defence, I was moving out to my new house and the past two weeks were hectic. I hope you enjoy this new chapter in where Madam Bellatrix makes her first appearance and accordingly, we will move to an M rating from now on. Please leave your comments, reviews and questions. Love to read them. Love you all. Enjoy!


Chapter 6

Nightmares

- "You shouldn't have worried so much, Narcissa. I am not as refined a man as Lucius."

Snape sat next to Narcissa in the small parlour of the suite that had been designated for his use. Between them, a table crammed with hors d'oeuvres, nuts, caviar and fine cheeses on delicate porcelain crockery, along with a bottle of wine and another one of brandy.

-"Nonsense. You are my guest, and all of this is little compared to the priceless oath you have agreed to take to help our family."

Narcissa poured two glasses of brandy and handed one of them to Snape. She gulped hers down and poured herself more.

- "It's a shame that my Draco is not awake at this time, he would be very happy to welcome you and discuss his plans with you. I know you will be of great help to him."

- "I doubt very much that Draco wants to share his plans with me. He will want to do it himself, restore the honour of the Malfoy family in the eyes of the Dark Lord. Your dear sister will be offering him advice, and obviously she would have sown in him her mistrust of me." – Snape saw with unperturbed eyes how Narcissa drained her glass and proceed to refill a third one. – "I will talk to him in the morning and try to guide him in the right direction. I hope he will hear the words of his godfather."

- "I'll make sure he does." - Narcissa said after taking another swig from her glass. Suddenly, her blue eyes moistened, and she let out a long, deep sigh, letting her normally straight and graceful posture slouch down and sink into the chair. - "I can barely tolerate all of this, Severus. Lucius in Azkaban, my only son destined to disaster, Bella´s constant slander of Lucius and her horrible, horrible antics around the house. She was not that way before, she used to keep her composure, but now, I am surprised she hadn´t decided to use my home as an abattoir and torture chamber for muggles and blood traitors. Furthermore, she offers herself to the Dark Lord like a prostitute, as if she were a whore from Knockturn Alley."

A slight reminiscence of women smelling of cheap perfume, lying on dirty sheets went through Snape's mind when he heard her last words, nonetheless the memories got buried as fast as they came, and he finally took the first sip of brandy, letting the exquisite liquid slide down his throat.

- "Bellatrix has always been keen to please the Dark Lord in every sense of the word. But she should know better. The Dark Lord will not lower himself to such mundane feelings. He is using her. As he does with all of us. We all must sacrifice a little something, Narcissa. All in the name of blood purity. You, of all people, should know that."

He said that in a grave tone, but Narcissa could grasp the irony in his words, after all, he was a very well-known half-blood and, she was sure, he was aware her good treatment towards him was totally atypical of her. In any other circumstances she would have turned her nose up with disdain at him, but after years of friendship she had learnt to respect and appreciate Severus Snape more than any other member of the Dark Lord ranks.

- "I understand, Severus. I'm glad you're staying with us. You will be a good support for Draco while Lucius is away. I know you have your hands full, but my son has a great need ... "

- "Draco has priority on my list, as I have promised you before." – Said Snape while drinking slowly from his glass. – "Even without the Unbreakable Vow, I would have seen to assure Draco´s safety. He is, after all, my godson and the son of my two good friends."

- "Yes, yes…" – Narcissa muttered, her face lit up with renew faith. She finished her glass and stood up from the chair stumbling towards him. Grasping his hands, he kissed him in both of his cheeks. – "I better take my leave; you seem to be in urgent need of sleeping."

- "Only one more thing, Narcissa. The woman in the cellar, the Akardos…"

Narcissa eyed Snape curiously. Undoubtedly, he had his hands full with such an extraordinary encounter. An Akardos, no more, no less. She knew that Snape was a man given to research. As a student at Hogwarts, he had been the creator of several spells that were now in common use, and she did not doubt that having such a rare specimen on hand had awakened his need to study her. What really surprised her was his overprotecting demeanour towards her. The other Death Eaters might have not realized, even the Dark Lord himself overlooked the way Snape held and carried the Akardos around, as a child would with his little puppy. But Narcissa was, more than anything, a mother and a loving wife, and that kind of behaviour did not escape her attention. Whatever reason Snape might have to keep the Akardos around, he was putting too much on his plate and she feared it will end up backfiring at him.

- "What about her?"- She asked wishing that Snape could see inside her mind and dare to answer the questions she was holding.

- "You must promise me that she will be safe in your house. Don´t let the others get close to her. Especially your dear sister Bellatrix."

- "I will do what I can, Severus. You know how she is; she answers only to our Master, but I will try my best. Anything else?"

- "Would you mind taking this food down to her? I am afraid I have no appetite and it will be a shame for it to go bad."

- "The Akardos is not worthy of such food." - Narcissa answered with a smirk on her lips. Since when was Snape so easy to read? - "As your friend, I advise you to moderate your attention towards her. For your own good and that of the soulless one. You don't want the others to come up with ideas. Good night, Severus."

Snape gulped down the rest of his brandy and stood up slowly from his chair.

-"Good night, Narcissa."

The sun was about to rise when Severus finally rested his head on the pillow. This had been one of the longest nights he had ever had the misfortune to live, and unfortunately, he had had to endure so many sleepless nights during his entire miserable life. He sighed deeply and felt a slight heat on his cheeks knowing that Narcissa had realized that his concern for Laurel was not just scientific in nature. He appreciated the advice she had given him; he should be more careful in dealing with the Akardos. Her presentation to the Dark Lord had gone relatively smoothly and he hoped that her imprisonment at Malfoy Manor would continue without serious incidents until he had a chance to devise a plan to get her out of there.

Sluggishly, he took the Prince family pendant out of his pocket and examined it. The serpent's emerald eyes shone in the lamplight beside him, and he couldn't help but compare them to Lily's. He knew that his life passed by between his obligations to Dumbledore and The Dark Lord and between the dead time in which he played over and over again in his head the years when he had been happy with Lily. He would have given everything to see her again, to hold her hand, to tell her that he loved her, that he had always loved her. For a moment he thought that the same thing would happen as so many other nights, that insomnia would take hold of him, but almost without realizing it, his mind began to wander, and disjointed thoughts were diluted when he closed his eyes. The only thing he was able to be aware of before falling asleep was the sensation of some arms wrapped around his body and a warm breath against his chest.

. . .

That spring afternoon, several Gryffindor students had decided to skip the Hogsmeade visit. Sirius Black and James Potter had smuggled a large quantity of butterbeer and fire whiskey for the party they planned to celebrate that day. They had won the Quidditch match over Slytherin that morning with a crushing 240 to 60, leaving them with a clear path to win the Quidditch cup on their fourth year. The chosen site was the Room of Requirement, since they expected several Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs to join them, and it was also the perfect place to make all the fuss they wanted without Filch knowing it. James was just hoping to see Lily and convince her to have a drink with him. Who knows, it might even be the day that she finally made up her mind to date him, without having to deal with Snivellus clinging to her like a frowzy spider.

- "Do you really have to go? Why don´t you come to Hogsmeade with me?"

- "And hang around with the other Slytherins? I´d rather not, thank you very much."

Lily and Severus were leaving the Great Hall still arguing about the party the Gryffindors were throwing. Severus burned with jealousy at the thought of leaving Lily alone with that Potter swine. He knew he was going to take advantage of the situation and would try to persuade her to be his girlfriend. He could not allow that. Just the thought of seeing his precious Lily with James Potter made his stomach churn with contempt. Even knowing he was putting himself in grave risk by attending the Gryffindor party, he casually said.

- "I can go with you, you know? If you don't mind."

- "Really, Sev? Aren't you scared to go into the lion's den? "

- "I'm not a coward." - He answered through his teeth. - "I know how to defend myself."

- "Not! You must promise me that you won't let James get you off the hook. You must behave in the best way. "

- "I don't know if you've noticed, but it's Potter and his stupid mates who always start ..."

Severus couldn't finish his sentence, Lily took his arm and almost dragged him towards the Room of Requirement. The place was already quite crowded and several students from different houses looked at each other in surprise when they saw Severus Snape.

- "Snivellus! What's a dirty Slytherin doing here? Did you come to accuse us with Filch?"

Sirius's voice was heard over the chatter of the students and the music in the Room that had now become a large lounge with tables and couches and was decorated with Gryffindor banners.

- "Hush Sirius! He has come in peace."– Lily said as she put an arm around Severus' shoulders, and he couldn't help but feel his face blushing.

- "If Evans wants it, let Snivellus stay." - James Potter had approached them and imitating Lily's gesture, put his arm around Sirius's shoulder. - "I only allow it because it´s you, Evans."

Smiling, he and Sirius turned their backs and James winked an eye whispering to him:

- "He will make a fool of himself. You´ll see."

- "And if not, I'll make sure to put him through his worst embarrassment."

The party became increasingly wild as the hours passed and as the alcohol took effect on the teenagers' bodies. Sirius' appreciation for Muggle music made the youngsters dance to the rhythm of rock'n'roll and reggae, while little by little they shed their capes and shoes and let themselves be carried away by the frenetic music, jumping, pushing each other and having a good time. Potter and Lupin were drinking non-stop and were filling the room with huge red and gold balloons that exploded with a loud bang and showered the attendees with confetti. Peter Pettigrew laughed from a corner every time the explosions made someone slip on the damp floor from drinks that had been spilled in the midst of the revelry. Even Severus seemed to have come out of his shell and was having an enthusiastic discussion with Lily and two other sixth year Ravenclaws about using salamander blood as the main ingredient in the Essence of Insanity. James eyed them and called Sirius with a head nod.

-"Want to play some spin the bottle?" – He laughed while shoving an empty butterbeer bottle in his hand.

-"This will be epic."

The volume of the music was reduced, and several teenagers ran to sit in a wide circle, including several giggling girls who were throwing flirty looks at Sirius and other boys with faces flushed more from alcohol than embarrassment. Severus stood up and tried to sneak away, but James's hand grabbed him by his collar.

- "Where are you going Snivellus? You're going to miss out on all the fun! Sit here!" - he said pushing him aggressively to a spot between the other guys and directly in front of the Gryffindor girls. Among them was Lily, who was laughing and chatting and clearly quite intoxicated from alcohol.

The game started and several rounds of challenges and embarrassing questions made the teens laugh out loud. Severus was ashamed of himself and every time the bottle spun, he prayed that he was not the next to submit to the challenges Sirius, James and Lupin imposed. He was not used to these kinds of social interactions and felt uncomfortable. He was trying to gulp down the butterbeer in his hand, hoping the liquid would calm his nerves. However, nothing stopped his heart from jumping as he saw the spout of the bottle stop in front of Lily, who let out a squeal of surprise and burst out laughing.

- "A challenge for you, Evans!" - James's voice rose like a roar above the din of hormonal youths. - "Being french-kissed by one of us. But you won't be able to choose who."

Lily kept laughing and barely mumbled a few words that only the girls next to her could hear.

- "A pretty desperate move by James, don't you think?"

Without protesting, Lily stood up and went to sit in the middle of the circle. Severus had started to shake with rage as James put a blindfold over her eyes and cast the muffliato spell that had been his own invention. He couldn't bear it. James always took everything he was entitled to, used his own incantations against him and now he wanted to take away from him the only person he loved, the only person who had cared for him and was able to look past his greasy hair and ragged appearance. He was not going to allow it. As James grew closer and closer to Lily, he stood up and raised his wand against the young Gryffindor. The spectators gasped. James just bowed his head, beckoning Severus with one hand to come closer.

- "All yours, mate." -He said with a sly smile as he left him the way free.

He could not believe it. Severus had frozen in front of Lily, who still blindfolded, was shaking her head impatiently. He had no idea what to do next, he wanted to run away from her, but seeing her red lips a burst of bravery made his feet move towards her, drawing closer in a way that he could only have dared dreaming. Severus was shivering and sweating cold. This would be his first kiss and he had no idea where to put his wet hands, so he decided to rest them on her shoulders. He brought his lips to hers. Everyone around looked at the scene holding their breath.

Her soft lips made contact with his dry ones, his eyes inadvertently closed as he smelled the sweet scent of butterbeer and fire whiskey on her breath and his entire body tingled as he realized that Lily was daring to go further. Her warm tongue traced his lips inviting him to open his mouth to deepen the kiss. Severus agreed immediately, enjoying every second of the warmth and velvetlike texture of Lily's mouth, but then something happened. Suddenly, he felt how his tongue was transforming, increasing in size and changing shape. He began to salivate uncontrollably. but his saliva was dark in colour, almost black. He tried to scream, but it was impossible, as his tongue had transformed into a huge purple tentacle, so long it reached up to his chest. He fell backwards on the floor and Lily's screams and cries were drowned out by the outburst of laughter from the young people who saw the scene, mocking Snape and cheering at James and Sirius who were pointing their wands at the poor boy who was rolling in the ground suffocating. One of the Ravenclaw students he had been chatting with, took pity on him and countered the curse. Severus's face had turned almost blue, and his eyes were red and watery, but he didn't care much. His only concern was Lily, who had ripped off the blindfold and was staring at him in deep disgust. She looked at him with such repugnance and rage that Snape could not stop himself to feel he was about to be attacked by her.

-"How dare you? How dare you play along with them? YOU DISGUST ME SEVERUS! "

- "Lily, I didn't want to… I didn't know… Forgive me!" Severus' gasping pleas were barely audible as his sore throat barely allowed him to let out squawking noises. His face went from blue to scarlet red as he heard the chants of the students that filled the room.

-"Snivellus, the squidly Snape, give him a kiss and he´ll surely squirt!"

- "You are disgusting, DISGUSTING!" - Lily had drawn her wand and pointed at him while spitting the black ink that Severus had left in her mouth. He could not help but let out some tears and closed his eyes trying to stop it, when he opened them again, he saw how Lily had transformed into his father and instead of brandishing a wand, he had in his hand a thick leather belt with which he dealt hard blows against his body.

- "Stop them! I can't take it anymore! They torture me all the time. The voices that want my death. It's your fault! It's your magic!"

- "It's not me! It is not me, dad! Please!"

Whip after whip, Severus let out a groan as he crawled on the floor, the Room of Requirement transformed into the living room of his house on Spinner´s End. He was trying to reach his room and escape the fury of his father. And then his mother appeared out of nowhere and threw herself over him defending him, receiving the lashes that were directed at her son. Severus noticed the gleaming pendant hanging from his mother's neck, the tiny words carved in Latin.

Ut luceant in Tenebris.

He turned his gaze, hoping to be reflected in his mother's dark eyes, but it was not she who was staring back at him. It was Laurel, dressed in the childish blue dress he had imagined her in when she was seven. Gently, she whispered in his ear:

- "Wake up…"

The knock on the door and Narcissa's voice made him sit upright on the bed. The cold sweat that soaked his body made his greasy black hair cling to his face. He breathed heavily. It was just a nightmare, an old memory that he had sworn to forever forget in the deep recesses of his memory. Midday light flooded the suite through the large windows.

- "Severus, wake up! It's Bellatrix! "

. . .

Laurel had spent the past few hours wandering the cellar, groping in the dark for any chance of escape, but the enclosure was hermetically sealed and the only way in or out was the heavy iron door. The heat and humidity accumulated in the cellar was such that the air almost turned to mud and made it difficult to breathe. Laurel was tempted to drink the water from a jug that was there, but she held back. She was afraid to be poisoned. She stripped off the cloak and her jean jacket and tried to fall asleep, but the pain on her face still very sharp despite the potion Severus had given her, prevented her from doing so.

She sat there in the dark, wishing that when she opened her eyes again, she would find herself back in her bed, in the little flat in London, and all this was nothing more than a nightmare. She wanted to go back to her house in Hackleton, hug her sister, kiss her mother, and remain convinced that magic belonged only in fairy tales. She wished she could go to work again on Monday, as she had told Rebecca, and she wished she could read Tobias a book during the soporific summer afternoons once again. But this nightmare was real, this darkness was real. As dark as Severus´ eyes. And then she wished for him, she wished to have him by her side, holding her hand as he did back in the Spinner´s End house.

She did not know how long it was before she heard the rapid footsteps of someone coming down the stairs and the metallic squeak of the door when it opened.

- "Draco, look. I've found a perfect prisoner to practice dark curses. This one will last us for sure."

The woman speaking in a high, wicked voice approached her with the wand pointed at her. She was quite tall and slim and undeniably beautiful, and it seemed to Laurel that she had a certain air of the other woman she had seen in the mansion. They could be sisters, but while one was blonde and pale-skinned, the woman in front of her had black hair and tanned skin. In addition, her dark eyes framed with long thick lashes gave a glimpse of a totally alienated state of mind that Laurel had been able to see in some of the patients she had taken care of. Her mere presence made her cringe in fear. Behind her a young teen was keeping his distance, his grey eyes doing their best to avoid looking at her. It was undoubtedly Narcissa's son, since he had her same platinum blonde hair and the same pale, sharp features. However, unlike the woman next to him, he showed no enthusiasm for being in the presence of the Akardos. On the contrary, he seemed to be desperately looking to get out of that place, his haggard eyes kept staring at the door as he kept his hands in the pockets of his elegant suit.

- "Aunt Bella, I have already practiced the Cruciatus enough yesterday. I think I have mastered it."

-"Yes, and you did a good job, darling. But now it is time you learn the Killing Curse, and there is no way better to do it that by looking straight at the eyes of the human you want to kill. Hence, here is our perfect practice dummy."

Several chains emerged from Bellatrix's wand, pinning Laurel to one of the cellar pillars. She tried to breathe deeply remembering Severus words: "They willcast hexes on you, don't panic, nothing will happen."

-"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The curse struck against her chest and the familiar glow of green light spread through her body. She hadn't noticed it before, perhaps due to fear and adrenaline the night of the fire, but the curse produced a spasm that ran through her entire body like an electric shock, causing slight cramps in her extremities.

- "Nothing will happen to me... very smart, Severus." - She thought resentfully as she closed her eyes and prepared to receive another killing curse this time from Draco who brandished his wand indecisively. She let out a sigh of relief when the boy merely manage to create a faint glow of pale green that disappeared in the air immediately.

- "Focus, Draco!" - Bellatrix yelled. - "Do it with determination! AVADA KEDAVRA! "

Time passed slowly for Laurel, who had already received many killing curses and she noticed in anguish as her legs and arms began to go numb and turn a worrying shade of purple. Draco had finally managed to cast a mildly decent curse in his Aunt Bellatrix's eyes and when he raised the wand once more and yelled the Avada Kedavra, Laurel was unable to stop a scream from escaping her throat and being heard over the noise of the impact of the curse on her body.

-"No Please! I can´t do it no more!"

Draco lowered his wand and looked at his aunt with fear drawn on his face.

- "How dare you? How dare you disgusting soulless being to speak directly to a wizard? To beg for mercy, when it is already a privilege to be breathing and living under the same roof where the greatest wizard of all time dwells? I'm going to punish you, beast. You will learn to respect the magic blood. A good lashing will surely teach you."

The chains that bound Laurel rearranged themselves, trapping her, this time with her face against the cold stone pillar. Bellatrix ripped open her shirt with a knife, exposing her back. Each lash received was marked on her skin, filling her naked back with cuts and bruises that beyond their painful and deplorable appearance, were leaving an intangible and permanent mark on her soul. Tears trickled down her cheeks and soaked the grey stone as little by little the high-pitched moans she made got stuck in her dry, sore throat until a moment came when she was no longer able to produce a sound and only the snap of the whip could be heard striking the bloody skin.

Then she felt it. His hands, his soft hands picking her up and taking her away. She begged him for help. She begged him to take her back home. But the black eyes of Severus were once again dominated by the power of Occlumancy and Laurel feared their darkness would engulf her.

- "Silence." – His low, deep voice was enough to calm her down.