Chapter Seven

Freedom and Servitude

Severus had been counting down the days until N.E.W.T.s for months. When, at last, he'd finished his last examination, he strode swiftly out of the Great Hall, out the front doors of the castle, and down the steps onto the lawn. He'd finished a little early, and no one else seemed to be around—classes for the younger set ran for a couple of days yet—so he made his way along the lakeshore, past the willow where he usually sat to talk with Aziz, to a thicket of bog myrtle. It was hot and humid: the perfect sort of day to swim in the cool, clear water of the lake.

Hidden in the bushes, Severus shucked off all but his pants, then leaped directly into the water. He splashed about a bit, checking to make sure he was hidden from direct view of the castle (he was; the willow further down the bank assured that), then grabbed his wand long enough to cast a Bubble Head Charm. That done, he dived deep into the lake, wand in hand. He explored the depths until he caught a peek of the Mermish Village—he knew better than to actually approach—then headed up to the surface, as his body temperature had dropped enough that hypothermia was becoming a real threat. As he got to the surface, he heard a squawk of glee.

"Well, well, someone's left their clothes behind! I wonder who these belong to." Severus knew that voice: it belonged to Sirius Black.

"No, no, can't you leave whoever it is alone?" Remus Lupin, ever the do-gooder.

"Let's see what it's got in its pocketses." That was James Potter. If he dug around enough, he'd find Aziz's lamp…

"Aziz!" whispered Severus, shivering. "I wish for you to make those three jokers run away!"

A ghastly apparition streamed from the edge of the Forbidden Forest: green face; long-black hair; waving black robes. It pointed at the Marauders, smirked, opened its mouth, and—"A Banshee!" squealed Sirius, running away with his hands clapped over his ears. His two friends followed hot on his heels.

Severus waited until they were out of sight beyond the willow before hauling himself, dripping, up onto the bank. "Thanks, Aziz," he said, as the hideous figure morphed back into its normal, genial appearance.

"How could you be sure it was me?" Aziz asked curiously. "If I'd been a real banshee, I'd have shrieked by now, and you'd be dead."

In response, Severus pointed wordlessly at the objects Aziz held in one hand. "You still had your knitting needles."

"I'm surprised you didn't take them out yourself," Aziz commented as Severus cast a warming charm.

"Too cold to concentrate," the wizard replied as he pulled on his robes. "You should never have told me that I had an unlimited amount of wishes."

~~SS~~

"Well? What now?" Severus and Aziz were sitting alone in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express again. Aziz was crocheting this time—Severus couldn't tell what, but it seemed to be something that seemed to be more hole than yarn. The djinn had only glanced up momentarily to ask his question.

"Spinner's End first," said Severus. His mum had written him to say that she and Uncle Ty were going to clear most of Tobias's belongings out of the old home and had asked whether he wanted to keep anything. (Severus had only wanted the books.) They were keeping the house for now, she said; Ty had given her the money from her dowry and she'd paid off the mortgage. She wasn't going to live there, but there was always a chance that she might need her own space in Britain.

"And how long are we staying?"

"I don't know. Long enough to cast some protective charms—don't know why Mum didn't do that before. Maybe change up the furnishings a bit. And then Italy, to see if I can find gainful employment there."

"You'd probably have to learn Italian first."

"I'm not too worried about that," Severus said, grinning. He knew that Aziz was fluent in about fifteen languages, including Italian—and had, in fact, served more than one Italian master during the Renaissance years.

The train slowed as it approached King's Cross Station. "Don't get off right away," Aziz cautioned. "Wait until the trolley witch comes through to make sure everyone's off." Severus nodded. He'd been safe from bullying in previous years, mostly because his mother had been there to protect him. But James and Sirius had already made his life a living hell that year (as though it wasn't bad enough already) and he wasn't going to give them one last opportunity to bully him. He watched out the window as families reunited, then—once he saw that Orion and Walburga Black had left the platform with their son—levitated his trunk down from the shelf.

"Let's go home, Aziz."

~~SS~~

"I can't blot that evening out of my mind," Severus admitted to Aziz two days later. "How can I ever live here?" Following the djinn's advice, he'd spent the first few hours at Spinner's End adding Noise-Muffling, Notice-Me-Not, and Muggle-Repelling Charms to his childhood home, followed by Anti-Apparition Wards.

Aziz shrugged. "Perhaps you can't. But maybe you could change the look of the place?"

Severus frowned and, with a flick of his wand, transfigured the old-fashioned, pink settee into a dark brown leather couch in a more modern style. "I'm not sure this will change anything."

"You have to change the whole layout," suggested Aziz wisely. "Maybe remove the wall between the dining and sitting rooms. Rearrange which furniture goes where."

"No, I like it when visitors can't see my dirty dishes," Severus responded. But he waved his wand again, levitating the bookcases from the side near the fireplace to the opposite wall, near the stairs. Observing his work, he shook his head silently.

"I'd go with built-ins," commented the djinn. "Hide the stairs as much as possible."

Severus grinned; he transfigured the existing bookcases to be an integral part of the wall, then conjured another one to hide the opening to the stairs. "I've always wanted a secret room," he noted.

"Now let's do something with that fireplace," Aziz said. "Maybe river rock?"

Severus looked at it and had to tamp down a surge of panic as memories of his father hanging, upside-down, rushed to the forefront of his consciousness. "No," he said. "I don't think we want a fireplace here at all. "We're wizards, after all. We don't need a fire to keep warm." He flicked his wand, boarding up the fireplace, then conjured more bookcases until that wall, too, was completely lined with them. Snape looked around once again, then waved his wand again and again, until the wall leading to the kitchen was also obscured—another bookcase-door covered the door to the back half of the house. "That's better," he commented.

"It does make the room look much smaller."

Severus shrugged. "It's different enough."

Now you just need…" Aziz twirled lazily in the air. "Hmmm, maybe two thousand books to fill those shelves?"

Severus smiled. "Uncle Ty sent me some gold for a graduation present." Then suddenly he let out a hiss of pain and grabbed his left arm, which had begun burning in earnest. Oh, no. He'd almost forgotten. Up until now, the Dark Mark had been a mere inconvenience—he hadn't been able to go without his robes at school. The thing wasn't just a fancy tattoo, it was a mark of servitude.

Because he knew the consequences for disobeying a summons—Lucius had filled him in on that—he pocketed his wand, grabbed the bundle containing his Death Eater robes, and ran down the back alley to a point where he could Apparate.

He appeared on a moor, about a hundred yards from a large bonfire. He stopped long enough to pull on his robes and mask, then dived into his liar's palace again, pulling forward the memories he wanted the Dark Lord to see and hiding the rest behind his Occlumency shields.

"Severus," Lord Voldemort said. His snakey face looked even more grotesque than usual in the flickering firelight. "Congratulations on finishing up at Hogwarts. Do you have plans for your future?"

"Serving you, my lord. And brewing for profit as well." That was true; he could think of nothing he would rather do than to create master-level potions.

"You have a position?"

"No, my lord. I was going to look after a visit to my mother." He pushed a memory of Eileen to the surface—the one where she and Tiberius were talking about going to Italy.

"Don't stay in Italy too long, Severus. It takes too long to Apparate from there. You have to do at least four, maybe five, separate jumps; I need you here."

It took all of Severus's effort to subvert the part of him that wanted to cry in a childlike voice, But I don't want to be here. I want my Mum.

"Yes, Master."

"I'll have Elmore Greengrass contact you. He works—"

"For St. Mungo's, yes, I know." Eileen had often sent potions to Elmore—the basic, time-consuming ones that a true Potions Master didn't like to waste time on. "Thank you, Master."

Voldemort inclined his head regally (or, at least, as regally as a snake-man could) and wandered over to talk to Avery about his post-graduation plans.

~~SS~~

That first call of Voldemort's hadn't been so bad, Severus mused as he sat in a French café the following day. Really, it was meant to introduce the newest recruits to the circle of Death Eaters; that was all. But he knew things would get worse.

Voldemort was right that Apparating to Italy was not for the faint of heart. Severus had first Apparated from Manchester to Southampton, and from there to Paris. His last apparition, from Paris to Lyon, had left him feeling physically exhausted and magically drained. He was proud of himself—most wizards could only do two Apparitions in a row—but he was also not stupid enough to try a fourth jump. So after arriving at Lumiére Université (which had a special arrival room for international Apparition), he'd wandered across both Rhône and Saône Rivers, eventually stumbling tiredly into the Café Luna. He thumbed through a book he'd brought, but soon nodded off over his cup of espresso.

~~SS~~

Four hours later, feeling much refreshed, Severus Apparated to the ferry terminal at Ponte Cristoforo Colombo in Genoa, where his mum and uncle were waiting for him. "Sevvie!" squealed Eileen, pulling him into a hug. "You look beat! Don't worry; you won't have to Apparate the rest of the way. Bortoletto!" A loud crack heralded the arrival of a house elf—this one with dark eyes and a swarthy complexion, clad in a bath towel draped like a toga. "Bortoletto, this is my son, Severus."

"Master Severus," said the elf in a gravelly voice, sweeping into a low bow.

"Please take Severus to the villa," commanded Eileen.

"Yes, mistress," said the elf. Then he reached out, grabbed the wizard by the hand, and pulled him through the squeezing, twisting space that was Apparition.

~~SS~~

"It's beautiful, Mum," Severus said, marveling that his mother had given up a home—no, two homes—like this to live in the squalor of Spinner's End.

The villa—properly, Villa Principio—was a sprawling estate made of marble (brought over from the Dolomites, Uncle Ty told him) perched on top of a hill outside of Portofino Vetta. There were ocean views in three directions, and this late at night you could see the faint glow that was Genoa in the distance. The house was furnished with exquisite taste, with imported Persian rugs underfoot and carved mahogany furniture.

Severus wanted to sleep right away—he really was exhausted—but his mother, of course, wanted to chatter: about his performance on the N.E.W.T.s (the results would no doubt be delayed, as it would take an owl days to get to Genoa from the Ministry), about what he thought about her decision to purchase the house on Spinner's End. And, of course, about his plans.

"But Severus, I really thought—"

"Mum, it's Elmore Greengrass."

"I know it's a good opportunity, but don't you think it can wait a year or two?"

"Mum! If I wait a couple of years he won't hold the spot. I really need to do this now."

She sighed. "How much time do I get you for?"

"I start July 15. So a bit over two weeks."

Uncle Ty trotted up with a large jewelry box. "Well, lad, we'll make it easy for you to get back here, at least." He popped open the chest. "Pick a bracelet."

Severus poked through the contents of the tray Uncle Ty had indicated. They were all charm bracelets: some silver, some gold, some platinum, even one made out of copper. He eventually settled on a gold one that was less likely to react with cauldron fumes.

"Connect the boot charm with the leaf charm, and you'll be brought here," instructed Ty. "Putting the lion and the flower charm together will deliver you to Prince Hall."

"Unauthorized Portkey?" asked Severus, curiously.

Uncle Ty shrugged. "Similar, but not quite. It's very old magic—some of these charms date back almost to the fall of Rome. Don't worry, lad, the Ministry doesn't know how to detect this stuff. We've learned that through experience."

It was magic that would, of course, allow him to rejoin the Death Eaters even all the way from Italy. But Severus decided then and there that the Dark Lord would never know about his Prince family heirloom.

~~SS~~

The weeks in Italy passed far too fast for Severus's liking. He'd never seen his mother so happy. Eileen was still brewing—in a lab that probably surpassed the one he'd work in at St. Mungo's. She had contracts with apothecaries in Genova, Firenze, and Roma, she told her son. (Severus noticed that she always used the Italian names for the cities and was, in fact, relatively proficient in Italian.) She was working on developing new potions, too—in particular, an anti-venin that neutralized adder and viper venoms.

Severus helped his mother brew, swam lazily in the pool (their own private pool!), and took occasional walks on the beach. He also spent private time with Aziz—learning Italian, of course, but also just strategizing about how to fulfill his two as-yet unfulfilled wishes.

Soon it was time for him to return—and to test out his new charm bracelet. "I'll come with you," said his uncle, "if only to introduce you to the house elves."

Ty went first, using his own silver bracelet, and then Severus—after kissing his mother goodbye—touched the lion and the flower charms together. This method of travel, whatever it was, was much easier physically than apparition: just a slight squeezing sensation, and then he was there, in a grand two-story entrance hall. "Mopsy, Cottie, Flopsy: this is Master Severus. Mistress Eileen's son," Ty said, squatting down to look directly in the elves' eyes as he talked to them.

"Another Master Severus!" squeaked one of the elves (Cottie, if Severus remembered correctly). Mopsy (he thought) nodded sagely and rasped, "At last we has found you, Master. Will you live here?"

Severus thought of the coming and going he might have to do on Voldemort's behalf and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm apprenticing at St. Mungo's and they have quarters for me there."

"But Master Severus will come around on holidays? Beltaine, perhaps? Or Samhain?" inquired Cottie eagerly.

Severus pondered a bit, realized that Voldemort might want to work major magics on days of great significance, and shrugged. "I'll let you know."

Why had he ever become a Death Eater?

~~SS~~

Despite what Severus had told the house-elves, the quarters at St. Mungos weren't, in fact, for permanent usage, but rather for any brewer who needed to check on a complicated potion with a long brewing time. Severus found that, as the apprentice, he was often given responsibility for checking on potions like this—usually, stirring or adding ingredients every two hours around the clock. Being the St. Mungo's potions apprentice was hard—but mostly because of the long hours. Still, he did get a reasonable amount of time off most evenings, most of which he spent at Flourish & Blotts or reading back at Spinner's End.

Master Greengrass was a quiet man who, after ascertaining Severus's facility with potions, often merely pointed out the appropriate potion recipe in a book and told him what quantity to brew. Severus often worked in his own lab—to minimize cross-contamination as they each brewed different potions—which allowed Aziz to be out, openly giving suggestions when warranted. But, as the months passed, Aziz said less and less—and even occasionally said that he'd learned something new that day.

The best part of his job was that Severus felt free to suggest modifications to a recipe that would enhance its potency. Master Greengrass would brew the modified potion himself and then run it through complicated magical tests before using it on patients. He often nodded approvingly at Severus's work, but that was virtually all the feedback the young wizard ever got. Still, after seven years of working under the overly gregarious Horace Slughorn, Severus was very pleased with his supervisor.

~~SS~~

There was, of course, his other boss—the one whose demands more than made up for the easy-going nature of Master Greengrass. Often, Voldemort would send a request for particular potions—sometimes by owl, and sometimes via another Death Eater (frequently Master Greengrass himself). Then Severus or Master Greengrass would set up a containment field in a closet between their labs and brew the dark potions during breaks between creating draughts meant for healing.

It wasn't until Samhain that Severus was actually called (through the burning of the Dark Mark) to come to the Dark Lord's side again. "Time for mayhem and destruction!" Voldemort chortled gleefully, and he split his followers into groups of six, giving each a destination.

Severus arrived at a small cottage outside of Portsmouth. His targets, he'd been told, were a branch of the Bones family. "Muggle lovers, the lot of them," one of his group mates had said contemptuously. Severus had killed once before, and that was one time too many for him. So he held back somewhat as his fellow Death Eaters rushed towards the house.

"Aziz," he whispered.

A small voice near his ear said, "Yes, Master?"

"I wish for the inhabitants of this house to be safely moved to Boston."

"As you wish," said the invisible djinn, and Severus felt the familiar thrum of a wish taking hold. "I'll leave behind golems."

And so, a few minutes later, when Severus blasted the small figure of a girl with the Cruciatus curse, he could put the full force of his power behind it—because he knew that the real Bones daughter, whatever her name was, was actually many miles away.