*** I do not own Harry Potter! I'm not J.K. Rowling just like to borrow her characters! Please review! Reviews make me update faster! Jk! But they do help! ***
Giving In
Chapter 4: The Potions master
Burning. He felt like his arm was on fire. Severus Snape woke to his arm feeling like it was being ironed on. He rolled up his sleeve to see his mark, it was red and swollen. He rolled over and groaned 'ugh just what I need! The Dark Lord!' He hid under the covers and tried to pull himself together.
After the battle at the department of mysteries the Headmaster had called an emergency order meeting. Dumbledore had reveled to them that Harry potter was cursed and taken by Lord Voldemort. 'What a load of crap!' Was the first thought that occurred to Snape. He knew for a fact that the Dark Lord had not planned on taking Potter. If he had the Dark Lord would have reveled the plan to the inner circle. Which Snape was apart of. He had no knowledge that the Dark Lord was going to kidnap Harry potter. So therefore it was a load of crap because Voldemort didn't kidnap Harry potter so the only logically conclusion was that Harry Potter went with Voldemort willingly. 'Why would Potter do that?' Was the question on Snapes mind.
After the meeting the Headmaster had insisted on speaking to Snape in private. They headed back to Hogwarts and had a midnight meeting in the old mans office. Dumbledore insisted on asking Snape if he knew the whereabouts of the boy who lived. Snape felt a headache coming on just thinking about last night. He didn't get to leave Dumbledores office till 3 in the morning. The old coot could talk for hours! When Snape was finally dismissed to come back to his quarters for bed he couldn't sleep. When he finally did sleep all Snape could dream about was the boy who lived and Lily and his promise to keep her son safe. Oh how he had failed!
After about ten minutes of Snape trying to clear his mind and ignoring the pain in his left arm he decided he needed to face the music sooner rather than later. He got out of bed and headed to the bathroom. He rinsed his face off with cold water to try and wake himself up. He spent a good whole minute looking at himself in the mirror. He shook his head "you should have been an owner of an apothecary you bastard!" He said to his reflection while shaking his finger at his image in the mirror like he was reprimanding one of his students 'too late now' he thought bitterly. He headed to the closet put on his death eater robes and mask. 'I have a feeling that this is going to be a very long morning.' Snape thought. He took a deep breath put his most evil face on and touched his dark mark.
He apparated to the location he was being summoned to. The new and improved dark marks could aparrate anyone from anywhere. The tricky part was getting back. Snape could apartate out of Hogwarts not into. A few more months and Death Eaters would be able to apparate everywhere including into Hogwarts.
Snape apparated to Riddle manor, The Dark Lords private home. Snape had only been there a hand full of times but in those times the outcome was not pretty. This manor was associated with immeasurable pain. Each time that Snape had come here he was tortured under the suspicion that he was a spy for the Order. And each time he barely lived to tell the tale.
Snape reached for the knocker on the door but the door opened before he got the chance. Wormtail let Snape in and showed him to the warded west wing and into Voldemorts private office. Once wormtail left Snape he waited for the Dark Lord. He surveyed his surrounding and looked for an escape route just in case. 'Only two doors and one window. Not a lot of options but I think that if this were to go south the easiest way out would be to...' Snapes thoughts were cut off as Voldemort walked in. He felt himself involuntarily shiver at the thought of being discovered as a spy. It wasn't the fear of dying that Severus was shivering at. It was the fear of leaving Lily son alone to deal with two mad men, Voldemort and Dumbledore. Both of them had ruined Snapes life in so many ways. The only thing that kept him going was Harry Potter, Lilys son. He was the only reason Snape was doing all of this.
Severus felt so guilty for causing the potters death that he would gladly die for the boy a 100 times over and it looked like that time was nearing. "Ah... Severus so glad of you to come." The Dark Lord said.
Snape suppressed a shiver and tried to control his emotions in his voice as he said "My Lord." He knelt down. "No need to be so formal old friend!" Voldemort said. Snape got up off the ground and looked at Voldemort with a questioning gaze. Not once had Snape ever heard the Dark Lord speak to him in such a friendly manner. It scared Snape even more than the Dark Lord cursing at him. "I have summoned you here to help me with a problem... I'm am sure that Dumbledore has informed you that I have the boy, correct?" Voldemort looked at Snape with a piercing gaze trying to read the young mans mind while he waited for Snape to answer. Severus nodded "yes...my- Ugh." Snape didn't know how to address the Dark Lord. If he said the wrong thing he was sure he would be put under the cruciatus curse. He couldn't go with Tom because he would probably be killed for calling him that and the Dark Lord just asked him not to call him 'my Lord' so what left to call him?
Voldemort let silence fill the room and he saw that Snape looked nervous 'maybe he does have something to hide. But that is for another time.' Thought Voldemort. Right now he need Snape to help Harry "You have been informed correctly, I do have the boy. He came with me willingly." Voldemort declared and Snape nodded he had already come to that conclusion himself. The question he wanted answered was 'why?' Snape expected the Dark Lord to continue but he didn't, instead he said, "that story is for another time. You must be wondering why I have summoned you. I brought Harry here last night and he ended up passing out. I suspected that it was just the strain of the day getting to him but when I tried to wake him up this morning, he didn't. He felt a little warm to me so I let him rest but he started to shake and now I fear that he may be ill. I know you have some level of experience in healer magic and I thought you could help." Severus looked panicked "lead the way… Voldemort." Snape said as he tried to remain calm. If Harry was ill and Snape didn't help him he would forever feel the guilt of not being able to protect the boy. "Yes of course follow me it's just through this door. And by the way nice use of my name you don't have to be so formal when were alone but you must refer to me as 'my Lord' when we are in the presence of other Death Eaters. I like you Severus but not that much." Voldemort said as he walked over to the door to his bedroom but before he opened it he hesitated and said "I fear that Harry has Dragon pox. You know that there is no cure but I'm telling you now Snape you have to help him. I don't care how you do it but you have to do it. If you don't I will torture you to the point where you won't even remember your own name and only when you start wishing for death will I grant it. You have to help him." Snape shivered but he noticed the concern in Voldemorts voice as he said these things. Voldemort was very worried about Harry but 'why?' He put that the thought to the back of his mind to question later right now he needed to help Harry.
Voldemort opened the door and walked right in. Snape stayed by the door as Voldemort sat next to Harry. The sight of Harry made Snape stop and take a deep breath for a second. Harry was as pale as death and shivering even though it must have been 80 degrees in the room. Harry looked so small in the Dark Lords large king size bed. "You see. You have to help him Severus I fear that he doesn't have long." Voldemort said as he beckoned Snape forward. Snape went straight into work mode. He laid out his potions that he always carried with him on the nightstand. He then took out his wand and decided to scan the boy first before he started to pour potions down the boys throat. He muttered a simple healer spell and a scroll with a quill appeared out of nowhere and started to write down Harrys medical history. While that was going on Snape decided to check the boy's magical core. What he saw shocked him beyond belief "what th-?"...
*** What do you think? That cliffhanger though! Please review and follow! Thank you for reading and I'll have an update soon! I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! *** -Castlerocks
