Chapter II
Severus Snape was lying in his bed at his house in Spinner's End. The greasy haired professor was happy to be free of Hogwarts and its annoying dunderheads for the rest of his summer. He was clutching his left forearm where the Dark Mark was branded. He had just returned from a Death Eater meeting. Unfortunately for Snape, he was crucio-ed multiple times by the Dark Lord for failing to provide any solid information or facts about the Order meetings. There was even a point where the Dark Lord started questioning his loyalty. But the Master Occlumens had managed to trick the Dark Lord with false images. Snape did the same trick with Dumbledore too. Frankly, Snape wasn't loyal to anyone but himself.
The Dark Lord. Snape had joined him after graduating. He slowly moved through the ranks and was granted entry into the Inner Circle. Once Snape had heard the prophecy, he had reported it directly to the Dark Lord. So, he had appointed Snape to spy on Dumbledore through Hogwarts. He obeyed his master and followed his instructions. But after a few months, the Dark Lord stopped killing and terrorizing muggles and was getting obsessed with the prophecy. Snape had joined the Dark Lord only because he believed in the pureblood mania, though he was a half-blood himself. Thus, Snape began to re-think his priorities. The Dark Lord was ripped from his body on Halloween night. After Voldemort was incarnated, he began to totally get obsessed with the idea of killing the Potter brat. No longer did Snape believe the "Purebloods Rule" slogan. He began to realize that everyone were equal, regardless of blood. So, he had turned to Dumbledore.
Albus Dumbledore. The leader of the Light. The only person who the Dark Lord feared. Once he had Dumbledore's support behind him, he didn't have to fear being imprisoned for his crimes. He got away at his trial without a scratch because of Dumbledore's testimony. But, no. Snape was clever enough to find out about him being a master manipulator and never had loyalty to him. He tricked Dumbledore just like the Dark Lord. Dumbledore, similarly to Voldemort, was obsessed about Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, and The Golden boy extraordinaire. Most of the Order meetings, Harry Potter this, Harry Potter that, and he was beginning to get mad.
Snape had been playing a clever, stealthy game of being a spy for both sides now. He was only loyal to himself and self-preservation was his most important concern. Snape was planning on declaring his loyalty to whichever side that won the war. For now, he would act like he was loyal to both sides. But then, Harry Potter entered his mind. Potter, the arrogant brat. Even though he hated James Potter to the core, he grudgingly admitted that Potter was more powerful than both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore.
Honestly, the boy had defeated a professor possessed by Voldemort in his first year. In his second year, he had killed a 1000 year old basilisk, defeated a diary that contained the spirit of a 17 year old Tom Riddle, or Lord Voldemort, as he fashioned himself. In his third year, he had managed to save Black, drive away a 100 dementors with an impressive Patronus at the age of thirteen, for god's sake. Most people couldn't cast the Patronus even at age 30. In his fourth year, he managed to win the Triwizard Tournament, surviving a dragon and dueling with the Dark Lord and returning unscathed, with the corpse of Cedric Diggory. In his fifth year, he and five other students had managed to break into the Department of Mysteries, duel and win against a bunch of Inner Circle Death Eaters, duel with Voldemort and cause him immense pain, since the Dark Lord had been forcibly ejected by the brat's mind.
Snape was impressed with the boy and was sure that if only he was aware of Dumbledore's manipulations, he would become independent and reveal his manipulations to the world. He was sure that boy could defeat with enough training. He was the leader that the wizarding world needed. Not a master manipulator, not a dark lord but this 16 year old boy. Snape decided that he would try and improve the boy's skill this term at Hogwarts. He also decided that it was time drop his childish grudge against the boy just because he looked like James Potter re-incarnates.
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Lucius Malfoy had just escaped from Azkaban Prison. The dementors had joined Voldemort and had released all of Voldemort's followers. On returning to the Dark Lord, he had cursed him multiple times for his failure at the Department of Mysteries and told him that it was his final chance and he would be killed if he failed again at any other mission, along with his entire family.
For the first time in his life, Malfoy was actually trembling with fear, unable to sleep for two days now. Malfoy had joined the Dark Lord in hopes of purifying the wizarding world. He was happy with his choice at the beginning. But then, the Dark Lord fell and Dumbledore started influencing the Wizarding World. Fortunately, with some hard cash and the excuse as Imperius Curse, he was able to escape imprisonment.
Malfoy, along with a few of his supporters – Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Nott and another few families – were started to lose faith in the Dark Lord. After his re-birth, the Dark Lord had been fully concerned with eliminating Harry Potter, Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix. He had done nothing about purifying the bloodlines.
These few dark families knew that their only solace was with Dumbledore and they were surely not going to join with the manipulative Headmaster. So, they continued to serve the Dark Lord. That was what they were discussing in the meeting room at Malfoy Manor.
All the Dark families that were disappointed with the Dark Lord had arrived. Lucius stood up and thanked everyone for deciding to grace the occasion.
"Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know, the Dark Lord is only keen on eliminating the Light side. He has done nothing else in the recent past. We all know he is keen on killing Potter. Now, as we know, we can't side with Dumbledore in this war. Now, we are planning on defecting from the Dark Lord too. So, I have found the only person who can help us in this situation. It is only Potter", said Lucius."Potter has a lot of potential. He doesn't realize Dumbledore's manipulations. I strongly advise all of us to ally ourselves with Harry Potter. Yes, I'm quite sure Potter will realize Dumbledore's manipulations and become independent. He will become the leader that we all require. He may not purify the bloodlines, but he is the closest we can get any leader too. Dumbledore is full of Light magic; the Dark Lord is full of Dark magic. I'm sure Potter will mature and realize that magic is only based on intent soon. He has the potential to defeat both Dumbledore and the Dark Lord. So, I'll contact Severus on this matter."
Once Lucius finished his speech, most people agreed with him but there were some objections.
"Won't Snape run off to the Dark Lord and Dumbledore and inform them of our plans?" questioned a person in the gathering.
"No my friends. For a long time, I know that Severus has been loyal to neither the Dark Lord nor Dumbledore but to himself only. I'm sure Severus won't betray our trust once he realizes our….. position now", said Lucius smoothly and sat down.