Disclaimer: The following characters are the property of JK Rowling. I'm just playing with them, in this wonderful playground she has created.

Author: Although I had said this chapter will be short, I ended up appending two short chapters to make one big one. So read and enjoy.

He hadn't dwelt enough on what he heard to make proper sense of it nor to think of its implications before he left the pub and apparated directly to the Dark Lord. All he knew, was that there was a threat lurking in the form of a boy who would be born within a couple of months.

He had to make sure his master knew of this prophecy as he couldn't think of a world with the Dark Lord defeated. He would have no where else to go and it would certainly be the end of his dabble in the Dark Arts. He would be branded a Death Eater and send to Azkaban. No, a voice in his mind said. The Dark Lord will not be defeated. He will have the upper hand once he hears the prophecy.

And with that thought Severus stepped into the manor and quickly proceeded to the inner hall where the Dark Lord was seated. He didn't wait to be allowed for permission to speak as he burst out everything he heard at the Hogshead inn. By the time Severus finished speaking, Voldemort's face contorted into a perilous rage, his long pale hands tightening its grip on his wand.

Just when Severus thought he was going to be punished for this sudden uninvited relay of information, especially something this disquieting, he saw Voldemort striding forward and pressing his wand on his forearm. Within moments twenty or so Death Eaters apparated directly to the inner hall and waited to be spoken to.

"I have an extremely important task for all of you." Voldemort hissed venomously, his scarlet eyes twinkling grisly.

"Rookwood, I want to you to check the records of all children being born at the end of July. I assume there's a provision for that?" asked Voldemort

"Yes my Lord. The names appear automatically when the child gets born" replied Rookwood, precariously.

"Good. When you find out who they are, I want the rest of you to find out every single detail about them. Fail to do so, and you shall feel Lord Voldemort's wrath! " spat Voldemort, as several of the Death Eaters cowered and stepped back.

"Everyone except Rookwood may leave." finished Voldemort as Rookwood looked longingly at the apparating Death Eaters, clearly petrified at the thought of being left alone with an irascible Dark Lord.

"A prophecy has been made regarding me. I take it, they are stored in the Department of Mysteries?" asked Voldemort, since Rookwood worked there and had been passing information to Voldemort for a while.

"Yes my Lord." replied Rookwood feeling slightly relieved about not having been kept back for retribution.

"Then I want you to find out everything about it. To whom it refers to and any other additional information you can gather." said Voldemort

"Yes my Lord." replied Rookwood.

"You can leave now." said Voldemort as the last of the Death Eaters apparated his way out of the room.

Voldemort suddenly turned to Severus, whose presence he seemed to have forgotten for a while.

Severus gulped as he looked into Voldemort's powder white face, knowing how difficult it was to behold his rage.

But Voldemort surprisingly smiled at Severus as he sat back down on his chair.

"You have done well young boy." he said . "Lord Voldemort values loyalty and rewards it most generously, and since you have given me a truly momentous news, you are hereby promoted to the middle level of my clique. You can certainly be proud of it as there are few followers of mine who have managed to achieve that, being only two years out of Hogwarts." said Voldemort

Severus felt his heart widening with pride as he relished the feeling of power, which he had longed for all his life and which he was denied all throughout his childhood.

The scene changed and Severus was standing facing the Dark Lord who seemed relaxed and seated back on his armchair with an exultant smile drawn on his face.

"I thought it would be fitting for you to be the one to whom I divulge the following information as you were the one who brought me the prophecy." said the cold voice.

Without waiting for an answer Voldemort continued. "There were two children born at the end of July, to parents satisfying the conditions the prophecy spoke of."

"Who are they my Lord." asked Severus curiously.

"Both the families are Order members and both, I have been told, are pretty close to Dumbledore." replied Voldemort as he twiddled his wand in his hands.

"One of them is a pureblood family. Their names are Frank and Alice Longbottom and they work as Aurors in the Ministry. But I have decided not to attack them. I do not see my conqueror in a pureblood." Voldemort stopped twiddling his wand and looked at the wall in deep thought.

"I do not see myself in that boy." he said.

Severus knew this meant that it was the other family that had the death sentence pronounced upon them.

"The other, I have been told also work at the Ministry" continued Voldemort." The father, James Potter who is a pureblood is an Auror and the mother Lily Potter, a mudblood, works in the Department of Mysteries"

After a short pause he continued. "Yes, I see myself in that boy, I see him looming around me as a threat. But Lord Voldemort knows everything. I will cut down his wings before he learns how to fly. He will not grow up in this world holding the possibility of defeating me. Lord Voldemort will be truly invincible once I wipe out him and his entire family!" he shouted as his scarlet eyes gleamed with a triumphant rage.

Severus felt his soul leave his body and for a moment actually thought a dementor had sucked it out of him. The moment Voldemort mentioned Potter's name he felt his body crumbling, his breathing slowing down and his brain numbing. Severus didn't even hear the rest of the words that followed. All he knew was Lily was going to die, and it was all his fault.

And suddenly everything made sense. Every atrocity he committed, every crime he abetted, the people he befriended, his Dark Mark, everything flashed in front of his eyes as though his whole life spun around in his mind like a reel being played over and over again and as he stood there, finally paying for all the sins he committed, his whole life became clear to him.

And then he saw her, more clearly than he remembered seeing her in the last three years. Her green eyes shining lambently and her red hair burning crimson in front of which even Voldemort's eyes seemed to flicker. She was more beautiful than he ever remembered seeing her and yet seeing her seemed to hurt him like never before, as if being stabbed by a thousand knives.

And then he felt the earth beneath him melting, his legs gave away and Lily's eyes were still piercing into his, maddening him. He was falling, the air was being sucked out of him, his nerves seemed to jam in his brain, his skin was burning and the blood was rushing up, he was falling and it seemed like his feet would never touch ground again.

Severus woke up with a jolt, feeling extremely queasy and with a slightly sunken feeling in his stomach as though he really had been falling like in his dream. He lifted the jug lying on his bedside table and emptied it in one gulp, refilled it using the Aguamenti charm and drained it again.

It was always the same dream. A reminder of the biggest mistake he ever made. In the beginning he welcomed it as a form of chastisement which would prevent him from slipping back into his old ways as he was still tempted by the Dark Arts, although having given up on Voldemort and his principles. But lately it had become more tormenting as he feared more and more for Lily's life.

Every time he felt the pang of guilt for telling Voldemort the prophecy, he would console himself by saying that Lily was safe and that it was based on his information that they went into hiding. But ever since he found out about the informant, he couldn't help but worry.

He censured himself once more, for thinking about Lily ending up dead, since in Severus's mind it was nothing short of hypothetical. After all, Dumbledore was protecting her. He had promised him she would be safe. And he trusted Dumbledore to keep his word. And with that comforting thought Severus pulled up his covers and went back to sleep, hoping to dream of something better.

"Come in." said the voice as Severus opened the door and stepped into the circular room.

Dumbledore was seated in his chair and reading through a letter with a slight smirk on his face. Severus sat in his chair in front of the desk and as he did so, recognized the symbol on the envelope which was lying on the table, as that of the Ministry's. He knew this was perhaps one of those letters from the Minister seeking Dumbledore's advice. Severus wondered why the Headmaster never sought to take up the position since he was no doubt better at it than all the maladroit dim wits that had graced the title of Minister. He wondered how anyone could be so uninterested in power, to let go off it so easily.

Dumbledore finished his letter and put it aside. Severus suddenly remembered the pressing matter at hand and as Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak, he burst out.

"Tell me you're the new secret keeper. Tell me they didn't go ahead with their plan. Tell me you've find out who the informant is and that you've drove away all of Potter's friends."

Dumbledore let out a small chuckle as Severus regained his breath. Dumbledore took this moment to start speaking.

"My dear boy, calm down. I know you're worried about Lily's safety. But so are all of us. You shouldn't think we are taking this new matter at hand, lightly." He said

Before Severus could interrupt, he went on "As for the matter of the informant, I spoke to James and Lily about it. James still believes none of his friends could betray him, especially Sirius. He told me that Sirius would die rather than betray his friends. "

"Then he's a fool!" exclaimed Severus standing up. "He might not care of his own life but there is someone else in that house and if he doesn't care about protecting her then we should!" he spat, his chest heaving swiftly.

"That will do Severus." said Dumbledore flatly.

Severus was not willing to pipe down. He didn't care about being rude to Dumbledore. In fact he was shocked to see him leave such an important decision in the hands of an imbecile like James Potter.

"Severus, I understand your feelings. But in circumstances like these, we need to think more rationally. James is an adult, and which person on earth do you think wouldn't care about the safety of their own wife and child."

My father, thought Severus bitterly as Dumbledore continued. "Also, James and Lily have reached a conclusion as to who could be the possible candidate for the spy among us."

Although Severus was waiting to bite back, this particular statement from Dumbledore made him calm down a bit and he kept his silence willing Dumbledore to go on.

"But before that I'd like to know of your opinion, Severus. You after all spend seven years in school with them and you must have some idea about their personalities. People who love us will always be astute to our goodness and positive traits, they will however be blinded to our negatives. Since I take it that you never got along with James and his friends, who among them do you think could turn to the dark side, excluding Sirius of course"

Severus was slightly taken aback by Dumbledore's interest in his opinion. He calmed down a bit and thought for a moment as he sat back down.

"Pettigrew is someone who would be scared to death by his own shadow and is likely to faint at the mere sight of the Dark Lord and since you've taken Black out of that list, I guess it means Lupin's the likely candidate." replied Severus.

"Yes, a conclusion James and Lily have reached as well, although James had a harder time believing it." (Severus face reddened) "But they also had some evidence to corroborate this claim as Remus had not shown up for the last two Order meetings. They also described how he was acting slightly distant from them. But they always took it as a sign of his growing insecurity associated with his being a werewolf. Especially after a certain event last month when he attacked a human during his transformation."

"James and Lily have made sure that Remus is not let in on the secret of their location. The only three people in the world who knows of their location would be Sirius, James and Lily." finished Dumbledore.

Severus was still not satisfied with Dumbledore's claims. He distrusted the whole lot, including Potter. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, that something bad was going to happen. But before Severus could argue anymore, Dumbledore started speaking again.

"Now that we've settled that issue, I suggest we get back to our lesson. Now, I told you yesterday that the Order members use their patronuses for communication. Let me show you how." said Dumbledore. He then took out his wand, gave a flick with it and muttered "Expecto patronum."

A large feathery bird burst out of his wand and Severus couldn't recognize what it was immediately. It was only when he took a closer look that he realized it was a phoenix. Severus also felt a strange warmth build up in his chest at the sight of it, as though the phoenix was radiating strength and instilling hope. The bird flew around the office once and then came to a standstill in front of Severus. It then opened its mouth and spoke in Dumbledore's voice.

"I am Albus Dumbledore and I like sweets."

Severus smiled a little as he heard the phoenix speak after which the patronus vanished in front of him.

"This is how the patronus works as a means of communication. It speaks, instead of you. There are more complicated spells that let your patronus's message be legible only to you, in case it gets followed. To anyone else it will sound as strange as Gobbledegook, unless its a goblin of course. But I think we should start with the simpler form first. Now take out your wand please, Severus" said Dumbledore.

Severus obeyed and took out his wand, at which point Dumbledore continued. "Although conjuring a patronus is easier without the presence of a dementor, it still takes a powerfully strong memory or thought to sustain it for long since your patronus might have to travel really long distances at times.

Severus was asked to conjure his patronus and this time he used a different thought than the previous time he had conjured one, something that hadn't occurred yet and thus wouldn't qualify as a memory but a thought so joyful that Severus could sustain a patronus that could travel to the end of the universe. Thinking of the moment when he would see those luminous green eyes again, he worded the spell. The bat came out of his wand and flew around the office like the phoenix and once it came to rest, Dumbledore continued.

"Next you have to use the non verbal spell 'Locumitt' ." said Dumbledore watching the bat.

"Locumitt" repeated Severus.

"Yes, now the the next part is where you have to pay attention. As it requires you to concentrate not only on the words you would like your patronus to speak but also on your memory so as to sustain it. This take loads of practice and I want you to do the same every day until I find the results satisfactory. As a start, shall I ask you to do it once for now" said Dumbledore.

Severus thought hard on the spell first and then thought of what he wanted his patronus to say. And as soon as he started concentrating on it, his patronus flickered and disappeared into the air.

"See, you forgot to pay attention to your memory while concentrating on the spell. You need to pay equal attention to both. This comes with practice only. I suggest we leave our lesson here for today. I presume we'll need only at the most two or three days for you to perfect it. I'm sure you would have mastered it by Halloween." said Dumbledore.

Severus nodded and stood up to leave. He wondered whether he should bring up the topic of the informant again, but then thought against it . He therefore merely said goodnight and left the office.

Halloween had arrived and the the kitchens were smelling heavily of cooked pumpkins and delicious treats being prepared for the feast, the alluring smells of which traveled through the entire castle.

Severus meanwhile had finally mastered his patronus in the previous lesson and remembered his bat mouthing his message perfectly without a hitch. Severus didn't have another meeting with the Dark Lord as well, and this made him extremely tensed as there was no way of knowing what was up with the informant. Although James and Dumbledore fully trusted Black, Severus couldn't calm down that easily. Black was after all someone who proved he could do murder at the age of 15.

Severus tried to block these thoughts out of his mind as it made him even more grumpier than he usually was. He joined Dumbledore and the rest of the staff on the table and ate through a wonderful feast that Severus couldn't properly enjoy. He therefore quickly left the table once the feast finished and rushed off to his room.

As he laid down on his bed he took Lily's letter and read through it once again. While reading it, he realized just how much he missed her. Although Severus knew he could never have her, since she was someone else's wife now, it didn't bother him much. That she was safe and happy was all that mattered to him.

"Keep breathing and I'll stay alive", he said out loud. He placed the letter inside its cover and laid down on his bed.

He was about to close his eyes, when it happened. He sat upright holding his hand on his forearm. He lifted up his left sleeve and to his horror saw the black snake and skeleton etched lucidly on his skin. The Dark Mark was burning.

Author: I know you're wondering whats unusual about the Dark Mark burning. Well, you'll see that in the next Chapter.

Also 'locu' means talk and 'mitt' means send away. Hence 'locumitt' for the spell to send away your patronus with a message. :)

Hope you liked it. If you've read this far, please dont forget to review. I would love to know what you think. So please, please review.