Author's Notes: I just wanted to say a big, huge thanks to all my reviewers! You guys rock! Thank you so much for encouraging me.

First Times, Second Chances

Chapter Sixteen: The Prodigal Returns

Meri woke up with a terribly headache. She tried to open her eyes but any little movement sent pain shooting through her skull. She flexed her fingers and found something soft underneath them. A rug, and an expensive one at that. Her hearing was coming back and she could make out the crackle of fire and the low murmur of voices. She tried to open her eyes again when her head started hurting again, only this time it was from an invasion.

"Stay down."

"Sev?"

"You're in the Malfoy Manor, surrounded by Death Eaters. Don't be a hero."

A flash of anger coursed through her. "What do you care?"

"I do…" There was a pause. "I do care. So stay down."

Meri followed his advice and tried to stay still. But then she heard the snake moving across the floor towards her. She didn't do snakes. Opening her eyes, she waited for them to adjust and slowly things were coming into focus. Just as she was starting to feel normal, a cold, high voice cut through the air.

"Good evening, Miss Potter."

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she pushed herself up off the ornate rug and face the people sitting at a long, high polished table. Voldemort was seated at the center with Severus to his right and Bellatrix to his left. She recognized a couple of the other faces, like Lucius, Narcissa, Avery and Dolohov. Meri tried to looked confident and unafraid despite the fact she was outnumbered about fifteen to one.

"Evening," she said, thankful her voice didn't shake.

"And how are you doing?" Voldemort asked. "It's been a very long time since I've seen you last."

"Not long enough for me." She felt the snake rub against her ankle and she flinched.

"Don't worry, Meriam," Voldemort said. "Nagini is just welcoming you. There's someone else here who would like to welcome you. Wormtail, stop cowering and greet your old friend. With James, Sirius and Remus gone now, I'm sure she is just dying to see you."

Meri watched and one of the Death Eaters shoved a small, cowering man into her vicinity. She barely recognized Peter Pettigrew, thin, balding and rat faced. He was whimpering and wringing his hands together, one of which looked like it was encased in silver. He looked nothing like the Peter she had been around for the last sixteen years and she almost broke right then.

"Someone return Miss Potter's wand to her," Voldemort commanded. Severus rose from his seat and walked around the table. She tried to find his eyes as he handed her her wand but he kept his eyes averted and his mind closed. She didn't expect any help from him honestly. He had a reputation to keep up and she would do her best to help him do that. Besides, she had some unfinished business with Pettigrew. But now wasn't the time for it.

"Hello, Peter."

"M-Meri."

She didn't really know what they expected from her. Knowing them as she did, they would want a show, entertainment in the form of violence. She wasn't about to give it to them, regardless of how she felt towards the watery-eyed man in front of her. She folded her hands in front of her, wand pointed at the ground. Pettigrew looked over at Voldemort and then back to her, not sure what to do either. Finally, Voldemort grew bored with the inaction.

"Wormtail, sit down. Perhaps later on tonight Meriam will feel a little more vengeful. I wish to watch something more exciting than this. A duel, I believe."

Bellatrix laughed with delight, looking at Voldemort with undisguised excitement. "My Lord, please, let me-"

He raised a pale, long fingered hand. "Maybe later on. I believe Severus should be the one to duel her. He was the one that brought her here."

"No, he's not!" Amycus Carrow stood up from near the end of the table. "I was the one who brought her! I should be the one to duel her!"

"Amycus, if I allow you to duel with Meriam here, it would not be very entertaining. You wouldn't last two minutes with her. Severus," Voldemort motioned towards Meri. "If you wouldn't mind."

It was a test then. Voldemort was testing Severus' allegiance. This was going to take some fantastic acting or some actual blood spilling. This time as he walked towards, she felt a sliver of his mind open to her. Unlike Voldemort and most legilimens, they didn't need to look in each other's eyes to speak to each other.

"Remember the prank we pulled on my brother and his friends?" She asked him.

"The one with the protego charm that we altered?"

"That's the one." They raised their wands and swished them so they pointed to the ground before turning their backs to each other. "Hit me with your best."

During one of their occulemency lessons, Severus had found out a prank that James, Sirius and Remus were going to pull on him. It was quiet simple, actually. They would set up a "haunted hallway" on the way down to the Slytherin common room. Meri had planned on jumping out and hitting him with a hex, to be determined that night, and just all out frightening him. In an effort to make peace, she suggested they work together (Dumbledore required at least one project a semester that they had to work together on) to alter the protego charm to actually shield a person's body without showing the shield. It took them three weeks but they managed it. When the time for the prank came, Meri jumped out with a yell and Severus hit her with the crucio curse, only she was protected by the altered protego charm. She writhed and screamed on the floor, causing James and company to jump from their hiding spaces. James didn't talk to her for a week, Sirius was only half mad at her and Remus thought it was a brilliant idea. She hoped it would save her now.

They walked the required paces and turned, wands raised. Severus still had the sliver of his mind open to her and told her what he was going to cast.

"Stupify!"

Meri flicked her wand and blocked it. "Expelliarmus!"

Severus knew what was coming, she had let him know, and he blocked it easily. That was the easy part of the duel, now the big spells were about to come out.

"Rictusempra!"

Meri barely blocked the spell in time. Apparently Severus was through giving her warnings. Well, two could play at the game. Just for kicks, she threw a tickling charm at him. He lazily waved his wand and gave her a confused look. She shrugged and tried again with a stinging hex and caught him on the leg. He scowled and shook it off and sent a nonverbal spell her way. At first she thought it had missed but looking down she saw the hem of her robe had caught fire and was quickly spreading. Without thinking, she stripped off her cloak and stepped on it, vanquishing the flames. Now she was just in jeans and a t-shirt, not a whole lot of protection now.

"That was a good robe, you insufferable git!"

"My apologies," he responded though his tone sounded anything but apologetic.

At the moment, she didn't care if he was trying to save face in front of Voldemort. She had some precious artifacts in that robe that she would have to recover now before one of the Death Eaters did the job for her. He had hit a sore spot and she was about to let him know it. Without stopping, she threw a series of stinging hexes which caught him on the calf, arm and neck, and she ended the barrage with another disarming charm that hit him squarely in the chest, sending him to the floor. His face looked livid.

Without any warning, she felt her legs sweep out from underneath her and she hit the floor hard. Apparently he wasn't the only one who was annoyed. As he stood, he flicked his wand again and it felt like a hot whip struck her across her chest. Meri stayed down, catching her breath as Severus staggered to his feet. The kid gloves were off now. Meri jumped up from the floor and hurled the strongest disarming charm she knew, but Severus barely ducked it.

"Here it comes," he warned her mentally before shouting, "Crucio!"

Meri felt the spell hit her but the altered protego charm did it's job and protected her. She allowed the force of the spell to knock her to the ground and she screamed and writhed. The Death Eaters broke out in cheers and applause while Meri lay on the carpet panting. After a few seconds, she pushed herself up and swayed on her feet slightly.

"Go to the left," he said again and Meri mentally groaned. She was never good with left and right, a weakness that she was never able to overcome. But before she had time to figure out what was left and right, she heard "Sectumsepra" yelled and she jumped to the side hoping it was to the left. An intense white hot pain issued from her temple down to her jaw and all she could see was red and all she could hear was a high pitch scream. It wasn't until she fell to the floor, her hands covering her bloody face that she realized it was her screaming.

He wanted to scream at her. How stupid could a grown woman be that she couldn't tell her left from her right. But he couldn't. He had to look pleased with himself while the person Dumbledore told him to keep alive was trying to hold her slashed face together. His "companions" were cheering and applauding his move but all he could feel was sick to his stomach.

Voldemort stood up from the table and silence fell on the room. Well, almost silence, Meri was half way sobbing. He couldn't imagine what the pain must feel like, let alone the fear. He had basically blinded her in the midst of her enemies. He watched Voldemort make his way around the table with slow and deliberate steps. When he entered the make shift dueling circle, Severus had no choice but to back out. Meri's fate was out of his hands now.

"I had expected better from you, Meriam," Voldemort said silkily. "I had expected a child of mine to duel with more ferociousness."

A murmur of confusion rippled through the room. Even though Severus had just learned of that secret, the shock of it came back and made playing his part in this whole ordeal slightly easier. He took a tentative step forward, towards Voldemort. "My Lord?"

"Yes," Voldemort said, getting down on one knee in front of Meri. "An unfortunate lapse in judgment on my part but I had hoped it would prove beneficial in the end." He pulled out his wand and waved it front of her face. The gash partial healed up and Meri quickly wiped her face on her sleeve so she could see again.

"But," Voldemort continued, "perhaps she can still be useful."

Severus watched as Meri's face twisted into a sneer. "Useful to you? I'd rather die."

"And I would love to be the one to do that, but for now, I need you alive. You see, your nephew will not show himself unless he thinks a loved one is in danger. He risked life and limb to show up at the Department of Mysteries when he thought his dear godfather was being tortured. I can only imagine what he will do when you actually are."

A flicker of fear passed across her face but she quickly hid it. "I'm sure Harry has smartened up since then. He knows the importance of defeating you at any cost."

"Perhaps," Voldemort held up his wand again, "which brings me to another part of my plan. I was most upset that the Ministry was lost to me. You take something from me, I take something from you."

Severus didn't know what was about to happen until it did and it caused his stomach to roll. Voldemort's free hand had closed around Meri's left wrist and he cast a binding spell on her. All she could do was sit there as Voldemort burned the Dark Mark into her arm. A cruel smile touched Voldemort's face.

"Let's see how the Ministry welcomes back their Head Auror who is now sporting the Dark Mark." He released the binding spell and Meri fell forward on the carpet, cradling her left arm, blood still dripping from her face. Voldemort stood up and turned towards his jeering followers. "Narcissa, would you should Miss Potter to her room for the night. With a murderer like me on the loose, I'm sure the Ministry will need her very soon. Severus, you've done exceeding well. The night is yours."

Severus nodded his head and immediately left the room. He headed up the main stairs of the Manor and found the first bathroom. No sooner did he shut the door then the contents of his stomach made a reappearance. Even in death, Dumbledore was still demanding things from him that he was finding extremely hard to carry through. He thought it would all end when he killed the former Headmaster, but no, the portrait had been hung in the office and more orders were issued. He didn't know how much more he could take at this point.

When he was certain he was done vomiting, he laid down on the cool stone floor and closed his eyes. He was tired, oh so tired and wanted nothing more than to just sleep. But he couldn't risk it here, not around Voldemort. He had to keep his mental shields up. He had risked his exposure opening his mind to Meri the way he had but Voldemort was more interested in Meri at that point, not him.

He wasn't sure how long he spent laying on the floor, but he heard Narcissa move past the door with Meri in tow. He was certain it was her from the stumbling down the hallway. He waited a few seconds before standing up and opening the door. He looked around the corner and saw which door Narcissa opened for Meri, who staggered across the threshold and fell with a thud. Severus saw a brief flicker of compassion on Narcissa's face and suddenly he wondered if he could persuade her to be another ally. It could mean getting Meri out here before any more damage was done to her.

The only problem was that it would expose him as a spy. However, Dumbledore seemed to think that keeping Meri alive was the most important thing right now which meant his spying days were numbered. He couldn't help but feel a slight relief at that thought. He could go back to being normal, or at least, what passed for normal where his life was concerned. He only hoped he could get both of them out of Malfoy Manor alive.

"Severus."

He turned abruptly to see Narcissa standing next to him with a shrewd look on her pale face. "Yes?"

"I know…" she swallowed, "I figured you would be the one that takes her back."

He feigned confusion. "Her?"

Color rose to her face. "Do not play mind games with me. You followed through with the unbreakable vow and protected Draco last year. You are most trusted by the Dark Lord so he will only trust you with Meri Potter. When you take her back to the Ministry, take Draco with you."

"What?" This time he didn't have to feign confusion.

"I'm afraid Draco will not see the end of this war. He's too, Merlin forgive me, he's too weak, too frightened. Take him, Severus. Protect him, hide him, I don't care. Just make sure he lives through this."

"I will not make another unbreakable vow."

"I wouldn't ask you to. Just your word will be good enough."

Going on the run with Meri was going to be hard enough, having Draco Malfoy in tow was going to be even more difficult. But Narcissa's plea, the plea of a mother, touched him despite the fact that he couldn't show a trace of it. Voldemort didn't listen to Lily's plea to spare Harry, so Severus refused to abandon another mother who was pleading for her son to be spared.

He forced a displeased frown on his face. "Tell him to be ready to leave when I am."