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"Sectumsempra!" Severus bellowed, wand pointed at the Dark Lord. Voldemort laughed, and dodged it.
"Rubbish!" he screamed back, raising Lucius's wand. The Dark Lord had wanted to practice duelling with the new wand, and Severus was the perfect target. A blue jet of light came out of the wand, and hit Severus on the shoulder, blasting him backwards onto the floor.
Voldemort took off into the air, flying at a high speed towards Severus, who grabbed his wand, aimed it and yelled "Impedimenta!" and the Dark Lord stopped moving, frozen in mid-air.
"Oh you..." Severus was too busy laughing to notice the next curse that hit him was the Cruciatus Curse. He rolled over, panting, thankful the Dark Lord hadn't used it for long.
'Depulso,' Severus thought, the spell hitting Voldemort in the foot, causing him to back flip, and hit the far wall on the other side. Severus then ran across the room, wand pointed to the Dark Lord's throat.
"I'm going easy on you, Sev," Voldemort said, grinning.
"Teach me your flying thing," Severus said, pushing his wand in closer. "Or you die."
The Dark Lord was still smiling. "Really?" he asked, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Because I thought I was in control here."
"It's my wand pointing to your throat," Severus said, smirking.
It happened at lightening speed. Lucius's wand flew back into Voldemort's hand, and Severus was pushed backwards, sliding half way across the room, and stopping suddenly with a loud bang. He smacked his nose on the ground. Voldemort flew across to him, laughing, and then kicked him over, pointing his own wand at Severus's throat. "Is it?" Voldemort asked, mockingly. "I'm not so sure."
Severus rolled his eyes. "Teach me your flying thing!" he snapped.
"Tut tut, so rude, I will have to teach you some manners... Flagellum!" Severus felt a sharp sting tingle on his body.
"OWCH!" Severus bellowed, raising his wand and thinking 'Expelliarmus!', following it by 'Rictusempra!', and the Dark Lord, after loosing his wand, bent over, laughing hard.
"No!" He said, breathlessly. "Take... Th- This tickling... spell... OFF!"
"When you swear you will teach me," Severus replied, laughing again.
"I... I swear!" Voldemort managed to say, and Severus removed the spell from him. The Dark Lord straightened up, with a smile. "You are a horrible, horrible man, Severus Snape," he chided.
"You have already told me that is why you love me," Severus replied, stepping towards the Dark Lord, and kissing him briefly on the lips. "Now, come."
"Alright, my love. Come and stand down here." He led Severus to the front end of the room. "You need to visualise yourself in the air, similar to wandless magic," Voldemort said, and promptly started to float in the air. Severus took a deep breathe, and did the same, and was soon next to Voldemort in the air. "Alright. Now, keep thinking about how you're going to get to where you want to go... So look, I want to go over there-" He pointed to the back end of the room. "And to get there, all I have to do is think about is going straight ahead." Suddenly, he was zooming towards the other end of the room.
Severus frowned. It was like apparation, but confused. He concentrated on how he was going to get to the other side, by going straight, and suddenly he flying on his way there. "Wow," he said after a moment.
"It's a complex mixture of wandless magic and apparation, very few wizards can do it, only the strongest." Voldemort smiled. "Soon you'll be able to do much more complicated things, just think about how you're going to do it, and it will be easy." He caught hold of Severus's hand, and pulled him out towards the middle of the room, and then took the other hand in his own free one, and pulled him closer to his body, as if they were dancing. They began revolving around each other in the air, lips slowly drawing closer to the others. "Think of the things we could do..." Voldemort whispered, a smirk playing gently on his mouth. Severus smiled, and slowly continued moving inwards, turning his head slightly, speeding up as his lips began to get closer to the Dark Lord's, kissing him hard and passionately for a long time. When they had finally pulled apart, Severus realised they had lost concentration, and had landed.
"Of course," Voldemort said, as if nothing had happened. "It makes air-borne duels much easier, you have two hands, more flexibility..."
Severus nodded. "There are definite advantages, I agree. I will make sure I am competent before we attack Potter."
"I promise, it will not take you that long if you practice. We could go out flying as well, you will be needing to see the difference between flying unaided inside, and flying unaided outside," Voldemort continued. "Weather conditions change ever-"
Severus leant forwards and kissed Voldemort, cutting him off. "Tell me about it later," he whispered. The Dark Lord smiled at his lover.
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"Yaxley's here," Severus said, walking into Voldemort's - Lucius's stolen - office. "I told him to come up in five minutes."
Voldemort looked up. "Is there not a moments peace?" he snapped.
"He says he has important news," Severus added, sitting down. "He looked rather pleased with himself."
"So why did he have to wait five minutes?" Voldemort asked grumpily.
"Oh, yes," Severus stood up, and leant towards his lover, and kissed him gently on the lips, deepening into a more passionate kiss. "Just wanted to see you to give you that," he murmured, his lips still millimetres away from Voldemort's. "And now, to make you hate Yaxley even more then you did for his disturbance, I am going to have a lovely, hot shower, all by myself." He smirked, and planted another, smaller kiss on Voldemort's lips. "No unprovoked killing."
Voldemort scowled. "I would not be looking forward to bedtime tonight, if I were you," he said quietly, as Severus walked out of the room. The Half Blood Prince didn't hear.
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When Severus heard the door bang, he quickly shut off the shower, and got out, wrapping a towel snugly around his waist.
Voldemort was stood in front of the bed, hands on his buttons, about to undo his robes. A look of pure disappointment crossed his face as he saw Severus. "Bastard..." he murmured. "I wanted to celebrate with you..."
"What has happened?" Severus asked, a small smile crossing his lips.
"You, my dear," Voldemort began, walking towards Severus. "Are officially..." He placed one hand on Severus's hip, drawing him closer. "Headmaster."
Severus's smile widened. "Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..." He muttered lazily. "Certainly sounds good."
"Not as good as Supreme Ruler of the Wizarding World," Voldemort chided.
"You're not seriously going to call yourself that, are you?" Severus asked, with a mocking smile.
"I will if it means annoying you," Voldemort replied. "By the way, I have thought of something suitable I can do to you in return for that nasty picture you put in my head before you left my office."
"Oh, yes?" Severus replied with a smirk.
"Yes." Voldemort merely smiled for a moment, and then continued to speak. "Absolutely no sex until I think you have begged for forgiveness for long enough."
Severus rolled his eyes. "You don't get any satisfaction then, either."
"I do," Voldemort responded. "I get to see you in discomfort. You hate begging." The Dark Lord laughed to himself as he walked out of the room.
Severus threw a book at Voldemort's back, which missed, and hit the door. "I'm going to tell the kids at Hogwarts how bad in bed you are," he called.
Voldemort had returned, still laughing. "Whatever you say, Severus, but I will be expecting you downstairs in half an hour for dinner with the Malfoy's. Meet me in the office in twenty minutes."
Grumbling to himself, Severus turned, and started to get ready. Voldemort watched him for a moment, and then left the room, a secret smile on his lips.
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Severus was seated in the Dinning room, just finishing off his breakfast, when Voldemort entered, and sat down. Severus instantly noticed that the Dark Lord was wearing those new robes he'd been telling Severus about the previous day, and how wonderful for flying they were. Severus had been practicing. He could now do anything, he and Voldemort had been having daily duels outside, while flying.
"Ready?" Voldemort asked shortly, pouring himself coffee.
"More or less," Severus replied softly. "You are apprehensive."
"Of course." There was silence in the room, except for the crunching of toast, and the tapping of china against wood. Both men were thinking hard. "We should go," Voldemort said, reluctantly standing up. "They shall be here soon." Severus nodded, and stood, slowly walking towards the Dark Lord, and kissing him gently on the lips. "The best of luck to you," the Dark Lord murmured into his lovers ear.
"And to you," Severus responded, a small smile on his lips. They descended the stairs towards the meeting room, Voldemort instantly walked over to speak to Bellatrix as they entered the crowded room, leaving Severus next to Lucius, who looked just as pale and scared as he had been permanently looking recently, and standing next to Severus didn't look like his idea of fun.
"Lucius, how are you, my friend?" Severus asked him softly, as if proving to the man that they were still close friends.
The blonde looked relieved. "I have been worse, Severus… How are you?" he replied, smiling warmly.
"Good," Severus said, smiling back. "Very good in fact." He glanced over to Voldemort for a moment, and then back to Lucius. "Look." He held his hand up to the man, showing him the ring on his fourth finger on his left hand.
"The Dark Lord?" Lucius asked him softly.
"Who else?" Severus dropped his hand back down to his side, and lowered his voice another notch. "You shall be back in favour soon, Lucius," he murmured.
Lucius nodded. "I certainly hope so. It is taking it's toll on the family. All Narcissa can do is worry, and Draco hasn't been himself since I came out of prison. Neither will tell me what his punishment was, though the scars on his back speak for themselves."
Severus grabbed Lucius's wrist. "What do you think it was, Lucius? Think back to the old days." Before the Dark Lord had vanished, the type of punishment Draco had received could be seen at almost every meeting, for various members. Voldemort preferred to use this type of public punishment for his highest followers only, the lower followers could make the higher feel worse - Simply for the lack of respect the punishment invoked.
"I know," Lucius murmured. "I know." Both men were silent for a while. "Draco didn't understand, ever, what a Death Eater is about. I think he does now."
"I have tried to be there for him during your imprisonment, but he was not interested. I wouldn't have partaken in the punishment if it wasn't for his rudeness."
Lucius nodded. "I am glad you took part, my friend," he said. "You should not risk loosing favour, anyhow."
"I assure you, that will not happen. The Dark Lord isn't going to get rid of me unless I turn to the Order." Severus smirked.
"You are certainly the luckiest of us," Lucius said, and for a moment he looked over Severus's shoulder to where Voldemort was stood. Severus turned, and saw he was now laughing with Bellatrix. "He is loyal to you, is he not?" Lucius asked, suddenly.
"He is now," Severus said grimly. "I think he got bored when I was always away at Hogwarts and slept with her when he felt like it," he said, jerking his head towards Bellatrix. "And even though he has ended it with her, she still always manages to distract him, somehow." He turned back around, and caught Voldemort's eye, and then pointedly looked at the Grandfather clock in the corner. Voldemort looked up, and his eyes widened as he noticed the time. He'd been talking for fifteen minutes and hadn't even noticed. It was quarter past twelve. "Finally, we are starting," he muttered, as Voldemort started to walk towards the front of the group. The Death Eaters started to move forwards, so they were in a group surrounding the Dark Lord. The few favourites didn't bother to move forwards, they knew they didn't need to be close to the Dark Lord to win his approval. Severus and Lucius were leant against the wall on the left side of the group, still quite separated from the rest, and Bellatrix was just next to them, with Rodolphus, Rabastan, and Dolohov.
Voldemort silenced the group around him by raising a pale hand to them. The result was instant. "My loyal followers," he began, softly. "Tonight, Harry Potter is to be moved from his current place of safety, to another location. We have no idea who will be accompanying him, but I shall be taking no risks, and I shall destroy him." He paused. "We shall be flying to our location, number four, Privet Drive, where we will form a large circle around the area as high as we can, until we have seen the Auror's arrive, when we can lower ourselves to usual flying height. We shall attack when they take off, killing all, except Potter, who is mine."
Severus nudged Lucius, and grinned. The Dark Lord always got very possessive over Potter, if anyone else was to touch him in any way, they would get into a lot of trouble. Lucius shook his head, a small smile on his lips, as Voldemort continued.
"Of course, I am not expecting this to run as smoothly as this - There may be changes to their plan. If Potter tries to fly away, I want catching him to be the main priority. Harry Potter is the point of this attack, I want to kill him tonight. So, you shall each understand that if you see him, and I am not in the vicinity, you summon me there, instantaneously." He continued. "When I am with Potter, you shall all persist to slaughter the Auror's and whomever else is accompanying him, and you will follow the orders given to you by Severus-" Voldemort's eyes searched for a moment, until he saw Severus stood next to Lucius. An eyebrow rose a fraction, noticed only by his lover, and finally, he inclined his head. Most members turned to look. Severus's face remained under its impassive mask, eyes staring into Voldemort's. -"Should that happen." Severus was looking forward to being bonded to Voldemort, so they could actually have secret conversations in each others heads. That was going to be highly amusing, along with being helpful when they were out on battles.
"When we have completed the operation, you may all depart. I shall be holding a gathering in a few days." He stepped forwards a little. "For now, you have a couple of hours to prepare yourselves. At six o clock this evening we fly to Surrey!" A cheer went up around the group, as Voldemort finished his dialogue, and walked over to Severus and Lucius, Bellatrix hovering nearby. "No Draco today, Lucius?" Voldemort asked, coldly, as the other members started to talk amongst themselves, some leaving the room.
"He's gone to France with his mother, my Lord," Lucius replied, softly, eyes downcast.
"The boy needs a break," Severus chipped in hastily, and Voldemort looked to him sharply. "He has not been looking too well recently."
"Indeed," Voldemort said shortly, his gaze not leaving Severus's for a second.
Lucius looked hastily to Bellatrix, her husband and his brother. "We should go into the Yard and find you three suitable broomsticks," he said. "I assure you, we have quite the collection." The four of them bowed to Voldemort, and left the room through the side door.
"Defending Malfoy, are we now?" Voldemort asked him, very quiet, and Severus could tell he was verging on being pissed off.
"He has been one of my closest friends for many years, my Lord," Severus replied steadily. "I believe you have placed your mistrust in the family wrongly. Draco was not ready for the task you set him, and now I think that the Malfoy's have been punished enough." He stepped closer to Voldemort, one hand on his lovers stomach, a gentle reminder of his affection. "When can we go back to our Manor? I ache to see it again, to sleep in our bed again… We have been here for over a month now."
Voldemort sighed, and then nodded. "Alright," he said, grudgingly. "We shall go back tonight. I must say, I have missed a certain toy filled cupboard." Severus blushed scarlet. "We will be using it a lot more when we're bonded you know, sub," Voldemort said, with a mocking smirk. "Even though our relationship in that area will probably be minimal, the bond needs it to survive. So maybe the occasional toy inside you during meetings and dinner parties, the occasional whipping when I feel you have displeased me…" Voldemort's mocking smirk changed into a mocking smile. "You will love it, Severus."
Severus shuddered, suddenly aroused. "I'm sure you will love it more." Voldemort laughed, and went to walk away. "My Lord-" Severus said quickly, and Voldemort turned back around to look at him with a questioning expression on his face. "Let's go back to the bedroom for half an hour."
Voldemort laughed again, and started walking towards the door with a silent nod, followed hastily by Severus.
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Keeping a watchful eye downwards, Severus was flying just below the Death Eaters. Voldemort's gaze was fixed steadily on him, watching for the signal that meant they had arrived. Suddenly, Severus could see people flying below him, some on broomstick, some on Thestral, and one flying motorbike. On second glance, he realised Hagrid was on the bike. He recognised Mad Eye, Lupin, Tonks, and saw four flashes of red hair. That was enough for him. He looked up to Voldemort, and nodded, and the Death Eaters began their downwards spiral so they were at his level.
"How many?" Voldemort asked sharply, when they were in position.
"Thirteen. And they are not all Auror's, either," Severus replied, putting his hood up.
The Dark Lord's eyes narrowed. "Why would they need thirteen to transport one person?" he said, suspiciously. "We shall see. Go to your place, I shall see you shortly." Severus turned, and flew to the left, taking his place next to Lucius, and Voldemort flew off.
They only had to wait a short moment, before the group were right in the middle of the circle. Severus frowned. There were seven Harry Potter's in front of the group. He cursed, that's why he'd see so many Weasley's, clearly they had taken Polyjuice Potion to look like Harry. "Find the right one!" he yelled to the group, and started to head straight towards the closest Potter, and guardian, who was Lupin. He raised his wand. "Sectumsempra!" he bellowed, wand aimed at the Potter, hitting his ear, and severing it clean off. The boy gave a scream of pain. Lupin caught him in midair, and looked over his shoulder, aiming his wand. He mouthed something, Severus couldn't catch the words, and suddenly his hood was blown off his head.
Lupin looked shocked at the sight of him, as did the boy in his arms, and there was a brief interlude of both parties staring right at the other, as if the world was turning in slow motion, before Severus realised this couldn't be the real Potter, if it was, a severed ear wouldn't be stopping him from attacking, and Lupin wouldn't be wasting any time with staring competitions. With a sneer at them, he turned, and flew to the middle point the group was to assemble when things had finished.
There were three triumphant Death Eaters there. "We found him! We found the right Potter!" one of them said. "The Dark Lord's on him now!"
"Which direction?" Severus asked, drawing his wand. "Tell me where."
The Death Eater pointed, and Severus hastily resumed his flying, going as quickly as he could. He suddenly saw a flash of gold across the sky, a high pitched call of "Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!" and silence, penetrated by an angry scream. Something had gone wrong, Severus then realised, and two Death Eaters came into sight, and then Voldemort.
"It is over, go," Voldemort screamed at them, throwing Selwyn's wand so the man had to dive through the clouds to get it. "GO!" Voldemort screamed at Severus, not realising it was him. He speedily pulled off his hood, and soared towards Voldemort so they were touching, his arms around the furious man.
"We shall have more chances," he said, hurriedly, though trying to keep his voice calm. "Plenty more chances… This is not over - Isn't over yet-"
Voldemort pushed him backwards. "IF YOU CANNOT GET ME HARRY POTTER RIGHT NOW, WILL NOT SLEEP IN MY BED TONIGHT," he screamed. Severus had never seen him this angry.
"I cannot," he replied steadily. "You know I can't. Stop making unreasonable demands and calm down."
Voldemort was shaking as he stared back at Severus, and suddenly flew forwards, arms tightly around his lovers neck. Severus sighed lightly, and put his arms around Voldemort's waist. "Forgive me," Voldemort murmured. "I am angry with myself for letting him slip away once more."
"I know," Severus replied, his voice soothing. Few had seen Voldemort this angry, and only one knew how to counter it. "What happened?"
"He was on a flying motorbike with the Half-breed oaf, I almost had him when he managed to set Lucius's wand alight… I got Selwyn's, but it was too late, he managed to get through the protective charms of where ever he was going, down here…" Voldemort pointed down, but all Severus could see was swirling cloud.
"We should go and check the protection, just in case," Severus said softly.
"No. They shall not be staying there. We should get back to the central point, I must find out if anyone has perished-"
They turned back, flying rapidly through the rippling wind. The Death Eaters were hovering in mid air, conversing nervously, and silenced as they saw the Dark Lord and his most favoured follower coming towards them. "Any loses to our side?" Severus asked coldly, giving Voldemort a chance to cool down for a moment longer. There were murmurings at his general disrespect for Voldemort, but no one spoke aloud.
"Any loses to their side, then?" Voldemort added, his voice softer then ever.
"Mad Eye Moody, my Lord" came Lucius's voice. "We did not see where his body fell, unfortunately… His Magical Eye could have been help-"
"No matter," Voldemort cut in, smoothly. "Someone from the Ministry will find the body… Well done, Lucius," he added on, noticing the sideways glance from Severus.
"Thank you, my Lord," Lucius replied, and Severus could hear the note of relief in the man's voice.
"However," the Dark Lord continued, his voice back to its normal level of quietness. "Potter has thwarted me once more… I must now wait until our final battle, it seems… He will be too well protected… My desires must wait, for now…" His eyes were not still for a moment, he was looking around his ranks, looking for any signs of weakness. The Death Eaters seemed to know that, they became slightly nervous, shifting slightly on their broomsticks. "Keep to your tasks… Do not let your guard fall for a moment…" With a dismissive hand wave to the group, and a curt nod at Severus, he flew away into the distance. Severus paused for a moment, smirking at the group, before he followed Voldemort, gradually catching him up.
He had power… And suddenly, he liked the feeling a lot. Things were now only going to improve.
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