Time for the Azkaban breakout and the Department of Mysteries fiasco.

Death Eaters

"The Dark Lord rises again! Lord Voldemort returns!" A cackling laugh over the howling wind. The few human guards assigned to the accursed rock shuddered. Mad Bellatrix was at it again. The North Sea storm descended on the prison fortress mercilessly as the guards huddled about their fire. The dementors flitted overhead, tossed by the squall with unholy glee. One guard cast a Patronus Dolphin that swam and leapt around the guardhouse, lifting their spirits just a little.

They did not sense the danger approaching across the storm-tossed sea…

Take Draco and flee for the Continent. More likely they would be caught before they even reach Dover. Lucius' place at their master's right hand was still safe, for now. The wolves were already snapping at his heels. Pettigrew, Crabbe, and others would not hesitate to pull him down. Lucius was watched for any signs of weakness. It had been a wrench as always letting Draco leave for Hogwarts after the holidays, but Narcissa knew he would be safer in Hogwarts under Snape's watchful eye.

Draco had returned for Christmas and was treated to his first taste of Muggle-hunting as part of the Yule festivities instated by their master. On their return, a pale Draco had gone up to his bedroom without a word. Narcissa had wanted to go after her boy, but Lucius has placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head. There were things both Lucius and their son wished to shield her from. Draco was fast learning to maintain his pureblood mask.

Her boy had to pretend he liked the cruelty that accompanied the revels in the Dark Lord's court or die. Had Lucius enjoyed them too? Had it been that bad back during the First War? She would be lying if she denied that Lucius had a mean streak and a quick temper. He was cruel to Dobby, perhaps more than most purebloods would to their house-elves. He was vengeful and nasty to the Weasleys over that long-standing feud. Old Abraxas probably taught that to him as a toddler. Maybe low-level Muggle-baiting was considered acceptable before the new laws kicked in under Dumbledore.

Draco had learned to be mean to the halfbloods and Muggleborns from his father and grandfather. Narcissa could tolerate halfbloods, so long as they respected the old traditions like Snape did, Muggleborns were another matter. They were simply too different – too brass or too unaware of any proper etiquette wizarding households would have taught their children from the cradle. The curriculum at Hogwarts did not help either, unlike Beauxbatons and Durmstrang where etiquette was a core subject. Dancing lessons before a Yule Ball did not count.

A pop of Apparition. Narcissa rose from the garden bench where she had been sitting and waiting for her husband's return. She had rarely thought to wait up for him. Now, she craved his company against…

A flash of white. A peacock? Narcissa froze. A familiar face - one she never thought to see again.

"Hi, baby sis… did you miss me?" Bellatrix sauntered up to her, still clad in her prison rags. Bellatrix embraced her sister and kissed her on the cheek, not noticing how Narcissa stiffened. More tell-tale pops. Laughter and harsh voices. The Lestrange brothers and others. Some in prison garb still. Others in their Death Eater robes.

"We'll have a party, just like old times…" her sister crowed as Lucius glided past them, rain-speckled and dishevelled. He did not look at his wife. Two masked Death Eaters dragged between them a struggling woman. Voldemort beckoned Bellatrix to join them where they had staked out a circle on the lawn in preparation for a dark ritual. Narcissa had enough, she fled for the manor. She would keep her bedroom door shut against her husband long after the screams stopped hours later. Never mind if he had no choice but to partake.

The next morning, the news of the mass escape was splashed over the front page of the Daily Prophet.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Auntie."

Draco bowed and planted a kiss on Bellatrix's gloved hand. He had been brought up well. The introduction to the wild-eyed woman had unsettled him, but he was careful not to allow it to show.

"Such a beautiful pureblood little wizard." Bella kissed him on the cheek. His uncles slapped him on the back, greeting him warmly. Narcissa had not written ahead to warn Draco, not with their mail watched. He had been surprised to arrive home and be greeted by the fugitives. Now the trio closed in around him, penning him from his parents.

"Tell me, what have you learnt this year?" Roddy asked.

They exclaimed in disgust when they heard that the Ministry's lackey had only taught theory in DADA and that there were no dark curses introduced. Draco stuttered that he was working Occlumency under his mother. Bella declared she would teach him both the mind arts and dark curses.

Snape had gone to Diagon Alley on the pretext of restocking his potions ingredients and met up with Lucius at Merlin's Nest over the Easter holidays. Things at Hogwarts were much akin to a potion on the verge of boiling over and exploding. Even the fiery departure of the Twin Terrors had done little to dissuade Snape of that.

Still, it had been almost cathartic watching those Weasleys put the pink toad in her place. One might even forgive them the swamp and fireworks. If those two made good on their little prank business… Snape shuddered at the memory of the nosebleed nougats and puking pastilles making the rounds of the student body, including his little snakes.

"Bella has taken over Draco's training…" Lucius stared into his beer.

His sister-in-law was not kind. Neither were the Lestrange brothers. Draco was expected to become a Death Eater of the inner circle like his father. He was to take the Dark Mark. Draco had tried so hard over the holidays to meet her standards. He had his mental shields tested and shredded. His nerves fried with Crucios for failing to withstand the assault of a far more experienced witch. Narcissa had pleaded for her sister to go easy on their son to no avail. Lucius had been demanding of his son, but nowhere near what was demanded by the Lestranges. Draco's first attempt at a Crucio was a fiasco. He simply could not Crucio his house elf Bottom. He could not manage an Imperio. Much less an Avarda Kedavra. Sink or swim. His son was sinking fast.

"How is he coping?" Snape asked with a frown.

Mad Bella's sadistic tendencies had shown even back in school where she would curse fellow students for giggles. No one was exempt, not even Slytherins. She had a room to herself in her last year as no one was willingly to risk being cursed to the Hospital Wing or worse in their sleep, powerful wards aside. As his parents' precious heir, Draco was cosseted from birth. To be honest, he was a spoiled brat with all the makings of James Potter the bully, but James had his crew of loyal lions shielding him from the worst of his mistakes. Draco did not have as many true friends. Those few he did, he did not treasure as he should.

"We still have enough Nerve Tonic and Calming Draught… Sev, if anything happens to me, please take care of Cissy and Draco…"

"Luc, you dunderhead, what are you planning?"

Lucius only shook his head and kept his eyes downcast. There were some things he could not share with Snape. Even if he was not sworn to secrecy over their mission. The prophecy had been a source of pain for Snape, as much as he denied it. Lily Evans no doubt haunted some corner of Snape's heart. One never quite forgot one's first love.

"Be careful," Severus swigged the remainder of his drink, nodded to the barkeep, and put down his coin.

When had it come to this? Keeping secrets from each other? When I cast my lot in with an old goat hoping to save Lily?

His secrets could kill the Malfoys. Voldemort was not merciful or rational. They had seen that for themselves back in the First War. If his identity as a spy were to be outed. Lucius and his family would pay the price for simply being his friend. Snape had enough blood on his hands without theirs.

It had taken all his mind skills to deal with the nightmares that emerged when the Dark Lord first returned. His nightmares were a mix of memories from that dark Halloween night in Godric's Hollow and his fears for the Malfoys. How many nights had he stumbled through that door to find a bloodied, gutted Lucius sprawled in the hall where James Potter had fallen and staggered up to nursery to find both his godson and Cissy similarly gutted like pigs and their innards strewn over the room and furniture?

He had run into Trelawney who was blithering some nonsense about dark shadows and illusions while he held his breath from all the sherry fumes rolling off her. She should not even be in Hogwarts after she was replaced by that centaur. On hindsight, he should have paid more attention, just in case. The crazy old bat had popped up real prophecies before, albeit self-fulfilling ones. Dumbledore had exhausted any remaining goodwill with the Ministry.

Finding his little snakes from Umbridge's Inquisition Squad Stunned in a broom closet was a prelude of things to come. That was when his Dark Mark started burning. Voldemort was furious. He ran into Minerva, who promptly confirmed that several of her little lions were missing from their tower. Flitwick was searching for Miss Lovegood, fearing she had wandered off in her absent way and come to grief. He was secretly pleased Draco was still on school grounds and accounted for. The toad popped up later at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, traumatized and screaming about centaurs.

Lucius was captured by Aurors breaking into the Ministry. So were Nott, Crabbe and Goyle's fathers. His snakes needed him – Fifteen, sixteen-year-olds suddenly finding themselves bereft of their fathers. Theodore Nott especially. He had lost his mother in childbirth and was an only child. He could not ask Cissy to take him for the holidays. Malfoy Manor was no longer safe. Perhaps a discreet word to Zabini. The Italian boy was mature beyond his years. He would understand what was being asked. The pampered only child of his rich mother, he would be able to convince his mother to host Theo Nott on one of their continental estates until things died down a little. Madame Zabini was neutral in the First War even if her family was alleged to have aligned themselves with Grindelwald during the Global Wizarding War of the 1930s and 40s.

Draco was distraught. News spread fast. Half his housemates abandoned him, the same way they shied away from Nott, Crabbe and Goyle at breakfast. Pansy remained stalwart, as did Zabini. Term was ending. Zabini agreed to whisk Nott off to the Mediterranean for the summer. A similar invitation was extended to Draco and declined.

Potter was half-mad with grief at the loss of his godfather. Black's luck had run out. Not that Snape would mourn his passing. His attempts to train the boy in Occlumency were a dismal failure from the get-go. True, he had been hard on the boy. He could not afford otherwise. Not with what was at stake. They had failed. They had all been there – teenage angst, rebellion against their elders… Potter took it to a whole new level with his blatant disregard for authority, his own safety and that of his fellow students. It made a teenage Black's stunt flying a motorbike across Muggle London seem mild. They were lucky they were not writing letters of condolences to Madam Longbottom or the Weasleys. What hare-brained scheme… even with the Granger witch… Wasn't she supposed to be the bright one? And that little raven…

The winds have shifted. No longer will their Lord be content to hide in the shadows. Sooner or later, the war will be dragged into the open despite the Ministry's best effort to prevent panic.

Landing the long-coveted post of Hogwarts' DADA tutor for the coming year did little to make up for it. With his luck, he might end up stuck with a rabid Lupin on a full moon night. Snape wondered how Cissy was bearing up and how long Luc would be stuck in Azkaban.

Author's Notes:

Yeah, this is the end of the fifth year. Snape's in for a rough school year ahead.