Disclaimer: *waves wand* Bah! I still don't own Harry Potter!

Chapter 97

Harry looked up from the ground where he had landed. When he had apparated, he bounced - which meant that the room he tried to apparate into was warded.

Standing up, he took in his surroundings. He didn't have the foggiest idea where he was but saw what looked like a huge mansion in the distance.

"It was probably another animal. We wouldn't have this problem if we weren't up agin' a forest."

"Still, if we don't check it out, we'll be in trouble," said another voice.

Harry saw an older version of Crabbe and Goyle come into view. 'Dammit,' he thought to himself. He must have set off an alarm.

Heart racing, he made sure he was covered completely and stood perfectly still.

"Incarcerous!" shouted Crabbe. "Got him!"

Severus bowed and waited to be recognized. It had been a while since he had been summoned at such an odd hour, so naturally he was wary.

Voldemort paced in front of him for several minutes before pulling out a piece of paper. He could feel the anger coming off of him. Something or someone had severely pissed the Dark Lord off.

"My dearest Sev," he spat as he read from the paper in his hands. "I write this letter and cast these spells as a precaution ...".

Severus blood chilled. That was Lily's letter to him, which meant Voldemort knew, which meant he was royally screwed. He had one of two options. Confirm it or deny it. Either way, he'd have to talk his way out of the situation.

"Harry is your son," he continued reading.

Severus' head snapped up. "Potter is not mine, my Lord. He looks nothing like me."

"Oh, but he is Severus. I know the truth. There is no point in denying it."

"My Lord, if he was my son, I would have brought him to you as soon as I was able. He is not mine." Severus' mind was searching for a way out of this.

"Then how do you explain this letter?" demanded Voldemort, waving it around imperiously.

"May I see the letter, my Lord?"

"You have seen it before. It came from your quarter's at Hogwarts."

"I assure you that it did no such thing," said Severus as smoothly as he could.

"Wormtail," called Voldemort.

Wormtail came out of the shadows. "I got it from a locked box under a false panel in your wardrobe."

"You lie," stated Severus as calmly as he could. How had his wards failed on that box without him being alerted?

"He does not lie, Severus. Wormtail showed me the memory. He looked through a photo album that had been with the original letter as well. Potter is yours and you knew it." Voldemort circled Severus. "Which raises another rather interesting point. The part of the prophecy I heard indicated that the brat would be born to parents who had defied me three times."

Severus stiffened even more. He activated his personal port key but realized precautions had been taken in case he had one. It no longer worked.

"That would mean you betrayed me at least three times during my first reign."

"I did not, my Lord. Only a foolish person would betray you."

"Then you are very, very foolish Severus. Tell me, what will Harry think when he realizes 'daddy' is dead along side of his godfather? Maybe he would like your head in a box too." The Dark Lord let out an evil hiss of a laugh.

"I am not the boy's father," protested Severus.

"Liar!" Voldemort then sent a curse at Severus and watched as he twisted on the ground in agony.

Harry looked over his shoulder in disgust at Crabbe and Goyle Sr. They were playing with some kind of animal they had caught. He didn't even want to know what they were doing to it.

He then quietly headed toward the house in the distance, taking extra care not to step on a branch to give his location away. The closer he got to the building, the sicker he felt. It didn't take him long to realize that it was because of all of the Dark Magic that lingered in the air.

Two minutes later, he was brought up short by a stream or a moat of some type. The water was far from clear. In fact, Harry got a foreboding sense of doom from it. He scanned the area and saw a bridge in the distance.

About six feet from it, he stopped cold. There was a very strong and a very dark sense of magic coming from the bridge. He knew automatically that anyone who crossed the bridge without a Dark Mark would die.

Harry backed away and scanned the water. While he doubted the water would be instant death, he was pretty sure it would alert those inside the house to his presence.

He frowned. There had to be another way inside. Surely they brought those to be Marked in somehow without crossing the water or bridge, not to mention those that they tortured.

Carefully, Harry began searching around the house. After his second circle of the building, he began to get antsy. He couldn't let Voldemort kill Snape. He quickly made his way back to the narrowest portion of the stream and stared.

He was sure that he could make it to the other side. It was simply a matter of whether what lurked beneath the water would let him.

There wasn't anything for it. He was going to have to try. He kept the cloak pulled over him - in case he managed to land safely, he didn't want to be seen after all - walked back a few feet and leaped.

The second he landed, he heard several unmistakable sounds of apparition.

He quickly made sure he was covered and sat frozen with anticipation and horror.

About thirty seconds had passed when he heard voices.

His blood ran cold. One of them was Bellatrix Lestrange.

While he had never met her, he knew from his occasional visions that she was one of the few female Death Eaters. That and he had been sucked into Voldemort's head one time during ... some rather disgusting activities with her. Even the Headmaster had grimaced when he had described it to him. (That had actually been the last vision he had received - before the one that had just woken him up.)

He wanted revenge. He wanted revenge so badly that he could taste it, but he was here for another reason.

With a silent sigh of frustration, he carefully crept from his lurking place and began searching for another entrance. He sincerely doubted that he would be able to walk in through the front door undetected.

Voldemort stared down at Severus in disgust. He had yet to find any proof in the man's mind that depicted he had betrayed him. But it had to be there. Wormtail was a lot of things, but he was not an occlumens.

He looked up as his inner circle came in the room and kneeled. Bellatrix naturally became excited when she saw Severus in a huddled heap in the middle of the floor.

"Rise, my faithful. I called you here at this early hour to take part in the punishment of discovered betrayal. Severus," he spat, "has betrayed me and by association, you."

"Can I kill him, my Lord?" asked Bella eagerly.

"No. I need to find out what he knows first. Take him to the dungeons. You will each get a supervised torture turn. Once I have ascertained we know everything he does, I will kill him, then deliver the remains to Potter."

Voldemort watched as Severus was dragged away.

"Why Potter, my Lord?" inquired Bella, curiously. "I hear Potter hates Snape."

"Because Severus is the boy's father."

The entire inner circle looked at Voldemort incredulously, so he freely handed over the letter for each to read.

"Bella, while you are down there, make sure you take everything away from Severus. I won't have him poisoning himself to escape my wrath."

The witch nodded in pleasure.

Harry gave another frustrated sigh. The front and back doors had been warded like the bridge. Anyone without a Dark Mark that went through it would be struck dead instantly.

'Merlin, Voldemort is paranoid,' Harry thought for the 5th time in twenty minutes.

He then paused underneath a window. He was surprised that he could hear voices.

"I always knew he was a traitor," Bellatrix said rather gleefully. "It's a pity I can't kill him."

"That's the Dark Lord's job," said a male voice.

"I can't believe he's the Potter brat's father," said a second male voice.

"I've always known that Severus was hung up over that mudblood." That voice Harry recognized. It was Lucius Malfoy.

"I've thought up a whole array of curses during my stay in Azkaban. I bet they'll be fun to try on Snape," cackled Bellatrix.

"You'll need to be careful, Bella. If you accidentally kill him before our Lord can break him, he'll kill you."

Harry dared not even breathe again until the voices faded into nothingness.

After getting his heartbeat under control, he eyed the window that he was currently under. He closed his eyes and extended his senses. From what he could tell, there was no magic on the windows like there had been on the doors.

He reopened his eyes and glanced around.

In order to get through the window, he was going to have to climb - which unfortunately meant temporarily removing his invisibility cloak.

Harry silently cursed the fact that he didn't know an invisibility spell or even a disillusionment spell.

'Why can't I ever think of learning this stuff before I need it?' he wondered as he eyed the window above him in frustration.

Severus was starting to fully come around. There was one window in the basement that showed it was daylight outside. How long had he been tortured?

He looked out of his cell to find the Dark Lord watching him closely.

"You are either an extraordinary occlumens or Wormtail has learned to fabricate memories."

"I have only ever served you, my Lord," said Severus hoarsely.

"I cannot believe that, Severus. I've verified that the letter was written by Lily Potter and that you did, in fact, receive it. I've also re-checked Wormtail's memories. There was no change."

"I do not know what to say, my Lord, except that I am and always have been yours."

Severus suddenly couldn't feel his arms or legs, so he collapsed back to the ground.

"Rest assured Severus, if it turns out Wormtail is lying, he will be killed for depriving me of your services."

Voldemort then flicked his wand which made the cell door open and him slam against the wall to be re-shackled.

He had to keep his shields up. Maybe, if he played his cards right, he'll come out of this alive.

For Harry's sake he had to try. He could not, no would not leave the boy parentless again.

Harry winced as he heard Snape scream.

He had managed to climb through the window and find a corner to lurk in while he gathered his nerves again.

Re-casting the spells on himself to keep his presence undetected (he really hated not being able to see his own magical signature - so he had doubly cast that spell on himself to make sure it was hidden), he began to make his way through the house.

Though, perhaps, mansion was the more appropriate term.

From what Harry could ascertain, there were at least three floors. He thought there was a basement too, since he had seen tiny windows when he had scouted the building from the outside.

Harry's scar pulsed with pain again. He fiercely occluded his mind. He could not let Voldemort know that he was on the property.

He spied a partially open door to some room. When he looked in it, he saw that it was empty. He decided that it was there that he would hide and make his plans.

"Having fun, Bella?" spat out Severus.

"Always," she hissed. "I've always known you were a traitor. Always observing, bowing out of participating in the fun, potions going awry occasionally."

She sent another curse at him. He held off in screaming for as long as he could, but the pain became too intense. He hated himself for screaming. It was a sign he was getting weaker.

"Always the mudblood," sneered Lucius from the corner he was lurking in. "You gave up an incredible thing here, Severus."

"I've not given up anything. I am on the Dark Lord's side."

"You liar!" screeched Bella as she sent a cutting curse at him.

Severus winced in pain as he felt the blood trickle down his back.

Harry winced as Snape's scream ripped through the air again. From the snatches of conversations he had been able to listen too, he realized the man was being kept in the dungeons.

Around 10 or 11 that morning, Harry had began to think, now that he had time - so to speak.

How had Snape become his father?

Okay, he knew how, and desperately tried not to think about that.

But had he forced his mother? Had he raped her?

Did his dad know the truth?

He then mentally froze. Remus and Dumbledore both knew the truth.

Why had they not told him?

'When is my life finally going to become my own?' he furiously wondered.

Harry then took several deep calming breaths. The last thing he needed was for his accidental magic to flare up and alert someone to his presence.

Well, he tried to take a calming breath. The Dark Magic was so thick in the air that all it caused him to do was gag and choke.

How could anyone stand to be around this all the time?

A noise outside the door made him look up.

"We'll begin in five minutes. If you lot don't do any better today, I'll tell the Dark Lord that every one of you is useless and you'll be killed."

He then heard what sounded like the footsteps of about 10 or 15 people heading straight toward him.

"Cease," commanded Voldemort.

Everyone froze in their spell casting and looked at the Dark Lord.

"Sizemore, heal his wounds."

"My Lord!" exclaimed Bella.

"Are you questioning me?"

"Of course not, my Lord." She kneeled.

"I thought not. Let us retire for the moment. I want to see how the new recruits are faring in their combat training. I want guards down here at all times, incase someone tries to help him. I will not have him escaping my clutches."

"Yes, my Lord."

Harry looked around in his new location. He had made it further into the house while looking for the dungeons.

A glance outside told him that it was probably late afternoon.

He had been stuck in his previous location by a group of training Death Eaters. The older ones were teaching the newest recruits battle tactics.

While he most likely would have been able to move earlier, some type of survival instinct (that had been born of Harry Hunting, no doubt) had kicked in and had him staying put.

He had heard someone named Selwyn tell another Death Eater that he hoped the afternoon training session went better.

He had taken that as his cue and fled further into the house.

Harry was pretty sure he was now in a room across from the door that led to the basement / dungeons.

Realizing it would be a bit before he could go down there (he could only imagine what would happen if he were to open the door only to find someone standing on the other side of it), he began to think again.

Snape had told him several times that he loved his mother. So did that mean he hadn't forced her? And again, did his dad know?

Had Sirius known?

Why couldn't everything just be straight forward?

The sounds of the Death Eaters training sessions filled the air again.

Harry frowned. If these were the weakest Death Eaters - the less skilled - then he really had no chance. He didn't even know what over half of the spells he heard being cast did.

His scar then seared with pain. He could tell that Voldemort was coming closer. After re-casting the spells on himself, he pushed himself up against the wall the best he could.

"I want four guards down there at all times."

"Yes, my Lord."

"No one is to ... play without my presence either. Let him heal some before the next round of torture."

"Yes, my Lord."

"And locate Wormtail. I need to see him again."

"Right away, my Lord."

Harry bit down on his finger to keep from yelling out from the pain in his scar. No one would have been able to hear him, but he didn't want to take the chance.

'A normal scar should not act like this,' he thought as he checked to make sure it hadn't started bleeding.

Severus carefully opened one of his eyes what little he could. It was hard to do since they were both swollen.

A surreptitious glance around the room told him that none of his torturer's were present. There were, however, at least four guards outside of his cell.

He glanced down at his body. He still had on his Death Eater robes. He had bled so much that he could see the dried blood stains on the black garment. It appeared though that his jailors had healed him.

No doubt so they could torture him even more.

Had Albus realized what had become of him at the castle? Unless he could find some way to convince the Dark Lord he belonged to him, he doubted he would ever get out of here. There was no way anyone could rescue him. The place was too well warded.

He had to fight. He had to come out of this alive. He had to get to his son.

A noise made him look up.

"Whose side are you on, Snape?"

"The Dark Lord's," he managed to choke out. His throat was severely dry, plus he could taste blood.

"Do you have any proof?"

Severus realized that it was Rookwood. "I've never held anything back from the Dark Lord. I've done everything ... everything that he has ever asked me to do and then some."

"You're a Slytherin. I'm sure you've held back some information."

"Slytherin or no, I would be a fool to hold back information from the Dark Lord."

"Tell me, Rookwood, have you been holding out on me?' asked the Dark Lord in a near silent whisper as he came around the corner.

"N-No, my Lord."

"Cruico. Now why do I not believe that?"

Severus watched from where he was chained to the wall as the Dark Lord took his anger out on Rookwood, glad for the moment that it was not him.

Harry listened intently as Snape denied over and over again that he was his father - that Pettigrew had to be lying.

'Maybe he will be able to talk himself out of this,' he thought.

From his new hiding spot in the dungeons, he could see that it was dark outside.

Snape had been enduring all most non stop torture for hours upon hours - and the man had yet to break.

Harry admired that. He also knew that he could not have lasted anywhere near as long.

Unfortunately, other than one time, Voldemort had not left Snape alone. He clearly didn't trust his followers any further than he could pick them up and throw them.

He idly wondered what Ron and Hermione had been told about his absence.

Had Dumbledore found out what made him leave the castle? Did he assume that he had gotten caught and that Snape would rescue him?

Assuming he lived through this, he could only imagine the earful he was sure to receive when he returned.

"I won't let anything hurt you, Harry, even if it means that you never learn the truth about me." Severus touched his sleeping son's head, brushing the hair out of his eyes.

"If you promise to do your best to protect Lily and her family, you may do with me as you wish. I relinquish myself to your control ..."

Severus was looking through the photo album. His eyes lingered on the picture of Lily as she beckoned Harry to try to walk to her. He had a small tear running down his face.

"Oh, Lily. Why didn't you tell me? Why did you send me a letter instead?" Severus removed some moss from her tombstone. "I don't know how to tell him now. What do I have to offer him? I don't know how to be a good father. And now my Dark Mark is growing darker every day. The Dark Lord is regaining his strength." Severus sighed. "Give me strength to do this Lily. I wish you were here." He placed a single rose on her grave and walked away.

In some deep recess of Severus' mind, as these memories that he had kept hidden deep behind his occlumency shields played by, he knew that he would never see daylight again.

"And for Lily, I'd betray you all over again."

Harry listened with horror as Snape spat that to Voldemort.

The man's shields had been breached about twenty minutes prior.

Clearly Snape thought that there was no more reason to deny anything.

In fact, Harry was sure that the only reason Snape was still alive was because Voldemort wanted to know everything that Snape did.

He needed a distraction. His window of rescue was growing smaller by the second.

What on earth could he do without giving himself away though?

And then he had an idea.

For the first time since setting foot on the property, he was glad that there were always a various number of Death Eaters roaming the building.

With stealthing abilities that would have made Moody proud, he headed back up the stairs.

Harry sighed in frustration as he carefully made his way back to the dungeons.

It had, unfortunately, taken him over an hour to set his distraction up without either getting caught in it or it going off prematurely.

Snape wasn't screaming as much as he had been - which was by no means a good thing.

From what he could tell, Voldemort, Bellatrix, someone named Avery, McNair, and two other people were in there with Snape.

The window from a nearby cell showed the sky becoming lighter.

Didn't Voldemort need to sleep?

Ten minutes had passed when his distraction began taking effect.

Eventually the noise level became so loud that Voldemort snarled for everyone to leave Snape be for the time being, and he headed upstairs.

When he had passed by Harry, he could tell that the air around Voldemort was crackling with magic.

He slowly counted to twenty and carefully made his way to the cell where Snape was being held. His distraction would hold out for three minutes at most, so he needed to act quickly.

He saw two guards standing just outside the cell door. Thankfully, he had already thought of a way to deal with them.

He very quickly poked the end of his wand out from underneath his cloak and said, "Somnus Statio" at the two guards.

The spell was colorless so it didn't give his position away and it made the two guards fall asleep in their standing positions.

The noise upstairs grew to alarming volumes again.

Those two taken care of, he eyed the other three.

If this didn't work, he had no doubt in his mind that he would be killed.

He, again, carefully poked his wand out from underneath the cloak and pointed it at the single light bulb in the room. Casting the cleaning charm strong enough to break it, he said, "Nitor!"

He then twirled his wand in the air and whispered, "flamen ventus." The candles also immediately flickered out from the gust of wind that rushed through the room. He was pleased. That had been a spell in one of the Elemental Magic books he had read. However, it had been the first time that he had tried it.

He wasn't surprised when the three Death Eaters turned around with their wands drawn.

"Stupefy!" Harry silently yelled at the Death Eater named McNair.

He then dove left since he had given his position away.

The noise upstairs was picking up again.

When McNair had fallen, he had inadvertently pulled Avery down with him.

"Reducto!" Harry said, cutting through Bellatrix's shield. "Incarcerous," he then shouted on the fallen Avery before the man could fully get up.

"Show yourself," demanded Bellatrix.

"Stupefy," Harry said again as he ducked into a new corner.

The spell bounced off the shield she had set up, which meant that he hadn't shattered it like he had anticipated.

"Show yourself," she demanded again, after she had cast a spell in the place he had been standing a few seconds prior.

Putting more power behind it, he again shouted, "Reducto!" The force of the spell sent her backwards into the wall with a sickening crunch.

He then stunned Avery (who had been struggling with the ropes) and Bellatrix. He had knocked her unconscious.

Not taking any chances, he also grabbed all of their wands and pocketed them.

He then turned his attention to Snape.

The man was bloodied, bruised, actively bleeding, and shackled.

When he went to reach for the shackles, he paused.

If someone without a Dark Mark touched them, then Snape would die.

"Damn Voldemort and his paranoia," he silently muttered.

Another set of loud voices ripped through the air. The final phase of the distraction just hit, which meant he barely had a full minute to get him and Snape out of the house.

He took his wand, latched onto Bellatrix's arm - over her Dark Mark, and said, "Alohomora" at each shackle.

Thankfully they had fallen off, without killing Snape.

He eyed Bellatrix lying stunned on the floor. He briefly thought of taking her with him too, but he had never side apparated one person before, let alone two. For all he knew, he would splinch all three of them. With another frustrated sigh, he turned and grabbed a hold of Snape's arm and pulling in all of his power, he thought of Hogwarts and turned on the spot.

He felt the wards break as he went through them.

Midway through the tunnel of Darkness that was caused by apparating, he felt Voldemort's anger through his scar.

For some reason, he also felt the man's anger through his body as well.

It wasn't until they arrived at the gate of Hogwarts that he knew why.

When he had apparated, he had latched onto Snape's Dark Mark.

To his surprise, Snape turned and looked into his eyes. "I ... I'm sorry L-Lily. I tried t-to protect h-him."

To his horror, Snape then shuddered and moved no more.

"No!" He heard himself say. (He had broken through his own silencing charm.) "I did not rescue you just so you could die on me!"

A/N: First of all, I wanted to thank everyone for the reviews. They really do encourage me. =)

Okay, you all are getting this two days sooner than I was originally going to post it, but I figured that if I was going to give you a cliff hanger, I'd give you a real cliffhanger. :P

The next few chapter's will answer some of the questions that are sure to pop up regarding this chapter. Originally, I had Harry basically just walking through the front door, and then I got to thinking. You know ... Voldemort is going to have his base warded tighter than most paranoid pure bloods combined. Once I realized that, this chapter became a lot more fun to write.

Up next ... well ... I can't tell you. Voldie threatened me with a tickling charm ... and his tickling charms pack a mean left hook!

*nods sagely and disappears before I can be trapped and lynched*