Part 4

Snape jumped at the sound of the unwanted voice and banged his head hard on the underside of the table.

"Whatcha doing?" the whining voice repeated as Snape rubbed the back of his head and winced.

"I don't see that's any of your concern," he replied with a sneer at Wormtail who stood in the doorway looking across at him with open curiosity.

"I could help," Wormtail responded and Snape knew that his offer stemmed from wanting to know what he was doing far more than actually offering assistance.

"You can help by doing the tasks I already set for you," Snape replied, and with a wave of his wand he made yet another duplicate list appear hovering in front of Wormtail's podgy face.

Ah, that's an improvement, Snape thought to himself nastily. Three days of Wormtail's company and he was entirely sick of the sight of him.

"I just thought I'd offer to help," Peter said as he grabbed the list and put it to one side. "You don't have much time before you have to meet the Dark Lord."

Oh, of course, that was why he had suddenly got all helpful and pleasant, he was worried he'd give Voldemort a bad report. Like the Dark Lord didn't have more important things to worry about, he'd probably forgotten all about foisting the wretched rat off on him.

Snape opened his mouth to tell him precisely that but reconsidered almost immediately. If Wormtail was worried he'd give Voldemort a bad report it might be just the incentive he needed to get off his backside and actually do some work.

"That's right Wormtail," Snape said, fixing him with a cold glare as he stalked across the room towards him. "This afternoon the Dark Lord will be wanting a report about how much assistance you have been to me."

He ran a finger along the grimy shelf that ran the length of the wall and looked scornfully at Wormtail who suddenly scurried for the cabinet where the muggle cleaning utensils were.

Snape smirked as he recalled once again that Wormtail now had no wand to assist him in his domestic duties. He left him rummaging through the cupboard and settled down in his most comfortable chair with one of his favourite books. He shifted slightly as he realised that Wormtail had been using his chair and had moved the cushions around. He made a mental note that that was an ideal place to set one of his mousetraps.

A cry of pain from the kitchen told him that Wormtail had already found the one that he had just placed under the table.

Two hours later Snape left Wormtail, who had been cleaning the kitchen with vigour, to go to Voldemort's meeting. A sneaky look through the window before he apparated away revealed that the sound of the door closing had been Wormtail's cue to drop everything and put his feet up.

"Great," Snape muttered to himself, "the only way he'll work is when I'm standing over him and I can't stand his presence."

But that problem would have to wait until later. The Dark Lord didn't like his Death Eaters arriving late to meetings.

"Is everyone here?" Voldemort asked from the front of the room.

Nods and mutters of yes sounded throughout the room. Snape yawned widely, not bothering to reply at all.

"Is that the best you can do?" Voldemort asked with disappointment. "Come on people, show a little enthusiasm. Now let's try again. Is everyone here?"

The second response wasn't much better than the first and Voldemort shook his head in dismay.

"Well I hope the latest threat against us will be enough to generate a little more excitement."

Snape looked up at that and gave the Dark Lord his attention. The summer was generally a quiet time of year and both sides of the war normally called an unspoken truce. He'd heard nothing from Dumbledore to indicate that things were heating up and he wondered what it was that Voldemort had heard about.

He looked at Voldemort and could see they were in for a long wait as he dragged out his announcement as long as possible.

Bellatrix was practically jumping up and down in her seat in anticipation.

Narcissa on the other hand wasn't looking especially pleased; she'd been campaigning for a prison break for Lucius since about an hour after he'd been arrested. At least a new threat meant that that was out of the question for the time being. The last thing he wanted was Lucius "The Dark Lord's Pet" Malfoy hanging around and sucking up to Voldemort at every opportunity.

Algernon Rookwood eventually broke the silence as he jumped up from his seat and squealed "it's the Cornish pixies isn't it? Isn't it? I knew they'd make their move eventually."

Snape snickered and rolled his eyes. Rookwood's stay in Azkaban had certainly had an effect on him, he'd always been a little strange but now he was just plain barking mad. It was just a shame that Voldemort had a soft spot for all those who had served time for their master.

"It's much worse than that," Voldemort answered with what he probably thought was a kindly smile but in fact looked more frightening than his worst expression of fury. "It's the Easter Bunny."

"Huh?" Snape said, a noise that was echoed throughout the room along with some nervous laughter. In fact the only person not looking at Voldemort in confusion was Rookwood who was nodding seriously. Snape guessed Voldemort was having one of those days today.

"Word has reached me that the evil Rabbit known to muggles as the Easter Bunny has been mobilising his forces and is ready to make his move."

"But Easter's gone for the year," Rodolphus pointed out, ignoring Bellatrix's elbow sharply digging into his ribs.

"Exactly," Voldemort replied with a nod. "A surprise attack is practically upon us."

"But you know about it already so it's not a surprise," some smart aleck at the back pointed out.

"Crucio," Voldemort called out as everyone in firing line dove out of the way. Quite a few Death Eaters had learnt the hard way that whilst Voldemort's red snake-like eyes were certainly eye-catching he couldn't see too brilliantly with them these days and he flatly refused to go see anyone about getting some glasses.

The afternoon wore on and Snape shifted repeatedly on his wooden seat wishing he'd ever managed to get the hang of the spell that could conjure up a more comfortable chair.

Finally Voldemort had finished telling them all about the Easter Bunny's plan to dethrone him and it came to the time when he allocated tasks to the Death Eaters so that they could thwart the plans of their enemy.

He stood in line awaiting his turn, snickering as Bellatrix tried, without success, to convince Voldemort that she was allergic to rabbit fur.

Snape listened intently to the jobs that were being given to those in front of him.

- Collecting eggs of unusual colours and bringing them to Voldemort for inspection: Some of the Death Eaters were already talking about dragon eggs being presented for a laugh.

- Spying on all muggles who owned pet rabbits; did he know how many people had the creatures as pets?

- Checking ribbons weren't hexed to strangle the wearer.

The list of Easter Bunny related tasks went on and on and Snape wondered vaguely what his own task would be and all too soon Voldemort was facing him. He hoped he could keep a straight face.

"To you, the most important task, I give," Voldemort nodded and raised his hands for silence. "I charge you with bringing the leader to me for questioning, I want you to find the Easter Bunny and bring him here within two weeks."

Snape's jaw dropped and the sounds of suppressed giggles from the Black sisters filtered into his mind.

"Of course, Master," Snape replied with a deferential nod as he backed away. He didn't know which was worse, the evil Voldemort as he normally was or this unhinged Voldemort that occasionally showed up after his rebirth.

Snape arrived back at Spinner's End just as the sun was setting.

Wormtail hadn't moved from Snape's chair and was snoring loudly.

It was time to call in for reinforcements Snape decided. Five minutes later he had scribbled a message to Minerva McGonagall inviting her to afternoon tea and a game of scrabble. He was quick to include advice that because he lived in a muggle street she might be advised to visit in her other form.

Finally, just to be spiteful, Snape cast a nice loud spell that shook the house and woke up Wormtail who dove for the hidden door to his attic room.

Snape only realised his mistake when the sounds of the neighbours outside filtered into the room. In his eagerness to wake up Wormtail he'd forgotten to cast the Imperturbable Charm on the house.

Between the rat and the rabbit he started to wonder if the insanity of his companions was contagious.