Disclaimer: See prologue
Author's note: Hey. Um, yeah, so it's been a while. I'd completely forgotten about my dear little fic, seeing as I started Uni in September. Actually that's none of your business, but I feel kind of guilty. So here it is, chapter 4. -Isa
Chapter four – " Crows are the modern guinea pigs. Or was it students?"
Remus had shaken himself into sobriety after rinsing his face in the bathroom adjacent to "Narcissa's room". As fascinated as he was, there was no way he wanted to spend the night at this creepy scientist's flat. Not that Snape had offered.
During the evening, Lupin had had the impression that his host had forced the wine on him, rather as a means to lighten the mood, but it had left him cloudy-minded and heavy-legged, and somewhat sensual. He hadn't ever noticed how copious amounts of red wine could leave you both exhausted and slightly horny. Hence it was with relief that he left.
Snape had suggested he drop by during the next week to see his lab and possibly to serve as a test patient for a drug, so he could monitor some thing or other. Try as he might, Remus had not been able to pay attention. He had, however, caught that Narcissa, the beautiful coffee table, had been drugged into brain-death. Lovely.
As he made his way home through the LED light lit spotlessly clean streets, he wondered if he wasn't getting himself into potential trouble. Snape seemed like the type to not only experiment with drugs, but actually to also USE them. He certainly looked like he could've been a junkie, but then again he could've just been born with sallow skin and bags under his eyes.
Snape went to bed in an inebriated state of excitement. He tossed and turned and sweated, as if with fever. He was very much looking forward to giving Lupin some Lovex and monitoring his visions. He wasn't sure that his guinea pig knew exactly what he had just agreed to. Yet despite whatever scruples he might have had, had he been at all scrupulous, he felt he was getting closer to figuring something important out.
He woke up the next morning, hungover and grumpy. He decided to take the day off, something he hadn't done since the last time he'd had food poisoning. He needed to verify that this wasn't just an illusion. Thus, he made his way over to the closet, took out the IV and the pills…
Snape was standing in a circle of hooded men, he himself attired in the same fashion. From the cologne smell coming from his left, he guessed that he must be standing next to Lucius. In the centre, gaunt and almost glowing stood Riddle. He was standing over a limp human form, directing a wand at it.
"That hurt, Digby, didn't it? I'm sure you wouldn't want any more of that now, would you?"
The masked men, Severus included chuckled. Riddle turned around.
"Crucio!"
Digby writhed and screamed voicelessly. It seemed that someone had performed some kind of silencing magic on him.
"Enough. Now, Severus, would you please?" Voldemort said.
"Vox." Severus found himself mouth and he realized that his voice sounded quite young and blasé.
Later at the Malfoy manner, Severus found himself in Lucius' room after having had supper with Mrs. Malfoy, Lucius' widowed mother. He had flounced languidly on his almost obscenely enormous bed, leaving Severus the settee at the foot of it.
"That was rather amusing. You enjoyed being the Dark Lord's assistant I dare say?"
Severus didn't respond and just tried to suppress the aftertaste of venison on his tongue. It had been the first torturing session he had attended and hadn't expected to play an active part. This Digby had been captured in the morning by the Lestranges, tortured all thourgh lunch and finished off before tea. On the whole Severus wasn't sure if he hadn't rather seen the gory killing after supper. Lucius seemed quite jaded.
"Ah, there it is, you silent pride." Lucius drawled. "You do think quite a lot of yourself, considering you're not much better than Digby."
"What, do you mean by that? I'm halfblood, yes, but it doesn't seem to bother the Dark Lord."
Snape woke that evening, disappointed at not having "dreamed" of Lupin again. He was starting to have mixed feelings towards how real he wanted the hallucinations to be. It seemed that his magic self had a few skeletons in the closet. On the other hand, if what he had "seen" was indeed reality, the so-called connection to Riddle would be explained. But why hadn't he told Snape anything in that case?