a/n: Plot bunnies attacked, and I had some free time this summer, so I think I'll slowly be adding to this over the next few weeks. This chapter (it's short, I know) is mostly set up for the next one.
Snape stood in the Atrium. Just like the crumbling columns of the Ministry's edifice around him, his life was in ruins.
He was a traitor, had traded his fear of Voldemort for obeisance to Dumbldedore, all in an attempt to save Lily Evans' son. Lily, who he had loved so desperately, so hopelessly, still haunted him to this very day. Even now, that image of her that he carried in his mind's eye beseeched him each day to keep her son safe.
He knew Voldemort would never have agreed to protect the boy. The Potter brat's very existence prevented Voldemort from achieving his goals of immortality and tyranny.
So he had turned to Dumbledore instead. Made empty promise after empty promise. Swore similar oaths to a master who was not all too different from Voldemort. Voldemort terrified his servants, forcing them to obey his every word. Dumbledore manipulated children, forcing them to fight his own deadly battles for him. Voldemort wanted to achieve immortality, at any cost. Dumbledore wanted destroy Voldemort, at any cost. Neither balked at lying, manipulation, or even allowing others to die in order to achieve their goals. Voldemort killed his followers if they displeased him. Dumbledore had neglected his protégé and completely failed to notice that the boy was suicidal.
They didn't seem that much different, to Snape. It was all the same to him. He didn't care of his master's plans, would do anything they wanted, so long as the boy would be kept safe.
Except Dumbledore did not keep his side of the bargain, his failure evident in the cold, lifeless body of Harry Potter. It lay there, crumpled in a heap, on the Atrium's cold marble floor, looking like nothing more than an overly–large rag doll someone had carelessly thrown away, leaving it to rot and disintegrate and disappear.
He failed her.
He betrayed Lily's love in the hopes that Dumbledore would be able to protect him.
Dumbledore failed him. Snape no longer considered himself beholden to Dumbledore. He would follow him, just to maintain appearances, until a better opportunity presented itself.
Dumbledore gestured to him from across the Atrium. Snape began walking towards him, carefully picking his way through the dead bodies that littered the floor. Bellatrix was dead, and the Black bastard was as good as, after falling through the Veil, the ephemeral window to other worlds. Lestrange's body was laying beside his wife's, his wand pointing right at her throat. Even in death, the two were fighting.
Both Voldemort and Dumbledore had lost key supporters today. Potter was gone, and with him, the symbol of the Light's resistance against Voldemort. Potter, Black, Bellatrix, Lestrange. He wondered when his name would be added to the list.
And of course Voldemort was dead too. But he'd been dead before, and had returned eventually, after fourteen tumultuous years for his followers. Voldemort seemed to have figured out how to unlock death's eternal prison and return to life. Perhaps he would return again. He would doubtlessly appreciate a spy in Dumbledore's ranks, similar to how Dumbledore had used him against Voldemort.
He'd wait a bit for news of Voldemort's return, he decided as he reached Dumbledore's side. There was no reason to be hasty. Voldemort would return, or he wouldn't. Dumbledore would prevail, or he wouldn't. Snape had time to choose. He owed no one loyalty but himself.