A/N: I'm happy for every feedback and constructive critisism but I will not respect straight out hate or trolls in the comments.

This is an M/M story with mentions of infidelity, violence and abuse (all of which I don't condone).

DON'T LIKE DON'T READ!

Thank you for all the reviews, follows and faves!

Happy Easter everyone! I have a longer chapter as a treat for you :)

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling - I just played a bit in her universe.

Thanks to miu-sama95 for prereading, betaing and helping with the storyline ;)

Chapter 7: Interlude

Words: 2623

Parseltounge

After his husband left the graveyard, Voldemort took a deep breath and made a mental list of what he had to do before he could talk to his mate again. Thankfully it was not very long - yet. Then he turned around and stalked over to Pettigrew's unconscious body. With a quick flick of his wand the area looked as though they had never been here and after grabbing the animagus' collar he apparated them back to Riddle Manor.

He disposed the body in the entrance hall and after using his dark mark to call his Inner Circle of Death Eaters, the Dark Lord made his way into the room that used to be a big ballroom. Only a selected few of his most trusted followers had known what was going to happen today, so most of them would be surprised to feel his call.

Voldemort cast a few well aimed "Scourgify" in the room before conjuring a throne for himself and with an inward smirk he sat down on it. Now he had to wait.

'Marvolo! I am so happy to have you back! Where is your mate and the hatchling he has been talking about?' If he had not been the Dark Lord he would have started when his familiar spoke to him. The snake must have slithered into the room while he cleaned it.

'Nagini my love, it feels great to have a body again. Severus is with Harry back at Hogwarts. They had to keep their cover for now but you will see them soon. School ends in a few days and then we will all be together.'

Before his snake could answer he felt the first of his followers coming through his wards. He was thankful that Severus had set them up for him when he first arrived here. It would have taken him a lot of energy to cast them today since he only just came back. He would have to be careful with his casting the next few days.

'Showtime' he hissed to Nagini before she curled around his throne and he turned to face the door.

One after the other they came into the room and bowed before him before getting up and taking their usual place in the room. They were all wearing their masks and cloaks but he didn't want that anymore. They had a new agenda and cloaks and masks didn't fit that picture anymore.

'Welcome my most loyal followers! As you can see I have finally restored my body and I will be stronger than I was ever before. I am surprised so many of my innermost circle were able to come and not in Azkaban? I believe we have a lot to discuss so take off your masks, step forward and take a seat.' with those words Voldemort conjured a conference table and eight chairs for the group.

'M - My Lord?' came the voice of Lucius Malfoy after his Death Eaters had shared a few silent looks between each other but without looking at them Marvolo answered the unasked question and took the head seat himself.

'You heard correct Lucius. Take them off, your cloaks too if you want, and sit down. There has a lot happened in the last 14 years and it will take us some time to get through everything.'

'Thank you, my Lord.' were the mumbled responses, not just from Lucius but from all of those in attendance.

After everyone had found a seat, he officially started the meeting by telling them what had really happened THAT night.

'As you all know my body was destroyed on Halloween 1981 at the Potter's hideout, my body but not my soul. What nobody knows is that it was not Harry Potter who defeated me. He was just a baby! No. Lily Potter may have been a mudblood but she was one powerful witch. And such a sly and cunning one she would have made Salazar Slytherin himself proud.' Marvolo could see all the shocked looks from his followers at his praising for a muggleborn witch. If someone had told him a few years ago that he would one day praise a mudblood he would have crucioed them into insanity right away. With a sly smirk he continued his tale.

'She had found a really old blood ritual to protect her son from me. I still have not worked out the ritual itself but I will soon enough. Her plan was to sacrifice herself to finalize the ritual and when I turned my wand on the little Potter prat it should have killed me. It did destroy my body but I had taken certain precautions to insure my demise would not be so easy and so I was left in a spiritual form. I didn't know how much time had passed and that my spirit had wandered quite far from Great Britain when a curious wizard found me in the forests of Albania.' Voldemort heard a few shocked gasps at his location.

'I was able to possess this young wizard and was lucky to find out that he was a teacher at Hogwarts. But imagine my shock when I found out it was the year 1991! None of you ever tried to find me after all this time! Quirinus Quirrel was easily convinced to house my spirit in his body and take me back to the Isles with him. Sadly that didn't work out quite as well as I had thought and at the end of the year Quirrel was dead and I was once again a spirit. You all know what happened to him right?' After receiving nods and murmured yeses he continued.

'After that fiasco I was once again a spirit and it would take two more years before that rat Pettigrew found me! Nearly all of you have kids in Hogwarts and still none of you tried to help me! What do you have to say for yourself?!'

None of the Death Eaters answered, they seemed to be too scared of his wrath so he picked the one he had an additional score to settle with.

'Noone? Interesting. Lucius! You know I was very surprised when about a year after I was cast out of Quirrel half of my missing soul suddenly appeared and reattached itself to my spirit. By the size of it it could only have come from my diary. The diary I gave you for safekeeping! What happened to that Lucius?!'

'Well… you see, my Lord… Potter….' was all the Malfoy patriarch got out before he was interrupted by the Dark Lord.

'Potter? Are you really trying to pass the blame to a then twelve year old who didn't even know what it was?'

'No of course not, my Lord.'

'I thought so.'said Marvolo with a satisfied smirk 'We will speak about this matter later on. Back to the main topic. I am back and I am sane again as well. The last time I was really rather insane towards the end and we completely lost track of our original goals. I want us to get back on track with those goals and work our way back into the ministry.'

'My Lord, how do you plan on doing that?' asked Macnair cautiously.

'Good question, Macnair. I will start by claiming my rightful place as Lord Slytherin. Lucius, I want you to find out what the requirements are so I can claim my Lordship as fast as possible. The next step would be getting the Death Eaters sorted through. How many are left and which ones are still loyal. Who is where and who needs to be eliminated.' Lord Voldemort paused for a moment to decide whom of his followers he should task with what.

'Rosier, Macnair! I want you on that. Get me the lists and I want you to do complete checks on all of them. I want those numbers as fast as possible but keep it quiet. I don't want the Ministry to know, yet.'

'Yes, my Lord.' they answered.

'What about Potter and Dumbledore and his Order?' asked Nott.

'I was coming to that, Theodore. Potter is off limits for everyone. There has been a secret kept from me and I will have to deal with that first before I can make a decision concerning Potter. As for good old Dumbledore and the Order of Fried Chicken… Find me every piece of dirt you can dig up on him, Theodore. I am planning to use a far simpler strategy against him this time.' Marvolo had an evil grin on his face and his followers know that was never a good sign on whomever it was directed.

'What strategy are we going to use, my Lord?' Nott inquired again. He was too curious for his own good and lucky that the Dark Lord was sane again otherwise he would already suffering under the Cruciatus curse.

'Rather easy. We will discredit him, so the public won't believe him anymore and only then we will get rid of him. Losing power is his biggest fear and he will lose everything.'

Murmured and outright shouts of approval was the reaction to Marvolo's plan for Dumbledore's downfall.

'My Lord. How are we going to find enough to take down the old coot?' Avery dared to ask.

'The answer is simple: Harry Potter.' At the confused looks all around the table Lord Voldemort decided to indulge them and elaborated:' I got information, that Harry Potter's life with those muggles might not be as it seems. My spy is still verifying those claims but how do you think the wizarding community will feel when they find out their Savior is being abused?'

'Your spy, my Lord? There are no spies left in any positions of power.' Lucius commented after getting over the shock of Potter maybe being abused. He may be harsh with Draco -all purebloods are- but abusing a child is not accepted any more than it is in the muggle world.

'Oh but there is. His name is Severus Snape and -...'

'SNAPE!?' Rosier exclaimed, not caring that he interrupted his Lord.

'Yes Severus is still my right hand and most loyal to me. He was the one to brew the resurrection potion or do you honestly think Pettigrew could brew something that complicated?' Voldemort sneered.

'But… But… But he was a spy for the Light? Dumbledore vouched for him so he wouldn't have to go to Askaban!'

At the astonished looks all around the table the Dark Lord couldn't help but chuckle. Severus was an amazing actor.

'It was all a lie! Do not attempt to question my knowledge over my followers, Rufus! You all should know that Severus would never desert the Dark. If you question me again you will quickly learn that although I am sane again, I still anger easily!' thundered the Dark Lord and his followers were reminded that there was still a good reason to watch their tongues around him.

'Yaxley!' Marvolo addressed the last useful follower in attendance. There was no way he was going to give either Crabbe or Goyle anything other than bodyguard duties. They were just too thick for anything else.

'Yes, my Lord?'

'I want you to find me a new home. This house will be our headquarters but I will need a home befitting the Lord of Slytherin. Either a mansion, a big townhouse or a castle will do. I am rather sure that there are no properties left in the name of Slytherin and it would take too long to get all that sorted with Gringotts anyway. Search in the muggle world as well. Sometimes magical houses land in the hands of squibs as well.'

'With pleasure, my Lord' the Death Eater smirked at the prospect of going House hunting but the smirk was quickly wiped away by his Lord's next sentence.

'Oh and Yaxley? I want it ready by the time the Hogwarts Express arrives in London next week.' Marvolo was shaking on the inside with laughter at Yaxley's face.

'Lucius, when you go to the Ministry anyway find out what happened to all my possessions after my demise. I want them back. You are all dismissed! Lucius come here tomorrow at nine.' with that he ended his first meeting.

After all his followers had left the wards he warded the doors and slowly made his way upstairs to his rooms. This resurrection ritual had been draining and he craved a headache potion and sleep.

Just as he slipped into bed the small mirror lying on his nightstand started glowing green. With a smile on his face Marvolo picked it up and answered the mirror call.

'Accept! Hello my love.'

'Good evening, Marvolo. You look tired. Is everything okay?' Severus inquired right away.

'I am. Side effect of the ritual. I will be fine but I would appreciate it greatly if you could make me some magical strength restoring potion. How did everything go? How are you and Harry?'

'I will brew them tomorrow. I am fine though Harry…..I'm not sure.' the Potion Master sighed and rubbed his face with his free hand. All of his worries just poured out of him while his mate listened silently.

'He was hurt rather badly in the maze and we didn't even notice. He passed out very quickly once he got back and thankfully Poppy shielded him from Dumbledore. Harry was pretty out of it and I'm not sure how much he will remember tomorrow morning. We talked a bit but I still have the feeling that he is not really working through this situation but just accepting it for the time being. I don't know. It was too easy. He is usually so stubborn and protective of his parents and... I just don't know Marvolo.'

Seeing the dejected look on his husband's face prompted the Dark Lord to intervene and ask a question.

'Why do you think it was too easy? There is more, right? What aren't you telling me?'

'He called me Dad.' Severus said with a smile but even that was dampened by his worries.

'That is great, Severus. That is the right direction, is it not? What is the bad news. Out with it.'

'He was high on potions when he did that. I fear that he will regret it in the morning. But the really bad news is that Poppy has a second file for him. You know like the one she had for me.' Severus slouched and looked down at the bedcovers after telling his lover the bad news. At Marvolo's shocked gasped he looked back up into the mirror to see the red eyes he loved blazing with anger.

'They really abused him? I know we assumed it but did they really?'

'According to Poppy, yes. She will come by tomorrow to give Harry a full physical. He never had one on the insistence of the headmaster. He really fucked up here.'

'Yes he did and we will do everything we can to make it right again, my love. Don't worry about it. Try to get some sleep and tomorrow everything will shine in a new light, okay. Harry is with you, right? So no worrying about him.'

'Okay, Marv. You should get some sleep as well. This week is going to be hectic at best. I love you.' Severus caved. He was exhausted and tomorrow would be taxing as well.

'I love you too, Sev. Deactivate.' were the last words Severus heard before the face of his husband blurred and he was looking into his own again.

Putting the mirror on his nightstand he laid back down and was out the moment his head hit the pillow.

TBC

First posted on: 16. April 2017

Next update planned: 23. April 2017