Chapter 27
Excruciating pain ripped Severus from a restless sleep. The Dark mark on his forearm burned, nearly as much as when the Dark Lord had branded it into his skin. His master must be furious.
Stumbling from bed, he stepped into his boots and dragged on his blackest robes.
Granger had warned him the day before that they'd been seen together in London. The sighting had been the subject of an order meeting that same night. According to their source in the Order, Peter Pettigrew hadn't been present but he'd know soon enough. He and the rest of their merry band of arseholes had been assigned to tail both himself and the Prewetts. If the rat knew, the Dark Lord surely would too.
Sliding his silver mask over his face, Severus took a moment to clear his mind to prepare it for invasion. Fake memories drawn to the fore, he hoped he wouldn't fail this first true test of his occlumency.
He took a breath, readied himself for a spot of light torture, and disapperated.
"Severus. Thank you for coming. I realize it is quite late."
Voldemort stood—still impeccably dressed despite the odd hour—in the middle of the drawing room. An ancient muggle tapestry depicting some gruesome battle hung behind him, made the more ominous for the lack of other company.
Except Bellatrix, reclining in what she no doubt thought a sultry position on a chaise by the grand fireplace. She could always be counted on. Probably because they were fucking behind Rodolphus's back and so she was just there already. He suddenly recalled his master's snake-like appearance in Granger's memories and wondered if they had resumed their intimate relationship in her future. Remembering himself, Severus cast the dangerous thought from his mind before it got them all killed.
Kneeling before Voldemort, he hoped his master was in an understanding mood.
"My very life is yours, my Lord. Think nothing of my sleep."
Voldemort stared down at Severus for several long moments before lazily pointing his wand at him.
"Crucio."
Severus seized as the pain burned through him but did not cry out. It only lasted a few moments before he was blinking through black spots as Voldemort stepped around him and started talking.
"It has been brought to my attention that you have been frequenting muggle pubs with the enemy, Severus. Very particular enemies, Severus, whom I have badly wanted captured."
A glass clinked and liquid poured behind and to the left of Severus as he inhaled slowly through his nose. Brandy.
A muggle liquor. Interesting.
"As you know, I am a fair and generous leader. The idea that I would judge you guilty and punish you accordingly without allowing you the opportunity to plead your case is sophomoric. Just the sort of thing Dumbledore would use to further propagandize the public against me."
An etched snifter with a finger of liquor appeared in front of him. The Dark Lord held it out, the very picture of benevolence. Severus sensed danger like a thickening gas in the air, but he knew better than to refuse.
The exquisite liquor was less enjoyable than it ought to have been.
"So tell me, my dear young Severus, what you were doing with our enemy?"
He wondered why he didn't just plunder his memories outright. But this was a game, wasn't it. A show just for him. The rage he'd woken to was there, just beneath the surface. Fortunately for Severus, however, he had the potential to be of great use. Lucius had been sure the Dark Lord understood that. It would be a waste to kill him.
"Thank you for the opportunity to explain, my Lord. You truly are gracious."
Impatience darkened his master's face, his wand aimed at Severus's chest in warning. "There is a limit so do get to the point."
"I simply thought I might win them to our side, my Lord. I..."
This time the cruciatus came without the warning of a verbal spell. His very bones burned and this time he did not remain on his feet. By the time it finally let up, he was lying on his side, spilled brandy dampening his robes.
His master's face was twisted in a disdainful snarl and close to his own. "Do you think me a fool, Severus? Win them to our side? The Prewett twins? They've singlehandedly lost me the Ministry and you thought you, a no name, poor, half-blood suspected Death Eater would sway them to my cause?"
He laughed without humor and turned away, the shattered glass crunching beneath his shoes.
"My…" He coughed. "My Lord. After what happened at the Burrow…" Slowly, Severus rolled to his forearms and took a few shaky breaths. "It was clear, you said that only Dumbledore could have weakened their wards. I thought now might have been our chance. If you were right, then surely they wouldn't fight for him."
When no further pain came, Severus chanced a glance up at Voldemort through his hair. He was watching him thoughtfully, but clearly not convinced, his voice only slightly less disdainful. "There are more than two sides to every conflict, Severus."
"I know, my Lord. Unfortunately—though they no longer have any love for Dumbledore, they outright said as much—you are right." He dared to sit up fully, resting on his heels. "They are uninterested in taking sides. However…"
"What did they say? Show me."
Without any more warning he was in his mind, searching, sifting. Severus was prepared. Pushing forward false and modified memories, moments from real conversations and a few conversations they had had for just such a moment. Thankfully what Voldemort was most keen to see was a real memory. They had been so furious with Dumbledore that they had told him what he'd done.
Severus could feel the Dark Lord's amusement as he watched and rewatched the memory, savoring Dumbledore's loss. Everyone knew how powerful the Prewett twins were. Personally, Severus couldn't understand what could ever be so important that Dumbledore would have risked alienating them.
In a chilling, painful rush the Dark Lord pulled from his mind. If he was still giddy over what he'd just seen, his face betrayed nothing as he squinted down at a now reeling Severus.
"Whatever his reasoning, the fact that he'd risk so much for these two strangers only assures me I was right to pursue them." Voldemort paused a moment in thought, nodded to himself and turned back towards his own abandoned snifter. "While I am inclined to admire your ambition, it could have just as easily cost us a great deal. As it is I have had to send some of my very best to follow them." A sip of brandy, a muttered, "I underestimated them," and he was staring down at Severus again. "Fortunately for you, you managed to glean some moderately useful information, but you must still be punished."
Bellatrix cackled when their master nodded at her.
His punishment was thorough, the lesson learned, but he would live to serve another day.
Almost two weeks later, Severus was again abruptly pulled from sleep. This time it was his right buttock that felt aflame. He landed hard on his knees as he tumbled from bed in a half conscious attempt to escape the localized pain.
"Bloody… buggering…" he fumbled blindly in his rear trouser pocket. "Fuck!" The burning coin dropped to the floor with a dull thud. Now fully irritated, Severus cursed again under his breath and reached for his wand, casting a tempus.
3:47 AM
"Merlin's sodding… this better be bloody important."
Pushing his hair from his face, he leaned back against the side of his bed and tapped his wand against the edge of the coin, cooling it so the message could be read. He squinted in the dim light of a lumos.
Went out
Was a fight
Didnt want u 2 worry
All fine
For a moment, he was annoyed they'd woken him just to tell him they'd been in a fight. Then he remembered the aftermath of the raid on the Burrow and how their silence had resulted in his panicked messages and furious patronus. Perhaps this fight was bad enough that he'd hear about it.
With resignation, he tapped the coin a final time.
R U feeling better?
Severus rolled his eyes. When he had made the mistake of telling Granger he'd been to see the Dark Lord, she'd floo'd immediately. He'd been too weak to stop her and she had spent the next several hours healing the worst of his injuries and generally mothering him. She'd been checking in with him every couple of days.
He tapped the coin agin.
Glad ur not dead
I'm fine
What in the bloody hell they'd been up to in the middle of the night? Considering what Voldemort had said about underestimating them, Severus wondered who the fight had been with. Bellatrix? Lucius?
Too tired to care as long as the ginger cohort plus one were alive, Severus replaced the coin in his pocket and climbed back into bed.
For the first time in his life, Severus Snape felt like praying. If only God would kill everyone he knew and allow him some peaceful sleep.
One of the grumpiest owls he'd ever met had woken him only a few hours later. The bird, at least, had had the decency to wait for dawn. He'd sworn and nearly hexed the animal when it had bit him before flying off.
It came from the Lestrange estate. No bloody wonder.
Snape,
Come for tea.
Bellatrix
A long, tired sigh filled the silence. The image of the care-worn, older version of himself he'd seen in Hermione's memories came to mind. Severus found himself identifying with the older man more and more.
After their last interaction, Severus was in no hurry to see Bellatrix any time soon. But this was a summons, not a request. The bird hadn't even waited for a response. Given her current favored status, to ignore her could be dangerous.
At least she wasn't demanding he floo right away. Unless anyone else bothered him, there were many hours to be filled with sleeping before tea.
He hadn't been bothered again that morning. Unfortunately, sleep had remained elusive. Thoughts of what the deranged witch could possibly want, whether or not it had anything to do with Prewett or Granger most especially, kept him awake. Perhaps Bellatrix simply needed an especially difficult potion brewed fresh. It wouldn't be the first time he'd brewed for a fellow Death Eater.
By the time he was apparating away he was in a particularly foul mood. The miasma of dark magic that hung over the estate, usually something to which he was ambivalent, only irked him further.
This had better not be more torture.
A timid, persecuted looking house elf greeted Severus when he arrived and led him to the parlor where Bellatrix sat waiting. Rodolphus and Rabastan stood around the room expressing varying degrees of interest. The obvious lack of their Lord or any real audience might have put him at ease, if he were an idiot.
Bellatrix grinned a bit too genuinely when she looked up from her tea. "Severus, I'm ever so glad to see you."
Unaware they were on a first name basis and unnerved by her cheer, Severus momentarily struggled to keep his emotions from his face. He inclined his head the appropriate amount, thankfully she did not extend her hand.
"Madame Lestrange."
She tittered and indicated the seat across the small table from her. "Please, I've tortured you. Call me Bellatrix."
With a surreptitious glance at the older men, Severus sat.
"I was surprised to receive your owl. What can I do for you, Bellatrix? Surely you didn't just miss my company." He frowned at her evident growing mirth. "Did the Dark Lord order you to torture me again?"
"Don't be silly." She rolled her eyes and sat the ornate porcelain down on the table. "This has nothing to do with our Lord. Well, he did tell me to do something nice for you. He might have allowed me to justly punish you but he is keen on fraternity."
It was clear from her expression that this was of little importance to Bellatrix, but she would never disobey her master. As for himself, such a gesture was entirely unnecessary. He told her so and made to stand but she reached across and placed a hand on his arm, stopping him.
"You will stay." The dangerous change in her demeanor only lasted a moment, but it was warning enough for Severus. He sat, and picked up his tea. "Excellent." She imitated him, taking a delicate sip. "You were at Hogwarts with my cousin."
It had been a statement rather than a question, but he gave an answer anyway. "Yes. Regulus and I are acquainted."
A small, patronizing laugh filled the large room. "I'd say more than simply, 'acquainted.'" The last was said with an irritating imitation of his baritone. "I've seen the pair of you leave together from many a gathering. Surely friends at least. But I wasn't talking about Regulus. I meant his blood-traitor brother." She sneered and spoke the elder Black brother's name as if it left a foul taste in her mouth. "Sirius."
A chill of unease raced down his spine. Bellatrix was mad to be sure, but what reason could she have to invite him to her home to discuss a school nemesis? "Ah, yes. We were in the same year, but decidedly not friends."
She smirked wickedly around her teacup. "I'd say more than simply, 'decidedly not friends.' I've known Sirius since he was born. I know what he's like. He is arrogant and hot-headed." Here she gave a small nod of acknowledgment. "Gryffindor though he may have been, a Black he still is. Before he fell in with blood traitor families and disgraced himself, I always fancied that he took after me a bit. Anyhow, if I'd have to guess, I'd say you might like nothing better than to have a go at him without Dumbledore there to protect his little favorites."
Something niggled at the back of his mind—sounding an awful lot like alarm bells—but damnit if her words didn't have allure. Severus chewed at the inside of his cheek and watched her smirk at him. Sirius had been an utter pillock from the first day on the train. Him and his little band of merry bullies.
Remembering himself, he dropped his eyes from Bellatrix's to stare a little too hard at his tea leaves. She was a skilled ligilamens too.
When he was honest with himself, he knew that by the end he had given all four of them as good as he got, but it had been hard fought and almost always four against one. The humiliation of the end of fifth year swam into the forefront of his mind. Then he remembered it had been Sirius that had nearly gotten him killed, mauled to death by his werewolf friend. In truth, if someone gave him the chance to attack Sirius, maybe on a mission, he didn't know if he would hold back.
He reinforced his mental shields, forced a dry laugh and looked up at his host again. "Maybe I would. Who wouldn't? He was a bloody bastard in school to anyone with a green tie. You'll pardon me, but I'm not sure why you needed to invite me for tea to learn something so obvious."
From across the room, her husband snorted, interrupting whatever Bellatrix had opened her mouth to say. "Of course she didn't. She's toying with you, Snape. Try not to take it personally, she's like that with everyone."
Severus wondered if he meant to sound so bitter.
Bellatrix shot him a glare before turning back to Severus. "You're here for a reason, Severus. But Rodolphus is right, we're wasting time." Her smile was evil as she spun toward a door at the opposite end of the room and beckoned him to follow. "Come, I promise this will be fun."
As Severus followed the mad witch through her home and down several sets of dimly lit staircases, he truly began to worry. Granger and the Prewetts had been attacked the night before. Sirius and his friends were tasked by Dumbledore to follow them. If they were taking their job seriously, undeterred by something as trivial as sleep, they would have been there too. Had they been captured, unknown to Granger or the others?
Surely not.
Why had Bellatrix asked him about Sirius? Did she want to mock him to herself? Make him feel stupid? What was it she had said about the Dark Lord and fraternity?
They were supposed to follow, not engage, surely. Sirius wasn't that stupid, was he?
The cool, dank air of the dungeon hit Severus full in the face, jolting him from his moment of panic. He didn't think the Lestrange dungeon could be any more cliché if it tried. Dark, damp, and lit by ancient looking torches, even the vague scent of rat piss lingered in the air. He winced and narrowly avoided splashing through a suspect looking puddle.
"Come to bring me tea, Bella? You've not been a very good hostess, what would your mother say?"
Bloody fucking hell.
"She'd say blood traitors don't deserve tea." The witch wrapped her hands around wrought iron bars and looked down at her cousin, a triumphant look on her face. "Brought you a little playmate, cousin. Hope you're up for it."
With a confused sense of dread, Severus stepped up beside her, taking in the irritatingly nonchalant form of Sirius Black. The wanker was lying on an uncomfortable looking cot, with his hands tucked behind his head as if he were about to enjoy a nice afternoon kip. The barest hint of concern crossed his face at her words—probably worried she'd captured another one of his friends—only to be replaced with feigned disinterest when he realized who she had with her.
"Snivellus and I aren't friends, Bella. As if I'd be friends with a Death Eater."
Severus couldn't contain himself. "As if I'd be friends with a werewolf loving, blood traitor, ponce. How's the boyfriend, Sirius? Sic him on anyone lately?"
The prisoner jumped from the cot ready to shout at him—of course that would set him off, not something so banal as imprisonment—but Bellatrix hit him with an impedimentia, knocking him over, and he glared up at her from his knees.
"Silence cousin. Dating a werewolf? Disgusting, but unsurprising. Uncle Orion was too kind just to blast you from the family tree. He ought to have put you down like the mongrel you are." She shot Severus a sidelong smirk that sent his stomach to his shoes. "Hopefully that will be remedied tonight."
Fuck.
As much as he was positive it would feel fantastic to hit Sirius with a heart-felt crucio—maybe even two—killing him was not something he was interested in. Especially now that he had changed his allegiances. If he wanted to escape Azkaban when this was all over, killing a Gryffindor golden boy was not going to win him any favors.
What the fuck was he supposed to do?
Rabastan chuckled darkly and shot a slicing hex at Sirius, catching the side of his thigh. For the first time, genuine fear flashed behind his grey eyes as he looked between his captors, landing on Severus. The fear dissipated immediately, replaced by a fierce glare.
"Snivellus is a coward. He won't be able to kill me, Bella."
Fuck it.
The twat.
Bellatrix must have seen the thought flash across his face. She cackled with excitement and threw open the cell door, pushing Severus through.
The first crucio felt like letting loose seven years of pent up rage. The hatred and intoxicating rush of dark magic made him feel powerful, invincible even. Then Bellatrix's mad cackling broke through the haze and he dropped the curse to stare down at his one-time bully. This was wrong. Sirius may be a git, but he didn't deserve to be tortured to death. The poor bastard wasn't even armed. He had to think of some way out of this.
From outside the cell, the Lestranges watched with vile delight as Sirius shuddered on the floor, aftershocks still wracking through him. Feigning amusement, Severus crouched beside his victim and tapped his wand against his chin. What could he do?
Suddenly, as if the God he'd only just remembered that morning had put it there, one of Granger's memories surfaced. It had been jumbled and confused the first time he'd seen it, but now it sparked the beginnings of a plan.
Standing, he looked over his shoulder at his hosts. "I want to look into his mind, Bellatrix. Is he a skilled occlumens?"
"All Blacks are trained, but only some have any real skill. Are you a legilimens, Severus?" She strode up beside him looking genuinely surprised. He desperately hoped sharing that information wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass.
"I have some skill, nothing to get overly enthusiastic about. But if he is as useless at shielding his mind as he is at potions, I should manage just fine."
Bellatrix shrugged. "Go ahead then. It is a good idea. He may know something useful."
Crouching back down, Severus hoped his idea would work. Taking courage from what he knew his future self was capable of, he grabbed a fistful of Sirius's hair, jerked his head up to face him and pointed his wand at his temple.
"Legilimens."
Sirius's mind was a jumbled mess. The agony he felt from the forbidden curse colored everything—shredding any kind of shields or obfuscation he might have had. Knowing his time was limited, Severus began sifting through recent memories for what he needed. When he got to the recent Order meeting there was some resistance, a random memory of a trip to a pub loo temporarily blocked his way.
Severus would have rolled his eyes had contact not been needed to be kept.
Pushing it aside, he looked deeper. Surely it hadn't been that long since…
Finally! Low to the ground, dull in colour but rich in smell, Sirius's memories as an animagus were disorienting. Seizing hold of the memory, Severus brought it to the fore. Then he pulled forth the flood of similar memories that followed.
There was a shift in Sirius's current thoughts, confusion and fear of what Severus was looking for and what he would do with what he'd found. But the important thing was that now he was thinking about what Severus needed him to think of. Being in his animagus form.
Now was the difficult part. He had never tried to PUT a memory or thought into someone else's mind and pulling Sirius into his own mind would potentially be outwardly obvious. Thinking clearly, he brought the image of the Prewett twins to mind. With a small push of magic, he forced the image into Sirius's mind.
Confusion redoubled in-between clouds of agony and fear. He didn't understand. It wasn't enough.
He pulled again at the memories of the big black beast, again at the Prewetts, a more recent memory of being dragged down into the cell. Finally, he thought, "escape, go to them!"
Sweat ran down the side of his face and into the collar of his robes when he pulled from the marauder's mind. Damn, that was exhausting. He looked down at the other man to see that he had lost consciousness, his head lolling to the side on the damp stone floor.
Good. Now Bellatrix would be less inclined to rummage through his mind herself. Hopefully he had gotten the message. Hopefully the wards wouldn't notice an animal any more than the dementors had in Granger's memories.
He stood, inhaling sharply and steadying himself to hide his own exhaustion. Wiping the side of his face on his shoulder, Severus strode from the cell and tried to look as amused as Bellatrix likely thought he should.
Her expectant grin was repulsive.
"Well, Severus? Did my cousin know anything interesting?"
Severus wondered if she wanted to avada him right then. He rather hoped not.
"Not particularly. It was hard to make sense of, bit of a jumbled mess. I caught a bit of their last meeting, though it was the only thing he really managed to hide. It seems Dumbledore has not taken their defection well. Apparently he's been tasked by Dumbledore to follow the Prewetts."
She scoffed. "You don't need to be a legilimens to figure that out. Those two were his best soldiers, of course he's furious."
Giving Sirius's prone form a bored sneer, Bellatrix kicked him in the side before following Severus out of the cell. "Maybe we should leave him for the Dark Lord anyhow." She gave Severus a condescending smile. "It can be difficult for a beginner to use legilimency as torture. Our Lord is the best in the world. Perhaps he will find something useful before killing him."
He stifled an eye-roll but was moderately thankful she'd decided not to kill him. Having done all he could for the other man, Severus wondered if he would be able to make the visit worthwhile. Maybe she kept her horcrux somewhere obvious.
"Yes well, beginner or not, I could use a drink after that. Where do you keep your liquor?"
GH
Lucius Malfoy stared at his bookshelf, lacking one blank journal, in anxious thought. It had been given to his father by the Dark Lord some years ago and now it was missing. Although he had never been told what it was, one curious inspection had been enough to solve that riddle.
Why on earth would the Dark Lord trust anyone, even someone as loyal as his father, with a piece of his soul, Lucius could not understand.
Tossing back the last of his drink—his second since he'd noticed the loss—Lucius thought frantically about what he should do. The only one besides himself that had been in his private office recently was Severus. Not even the elves had access.
What would the young potions prodigy and supposedly loyal Death Eater want with the Dark Lord's horcrux?
Lucius had long suspected there to be more than one. Surely he would have kept it somewhere more secure than a trusted servant's home if it were unique. Did Severus know what it was? Did he suspect the same?
Or was this some kind of loyalty test set up by the Dark Lord? Perhaps he had some reason to doubt Lucius and had used Severus to test what he would do. If that were the case, an immediate visit to Little Hangleton was in order. But if that wasn't what this was, Lucius might not survive the meeting.
Then again…
Could Severus possibly know how to destroy them? So far as he knew, they were as well as indestructible. Perhaps there was some potion the younger man had discovered. But why…
A dangerous thought occurred to him.
Severus had been seen with the Prewett twins and their cousin in muggle London. Bellatrix had said that he told the Dark Lord it had been a futile attempt to sway them to their side after Dumbledore had betrayed them. But what if that had been a lie?
He scoffed and turned back to his liquor cabinet. No one could lie to the Dark Lord. He was the greatest legilimens in the world.
And yet.
It had been two weeks since Severus had been there and presumably absconded with the horcrux while he had been distracted. If this was a test, surely he would have been punished already.
Was Severus working with the Prewetts? Had they somehow discovered the Dark Lord's secret and some way to destroy them?
Massaging his temple, Lucius sat at his desk and sipped from his glass. It was utterly absurd, wishful thinking.
Severus was a once in a generation potions talent, to be sure. But to be so skilled at occlumency as to fool the Dark Lord himself, and at so young an age?
Preposterous.
No. For now there was nothing he could do. Waiting was his best option. Lucius would wait and see if the test theory bore out. And if not… If his young friend really had betrayed their master…
Well, that was no business of his.
A/N I have no excuse. I just finished chapter 29 so here is 27. I need to decide what I want to happen next. I am in the unfortunate situation where, I know what the epilogue will look like. I know how the end of the story will be, more or less. But how to get from what I just finished, to that I have no idea. I'm working on it. I really want to share what I just wrote but I can't yet. I refuse to trap myself like that. I go back and change things too much. two chapters ahead is bad enough. Please let me know what you think! Comments are wonderful!