Chapter 2 - The Dark Lord's Orders

Severus was feeling distinctly under-appreciated.

Was no one going to congratulate him for having the courage to attempt to kill the man he admired and respected more than any other in this world?

Black, resorting to brute force like the great oaf he was, had punched him in the face for it. Like the reckless imbecile he also was he hadn't bothered to consider there might be more than met the eye to Severus' actions.

"It was on Dumbledore's orders that I tried to kill him, you crass Neanderthal." He snapped as he massaged his jaw.

Black seemed to have more of a Merlin complex than he already did now he'd been the one to 'save' Dumbledore.

"None of the rest of us do what Dumbledore tells us to!" He'd retorted like it was some sort of badge of honour that he was perpetually disobeying orders. "Why the flaming hell did you have to listen to him?!"

This was exactly what Severus loathed so much about Sirius Black. The stupid buffoon seemed to think the only world that existed was the world he had invented for himself. The most irksome thing was, he was so arrogant and self-satisfied that others would get swept up in his ideas too. It was a vicious catch-22 of conceitedness and Severus had had enough.

"If you wish to discuss Order business, Black, I suggest you make an appointment to see me. Otherwise, kindly piss off."

Black had snorted at that. He'd never taken Severus' attempts to stand up for himself seriously. How many times had he told him, Potter and the other two imbeciles in their gang to get lost only to have Black goad him even more for it? He was just a typical bully. Never more satisfied than when he got a reaction.

He'd brought up Black's behaviour with Albus of course. Albus had been witness to it, both at Hogwarts and in the Order, but the headmaster didn't seem to understand how it was from Severus' perspective at all.

"Oh come now, Severus." The old man had said, smiling as if the whole thing was a matter of no real importance. "You are far too old to let such throwaway comments needle you like that, surely."

It was a fine thing for Albus to comment on Severus' maturity. Black still used that stupid nickname for him he'd come up with when they'd been eleven. He was forever poking fun at his appearance too. Why should Severus constantly be the one to take the moral high ground? It wasn't fair!

He knew if Lily had been here she would have known what to do. Lily had always helped him feel better when Black and Potter teased him as they did on a virtual daily basis.

"Sev, why do you care what an ignoramus like that thinks of you?!" She'd asked him time and time again in their younger years.

They'd met up in the library or in the school grounds mainly. He knew Lily's friends didn't like him but she had still made sure the pair spent time together in the evenings and weekends.

Lily had understood Severus in a way no one else had. She'd seen him as someone strong, someone with courage, someone who could make a difference in this world.

"You're worth twelve of Potter and Black." She'd told him just as many times as she'd denigrated them both.

And he had thought she'd been right. He'd thought she'd never turn her back on him.

But he'd been wrong. She'd chosen Potter. He didn't blame her. He knew his choices had pushed her away, but why had he made those choices?

He could understand it now. He'd wanted an escape. He was sick of being made to feel worthless at home and then to be bullied at Hogwarts too? He'd wanted out, he'd wanted to take radical action. It was entirely James Potter and Sirius Black's fault.

"I refuse to attend Order meetings at that stupid gorilla's house." He'd told Dumbledore, who had sighed wearily.

"Severus, I'm afraid you have no choice. We can't very well hold our meetings at the castle. Number twelve, Grimmauld Place is a very well protected headquarters. Can't you try and let bygones be bygones?"

"You take me for granted, Albus."

Severus wondered if anyone fully appreciated how hard the work he did for the Order was. It wasn't easy pretending to support Voldemort and reporting back to Dumbledore, particularly as so many in the Order still didn't trust him.

"That is not true." Dumbledore said quietly. "I value you greatly. And I will value you even more so when you protect my students for me."

Yes, that was another thing. He'd been made headmaster of Hogwarts school. The board of governors, all of whom were now either death eaters or under the imperius curse, had approved the decision. As Voldemort had told him, he was the perfect man for the job.

"There shall be no defence against the dark arts." Voldemort had instructed, his cruel lips forming the first two words derisively. "The Carrows will teach the dark arts. It is important that young minds learn of the power they have. We will of course amend muggle studies."

Severus knew this. He had witnessed the murder of Charity Burbage, the old muggle studies teacher, just weeks previously.

That had been one such time when he felt no one fully appreciated how hard his job was. How much did he long to save the woman's life in that moment? He and Charity had got on well during their time at Hogwarts. She'd been one of the few staff members who had taken the time to really try and understand Severus. Most of them had given him up as a lost cause after he continuously refused to join them in the staff room or for drinks in the village. But Charity had been kind. She'd been a decent woman. And Severus had let her be killed. Purely to stay in character and to continue the work he knew must be done.

"You must protect the students." Dumbledore said again, more firmly, and he was brought back to the present moment and the old headmaster, who Severus knew would not approve at all of the new changes sure to take place at Hogwarts.

"I'll do what I can." He said. "But I'll have to stay in character. I can't be seen to be too soft."

"Keep the Carrows in check."

"That I can promise."

Severus disliked the Carrows quite as much as everyone else in the Order did. They were new recruits to the death eaters - a brother and sister - and they were both about as cruel and unintelligent as a person came.

He had to admit there was a small part of him that was disappointed to hear Potter would not be returning to the castle for his final year. It certainly would have been good to finally show that little prodigy who was in charge. But alas, the boy hero had decided to go off on some mission for the Order.

"You're not telling me everything." He accused of Dumbledore. "You trust Black and Potter more than me."

"It is not a matter of trust." Albus told him. "But you know I cannot divulge everything to you, Severus. If Voldemort reads your mind, what he might know I know could be catastrophic."

"For you." Severus said bitterly. Albus didn't seem to mind risking the chance that Voldemort would realise he was a spy.

"For wizardkind."

Severus supposed that was one thing he could agree with the odious Black on. Dumbledore really did have a rather inflated opinion of himself and his intelligence at times. No wonder the two wizards got on so well.

During the summer holidays, Severus returned to his parents' old house in Cokeworth. It was an old mining town in the East Midlands and he considered it nothing short of a miracle that it had been here, in this grey old town where nothing ever happened, that he'd met dear sweet Lily.

She'd been nine years old when he'd met her, playing in the park with her older sister. He'd watched her for a while of course before he made his first move. He had to be sure he'd been right about her. She had just been too amazing to be believed. Thing like meeting girls like Lily just didn't happen to boys like Severus.

But Lily hadn't laughed at his odd clothes or awkward mannerisms, making her all the more unusual and special to him. She'd always been there for him, making her more unique still. She was his constant rock, at home and at Hogwarts, until of course she wasn't…

It was painful for him to be back in Cokeworth with so many memories of her and her family. Fortunately she'd never come round to his parents' house much, and when she had his father (who hated magic) was so awful to her the memories could hardly be described as happy.

But he was happy enough in the small house alone now. He'd thrown out all reminders of his useless drunk father and as it was so far removed from the magical world, he didn't have to socialise with or interact with anyone he knew. He could tolerate the mutterings and judgements of the muggles. He was well used to that.

There had been a few young muggle women who'd tried to talk to him once or twice. They were usually the same type. Sad, pale waifs who clearly wanted a 'project' to 'fix'.

He'd never taken him up on their offers to go for a drink. If Lily hadn't been able to save him, what chance did these women have?

"He's so mysterious." He heard one of the girls whisper to a friend as he made a rare pilgrimage out to the greengrocers.

"Still waters run deep." Her friend agreed.

"Or maybe he's just a weirdo." A third, a red-haired girl with a slogan emblazoned T-shirt, suggested.

Severus scowled at her. He'd been called a 'weirdo' his whole life. He had never fitted in anywhere. He hadn't fitted in with the death eaters and he didn't fit in with the Order. He was like a nowhere man. And he was sure returning to the castle wouldn't help one bit considering how many of the staff believed him to have killed Dumbledore.

Some good news however was that the odious Weasley boy and irritant Granger were not returning to school either.

He could understand Granger's concerns. She was a muggleborn and so would be forced to present herself to the muggleborn registration committee if she wanted to return to Hogwarts. He was also quite sure that as a friend of Potter's she'd be wanted for questioning, as would Weasley. Or perhaps Weasley had dropped out only because he couldn't bear to be away from his beloved Granger. It was so nauseating it made him want to vomit in disgust.

"There is to be a new order at Hogwarts." He told the gathered staff members on the evening before the first day of term.

He'd been instructed by Voldemort what to do, and he was going to do it.

"Dumbledore's rules are gone. The students are going to learn things our way, or they will be expelled."

"Not before we do our best to thrash them into line first though." Amycus Carrow said with a look of distasteful glee at the idea of such cruelty.

"If you must." Severus told the man, deciding he would pick his battles with him.

He caught Minerva's eye. He knew the witch didn't approve of how much power he was giving to the Carrows and what he was allowing them to do in their subjects, but if he tried to reign them in too much it would look suspicious. He had to pretend not to care what happened to the students, or that he approved of what they were being taught and how.

"I know you think you've got to act the part, but you've got to do something." Minerva had said, coming into his office about a week into term. "That Alecto Carrow has been asking me why I haven't referred any students to her for punishment so far this year. Well it's bleeding obvious isn't it? Because I know full well she's letting that oaf of a brother of hers use them as victims of the cruciatus curse!" She was breathing heavily and looking angrier than Severus had ever seen her.

"Well I imagine it's an effective punishment at least." Severus said dryly, fantasising briefly about how wonderful it would have been if the cruciatus curse had been an approved punishment in the days James Potter and Sirius Black had been at Hogwarts.

"Tell them you're referring students directly to me." He told her. "I will deal with the Carrows if they don't like it."

He had to admit it was difficult to keep the brother and sister happy. They needed to have some prey. Severus was happy enough to let them have Longbottom, Lovegood and the Weasley girl. That would keep them distracted for a while at least.

"You've quite the growing fan club, Albus." He told the headmaster on discovering some of the graffiti the group had put up on the castle walls. "They're willing to risk the unforgivable curses to remain loyal to you."

"Well, I'd better let them know my gratitude then. I'm sure they can be trusted."

Severus sighed. For someone who had operated alone until very recently, Albus now seemed to be inviting the whole wizarding world into his plans.

Order meetings were quite something to behold.

"I'm very glad you could all make it." Albus said politely as the gathered members sat around Black's dining table. "Thank you Dedalus for bringing the plum pie." Diggle gave a shrill giggle. "Peter, thank you for sending me the accounts summary ahead of time." There was another nervous titter of acknowledgement. "And Arthur and Kingsley, thank you for keeping me abreast of what's going on in the ministry."

Severus rather thought Albus had got the order of acknowledgments totally backwards here. He still couldn't believe that pathetic rat Wormtail had been given a job for the Order, and as for Diggle's pie… who cared?!

"How's it going with Mr Blair, Kingsley?" Albus asked, voice slightly muffled as he took a slice of said pie. "Mmm, this is delicious, Dedalus. Those dirigible plums were certainly worth the effort you put into them!"

"He is listening to my advice on increased security measures for the muggles." Kingsley reported in his deep, reassuring voice. "As Thicknesse didn't do the courtesy of visiting him once he'd been made minister, I took it upon myself to do so, and I'm delighted to say he appears far more open minded than his predecessor. He seems glad to have an explanation for the goings on and is promising to help protect the families of muggleborn witches and wizards in turn. It's really quite a tidy arrangement."

"Ironic, isn't it?" The odious Black piped up from across the table. "Voldemort's hell bent on separating muggles and wizards but all he's doing is bringing them closer together."

Severus didn't like to admit it, but the idiot made a good point. Well, a broken clock was right twice a day, he supposed.

"Very good." Albus told Kingsley. "And how is it going on the ground, Alastor?"

"Difficult." Mad-Eye-Moody said shortly. "They've set up extra defences at Malfoy's so we can't get to them there. We've tried Yaxley, Travers and Rookwood's homes but they're all empty. There are a few places we suspect they might be using to hold meetings as we've picked up magical disturbance in the air, but we can't be sure."

"Do you have enough people?"

"Well, a few more can't go amiss…"

Albus turned to Potter, Weasley and Granger. Children. He was going to ask children to help assist Moody?

"We'll do it!" Weasley said at once.

Arthur sighed heavily, but as he clearly had been unable to reign his disobedient son in for the past seventeen years he wasn't about to start doing so now.

"Yes, absolutely!" Potter and Granger agreed and Dumbledore smiled at them.

"Very good." He said. "You will have to be very careful, mind, and now Remus…"

Lupin agreed he would work with Hagrid on persuading the giants who hadn't yet joined Voldemort's army to take their side. As a half-breed himself, he was probably more amenable to them.

"I'd hate to tread on Madame Maxime's toes." He smiled wryly as Dumbledore made the suggestion but the older man waved him off.

"Olympe would be delighted to have you join them. Provided Nymphadora can spare you, that is?" He smiled.

Oh yes, this was another nauseating update in the lives of his fellow Order members. Nymphadora was pregnant with Lupin's spawn.

"She'll understand." Remus promised. "The Order comes first."

"I feel very grateful to you all." Albus said, smiling affectionately round at the gathered witches and wizards. "It is in times of darkness…"

Severus zoned out as the wizard began another motivational pep talk. He supposed he could understand the need to work with others while fighting the rapidly swelling numbers of the death eaters, but he really had picked a motley crew.

He looked around the table at the witches and wizards who had volunteered to join the fight against Voldemort.

There wasn't really a specific type, he realised. They ranged from Elphias Doge, an old friend of Dumbledore's, Minerva McGonagall, of course his old deputy headmistress, several students Severus had been at Hogwarts at around the same time as who had either signed up for the Order in the first wizarding war or joined later, and then there were Arabella Figg and Mundungus Fletcher.

Arabella had extracted the photo album she appeared to permanently carry around with her from her robes and was flicking through it.

"Here's Mr Tibbles." She said, thrusting the book in front of Mundungus' nose.

"What is it?!" Mundungus said, frowning at the page she held out. "Looks like a small kneazle."

"It's a cat, you idiot."

"Ahem."

Both Arabella and Mundungus turned to Albus. "Cats are in fact common wizard pets too, Mundungus. I had one myself at one point. A ginger Tom named Hamish. Sadly he distressed Fawkes too much so I gave him to Minerva. I am told the two got along famously." He winked at his old deputy head.

"If we could get back to the matter at hand, Albus." Severus said, unable to help himself. He hated how frequently the group erupted into inane small talk at every Order meeting.

"Ah Severus my dear man, this is the matter at hand!" Albus said, smiling warmly at Arabella and Mundungus. "I am grateful for whatever each of you brings to the table. Who knows, maybe dear Mr Tibbles will be of assistance to the cause himself one day?"

"He could eat Wormtail for us." Black muttered which Severus smiled appreciatively at before realising it was his arch enemy who had spoken and quickly straightening his face.

There was about half an hour for questions and final comments at the end of the meeting, which Albus presided over with an air of having all the time in the world for.

Severus had to admire the man's patience. Mundungus had clearly slept through half of the meeting as Dumbledore had quite clearly said that the mission at the ministry would take place next Friday three times.

"And do I really have to be there?"

"Not at all, my dear fellow." He replied genially at the same time as Moody growled "yes, you spineless worm."

"You've got the best job, Snapey." The man told him once the meeting had finally ended. "You don't have to do anything."

Snape ground his teeth as he considered whether it would be possible to turn Mundungus into a snail without Dumbledore noticing.

"Good luck for next Friday." He said. He had to admit, he wasn't too fussed what the outcome would be.