| Six figures were dispersed about the scarcely furnished room. A short woman with short-cropped, dark red hair and piercing yellowish-orange eyes was perched on a countertop. At the table, two chairs were occupied, one by a somewhat tall, gaunt looking man with nearly black hair that hung just below his shoulders; and the second by a young-looking woman with long black hair and deep green eyes. Leaning against a wall was another man, tall and lanky looking with a shaved head and a menacing scowl upon his face that somehow didn't reach his light blue eyes. Sitting on the floor was a boy, who looked no older than 18 with curly, light brown hair. The last figure in the room was an older man, with dark brown hair tinged with gray and a knowledgeable look shining in his brown eyes. He was the first to speak. "The time has come. We must go through with this." "But the Ministry -," the young boy started, and was cut off by the man at the table. "The Ministry is a group of ill-trained, illusioned morons! They refuse to see what has come to pass." The red-haired woman nodded her head in agreement. "If they won't acknowledge the dark forces, we'll have to do it for them." A somber silence passed between the group. Finally the man at the table spoke again. "We have to be discreet. There's no way in hell I'm going back to Azkaban." The girl at the table put her hand over his in a comforting gesture. "They won't know it was us." "Right," the bald man interjected. "There will be a meeting tonight." "Where?," asked the boy. "Close," the eldest man told him, then turned his eyes over the others. "Too close." "We must go now," stated the dark-haired girl at the table. "We will lie in wait for them." Another silence passed, everyone looking over the others and coming to agreement without words. Finally the two at the table stood, the man with the shaved head pulled himself off the wall, the boy got to his feet and the girl on the counter dropped to the floor. They all formed a circle in the center of the small room. "Now is the time for choices," the older man told the group. "There is no room for cowards in this operation. What we are about to do requires courage, and may very well require self-sacrifice as well. If you have any doubts, you are welcome to leave and no hard feelings towards you." The bald man snorted derisively but did not speak, as he was silenced by the man with the dark brown hair. The older man pulled a wand from his robes and pointed it towards the middle of the circle. The others followed suit. "Iunctus," said the man, red sparks shooting from the end of his wand. "Veritas," the girl with red hair, who was next to him, said. Sparks also shot from her wand, this time green. "Credo," stated the younger girl next to her. Blue sparks this time. "Libertas," this was the man with the long, black hair. Orange sparks emitted from his wand. "Sapientia," the boy with the head of curls. Yellow sparks added to the growing form in the center of the circle. "Fides," the bald man. Violet sparks showered into the circle. "Aequitas," the whole group spoke this time. The mass of colored light between them took shape, the shape of a large oriental-type dragon. They spoke again, louder. "Justice" The dragon burst with light, seeming to become real. It faded after a moment, and when darkness settled the six figures were gone. ~*~*~ "This is a slaughterhouse," a short, dumpy looking man told one of his acquaintances. The scene they were surveying was indeed similar to a slaughterhouse. Blood soaked the ground and stained the trees, entrails were slung across the ground like so many dead snakes. There were five bodies, if one cared to do the math of adding up limbs, heads and torsos. None of the bodies were readily recognizable. The companion of the first man nodded, looking like he was going to be sick. "Do you think it was...Him?," he asked the other man. The dumpy man shook his head. "Of course not, Hunter. You heard Fudge. There's no way He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned. This is obviously the work of...of..." He was at a loss for words. None of them wanted to believe Voldemort had once again risen to power, but surveying the scene, it looked futile to deny it. Another man joined the two, this time a tall lanky man with dark hair and glasses. "I've never seen anything like it. Intestines everywhere, severed heads, their faces scorched clean off! Who would've done something like this?" The man referred to as Hunter looked decidedly sick now. "I don't know," his companion answered. "Best we can do is get back to the Ministry and wait for identification to come back." The others nodded, not wanting to stick around any longer than necessary. With a faint 'pop' all three apparated, leaving someone else to clean up the mess. ~*~*~ The red-haired girl moved into the room, seemingly very displeased. "Whoa, Verta, what's wrong?," the girl with the raven hair asked. Verta threw a newspaper at her. "This, Anguis, this is wrong." As Anguis picked up the newspaper and started to read, Verta flopped unceremoniously onto the floor. Anguis read out loud. "Ministry officials discovered today, the remains of four people in the woods just outside Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. One official, Ray Hunter, described the scene as 'absolutely frightening...there were body parts everywhere.' This official also stated that the only way to identify the remains was through their wands. Among the dead were high-standing members of the wizarding community, Lucius Malfoy and Peter Parkinson. 'No leads have come forward yet,' said a ministry spokesperson. 'But we are sure we will find whoever did this and they will pay dearly.'" The bald man scoffed loudly. "'High-standing members of the wizarding community'? I don't believe this . Those Ministry idiots don't know what they're talking about!" "Yea," Verta said, still obviously worked up. "AND they forgot to mention that these poor, innocent souls just happened to be Death Eaters!" The sandy-haired boy smirked slightly. "You know the Ministry, they've always been blind when it comes to people with money. Besides...you did go a bit far on the disembowelment, Travis." Travis, the man with the shaved head, held back a laugh. "That was nothing compared to Verta's beheading procedures. I mean, really, where'd you get a machete?" The man with the long black hair stood. "Hey, guys, cut it out. If we allow ourselves to enjoy this too much we're no better than them." "Aww, Sirius," Verta pouted teasingly. "You take the fun out of everything." ~*~*~ Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, a meeting of another kind was going on... Headmaster Dumbledore looked around the room sadly. Gathered therein were a few students and Professors. Professor Snape was relaxing (if you could ever call Snape 'relaxed') in a large armchair by the fire. Professor McGonagall was sitting in the armchair opposite him, looking both concerned and strict. Harry Potter, the infamous boy who lived, was looking rather confused sitting on a plush couch by the window, and out of notice was the young but formidable Draco Malfoy, leaning against a wall. A few other wizards and witches were present as well. Dumbledore cleared his throat and all four pairs of eyes turned to him. "I have gathered you here with grave news, which has been brought to my attention by Professor Snape. It seems that sometime last night there was a meeting of Death Eaters in the woods not far from the grounds of Hogwarts." He paused for effect here, and Harry looked at Professor Snape with some sort of malice. Draco stayed unusually quiet. "That, however, is not the matter of concern. It seems that many of these Death Eaters were killed, quite viciously I might add. Peter Parkinson, Eugene Victor, Marvin Alias and...Lucius Malfoy." Dumbledore nodded his head in Draco's direction in a show of sympathy. "These are the names of the persons who have been killed. I urge any of you who has information to come forward. Though we have formed an allegiance against Voldemort and his supporters, I was not aware of any plans to attack them so soon." Snape chose this time to speak up. "It is my understanding, sir, that while we have formed the allegiance there are others who are aware as well that the Dark Lord has once again risen to power. Perhaps these...others...have decided to take matters into their own hands." Everyone was quiet for a moment, contemplating this. It did seem a reasonable opinion on the matter, but who was brave enough and selfless enough to take on Voldemort without asking for all the help they could get? "Dumbledore," started an elderly witch with long brown hair. "If I may, how were these followers killed?" Dumbledore contemplated this for a moment. "Well, odd as it may seem, there was apparently no magic used on them. It may as well have been a muggle serial killer." "So there's no way to trace them through their magic," Snape once again brought about a logical point. "No, I'm afraid not." ~*~*~ Harry and Draco walked back through Professor Dumbledore's door and out into the hall. "Look Malfoy, I know you think I'm an annoying git, but I'm sorry about your father." said Harry not necessarily trying to be nice, but because he knew what it felt like not to have a father. "I don't need any sympathy from the boy who lived. I don't care anyway." said the blonde haired boy and stared down at the floor as they walked in silence. They came to the marble staircase and went their separate ways. What makes him think that he can feel sorry for me? Thought Draco to himself as he walked back to the slytherin common room. Like he knows what it's like growing up with Lucius, being tortured for this and for that. I can't believe this guy. He strives on always winning or beating some new horror well guess what, this one hit too close to home Lucius, and you paid for it. I just hope I won't have to. ~*~*~ Back at the Gryffindor common room Hermione and Ron were sitting in the overstuffed couch holding hands and staring at the fireplace when Harry walked in. "Is everything alright?" asked the bushy haired girl. "Not exactly, Hermione." said Harry "Does it have to do with "You-Know-Who?" asked Ron, the red haired boy sitting by Hermione. "Of course it does Ron!" interrupted Hermione, and switched her attention back to Harry. She noticed how he had never looked so tired or worried before. "Harry, what's wrong?" she asked looking deep into his green eyes. "Parkinson and Lucius are dead." he said rubbing his eyes as though he suddenly felt very sleepy. "I thought that would be a good thing." said Ron shrugging it off. "RON! Stop playing around. This is Lucius we're talking about, follower of Voldemort, Death Eater, FATHER OF DRACO!, and although I can see where you're coming from I know this was not something Voldemort would do himself, is it Harry?" she said flinging her hair back, and out of her face. "No" replied Harry looking out at the fire as though hoping it could make him feel any better. "Oh well that's great now if you don't mind I'd like to go off to bed is anyone else coming?" said Ron yawning as he started walking towards the stairs. "I'll be up in a minute Ron." said Harry sitting down in the chair and putting his hands in his hair. "Good night Ron." said Hermione and she blew him a kiss. "Good night Harry" and she kissed him on the forehead and walked away. Leaving Harry alone with his thoughts. ~*~*~ A small crowd of Death Eaters were gathered in the forest that night. Not the same forest as before, this one was much farther away from Hogwarts and much more discreet. Despite the fact that four of their comrades had been killed the night before, many of the gathered were their usual jovial, if dark, selves. Voldemort had left some time before; he had called them all to discuss the massacre that had happened and what they planned to do about it. After his departure, the Death Eaters were passing around a bottle of some ill-smelling liquor and tossing around the idea of finding some muggles to torture. Set apart from the group was another Death Eater. He was not partaking in the 'festivities' and he had not taken off his mask, either. His only purpose in staying behind was to gather as much information as he could, which he would then pass to Albus Dumbledore. He was Severus Snape. He scowled at the group from behind the hideous mask, but something else caught his attention. A movement in the trees. None of the others noticed it, but Snape did, and he watched carefully as a tiny, spotted kneazle slinked out from the underbrush. He narrowed his eyes and watched it until he heard more movement. Not surprisingly, none of the others noticed this either. Watching the bushes to his far right, he caught a pair of gleaming eyes and the outline of a huge black dog. He smirked to himself and slowly stepped backwards into the trees unnoticed. The dog, undoubtedly, was Sirius Black. This meant the kneazle was most likely an Animagus as well, and as he watched from his hiding place they were joined by a dark, slithering snake and a formidable looking bear moved about the forest. A hawk's cry was heard and all four of these creatures raced into the clearing, morphing into their original forms. These people were the ones who had been doing the killing, it was obvious. The bear turned into an older-looking man with grey-brown hair; the kneazle into a young girl with long black hair, Snape was sure he had taught her. The snake became a large man with a bald head, and Sirius Black came into view as well. Snape memorized each of their appearances before turning tail and jetting back through the woods. He was careful to be quiet, although if he was heard above the screams from the clearing it would be pretty surprising. The woods were dark, and because of this he didn't see the form coming at him. Snape was knocked to the ground by a sleek leopard. His head hit a rock and right before he blacked out, he heard a woman's voice say 'Petrificus Totalus!' ~*~*~ When Snape awoke again, he was bound to a chair and definitely not in the forest any longer. There was a very dim light filtering through the eyeholes of his mask, which was askew on his head, and he could see a shadow moving back and forth in this light. He twisted his wrists to see how much leeway the binding would allow. None. When he did this the shadow stopped pacing. "Ah, well, Mister Death Eater is awake," it was the same female voice he'd heard before blacking out, except it was cold and mocking now. He sensed her move closer and in a moment the mask was ripped from his face forcefully and it took a second for his eyes to adjust. The pain in his head was searing. He looked at the woman. She was short, probably no taller than 5'2, with dark red hair cut at her chin. He didn't recognize her, and from the way she tilted her head and assessed him, he guessed she probably didn't recognize him, either. "What's yer name?," she said abruptly in a slight Gaelic accent. Snape kept his mouth shut, and after a minute she snorted. "A'right, look," she continued. "I'm gunna give yeh two options - answer my questions and be cooperative, and yeh'll live. Don't, and yeh won't. So what's it gunna be?" Snape weighted these options mentally for a moment, before replying. "Severus Snape." She smirked a little. "Good boy. Now, I'm assuming, from this silly Halloween costume, yeh fancy yerself a follower of Lord Voldemort." This took a bit more consideration, and she had started to get agitated when he finally answered. "In a sense, I suppose." "A'right. What do yeh do when yer not out killing innocent people, then?" Snape sneered. "Innocence is in the eye of the beholder." A sharp stinging sensation took over the whole of his right cheek, and it took Snape a second to realize she'd slapped him. "Tha' was not an answer," she said calmly. "Now, again. What is yer occupation, Severus Snape?" He grimaced, and considered lying for a moment. He didn't. "I am a professor." "A professor?," she exclaimed. "Ah, bea'iful. Nice to know our children are being taught by filth like yeh. And does the Headmaster of this undoubtedly prestigious teaching establishment know that a Death Eater is on his payroll, eh? Or did yeh just forget to mention tha' fact?" Snape would have smirked if he hadn't thought he'd get slapped again. "Oh, no, Headmaster Dumbledore is well aware of the fact." "Dumbledore," she stated, a look of puzzlement on her face. She didn't seem to like the idea of being subtle, so she simply asked. "Explain yerself." "That wasn't technically a question," he replied, not fighting the urge to smirk now. Her eyes narrowed and her voice took on a mockingly high-pitched voice and completely lost the accent. "Mr. Severus Snape, the management wishes that you explain yourself. Would you do so, please?" Under a different circumstance he may have laughed. "I am a spy," was all he said, however. His captor seemed to mull this over and stepped closer. She leaned close to his face and her tone dropped near whisper, although the accent had returned. "For who?" "Don't insult Dumbledore's intelligence in my presence," he said in way of an answer. She nodded, backed off, and threw his mask at him. Then she opened the door, stepped beyond, and slammed it shut. The light of the single candle on the floor wavered then went out. ~*~*~ *~*~*~ Back at the hideaway Sirius and Anguis stood and stared into the darkness of the forest. “I was terrified for you, Anguis.” he said choosing his words cautiously. “I was alright, you know I’d be fine.” she replied. “I know, but what if something had happened? I would never forgive myself.” he said staring into her piercing green eyes. She took his hand and stared back at him returning the deep stare. She always hated moment like these, it seemed he could look deep into her soul and find her deepest secrets. Sirius has been there for her since he got out of Azkaban, and they have been inseparable. “Sirius, thank you for caring.” her voice steady and calm. She was surprised however when Sirius pulled her into an embrace so tight she felt like he was sucking the life out of her, but she returned it all the same. “Anguis, you’re like a …” he said stammering at his loss for words to describe what Anguis had been for him, “ friend to me maybe even a sister. I want to thank YOU for putting up with my jokes and concerns.” “You, too Sirius” she said and broke the embrace. She hadn’t realized how much she needed that. Her life had been one that was completely devoid of any love until she went to Hogwarts. She was born of rich muggle parents who had no idea what to do with such a strange child. Anguis had been interested in snakes, and stars since she was able to read, and her parents found this irritating. When Anguis received her letter from Hogwarts, she was happy to go, and her parents happy to send her. She did not come home for Christmas, and her summers were usually spent with her best friends. She changed her muggle name, and hasn’t been home since her 6th year at Hogwarts… she doesn’t feel she has to … ever again. “Anguis, are you all right?” he said gripping her shoulders. Anguis had gone pale, and cold. She didn’t respond on the first shake. “Sirius!” she said rather startled “ I’m fine, I was just thinking about something, where is Verta?” “We have to go back, we have a meeting.” he said apparating them both to the main room. There they found Travis and Devon. “Is something going on?” Anguis asked Devon. “No, we’re waiting for Verta.” “Oh, ok” Sirius said leaning against the far wall his face halfway hidden in the shadows. ~*~*~ Verta returned to the main room and ran a hand through her red hair. She looked exasperated. Sirius, Anguis, Travis and Devon had returned and were covered in blood. "Where'd you disappear to?," Sirius asked her curiously. "Yea, we had to do the beheading all by ourselves!," Travis added, a thinly veiled smile crossing his features as Sirius gave him a warning look. Verta had a grin all her own. "I got a prisoner." "Ooooh!," Anguis cried. "Where's it at?" Motioning to the door she had just exited, Verta said, “In there. But there's a wee problem." "I'll say there's a problem," Sirius said, sounding bitter. "Who decided it was a good idea to take prisoners? If they escape they could identify us, and besides, we can't let them go. What were you going to do? Torture him? That's something worthy of Death Eaters. This is ridiculous, Verta." The red-haired girl hung her head. "Sorry, Sirius. I wasn't gunna torture him, I was just going to question him. But it was a lot easier than Ah expected." The others looked at her curiously and she continued. "He says 'e works for Dumbledore, as a spy, and that he's a professor at Hogwarts." Sirius' expression darkened noticeably. "What's his name?," he demanded. "Severus Snape." Devon and Anguis exchanged surprised looks. "Professor Snape?!," Devon cried. "Is a Death Eater?!,"Anguis added. The two often finished each other's thoughts like this. Ignoring their questions, Sirius shook his head and started for the door. "Sirius!," Verta exclaimed. "What're you doing?" "I'm going to kill the bastard," Sirius' face was gravely serious (no pun intended). "No, I'm going to torture the bastard, THEN I'm going to kill him.." "Whoa, wait, weren't you just the one saying we would be no better than the Death Eaters if we did that?," Devon pointed out. "Yeh," Travis said. "And you're calling US the sick ones." Sirius' hand dropped from the knob as he considered this. "Fine. I'm leaving. Have him out of here or dead by the time I get back," Sirius said. The venom wasn't gone from his tone as he stalked to the doorway and let himself out, shifting into animagus form on the way. ~*~*~*~*~*~ Anguis was ready to turn and run after Sirius when Devon grabbed her hand and held her firmly. “LET ME GO!” she said turning around to Devon. “No, it’s foolish Anguis, We don’t know where he’s going or what can happen while he’s out there.” Devon said taking her to the back of the room away from the others. “My point exactly Dev, just let me go, please.” she said her eyes almost pleading to him. “ I can’t do that. You’re my best friend, we’ve gone through so much, and I’m not going to let you run after an angry man who happens to be in the shape of a big angry dog, and let all that go to pieces.” he said. His voice almost as angry as Sirius’ had been only moments earlier. “What are you saying? Sirius would NEVER hurt me…. Look I’m sorry Dev, I was worried.” she said not looking him in the eye. “If worried is what you want to call it, then fine. I know you Anne, you weren’t just worried, but that’s none of my business.” he said letting her go. He walked away into the darkness, but she could still see him. She ran up and hugged him. She never hugged anyone else this way, with such love, and anger at the same time. They stayed there for a while. “I think Verta is watching.” they both said at the same time. He laughed, she giggled. “Ok, let’s go back then.” she said. They walked side by side. ~*~*~ Harry woke up the next morning feeling as though he had drunken a whole bottle of fire whisky. He got dressed quickly and headed for the common room door, but stopped suddenly when he realized a familiar shape next to the door. It was Ron, he looked like a zombie, and he had crashed into the door. “Hey! Ron wake up!” aid Harry flinging his arms in front of Ron to see if indeed he was awake. “I’m up you git!” said the red haired boy who had grown much taller than Harry over the summer. “Good, today are the Quidditch tryouts remember?” said Harry staring at Ron to see the expression of his freckled face. “ WHAT?” yelled Ron, his eyes snapped up and glared at Harry. “What are you talking about?” “I was kidding I wanted to know if you were awake!” Harry said and leaned to open the door. “We don’t have classes today so you can sleep later.” “I know I was up all night doing… never mind.” said Ron turning a bright color red before turning his head from Harry. “Doing what?” the shorter boy said “ I can only think of one…” he was cut off by Ron “Shut up!” Ron yelled as they began walking down the stairs. On their way down the stairs Ron stumbled into Hermione and Ginny. “Hey Ron, morning!” said Ginny. She was a shy girl with flaming red hair, who happened to be Ron’s sister. “Morning, Gin.” he said in a sort of mumbled voice. “Hi Ginny” said Harry and Ginny turned a bright red. “Morning everyone!” said Hermione looking tired of all the hellos. “Now are we going to breakfast or are we gonna sit here and say hello all morning?” “Ok, Ok If I didn’t know better I’ say ‘Mione was having a little temper tantrum.” said Harry winking at Hermione as he said it. “Um, I think she’s always like this.” added Ginny flashing a bright smile at Harry. “Ok, now let’s go, PLEASE before Ron passes out on the floor” “I’m not going to pass out on the floor, I was leaning towards the couch.” Ron said and looked at his little sister. “Hey you guys go ahead I need to talk to Gin.” “Um ok , come on Harry.” said Hermione grabbing his wrist and they fled out through the portrait door. “What is it Ron? Are you alright?” she asked, her face full of pure concern. “I’m… I’m fine. I was gonna ask about you.” he said not daring to look her in the eye. “Ask me if I was fine about what?” she said, but she suddenly realized what he meant. “Look Ron, I’m fine. I think it’s cute that Harry likes Hermione, but I’m not too sure about her. I thought she fancied you!” she giggled when Ron looked away. “I thought so too.” he simply said. His voice was calm and cool, but Ginny could see the hurt underneath it. “Aww, Ron I’m sorry. They aren’t an item yet, and maybe she does fancy you.” the girl said. “ It’s alright, I don’t want to risk a friendship.” he said “Ok, now let’s go please I’m starving.” “After you.” she said winking at him “You know, you remind me of Charlie, you even look like him.” he said walking ahead of his sister and holding his hand out of the portrait door for her to take and step out. “ Oy Ron, is that an insult?” she said her voice filled with humor. “I guess it is, considering you’re a girl right?” he said laughing “Yes, I am a girl.” she stuck her tongue out at him. “ and I’m gonna beat you to breakfast.” she said and ran off without glancing back. ~*~*~*~*~*~ It was a few hours later when Snape heard the door open again. Light filtered through the opening and he saw other bodies moving around in the room beyond, and though his vision was blurry he was pretty sure they were the same people from the forest. He had been trying desperately since the girl left the room not to fall asleep, and though the blood had stopped trickling down his neck from the back of his head some time ago, it still hurt like hell. There were muffled curses and a 'Jaysus, Mary and Jos'ph' accompanied by scuffling around in the room. A short moment later the candle was lit again and the red-haired girl came into sight. She grasped another chair in the room by the back and flipped it around, straddling it and crossing her arms over the back. She narrowed her eyes at Snape assessingly. He tried to return the gesture but was too dizzy to do so. He ended up looking drunk, if anything. Verta surveyed the man before her interestedly. He seemed to be trying to focus but couldn't. She felt a slight pang of sympathy, but it didn't last too long. An internal conflict was going on. This man was a Death Eater, had undoubtedly killed, raped, and tortured many muggles and wizards, and therefore she should hate him and want to kill him as Sirius did. Alternately, IF he was a spy, with information, he could be of much more use alive. "I'm supposed to kill yeh," she stated, as if talking about the weather. Snape nodded slightly, his body was tired but his mind was alert; despite this he didn't quite trust himself to speak until absolutely necessary. Verta continued. "He doesn't seem to trust yeh. Any idea why?" "If I had an idea who 'he' was, maybe..." Her expression hardened. "Think yeh're being tricky, eh? Trying to get meh to disclose information like that. Maybe he shouldn't trust yeh. Maybe I shouldn't either." This seemed to leave a question hanging in the air. There was silence for a moment and Verta tilted her head to the side. "What do yeh know?," she asked. Snape considered his options. One way or another, she was going to kill him. However, if he gave her information that proved useful perhaps it would lead to Voldemort's fall and isn't that what he was after anyway? Voldemort would probably kill him anyway, he was already suspected of being a spy. Dying is dying, Snape decided. "He's going to attack the Ministry first. Weaken defenses there, as they are slow to believe he's returned. He'll start with some of the smaller departments and move up from there. After that, muggle-borns, muggles, and finally the wizards who oppose him along withe Aurors." "Saving the best for last," she sneered. "When?" "He has his first attack planned for next weekend, I think." "You think?" she raised an eyebrow. "Where's he going to attack?" "I don't know," Snape said. "He never tells us." She had become increasingly annoyed with his subtle vagueness in answering. The first part was likely, if Voldemort was smart, but any Death Eater with half a brain could have come up with it. She rose from the chair and kicked it into the wall. It hit and splintered with a crash. "This isn't the time for fucking games, boi," she roared. She moved closer dangerously and lowered her voice. "Tell me what you know. Everything." Snape weighed the options again. Although he wasn't all for Voldemort's plans, he wouldn't mind seeing a few of those blundering Ministry idiots get taken out in the process. Shame he wasn't starting with the Minister himself, he mused. "I told you, I don't - " Verta interrupted him, moving quickly closer. She was in stradling his legs now, but it wasn't arousing in the slightest. Using her right arm she ripped his left painfully from it's binds, which he realized now must have been magical as the other wrist was still secured to the chair. A knife he didn't realize she had was positioned above the Death Eater mark on his left forearm. "Talk," she hissed. Snape stayed stoicly quiet. He honestly wouldn't mind having the mark removed, though he doubted she could do that with a simple knife, and besides that he doubted she would trust whatever he said. As the silence stretched out, the point of the knife peirced his flesh and went painfully closer to the bone with each passing second. Snape gritted his teeth, she glared at him. He glared right back despite the pain in his arm and his head. Blood began to flow down his arm with increasing speed as she hit some of the larger veins. "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts," he muttered, low and silky. "What?," she demanded, not releasing pressure on the blade. "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts," he said again, a bit louder. "Weasley and Perkins." She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then twisted the knife a bit and wrenched it out. Severus fought the urge to scream like a girl. She stood and paced, carelessly and repeatedly slapping the bloodied blade against her right palm as she did. Finally she stopped to face him. "Why?" Snape perhaps took too long in answering because she pointed the blade at him and repeated her question. A step closer. "Potter," Snape spat out. "Aurthur Weasley's son is his best friend. He figures if he elimates one Weasley, the younger will be distracted by grief, therefore he won't be able to be at Potter's beck and call." Another step closer. "When?" Snape hesitated. A second too long, another step closer. "When, Severus?" she hissed out his name. "Friday. At the office." She looked at him for a long moment. Another step closer. She smiled. "Good boy," she said, and moved towards him. She grasped his injured arm, and kissed him harshly. This surprised Snape quite a bit, but he figured she must be one of those sick gore hounds. She pulled away from his lips and he didn't complain, the kiss had been painful and his lip was bleeding now from the pressure of her teeth against them. As she turned and stalked out of the room, he noticed the hole in his arm was healed, only a small scar across the Dark Mark. ~*~*~ Ron and Harry walked out of the Great Hall doors mumbling about why Snape wasn’t at the teacher’s table. “Maybe he got eaten by a pixie!” blurted the red head. “Shut up, Ron! If anything the Whomping Willow finally got to break his spine in half.” said the other boy, a smile reaching across his face until it reached his green eyes. “Something could seriously be wrong!” said the voice of a girl "Yeh're dead," a voice woke him. Snape's eyes flashed open and he remembered where he was. The red-haired girl was standing in front of him and he was still tied to the chair. "Pardon?," he said, his voice thick from uncomfortable hours of sleep. "Yer dead. We took yer wand and some of your clothing -" Snape noticed he was now only left with his pants on - "and we took them to the where the other dead ones are. It's rather far out in the woods, so it'll take a while before anyone finds it - by that time the bodies will have decayed mostly anyway, so they'll jus' check the wands." His death had been faked, he realized. What would this mean? He forced his mind not to think about it as the girl in front of him continued. "Two of our members have been sent to stake out the Ministry office yeh mentioned. If yer information proves true, then maybe we'll let yeh join us. If not, well...Sirius will handle that," she said. "Sirius," Snape repeated thoughtfully. He had figured it was Black that she'd been talking about, as he'd seen him in the forest, but he wasn't sure until now. "Yes, Sirius Black, the murderer," a snort followed this comment. "Well, if he wasn' before he definately is now." Snape sneered, thinking Black had always been a murderer. He kept these thoughts to himself, though. "You DO realize the Ministry is already after him, and the rest of your group now as well,"Snape stated instead. Verta shrugged dismissively. "They'll figure it out eventually." Snape noticed she was in a bit more affable mood than last night and decided to take a chance. "Do you think, perhaps, you could let me out of these ridiculous bindings for a bit? I really would like to go to the bathroom." "Want a catheter?," Verta smirked. Snape glared at her. "Look," she continued. "I can't let yeh go yet...yeh're gunna have to wait on that, least til tonight. But...I s'pose I could take yeh to the bathroom...if it's that important." Snape glared so hard he was sure his mother would have told him his face would stay that way. "I'll wait," he said with venom. ~*~*~ Percy Weasley sat at his father's desk, deciding he definately liked his own office better. His father's was cluttered with Muggle items, and the old Perkins was humming away in a corner. When Perkins wasn't humming, he was breathing loudly. Percy had yet to decide which was more annoying. Arthur Weasley was sick. A bout of flu had attacked the Weasley household, and although his mum had no trouble mixing up a potion for the cure, she insisted that Arthur take a day off anyway. He'd been working so hard lately, she said. Percy didn't agree, however. If this work was hard, he must have been undergoing torture everyday. He -liked- his job, though. He had worked hard for his job, and he was very proud of himself. Perkins stopped humming and started breathing loudly again. Percy sighed and leaned over the meticulous report he was supposed to be finishing. It was late in the night now and most of the other employees had gone home. Friday night was always an early night at the Ministry, no matter which office one worked for. Not for Percy, though. Perkins got up and wheezed a goodbye at the younger wizard, grabbing his cloak and walking out the door. Percy muttered a goodbye as well and continued on his father's report. He was so immersed in finishing it, that he didn't hear the footsteps in the hallway. Frantic footsteps. When the door flew open and two cloaked Death Eaters ran in, he DID notice. He stood and made a grab for his wand as the Avada Kedarva curse hit him full-force. He dropped to the floor, his heart stopping instantaneously. "Shit, Nott," one of the cloaked men said. "That's the wrong one!" "No it's not," Nott replied. "I saw his hair." "Arthur Weasley doesn't HAVE hair, you git," the first argued back. He leaned over the desk to see the fresh kill. "Fuck...I guess one Weasley's as good as another. The Dark Lord should be pleased we got anything done with that ambush outside." "The Dark Lord won't be pleased until we do what we came to do, it doesn't matter if two were killed outside!," Nott told him. "Well," stated the first. "Maybe he won't kill us..." Nott didn't look pleased at the man's statement, nor did he notice the snake slither into the room. The snake morphed into the form of a huge man with a shaved head. At this point he was joined by Sirius Black, whom both of the Death Eaters recognized. "He may not, but I will," Travis said before pointing his wand at the Death Eater. "Expillarimus!" Sirius had done the same to Nott's cohort, and the Death Eaters looked at each other quite worried. Nott doubled over in pain as Travis effectively sliced him across the gut with a hunting knife. Sirius, taking a more direct approach, simply used the Killing Curse on the other man. He stepped over the body and looked at the body of Percy Weasley, who he knew was Ron's brother, and shook his head. "That greasy git was right," he muttered. At his words, they were joined by Verta, Anguis and Devon. Anguis' face fell. "We were too late," Devon said, apparently voicing Anguis' concern. Verta was, at the moment, helping Travis disembowel the second Death Eater. Sirius nodded gravely. "Let's go," he said to the others. They all turned and headed out of the room, except Travis and Verta who stopped first to snap the DeathEater's wands. They didn't have time for derobing the men, and they considered the Ministry might take them seriously if they found two Death Eaters dead in one of their offices. Verta ran to catch up with Sirius. "He was right," she told him matter-of-factly. "Not entirely," Sirius said. "That was Percy Weasley, not Arthur." "But it was still the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office. Who cares why the wrong Weasley was there? Severus wasn't lying." Sirius growled and turned to face her. "I don't care what -Snape- said. He's of no use to us now, as he's presumed dead and won't be let back into Voldemort's circle anyway. I told you to get rid of him, or kill him, and you didn't. I let you keep him around just because of this stupid information. Now he goes." At that, Sirius shifted into Animagus form and trotted off down the hall, following the others who had passed them. Verta narrowed her eyes and shifted as well, running out the door as a leopard. ~*~*~ |
| "Aequitas" By Anguis Willow Ally Wood & Nexi Ignatius |