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Severus

Although Severus didn’t know what Sirius Black had been up to in that Slytherin locker room, he knew one thing for certain – there’d definitely been a look of no good about him when he’d come back out. Whatever he’d been getting into, Sirius hadn’t wanted Madam Hooch to know about it, which made Severus feel very, very suspicious indeed. If Sirius Black had been stepping out of line, then Severus needed to know about it so that he had something to use against Sirius next time he bullied him. So Severus decided right then, as the boys split up in the Great Hall and he watched Sirius trot away with a swagger almost as arrogant as James Potter’s, that he would be watching the four Gryffindor first years very carefully. Anything and everything that he noticed about them would be used as defense against them when they tried to torture him in the future.

If it was one thing that Severus was very skilled at – it was the art of blackmail. After all, he had grown up with the two best at the craft – his mother and father. Eileen and Tobias had been very carefully blackmailing each other day in and day out for as long as Severus could remember. Neither Tobias nor Eileen had loved the other in years, but they stayed together for a spiderweb of secrets and lies that had twined itself so deeply that neither could easily separate from the other without falling apart. Severus’s entire life had been like living in a house of cards.

But it had made him a master at facades, at straight faces and double meanings – it was a talent that he lauded quite proudly.

That night, Sirius laid awake in the dormitory bed, staring up at the ceiling of his four poster, listening to the sleeping sounds that surrounded him. A snuffle here, a kicked blanket there. He took a deep breath, wishing that he dared to fall asleep. The worry of having another of those crazy mixed dreams unnerved him now that he suspected they were other peoples’ dreams, though, and even if he closed his eyes all he could do is lay there and worry.

Finally he decided that laying in the darkness was doing him no good, so he got up and shrugged on his pajama robe and some slippers and snuck out of the dormitory, being very careful about closing the door behind himself silently. He’d only planned to go down to the common room to read, but when he emerged onto the landing before the doors that led up to the dormitories, he halted and crouched down.

In the common room was Lucius Malfoy and a couple others, including the elder of the Mulciber brothers and Walden McNair. They were gathered together in front of the fire and in the smoldering ashes there was a face – a face unlike any that Severus had ever seen before. The features were that of a handsome man, but the details were starting to blur together until what had once probably been a good looking face was now rather like a grotesque figure. He felt his throat tighten up and he clutched the rails of the stairwell, peering down with wide eyes.

He’d seen folks communicate with the floo network before, but there was something obscene and clandestine about the scene before Severus that made him feel funny – as though he were seeing something he shouldn’t.

“Master,” Lucius Malfoy was saying, bowed so low on the carpet that his nose nearly touched it.

The other two bowed as well.

“Tell me Lucius,” said a low, mystic sort of voice, “How did your little meeting go with the Slytherin students of Hogwarts?”

Lucius appeared to be groveling. “Very well, master, very well indeed. Nearly half the house turned out… all interested in helping you purify the wizarding race.”

“I see…” the voice mused. Severus realized, the way Lucius kept saying ‘master’ that this weary face in the fire must have been none other than the Dark Lord himself. A sort of thrill travelled up Severus Snape’s spine as he thought of how close he was to such power at that very moment… and how excited he was that he was able to sneak so close without being detected by one of the most powerful wizards that had ever lived and breathed upon the earth. “And do you think any are trustworthy, Mr. Malfoy?”

Lucius nodded feverishly, “Oh yes, my Lord, several of them are quite trustworthy, I’m sure.”

“Hmm,” mused the Dark Lord.

Severus clutched the stairwell, his heart seeming to pound in his throat.

“The boy on the stairs… Is he one of the trustworthy ones?”

Lucius’s eyes flashed through the dark to Severus on the landing. Severus scrambled to get away as Malfoy seemed to lunge for him in a motion that Severus had only previously seen on muggle television when they’d watched documentaries about African wild cats attacking their prey. Mulciber and MacNair looked quite alarmed, too, and the fiery figure of the Dark Lord there in the hearth seemed amused. Malfoy caught Severus by his arm and slammed him into the wall. “What in bloody hell are you doing?” he hissed into Severus’s face.

“I just was going to the common room,” Severus stammered.

“How long have you been standing here?” Lucius demanded, eyes blazing.

Severus shook his head and tried to tug away, “Not very long.”

“Bring him down the stairs,” came the voice from the fire.

“Now you’re in trouble,” Malfoy swore under his breath and pulled Severus along after him, his fists balled up around Severus’s robes. “Come along.” He yanked him down the stairs to the hearth and threw him down there, upon a great fluffy bear rug with its head still attached at one end. Severus laid there in front of the dying fire through which the Dark Lord was appearing. He could feel the beady eyes upon him, appraising him. “I’m sorry, my Lord, he snuck out onto the landing – I didn’t see – I’d checked –“ Malfoy was simpering.

“Silence,” hissed the Dark Lord.

Severus chanced a peek at that face. He’d expected a sour, nasty face once he’d gotten closer. He had expected the Dark Lord to be sneering at him with displeasure. But instead when he looked up, the face in the fire seemed to be chuckling. Severus froze. Somehow the amusement was even more terrifying than the sneer would have been.

“You’re a most interesting young man,” he said.

Severus cleared his throat, “Am I?” he asked.

“Don’t you disrespect the Dark Lord,” hissed Malfoy.

“Am I… sir?” Severus amended.

The face was still grinning up at him. “Indeed,” he confirmed. “Severus Snape, you are most interesting indeed!” There was a pause. “Tell me, Mr. Snape, how long have you been studying Occlumency?”

Severus blinked uncomprehendingly at the fire. “Occlumency?”

“Yes,” hissed the Dark Lord, “You are a most skilled Occlumens… You see, I am a very powerful Legilimens and to be able to withstand my… attacks, if you will… even through the Floo… Well, you must be quite good.”

Severus could feel every eye upon him. He cleared his throat, “I – I’m not the best,” he stammered. “I’m sure there are others much better than I am.” He would have to look up Occulens and Legilimens in the library. Whatever it was, if he was any good at it then it was a natural talent, for he’d never heard the terms before in his life. Whatever it was, too, seemed to interest the Dark Lord, and therefore was a trait he needed to pretend to be quite aware of.

“Tell me, boy,” the Dark Lord said lowly, “Were you among the trustworthy members of the Slytherin house that attended Lucius Malfoy’s recruitment meeting?”

“Y- yes,” Severus nodded.

“He’s my cousin, my Lord,” Lucius Malfoy spoke up, leaning forward, “And the cousin of Narcissa Black.”

The Dark Lord eyed Severus. “And are you pure, boy?” hissed the Dark Lord.

Severus swallowed and answered the only way he ever had when facing that question: “I am a half-blood Prince, sir,” he said thickly.

“Half blood Prince!” The Dark Lord appeared even more amused. “Very well. The Half-blood Prince, you shall be. This is your first year at Hogwarts?” he asked.

Severus nodded.

“Welcome, then,” he said, as though Hogwarts were his to welcome Severus to. “May this place be as great a home to you as it was to me during my time here.” The Dark Lord’s voice dipped with reverence. “Now… go back to bed, Severus Snape. For now, you are too young for the things which I have planned, but one day I shall be in touch to test you for entry into the ranks of the Death Eaters.”

“Thank you sir,” stammered Severus, unsure what else to say.

“Go on,” hissed Malfoy thickly behind him as Severus lingered dumbly before the fire. “Go to bed.”

Severus nodded and rushed off to the dormitory, careful not to look behind him to see if the Dark Lord had taken his eyes off of his back. He had the distinct feeling that he was still the center of attention. He locked the dormitory door behind him and poured himself a glass of water from the pitcher, his heart racing. Finally, he obeyed the Dark Lord’s commands and laid himself down on the mattress of the four poster and closed his eyes.

Even a troubled, mixed-up sort of sleep would be better than lying awake, imagining he could still hear the voice in his mind, with the smirking, amused expression upon his face…