He's sitting outside watching the peacocks when the messenger arrives, and it takes him a moment to realize that it's not Loki. But the bird certainly knows Snape, Malfoy can feel the slightest imprint of his lover on the bird's mind. And he feels Elsbet's imprint as well! He smiles at this, and knows this must be the invitation. He gazes into the raven's eyes and finds a startlingly clear mind behind them. Time set eight this night. Sevrus take you. You meet at Ellieshome, yes? His heart jumps. No, not at Ellie's, it's not safe, Malfoy thinks to the messenger. Hogsmeade, Malfoy thinks, we can meet at Hogsmeade, five o'clock. Cambion eyes Malfoy closely. Why you hurt? The wizard is totally unprepared for the innocent, ernest question. I fell, he thinks, and the raven caws softly. I tell Sevrus, he fix.
Malfoy feels suddenly very vulnerable and his hand trembles slightly when the reaches out to the raven. No, don't tell him. I don't want to worry him. He touches the bird just lightly and he steps closer to Malfoy. Here, the raven thinks as he pulls a loose feather from his wing, you keep. He gives the feather to the wizard and tells him, I Cambion, you need, you call. The raven caws at the peacocks, then takes flight as Malfoy watches, puzzled, yet thrilled. There's a glimmer of light at the end of a very long tunnel. Now, if he can just get to the end of that tunnel.
He tucks the feather into a secret pocket inside his jacket, wondering about that raven. Cambion? He knows that name from somewhere, but not as a proper name. Where has he heard it? He rubs his aching head and tries to think of The History of Magic and can't do it right now. Oh, Merlin's saggy...Malfoy sits up and immediately regrets it, but it's hit him. A Cambion is the offspring of an incubus and a mortal woman. Merlin himself was a Cambion. He gets up slowly and takes a long last look at his peacocks, then turns back to the house. That raven is a mixling, he thinks, then sighs as he steps inside, too tired to ponder it further.
***
Snape has gone through nine old student rolls and started a notebook by the time Cambion returns. He looks up expectantly at the raven, and Cambion hops down from the passage to the desk. Lucy-us say you meet in Hogsmeade, five this night. Snape stares at the messenger, stunned. He knows something has happened, but he's not given any more information. "Cambion," Snape says gently, "tell me, please." The raven puffs himself out and adjusts his wings, then gives a surprisingly audible sigh. Lucy-us been hurt. I ask, he say he fell, I say you fix, he say I not tell, you worry. I give feather, say he call if he need.
Snape sits back in the chair and thinks, watching Cambion as the raven walks across the desk to the scroll he currently has open. Old, Cambion thinks, long time. Snape gazes steadily at the creature who brings him comfort. "Oh, you know this do you," he says and the raven looks up at him. Yes, Cambion thinks, then turns his head to look at the squiggles on the scroll. Snape wouldn't be surprised if the raven could actually read; Therion is a brilliant wizard, and Cambion is the son of an Animagus, after all. With a deep connection such as they have, almost anything is possible.
Almost anything is possible...
Snape leans forward and pulls a drawer open, then takes out a piece of dried meat and gives it to Cambion. "Will you do something for me?" The raven swallows the treat and meets Snape's black eyes. Yes, I do for you. Snape asks him to go back to Therion and tell him everything. Tell him everything and ask him to meet at Dufftown at seven. Ok, Cambion thinks, I do. Before he leaves he taps the desk near the open scroll and says, you look more. You find. Snape looks at him. "You know what I'm looking for?" Cambion flits up to the passage. Old Magic. You find. Taken aback just slightly, he glances at the scrolls of student rolls, as well as the prodigious notes he's taken and contemplates the raven's thoughts for a moment. He feels Cambion depart the castle and sits back in the chair.
***
Elsbet lies sleeping on a plush, comfy couch in one of Therion's reading rooms in his bookshop. Every once in a while he glances up from his ledger as if he's afraid she's just going to disappear. If someone had told him a year ago that he'd be doing this, he probably would have told them to get stuffed. He's very glad he's gotten passed that. Now, he knows this is exactly why he's here, in The White City. He just hopes he can get everything figured out before it's too late. He waves to a passing customer and sees Cambion in the distance, deciding suddenly to change his course and fly into the shop instead of up to the loft.
The raven lands right on the desk, cawing loudly. He's laughing at himself for making the attempt, and Therion tells him to hush, else he'll wake Elsbet. Cambion says 'Oddbit' would think it was funny, and while Therion agrees, "we don't have to wake her up just yet." The laughing raven quiets down and gives Therion all the information he was given, and several minutes later Therion is closing up his shop for the day. "You're sure? Dufftown?" He runs his hands through his curly brown hair and rubs his his lower back. "How badly was Lucius hurt?" Cambion's soft trill tells him it's bad, and that he sensed bad magic. It doesn't take an expert Wandmaker to figure out what that means...
The Dark Lord has been at him.
Therion still believes Malfoy has turned, and will be here tonight. He knows Snape has some plan; if he's meeting Malfoy at five in Hogsmeade and wants to meet him at seven in Dufftown...he hopes whatever it is works out the way Snape plans it to. What bothers him even more than Malfoy being injured is his comment that Elsbet's home isn't safe now. Why? Has someone found out about her? He decides to make some arrangements on her behalf, just in case she can't go home for a while; he knows there's a little place on the other side of the park, in the Lake District, that's been vacant for a while. It would be nothing to furnish it and make it homey for her, if she has to stay here...
***
Old Magic, indeed. He hasn't even gone through everything yet, he hasn't the time now, but he knows what he's found is exactly what he needed, and he has to wonder if Dumbledore knew these books and scrolls were here. He moves quickly, unseen, from the library back to his office with an armload of items, then stows the items in one of the many secret hiding places therein. And then, it's time to go. The hours flew by quickly it seems, and he hopes, no, he needs everything to go right tonight.
He has become so accustomed to passing in and out of Hogwarts unseen and undetected that he loathes heading out this way; he catches McGonagall before anyone else sees him and tells her, "I have business tonight, Minerva, that will take quite some time. If I have not returned by morning, Hogwarts and all she holds is in your care." He does not give her time to ask anything but heads immediately to find Peeves. "I expect you to assist Deputy Headmistress McGonagall in any way she requires. Am I clear?" The chaotic spirit nods silently, his eyes glittering in the dim light of the archway.
He rubs his hands together in anticipation as Snape heads for the main entrance, where he's spotted by Filch, and then in turn by Alecto Carrow. Before Filch can say anything Alecto says loudly, "off on 'personal business' again, Headmaster?" The contemptuous tone is not lost on Snape, but he faces her with a cold, detatched expression as though he did not notice. "That is not of your concern, Alecto. It is not your place to question me." She takes a step toward Snape, her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps the Dark Lord might think differently if--" he cuts across her veiled threat and says, his voice lethal, "if the Dark Lord has questions to ask of me, he can ask them himself."
As Snape turns he notes Filch's smirk and he knows the caretaker is thinking he's just put the squat, ugly Death Eater in her place. He sincerely hopes after tonight she and her brother stay there...without another word to anyone, Snape departs the castle. Alecto, stinging now, turns venomously on the caretaker. "You think that was funny, you filthy Squib? You just wait...the day is coming when misfits like you will be removed from our society." She snorts dirisively and says, "You're no better than a filthy Muggle animal!" She cackles as she leaves him, and he simply shakes his head. As he goes back to his duties, he mumbles "aaah, well, at least I'm not inbred."
***
Malfoy slings his bag over his shoulder carefully, his body sore and some spots very tender, then puts his travelling cloak on over it. He leaves his private room and makes his way down the dark hall quietly, listening to the assorted voices speculating on a variety of topics and concerns, not the least of which the recent fight between himself and Narcissa. No one notices him pass by, which is fine with him. There is nothing he can safely say to any of them now. Through the empty dining area he passes, up the steps, through the grand entry way, where he finds Narcissa waiting for him.
"You're leaving me, then, Lucius? You're really leaving me, for a man?" He faces her and replies, "yes, Narcissa. This man," he taps his chest and moves passed her toward the doors. "All I want are my peacocks. Everything else is yours. I'll collect the birds once I have a place for them." He grips the door handle and Narcissa asks him what she should tell their son. "Tell Draco..." What can he say, really? "It doesn't really matter what you tell him...he'll make up his own mind in the end." He pulls the door open and emerges from a cold, unhappy home into a grey and dismal-looking early evening.
After a long and painful walk down the shrublined driveway, Lucius Malfoy Disapperates from Malfoy Manor for the very last time.
***
Snape is sitting at a table alone when Malfoy walks into the Three Broomsticks Inn. As soon as Snape sees the blond wizard he rises and meets him at the door. He does not smile, he offers no warm greeting; he merely opens the door and tells Malfoy to follow him. Silently they walk into the woods, and once they're sure they're alone, they speak. Rastaban Lestrange watches the two wizards from his vantage point behind a nearby tree; he can hear them speaking, and although he can not hear exactly what is being said, their discussion quickly becomes a dispute, then a heated argument.
Snape, obviously quite angry, draws his wand on Malfoy, who raises his hands and backs up. Snape advances and Malfoy drops to his knees, clearly pleading with Snape to spare him. There is a bright green flash of light, and Malfoy falls to the ground. Snape looks around and Rastaban shrinks back behind the tree for a moment, his heart pounding. He doesn't want to be the next notch on Snape's wand, so to speak. He peers back around the tree and watches as Snape drags Malfoy's body down a slight slope. He transfigures the body, into what he can not tell, then buries it deep at the base of a tree. Snape then casts a water spell so the newly-turned soil resembles the rest of the ground.
If Rastaban had not witnessed it himself, he would never have believed it. Snape Disapperates, and he thinks about checking the spot himself, but he hears voices and he decides against it. Besides, he knows what he saw. Ah, poor, poor Narcissa...abandoned and widowed in the same day. Hmmmm...Narcissa Lestrange, he muses, not that he has any desire for the woman, but he could certainly do with the manor. Grinning sadistically, he Disapperates back to that manor, and to the Dark Lord.
It isn't long, thirty minutes, maybe less, before Snape feels the summons.
When he arrives at the manor he finds the dining hall table filled with Death Eaters, and he knows Greyback is somewhere in the vicinity. "Ah, Severus," the Dark Lord indicates the seat immediately to his right, "I believe you know why I have called you here." He takes the seat and says clearly that he does. Everyone who dares to is looking at him, some in disbelief, some in shock, and some are clearly afraid. "Good, good...ah, Rastaban, if you would," Voldemort says, and the wizard seated between Rodolphus and Dolohov straightens.
In a clear, cruel voice he recounts everything he saw transpire in the woods outside Hogsmeade between Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy, down to the minutest detail.
Almost all eyes are on him; he likes having the spotlight.
When he's done, no one dares even to move. Snape gazes out at them from behind a mask of cold detachment, noting the expressions of Amycus and Alecto Carrow with great interest, as well as that of Bellatrix. "Severus," Voldemort looks at him with something that could almost, possibly, be described as respect, perhaps, and asks, "can you explain your actions?" He looks directly at Voldemort and says, "I can, my Lord." He looks back out at the assemblage and explains with perfect, calculated clarity that Lucius had left the Dark Lord's path, as it were, and he felt it was his duty to eleminate him.
His demeanor of complete and utter calm makes the whole thing all the more terrifying to some of them.
The Dark Lord rises slowly, then holds out his hand. "Your wand, Severus." Without hesitation Snape withdraws his wand and hands it to Voldemort, who examines it carefully, then checks the last spells cast with it. And there it is, for all to see, just as Rastaban described. Voldemort returns Snape's wand to him, clearly pleased, and Snape sleeves his wand. "Let this serve as a reminder to those who would make the same mistake poor Lucius did." The Dark Lord dismisses them as he leaves the dining area, but no one makes a single move. No one, save Narcissa.
Her voice wavers when she speaks, and he fixes her with his cold, black eyes, eyes that seem not dead to her, but rather like Death. "Did...did he...did Lucius suffer, Severus?" He will never forgive her for the Unbreakable Vow; he had found a potion that would have given Dumbledore more time, and given him time to break Gaunt's curse. But given the situation, he had no choice but to make the Vow, and fulfill Dumbledore's last request.
This is his revenge.
When he answers her, his voice is so cold, ice cicles could form on his breath.
"Oh, yes, Narcissa, he suffered. Believe me, he did."
No one has either the strength or desire to look at Snape anymore, not even the Carrows. Slowly he rises, looks down at Narcissa as she looks helplessly at her hands, then turns away. Without a word he departs the house and only then does anyone at the table move. Once beyond the perimiter of the manor, Snape Disapperates back to Hogsmeade, then returns to the school. He's there long enough to change clothes, grab the bag he packed earlier and stuffs a few additional things into it. He pauses a moment to contemplate what he's going to tell Elsbet, then after putting on his travelling cloak he shifts his form and flits up to the passage, closing it behind him.
He raven-runs down the passage and comes out in the Owlery, and finds Loki sleeping deeply in his little nest. He takes a moment to preen his Familiar, then hops onto a windowsil, and takes off into the darkening sky. He flies with the greatest speed to Dufftown, finds Bungalow number nine and lets himself plummet toward it. He swoopes over the roof of the bungalow and flies around to the back so he can transform out of sight. He walks swiftly around to the front of the bungalow, takes hold of the doornob and feels it unlock in his hand.
In a blink he's inside, and before Malfoy is up off of the bed, Snape has cast anti-everything charms on the bungalow, his cloak is off, his bag is in the chair, and Malfoy is in his powerful arms before Snape's robe has hit the floor. Snape's firey black eyes meet Malfoy's smoldering grey ones and before Malfoy can ask him anything, Snape's mouth is on his, kissing him hungrily, threatening to devour him, Snape's hands are pulling at his clothes, and before Malfoy can even catch his breath, neither wizard has a shred of clothes on.
Malfoy grins widely and thinks to caress Snape's cheek, but those black eyes are wild, passionate, and Snape grabs Malfoy's wrist. "Fuck," Snape growls, "now," and Malfoy is on the bed in a second. "On your back," Snape tells him and he rolls over to see his lover oiling his cock, tossing the vial aside when it's empty. "Relax," Snape rumbles as he climbs onto the bed. Malfoy tells him, "I'm as relaxed as I can--" Snape is in before he can finish, and he's forgotten what he was saying.
Snape is kissing him again and his head is spinning; his body is still sore from the torture, but that doesn't matter, none of that matters, Gods, nothing matters but this. The fuck is hard, hot, passionate and raw, their fuses definately much shorter than they would normally want, but then, they don't have much time. Snape interrogates and commands him as he pleasures him in a gutteral tone; "Lucius, do you love me?" Oh Gods, what a question! "Yes," Malfoy replies. "Yes?" Snape questions. "Yes," Malfoy's voice rises an octive. "Yes?" Malfoy's back arches slightly and he grabs the posts of the headboard, "yes! YES!" Snape thrusts two, three more times and demands, "then come for me, Lucius, come for me..."
Snape doesn't have to tell him again.
Malfoy does as commanded; he comes, and comes loudly, and Snape comes a second later, twice as loud. His strength gives out then and he collapses onto Malfoy, who in turn wraps his arms around him. Slowly their breathing returns to normal, and Snape mumbles something about having to get up and get dressed. "Must we?" Malfoy asks, and Snape tells him, "yes, we have an appointment to keep, and a visitor arriving shortly, remember?" Malfoy kisses him and sighs. "About that...do you trust Bonecastle?" Snape rises and draws himself away from Malfoy slowly. "Yes, I do," he says, "I trust Therion enough to leave Elsbet with him."
Malfoy suddenly snaps to and dresses quickly. "I've got to tell you something! We have to move Ellie, she's not safe in her home anymore..." Snape dresses and returns the vial to his bag, and the room to it's original appearance. "What do you mean?" He asks as he sits down. "Greyback knows, I'm sure of it. After Narcissa and I had our first fight this morning, I found him smelling the jacket I was wearing...when..." Snape closes his eyes for a moment. "When you carried her down the hall..." Malfoy nods. "Right. We--"
There's a sound at the door and Snape knows it's Therion. "Time to go, Lucius. We will figure something out after our appointment."
Malfoy feels suddenly very vulnerable and his hand trembles slightly when the reaches out to the raven. No, don't tell him. I don't want to worry him. He touches the bird just lightly and he steps closer to Malfoy. Here, the raven thinks as he pulls a loose feather from his wing, you keep. He gives the feather to the wizard and tells him, I Cambion, you need, you call. The raven caws at the peacocks, then takes flight as Malfoy watches, puzzled, yet thrilled. There's a glimmer of light at the end of a very long tunnel. Now, if he can just get to the end of that tunnel.
He tucks the feather into a secret pocket inside his jacket, wondering about that raven. Cambion? He knows that name from somewhere, but not as a proper name. Where has he heard it? He rubs his aching head and tries to think of The History of Magic and can't do it right now. Oh, Merlin's saggy...Malfoy sits up and immediately regrets it, but it's hit him. A Cambion is the offspring of an incubus and a mortal woman. Merlin himself was a Cambion. He gets up slowly and takes a long last look at his peacocks, then turns back to the house. That raven is a mixling, he thinks, then sighs as he steps inside, too tired to ponder it further.
***
Snape has gone through nine old student rolls and started a notebook by the time Cambion returns. He looks up expectantly at the raven, and Cambion hops down from the passage to the desk. Lucy-us say you meet in Hogsmeade, five this night. Snape stares at the messenger, stunned. He knows something has happened, but he's not given any more information. "Cambion," Snape says gently, "tell me, please." The raven puffs himself out and adjusts his wings, then gives a surprisingly audible sigh. Lucy-us been hurt. I ask, he say he fell, I say you fix, he say I not tell, you worry. I give feather, say he call if he need.
Snape sits back in the chair and thinks, watching Cambion as the raven walks across the desk to the scroll he currently has open. Old, Cambion thinks, long time. Snape gazes steadily at the creature who brings him comfort. "Oh, you know this do you," he says and the raven looks up at him. Yes, Cambion thinks, then turns his head to look at the squiggles on the scroll. Snape wouldn't be surprised if the raven could actually read; Therion is a brilliant wizard, and Cambion is the son of an Animagus, after all. With a deep connection such as they have, almost anything is possible.
Almost anything is possible...
Snape leans forward and pulls a drawer open, then takes out a piece of dried meat and gives it to Cambion. "Will you do something for me?" The raven swallows the treat and meets Snape's black eyes. Yes, I do for you. Snape asks him to go back to Therion and tell him everything. Tell him everything and ask him to meet at Dufftown at seven. Ok, Cambion thinks, I do. Before he leaves he taps the desk near the open scroll and says, you look more. You find. Snape looks at him. "You know what I'm looking for?" Cambion flits up to the passage. Old Magic. You find. Taken aback just slightly, he glances at the scrolls of student rolls, as well as the prodigious notes he's taken and contemplates the raven's thoughts for a moment. He feels Cambion depart the castle and sits back in the chair.
***
Elsbet lies sleeping on a plush, comfy couch in one of Therion's reading rooms in his bookshop. Every once in a while he glances up from his ledger as if he's afraid she's just going to disappear. If someone had told him a year ago that he'd be doing this, he probably would have told them to get stuffed. He's very glad he's gotten passed that. Now, he knows this is exactly why he's here, in The White City. He just hopes he can get everything figured out before it's too late. He waves to a passing customer and sees Cambion in the distance, deciding suddenly to change his course and fly into the shop instead of up to the loft.
The raven lands right on the desk, cawing loudly. He's laughing at himself for making the attempt, and Therion tells him to hush, else he'll wake Elsbet. Cambion says 'Oddbit' would think it was funny, and while Therion agrees, "we don't have to wake her up just yet." The laughing raven quiets down and gives Therion all the information he was given, and several minutes later Therion is closing up his shop for the day. "You're sure? Dufftown?" He runs his hands through his curly brown hair and rubs his his lower back. "How badly was Lucius hurt?" Cambion's soft trill tells him it's bad, and that he sensed bad magic. It doesn't take an expert Wandmaker to figure out what that means...
The Dark Lord has been at him.
Therion still believes Malfoy has turned, and will be here tonight. He knows Snape has some plan; if he's meeting Malfoy at five in Hogsmeade and wants to meet him at seven in Dufftown...he hopes whatever it is works out the way Snape plans it to. What bothers him even more than Malfoy being injured is his comment that Elsbet's home isn't safe now. Why? Has someone found out about her? He decides to make some arrangements on her behalf, just in case she can't go home for a while; he knows there's a little place on the other side of the park, in the Lake District, that's been vacant for a while. It would be nothing to furnish it and make it homey for her, if she has to stay here...
***
Old Magic, indeed. He hasn't even gone through everything yet, he hasn't the time now, but he knows what he's found is exactly what he needed, and he has to wonder if Dumbledore knew these books and scrolls were here. He moves quickly, unseen, from the library back to his office with an armload of items, then stows the items in one of the many secret hiding places therein. And then, it's time to go. The hours flew by quickly it seems, and he hopes, no, he needs everything to go right tonight.
He has become so accustomed to passing in and out of Hogwarts unseen and undetected that he loathes heading out this way; he catches McGonagall before anyone else sees him and tells her, "I have business tonight, Minerva, that will take quite some time. If I have not returned by morning, Hogwarts and all she holds is in your care." He does not give her time to ask anything but heads immediately to find Peeves. "I expect you to assist Deputy Headmistress McGonagall in any way she requires. Am I clear?" The chaotic spirit nods silently, his eyes glittering in the dim light of the archway.
He rubs his hands together in anticipation as Snape heads for the main entrance, where he's spotted by Filch, and then in turn by Alecto Carrow. Before Filch can say anything Alecto says loudly, "off on 'personal business' again, Headmaster?" The contemptuous tone is not lost on Snape, but he faces her with a cold, detatched expression as though he did not notice. "That is not of your concern, Alecto. It is not your place to question me." She takes a step toward Snape, her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps the Dark Lord might think differently if--" he cuts across her veiled threat and says, his voice lethal, "if the Dark Lord has questions to ask of me, he can ask them himself."
As Snape turns he notes Filch's smirk and he knows the caretaker is thinking he's just put the squat, ugly Death Eater in her place. He sincerely hopes after tonight she and her brother stay there...without another word to anyone, Snape departs the castle. Alecto, stinging now, turns venomously on the caretaker. "You think that was funny, you filthy Squib? You just wait...the day is coming when misfits like you will be removed from our society." She snorts dirisively and says, "You're no better than a filthy Muggle animal!" She cackles as she leaves him, and he simply shakes his head. As he goes back to his duties, he mumbles "aaah, well, at least I'm not inbred."
***
Malfoy slings his bag over his shoulder carefully, his body sore and some spots very tender, then puts his travelling cloak on over it. He leaves his private room and makes his way down the dark hall quietly, listening to the assorted voices speculating on a variety of topics and concerns, not the least of which the recent fight between himself and Narcissa. No one notices him pass by, which is fine with him. There is nothing he can safely say to any of them now. Through the empty dining area he passes, up the steps, through the grand entry way, where he finds Narcissa waiting for him.
"You're leaving me, then, Lucius? You're really leaving me, for a man?" He faces her and replies, "yes, Narcissa. This man," he taps his chest and moves passed her toward the doors. "All I want are my peacocks. Everything else is yours. I'll collect the birds once I have a place for them." He grips the door handle and Narcissa asks him what she should tell their son. "Tell Draco..." What can he say, really? "It doesn't really matter what you tell him...he'll make up his own mind in the end." He pulls the door open and emerges from a cold, unhappy home into a grey and dismal-looking early evening.
After a long and painful walk down the shrublined driveway, Lucius Malfoy Disapperates from Malfoy Manor for the very last time.
***
Snape is sitting at a table alone when Malfoy walks into the Three Broomsticks Inn. As soon as Snape sees the blond wizard he rises and meets him at the door. He does not smile, he offers no warm greeting; he merely opens the door and tells Malfoy to follow him. Silently they walk into the woods, and once they're sure they're alone, they speak. Rastaban Lestrange watches the two wizards from his vantage point behind a nearby tree; he can hear them speaking, and although he can not hear exactly what is being said, their discussion quickly becomes a dispute, then a heated argument.
Snape, obviously quite angry, draws his wand on Malfoy, who raises his hands and backs up. Snape advances and Malfoy drops to his knees, clearly pleading with Snape to spare him. There is a bright green flash of light, and Malfoy falls to the ground. Snape looks around and Rastaban shrinks back behind the tree for a moment, his heart pounding. He doesn't want to be the next notch on Snape's wand, so to speak. He peers back around the tree and watches as Snape drags Malfoy's body down a slight slope. He transfigures the body, into what he can not tell, then buries it deep at the base of a tree. Snape then casts a water spell so the newly-turned soil resembles the rest of the ground.
If Rastaban had not witnessed it himself, he would never have believed it. Snape Disapperates, and he thinks about checking the spot himself, but he hears voices and he decides against it. Besides, he knows what he saw. Ah, poor, poor Narcissa...abandoned and widowed in the same day. Hmmmm...Narcissa Lestrange, he muses, not that he has any desire for the woman, but he could certainly do with the manor. Grinning sadistically, he Disapperates back to that manor, and to the Dark Lord.
It isn't long, thirty minutes, maybe less, before Snape feels the summons.
When he arrives at the manor he finds the dining hall table filled with Death Eaters, and he knows Greyback is somewhere in the vicinity. "Ah, Severus," the Dark Lord indicates the seat immediately to his right, "I believe you know why I have called you here." He takes the seat and says clearly that he does. Everyone who dares to is looking at him, some in disbelief, some in shock, and some are clearly afraid. "Good, good...ah, Rastaban, if you would," Voldemort says, and the wizard seated between Rodolphus and Dolohov straightens.
In a clear, cruel voice he recounts everything he saw transpire in the woods outside Hogsmeade between Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy, down to the minutest detail.
Almost all eyes are on him; he likes having the spotlight.
When he's done, no one dares even to move. Snape gazes out at them from behind a mask of cold detachment, noting the expressions of Amycus and Alecto Carrow with great interest, as well as that of Bellatrix. "Severus," Voldemort looks at him with something that could almost, possibly, be described as respect, perhaps, and asks, "can you explain your actions?" He looks directly at Voldemort and says, "I can, my Lord." He looks back out at the assemblage and explains with perfect, calculated clarity that Lucius had left the Dark Lord's path, as it were, and he felt it was his duty to eleminate him.
His demeanor of complete and utter calm makes the whole thing all the more terrifying to some of them.
The Dark Lord rises slowly, then holds out his hand. "Your wand, Severus." Without hesitation Snape withdraws his wand and hands it to Voldemort, who examines it carefully, then checks the last spells cast with it. And there it is, for all to see, just as Rastaban described. Voldemort returns Snape's wand to him, clearly pleased, and Snape sleeves his wand. "Let this serve as a reminder to those who would make the same mistake poor Lucius did." The Dark Lord dismisses them as he leaves the dining area, but no one makes a single move. No one, save Narcissa.
Her voice wavers when she speaks, and he fixes her with his cold, black eyes, eyes that seem not dead to her, but rather like Death. "Did...did he...did Lucius suffer, Severus?" He will never forgive her for the Unbreakable Vow; he had found a potion that would have given Dumbledore more time, and given him time to break Gaunt's curse. But given the situation, he had no choice but to make the Vow, and fulfill Dumbledore's last request.
This is his revenge.
When he answers her, his voice is so cold, ice cicles could form on his breath.
"Oh, yes, Narcissa, he suffered. Believe me, he did."
No one has either the strength or desire to look at Snape anymore, not even the Carrows. Slowly he rises, looks down at Narcissa as she looks helplessly at her hands, then turns away. Without a word he departs the house and only then does anyone at the table move. Once beyond the perimiter of the manor, Snape Disapperates back to Hogsmeade, then returns to the school. He's there long enough to change clothes, grab the bag he packed earlier and stuffs a few additional things into it. He pauses a moment to contemplate what he's going to tell Elsbet, then after putting on his travelling cloak he shifts his form and flits up to the passage, closing it behind him.
He raven-runs down the passage and comes out in the Owlery, and finds Loki sleeping deeply in his little nest. He takes a moment to preen his Familiar, then hops onto a windowsil, and takes off into the darkening sky. He flies with the greatest speed to Dufftown, finds Bungalow number nine and lets himself plummet toward it. He swoopes over the roof of the bungalow and flies around to the back so he can transform out of sight. He walks swiftly around to the front of the bungalow, takes hold of the doornob and feels it unlock in his hand.
In a blink he's inside, and before Malfoy is up off of the bed, Snape has cast anti-everything charms on the bungalow, his cloak is off, his bag is in the chair, and Malfoy is in his powerful arms before Snape's robe has hit the floor. Snape's firey black eyes meet Malfoy's smoldering grey ones and before Malfoy can ask him anything, Snape's mouth is on his, kissing him hungrily, threatening to devour him, Snape's hands are pulling at his clothes, and before Malfoy can even catch his breath, neither wizard has a shred of clothes on.
Malfoy grins widely and thinks to caress Snape's cheek, but those black eyes are wild, passionate, and Snape grabs Malfoy's wrist. "Fuck," Snape growls, "now," and Malfoy is on the bed in a second. "On your back," Snape tells him and he rolls over to see his lover oiling his cock, tossing the vial aside when it's empty. "Relax," Snape rumbles as he climbs onto the bed. Malfoy tells him, "I'm as relaxed as I can--" Snape is in before he can finish, and he's forgotten what he was saying.
Snape is kissing him again and his head is spinning; his body is still sore from the torture, but that doesn't matter, none of that matters, Gods, nothing matters but this. The fuck is hard, hot, passionate and raw, their fuses definately much shorter than they would normally want, but then, they don't have much time. Snape interrogates and commands him as he pleasures him in a gutteral tone; "Lucius, do you love me?" Oh Gods, what a question! "Yes," Malfoy replies. "Yes?" Snape questions. "Yes," Malfoy's voice rises an octive. "Yes?" Malfoy's back arches slightly and he grabs the posts of the headboard, "yes! YES!" Snape thrusts two, three more times and demands, "then come for me, Lucius, come for me..."
Snape doesn't have to tell him again.
Malfoy does as commanded; he comes, and comes loudly, and Snape comes a second later, twice as loud. His strength gives out then and he collapses onto Malfoy, who in turn wraps his arms around him. Slowly their breathing returns to normal, and Snape mumbles something about having to get up and get dressed. "Must we?" Malfoy asks, and Snape tells him, "yes, we have an appointment to keep, and a visitor arriving shortly, remember?" Malfoy kisses him and sighs. "About that...do you trust Bonecastle?" Snape rises and draws himself away from Malfoy slowly. "Yes, I do," he says, "I trust Therion enough to leave Elsbet with him."
Malfoy suddenly snaps to and dresses quickly. "I've got to tell you something! We have to move Ellie, she's not safe in her home anymore..." Snape dresses and returns the vial to his bag, and the room to it's original appearance. "What do you mean?" He asks as he sits down. "Greyback knows, I'm sure of it. After Narcissa and I had our first fight this morning, I found him smelling the jacket I was wearing...when..." Snape closes his eyes for a moment. "When you carried her down the hall..." Malfoy nods. "Right. We--"
There's a sound at the door and Snape knows it's Therion. "Time to go, Lucius. We will figure something out after our appointment."