Survival Bonds

Chapter 49: Good bad or otherwise

In a dungeon, I sit alone in this cell. He tried to kill me.

Realizing that it was my only chance, I drew my wand and cast the first spell I could. I was disarmed before I could finish casting. He tried to cast the killing curse on me. Only for it to throw me across the room. Nothing else. As if it simply bounced off of my skin. The Cruciatus curse was aimed at me next, but this one had no effect at all. I tired to get my wand, but before I even got close, two large death eaters were summoned and I was carted off to my current cell, but not before seeing him snap my wand in two.

So here I am in my cell. Mostly unharmed.

I'm not sure how long I have been here. Likely a day. No one has come for better or worse. Severus's clothes hang off of me. He expected the man he claims to love to kill his niece. To kill a little girl that he cherishes. I mucked things up.

Someone comes into the dungeon and sneers at me.

"Stupid Gryffindor." The light voice says. "Believing that you could stand up to our lord." He's laughing. The boyish face is twisted in deranged delight. Draco Malfoy. A boy that I never believed I could be friends with. "Our gracious lord doesn't want you starving to death before he can finish you off, so here." He throws the food at me with a cocky smirk. The soup pours all over me and he just laughs more. "Oops. Well. That's all you are getting, so you shouldn't have wasted it." He throws a spoon. "And don't forget your spoon." It hits me against the head and there is nothing I can do since I am bound tightly. "With you, it will be much easier to capture to capture our lord's lover. You were naughty naughty for trying to steal him away, but we've won Potter. We will get him back and he will be overjoyed to see his nieces that we've saved from your evil side."

He's really good at acting. I almost believe him. It's still a shame about the soup- but I know now isn't the time to be worried about wasted food. He clearly had his reasons. Either there was something in the soup or he needed to make a point about hating me. During our brief friendship, Draco explained the importance of hearing the message through the words. 'our gracious lord doesn't want you starving to death before he can finish you off'. Severus's protection is keeping him from being able to use magic to kill me, but he likely refuses to finish me off any other method. So for the most part I'm safe. He also mentioned Megan. For now, I'm sure she's being kept safely and well taken care of. If she were killed or even injured Severus may not be so inclined to return to him.

At least on the surface that's the issue.

Voldemort is crazed. Unstable. In my few moments with him, I saw the cracks underneath his calm façade. Why he started this war... I don't know. Why he developed an interest in Severus... I don't know. Why he's so twisted... I don't know.

I'm not sure if Voldemort or Dumbledore is the worse of the two. But I understand all over again what Severus meant back when we first became soul bonded. He said there were only two kings and neither were faultless. He said that if I were to be king, he would follow me.

I'm not sure how long I wait, but the next person to come see me is Voldemort himself.

"You clearly have talent. It's a shame that you cannot defect to my side. You don't even know the atrocities that man you trust so much has committed." His face is one of disgust.

"I don't trust Dumbledore." I say. He may believe me. He may not. It doesn't matter either way.

"That vile man doesn't have you deceived?" He eyes me suspiciously as if this were another trick.

"He once did." Voldemort nods slowly.

"Yes." The simple word seems to defuse all the malice that he once felt. "He is quite skilled and has deceived most everyone. That evil vile man." He looks green. "I will not manipulate as he does, so I will say with sincerity that once I am able I will kill you. Even if you could convince me that you were loyal to me, I would still kill you. Because you've touched what is mine without my permission. I cannot have him leaning and cherishing anyone other than me. I do not know why he is protecting you- but once I rescue him from that evil old man's clutches, I will tell him to dissolve his shields and then I will kill you."

"I understand hating Dumbledore. The things he has done to my husband have tainted my opinion of him. The things he has done to me have tainted my opinion. Even the things that he has done to you." He doesn't so much as twitch at my accusation.

"You know nothing of what he has or has not done to me." He says icily. "The only two who know are Albus Dumbledore and myself. And soon enough it will be only me."

"I don't know what he did, but I know he did something and I know it was bad."

"Potter." He says without heat. "Do you know why it was so imperative that you be born?" I don't know what he's getting at. "Think about it. Dumbledore has always favored Gryffindor's. It's his own house after all. He is meddlesome. Why would he favor a Slytherin like me? And no less a Slytherin that happens to be the heir of Slytherin. Why meddle in the relationships of two Gryffindor's? Your mother and father. Why push your parents together? I have wondered for a long time what ancestor your mother must have had. I believe it's the heir of Gryffindor."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Why. I wonder." Even he doesn't seem to know. "I am not strong Potter. Neither am I weak. I once was of much stronger strength, but that was a long time ago. When I was a child." He shakes his head.

"Once one loses their innocence there is no getting it back. Once evil- always evil. I do not proclaim myself a saint, but at least my followers why the man they have pledged their lie too. As for your king?" He laughs.

"I know he isn't faultless, but at least he isn't on a quest of muggle and muggle born genocide!" I shout back.

"Isn't he though!" Rage shouts back. "He seems awfully pleased to send half bloods down the path of self-destruction. As for muggle-borns." He spits in distaste. "Those he only has interest in the males. It would seem women have a higher chance of channeling their magical ancestor and thus are more likely to be muggle born. A chance of a male muggle born is staggeringly low, but trust me Potter, by killing them, I am doing each of them a service."

"You are a murderer!" I insist.

"I am a savior." He says simply. "When Severus first came to me, it was him pleading for a swift death. He professed his tainted blood and pleaded with me to kill him. He asked of me to end his wretched life and so I did and made him clean. I made him reborn into my loyal and most trusted servant. No more was he a poor unwanted boy, now he was loved as he should have always been."

"You are abusive to him." I say. I've seen the scars. I've seen the sleepless night.

"None of us escape abuse." He says and subconsciously, his right hand clutches his left side. I don't think he's noticed the action.

"If you really love him, then you wouldn't hurt him." He tilts his head, his predator eyes glimmer dangerously.

"I hurt him because I love him." His thin lips twist into a pain crazed smile. "He never looks more breathtaking than when he's utterly broken. Just like the first time he came to me. He could hardly be called a man. So pathetic and desperate for a quick end. I knew that I had to keep him. Torture. Pleasure. He always keeps his sanity." He tisks disappointedly. "But that's what makes him so peculiar. While begging for death, he fights for life. There is no other like him. When he's in so much pain that he loses consciousness, there is no sweeter pleasure as when he screams or begs for mercy. Crying real tears." He licks his lips and if I could take a step backwards, I would. "And his blood." His gray fingertips touch his thin lips. "There is no taste more pure than his blood. So very innocent and untainted even though he has had blood on his hands. Untainted even though he was raped and beaten daily. Untainted as no one that has gone through what he has could be. The man is the perfect lover to walk down the path of destruction with me." He's laughing crazed and unabashed. Thick tears flow down his cheeks and it does nothing to calm my nerves. "Untainted. I do not think there is anyone else other than him that could save me."