Cast Aside

Two Pairs of Snakes

Chapter 43

Snape had spent the days after the disaster at the manor in hiding. He had been sure that Aurors would be knocking down his door at any moment. How could they not? He was a Marked Death Eater and he'd massacred ministry employees and Wizengamot members.

Almost three days after the disaster at the manor, Regulus had apparently recovered from the candy induced sickness and nearly stormed down his door. He had been frantic. The first thing he'd done after recuperating was to run to Malfoy Manor, hoping to apologize to the Dark Lord before he had him hunted down and punished. When he stumbled to the edge of the wards and saw it crawling with Aurors, he panicked and raced to Spinner's End.

"Severus, Severus, what's going on!" His long hair, usually so well kept, was tangled and mussed. His tie, deep green of course, hung askew. "There are Aurors all over Malfoy Manor and I can't find the Dark Lord! What happened at the revel? Bloody hell, he's going to torture me to death, isn't he? I've missed something huge."

Still feeling unstable himself, Severus didn't know what to tell him. "Uh... they're dead."

Regulus blinked stupidly at him. "What?"

Severus shrugged, waving his hands, his friend's hysteria feeding his own. "They're dead! Everyone. The Dark Lord, loads of Ministry toadies. More than one ancient family has been wiped out and Reg, us two and Lucius are all that's left of the Marked Death Eaters. Dead! They're dead!"

His only real friend stood in his sitting room, his chest rising and falling rapidly with panic. Gray eyes stared at him, disbelieving. "What? Dead? How can they be dead? How can he be dead?"

Taking three breaths through his nose, Severus tried again. "He is dead because I killed him. I killed all of them. It was me that got you sick. That candy I gave you." The more he spoke the more incredulous his friend looked.

"I've been working with the Prewetts and we made a device to kill them. It was muggle science and a little bit of magic and Lucius knew, that's why he opened his home and fucked off to France. They're dead and I'm going to be arrested any minute for mass murder."

The Black heir flopped back into the tatty sofa. He stared at the ceiling. Then he laughed. Then sat forward and stared at Severus as if he'd just suggested he fuck a manticore. "You're mental. Muggle science? What the hell even is that?"

He threw himself back against the cushions, pressing his palms into his eyes. Then he sat forward again. "So you really were working with the Prewetts? You actually are a traitor?"

All Severus could do was shrug.

"But... why?"

Severus ran his hands through his hair, growling in frustration when his fingers caught on unwashed tangles. "Come on, Reg. I know you know how fucking insane the Dark Lord was becoming. Can you honestly tell me you were happy with how things were going? He was only waiting until you graduated to make you start murdering muggle families because of your name."

Regulus frowned and looked away. "Well... no. I mean, I don't really care about muggles, but I don't want to kill them." He looked down at his arm, Dark Mark hidden by his sleeve. "So. We're really... free of him?"

He scoffed. "Oh sure, of him. We'll likely be hauled off to Azkaban."

"We could... always go to France too?" Regulus held out a hand as if offering up the idea. "I know where Cissa and Lucius are. Why don't we just... join them?"

That was... actually not a bad idea. Severus stood slowly, considering. Would they extradite him? Would Lucius let him stay with him?

He was about to open his mouth and ponder this aloud when there was another banging at his door. "Shite."