Snakes and Roses|| Rosekiller || ✔️

29. Dark Arts

WARNING: sexual content, knives, mentions of blood, depictions of animal torture, depictions of smoking

Evan:

Evan's arm burns

It really fucking hurts.

It feels like his entire arm is engulfed in flames and there is nothing that will douse it, nothing that will cool the burn, nothing to numb the pain.

He grits his teeth, hissing in pain as he covers his Dark Mark with his right hand, instantly causing him to apparate to where he needs to go.

He ends up on the top of a grassy hill, in front of him stands a white house, a three storey town house, not unlike the one Evan lives in. It has Tudor-style boards around the house and windows on every wall. It has black double doors at the top of a group of steps that lead to the inside of the house.

Evan walks up the steps, feeling heavier with every step. He doesn't know what to expect from this meeting and the unpredictability is making him anxious. Evan thrives on routine and this meeting was not in his routine, so already there's a pit in his stomach.

He enters the house and walks down the hallway that seems to stretch on forever before he reaches a room at the end of the hallway, the only door that's closed, so Evan assumes this is the one the meeting is being held in.

He opens the door and reveals a large dining hall with a table that stretches from one end to the other, already filled with Death Eaters.

Evan takes a seat at the first empty space he sees which happens to be across from Regulus, he then discovers he's next to none other than Severus Snape, who seems just as surprised to see Evan as Evan is to see him.

Not that Evan is surprised Snape joined the Death Eaters, he just didn't think Snape would do so this early into the war, he thought Snape was too much of a coward to join the Death Eaters before he had to.

Evan then moves his attention away from Snape, scanning the rest of the table, only caring about one person: Barty.

His eyes find Barty's who is sitting further up the table and Merlin does he look beautiful. His hair is slightly mussed and Evan wants to run his hand through it.

Evan has to force himself to look away from Barty and face the table as the meeting begins

"Thank you all for your attendance" the Dark Lord announces. Evan feels a shiver run up his spine at the Dark Lord's cold serpent-like voice that Evan still can't quite get over, but he suppresses the shiver, knowing that any sudden movement could draw unwanted attention to himself

"You must all be wondering why I've called such an abrupt meeting" The Dark Lord Continues, Evan catches a glimpse of him and finds the Dark Lord smiling down at his followers, or, at least, what Evan thinks is a smile.

"I have called my mission to inform you all that I have made my decision, I want to take my stance on this war. In two days time we will attack Hogsmeade" The Dark Lord announces

A chill runs down Evan's spine. He wasn't expecting to be involved in any attacks so early on. He didn't think the Dark Lord was ready for the war to progress so quickly, but then he supposes that when someone is hungry for power, they aren't going to stop to think about the logistics of it all, they're just going to seize every opportunity that presents itself to them.

That still doesn't stop the fear of it all from expanding the pit in his stomach and making him feel sick.

He can't let Barty be a part of that attack, he knows it's selfish of him, but he doesn't care, he needs Barty to survive this, he needs Barty to live because he can't live without Barty.