Chocolate Enchantment

Chapter 28: Hell Hath No Fury

Chapter 28: Hell Hath no Fury

Severus Snape continued to walk a fine line in the inner circle. The Dark Lord was growing ever-more desperate to gain followers, desperate to track down Potter and have it out with him before he got any stronger. The Dark Lord often asked Severus about his progress with Hermione, how she was adjusting to her new perception of him. Severus was careful to give information only accurate enough to mislead. Since Hermione wasn't a member of the Order yet, she had access to only limited information at this time. He was grateful for that.

Keeping the secret of his marriage was growing increasingly difficult as Severus had to protect more and more memories. He gleaned information about more attacks, and was careful which he alerted the Order about and which he did not. He couldn't draw too much attention to himself, so he found ways to gain information to which he would not otherwise be privy. Half a dozen attacks had now been thwarted through his notes to Hermione.

Having his plans undermined so often was a cause of great frustration for the Dark Lord, making him erratic and impulsive. Over the past few weeks he had begun to punish many in the ranks when he thought they had let their assignments slip to the wrong people-those few Death Eaters who didn't end up in Azkaban, anyway. The Aurors had managed to catch most of the aggressors on these occasions. Several followers had reached their deaths for their apparent treachery. Snape didn't enjoy watching those torture sessions, but Hermione was right, every servant the Dark Lord disposed of before they reached the final battle was one less for the Order to deal with.

It was obvious his information was reaching the Order, and they were acting on that information. He also knew Lupin's non-answer to his and Hermione's discussion of a few days earlier was putting pressure on her. She was walking a tight line, keeping him a secret while doing her best to fight for the light. He knew that she, Potter and Weasley had been doing a little poking around to gain more information about the Horcruxes. Though she hadn't come out and said so, her general comments made that clear enough.

Even after he revealed that he knew about their search, Hermione kept most of the information to herself. And though she had discussed options with him for destroying the Horcruxes-in the least specific terms they could manage and still be clear-he had not heard whether she had taken action. He imagined he'd have felt her relief and elation if they had accomplished the feat, but he'd felt nothing of the kind.

That worried him as every day that passed before it was destroyed was another opportunity for the artifact to be lost or stolen. Not that he figured the three kids were being incautious with the item, but it was still a possibility. On top of that, he worried that when the three of them did finally try, one or more of them might end up injured or even killed. Waiting to hear that all went well was just one more layer of frustration.

It hurt that she wasn't confiding in him, didn't trust him fully, though he understood why she felt it necessary to hide some things. It had been several days since they'd managed to get together and he was growing anxious to have her in his arms again.

Weary, exhausted from a late night of standing at attention for the Dark Lord while men came and went with their reports of their duties, Severus finally decided he couldn't wait any longer to see her. If he wanted to be any good the next day, he had to spend a little time with her.

As the meeting closed, Severus moved away from the main group, heading outside the circle of wards that prevented the Dark Lord's followers from being able to Apparate away mid-torture. While he kept his Occlumency shield firmly in place, the back of his mind worked on how to entice her out of her tent for the night.

He figured that was why he didn't see Hestia Nott until it was too late to avoid her. That and the thick canopy of trees surrounding him, giving them far too much privacy.