The Marauders: Year Two | #Wattys2016

The Eye of the Dark Lord

The Eye of the Dark Lord

Severus Snape was on the second floor of Hogwarts, well after the night had fallen on Christmas, carrying a parchment that had been sent to him by an owl from Lucius Malfoy. He had his back to the wall and he moved as silently through the dark as though he were made of night, ducking around the coats of arms and carefully counting doorways, trying to be sure that the one he chose would be the right one. Finally, he stopped and raised his wand, consulting the crude sketch Malfoy had done on the parchment. This must be it, he decided, and he took a deep breath and reached for the door handle.

The room was dark. Severus pushed the door closed behind him and raised his wand to illuminate the room. Minerva McGonagall's office was pristinely neat and organized. The items on her desk were arranged just so. He looked up and spotted the small jar on the fireplace mantel labelled Floo Powder. Careful not to disturb anything in the room as he walked through, Severus reached for the Floo Powder and pulled it down from the shelf before kneeling down before the fireplace. A few burned logs sat, arranged in a little teepee, the bark charred and curling away, revealing the wood within. Severus took the lid from the jar and slipped his fingers in, his hands shaking as he tossed the green powder against the smoldering chars and cinders.

Severus did exactly as Lucius Malfoy had told him to do. He brought to mind the dark corridor and the paintings that lined it, the heavy wooden door that so terrified him, and he imagined that feeling when he stepped into the presence of the Dark Lord - that twisting, awful feeling of being too close to something too dangerous. He thought about the way that old velvet chair smelled, the one the Dark Lord always motioned for him to sit on during their "lessons" and the sound of the cackling fire, the way it flickered and glowed against the walls of the room. That fireplace - that was what he needed to focus on in order for this to work - and he leaned into the green smoke that hissed and cracked in the floo and pressed his face into it.

Every time he used floo powder, Severus half expected to be burned. He waited for the sensation, but it didn't come. Instead, he blinked his eyes and he found himself staring up into the eyes of the Dark Lord, who was kneeling before him, a snake-like smile upon his face.

"Ah Severus..." he said in that strange, throaty voice of his, "I see you got our little message." The Dark Lord pressed his fingers together, pleased.

"Yes, my Lord," Severus replied, sounding an awful lot braver than he felt.

"I am very glad," the Dark Lord said and he stood up so that Severus had to lean even further into the floo in order to see him. "I have a very special job for you to do and you, my good boy, are the only one whom I trust could do it."

Despite his fear of the Dark Lord, Severus felt a rush of pride course through his veins. The pride of a wizard so great and so feared was like a natural high and it was addicting, this pleasing the Dark Lord. "What do you need, my Lord?" he asked, "I can do it." His mother would be so pleased, too, Severus thought of the way she would smile. That's what we need, Severus, that's what we Princes need to regain our status! He would restore their wealth and their name yet, just as his mother wanted. He would prove worthy of the title Half Blood Prince and shed the name of Snape forever.

There was nothing he wanted more.

The Dark Lord was several feet away now, and, in the shadows behind him, Severus could see the vague shape of some of the elder Death Eaters, including Abraxus Malfoy and Orion Black, the two men who were closest to Voldemort. He set himself into that nasty velvet chair and Severus saw the undulating shape of the snake, Nagini, moving about the legs of the chair at the Dark Lord's feet. "I wish for you to spy on Albus Dumbledore," said the Dark Lord.