Shade (A Severus Snape Fanfiction)

|chapter eighteen|

Warning: Mature Content

"You may begin," Voldemort announced lazily from his place nearby. Four Death Eaters circled around me with their wands ready. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange were among them, watching me with cold eyes. A smile played at Bellatrix's lips.

She had been waiting for her chance to kick my ass since day one and it was finally here. We were in the Malfoy's backyard. Remnants of snow still lingered on the frozen grass . Voldemort had decided to make my training more challenging than ever, and had recently began making me duel with the others. So far, I had successfully taken three down at once, and each time the number increased by one.

I tried not to let it get to my head, because after all I had a pretty big advantage over them with my Shade magic, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't turning me into a cocky little shit.

I shot Bellatrix a wink and pocketed my wand. Perhaps it was the amount of time I had to do everything without one, or it was possibly because I just enjoyed using the Shade magic more, but I didn't really care for fighting with my wand. Bellatrix shot the first hex in my direction, which I easily deflected, though I barely managed to duck beneath a hex Lucius shot right at my head. The other two fell in with them, all of them casting curses at me at once. I went for one of the men first, casting a shadow in his direction that grabbed him by the leg. With a twitch of my finger, I threw him across the yard, his body instantly stilling when it made contact with the ground.

I worked my way through the next one as well, leaving Lucius and Bellatrix. Lucius hadn't let up for a second since the fight began and the cocky smirk he wore said he could do this all day. I surprised him by running directly at him and kicking him in the kneecap. He faltered, crying out as my foot connected to his knee with a crunch. I extended a palm in both directions, grabbing both Bellatrix and Lucius by the throats with the shadows from my palms.

My blood raced as they began to try struggle free, and I smiled wickedly at them. Bellatrix's eyes bulged as she clawed at her throat, unable to grasp the shadow wrapped around it.

"That's enough, Kathryn," Voldemort said from somewhere behind me, but I could barely hear him through the rush in my ears.

Just one little squeeze. That's all it will take. The voice in my head whispered.

"I said ENOUGH," Voldemort bellowed. Pain instantly engulfed me, causing me to drop Lucius and Bellatrix who were now desperately swallowing in the air around them. Thankfully, Voldemort's punishment ended as quickly as it started. He had only meant to get my attention.

"I apologize, my lord," I said as I turned to face Voldemort. I had expected him to be angry, but he wore a rather pleased expression.

"You have done well, Kathryn. You may go," was his only reply. I turned on my heel and winked at a seething Bellatrix as I passed by her. Lucius had his back to me as Narcissa spoke softly to him, her face etched with worry.

The others had just finished a meeting before my training, and lately she looked worse after each one. I had only been allowed to attend a couple of meetings in the beginning, but lately Voldemort didn't allow me to attend any. They were planning something big, and being a barely trusted newcomer meant I didn't get to know.

It was Friday evening, and I had to resist the urge to smile at the thought. Friday evenings meant Severus returned home, which meant hot, filthy sex all weekend. It had been three monthsa since I had agreed to stay at Severus' place, and so far it was turning out to be a rather good decision. He came home on Friday evenings and returned to Hogwarts on Sunday afternoons so that he could prepare for his classes. I imagined the students were thrilled that Professor Snape was suddenly not handing out his infamous Saturday detentions.