Needed and Unwanted
The return of the Dark Lord’s most faithful followers highlighted the level of fear that the ones who had renounced him continuously lived in. The Death Eaters who had endured nearly fourteen years of the Dementors had suffered tremendously and greatly resented those who had evaded capture by betraying their master.
The Death Eaters that had been broken out of Azkaban grouped around the Dark Lord with a devotion and longing that couldn’t be matched by those who’d been pulled back into service from their comfortable lives. They were more vicious than their counterparts, driven by madness, with an insatiable hunger for revenge for all they had lost. His return was sincerely the thing they’d most desired - but none as greatly as Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been restored to her place at his immediate right.
“Snape’s lived in Dumbledore’s pocket all these years,” Bellatrix hissed waspishly into the Dark Lord’s ear. “He could just be telling us what that old muggle loving fool wants you to hear.”
“Bella doubts you, Severus,” the Dark Lord sounded amused, his red eyes glinting as he stared down at the man he’d most prized until recently. “What do you have to say to her?”
“I say that all the evidence we have supports my information, master,” Severus spoke calmly, holding the Dark Lord’s gaze and ignoring the snort of disbelief from Bellatrix.
Severus had not been invited closer like he ordinarily would have been. He had been left on his knees, looking up at the Dark Lord and his renewed favourite. Bellatrix was much like Severus remembered her. Wild, dark curly hair, a sick twisted smile, and heavily lidded eyes - though Azkaban had robbed her of most of her beauty.
Just like Sirius Black, Bellatrix was prematurely aged. Her skull was visible through her skin and she looked as psychologically deranged on the outside as Severus knew she was within. Bellatrix was giving him a look of deepest loathing, incensed that he could provide the Dark Lord things that she couldn’t. A rivalry had been born and Severus’s position had become even more dangerous.
“I hear a lot of useful things from inside Dumbledore’s pocket, Bellatrix. I would not know all that I know if I’d been wasting away in Azkaban this entire time, so I hope my master is pleased.”
“He discraces the rest of us,” Bellatrix complained, leaning even closer to the Dark Lord. “Me, who loves you the most - I’d happily hand myself back to the Dementors before I denied you.”
“At my rebirthing party I promised the others that you’d be rewarded beyond all your dreams, Bella,” the Dark Lord assured her. “Lord Voldemort has not forgotten.”
“My Lord knows I wish only to serve him,” Bellatrix said passionately, her eyes watering with emotion as she grasped his hand and kissed each of the long pale fingers in turn.
Severus remained perfectly still on the floor, despite the pain in his knees. He did not shift in place or dare adjust himself into a more comfortable position.
He watched Bellatrix practically nuzzle the top of the Dark Lord’s hand. He saw her tongue leave her mouth to brush it, pantingly. Her breasts were heaving with breathlessness and passion. Bellatrix slid down from her chair so that she too was on her knees now, still clutching her master's hand. The Dark Lord smiled wickedly down at her indulgently for a long moment before he turned back to Severus, as though suddenly remembering that he was still there.
“You haven’t greeted me properly, Severus,” he said, in his high-pitched cold voice.
Severus obediently shuffled over on his throbbing knees until he was in line on the floor with Bellatrix.
“Master,” he murmured, as he kissed the hem of the Dark Lord’s robes and Bellatrix glowered at him as indignantly as if he had just climbed into their lover's bed.
Ignoring her, Severus accepted the Dark Lord’s available hand and pressed his lips to it. He did not whimper as Bellatrix had, he stared up into the Dark Lord’s face with measured and rational eyes that he hoped expressed competence, as well as devotion.
“So Dumbledore thinks that only Potter or myself can successfully retrieve the prophecy?" asked the Dark Lord.
“Yes, master, Dumbledore is certain.”
“Most inconvenient, when Potter is protected as well as he is,” the Dark Lord lamented.
“Why doesn’t Severus just bring him to you?” Bellatrix asked haughtily.
Severus was pressing his kneecaps into the floor and using the physical pain to keep himself focused. Deep even breaths kept his heart from racing. Severus was concentrating nearly all of his energy towards keeping his body calm and unresponsive right now. He didn't sweat, he didn't panic, and his face gave nothing away.
Meanwhile, his mind felt like it was being crushed as he rapidly worked to shut down thoughts and emotions that would reveal his love for Harry. Severus pulled James Potter closer to the front - more useful in death than Severus would ever have considered him alive - and focused on remembering all James had done to him.
Severus projected all of his pain and humiliation onto Harry, so identical in looks to his father that it came very easily. His efforts pushed down everything good in Severus’s heart. Hatred radiated through his veins and the Dark Lord had no reason to doubt his allegiance.
“Certainly, I could,” Severus answered in an even tone, and the Dark Lord’s eyes glinted. "We would need a decoy of some form to prevent Potter’s absence from being immediately detected and a means of persuasion because I know Potter has shown proficient resistance to the Imperius Curse. It won’t be simple to make him collect the prophecy by force.”
“Persuasion?” Bellatrix said, then she laughed maniacally. “Leave him to me, Severus. I will get the boy to do anything I want him to do.”
“Potter belongs to me, Bella,” the Dark Lord said, still allowing her to clutch at his hand. “My Death Eaters have strict orders not to harm a hair on his head. We shall have to find you someone else.”
“My Lord, it won’t be necessary for me to harm him in order to deliver him to you,” Severus said, in a tone that suggested a desperation to prove himself worthy. “I can get him on his own easily. I can deliver him to you quickly.”
“But not without Dumbledore’s detection,” the Dark Lord waved his free hand at him dismissively. “What use would you be to me then, Severus? Who would give me access to Dumbledore and Hogwarts then?”
“My Lord - it might be possible…”
“Don’t waste my time with risky schemes,” the Dark Lord scolded him angrily. “You would draw more attention to what we are trying to do than if I just went to the Ministry and fetched the prophecy myself.”
“You aren’t considering it?” Bellatrix gasped. “My Lord, no….we will find a way around the clause. Rookwood used to work in the Department of Mysteries, he can advise.”
“There is no way around it,” Severus told her impatiently, “but if we eliminate the Order’s guard then it will be possible for the prophecy to be retrieved safely. The security at the Ministry is otherwise easy to get around.”
“Master, it seems too dangerous,” Bellatrix cautioned.
“I need that prophecy,” the Dark Lord told her coldly, withdrawing his hand finally from her grasp. “I will have it.”
“We will make it so,” Severus assured him confidently.
Though after his dismissal, he thought bitterly that Dumbledore could have made this a much simpler process. It seemed to Severus that despite the Order’s best efforts, they couldn't do more than delay the Dark Lord hearing the prophecy - not if he was considering going to the Ministry to get it himself.
However, when he arrived at the gates of Hogwarts, Severus was temporarily distracted by a most chaotic scene unfolding.
“He can’t have disapparated!” someone was screaming.
Squinting in the dark, he could make out the pink dressing gown of Dolores Umbridge in the distance. It was she who was the loudest, but there were other frantic voices and people running around outside the school as well.
“Silencio,” Severus pointed his wand at the iron gate so that it didn’t creak loudly like it normally would when he let himself back inside.
He was determined to remain undetected by Umbridge and her affiliates. He walked in the shadows quickly and quietly and slipped inside the castle through a side entrance that very few knew about. Severus was hurrying now towards the Headmaster’s study, anxious to find out what had happened in his absence. He did not have to go that far for answers though.
“Students out of bed?” he guessed, as he came face to face with an irritable looking Minerva McGonagall. She was gripping tightly to the collar of Harry’s robes in one hand and holding onto a girl Severus couldn't place immediately because she was hiding her face behind her robes in the other.
“I’m afraid that’s not even half of it tonight, Professor Snape,” Minerva said tersely.
“What happened to Miss Edgecomb?” Severus asked concernedly, once he identified the sixth year from Ravenclaw.
Marietta’s oddly blank brown eyes brimmed with tears as she began to cry at his question. She was still holding her robes up to cover her face.
“Never mind her,” Minerva said impatiently, “we have bigger problems at the moment. Dumbledore -”
“Might this have something to do with why Dolores Umbridge is standing outside the castle shouting?” Severus asked.
“Albus had to flee tonight,” Minerva said, rapidly blinking her eyes and holding onto Harry and Marietta more tightly than ever.
“I see,” Severus said softly, turning to look at Harry who had not yet spoken or acknowledged him in any way.
“Take Potter,” Minerva said suddenly, releasing her grip on him. “I have to see to Miss Edgecomb.”
Harry waited until Professor McGonagall and Marietta Edgecomb's footsteps had died away before he turned to walk away as well.
“Where do you think you're going, Potter?”
Harry froze. “I don’t want to stay here with you.”
“Unfortunately for you, I have not asked you what you want,” Severus replied, “and I don’t think you're in a position right now to be making things worse for yourself. I need to know what happened here tonight.”
Harry shuffled his feet and looked wary of speaking.
“Don’t make me ask you again,” Severus said warningly.
Harry muttered something incomprehensible at the ground.
“I beg your pardon?” Severus said coldly.
Harry took a deep breath and raised his head, appearing to accept that Severus would not let him out of this.
“Umbridge found out about the DA,” he spoke clearly to a suit of armour situated directly behind Severus. “That snitch, Marietta, told-”
“I see,” said Severus, “and why did Professor Dumbledore have to flee tonight?”
“Because he told the Minister that the group was his idea,” Harry confessed, looking horror miserably back down at his shoes again. “To keep me from getting expelled.”
“I see,” Severus said again.
He didn’t want to think of the repercussions of not having Dumbledore at Hogwarts anymore. Not only what this would mean for the school - although the prospect of Dolores Umbridge in full control of Hogwarts was not something Severus wanted to think about - but about what this could mean for Harry’s security. Once the Dark Lord learned that Dumbledore was not around to protect Harry at the moment, he might reconsider his course of action.
“Come with me,” Severus ordered.
“No,” Harry shook his head defiantly. “I don’t want to stay with you. I just want to go back to my dorm.”
“You aren’t going to bed anywhere right now,” Severus said coolly. “We have to go find Dumbledore. I don’t want to wait until morning.”
“You know where he went?” Harry asked. "He told McGonagall that he wasn't going to stay at Grimmauld Place."
“I’m hoping that he’s stopped in at Headquarters at least - that will make things much easier for us,” Severus replied, unbuttoning the fasten on his long winter cloak and draping it over Harry’s shoulders before the boy could object.
“Thank you,” Harry said quietly, slipping it on snug before following Severus back down the corridor and into the cold night air.
“Do you have your invisible cloak?” Severus asked.
“No, I forgot it at the DA,” whispered Harry.
“It’s too risky to go back. Let’s just be careful,” Severus said softly. “Stick to the shadows and as soon as we’re outside the Hogwarts' grounds we’re going to disapparate. Understood?”
Harry nodded and Severus led the way back to the gates by the cover of trees that blocked the light from the moon and stars. He could still see some wands flickering in the distance but nobody was shouting anymore. They seemed to have accepted defeat. Harry and Severus ran across the snow together and as soon as they were past the point of no apparition, he took hold of Harry’s arm to pull him onward.
They landed on the front steps of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place and Harry immediately moved out of Severus’s grasp. They quietly entered the house together. The place was dark and still. Sirius was probably upstairs asleep, and nobody came to greet them. Harry slipped Severus’s heavy cloak off and hung it up by the door.
Then Severus raised his wand and silver vapour expanded to become a full corporeal patronus in the form of a doe. The doe was beautiful and elegant - she walked ahead of them down the hall, before looking over her shoulder to ensure that they were following.
“She’s telling us that Dumbledore is here,” Severus explained quietly, staring at her with an odd expression on his face.
He didn’t like to cast the patronus charm very often because it revealed far too much about him - where his heart was and always would be.
He and Harry followed the doe down the hall and into a study where scrolls and reports for the Order were kept. Dumbledore was to be found reading comfortably in the midst of it all like this was how he had planned all along to spend his night. The doe gave Severus a final look of devotion before she faded into nothingness.
“Professor Dumbledore, I’m so sorry,” Harry blurted out, moving forward before either of the others had a chance to say anything. “You shouldn’t have done that for me.”
“Harry, I would do it again in a heartbeat,” Dumbledore said reassuringly. “You didn’t do anything wrong - you’ve actually done a lot of good in inspiring and helping your fellow students all year long.”
He motioned with his hand towards Severus.
“Professor Snape and I have both been so very proud of you. I was hoping that it wouldn’t come to this, but it is what it is and the Ministry will soon greatly regret their actions tonight.”
“I think that’s already happening,” Severus said. “I got back from a summons and discovered Umbridge and a few others frantically searching the grounds for you.”
“Yes, the Minister himself even joined my search party,” Dumbledore looked amused, “I must not let it go to my head…but tell me, Severus, how was he tonight?”
“Could have been worse,” Severus shrugged, aware of Harry’s eyes on him. “We talked mostly about the prophecy - which is why I’ve brought Harry here with me. He and I have no secrets between us anymore and I want him included in all discussions pertaining to matters that concern him going forward.”
“And what do you say to that, Harry?” Dumbledore asked curiously, looking at him over his half-moon spectacles with interest.
“I agree with Professor Snape,” Harry said quietly.
“Well, that’s what’s important,” Dumbledore said gently. “Very well, Severus. We'll do this your way.”