Chapter 53 Silver Bells
Lily knew something was wrong with Sev, but couldn't put her finger on it. They were sharing a bedroom, taking baths together and shagging at least once a day. Was he getting bored with her? He hardly said anything, even when she asked him.
He was back to working on his arithmancy project.
He finally agreed to stay overnight at her house in their guest room over the holiday. She did not want him sleeping anywhere with those horrible house elves lurking about. Even though Lily had only seen the one those two times, it was like an entirely different species from what was down in the Hogwarts kitchens. Maybe Sev could do that spell that stuck their tongues to the roof of their mouths.
When Lily suggested that after their last defense study group before the holiday they spend the entire weekend in bed, Severus asked, "Don't you have guests to entertain, Lily?"
"Mary and Malcolm are going to be busy also, and whoever answers our outside door will be responsible for entertaining whoever shows up."
"You already planned it with them?"
"Not exactly planned, Sev."
"I have time scheduled with Prof. Abstractus in the restricted section this weekend."
Lily frowned but answered, "All right."
She picked up that Severus mentioned all their friends that dropped by over a weekend to see them. Their common room was quiet, clean and serious schoolwork could get done here without the noise restrictions of the library. He had mentioned something before about not liking too many students in their rooms, but it was hard to predict if they'd be left alone, or a dozen would show up simultaneously. Sev couldn't blame her for that.
Besides, Lily was offering not to let anyone in, but Sev preferred to hang out in the restricted section … wait, yeah, Sev would prefer to get his hands on books in the restricted section.
It was a good thing that Prof. Abstractus limited how often Severus could be in there. For a barmy-looking guy covered in chalk dust, Abstractus was different than other teachers at Hogwarts.
None of Lily's teachers let her in the restricted section, and she was head girl now. Was it because she did not excel in one area to get special attention? Lily felt Charms was her strong point, but she did not do the kind of thing Sev did with charms. How did he make up new spells or adapt other ones?
He also knew a lot more spells than Lily from all that reading he did. Her last school year was almost half over, and perhaps she was wasting her opportunity to learn more.
Severus did not mind sharing what he learned when no one was around to overhear them. Lily could not learn when Sev was sorting out an idiot because he was pretty good at nonverbal spells.
Remus's mother answered the door and let James in.
"Hey Moony!"
Remus came into the parlor and asked, "Prongs, what are you doing here?"
"I got a chaser position with the Braga Broomfleet. We'll leave after Boxing Day."
"Braga Broomfleet?" Remus repeated. It sounded sort of familiar, but he couldn't remember where they were.
"Portugal, Moony," James replied excitedly. "Get ready for all those hermosa senoritas."
"Portugal … and isn't senorita Spanish?"
James waved his hand dismissively, "They'll know what I mean."
"You don't speak Portuguese or Spanish, Prongs."
"That's a bonus. Don't you see, I won't have to listen to their coach's nagging because I don't habla. Besides Braga has good beaters. Their chasers are rubbish so anything they tell me could actually hurt my performance."
Remus's mouth opened in disbelief. What if the other chasers understood enough English to understand James? Also, ignoring a coach was a sure way to get kicked off a team. This was professional quidditch, not the house team.
"I don't know, Prongs. Portugal's far away."
"It's just a portkey, Moony."
"Your parents are alright with this?"
"What do you mean? I'm seventeen, and I have to go where my career takes me."
Remus did not think playing for the Chudley Cannons for a few months amounted to a career as a professional quidditch player. If James got himself tossed off another team, where would he go next? "I'm going to have to give this some thought."
"Thought? What's there to think about, Moony? You going to sit around here at your parents feeling sorry for yourself?"
"That's uncalled for, James. I'm not as bold as you, but I have to think about things you don't."
"Oh that. Don't worry about it."
"Someone is dead because no one worried about it."
"That was over a year ago, Remus. Don't let it keep dragging you down. It's holding you back. Come with me to Portugal. I got some leads on some villas. That'll be good for parties and when you need it, you can be separated and kept safe. All right?"
"I'm still going to have to think about it, James."
If James Potter had not spent all that money getting her Remus out of prison, Mrs. Lupin would have a few words on thinking for him. Villas, parties and senoritas … that boy was a complete and spoiled ass.
Lily was not pleased that Summerby showed off at defense group by getting a bit of silver stuff to come out her wand when she tried that patronus charm.
Why her? She only joined the group last month. Summerby wasn't even testing this year because she was in sixth. She didn't have to take Crouch seriously that they should all keep trying on their own. The only funny thing about it was that Crouch demanded to know everything she had done, right down to what she had for dinner tonight.
Afterwards, Lily kidded Severus, "So what do you think about Crouch tonight? Upset that a Hufflepuff beat him."
"Beat him? I doubt Summerby could beat Crouch in a duel."
"Not a duel, but at doing that spell."
"That spell only works for a dementor. If the dementors left Azkaban, the Ministry would work on getting them rounded up or rid of them."
"Oh, you're standing behind the Ministry for once, Sev?"
"They're dementors, Lily. Sucking out people's souls is irreversible. They're as good as dead once that happens. I don't think they're particular either so they might attack muggles."
"So why do you think Summerby got it? Do you think someone helped her?"
"Supposedly we know everything we need to know to cast it. It'll take practice. Patronus is not an easy charm. That's why it's worth extra on the test."
"It's supposed to be an animal, not that silver ooze."
"Lily, that silver ooze is better than what any of us can do."
She huffed and went into the bathroom, then stuck her head back out, "Any particular scent tonight?"
"Oh … uh, not anything too strong. Stay away from the rose and jasmine. I don't even know why they are on my tub."
"I'm not going to put any lavender or chamomile in because I don't want you falling asleep on me, Sev."
Severus did not reply as to how unlikely that was, but checked Phi's things and brought her in from the common room window.
He hurried since if Lily got through washing herself then she insisted on washing him. When she did, only one part of him got washed really well, and everything else was ignored. Severus did not mind washing Lily's body or hair, but when it came to her reciprocating she did a horrible job. Maybe because he considered a bathtub as a luxury and wanted to actually use it to bathe.
He was too late. Lily was waiting to soap up his cock. Within a minute of sitting in the tub, Severus was hard enough for Lily to straddle him. Perhaps she enjoyed bathtub sex more because the water diluted her lubrication, making it hard for her to impale herself immediately.
Lily had to work at getting the length of him into her, until he grabbed her bum and thrust his hips at the same time. She rewarded Severus with a gasp and grabbed the back of his head burying his face in her breasts.
In a short while, Lily moved against him so he was able to get his face turned to one side without her protesting. For Severus, it was still shagging with everything that went with it. Lily yelling, cooing and grunting, soft, big tits, his cock sliding in and out of Lily's pussy, and his hands full wherever he chose to put them.
Severus chose to shag Lily rotten in the bath so he could get a chance to finish bathing before bed. He'd only get dirty again, but at some point this weekend he wanted to be completely washed. He took advantage of her coming again to shift Lily off of him, and guided her to lean against the side of the tub so he could take her hard from behind while having a hand between her legs stimulating her and the other working on twisting her nipples. There was no mystery left to what Lily enjoyed.
He might have done too good a job because Lily crawled out of the tub for a towel before retreating to the bedroom. She promised to wait for him in bed so when he came out, Severus asked if it was all right to put on his potion for pockmarks. Lily had skipped it so asked him to bring it over so they could rub it on each other.
Lily had very little left of her dragonpox, unlike Severus. He was doubting his appearance would improve any more. Not that he had any looks before.
They lay down and spooned together to shag before falling asleep. Severus woke a few hours later to find Lily staring at his face.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing." Lily had woken to find Severus dreaming again.
She thought he said 'mother', but had not been sure.
Severus did not know what Lily was up to now. The lights were lit. She studied how repulsive he was while he slept? He had always been hideous, but his looks were worsening with age, not improving.
Lily embraced him, rather than grabbing his cock.
He asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Sev," Lily said while beginning to kiss him, working her tongue between his lips.
Thinking while allowing Lily to progressively move towards another round of love making, Severus continued to suspect that there was something fundamentally wrong with him. He did not dislike sex, but with Lily his expectation had been that it should be something beautiful between them. He knew the source of that misconception came from his mother. She wasn't a good source of information. Mother was totally wrong about Hogwarts, and she was barking mad for loving his father. There was nothing beautiful between mother and father. He was living proof of how ugly they were.
Severus remained sure he loved Lily, but not in an unconditional manner. He liked looking at her, seeing her happy, and she was the only person he wanted touching him.
However, Lily could be aggravating too. She made decisions that effected both of them without any discussion, or she'd ask him about something and not accept his answer. Either telling him that he was wrong, or ignoring his reply and repeatedly asking him the same question. Was it some game with her to ask with the conviction that he'd finally agree with her, and stop pestering him with the same inquiry?
Look at MacDonald and Wilkes. They lived in the head girl's room. He did not agree to that. Though it was Lily's room, he had never said that Lily could stay in his room every night. Lily even stayed in here on the nights of the full moon, when Wilkes was sleeping in the dungeons. If Severus did have some say in things, it would have been more convenient for MacDonald and Wilkes to stay in the head boy room, since Lily's room had windows for his familiar.
Prof. Abstractus was careful what texts his student viewed. Some of the tomes in the restricted section would be better off destroyed. Fortunately, Snape's current direction had nothing to do with unicorns. How wizards ever could think of carving that beautiful creature into so many bits for their benefit was monstrous.
Phoenixes could also be chopped up like a chicken at the butcher shop. Even with their regenerative powers, they could not be considered living after some of these harvesting methods. There were even cruel methods to induce a phoenix to have constantly tearing eyes. The resulting blindness was mentioned in passing, but whoever thought to place these noxious fuming concoctions under the poor creature's perch would hardly ever risk letting it fly again.
Severus could not find enough on what phoenix tears were composed of, so moved his line of research into more sophisticated ways of detecting it through his own distillation. There was also a possibility that St. Mungo's library would have better information.
His disappointment grew when he inquired of Lily whether she was in contact with Healer Pye still. Apparently, Lily had not bothered to write her after his suggestion that she would know healers looking for apprentices and may give Lily honest advice.
"Why, Sev?"
"Forget it."
"What's got you annoyed now?"
"If you wait to write, she may think you are only using her to obtain an apprenticeship."
"Isn't that what I'm doing?"
"You could have written with some questions about the field to show that you have a genuine interest in healing people."
"I got plenty of time left to do that. Besides, unlike you, I need to get my NEWT grades first."
"Me? What do I have to do with your apprenticeship?"
"Nothing."
"No, you wouldn't have said it if you truly meant nothing. Are you asking me to buy your apprenticeship?"
"What?"
"Buy it with money. You know I got the Lestrange money, and rather than writing a couple letters to find someone that is interested in teaching you … what is it you'd prefer? I find some mediocre healer that is desperate for money, no matter what your skills or interests are?"
"No, I didn't mean that. And I don't want to get stuck with some money-grubbing moron that can hardly take a temperature."
"What do you mean by 'unlike you'?"
"You've already gotten published so they don't care what your grades are."
"Who's they?"
"That bloke that wrote you the letter," Lily said, pointing towards Severus's desk.
"I haven't interviewed that fellow yet. He's still young, and has not published, so I don't know what direction his independent work is taking. It may be something I'm not interested in, or he has no ambition of his own, and wants to use me in some way."
"Why do you even need an apprenticeship, Sev?"
"That's the way things are done. I cannot certify myself as a potions master."
Lily crossed her arms over her chest, and muttered, "They'll probably hold you back, rather than let you become one of the youngest potions masters ever. There's that thing with Slughorn."
"Not everyone got chummy with him, and now it's all right to not go along with him openly."
"Well, still … you got a letter from someone, even if he's not so good. I didn't get any."
"How many people other than me, and maybe McGonagall, even know you want to be a healer?"
"Mary does."
"I meant professionally. People that are in the position to recommend you."
"I told them at St. Mungo's when we were there."
"And they haven't heard from you since your last check-up. That's why I told you to start writing."
Lily sighed and complained, "What's the rush anyway? Maybe I'd like to take some time off."
"Were you planning on doing nothing or something definite?" Severus asked, fishing for information. Was Lily already looking forward to life without him? After they graduated, she could take that five thousand galleons and spend her time meeting and shagging wizards, as she originally planned without the burden of also being apprenticed.
"I don't know. Might spend some time with mum. Visit Tunie. Travel."
If Lily had already looked through his mail to know he had an offer of an apprenticeship, when was she going to say something to let him know? Maybe that had been her intention. Severus obligated under an apprenticeship contract, while Lily made her plans without ever saying anything.
She would not even have to feel any remorse about dragging this out for so long. Lily knew how repulsive Severus was, but now he was a wealthy repulsive. Unfortunately, he was not attracted to anyone but Lily. Even witches that were not insulting him were annoying.
Lily noticed on the train that Severus was actually responding to people. Mostly Summerby. She shouldn't even be in their compartment because she was not a prefect, but then Lily would have to ask Regulus Black to leave too. They were talking about history with Crouch. None of it was part of Prof. Binns' curriculum.
She could not help smirking when Summerby asked Severus about writing over the holiday once they disembarked from the train, and Sev replied he didn't have an owl. It was true, and a bit presumptuous for people to expect everyone to have an owl. Maybe she'd get the subtle clue that Sev did not live near wizards to use a post office and stop talking to him. If Severus really wanted to write Summerby, he could apparate to a wizarding post office.
Mum was happy to see them when they apprated to the Evans' backyard. She asked Severus a lot of questions about Christmas at the Snapes, even though he kept saying the Snapes did not have any holiday celebrations. No tree, no lights, no decorations, no singing, and no special food.
Lily stood in the parlor and then asked, "Where's our tree?"
"I waited for the two of you. Why would I go pick out a tree without you?"
"You have before," Lily replied.
"Your father and Petunia were home. We can go this afternoon if you're so impatient. I haven't gotten the decorations out of the attic yet either. Maybe you can get to work on that while I help Severus settle in?"
"Settle in? What do you mean? He knows where everything is already, mum."
"Maybe something has changed," Severus commented. Why was Lily starting trouble with her mother? They had been here less than ten minutes. If Lily did not want to be here, she could have come up with some story to tell her mother. And why would she want him here to watch this?
Lily followed behind them to the Evans' guest bedroom. Severus did not see anything different than he had seen before.
"Can I get whatever you need from the attic, Mrs. Evans?"
"You, Severus?"
"Unless you don't want me to," he responded.
"Lily …?"
"He can handle it, mum."
"I didn't mean that he couldn't, Lily. Show him where. Thank you, Severus."
Lily made a face then said, "Come on. You haven't seen the attic."
"I've seen the stairs before. Not where they go."
"The boxes are marked," Lily explained as she led Severus upstairs. "These ones here."
"Just these?"
"Yeah, if you miss anything, we'll notice."
"All right. Take them all down to the first floor?"
"Yeah, but leave the spot where we put the tree open."
"Is it in the same place every year?"
"You know where?"
"I've seen it from outside, next to the window."
"Okay, I'm going to help mum."
When she got downstairs, Mrs. Evans asked her daughter, "You left Severus upstairs on his own?"
"Yeah, he can handle a few boxes, mum."
Later, Severus was unable to stay at the house while they went to procure a tree. He did not argue since he remembered Petunia would not like him alone in their house, and Mrs. Evans might feel the same way. He offered to go over to Spinner's End to check his house, but they insisted that he come to help them choose a tree. It did not make sense. They could see trees as well as he could.
Lily was steadfast on her choice of tree. No one needed him to go along. The fellows selling them even tied it to the roof of the car for Mrs. Evans. He didn't even have to touch it once he convinced the ladies to wait a couple hours till it was dark.
Once the bloody wide, once-living tree was inside, Severus did not understand how they positioned the uneven base of the trunk in the little metal stand without magic. The large pan of water underneath for it made this whole exercise seem pointless. Mrs. Evans related some memories of trees tipping over in the past. Why did muggles put breakable objects on their trees to have them fall over?
After dinner, Severus was not excused from the fuss over the tree and all this … stuff that Lily and her mother wanted all over their house. They each would hand him something, tell him what to do with it, but differed on what happened next. Lily would verbally tell him he was doing it wrong and ask him to move it, move it, move it a little more, higher, lower, to the right, to the left and then nod. He caught Mrs. Evans moving items he placed for her when she thought he didn't see her. Why were they wasting his time on this nonsense? He didn't care where their items were supposed to go. If they went in the same spots every year, why did they need him? He may be taller, but Lily could use magic to reach anything that went up high.
It was a mistake letting Lily talk him into staying here. He should have considered that prior to this, the closest he got to seeing Christmas in this house was from outside when he was young. That's when Severus had been sad that Lily could not play outside because it was too cold. He could meet her on her walk home from school, but there were Saturdays, Sundays and holidays when he didn't get to talk to her.
Severus could still see her. Lily's family went out every Sunday morning at the same time. He could also see in the windows when it was lit inside their house. The lights on the tree were pretty from outside. Not having been to Hogwarts with a dozen trees, he naively enjoyed the display.
At the time, he also fantasized about being invited inside Lily's house. It would be nice and warm, with hot drinks and food. Lily told him later about the music, special food, and presents.
Severus was not sure what he would receive as a present. Lily got toys and clothes. Severus would prefer some clothing, but this Santa Claus fellow had never found his house. That was another reason he wanted to go to Lily's house for Christmas. If Petunia was good enough to get presents, he should get at least one, if he could be somewhere that Santa Claus knew how to get to.
Severus found out at Hogwarts that Santa Claus was a fiction that parents told their children. He had been quite upset that first year when everyone that was at Hogwarts got presents. Severus had gotten one from Lily before she left, so he rushed to make her something and used a school owl to send it to her. He had spent a lot of time thinking about Lily saying bad children got nothing. Then his theory was ruined because other Slytherins who read Dark Arts books received nice presents, and Potter and Black came back to school boasting about all their gifts.
Spending one Christmas holiday at the Evans' house could not be as bad as that first year at Hogwarts.
Remus had been nervous. His parents were with him. The students had left for home. Back at Hogwarts. Prof. Dumbledore made it sound simple. Prof. McGonagall had a lot more to say about it.
Now he had to tell James.
Remus had flooed to the Potters' alone.
"Hey, Moony."
"Prongs … uh, hi."
"All set? You know it's warmer in Portugal."
"Yeah, uh … I thought it over. I'm going to stay here."
"Stay here? What for?"
"My parents … and me think that maybe I should stick to serious things. Like school."
"School? What do you need with that?"
"I … um, can see your point sort of, with uh my condition, but I want to take my NEWTs."
"NEWTs? Oh Moony, don't go soft on me."
"It's not soft. I … I see it as a step forward with my life."
"So you're just going to stay home and have your parents teach you?"
"Well, no. I mean I'm sure they could, but I got permission to go back to Hogwarts. I'll be back in sixth year in January."
"Hogwarts?"
"Yeah, well … MacDonald gets locked up in the dungeons with house elves, ghosts and a teacher keeping an eye on her so uh ... I'm going to do that too."
"Ugh, MacDonald? And sent back to sixth year? No. Why would you do that to yourself, Remus?"
"I want to give it a try. I like living with you too, James, but … I don't know."
"We have a great time, don't we?"
"We do, but not everything is about having a great time, Prongs."
Severus figured out what the problem was with the Lestrange house elves, or at least why they were so numerous. They were fucking each other all over the house. They did not care if he saw them. There were too many. They did not have to spend much time cleaning because they were everywhere. They did not have enough space to live out of sight in the kitchen, attics, and under the stairs. They also had access to his money to procure food to eat, and from what he saw in the kitchen, they ate better than he did at Spinner's End.
The house elves did not respond well to questioning about their former masters. From what Severus could see, the Lestranges were not in the middle of anything at all. They merely sat around every day plotting against muggles and muggleborns and watching their house elves screw? Is that the sort of wizard and witch that had time to appreciate He Who Must Not Be Named's words about their destiny to rule over everyone else? The idle wealthy who did not do anything other than give orders? Like Lestrange, Potter, and Black. Or the unemployed, miserable purebloods who wished they had this sort of wealth, rather than applying themselves at Hogwarts and then finding employment? Like Mulciber and Avery. In the Dark Lord's utopia, who would do the work if they got rid of all the mudbloods and blood traitors? Seemed like piss-poor planning, unless this house elf breeding program was their answer to that problem.
He did not like the house, or the other properties, but found a lot of books worth looking through. He set the house elves to packing up all the books first. Severus would choose other things worth keeping once they were done with those. Lily and her mother did not want him leaving their house again till after Christmas. He'd be fortunate if he could get out to post letters.
Lily and Mrs. Evans realized that Severus had no Christmas spirit. Mrs. Evans felt his parents had done a poor job in another area of his life. Lily felt that Hogwarts was probably a big part of it too. Sev had seemed interested in the holiday when she told him about it before they went to school. Maybe he was only being polite since Lily listened to everything he had to say about wizards and Hogwarts back then.
Severus was not moody or sulking, just not particularly interested in watching the television shows, listening to Christmas music, spending long periods of time doing holiday activities, or ecstatic over the food.
He attempted to be polite, while asking to be excused when his capacity for long-term cheeriness reached its end. Severus knew Lily and her mother were lonely with both Mr. Evans and Petunia missing. Though there was a bonus to staying here. He could either watch the whole game or see the highlights on the sporting news from the Manchester matches.
He was disappointed when he found out that he could not sell off the excess house elves. Severus could give them as gifts or have the Ministry do some sort of reassignment. If he received one of these foul-mouthed, pointy-toothed things as a gift, he would not appreciate it.
On Christmas morning, Lily was disappointed in a way. Severus did not make her gift, but bought her a green jade necklace and bracelet.
There was also no ring.
Not that Lily should expect a special ring out of the blue from Severus since they had last discussed months ago that she was not sure she wanted to marry him, but she would have enjoyed the surprise, or the thought, or even the reminder that Severus felt that way about her.
Her mum got a really smart watch from Severus. It was similar to her good watch, but it had a fancy magically-adjusting, gold chain, rather than a leather wristband.
Sev appeared pleased with his gifts, but then mum started hissing at Lily in the kitchen that he spent too much on them. Lily explained to her mum that he had inherited more money, and if they hadn't given him new socks and a couple of jumpers, it was unlikely Severus would buy them for himself.
Also, Sev did not fake being happy so if he was upset, he would have at least acted cranky towards them instead of letting mum suggest another pot of tea. He was still downstairs instead of retreating from the nonstop carols playing on the stereo. That was a sure sign Sev was willing to go along with Christmas morning traditions in the Evans' house.
After lunch, Lily saw Mary's owl outside the window and let her in. Rather than carrying a return present from Mary, the owl had a letter. Lily opened it and read Mary's news. She wanted her best friend to know before Lily saw it in the newspaper. Mary had married Malcolm Wilkes, and they were both staying at the MacDonalds for the next couple of days, before planning to spend some time in Paris before returning to Hogwarts with the rest of the students.
Lily gasped, "Mary and Malcolm just went and got married. How could they?"
"Didn't you tell me they planned on doing that?" Severus asked.
"Not now. They're still in school. And what about Malcolm's family?"
"He doesn't need them now that MacDonald has that money."
"But why would they do it now, Sev?"
Severus shrugged at Lily. He did not think like her so she would not understand anything he said. Perhaps MacDonald and Wilkes did not want to risk the other meeting a better witch or wizard? Neither of them were as repulsive or desperate as him, even if MacDonald was a werewolf, so the other went along with the idea.
"Did they say anything to you?" Lily asked.
"No. They don't need my permission to do anything."
"I didn't mean you needed to know, but maybe Malcolm said something?"
"No," Severus replied. He knew Wilkes considered Lily a waste of Severus's time so there was no need to communicate further about his plans. Lily said plenty of times that she was only friends with Severus. The Slytherins did advise him that it was inconvenient that Evans was head girl and sharing a room with him. Now that Severus had wealth, other women could seriously consider him for more than help with homework. Severus did not bother telling them that he rather not bother with a girl that only talked to him for money while in her mind she thought about how ugly and disgusting Severus was. Perhaps she would be a good liar, convince him that she'd marry him, and then kill him off for the money so she could end her self-imposed torture of having to be civil to him, or worse by allowing him to touch her.
Since Sev was no help because he was not agreeing with her, Lily went into the kitchen to talk with her mum. Mrs. Evans was not agreeable either. She speculated that if Mary had the same sort of problem that Lily did, since Mary was also attacked by a werewolf, she was doing the right thing by marrying her boyfriend. That's what nice, respectable young ladies did. Those girls got married rather than expecting their best male friend to take care of their unnatural appetites.
Holiday conversation between gathered pureblood families did touch upon the sudden elevation in Severus Snape's status. Who was he that Lord Voldemort would wipe out the Lestranges and give Snape their position? They knew that muggles could not kill wizards, so obviously the Dark Lord killed the Lestranges. Some claimed to be present when Bellatrix tried to plead for her life.
Lord Voldemort did not celebrate Christmas, but planned something big to ring in the holiday and get him back on the front page of the newspaper, rather than the usual drivel that The Prophet was printing these days.
This would show them all his power. No one ever broke wizards out of Azkaban. Only Lord Voldemort could. The human guards and walls? It was as if they did not exist against his power. The magic protection was weak. The dementors were not a problem. They were willing to negotiate. Anyone not joining the Dark Lord was theirs.
Dolohov, Travers and Rowle were already Death Eaters. A number of the prisoners incarcerated for life or here for an extended stay were thankful for Lord Voldemort's generous offer. He did not tell the others what was in store for them for not accepting his offer, but did give his old mentor, Horace Slughorn, a choice. Join him or be kissed. Slughorn did have skills he could use.
Horace sputtered impotently. Wandless, there was little he could do. He accepted Riddle's offer with the hope that he could improvise his escape later. He was innocent, and certainly had no intention of being kissed by a dementor. From the inside of Riddle's organization, he may be able to gather information for Albus.
Sirius overheard what was going on, while he was lounging about as a dog and ignoring the dementors. Voldemort. He hated that guy. Almost as much as he hated Snape. With everything that was going on, this might be the perfect time for him to slip out and save Apolline.
When Lily returned to the den to talk to Severus, she found that he had retreated from Christmas by going back upstairs.
She nudged open the guest room door and instead of Sev working on more of his arithmancy; he was lying down on his side with his arms over his head.
"Are you all right, Sev?" Lily asked. Sometimes, he got horrible headaches.
Severus moved his arm and glanced at Lily, before responding, "I suppose."
"Why are you lying down?"
"No reason," he lied. They'd probably have more Christmas things to do with him. It did last an entire day. He had been hoping to take a break between activities, rather than a constant onslaught from the minute Lily woke him up at dawn till he was allowed to go to sleep tonight. Severus wanted time to think about things.
The next day the news broke with photos of all the escaped Death Eaters. Everyone knew that Dolohov, Travers, Rowle and Sirius Black were among his most trusted followers. They suspected that a couple murderers were also, but some of these others, including Horace Slughorn … the conspiracy was deeper than anyone knew.