Before me stood Severus Snape. The only half-blood in the Inner Circle who had made it to the elite on his talent and hard work. The youngest Potions Master in Europe. Snape's mental shields by far surpassed Malfoy's, and Snape never wore any mind-protection amulets. Confidence or arrogance? Or just not enough money? Tom was certain of his loyalties, but I had already decided to re-test everyone. Especially Snape: his and Lily's memories showed conflicting pictures of his past. And his role my plans alone required another thorough legilimency session.
The power-hungry Snape from his own memories could have been my demo-version. The "lost teenager" in Lily's memories would fit right in with the Order of the Phoenix vanguard. The easiest and most plausible explanation was that Lily misjudged her childhood friend. Even so, I had more questions.
I could believe a twenty year old Snape asking me to leave Lily alive "for him." But a sixteen year old begging a girl he privately called a mudblood to forgive him, motivated by desire to possess her? Why give her so much honor? Why demean himself before a mudblood? A cunning plan? Then when did Snape become this cunning and cruel? At sixteen? That would put him on a par with Tom Riddle, who would have never cared to ask for Lily's life. All the more unclear was why he made friends with her before school. How did he plan to use a little girl? A child's folly he later came to regret? But then he could not be the same level of bastard: Tom always knew love and friendship were illusions.
If he really valued Lily, then I already had the means to pressure him sitting in my house. Snape was valuable as a potions master, but most importantly he had access to Hogwarts! This introduced so many possibilities: diversions, my infiltration, storming the castle from the inside, retrieving the diadem and the Basilisk, searching through the Chamber - Tom took out all the valuables, but one can never be too sure… A teacher and a Head of house could influence children in the right direction…
"Did you bring all the potions, Severus?" I asked.
"Yes, my Lord: the 11 Paths, bone liquifiers, acid blood, Felix Felicis, polyjuice…"
"Good. Put everything on that table, the elves will take them to the warehouse later. Are you my loyal servant, Severus?"
"I live to serve, my Lord."
Rummaging through his mind required breaking his shields, but direct eye contact should be enough to ascertain whether he was lying. He was not.
"You asked me to spare the mudblood. She jumped in front of the curse meant for her son. She is dead. I trust you are not going to hold a grudge and it will not be a problem?"
"No, my Lord" he answered calmly. My abilities confirmed this was true. And Lily thought she meant something to him… Was she wrong?
"The are many women worthy of your attention. Pureblood ones."
"You are right, my Lord. It was a momentary weakness."
Again, the truth. How strange… Let's say I killed someone's favorite parrot… Shouldn't he at least take offense? If Snape was upset but tried to hide it, I would have no further questions. But I saw absolutely no emotions! Tom considered it normal, I thought it a baffling exception. I saved the Lestranges from dying out, I had a fling with Bella, Crouch Jr. was a sick fanatic, but Snape was a pragmatist and should not have reacted this way. He desired money and power. He could earn plenty of money brewing. Power? What power, writhing under Crucios? Murdering and ravaging with impunity? Then why ask to leave Lily alive? He desired her so much that he begged me under the threat of Cruciatus, but then was not at all upset when I failed to fulfill his only request in years of service? Something didn't quite add up.
"I am dissatisfied with the information you bring me. Crucio!"
Snape fell and started thrashing. I wanted to see how his defenses reacted to pain, hoping he would lose his concentration. But there still wasn't even the slightest hint of anger or sense of injustice. Incredibly suspicious. I canceled the spell.
"You understand that you deserved this pain, don't you, Severus?"
"Yes, my Lord."
He supposedly loathed Potter.
"James Potter is dead. Are you happy?"
"Yes, my Lord."
Once again, true. And indistinguishable from his other statements.
"He was betrayed by Sirius Black, their secret keeper. What a foolish trust in friends."
"Indeed, my Lord."
"Do you have any new information regarding Dumbledore's plans?"
"There has been no new information since the last meeting."
"Take off all your defenses, Severus. I will search through your memories. You may have missed something important."
Tom had already thoroughly legilimized Snape during his initiation into the Inner Circle, when he delivered the prophecy and begged to spare Lily. Tom had been satisfied with him every time.
Snape deactivated his mental shield. As for occlumency… It was not a spell and always remained with him, but Snape will let me through the barriers.
"Legilimens!"
I watched everything. Spying on Dumbledore. Request to spare Lily. Bullies. Abusive fater. It was doubtless, unadulterated truth, but what reason did he have to be so loyal? Could he be lying?
"Crucio," I tried again, this time remaining in his mind. But the picture persisted. Everything was either true or Snape was the best occlument I have ever seen. I stopped the curse.
"You disappoint me. The information was utterly worthless. You must work harder."
"Yes, my Lord."
"And now I want you to participate in an experiment."
"My Lord?"
"Follow me."
I designed an excellent test. And added insurance, in case he really was loyal.
We entered the ritual hall.
"I trust you don't mind sacrificing muggles?"
"No, my Lord. I have done it before."
This was a memory-erasing ritual kindly provided by Lucius. Five muggles, drinking a banned potion - and the target forgets everything within two hours prior to the ritual and nearly 12 hours after. A plain, unrecoverable memory gap.
Severus obediently drank from the bottle I handed him… Five deaths and rhythmically glowing runes… I should probably give him an explanation…
"Severus, I created a potion and want to test its effects. Since it reacts badly with magic in any form, you will be the tester, and I will cover you. To this end, you will first remove all your defenses, artifacts, and any potions you carry, give me your wand, and charge artifacts until you reach magical exhaustion. Then we will go to my private lab to test the potion. Do you understand, Severus?"
"Yes, my Lord."
Uncanny… No surprise or fear. Emotionally too ideal of a servant.
Snape stood in the runic circle and began charging jewelry pieces, placing them one by one into another circle. These artifacts worked analogously to muggle guns, shooting simple spells: stunners, binders, lightning bolts… The spells had to be imbued into the artifact and replenished once used up.
Half an hour later, having spent an average pureblood's reserve, Severus finally burned out.
I gave him two more potions.
"Drink. These will give you Maribor's side effect."
Certain potions combinations produced side effects ranging from unpleasant to outright deadly. Maribor's temporarily stopped magic regeneration. So now Snape posed no threat to anyone even theoretically.
"Wonderful, Severus. Your will be rewarded for your service. I will now apparate us to my lab."
The easiest option was to show him Lily. Easy but stupid: I had no idea of his loyalties. He could accept the reward and continue working for Albus. Another option was to forcefully rip through his mind in search of a hidden layer, but that all but guaranteed his insanity. And if he was loyal, I would lose my only spy in Dumbledore's herd. I sensibly decided to take care of two problems in one fell swoop: test Snape's allegiances an retrieve the Slytherin locket.
We reappeared on a cliff surrounded by raging sea. The scene brought back a rush of foreign memories, though by now they may as well be mine…
Long ago, in 1930s, a tiny village next to the coastal cliffs got a visit from London orphans on a "field trip." I was among them, having recently discovered my superhuman abilities. After exploring the surroundings I found a cliff wall that concealed an entrance to a giant cave. It was difficult to approach from the land and entirely inaccessible from the water, but I managed to get in myself and lead the way for two other orphans. I liked Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop even less than I did everyone else…
A couple of pain jolts… Not Cruciatus or even full-fledged torture, but very impressive for a wandless little boy who knew nothing about magic… A random sailor corpse carried in by the currents and slightly animated with a force of will… This was one of Tom's happiest memories: the feeling of absolute power over defenseless muggles, the first corpse of the future necromancer scaring children… So happy that Tom always used it for conjuring a Patronus in Hogwarts… Pity that subterfuge demanded they return alive… But my simple performance still made the children a bit "off." They stopped bothering me and only said that they went sightseeing with Tom in response to everyone's questions.
The inaccessibility of the cave and my first fond memories made the place very attractive. I decided to hide the Slytherin medallion here, certain that it will be impossible to find, much less reach. I added defenses: the entrance demanded human blood, with rather gruesome results for the blood's owner; the cave prevented apparition, portkeys, levitation and so on.
The horcrux itself rested on an island in the middle of an underground lake, at the bottom of a basin filled with a potion that was impossible to pour out or destroy. It had to be consumed, and anyone would have a hard time drinking this sludge: it caused excruciating pain and visions of the drinker's worst fears.
Finishing the potion caused near-lethal thirst, forcing the intruder to drink from the lake (water-conjuring spells didn't work). As soon as the subject approached the water, he would be greeted with inferi. The cave allowed no more than two people inside, and no one could fight off hundreds of inferi protected by charmed water. Apparition did not work, the boat only worked one way for anyone not matching Voldemort's soul imprint. Burning the basin from a distance with Fiendfyre was impossible: it existed in slightly shifted space-time, similar to the Fidelius.
In short, the cave had flawless security.
"This is the location of my hidden lab, Severus. It is well-defended. To enter, you must carefully follow my every order, understood?"
"Yes, my Lord."
I conjured a large bubble around us and plunged it into the water with telekinesis. We passed through the underwater entrance - no need to wait for low tide.
All my charms seemed in order. The cave accepted my soul imprint. I must have inherited a lot from the original, and Tom anticipated the possibility of some changes as he made more horcruxes.
"Severus, you will now cut your hand and spill your blood on this stone," I said, illuminating it.
Riddle prided himself on these charms: they locked onto a sample of the victim's energy and consumed it, causing permanent physical and magical defects, which quickly led to painful death. They were impossible to circumvent. But as their creator, I could adjust the intensity and length of the impact. No reason to leave Snape dead or disabled, but his magical exhaustion will be long and excruciating…
Snape followed my orders correctly, and we entered the second, larger cave.
The view was strikingly eerie: we stood on the bank of an underground lake, too large to see its other side. The cave's tall ceiling was shrouded in darkness. Far away, in the middle of the lake appeared a misty green glimmer reflected in still water. Riddle's memory helpfully supplied the number of cemeteries he plundered all around the world to cram the lake with thousands of muggle and wizarding bodies. And the waters only kept swelling with more recent victims ever since- throw in a corpse, and enchanted water will slowly transform it into a zombie or an inferus. Tom occasionally added more guards… in large batches…
Instead of answering, I sent a ball of light towards the lake's center.
"The potion awaits us there."
My plan? While Severus drinks the potion, he will lose the hold over his occlumency. I will see everything he was hiding and retrieve the locket. And then… I will either defend my faithful servant from the inferi - I had enough strength to hold them off until the boat brought us back; or feed the traitor to the undead… Or keep him alive to leak disinformation to Dumbledore. And if this potion does not break him… He is either my most devoted servant or I ought to be begging to join the new Dark Lord.
We stepped into the boat, surrounded by darkness.
"My Lord, are those inferi?"
"My lab has most stringent security, Severus."
His thoughts showed no fear. No hesitation. Only loyalty… But he couldn't throw me overboard - I had shields. And was prepared to grab him if he tried to jump out himself.
We docked at an island the size of a tiny room: a single slab of dark, smooth rock, completely empty save for the source of now bight green light. The light flowed from a stone basin resembling a pensieve. I could see the outline of my locket under the potion.
"Examine the potion, Severus."
"A glowing emerald liquid. Odorless. How can I examine it, my Lord? I have no tools or reagents and am uncertain how to transport it - a transfigured container may interact with it."
"It will not," I said, transfiguring a goblet from air. "Now drink it."
"My Lord, is it lethal?" - asked Snape, his thoughts continuing to transmit the same certainty and deference.
"No. Drink."
Was he showing me what he assumed I wanted to see? No matter, he had no way out - I will force the potion down his throat if necessary. Be proud, Snape: you will test the only sample of the Drink of Despair brewed in centuries. I reconstructed the recipe from half-forgotten lore. If anyone knew, I would be immediately granted a potions mastery. Although… the ingredients alone, even without taking into account the process of production and the effects on the drinker, would earn me the kiss… Or burning at the stake…
Snape took the conjured goblet and drank. No change. He was my loyal servant.
"My Lord, this potion brings back distressing memories. I see my mother's death. The memories are emotionally amplified and stretched out. I don't think I should drink any more or I will become insane."
I felt he was telling the truth. But I needed to retrieve the locket. What was I supposed to do, drink it myself?
"Continue drinking, Severus. I will not allow you to go insane. If you finish the potion, it will produce a new effect."
I lied about the new effect. If you refuse, I will force you.
A second goblet. Before me stood a more ghastly-looking loyal servant.
Third. Snape's face twitched convulsively. The goblet fell from his slackened grip, but I caught it. He slumped against the basin and tried to steady his hard, raspy breath.
"My Lord, I cannot drink any more…"
"You must, Severus."
What if you deceived me with hidden occlumency shields? If my suspicions turned out to be wrong… I will protect you from the inferi, and you will not remember anything.
"My Lord, I can't…"
With no shields to stop it, a wandless nonverbal paralysis felled him in one hit. I weakened the spell to allow him to control his face and speak, then poured more potion into his prone body. Number four.
"Lily, forgive me…"
Now, this was interesting. His mother's name was definitely not Lily… Eileen?
"I don't want to, please don't make me… Don't!" he squealed on the ground.
"Drink, Severus," I put the goblet to his lips, pouring everything in for the fifth time.
"I'll kill you," said Snape sluggishly. Over his all-pervasive loyalty, I started to get a vague sense of shame, hatred or contempt… My potions master was clearly hiding something.
"It was not supposed to be this way!" he suddenly shouted.
I gave him the sixth goblet. Once he drank it, the amplified hallucinations of his most horrifying moments finally broke him. And I saw everything.
Snape's greatest talent did not lie in potions. Thoughts of anyone reading his mind terrified him, so he never stopped improving his occlumency. His shield was a masterpiece. Entering into his mind was akin to entering a sphere - whatever I did, however I changed my own position or turned the sphere, all I could see was pictures on its inner surface. Under immense mental pain, the sphere began to crack. I cast a perception acceleration charm on myself and broke into his inner world.
… With Lily's tragic death, my worthless life lost its lasts purpose. All grand plans, hopes and dreams reduced to ashes and pain. Thirst for power and knowledge replaced by the Dark Mark and hopelessness. I was asking, begging them: one to spare her, the other to save her. But neither of these soulless beasts gave a damn about my prayers. The first's answer was clear in his cold eyes. On the way to his goals, Lord Voldemort stepped over entire ancient families. What importance was the life of a twenty year old girl, even thrice-pureblood? But a muggleborn… Lily would be lucky if he killed her quickly… And Dumbledore… I shackled myself with vows, and all he gave me was a sad face and said "they trusted the wrong person…"
And much, much more. Throwing dust in my eyes, reporting to Dumbledore… His occlumency turned out stronger than my legilimency!
My fury had no bounds - traitor! I should Avada him, torture him to insanity, feed him to the corpses piece by piece… But in the end, my desire for more information won by a nose. Who knew how long the hole in his defenses would last?
I kept pouring potion into his mouth and sorting his memories into conjured flasks.
What can I say? It went beyond my wildest guesses. This moron loved Lily worse than Romeo - senselessly, with no regard for reciprocity, compatibility, their opposite political camps… Snape was initially happy to serve me. But once I decided Lily matched the prophecy, he defected to Dumbledore and gave a heap of vows in exchange for a promise to protect her. Right after he asked me to spare her.
And the funniest part: while I was busy working on Lily's new accommodations at one of my new houses, Severus was crying in Albus' office over her tragic murder and giving new vows: helping the Order, avenging Lily's death, assisting in bringing down the Dark Lord… Was he an idiot?! I understood the first set of vows, but the second? He never even thought to ask me "Lord, do you remember I asked you for a readhead, did you spare her?" What sense did it make to give oaths without making sure she was dead first?! Was I supposed to kill everyone and leave the girl stunned where I found her? Our core party line was killing mudbloods! Or was I supposed to owl the girl to him at Hogwarts, wrapped with a bow and a note "Thank you for your excellent service. Lord Voldemort. P.S. open it where no one can see you"?! How hard was it to guess that I staged her death? He gave a vow to avenge her without seeing the body!
I really wanted to kill him… or at least see how long it will take him to go insane from Cruciatus..
But the logical part of me argued it was senseless and wasteful. I now knew everything about him and had the perfect blackmail material: Lily, his great, pure but tragic love. And this love should be used.
If it wasn't for his betrayal, Snape's story would actually be quite amusing: a high-ranking Death Eater fell in love with a muggleborn from the Order, put her in his master's crosshairs, then defected to save her…
I was not Riddle. I will frame everything just right, and Snape will be my loyal spy in Hogwarts, deceiving the Headmaster like he did me.
Some of the rituals used for Snape's vows were new to me - into the memory vials you go. And the vows themselves… some could be removed, some redirected to backfire on other victims, some -like vengeance for Lily- easily nullified, and the rest… I'll think of something…
What was the biggest problem with vows? Their wording. Swearing to be at home by 6pm was easy but unacceptable for a double agent: Voldemort urgently summoned you at 5:59, and your choices narrowed to blown cover and death. Snape's vows to Dumbledore had to be ambiguous enough to let Snape klll innocent muggles and muggleborns, lest he is ousted as a bleeding-heart shirker.
On the other hand, "help the Order of the Phonenix" and "prevent the deaths of people you are able to save" could be interpreted in a multitude of ways. For instance, I say "torture this captured Order member for two hours before killing -too harsh, my Lord! -fine, one hour and fifty minutes!" As far as the vow was concerned, this constituted help. And Snape could not save him. "Do everything in your power to assist with the Dark Lord's defeat" was concerning, but I was sure I could somehow get him off the hook.
I continued ransacking his mind and copying memories… Begging Dumbledore to save Lily… Hysterics after her "death…"
Snape was on his tenth goblet.
"I want to die! I want to die! Stop it, I want to die!"
You are still too useful… You can die when you kill Albus.
… And finally the last, twelfth goblet.
"KILL ME!"
I sighed.
"Crucio!"
Snape did not even flinch. He was lost somewhere in the recesses of his mind.
He soon lost consciousness. Let him nap a bit while I get my horcrux.
I reached into the basin. And saw a locket. A different one. My vision blurred with fury. Indescribable fury, a single-minded urge to murder and destroy. To apparate into the center of a large muggle city and burn it with Fiendfyre, watching them try to extinguish it but burn, burn, burn…
With a herculean effort, I pulled myself together.
The locket, then.
Diagnostic charms did not reveal any danger, so I picked it up… The imitation did not emit an aura of death or anything strange like the cup and the diary.
I opened it, having long forgotten about Severus. If even one of my horcruxes was destroyed, it spelled nothing good for me…
It contained a note:
"To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B."
The letter lifted my spirits! It was an arrogant mistake and will provide me a lot of information… First of all, it excluded Dumbledore as a suspect. Second, this R.A.B. thought I only had one horcrux. Third, he could not destroy it and died - the horcrux may still be in one piece. And most importantly, I had a handwriting sample! It made fiding the thief's name a simple matter of looking through OWL and NEWT exam archives: even those educated abroad had to pass British exams, and no foreign wizard could be invested enough into our war to steal my horcrux.
But who? First of all I should check rich purebloods who could possibly know about horcruxes. Who matched? Bullstrode? Burke? Black? Brustwehr? A foreigner? A half-blood with a pseudonym?
Fortunately, I was not Riddle - my soul would remain with me even if worst came to worst. But the itch to check on the diadem kept growing… And most importantly, how did they carry the locket out of here? The boat did not work… A new one could not be conjured… Stepping into the water was suicide… Apparition was blocked… Unless…
"Gaby! Tony!" I called.
The house elves did not come. Tom's wards only allowed entrance through the front door. Everything was correct. But then I recalled my newly learned lessons on house elf apparition… True, an elf would have to arrive here on foot but could easily apparate out alone, without a human… but with an object…
I felt like a fool. But no, that was wholly on Tom! Only he could create a perfect defense against lasers and be killed by a hammer! Moron! Not to account for house elves and their magic!
In all likelihood, the elf entered with a sacrificial human and apparated back to his owner. The house elf I was using to test the cave belonged to the Blacks. The inferi dragged the elf under water, but I was laughing instead of confirming his death… Did he survive? Maybe the leak originated from him? If the elf turns out a false lead, I should search through the documents for others matching R.A.B. initials
I copied the locket and note with Geminio, put the decoy back an basin and watched it quickly cover with new potion.
Poor Severus. He was born under an unlucky star.
"Crucio" he was alive but evidently still unconscious because not even a Crucio perked him up.
Time to bring him out of it and give him some water or he will die. Ennervate jerked him back to reality, a Flippendo threw him towards the edge. He crawled and drank. Now dying of thirst was not a threat.
Hands, many dead hands suddenly grabbed Snape and dragged him underwater. He deserved to die ripped apart by inferi many times over… But he also had access to Hogwarts, Dumbledore's well-founded trust and occlumency capable of deceiving the old man… And I had a perfect way to control him. So, Snape, you won your life today.
Pouring the most I ever had into Fiendfyre, I drove the undead back underwater. The slow ones burned. Conjured ropes rushed into the lake like intelligent snakes and pulled Snape into the boat. I immobilized him, and we headed back. Alas, the way way back was not as easy: I had to maintain the cursed fire, burning endless inferi swarming under and around us. Good thing I had air filtration charms. The only other capable of this was Albus - but the boat would not take him back, and he'd have to practice walking on water.
After getting out of the cave, I gave Snape the Draught of Living Death, transfigured him into a statuette and put it in my pocket. He will be my private prisoner while I think over how to bypass his vows… Fast, so he will be awake to witness Lilly's dramatic performance at the general meeting. As far as the other Death Eaters were concerned, Snape would be busy brewing an emergency potion my basement, and the lemon fiend could think whatever he wanted about Snape's absence from Hogwarts.
I returned to the Lestranges'. Pity Bella and Narcissa were not Blacks anymore -the house elf will not heed their call, if he was still alive. I must think of a way to get to him through Sirius Black. And research magical vows… The purebloods should have plenty on the topic.
In the meantime, I had an important conversation with the eldest Lestrange.
"Hello, my old friend. Remember how we used to drink back at Hogwarts, talking about how we'd change the world?"
In reality, these were not friendly get-togethers but recruiting my first servants, cementing my leadership…
"We sure did, my Lord."
Overly sentimental on my part? Edward was one of the first Death Eaters, we went to school together, he was my most loyal, the head of a family I saved from extinction… Who was worthy of a chat with the Lord if not him?
I called a house elf and ordered drinks.
"My Lord, may I ask where Snape disappeared to? I didn't think he was going back to Dumbledore so soon…"
"Snape is such a promising young man! Strong despite his unfortunate blood. I was thinking of taking him as a student: excellent potioneer, good occlument, a worthy Dark wizard… But it turned out he can't handle drinking! He was on the floor after the third glass, then received a couple Crucios for disrespect. I had to erase his memory. He is not yet worthy of my time."
"You don't say, my Lord!"
"Naturally, this must stay between us. Young people these days… Back in our time…"
And now to smoothly shift the conversation towards where I could view OWL and NEWT records… Or handwriting samples from diploma petitions…
All the while talking Edward's head off, I was getting around his defenses. Tom had absolute faith in the Lestranges. But lately, his mistakes were becoming a trend: the locket's safety, Snape's loyalty, conviction that only Albus could withstand his legilimency… Besides, I needed to quietly check how much Edward loved his eldest son, his stance on divorces and Bella's possible new last name…
Before I had a chance to finish, my stroll through his mind got interrupted by one of my conjured snakes crawling into the room.
" We found your snake, Master. But she does not move or speak. I show you. "
" Lead, " I answered. "I have to go. It appears my snakes found Nagini. We will finish this conversation next time," I bid farewell to Edward.
I followed the garter snake outside. If they found Nagini, why hasn't she come herself? What did not moving or speaking mean? Dead? Sleeping? Shedding? I better check…