Voldemort smiled with a look reminiscent of a Cheshire Cat as he surveyed the single cell of the dungeon. It had been easier then he thought to capture Grimmauld Place, and he could just imagine the look on Dumbledore's face when the old fool realized what he had lost. In a way he was almost disappointed though, it had been far too easy.

Aside from capturing the muggle woman the traitor seemed infatuated with - the thought causing Voldemort to sneer in disgust - his servants had managed to capture Eileen Prince as well. She must be getting old; he had half expected her to dispose of the two Death Eaters he had sent after her and send their mangled corpses back to him with a bow around them.

From the capture of Order Headquarters, they had taken several prisoners. It had been surprising to find an adult Severus Snape, and teenage Potter, but he supposed that the potion that deaged them had simply worn off early.

Voldemort had his Death Eaters throw vials of a special potion, developed by Severus himself, in strategic places as they moved throughout the house. When the vials shattered, the fumes would spread and anyone who breathed them in would instantly lose consciousness for a few hours. Using containment and bubble charms, he and his followers had been able to keep themselves from breathing in the fumes. The unsuspecting, and mostly asleep occupants of the house, had not been able to do so.

Acting quickly before any alarms could be set off or reinforcements could arrive, the Death Eaters, and their leader had captured most the occupants of the house including two Weasleys (he wouldn't have been able to handle more of the redheads than that at one time), the mudblood girl, the traitor Severus Snape, Potter, the muggle father of Potter and Snape, Sirius Black, and Alastor Moody; quite an interesting combination, really.

By means of side-along apparation, the prisoners had been transported to the old Riddle House and were currently being held in the basement-turned-prison. Life just couldn't get any better. With a smirk, Voldemort gave a command to the annoying, yet useful, Pettigrew and left to tend to other business, waiting patiently for his latest houseguests to awaken from their naps.

................................................................

Severus slowly opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings. It only took him a moment to piece together what had happened and where they were. Their present condition appeared bleak from an optimistic point of view. He was chained to a wall by both hands and everyone in the cell with him appeared to be in a similar condition.

Basement turned dungeon was divided into two sections, a room with a room sort of set-up. The cell, which held the prisoner when they weren't being totured was in the far corner. Two of its four walls were solid brick, where the prisoners were chained and the other two walls were made of iron bars. One of the Iron barred walls had a door which of course was locked. Directly across from the cell was a door which lead out of the dungeon and upstairs to the Dark Lords throne room.

Surveying them he took stock of their injuries. Next to him, Serenity seemed contemplative and slightly shocked, but aside from a small bruise forming on the side of her face she appeared fine.

Beside Serenity, his...mother...Eileen, looked the worst of all of them. Her left arm was severely cut, probably from a slicing hex, her lip was spilt, and she had a severe burn on her upper right arm, as though she was caught diving out of the way of some sort of burning curse. His father appeared deep in thought and he was scanning his surroundings thoroughly, in a very calculating manner. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny appeared a bit shaken, but no worse for wear as did Sirius, unfortunately. Moody was mumbling to himself and casting glances around as though formulating some sort of plan himself.

"Nice of you to join us, Severus, I was beginning to think you were going to miss all the fun," Tobias said sarcastically, but with a lopsided sort of smile on his face.

Severus smirked, but didn't get a chance to reply before a cold, familiar voice, one that that sent chills up his spine, spoke from outside the cell walls.

"The fun has not yet to begin, my dear muggle friend." Though there was a sarcastic note to his voice Voldemort tried to make himself sound like a good host, intent on...welcoming...his guest to the best of his ability. Having been called when all the prisoners awoke Voldemort now spoke to them from behind the locked door leading to their cell.

"You pathetic, piece of Hippogriff dung! Why don't you let us have our wands and fight like a man instead of the slimy Slytherin coward you are!" Sirius shouted as he pulled fruitlessly on his restraints.

Voldemort laughed as he opened the door to their cell with a wave of his hand, entering with a masked Death Eater flanking both of his sides. Approaching Sirius, he knelt down so he was out of reach but eye level with the struggling man. "Fight like a man you say?" Voldemort's voice held a high level of amusement causing Severus to inwardly cringed at the thought of what this might bring. Voldemort stood and turned away from Sirius focusing his attention on Eileen, speaking as he crossed the cell to kneel in front of her. "It should amuse you no end that of all of you, only this...woman...put up any sort of fight."

Eileen looked straight into the glowing red eyes of Voldemort with her usual expressionless face.

Voldemort chuckled, reaching out a skeletal hand to caress her cheek. "A shame, that such a marvelous specimen such as you gave it all up for a pathetic muggle." Voldemort paused briefly removing his hand from her cheek, and tilting his head sideways as though formulating an idea. "It's not too late, though. I will free you, if you join my ranks."

As Eileen looked into the red eyes of the...creature...in front of her she knew, beyond doubt, that even if she were to save her own skin and join him, he would still torture her, just not kill her. Eileen was silent for a moment before leaning forward as much as possible, in an almost seductive manner. "Never would I join anyone so... small, who felt so threatened, that he would need something as pointless as world domination. Besides... I serve no one."

Fury burned in the Dark Lords eyes even as he calmly stood up and took a step back from her, drawing his wand in the process. "I'll give you one last chance to reconsider, Princess." Voldemort purred in a voice far to calm to mean anything good.

Eileen said nothing just stared defiantly at him for a moment... before spitting in his face.

Taken back the Dark Lord raised his wand a curse on the tip of his tongue, while Eileen, with a satisfied smirk, leaned back against the wall. Tobias looked amused as he gazed fondly at his wife.

Noticing Tobias's look and mad at Eileen Voldemort turned on Tobias, lowering his wand. "Find something amusing, muggle?"

Tobias showed no fear as he turned his head to look up at the dark wizard in front of him. Instead he nearly laughed. "Yes, actually. I find it quite amusing that you think this cell will hold her." Tobias used his head to gesture to Eileen, who still wore a satisfied smirk. "I leaned very early on that no one can hold her if she doesn't wish it."

Voldemort laughed darkly. "Yes, well, I would very much like to see her try to escape." Voldemort turned to face Eileen as he elaborated. "There are four separate locking and monitoring spells on the door. Not to mention, you're chain by unbreakable chains to the walls. I have three death eaters monitoring you at all times. Please, please, just try to escape, my lady." Voldemort bowed mockingly.

With that Voldemort swept out of the cell the door slamming behind him, but before exiting the door that lead up the stairs, he turned back to face the occupants of the cell. "Oh, and don't make yourselves too comfortable. You wouldn't want to miss all the fun I've planned especially for you."

As soon as Voldemort was up the stairs, the three death eaters exited the basement to stand guard at the base of the stairs, so they were outside the dungeon and hearing range.

Alastor was the first to speak up. "I have to give you credit, Tobias, that was bloody brilliant."

Tobias bowed his head slightly in Moody's direction, but before he could speak, Sirius practically shouted obviously angry. "What was brilliant? He didn't do anything except irritate the man holding us captive. He smiled for Merlin's sake! How does that help us? He's lucky he didn't get killed."

Mood rolled his magical eye toward Sirius, and replied gruffly without patience. "He manipulated the Dark Lord into revealing to us how to escape you twit."

Sirius looked taken aback for a moment before studying Tobias carefully.

Tobias rolled his eyes and glared at the ex-auror. "Not that it will do any good, you moron. Now that you've revealed that, we know he'll change things and be more cautious about what he reveals."

Moody scoffed angrily. "How will he find out? Our guards are on the other side of the door and he isn't anywhere nearby."

Tobias glared furious at Moody's incompetence and Harry nearly shuttered. His dad was scary when pissed. "He'll find out because he probably has some sort of observation spell cast and even if he doesn't have some way of hearing or seeing us..." Tobias paused suddenly as though listening for something. "...you should always watch out around you..." Tobias paused once more his dark eyes coming to rest on a darkened corner away from the entrance to the cell. "...for some sort of... rat."

As Tobias said this last part he swiftly moved his leg to kick the large ugly rat that was trying to sneak out of the cell. As the rat hit the wall hard it let out a terrified squeak before transforming into Peter Pettigrew who quickly scampered out of the cell, yelling for his master the entire way. Tobias looked at Moody with a raised eyebrow and an expression that clearly said ‘see what I mean.'

Moody had the decency to look ashamed.

"Wicked!" said Ron obviously impressed despite their dire situation. "How'd you know?" Harry smirked at the awe he heard in his friend's voice.

A darker look crossed over Tobias's face, "I've been in enough cells to know how normal rats behave."

Harry's curiosity piped at that and he made a mental note to ask his dad what he meant when they got out of this mess.

Sirius, however, did not have the same reserves. His tone had lost the fight it had a moment ago and now held only curiosity . . . or perhaps suspicion. "What do you mean? When were you in prison? What for?"

Tobias his eyes hard and foreboding, smirked. "I'd tell you boy, but then I'd have to kill you."

Severus and Eileen snorted with half smiles on their faces, while Sirius looked confused.

Tobias's small bit of amusement faded as he became serious once again the calculating look returning to his eyes and a commanding tone in his voice. "Severus, report. I need intelligence on our current situation."

Severus briefly wondered if his father saw this as some sort of game. Looking at his father the best he could from their positions, the first words he spoke where quiet and held nothing but respect with a remote twinge of amusement. "Aye, aye, captain." Severus's continued in a louder, neutral tone. "The only way out is through that door." Severus gestured to the door on the other side of which stood three guards. "Going up those stairs will take us directly to the living room, more a throne room really. After that, it's a clear shot down the hall and out the back door. However, the Dark Lord rarely leaves his throne room, and it's more than likely he's planning - with several other Death Eaters - the best ways to torture and kill us."

"What spells and such would he use on the cell?" Tobias seemed indifferent to the information he was receiving, but Severus could tell his father was filing it away for later use.

"I doubt he put any spells on them at all. He said there for four different spells, therefore, he probably had four different people cast varying locking charms on them. All I can tell you for sure is that ‘Alahomora' isn't going to work."

Tobias almost smiled at the challenge, "He's smart. I'll give him that."

Silence descended among the group of prisoners, each lost in his or her own thoughts until the door opened and one lone figure entered the dungeon.