Severus Snape stepped into the plush room, eyes scanning left and right to take in every detail. Scowling at Peter Pettigrew, Snape strode to kneel at Voldemort’s side. After a reverent kiss to the hem of the dark robe, Snape rose gracefully and withdrew a couple of steps.
“Severus. How prompt of you.”
Snape’s face bore little expression as he inclined his head in acknowledgement of the Dark Lord’s praise. He looked in Peter’s direction and sneered, “Don’t you have some cupboards to clean, you odious little rat?”
Back at Grimmauld Place the spectators from the Order appeared shocked that Snape had the authority to dismiss one of the Dark Lord’s servants from his presence. Sirius looked torn between applauding his long time enemy and punching all three spectres in the face. Albus’ smile nearly erased the frown he had worn since Snape’s summoning.
“Leave us, Wormtail, I shall call you later.” Pettigrew turned a hate-filled look upon Snape and fled the room. Once the animagus had left the room, Snape returned his focus to the Dark Lord, whose attention had never left Severus’ face.
“As charming as ever, Severus.” The smile that appeared on the snake-like features was repulsive, though Snape seemed unaffected by it. Instead, he returned the expression with a raised eyebrow.
“I’m sure, my lord, that if you had desired charm, you would have broken Lucius out of Azkabhan by now.” At this, a short high laugh erupted from Voldemort which made the previous smile positively charismatic in comparison.
“Indeed. Sit Severus, I need your opinion on a matter.” Snape sat in the comfortable armchair next to Voldemort’s, elbows resting on the arms and long fingers entwined over his stomach.
“There has been a failure on the part of one of my devoted servants.” Voldemort tipped his head and propped his arm up to fondle his chin. His pause was long enough that Albus and Kingsley shared an anxious glance. Perhaps there was a more sinister aspect to this meeting than they had realised. Snape, however, remained impassive. “One of the Ministry’s rabid Aurors has been rather enthusiastic in his pursuit of my Death Eaters and the information they hold.”
“Was this an Order Auror as well, my lord?” questioned Snape.
“I am not aware of him being a member. His name was Miles Meddlehurst.”
Snape looked away in thought, “No I don’t believe he is –” a glance at the red eyes across of him and Snape corrected himself, “– was a member. I shall find out what I can about him and his activities from those who are. May I enquire as to what actually occurred?”
“Meddlehurst appears to have been one of those fanatics from before. He suspected Timbley of his associations with me and used the Imperious curse to find out all he could, fortunately not a great amount due to Timbley’s rather obvious intellectual and magical deficiencies and my own distrust of his abilities. However, the deficient fool did lead the meddler to two of my younger recruits; he was efficient in his self-appointed role as judge and executioner.”
“Ah. May I ask if knew them?”
“They would have been your students, I’m sure; Gerald Morgan and Timothy Fletcher.”
Snape looked contemplative at this, “An undeniable loss, not only for us but to Slytherin and Ravenclaw as well.” He paused before adding, “I must say, I did not realise they had taken the Mark. Recruitment would appear to be going well.”
“Very well. I have taken your concerns about marking students into account. You are quite right about Dumbledore’s interfering nature and most would be useless in any case. Graduation is soon enough. There is, of course, the single exception.” Voldemort waved his hand imperiously at the cabinet along a far wall. Snape, understanding the silent command, stood to pour his own drink and his master another.
Having received his whisky and taken a delicate sip, Voldemort continued, “Though Meddlehurst was acting alone I have no doubt that there are other Aurors who believe themselves above their own laws. You will notify Dumbledore of this misadventure. Get him to put an end to it.”
Snape stood and started pacing, his creased forehead lowered, deep in thought. “You are right, my lord. Dumbledore, the old fool, would never allow this brand of ignoble and unsportsmanlike behaviour,” the words were spat out in contempt, “though whether he is able to put pressure on the new Minister has also yet to be seen. They do not appear to see eye to eye on many issues.”
He stopped his pacing in front of Voldemort and spoke directly. “Either the Minister has sanctioned the use of Unforgivables, in which case even the mighty Dumbledore will find it rather difficult to change his course of action; or the minister is as much a nincompoop as his predecessor was and is, as yet, unaware of the measures some of those cretins will go to. In this case, there is the chance that Dumbledore will be able to affect some change.” Snape sneered, “In either event, the chances of him not Apparating straight into the Minister’s ridiculous mane as soon as he is aware are as slim as Potter passing Potions this year.”
The Dark Lord was nodding his agreement at this assessment. “Good. Do make sure that he discourages the Order’s Aurors from such actions at the least.” Snape nodded his understanding. “And you have brought up another matter that I have been considering.” Snape moved back to his armchair seemingly unperturbed by the contemplative looking he was being given by Voldemort. “Our dear Harry has shown that the unique link which joins us is no longer a constructive avenue to explore. I have been blocking the boy but, as I was rarely able to detect his presence in the first place, I cannot be sure that this is wholly effective. In any case, it would seem rather inequitable that I be the one to do all the work. He should be dissuaded from attempting to enter my mind.” Voldemort took a sip of his drink. “You will tutor him in Occlumency.”
Snape leapt up with a yelp, “No!” He began his pacing again and started numbering his reasons on his fingers, “He would be an inept student; he has no control; he is barely able to contain his hatred of me without having me delving into his thoughts; he would make no effort; he cannot …”
“Severus,” it was a sibilant hiss and his spy stopped to face his master and took a deep breath, “I have faith in your teaching abilities.” The briefest of smirks accompanied this statement, before Voldemort became commanding, “You will do this, Severus. I have no doubt that Dumbledore will come to you before summer’s end to ask the exact same thing, he cannot be pleased with what happened a month ago. Indeed, I am surprised he has not thought of it before, the boy would surely have confided in him about his unexpected dreams. For us, it is also an opportunity to learn more about the boy. It would be wise of you to try to befriend him,” Snape’s flabbergasted expression did not halt Voldemort in his speech. “I do understand your difficulties with his looking so similar to his father. But he is not a clone of James Potter. He is his own person and we will not win this war with inaccurate character assessments.”
Snape looked disgusted when he next spoke, “How poor a spy I am not to have noticed your secret conclave with Dumbledore.” At Voldemort’s raised eyebrow, Snape continued sourly, “You have stolen his script.” Voldemort chuckled, a disturbingly high and weak sound.
“I do not care how you do this Severus. Wait for Dumbledore to approach you or suggest it yourself. That boy must Occlude as well or this link will forever be a weak spot in my defence. Without Occlusion he is able to see what I see though I only have the ability to send him visions, which will now be ineffectual, and true possession of his body is untenable.”
Snape bowed his acquiescence. “I shall try, my lord.”
“You will succeed.” Voldemort sipped again at his glass of Scottish nectar and motioned for Snape to retake his chair. “On to other matters; how is your position with Dumbledore and his Order?”
Snape visibly gathered himself as he retook his seat. “The Order members vary between outright distrust and hatred to mild uncertainty and dislike. The old fool, however, trusts me completely. That is enough.”
“Even after last month’s,” Voldemort looked grim, “fiasco?”
“Dumbledore feels I should have investigated further but accepts that I believed the squatty pink toad had the situation in hand and would hold the boy and his friends in detention the entire evening. The others are not so certain but have no choice but to accept Dumbledore’s judgement.” Snape gave a smirk at this final pronouncement.
“It is curious how fast the Order arrived at the scene, especially since they should not have been there at all.” Voldemort was gazing intently at Snape who immediately rid himself of his smirk and held the eye contact.
“I have found out nothing more since, my lord. I am inclined to believe Shacklebolt when he says it was an extremely lucky coincidence that he had to return to his office that evening. He obviously noticed the lack of guard and soon had the Order on alert.” Snape paused before adding, “The Order is mainly composed of bleeding heart Gryffindor fools; I am confident I would have detected a leak or spy by now if there were one. If I had known…”
“Yes, yes, Severus, no doubt it would have been useful to have you aware of the trap but you are too close to Dumbledore and I cannot allow all my plans to be dangling in front of him like apples ripe for picking.” Another sip of the whiskey and Voldemort continued, “You should, however, have used that formidable intellect of yours and realised something was amiss. However, you have already been punished for this and we shall not re-visit old ground.” Snape turned slightly ashen as he mutely nodded. Voldemort continued, “The lesson on keeping great plans from you has also been learnt, has it not?”
Snape did not seem to regain his colour but answered, “Indeed, my lord. Though I am unsure of how...”
“I understand your doubts, Severus. However, he will do fine with you and Bella,” Snape’s faint sneer at the name was ignored, “to guide him. And if he fails, why, that is why you have been informed; because you will not fail, will you?”
And to this Snape simply looked deep into his lord’s eyes and said, “I will not, my lord.”
Voldemort drained his glass and nodded at his servant to do the same. Snape did so with a grimace for the burning liquid. Voldemort laughed again, “You need to learn how to drink the good stuff, Severus. In any case, we are finished here. Go back and report to Dumbledore on Meddlehurst. Start working on giving our dear Harry Occlumency lessons. And, Severus, it would not be remiss of you to begin making ‘friends’ in the Order; the more sources of information available to us in the time we have left, the better.”
Snape looked aghast at this last order but, nonetheless, nodded, bowed and made his exit.