Severus followed Lucius out of the dungeons in Malfoy Manor. He wished there were another way out of this horrible situation. If he were the only person he had to consider in this equation of life and death, he would rather die than know that his body would be used for who knew what horrors.

Lucius let him to a large atrium, where the other Death Eaters stood in a semi-circle. Torches burned behind them, casting eerie shadows. Lucius gestured for Severus to stand at the focus of the hyperbola, and pressed on his shoulder. Severus knelt, hanging his head and palms out, as a sign of his good will. His breathing quickened, becoming shallow, and Severus had to internally calm himself before he hyperventilated.

Nagini slithered from the shadows behind the Death Eaters and seemed to inspect him with a critical eye. Severus wanted to back away. He found the snake intimidating, from the first time he saw her, and she was only that much greater a threat to him now.

"Is there any other way?" Severus pleaded, as he searched Bellatrix's face. She shook her head, and Severus allowed his eyes to wander back to Nagini.

"Then let us begin!" she cried, raising a knife above her head. Severus instinctively cringed away.

.oO-Oo.

"Damn, damn, damn, and damn," Sirius hissed as he finally found a way into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. What he wanted to go to hell Sirius wasn't quite sure. The Death Eaters would be a good start though. Dumbledore would be another good choice. He'd changed the wards around the school, and Sirius had taken hours trying to find a way through them. But at last he'd found a way, and quietly, he changed into his animagus form, as to be less recognizable.

Stealthily, he made his way through the school hallways he knew so well from his own childhood. He would have liked to see Dumbledore and tear the man apart, but he couldn't exactly bark the password out, and even if he became human again, momentarily, he also didn't know the password.

His former head of house would do nicely. McGonnagall would help. She always did. She was an order member, and if he remembered correctly, she and Snape also had something of a close friendship, not to mention she was also Harry's head of house. She was the perfect choice, connected to everyone involved. He sneaked to her office and pushed the door open with his nose and awaited her return from the Great Hall.

A few minutes later, Sirius was not disappointed. Minerva pushed her door open and stepped in. Without looking up, she closed it behind her, and Sirius morphed back into his human form.

"Sirius Black!" Minerva cried when she saw him. "What - ? How - ?"

"It's Harry," Sirius began, and his tone told Minerva just how serious the situation was. "He's in the hands of Death Eaters."

"Albus just told me," she said. "He's planning a rescue mission with Remus and the others from the Order."

"Minerva, Harry gave himself to save me!" Sirius pleaded. "I need to be involved in this, but I can't do it alone. Harry needs help now. Not after Dumbledore has managed to contact all his Order members. I need you to help me. They're planning to bring back You-Know-Who and they're going to use Harry as bait for Snape."

"They already have," Minerva replied. "That's how Albus knows."

"Snape's already there?"

"Yes," Minerva assured him. "Albus couldn't stop him."

"Then maybe we're already too late," Sirius said. "But we have to try! He's my godson. I promised James and Lily I would protect him."

"Of course, Sirius," Minerva said quietly. "I have promised to protect him too. And poor Severus. You're right, I can't stand by and see either of them be hurt if I can do something about it. Let's go."

.oO-Oo.

It was an ancient ritual, Severus realized. The spell wasn't even in Latin, but rather Aramaic. Bellatrix held Nagini by the back of her head, and came over to Severus.

"Do you, Severus Snape, consent to be the vessel for the Dark Lord's horcrux?"

"I do," Severus said, still kneeling on the cold stone floor. While muttering more of the spell, Bellatrix took her knife and stabbed Nagini in the skull. The snake thrashed and contracted and then lay still.

A wisp of white then came from Nagini's mouth and coiled its way towards Severus. He looked fearfully at what he knew to be a fraction of the Dark Lord's soul. It waited expectantly in front of his mouth, which he didn't open. He looked towards Bellatrix and the others with disgust.

After a moment, the wisp chose to go up his nose instead. Severus screamed in agony and held his head as though it were ready to fall apart. A minute later, he quieted and looked around. He appeared the same. Nothing had changed. Even his eyes looked the same.

"Bella," he said softly, "of course, Bella." His voice was even the same, but the words seemed unnatural to come from Severus. The spell must have worked. "Thank you for bringing me alive again."

"That is our duty, my Lord," she replied, bowing and backing away slightly.

"I must say," he continued, "an interesting choice of body. How did you manage it?"

"Harry Potter is in the dungeons, my Lord," Lucius replied. "Snape couldn't bare to let his son be tortured and gave himself up to us."

"What a weakness love is," Voldemort commented as he began to inspect his new body. "This man was capable of so much, but his love of the Mudblood, and then her son has been his downfall at every turn." The Death Eaters assented.

Severus was aware of everything that happened, everything that was being said. He could hear the Dark Lord's words, and he could see everything the Dark Lord could see. He simply couldn't control his body. It was like watching a movie, he thought. You could see everything, hear everything, but you couldn't change the outcome of the story.

"Let me see the boy," Voldemort ordered. His followers lead him to Harry. "Be gone, all of you," Voldemort said as soon as Lucius had opened the holding cell. Quietly, they retreated, leaving their master alone with Harry.

Harry looked up and saw the Death Eaters and Snape come down the stairs. What looked like Snape, at least. He held himself tall and proudly, but then, Snape did that too. His eyes were cruel, but then, so were Sanpe's.

"Be gone, all of you," Snape said. Certainly not Snape. Harry had been trying to let it sink in, what Snape had told him, that the next time he saw his guardian, Snape wouldn't be himself. He wasn't sure what that meant, but Harry wasn't stupid, no matter what people said. Something had happened, and it appeared from the way the Death Eaters were behaving that while the man in front of him looked like his potions professor, it most certainly was Voldemort himself.

Harry scrambled to his feet, the better to defend himself, he figured. His breathing was fast, and Snape - no, Voldemort - stepped closer to him, his eyes boring through Harry. Harry knew that gaze, and was terrified.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked, his fear apparent in his voice. He backed into the far corner of his cell, still watching Voldemort's every movement.

"We're enemies, Harry Potter," Voldemort said, stopping his advance for a moment. "We have been from the beginning. I'll kill you, yes, but remember, the last time we spoke, you were more than willing to give yourself, wholly, over to me. I'm sure you recall?"

"To save Snape!" Harry replied. Voldemort took a few more steps toward him.

"I intend to take you up on that offer yet," Voldemort whispered, now close enough to touch Harry. He reached out and grabbed Harry by the chin to force the boy to look at his face, Snape's face.

"No, no, don't, please don't!" Harry began to plead. He didn't think he could take it while the man who would hurt him looked like Snape, even if he knew it wasn't. Voldemort simply looked Harry over and began to unbutton the boy's shirt.

"No, stop!" Harry cried out again, struggling against Voldemort. "Don't do it! Stop! You can't do this!" Harry's voice became increasingly panicked as Voldemort continued undressing him. Harry stood shirtless in front of Voldemort, still pleading. "Dear God, this can't be happening," Harry muttered quietly.

"But it is," Voldemort replied, grinning cruelly. He turned Harry so that the boy faced the wall. Harry clung to the ragged stone, because if he didn't, he feared he would collapse. His pulse was faster than he ever remembered it being. His knees were weak and he felt warm. Harry knew he was getting ready to faint, and he was still deciding if he should fight it or not. As if to make the decision for him, Voldemort grabbed him by his mop of hair and held him upright.

"No passing out on me," he hissed quietly in Harry's ear. Harry nodded a few centimeters.

"Please don't," Harry murmured, already knowing his pleas would go unanswered. "I know you're in there, Professor, don't let him do this!"

"Snape can't do a thing to stop me," Voldemort whispered. "Oh, you're right, he's here, buried in the back of my - our? - head, but he can't stop me, no matter how hard he tries." Harry sobbed once, twice, and tried to stop. It wouldn't do to cry now. Snape had done everything he could to try to protect him. It wasn't Snape's fault it wasn't enough. It wasn't Snape's fault he'd been so foolish as to run off to save Sirius without a second thought.

"Stop it, stop it!" he cried out between unbridled sobs and whimpers of distress. "I know you can stop it, sir. You're strong, you can stop it. Protect me, Dad!"

Harry turned and Voldemort blinked at him. His face began to contort in agony, and he fell to the ground, where he began to writhe. It looked like someone had suddenly put him under the Cruciatus but there was no one around. Harry went over to the man and knelt beside him. Then he lay still.

"Professor?" he whispered, barely ready to touch the body. "Sir?" Harry reached out and put his hand on Snape's chest. "Professor?" he tried again. There was no response. "Professor!"

Harry didn't even notice two figures rush down the flight of stairs, one male, one female, both with wands drawn, and stop dead at the sight before them.

"You can't leave me!" Harry screamed as he began to cry. He grabbed Snape's robes and weakly shook them. "You can't die. I need you." Harry laid his head on Snape's robes, trying to comfort himself a little bit. "You can't leave me," he sobbed again. "I love you, Dad, don't leave me." Harry closed his eyes and sobbed quietly over the dead body of his father, unable to accept the fact that he was alone once again.

Minerva and Sirius looked on the scene, not intervening, because they had no words to console Harry.