"Severus," Narcissa said in a strained whisper, throwing back her hood. "May I speak to you? It's urgent."

The woman looked ragged. Her hair, which was normally set atop her head in regally intricate styles, hung tangled and limp about her face. Dark smudges stained the delicate skin beneath her eyes like vivid bruises. She had lost the arrogant luster that normally ignited his irritation whenever he was in her presence, and Snape couldn't help but feel sorry for the pitiful creature that the woman had become.

"Of course," he murmured, and he stood back to allow her to pass him into the house. Bellatrix, her eyes glinting at Snape from the shadow of her hood, followed close behind without invitation.

"Snape," she said curtly as she passed him.

"Bellatrix," he replied, his lip curling into a mocking sneer as he closed the door behind her with a snap. The urge to reach out and strangle the woman for what she did to his son was almost overwhelming but, with difficulty, he was able to tamp it down.

Snape gestured to the threadbare sofas. Narcissa immediately unclasped her cloak and cast it aside as if it had been trying to choke the life from her, then collapsed upon the sofa and tightly clutched her trembling hands within her lap. Bellatrix lowered her hood slowly, never taking her sharp and suspicious gaze off Snape.

"So," Snape said as he settled himself across from them on the opposite sofa. "What can I do for you?"

"We… we are alone, aren't we?" Narcissa asked in a quavering voice.

"Of course," Snape replied, his gaze now moving to Bellatrix, who had abandoned her post behind her sister and was now wandering the edges of the sitting room, leering at the shabby, well-used furniture and books. She prowled like a predator on the hunt for prey. Although her inspection made him uneasy, he plastered an indifferent, somewhat amused look upon his face.

Suddenly there was a muffled bang from the kitchen, and it was with extreme difficulty that he didn't jump. Thankfully neither of the sisters seemed to have heard it.

Harry… Damn the boy! He must be trying to unlock the spell to the lab. His reckless bravery and foolish pride are going to get him killed!

Rising slowly and easily to his feet Snape murmured, "I've been remiss in my duties as host. Please allow me to retrieve some drinks." And he made his way to the kitchen, being sure not to look too hurried.

But the moment he rounded the corner he hurried to the basement door and managed a wordless, "Muffliato!" He then made sure to make plenty of noise, banging and clinking the glasses as he placed them on the tray with the bottle of wine, just in case. Catching snippets of hissed conversation as he once again entered the sitting room, Snape couldn't help but grimly smile at the predictability of what he heard.

"…must not do this, you cannot trust him!"

"The Dark Lord trusts him, doesn't he?"

"Of course he trusts me," Snape interjected as he poured three glasses of the blood-red wine. "Through all these years, the Dark Lord acknowledges that I have played my part as Dumbledore's stooge very well. Long ago I spun the headmaster a tale of deepest remorse, and the old fool has embraced me with open arms ever since. For fifteen years, he has never stopped trusting the man he believes me to be – therein lies my greatest value to the Dark Lord." He handed them each a filled glass, but as Bellatrix grasped hers, Snape refused to release it as he narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Yes… The Dark Lord trusts me, Bella. You would do well to remember that."

She looked unconvinced as she pulled her glass from his fingers. He raised his wine and saluted her with a sardonic smile.

"To the Dark Lord," he said, draining the glass and secretly praying that the liquid would assuage his nervous tension.

The sisters murmured the same toast as he eased himself slowly back onto the sofa opposite them. Like him, Narcissa drained her glass. But Bellatrix only sipped the dark liquid, her eyes flicking suspiciously over the rim of her goblet between Snape and her sister.

As Snape leaned forward to pour Narcissa more wine, the harried woman took a deep, shuddering breath. Then, as if worried her courage would desert her, she rushed to say, "Severus, I'm sorry to come here like this, I know I ought not to be here. I have been told to say nothing to anyone, but–"

"Then you should hold your tongue!" snarled Bellatrix.

Although his heart was racing, Snape kept his face blank and impassive, not daring to show any clue that he hadn't the faintest hint of what they were talking about.

Narcissa's eyes never left his own. Her face eloquent with despair, she murmured, "I think you are the only one who can help me, Severus. I have nowhere else to turn."

"You have me!" Bellatrix cried as she came around the sofa and fell to her knees before her sister. For the first time that Snape could ever remember, he saw real, human emotion playing on her face. Narcissa cried out in anguish and covered her face with her hands as Bellatrix begged, "Please, Cissy! You don't need to do this! I can speak to the Dark Lord! He calls me his most loyal, his most faithful–"

Remembering the last Death Eater's meeting – and wanting to keep Narcissa talking in order to gather information – Snape delicately inflected his voice to show his disbelief as he asked, "Does he…? Does he still, after the fiasco at the blood traitor's home?"

Bellatrix flushed and whipped around face Snape as she passionately replied, "He knows he can trust me! I, who spent so many years in Azkaban for him!"

"Indeed, that was most admirable of you," Snape responded in a falsely bored voice. Inspecting his fingernails he continued, "Of course, you were completely useless to him in prison, but the gesture was undoubtedly fine."

"Gesture!" Bellatrix shrieked indignantly, but Snape didn't allow her to continue as he leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, staring intently at Narcissa.

"Narcissa," he murmured quietly, despite her sister's continued furious sputtering. The woman slowly raised her face from her hands and gazed at him imploringly as two fat tears slipped silently down her cheeks. "You know your sister's days as the Dark Lord's favorite are over." At this, Bellatrix jumped to her feet, her eyes bulging as she gasped and choked in outrage. Snape paid her no mind and continued, "You've known it since the last Death Eater's meeting. But you came here to ask for my help… Mine, as I am still in a potion close enough to the Dark Lord to offer it."

Narcissa swallowed hard, suddenly looking very nervous. "The Dark Lord wishes no one to know of the plan. It is… very secret. He has forbidden us to speak of it–"

Knowing what the Dark Lord was capable of concerning tabooed words and the enchantments he could place upon them, Snape was quick to interject, "If the Dark Lord has forbidden it, then you ought not to speak."

Narcissa gasped as if he had doused her with a bucket of ice water. Bellatrix seemed just as shocked as her sister, for there were long moments of heavy silence. Snape rose quickly to his feet and turned his back to the women, knowing he would be unable to keep his features calmly schooled in that moment.

The Dark Lord is devising a plan.

This is not good.

Suddenly Bellatrix muttered, "You were told not to talk Narcissa, so hold your silence. Even Snape says so…"

Snape turned around to face them. He knew he was taking a major risk, but he didn't see any other choice. "It so happens that I know of the plan," Snape boldly lied, trying to sound confident. "I am one of the few that the Dark Lord has told."

"I thought you must know!" breathed Narcissa with a glance at her sister. She stood from the sofa and hurried to Snape. "He trusts you so, Severus… Of course you must know about the plan!"

"Youknow about the plan?" asked Bellatrix in disbelief. "You?"

"Certainly," replied Snape. "But what help do you require of me, Narcissa? I'm afraid that if you are imagining that I can persuade the Dark Lord to change his mind, then there is no hope, none at all."

"Severus," she whispered, tears now sliding freely down her pale cheeks. "My son… my only child…" And she began to cry in earnest, gazing beseechingly up at him.

So the plan has something to do with Draco. And it is dangerous, very dangerous…

"If Draco succeeds," Snape responded slowly, choosing his words carefully so as not to give himself away, "then he will be honored above all others."

"But he won't succeed!" sobbed Narcissa. "How can he? He is only a boy, he has no idea what lies in store! It's too dangerous! The Dark Lord himself has not even been able to accomplish the task!" Loosing what little self-restraint she still possessed, Narcissa clutched the front of Snape's robes with a strong grip that belied her small stature, and with wide eyes she began to plead. Snape thought she looked a bit crazed as she looked up at him and cried, "You could do it instead of Draco! You would succeed, of course you would, and the Dark Lord would reward you beyond all of us!"

What has the Dark Lord been unable to accomplish that would cause Narcissa to act as if her son was headed toward certain death?

Looking down into the woman's tearstained face, Snape took another risk and prayed it would garner more information. "The Dark Lord intends me to do it in the end, I think. But he is determined that Draco should try first. You see, in the unlikely event that Draco succeeds, I will be able to remain at Hogwarts a little longer as a spy."

"In other words, it doesn't matter to the Dark Lord if Draco is killed!" Narcissa crumpled, falling at Snape's feet, weeping and moaning on the floor. With a scream of despair she clutched at her tangled hair and wailed, "My son… my only son!"

Thinking of Harry and Jillian, Snape couldn't pretend to himself that he was not moved by the sight of her, as he was now intimately aware of the kind of love that was driving her to madness. He knew firsthand the willingness of a parent to trade their very life, if it meant keeping their child safe. He couldn't help the surge of pity and compassion he felt for the woman's plight.

Before he even realized what he was doing, Snape knelt down next to Narcissa and murmured, "It might be possible for me to help Draco."

What are you doing?! You don't even know what you'd be helping him with, you sentimental imbecile!

But Narcissa was looking at him, her eyes huge. "Severus – oh, Severus – you would help him? Would you look after him, see that he comes to no harm?"

"I…" He could feel Bellatrix starting down at him in doubtful suspicion, and he dared not make eye contact for fear that she would see right through his feeble shields in his moment of nervous uncertainty. Swallowing hard, Snape knew there was no away around Narcissa's question without arousing suspicion. "I can try."

Narcissa seized his hand in both of hers and pressed it to her lips. "If you are there to protect him… Severus, will you swear it? Will you make the Unbreakable Vow?"

Snape's expression went blank, unreadable, although his heart was hammering in his chest hard enough to make him wonder why they couldn't hear it. "The Unbreakable Vow?"

Bellatrix let out a cackle of triumphant laughter before sneering down at Snape. "Aren't you listening, Cissy? Oh, he'll try to help Draco, I'm sure. As long as it doesn't require any risk to his own skin–"

A muffled bang from below followed by the sound of breaking glass caught all of their attentions, and Snape's breath hitched in his chest. Harry was making enough noise that even the Muffliato couldn't conceal it. What in Merlin's name was the boy doing?! Could he not follow a simple direction that would keep his own stupid, stubborn hide safe?

Bellatrix's eyes snapped to his in mistrust. "I thought you said we were alone?" she hissed in an angry whisper.

"Alley cat," he muttered, trying to sound as if it was a common exasperating occurrence. Bellatrix didn't seem convinced however, and with wand raised, she began to stalk slowly toward the kitchen.

Snape's heart stopped. Spinner's End was massively protected from the outside, but Snape had never bothered to raise the house's defenses from within. As hidden as the lab was, it wouldn't take much for Bellatrix to discover the truth.

My family. Oh my God…

Narcissa's tear-filled blue eyes were fixed upon her sister, but she continued to clutch desperately at Snape's hand. The terror of seeing Bellatrix advance threateningly toward the people he loved fueled him to speak before he'd even had a chance to consider the consequences.

"I'll do it."

"What?" Bellatrix spun around to stare down at him.

"I'll make the Unbreakable Vow."

Bellatrix's mouth fell open, and even Narcissa seemed shocked as he moved to grasp her by the wrist. She looked down at his hand on her forearm for a long, silent moment before her fingers mirrored the gesture, joining them for the spell.

"You will need your wand, Bella… if you consent to be our Bonder, that is." Snape muttered, trying to impart as much of his typical cold sneer into his words as his pounding heart would allow. Whatever it takes to keep her from heading toward the kitchen. I'll do anything she wants…

Looking astonished, Bellatrix drew her wand and stepped forward. Snape desperately tried to hide the relief flooding through him. Bellatrix stood over them, and the tip of her wand began to glow as she placed it lightly upon their linked hands.

"Will you, Severus Snape, watch over Draco Malfoy, as he attempts to fulfill the Dark Lord's wishes?" she murmured.

Once again, the fact that he had absolutely no idea what he was swearing to hit him like a kick to the gut from a rampaging centaur. But his hesitance was beginning to arouse another suspicious look from Bellatrix, so he had no other choice but to continue.

"I will."

A thin tongue of brilliant light shot from her wand and wound its way around he and Narcissa's joined hands.

Bellatrix continued. "And will you, to the best of your ability, protect him from harm?"

"I will," Snape murmured again.

A second tongue of brilliant light burst from her wand and interlinked with the first, making a fine, glowing chain.

Narcissa suddenly spoke up, and although tears still rolled down her face and her hand trembled within his own, her voice was strong. "And… should it prove necessary… if it seems Draco will fail… will you carry out the deed that the Dark Lord has ordered Draco to perform?"

Snape's grip tightened on her forearm. His chest constricted painfully so that he could barely draw breath. What in Merlin's name am I swearing to…? With both sister's eyes on him, he did his best to sound as normal as possible when he muttered, "I will…"

A last tongue of brilliant light issued forth from the wand and bound itself thickly around their clasped hands like a fiery rope. The glow intensified for a moment, and Snape could clearly feel the heat of it against his skin as he squinted against the sudden intensity.

Then the brilliant light dimmed, and the chain seemed to melt into his and Narcissa's hands. Snape smothered the gasp that almost escaped him when he felt the chain latch onto something deep inside and settle there, threatening and perfectly poised to end his life if he did not fulfill the terms of the Vow.

"Draco should be proud," said Bellatrix indifferently as she tucked her wand away. "The Dark Lord is granting him a great honor. And I will say this for Draco: he isn't shrinking away from his duty, he seems glad of a chance to prove himself, excited at the prospect–"

"That's because he is a teenager and feels invincible!" Narcissa cried shrilly as she clambered to her feet, obviously still rattled by Draco's plight – even with Snape now on her son's side. She stalked threateningly toward her sister, daring her to say anything more. "There has been no grown wizard that has been able to accomplish the task! How can my son – an underage, unqualified wizard – still just a boy! – possibly do it when neither Grindlewald nor the Dark Lord have been able to kill Dumbledore?!"

The sisters were so intent on each other that they did not notice when Snape staggered at Narcissa's words as he rose to his feet.

KILL Dumbledore?

No… Oh God, no! What have I done?!

"You should be proud!" said Bellatrix ruthlessly to her sister. She stared at Narcissa with a disgusted look on her face. "If I had sons, I would be glad to give them up in service to the Dark Lord!"

The horror of the realization of what he'd just sworn to, combined with the weight of the Vow's chain wrapped tightly around his heart, made Snape reckless, driving all thought of caution from his mind.

"Such a ridiculous sentiment so easily thrown about from a woman that was never able to produce a child of her own!" he spat at Bellatrix, his raging emotions bubbling perilously close to the surface.

Bellatrix stared at him, her face paling beneath his heated glare. But then her eyes narrowed and her cheeks began to burn crimson. "How dare you speak to me like that–"

"You are a disgrace to your house, Bellatrix! You spew such repulsive venom at your sister, accuse her of being disloyal, when all she wants is to protect her son. At least she did not fail in her duty to produce a Pureblood child–!"

He didn't have a chance to finish.

Bellatrix let out a shriek of rage and began rapidly firing spells at him from across the room. He was prepared for her attack, had even hoped for it in his current frame of mind. But the terror he felt – for his family, for Dumbledore, for the very future of the Wizarding world – was like shards of glass cutting painfully away at his brain. Snape's mind was not solely on the fight and his reactions were sluggish. In a matter of moments, he was hit.

"Crucio!"

He crumpled instantly, his limbs flailing as a thousand heated knives pierced him, flaying his skin from his very bones. He was no stranger to this particular pain, having known it intimately after serving the Dark Lord for so long. The pain helped to silence the chaos in his mind, allowing him to focus clearly for the first time since he'd locked his family in the lab below.

Bellatrix's face was contorted in rage, her eyes bloodshot, her mouth twisted in fury. A look of demented triumph glazed her eyes as she approached him, her wand pointed to continue her torment. Snape knew that she enjoyed hearing the screams of her victims, so he clenched his jaw and refused to make a sound as the agony continued to tear through him.

"You bastard! Now you have nothing to say?" she screamed down at him. "I swear I will make you scream before I kill you, Snape!"

His hands twisted in on themselves, his long, skillful fingers hideously contorting into claw-like points that forced his fingers to pop and crack as the bones dislocated. But still, Snape refused to scream.

"Bella, don't!"

Narcissa was suddenly there beside Bellatrix, desperately attempting to pull her sister away from Snape's thrashing body. Bellatrix turned, interrupting the spell as she hurled her sister away from her. She shoved the other woman with such force that her sister crashed into a bookcase, causing it to shudder and teeter dangerously above her as she tumbled to the floor. Narcissa was knocked out cold by the impact.

Snape gasped a deep, rattling breath as the spell was unintentionally released. He awkwardly grasped his wand in his swollen, trembling fingers and sent a hail of sharp ice shards at Bellatrix as he tried to knock her off her feet.

"Glacius Testa!" he muttered in a weak voice.

The large chunks of ice pummeled her body before breaking apart against the wall. A particularly heavy chunk hit her squarely in the side of the head, staggering her. Snape repeated the spell as he desperately tried to get to his feet. But Bellatrix was not as dazed by the heavy impact as he'd hoped.

"Incendio!" she cried, flinging the spell over her shoulder as she attempted to protect herself from the chunks of ice bombarding her body. The spell flew well past the ice shards, instead igniting a bookcase along the far wall. The flames quickly grew to devour the dry, aged pages of the extensive library.

Snape's gaze was fixed by the fire as it jumped from one book case to the next, so much so that he didn't hear Bellatrix's shout.

"CRUCIO MAXIMA!"

Crumpling to the floor once again, his limbs stiffened in agony and his back arched off the ground. He heard a piercing, guttural scream, only realizing it came from him when something in his raw throat tore open and he almost choked on his own blood. His body began to thrash and buck uncontrollably. Within seconds his mind was no longer his own, and mental torment merged with the physical anguish, delving into his brain with the force of an axe to the skull.

Jillian being passed around among the particular few Death Eaters that enjoyed their sickening predilection for children. He could clearly hear her begging them to stop as she cried out for her mother… for him…

"NO! Let her go! I'll fucking kill you!" But his struggles to get to her were as useless as trying to capture water with a sieve. The more he fought to get to her, the father away she seemed to be.

Suddenly the scene changed. Lily was surrounded by a pack of werewolves, her eyes huge and fearful as they transformed around her. She was calling his name, but her pleading cries for help were drowned out by their snarling and snapping jaws. Without warning they converged and tore her to pieces, and her bloodcurdling screams brought him to hysterics.

"NOOOO! I'm coming – oh my God – no! LILY!" But his struggles were in vain once again.

Now it was Harry, crumpled and bleeding at the Dark Lord's feet as the Death Eaters gathered eerily around them. His son was battered and bloody as he repeatedly called for Snape in a rasping whisper.

"Dad…"

"Harry, I'm here!"

Harry seemed to hear him, and it was even worse than the pointless struggles of before. His son tried desperately to crawl toward him to safety. But the Dark Lord laughed as he pushed Harry flat with a dirty foot. Harry was too weak to fight back, and the Dark Lord nudged him with his toes and flipped him over to stare down into his pain-filled, hazy eyes.

"GET OFF HIM, you fucking monster!" Snape screamed. "I'll rip you limb from limb, you snakelike bastard!" But the Dark Lord did not hear him.

"There is no escape, Harry Potter. You will die. And all those you claim to love will perish alongside you."

"Dad… Help me…"

The Dark Lord raised his wand, the red in his eyes gleaming as a malicious smile played upon his lipless mouth. "Avada–"

"Bellatrix, stop!"

A body collided with Bellatrix above him, knocking the woman off her feet. Snape rolled to his side and vomited the moment he was released from the curse, panting loudly and choking on the smoke billowing throughout the sitting room. His limbs continued to tremble and jerk uncontrollably, and Snape was too weak to do anything more than lay there gasping for breath.

"Stop, Bella!" Narcissa cried as she threw her arms around her bucking sister, heaving her away from Snape and desperately trying to prevent Bellatrix from attacking him again. Blood trickled from beneath her silver hair into her eye, but still she refused to let go. "Think of Draco!" she urged. "He needs Severus' help – you have to stop this! We need him!"

Bellatrix threw her sister off with an incensed scream, panting fiercely as she glared down at Snape's prone form. She stood over him for what seemed like an eternity as the fire began to rage in the house around them. As Snape stared helplessly up at her, the flames engulfing all his worldly possessions behind her, Bellatrix truly looked like the devil she was.

With a final, feral scream, she spat at him as he lay sprawled at her feet. Then spun on the spot and was gone.

"Severus!" Narcissa dropped to her knees next to him, glancing fearfully at the engulfing flames. "Your house… We must go!"

"No," he gasped, but the word was so feeble that she didn't hear it. No! My family! I WON'T LEAVE THEM! He screamed, but it was useless, for the words were only inside his head and his traitorous body was too depleted and weak to actually speak them.

Using her wand, Narcissa was able to get him to his feet before wrapping an arm about his waist and forcing him to stumble out the front door. He tried desperately to struggle away from her, but was so weak that he barely made it outside before he collapsed again.

Narcissa looked frantic as she knelt next to him. "Severus… Your house… I'm so sorry." The orange flames reflected in her wide eyes as she continued, "I can't stay – the Dark Lord… I have to go. I'll… I'll try to get a message to Dumbledore, I give you my word. I'm sorry, Severus." And as she stood with a last glance at his burning house, she spun on the spot and was gone.

Once he was finally alone, the panic threatened to overwhelm him. He had to get back inside! He had to get his family!

But his treacherous body refused to cooperate. His hands screaming in agony, Snape crawled the few feet to the side of the house and attempted to pull himself to his feet. But his boneless legs refused to hold him, and he collapsed into the dirt. Refusing to give in, he used his mangled hands to push himself against the wall and to his feet once more. Sagging limply against the old wood, flecks of old paint flaking off onto his cheek and hair, he made his way as fast as he was able toward the door.

Despite the dizziness that threatened to bring him to his knees as he stumbled along, he finally made it. The heat was unimaginable, the smoke thick as it stung his eyes. His swollen fingers clumsily pulled the collar of his robe over his nose and mouth as he pushed forward.

The library was an inferno, the books an absolute feast for the all-consuming fire. But Snape didn't care. He would gladly sacrifice it all as long as it meant his family would get out alive and unhurt. I'll trade it all for them.

"DAD!"

The sudden cry brought him up short. With great effort Snape lifted his head, and his eyes met the wide, terrified gaze of his son. Lily and Jillian stood directly behind him. The acute relief that flooded through him was almost painful in its intensity, and he found himself suddenly dizzy as he cried out in gratitude, unable to suppress his emotion. He stumbled toward them, and Harry rushed into the burning room to help him.

"You're safe! Thank you, God!" Snape muttered, his little strength finally leaving him as he almost collapsed within his son's arms.

"Dad! Come on, we have to get–"

Suddenly there was a hideous, rupturing crack from above, and their gazes snapped upward. Instant understanding caused Snape to use the last of his strength to hurl Harry aside as the ceiling gave way. The last thing he heard as fiery beams crashed down around him were the gut wrenching, horrified screams of his family.