Peter Pettigrew, while never quite asтАжcommittedтАж as Bellatrix, had nevertheless been a reasonable second choice. He was too cowardly to try anything, even against a Dark Lord too weak even to manifest for a moment. But before Voldemort could manage to Summon the rat from the nearby castle, he had heard of Pettigrew's death from the little Hogwarts brats who played along the edge of the Forest. He hadn't known that Snape, that bastard, had been responsible for the wizard's death, but now that it had been admitted, by Harry Potter no less, Voldemort burned even hotter with the need for revenge.
He couldn't trust any of the Death Eaters still at large, like Lucius Malfoy. The only way Malfoy could have managed to remain a free man was to have renounced the Dark Lord and/or claimed to have been an unwilling puppet all along. While Voldemort might appreciate the man's cunning in taking advantage of Dumbledore's daft tendency to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, that didn't mean he would trust Malfoy, given his current weakness. Lucius was obviously out for his own interests, and if he thought he could exploit the Dark Lord's current situation to his own ends, he would. No, Lucius Malfoy was not someone to rely upon, at least not until Voldemort was in a position to Crucio him into loyalty.
Voldemort gnashed his incorporeal teeth as he thought that, not too long ago, he might have turned to Snape himself as one of his most trustworthy Death Eaters. Had that little idiot not walked right past him, mindlessly boasting of Snape's treachery, Voldemort might never have known the extent of his minion's perfidy. Well, now that he knew, he was going to do something about it.
He would have Snape killed, in a spectacularly brutal and painful fashion, leaving there no doubt in anyone's mind who was responsible. That should put the fear back into those stupid sheep who were the Wizarding public, not to mention some of his less steadfast Death Eaters. With a few more horrific murders, even someone like Lucius Malfoy would think twice before emulating Snape's turncoat behavior.
"Nagini, my strong and fearless one, I have an important task for you. Listen well as I tell you all about the castle Hogwarts, so that you may slip inside and dole out my justice to a filthy traitorтАж"
TBCтАж
*Chapter 50*: Chapter 50
Snape was absently marking papers and wondering what else he could do about the Parkinson girl. It was more than halfway through the term, and she remained abstracted. Her grades were marginal and the prefects had noted that although they were trying to keep a close watch over her, she was beginning to slip off to some hidey hole they had thus far been unable to locate. He had left instructions that she be sent to him when she next surfaced тАУ it was time to see if Poppy could find some answers.
Perhaps the mind-healers he planned to take Harry to see should consult on Parkinson as well. Snape sighed and wondered if he was responsible for both children's incipient breakdowns. He was, after all, in charge of both of them, and so far this year no other first years had showed similar difficulties adjusting to school life.
What else could or should he be doing? And why didn't the other Heads seem to have these problems? Did he drive his snakes too hard? He heard a creak and glanced up. "Harry?"
There was no answering shout, and with a shake of his head, he returned to his papers. Just when he thought he had seen all the possible permutations of wrong answers, his students came up with some new idiocy. Why did he do this to himself? Other Potion Masters only had to worry about blowing themselves up while experimenting with new draughts; they didn't have to prevent a classful of willfully ignorant dunderheads from blowing up or poisoning each other, let alone act in loco parentis for the spotty, moody creatures. He really needed to rethink his career plans.
Another noise had him looking up sharply. "Harry? Is that you?"
Silence.
He glanced at the time and frowned. The brat should be back from the Forest soon. At this time of year, it grew dark early, and surely even Hagrid wouldn't be so half-witted as to be out in the Forest with a first year after sunset. Even as the thought occurred to him, his mind filled with images of the plethora of Dark creatures that roamed the Forest at night and would be all too happy to snack on a Wizarding child.
Distracted as he was, he nearly missed the strange slithery noise behind him. He surged upright, his hand snatching for his wand, but tight coils encircled him with such breathtaking speed that he was trapped in his chair, his legs bound together, his arms pinned against his body, before he could complete the motion. He coudn't even manage to cry out as the bands immediately grew so tight that he could only take shallow breaths. He twisted his head trying to see what had so completely incapacitated him with such stunning speed.
"Sssssso, you are the faithlessss traitor my master ssssent me to kill. Ssssslowly."
The hissing in his ear nearly made his heart stop. He remembered that sound all too well, though it had been a decade since he had heard it last. Nagini, he thought frantically, but howтАж?
He tried to imagine what wandless spells might prove useful but then the enormous serpent lowered her head and he choked as he felt her tongue flicker against his carotid artery. "Evil ssspy," Nagini crooned, lightly drawing her fangs down the rapidly pulsing blood vessel. "You will die in agony for the wrongs you have done my master."
Snape had no idea what the snake was saying, but the low hissing, coupled with the lightly raking fangs, made it clear that this was not a social call. He closed his eyes, trying not to imagine the hideous pain her corrosive venom would cause.
He had watched Nagini kill many times on Voldemort's orders, and her victims' remembered shrieks of agony played loudly in his ears. Apparently Voldemort тАУ or at least his familiar тАУ wasn't nearly as far away as he had hoped.
With her fangs already playing over his throat, Snape knew there was no spell that could help him. The instant she was startled, she would strike, and with a strike in that region, the poison would be at his brain in seconds. That was assuming she didn't just tear out his throat with her fangs тАУ with her size that was a distinct possibility. Either way, he was already beyond hope of rescue.
He had seen enough to know that Nagini's poison was incredibly painful. With a bite at his throat, he would die quickly, but not quickly enough to be spared the hideous suffering. For a moment panic overwhelmed him, and he struggled, but the snake merely tightened her coils and he broke off with a low moan as his ribs felt as if they were being crushed.
The certainty of his imminent death helped, oddly, to combat the terror. He had never really expected to survive Lily. He only regretted that after all that he had been through, his death would be so meaningless: murdered in his office as тАУ Merlin help him! тАУ he graded homework papers. He would have preferred to go out in battle, preferably taking several Death Eaters with him. So much for his finely honed dueling skills. After all that, he'd been surprised by a snake and killed without managing a single spell in his own defense.