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Into the Fold by Pasi [Reviews - 4]

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Late Winter/Early Spring, 1980

"Yes, Travers, I do very much want them dead," said Voldemort.

There were those among the Death Eaters who enjoyed hearing those words. Severus wasn't one of them. He would have followed the Lord's order to kill, were he given it, without a great deal of difficulty. He hoped. Torture was another story. He fervently hoped he wasn't given that order. But a Killing Curse to the heart, quick, clean, virtually painless--he thought he could do that. But he wouldn't enjoy hearing he had to do it, the way Travers so obviously did.

"You'll have your wish, my lord," said Travers softly.

And he might, since Travers's wish so clearly coincided with the Lord's. The McKinnons were tough, having thrown off several attempts on their lives before this. The Prewetts had been tough too. People had tried to kill them more than once, but once, Severus reflected, was all you needed to succeed.

"Let's hope so," Voldemort said, equally softly, though to Severus he sounded less sanguine. "And soon."

The Lord turned from Travers to Macnair, who sat at the far end of Lucius's drawing-room table, as if he wanted to avoid the Dark Lord's attention. If so, he failed.

"And I wanted you to find the Longbottoms for me, Macnair. Don't you remember?"

Macnair gulped. "Yes, my lord."

"You're not as capable as some, Walden. Perhaps not even as loyal."

"No, my lord!" Macnair said, then went white, as if he realised how that sounded. "I mean--I am the most loyal of your followers!"

Voldemort laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to punish you. Not yet, anyway. I'm going to give you some help. Bellatrix, here. She knows the Longbottoms better than you do. She was in Frank's year. Let her be your partner in crime."

Bellatrix should have revelled in such an assignment, as Travers revelled in his. Instead, to Severus's surprise, she looked irritated. To his greater surprise, she didn't try to hide her irritation.

Perhaps she didn't like Macnair.

"Snape knows the Longbottoms as well as I do, my lord. He was in Alice's year. Why not send him?"

Bellatrix looked at Severus with a curious mixture of triumph and resentment. Severus looked back without trying to hide his surprise. Since when had she begun questioning the Dark Lord's orders? Did she shrink from killing too? Somehow Severus doubted it.

Voldemort turned to her, also with surprise. But that was soon replaced by his smouldering, dangerous anger. "Do you object to my order, Bella?"

Severus's surprise turned to astonishment, for she looked not in the least frightened. "No, my lord. But he has been one of us since January, and it is now March. When does he get a job to do? When does he begin pulling his weight?"

An electric tension filled the drawing room. Severus wasn't the only one bracing himself.

Voldemort smiled, as if, impossibly, he were enjoying her rebellion. "Believe me, Bella, I understand your impatience. I almost sympathise." His smile vanished. "But I decide how and when to deploy the Death Eaters. Not you. Do you understand?"

Bellatrix composed her expression instantly, into remorseful deference. She knew she'd gone as far as she could. "Yes, my lord."

"Good," said Voldemort. He looked out over the table, at the rest of the Death Eaters. "The rest of you have your assignments--and, I trust, have no objection to them?"

"No--no, my lord!" came back the hasty murmurs.

"Then get to work."

With a hurried scraping of chairs and shuffling of feet, the Death Eaters headed for the door. Behind Bellatrix's back, Voldemort eyed Severus. From that, Severus understood he was to stay behind. He lagged at the end of the line, so that no one else noticed that the door closed before he had gone through it.

Voldemort regarded the portraits of Malfoys gazing superciliously down at him and Severus. "This place is rather overbearing. I do like Lucius's library better. Let's go there."

Severus preferred it too, in spite of some of the memories he had made there. He followed Voldemort into the library. The Dark Lord closed the door, lit a fire in the hearth with a flick of his wand and motioned Severus to a chair. After seating himself, he picked up the newspaper and a journal that lay on the table between them: the Daily Prophet and the Chronicle of Wizarding Education.

"I told you the last time we met that there was a teaching position opening up at Hogwarts," said Voldemort.

He'd also said that he thought Severus was suited to it. In the Dark Lord's presence, Severus had allowed himself to dream. In Potions and Physics the next day, between the brewings, the deliveries and the emergency calls, the dream had slipped from his mind.

"It's for a Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Voldemort. "I'd like you to apply."

Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. The comfort, the prestige, the food alone.... Since leaving Hogwarts, he'd never tasted better food.

But Voldemort, as far as Severus could tell, did not particularly look after the comfort of his servants. Applying for a job, moreover, didn't mean you'd get it.

The Lord picked up the Prophet and turned to the back pages.

"Here's the advertisement: 'Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, wanted:'" he read aloud. "'Instructor in Defence Against the Dark Arts. Experience in countering Dark magic in high-risk situations required. The successful candidate will demonstrate proficiency in classroom teaching and occasional research under the direction of the Headmaster. Competitive salary and benefits offered. Please send cover letter and CV to the attention of Headmaster A.P.W.B. Dumbledore, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.'"

Voldemort snapped the Prophet shut and dropped it on top of the Chronicle. "Dumbledore has placed the same advertisement in the Chronicle, and in a number of other educational and professional journals, Lucius tells me."

Severus only half-heard the last. Experience in countering Dark magic in high-risk situations? Proficiency in classroom teaching? Defence Against the Dark Arts had been Severus's favourite subject, even more so than Potions, but it had to be said: "Are you sure I qualify, my lord?"

"Why not? You've brewed potions against Dark magic in emergencies at St Mungo's. That should count as a high-risk situation. And what about Auror Dawlish? You healed him of Sectumsempra when the Casualty Department's Healer-in-Charge couldn't. Besides, as demanding as the advertisement sounds, I know Dumbledore's desperate. There's a high turnover in that job."

There'd been several Defence professors in Severus's time at Hogwarts, come to think of it. Was it a more stressful position than he'd thought? The "occasional research", perhaps. "There's more to this than my teaching a class at Hogwarts, isn't there, my lord?"

"Of course there is. Despite what Bella may think, I may be sending you into more danger than any of my other Death Eaters."

Danger? As a Hogwarts professor?

"You won't only be minding the children. I want you to keep an eye on Albus Dumbledore for me."

Albus Dumbledore?

Voldemort laughed quietly, at Severus's surprise, no doubt, which he wouldn't have had to sift through Severus's mind to find. "Yes. Albus Dumbledore. You'll be my agent at Hogwarts, the spy I place next to Albus Dumbledore."

Severus could only stare.

"I see you understand the danger. Dumbledore may look like Father Christmas, but he is not. He blithely sends members of his Order of the Phoenix against me, to their certain death. A death I am afraid I cannot always make easy for them. He uses those who depend upon him for approval, affection, protection, support. Now that is the mark of a wizard who can kill." Voldemort smiled. "Trust me, I know. And how can we know what he did in the war against Grindelwald? Other than his heroic duel with the Dark wizard, of course. You weren't born, so you can't know. And I was too preoccupied to pay much attention."

Severus said nothing. The Dark Lord was rationalising. And yet he could envision the Dumbledore Voldemort described.

"He likes his own way," Severus said.

"Yes, he does," said Voldemort. "But in the end, it doesn't matter. What matters is that he stands in my way. I only say these things about Dumbledore to warn you what you're going into. I didn't test you as thoroughly as I'd like to have done, so neither of us can be absolutely sure you'll be safe. Dumbledore's a Legilimens. A reasonably powerful one too. You may know that."

"I've had my suspicions."

"I hope our Occlumency lessons have been enough. You won't be much use to me otherwise."

Severus took that in. "That's providing I'm hired."

"Oh, you have an excellent chance. According to my information, you're the only person who is applying."

The only person-- "How can that be? Everyone wants to be a professor at Hogwarts!"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? Even I gave it a try. But Dumbledore never favoured me. At any rate, I can assure you my information is correct. You are the only one applying for the job. Dumbledore will have to plump for one of his cronies if he turns you down. The governors won't like that. He's done it too often in the past."

Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at the Hogwarts School. Was it really within Severus's reach? Merely for the price of reporting on Dumbledore?

"You have a special relationship with the Headmaster," Voldemort said. "The secret oath you swore to him. The flaming sword."

"What do you want to know about him?" asked Severus.

"Anything. Everything. All that you find notable. You'll be one of his teachers. The closest thing Albus Dumbledore has to family these days."

"Except for the Order of the Phoenix," Severus said, for come to think of it, he didn't know that Dumbledore had any blood relatives.

"I prefer to say the teachers. He doesn't generally kill them off."

Severus couldn't argue with that.

"You do know how to write a cover letter and CV, don't you?" asked Voldemort.

"I had to do it when I applied to St Mungo's," said Severus.

"Oh. I didn't, really, for my first job." Voldemort pointed his wand at the door and it opened. "Off you go, then. If you get an interview, let me know."

"Yes, my lord."

And off Severus went, thinking that spying on Dumbledore as a Hogwarts professor had to be better than killing and torturing, as long as he didn't get caught.


Into the Fold by Pasi [Reviews - 4]

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