let's say snape did ask voldemort to spare harry potter, and, by some miracle, doesn't get cursed on the spot. what then?
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches..." the hag hisses in Severus' memories, dragged to the forefront of his mind by the Dark Lord's consuming, imposing power. "Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies..."
He stumbles backward as the Dark Lord releases him, jabs a heel into the ground to force his body into stillness. The contact is good, grounding. He is here for a purpose, and he will not make a fool of himself before the Dark Lord.
"I know of the prophecy already, Severus," the Dark Lord says, patiently. Indulgently, really, and it is glorious. To be treated with this level of respect by the Dark Lord himself... Mulciber must be eating his hat, and Potter, Black and their little pets rolling in the graves that surely awaited them. "Your having delivered it to me is the reason I have deigned to offer you both my Mark and your choice of reward."
"Of course, my Lord," Severus says, "and I thank you for both."
He flexes his arm at his side, already branded by skull and snake, half scabbed-over, before bending at the waist in a deep bow.
"Rise," the Dark Lord tells him, and Severus catches the amusement in his tone. "Lucius tells me you have great potential, and I believe you will be... most useful to me."
"Thank you, my Lord," Severus says, reverently, and squashes any further daydreams of spitting on pureblood ponces and grinding headstones beneath his boots. He needs to be clear-headed for this. He hardly presumes to be indispensable, but the Dark Lord has named him useful, has promised him a reward. This opportunity, this sort of power, the sort of respect that he would be able to command as one of the Dark Lord's trusted and used... it cannot—must not—be squandered.
"Have you chosen, Severus? Money, glory? Women, perhaps... no. You look above such things, do you not?" The Dark Lord's face twisted at that, a fleeting smirk setting itself across his unsettling features. "Ah. Knowledge is what tempts you... yes. Unadulterated, uncensored knowledge. You could have the contents of the most coveted Dark Arts libraries in your hands. Power the likes of which most people could never dream of. What will you ask of me, Severus?"
His tongue itches to answer, but the Dark Lord continues.
"I do not make a habit of granting requests such as these. Your brethren who have earned the privilege have asked for banal, plebian things or they have pandered to me with silly trinkets and petty refusals. Will you follow in their footsteps? What will you ask of me, Severus?"
The Dark Lord lowers his gaze, ever-so-gentle, presses into Severus' mind once more. A smile flits across his face as he skims through each layer of thought, memory and consciousness, tugging and pulling as he chooses. He snags something, holds tight to it, and Severus is overcome by pure, blinding rage as his life, shown in flashes of humiliation, pain, anger, anger, embarrassment, injustice, so much anger, plays out before him.
"Revenge. Yes, that must be it. You want them to pay for what they've done," the Dark Lord. "That filthy Muggle father of yours, those disgusting blood traitors, yes, all of them will pay. Is that what you would ask of me, Severus?"
The Dark Lord holds his mind in a vice grip, tight, harsh, painful. Had it been a physical hold, Severus would no doubt have been nearly to his knees at this point, gasping for air, begging and prodding at his Lord's arms to allow him to go free. It is entirely within his own mind, however, and with regards to Occlumency, Severus is particularly resilient. As the Dark Lord pries and clutches, his eerie red gaze fixed on Severus' own black stare, he calls to his mouth the words he will answer with, but is silenced before he can speak them.
"No. Their blood would be wasted on you. I could make you—no. No matter," the Dark Lord says, releasing him once more with all the gentleness of a hard shove. "This, you may consider a gift. I will impart to you a secret, Severus, for you have granted me the information which makes this particular endeavour possible. I am going to Godric's Hollow tonight, and I will destroy the creature that Albus Dumbledore presumes will vanquish me."
"God—"
"Silence, Severus. This to to your benefit, you understand. The child must die, of course, but that filthy blood traitor Potter—I will kill him, and through me, you may have your revenge, and thus, you will be free to ask for what else your heart desires."
His head spins, and the Dark Lord cares not, fixing him with a burning red gaze that grows ever impatient.
"What will you ask of me, Severus?"
He can think of a million things he wants, a thousand things that would catapult him into the life he wanted, without having to claw his up from beneath everyone else's feet.
Power, for one. Respect, esteem, the Dark Lord's favour.
He could ask for any of them, he knows which of them he would choose.
The memories crowd his mind, though, unbidden, shaken free by the Dark Lord's rough handling of his innermost thoughts, his mentioning of Godric's Hollow. He doesn't even need to close his eyes to see her. Lily, laying on the grass beside him. Lily, sitting next to him in the Library, laughing over something or other as they breeze through their Potions homework. Lily, turning him away at the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room. Lily, turning her back on him for James fucking Potter and his band of assholes.
Another thought chases them, even more unwanted and unexpected than its predecessors—Lily, body broken and cold, dead on the floor of her home between her husband and child, because of course, of course, she would throw herself between her family—James bloody Potter and his fucking spawn—and the Dark Lord himself.
He cannot ask for her life.
It would be madness. Folly. An impossible request that would follow him for the rest of his time in the Dark Lord's service. He will not squander this opportunity, he will not ruin this for himself as so many things have been ruined before, he will not lose his only chance—
The Dark Lord looks at him, and Severus anticipates the rustling, the grip of thought on his mind and quickly, quietly buries it all, as he blurts, "Lily."
Severus Snape is a fool.
The Dark Lord knows this now. He must.
"You desire... the girl?" the Dark Lord asks.
Severus must be an imbecile. A thrice-damned, hellbound, cotton-brained dunderhead.
"Very well," the Dark Lord muses. "It would be a fitting addition to your revenge. From what I have been told, she was your Mudblood first, was she not?"
Severus nods, mute.
His?
Never. Not really.
"I shall spare her life, and you will have her."
"Thank you, my Lord," Severus rasps, the words bubbling up through a dry, dusty throat, and automatically falls into a bow. He is a fool. "You are too kind."
"Kind..." the Dark Lord rolls the word around his mouth, and spits it as though it is particularly vile. "Hardly. It is only what you deserve."
"Thank you, my Lord." Severus says, and turns to leave.
"You were not dismissed, Severus," he says, and Severus turns back, immediately.
"I'm so—"
"No matter, and straighten up. Tell me, Severus. You think me kind?"
He swallows. "My lord is most generous—"
The Dark Lord stops him, regards him with what little humanity remains in his gaze. Laughs.
Severus stiffens, the hairs on the back of his neck raising at the grating sound.
"Join me. Tonight. You will further prove your usefulness, and kill James Potter yourself. I will spare your precious Mudblood her life."
His stomach rolls in protest at the thought, conflicting thoughts flying through his mind, a cacophony of "She already thinks the worst of you," playing against a backdrop of Lily Potter cradling the bodies of her dead husband and son. Guilt wells up in his throat, swimming up his oesophagus just the same as bile, and he says, "Yes, my lord. Thank you, my Lord."
Petty refusal, the Dark Lord had said, but such was never an option. Severus had sold his soul, and the devil does not bargain. In exchange for Lily Potter's life, he must kill her husband and give up any hope of ever being a good man in her eyes, and the Dark Lord knows it.
Kind, Severus had said. A foolish notion.
They enter Godric's Hollow that night with a bang. Quite literally. The Dark Lord laughs in the face of their wards, and Severus surveys them with pity, and mild disgust. Were they meant to be found? Then, the Dark Lord crows about having their Secret Keeper under his thumb, and the Potters' lack of security becomes an afterthought to betrayal and lies and a sick sense of satisfaction that the Marauders had fallen apart, after all.
The Dark Lord gestures, and even through the smoke, Severus' aim is impeccable. His wand arm raises, and hatred is on his tongue, propelled by years of humiliation and pain, the memories of hanging pantsless above the Black Lake and watching Lily Evans on James Potter's arm, and then, dragging up truly Unforgivable magic behind them. He's already mouthing the Avada behind his mask when the green light floods the room and the Dark Lord finishes Severus' sentence for him.
James Potter's body drops to the ground and as Severus sees the Dark Lord standing triumphant, wand held high, he knows that Potter was never his to kill. The Dark Lord gave, and the Dark Lord took away. Generosity? A pathetic trait to attribute to him.
"Stand aside, girl," he rasps, and Severus' neck jerks. Lily stands between them and the crib, tears already welling in her eyes as she looks frantically between them and James fucking Potter.
The vision plays behind his eyes again, Lily, sobbing, crying, bereft.
Her husband has died and she will not stand aside. Severus knows it. If it will save her son's life, she will sacrifice herself over and over again.
"Stand aside," the Dark Lord commands, again, and he raises his wand to kill her, if not to toss her aside and Severus, because he is a fucking fool, who cannot stand to watch the girl who was once his best friend die, interrupts.
"The child, my Lord," he rasps, and hopes in his heart that if he does not succeed in convincing his master that they are both deserving of life, she will take the brat and run.
"It must die!" the Dark Lord screams, and Lily does not run, she scrambles to the crib, clutches the child to her breast.
"It has power—" he tries, but the Dark Lord will not be reasoned with.
"To vanquish me! It is—" the Dark Lord hisses, wand raised.
"A weapon!" Severus cries, and damns the boy as he has damned himself. "To use against Dumbledore, if he has power to vanquish you, he can be used against—"
"Dumbledore."
It is this that gets through to him, but he does not lower his wand. He flicks it, deliberately, as harshly as he does anything and the child comes speeding into his arms, wailing ever louder. Lily dashes after him, but a deliberate swish of the Dark Lord's wand sends her careening into Severus instead.
He looks into the brat's face, and Severus' breath catches in his throat as twin emerald gazes announce their upset.
Lily's is trained on him as she struggles in his grip, and he needs her to stop, stop fighting, stop kicking, stop making herself a fucking target, so he says, quickly, quietly, harshly, "He'll kill you both if you don't stop."
The baby stares defiantly at the Dark Lord, wailing and screaming as much as he dares. He lowers his wand. Lily stops struggling.
"Yes. You... you can be used. Dumbledore believes that you will be my downfall... but not if you are raised under my hand."
He laughs again, and the sound nearly sets Lily to fighting afresh. Severus clutches her tighter, and the Dark Lord turns to look at him again. "Come."
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sirius & harry & the sex talk
Remus has barely taken his cloak off before Sirius is dragging him into the bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind them. When he locks it, Remus raises an eyebrow at him.
“Really, Padfoot?” he says. “At least let me shower first, I was literally running through mud all night.”
“I’m not going to shag you,” Sirius says impatiently. “We have something more important to do.”
“More important than shagging?”
“Yes,” Sirius says, going back over to the bed, where he’s spread several diagrams. “I caught Harry kissing George this morning.”
“Really?” Remus sounds intrigued. “I have to admit, I didn’t see that one coming.”
“That’s because you haven’t been paying attention,” Sirius says, ignoring Remus’s huff of indignation, because really, how could he have missed the way Harry and George had been looking at each other this past month? “But it made me realize, Moony--no one’s ever given Harry the sex talk!”
It’s then that Remus finally takes notice of the diagrams Sirius has on the bed, the ones he’s been working on all afternoon. “Padfoot, no.”
“Yes, Remus,” Sirius says as he returns to his sketching. “I’m his godfather, it’s my job.”
“Harry’s fifteen! Surely he knows all this?”
“Barely fifteen, and please, tell me who you think has given him any kind of sex education? The Dursleys certainly wouldn’t have, and Hogwarts doesn’t have a sex education program.”
“Alright, fair point,” Remus concedes with a sigh. “So what do you need me for?”
“You did all the animation spellwork for the map. I need you to animate these diagrams for me.”
---
Harry sits in the library with his head in his hands. He can’t believe he finally got up the nerve to kiss George, after literal months of pining, and Sirius had to walk in on them. Admittedly, for a moment there, the small part of Harry that’s never truly left the Dursleys thought that Sirius might shout at him--or worse--but Sirius had merely blinked in surprise, told them not to let Molly catch them, and then said he wanted to speak to Harry in the library that night at eight.
Harry has spent the past six hours quietly freaking out, and now that it’s finally eight, his heart feels like it’s about to hammer its way out of his chest.
“Ah, Harry, right on time.” Sirius breezes into the library, looking far too cheerful for a man who’s about to give his godson a scolding. Harry wishes the sofa he’s sitting on would swallow him whole.
“Look, Sirius, I’m really sorry and it won’t happen again. It was--it was an accident.”
“Hm, didn’t look like much of an accident to me,” Sirius says, but his tone is light and teasing. Harry doesn’t understand. Why isn’t Sirius mad? “But just in case you ever, er, accidentally kiss George again, or any other young man, it’s important that you be well-informed about other activities that can stem from kissing.”
With a wave of his wand, several large, poster-sized pieces of parchment appear out of thin air. They’re covered in diagrams that are enchanted to move, and it takes Harry a moment to realize just what those diagrams are depicting. He immediately claps a hand over his eyes, his face burning.
“Sirius!” he hisses. “Is that a--a--”
“It’s called a penis, Harry,” Sirius says cheerfully. “Drew it myself. Now, here’s some parchment for you so you can take notes…”
What follows is the most mortifying two hours of Harry’s life. His face never stops burning, and though he takes notes thanks to Sirius’s insistent prodding, his hands are shaking and the words are basically illegible.
“So,” Sirius says finally, vanishing all the diagrams with another flick of his wand and coming to sit next to Harry on the sofa, “any questions?”
“Why aren’t you mad?” Harry blurts. It’s utterly exhausting, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He’d rather just get it over with. “You should be mad.”
Sirius frowns. “Why would I be mad? Kissing is a perfectly natural thing for teenagers to do.”
“But--but it’s your house! I was disrespectful.”
“For kissing someone? Bloody hell, mate, if it was disrespectful to kiss someone in my house, then Remus has a lot to answer for.”
Harry pauses. What? “Professor Lupin has been kissing someone here?”
Sirius gives him an odd look. “Well, I certainly hope so.”
Harry continues to stare at him blankly, uncomprehending, so Sirius sighs and says, “Harry…you know we share a room, right?”
“Of course you do.” It made sense, didn’t it? They were best friends who had been separated for twelve years. Harry thinks that if Ron and Hermione were gone for twelve years, he’d want to keep them where he could see them, too.
And then he abruptly understands what Sirius means. He and Remus share a room. And probably a bed, too. And that means that Remus has been kissing--
“Oh, gross!” Harry says. “Sirius, he was my teacher!”
Sirius lets out a bark of laughter. “Teachers are allowed to kiss people, you know.”
“Not when it’s my godfather they’re kissing!” But Harry’s only teasing. Actually, it kind of delights him to know that Sirius has found someone. His godfather has been through a lot, and he just wants him to be happy.
Sirius ruffles his hair, amused. “Right, to bed with you, then. Molly will have my hide if I keep you up any later. And don’t forget, if you need condoms or lube while at school this year, you can ask Madame Pomfrey--”
“Sirius.”
“--but I’ll send you with a stash in your trunk to get you started,” Sirius plows on stubbornly, and Harry feels his face heat up all over again. “Also, if you bring someone back to the dorm room, a silencing charm on your bed curtains is common courtesy. And--”
Harry gives up. He turns and walks out of the room, the door cutting off Sirius’s words as it closes behind him.
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No context story-part. I mean. You could get context. But I'm not feeling like it.
So, Uma, Hook siblings, and Claudine Frollo as their adopted sister.
Oh and the story is called Chaos Games 2 if that clears anything up.
„Uma?“ Harry Hook stands up and sets aside the dagger he was sharpening just moments before as Uma steps through the door and he moves to greet her. He ignores his sisters’ snickering.
„What are you doing here, love?“
She almost never takes part in this kind of things. Watches, yes, certainly.
But she rarely joins him down on the pretend battlefield.
„Oh, Harry! It has been ages since I had a decent fight, and I'm bored!“ she complains, as if they still didn't spar every evening, and a huge grin nearly splits his face in two.
„Is that so?“ he asks, leaning closer, and his eyes flicker to her lips and then back to her shining eyes, „Am I dust to you, Captain?“
She laughs and leans closer too; he can feel her breath on his skin.
The moment is, of course, completely ruined by his sisters.
„Save your eyefucking for when we win,“ scolds Harriet.
„Let them be, Ettie! They're in love!“ squeaks CJ.
In turn, Claudine whacks CJ over the head with her rosary, which hurts like seven devils for your information, and then proceeds to remind Harriet that she is just being a bitch because Anthony decided to play advisory for the AKs.
Harriet, of course, argues back. Very loudly. As does CJ.
At this point, Harry tunes them out in favour of Uma, which is only reasonable, really. Especially as she laughs, amused at his sisters‘ bickering, and steps closer to him, close enough for him to whisper into her ear should he wish so.
„Do you really mean it, Uma? Are you playing with us?“
„Of course: why else would I say it?“ she clasps his hand on the off-side from the other girls.
„Besides, we have a free pass to fight Auradon! For all that it's worth, I couldn't pass that up, you know?“
He does, of course. Of course he does.
He slowly dips his head down to touch his forehead to hers, his lips split in a wide grin worthy of the Cheshire cat.
She chuckles and her breath tickles, and then she leans away a bit.
„You will need some protective gear, though,“ he tells her. He doesn't like it when she gets hurt.
…And she doesn't like it when she is told what to do, of course. Harry always remembers that too late, only when she already glares at him. But is he really wrong to want his Captain safe?
„Besides, how much damage can they really do? Even with Arabella's magic and one unit of the China army?“ she asks, not expecting an answer, but Harry gives her one regardless:
„Oh come on, love: you know we will be coming up against the Faciliers and the de Vils by the fifth minute at most.“
She only laughs anyway, throwing her head back a little, and-
And a shoe hits Harry over the head.
Claudine.
Or, more accurately, CJ with the other shoe in her hand and Frollo's former daughter swinging a pocket watch about the room. He can also see Harriet muttering curses as she searches for yet more weapons.
Finally, his eldest sister snaps her head up and barks her order for them to move, move if they want to be on time-
Harry sees Uma checking the time herself, but she doesn't say anything, so he doesn't concern himself with it any more.
He just opens the door for her as they set off towards the edge of Auradon city, the agreed upon meeting spot.
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