Path of the serpent

Title: Path of the serpent
Author: ejab
Pairing: SS/LM with a little SS/RL and SS/DM on the side
Rating: story is slash and NC-17
Feedback: highly appreciated!
Disclaimer: yes, yes, J.K. Rowling still owns them…
Warnings: no need for any here
Category: all over the place
Summary: a certain potions master tries to take his own life…
A/N: eternal gratitude for my beta underlucius who has the talent to change a single word only to transforms a whole sentence because of that.

18/?

"Why?" One single word. But pronounced with such venom, it would have most people trembling with fear. The potions master, however, just smiled coldly.

"I would have thought that someone with your intelligence would be able to work that out for himself," Snape said in an almost bored voice.

"Humour me," Lucius had to put real effort in not hexing his lover on the spot.

"Did you really think you could ever hex me and get away with it? Lupin finding me like that was very humiliating. It's only fair you should suffer the same fate. And besides, you made a wonderful diversion… thank you for that." The last sentence dripped with sarcasm. That and the smirk on the potions master's face was nearly enough to let Lucius lose his temper completely but he, again, managed to keep himself under control. Somewhat.

"You bastard! You filthy bastard!" he hissed through clenched teeth, folding a hand around the other man's neck, cutting off his supply of air. "You will pay for this! You… " Something was wrong, very wrong. Lucius forgot the words he wanted to say and carefully assessed the face in front of him. Something wa …of …off… And then it dawned on him. His eyes! Those normally so vivid, burning passionate eyes - they were now lifeless, dull and cold. What the…? Oh Merlin, no!
"Oh no, please, you didn't! Sev, tell me you didn't!" Panic rose up inside of him. Oh gods no…

"A small prize to pay for staying alive, don't you think?" Severus calmly pulled the hand away from his throat and stood up. "Please excuse me, Lucius - there are other guests here entitled to my attention."

Lucius watched his lover stand up and slowly walk towards Bellatrix and The Dark Lord. At this point his anger, humiliation and need for revenge were completely overruled by feeling sick. Extremely sick and very, very scared. Because now he not only understood what Sev had done, he also knew his lover would likely to go insane when the potion wore off. He knew him too well - Sev had never been able to torture other human beings without loathing himself afterwards. That feeling would now be multiplied tenfold when it was no longer suppressed after the potion had worn off. And a truly self-loathing Severus was a very unpredictable and dangerous Severus. Especially to himself. He just would have to make sure not to lose him out of hight,ght, trying to prevent him from -

"Lucius, being the loyal servent you are, you wouldn't mind escorting me back, will you?" The Dark Lord appeared in front of him and smiled.

"My Lord?" It was silent. How long had he been sitting here, lost in his thoughts?

"Peter already left because his intestines were playing up again and Bellatrix just killed the last Muggle - the party is over. I want you to accompany me tonight so we can enjoy each others company a little more. Come."
As if he didn't feel sick enough already! Now he had to let himself get fucked by The Dark Lord again? Had he not suffered enough? And what about Sev? He didn't want to leave him like this!

"Are you coming, Lucius?" His Master looked down on him with impatience. Lucius took a deep breath and looked for his lover. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Yes, My lord. Of course." He had no choice. Suddenly feeling extremely defeated, Lucius stood up and went with his Master. It felt like he was about to be slaughtered.


The night that followed, was one that Lucius hoped he would never have to go through again and it wasn't until early in the morning that he had obtained permission to leave. Lucius went straight back to Snape Manor. But the only living thing there was Effy. The house-elf informed him that his master had left to go back to the school. So he Apparated near Hogwarts and went to the castle.

The first classes already started so he didn't encounter many children, and the ones he did see were easily scared away with one threatening glare. He continued walking towards the dungeons, not even able to believe for one minute that his lover would now be standing in front of a class. Not after last night.

Arriving at the private quarters of the potions master, Lucius was immediately alarmed when he found the door not closed but slightly set ajar. He slammed the door open and hurried inside.

"Poppy?" The face of a pale and definitely shocked looking Lupin peeked around the bathroom door. When he saw the unexpected visitor, he quickly tried to shut the door but Lucius already started to shove him away, demanding to be let in. Lupin on his turn used his own strength to push the Slytherin away but a soft voice from inside the bathroom made him stop. Lucius recognised the voice of the Headmaster. Now he knew for sure that something was wrong. He gained access to the bathroom and felt the very breath being knocked out of him as he looked in horror at the seemingly lifeless human form on the floor. Sev! HIS Sev! A lifeless heap of stark white flesh in a pool of blood. His wrist- he had cut his wrists! Amongst other parts. No matter where he looked on the naked body of his lover; he could see cuts and ripped out flesh everywhere! Oh gods, the man had totally lost it this time… and he had not been there! He should have been there, damnit!

"Is… is he dead?" Was that shaky soft voice his? Desperately holding himself together by holding on to his cain fiercely, Lucius stared at the face of his lover. It was as if he could still see the torment there.

"No, although he is very weak - he has lost a lot of blood." Dumbledore stepped closer. "He didn't show up for his classes this morning. Remus went to check up on him and found him like this. Do you know what has caused this, Lucius?"

"I do." Lucius kneeled down and quickly checked the condition the potions master was in. Yes, he would be strong enough to survive the trip to his Manor. If he acted swiftly, that was. He unfastened his cloack and covered Snape with it, before levitating him.

"Lucius? What are you doing?" the Headmaster asked sharply.

"I am taking him home with me," Lucius said matter-of-factly, straightening the cloak to cover his lover some more.

"Headmaster!" Remus clearly did not trust Lucius' intentions and looked at Dumbledore for support.

"I can't let you take him away, Lucius. You know that. I can't - "

"Then he will die."

"Of course not. I can assure you that Poppy is qualified and highly skilled at - "

"I'm sure she can heal his body," Lucius spat out the last word with contempt. "But she will not be able to heal his mind. That, I can assure YOU." His eyes warned the Headmaster not to defy him. Not this time. Dumbledore frowned and tried to understand. He failed.

"What has happened? Tell us so we know what to do,"

"It takes a twisted mind to understand another twisted mind," Lucius laughed cynically. "You are nowhere near twisted enough to understand his. Now, if you will please let us pass…?"

"I warn you, Malfoy! If you - " Remus still was not prepared to give in as the Headmaster seemed to do.

"You warn me? YOU DARE TO WARN ME?!" Swiftly turning around with his face red and distorted in fury, Lucius grabbed the DADA teacher by his robe and threw him to the ground. The next moment his wand pointed at the werewolf. "YOU TOUCHED MY LOVER! YOU SUCKED HIS COCK! YOU - "

"Calm down, Lucius, please…" Dumbledore stepped in front of Remus and determinedly gave a warning tap on Lucius' wand.

"I do not want to see your face again, Lupin. Ever. I do not take kindly to those who dare to touch what is mine. And Severus IS mine. Make no mistake about that." Aiming his wand on the potions master, Lucius left with the body of his lover floating in front of him. Both the DADA teacher and the Headmaster said and did nothing to prevent it this time.

So Lucius brought Severus back home and immediately called for his own physician.

"Ah, you decided to come home at last. How nice." Narcissa entered the guest room. And then saw the potions master. "What is HE doing here?"

"Not one more word from you. Out!" Not bothering to give any explanations, Lucius psuhed his wife out of the room and closed the door after which he leaned against the door and closed his eyes. Gods, everything seemed to backfire at him! Hexing Sev, for example. At the time it had looked like a fun thing to do. And yes, he even had taken into account that there would be revenge. But not to this extent. Sev had really outdone himself with this one. What bothered him beyond belief, though, was the realisation that he found it extremly hard to endure the fact that his lover had been touched by Lupin. A very worried looking Lupin. A CARING Lupin. Why would that bloody Gryffindor be so upset if there had been only that one little incident? Had it led to more encounters? He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes for a moment. He found it very hard to believe that there would have been more encounters. It was an option he was not willing to accept. Sev belonged to HIM and no one else! Was this what he was feeling now because someone else touched what was his? He knew he was extremely possessive when it came to Severus. Or did he experience jealousy? If so, he'd better get rid off it. Jealousy was a weakness. It could take you over completely, eat you alive… and that was something he could not tolerate. Would not tolerate. Ever. But -

"Mister Malfoy? It's dr. Mannering, your physician…" A tap on the door.

"Come in, doctor, and thank you for coming so soon." Lucius swiftly opened the door and let the man in.

"Oh dear…" The old man put his glasses on his nose and frowned concerned, looking at the unconscious potions master. He did not ask any questions and went straight to work, examining Snape thoroughly. All Lucius could do was sit in a chair and wait. Impatiently.

It took a long time. The doctor cleaned the many wounds, removed little pieces of dead skin from the cuts and slowly closed them magically. He worked silently and Lucius appreciated that very much. He really did like the man. He had been their physician for as long as he could remember, even as a child he could remember Mannering being around, and the doctor never spoke much. He just seemed to be that old, bold, calm and skilful wizard who never wore anything but long mustard green robes and who always, for reasons only known to himself, was chewing on some type of leaf. As a curious child he had asked him about that strange habit but the only explanation had been a warm smile. He had never asked again.

"Plenty of sleep, rest and good healthy food - that should bring him back soon enough." Mannering straightened his back, after covering Snape up with a blanket, and placed the wand back in his bag.

"No potions or anything to compensate for the blood loss?"

"He is young, strong and in pretty good health; I see no reason for superfluous intervention. Give his body the change to restore itself - that is always the best way, I find. The wounds will have to be cleaned out twice a day to avoid any infections but other then that… " Mannering shrugged, smiled and left.

Lucius knew he had two more things to do: bring Effy here so the house-elf could look after its Master and, most importantly, ward the room against Narcissa. It would be wise to not let her anywhere near his now defenceless lover. He did not trust her when it came to Severus - the mutual hatred between those two was simply too great. Better to warn Effy too so he would never let Narcissa come close.

After that, he could at last get back to work and see how things were going with his plan…