Devils and Angels

In The Self-Same Repartee


Meanwhile, in another apart of Britain, in another environment that was far different, another fantasy, or rather a dream was taking place. The dream was of another time, of another dwelling, when things had been less chaotic and more predictable: As much as they ever could have been. The overly lavish room was dark, and moonlight glazed over the sleeping form as it tossed restlessly, followed unconsciously by periodic sighs. A slight frown graced the otherwise slack face, and the man flung his arm over his closed eyes. A vigorous kick disentangled the satin sheet from his ankles then the arm fell back to his side, and the sleeping man stilled. The room fell silent once more, and the only sound present was of rhythmic breathing. His eyelids began to flutter as the dreaming began once more.

He was walking up stairs – it was dim and shadowy where he was at, and he was holding onto a hand, as if he were leading someone. He entered a room, it was dark there, and his dream suddenly shifted. It was early morning, he was in a bed, and he was not alone. Touches sent small jolts of pleasure throughout him, and the depths of the eyes he gazed down into, caused him to feel the drunken giddiness of desire. Flesh against flesh, lips brushing then devouring willing ones, and the unbelievable feel of hot tightness that encapsulated his swollen and needy manhood. Tender words were uttered, and suddenly legs tightened around him as the flesh he pierced began to clutch and grasp, drawing him ever deeper towards climax. The soft words he had longed to hear for most of his wretched life caressed his heart, and moans filled his ears.

He awoke with a start, and realized the moans were his own. Somewhere in his still fogged consciousness, the man comprehended that his loins were covered in the fresh warm stickiness of his own seed, and there in the darkness of Malfoy Manor, Severus Snape’s emotional resolve was cruelly, and viciously shattered. He wept for several long minutes heedless of any who might hear, sobbing and gasping out loud his lover’s name as if his lonely heart would break and forever be beyond repair. He sat up, and dropped his face into his hands. His body shook, and was covered with a sheen of perspiration. His heart thudded painfully in his chest, and it had become difficult to breath. The dream had seemed so real to him that it verged on the tangible, and danced maddingly on the outer edges of his miserable reality.

In the meantime, on the other side of the closed door, another wizard listened, and it pained him immensely to hear the piteous, and heart wrenching sobs of his former lover, as he understood at last the extent of the weeping man’s agonizing war within himself. With an almost non-existent wave of his hand, the door unlocked silently. Opening it slightly, he peered through the gloom and watched quietly for a moment before softly speaking.

“Severus?”

A voice rasped through the darkness, “Leave me alone! I don’t want to be with you, Lucius – can’t you understand that?”

Malfoy chewed his lip, “I do understand. I hope that you understand that even I have limits as to how far I will go, and this is one of them.” With another wave of his hand, lamps became illuminated, and cast a warm and cosy glow that belied the scene before him. “I merely want to know if you are all right.”

Severus turned; his face contorted with grief and replied scathingly, “Of course! I’m perfectly fine! I’ve done countless wrongs, led a life of duplicity, killed the man that I wished had been my father, and alienated… Harry. Right now, my life is just peachy – I haven’t a bloody effing care in the world!”

They stared at each other silently for some time. Sad pale eyes meeting torture-filled ebony, until Lucius broke the silence with, “Don’t talk like that Severus. I, of all people know what you have done on the Dark Lord’s orders – I’ve been there with you practically every step of the way. As for Dumbledore, I’ve never liked the man. If it had been left up to me, I would have chosen complete humiliation for him instead of death, and as for Potter – the less said, the better. He was a pain for me, but not as painful as watching you suffer.”

Snape said, “I dreamed about him Lucius, and it seemed so real, as if - I could simply reach out and touch him. I’ve never had a dream so vivid before, about anything.”

“That’s what I thought happened.”

“I love him.”

“I know you do.”

“It hurts,” Severus said mournfully.

“Well, love has a way of doing that.” He paused to reach over and pluck the sheet from the end of the bed. He tossed it into Snape’s lap. “It might be prudent to cover yourself – since you look rather debauched at the moment, and I do have a weakness for such.” He turned to leave, and then stopped short with his hand on the door, “I suggest that you do try and get some sleep. I have a meeting at dawn – a very interesting one at that.”

“Oh?” Snape looked up at him, his face still bearing the blotches of emotional upheaval.

“Yes – with Randall – the one that McNair recruited shortly before the raid on Hogwarts. My operative tells me that apparently he’s had a change of heart, and is willing to aid us in every way possible.” Seeing the look on Snape’s face, he added, “Oh, don’t give me that look – my operative has taken a wizard’s oath to secrecy, and he’s fully aware of the consequences should he betray me.”

“Won’t that be dangerous though, to meet with Randall? After all, he could be deceiving you. It could all be merely an entrapment set by the Dark Lord.”

“Of course there’s every possibility there will be danger involved – that’s why you’re coming along. I want to see if he is telling the truth, and who better to find out other than yourself?” He smirked, and then closed the door behind him with a soft snick leaving the former Potions Master to bootlessly pursue sleep for the remainder of the night.

Dawn saw Lucius Malfoy dressed in his finest, and wearing his most intimidating ‘Lord of the Manor’ expression. His blond brows shot up in mild surprise when he entered the main floor sitting room, and found Snape and Draco there. The former was sitting patiently, while the latter fidgeted somewhat.

“He is not coming along,” Lucius pointedly said of his son.

“I told you!” Draco said to Snape, and shot from his chair to stalk from the room.

“On the contray, I think he should,” Severus said calmly as he raised his hand to stay young Malfoy’s exit.

“Can you possibly give me one good reason as to why he should? As much as it galls me to admit it, my son has a habit of not being quite capable of following orders.”

“You should talk, or have you forgotten the Department of Mysteries?” Draco snarled, “I’m perfectly capable!”

“Don’t take that tone with me boy,” Lucius warned, his eyes glittering dangerously.

Draco stepped near his father, who towered over him by a head, and said flatly, “I’m not a boy any longer, and I’ll thank you not to call me such… Father.”

Lucius started to retort, then changed his mind deciding he would waste precious time if he engaged in another father and son argument. He turned to Snape and asked, “Just why do you deem him fit to accompany us?”

Sighing, Severus replied, “Because after all this time, young Draco has learned to live by his wits and intuition, and has never once disobeyed one of my orders.”

Narrowing his eyes, Lucius canted his head as if pondering the acuity of Snape’s words. He swiftly reached out grabbing Draco by his shirtfront, and pulled him close, “Do not disappoint me. You foul up once…” He left the rest unsaid, knowing his meaning was clear.

“Right!” Lucius continued. “Let’s be off!” He led the way down to the lower levels of the manor, and once there, he stopped at what appeared to be the rubble of a previous, and ancient dwelling. He said an incantation, and the ruins moved aside to reveal a hidden passage that was lit by torches embedded in the walls along the way. “Why are we not apparating Draco?”

The young man thought a moment, and then replied, “Because the wards are telling you the manor is being watched, and we can’t apparate from inside, or outside.”

“Excellent! I’m actually impressed! You can pay attention when there is a -.”

With a surly tone, Severus interrupted Lucius, “If I may say, all this familial bickering is giving me a headache.”

Slightly amused, Malfoy shot back over his shoulder, “As you wish."

They trudged in silence along the passageway as it took abrupt twists and turns, and soon the floor of the tunnel began to become steep causing the muscles in their legs to protest. They emerged into a small copse of trees, and waiting for them was the allegedly reformed Death Eater named Randall.

Thomas Sayre Randall was small of stature, with large blue eyes that threatened to overtake his pale pointed face that was topped by a shock of unruly mousy brown hair. He visibly flinched when he realized just whom Malfoy had in tow, and his already pale face blanched considerably more.

“Randall,” Lucius drawled.

The man flinched once again, and then reluctantly turned his attention to the aristocratic wizard. “L-Lucius,” he stammered, and he quickly cut his eyes over to Snape.

“How are we to know that you are not bait - of a sort - to lure us into the Dark Lord’s hands? How are we to know that hidden nearby, are more of our ‘friends’?” Lucius sneered intimidatingly.

“I – I’m not – no one knows I’m here.” His voice faltered as he dragged his eyes away from Snape’s glowering visage.

Malfoy continued, “You are absolutely positive you were not followed?”

“N-no – I wasn’t.”

“Enough of the polite chit-chat. What kind of information have you?”

Randall quickly licked his thin lips before answering, “The artefacts Dumbledore left to the Hall of Whispers has been stolen.”

Lucius spat vehemently in response, his pale eyes becoming glacial, “We know that you twit!”

“But what you don’t know,” Randall began, and once he felt he had become the centre of focus, he finished, “Is that someone within the Ministry itself is responsible.”

The trio of fugitives quickly exchanged startled looks.

“Who?” Malfoy demanded.

“No one seems to know.”

“But you work there! How can you not know?” Malfoy raised his voice slightly as he was losing what little patience he had managed to muster.

His confidence failing quickly under Malfoy’s anger, the wizard began to stutter and stammer once more. “I - I only w-work in the Department of Magical Creatures. I’m not p-privy to everything that g-goes on there!”

Snape shifted his weight slightly, and once he made eye contact with the small and frightened man, the dark haired wizard wasted no time as he quietly said, “Leglimens.”

It was no effort at all really for Severus Snape to infiltrate Randall’s unprepared psyche. Snippets of memories, echoes of names and previous conversations easily led Snape to conclude the man indeed was speaking what he firmly believed to be true. He broke the spell, and stepped back, “I detect no falsehood.”

“Leave Randall. Leave quickly, and do not speak of this to no one.” Lucius started to move toward the now innocuous entrance to the tunnel, and he quickly stopped to question the man a final time. “Has the Dark Lord summoned you these last months?”

“N-no… he always sends McNair to me for any reports that I might have,” the man looked puzzled at the question.

“Good. Keep it that way. It wouldn’t do to have the Dark Lord poking around in your mind, now would it Randall?” Malfoy smirked, and then was seemingly swallowed up by the entrance, as was his son and Snape. Alone, Randall stood petrified for a few seconds until he began to quake violently in fear over the ramifications of Malfoy’s parting statement, and then terrified of staying another second longer, he suddenly sprinted off in the opposite direction.

When the coppice was once more silent, and apparently devoid of any sign of humanity, a figure swathed from head to toe in black, emerged from the trees. The information overheard was damning, yet not quite enough to act upon. There had to be proof; and irrefutable proof was what the black-clad figure craved. Looking about, and satisfied that no one else was around, it quickly apparated with a soft popping noise.