Seduction and Regret

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters herein. They are the property of JK Rowling and assoc. I also do not own the song herein. Red Right Hand belongs to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, their record lable, and a whole bunch of other people who are not me.

A/N: I've been wanting to write a story using this song for a long, long time now and finally, finally it came to me today. This is a SONGFIC! I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!


Take a little walk to the edge of town
Go across the tracks
Where the viaduct looms,
like a bird of doom
As it shifts and cracks
Where secrets lie in the border fires,
in the humming wires
Hey man, you know
you're never coming back
Past the square, past the bridge,
past the mills, past the stacks

Severus stood in the shadow of a dilapidated warehouse wondering just what in the hell he was doing waiting for an unknown person. As the old building groaned in the cold north wind, he flicked his cigarette onto the cracked concrete watching it hit the unforgiving stone and explode into a shower of bright red ash before dimming and ultimately burning itself out.

He sighed. How he hated muggle London. This particular part of town was nothing more than run down factory buildings, dust, and asbestos. The whole aura of the place reeked of dereliction and hopelessness, complete darkness with a hint of malice. It kind of gave him the creeps.

Severus shuddered. He pulled his pocket watch from the interior of his coat. It was almost a quarter after midnight and this unknown person was running late. He’d give him or her another five minutes and then aparate back to Malfoy Manor and give Lucius Malfoy an ear full. It appeared that the arrogant git had set him up, sent him on a wild goose chase.

On a gathering storm comes
a tall handsome man
In a dusty black coat with
a red right hand

Preparing to aparate back to more familiar surroundings, Severus scanned the empty lot once more for any sign of movement, any sign of life. He watched the clouds gathering on the dark horizon for a moment. The lightening flashing in their black depths calmed the nineteen year old man a bit.

He looked back out at the desolate emptiness and sneered. That is when he saw the dark figure. The long, lean form walked purposefully toward him. It skirted just the edge of the dim lights in the lot.

From the height and gait, it was obviously a man. Severus leaned against the wall of the structure and lit another cigarette. He’d wait for the man in the open trench coat and brimmed hat.

He'll wrap you in his arms,
tell you that you've been a good boy
He'll rekindle all the dreams
it took you a lifetime to destroy
He'll reach deep into the hole,
heal your shrinking soul
Hey buddy, you know you're
never ever coming back

The figure walked into the shadows and stood right beside Severus. “Snape?” the soft tenor voice asked.

“Who wants to know?” Severus asked defiantly.

“A friend of Lucius Malfoy’s wants to know,” the man replied.

“Aye, I’m Snape,” Severus replied warily.

“Good,” said the man. “Lucius has told me much about you and your talents. He believes that you would serve our cause well.

“Tell me, Snape, what is the one thing that you want more than anything?”

The question took Severus off guard. There were many things that he wanted but, he knew that with his lot in life, no matter what he tried to achieve he would always fall short of his goal. “I do not know what you mean,” he replied.

The unknown man laughed. “Of course you know what I mean, Severus. Do you want money? Would respect or revenge be more to your liking? You are a young man, and I could give you anything you could possibly ever want. All you have to do is say the word and I can have you a large manor house full of house elves to do your bidding and beautiful young witches to service you at your whim. Now, what is it that you want more than anything?”

“I want to be a healer,” Severus replied cautiously. “What would I have to give you to get this?”

The man stood there for a moment mulling this over. “As of right now, I do not have the power to get you into training to be a healer, but I do know a very adept Potions Master who would be willing to take you on as an apprentice. That could very well lead you to becoming a healer if it is what you want. And, for what I want, I only want your loyalty. Later there may be some unpleasant things that I ask of you, but if I have your loyalty, then you will not mind doing those things, will you?”

Severus threw his spent cigarette down and crushed it beneath his scuffed up boot. “I will need to think this through,” he replied. “I will send word through Malfoy of my decision in three days.”

The man stepped into the dim light of the lot. Severus finally got a look at his features. He smiled warmly and stuck out his hand. Taking it and shaking, Severus was again caught off guard by the man. His face was chiseled and handsome, but his brown eyes held nothing more than cruel calculation. “I await your decision,” the man replied silkily knowing that he’d already won the young man over.

He's a god, he's a man,
he's a ghost, he's a guru
They're whispering his name
through this disappearing land
But hidden in his coat
is a red right hand

That night, Severus did not sleep. He spent the entire time upstairs in his room at Spinner’s End. He alternated between gazing into the hearth and pacing, weighing his options.

Deep in his subconscious, Severus knew that his decision was already made, but the logical part of his brain forced him to think through what the nameless man said. It forced him to analyze every move the man made. It made him puzzle through why someone with such money and power would seek him out.

The next forty-eight hours were sheer torture for Severus. He wandered the streets of wizarding London high on his decision. He would finally be what his mother’s family always said he could not be. He’d have the respect of his peers and maybe even the respect of his mother’s pure-blood family. He would be somebody.

Through his wanderings, Severus missed the murmurs, the rumors spreading. A single name was uttered quietly amidst the unsettled witches and wizards of England. Had Severus been listening, he would have heard the name of the man he was about to give his life to: Voldemort.

You ain't got no money?
He'll get you some
You ain't got no car? He'll get you one
You ain't got no self-respect,
you feel like an insect
Well don't you worry buddy,
cause here he comes

On the third night, Lucius Malfoy sat with Severus in the study at Malfoy Manor. The blond fingered the fangs of his snake head cane. The nineteen year old sat in one of the ancient wing back chairs fidgeting. After several minutes, Lucius sighed and looked up. “Severus, would you like something to drink to calm your nerves? He will be here, as I said. You have nothing to worry about. I assure you that he does not change his mind once it is made.”

At that moment, the floo flared green and Voldemort stepped through. He used his wand to clean the soot off of his dark green velvet robes. Malice sparkled in his eyes as he greeted Malfoy, who murmured, “Welcome, my Lord.”

Severus nervously stood and extended his hand. “It is a pleasure to see you again, Sir,” he said quietly.

Voldemort laughed as he took the young wizard’s hand. “I assure you, Severus, the pleasure is all mine. Now, let us get down to business, shall we?”

Lucius excused himself with a smirk at Severus and a small bow to Voldemort and left the two men to work out the details of the young Slytherin’s servitude. The meeting began with a wizarding oath and ended with a quiet Morsmordre and the Dark Mark being burned into the nineteen year olds arm.

Through the ghettos and the barrio
and the bowery and the slum
A shadow is cast wherever he stands
Stacks of green paper in his
red right hand

All of the plans were made for Severus to take up a position as apprentice with a famous Potion’s Master through his training, he would be called up to help the man who introduced himself as Lord Voldemort.

The next week, the headline of the Daily Prophet read, “Retired Potion’s Master Adonis Prince to take on first apprentice in nearly fifty years.” Under the caption was a picture of a surly looking wizard nearing a century old with long black hair streaked liberally with gray and a big nose next to young Severus.

It was quite obvious that Adonis Prince was the young man’s great-grandfather. Neither looked very happy about having their picture taken.

You'll see him in your nightmares,
you'll see him in your dreams
He'll appear out of nowhere but
he ain't what he seems

At twenty-one, Severus finally finished his apprenticeship. Voldemort was right when he said that the dark haired young man would be asked to do some unpleasant things. Many things the man was asked to do did not bother him. Brewing potions to infect the water of certain wizarding cities to kill, staking out homes of witches and wizards who fought against his Lord, and even killing those who tried to kill him were tasks that Severus did without question. The revels he was forced to attend and often participate in kept him up more nights than he could count.

His nightmares were full of Lord Voldemort laughing as he watched those who would oppose him tortured and killed. They were full of Voldemort unabashedly rubbing himself through his robes, moaning in pleasure as young women and girls were raped repeatedly, their cries for mercy falling on deaf ears.

Severus’ conscience haunted him throughout his nights until he would collapse from exhaustion. His almost healthy complexion became a sickly yellow pallor as he closed himself up with his potions. Every time he heard one of his fellow Death Eaters laughing about someone they killed, he became sick to his stomach.

Quite literally, his only refuge was his potions. When he brewed, they required all of his attention and his focus. He did not have time to think about the horrible things he was forced to do.

You'll see him in your head,
on the TV screen
And hey buddy, I'm warning
you to turn it off
He's a ghost, he's a god,
he's a man, he's a guru

After three revels and a week of sleeplessness, Severus was at his wits end. He could not brew a potion without his eyes drifting shut. He could not sleep without see the innocent blue eyes of the seven year old girl he’d raped. When he spelled her clothes off, the child had giggled and asked if it were bath time and why her mother was not the one to bathe her.

Her smiled died as Severus touched her and horror contorted her features as she was tied to a table. Her scream pierced through the dull roar of the gathering as Severus breached her. His stomach roiled and bile rose into his throat. Severus swallowed thickly. Even the aphrodisiac potion he’d taken could not force his wilting erection to stay up. Quickly, he faked an orgasm and left the little girl to one of the other men and returned home.

Severus stumbled up to Spinner’s End and fell on his knees in front of the bush by the door. He violently retched up everything he’d consumed before the meeting. Even though everything was already up, his stomach kept up the protest and for several minutes Severus coughed and dry heaved. When he finally stopped and took a good breath, tears came to his eyes. He walked into the house and tried to brew a potion with only one person on his mind.

You're one microscopic cog
in his catastrophic plan
Designed and directed by
his red right hand

“Dumbledore,” Severus rasped out. “I need to see him.”

It was nearly midnight and he stood outside of the Headmaster’s office, mentally begging the gargoyle to let him in. It jumped to the side and Albus stepped out putting his arm around the young man and ushering him up to his office.

Sitting Severus down in a chair in front of his desk, Dumbledore poured some tea and quietly observed the trembling young man trying to pull a cigarette out of the crushed pack that he pulled out of his trouser pocket. “Tell me what happened, Severus.”

The haunted look in Severus’ eyes did not clear as the story of what he had been doing tumbled almost breathlessly from his mouth. The last thing he said was, “Please, help me.”

Dumbledore nodded grimly. “I believe that I can help you, Severus, and give you a safe haven. I will tell you now, though, it will not be easy, and you will be asked to do some very unpleasant things. Having said that, I do believe that your position within Tom’s inner circle will serve our cause well.”


~finite