Knight of Pentacles, Queen of Wands

Ch6: The Lovers

Lunch was a formal affair at Grimmauld Place even though Mr. and Mrs. Black left to visit the Crabbes. The Blacks were very concerned with keeping up appearances and had insisted that Regulus and his friends were to eat in the dining room and not the kitchen. They used the good china.

"The way I see it, we'll need a scapegoat," Regulus said suddenly while fingering his wine glass.

Severus was very lost and he could see that Lucius wasn't faring much better.

"Karkaroff would be a splendid choice, I think," he said with finality. "I've never really been fond of him."

He paused for effect.

"Lucius, cousin, wasn't Narcissa wanting you back home early today?" Regulus asked pointedly.

Lucius looked distinctly nervous again but then nodded and got up quickly, dropping his silverware with a loud clang.

"Indeed, she needed my help picking out colors for the dining room," he said before continuing, "Might I use your floo?"

Regulus nodded. "Of course."

"Well, you must excuse me then. I must be off. Regulus. Severus."

Lucius nodded at them and departed hastily.

Severus turned to Regulus questioningly and got a smirk in return.

"Dare I ask?"

"Lucius needs to maintain plausible deniability," Regulus said factually.

Severus was getting rather nervous himself, especially considering that Lucius Malfoy usually seemed generally unflappable in most situations. He figured that things were fairly serious if it was coming to this. He took a rather large gulp of his wine to hide his discomfort.

Regulus lost his look of smug superiority and turned serious. He looked extremely young to Severus in that moment. It wasn't a good omen.

"I know the Dark Lord's secret."

It seemed that Severus wasn't the only fool in the Dark Lord's service. The way Severus figured, the Dark Lord likely had many secrets. This wasn't telling him much.

"A few weeks ago, I would have turned you over to the Dark Lord, and Lucius still might, but I doubt it."

"I would expect no less, Regulus," Severus said honestly.

He was disloyal, no doubt, but he wasn't exactly oozing morality and that fuzzy Gryffindor and Hufflepuff goodness either. Morally ambiguous, fascinated by the dark arts, in love with Lily Evans, possessing a less than pleasant disposition, a not so good guy that would grudgingly do the right thing in a pinch, that was Severus Snape all right.

"You let too much slip," he agreed, "However, this secret has been plaguing me and you and I are now in the same boat, so to speak."

Regulus seemed to be full of surprises, doubts, and loads of things Severus would never have given him credit for.

"What is this secret?"

"A Pandora's box if ever there was one, Severus."

Regulus sighed and then proceeded to pull a locket out of his pocket.

"This, my friend, is the Dark Lord's horcrux," Regulus said gravely.

Severus looked up sharply. It bore the unmistakable mark of Salazar Slytherin. It was certainly extremely valuable. Regulus' tone alone let him know that it was evil beyond their wildest imaginings, though he had no idea what a horcrux was.

"He split his soul."

Severus hissed. "Then we must destroy it!"

"Not so easy. This is the darkest of magic. I've been trying to figure out how and now you're going to help me."

"How on earth did you come to posses it?"

Regulus' eyes looked troubled before he abruptly smiled.

"It's hardly relevant. Let's just say that I almost didn't make it and had I not brought two house elves with me instead of one, as I had originally planned, then I most certainly would no longer be among the living."

Severus thought frantically. Knowing the Dark Lord, the attempt to destroy the horcrux would likely kill them. But what did any of them know about the Dark Lord really? Who was he before he was Lord Voldemort? Nobody seemed to know. Ah, but Severus did know more than he did yesterday now didn't he? One thing Severus was sure of was that the Dark Lord wanted to be immortal. He spoke of it often enough. He suddenly had an inspiration.

"This can't possibly be the only one," Severus said and he somehow knew that he was right.

Regulus nodded. "I think you may be right. Anyway, if the Dark Lord finds out before we're ready for him to, then I was thinking we should frame Karkaroff for the deed."

Karkaroff was a weak link in their organization. He'd turn on anyone to save his own skin and it would be no great loss to anyone if he were to die. The Dark Lord was constantly questioning his true loyalties anyway and it had even become something of a running joke among the Death Eaters of when Karkaroff would be killed off. It really was the perfect choice.

"If it should come to that," Severus reluctantly agreed.

Regulus looked at him knowingly.

Of course it would come to that. Severus knew then what they needed to do. There was only one person he knew of that could possibly know enough about Lord Voldemort to make any gains and he wasn't at all keen on asking for his help. Regulus wouldn't like it either.

"I might know a way," Severus said in a hesitant voice.

There it was. He told Regulus everything. Between the two of them, they decided that Albus Dumbledore wouldn't get to call the shots. Severus would risk meeting with Lily Evans again and- loathe as he was to bring her into anything and put her in danger- they needed her as a go-between, because Severus meant what he had said. He refused to join the Order of the Phoenix.

As Severus was leaving to go after Lily Evans, Regulus stopped him on his way out.

"Use Imperio if you have to."

His stomach clenched at the very thought, but he nodded anyway. As he Disapparated from the heavily fortified home, he took a huge risk and Apparated to the front porch of the Evans' home. He hoped to Merlin that James Potter wasn't still there. He wouldn't hold back on his curses this time for anyone.

Petunia opened the door, smiling like the cat that had not only gotten the canary but had ripped it to shreds in its claws for good measure.

"You missed the best part."

"I need to see her," he growled.

"And here I was thinking that I was doing you a favor. Of course, she probably hates you worse than ever now, but what's that to me?"

Petunia waited expectantly for him to ask her what happened, which he didn't, even though he really did want to know. When he didn't take the bait she actually pouted. It made her look as if she were sucking a lemon.

"You've got a lot of nerve, Severus Snape. It's a wonder you weren't sorted into Gryffindor," a tired and still hacked off voice said softly from the top of the stairs.

Lily motioned Severus to her room where she perched on the edge of her bed. Feeling that it would be too awkward to just stand there, he opted to sit next to her.

Just like old times, but not. Lily Evans looked defeated this time. The thought unsettled him. She was supposed to have this indefatigable Gryffindor spirit. She was supposed to have done what she did before and pulled a wand on him. She was supposed to have been with her perfect Auror fiancé and have no time to entertain Death Eaters in her room, of all places.

She wouldn't look at him. She was looking intently at her hands as if they were the most interesting things in the world.

"The wedding has been postponed," she said softly.

Despite her obvious distress, Severus couldn't help but feel glad. He was only disappointed there wasn't an indefinitely attached to the end of her statement.

"He- Well, I thought it was best that we work out any issues. And he- he said that I- he gave me an ultimatum." She took a deep breath. "I- I couldn't- I said I needed time, you see. I mean- I'm only nineteen. And he- he looked so angry! He said things."

Lily hesitated slightly.

"What sort of things?" he prodded softly.

He could only imagine the types of things James Potter would say. It made Severus want to kill him.

She shrugged and made an effort to look nonchalant. She failed miserably at it.

"He said- it doesn't matter what he said," Lily said in a rush. "I told him that- I threw his ring at him and told him that I needed more time and he'd have to accept that. But I- I'm not sure I meant to do that."

The next thing Severus knew, he had a red-headed witch clinging to his neck, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh, Sev, what am I going to do? Everyone's going to be so upset with me. Mum and Dad were- and my friends- what will they say?"

She sounded quite heartbroken. She was right that her friends wouldn't understand. She forever had to conform to their standards and it never seemed to work the other way. Severus knew all about that.

Yes, Severus indeed felt glad at Lily's distress. He wasted no time pulling her into his embrace. It wouldn't last. Things rarely did with him, but he'd savor this moment anyway. She'd regain her senses soon enough and then all hell would break loose. Severus had an agenda and a revised purpose and he was going to see it through. He knew Lily wouldn't like it. However, Severus was feeling up to the challenge. He wasn't a Slytherin for nothing, and he'd be damned if the Dark Lord and Albus Dumbledore were going to get in the way of what he wanted to do this time.