Betrayals And Trusts

Chapter 9 3/4

(this is Snape's POV - what went on in the library and up, so it's a bit repetitive from the original version of Trusts and Betrayals - if you've seen the movie Go - you'd understand - it will show some of the things not seen in by Harry in the original fic)

Severus Snape had gone into the library to do some research, thinking to himself that it was about time the student's went on the Hogsmeade trip, only the beginning of the term and he was already fed up of most of them, and the fact that Dumbledore had basically put him to work three weeks ahead of time. It was bad enough that Sirius Black and Harry Potter had been there, but Narcissa Malfoy had topped it off.

He had been friends with her when they were students, right up until she had married that bloody Malfoy, who, he had warned her, would treat her like a piece of shit. He remembered when Lucius had asked him about her. Lucius was in his seventh year, and Narcissa and Severus were

fifth years.

"Hey Severus, who's that blond Ravenclaw that you're always hanging around with?"

"Narcissa Velera, why?"

Lucius had smirked. "Well, you seem to be around her a lot, is she any good?"

At the time, he honestly didn't know what Lucius had meant. If he had, he would have likely cursed him then and there, with one of the curses he wasn't supposed to use. "At what?"

"Oh, you don't know, good. So she's innocent then. Perfect, that's the way I like them." Lucius had walked off and gone straight to Narcissa, flirting with her, and soon started dating her. At the end

of that year, Lucius had finished at Hogwarts, but he had still occasionally shown up over the next two years to check on her, giving her token gifts and basically making sure she remained faithful to him, which she did, for the most part, excluding one incident. Severus however, had known that Lucius was chasing every witch he could.

'Weakness,' He thought. A word that came to his mind any time he began to feel sympathy to anyone. Since he was very young, his father had installed that thought into his head, that feeling sorry for anyone would make him weak. One time when his father was teaching him to do illegal curses at the age of 10, before he had started school, he had shown this weakness. His father had wanted him to torture a Muggle child, for practice, and when he had refused, his father had broken his nose. He refused to fix it, too, saying that it would always remind him. Severus angrily grabbed a book off the shelf of the Forbidden Section, 'Poisonous Potions'. He liked to keep up on his knowledge, never knowing when he may need it. He went to sit and read, and passed Potter and Longbottom who were sitting at a table. Great! he thought, well, I'm staying in here for sure now, they might get into something they shouldn't without any supervision.

Narcissa then walked into the library, followed by Trelawney. Well, there goes the silence, oh well, this could be amusing, seeing as Trewlaney could be so infuriating. Sure enough, Sybil was wanting to

read Narcissa's palm. He listened, slightly amazed at the fact that Trewlaney seemed to know what she was talking about for once, bringing up the fact that Narcissa may be having a difficult time with Lucius, and Narcissa was getting angry. "My personal life is none of your business. And palm reading is not magic, nor is it precise, it's called observation." He looked down at his book, trying as hard as he could to not laugh, and then Sybil had walked out, leaving Narcissa alone. He decided to ignore his book for the moment, and went over to her, temporarily forgetting about the two Gryffindors

sitting there. "Interesting way of making friends, Malfoy, so I must ask, if it is imprecise, how did she hit the nail so hard on the head?"

Narcissa then smirked at him, and stood in front of him. "So, you believe in that garbage? I always figured you to have more sense than that." He sneered at her. "No, I don't believe it, I'm

just wondering if you can back your theory up or not. My guess is that you can't."

She met his eyes for a moment, and he thought that she looked strangely amused, and she reached over and took his hand, lightly tracing his palm, "Well, from this, I'd guess that you have had a

seriously rough childhood, judging by the scars here that don't look recent at all. It would be easy to tell by the long fingers..." She had began to lightly trace her finger over his, and he began to wonder if she was flirting with him, but no, she wouldn't. She had only once seemed interested in him, and that was years ago in their sixth year, they had been drunk on beer they had stolen from Hagrid one night, she

wouldn't have kissed him sober, he was sure. "...and the burns that you work with potions. But then, your argument could be that I know enough about you to make that judgement."

She seemed to be holding back a laugh. "And Sybil could tell, not from reading my palms, but from actually looking at my hands, and seeing that I am lacking my ring, and that I haven't had a manicure

in weeks. Unless you disagree?"

He couldn't believe it, she was flirting with him, and subtly telling him that she was definitely not going back to Lucius. Every time she had left before, that ring had remained on her finger. She stood there with his hand still in hers, still lightly tracing his fingers, then dropped his hand, grabbed a book off a nearby shelf, and walked out. He stood there in disbelief for a moment, then realized that Potter and Longbottom were still there. Fuck! That would likely be going around the school quickly. He walked over to the table he had been sitting at and grabbed the book he had been reading, and went off to his office, thinking, no, he had to be imagining it. He had been way too horrible to her since finding her at the Malfoy Manor, and doubted that she would come on to him like that. He slammed the door to his office shut.

Chapter 10 3/4

(Snape's point of view again, during the last day of their detention with him)

Severus Snape was not in a happy mood, and was angrily chopping Monkshood for the Potion he was brewing. He glanced over at the four of them every so often, making sure that they were actually working on something instead of chatting. He could see that Neville Longbottom was scared out of his wits. Good, he thought. He couldn't stand Longbottom for reasons similar to why he hated Potter so much - Neville's parents, more specifically Neville's father, Frank Longbottom.

Frank Longbottom had been an Auror, and during Severus's time as a Death Eater, and even before, while he was a student even, Frank Longbottom was after him, wanting to throw him into Azkaban for life. Severus reckoned he had suspected exactly who he was, though he wasn't quite sure how, seeing as the only people who really ever had known were Dumbledore and of course, Voldemort. Even after Dumbledore had cleared Severus's name with the Order, and after Voldemort's downfall, Frank Longbottom had still pursued him. He had almost been relieved when Barty Crouch had let him have it, he had surely felt the urge himself on a number of occasions, though he knew that no one really deserved that, as his own father had done it to him several times before.

He heard a knock at the door, and Trelawney walked in. He looked up to see her, then back down at the severed plant. Fuck off... he thought.

"Professor Snape? I was wondering if you could please spare a Clarity potion for me?" He thought about asking why she would want to clear her head any more than it already was, but decided against it, seeing as sarcasm was wasted on Sybil Trelawney.

"What is this?" He looked up and saw that she was stirring the Wolfsbane, and the sleeve of her robe was dangling near it's contents. He jumped up and grabbed her wrist, pushing her away from the potion.

"That is Lupin's Wolfsbane, and I'd appreciate it if you did not touch it, I do not want it being screwed up - here." He grabbed a small bottle off a shelf and gave it to her, then went back to what he was doing without looking up, hoping to hell that she would for once take a hint and go away. He could not stand her. He heard the door close, and he added the Monkshood to the potion.

He heard the door open again, and looked up, ready to tell Trelawney exactly how to get to her tower, but saw Narcissa there instead. She looked nervous. "Severus, I did as you suggested and disposed of the..."

He saw she had realized he was in the middle of detention. Good move, he though, don't talk about it in front of them.

"I saw Sybil leaving here, I'm glad to see it's not just me that she seems to talk to." He smirked, knowing that she was referring to the library incident, and they had barely spoken since then, seeing as her husband had contacted her with a threatening letter that he had passed off to a couple of students. She seemed to have been avoiding him since he had followed her out of the Great Hall that day, and told her that she should just ignore it, and toss the letter away. He at first didn't want her to speak to Lucius because he felt she might tell him what his part had been in hiding her and Draco, and breaking those memory charms on her for Dumbledore. The Death Eaters would certainly see this as a disloyalty to them, and he would be killed. But he now felt more threatened by the idea of her going to Lucius at all. He was starting to feel slightly possessive, and he wasn't too sure if this was necessarily a good thing, as there didn't seem to be anything between them.

"She just wanted a potion, actually. She learned a long time ago that I prefer to be left alone."

"Is that your subtle way of telling me to leave?"

Damn! He hated the way that had come out. "No..." He looked up at her, then over at the students. The last thing he wanted was for them to see him acting like an ass, he liked to be seen as the ominous asshole they saw him for. "They still have about fifteen minutes of detention, why don't you come back then? Actually..." He took a goblet and filled it with the Wolfsbane potion, thinking that she'd be better to take it to him, as Lupin always tries to strike up polite conversation, and he didn't want to be bothered with that freak. "Would you mind taking this to Lupin? By then, I should be done, and I'll talk to you about that." She nodded and took the potion from him, leaving the classroom.

He sat back down, and waited for the full fifteen minutes, wanting to make sure that they were fully punished for disrupting his class. "Get out of here, go straight to your dorms, it's late." He opened the door for them to leave, slamming it behind them, and went about cleaning the potion ingredients off his desk. He heard a tapping noise from his window, and looked out to see an owl. He went over and let the owl in, taking a parchment from it, and sitting down to read it.

Severus,

As I'm sure you are aware, my wife has been teaching at Hogwarts. I've Owled her, but she isn't responding. I would like for you to please bring her along with you the next time we are summoned, as I'm sure you would understand that her disobedience is not going to go unnoticed. Please use whatever means necessary.

Lucius

He read it twice, shocked that Lucius would be so stupid. What is she, a fucking pet to him? He was furious, and scribbled out a reply.

Lucius,

My apologies, but the last I heard, my orders do not come from you, they come only from the DL, who I'm sure would not like for me to risk my cover here just to settle your ridiculous domestic disputes. Seeing as Narcissa avoids me, I do not see it as viable. I've been building my trust here for years, not to blown because some twit can't keep his wife in line.

Severus Snape

He had put DL, meaning Dark Lord, so if the Owl were to be intercepted he could easily say that he had meant Dumbledore. He tied the scroll to the Owl's leg, and sent it off, just as Narcissa walked in, carrying the empty goblet. He walked over to take it from her. "So did he drink it?" She nodded.

"Good. So... when you said that you had disposed of it, am I safe to assume that you were talking about the letter from Lucius?" He felt himself smirking, and placed the goblet down on a shelf.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you gave detentions so late."

"It's all right, I was only annoyed with Trelawney, and those students, sorry if I had been cold."

Damn, he was doing it again, sounding like a total asshole. Something else he could thank his father for, he guessed, growing up without a mother, and being raised by butlers and hired help, he wasn't good at talking without sarcasm or hostility, although he was never like that with her before when they were friends.

"I've gotten used to it." She walked up to him, slowly and almost cautiously pushing a strand of his hair off of his face, and looking in his eyes with a slight smile. He knew he hadn't imagined that, she was definitely flirting. He put his hand lightly through her hair, and moving closer to her, softly put his lips to hers. Her eyes widened momentarily, then closed, and she had begun to return his kiss with enthusiasm, bringing her hands up to his face, then moved her arms around his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, tightly pulling her closer, then stepped back, taking her hand and leading her out of the classroom and to his room. Sorry Lucius, he thought smugly. Your loss will be my gain. He locked the door behind them.

Chapter 11 3/4

(Halloween, where things start happening)

Severus woke early the next morning, and saw that Narcissa was still sleeping quietly next to him. He was slightly wary of her still, as he had been so horrible to her at first, yet she seemed to have quickly dismissed it, which he found slightly unsettling. He knew he was being a pessimist, though. They had talked late into the night, about the memories he had unblocked from her. They were very disturbing, it seemed that Lucius had been holding meetings in his house with a few select Death Eaters, himself excluded, and she would occasionally overhear or see things. She would later confront Lucius, who would then block her memory of these. Sometimes he would simply torture her in front of them all for amusement first. Severus almost wished he could have blocked the memories for her again, just so she that wouldn't remember, but Dumbledore had insisted on her knowing.

Another form of weakness, he told himself. His father had once told him never to actually care about anyone but himself, because if you trust someone, you're giving them a power over you that only they can break, leaving yourself susceptible to being defeated. He hated his father. He had learned this very fact years ago, when he had found out that his father had killed his mother just after his birth, as he really only wanted an heir to raise himself, with no motherly woman interfering. He was about 20 years old before he had found this bit of information out, and decided to go against his father.

He watched Narcissa sleep, her eyes were moving rapidly behind their lids, and she had a terrified expression on her face. He started to lightly rub her bare shoulder. The movement had startled her, her eyes widened with terror and she had jumped, almost screaming. He moved over to her and put his arms around her, almost protectively, calming her down.

"Sorry...dreaming..."

"I know, I was watching." He lightly kissed her forehead. "We should really get you out of here, before the Slytherin students wake up and leave their dorm, they walk by this way on the way to the Great Hall, and I'd hate for Draco to learn you were here." He had noticed Draco's resentment towards him since the cottage, and especially since he had cut Draco in class, but he had done it with good reason. Crabbe and Goyle were there, and he knew that their fathers were in Voldemort's inner circle, they were likely aware of everything that went on in the classroom, as the junior Crabbe and Goyle would inform them, and they would in turn inform Lucius. This way it would appear to all that he was siding against Draco and Narcissa.

He had an almost perverse desire to tell Lucius himself that he had slept with his wife, just to bring on a duel with him. He had noticed some scars on her that he had immediately known Lucius had put there. He hated Lucius, possibly more than anyone knew. Severus's father had always compared the two of them, since he was young, and saying that he should look to Lucius as a role model, one who does things only for himself, and of course, for Voldemort, too. Severus however, saw Lucius as a servant, and one who did things only to impress the Dark Lord.

"Yes, it wouldn't be a good thing for Draco to find this out, would it?" Narcissa was now up and dressed, slightly smirking. "I think he's been corresponding with his father, so it would be best if we're discreet."

"Well, I was more worried about your relationship with your son, but if Lucius is your primary concern, perhaps you shouldn't have been here at all."

Fuck! He was doing it again, and jealousy was certainly not an admirable trait. As his father had once told him, never let the fact that someone else has something that you want get in your way of taking it for yourself. His father had horrible ways of teaching him, but they often made sense to him still to this day. He got up and walked over to her, pulling her close, and quietly whispering to her.

"I'm edgy. It's Halloween, there's going to be a full moon, and I've got a lot do tonight. Are you going to do what we talked about last night?"

She nodded, nervously.

"You know you don't have to, it's really your decision."

"No, I want to, I'm just uneasy."

He pulled back from her slightly, putting his hand under her chin to make her meet his eyes. "I won't let him hurt you. Come on."

He opened the door, and looked around to see the hallway empty. He stepped back in and nodded to her, and she quickly walked out ahead of him. He waited a few minutes, and then walked out, locking the door, and went to the Great Hall, taking a seat at the teacher's table next to her. He saw Lupin sitting on her other side, talking to her.

He had picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet, and was reading an intriguing article on Vampires, when he heard a loud BANG. He looked up to see Draco Malfoy, sitting at the Slytherin table, with small shards of burnt paper floating around him, and his Owl flying away in fright. "What the hell?"

"Happy Halloween, Malfoy!" He saw that the Gryffindor table were in hysterics, and one of the insufferable Weasley twins had yelled out. He smirked as he saw Minerva get up angrily, nearly knocking her tea over as she had pushed up from her chair.

"Assholes." He quietly said to Narcissa, then he got up and went over to Draco, who was now standing up, and brushing the bits of burnt parchment off.

"Don't do anything yet, revenge is sweeter when it's least expected." He smirked down at Draco, who then nodded, and smirked over to the Gryffindor table before sitting back down. Severus walked back to the teacher's table, sitting back down beside Narcissa, who had watched the whole thing, but remained behind likely to save Draco from being ridiculed.

"They're only kid's you know, it was just a harmless prank, no one was really hurt." Severus snapped his head up, to see Lupin looking at him and Narcissa. Severus glared at him, and Narcissa looked at the two of them, and got up and left the Great Hall with Draco.

"Yes, only kids, a harmless prank... is that your defense about everything, Lupin? As I recall, someone said that very thing about you and your friends, Potter and Black years ago... Which reminds me, your last dose of Wolfsbane is in a few hours, try not to forget it."

He got up and left, walking back to the dungeons and into his office.

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Later Severus went down to the Great Hall for the Halloween feast, he hated these, especially this year, he knew he would be called on tonight to meet with the Death Eaters, as they traditionally met on this night. He sat at the teacher's table, pleased that at least Lupin would be absent, but unimpressed that the new teacher, White was there. Seeing as he didn't know him, he was inclined to not trust him. He sensed it was mutual, as he had caught White glancing over at him from time to time. Narcissa eventually joined the table, looking slightly smug. He met her eyes briefly and nodded slightly, giving her a signal to meet with him after her dinner, then he excused himself and walked out.

He walked around the grounds for a while, thinking of what might happen tonight when he arrived to meet with Voldemort. He knew he was not fully trusted yet, as the last time Voldemort had tortured him in front of the others, but kept him behind to talk to after the Death Eaters had left, explaining he was using Severus as an example to remind them all what happens when he is unsure of one of them. Oddly, he would often leave these meetings feeling the way he used to feel when he fully supported them, wanting to kill and torture. He would get over it just as quickly, so he never told Dumbledore about it, knowing that Dumbledore might take him off the project.

He walked by some rose bushes, and sat down on an old bench. 'What is taking her so long?' He took out an antique silver pocket watch his father had given him years ago. It was in his family for years, the shell was solid silver, with a snake in a coil, it's head resting in the center, and it's eyes were emeralds. He opened it and looked at it's pearl face. Still early, he thought, I'm just edgy.

He looked up and saw Narcissa coming around the corner, carrying two flutes of champagne, and sat beside him on the bench, handing him one, and smiling.

"So... you gave it to him?" He smirked, and sipped the champagne.

"Of coarse. Think I'd be too afraid?"

"No, of course not. I want to see the look on his face when he finds out. Well, what goes around..." He drank down the champagne, and placed the flute down next to the bench, then took her left hand and ran his thumb over the top of her fingers. He really wished that Lucius would get that nice little package before he saw him tonight, maybe he'd get to hear all about it, but it wouldn't likely get to him until tomorrow if it was by owl. Narcissa drank what was left in her glass and stood up, still holding his hand. "We should get back into the Hall before anyone notices we're gone." Severus stood up, and stepped close to her, gently sweeping her hair off her shoulder with his hand. "You're right, lets go back in. I might have to go tonight..." She nodded. "That's alright, I'll still be up." He led her back inside, going a separate way than her once inside.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

He took a longer route to get to the Great Hall, so he would not appear there at the same time as Narcissa. He sat at the table at the only chair left, next to Professor White, who had been looking at him suspiciously. He was about to ask him quietly if he had anything to say, but an unearthly scream suddenly echoed across the giant room from out in the halls. Everyone went quiet, and they all heard it again. Dumbledore stood up. "Please everyone remain in your seats. Professor White? Severus? Please come with me. Minerva, please don't let anyone out until we return."

He quickly followed Dumbledore and White out. They could hear the noise coming from the corridor where Lupin's office was. That bloody moron, he thought, I warned Dumbledore this could happen, that Lupin was too careless, as he had proven the last time he taught here. He held his wand up, thinking that if the werewolf comes near him, he will kill it. Sure enough, there he was, with Weasley and Granger backed up into a corner.

White yelled out to stun him on three, so on White's third count, Severus, Dumbledore, and White each threw their stunning curses at Lupin. Granger slid down the wall as though her knees could no longer support her, and Weasley looked scared as hell. White walked over to Lupin, who was unconscious on the cold floor, and lifted his eyelid, looking into it. He then turned to Snape. "For some reason, he hasn't fully changed, as though the effects of the potion weren't taking, and the only way that could happen, is if someone put sugar in it, do you agree?"

Severus was purely shocked, he nodded, agreeing, and silently thinking that Narcissa had been the one to bring it to Lupin, but she wouldn't, would she? He didn't think she had a problem with him. He looked over at the two terrified students.

Dumbledore stood up, and told the two students to follow them to the Great Hall. White gave Severus a cold stare as they walked back. Severus heard the Headmaster quietly telling the students not to repeat what they had seen. Fat chance of that, he thought. Potter will be the first to hear about it, likely he'll start meddling in his invisibility cloak, too. I'll have to keep a close watch for it.

They returned to the Great Hall, and Dumbledore sent all the students off to their dorms. Many of the teachers swarmed around Dumbledore, asking him what had happened. Severus saw Narcissa walking out the door, and went to catch up with her. He grabbed her arm. "Come with me please." He walked her over to an empty classroom and locked the door.

"That potion I had given to you to give to Lupin, did you put anything it?" He was furious.

She looked horrified. "What? No! Why would I do that? I took it straight to him, what happened?"

He felt the Mark on his arm suddenly burn. Fuck! "I'm sure you didn't. We'll talk when I get back. Will you be in your room?"

She nodded, her expression clearly showing she was both hurt and confused that he would accuse her of that. He walked out quickly and left the grounds, going straight to Hogsmeade and Apparating to Voldemort, the thoughts of Lupin fleeing his mind as fear settled in.