Betrayals And Trusts

Chapter 13 3/4

Severus paused at the bottom of the ladder that led up to Sybil Trelawney's classroom. He looked around, checking to be sure that no one was around, and pulled a pair of black dragon-hyde gloves from his pocket, slipping them onto his hands. He cracked his knuckles angrily, and was about to climb the rungs of the ladder, when he noticed a pair of shoes at the top, then a pair of legs, climbing down the ladder.

Shit, he thought, and walked out of the tower, waiting. He noticed Draco Malfoy walking out of the tower quickly, holding his robes close to him, as though hiding something inside them. Severus was fairly certain that Draco did not have Divination classes, and had opted for Runes instead. Most of the Slytherins didn't take Divination, as they all knew it was completely useless, and a waste of time. He decided not to confront Sybil as yet, but to keep a careful eye on her. It would be more to his advantage if neither she nor Lucius knew he was onto them. He just didn't understand why they would have been plotting against Lupin, unless it was just to cause trouble. And the fact that Lupin's office was closest to the Gryffindor Tower made it understandable. It was still odd, though.

He decided to retreat to his office instead, and work on some potions he knew he would eventually be ordered to do. Before Voldemort had fully gained power years ago, while Severus was still a student, even, he had been making these potions for Voldemort, to aid him in his quest for immortality. They were difficult, even for him, as he had to do a lot of experimenting and failure, and now all of the records he had of the previous potions he had created had been destroyed. Once Voldemort had felt that he had accomplished immortality, he feared that Severus may try and do likewise, therefore becoming a dangerous rival, and ordered Severus to destroy the evidence. He never actually came out and said this, but Severus knew it was his reason.

He placed a cauldron down on the fire, and went about gathering some of the more rare ingredients he had, many of which weren't allowed in his classes, as they were only used in dark potions, which the students were not to learn. He was there for several hours, recording everything he used on parchment, and often disposing of the potion and restarting again.

Finally, he thought he might have one worth testing out. If he was correct, this one should make the drinker have higher intelligence, another part of Voldemort's vanity. He walked over to the far corner of his office and picked up a small cage, which housed a rather fat rat. He had eight of these, he had Filch bring him live rats whenever Mrs. Norris brought him one alive. He placed the cage on his desk, and looked at his watch. He couldn't believe it was so late. Oh well, he thought, and recorded the time down on parchment. He dropped a ladle into the potion, and poured it into a small dropper, then opened the cage and pulled the rat out writhing and squirming. He then squirted the potion into the rat's mouth. The rat bit him hard, drawing blood, and he dropped the rat onto his desk.

"Fuck!" he shouted, grabbing his wand and pointing it at the rat in a rage. "Crucio!"

The rat just sat there!

Severus sat back in shock, watching the rat chew on the edge of his oak desk without a care. Did he do it wrong? It had been years since he had used such a curse on anything, but it wasn't exactly one he could forget. He learned it when he was eight years old. He carefully put the rat back into its cage, and went to another, and pulled a rat out.

"Crucio," He whispered, and watched in sudden fascination as the rat writhed in agony on his back. He quickly put the tortured rat back into it's cage, and ran over to his office door, and made sure it was locked. He was going to have to try a few things on the rat that had ingested the potion. He pulled it out of the cage again, and plunked it down on his desk, where it immediately started chewing his desk again.

"Imperio," Severus whispered, as he pointed his wand at the rat. He instructed the rat to stop chewing his desk. The rat continued to chew.

"Third one's a charmer," He muttered, checking the time again, then pointed the wand at the rat once more. "Avada Kedavra."

The rat flipped upside-down on his back, dead. Severus picked it up and checked, to be sure, feeling slightly disappointed. At least it blocked two out of three of the forbidden curses though, he mused. He put the dead rat down on his desk, and began scribbling away on the parchment. He sat back, and wiped a drop of sweat off his brow. He needed sleep, he's going to have to teach classes tomorrow. He glanced over at the rat again, and saw that it was blinking and moving it's legs.

He sat up, now wide awake, and watched as the rat rolled back onto it's feet and began chewing on the end of his quill, which Severus was using to prod it. The rat seemed fine, completely unaffected at all.

He got up from his chair quickly, and put the rat back in his cage. He needed to clear his head. He had been in his office for way too long, and wanted some air. He really wanted to test it on a human, but knew it wouldn't be wise. Severus locked the door to his office, and used a curse on it that only he could break, well... one other in the school could, but he knew there was no worry of that happening now. He walked down the hall and was walking by the entrance to the Slytherin Common Room where he saw Draco standing, talking to Narcissa.

"Draco, do you realize, it is one o'clock in the morning?"

Draco nodded, glaring at him. "You going to take points, Professor?" Draco replied defiantly.

Severus was taken slightly aback, especially seeing how much Draco resembled Lucius. He was now almost six feet tall, and his eyes were almost as cold.

"Draco, it's ok, you really should get to bed, we're done, aren't we?" Narcissa injected, seeing Draco's challenge.

Draco nodded, and gave Severus one last glare before going in through the door. Narcissa turned and looked at Severus with concern.

"Are you all right? You look very tired."

An idea crossed his mind. "I'm fine, I was working on something in my office, and I need some help with it, would you mind?"

"It's a bit late, but ok. I guess so." She looked reluctant, and he guessed she was a bit weary of him from the previous night, but still walked with him to his office.

The moment they were both inside he locked the door, and put a few curses on it.

"What the hell...?"

He walked over to her, and lightly held her arms. "Narcissa, have you ever used any of the forbidden curses?"

She gave him an exasperated look. "Never! Why?"

"Ok, I want you to try it." He walked back over to the corner, and picked out a rat that he hadn't already used, placing it on his desk. "Try the Imperius curse. You shouldn't have a problem, curses are very similar to charms. Just say Imperio, and use your mind to command the rat to do something."

Narcissa reluctantly tried a couple of times, before successfully making the rat roll on his back, side to side.

"Brilliant," Severus told her. "Now try it on me."

"No way! I could go to Azkaban for that."

"Like I'm going to tell on you, Narcissa. Just do it." He hissed, getting slightly angry. "I need you to do this. No one will know what we're doing in here."

She looked uncomfortable. "Imperio," She whispered, and he immediately heard her voice, telling him to sit down at his desk, which he did. She looked away, not happy at all. He knew she wasn't going to like what he would be soon asking of her.

Severus looked at his watch, and recorded the time on paper, then ladled a scoop of the potion into a goblet and drank it. It tasted odd, and bubbly, but it wasn't as bad as many other potions he'd tried. He looked up at a very confused looking Narcissa, and smiled slightly, standing up and walking towards her.

"Try it again, and use a different command."

"Imperio," He waited, but heard nothing in his head but his own thoughts.

"I didn't do it right this time?" She asked him, slightly stressed.

"I think you did it fine." He glanced at the rat again, still on his desk, and looking as though it wanted to sleep on an old cloth he had used earlier to mop up a bit of potion he spilled. "I want you to now try the Cruciatus on the rat."

Her eyes filled with horror. "No! I can't do that - please, can I just go?" She looked ready to cry.

"Narcissa, I can't ask anyone else here, you're probably the only other teacher that would keep this quiet. Please?"

She nodded, and pointed her wand at the rat. "Crucio," The rat was in agony, squeaking and squawking and rolling around, nearly falling off the desk. She stopped the curse, and looked down, obviously very unhappy. He felt slightly bad, knowing that she had always liked animals, and wasn't the type to hurt one.

"Narcissa?" he said quietly, walking over to her.

"Forget it," she said, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Do it, I need you to do this."

"Crucio," she said, pointing her wand at him, and again, he felt nothing.

"I think you know what I'm going to ask you to try now," he said softly, pushing her hair back. "The Avada Kedavra, to the rat."

"And I suppose you, after the rat?" she said bitterly.

He nodded. Narcissa pointed the wand at the rat and used the curse, Severus watched silently as the rat curled over and died. She turned and looked at him, shaking her head, as if to say no. "Can't I take the potion, and you use the curse on me?"

"No! Do it, or I'll just have to use the Imperius on you and make you do it. Whatever happens, do not leave this office, and do not let anyone in." He wasn't going to chance hurting her, knowing that he had used the Voetvolk hex on her the night before, and a potion such as this could be harmful.

She pointed her wand at him, tears were running down her face. "Avada Kedavra." She whispered in a voice he barely heard, before he fell back.

He didn't feel as though he hit the floor, rather, it felt like he had plunged backwards into deep arctic waters. He couldn't breath, there was a pressure on his eyes and ears as though his head were about to implode. He also heard voices, eerie, quiet echoing voices, some telling him to swim, some telling him to sink. Was he dead? He wondered, as the voices grew louder and more demanding. They were the most frightening noises he'd ever heard, and he tried to block them out. He closed his eyes, and thought as though he were in the water, and tried to relax so that he could float.

The noises and the pressure were suddenly gone, and he no longer felt cold, but he felt a hand on his neck. He reached up quickly and grabbed the hand, squeezing it tightly, trying to break it. He heard a scream, and opened his eyes, and immediately realized it was Narcissa's hand, checking for a pulse. He pulled her down, and started to kiss her, thrilled that this potion did what it did.

Narcissa pulled back slowly after a while, pulling him up with her. She no longer looked terrified, she looked thrilled. "You have got to take this potion to Dumbledore! That is amazing - there has never been a way to fight those curses..."

He cut her off. "No, Dumbledore must not find out - No one is to know about this but you and I."

"But it could help so many people..."

"That's exactly why no one can know. If we told Dumbledore, he'd be obligated to go to the Ministry with it. Voldemort has many people there who would then tell him about this new creation. Do we really want Voldemort to have this kind of power?" He checked his watch again. One hour since he took the potion, he would try with the rats later to determine exactly how long the effects of the potion last. He was sure it couldn't be permanent. He scribbled this down on the parchment, and gathered up the papers to put in his safe, which was in his room, then walked back to Narcissa. "And if they find out that I did this without going straight to Voldemort, I will be killed for it."

She nodded. "Then I guess no one will know but us." He nodded, and walked her out of the office, looking out and checking up and down the corridors before walking with her to his room, completely shaken at the fact that he had this potion, which Voldemort would certainly kill for. He certainly didn't want it to get in the wrong hands.