Voldemort's Apprentice

Chapter One: The Chamber of Secrets

He walked down the aisle in the middle of the great hall. There were two tables on either side of him. He neither knew nor cared who sat at these tables or what distinguished one table from another. All he cared about was not tripping over his feet.

As they stopped, a tall man with the very long hair and beard of the colour auburn surveyed them. He held in his hand a scroll of parchment which he now unrolled.

"When I call your names," the man said with a twinkle in his eye, "I want you to sit on the stool and wear the Sorting Hat. It will put you into one of four houses, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin."

Four tables, four houses he thought. He should have known sooner, his mother had explained all this months ago.

The names were called in alphabetical order. He waited in silent boredom until the man reached the 'E's.

And there she was.

She was the most beautiful creature he had ever laid eyes on. Her read hair tumbled off her head and came to a gentle curling rest under her chin. Her almond-shaped eyes were bright green and full of laughter and she was sitting on the stool, waiting to be sorted.

"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat bellowed.

"Please let me be in Gryffindor," he prayed silently, wishing his mother had taught him a spell to manipulate a Sorting Hat. Would the Imperious Curse work on something not living? He had only seen it used on humans.

"Potter James," the severe looking woman called.

A boy with messy hair and glasses sauntered towards the stool and threw the hat in the air. It somersaulted and landed on his head.

"Show-off," he muttered as Potter was placed in Gryffindor.

He despised Potter then. To be blessed in going into Gryffindor and to be able to sit in the seat next to the beautiful redhead was all it took for Potter to earn his hatred.

More names were called and then-

"Snape Severus."

His stomach dropped and he walked towards the stool. He didn't see the step before the stool and as his foot dropped unexpectedly, he nearly went flying. The laughter ringing in his ears, he brought the Hat down over his eyes and past his burning cheeks.

"Well, this is the most interesting head I've seen in years," a voice in his head whispered. "Not since-" the Hat stopped and seemed to recollect itself.

Severus barely heard as his mind full of the redhead.

"Ah, so Gryffindor currently takes your fancy? Not a bad choice but somehow I don't think your mind would be stimulated enough. Now Ravenclaw wouldn't be a bad decision, but no, I've made up my mind."

There was a pause.

"SLYTHERIN."

Severus walked towards the Slytherin table, his mind empty. His mother had been in Slytherin and he knew she would be pleased with him. Maybe finally, he had lived up to her expectations.

He watched as the last of the new students were sorted and another man- the headmaster- stood up to make a speech.

"Muggle-lover," a boy next to him whispered. Leaning closer to Severus, he continued, "Still, he's not as bad as Dumbledore, over there. I heard that some of the teachers are Mudbloods. Can you believe that?"

Severus felt his stomach fall again. He knew there were some witches and wizards that were prejudiced against muggles but he hadn't expected to meet one so soon. He thought of his father. He was a muggle. He thought of himself. Muggle father, witch mother, a parentage he was proud of. Why else had he written Half-Blood Prince in his school books?

"Evan Rosier," the boy said, his hand on his chest. "McGonagall said you were called Snape."

Severus nodded. Rosier looked hard. "Are your parents magical?"

"My mother's a witch," Snape began and stopped. He didn't want to lie about his father but on the other hand, life could be very unpleasant if he told the truth. "My father's a wizard."

Rosier nodded and Snape thought with panic that Rosier knew he was lying. But Rosier just leant across the table to talk to a pretty witch- Bellatrix Black- who was in the third year like him.

Snape took his eyes away from the table a glanced at the aisle as a dark haired prefect sauntered down the aisle behind him. As he past Severus, their eyes met- and somehow Severus knew the secret about his parentage was out.

~*~

Snape went back home for Christmas. The house was the same as he'd left it. No Christmas tree, no presents, no goodwill. Snape knew money was tight but a happy "Welcome home Severus" cost nothing.

"There's a leak coming through the roof in your room," Eileen said, not looking up from the pot of stew she was conjuring as soon as Snape stepped through the door. "You don't mid being a bit wet, do you?"

Snape shook his head, wishing he could go and stay with Rosier.

Over Christmas, Snape buried his head in his potions books. Veritiserum was his favourite. It fascinated him that such an innocent-looking cocktail could have so much power. Books also let him escape from his house of misery.

~*~

It was hard to concentrate in potions. Every time his eyes met any part of Lily Evans, his mind was full of nothing but her- which was often since she sat right in front of her, next to some guy called Sirius Black. He was that Potters best friend and Bellatrix's cousin.

"He says he's going to marry a muggle," Bellatrix said, one rainy day after Christmas in the common room. "Seriously. As though he wasn't a Black!"

Andromeda clicked her tongue and glared disapprovingly at her sister. Out of everybody in the Slytherin house, Andromeda was the only one who had anything good to say about Black. Snape often wondered how there was anything good to say about that evil, conceited, low-down scum but he supposed that the fact that weren't in the same house was good... even if it meant not being with Lily. How he wished she was in Gryffindor... he smiled, remembering the banter between her and Slughorn earlier that day. Snape wasn't the only one who thought Lily would be better off in Slytherin.

"Hey, Severus." A voice cut through his thoughts about Lily.

"What?" Snape muttered groggily, looking up to see Rosier looking at him.

"Isn't your Transfiguration homework due in at six?" Rosier grinned.

"Yeah," Snape said. "So?"

"And isn't it five to?"

Snape looked at his watch and swore, tearing out of the common room.

He made his way along the corridor to Professor Dumbledore's office. All though he never would have admitted it to anyone, and certainly not Rosier, he liked Dumbledore. He had eyes that were full of humour and he had a way of making transfiguration fun. Also, Dumbledore had the best magical skills Snape had ever seen. Not even his mother could perform magic like that... he hated seeing his mother use magic.

As he stood outside the office to knock on the door, his hand stopped. There was some graffiti on the wall. He couldn't quite make out what he said. He gave in to curiosity and went towards the wall. This is what it read:

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.

Enemies of the heir, beware.

Snape ran back to the office. He knocked frantically and Dumbledore opened.

"Ah, Severus, what a lovely surprise," the old man said. "But I hope you have your homework with you."

Snape shoved a few pages of parchment into Dumbledore's hand and dragged him down to the corridor where the writing was.

"Oh my," Dumbledore whispered.

They both stared at the writing, so red, it looked like blood. Snape had only heard exaggerated tales about the legend; it was a popular tale to tell the first years on their first night in the castle. It wasn't until the next night that they were told that pure-bloods were virtually untouchable by the mythical monster of Slytherin, which almost all the Slytherins were.

The teachers were starting to come down the corridor, some of them hurrying, some of them taking their time, all of them staring at the message on the wall. Snape vaguely wondered why the teachers were all looking so troubled. Rosier had told him about his anti-muggle opinions; so much so that Snape took it as truth. Surely if someone wanted to get rid of the spawn of the muggles, it should be commended, rather than condemned?

A prefect was strutting down the corridor. Snape saw Headmaster Dippet look at him with relief.

"Tom," he said gratefully. "What are we to do?"

"I don't know sir."

Dumbledore chuckled quietly. "That's not like you, Tom."

Tom turned around. With a jolt, Snape recognized the prefect from the Sorting Ceremony. "How am I supposed to know who did this?" he whispered.

Snape watched them. He saw Dumbledore's eyes narrow and Tom's widen with anxiety. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, both were looking other ways. He must've imagined it.

~*~

It was three hours later when the heir of Slytherin made his or her first attack. A Hufflepuff sixth year was working alone by the lake ("what a stupid thing to do in early March," Rosier said). Everyone was talking about it at breakfast the next day.

"Of course this has got the Gryffindors panicky," Narcissa, Bellatrix's sister, announced calmly.

"How come?" Snape asked.

"That house is saturated with Mudbloods and muggle-lovers," Narcissa answered pausing to give the Gryffindor table a dirty look. "Anybody who isn't worrying about themselves is worrying about their friends." She smiled suddenly. "To be honest, the whole episode is worth it just to see that Potter panicking over Evans."

"What's that got to do with the Chamber?" Bella asked.

Narcissa gave an explanation that turned Snape's blood cold. It wasn't possible. How could a girl so beautiful, so alluring, and so gifted at charms and potions be the offspring of muggles?

"Every one knows Potter is infatuated with her," Narcissa continued. "Though why, I have no idea, she's no looker..."

And with that, she buried her head in Witch Weekly, not taking it out again until some second-year ran into the hall, screaming his head off because another student had been found petrified, this time a Ravenclaw.

~*~

Over the next month, ten more muggle-borns had fell victim to the heir. Snape was getting worried about Lily. He couldn't quite forget her, no matter how he tried. He knew she was muggle-born- she wasn't good enough for him, but still.

It was a Saturday afternoon that Snape walked past a group of bullies picking on a girl with glasses to stand in front of Tom Riddle.

"You did it, didn't you?" Snape whispered. "You opened the Chamber of Secrets."

Tom gaped at him "How did you know?"

Snape shrugged. In all honesty, he didn't. He had just guessed from the look that passed between Tom and Dumbledore that Riddle wasn't wholly innocent.

"I'm not saying that you shouldn't have," Snape muttered. Despite Lily Evans, nobody in Slytherin had anything against the heir, whoever he or she was. "But it's only a matter of time before you're found out."

Riddle laughed a high cold laugh. "Don't worry, I have a plan. It concludes tonight."

And with that, Tom strode off down the corridor.

~*~

"You killed one?" Snape gasped.

Riddle looked up from his book and smiled.

They were in the common room, about two hours after their last conversation. The whole school had been buzzing with the death of Myrtle whatever-her-name-was and the expulsion of some guy in Gryffindor.

"Yes." Riddle said. "So?"

Snape said nothing. Riddle frowned at his hesitation.

"Listen to me, Snape," Riddle muttered. "That Mudblood didn't deserve to live. None of them do. My only regret is that I didn't kill all of them. And Hagrid in Gryffindor? Do you know what he is? He's half-giant. Not even human. They're not like us, Snape. They're different and must be eliminated."