Alone

Chapter 20

"Care about me? Then why didn't they care enough to dig and find the truth? Why didn't they stick by me when I needed them the most?" Jake half-shouted. The professors left in the hall turned around and looked at what was causing the commotion. Snape actually looked sad for a moment before his mask came on again.

"And why do you care?" Jake pressed on, his voice softening the volume.

"They made a mistake Potter. Everybody makes mistakes, it won't be human if you don't make mistakes," Snape answered, completely brushing off the second question. Jake didn't answer, mainly because he didn't have an answer, but also because he was thinking of what the professor had said.

"That still doesn't answer the question of why you care," Jake retorted. Snape sighed and all of a sudden, he looked his forty-two years.

"Alright, I suppose you deserve to know anyway. Besides, your father did make me promise to tell you when you were twenty-one," Snape muttered, almost to himself it seemed.

Jake was completely baffled. What the hell was Snape going on about? His father made Snape promise what to him?

"Come with me, Potter, and I'll explain everything," Snape said tiredly. Jake, being too shocked and curious to protest, followed the potion's master to his quarters.

~~*~~

Lucy trembled as she followed Blaise throughout the halls of Malfoy Manor. She was scared, no, scrap that, she was terrified, the piss-your-pants-in-fright sort of feeling. She was not looking forward to meeting Voldemort, not at all.

Blaise stopped abruptly in front of dark, heavy oak doors and mentioned for Lucy to go in. For the thousandth time since she arrived, Lucy wondered why she was here and what Voldemort wanted with her.

Straightening her back and lifting her head, Lucy tried to be intimidating as she opened the doors and entered the room. Going in, the first thing she saw was, well, nothing. The room was pitch black and her eyes couldn't penetrate the darkness. What little light, which snaked into the room from the corridor, offered no help as Lucy's eyes scanned the dark room feverishly.

Suddenly the door behind her shut with a bang and Lucy jumped.

You're real intimidating, Campbell, Lucy thought sarcastically as the room was plunged into darkness. Rapidly a light seeped into the room. Lucy's eyes looked for the source of the brightness and her eyes were drawn to the fireplace in centre of the back wall. Raising her head, she saw that Voldemort was settled comfortably on a lavish and exquisitely carved black chair.

Damn that bastard! Lucy thought angrily. He wanted to scare the shit out of me!

"Lucy, how nice of you to join me," Voldemort said as Lucy straightened her back.

"Er, nice to be here?" she said uncertainly, knowing that sarcasm wasn't probably the best opinion.

"You must be wondering why you're here," Voldemort continued as if Lucy hadn't spoken.

"That thought has crossed my mind," Lucy muttered. Voldemort didn't comment, but continued.

"It is quite simple my dear. You are a witch and a very powerful witch at that. If fact, you are my-" Voldemort was suddenly cut off as the doors burst open to reveal a rather nervous Death Eater.

"Excuse me for the intrusion, My Lord, but Draco Malfoy and some other Order members have entered the building!" the Death Eater gasped out. Voldemort smirked.

"Capture them and make sure they are alive," he ordered. The Death Eater bowed respectfully and exited the room.

"Now Lucy, you are my-"

~~*~~

Draco watched as Snape led Jake out of the Great Hall. He nodded to the members of the Order and they crept silently and stealthily out of Hogwarts. They hopped on their brooms and flew to Hogsmeade. When they arrived at Hogsmeade, they apparated to the nearest village to Malfoy Manor, Eskdalemuir.

Their sudden appearance startled several Muggle children and hasty memory charms were preformed. Taking out the invisibility potion Severus had prepared earlier, the group hopped on their brooms once again and flew as fast as they could towards Malfoy Manor. The potion only lasted for four hours and the flight there would take about three quarters of that time.

~~*~~

Jake looked warily around the potion master's rooms. They looked quite comfortable despite the dark colours. Then again, it came as no surprise that Snape would decorate his quarters in shades of black and grey, but the blue surprised Jake.

Settling himself down on one of the sofas, Jake waited patiently for the cynical professor to tell him whatever he was supposed to tell him.

Snape sighed and leaned back into the armchair. He looked at Jake through his black eyes and considered how much he should tell the youth.

"First off, I do not hate you," he said. Jake stared at him in disbelief. To Severus's great surprise Jake started to laugh.

"You don't hate me? You don't hate me? This comes from the man whose greatest joy was making my life hell during my Hogwarts years," Jake pointed out as Severus smiled wryly.

"Well, yes, about that. It was all an act. Some of the Slytherins were born-to-be-Death-Eaters. Had I acted nicely towards any Gryffindors, especially a Potter, imagine the damage done," Severus retorted as Jake pondered. It did make sense he supposed.

"Though, that isn't the point of this conversation. You know, there really isn't an easy way to say this, so I suppose I'll just be blunt about it," Severus continued as Jake nodded impatiently.

"Your father and I weren't enemies," Severus said. Jake gaped at him. Out of all the things he had expected Severus to say, that was not it.

"You're kidding me right?" Jake suddenly blurted, not sure if his heart could take any more surprises that day. Severus shook his head sadly.

"But all my life, I've been told that you hate my father's guts and vice versa," Jake continued. Severus sighed.

"I know, but it had to be that way. Your father and I first met, not at Hogwarts as popular belief, but three years before. I had wondered out of the Leaky Cauldron and your father was always rather fond of Muggle clothing. He was shopping with his mother and I had stumbled into the shop. In those days, Potters and Snapes did not mix. Potters were golden-hearted saints while Snapes were cruel, evil demons. Surprisingly, your father did not care about that and made me see that the blood of people didn't matter. We became good friends, but even then, we knew that people were not to know that we were friends. At Hogwarts, we pretended to be enemies, and it was rather easy considering you're father's friends pranked me all the time. Your father was the one to convince me to join the Light Side again. When James died, it was like a part of myself was missing," Severus admitted as Jake processed the information.

"So, you're telling me that you were friends with my father and his friends?" Jake asked weakly. Severus laughed.

"Hell no! I couldn't stand Black and the rest of your father's pack. Your mother tolerated me because of your father, and no one else knew about our friendship. Your father made me promise that you knew the truth about us. Makes things more complicated, doesn't it?" Severus asked in amusement as Jake nodded. It made things a lot more complicated.

"I hate surprises," Jake muttered finally, as the room sank back into silence.

~~*~~

Landing lightly and silently, the group followed Draco as he made his way to the door. To the others, it looked like Draco was reaching for the cold stone walls of Malfoy Manor.

"Malfoy," Ron hissed. Draco turned around and looked at him.

"What?" he hissed back.

"Why the hell are you trying to open a wall?" Ron asked, giving Draco 'the look'. Draco rolled his eyes and sighed in irritation.

Without answering, he reached forward and turned the doorknob that only he could see and whispered the password he had established so long ago. To the other's surprise, the wall they had been looking at earlier turned into a heavy wooden door. Draco muttered something that sounded suspiciously like idiot and lit the damp corridor with his wand.

~~*~~

"Did you know that my father was a, well, um, a, uh." Jake stumbled over the words, not sure how to ask Severus this.

"That your father was the heir of Slytherin?" Snape offered finally. Jake nodded and Severus sighed.

"I did, and apart from your mother and Professor Dumbledore, I was the only one to know. Your father never told his friends as he didn't know how they'd act," Severus explained. Jake rubbed his temples. He could feel a damn headache coming on.

My dad and his stupid surprises, Jake thought grumpily.

"Well, that was a lot to consider in one night. Why don't you go and sleep on it," Severus offered kindly. Jake sighed and stood up.

"You know what, Professor?" Jake asked innocently as Severus's eyes narrowed. James had used the exact same tone on him when he was trying to embarrass Severus.

"What?" Severus asked warily.

"You're kinda freaky when you're nice," Jake answered with a grin. "Not to mention the fact that I didn't even know that the word nice was in your vocabulary."

"Out, Potter," Snape snapped in mock anger as Jake laughed softly.

"Night to you too Sevvy."

~~*~~

The group ran silently through the castle. It was easy to do so after many years of training of sneaking around. Draco led them up a flight of stairs and around a few corners. He stopped and looked out from behind his hiding place behind the statue. He swore mentally when he saw Blaise.

"Damn," he muttered angrily. His grip on his wand was so tight that his knuckles turned white. "Damn, damn, damn."

It had hurt. He remembered that day when Blaise, his best friend, had turned his back on him.

**Flashback**

Draco stared across the lake. Blaise was settled next to him. Both of them were seated on the large rock and looking out towards the calm water.

"I know you did it," Draco said calmly, knowing he was taking a chance, revealing to Blaise that piece of information. But in his heart he trusted his best friend. Apart from his mother, Draco supposed the other person who could come as close to being loved by him was Blaise.

Blaise stiffened.

"Did what?" he asked, trying to keep the mode light.

"That you framed Potter," Draco answered in the same expressionless voice. Blaise laughed without humour. The blond always seemed to know everything.

"How?" Blaise asked simply.

"Because I heard you the night before. I couldn't sleep and was up in the common room. You know you really shouldn't talk where other people can hear you."

"You know how dangerous it is for you to tell me this."

"Yes, but I know you never could hurt me. We've been through too much together."

"The joys being a Death Eater," was the sarcastic reply from Blaise. Draco sighed and turned towards the black-haired guy.

"Why did you do it? I told you I could've helped you out of it," Draco insisted, his mask dropped. Blaise studied the blond in front of him. He saw nothing but concern mixed with hurt.

"I know, but I'm not you. I'm not as strong as you. I have no reason to turn against Him. I was born to serve, you know that! Hell, you were exactly the same as me! You were born to serve as well!"

"I was born to do nothing Blaise! That's it! No one is born to do anything! I live whatever life I choose, but I will not serve that monster killed my mother," Draco spat out. Blaise sighed, but had nothing to say. He didn't know why he hadn't listened to Draco in the first place.

"Did you kill Weasley?" Draco asked finally. Blaise gave him a strange look, as if saying you don't know? Draco gave him a look back.

"Nah," he drawled at long last. "Killing isn't my thing."

If Draco doesn't know, then I won't bother to tell him. Besides, it's not that important anyway. He is 'dead' after all, Blaise thought.

The pair sat like that for a long time.

"I'm sorry," Blaise whispered and got up to go back into the castle. The sun was setting and he couldn't look at Draco anymore. He had let down his best friend, but he wouldn't betray him. Nobody needed to know that Draco knew about Potter's innocence. As far as he was concerned, Draco believed that Potter was guilty as well, and Voldemort needed to know nothing about this conversation.

"Me too," Draco whispered to the wind. A tear rolled down his cheek. He was truly alone.

Like Potter I suppose, he thought ironically before getting up and following Blaise.

**End of Flashback**

Draco was so caught up in his memories that he didn't notice that Blaise had spotted him.

"Draco?" Blaise asked weakly. Draco's head snapped up and he stared at his former best friend, his best friend whom he hadn't seen for three years.

"Blaise," Draco whispered.

"What are you doing here?" Blaise asked, his eyes darting back and forth, looking for other Death Eaters.

"I had a free afternoon and thought that I'd visit my old house again," Draco said sarcastically. Blaise laughed.

"I've missed your sense of humour," Blaise admitted as Draco grinned tentatively.

"Aww, didn't know you felt that way about me," Draco said, batting his eyelashes. Blaise chuckled and shrugged. All of a sudden, his face turned serious.

"We really should do this again some other time, but right now you need to get out of here," he hissed. Draco stared at the man in front of him.

"You're letting me go?" he asked incredulously as Blaise gave him a look.

"Yes, now get out of here before someone comes and sees you," Blaise said, pushing Draco towards the way he had come.

"Long time to see, Draco," another voice joined the duo. Both men froze.

"What no hug for your father, Draco?" Lucius asked, stepping out of the shadows and casting a disapproving look at Blaise that plainly said that his ass was going down.