Chapter Text
THE BEGINNING
Severus pinched the bridge of his nose tightly and tried to drown out the voices yelling around him.
"Headmaster! What are we going to do? We need to find him! We need -"
"How did they know where he was going to be? I thought we were keeping the information for Hogsmeade weekends quiet until the last minute. How do we know Snape didn't -"
"Oh! My baby! My poor baby! Oh what if my Ronnie had been with them! He could have died! He could have -"
"Where is my Godson! How could you let this happen! He's only -"
"He's probably dead by now anyways. We should plan for -"
"Enough!," the bellow from the always soft spoken, genial headmaster was enough to silence everyone in the room immediately. Severus sighed in relief at the abrupt drop in noise levels.
"Panicking and running about like headless chickens will get us nowhere." He gazed around the room, meeting each person's eyes with his own piercing blue. "Now," Dumbledore turned to look at Severus to his left, "Severus, have you been called or do you have any information about how the Death Eaters were able to find out the time of the Hogsmeade outing, or where Harry might be now?"
"No, Albus. I've heard nothing in passing and I've not yet been called. If he truly does have the boy I imagine I will be called soon though."
Dumbledore hummed under his breath and nodded, "Very well. Keep me updated," he returned his attention to the rest of the room to begin asking the others if they had heard of anything unusual within their various positions.
Severus had to smother a snort. Keep him updated. As if that wasn't his sole reason for being here and not rotting away in Azkaban prison. Oh, he was sure Albus cared about him in his own way but only so much as a track owner cared about the horses. He would be looked after and cared about so long as he did his job and brought something useful into the equation. As soon as he ceased to do so he would become a liability and would be put down like a racehorse with a broken leg.
Severus tried valiantly to maintain at least the facade of a mere sneer throughout the rest of the meeting as opposed to the absolute loathing that he felt for at least half the people in the room and the entire situation in general.
"Well I think we've shared all we can at this point, but everybody keep an eye out." Dumbledore turned his gaze to meet Black's, "And nobody do anything foolish. I think I shall take my leave." With a sickeningly bright swirl of robes he stood and headed towards the fireplace, "Severus, if you will."
Beyond grateful to get out of the veritable lion's den Severus swiftly stood and followed him through the green flames.
Harry groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He could feel that he was laying on something cold and rough, a stone floor most likely. He quickly realized that he was completely naked and his wrists and ankles were encased in what felt like metal. Slowly sitting up the sound of clinking chains moved with him. He squinted his eyes attempting to see anything but wherever he was was completely lightless. His glasses were gone as well, not that they would have done him any good, and he could feel dried blood on the right side of his face that made his skin pull tight and his lashes stick together in clumps.
The last thing he had remembered was walking towards Honeyduke's with Hermione and Neville. Ron had had detention with McGonagall for fighting with Malfoy in the hallways and hadn't been able to come. They had just decided that they would go to the Three Broomsticks afterwards for lunch when all hell had broken loose. A loud boom had sounded from further in the village and then dozens upon dozens of apparition cracks could be heard. Dark robed figures in white masks had swarmed the town sending bright streams of light in every direction. Screams and cackles could be heard as students and residents ran for cover and desperately tried to defend themselves and the Death Eaters attacked with no mercy.
He had just thrown up a shield to stop a collapsing wall from crushing himself and the others and had turned to make sure Hermione and Neville were okay when he felt something strike his back with a burn and then he woke up wherever the hell he was now. The slight prickling in his scar gave him a pretty good idea of where he might be; or, if not where exactly, then definitely who with. He shuffled backwards until he felt a wall behind his back, just as cold and rough as the floor, and tried to examine the shackles around his wrists and ankles by touch alone, doing his best to suppress his shivers.
He was just feeling his way around his left wrist when he heard a loud clanking noise and a shriek of rusted hinges being opened. The sudden flood of light that flared to life blinded him and Harry hissed, ducking his head and rapidly blinking his watering eyes. The sharp sound of boot heels clacking on the stone floor forced his to turn his gaze up. He could see he was in a bare stone cell that was perhaps eight feet wide and equally deep with three stone walls and a wall of bars directly across from him that faced out into an empty stone hallway.
The clicking of footsteps got louder with each reverberation until they stopped abruptly in front of Harry's cell.
"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in." The slick, oily, smugness of the voice caused Harry's upper lip to curl in disgust into a sneer that would have made Snape jealous.
He slowly got to his feet, using the wall behind him as support, ignoring the weight that dragged on his limbs and the clinking noises coming from the chains that bound him to the wall.
He shuffled towards the bars, being pulled to a stop about a foot before he could actually touch them, the chains pulled taught behind him, and stared the man in the eye.
"Fuck. You."
Lucius Malfoy's face remained mildly amused. Right up until the wad of blood tinged spit hit him just above his left eyebrow.