The Raven and The Snake

Ariadne was now of age. She cooked and cleaned in the little house at the end of Spinner's End.

Snape returned with a small popping noise. His face was grim. Though he had joined the order willingly, he wasn't pleased with having to often visit the home of one his childhood bullies. In his youth, Sirius Black, her uncle had tormented him while at school together.

Ariadne didn't have much to do with her uncle, but she liked him well enough. She didn't have the same bitter resentment that Snape had. She prepared him a helping of dinner and he sat down stiffly.

This summer she had become like a house keeper for him. He wasn't around as much as she was. After passing her apparition test and coming of age, Ariadne was allowed to use magic without his presence to account for the trace all young wizards had so he could leave her for long stretches without worry.

Rarely was he gone for more than a day though. He worked tirelessly as a double agent. Her grandfather, the most evil wizard in existence, Voldemort; thought that Severus Snape was one of his most trustworthy servants. Snape was secretly working toward Voldemort's downfall.

Snape would go on errands for Voldemort then go to the Order to tell them everything. The Order would decide what he was allowed to share, which he relayed to Voldemort. Ariadne always went with him when he had to see her grandfather, but didn't often visit the Order's headquarters.

The headquarters were located in her uncle's boyhood home in London which he had inherited from his dark wizarding family. Her uncle knew what her purpose was, but didn't trust her and since the Weasleys had taken up temporary residence with him, she tried to stay back so as not to be asked questions that she couldn't answer.

Her cousin, Tonks, who was in the Order, thought that Ariadne was simply staying with Snape while she finished her time at Hogwarts as he was her head of house.

"We're leaving in an hour." Snape said coldly.

She gave a curt nod and left the kitchen to prepare. She preferred to dress in light, comfortable clothing around the house, but whenever she visited her grandfather, she dressed up.

Antigone, the snake she had received as a Christmas present from Snape, curled on the vanity, watching Ariadne touch up her makeup. Antigone didn't like Voldemort any more than she did, but it was a necessary evil for the war effort. Snape approached Ariadne, she spotted him in the mirror, fixing her blood red lipstick. Her hair was braided and looped at her back and she wore a silk black dress that clung neatly to her curves. It wasn't immodest, but still quite sexy. She tilted her head, watching Snape. "Do you think he'll approve?"

Snape was uninterested in her efforts to look like a mature aristocrat. She was trying to match the image of a proud pureblood. He just nodded without any sort of commitment and stretched his arm out to her.

Antigone slithered around Ariadne's forearm and she reached to take his arm. They disapparated and apparated into a rather fancy sitting room that clearly belonged to a family of great wealth.

Voldemort was standing in front a lavish fireplace, looking down into the flames. The furnishing were all expensive and clean, but the portrait over the mantle had been slashed, obscuring the images of whoever had lived here. Ariadne flitted to her grandfather's side, bowing gracefully. He reached a hand to cup her cheek with an indulgent smile.

"My child," he hissed in snake language.

She flushed with pleasure and kissed his palm. Acting was quite hard, but she got better every time. She didn't have any love for her grandfather and found everything he did repugnant. Only the necessity of being in his good graces for the war effort was what kept her from recoiling from his touch in disgust.

"My Lord," she purred in response.

He sat down in a chair that had a high back and she threw herself on her knees at his side. She rested her head on the arm of the chair to stare up at him adoringly while he stroked her hair and face.

On his orders, she had tracked down one of his former followers. She'd cornered Karkaroff after he'd fled from his headmaster position at Durmstrang once he'd known the Dark Lord had returned to power. She had tortured Karkaroff as her grandfather watched in approval. She'd killed him and Voldemort had laughed.

Now, she was curled at the foot of a monster, allowing him to touch her. Snape knelt before Voldemort and gave his latest report.

Harry Potter, the boy that had thwarted Voldemort's efforts to kill him, had been attacked by dementors. Dementors were meant to be the skeletal guards of the wizard prison, Azkaban. They had not yet approached the dementors with a deal, though they planned to do so very soon.

Several of Voldemort's most loyal followers, including Ariadne's cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, were held captive at the island prison. Voldemort had plans to free his servants, but hadn't taken the steps just yet. This news of dementors running amok without Ministry of Magic supervision was quite alarming.

Voldemort's hand paused in its stoking of Ariadne. His expression was tight as he thought this information over. Harry Potter had succeeded in driving off the dementors that had attacked him, but he was underage and underage wizards weren't supposed to use magic anywhere except for school. He would need to attend a hearing at the Ministry of Magic for discipline.

Ariadne had once gone in for a hearing after attempting to revive her adoptive muggle grandfathers. She'd been unsuccessful and the witch that had overseen her hearing had decided that she was not at fault. As Harry Potter had been defending himself and his cousin from the dementor attack, surely, he wouldn't be expelled from school.

Ariadne rested her cheek on Voldemort's thigh. She watched her favorite professor relay this information with cold indifference that she had learned from him. Not that any of this was news to her. Her remembered past life had given her knowledge of these events even before they'd happen though nobody knew that.

There was a scream somewhere in the house. A loud scuffle followed. They waited a long moment before two of Voldemort's Death Eaters dragged a couple of terrified people into the room. Ariadne didn't recognize the people, but they were dressed like muggles. She assumed they had been the owners of this house.

The Death Eaters looked to their master questioningly, hungry looks in their eyes. Voldemort's ruby eyes twinkled as he lifted Ariadne's chin to look at him. She forced a smile on her face, her stomach giving a sickening twist. "Ariadne," he crooned to her. "Kill them."

Ariadne rose to her feet and pointed her wand to the frightened captives. She didn't attempt to stop this from happening. Instead, she had to make a show of it. The couple clearly took good care of themselves, both very fit and beautiful though their faces were now screwed up in terror.

"Cursio," she purred the word, pointing to the female first.

The woman screeched in agony, her whole body contorting as she dropped to the floor at Ariadne's feet. Ariadne didn't let up until the man started sobbing and pleading with her. Ariadne looked back at her grandfather with a sick smile, releasing the woman.

"Imperio!" She chirped to the man and his face instantly went slack.

Ariadne wanted to vomit. She was wanted to run away, screaming. Every part of her wanted to stop what was happening right now.

Antigone tightened around her forearm, reminding her of how necessary her roll was. Her emotions were not as important as Voldemort's need to believe that she was absolutely his. Professor Snape was watching her coldly, his face expressing nothing.

She made the man approach the woman, lift her up high, and bring her spine crashing down on his knee with a sickening 'crack'. The woman let out a horrible gurgling and died. She released the man from the spell, watching him realize what he'd done. His anguished cries were so awful she thought she was going to lose her mind.

She transfigured a blade into her hand and offered it to the man. She whispered near his ear, "What more do you have to live for?"

The man hesitated before taking the knife. He attempted to attack her, but she stopped him with the illegal imperius curse again. This time he put the blade to his own throat and sliced.

She threw up a shield in front of herself to keep the blood from spattering her dress and turned to dance back to her grandfather's side. His too-wide mouth grinned at her maliciously. His abnormally long fingers reached for her face and she leaned into him with a nearly blissful expression.

"You didn't have to play with them, my child, but I appreciated the show." He crooned and pulled her onto his lap. It was a lie. If she had been merciful, he would've called her weak.

She rested her head on his shoulder so she wouldn't have to look when he ordered his snake, Nagini, to clean up the mess. Her eyes flickered to Snape who watched impassively. He showed no sign that any of this had bothered him at all. Before he allowed her to leave, Voldemort held her intimately close and spoke to her in the snake language. "I've heard that you have a little crush on Severus."

She looked at him blankly while his thumb traced her bottom lip. She showed no sign that his accusation was true. "It was necessary to explain my continued desire for his company, My Lord. I needed to learn everything I could from him in order to be useful to you."

He smiled, the blue scale he had instead of a normal human fingernail pushed between her lips. Her eyes fluttered a little when he touched her tongue, his face disgustingly close. "I think that it would be best to cultivate this relationship with Severus. He is my most trusted advisor, I would hate for him to have any misgivings about our plans here. If you were to bind him to you more thoroughly, he would never be able to betray our cause. Do you understand, my child?" Ariadne did understand. It was absolutely despicable. Using her like a honeypot to keep Snape in line, it was almost unthinkable. She adored and respected Severus Snape more than anyone else.

She nodded, her lips closing around his thumb, her tongue flicking gently. He pulled his hand away and kissed her with his lipless mouth. A thrill of renewed revulsion ran down her spine.

She said her goodbyes and returned to the little house at Spinner's End.