The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

An Occlumens' Camouflage

"I want to know who cast the Mark in London. I want to know - NOW." The Dark Lord seethed the words, standing at the head of an ornate table, burning with anger so violent that his face was flushed and his hands trembled on the table as he leaned menacingly against it, his eyes glowering down at the faces that surrounded him.

The ten closest followers sat, others stood around the room in clusters, and the cold anger that radiated from Voldemort had them all jostling subtly as though each wishing to shield themselves with another, their bodies tense and eyes diverted. None wanted to draw any kind of attention to themselves, each afraid to move, to be somehow implicated in anyway. The Dark Lord was not in a forgiving mood.

Severus Snape stood toward the far end of the room, looking about at the others around him, letting their thoughts slip in and out of his own mind, like an occlumens' camouflage. He could feel the Dark Lord pressing his legilimency around the room, sifting thoughts and minds. The difference in their searchings was that Voldemort searched for only the evidence of the killing in West London - Snape searched for anyone who could be a plausible scapegoat to pin the murder of the Jennings woman on.

His eyes landed on Barty Crouch.

Twitchy little Barty Crouch. A supposed friend of Regulus Black, who never quite fulfilled his duty as such... desperate to serve, stupid enough to act without command... disposable, not quite quick enough to come up with a plausible lie and, Severus could see in his mind, Barty had no alibi. He'd been at home with his dear sweet mother all morning, having his robes re-hemmed for his final year at Hogwarts.  He'd grown like a weed; Darling mummy who had no idea her son was a little death eater practically licking the boots of the Dark Lord in his wild desire to fix his long standing daddy issues.

Pathetic.

Severus cleared his throat and stepped forward. Everyone in the room looked over at him, their masks glinting in the flickering flame of the candelabras.

"It was Crouch, my Lord," Severus said lowly. "I see it there in his mind."

"No - no, I - I didn't -" Barty stammered.

All eyes turned to look at the small figure, his face obscured by the mask like all the others. "I - I didn't - I don't know what you think you see, but I -"

"Your mind is not something to be inferred, Crouch," Snape hissed. "I see what I see."

"I'll take Veriteserum to prove I didn't, my Lord!"

Snape hissed, "You're a mighty cocky little --"

"Enough!" Snapped Voldemort. He waved for Snape to melt back into the crowd, and Severus did so with a sense of triumph. The Dark Lord stepped 'round the table, headed for the small frame of Barty Crouch.

"I swear, I didn't do it," Barty Crouch rasped.

Voldemort stood over him, staring down into the boys's eyes, which scarcely showed through his mask. Severus watched in fascination.

The Dark Lord reached out his hands and placed them onto Barty's shoulders. The narrow framed boy's shoulders dipped but he stared up at Voldemort with a look of undying admiration and desperate desire of a son seeking approval from a beloved father. His nostrils flared slightly, afraid, but dedicated enough to stare up into the reddish eyes of his Master.

Even more pathetic, Severus thought. Imagine wanting the approval of a man so badly that you withered yourself into an expression like that...

He hoped the Dark Lord would obliterate the little bit of toad spawn.

But then something Snape never could have predicted happened. The boy's sincerity sparked some long forgotten memory in Voldemort... and Severus saw a flash of figure from behind, a man with a cane with the head of a phoenix with a ruby red eye and a money clip to match... and the thought of that man was gone before Severus could unfurl the meaning behind it, but something changed in Voldemort's tone near to instantly.