The Marauders Year Five Part 2 #Wattys2017

The Burning of the Dark Mark

And a smile crossed the Dark Lord's face.

"Very well," the Dark Lord said and Bellatrix came in the room then, followed by many others whose faces Severus knew well - Abraxas, Lucius, Narcissa... Walburga Black, whose hand slid across her son's shoulder as she entered, pulling Regulus 'round to greet him formally and pull him off to the side to watch as Rudolphus and Fenrir Greyback came into the room, carrying a heavy, highbacked wooden chair between them with thick leather straps attached to the arms and 'round the back and Bellatrix danced across the room and threw something into the fire that made the flames hiss and spark and she laughed and spun on her tip toes, sing-songing merrily, apparently happier about this now than she had been.

And the Dark Lord waved his palm to the chair as Fenrir and Rudolphus put it down. "Have a seat, Severus," he said lowly.

So Severus sat.

Voldemort nodded and Bellatrix excitedly cackled and leaped forward, grabbing onto Severus Snape's arms and twisting them down, lashing the leather over them, tightening the belts to hold him firm. And once Severus Snape's arms were lashed down - his left wrist up and bared, his fingers gripping the leather strap at the heel of the chair's arm, she stepped back out of the way and it was Voldemort's turn. The Dark Lord smiled as he waved his bone white wand and straps around the top of the chair back snaked about Severus's forehead, strapping his head to the wood firmly, straightening his spine so he was forced to sit up and another pair of straps went 'round his chest, pulling back his shoulders and holding him securely down. There was so little movement he could make, and his breath came in great, nervous gasps as he squeezed his eyes shut. It felt like an executioner's chair.

A death to his old self, perhaps.

That was a death he was willing to surrender to.

Perhaps this new Severus Snape would not love Lily Evans, would not pine for her, would not feel as though he were drowning without her. She had been his only friend, the only ray of hope in his otherwise entirely dismal life. He remembered the first time he'd seen her - playing on a swing set, flying through the air like an angel, her hair caught in the sun, copper as a new penny when she was young - before it had darkened and matured to the shade it now was...

Lily Evans, to him, had always been pure light in the shell of a person, a prism.

Well, he would no longer need light.

He would be dark.

He would be the darkest of the dark, the purest black, a void.

He would need nothing. He would feel nothing.

Nothing would be better than the screaming agony that went through him every time she rejected him.

"Shall we begin?" whispered the Dark Lord, leaning close to Severus Snape.

And the Death Eaters in the room praised Voldemort, whispering in low voices.

"Yesss my Lord, yes."

"Burn him my Lord, make him yours! Mark him, my Lord, mark him!"

Voldemort leaned in, staring into Severus Snape's eyes, searching them. "With this Mark, I make you mine. Is that... acceptable to you?" he hissed.

"Yes my Lord," Severus breathed.

"You will heed my bidding, answer my call, and fight for the purity of the wizarding world, fight to destroy the mudbloods and end this ridiculous notion that wizardkind should be in hiding? You believe we are royalty and that all of the muggles must be put in their proper places - beneath us?"

"Yes my Lord," Severus answered. "Broken and beneath us, my Lord."

Voldemort hissed with appreciation. "Then we shall begin the initiation with the Dark Mark." And he hovered about Severus, who grit his teeth, his fingers balled tighter around the leather strap in his left hand.

"You'll want this," said Lucius Malfoy, stepping up and putting a soft ball of cloth into Severus's mouth. "To bite down on." Narcissa stood, staring, wide eyed, tears clinging to her lashes and when Lucius stepped back, she clung onto his arm and buried her face in his shoulder. Lucius shook his head and motioned for her to watch and she did, but her jaw trembled slightly.

Severus held the cloth in his teeth, nervous.

How bad could it be?

Across the room, Regulus Black tried to turn his face, but his mother took hold of his chin and turned it back discreetly. He balled his fists instead. He could feel Kreacher hiding about his ankles beneath his robes.

For there came Voldemort, turning from the fireplace and floating before him was a bit of iron - which had been sitting in the hearth as it blazed, and the iron was glowing white hot... and Severus's fingers tightened with nervousness, clenching, every muscle in his body tightening as he realized what Voldemort was about to do, his heart racing, and he bit into the cloth to keep from screaming long before the iron touched his skin. And as Voldemort dropped it onto his wrist, Severus bit even harder, so hard he could feel his teeth quaking in the pressure and he felt as though his mind were being thrashed about, the pain so absolute it blinded him, and he heard Voldemort hissing lowly as the iron burned and burned and seared its way through his skin...

"Issssth eth valaroothhhh shhhhissssth yehhhmitthh essss shomassss ethhhhhh valarothhhhh...."

A weird, snake-like language... a mantra, a spell, an incantation... and the skin of his arm seemed to melt straight through to the bone and he thought he might die from it. He just might die, it was so great a pain.

"Shaaaaaahhaahhh marriiiiiithaa shammmaahh valarothhhhhh shiiiiithh essssss ethhh valarothhhhh...."

And after agonizing minutes that seemed eons to Severus Snape, the iron had gone cold, all of it's heat deposited into the skin and blood of Snape, who was breathless, whose heart burned with the overheated blood... and Voldemort waved his wand and the iron fell away... and there on Severus Snape's skin... was the skull with the snake wrapping from it's mouth.

And Voldemort raised his wand. "Now. To test it," he breathed and he brought his wand to press into the soft skin of Severus's wrist.

The mark glowed as white hot as it had when the iron had been upon it and Severus screamed, biting into the cloth Lucius had given him once more - and all of the Marks in the room blazed bright and the Death Eaters held up their wrists in unison, a war cry, an acceptance of unity, of brotherhood, and they shouted in welcome as the Dark Lord raised his wand and the mark went black once more and Severus Snape shuddered as the bindings were released and he was pulled up from the chair by Lucius Malfoy, who held onto his shoulders to keep him from falling, even as all of the Death Eaters descended around him... accepting him as one of their own.