The Potion Princess

The Dark Lord

"It's a show of power. He enjoys those." Audra doesn't need to ask who He was this time, either, and Snape doesn't say. "He waits for you tonight, when all this is over."

She had known, even if no one had told her, that that's what all this was really about. They are operating in secret, still, so it's helpful to have an excuse when they gather together. It's probably been what all these gatherings have been about, secret meetings in the cover of darkness hidden by public revels. Audra meets Emmeline's eyes across the crowd, and she raises one hand in acknowledgment- tonight, her eyes say, tonight we truly come of age.

Tonight, her aunt Narcissa whispers, fingers gripping her wrist and eyes searching Audra's face.

Tonight, Lucius murmurs, the snake shaped tip of his cane tracing over the straps of her dress when he corners her in the hallway.

She dances with Vance, the two of them moving in tandem and his hands firm on her waist, protective and proud like a brother should be. The world will be ours, sister, Vance promises, and she looks over her shoulder to see Snape already looking at her, raising a glass in a lone toast so the champagne sparkles in the light. Tonight.

The party drips on, seconds into minutes and minutes into hours that disappear in the splashing of wine and the swirl of dances. As time goes on, the younger ones seem to melt away, disappearing into one of the lounges. They are sprawled across sofas and sitting on tables, incredibly beautiful as deadly things sometimes are. The music seeps underneath the seal of the doors. It should have been a more relaxed place when they are with friends and have no one too impress, seeing as the girls have taken apart their hair so it falls in messy tangles and the boys have lost their ties, but it's more tense, more charged. Tonight, they have all been told. Tonight they will choose.

Draco, she notices, is no where to be seen. Maybe he's too young. Or maybe her aunt and uncle aren't as willing to use their own flesh and blood as cannon fodder as she would have thought. Maybe Draco is still being given a chance to choose.

They call them out one by one. Audra watches them all go with worried eyes, and when Emmeline passes her she reaches out to squeeze her hand, until she's left alone. When Vance finally comes to get her, every inch of his body practically vibrating with excitement and no small amount of fear, she keeps her head held high and climbs the stairs with shaking legs.

She pushes the door to the library open like she had been instructed. There is a body on the ground, with blank eyes and awkwardly twisted limbs, but she does not spare him more than a glance before stepping over him. She only moves forward to kneel beside the leather arm chair, bowing her head so her hair tumbles down to hide her face. "My Lord," she breathes, and when she feels him press into her mind, she doesn't flinch. He can look, but he will not see anything more than what Audra wants him too.

"You look so much like Bella," He says finally, one pale finger tracing her cheek. He is both greater and more terrible than her brother had described- skin like snow and eyes an unearthly red, snake like slits for a nose and elongated fingers. He's so thin she thinks she should be able to see every bone in his body. Audra shudders under his touch, but doesn't look away, and he smiles. "I have heard you share other things with her, as well."

"Yes." She does not look away, cannot look away. Does not dare.

"And I have heard that you have Dumbledore's trust. That you made some friends while I was away." He grabs her under the chin and forces her to look at him. For the first time, a flicker of fear flits across her face. "Is that true?"

She hesitates, but lets him see the truth that would not be able to be buried, no matter how good she was at Occlumency- her hugging Harry, laughing with Ginny, sitting in the library with the twins. This, she knew, was the moment where everything hangs in the balance, where the plan might work or it would fail. "Yes."

Audra expects punishment. She expects pain. But he only smiles like Christmas has come early and she was exactly what he wanted for a present. "Then I have a job for you."

They are all lined up on the table, only now it is marred by the marks of wands and knives alike, and in the center there is a stain that looks an awful lot like blood. A snake slithers underneath, twisting through their feet, wrapping around Audra's ankles and sliding up the back of her chair. They are still in their dresses, but there is no music or dancing, only silence and reverence as they stare up at the thing they have sworn their lives to serving.

Audra looks down towards where her family sits, halfway down the table. Her parents stare straight ahead, but Vance catches her eye and winks, a gesture that's reassuring and familiar.

And Audra herself? She's seated beside Snape, one of the closest seats towards the Dark Lord she could get.