Apples and Snakes

How the Plan Went Wrong

When the pain lessened enough that I got my bearings, I was tied to a gravestone, and saw the face of Peter Pettigrew, the rat who had escaped Azkaban the year before.

"You!" I snarled. He avoided my eyes, as he took one arm below where the ropes were around my chest, and above the ropes around my waist, and cut the forearm, allowing my blood to dribble into a cup.

"You won't get away with this," I snarled, as I fought against my painfully tight bindings. Pettigrew ignored me as he dumped my blood into the cauldron.

"Bone of the father, unknowingly given, flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, and blood of the foe, unwillingly taken," Pettigrew chanted, as he cut off his own hand, and let it into the cauldron, and then, he took a swaddled fetus, and threw it into the cauldron.

Please, let it drown, let it die, I thought as I cried out in pain from my scar.

A green jet shot out of the cauldron, and lightning shot from the sky. Out of the cauldron came a man in a dark cloak, a pale white man. Immediately, a bunch of people in black cloaks came. I recognized several faces as alumni of Slytherin and former acquitted Death Eaters.

Well, there goes that, I thought weakly.

"Welcome, my dear Death Eaters," Voldemort said, in that eerie voice that made my skin crawled. "Some of you are of dubious loyalties. Some of the loyalest are gone." He looked over the ranks, and went to Lucius Malfoy first.

"Ah, Malfoy, I hear you work in the Ministry now..." Voldemort said in a scarily casual voice- if that voice could be casual.

"I beg your forgiveness, my lord-" Lucius said quickly.

"But you are here tonight, aren't you?" Voldemort chuckled. "You will serve me in the future, Lucius."

"You are most merciful, my lord," Lucius said quickly, but Voldemort had moved along.

"The Lestranges should be here," Voldemort said, looking at a gap in the ranks. "They have remained more faithful than you, remaining in Azkaban for me. But you have proved more useful. No matter, they shall be free again, soon."

A burly man raised his hand.

"Yes, Crabbe?" Voldemort asked.

"Can you tell us, my lord, how you have achieved this miracle?" Crabbe asked.

"Ah, yes." Voldemort strolled closer, and my heart pounded and my scar burned. "It really starts with our special guest." He gestured at me. "You could, in fact, say that she's the guest of honor.

"Lily Potter was a filthy mudblood who performed an ancient magic, and this protected the twins. It should've been the one here tonight destined to take me down, her twin." Voldemort said.

"The prophecy means nothing," I grunted.

Everyone looked surprised.

"Ah, the girl speaks." Voldemort said. "I used her blood, offering me her mother's protection, for I have gone further than anyone else down the line of anybody else in immortality. I can touch her now."

To prove his point, he grabbed my chin roughly. I pulled away, and snapped at him.

"Ah, so the girl bites, too."

"Get your hands off of me!" I barked, shaking with defiance. "I hate you only slightly less than Dumbledore and the prophecy. You might have meant to kill Harry that night, but you have given me hell and back! I hope that makes you happy!"

Everyone looked around wildly, although Voldemort scrutinized me. "Interesting..." He said. "Peter," he said, and he turned to Pettigrew. "For your service, I reward you a hand replacement."

Pettigrew wept at the silvery prosthetic. "Now cut Alice loose."

"What?" I asked. "Isn't that a bit of stupid move for a villain?"

Voldemort smirked. "There's hope for you." Those words chilled me to the bone. "Pettigrew! I believe I ordered you to cut our guest free."

Everyone looked shocked at those words. "Are you sure, my liege?" Lucius asked.

Voldemort glared at him. "Draw your wands. All of you." He looked back at me. "Try anything funny, and you will suffer." I glared in response. That's all I could do. My wand was gone, and I sure as hell wasn't going to try going up against one of the most powerful wizards in the world without a wand.

Peter sliced through the ropes with a Severing Charm, and I fell forwards, on my hands and knees. I glared up at Voldemort.

"Get to your feet, girl." He ordered. I stayed on my hands and feet. I wasn't going to play his games. "Do it, now." I remained on my feet.

"Crucio." Overwhelming pain shot through my limbs, and my scar was afire. Yet I knew I wouldn't last long if I didn't play these games. When the fire stopped, I slowly, shakily got to my feet as ordered.

"Good girl," Voldemort said, and he patted my head. I curled my hands into fists and scowled. "Ah, now you will listen. Malfoy, I assume we will be using your manor as our headquarters?"

Lucius nodded. "Then the girl will be kept in the cells." Voldemort said.

Lucius nodded. "It will be done, my lord."

"We have risen once again!" Voldemort declared.