Chapter 245 - 245. Bargain
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"You should rejoice, Severus. The Dark Lord wants to personally meet you. It\'s your lucky day."
As soon as Severus heard this, his heart shuddered. He speculated that the only reason the Dark Lord would meet him, a weak young wizard, would be to make him do something he never wants to do. And the fact they kidnapped his mother made his doubts formalise.
"Follow me, he has many things to do than wait to meet half-bloods like you." Lucius sneered.
Severus\'s mind was too busy running a thousand scenarios. He simply walked behind them. ~How do I contact Magnus?~
He knew that the only person who could help him right at this moment was his best friend. However, he knew his phone would not work here, and neither did he know a spell to send long-range messages. The only such spell was the Patronus spell, which could in theory be used for this but he did not know how to perform it yet.
His eyes unknowingly became watery... But he immediately straightened his back and forced his eyes to dry again. ~I can not show any sign of weakness to him.~
He knew Voldemort loved and strived to exploit people\'s weaknesses and use them for his own advantage, to break people\'s spirit. He wanted to be as unpredictable as possible. And, if he had guessed right, these people must also want to truly recruit him, as he was a very good potioneer, something not very common in the wizarding world.
"What do you want from me, Lucius? And did you truly betray the wizarding world by joining him? Magnus had hoped you\'d turn out to be different from your father." Severus purposefully annoyed him, so he would blurt out something. And it happened.
His father was his soft spot. He still couldn\'t digest his death. "DON\'T SPEAK OF MY FATHER WITH THAT FILTHY MOUTH! You... that mud-blood will soon be dealt with. Our Dark Lord will ensure it, and I will be the one to slowly slit his throat, but only after I kill his family in front of him, as he did with my father. I\'ve seen his mother, I wonder if the Dark Lord would take fancy of her."
Severus argued and mocked him. "Your father died because he tried to illegally enter a vault created by Merlin. I don\'t know if you are just too dumb to purposefully deny the whole picture. And let me tell you one thing, Lucius, Magnus might go easy on you as long as you go after him, but if you go after his family, he will disregard everything, even his own life, and kill you no matter what in the most painful way imaginable. I shouldn\'t have to remind you of the Battle of Raining Stones?"
Severus truly felt fear for Magnus\'s family, and him too. As he knew what Magnus\' tolerance limit was, and if Voldemort crossed it, perhaps even hell would be too small to hide. On top of that, Ragnar was already traumatised, if something happened to Grace, he might just end the whole world with some super killer gas potion, as his sanity was already on the borderline.
"SILENCE!... one more word and your mother will be gifted to werewolf no matter you agree to the Dark Lord\'s demands or not." Lucius threatened.
~Weak minded and egoistical, Magnus was right. These Death Eaters are a collection of the most spoiled, spineless of the wizarding world.~ Severus thought. He stayed silent now, as he cared for his mother far too much.
He was soon brought to a small shack in the middle of the forest. The moonlight was bright but the thick forest didn\'t let any of it fall on the ground. So it was still pitch black.
But Severus could feel multiple presences in front of him. ~What is this? Congress of Death Eaters?~
Lucius pushed him inside the shack and grabbed his robes by the collar to drag him inwards. They passed a few rooms and finally arrived at a decently lit room with candles.
There were not many people in the world who had seen Voldemort personally so it was hard to imagine what he truly looked like. However, there was a general consensus among the people that Voldemort is very ugly. And, it didn\'t seem very wrong now. It was as if he was uglier than a 10th generation incest born. Flat face, missing nose, bald head, no eyebrows. He looked as slimy as a Slytherin could get.
The Dark Lord that has the whole of Britain terrified currently sat beside a table, eating fruits. There was also a crazed looking woman with messy hair, who was cutting the fruits. ~That must be Sirius\' cousin sister, Bellatrix.~
"Ah, we finally met, Mr Prince. Mr Malfoy tells me a lot about you. Come, have a seat." Voldemort was surprisingly being nice.
Severus nodded and took a seat opposite the bald man. He stayed silent, as it was the best thing to do.
"Tell me, why do you follow that mud-blood? Because he helped you with your father? Because he helped you get rich?" Voldemort asked him with a voice that always sounded like he was having an orgasm. It was a mix of whispers and words.
Severus had an answer to that, and he reckoned they would not like it if he didn\'t say something now. "In the first year, when I had just come to the school and showed great talent in potions, Lucius had come to me and offered me friendship. Saying I belong with them.
"But, at the same time, I saw them treating other half-bloods really bad. I knew they didn\'t really want to make me a friend, they wanted to use me. And then Magnus came, mocking me, making fun of me, but he also helped me when I needed it. His friendship was true and he didn\'t care about my abilities."
The Dark Lord euphorically chuckled, "Hehe... of course, Mr Malfoy and my men are really bad at recruiting talents. I also believe that Half-Bloods should not be treated so badly. Their birth was not a mistake, it was bad luck, bestowed upon them by their parents. At the same time, there are not that many wizards for each man to find a magical woman.
"However, mud-bloods, their birth itself is a crime against the magical world. Their parents are the enablers of that crime. Ah... I should speed up my plans of purging more mud-blood families, infesting our world."
There was deep contempt in Voldemort\'s voice. He seemed to be truly believing in what he just said. Severus felt uncomfortable hearing all this.
Then the Dark Lord continued, "You must be wondering, why I brought you here, Mr Prince? I value you immensely. And I want you to join my army, as my direct subordinate. I will fund your entire potioneer career, you can also do as many experiments as you want, even those that may touch the boundary of dark magic.
"In return, you only need to do one thing. Spy on the Mud-blood prince."
"NEVER!" Severus blurted.
*BAM*
Lucius slammed his head on the table and held him there. "Do not raise your voice in front of the Dark Lord."
Voldemort waited a few seconds, then reacted, "It\'s okay, Mr Malfoy. He\'s young. Young people are often impulsive. Now, why don\'t you go and bring the collateral."
Lucius nodded and left the room. Severus silently raised his head again and adjusted himself, however, just then his heart sank.
"LET ME GO! WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME?"
*SLAP* The sound resounded and blood poured out of Eileen\'s left cheek.
Severus stood up immediately. "DON\'T YOU DARE HURT HER!"
Shockingly, Voldemort also got enraged, "LUCIUS! I ordered you to never harm her and treat her like she\'s our esteemed guest. If you lay another hand on her I will dissolve them in acid."
The Dark Lord may be a twisted man, but he was strong, extremely strong. And his aura radiated, which made everyone feel suffocated. Lucius also cowered in fear and stopped pulling Eileen\'s hair.
Voldemort quickly went to Eileen and stood behind her, then he put his wand near her face and started to heal her.
Severus was confused because from what he saw, the Dark Lord genuinely seemed angry and dissatisfied. ~Is he that good at acting?~
But Voldemort had more personal reasons to get angry, because, to him, Severus\' situation somewhat reminded him of his own from the days long gone.
Eileen wailed after seeing Severus there. Her heart ached because she knew she was going to be used to break her son, she was going to be his weakness.
She hated herself now, she wanted to kill herself. But, her misfortune, she didn\'t even have the means to do that. They made sure of this, as she was supposed to be their bargain.
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