Slytherin, Ascendant
Chapter 12 of 40
AuretteThe younger Death Eaters are deeply affected by dramatic events taking place at the Ministry, and start to see things in a new light.
ReviewedThank you, again, to astopperindeath for her patience with my utter lack of comma sense.
It was a larger group of the younger men than I ever remembered seeing together at once. There were none of the Elders in the group. There were very boisterous and free with the information they let flow.
"Oi, Greg! I am so jealous you got to wear one!"
"Did you see the snake coil back? I almost wet myself I tell you!"
"I tell you it was the most beautiful thing I ever saw!"
"I was there, I was there! And did you see their faces when they saw who was behind the mask? I tell you, it was a grand moment, it was!"
Peaches slid into the lap of Caddoc Warrington with two glasses of champagne.
"So what are we celebrating tonight, boys?"
It was Crabbe who jumped up and waved his glass.
"We drink to a changing of the guards!"
There was much shouting at that and some mutterings of 'about time' before he continued.
"We drink to the new future!"
"Sounds like a lovely story!" laughed one of the girls.
"I want to hear a story!" shouted another. This began a chorus of 'Tell us!' and the foolish men were too full of themselves to realize they were being played.
It was Theo Nott who was voted to tell the story, and I must say he did an impressive job. Hearing him tell it was almost as good as being there.
This was the story he told:
The Dark Lord was displeased; each man had felt his recent discontent through the mark. Why had been the cause of much speculation but there was no information coming from any channels, just rumor and innuendo. No one was expecting or in any way prepared for the pain of the mark burning with the energy of an undeniable Summons. Over a hundred men and a few dozen women clambered to get to the hall of the Wizengamot first in a panicked show of loyalty. Nott saw his father take his seat along with the other Elders. The were ranged about in a half circle closer to the floor across from the solitary throne, empty now but for the great snake coiling about it. The rest of them settled into the rows flowing upward in a semi circle. When they were all settled in the dimly lit chamber, lights flared and Lord Voldemort entered into the room, closely followed by a tall, masked Death Eater. This caused a stir. Since the rise of the Dark Lord, much of the ritual and ceremony of the group had fallen to the wayside. The tradition of wearing the mask was one of them. They all had one, but it usually hung on a wall or in a curio cabinet as a symbol of prestige. There was no use for it in day-to-day affairs anymore. Nott had never gotten the chance to wear his into battle. To see one being worn brought to mind darker days, when they were all hungry for the power they grew fat on later. Young Nott noticed some of the Elders reacted strongly to the sight and started to mutter in anger.
"Silence!" hissed the Dark Lord. Nott was struck by his appearance. It had been some time since his last audience, and he found himself again intensely ill at ease with how inhuman he looked. Papery skin that stretched too thin over his boney scalp looked almost green. Red reptilian eyes flamed angrily out of the slit-nosed face. Everyone was silent and completely focused on him as he walked to his throne but did not sit. He paced in front of it as his escort took a place of honor to the right and just behind. Even Nott gasped at this. Only Bellatrix ever stood there. So, one void had been filled. Nott looked down on the front row trying to see who wasn't seated. Only two chairs empty, one had been empty since the death of Rodolphus Lestrange and the other was Dolohov's. 'So, that's the way of it,' he thought. The light in the room dimmed until only the Dark Lord himself and his lone sentinel were fully visible.
"Treachery!" cried Lord Voldemort. The room fell as silent as a tomb. Nott himself stopped breathing. Ah, there is so much treachery in this room tonight; it's only a matter of which one, he marveled.
"You jackals and dogs who claim to have given me your allegiance!" he continued. "You are a disgrace, with your petty plots trying to hold onto your petty little powers! Have I raised you up to become a laughingstock? So word of your incompetence and treachery can be spoken about openly among shopkeepers and witches in the market?" Around him quiet noise resumed as people shifted nervously in their seats.
"I will not have it! I will purge this room of any who have raised the feel of gold over their fealty! Mark my words. It is done, and so it begins." With that he spun on his heel and, gesturing toward the wide doors in the back, he shouted, "Bring in the traitor!" Nott's gut clenched in fear.
The doors swung wide and in walked two masked Death Eaters, shorter and stockier than the tall elegant one by the throne. Between them they dragged another man. It was apparent he could not walk, from the broken angle of his legs. As they approached the center, Lord Voldemort gestured to the throne.
"Put him there; that is where he hoped his schemes would get him!" As they came around, they worked together to shift their prisoner into position and then flung him into the seat. Nagini hissed and coiled back but did not strike. The Death Eater beside the throne didn't react at all. He kept his face on the Dark Lord at all times, and Nott belatedly realized that was what he should have done as well. He looked now. It was out of the corner of his eye he saw the other Death Eaters step back and retreat off to the side of the room.
"Present the would-be-Lord to his court," hissed Voldemort.
Quick as a viper, the first Death Eater shot his hand forward and, grabbing a fistful of hair, snapped the head of the prisoner up and back against the throne, revealing him to all. A ragged moan escaped the prisoner's lips but was soon drowned out by the roar of shock that filled the room.
Dolohov! Nott was electrified as shock and awe shot through him but it was soon replaced by a seething pleasure. Another one falls, even more for us now.
"Behold the traitor! Behold a man, not content with what I have bestowed upon him, but who hungered for this very seat of power itself!"
Voldemort turned and swept the room with his contemptuous gaze.
"You ask yourselves now, how can this be? I hear your shallow little thoughts. I tell you now, you do not need to know! You need only concern yourself with the fact that I found out! I always find out! Look to yourselves, you dogs! Know that before he broke he confessed all!" He whipped his gaze back to the Death Eater behind the throne. "Did he not?" The man remained silent but nodded his head slowly. Who was he? If not Dolohov, then who was missing? Nott tried in vain to think of who it could be as he looked down on the Elders ranged below. No one else is missing. And then a notion gripped him. But one was never there. One had never sat in this chamber. There was one who had only lived to serve and then disappeared into obscurity, only recently making fleeting appearances. Nott looked back at the Death Eater beside the throne and took his measure. Oh, yes. Yes, indeed. His robes were of a much, much finer cut than seen on him or any others lately, and the mask and hood obscured his head, but there was no mistaking the regal bearing or the stiff spine. Or the way, by his very attentiveness to every word or gesture of the Dark Lord, he seemed to show the room how it was done. It had to be Severus Snape, the last of the true Death Eaters. One who never could be corrupted by the power and greed around him. At that moment Nott felt his loyalties fixate on this man and rejoiced to see this symbol of all things Slytherin, ascendant once again. Nott was going to ascend with him. He looked around at his fellows seated near and wondered if they had caught on yet.
"Behold the fate of traitors!" cried Lord Voldemort. "CRUCIO!"
Nott watched in fascination that slowly turned to horror as Dolohov spasmed and crumpled off of the throne. As he thrashed, Nagini, coiled on the floor near him, struck again and again apparently immune to the effects of the curse. Still the Dark Lord poured his anger into torturing his prisoner. It seemed to go on forever until with a shriek filled with madness, a madness that curdled in Nott's belly, he shouted out the killing curse and Dolohov fell still in a blaze of vile green light. Nott had to strain to keep his bowels from letting go.
Into the tomb-like quiet of the room, the Dark Lord quietly spoke his last words of the evening, "You will be purged. You will be reforged. And you will be renewed. Or you will be destroyed." And with that he spun on his heel and left the chamber.
His attending Death Eater did not follow, and nobody moved. He raised an elegant, long fingered hand and snapped, and the masked Death Eaters against the wall came up and made a fairly good show of not being terrified while wrestling the body away from the snake. When they had it they dragged it out of the chamber. The lone masked Death Eater looked up at his audience and then took one deliberate step until he was directly behind the throne and then slowly reached up and took off his mask.
No one made a sound as Snape perused the gathering, and then with the slightest sideways bow of his head, he replaced his mask and left the chamber with his robes flaring out after him.
The room erupted into pandemonium when he left. Nott looked down at the thunderous expression on his own father's face and smugly thought, 'Your time is over, old man.'
Oh, it's getting yummy now...
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Latest 25 Reviews for The Princess of Gryffindor
597 Reviews | 6.94/10 Average
I agree with Mick42 in the sense that I don't like the Voldemort won/everyone's dead/Hermione's a whore stories. I avoid them like the plague. I decided to give this one a go based on the reviews. I was very, very skeptical. There were aspects to the writing that I didn't like, such as it being written in first person, but the memorial scene alone made it well worth the read. I may have shed a tear (or 10).
Wow...just wow. Now I know why all of these other reviewers have shed a tear. I am a mess. Still smiling tho'! Captivating read. Kudos!
Yay, all finished. It's been a while since I've read this, so I had forgotten a lot of the details in the ending chapters, but I still love it as much as I did the first time I read it. You have my in tears reading the end couple of chapters now, but that's terribly easy to do to a pregnant woman, so don't worry too much lol.
I just love Snape, have I ever mentioned that? I do. And it's stuff like this in stories- him vowing to protect Hermione- that make me love him even more..
This is one I've read before, on ffnet I think, but I have to read it here too, it just seems impossible not to reread your favorite stories when you come across them somewhere. The bonus is that you already know you love the story, even if you can't remember all the details between point A and A.D.
My dear Aurette,I have spent half of yesterday and all of today re-reading this unbelievable story. Half of the time, I've been a sobbing, sopping mess - when S&H were gathering forces and found people who were still alive, the whole Harry and Ron speaking to Hermione from the great beyond, the memorial scene (holy crap, talk about sobbing!), reuniting with Minerva's ghost, and the list goes on. I love the plot of the story. I love your numerous OCs. I love how the young DEs revolt. I love how forces from all sides join together to fight the Dark Lord. I love the romance between S&H. I love how utterly vulnerable he is to her, and she to him. I love how wizarding society hero-worships Snape in the end. I love So Many Things about this story. If my heart could take it, I'd start it all over again, but I really wasn't exaggerating when I said I was sobbing half the time I was reading. This might sound odd, but reading this today, US Memorial Day, just makes it seem even more poignant. But I do think it's honoring to RL sacrifices by reading about fictional ones. Thank you so much for this absolutely wonderful story, and for giving me such an enjoyable (if teary and snotty) way to spend my day off.Love,Christev
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
{{{hugs}}}What a beautiful thing to say. I am deeply touched and honored. Thank you, Christev.
Heartbreaking and wonderful and worth rereading. Thank you for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I'm so glad you enjoyed. ;-)
Just re-read this and had to mention: Best Epilogue Ever. Why couldn't you have given JK a few pointers? ;-p
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! She never asked... Thank you!
I've just flown through the last several chapters, held in thrall to this story! This is just genius, you know, starting at a place of total desolation - this terrible post-war dystopia - and taking all the elements from DH (the prophecy from Severus, the Hallows, even walking beside the dead and moving with them before returning to earth - thanks particularly for including Draco with the others), using them as they were meant to be used, finding another way of stopping Voldemort and reenvisioning a new world in the aftermath.
And I love seeing Snape marked as the Man Who Lived! And a father! And the Minister! (And that proposal? Mmm-hmm... clearly, he has caught on to everything Hermione's been teaching him!)
You strike such a great balance between comedy and high drama. It's such a pleasure to read.
Oh, Goyle. Goyles will be Goyles, I suppose!"I think you have just been metaphorically peed on." Oh, I love this line... particularly since Severus' possessiveness towards Hermione is such a strong part of his character (which is why his reluctant willingness to 'share' Hermione rather than lose her was SO terribly shocking).
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Thank you! And I think, by his behavior in this chapter, you can see he tacitly took those words... back.
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
Oh, absolutely! That's what's so marvelous to see in this Snape. He acts impulsively so often, and then immediately knows that it's not what he really wanted, and is slowly learning to keep it all in check as he accepts the fact that she really loves him and that he's truly safe with her.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Hannah and Neville! Woo-hoo! (You can just feel the little triumphs along the way - things are getting brighter all the time!) And the lack of trust between all parties involved... yes, that feels completely, completely believable.(Also,I don't know that I've ever met an original character that I've liked, but Peaches is fantastic. Just fantastic. You make me change my mind on a lot of things, I think...)
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I intentionally started this tale as dark as I could make it, and then slowly let the light in. Neville and Hannah were such a beacon of hope...
Ah, the trust between the two as they examine the girls! And her red robes... yes, I imagine Severus doesn't want Hermione in anything less than a high-necked robe in front of her old beau.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Trust is something they thought they had, but as you can see, they are both too emotionally unsophisticated to not end up with issues.
Whoa, whoa, whoa... Elder Goyle and Ma are two revelations here, aren't they? As for the former, it really makes me wonder (again and again) what Voldemort's plan was 'when' he won. Why cheat Death if you have nothing to live for? For someone as hypothetically long-sighted as he was (looking to an eternity of power and control over the wizarding world), he's remarkably short-sighted here (what do you do now that you've won?). You raise all sorts of fascinating questions here. And Ma, with the Veritaserum? Grand.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Ma was intended to just be a stock vilain, but she elbowed her way toward three dimentional. I was very happy with the way she worked out.
The robes! Wonderful, wonderful, all around, from Hermione's comfort in them and the note exchange.Charlie and Viktor? You're really getting things moving here, aren't you? Momentum. You're really a master with creating a momentum that just pulls a reader through the story. I don't mean just here, but everything I've read up til now - it's so well paced and unfolds so naturally. In case I haven't said this in a chapter or two, thanks so much for sharing this.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I was very attuned to the pacing of this tale. It was my very first mult-chaptered fic and getting the pacing down right was one of my primary concerns. Thank you so much for reviewing it!
Hooray! I love what you've done with Theo Nott. The second guessing and the regret shows how easy it was for misguided, then-ambivalent people to latch on to Voldemort's coat tails. (Cloak tails?) Very like Severus at that age, no?You're also hilarious, but I suspect you know that. "Conjure myself some decent clothes?" FABULOUS.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
Exactly! I saw Theo as not being wildly different from young Snape, just perhaps a bit more entitled. I am so glad you liked this.
Wow. There are so many things I love, love, love in this chapter. First off, the relationship between Severus and the Malfoys. (Ach, and the horror of their deaths!) Next, Dumbledore's attitude. I, for one, have a tendency to vilify the man. Reading the repentance he shows here makes me rethink a lot of things about him. (So thank you for challenging me!) But you're right - we have a lot of evidence in DH that there are many unspoken things in his past that explain his present actions. And, of course, it's just a relief to see that he finally has someone to tell all this to, someone who will care for him and stand by him through it all. This is just wonderful, and I'm completely loving your writing and this story!
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I also have a tendancy to vilify Dumbledore, but I know that was never JKR's intention, so every so often I try and reset my thinking. Then I backslide. lol.
There are so many reasons I love this story... wonderful narrative flow, seamless incorporation of canon devices (Hallows! Can't wait to see them in action!), a fresh perspective on the nature of evil in the Voldemort regime, a place to see regrets worked out and atoned for.But the single greatest reason why this is so fabulous is your clear vision of your characters. What we know of them from JKR is fleshed out so beautifully here, and it's not a happy-go-lucky, cleaned up and sanitized version of the very broken people we know (and love), but a hard look at the mistakes they make and how they learn together to move on and forgive one another in a much deeper understanding of who the other really is.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
This chapter was my impetus for writing the whole fic. I wanted to get to this scene. Of course, once I did, I then had a Ministry to over throw... lol.
Oh, now that's interesting... incorporating the Hallows? I think this means we'll get to see some action from the Elder Wand (killing Voldemort?), the Resurrection Stone (Harry and Ron?), and the Invisibility Cloak (I have no idea on this one... it's useful in so many ways). I can't wait to see where they lead!
Severus' thoughts on the ambition of Voldemort five years out are interesting... it certainly does make you wonder - what would Tom have done had he won? Did he have a plan in place? I mean, the fear of ignominious death aside, what was really motivating his actions? What did he envision for the Wizarding world?
There's much that I enjoy in this chapter... the way they recognize each other as being, really, the only people left on earth (that we know of so far) who can really see one another is fantastic. Antarctica banter with penguins! 'Whoever had broken this man deserved to burn in hell.'What I found myself wishing I had here was Hermione's musings on her own sexual history. Was she a virgin before she was enslaved here? I found I wanted this when she first talked about her position as a whore with Snape as well... I just want it sometime. (Maybe it's coming up later? We'll see!) There seems to be space for her to say that she's still a virgin (so to speak) with a great deal of this as well. And defend her innocence. Since she never kissed Ron in the final battle (AU breaks off earlier here, right?), has she even been kissed?
Response from ofankoma (Reviewer)
(Because Severus very well may be right in trying to stop her... for her own peace of mind, certainly, and for the fact that she's been traumatised for years there. Another sexual experience now may not be helpful on the road to recovery, and he'd certainly be remiss if he didn't know the situation before letting her have her way with him...)
The harpsichord? That's hilarious. Does she tune it herself, as well? All the descriptions of this place add up to a bizarre, depressing, garish nightmare. It's like everyone tossed in their leftovers and out popped a brother, or several people's lives just vomited out all their extras on the (Voldemort-run) street.
Ah, Draco. I'm sad to hear he's lost. I have a soft spot for him as one of the people who gave Severus a will to go on in HBP and DH. I would have liked seeing your Snape deal with him.
That last long paragraph on the enigma of Snape? Spot on. It sums up why he's such a fascinating character in canon: powerful and powerless, beautiful and ugly, lauded and humiliated. The ambiguity of him is so rich, and not in the Dumbledore 'we sort too soon' sort of way, claiming that he's truly a Gryffindor at heart merely because he's on the side of good.
As to protection, well, that's another one of the strongest themes attached to him in canon, isn't it? He's constantly fighting to protect people - even people he despises -and he prepares them all to do the same. Your Hermione's a lucky girl...
Well done, you.
Hmm... "I, too, practice self-denial?" I think he might practice a few kinds of denial here, since he did just move to kiss her. (Of course, perhaps poor Severus doesn't know any better. He missed out on the 'What not to do whilst visiting a whorehouse' lesson in finishing school.) I greatly appreciate a post-DH Snape who doesn't know what to do with a woman... after all, when you poke around in canon, it seems fairly obvious that his social calendar was empty.
I also enjoy the dynamic you're setting up between Hermione and Peaches, the latter of whom is clearly in control of her own destiny in a way that Hermione just isn't... yet.
And...Harry and Ron? What?!?
Oh, gravy! Lime-green peignoirs and silver mules? This is a high class establishment poor Hermione's stuck in. (Although the lime-green clothing is oddly reminiscent of St. Mungo's...)
I love a phrase like "She floated in like a frigate in full sail." Really, the oppressing shabbiness of the place is overwhelming. I'm so very wary of new characters, so I'm really hoping I will like yours... Peaches, maybe yes? Ma, maybe no. Unless we do know Ma or Angel already and they're just under aliases like the Princess?
Drinking Cocoa enticed me back here to revisit this wonderful, deep, rich tale once again, when I should be doing my own writing and in other ways getting the heap of papers on my desk cleared and sorted (not to mention getting to bed at a decent hour). But, no, I had to swallow this beautiful work whole once again, rediscovering all its complexities and marvels, emotions and heatbreak, fascinations and intricacies. And it is now nearly 2am, and I can at last climb into my solitary little bed, wrapped in the warmth of some quite satisfying and delicious writing. Thank you.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
I thank you, truly, for your revisiting this story. Nothing is more satisfying than knowing it is apreciated on a second reading as well. :-)
I give it five years before Brilliant figures out how to spell that journal open and gets the shock of her young life hahahaha.
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! Oh, that would be Brilliant! You need to write that fic!
Response from StarryEyedNoOne (Reviewer)
I haven't wrote HP fanfic since I was the age of a first year lol. I pray to any diety that's listening that NONE of it is still floating aroung out there. :-\
Response from Aurette (Author of The Princess of Gryffindor)
LOL! I understand. I once read that if you aren't embarrased by something you wrote a year ago, you are no longer growing as a writer. Hell, I get embarrassed over things I wrote last week...