Making Friends

A/N: Again, this chapter contains abuse/rape situations and also lite slash. We are now getting into dark territory, but information will now be revealed to ensure Voldemort's downfall. Please review! Thanks to my beta, not_london.

***

"That woman is psychotic!" Severus roared as they walked into his private rooms back at Hogwarts.

To that, she rolled her eyes. "The whole meeting today was psychotic! Everyone was acting as if nothing strange even occurred last night. That man, or monster, is completely off his nut! He is bloody insane! So, what do you expect?"

Severus paced back and forth. "Bellatrix is very jealous of the Dark Lord's affections. She practically pants for him. She will try to annihilate you, Genevieve."

Genevieve went over and embraced him. She took his face in her hands. "Then, it shall be all the more important for us to continue our affair, being constantly enamored in public, and I will have to win Bellatrix over to a feeling that I will always defer to her and not usurp her standing. It is quite simple with women. She is the Alpha Leader."

"More like an Alpha Bitch!" he growled.

Genevieve laughed. "Alright, but keeping the balance of gaining the trust of the Dark Lord enough to procure secrets, and at the same time keeping Madam Lestrange comfortable in her position, will be more than enough to keep me occupied. So, Severus, I need you to help me learn how to please you. I need you happy for the Dark Lord."

Severus took the woman in his arms. There was no time like the present.

***

Genevieve's meeting with Bellatrix was unnerving to say the least. The woman was clearly insane after her long spell in Azkaban. She was extremely volatile and disliked the younger witch on sight. But her dislike was different from Narcissa's general dislike, whereas Bellatrix smelled a potential threat. Basic human nature, Genevieve reminded herself.

She noted that her likeness to Madam Lestrange at first glance was striking. They both had dark, hooded-shaped eyes, dark hair and were very tall. The similarities ended abruptly there. Genevieve was in the full bloom of youth and beauty, whereas Azkaban had stolen Bellatrix's away. It was going to take a great deal of effort on Genevieve's part to make the woman relax and not continue in her paranoia.

She made a demonstrative effort to curtsy low before the older woman in Voldemort's presence. This amused the despot.

"Why would you bow to a woman who is your equal?" he asked silkily.

"I would never presume to place myself on the same level as Madam Lestrange," she whispered with her head bowed to the floor. "Madam Lestrange suffered cruelly to show her love and loyalty for you, Master. I have not yet begun. She is my superior. I am grateful for the chance to learn from her."

Bellatrix was puffed up by the grandiose speech. Genevieve pretended to be in awe of the older woman and doted on her. She made every opportunity to show that she deferred first to Madam Lestrange before complying in any act that the Dark Lord asked of her. It smacked of order and respect. It was acceptable to the Dark Lord, and he was pleased.

"My Lord," Bellatrix said abruptly. "May I take our young Genevieve for a walk in the gardens? I do so want to get to know her better, woman to woman." She smiled malevolently at the young woman. A shiver went down Genevieve's spine.

***

The two witches walked amongst the winter barren rose garden that skirted the Manor. It was bitter cold; Genevieve wished she would hurry up with whatever she wanted to say to her. Bellatrix had not yet initiated conversation, and Genevieve knew better than to try to take advantage of the situation. After a while, the older woman rounded on her, and the two were face to face...noses a millimeter apart.

"You are very good. Very good," she assessed. "Currying favor with the Dark Lord, choosing the New Year's Eve Gala for your initiation so all would be present to witness. You are very cunning, not unlike myself at your age." She smiled and stepped back.

"Hold my hand, Genevieve," she said seductively.

She placed her hand in hers, and the two walked closely, side by side.

"Genevieve, you have made it plain to me that you do not want to usurp my position with the Dark Lord. Am I correct?"

"Yes, Madam Lestrange."

Bellatrix leaned in and kissed the young woman on the cheek, near her mouth. She placed her arm around the young woman's waist and whispered in her ear, "You will learn from me. I am no fool. The Dark Lord in enthralled with you. Allow me to teach you the ways in which you can please him, and you won't need the safety of your pitiful Potions master to hide behind. There is security in the Sisterhood, Genevieve. I want you to think on it."

Genevieve was beyond words. What exactly was this Sisterhood? And why would Bellatrix want to build a wedge between her and Severus?

***

Severus was pacing up and down in his bedroom when she finally came back from the Manor.

"What took so bloody long?" he yelled.

Genevieve smiled as she removed her cloak. "It's good to see you too, my love," she said as she pecked him on the cheek.

He stood staring at her angrily with his arms crossed. He wasn't in the mood for cheek!

"What happened?" he said furiously.

Genevieve sighed as she sat down on the sofa. "Well, you're not going to believe this, Severus, but I think she wants me to be her lover...the 'Sisterhood' she called it!"

She was expecting laughter or rage...some intense emotion, but not for him to stand stock-still and cock an eyebrow.

"What? You are not shocked by what I've told you?" she demanded.

"There is a fair amount of lesbianism and buggery amongst the Death Eaters and their wives and mistresses. I was not aware they had a name. So, the Sisterhood it is. You know what this means."

"I'm going to have to become a lesbian?"

"No, just engage in erotic play. Perhaps Bellatrix will want to put on a show for the Dark Lord. Your standing with the Dark Lord will skyrocket if you do this. But, I warn you; Bellatrix is a warped and sadistic witch. You will be playing with fire on a constant basis. It will be imperative for you to work harder than ever on your Occlumency. She is an excellent Occlumens," he said dangerously.

Genevieve took a deep breath. "She can't make me have sex with other men, can she?"

"No. I can only give permission for that. Or if the Dark Lord decides I am no longer worthy, then yes, he would give you to the others." Snape looked hard into her blue eyes. One more regret to carry, he thought.

"Genevieve, I didn't want this for you. You came to me an innocent, and now you are quickly descending into the depths of the darker side of sexuality. I wish I could stop all this; it is all my fault."

"Stop it, Severus!" she snapped. "I won't stand for your self-pity! We have to see this through. I love you, I choose this, and I choose you." She wrapped her arms around his neck. "Just promise me you won't get too turned on by watching me have sex with another woman."

He groaned at the thought. "I am a man, Genevieve." Please remember that."

***

Dumbledore was kept abreast of the activities taking place at Malfoy Manor. Genevieve was excused from her teaching duties frequently so she could be more accessible to the Dark Lord and attend to her tutelage under Bellatrix Lestrange.

Ever since the debacle at the Ministry of Magic, which resulted in the destruction of the prophecy, Madam Lestrange made good every chance to whisper doubts in the head of her young pupil her hatred of the Potions master. She was very careful to not speak her bile in front of the Dark Lord, though, since he still held high favor with the despot.

One afternoon, the two witches had been lounging in Bellatrix's bedroom after a highly pleasurable lesson in the art of female masturbation. Genevieve's innocence towards such acts had disappeared a while back soon after she begun with the older woman. Bellatrix was a cruel woman and would create punishments if the young woman did not learn fast enough. More than once Genevieve would come back to the castle bruised and in pain from such punishments. Severus, who had been Bellatrix's lover when he had first started out with the Death Eaters, helped her with "extra lessons" in order to avoid more punishments in the future.

As the younger woman lounged naked in lap of the older woman, she listened yet again to the never-ending rants against the Potions master.

"He is a spy, but for Dumbledore, that is for certain! One day, I shall have my chance with him and expose him for the coward he is! Tell me again, why do you love him so? He isn't handsome. You are...but he is very ugly indeed." She played with the dark hair around her face. "Narcissa wants to have some time with you. It is time for your initiation into the Sisterhood. I think that would be wonderful for the wizards to see, a tall, beautiful, blonde, thin, flat-chested woman with a tall, beautiful, black-haired, voluptuous woman. The Dark Lord would be so pleased. Also, it would give you a change from your other initiation, which from what the Dark Lord shared with me was extremely painful. This would not be at all! Now, tell me why, Genevieve, do you crave such a black-hearted creature?"

Genevieve smiled at her and shrugged. She could feel her mind trying to probe hers. "I have loved him since I was a girl. You know the story. Also, he's very good in bed."

"I take full credit for that!" she snorted. "If the truth were to be known, Severus did not know his arse from his elbow when he came to me. He was such a trial!" She flashed her eyes maliciously into Genevieve's.

"Tell me, does he still have problems lasting?"

"Lasting?" Genevieve asked

She laughed riotously. "Oh, he was forever finishing before I could get him into the gate! It took months before he could actually penetrate me! Poor Sevvy-wevvy!"

"Well, if the truth were to be known, he can last a very long time. I've had multiple orgasms with him. Perhaps the memory of his youthful inadequacies is the motivation for his thoroughness," Genevieve said in his defense.

"So, he is thorough?" she inquired. "Is that how you can stand that greasy hair and hooked nose of his?"

Genevieve was highly insulted, and no matter how frequently she derided him, she never could desensitize herself to the insults. True, he had greasy hair, but it was because of the potions work he did every day. And true, he had a large nose, but it was part and parcel of the whole person.

"Genevieve!" Bellatrix said in a singsong voice. "You are pouting. You really don't like my teasing of your lover."

"I don't like it when you deride him," Genevieve admitted as she sat up to get dressed. "I love him, and I believe he is true to the Dark Lord."

Bellatrix snatched the young woman's face with her hand and whipped her onto the bed, her face inches from hers. "Now listen, you little whore, because that is what you are...a whore! Severus has fucked every woman in the Sisterhood, has even carried on with some of them for a long time before turning his back on them. You are a distraction, a toy. He may tell you he loves you, but it's a lie...a LIE!"

She released her face. "You need to decide who you want to believe and to whom you are going to be loyal!" she threatened as she pushed the younger woman away from her.

Genevieve stood up straight and tall. "The Dark Lord is my master, and he wishes for me to please Severus. It is not a question of my being loyal to Severus or the Sisterhood. It is serving the Dark Lord."

"But you said you love him!" she sneered.

"I-I'm y-young," she stammered. "I'm sure I'll get over it." She turned to dress quickly, cursing herself silently that she had let her anger get the better of her. "I still believe he is faithful to the Dark Lord!" she announced coolly.

"You are a fool!" Bellatrix spat.

***

Later, after dinner, they joined the Dark Lord with the Malfoys for some wine and relaxation. The Dark Lord wished to spend time alone with Genevieve, so the others were dismissed.

"I hear you and Madam Lestrange are getting to know one another quite well," he whispered in Genevieve's ear.

"Yes, my Lord. She is teaching me many wonderful pleasures."

"Ah! So will my Death Eaters and I be seeing some of your newfound talents in the near future?" he asked rather excitedly.

"Oh, yes," she breathed, eager to egg him on. "She thinks I should perform with Narcissa, to have the contrast of blonde and black, all of the contrasts that exist between us." She allowed her eyes to melt the way she did with Severus. He had the same reaction. He wanted her badly, but he wanted things healthy men did not want, for he loved cruelty and humiliation.

"I would love to see the look on Severus' face as you make love to another woman." He sneered. "He has always been entirely too self-possessed. I think he would come undone." Voldemort looked as if that would give him the most pleasure.

"Genevieve, you have not failed, nor have you shrunk back from anything that I have required from you. I have great faith in you," he confided. "Lucius has been a disappointment, allowing my diary into the hands of a blood traitor."

Genevieve listened with rapt attention. Finally, would she hear of something important?

"Bella has been my only constant. Severus still has much to make up for. His weakness for women still nags at me." He looked sharply into her eyes. "I have worked so hard to ensure my life. No matter what that little whelp, Potter, may do, I shall never die. The problem is, that I need followers who will remain true to me and protect my possessions. I'm finding women are more capable of trust than men." He pulled her closer to him; his hand caressed her breast. "Are you trustworthy, Genevieve?"

"I strive for nothing more, my Lord."

"If I told you to stop your affair with Severus, would you?'

"Of course, but I would need a very good reason to break it off, otherwise, he might alert Dumbledore of my allegiance."

Voldemort smiled at the young woman. He rested his snake-like head back on his throne. "Look at you. I haven't even ordered you and you are already plotting how to attend to it."

He took the young woman's hand and thrust it inside his robes. She felt his hard member and grew fearful. So, she shut down and kept silent. "I have an item I want you to keep safe for me. Bella has already been keeping another precious item of mine safe. I want you to do the same for me." His breath grew ragged as he forced her hand up and down his shaft. "You want to please me, yes?"

"Yes," she whispered.

He forced her head down into his lap. She just closed her eyes and did it. She forced her Occlumency walls up and prayed he would not feel her revulsion. After he was spent, she forced her throat to swallow, knowing instinctively that was what he wanted from her. He praised her abilities and told her to sit at his feet. She obeyed.

"I have a diadem that belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. I need you to keep it safe for me. It is inside Hogwarts. You are to retrieve it and keep it safe. You are to continue as Severus' mistress. I'm sure he is now a very happy man, my dear. You are a treasure. Now, the diadem..."