A Question of time... (...and it's running out for you)

By Ratwoman

Ratwoman@unicum.de

Disclaimer: All the characters are J.K.Rowling's invention. I'm just extrapolating a bit.

Ratings: PG-13

Pairing: Snape/Lucius Malfoy

Catagory: UST

Inspired by the Depeche Mode song "A Question of Time"

Not in connection with my other stories

Timeline: Some time at the beginning of Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts.

Summary: Snape worries about his students', especially Draco Malfoy's, future.

 

A Question of time... (...and it's running out for you)

By Ratwoman

Ratwoman@unicum.de

Walking through the rows, Professor Snape darkly watched his students' attempts on brewing a shrinking potion. He said nothing when the fluid in Neville Longbottom's cauldron - again - took on the wrong colour, just looked at the boy threateningly. Neville blushed and gazed at the floor.

Snape repressed a sigh and walked by. The other teachers tended to be so understanding towards Neville because of his personal family tragedy. But how should the boy survive the coming battles, if he was used to everyone being considerate of his weaknesses?

A short glance on the ingredients on Harry Potter's desk told him that he had cut the plants as sloppy as he did everything except of playing Quidditch. Everyone was so fond of the Potter boy, just as everyone had been so fond of the perfect James Potter. In some ways Harry was worse than James: James had at least worked on his talents.

Harry's grades could be almost as good as Hermione Granger's, if only his ambition would go farther than to the next Quidditch match. But obviously he thought playing Quidditch and having defeated Voldemort was enough for him.

Harry looked defiantly up to Snape, as if having read his thoughts, (but probably just having seen his annoyed look). Professor Snape made some condescending remark about his cutting techniques and passed by to the next desk.

Ron Weasley - Snape wondered whether the boy had any clue of what dangers he had got himself into when he had befriended Harry Potter. Now that Voldemort had come back, not only Harry would be the focus of the Dark Lord's wrath: the Lord knew that the best and cruellest way to get someone down was by

attacking his friends.

Harry's friend Ron certainly was loyal and brave, but not exactly bright. Bad chances for him.

However, Snape had told Dumbledore to watch especially over the Weasley boy; and he would keep an eye on him, too.

Hermione had probably the best chances of all Harry's friends to survive the battles: what she lacked in magical talent, she compensated in eager learning and cleverness. - Though she was not clever enough to learn that she would only lose Gryffindor housepoints, if she tried to help Neville behind his back! Snape smirked. Slytherin would have good chances to win the cup this year if she kept on giving him reasons for deduction of points.

Most people would be surprised if they knew that his real 'problem child' was Draco Malfoy. Not that there was anything wrong with his work, his potions always deserved best grades. His character worried him; he was just too much like his father. Too much like the arrogant, unscrupulous, persuasive, good-looking, insane Lucius Malfoy. If he didn't watch him closely, he would be the first to be recruited for Voldemort's new circle.

But what could Severus do?

Since Lucius and Severus were something one could call friends, he'd known Draco Malfoy from his early childhood on. It was not nice to watch a boy with promising character traits get spoilt through and through by his parents. Draco's mother was the typical over-devoted mummy, who would find excuses for everything her child did. His father on the other hand was the one who implanted dangerous ideas into his son's mind.

To keep Draco from straying from the right path, Severus had tried to gain the boy's trust. He had been uncharacteristically friendly to Draco; maybe that was not the right strategy to treat a spoilt child, but Draco was the kind of person who'd wow eternal enmity to everyone who looked not perfectly nice at him. He could not keep Draco from the Dark Arts if he made him an enemy.

The more time passed, the smaller Severus's chances got to succeed. Grown up in a Dark Wizard's house, both parents rich and influential and proud of their knowledge of the Dark Arts, Draco hardly had another choice than becoming a copy of his father. And Lucius Malfoy could be so persuasive when he was trying to convince someone that the Dark Arts were the only, the right way.

Severus knew, because it had been Lucius who had recruited him as a Death Eater.

__

Back in their schooldays, Severus had been terribly in love with Lucius, the golden-haired, blue-eyed boy from an old wizard family. Even today he somehow liked Lucius, though it was clear to him now how rotten he was.

Lucius was intelligent, educated and _very persuasive. Severus was not sure if his enmity with Potter, Black and Lupin would have escalated that much if Lucius had not always instigated him against them by telling him things they had - allegedly - said or done. Today Snape guessed that Lucius had made up

most of it; it was unlikely that the Marauders had spend so much time on plotting against Snape, at least not at the beginning. But at that time he always had believed Lucius.

The Dark Arts had fascinated Severus, too, no doubt. They still fascinated him today, but he would not make use of them anymore.

But then it had been easy for Lucius to persuade him to join into that 'fantastic group of Dark Wizards'.

"They'll show us things we could never hope to learn here." Lucius had whispered to him, while they were lying on the grass near a lake. The sun was projecting a golden shimmer on Lucius's pale skin. "I know you're ambitious, you want to know more than is written in our schoolbooks. Just like me, you want to know everything, with no limits, to become like god."

Thinking that Lucius was joking, Severus laughed. "In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god..." he recited.

"What?" Lucius said, looking puzzled.

"Forget it." Severus said. "Just a Shakespeare quotation."

Lucius looked as if he was thinking whether he should ask who that Shakespeare was; he had hardly ever attended Muggle sciences. But then he dropped the topic and went on talking about the Death Eaters, and the unlimited power they offered. The way Lucius described it created an atmosphere of dark romance Severus could hardly resist. Of course he joined in. And if Lucius had told him to jump from Hogwart's highest tower he would have done that, too.

He wondered whether if Lucius knew that he had been in love with him. Of course, he had never told him. Lucius was not just straight, some part of him had known even back then that Lucius would use that knowledge to torment him.

At first, his time as a Death Eater had been fascinating; the nocturnal meetings, the access to forbidden knowledge, and, of course, the Dark Lord, an immensely powerful and incredibly charismatic wizard, who seemed to be omniscient. Snape had adored him.

His love for Lucius and his admiration for Voldemort soon had died, when he had suffered terrible pain at the hands of the Dark Lord for no more than uttering meek disagreement for one of his plans. Why it had never before occurred to him that Voldemort would not even accept the smallest protests of his followers, not even some advice on how to do better, Snape did not know. Could he really have been so naive?

He did not really want to follow a leader who expected utter obedience. He wanted, needed some control over himself.

While he was writhing and screaming in pain under the Cruciatus curse, what disconcerted him most was not the agony, not the loss of control and dignity, but the fact that Lucius was standing by and laughing insanely.

Lucius made no difference between friend or foe; he simply enjoyed seeing people in pain. Severus's disgust had grown whenever he had watched Lucius torture someone, when he had seen that mixture of madness and arousal in his icy eyes.

__

What about Draco? He did not seem as insane as his father, but keeping him away from the wrong paths seemed an impossible mission. Snape could try to talk to him in private, to tell him about the consequences and the disappointments of becoming a Dark Wizard and to implore him not to make the same mistakes as he had done, but there was the danger that Draco would tell his father about their conversation. And Lucius would, without any doubt, run to Voldemort and tell him that Severus Snape was double-crossing him. Snape would take on this peril if only his life was at stake; but thousands of lives depended on the information he could gather.

When Draco noticed that Snape was standing in front of his desk, he looked up. The boy's eyes widened in surprise at Prof. Snape's dark expression; usually he looked rather benevolently at Draco Malfoy.

"Did... did I do something wrong?" Draco asked, his voice full of doubt.

"No Draco," Snape replied. "Not yet."

 

***

End