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Broken by the Dark Lord	By : Kanashii Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 6067 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 18
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�� A steady rain was
now falling outside as Severus finished with the last of his work. Twice he had
stoked the fire in her room here at Spinners End; it must be close to morning.
He had been working on her for nearly 7 hours straight with potions and magical
healing.

�� Miranda,� He spoke
again looking into her vacant eyes. Just like the other five times, there was no
reply or recognition of him. Even legilimency of her had revealed only total
despair and madness. �He sighed briefly
and gathered the empty bottles and ointments. Even some of the stronger potions
had not bought her around. �I will be back later.� He said quietly and summoned
one last potion to his hand the draught of dreamless sleep. �This will help you
heal, now drink.� Carefully he poured it slowly over her lips and watched as
the vacant eyes finally closed and her breathing became the shallow breathing
of deep sleep.

�� He dimmed the
candles and stoked the fire once more, then assured she was resting quietly for
now Severus apparated back into his lab to check his four brewing potions. It
had been easy to get some of Miranda�s blood from her flowing wounds before he
had healed them and he now poured the small vial into the almost silvery
mixture of the forth potion. Mixing carefully with precise and measured strokes
he watched it turn from a silvery to a deadly red etherealness.

� Snape stood like a
dark statue over his four potions his arms folded tightly about him wrapping
his cloak around himself in an almost protective cocoon. His mind replayed
every word Voldemort had said to him, every regret that Severus had so
desperately tried to bury and so much turmoil within him. ��So dead are you inside, shattered in a
million pieces like a black mirror.� Voldemort had said to him.

�� Shattered? Yes,�
Snape barely whispered, �Broken? perhaps. But dead?� a cruel chuckle played
along his lips as he leaned over his four potions, his hair hanging limply over
his cheek bones. �Not as dead as you think I am.��

�� Severus now vowed
he would strike back in the only way he knew how; as a tormented soul torn in
half and nearly broken himself. It was mercy in Snape�s eyes, what he was about
to do, the last act of redemption of a dark angel cast out by all. There never
was truly �good� or �evil� the world was not black or white and he could do
only what he knew how to do best. �No one
else would help him on this and the burden and risk was his alone to bear. �I shall deny you the one thing you so want,
my Master.� Snape contemptuously thought. �For I am certainly not yours, and neither will be Miranda.�

�� Because Snape had
much to do for both the Order and his own plan, he kept Miranda unconscious on
a steady supply of a powerful sleeping draught giving her mind and body a
chance to heal. His temper at school had come to a boiling point many a time,
but he knew he would have to play his last card as carefully and hidden as he
could.

� On the 3^rd
day back he had summoned Draco Malfoy to his office after class.

� �You wanted to see
me sir?� Draco sidled into Professor Snape�s office and sat down at the chair
across from.

�� Severus studied the
boy, letting his legilimency come gently to the forefront. �You need not worry
about your potions grade; you will be passing of course.�

� �Oh did Father
already buy you off?� Draco said idly but it was not arrogant, not directed at
Snape.

�� At first Snape�s
eyes narrowed a bit darkly at Draco but he could sense the anger in the boys
soul at his father, Draco�s own uncertainty and disruption of his home life
with his father now so stressed and frequently gone.

� �No, and do not be
disrespectful Draco.� Snape coolly said, but his eyes now probed deeper into
Draco. The boy had grown even taller in the last few months, his soul more
tormented and even�Yes, fearful. There seemed a cruelness, despair and sadness
that was slowly beginning to seep into the boy�s very essence.

�� Draco sighed slightly and turned away for a
moment from Snape�s uncomfortable gaze.�

� �Are things going
well between your mother and you, Draco?� Snape threw out the questioned
unsuspectingly. �I know your father has been quite busy as of late.�

�� Fine, I guess.�
Draco glanced at the dour man in front of him, �Does it really matter? It has
no relevance to school then does it?� then he resumed looking at the desk top
between him and Snape.

�� I am your head of
house Draco,� Snape said smoothly, �everything has relevance to me of how you
conduct yourself here. After all,� Snape hedged asking the loaded question,
�Soon you will be ready to follow in your father�s footsteps, surely you are
pleased about that?� Severus Snape saw the boy actually almost visible blanch
in front of him.

�� Yes, yes of course, Sir.� He said stoically,
daring to look back up into Severus� eyes. �Of course I will be ready when
called upon.�

�� Good, excellent.� Snape said bluntly and
then began to shuffle some paperwork on his desk as though looking for
something, �and I am sure you will do fine.� He had gotten everything he needed
to know now from Draco�s mind. �What is your next class? I shall write you a
letter excusing your tardiness.� Snape said silkily as he pulled out a quill
and parchment.

�� Just Flitwick�s
class.� Draco began gathering his own items and stood up glancing around almost
warily as Snape quickly scrawled out the excuse and neatly folded up the
parchment handing it to the boy.

�� Does your father
still have his Thursday meetings?� Snape asked idly.

�� Yeah,� Draco took
the parchment and shoved it in the pocket of his robes, �Who knows where he
goes or what he does, but he�s gone all day from morning until late at night.�

�� I see.� Snape
nodded briefly.� �Why?� Draco asked
warily.

� �Nothing for you to
concern yourself with Draco,� Snape glanced up once again his eyes hard. �I was
going to meet with him that day and discuss business but I shall send him an
owl and set up a different day.�

�� Draco just nodded once, feeling the trickle
of coldness, and maybe something else emanating off of Snape he had never felt
before; a very dark glimmer of glee in the Professor�s onyx eyes. �Well, good
day sir.� He quickly left Snape�s dungeon office.

�� Miranda,� Snape
said again as he did each evening. �Wake up.� �Usually he got no response but at the end of
evening three he finally saw her eyes blink once. Her gaze slid over to where
he was sitting on the bed next to her and for a moment she debated between
looking terrified and vacant. She began muttering under her breath in Italian.

� �Miranda,� Snape
said again in a calm voice both aloud and in her head. �calmare.� He spoke in Italian back to her. �You are safe now. Where
have you been?� he asked her still in Italian.

�� Running up fields
near my childhood house, they were so golden in the summer, you could see the
ocean in the distance�� she drifted off savoring the vision.

�� Is that where you
first learned you were an animagus?� Snape asked her.

�� Yes, at first I
was scared, but then I loved to run in the fields, whenever I had a lot of
stress or�� she drifted off again her mind then filled with newer more darker
images, �No, no, please Mr. Malfoy!�
she squeezed her eyes shut as though feeling the invisible remnants of a
cruciatus curse, locked in a nightmare she was forced to relive over and over.

� �Miranda,� Snape�s
voice cut through her again, his tone commanding but yet strong. Not harsh, but
solid like a lighthouse in stormy sea. �It�s over now. It�s done, only ghosts
haunt you now.� He stood up and walked over to the dresser where he got a bowl
of soup and some bread for her. �You need to eat.� It was a gentle command and
not a request.

� Obediently she
struggled to sit up reaching with trembling hands for the soup bowl. Snape
watched her eat for a few minutes in silence as he paced back and forth in the
room. Miranda idly watched him, his hands clasped behind his back as he strode
back and forth like some dark and disjointed ghost.

� �Miranda,� Snape
stopped abruptly and looked at her. Never had Miranda seen his eyes look the
way they did now. Dark, penetrating but with such sorrow and regret and yet a
determined look of purpose it nearly rattled her to her very core. �Do you want
to be free now?�

�� Free?� She barely
whispered. �Go home?�

�� Yes, to go home,
to be totally free Miranda. Never having to worry about the Master or Lucius
Malfoy or,� he paused briefly, �or anyone else.�

�� The spoon clattered
from her hand but neither Snape nor she seemed to notice it. �Si Professore Snape.� Somehow she sensed
he didn�t care whether she continued to speak Italian in this conversation or
not. �What you mean by free? How free?�

� �You have been
indeed a very good student Miranda.� Snape said elusively but sincerely, �but I
now must ask you for one thing that I know will be so hard to give.�

�� She glanced at him
neither one moving, eyes locked on eyes, mind locked on mind. �What one thing?�
she barely whispered.

�� Your trust,
Miranda.� He walked over to her until they were nearly once again face to face,
but unlike before there was no intimidation from him, she could only sense some
purpose that so drove him it almost consumed him. �I need your complete and
utter trust, as hard as it is to give right now. But if you give it freely,
completely...� He simply stopped talking.

� Brown eyes boring
into black onyx eyes; her mind briefly filling with the images of her and Uncle
Furio laughing and talking. �I give you my trust Professor.� She said with a
total lucidness then. �I give you trust; you give me freedom.�

� Severus just nodded
gravely and sincerely. Nimbly twirling his wand in his fingers he pointed it at
the bed to clean up the spilled soup. �Excellent indeed.� He said almost
hollowly a small smile curling one side of his lip.

��

�� He knew he had only
two days to bring this whole plan of his to fruition and to set up the domino
effect that would eventually bring everything precisely where he wanted it and
to keep the promises he had made to himself and to Miranda. The potions were
done by the next evening and he carefully distilled them and funneled them into
their specific vials. Snape already had scrawled out the letter that would
excuse Draco for the afternoon and all Severus had to do was get the young man
back to Malfoy manor. The harder part would be for Draco to successfully play
his part, for it was he and he alone that would hold the final key. Draco
Malfoy would be the deliverer of Severus Snape�s final insult to his Master,
the freedom of Miranda and the temporary balm to his own haunted soul.

�

� Already Severus had
begun to discreetly feed Miranda one of the potions, a potion that would allow
her mind to drift more freely into her past dreams, remembrances and illusions.
This was also necessary. He had had been summoned the next day briefly by Lord
Voldemort for a full meeting of the Death Eaters as Voldemort began to set up
several small groups of them for his various plans and missions. After nearly
all had left Voldemort pulled Snape off to the Dark Lord�s private sitting room
where Nagini slithered around Snape�s legs as she made her way to her Masters
chair.

� �Your next mission
after this business with the student from Italy will be the hardest of all
Severus.� Voldemort glanced at him. �It will require you to truly get
Dumbledore to trust you so utterly above all else. You and I will probably have
to cut our visits down immensely, however I may have Wormtail move in with you
in 8 months to further assist you in the mission.�

� �Whatever my Master
wishes.� Snape said respectfully.

� �So what do you
think of Umbridge?� Voldemort almost chuckled gleefully.

� �A true bumbling
twit if I ever have seen one. She disrupts the school far more than any of your
death eaters could.�

�� Voldemort laughed
again. �Yes she does, doesn�t she?� he thoughtfully stroked his hard, sharp jaw
thinking, �Do you understand now what I mean the Ministry of Magic undermines
their own destiny? That stupidity on their behalf allows my plans to succeed
even more than I could have wildly hoped.�

� �Of course.� Snape
agreed slowly, �But be aware there are still some loyal Order members within
the ministry.�

�� Oh I do know my
faithful servant.� The Dark Lord eyed Snape, �But they are scattering now,
running as many missions as my own death eaters. �And in about 8 months they
will be running around even more, thanks to your information.�

� Snape just inclined
his head but said nothing, as he gazed idly at the fire in Voldemort�s large
fireplace.

�� I know I had told
you to have Miranda here in two days from now, but that will have to be put on
temporary hold. Make it 4 days until you bring her here. I have much I have to
accomplish within the next week and have no time for her until then. Once she
arrives I have a few teachers in mind for her.� Voldemort�s eyes glinted
dangerously for a moment. �But enough of such minor nonsense. I am more
concerned about what is going on with Potter and the Order.� The Dark Master
smoothly switched the conversation to what he was interested in.

� After being
dismissed an hour later by the Master, Severus felt lighter in heart and freer
than he had in days. He had a good feeling about his plan now, and the delay
would work in his favor to keep his Master from finding out the final outcome.
However his plan was still on target for tomorrow late morning, it was now
Wednesday afternoon. It seemed as though the very forces of fate were now in
his favor, working to give Severus his once chance to truly drive the sword
back into his Master�s side and free Miranda.

� Snape had apparated
back to his home and saw Miranda working with her nose in a book, her dark hair
gently cascading down onto the desk. Snape glanced at her a moment truly
wishing circumstances would have been different in her life. She could have
gone far in her studies and abilities had she been allowed to enter either
Beauxbaton�s or Hogwarts when she had been younger. She was inquisitive and
even talented in her nature, she would have enjoyed school, would have had a
nice life, been a good mother an accomplished witch.

� She glanced up
suddenly as though realizing her Professor was regarding her, �Professor?� she
questioned respectfully.

�� Put the book away,
we need to talk.� Snape said levelly as he glided over to the table and sat
down in a chair across from her. Her brown eyes searched his, but Snape�s
occlumency was legendary above all else and she would see nothing but the blank
and unyielding look of his own dark eyes.

� �Do you remember
what I promised you the other day?� He queried almost calmly.

� She merely nodded,
�Yes. Freedom.� She barely dared to whisper.

� �And you shall have
it.� He nodded briefly and glanced away for a moment. Her eyes were so eager,
so full of hope; did she even know what Severus� plan was? What his means of
freedom would be to her? �Tell me about Furio, about anything you remember of
your wizarding line.� He asked levelly still not daring to look into her eyes.
He could not, he simply could not.

�� Well,� she began
slightly hesitantly as she gently closed the book. She was not used to her
teacher asking such personal information that had nothing to do with any
lessons. �Is this a lesson now, Sir? Or are you wishing honesty?� she softly
asked.

�� No lessons now. I
truly want to know.� He stood up and walked over to where his glasses and
drinks were and used his wand to pour himself fire whiskey.

�� I only really knew
my Uncle Furio.� She started, �So much life and laughter he had, however there
was times he seemed almost haunted or pained about something. Regrets maybe?�
she hesitated, �But he never discussed that with me, eh?�

�� Oh I bet he had regrets� Snape�s mind
swam remembering that Furio was a death eater who had betrayed Voldemort and
pulled away from the fold. One did not just leave the death eaters. Karkaroff�s
death was proof of that. Severus had killed several former death eater
runaways, who had never returned after Voldemort�s rebirth.

�� He was very protective of me at times.�
Miranda�s voice cut through Snape�s thoughts. �A good teacher, like you sir.�
She added the honest compliment. �He was good at what you call transfiguration,
you know.� She put away her quill and idly played with the wand that Snape had
first given her to use. They had never gone and gotten another one and this one
seemed to work very well for her. �My father was what you call a squib, my
mother a muggle. It was my Grandfather, my father�s dad, Giovanni Vitale who
was the true talent in the family. Furio and my father Patrizio where
Grandfather Gio�s only two children, my Grandfather died when I was very young,
I only have the vaguest memories of him. But what I do remember of my
Grandfather he was a very loving and kind man.� she paused and stopped playing
with the wand a moment. �Papa said that Grandfather Giovanni, who was a Judge
in our muggle legal system prosecuting the La
Cosa Nostra was also killed, but not much of that was discussed with me,
eh?� she said sadly. �Personally between you and me, I think that someone in
the wizarding world had taken out Grandfather, he would have been too talented
to be taken out casually by Muggles.�

�� Perhaps,� Snape
said smoothly as he finished his fire whiskey, �I would not know such things as
that.�

�� Of course not,
Sir. I did not think you would.� Miranda nodded.

�� What did you think
of Draco Malfoy?� Snape risked a glance at her, allowing his legilimens to
briefly surface but he already knew the answer, he merely wanted to hear it
from her.

�� She seemed to
hesitate a moment, she had never dared voice what she had felt from Draco,
trying desperately to hide it even when Snape had used his legilimens against
her.

�He has a lot on his mind, eh?� she began hesitantly. �At
first he feared the dark mark upon me, but in time he relaxed again. His father
is very hard on him. Draco only knows me as the horse�� she said bitterly for a
moment, �Not who I really am.�

�� If he would know
you as a human his reaction to you would be much more guarded and not the
same.� Snape spoke boldly and honestly. �He works hard to hide that which
troubles him.� Snape walked over to the table again and leaned forward nearly
nose to nose with his student. �But do you trust him, Miranda?�

�� She gulped once
under the scrutinizing gaze of Severus Snape, but then dared to meet his eyes
with respect and honesty. �Yes.� She spoke with conviction, �He is not like his
father, eh? He was kind to me. When no one else was around he could have been
cruel or ignored my pain and discomfort, but no��

�� She paused moving
even closer into Snape�s space until they were mere millimeters apart, �But he
used kindness on me, even when no one else was around, eh? And that day when Draco
and I took a ride, I accepted the punishment from his father because what Draco
and I had done was fun, Professor. To simply be free, to simply hear the
laughter in Draco Malfoy�s heart and soul, and in my own soul, for those� few minutes each of us were able to forget
whatever burdens we bore. It was worth it, can you understand?�� She half expected a sneering comment or maybe
even a flicker of anger or worse his usual cold blank stare. But he merely
nodded.

�� Yes, Miranda,� he
leaned back. �I do understand, more than you could ever know or fathom.� Snape briefly
remembered Lily Evans again.

� Again Miranda just
briefly glimpsed the slightest hint of a soul so haunted and broken and dark in
his face it made her skin prickle, but that quick it was gone in him to be
replaced by his usual cold visage.

� �Remember when I
asked for you total trust of me?� he asked as he folded his arms across his
chest and glanced down at her.

� She just nodded.

� �Tomorrow I will be
taking you to Malfoy Manor.� Snape caught the brief tremor in her.

� �But I thought you
said my time with Lucius was done!!� she nearly screeched leaping to her feet.

�� Silence!� Snape warned in a low voice,
�Listen and do not talk, listen truly to what I am about to say.� He glanced
back at her chair and she slowly sat back down.

� �Now, as I was
saying, tomorrow we will be going to Malfoy Manor, I will drop you off there,
however.� He paused, �Lucius will be no where around. Draco will be there
however, your freedom will be in his hands. Take him across the moors and back
fields away from Malfoy manor; run as far as you can south, past the forests,
just run.�

� She looked like she
wanted to say something, anything, confused by this whole change of course.

� �You promised trust,
do you want your freedom or not.� Snape asked her sincerely, looking down the
length of his nose at her.

� �Yes.� She just
barely whispered, her mind swimming with a million questions and thoughts.

� �Draco only knows
you as the white Arabian mare; do you understand? He would not trust you
otherwise. There will be no bridle; the transformation will be from you, not
forced.� Snape poured himself another fire whiskey and drank deeply of it.

� �But did you not say
the Dark Lord could sense�� She couldn�t finish the sentence, merely
unconsciously touched the dark mark behind her ear.

� �He cannot sense
everything constantly, Miranda.� Snape spun on her with clarity in his eyes,
�and that is also why I worked so hard to teach you occlumency, to hone it in
you, do you not understand?� He downed the rest of the fire whiskey and quietly
placed down the glass. �Right now the Dark Lord has more to worry about than
two teenagers running across the moors. His mind�s eye is focusing on far more
critical and important tasks. But you must get you and Draco as far away as
possible from Malfoy manor just in case his father does come back early,
clearly understand me?�

�� Yes.� She dropped
her eyes a moment and slowly her fingers brushed across the wand her teacher
had first given her. Gently she pushed it closer towards him and away from her.
�I will not need this anymore, will I?� she said with a soft whisper.

�� No Miranda, you
will not.� Severus gently said but left the wand where it was. It was then
Severus truly knew that Miranda realized as well what the price for her freedom
must be. Both of them remembering that day she had been too cowardly to take
her own life.

�� I cannot eat, I
cannot think.� She said quietly, �My nerves they are like agitazione.�� Not knowing an
English translation for it.

�� Severus Snape
pulled a potion from his pocket and placed it down in front of her. �A long
sleep for today would be good.� He said simply, �I have much work to do tonight
before we leave tomorrow.�

�� Her hand closed
around the deep purple potion, she swirled it gently. �Si.�

�� Miranda,� Snape
looked at her deeply a moment, � Avere il
coragio di. Avere fede in mi.� he spoke in Italian. �Have courage and have
faith in me.�

� �I do.� She said in
English as she stood up with the potion in hand. �I always have.� She walked
quietly upstairs to sleep.
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Broken by the Dark Lord