Alea Iacta Est
by Rainsong
A/N: Vignette warning. This is actually something I thought of while doing some algebra homework. Go figure. This is set when Sirius was about 19 years old. Snape is still a Death Eater at this point. Sirius, Lily, and James are elite Aurors, who are, for lack of a better term, "above the Ministry." Not slash, by the way, if thats what you might have been thinking. Enjoy!
~~~~
The cool, dark hallways of the castle seemed to move. Sirius trudged uncertainly through the many winding passageways, holding his wand above his head to light the path. He vaguely wondered where Lily and James were, and exactly how long this would take.
The castle was an old Death Eater fortress that had been abandoned suspiciously a few days before. But Ministry information showed that it was still be frequented by at least five different people. Sirius, James, and Lily were assigned the job of investigating the castle in its entirety, looking for both Death Eaters and a clue to why the castle had been discarded.
They had decided early on to split up as they scoured the basement; it was simply too massive to scale while together. But Sirius found this to be more difficult than he expected, as he seemed to walk through corridor after corridor without finding a single piece of relevant information. The skulls that seemed to be strewn everywhere were no help, either.
He checked his watch. One hour and he had found nothing. He pulled from his robe pocket the castle floorplan, which he had enchanted to show the locations of everyone in the building. So far it seemed that only the three of them were present, and each seemed to be making considerable progress.
The squish-squash sound of the mud sticking to his boots suddenly annoyed Sirius very much. The dripping water from the ceiling seemed colder, and the pervading darkness was unnerving.
Absentmindedly, he pulled out the floorplan. He saw Lily, moving steadily towards the main chamber, where they all planned on meeting. James was on a similar route, though coming from the opposite direction. He glanced at his position, but his eyes immediately shifted to something else, something new entirely. Another person, represented by a classic black dot, seemed to be running down the passageway in Sirius' direction. It wasn't labeled with a name. Sirius began to walk more slowly, watching the unknown individual's steady progress. He realized with shock that it was, in fact, only a few meters away.
Sirius began to pick up the pace, gripping his sword tightly. He reasoned that it would be best to snatch whoever this person was by surprise. He continued to watch the map. Ten meters. Seven meters. Four meters. One meter.
Sirius spun around, slamming his pursuer against the stone wall and positioning his sword so it was lightly touching the neck. His wand, which he had carelessly thrown to the ground, illuminated the corridor. Sirius looked up, and found himself staring into the eyes of Severus Snape.
"Isn't this a smashing turn of events." Snape hissed sarcastically.
"Snape," Sirius said, sounding neither shocked nor particularly intrigued. "So it was true what I'd heard at Hogwarts. You are Death Eater scum."
"The only scum in our order are those to cowardly to stand as I am now." Snape replied sharply, not taking his eyes off of Sirius.
"Cowardly? In case you haven't noticed, you're "standing" with my sword teasing your jugular vein. I'd call the others intelligent."
Snape laughed mirthilessly. His voice sounded coarse and cruel, his eyes narrowed in dislike. "They are loyal, and sometimes cunning. But certainly not intelligent."
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked, point-blank. There were very few people he hated more than he Snape, and he had forgotten what that loathing felt like. Being away from Hogwarts for a year also meant being away from Snape, and he could now remind himself how better off he was because of it.
"I think you know. I'm certainly not here because its the spanking new Gryffindor common room."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Give me some real information, Snape. I've been down here for an hour with nothing to do, and killing you seems like it might slack off a bit of the boredom."
"Take that sword off me first."
Sirius stared at him as though something had just burst from within Snape's brain and began to peform complex gymnastics. Snape seemed perfectly aware of this. "I'm not armed. My wand isn't here, and I don't have any other weaponry. See for yourself."
Sirius quickly went through all of Snape's pockets, finding nothing. He lowered the sword, allowing Snape to take a deep breath. He pushed himself off of the wall. Sirius had never really noticed before that he and Snape were nearly the exact same height.
"Talk." Sirius ordered.
Snape was wearing dirty black robes, and his hair looked even more disheveled and greased than it normally did. His boots were covered in mud, which had splashed up to the edges of his robes, as though he had been running very quickly.
"I'm down here because I'm looking for information. You're not the only one who keeps track of the Dark Lord and his followers. He only tells us so much, the rest is guesswork." Snape said, folding his arms across his chest and looking bemused.
"I have considerable doubt that you're sulking around here because you want to lock a few murderous bastards away in Azkaban till they rot. Try again." Sirius said harshly, twisting his sword threateningly.
"Believe what you want, Black, but its true. You and I have very similar motives." Snape said smoothly.
Sirius stared back at him. "Unless I'm down here for my hobby of collecting human remains, no, Snape. I think our motives are very different."
Snape smirked. "You're here for the Ministry, am I wrong?"
"I'm here for my own purposes. The Ministry takes no part in what I do."
"But surely you have ties to Dumbledore?"
"I do."
Snape was now grinning. Sirius desperately wanted to know why this situation was so amusing to him.
"Then we are here on similar business."
Sirius scoffed. "Dumbledore would have nothing to do with you."
"You'd be surprised."
"You're a Death Eater."
Snape's laugh strongly reminded Sirius of the way he heard a patient laugh in St. Mungo's Psych Ward. He gripped his sword more firmly, ready for a sudden move.
"Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater, I suppose. But my affiliations are somewhat scattered."
"Exactly how long have you been down here? There must be some sort of mold growing, because you're making very little sense." Sirius said.
"And once a Gryffindor, always a Gryffindor, in your case. They really picked you from the right crop, didn't they? Nice and dim, the way they like them."
"Snape, get to the point. I have orders to kill any Death Eaters I find here, and you're certainly not an exception."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Snape said, the smirk fading on his face.
"And why not? Because we're such good friends, fluffs and bunnies, the whole package?"
"Tsk, tsk. Sarcasm, Black. It never gets you anywhere. What I'm saying is, for once in your pathetic life, you need me." Snape said, grinning evily.
Sirius began to genuinely worry. If he wasn't afraid of Snape running off, he would have pulled out the floorplan to check Lily's and James' locations. But Snape seemed on edge. Or he's just a full-fledged loony, as Sirius imagined.
"I may need a lot of things, Snape, but you will never be one of them." he replied coldly, locking his eyes on Snape's.
"You do. Without me, you'd have none of the leads you've been following for the past six months."
Sirius suddenly understood. But..how? And more importantly, why?
"You've become a spy." Sirius said, mostly to himself.
Snape began to clap cynically. "Bravo, Black, good show. I can honestly say I'm impressed. How long did that take? A few minutes? Yes, I've turned spy."
"Why?" Sirius asked in barely more than a whisper.
"I have my reasons, none of which I'd share with you." Snape hissed.
Sirius nodded. "Fair enough. But we have other spies working for us. Why do we need you particularly?"
"I have knowledge that the rest of your turncoats could only dream of." Snape said. "I'm in the Dark Lord's inner circle. I know his movements and his motives."
"We have two others that have claimed the same thing. And somehow I don't think you're trustworthy. In fact, I'd put money on the fact that you're probably passing information about the Ministry."
"I assure you, I'm not." Snape replied. "Ask Dumbledore. He'll prove it to you."
"I'll do that," Sirius said stiffly. "But I still don't see how we need you more than any of the others."
Snape leaned back against the wall. To Sirius' utter disappointment, he seemed poised for a long story.
"Didn't they teach you anything in Auror school? Then again, I suppose not many have been where I have. Let me put it in simple terms. There are different levels within the Dark Lord's hierarchy. I happen to be within the highest possible rank."
"Oh, congrats, Snape. That must be quite a compliment. So you get to torture how many more Muggles now?" Sirius interrupted. He was not about to stand here and listen to Snape divulge the finer points of Death Eater society.
Snape scowled. "It has nothing to do with torture. I am priviledged with information reserved for a select few. How I use it..well, that depends on you.
"You see, I'm told who's next on the Dark Lord's list of troublesome persons, you could say. He doesn't tolerate their antics for very long. Especially after the capture of the Lestranges," Snape sighed dramatically, "he's not very happy.
"This list he keeps, its not just mental. No, he writes each name down, using blood from Muggles and Mudbloods and traitors. But more and more of his plots seem to be falling apart. Someone knows his targets. He's quite intent on finding out who it is. But I doubt he suspects me. No, he's surely watching the latest initiates.
"I took a glimpse of that list yesterday. It's in no definite order, or course, or my job might be much easier. And you'll never guess whose names I happened to see, scratched across that parchment in red blood."
Sirius felt his stomach twist. He waited for Snape to continue, as he knew not what to say or do.
"Lily Evans and James Potter. Right there, bright as can be." Snape said, smirking.
Sirius felt suddenly faint. He distinctly thought he felt a breeze of cold fly by behind him, and he began to lose his grip on his sword. Lily and James..
"Oh, come on, Black. As if you didn't ever wonder about it. You know who they are, what they are-"
Sirius grabbed the front of Snape's robes and slammed him against the cobblestone walls. He felt as though lightning was coursing through his body. In that instant he decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to kill Snape. He had all the information he needed.
Snape laughed. "Don't get your knickers in a bunch, Black. They've got time..oh yes. He explicitly said that they're in no danger for the next couple of years. After that, the hunt begins."
"I have no reason to believe anything you're saying." Sirius said in barely more than a whisper. Snape ignored Sirius' dubious manner. He looked straight into Sirius' eyes.
"I swear it."
Sirius had found out that Snape broke agreements, and promises, and plans. But he had never, to Sirius' knowledge, skipped out on a swear. Sirius vaguely took notice that Snape was only inches from his face.
"But eventually, he will kill them," Snape continued. His voice was as silky as ever, and he seemed to be taking great enjoyment in every word he uttered. "Oh, he'll make them scream first, but in the end they'll be dead. They'll be dead and you'll be just where he wants you. Broken and alone. The minute he kills them, he knows you'll be as good as dead, as well. And how perfect is a warrior against death who doesn't want to live?"
Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stepped back, his eyes unfocused as everything he had just heard whirred in his brain.
"The Dark Lord is neither man nor god. But he knows the weaknesses of the human mind. Love isn't brains. You love your friends, you love your work..bloody hell, Black, you love living. But he can take that all away from you in an instant. Like I said, love isn't brains. Its blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will. Take that away, and what do you become?"
Sirius swung up his sword and pointed it directly at Snape's heart. His eyes spoke what was on his mind; Give me one reason not to kill you.
"I wouldn't do that," Snape said calmly. "I am the only one on Dumbledore's side that will be able to inform him of the Dark Lord's list. You need me."
"Leave. Now." Sirius whispered threateningly.
"On one condition. You speak of this to no one. If you do, I might just find that all of that information about Potter and Evans just sort of..slips from my memory." Snape said, smirking.
He slid easily out of Sirius' grip, and began to step back into the darkness. "Its your decision, of course. Alea iacta est."
With that, Snape turned and head back down the passageway. Sirius watched until Snape was no longer visible. His mind was racing, and he felt quite dizzy. In the midst of it all, he thought about what Snape had just said. Alea iacta est..
The die is cast.
~{*The End*}~
Written October 10th, 2002.
A/N: Vignette warning. This is actually something I thought of while doing some algebra homework. Go figure. This is set when Sirius was about 19 years old. Snape is still a Death Eater at this point. Sirius, Lily, and James are elite Aurors, who are, for lack of a better term, "above the Ministry." Not slash, by the way, if thats what you might have been thinking. Enjoy!
~~~~
The cool, dark hallways of the castle seemed to move. Sirius trudged uncertainly through the many winding passageways, holding his wand above his head to light the path. He vaguely wondered where Lily and James were, and exactly how long this would take.
The castle was an old Death Eater fortress that had been abandoned suspiciously a few days before. But Ministry information showed that it was still be frequented by at least five different people. Sirius, James, and Lily were assigned the job of investigating the castle in its entirety, looking for both Death Eaters and a clue to why the castle had been discarded.
They had decided early on to split up as they scoured the basement; it was simply too massive to scale while together. But Sirius found this to be more difficult than he expected, as he seemed to walk through corridor after corridor without finding a single piece of relevant information. The skulls that seemed to be strewn everywhere were no help, either.
He checked his watch. One hour and he had found nothing. He pulled from his robe pocket the castle floorplan, which he had enchanted to show the locations of everyone in the building. So far it seemed that only the three of them were present, and each seemed to be making considerable progress.
The squish-squash sound of the mud sticking to his boots suddenly annoyed Sirius very much. The dripping water from the ceiling seemed colder, and the pervading darkness was unnerving.
Absentmindedly, he pulled out the floorplan. He saw Lily, moving steadily towards the main chamber, where they all planned on meeting. James was on a similar route, though coming from the opposite direction. He glanced at his position, but his eyes immediately shifted to something else, something new entirely. Another person, represented by a classic black dot, seemed to be running down the passageway in Sirius' direction. It wasn't labeled with a name. Sirius began to walk more slowly, watching the unknown individual's steady progress. He realized with shock that it was, in fact, only a few meters away.
Sirius began to pick up the pace, gripping his sword tightly. He reasoned that it would be best to snatch whoever this person was by surprise. He continued to watch the map. Ten meters. Seven meters. Four meters. One meter.
Sirius spun around, slamming his pursuer against the stone wall and positioning his sword so it was lightly touching the neck. His wand, which he had carelessly thrown to the ground, illuminated the corridor. Sirius looked up, and found himself staring into the eyes of Severus Snape.
"Isn't this a smashing turn of events." Snape hissed sarcastically.
"Snape," Sirius said, sounding neither shocked nor particularly intrigued. "So it was true what I'd heard at Hogwarts. You are Death Eater scum."
"The only scum in our order are those to cowardly to stand as I am now." Snape replied sharply, not taking his eyes off of Sirius.
"Cowardly? In case you haven't noticed, you're "standing" with my sword teasing your jugular vein. I'd call the others intelligent."
Snape laughed mirthilessly. His voice sounded coarse and cruel, his eyes narrowed in dislike. "They are loyal, and sometimes cunning. But certainly not intelligent."
"What are you doing here?" Sirius asked, point-blank. There were very few people he hated more than he Snape, and he had forgotten what that loathing felt like. Being away from Hogwarts for a year also meant being away from Snape, and he could now remind himself how better off he was because of it.
"I think you know. I'm certainly not here because its the spanking new Gryffindor common room."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Give me some real information, Snape. I've been down here for an hour with nothing to do, and killing you seems like it might slack off a bit of the boredom."
"Take that sword off me first."
Sirius stared at him as though something had just burst from within Snape's brain and began to peform complex gymnastics. Snape seemed perfectly aware of this. "I'm not armed. My wand isn't here, and I don't have any other weaponry. See for yourself."
Sirius quickly went through all of Snape's pockets, finding nothing. He lowered the sword, allowing Snape to take a deep breath. He pushed himself off of the wall. Sirius had never really noticed before that he and Snape were nearly the exact same height.
"Talk." Sirius ordered.
Snape was wearing dirty black robes, and his hair looked even more disheveled and greased than it normally did. His boots were covered in mud, which had splashed up to the edges of his robes, as though he had been running very quickly.
"I'm down here because I'm looking for information. You're not the only one who keeps track of the Dark Lord and his followers. He only tells us so much, the rest is guesswork." Snape said, folding his arms across his chest and looking bemused.
"I have considerable doubt that you're sulking around here because you want to lock a few murderous bastards away in Azkaban till they rot. Try again." Sirius said harshly, twisting his sword threateningly.
"Believe what you want, Black, but its true. You and I have very similar motives." Snape said smoothly.
Sirius stared back at him. "Unless I'm down here for my hobby of collecting human remains, no, Snape. I think our motives are very different."
Snape smirked. "You're here for the Ministry, am I wrong?"
"I'm here for my own purposes. The Ministry takes no part in what I do."
"But surely you have ties to Dumbledore?"
"I do."
Snape was now grinning. Sirius desperately wanted to know why this situation was so amusing to him.
"Then we are here on similar business."
Sirius scoffed. "Dumbledore would have nothing to do with you."
"You'd be surprised."
"You're a Death Eater."
Snape's laugh strongly reminded Sirius of the way he heard a patient laugh in St. Mungo's Psych Ward. He gripped his sword more firmly, ready for a sudden move.
"Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater, I suppose. But my affiliations are somewhat scattered."
"Exactly how long have you been down here? There must be some sort of mold growing, because you're making very little sense." Sirius said.
"And once a Gryffindor, always a Gryffindor, in your case. They really picked you from the right crop, didn't they? Nice and dim, the way they like them."
"Snape, get to the point. I have orders to kill any Death Eaters I find here, and you're certainly not an exception."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Snape said, the smirk fading on his face.
"And why not? Because we're such good friends, fluffs and bunnies, the whole package?"
"Tsk, tsk. Sarcasm, Black. It never gets you anywhere. What I'm saying is, for once in your pathetic life, you need me." Snape said, grinning evily.
Sirius began to genuinely worry. If he wasn't afraid of Snape running off, he would have pulled out the floorplan to check Lily's and James' locations. But Snape seemed on edge. Or he's just a full-fledged loony, as Sirius imagined.
"I may need a lot of things, Snape, but you will never be one of them." he replied coldly, locking his eyes on Snape's.
"You do. Without me, you'd have none of the leads you've been following for the past six months."
Sirius suddenly understood. But..how? And more importantly, why?
"You've become a spy." Sirius said, mostly to himself.
Snape began to clap cynically. "Bravo, Black, good show. I can honestly say I'm impressed. How long did that take? A few minutes? Yes, I've turned spy."
"Why?" Sirius asked in barely more than a whisper.
"I have my reasons, none of which I'd share with you." Snape hissed.
Sirius nodded. "Fair enough. But we have other spies working for us. Why do we need you particularly?"
"I have knowledge that the rest of your turncoats could only dream of." Snape said. "I'm in the Dark Lord's inner circle. I know his movements and his motives."
"We have two others that have claimed the same thing. And somehow I don't think you're trustworthy. In fact, I'd put money on the fact that you're probably passing information about the Ministry."
"I assure you, I'm not." Snape replied. "Ask Dumbledore. He'll prove it to you."
"I'll do that," Sirius said stiffly. "But I still don't see how we need you more than any of the others."
Snape leaned back against the wall. To Sirius' utter disappointment, he seemed poised for a long story.
"Didn't they teach you anything in Auror school? Then again, I suppose not many have been where I have. Let me put it in simple terms. There are different levels within the Dark Lord's hierarchy. I happen to be within the highest possible rank."
"Oh, congrats, Snape. That must be quite a compliment. So you get to torture how many more Muggles now?" Sirius interrupted. He was not about to stand here and listen to Snape divulge the finer points of Death Eater society.
Snape scowled. "It has nothing to do with torture. I am priviledged with information reserved for a select few. How I use it..well, that depends on you.
"You see, I'm told who's next on the Dark Lord's list of troublesome persons, you could say. He doesn't tolerate their antics for very long. Especially after the capture of the Lestranges," Snape sighed dramatically, "he's not very happy.
"This list he keeps, its not just mental. No, he writes each name down, using blood from Muggles and Mudbloods and traitors. But more and more of his plots seem to be falling apart. Someone knows his targets. He's quite intent on finding out who it is. But I doubt he suspects me. No, he's surely watching the latest initiates.
"I took a glimpse of that list yesterday. It's in no definite order, or course, or my job might be much easier. And you'll never guess whose names I happened to see, scratched across that parchment in red blood."
Sirius felt his stomach twist. He waited for Snape to continue, as he knew not what to say or do.
"Lily Evans and James Potter. Right there, bright as can be." Snape said, smirking.
Sirius felt suddenly faint. He distinctly thought he felt a breeze of cold fly by behind him, and he began to lose his grip on his sword. Lily and James..
"Oh, come on, Black. As if you didn't ever wonder about it. You know who they are, what they are-"
Sirius grabbed the front of Snape's robes and slammed him against the cobblestone walls. He felt as though lightning was coursing through his body. In that instant he decided that it wouldn't be such a bad idea to kill Snape. He had all the information he needed.
Snape laughed. "Don't get your knickers in a bunch, Black. They've got time..oh yes. He explicitly said that they're in no danger for the next couple of years. After that, the hunt begins."
"I have no reason to believe anything you're saying." Sirius said in barely more than a whisper. Snape ignored Sirius' dubious manner. He looked straight into Sirius' eyes.
"I swear it."
Sirius had found out that Snape broke agreements, and promises, and plans. But he had never, to Sirius' knowledge, skipped out on a swear. Sirius vaguely took notice that Snape was only inches from his face.
"But eventually, he will kill them," Snape continued. His voice was as silky as ever, and he seemed to be taking great enjoyment in every word he uttered. "Oh, he'll make them scream first, but in the end they'll be dead. They'll be dead and you'll be just where he wants you. Broken and alone. The minute he kills them, he knows you'll be as good as dead, as well. And how perfect is a warrior against death who doesn't want to live?"
Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing. He stepped back, his eyes unfocused as everything he had just heard whirred in his brain.
"The Dark Lord is neither man nor god. But he knows the weaknesses of the human mind. Love isn't brains. You love your friends, you love your work..bloody hell, Black, you love living. But he can take that all away from you in an instant. Like I said, love isn't brains. Its blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will. Take that away, and what do you become?"
Sirius swung up his sword and pointed it directly at Snape's heart. His eyes spoke what was on his mind; Give me one reason not to kill you.
"I wouldn't do that," Snape said calmly. "I am the only one on Dumbledore's side that will be able to inform him of the Dark Lord's list. You need me."
"Leave. Now." Sirius whispered threateningly.
"On one condition. You speak of this to no one. If you do, I might just find that all of that information about Potter and Evans just sort of..slips from my memory." Snape said, smirking.
He slid easily out of Sirius' grip, and began to step back into the darkness. "Its your decision, of course. Alea iacta est."
With that, Snape turned and head back down the passageway. Sirius watched until Snape was no longer visible. His mind was racing, and he felt quite dizzy. In the midst of it all, he thought about what Snape had just said. Alea iacta est..
The die is cast.
~{*The End*}~
Written October 10th, 2002.