And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal

Chapter 1: Lily Evans

She'd watched as Harry's name was called, Harry Snape, Slytherin, watched as he walked up to the High Table, dressed in his finest dress robes - green, to match his eyes - to receive his NEWTs in Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology and Dark Arts from the Headmaster, Igor Karkarov; Harry's marks are excellent, they're not quite as good as Draco's - Draco is Head Boy but Harry is the more athletic of the two of them, he's the captain of the Quidditch team, Harry plays Chaser and Draco plays Seeker – and Harry and Draco have been friends and rivals since they were toddlers. And she'd hadn't really been surprised when the owl arrived from Hogwarts to tell them that Harry had been Sorted into Slytherin, because who would choose to be Sorted into Gryffindor? The Hat gives choices – she'd been offered Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, and she'd chosen Gryffindor because it was Albus Dumbledore's own House, and she'd been so impressed by his defeat of Grindelwald - if Grindelwald hadn't been defeated the Muggles would have kept on fighting each other, it would have been another hot war, not a cold war, and another tide of blood sweeping over Europe – that she'd chosen Gryffindor. But Gryffindor is the lowliest of all the Houses now, so many blood-traitors were Gryffindors, and the Dark Lord had revenged himself on Gryffindor in the cruellest and most effective way - he'd appointed Peter Pettigrew to teach Transfiguration and made him Head of House.

And Harry has a desperate need to prove himself - as would any boy who's burdened by a mother who isn't pure-blood and a father who was a blood-traitor. She'd had to tell Harry about James, because Harry looks nothing like his step-father, apart from the black hair – Harry looks nothing like her, or his half-sister Eileen, either, apart from the green eyes that they all share - so she'd had to tell him, before he found out from someone else, "Severus isn't your father, your father was killed in the war and when I married Severus he adopted you." But she hadn't told Harry everything, because it's better that he doesn't know who killed his father, it's better that he doesn't know that it was Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy. And please Merlin he never will find out, so many people were killed in the war and the raid on Godric's Hollow was just a little skirmish - it hadn't found its way into the popular history books like Modern Magical History, The Rise and Rise of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.

No, she hadn't told Harry everything, when he'd asked how she'd met Severus she'd told Harry that she'd known Severus since they were both at Hogwarts – and then she'd hunted through the family photograph album, hunted through the pages of wedding photos and baby photos until she'd found the photograph taken at their graduation, the photograph in which she's standing between Horace Slughorn and Severus, smiling and holding the Potions Award, awarded jointly to Severus Snape and Lily Evans.

But when she remembers the day that photograph was taken, it twists her heart, because Harry looks so much like James - he's got the same untidy black hair, his nose is slightly shorter than James, but they've got the same face, the same mouth, the same eyebrows – he's the living image of James at the same age, except for the green eyes; James' eyes were hazel. And, glancing sideways at Severus, she thinks, it twists Severus' heart, too, he's disappointed that I didn't give him a son of his own. Because there have been no other children, she couldn't prevent Eileen's conception, but she'd made sure that there were no more children – no more sons to raise as faithful Death Eaters, and no more daughters, to be the mothers of future Death Eaters – and while Severus would have known if she was taking a Contraceptive Potion, he'd never suspected that she was using the Muggle pill.

But, to be fair to him, Severus has never reproached her for her failure to give him a son, in more than sixteen years of marriage he's never raised voice, hand or wand against her - and for her sake he's treated Harry as his own. And now Harry is standing by her side, waiting for everything to be made ready for the branding ceremony - because the branding with the Mark is always done after the NEWTs have been awarded, it's always done in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, directly after graduation. The Dark Lord brands the sons of his faithful Death Eaters as soon as they finish their magical education, and the Dark Mark is no mere tattoo, it binds a Death Eater to his master more powerfully than a house-elf is bound to his family - no one who bears the Mark can raise hand or wand directly against the Dark Lord. And the order of precedence depends on the standing of the boys' fathers in the Dark Order, it depends on how high their fathers stand in the Dark Lord's favour, so Draco and Harry will be first.

She can hear Bellatrix Lestrange, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, who'd greeted her with the bare minimum of politeness, loudly congratulating her sister on having a son to give to the service of the Dark Lord, then Draco is walking up to face the Dark Lord with his proud parents at his side, and she can't help thinking that Draco is as strongly stamped with his paternity as Harry – both Draco and his younger sister have the same pointed face, grey eyes and silver blond hair as Lucius - but Draco isn't made of the same stuff as his father, even though he wants to join the Auror Corps and work for his Aunt Bella.

Draco's eyes flicker to them as he walks past – more precisely, they flicker to Eileen, her red-haired sixteen year old daughter, who is growing up so fast – and she thinks, Draco is determined not to cry or scream, he's determined to be brave. And then she thinks, Narcissa must know that this is going to hurt her boy, she must know how much the Dark Mark hurts, Lucius must have told her that some initiates actually lose consciousness, but does Narcissa know that this is nothing, the real test is tonight, because the Dark Lord has no use for a servant who hasn't the nerve or the ability for the Unforgiveable Curses – and killing is not nearly as easy as the innocent believe.

Now Draco and his parents are kneeling before the Dark Lord - this is the first time that Draco has been allowed the honour of kissing the Dark Lord's robes – the Dark Lord is placing the tip of his wand against Draco's left forearm, but when the Dark Mark blooms like a black bruise on his arm Draco can't help himself from crying out and reeling back.

Narcissa is helping Draco to his feet, Lucius' face is impassive, but Draco's face is white, he looks like he's fighting down the urge to shout, or to vomit - and she has a sudden and almost uncontrollable urge to take Harry by the arm and flee before it's too late, but you can't Apparate or Disapparate inside the grounds of Hogwarts, everyone knows that, it's mentioned half a dozen times in Hogwarts: A Revised and Expanded History. And where would they flee? To Petunia, who thinks her sister died more than sixteen years ago in a car accident, together with her husband and son?

Now it's Harry's turn, it's their turn to approach the Dark Lord's throne, on bended knee - it's time for the Dark Lord to mark her son as a servant, it's time for the Dark Lord to brand Harry with the Mark that means a lifetime of service or death. But when she looks up into those waxy, distorted features there's something snake-like about the Dark Lord's face - he doesn't look like this in the official photographs that hang, by law, on the walls of every wizarding home - she remembers the rumours, He drinks unicorn blood, and she thinks, No!

She's reaching out her hand, she's pushing the Dark Lord's wand away from Harry's arm ... and the entire Great Hall is silent, they all know what happens to those who anger the Dark Lord – crucio, Azkaban, fed to the Dementors or the werewolves, or simply hurled through the Veil.

The Dark Lord looks surprised - but only for a moment - then he raises his wand, and it feels as if every nerve of her body is on fire, the Cruciatus Curse hurts so much, the pain is so intense, so all-consuming, that she no longer knows where she is, she opens her mouth to scream ... and then the pain stops, she's lying on the floor shaking uncontrollably, and all she can think is, please god, let this be enough, please don't let him hurt Harry or Severus ...

The Dark Lord is leaning forward, his reddened, blood-shot eyes fixed on her, and he asks, softly, "You don't want me to do that again, do you?"

She struggles to speak, to give him the answer he wants - but the words won't come and the Dark Lord is speaking again, "I asked you whether you want me to do that again? Answer me!"

Severus is kneeling beside her, she's never seen such fear and fury in those black eyes but he says nothing and he keeps his head bowed - Severus knows better than to challenge his master - but Harry is on his feet and his wand is in his hand, the foolish impetuous boy, doesn't he understand what he's doing, the Dark Lord will never overlook this offence ... and it's all her fault, if only she can make the Dark Lord understand, it's all her fault ... but the Dark Lord will not be placated, the Dark Lord is raising his wand again, pointing it at Harry, straight between the eyes, and she knows what this means, the Avada Kedavra, and somehow she scrambles up, flings herself forward, she might still be able to save Harry if she begs for his life, if she begs for mercy, "Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead ..."

The Dark Lord is telling her to stand aside, but she won't, even if it buys Harry only a few more seconds of life ... and then the whole world turns green.