The Huge Magical Snake Problem

Rebellion

He had heard the room's door open again. Harry (at least, he guessed it was Harry - his eyes were closed) had walked in and grabbed something from his closet. Soon after the person had left the room, he heard a dog bark a few times, before everything was silent again for the rest of the night.

He didn't hear Harry come back to his room that night, but he was too exhausted to care.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Severus sat ramrod straight in his chair. Voldemort was circling the Malfoys' expansive dining room that was filled to the brim with his followers and supporters. Something big was happening tonight, and he didn't have a good feeling about it.

The Dark Lord had a particularly odd glint in his eye... it was the type of gleam that did not bode well for anyone involved. Nights like this were always the most frightening. No one ever knew if the wizard was in a rare good mood, or an extremely bad one. What alarmed him the most was the fact that the Dark Lord had not once made eye contact with him. Usually, he was given a glance over in his direction that tipped him off to where the night was headed.

This time, there was nothing.

"Do any of you have an idea... why... we are meeting here today?" the wizard asked. Severus felt an inexplicable shiver run down his spine. He felt as if a spotlight was being pointed directly at him, even though they were in a dark room and no one was looking in his general direction.

A bead of sweat rolled down his neck when a few seconds of silence passed. "...Nobody?" the Dark Lord murmured. "It's a shame that nobody knows... why... we have assembled." By then, his back was turned on all of them.

Yet again, no one dared utter a word.

The Dark Lord chuckled. Severus had heard the dark wizard laugh before, and it was never a pleasant sound. However, this time, his laughter caused a chill of utmost horror and revulsion to rack his frame. He wondered what caused this extreme reaction, but he had a creeping feeling as to why. He just wasn't certain that he could completely wrap his mind around the fact that one of his worst nightmares was coming out to play.

Still with his back turned, the Dark Lord continued. "It has been brought to my attention, in these past few weeks, that we might have a few... traitors in our ranks." He looked over his shoulder, his stark red pupils almost gleaming in the darkness. Yet again, his eyes never met Severus.

"Let me give you all a bit of history. A few days ago, I decided to do an... experiment." Severus felt another shock of fear strike his spinal cord. Even though he was certain his fate was sealed, he had a faint, rebellious strand of hope remaining in his soul. Perhaps he wasn't speaking about the Hogsmeade invasion that never happened. Perhaps this "experiment" was something else entirely.

"The disloyalty I had seen in my ranks was... alarming, to say the least. To have some of my most steadfast followers run to Dumbledore... It made me question the trustworthiness of everyone here." The scarlet eyes slowly blinked once.

The Dark Lord began nonchalantly stalking the room once more. "I tested a great many of my disciples. I falsely informed each of them that there was going to be an invasion or an attack at different points, at different dates." His serpentine mouth twisted up into a gruesome smile. "Every one of my followers arrived at the set place, with no one else along with them."

"For that, I am very... proud of the ones who were tested." The Dark Lord abruptly stopped his pacing. "However..."

Severus could've sworn he felt his heart stop.