The Half-Blood Princess

Chapter 34- Unmasked

To Sabrina's surprise, Walburga and Orion agreed to let Sabrina and Regulus move out, so that they could gain some independence.
The Black's bought the pair a small cottage in the middle of nowhere, which they gave to them for their 18th birthdays.
Sabrina and Regulus still had to return to Grimmauld Place everything Sunday to see Walburga and Orion. But apart from that, they were free to do as they pleased.
Well, as free as you could be, working for Lord Voldemort.

Now that they were no longer at school, they were frequently sent on death eater missions.
But they weren't always together, as sometimes the dark lord had different plans for them both.
Sabrina hated going on missions without Regulus, as she always felt much safer with him by her side.
She was skilled enough to protect herself without him, but she was still inexperienced.
Those in the Order of the Phoenix had been fighting in real duels a lot longer than her. So she was constantly doing her best to catch up.
But the best thing about fighting the good guys, was that they hardly ever used lethal spells, so Sabrina was usually quite safe.

However, not all of Sabrina's team mates were as skilled as her.
Many of them failed to perform even the most basic spells.
Since Severus was one of the most skilled fighters in the army, Voldemort put him in charge of training the new recruits.
Luckily, since Sabrina had joined before her brother, she did not have to get lectured by him, or taught how to perform magic.
Personally, she thought that she was just as good as he was

Voldemort's main goal was to take out the members of the Order of the Phoenix, one by one.
On one particular mission, Sabrina was accompanying 3 other death eaters, on what was supposed to be a simple exercise.
Unfortunately, when they arrived they found that the Order had got wind of their attack, and sent half of their group to the scene.
Since disapparating to safety was the cowardly thing to do, Sabrina knew that she had to stay and fight. She would only be allowed to leave, if her life was directly in danger.
But since she was yet to master the killing curse, she was stuck using non lethal spells.

"Protego!" Shouted Sabrina as she ran through the abandoned building.
She had lost track of her fellow death eaters when the fight broke out.
And since Regulus hadn't been sent on the mission, she was all alone.
"Expelliarmus!" Yelled a voice.
Sabrina didn't have time to block the spell, as her attacker came out of nowhere. So it hit her with such force, that she fell to the floor, and lost her wand and mask on the way.

Sabrina clutched her stomach, as being thrown across the room had winded her.
"Turn and face me" ordered the voice from behind her.
Sabrina was hesitant to turn around and reveal her identity, but she knew that she didn't have much choice.
She rolled over onto her back to face her attacker, and her mouth dropped when she realised who it was.
"Potter" mumbled Sabrina, as she looked up at James Potter.
She hadn't seen him in over a year, and he seemed to have matured a lot in that time.

"Sabrina Snape" gasped James, as he lowered his wand slightly.
Sabrina's eyes flicked to her wand which was lying a few feet away on the floor.
James flicked his wand, summoning hers to his free hand.
"You shouldn't be here" James said sternly.
"Neither should you" replied Sabrina coldly, since James hadn't been the person that the death eaters had come for.
"You shouldn't have got involved in this. You are barely 18"
"I've been a part of this for longer than you think... Are you going to kill me?".

James looked hurt by Sabrina's question, "Of course I'm not".
"If it were the other way around, I would be expected to kill you" admitted Sabrina.
"I know. But could you really do it, could you really kill someone?" Asked James.
"My conscience is clean, for now"
"So, you haven't killed anyone yet?"
"No... I couldn't kill you either. I owe you a life debt for saving me from Lupin all those years ago"
"I saved you and your brother. I expect he's here too, under one of these masks"
"No. He's not here"
"But he is a death eater, like you, right?".

Sabrina didn't say anything, but she knew that her silence was answering James's question.
"Why are you doing this? Him I understand, since he is evil. But you never struck me as a cold hearted killer" admitted James.
"It's complicated" sighed Sabrina.
"I assume that this is the reason you stopped being friends with Lily?" Questioned James.
Sabrina nodded, "I didn't want her to find out, because I didn't want to put her in a difficult position. I didn't want to make her choose between her friendship with me, and doing the right thing".
"She was really upset when you called her a Mudblood, and stopped talking to her. But I understand why you did it. You were trying to protect her".

"I didn't mean what I called her. But I had no choice. Saying that, was the only sure way of getting her to hate me" revealed Sabrina.
"She never hated you, she was just hurt by your words" admitted James.
"Thanks, that makes me feel loads better" mumbled Sabrina sarcastically.
"Look, I know Lily still cares about you, and she would hate it if anything bad happened to you"
"Well, you'll have to tell her to look away at my trial then, once you've handed me over to the Ministry, so that she doesn't see me get my soul sucked out by Dementors. That is if I even get a trial, and don't just get shipped straight to Azkaban".

James twitched, as if he was disturbed by Sabrina's fate.
He then lowered his wand, and threw Sabrina back her own.
"Go" instructed James.
Sabrina caught her wand and frowned at James.
"I don't understand" she replied.
"Go, get out of here before I change my mind" ordered James.
"Are you sure about this?" Asked Sabrina as she stood to her feet.
"No, but I'm doing it anyway. Just don't make me regret my decision. And please don't put me in this position again, because I don't think I will be able to make the same choice twice".

Sabrina nodded her head, understanding that if James caught her again, he would not just let her go.
"Thank you Potter" she said quietly.
"Go, before anyone else gets here" encouraged James.
"Are you going to tell anyone about me?" Asked Sabrina.
"No"
"Not even Lily?"
"No. It would hurt her to know that you became a death eater. So for now, this stays between us. Now go".
Sabrina gripped her wand tightly and apparated back to the death eater headquarters, to see if the others had escaped like she had.