Author: Farseeker

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Pre-slash, OOC. As of yet unbeta-ed.

Summary: Severus' betrayal is discovered by Voldemort, and he survives the punishment inflicted through listening to the voice in his head.

Author's Notes: Quick, unedited, and not really very good. Posted because I have found that I need to post what I have just written before I can move on and write something else.

Severus had not known what would happen to him when Voldemort discovered his betrayal, but it certainly wasn't this. A swift 'Avada Kedavra' after a few 'Crucios', maybe, or perhaps just one long 'crucio' and then being left to die a mindless, babbling idiot like the Longbottoms. Whatever it was that he had expected, it certainly wasn't this.

Not the way it had all happened – him being dismissed and then a crucio for having to go back to Dumbledore in the first place, a normal event. It had dragged out, though, past the usual few seconds into minutes, and Severus had held his jaw shut during that time, refusing to scream.

Voldemort had stepped down from his dais and walked slowly, deliberately to Severus. He had stood over the gasping man for a moment and then booted him in the stomach.

"You think you can leave my service, you foolish child? I never let what is mine go, you know that. Before I kill you, Severus, I am going to do something I have never managed before."

He knelt down, grabbing Snape's chin. "I am going to make you scream."

And so he had been locked away in the cells they used to hold people for questioning. They were rarely ever used – the people who had been able to last over a day of Voldemort's torture were few and far between. Each day he has led out to be tortured with a horrible combination of muggle and magical techniques, for while Voldemort loathed muggles in every way he was not adverse to using their discoveries in the area of pain. Each day Severus was dragged back to the cells, sweating and bloody, muscles twitching as they felt echoes of blinding pain shoot through them.

Each day, Severus refused to scream.

Apart from his stubborn, angry refusal to give Voldemort what he wanted, there was one other thing that kept Severus grounded, although he had doubted his sanity at first. Soon after his capture, when he was lying in his cell aching and exhausted, a voice had started talking to him. It didn't say much, really, just told him that it was going to be okay over and over. He had ignored it then, and it had left after five or ten minutes. The last thing he heard from the voice that day was it begging him not to scream.

Over the next few days (at lest Severus thought it was days) the voice would visit him when the Death Eaters returned him to his cell. Sometimes it would talk, usually about trivial happenings that he supposed he imagined happening at Hogwarts – "Neville Longbottom screwed up his potion again. When he drank it he sprouted blue batwings all over" – and other times he would just feel it there, without it saying anything at all. He found himself wondering if the voice could see, or perhaps feel.

Severus decided that during the times the voice didn't say anything, it sounded upset.

The voice gave him something to think about though in the mornings when he lay awake, cold with fear and wondering if today he would crack. In the end he decided that the voice was just another part of him he had created to help him bear the torture, and thus there was no real reason not to respond to it.

The next time the voice visited, he greeted it. Though it seemed a little amused at being referred to as 'me' it didn't comment on it, just told him how Peeves had become very important at Hogwarts, as he distracted both the students and the teachers from the war.

"I understand why Dumbledore never made Peeves leave, now," it said.

Soon after Severus decided to talk to the voice it began to visit him during the day, when he was writhing with pain and biting through his lip to keep from screaming. It wouldn't say much then, just wrapped itself around his mind, filtering away the pain to nothing more than an annoying tingle. It would stay with him like that as long as it could, until it began to fade away, slowly introducing him to the pain again. Each time it would apologise for not being able to do more, and each time Severus was too busy being grateful for the brief respite to reply.

It had been what Severus would have called a normal day, but for one thing. When the voice came it was unusually quiet, leaving Severus to do most of the talking. When he sensed it fading he felt strangely deserted, although he told himself that was impossible as the voice was part of him. Then it was back, its presence strong as a light in the dark.

"We're coming. Almost there. Don't give up."

And then, perhaps, a ghost of a hand brushed the hair back from his face then it was gone, and the hair fell forward again. Severus cried for a long time after that. He didn't scream.

Two days later, Severus was not led from his cell to the torture chamber. Several hours later than usual he heard footsteps coming down the hall. They would take three or four paces, pause for a few seconds, and then continue on. As they grew closer the sound of a young man's voice saying 'alohamora', a door opening, and a girl's voice saying 'empty' filled the few-second gap. They drew closer and closer, until Severus was sure they were right outside his door.

"Why bother opening this one? All the others were empty." The voice of the 'alohamora', sounding tired.

"There is still a chance." A new voice, familiar but unidentifiable for Severus as he had heard nothing but Death Eater's voices in weeks, if not months. The voice in his head did not count, as it was merely word, not sound.

"The chance of it being empty is something like 99.9999 percent. We've been through hundreds of cells. Please, let's just go." The 'empty' voice, depressed and near-tears.

"We open it."

Silence for a moment, and then a sigh.

"Alohamora."

The door creaks open, and Severus raises his arm to protect his eyes as someone whispers 'lumos'. Stale but clean air wafted in, and Severus was suddenly aware of the foul smell of the room, and the blood and filth that covered the floor and walls. He huddled up in the corner of the room, trying not to let any light reach his eyes.

"My God," A female voice, and the sound was slightly muffled by something covering a mouth. A hand, perhaps? Then a sound of someone turning and retching until their stomach was empty, adding a bitterness to the stench. Someone stepped forward, apparently unperturbed by the mess, and stopped near Severus.

"Professor?"

Silence, and the person knelt, moved him forward carefully then sat behind him, legs on either side to support Severus should he fall and arms, careful of his many hurts wrapped around gently to hold him.

"Severus? It's okay now. We're here, we're going to take you home." A voice ghosted past his ear. The arms were solid and the feeling of a chest pressed carefully against his back was real.

"Severus?" Images filled his mind, black messy hair and a pair of black-rimmed glasses concealing green eyes, although Snape couldn't put a name to the face.

"It's going to be alright." A moment in which Severus realised who the voice, his voice belonged to, and then:

"Severus, it's okay now. You can scream."

He opened his mouth, and nothing came out.

He opened his mouth, and there was a hoarse, hacking hound.

He opened his mouth, and screamed.

It was a horrible, lonely sound that spoke of fear, pain and a betrayal of trust. He lifted his arms and curled them around his head, tried to block out the pain of the memories. He shook and gasped, shuddered and cried.

Through it all, Harry Potter held him.