Severus Snape was lounging on one of the couches trying to ignore the constant mutterings of Peter Pettigrew, better known to his friends and enemies as Wormtail. Since the return of Lord Voldemort over a year ago, Snape has been playing the part of triple agent with each side believing that he was playing the role of double agent. Despite his success in feigning allegiance in Lord Voldemort, Snape was under constant surveillance by the Dark Lord and Death Eaters.
The latest effort of the Dark Lord to ensure Snape's obedience was tethering Wormtail to him as an assistant. Snape was certain that if given the chance, Wormtail would be only too happy to report him to Lord Voldemort. This would have been a bad enough of an experience if Wormtail hadn't spent his childhood tormenting him with James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. The rage that boiled underneath Snape's smooth veneer of calm was difficult to control at times, but he rested in the knowledge that his revenge would be achieved. He'd already seen the death of James Potter and Sirius Black, so he bided his time.
During Snape's brooding, a sudden and unexpected knock came from his door. Snape's nerves made him jump with concern over who this uninvited visitor might be. He drew his wand, hidden in his left sleeve, and moved cautiously to the door. As he passed a window, he observed that there were two visitors rather than one. They were cloaked and their identities were unknown to him. He opened the door a sliver and waited. "Narcissa!" Severus Snape declared with a minimal amount of surprise in his voice. "What a pleasant surprise!"
"Severus," Narcissa Malfoy whispered. "May I speak to you? It's urgent."
After a moment's thought, Severus was no longer surprised that Narcissa Malfoy would be visiting him. Her son, Draco, had been selected by the Dark Lord to assassinate Albus Dumbledore. The idea was absurd to anyone, but it was widely recognized by everyone, excepting the participant, that it was to serve as a punishment to Lucius Malfoy. Draco's father was currently serving a life sentence in Azkaban after his blunder in the Ministry of Magic which resulted in the capture of not only himself, but many other Death Eaters. The Dark Lord was angry.
The second guest was Narcissa's sister, Bellatrix LeStrange, who disliked Snape almost as much as he disliked her. Severus assumed that the purpose of their visit was to convince him to dissuade the Dark Lord from calling upon the young Malfoy boy to kill one of the greatest wizards the world has ever known. Of course, Snape would not be foolish enough to make such an attempt, but perhaps he could use this situation to his advantage. After all, Snape has always sought to turn situations and people to his advantage and purposes.
Without a second thought, Snape invited the sisters into his home and with the appearance of civility ordered his "assistant" to fetch wine for everyone to drink. He waited patiently for Wormtail to fulfill his task and then dismissed him from the conversation, understanding that he could not be trusted with the information that would inevitably be presented in this meeting. Knowing that Wormtail would be listening, he cast the Muffliato spell over the room so that no one could hear what was going to happen very shortly. Snape had always been a fan of the Muffliato spell for situations just like the one he was about to initiate.
Upon Snape's assurance that it would be safe to speak, Narcissa entered into the tale of her plight and begged him to assist her in convincing the Dark Lord to use another puppet against Dumbledore. Snape responded, "I assure you, Narcissa, that the Dark Lord's anger is very great indeed. Very great. And I am not fool enough to attempt to talk him out of his purpose with your son."
"But Severus, he is only a boy. He does not understand the situation that he is in or the danger of it. Please you must be able to do something!" Narcissa pleaded with fear in her eyes and hope lost from her voice.