Prologue
The wizard scowled as he faced the dark lord’s inner circle. They had found out that he betrayed them all. Sweat dripped from his forehead and slowly moved down his pale, lean face. He was nervous, very nervous. He looked throughout the dining room and saw that he was surrounded, all of his planned escapes for when he would be caught had failed him.
So now here he was, kneeling before the dark lord, praying that he wasn’t going to get killed.
“Severus.” The dark lord said venomously. “I trusted you the most, and to find out about you’re betrayal, well that has hurt me deeply. I thought you were my friend.”
“I never was.” Severus responded dryly.
“Crucio!” The dark lord said, as he pointed his wand at Severus.
Severus clenched his jaw as he felt the curse take hold of his body, he collapsed onto the floor and rode out the pain. Once the curse was lifted, the dark lord crouched down in front of him and whispered into his ear.
“Because of you’re betrayal I will not kill you, but I will have Bellatrix curse you. This is you’re punishment Severus, this is what you deserve.”
Severus watched from the floor as the dark lord called Bellatrix foreword and he saw her give him a menacing smile. Her rotted teeth showing as she did so.
“Snape, you have the honor of being my first lab rat.” Bellatrix said
He watched as she conjured a red rose in thin air. As she stepped closer towards him, the rose followed.
“This curse and rose are connected. If you can learn to love another and earn that person’s love in return by the time the last petal falls, this curse will be broken. But if not, you will die.” She said cackling.
Before Severus could stop her, Bellatrix waved her wand over him. The transformation began instantly. His body was racked with pain, not as terrible as the cruciatus curse, but since he had just been tortured, he was in tremendous pain. He groaned as his back arched and his body began to grow. His black teaching robes ripped, and the surrounding death eaters screamed and winced at the sight of the traitor and backed up several feet. Severus tried grasping Lucius but to his horror, he discovered his own hand resembled that of a monster. Lucius sneered and quickly jumped away and guarded his wife from the monster that Severus was turned into.
Bellatrix grabbed Severus and the rose and apparated away, into an estate within the countryside of Ireland.
Several House Elves and Squibs surrounded the beast and looked on in horror. Bellatrix sneered and quickly went away. The staff had lived in this abandoned manor for several months and if this was to be their new master, they had no clue what to do.
They helped him up and led him into a bedroom and let him rest, they figured that they would question him when he awoke.
But soon the days bled into years, and Severus was soon a mere memory within the order, until, finally, the darkening manor stood isolated and locked in perpetual winter.
But there did remain one last bit of hope: the rose, it truly was an enchanted rose. And if Severus could love another and earn that person’s love in return, the curse would be broken. But until then, he was doomed to be a beast until he died, which was very soon indeed.
