InsaneJournal

Title: The shadow of the valley of death.
Characters: Barty Crouch, Jr. & Severus Snape.
Rating: G, but sacrilegious.
Summary: “How, exactly, would Psalm 23 justify the ways of the Dark Lord to her, Barty?”
Word Count: 505.
Disclaimer: They're all JKR's kids and/or the kids of JKR's kids; I'm just playing with them. Inspired by blurred_lines canon; all characters are, thus, inspired by their portrayals there. Sev is hafren's, Julianne is despoir's, Regulus is coeur_delanuit's, and Agnes is sherlock's.
A/N: I'm a bad person. This is all.

“Listen to this, Severus – it is exactly what I would say to Julianne, were she not so easily placated by my ramblings of ad maioram bonam: ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. / He makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, / he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. / Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil’-”

Severus, quite abruptly, closes Barty’s Bible with a dull thud; in perfect silence, Barty simply stared at it. “How, exactly, does Psalm 23 justify the ways of the Dark Lord to her, Barty?”

Barty looked up at Severus calmly, his blue eyes almost genuinely innocent. Perhaps, his previous adventure in overdoses aside, Regulus’s death had changed him for the better – if he was really reading scripture and getting something productive from it.

“How does it not justify his ways?” he asked plaintively.

“I suppose that it would help if the Psalm read, ‘The Dark Lord is my leader, I shall not disobey’ – but the fact is that it doesn’t.”

“So short-sighted, Severus.”

Severus huffs. Yes, he’s the short-sighted one. “How so?”

“This psalm is exactly what the Dark Lord promises – protection from malicious influences, from those who would hurt us or lead us astray; all we must do, as David notes in other Psalms, is give him strictest obedience.”

Barty is so matter-of-fact about this. He’s almost entirely detached, and it’s more than a small bit unnerving. “The Psalm is talking about God, Barty. Not the Dark Lord.”

He tilts his head curiously. “Who’s to say that they are not one and the same?”

“I doubt that the Dark Lord would look favorably upon this portrayal of him. For one thing, God in the New Testament is hardly as angry as one would think, reading the Old.”

“I’m well aware of that, Severus, but consider this, if you will: God took efforts for mankind’s redemption in the New Testament – in fact, he took greater efforts than one might be able to comprehend, sending his heir to Earth so that he would die for mankind’s sins. He takes these steps, and yet man is mired in sin and depravity, wallowing in his transgressions, making no visible efforts to change his ways or achieve his full potential. I know that, were I in God’s position, I would be quite upset – wouldn’t you?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“So, God, once more becomes the angry God we know from the Old Testament. And again he sends someone in his name – this time, he sends his messenger to cull the fold.” Barty pauses, quite sure in his logic, which, oddly enough, has an odd glimmer of possibility to it. “The Dark Lord is that messenger.”

Severus swallows thickly. Perhaps it’s grief making Barty say this all, or maybe it’s true, what Agnes said; maybe staying in the Death Eaters will truly destroy his soul.