Midnight Protector | Harry Potter FanFiction

TEN

Potter,

Since we are still in the middle of a war I believe it is safe to assume that you have been sitting around, waiting for others to do the hard work for you. With your latest excursion to London, it has become difficult to distract the Dark Lord from looking into your activities. Whatever you're planning, I suggest you get moving. Whenever you finally finish your task, write a time and place to meet on the back of this parchment and tap it with your wand.

It's so simple I doubt even you can mess that up.

Snape

Harry read the letter slowly even though he had it memorized already. There was no denying that it was Severus Snape who had written the letter. The question was: what did he want? Sirius was certain it was a trap, ranting about 'greasy gits' for hours after everyone read through the letter repeatedly. Remus had simply shared a knowing look with Harry before saying that they would discuss everything later. In other words, Remus was going to release some anger in private so they could discuss everything rationally.

Ron and Hermione's reactions had also been rather extreme. Both of them believed that Snape was nothing more than a traitor that wanted something which was surprising. Ron and Hermione actually agreed on something although the amazement suddenly turned to frustration when Ron and Hermione started arguing about the reasons why Snape was a traitor. Harry didn't even try to get in the middle of that one.

Harry had to admit that he was suspicious. Why now of all times? What was Snape hoping to gain? Harry sincerely doubted that Snape wanted to help out of the goodness of his own heart. Snape didn't have a heart. He was nothing more than a bitter man who looked out for no one but himself, regardless of anything Professor Dumbledore may have said. Any trust Harry may have given Snape vanished when he found out Snape's role in his parents' deaths.

With the information given by Malfoy, Order of the Phoenix members were given the task to monitor Diagon Alley for any Death Eater activity. Fred and George Weasley made their shop a base of operations in Diagon Alley to transfer information between Diagon Alley and Hogwarts as well as to transport people back and forth, if necessary. Bill and Fleur were also available at Gringott's if an emergency ever arose.

With the passing of Christmas, Kingsley and Tonks had to separate their time between planning the next move for the next Horcrux and preparing for the upcoming term. All teachers and Aurors were re-enforcing the wards only to return to the castle a few hours later completely exhausted. Sirius and Remus took over training Ron and Hermione for 'field duty' while Harry had the honor of gathering data on items held at Borgin & Burkes from Malfoy.

From the Order members on undercover duty, they had gained nearly a full layout of Borgin & Burkes to be studied for any possible hiding place of a Horcrux. Harry had wanted to personally investigate but he was just too recognizable, even if he was disguised. It would look too suspicious to see someone with protective guard walking down Knockturn Alley. Of course there was also the fact that Borgin & Burkes contained a large amount 'dark' items that would most likely overwhelm Harry but that was a just a small problem that was currently being researched.

Malfoy had actually been a surprise for everyone. It wasn't that Malfoy was extremely eager to help; he was just bored and afraid to be left alone with Mad-Eye Moody for a long period of time. He had actually admitted that spending time with a few 'Gryffindorks' wasn't so bad when compared to Moody's 'surprise' inspections throughout the day and night.

Another surprise was how well Malfoy tolerated Hermione's demanding manner concerning schoolwork. Hermione had given Malfoy a strict lesson plan to follow to ensure that he could possibly take his N.E.W.T.s with the rest of the seventh year students. In all honesty, Harry didn't know how Hermione managed to so much and still maintain her sanity. She was training with Sirius and Remus, helping with research, helping Malfoy, and even finding time to nag Harry and Ron about their own schoolwork.