The Eagle and The Snake: A Tragic Love Story

32. A Change In Tactics

Madam Pomfrey was able to remove the words from Luna's forehead, but both her and Carly were miserable for the next few days. And hexing the Gryffindor boys who hurt Luna, did nothing to improve their moods.
Carly hadn't gone to the DA meeting that day, as Luna had needed her. But they both knew they couldn't avoid the meetings forever, eventually they would have to reunite with Harry and make things up with him.
Voldemort was expecting big things from them, and they couldn't afford to let him down.

After one uneventful Potions class, Snape held the girls back, and they suspected that it wasn't because of their homework, like he had told the class.
They were worried that Voldemort had found out about their falling out with Harry. And they were scared that Snape was going to discipline them for it.
"I have something to give you both" informed Snape.
He then placed two small tubs on the desk in front of him, one for each of the girls.
"What is it?" Questioned Carly, as she picked hers up, and gave the other one to Luna.
"It's a pain relief paste. You place that on your hands before detention with Umbridge, and it should make the session completely painless" answered Snape.

"Thank you, Professor. Although, I have to say, that it's a bit late for this. Me and Luna don't plan on getting any more detentions with Umbridge" revealed Carly.
"I was lead to believe these detentions were part of the dark lords plan" replied Snape.
"They were a part of my plan, to get close to Harry. It was my idea to use these detentions to form a bond with him. But we won't be doing it anymore. I won't go through any more pain for Harry" informed Carly.

"I was worried when I noticed that you hadn't been spending as much time with your brother normal. Let me remind you that the dark lord needs you to stay close to him. And you promised that you would do it, no matter the personal cost" reminded Snape.
"Eugh, why do I have to be the one to get close to that selfish prick?" Groaned Carly.
"Because you are his sister, so you are the only death eater who he will open up to. Which is why it has to be you" replied Snape.
"Fine, I will try and apologise to Harry. Not that he will want to listen to my apology. Not now that he's got himself a girlfriend. But I will try to make things right with him"
"Good. Then I will have no need to inform the dark lord that you are being lax in your duties"
"No, you will not".

"I also have a message to pass on, from the dark lord" revealed Snape.
"Does he have a new mission for us?" Asked Luna excitedly.
"Not exactly. He wishes to speak to you in the Shrieking Shack tonight" answered Snape.
"Do you know what it is about?" Questioned Carly.
"No, I do not. Only that he wishes to see you, in particular" replied Snape.
"Just me?" Frowned Carly.
"Yes. It was you he wanted to see".

"Did the dark lord say I was forbbiden from coming?" Quizzed Luna.
"No, only that it was Miss Potter he wished to speak to" informed Snape.
Luna took hold of Carly's hand determinedly, "Well then, I will accompany her. Whatever we do, we do together".
"Are you sure?" Asked Carly.
"Yes. We are in this together, remember. Where you go, I go" replied Luna.
"Professor Snape, will the dark lord be O.K with this?" Questioned Carly.
"I see you reason why not. He didn't say you couldn't bring your girlfriend with you tonight. So, you may bring her, if you wish" answered Snape.

"Alright, I will bring her with me. When does the dark lord wish us to meet him?" Asked Carly.
"At 11°clock tonight" informed Snape.
"O.K. Thank you for passing on this information" replied Carly.
"It is my duty to serve the dark lord... You had best head to lunch now. We don't want anyone to get suspicious of our activities"
"No, we don't. Good day Professor".

"How exactly are you going to befriend Harry again, when he knows we were only getting detentions, to get close to him?" Questioned Luna, as the girls left the classroom.
"Harry doesn't know the real reason we needed to get close to him. So, I'm sure that I will be able to spin the truth to work in our favour. I will make it sound like I was doing it because I was worried about him. I'm sure he will buy it, as he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box" reassured Carly.
"It's not going to be easy for you to bond with him, when you know that Harry doesn't have your best interests at heart" replied Luna.

"It was never easy. At least now I won't feel conflicted about deceiving him. I am doing this purely because I have been instructed to do so, not because I want to get close to my brother" said Carly.
"At least now we won't need to be in pain when in detentions with Umbridge, thanks to Snape's cream" commented Luna.
"I'm still not sure I want to put us through the detentions anymore. As that tactic won't work now, since Harry knows we were only getting detentions, because of him. I will need to come up with another way of getting close to Harry".

"We need to try and isolate him from his friends again, as he is too happy and popular right now, to confide in you" admitted Luna.
"Yes, it would be better if the DA wasn't around, as that is what keeps everyone's spirits up" agreed Carly.
"We can't betray the DA though, because everyone will know it was us, and no one would ever trust us again. Hermione jinxed the paper we signed, so that we'd all know who the traitor was" reminded Luna.

"Not everyone knows about the hex she placed on the parchment, so maybe we could convince someone else to betray the DA to Umbridge on our behalf" suggested Carly.
"But everyone is loyal to Harry, they would never willingly betray him. Even those warts like Zacharius Smith respect Harry now. I can't think of anyone who would want the DA to get found out" replied Luna.
"There must be someone who is conflicted about being in the DA, and might be coerced into giving it up. Think" encouraged Carly.

"I mean, Marietta didn't want to come in the first place, so she has never really been totally on board with the DA. But she would never betray Cho, because they are best friends" admitted Luna.
"Luna, you're a genius!" Exclaimed Carly.
"I am?" Questioned Luna.
"Of course. Marietta Edgecomb is the perfect person to pick to betray the DA. She is Cho's best friend, and when she betrays everyone, Cho and Harry are sure to break up. And then Harry will need a shoulder to cry on, which is where I come in. After losing his girlfriend and the DA, Harry will be just as distraught as he was at the beginning of the year, so he and I will become close again".

"You're not exactly answering my question. How are we going to make Marietta a traitor?" Asked Luna.
"You're in Ravenclaw with her, surely you know enough about her, to manipulate her into doing what we want" replied Carly.
"Even amongst the other Ravenclaw's, I'm an outcast. No one else in my house really has any time for me" admitted Luna.
"But you're like me, you pay attention to what goes on around you, even when other people ignore you. So, you listen to people's conversations when they don't even realise you are there"
"I guess that's true, I am a good observer".

"So, what have you observed about Marietta?" Questioned Carly.
"Well, her mum works at the Ministry, she's the one who's been helping Umbridge police the fires at Hogwarts, to stop us communicating with those in the outside world. Marietta is worried that her involvement in the DA will put her mums job at risk. The only reason she comes to the meetings, is because Cho doesn't want to attend without her best friend, so she makes Marietta come with her" revealed Luna.
"So, all you need to do is play on her fears. Subtlety drop hints that Marietta could help her mum by turning on the DA. And when you're alone with her, mention how mad and unstable Harry is, to make her think she can't trust him anymore" instructed Carly.

"Do you really think this will work?" Quizzed Luna.
"Well, if it doesn't, we won't have exactly lost anything. But if we do succeed, we will have a lot to gain" replied Carly.
"And you realise that if the DA gets caught, then so do we. Our names are on the parchment with everyone else. We will go down with the ship. And Harry will get in serious trouble for starting the DA" pointed out Luna.
"All the suffering will be worth it in the long run"
"That's what you always say"
"And I will be proved right in the end, you'll see".