If a Great Wave Shall Fall (Severus Snape & Lily Evans)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

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"Thank you all for coming on such a short notice and at this unusual hour," Albus said to the Order members as he paced back and forth in the Room of Requirement, not looking at any of them. "A few of you know why I have asked you all here, and others do not, so I shall tell you. Tom has attacked a Muggle town – Little Hangleton – there were no survivors and some Aurors and Hit Wizards were severely wounded. No Death Eaters were captured, and they left unscathed; Severus was Called by Tom moments before the attack and did his best to send word beforehand, but unfortunately he was too late."

Whispers spread around the mock meeting room and some glances were shot at the back corner at the spy who was standing in the shadows facing the door, holding a jar of flames that threw his harsh facial features into a sharp relief as he glared back at them; he had a blanket over his shoulders and was still only in his pajama bottoms. Severus had found the one spot in the entire room where he could see everyone, yet go unnoticed unless he was pointed out. Even after most of the Order had returned their attention to Albus, Mad-Eye Moody was continually staring at him, distrust burning in his one dark eye. Luckily for them all, Lily was not at this meeting, she was in the Hospital Wing with Regulus and McKinnon, working with the Ravenclaw in an attempt to get the curse off of the younger Slytherin.

"Severus, did Tom give any indication as to why he wanted to attack this village?" Albus asked, involving his apprentice in the meeting even though he knew that the younger man didn't want to be at the moment.

"No," Severus said flatly, shifting his jar to his right hand to completely cover his left, wanting to hide the silver but not wanting to use the energy to cast the spell that would. "He seemed agitated when I arrived, more than what is normal for him. I was only Called to bring Regulus so he could play the role of a guinea pig for Rowle to experiment on. I know nothing more; I'm not allowed to participate for obvious reasons so I don't need to know his plans."

"Is that so?" Moody snorted as he stood, making Albus sigh deeply. His old friend did not trust Severus at all, no matter how much or how fervently he vouched for the eighteen-year-old.

"Yes," Severus hissed irately. It was now a little after five in the morning, and he wanted nothing more than to go to bed and forget (if he could) about the attack. Being questioned by the Auror was the very last thing on his list of things he wanted to do and one of the top things that would lengthen the time between then and when he was allowed to collapse on his bed.

"I've got a question for you boy: why did you not send some sort of warning before the attack began? Being as smart as you claim you are, you've got to have some way," Moody asked, his electric blue eye swiveling around to stare down the spy.

"I took a risk coming back here at all," Severus gnarred. "And the only ways I have of sending warning would have been like having a flashing sign that read 'I'm a spy, I tell the Light everything, come and torture me as you please' and hanging it around my neck."

Black then spoke up, surprising the better half of the Order, "I honestly think that Snape is with us, Moody, even if I hadn't before."

"What?" Both Severus and Moody asked at the same time. Severus was staring at him like he was some new species that needed to be investigated and the scarred Auror was looking at him suspiciously.

"I believe Snape's with the Light," Black said with a shrug. "He's already been the cause of death for two Dark wizards and I really don't think that he would have done that if he was against us."