ATHENE {remus lupin}

TWENTY

There was an order meeting happening at 12 Grimmauld Place, which meant that Athene Malfoy had been shut up in her room all day. Tonks had told her in the morning that under no circumstances was she to come downstairs, so for the past six hours, Athene had re-read the same book twice, read her copy of The Dark Arts, and counted how many bricks there were in her room. Then re-counted, just to be sure.

She knew that in attendance to the meeting was the usual members, such as Remus, Mrs Weasley, Sirius, and Tonks. However, in the few occasions that she had lingered at the top of the stairs she could have sworn that she heard the voices and mad rambles of Kingsley Shaklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody. The two men despised her, so perhaps it was good that she was hiding away. The voice of Severus Snape could also be heard, Merlin, Athene fucking hated that man. He was evil through and through, no matter what Dumbledore said. 

"All that the Dark Lord cares about at this moment in time is the prophecy, professor." Snape said.

"The prophecy?" Molly asked.

"It's about Harry," Sirius sighed, "about the connection between the two."

"Essentially," Remus began, "it's a map, to guide You-Know-Who on how to kill Harry. It explains the link between them, how one can kill the other."

"What does it say?" She asked again.

"Only Dumble-"

Albus cut the man off with a sharp glance. "The exact contents of the prophecy are unimportant, none of us wish to kill Harry so why should we know what is inside of it? The most important part of this meeting is finding out exactly what the Dark Lord knows, and what he plans to do."

"But surely if we knew the contents," Remus began.

"No." Dumbledore spoke. "We know that he is after it, and after the attack on Arthur Weasley, he very nearly succeeded in getting it. Voldemort needs Harry there to get it, we can't let him be tricked. The Dark Lord controls his mind. I do not want Harry to know about the prophecy, he is just a boy, but I also do not want him to be lured into the ministry. To know what they are planning is imperative to Harry's protection."

There were several murmurs of agreement around the room before Sirius spoke, "well why can't Snivellus just find out for us?" 

Snape sighed, "Black, I can't exactly just ask the Dark Lord what his plans are and make him spill his secrets to me entirely."

"Why?"

"Come on, Padfoot, you know he's right. He's meant to work undercover, that means being subtle."

There was more silence as the group pondered their choices, then Mad-Eye spoke. "Are we forgetting that we have our own personal window into the very hub of the death eaters?"

"What?" Sirius asked.

"The girl, the Malfoy girl." He said expectantly. 

"What about her?"

"Well, if anyone is going to know what You-Know-Who is planning, it'll be Lucius Malfoy. We have his daughter here."

"She's not our prisoner, Mad-Eye." Remus said calmly. 

"So what? She needs us, it's about time she proved useful."

"What do you suggest we do, Alastor?" Dumbledore asked.

"Send her to them, have her snoop, work undercover. Snape could protect her."

"No way," Molly said. "They'll kill her."

"Alright, send her in, and hope that she doesn't get caught."

"She'll be seen" Tonks said, biting her lip.