Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

"Standing Stones" (6/?)
by Christine Anderson
aka Lilly Malfoy

Severus was gone several months that time, the longest he had ever been away. We heard little but rumors- the Ministry was trying to maintain something like order; in the process of keeping the Muggles in the dark they had apparently decided it was easier to keep all of us there. If not for Severus, we would've known nothing at all.

As those months dragged on, I found it harder and harder to concentrate upon my duties at the school, of which there were numerous. It wasn't that the work I was doing wasn't important- nearly all of it was- but it is not an easy thing to remain behind while the one you love goes ever into danger. But just as much of what Severus did could be done by none other, so too were my duties singularly mine.

I was often tapped by Dumbledore to meet with the Longbottoms, to help analyze Severus' intelligence for the Aurors. Of this intelligence there was a great deal, much of it writing in a spidery shorthand that made Melyssa's eyes cross when she tried to read it, and the rest of it was in code. And all the while I kept my secrets from Peter, Sirius, and Remus Lupin, who had been summoned by owl the day we had arrived back at Hogwarts. The three of them were nearly always there, trying to help as best they knew how.

Dumbledore had put them to work helping to organize the school's defenses, which freed up at least a small fraction of my time, as I had been trying to take care of that along with everything else. They did fairly well at it, even managing to augment the old Apparating barrier so that it extended as far as Hogsmeade. Sirius also worked out a sort of early warning system, so that if anyone did Apparate into the village, we would be immediately aware of it at the school. How this alarm would work exactly we did not know, because as yet no one had arrived that way, and none of us had time to test the thing. Sirius assured us, however, that the alarm would be impossible to miss.

I was a bit worried about this, though it was probably the least of the things I should have been worrying over.

I sat in the staff room one afternoon, grading papers with one hand, translating Severus' codes with the other. Eventually I lost track of the grading, but my quill continued on its own, dipping in and out of the red ink well, scratching marks and corrections on the parchment. I heard the sound of quill on parchment, but it swept over my head as if I had not.

Before me on the other page were the words, "They have an agent at Hogwarts."

I had translated these words without, somehow, being aware of what I had written. There was little need to double-check, but I did so anyway. And again it came out to the same thing.

I swept the student papers into my bag, snatched up the notes and the decoded pages, and rushed to the door.

It slammed open just as I reached it, and Alastor Moody stormed into the staff room.

Moody swung his walking stick and the door closed behind him with a bang.

"So," he growled- not unpleasantly, simply Moody as usual- "I imagine you have those decoded for us by now?" He gestured at the papers I held in my hand.

"Yes," I said. "I was just about to- Never mind. Here." I stuffed the topmost page into his hands.

I saw his eyes flick over the page, and knew he had finished reading it when he began to swear.

"Got the next bit, then?"

"He hasn't been able to find out who it is. The others would be bragging about it if they knew, but they don't seem to."

"Hmm," said Moody. "From here it reads, 'None of these fools know who the devil it is. I am sure they would be falling over themselves to prove their access to such sensitive information by sharing it with anyone and everyone- if, of course, they had that access to begin with.'"

I laughed. "That too." I'd had a lot of practice covering for Severus when his lack of tact and usual manners of speech and writing didn't seem as called for as he thought they were. This seemed to be one of those times. "Best not to give Crouch the exact translation, Alastor."

"As usual." I hadn't said it, so he would add it for me. In some ways Alastor Moody differed very little from Severus. One or the other of them was always telling someone off when they shouldn't have- always getting us into trouble.

Crouch was usually who we edited for these days- he had always been a bit of a dry stick, and he'd never had much patience for what he still referred to (a holdover from his days as a Ravenclaw Prefect) as Severus's attitude problem. Moody didn't think Crouch would react well to the news that said 'problem' had only grown worse. I was inclined to agree.

"What brings you to Hogwarts, Alastor?" I asked.

"Bad news," Moody said gruffly. "I would've owled you all, but owls can be trained- or forced- to go astray."

I very consciously avoided rolling my eyes at him. He jumped at a great many shadows and attacked no few innocent dustbins, but sometimes when Alastor Moody jumped, there were more than shadows where he landed.

"What's happened?" I asked.

"The McKinnons are dead, Prewitts missing. Bones too. Got people out looking, but I'm already sure what they'll find." Unfortunately, so was I. "That's a good third of the old magical law enforcement families right there," Moody went on, "not counting the ones they've already gotten to- like yours."

I changed the subject hastily. "The Bones have a child, don't they?"

"Little girl, almost a year old. Balthazar brought a picture into the office the other day. She's a cute little thing." Moody scowled. "Don't know why they're all bringing children into this world, things being what they are now."

"Because life has to go on, Alastor. If it doesn't, they've already won."

"They might anyway," he said, but he seemed to accept my answer. But then he asked, "If you believe that, though, where are your children, hmm?"

I sighed. "My situation is different, complicated." I twisted the Gryffindor ring around my finger. "I can't even admit who gave this to me."

"Anyone who has to ask is a fool," Moody said.

I nodded. Of course he would have noticed the Slytherin ring that Severus wore, and its similarity to my own ring.

Suddenly I envied the McKinnons. At least they had died together. If things went badly, Severus and I would have not even that.

"Longbottoms and the Potters had some masked visitors today too," Moody said at last. "Did alright for themselves, that lot- killed a couple of the Death Eaters." He paused. Then, in a quiet sort of growl, "If Snape and I could've been in two places at once, we'd have saved them all. He's never going to forgive himself for being human. Damned thing is, neither am I."

I nodded. "I know. I'll pass this along to Dumbledore; you've got things to do, I'm sure."

Moody grunted an assent. "Yeah. Always." He shuffled towards the door. Looking back over his shoulder at me, he said, "You watch your back. Mark me on this, they're pushing hard, and for reason. They're up to something."

---

Dumbledore was not surprised by anything I had to tell him. It was as if he had known it all already, and what I brought him was merely confirmation of these things.

Some sign of that thought must have shown on my face, for he said, "Yes, Minerva, I knew. Or rather, I suspected. It only makes sense, you see. We spy upon them, and why should they not spy upon us in return?"

I nodded. "But, Albus, you're not-?"

"Worried?" he asked. I nodded again. "Of course I am. I am worried about a great many things, and that not least of all. Believe me. I worry for the future, for all of us- for the Bones and the Prewitts, whom I realize are most probably dead. I worry for Severus, out there amongst our enemies. And I worry for you, here."

"Me?" I asked. "Albus, really. I'm not..."

It was Dumbledore's turn to shake his head then. "You know better. You are important, Minerva. Besides-" He smiled. "I promised him I would let nothing happen to you."

I am afraid that I lost it then. "Bastard!" I exclaimed. "Bloody bastard! How dare he?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "You, who have known him so long and so well, really have to ask how he can dare, Minerva?" He smiled, eyes twinkling. "Better to ask how he could not."

I laughed then, realizing it was true. "Yes, of course you're right. May I ask when exactly he extracted this promise from you?"

"I believe it was the same day he told me he would be in touch with Lucius Malfoy, the day he said he would join with the Death Eaters on our behalf. It is the only thing he has ever asked in return for that service. But I do owe him this, Minerva- this and a great deal more."

I nodded. "He's mad, of course."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow in polite inquiry.

"He's left me the Slytherins, half the time I'm the only one who can make heads or tails of his messages- and he wants what?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "And here you sit. Looking after the Slytherin students, decoding messages... and never with the spare time to set foot off the school grounds on the nights Voldemort and his forces are moving."

"Damn him!" I whispered. But I couldn't really fault Severus for it. Didn't I want to do the very same? Wouldn't I have, in his place? Of course I would have.

"You know very well that he is right to worry," Dumbledore said. "He knows you, for one, and he understands well better than the rest of us what you would be up against. However. The fact that you cannot be out there alongside him does not mean that you can do nothing more than you are doing now. There is, in fact, something else I would like you to do, every bit as dangerous as what Severus is doing."

"Oh?" I asked.

"Yes. Severus tells us that there is a spy within Hogwarts. I have no reason to doubt him, and every reason to believe that this is true. I want you to find this spy, Minerva. Discover who they are, how much they know, and what they have passed along to Voldemort. Speak of this to no one, here or elsewhere, only those who already know- myself, Severus, and Alastor Moody. I mean this very seriously, Minerva- no one else is to know. Not even Sirius or the Longbottoms."

"Albus!" I protested. "Surely you don't think-?"

"No, I do not," he said. "I greatly doubt- and very much hope- that none of them would betray us. I would trust them with my life, any of them. And yet..."

I nodded. "It cannot be Frank or Melyssa, for two reasons."

"Which are?"

"One-" I raised a finger "-neither of them is here often enough. Severus specifically said, 'they have an agent within Hogwarts.' Two-" I raised another finger "-no true spy for Voldemort would have failed to betray Severus to him. And I would trust either of them to guard his secret with their lives."

Dumbledore nodded. "I agree. However. Tell them nothing unless you must."

"I understand." I was relieved that he did not truly suspect either of the Longbottoms...but I also couldn't help thinking that Sirius Black certainly would not guard any secret of Severus's with his life.

He might, in fact, not guard it at all.

---

It is a very hard thing to consider that your dearest old friends may be agents of the enemy. It is an even harder thing when you know that it is far from impossible. I thought more than I ever wanted to of Lucius and Dora in those days, knowing it must have been happening again.

I was sure the agent must have been one of our inner circle, for whom else would have been any use to Voldemort? I watched them all at the staff meetings, at the little gatherings held in Dumbledore's office at odd hours where we talked over the war and the parts we played in it. I watched them, and I wondered- which one of you is it?

And it was hard, asking that question. Harder than I thought it would be. For as I looked at Sirius, Remus, Peter, at Sprout and Flitwick and even Hagrid, I wanted to tell them everything. But I didn't dare.

I didn't dare trust any of them, not really. I would have bet my life that none of them would ever turn against us- not Hagrid, who so loved Dumbledore, not little Peter or Sirius, hedonistic troublemaker but the truest of true friends- not kind Remus, hardworking Sprout, or Flitwick with his perpetual Cheering Charms.

I would have bet my life- but far more than my life was at stake.

And I had to admit that I had been proven blind before, foolishly holding onto faith in my friends when I should have known- I should have known better.

I was desperate to find the traitor in our midst, and desperate never to know their name.

Of all the things asked of me in those days, I think that was one of the hardest.

---

My Animagius form was of some use in my investigation; I prowled the school halls on four feet, lunchtimes, late nights, times when most everyone should have had legitimate business elsewhere, my logic being that anyone I ran into was likely up to something.

Unfortunately most of what I learned involved student romances, practical jokes, and in one case a midnight Quidditch practice; the Gryffindor team was trying to keep secret their new CleanSweeps from the Ravenclaws until their upcoming match the following weekend. I paused in my rounds to watch Charlie Weasley catch the golden snitch, demonstrated an appropriate amount of house pride ("Nicely done, Weasley! Come see me the next time you lot want to practice clandestinely, and I will give you written permission.") and sent them off to bed.

Looking back I realize that not giving them detention only encouraged Charlie Weasley and his friends in their adventures in rule breaking, but I really couldn't see the harm. If they had been the Slytherins I might have thrown the book at them- Severus's little darlings did not need any more indulgence.

Although as for that, I believe that by indulging them he gained their appreciation without having to try. For Severus, who thought most of the world hated him, acceptance by a group consisting in the majority of spoiled, petulant children, must have seemed a reprieve of sorts.

I never was able to figure out, however, how by only occasionally putting his foot down he could earn their respect, a tactic which never worked for me. Perhaps I lacked the right balance...or the right background.

Regardless, I wasn't worried about setting a Slytherin-like precedent by letting Charlie and the others off. After all, who amongst my Gryffindors would ever believe that I had done it? Most of them, when they heard the story, believed the Quidditch players had never dared go outside at all.

About the only thing at Hogwarts I gained no insight into while on these late- night rounds was the only one I went out of my way seeking, of course- I could find no sign of Voldemort's agent, no clues to his or her identity.

As I passed the dungeon where Dumbledore had come upon Severus and I, finally I realized why.

Dumbledore had found us because we had demonstrated a pattern of mystery, something consistent, yet unknown. He would not have been there that night, had it not been for that pattern.

Likewise, our spy had no reason to be roaming the castle at random. If he were somewhere tonight, the night before, the night after, there was a reason, a pattern...

And if I could not narrow down the list of suspects enough so that I could seek out the most likely of them... I would have to track the patterns instead, find what was consistent but did not make sense. Somehow I was going to have to make the true agent come to me.

And as the days and weeks passed, I felt time running down... All the while I hadn't been able to find the agent, he or she was carrying on, stealing our secrets, endangering my world and everything in it. And while I could hardly stand the thought that it was one of the old crowd, I hated even more to think what would become of the others, if Voldemort's agent were not found, and soon.

Because the spy was only one of them, and I would be damned if I was going to let anything happen to the others.

After the deaths of my relatives, they had become my only true family; they had taken me into their hearts and I had foolishly let them into mine. And now we were vulnerable, all of us. Because we cared.

I had not been able to save my blood kin. I refused to fail the others in the same way.

It was time to finish it, time to start taking risks if that was what was required. Time to do what was necessary.

Standing at the dungeon doorway, I suddenly knew what I would have to do.

There were no true secrets we could afford the risk of losing, but there was one thing I knew Voldemort's agent would never dare ignore. And it was all so simple... After all, they wanted the same thing we did, didn't they? As we knew of their agent, they knew of ours. And they had no more idea than we did of who it might have been.

I would never put our true agent in danger- even had it not been Severus, I never would have done that. The risk that they might learn the truth was simply too great. Nor would I put an innocent into danger.

Which left me with one choice that was really no choice at all.

If a name was what was needed to bait the trap, the only one I felt qualified to hold out was, of course, my own.