Twas the week before Halloween and Severus Snape was irritated and stressed, the two often went together for him and he was feeling more stressed these days as a new double agent for Dumbledore among Voldemort's ranks. Ever since he had given Voldemort the prophecy, or at least the amount that he had heard, his life had been turned upside down and he had somehow rediscovered a moral compass within himself. And in a short period of time, he had found himself questioning all the assumptions of his former life.

And it was all due to Lily. Just Lily. He could never just rationalize how she made him feel, had done since they were children. The prospect of losing her... that was what had woken him up in the end and put a final stop to his cravings for power and respectability.

Except he was still outwardly living that life and was still working for Voldemort, among other things being his foremost potioneer and participating in death eater raids on muggles and muggle-borns that now sickened him. But he had an act to play that would help protect her and her child as well and so he had done well not to arouse any suspicions. He looked down at the potion he was making and muttered a curse for uncharacteristically losing his focus and vanished its contents.

He couldn't afford to dwell on sentimentality now. And so he restarted his work anew, the sub-potion for Felix Felices that was supposed to grant Voldemort's followers extra luck in battle if taken in very small doses. Severus being the consummate genius that he was had altered the recipe surreptitiously to negate its effects while preserving the potion's appearance and ability to withstand external scrutiny, even while the potion retained its side effect of subtly elevating the taker's confidence…

Behind him there were also healing potions and polyjuice at the ready, as well as wolfsbane for Voldemort's werewolf army. Allowing himself a five minute break as he watched the potion simmer in front of him, he was rudely surprised by a knock at the door of his rather dilapidated house and he emerged from his makeshift potions lab to answer it.

It was the dead of night which could only only mean one kind of visitor. He put on his mask and peeked from a hidden vantage point. As it was there were two, both clad in masks hidden behind black cloaks, looking like they had just apparated a few moments ago. One was tall and slender and he immediately recognized the man's voice that greeted him as Avery. The other however he had never seen before, and Snape was very careful to remember all the identities of death eaters that had ever been revealed to him. He, presumably, was fat and short and was fidgeting nervously, so he was most likely a new recruit. He quickly ushered them into the house when they gave the right password for entry.

"Is the batch the Dark Lord ordered ready? Anything new to report on the luck potions?" Avery sat gravely fiddling with his wand between his fingers. He did not remove his mask and neither did Snape nor the companion with him.

"Polyjuice will be finished in three moons. Felix will take more time and there is a high risk of failure." Severus grimaced as he was sure Avery like most death eaters enjoyed the prospect of others failing to fulfill the Dark Lord's orders if it meant a chance for themselves. "I made no promises to the Dark Lord about the luck potion and he, being a masterful potioneer himself understands of course how difficult it is."

"Well my other message is to report to you that we have a scheduled mission next week under Malfoy and you are to take part as you know because of your familiarity with the scum."

"Of course, my pleasure." Snape had been useful in many of the raids as he had helped the death eaters dress properly looking like relatively normal muggles and knew his way around better than them. So if any muggle stopped to question them, he could answer the questions satisfactorily without giving away the game.

"But I've been meaning to ask, do we have another new recruit in our ranks? I daresay I don't recognize him," he said pointing directly at him.

"Ah yes, Pettigrew here has been meaning to make your acquaintance for some time. He has provided our Lord with much useful information so he is ranked your equal not inferior, despite having only joined recently," Avery drawled.

"Severus," came Pettigrew's pip-squeaky voice that he so recognized from their school days, "it is good to find us on the same side. I have useful information that will allow us to corner Black and finish him at long last along with the Lestranges.

I'll bet you have, Severus was thinking to himself, his mind awhirl with the implications. "That is all very well, Pettigrew," he answered him neutrally. "I too would like to see Black eliminated and place the fortune into Bellatrix's hands but you are mistaken if I still retain some personal animus towards Black after these years."

"Pettigrew was not planning to come visit you today," Avery said looking at the smaller figure somewhat patronizingly. "He is ill, come down with a nasty illness. So you'll forgive him for not speaking very much."

Pettigrew merely wheezed and said nothing in return.

"I will consider the information you have given me once you have cleared it with the Dark Lord," Severus said firmly. "And provided you can convince him, I will have nothing against participating myself."

They talked for some minutes on further matters before Avery and Pettigrew rose to leave, the latter tripping over something and nearly falling flat on the carpet that made Severus cringe. Whatever little respect he had held for Pettigrew had been replaced by sheer contempt. He really was both useless and traitorous scum. At least he Severus was useful and had managed to pick the right side in the end!

He looked around the interior of his home which was a mess when he wasn't expecting prominent visitors at all. Flicking his wand a few times, he restored things to a much improved state and descended the stairs to his basement again to resume working on his potions. After about half an hour when he found he couldn't concentrate, he decided to give up for the night and resume tomorrow.

Before going to bed however he made sure to cast his doe patronus, a sign and reminder of his constancy to Lily and directed it to communicate to Dumbledore what he had learned about Pettigrew. It was risky because it might blow his cover, however he trusted Dumbledore would know what to do with the information without jeopardizing his position.

.

.

"He what?" James almost screamed tearing at his dishevelled hair disbelievingly.

"Yes," the venerable headmaster said before him, "my source within the death eater ranks says he has turned."

"After we made him secret keeper?" And then the secret was out as Dumbledore started with surprise and then alarm. "No it's impossible!" James quickly got up and crossed the office. Sirius remained sitting, a hard look in his eyes and guilt flooding through him as he had been the one to convince James and Lily to make the switch. Guilt quickly gave way to anger. Either way, that rat was going to have to answer a lot of questions being forced on him, and if he had turned…

Whatever doubts James might have had over Pettigrew really betraying him, he simply couldn't risk the life of his wife and child even if it was a mere rumour. Dumbledore of course had taken care not to mention that it was Snape that had informed him, which would only serve to strengthen James' doubts. Within a couple of minutes he had quit Dumbledore's office and running through the castle and out of Hogwart's grounds, only partially covered by his cloak he disapparated for home without even waiting for Sirius.

Not that Sirius blamed him. He was still pacing the corridors deliberating with himself and growing more confused and angry simultaneously. More angry with himself perhaps, because maybe the information was bunk. But deep inside him, he just didn't see why any of Dumbledore's "sources" would lie about Peter in the first place. Peter was an innocuous figure of no importance, he simply wasn't "worth" lying about.

And then there was Moony, maybe both of them had turned together? It was a frightening thought indeed to contemplate. It made Sirius feel increasingly paranoid about all their associates in the Order, could they really trust anyone anymore?

.

.

A plan was quickly devised between them. Since the identity of the secret keeper could not be changed, the Potters would continue living in Godric's Hollow although Harry was secretly given over to Minerva McGonagoll for a few months. Both parents of course, were torn by the separation, but there was no choice in the matter.

If Pettigrew's defection was indeed the case, an attack by Voldemort himself was imminent and it could happen at any time. So they decided to spring a trap. Sirius, James, Remus, Lily, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Dumbledore himself against Voldemort. Seven against one with an element of surprise as well. Voldemort would be alone, because as the prophecy indicated, this was personal to him.

Additional wards were placed around Godric's Hollow, courtesy of Dumbledore disguised as an elderly visitor, that Pettigrew could never know about. These were specifically designed not to interfere with the Fidelius or be easily detectable and they would quickly alert all seven should Voldemort himself cross the threshold. With all seven alerted, five would instantly apparate surrounding the house, while Lily and James would exit by means of a portkey that they would carry with them, travelling back outside to join with the rest.