Hi guys, this is my next story, and it is almost done, just one chapter and an epilouge to do. I will be updating this either every day, or every other day, depending on how things go. Hope you enjoy, and as always, review! :)
Fred, to most, would see perfectly relaxed and at ease. But, however, on the inside, he was a buzz with thoughts and tension. He had become, over the course of the last few months, a very adept liar and quite an actor. He had to be. Afterall, lying to one's family was hard, but lying to the Dark Lord, was dangerous to say the least.
Only a few people knew that he, Fred Weasley, was a Death Eater. But of those few, fewer still, knew that he was a spy for the light.
He had been doing this careful dance of loyalties and luck for months. The war was well in full swing. Harry, Ron and Hermione had been gone for weeks.
Fred had, at first denied that his brother was with them, but they had eventually been sighted, Ron with them, as clear as day. Fred had been punished dearly for that slip up.
Currently, he was sitting at a Death Eater meeting, at Malfoy Manor. He was lazily reclining in a straight back, hardwood chair of a dark hue. His eyes were focused on the table, waiting for the meeting to get over. It had been in session for hours, and these types of meeting usually didn't go more that three, it was due to be over.
Fred was in the inner circle. He suspected this was only because Voldemort wanted him in a position of power, an obvious one, next to himself, so that when the time came, his betrayal would be revealed. Hopefully weakening the light, and robbing them of much needed moral.
Fred was fine with this. The way he figured, he was closer to the Dark Lord, and that would only make it easier to strike. When the time came, of course.
He looked up startled, but hid it well, when people started to stand around him. He quickly rose, quesing that the meeting was finally over. He, with the rest, kneeled low, and murmured his loyalty to the Dark Lord, as was customary when a meeting was over. He disapperated minutes later. The flat, that he shared with George was dark. He assumed that George was asleep, it was after eleven pm.
George didn't know he was a death eater. The less people who knew, the less likely it was that he would be revealed.
Whenever his mark, yes he had the mark, burned, he made an excuse and left as quickly as he could. Despite this, with how often meeting were (there were often 3 or 4 in a week that he was called to), he thought that George and his family were getting suspicious. But he had no choice.
Being a death eater had lead to many lives being saved, and attacks stopped. It was a miracle he hadn't been discovered yet. A combination of luck, his own skill, and Severus Snape.
If not for Severus and all the help he had given him, he was a fellow spy after all, he knew what it was like, Fred would probably be long dead. It was Severus that had taught him Occlumency and how to hide his emotions.
Severus also said that there a few other spies, but none of said other spies knew each other, that way if one was discovered, none of the others could be snitched on, willingly or unwillingly. Severus was the only one, except for a select few Unspeakables at the Ministry (which hadn't yet been taken over by Voldemort, much due to the help that Fred had given. If not for him, it probably would have fallen about the time of Bill and Fleur's wedding) that knew the names of all the spies.
Fred sighed, and marched up to his room, bone weary. Being a double agent was tiring, stressful work. Especially when practically no one knew of it.
The next morning, at 3:37, Fred was rudely awoken by the painful, insistent burn of the mark on his left arm. He quickly sat up, and transfigured his pajamas into milky, midnight black robes. He grabbed the mask that was hidden in the desk next to his bed, and disapperated, pressing the end of his wand into the mark.
For the first time in a long time, he was properly scared. Why was he being called so early in the morning? If he had been discovered, he would have been revealed at a meeting. There couldn't be a meeting. Could there?
He was at Malfoy Manor. At the door of the house, Peter Pettigrew was waiting, for him he assumed.
"Pettigrew," he greeted coldly, the silver mask on his face, and death eater persona was in place.
"Weasley, Lucius Malfoy called."
Fred sneered, what business did Malfoy have calling him?
"Is the Dark Lord here?"
"No-"
Fred cut him off. "Then why the hell am I here?"
"They think they have Harry Potter in there! They haven't called the Lord yet, because they aren't sure it's him."
Fred's blood ran cold. Harry? This was awful, if it was really him, and the Dark Lord was called, the war may have just been lost.
"Where are they?" Pettigrew had continued talking, but Fred wasn't listening and therefore had no qualms with interrupting him with a question.
"Where… Oh, they're in the main sitting room."
Fred walked off coldly, heading towards the sitting room. In the months that he had been a death eater, he had come to know Malfoy Manor very well. Disgustingly.
As he walked, he took calming breaths. If it really was Harry, then he needed to be cold and logical. He needed to be making the best decisions for, not only the good of Harry (and possibly Ron and Hermione), and the good of the Order. Possible the good of the Wizarding world. Tonight might decide the outcome of the war.
After about a minute of walking, his footsteps echoing loudly and sharply on the cold marble floors, he reached the doors to the room. He only hesitated a moment, to put on his mask, and then entered.
On the far side of the room, three people were bound, he assumed they were supposedly Ron, Hermione, and of course, Harry. Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Fenrir Greyback, and a few of what appeared to be Snatchers, were all gathered close to where the three were bound. When he walked in, his slow footsteps making loud echoing noises, Lucius Malfoy turned and saw him.
"Ah, Weasley, I was wondering if you'd join us." when he said Fred's surname, he could see Ron's eyes get large, and he started to struggle. Harry too looked shocked, and he couldn't see Hermione, she was facing the other way.
"Of course, Lucius. I heard you caught Potter." In actuality, he was disgusted by all things Malfoy, especially Lucius, but in this sick game, the Malfoys were on top, so he hid it well.
"Yes, well we'll soon see. You can, take off your mask by the way, we're all friends here."
"Oh yes, my apologies."
"Quite alright."
Fred slowly raised his hands to the back of his head, and took of his mask, then shrunk it and put it in the pocket of his robes.
Ron, when he saw Fred's face, literally looked like he had taken a bullet. His face was pale, eyes large, his shoulders and arms stopped struggling; he went limp. Harry, on the other hand, went rigid, then began to fight against the ropes. Hermione, with her back to him, didn't see the big reveal, but no doubt she would see his face later.
Fred smirked, knowing it was what any death eater in his place would do. He followed Lucius when he walked back to the others.
"Fred, how have you been?" Bellatrix had, unfortunately, taken quite a liking to him over that last few months. She had, some would say, 'taken him under her wing', and had treated him like she would a son. Fred, on the other hand, suspected that this was to further isolate Draco, her actual nephew, and show her disappointment in him (he hadn't killed Dumbledore, had been assigned only petty tasks, and wasn't in the inner circle, or even very high up at all).
"Fine, fine. I do have to spend my time around blood traitors and mudbloods, so how good can I be really?" Fred was on autopilot, he had to push Harry and Ron away, he couldn't have anyone think that they thought he was a spy.
"Oh, you poor dear. Well, this, at least should cheer you up," she turned to the three again, and approached them, beckoning for Fred to follow her, which he did.
She, grabbing his shoulder, pulled him down to eye level with the prisoners, and pointed to his brother.
"Is that one of your blood traitor brothers? Ronald perhaps?"
There was no point denying it. They as good as knew.
"Hmmm. Yes, I'm almost sure that it's Ron."
She excitedly turned to Harry, letting go of his shoulder, "and is that Harry Potter?"
Million dollar question.
"What's happened to his face?"
"Yes, what has happened to his face?" she had turned to look at Lucius, who shrugged.
One of the snatchers bravely spoke up, "He came to us like that, must have picked it up in the woods."
Fred butted in confused, "Woods? Where did you find them at?"
"Forest of Dean. One of 'umm said the name."
Suddenly, next to Fred, Bella jumped up, her eyes fixed on the sword that was dangling loosely in one of the snatchers hands.
"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT?"
The snatchers looked confused, Fred, feeling sorry for them, pointed wordlessly at the sword as he stood up and approached them. The snatcher holding it, looked nervously at Bella, then the sword, but stood his ground. Speaking with only a slight tremble.
"They had it with them," he gestured at Hermione, "reckon it's mine now."
Bella ran to him, whipping out her wand. She had him in a vice like grip of ropes before he could move out of the way.
"Who… had… it?" her voice was calm, falsely so. Each word with a long pause in between, her teeth gritted. She had gotten up in his face, she was very intimidating when she wanted to be, but she was always, especially to Fred (he knew what she did to traitors) scary.
Behind Fred, the two Malfoys and Greyback had stopped talking.
When he didn't answer, apparently from lack of air, Bella asked again, "Who had it?!" this time louder and with no pause in between. The poor snatcher's face had gone reddish purple. Fred decided to intervene.
"Bella, you're choking him. He can't breathe to answer." Fred's voice sounded amused, even to his own ears, but on the inside he was panicked.
"Oh, yes, how silly of me." she loosened the ropes, and the snatcher quickly pointed and choked out, "Her, the girl".
Bella dropped him, the ropes vanishing, she grabbed the sword and stalked to Hermione.
Quickly, she dropped the sword, it wasn't her focus anyway, and conjured a long silver dagger, eyes dead set on Hermione. She quickly and efficiently cut her loose from the rest and dragged her by the hair, the ropes having fallen away when cut, into the middle of the room, far away from the other two. Fred followed, knowing it was expected of him. Bella, on her way, called behind her, "Draco take the other two into the dungeons, I think I need to have a talk with Miss Mudblood here, girl to girl!"
Lucius interrupted, "You're not in charge of this Bella, Weasley take them to the dungeons. Lock them in!" he looked challengingly at Bella, and she was to busy with Hermione to argue with him. Odd, she normally would have, no matter how distracted she was with prisoners, and she hadn't even started interrigations yet.
Fred backed away, then turned and walked back to Harry and Ron, who were staring at him with wide, accusing eyes.
He grabbed an arm of each of them, halling them to their feet. As he did so, he noticed that the ropes, that had been cut by Bellatrix, weren't held by much, and could easily be shaken off. They both must have been to shocked at the moment to try and get away. Not that they would have gotten far.
He half lead, half pulled them over to the door that would lead to the dungeons.
"Right, you two, don't even try and escape, it won't be pretty for either of you. Potter, Ron, how you been, long time no see?" He had said the last part louder, for the other death eaters benefit, and from their cruel laughter, they had heard it. He doubted that he would be suspected as long as they were both in a cell.
He closed the door behind them, and the lights on the walls on either side of the staircase flicked on. Casting the three of them in a dark yellow, artificial light. Fred was not a fan of the dungeons, he was a death eater and had been made to torture and kill. Most of which had happened in this very prision. They weren't fond memories. Although, over the months, he had become accustomed to killing and torturing, not something he was too proud of.
When he reached the cells, he stuck them in the first one. The one with the most people in it. All of the cells had someone it, even if it was just a body or two, yet to be taken out. Hopefully they could get out. Some of the DA was in there.
He rudely and uncaringly threw Ron and Harry into the cell. The two of them, or really Harry, threw off the ropes, now that they could move both arms, as Fred had released his hold on them.
Ron, who had seemed to have come to his senses, ran to the door of the cell, which was already shut and locked.
"Please, Fred. You're not a traitor! You can't be a traitor. Tell me you're a spy or something,"
Fred bit his lip, Severus had told them that it was okay to break cover if it was an absolute emergency and you thought that you, and/or whoever you were rescuing could get away unfollowed and alive.
"What are you thinking about?"
This was such an unseen question, and the desperation in Ron's eyes, made Fred want to answer, so he did.
"Trying to figure out if this is an actual emergency or not. I'm thinking it is." his mask was slipping, his voice was shaky and nervous, scared to even his own ears. Harry looked at him as if he had gone crazy, while Ron looked desperately hopeful.
Fred looked around, there was no one outside of the cells. He quickly put up a darker silencing spell, that would prevent anyone not within 10 feet of him from hearing anything he was saying. Harry and Ron were the only prisoners within that range. Fred quickly cast another ward that would prevent anyone from leaving it, or entering it.
He took deep breaths, and slumped his shoulders, figuring that it was okay to relax and calm himself. He had to be quick, they would start to get suspicious if he didn't come back soon.
"What are you doing?" Harry had raised that question, sounding angry and panicked at the same time.
"Again, thinking." his voice was real, and worried. It was looking as if he was going to have to break cover. Which had never turned out good for anyone, though, who new, he could be the first to survive being discovered as a traitor in Voldie's circle.
"Right, I am, for all intents and purposes, a Death Eater, but… I'm also a spy, for the order and ministry no less."
He cut off their blurbing with a sharp shush, the door had creaked. He heard footsteps. Quickly he took down the charms, and put on his mask, which would hide the fearful look on his face.
"-and that is why you don't cross the Dark Lord Potter, you're doom awaits!" he laughed dramatically. When he heard someone clear their throat next to him, he turned and saw Draco.
"You're needed, the mudblood is about to be tortured, we're waiting for you. Why do you have your mask on?"
"My ma- Oh, it terrifies prisoners."
Draco gave a short bark of laughter, though it didn't reach his eyes, they remained haunted. His gaze drifted to Harry, and Fred realized how pale Draco was.
He wondered if he was one of the other traitors, and decided to find out.
Severus had given all of them a codeword, two in fact. If they ever needed to find out another spy, they simply slip the first into conversation, emphasizing it, and whoever responds with the other keyword, is also a spy.
"Hey Draco, do you have any pineapple?" It was a stupid password, but whatever.
Draco looked shocked, but only for a moment, then replied, "No, but we do have some peaches, would you like some?"
Harry and Ron were looking at them as if they had both lost it, and rightly so. Now was not the time to ask for fruit.
"They're such stupid passcodes, I have no idea where he gets them," Draco commented, probably trying to diffuse the tension. There was a lot of tension.
"I know." Fred chuckled briefly, but not heartfeltly, and sighed while he looked at Harry and Ron.
"Well, are you actually Potter?" Draco had turned to the cell, and was looking at Harry, whose face had stopped swelling.
"Yes, he is. Now what are we going to do?" Fred had answered for Harry, wanting to get to the point. Time was in high demand, and running through their fingers.
"One of us is probably going to have to break cover. You or me?" Draco was determined, if not slightly afraid. Who wouldn't be? It was Dark Lord Voldemort after all.
"Me. I was never a very believable death eater."
"I thought you were a rather convincing death eater."
"Gee thanks. Besides, you are more… someone who would be a death eater, I had almost no motive."
"Yeah, well Weasley, I hope you survive to see the end of this. If you do, good luck with the after effects of being a traitor." Draco was, of course, referring to the fact that no one had yet been revealed as a traitor and lived to see the next day. It was, it seemed, a very effective deterrent, there were very few Order spies in his ranks. Nowadays.
"Yeah, thanks. Good luck yourself, goodness knows you'll need it. See you at Headquarters? Assuming that I live and all. Hell, I might not even be at HQ."
"Depends on Sev."
"Yeah, we should go." With his final remark, he turned to the cell, and opened it. He reached into his robes, and pulled out a wand; he always kept a spare on him. He handed it to Harry, and Draco, behind Fred, reached into his pocket. He pulled out a black wand, that wasn't his own, and handed it to Ron.
"Sev's rule, always have a spare wand on you. No one else knows I have it." he turned to Fred, "I got that spare in Knockturn Alley, it's untraceable, I assume you got yours there to?"
"Of course, only place to get them anymore."
Harry and Ron had taken this turn of events with confusion, but didn't comment on it, instead they both merely shrugged and tried the wands.
Swapping when they didn't work.
So that the wand that worked for Draco, was used by Harry, and was working quite well, and the spare that suited Fred, was used by his brother.
"Right, people here's the plan. Draco I'm going to Imperius you to go up, with me, and tell them that's all fine, and that they prisoners are all locked up. Then, when it's mine, or Draco's turn to have a go at Hermione, I'll give you guys down here" he turned to Harry and Ron, "a signal, and you come up here. I'll have Hermione ready to go and hopefully, we'll be able to get out painlessly and disapparate to a safe house. Are the wards up?"
"No, they were turned off because of the Inner Circle coming and all. But you still have to have a dark mark if you apparate. You can still side-along apparition them though. For prisoners and all that." answered Draco.
The darks carelessness would be their downfall, for now at least.
"Draco, I'll knock you out or something and leave you here. Everyone good?" Fred finished up quickly, knowing that they were pressed for time. Draco had already been down here for a few minutes.
When they all nodded, Fred quickly turned to Draco, and put him under the imperius curse. Fred and Draco then made their way upstairs.
"Finally I thought that you two would never get up here!" it was Bella that had spoken, and she looked much more at ease. She continued talking, "We cast a charm on the sword, and it was a fake, if the prisoners are all locked up, we can call the dark lord." her words, though dull, were spoken with unshakable excitement and joy.
Fred made Draco answer, reluctant as he was to do so. The Dark Lord could not be called. "Both of the prisoners are locked up. Are you sure we should call him? If it's not him we're all as good as dead."
This logic didn't have the desired effect on Bellatrix, she turned from Hermione, who was laying on the floor in tears, blood dripping down her arm, and rolled up her sleeve, glaring defiantly at Draco. She pressed her wand to the mark before anyone could stop her, and called the Dark Lord.
Fred quickly sent his Patronus to the dungeon, and moments later Harry and Ron were rushing in. He would be here any second.
Fred, made Draco run to Hermione and grab her, he then bring her back to Fred. His eyes were glazed over, and Bella, thankfully noticed.
"Lucius, your son is under the Imperius Curse! Weasleys the traitor!" she was screeching, but Fred didn't notice. He pulled his wand on Draco, remorseful, but not showing it. He knocked him out, and gathered Hermione in his arms, looking away from the falling body of Draco.
Harry and Ron rushed to met him, and they were about to disapparate, when an unnatural coldness struck through the occupants of the room: the Dark Lord was here.