"What do you want, Dumbeldore?" he said, more of a statement than a question. "Or are you wanting information and then to send me to Azkaban." He wouldn't deny he likely deserved the Dementor infested hell. He had done a lot of horrible things these last few years. That didn't mean he wanted to go, but still - he shook his head, trying to stop that train of thought.

"It would be a shame to waste talent such as yours."

"You want..." Severus gulped. He wants me to spy? If I agree and get caught I'll be tortured and murdered. If I don't end up insane, that is.

Dumbledore just regarded him, smiling. The senile old fool.

He narrowed his eyes. "You wish me to spy."

"Yes, if you are agreeable, I want you to spy, Severus. Become a double agent or a triple spy, to be precise," Dumbledore said. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "And a professor."

"What? There is no -" Dumbeldore silenced him with a look.

"Let me explain. Voldemort -"

"Might you not repeatedly use that blasted name?" he sneered.

"Do you fear your master, Severus?"

Severus just glared, gesturing for Dumbledore to continue.

"The Dark Lord wanted you to spy on me, didn't he? He wanted you to apply for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position."

"He did," he agreed.

"Did he ask you to apply again this year?"

Severus shook his head.

"No, and I doubt he will. For some time, at least."

"Precisely," Dumbledore smiled. "As such, even if you tried to spy for us now, you would be prevented from coming to Hogwarts. It would prove difficult to get any information from you. Furthermore, you would still be required to partake in raids and attacks, I do believe."

Severus nodded, more to show he was listening than anything.

"To get around this we need a different, less straightforward approach. How are your Occlumency skills these days, Severus? You already are able to lie to him using your Occlumency."

"Yes," said Severus. "I am able to feed false memories. To a degree, at least."

"I will help you improve that skill then."

Severus gave a resigned nod. He would need to perfect that skill, or he'd be dead by the week's end.

"You want me to go and suggest to the Dark Lord I can deceive you?" he said. "To tell him that I can convince you that I have turned. That I will ask for your protection. And imply that you will surely offer me a position. I spy on you while, in reality, I spy for the Dark Lord."

"Very good, Severus. Yes, to all of it. Now, I know you likely want the Defence position, but I offer you the Potions position instead because Horace Slughorn wishes to retire. I will tell everyone who asks that I am afraid that giving you the Defence post will bring out the worst in you." Dumbledore's smile widened.

"Charming," he deadpanned.

"I have my reasons," said Dumbledore.

Severus just nodded.

"You will give him information," the Headmaster continued. "Two kinds of information. The information he thinks we want him to have, and the information he thinks we want to safeguard. We will carefully choose this information together."

He nodded again.

"You must be believable. And in turn, you will tell us about his plans, along with the fake information he wants to feed us. We will have to be very strategic about how we use that intelligence and how we act on it so as to not betray you. However, it is no secret that both sides have spies; information will at some point leak out. In that case, your triple agent role should provide you with some protection from your master's other spies. Even if they see you associate with me, or my organisation, Voldemort will know all about it already. Or he will know as much as we want him to know." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "As an added bonus, you should be able to stay safely at Hogwarts most of the time. Tom will no doubt order you to avoid raids and attacks because you cannot risk being found out as a Death Eater. It would ruin your career as a professor and spy."

"You've really thought this through, old man," he said rather phlegmatically.

"I do pride myself on being prepared," the wizened wizard said. "At any rate, I am sure I needn't warn you about just how much peril it would place you in?"

"No." He would be walking on the edge of a knife, and he knew it. No mistakes could be made.

"What is your decision then, Severus?" It came out with a sombre air. "Will you help me protect Lily?"

Severus' hands clenched, something his new master didn't fail to notice. "It's more than mere sentimentality for an old friend, isn't it, my boy?"

"You're senile, Dumbledore."

"Say what you might, Severus, but to care for someone is nothing to be ashamed of."

"We are not getting into this," he hissed.

"As you wish," the other man said. "What is your decision?"

"Don't ask questions to which you already know the answer." It came out in a whisper.

"Very well then," the elder wizard said. "Then I suggest you go get some rest, and we will, of course, reconvene before long. I will call an Order meeting for tomorrow evening."

"When and where?"

"I will contact you with the finer details in the morning. Now, as I said, I do believe some rest would do us both good."

Severus nodded, and took his leave, knowing not to push it with the older wizard. The Headmaster was pulling the strings right now. Severus was anything but foolish.

That night, sleep itself seemed to evade him. When he did manage to doss off, he tossed and turned. This wasn't exactly unusual for him, but he couldn't stop himself from waking up in a cold sweat.

"She's alive. He hasn't killed her. There's still a chance."

It was like a mantra he kept replaying in his head. He needed it, like air. She's alive. The Dark Lord doesn't yet know. She's alive.

When morning finally came, Severus felt worse than before he'd gone to bed.

Groggily, he forced himself out of bed. He then forced himself to take a shower, and throw on some clean robes.

He glared at his reflection in the mirror. Merlin, he hated himself sometimes.

He was a thin man with sallow skin, and a rather large, hooked nose. He had shoulder-length, frequently greasy, black hair which framed his face in curtains, curling lips and onyx eyes. He had a certain stringy, pallid look about him. He was round-shouldered yet angular and, as he'd heard more than once, had "a twitchy walk that recalled a spider."

Sighing he cast a spell on his teeth, straightening them a little. He then cast a whitening charm. There, that was a bit better. Normally, he wasn't one to care about physical appearances, but he wanted something to not completely hate about himself.

Then there was his obnoxious nose. Wincing, he cast a charm resetting it. It had been broken numerous times, and just looked ridiculous. He'd always been teased over it at school. Not that it was his bloody fault. He then cast a charm to deal the swelling, shrinking it a little.

There, not that it was great, but it definitely looked worlds better.

He scoffed at himself. Enough with this vanity. It was utterly ridiculous.

Throwing on his over cloak, he apparated from Spinner's End to Malfoy Manor. He had an audience with the Dark Lord to request.

Once at the manor, it didn't take long for Lucius' interest to be peaked. Severus wasn't one to just show up unannounced.

"What do you need to speak to our lord about?"

"It's concerning an assignment he's given me."

"Good news I hope," Lucius said searchingly.

"Indeed," Severus said with a smirk. "I do believe the Dark Lord will be more than pleased with what I have to tell him."

"Good," said Lucius. "I'd hate to see you lose the favour you've been building."

"I'm but a half-blood, Lucius," he said. "I will never be of your calibre. Nor do I wish to surpass my betters. I know my place."

Lucius nodded, gesturing for him to go to the room where his master was waiting.

"Good luck."

He just nodded.

Within a half-hour, Severus was done with the meeting. As expected, the Dark Lord had jumped at the prospect of fooling the great Albus Dumbeldore.

Severus has been very careful to lead his master to what he wanted the plan to be, without coming out and saying it. He had to think it his own idea.

Once they'd gotten there, though, the Dark Lord had then quickly sent him away to start on his latest assignment.

He'd then quickly contacted Dumbledore and updated him on the morning's events. They'd met briefly, and Severus answered some more questions about his activities with the Death Eaters. What he knew of upcoming plans. Persons of interests.

Dumbledore had been surprised at just how high up in rank Severus had risen. With Lucius sponsoring him, and Severus wanting nothing more than to prove himself... he'd been the perfect little puppet.

Severus had then spent the better part of the day avoiding the Malfoys and Lestranges. Unfortunately, it wasn't as easy a feet as he had hoped it would be.

Lucius, he didn't mind. They'd been friends of a sort for years. Bellatrix, well, it was LeStrange now... she was more than a little barmy. She was volatile at the best of times and didn't like Severus. No surprise. She had called him a filthy half-breed on more than one occasion.

He had no desire to put up with her today. Not even the slightest.

As for Lucius, he was just too nosy today for Severus' tastes. It was too soon for Lucius to start putting puzzle pieces together. He had to wait, and then let the Dark Lord decide who knew of his new duties.

So, he spent most of the day reading his potions journals and trying to distract himself from the Order meeting later. Dumbledore's little renegades as the Dark Lord had not so lovingly referred to them.

Severus snorted. The shoe was on the wrong foot. Renegades indeed.

The Death Eaters were the one with a turncoat. A traitor.

Taking a swig of firewhiskey, he got ready - throwing on an overcloak - and made his way to meet with Dumbeldore, apparating to Hogwarts' gates.

"Take my hand," was all Dumbeldore said after a brief greeting.

Severus knew better than to hesitate and cause Dumbeldore any reason to doubt him or to reveal how he felt about Lily more than he already had. Dumbeldore already knew too much. So, he grudgingly took the older wizard's hand, wondering if he wouldn't prefer Dumbeldore changing his mind and deciding to send him to Azkaban after all.

He tensed as Dumbeldore went and knocked on the door to what was clearly her and James Potter's residence. No doubt, Lily's doing. He doubted it was Potter who suggested moving to more modest accommodations.

It was a quaint house. It suited her perfectly.

"Severus…"

"Lily."

A silence fell between the pair as they stared at one another with a multitude of emotions melded into one. The rain continued to fall around them, though they remained dry from the porch of the house. Dark eyes locked with emerald green ones, both unwavering in their study of the other, both unable to find the words that they wished to speak- So much had passed between them over the years, much of it good, though some of it best left unsaid. It had been close to three years since their lives had crossed paths, and time had changed them both. She didn't smile, and his features gave no inkling or hint as to why he had suddenly appeared on the doorstep of her home after all this time, accompanied by Dumbledore no less.

"May we come in?" Dumbledore asked.

"Of course, Dumbledore." His former childhood friend was clearly recovering quickly from the momentary shock of seeing him here after everything.

Yes, this was going to be a very long meeting.