"Girl, you are in deep shit. Whiskey?" Alastair sat comfortably lounging on his ornate ottoman, his right ankle perched on his left knee. Opposite to him, in an Art Nouveau chair similar to the ottoman sat his guest: a beautiful woman with chin-length wavy black hair. Upon hearing his question, her brown eyes popped out: "Alastair, it's only after half past three!"
"Anyway," Alastair cleared his throat and put his tumbler down. "What was I saying?"
"That I'm in deep shit."
"Yes, that."
"I know." She buried her face in her hands. "He'll hate me. Oh Gods, he'll kill me. He'll kill me the moment he sees me."
"Of course he won't hate you, my dear." Alastair countered. "He just might... bark a little bit, that's all. I've known Severus long enough to know that his bark is worse than his bite. And if he treats you so – I wouldn't say nicely, I'd say respectfully at best – I don't see why he should make anything of this."
"But," Tara said meekly and put both her hands to her bosom. "What if... What if he thought there was something... And now he sees me with you... And that something will be gone?"
"My dearest girl, you're putting yourself up for a huge disaster." Alastair said kindly and sat next to her, putting his arm around her shoulders. She cowered shyly even more. "I still cannot believe it. You – in love with him! I'd understand all the other people, literally all male wizards that exist in this world, and I'm even counting Wormtail in – just for the sake of diversity, mind you – but Severus? Really?"
She cast him a side glance: "Aren't you supposed to be his friend?"
"Tara darling, I have my eyes still in perfect order, thank you." Alastair said with a slight smirk. "There wasn't a woman who would lay her eyes on Severus for seventeen years."
Tara sighed: "It's just... Him. The way he is. His eyes, his voice, his cleverness, his wit, and all the things he does... How nice he can be when he thinks no one's looking... You never got to see how kind he is, did you?"
"No, I usually minded my own business and tried not to get my sweet ass killed." Alastair smirked. "And apart from the meetings, I never saw him much. I mean, we were great friends before that, you know, him being a Potions Apprentice and me being an apothecary, it was mutually beneficial. Oh, all the fun we used to have..."
"So what happened?"
"The war happened, darling. Lots of people turned Death Eaters. Those who didn't became prey. I had to choose. At that time, it seemed that being the hunter was better than the prey, at least that was what I thought back then."
"So what changed you?"
"How do you know something has changed me?" Alastair said quite seriously, but Tara had already learned to recognise the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Would I still be comfortably sitting here if it hadn't?"
"Fair point." Alastair admitted, then he said quietly. "He killed my grandparents. The Vance family were not his supporters, this was his revenge. The old folks basically raised me, I never knew my father, and my mum died when I was but few hours old. That was the moment when I decided I've had enough."
"So you became a spy then." Tara breathed.
"Yes."
Just like him. Tara had to chew on her tongue not to say the last remark aloud. Every minute she was more and more sure that Severus and Alastair would make a brilliant team, if only they learned to trust one another. And somehow, she felt that together, they might have even the slightest chance of standing up to Voldemort. After all, two spies working in tandem was better than one. They could have each other's backs, providing alibis for each other when necessary, distributing the information leaks so that there wouldn't be only one person suspicious… It seemed almost too good to be true, almost too easy to be successful. But at that moment, Tara realised she had to bring Alastair and Severus together – and make at least one of the crack his shell open.
"Al, take me back to Hogwarts please." Tara said resolutely and moved towards the edge of her seat to rise slowly – she still wasn't up to her full speed.
"Willing to die so soon?" Al teased her, sipping some more of his whiskey. Setting the empty glass on the table at his right hand, he rose and straightened his beautiful embroidered tunic in one elegant sweep. "But, of course, I'll take you if you want."
-oOo-
Severus walked swiftly along the row of houses that formed the main street of Hogsmeade. The sun was just setting and he glanced at his watch out of habit before he could stop himself from doing so. The damned thing was broken, he kept telling himself. But then he stopped dead in his tracks. And then he took to the air, flying away from the village like a giant comet of black smoke.
-oOo-
"Severus?" Tara walked into the Headmaster's Office, Alastair strutting lazily in tow. It was terribly late, she knew, but at this hour, Severus was usually still in his office – their office.
"That's weird," she murmured, "he is always here–"
"Oh, this will be good," sniggered one of the portraits.
"Phineas. So glad you decided to join us." Alastair countered icily. "Pray tell, what has you in such joyful spirits this evening?"
"The Headmaster has gone to retrieve you, you insolent chit." The previous Headmaster jerked with his chin towards Tara. "Caused a bit of a scuffle when he couldn't find you. Last time I heard, he was on his way to the village."
"Oh no…" Tara covered her face with her hands, and her skin turned tomato-red. "Oh no, oh no, oh no."
"Relax," Alastair smiled at her and lay himself comfortably stretched onto the sofa. "He's not going to kill you, you know."
"No." There was a deadly drawl from the doorway. "He's going to kill you."
The next few seconds, it seemed that everything was happening at once: Severus drew his wand, but so did Alastair who jumped up from the sofa so fas that it seemed that its surface had turned to spikes. Tara cast herself in between those two, without even realizing it, and yelled: "Stop it, stop it!"
"Step aside, you capital fool, you've been brainwashed." Snape growled and trying to step to the side so that he could have a clear aim at his friend, his stare never leaving Alastair's face.
"How funny, Severus, that was exactly what I was thinking." Alastair smiled lazily, and twirled his wand in his fingers, not quite on edge as he had been just a split-second before.
"Is that why you kidnapped her?!" The Headmaster growled dangerously, but it seemed as if he was slowly lowering his wand.
"I did not kidnap her, what an awful thing to accuse me of." Alastair gave a lazy smirk.
"You and your games, what did you do?!"
"Me and my games indeed." Alastair gave even bigger smirk, stretching his lips into a smile. "It seems that both of us love to play games of our own, don't we, Severus?"
The tall dark wizard went rigid and his outstretched hand rose slightly.
"A drink?" The doe-eyed secretary stepped in, carrying a large decanter of liquid and three glasses.
"Yes please." Two voices said in unison.
-oOo-
"So, you intend to tell me," Snape drawled with his eyes narrowed, "that you fed information to the Order and I never suspected it."
Alastair shrugged his shoulders: "It's not like you've never suspected it. Rather, you never knew that someone knew already what you were going to tell them. And of course, with the level of distrust you received, no one would tell you they already had the information from a different source unless they wouldn't risk sabotaging me in the process."
What his friend was saying had some value. After all, oftentimes when Severus brought them bits of information, the core members didn't look too surprised and he suspected they had already known, but he always figured something leaked out at the ministry, which was, after all, the workplace of many Order members and Death Eaters alike.
Seeing his friend's expression soften a bit, Alastair continued: "Of course, I was a rather small fish in the pond. Smaller than you. I had less information than you did, and I never knew as much information about the Dark Lord's plans as you did yourself, being ranked lower than you, but I managed to sneak out some bits and pieces that might actually have saved a life or two."
"Why are you telling me all this," Severus reclined slowly in his chair. "It almost seems as if you… suspected me of doing the same thing, Alastair." He ended up in what he was hoping was a slightly threatening tone. He had to treat carefully. Very carefully.
"Well, I…" This was the first moment Alastair looked a bit unsure of himself. "I saw you with Mundungus Fletcher in Knockturn Alley. How the members never suspected Fletcher couldn't have come up with the plan himself was always beyond me. From there, I sort of pieced together the other instances when he or his Death Eaters attacked and the Order never seemed… surprised. As if they were expecting it somehow.
"I knew that somebody else had to be a spy like me, but I never knew who. I knew it was someone from his inner circle, because sometimes, the Order knew things even I haven't yet heard of. So I managed to narrow it down to a few people."
"Pray tell, who?"
"The Malfoys, the Lestranges, Pettigrew, Crouch Jr., Avery, Dolohov, Crabbe, Goyle… and you. I ruled out the Lestranges almost immediately, not only because they are so devoted to his ideals that it borders on psychopathy (Tara snorted loudly), so they would never lower themselves to 'helping traitors, Mudbloods and half-breeds', as they would so affectionately call it. Similarly, I ruled out Dolohov, Crabbe, Goyle and Avery, not only because they were all coming from reputable Death Eater families, but also because they weren't as favoured as the others were and would never risk their position to lose his favour – they could never wriggle their little asses out of the mess if it came to it. The same goes for Pettigrew, of whom I have such a low opinion I can't even voice it aloud." Severus snorted quietly.
"So I knew it had to be either the Malfoys, or you. Lucius was the odd one out, as he is closer to Bella than her actual sister is in terms of ambition and the desire to stand high in his inner circle and also because of his frequent skirmishes with a certain red-haired wizard, which, if you ask me, border more on family and personal pride than actual Pureblood supremacy." Alastair chuckled darkly. "Lucius could never get over the fact that the Weasleys had something no one could take away from them: open doors almost everywhere in the wizarding society and Harry Potter's friendship. Popularity and a good name was something that the Malfoys once had but lost it in the war. And Lucius has never forgotten it. He hopes that an alliance with the Dark Lord will bring the family name back to the spotlight. If you've seen him anytime in the recent months, Severus, you would agree with me he couldn't be more wrong."
"Continue." Was the only thing that Severus said, sipping slowly from his glass.
"So I knew it had to be either Narcissa, Draco, or you. I actually had my money on Narcissa, if I were completely honest with you, because of the connection to their long-lost sister. I think Narcissa could never erase her from her life quite as Bellatrix could. I would bet the library of the Hogwarts castle on the fact that she was still exchanging owls with Andromeda irregularly before this whole mess started. Ever wondered why she never took the Dark Mark? I believe that while Lucius wants to improve the 'good standing' of the family name in general, Narcissa has only the well-being of their son in her mind. And only when it meant that the well-being of their actual family – that is, her, Lucius, but most importantly, Draco – was in jeopardy, only then could she step up and actually do something. So I actually thought that she just wanted a better world for her son to live in – better in terms of peaceful, not necessarily purer, mind you, because I believe she has found out that apart from solely existing, the 'undesirable species' of the wizarding world don't actually do anything to her son, family, or good fortune. As opposed to him and his followers, who turned out to be more than willing to sacrifice her son's life and well-being for their purposes. And I think she had never thought it would come to that. I believe she thought that as long as Draco kept his head low and his ass out of trouble, they would be alright. But it turned out she couldn't be more wrong."
"So why didn't you conclude she was the spy then?" Severus asked.
"Because she is too tied with her family and her ancestors. If she snitched and it got out, she wouldn't have anywhere to turn to. Her family, that is, Lucius and Bella, would cast her away because she would be considered a traitor, if the Dark Lord didn't kill her first, that is, and the 'good guys' as I have recently grown to call them, wouldn't take her in because of who she is, and the ideals she represents, even if she didn't actively endorse them. So she's willing to bend a few rules when it comes to Draco, but that's it. She's not even that concerned with Muggle-borns and Dumbledore's supporters when it comes to that."
"So?" Severus drawled.
"So, Draco never knew enough to be actually useful, and I think the ideas his father planted into his head might have blinded him a little. He wouldn't have done anything, not now.
The only conclusion left to me was – you. But why? I kept asking myself. Why? Why would you do it? You have no family, no friends you would care to protect – perhaps until now (he glanced pointedly at Tara), and no big ideals you would care to uphold."
"So why did I turned spy then, in your opinion?" Said Severus icily.
"That, my friend," Alastair lifted his glass in a mock toast, "is the greatest mystery of all, and one I hoped you would help me discover one day. Besides, the other reasons I've already mentioned. You have no family, therefore nobody to hold you to their standards or for you to worry about, you had no friends who would be endangered, and no big ideals of Pureblood supremacy to uphold. You're the perfect guy for the job, with nothing to lose, and everything to gain. The gray eminence behind the closed doors, the one with the closest connection both to Dumbledore and to him, receiving all the information on both sides first hand and prepared to distribute it carefully on both sides."
"Do you think You-Know-Who has figured out all this?" Tara whispered, her fingers covering her lips in a silent gesture of worry.
"He's not that clever, although I believe he likes to think otherwise," Alastair sniggered. "Besides, if he did, Severus wouldn't be sitting here with us today. That's what I've always admired about you," Alastair's eyes fixed on Severus, "always the perfect blend of lies with a small kernel of truth, so that he would favour you, without actually causing any damage to the cause. You're brilliant, and I could never have done it so spectacularly. I salute you."
"Your salutations are appreciated." Severus said dryly.
"Besides, I think something's not right with him. It seems that he's slipping. He used to be charismatic and quite charming actually, now he's just insane."
"Do you think the others will realise – that they will turn away from him?" Tara breathed out.
"Not likely. The weaker, better-minded ones who weren't too much into the whole thing to begin with are already dead. The stronger, more power-hungry ones like Bellatrix will never back down, even if you threw them in Azkaban for another fifteen years. And then there are the opportunistic ones, like Pettigrew, and perhaps the Malfoys, who will not desert until the tides have really turned. These are maybe the worst of all. At least, the real Death Eaters have principles." Alastair sniggered, Severus joined him, although a bit stiffly.
"So," Alastair concluded, setting his empty glass on the coffee table, "was I wrong, Severus?"
Slowly, very slowly, the tall dark wizard lay his almost-empty glass on the table. Then he carefully studied his friend for a long time, his onyx eyes making an educated, calculating guess. Tara watched him with bated breath as he wandlessly summoned another decanter from the small cabinet in the corner of the office.
"Get out." Were his only words. Alastair raised his eyebrows, however, an amused smile danced on his lips.
"Are you deaf?" Severus snarled and turned to Tara. "I said get out."
She tried to object: "But–"
"Now."
"Some of the things our dear friend might like to discuss with me are not for the sensitive female ears." Alastair shot her an apologetic look.
"I expect you both to be up in a reasonable hour in the morning." She jabbed a finger at the pair of wizards, out of whom Alastair was still holding the decanter, looking somehow guilty, and Severus, who was just glaring at her, and she made for the door, huffing an exasperated remark.
It seemed that now she would have too sarcasstic handsome Death Eater-spies to take care of, and Tara didn't seem convinced she was up for the task.