Chapter 2

January 1979

Getting into Voldemort's good graces is tougher than I anticipated. Aside from the fact that I'm facing a wizard who murders muggles (like my family) for fun and having to suck up to him, Voldemort must be the least trusting person on the planet. Actually, it makes sense. Who would you trust if half the wizarding world wanted to kill you?

Another reason I'm so busy is because of all the sneaking around. We figured out a discreet meeting place, but Severus is always around me (how did I not notice how stalker-y he was until now?). It's hard to slip out without him noticing. So, James has taken matters into his own hands.

Why is James desperately trying to win me back even though he knows that I'm only dating Severus for an Order mission? It's to keep in contact with the Order. While James shows up and performs some extravagant gesture, he's slipping me little messages while Severus is not looking. After the performance is over, I send a message back with the information I've gathered through him.

Although Severus trusts me completely (he bought the story I told him when I first showed up on his doorstep. He believed that I had always thought James was an arrogant toerag and our seventh year was just a temporary lapse of judgement), Voldemort is a different case.

He knows that something's up and, at first, didn't allow me to attend his meetings. But Severus insisted, and Voldemort gave in. But I know that he doesn't talk about substantial things when I'm there. I need to extract that information from Severus himself or other members of Voldemort's inner circle who trust me, which is basically no one.

Back to James and his shenanigans. So, it all started when Severus discovered that I'd been sneaking out of the house in the middle of the night. Thankfully, he didn't realise I was sharing information with the Order, but he became more suspicious of me and my actions.

I thought we were screwed since I didn't have a way to communicate with the Order. Such terrible timing! I had just received some valuable information. But then, on my birthday, an owl came for me. I was confused since I had cut ties with all my family and friends before taking on the mission.

I opened the letter, with Severus reading over my shoulder, and saw a long love letter written by James Potter. Severus was seething behind me, but it was all I could do to keep from laughing. James is a terrible poet but awfully clever.

Back when we were in Hogwarts, James would send me these notes with little hidden codes. Each word in his letter would have a random letter capitalised. And if you put together all the letters that have a capitalised first letter, it would form a message.

Quickly, I applied the code to the love letter. His message read:

Anything Wrong Didn't See You Meeting Spot Any News

Severus wanted me to burn the letter and throw the ashes away. I protested, "It's just a letter, Severus. One letter!" But he was adamant. So I complied, but I stood firm on the matter of the owl. "The owl is innocent! It was only doing its job."

"Fine," agreed Severus, "But take him to the post office or an owl emporium. Potter should have known better than to send his owls here." I sighed. Boys. Not able to get over a grudge they had in school.

I left for the post office, but I didn't leave the owl there. Instead, I took out a bit of scrap parchment I had on me, used one of the quills in the post office and wrote James a reply letter in code. My message read:

Have Important News Need See You In Person

I told the owl to take it to James and walked home with my heart racing. I didn't add details on how to visit me in person because I had no idea. Severus is watching my every move, and I can't seem to think of anything. Hopefully, James has something up his sleeve.

(A/N - Sorry if this chapter is a little up and down. I started with one ending in mind, but the story became too long. I'll complete it in the next chapter)