Chapter 17: Plans Revealed.

Author's Note: Sorry to keep you guys in suspense so long, anyway here it is. I've already started on Chapter 18, and it should be up in a day or two. I decided to divide this part up into two chapters since it promises to be the longest and most important part of the story.

The Great Hall was alive with students chattering over lunch. Gene Evans sat at the Gryffindor table joking with several of the students. Harry Potter walked into the Great Hall with a bit of a dejected look on his face. He sat down in front of Gene and got his attention.

"James said I should come to you with this." Harry said.

"What's wrong?" Gene asked.

"Cho gave me this chain, and it broke. James said you could probably fix it." Harry said.

"Can't you fix it with magic?" Gene asked.

"I'd rather not." Harry said. "It's special, and using magic to repair it would cheapen it."

"Alright." Gene said. "Let me see it."

Harry handed Gene the chain and a few links that had broken off. Gene inspected the necklace and pulled a small pair of tweezers from his pocket. After a few quick moments of work the chain was as if it had never been broke.

"It's pure silver." Gene said, smiling. "She must really like you a lot."

"I hope so." Harry said, as he put the chain back around his neck. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Gene said.

Harry waved to Gene and sat at the Ravenclaw table next to Cho. He showed the necklace to Cho.

"Thank you Mr. Gene!" Cho said, turning around and waving to Gene.

Gene smiled and nodded his head. "Quite welcome!"

Samuel walked into the Great Hall and shook hands with several of the students before sitting down across from his father. He generously filled his plate and began eating.

"You look extra chipper this afternoon." Gene commented.

"It's a great Tuesday." Samuel replied. "Had a good Monday, classes went well. Draco Malfoy was even tolerable today."

"Malfoy is in your class?" Fred Weasley asked.

"Yeah, he says because he wants to laugh at how primitive muggles really are." Samuel replied. "Really though he wants to flirt with a pretty little Slythern."

Gene chuckled. "As is the way with many young men." He said. "I don't mean to change the subject, but Dumbledore wants to meet with you and me as soon as possible."

"Do you know what for? I was supposed to go help Filch with his rounds today." Samuel said.

"I think it has something to do with the fact that we're the only real muggles here now." Gene said with a shrug. "I'm only guessing though."

Hermione, who was sitting next to Samuel, leaned over. "There were some new arrivals today." She whispered. "Harry said he recognized one, but he didn't know from where."

"Really?" Gene asked.

"Yes, older wizards and witches." She said, leaning even closer and whispering quieter. "They're expecting the worst I think."

Samuel nodded. "Keep it all to yourself; don't even talk to Ron about anything." Samuel whispered. "We'll head up there after lunch."

Gene and Samuel quickly finished eating, and Hermione glanced at the professor's table with a thoughtful look on her face. Dumbledore was not at his place as normal, nor eating with any of the students. Samuel and Gene stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. They quickly made their way to the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office.

"Cheesecake." Gene said. The gargoyle jumped out of the way of the hidden stairwell and the two climbed the stairs. They found Dumbledore's office door open. Upon entering the room several heads turned. They recognized Sirius at once, but none of the other people. Several reached for their wands, but Dumbledore motioned for them to put them away. Dumbledore stood up and smiled.

"I'd like you to meet Gene Evans, and his son Samuel Green as he's called here." Dumbledore said. "Samuel, Gene I'd like you to meet Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, and Severus Snape." He said, nodding to a young man not much older then Sirius, an older woman, and a tall severe looking man with a perpetual sneer on his face. Samuel and Gene went around the room shaking hands.

"I've heard a lot about Remus, and Severus." Samuel said. "From the students."

"Nothing bad I hope." Remus asked.

"No, sir." Samuel said.

"Don't lie." Severus said in a gravely voice. "There are few students here who like me."

"There are a few." Samuel said. "You were the potions master right?"

Snape nodded slowly. "Yes, Why?"

"I need to speak to you later, there's a potion I need that's quite beyond Alveron Nickelroy's capabilities." Samuel said.

"Then we shall look into it." Snape said. "Nickelroy is almost as legendary as his old mentor. I doubt I can do what Nickelroy cannot, though I'll try." He said, and then abruptly turned his head away from Samuel and back to Dumbledore.

"If you will please take a seat." Dumbledore said. Gene and Samuel sat down in two empty chairs in response. "As you know, there are spies among the students. I contacted Elanus Green of the Department of Mysteries for help. He sent his cousin Samuel, a capable young man with talents beyond our highest expectations. Samuel is almost wholly responsible for catching these spies."

"They've been captured?" Snape asked.

Dumbledore started to speak but Samuel raised his hand. "I'm sorry, can I interrupt?" Samuel asked. Dumbledore graciously nodded.

"We have been tracking the spies, intercepting messages, decoding them, and following their movements. We even have names, of most if not all of them. They have a group of some sorts that practices the dark arts after hours. I thought it wise not to capture them after we read what the first message said." Samuel said. "We're waiting for a better time; we can't afford to let Voldemort's followers know."

"You must be a truly talented wizard." Figg commented.

"They aren't wizards." Sirius said. "They're muggles."

"Muggles? You jest." Fletcher said.

"He's telling the truth. I met Gene Evans a long time ago." Remus replied. "They are in fact muggles."

"How is it they could do what the wizards here could not?" asked Arabella.

"As I said, Samuel is an exceptionally talented young man." Dumbledore replied. "His cousin Elanus Green took him under his wing. He's been trained at our Department of Mysteries and the Order of the Wizard Slayers."

"A very dangerous man." Snape observed.

"You let one of those killers in here!" Figg cried in outrage. "Around the students!"

"We are not killers." Samuel commented. "We are simply a defence mechanism. The Order deals with problems the wizard community can't."

"They have a simple objective." Remus said. "Eliminate threats to our world. They're hardly killers."

"I'm surprised you all know about us." Samuel said.

"There are few that do." Dumbledore said. "They have uncovered plans for an attack on Hogwarts. This attack is supposed to happen soon, for the last several weeks we have been making preparations. Severus, I think you have something to say about that?"

"Indeed." Snape said. "As you all know I have been spying on the Death Eaters from within. Voldemort is raising an army, and his first target is here."

"Why here?" Fletcher asked. "There are just children here, surely he's not that depraved?"

"He plans to strike Dumbledore, and Potter hard. They are his targets, not the other children. For some time there has been a small cult of children here, practicing the Dark Arts. This group was started by Voldemort himself, mostly recruiting children of his followers, and other twisted individuals. Until now they've been quiet, and mostly students dabbling in evil, never realizing what they were into. After his failure at the tournament last year, Voldemort contacted the leader of this group, and recalled their oaths. They have been sending him information since the beginning of the school year at least and possibly for quite some time before." Snape continued. "They've been trying to do Potter in themselves. Fortunately, all their efforts have been foiled by circumstance, though if Elanus Green is involved I hardly think it was coincidence."

"We've been lucky." Samuel said. "We didn't even know that was their intention until recently. There has been nothing in any message we've intercepted about that."

"I see, what plans have been made so far?" Mundungus asked. "When will these children be captured if at all?"

"This castle is a fortress, we've simply refurbished its defences." Gene replied. "Samuel, Hagrid and the caretaker Filch have been recruiting help from what I hear as well."

"What kind of help?" asked Sirius.

"I'd rather not reveal that now, we can not afford anything to leak if we're to have any advantage." Samuel replied. "I will just say that this castle and the grounds hold a large supply of virtually untapped resources."

"As for when they will be captured, we're hoping at the end of this week." Gene said. "We plan to get who we think their leader is first, then the rest of them as soon as possible afterwards."

"Do you know who this leader is?" asked Figg.

"Yes, a girl. We do have her name, but we need to catch her in the act. If we just waltz into her class, it'll alert her group. We also need proof." Samuel said. "She's the one the sends the messages out every Friday."

"Who is she?" Mundungus asked.

"They can not tell you." Dumbledore said. "It is better if only they know."

"Why?" Snape asked.

"Because we would view the girl with suspicion." Dumbledore said. "She would notice, and likely change her routine."

"Clever." Remus said. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Wait." Samuel replied. "We will need help capturing the children in this group. I figure as soon as the next message doesn't arrive, Voldemort will accelerate his plans. There will not be much time after this week to do anything, so prepare for a fight."

The group nodded and discussed defence plans well into the next hour. For the following two days Alveron Nickelroy and Severus Snape worked feverishly on several potions. The sound of hammer against anvil echoed in the Chamber of Secrets. The Weasley twins, and Hermione brought Samuel the object they had been recruited to work on earlier in the year. It was a ball the size of a basketball with a paper tab sticking out of it. The three had produced several. Sirius patrolled the forests in his dog form. Remus and Mad Eye Moody brought everyone up to date on defending themselves against the dark arts. Finally Friday came, and tension hung in the air over everyone involved. Samuel's office was to be the meeting place before the strike that night. Virtually every professor that was involved showed up, as did all the guests at Hogwarts. Samuel's desk had been moved to the side of the office and replaced with a smaller table to accommodate the nearly filled room. Chairs had been set up in rows, and Samuel stood at the head of the "class".

"Alright, is everyone here?" Samuel asked, looking around the room. Elanus nodded and tapped a disk sitting in the middle of the floor. "Thank you, Elanus. This is possibly one of the most dangerous things that's been done here at Hogwarts for a year or two anyway. Tonight we're going to capture the spy that's been sending messages to Voldemort. Now, a small team of us are going to actually be near the Abandoned Tower, as we'll call it. Filch, Elanus, James, and myself are going to form that team. Should we fail, the spy will almost have to run down this corridor here." He said, tracing his finger down a route he had marked out on a map of Hogwarts. "Dad, Maria, Flitwick and Remus will stand post here. McGonagall, Mad Eye, Sirius and Alveron here." He said marking two spots on his map. "There is almost no chance she'll make it that far, but we've prepared for that event as well. Professor Longfellow, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher and Hagrid will be in this corridor. The rest of you should remain close by that group in case of emergency."

"Should we guard the dormitories?" asked one of the professors.

"If she makes it that far, we're pretty much done for." Samuel said. "We think she'll possibly head for the Gryffindor Tower. We've prepared a surprise for her in Harry's room. He, the Weasley's and Hermione Granger are going to help too, though in a less direct fashion."

"Should we be endangering students like this?"

"They're already in danger, if this goes well, no one will notice until sometime tomorrow. If it doesn't we're going to have to capture all of the names on our list tomorrow." Samuel said.

"Why can't we do that?" James asked.

"Simple, we don't know if we have everyone. If we capture their leader, they'll meet tomorrow night in all likelihood we'll capture all of them." Samuel said. "I would like you all to use extreme caution. This girl carries darts that disintegrate their target after a few minutes, and she carries a sword of some sort. Do not kill her, or seriously injure her, that makes questioning nearly impossible. Expect use of the Dark Arts. Mad Eye, do you have anything to say, you're our resident Auror."

"Aye." Moody replied. "Be careful, she is just a student but if she's capable of even half what Professor Green here has said, she's dangerous."

Samuel nodded. "Remus?"

"No, I think everyone is up to date." Remus said.

"What if she uses the Killing Curse?" asked Longfellow.

"Hopefully she'll be well subdued before then, even if she knows it." Samuel said. "I seriously doubt it will come to that, but it's always a risk. Any questions?" Everyone shook their head.

"Alright then, I'd suggest getting some rest, and prepare for a long night."  Samuel said. "Meet back here in three hours, Elanus will get you as best equipped as possible and we'll move out."

Everyone in the room murmured and slowly left Samuel's office. Elanus and Gene stayed behind.

"We need sixteen invisibility cloaks?" asked Elanus. "That'll be hard to acquire before tonight."

"No, just twelve or so. I'll handle our invisibility. You have that suit too." Samuel said. "We will need several sets of those glasses though."

"I can do that." Elanus said. "So, twelve cloaks, sixteen sets of glasses. Anything else?"

"You might want to give each group something to paralyze the girl with. Especially dad's group, for several reasons." Samuel said.

"Why my group?" Gene asked.

"Two non-wizards." Samuel said. "You're capable and all but if Flitwick and Remus get in trouble, you'll end up having to hurt the girl to subdue her. I doubt it'll come to that though."

Gene nodded. "I see your point."

"I'm going to go take a nap." Samuel said. "I'll see you guys later."

Samuel went off to his quarters, stripped to his small clothes and laid down in his bed. He caught about two hours sleep before he woke up and dressed himself for the meeting. After pulling his shoes on to his feet he walked to his office with a box under his arm. Elanus and a few of the others were already waiting for him. The sun outside was low on the horizon, and Samuel glanced out his window to see Dumbledore, Snape, Harry, Hermione, Fred, George and Ron heading out to the campsite where the bats were intercepted. The rest of the group assigned to catching the spy filed slowly into the room. When they were all gathered Samuel and Elanus passed out the gear and instructed everyone on its use.

"Is everyone ready? On the toll of 9 we have exactly one half hour to get to our respective posts. I suggest you do it one at a time and as quickly as possible. You will be invisible but sixteen people walking down a hall at once makes a lot of noise." Samuel said. "My group will go first, then Dad's and McGonagall's will go next. Last will be Professor Longfellow's. The Weasley twins have already scoured the area, and left me a note informing me that there is a secret passage not on the map. So, I will need Dad's group to move up to here." Samuel said, pointing at an alcove on the map. "She can not be allowed to reach that passage. It leads somewhere outside, and the Weasley's are going to be standing out there, along with Professor Dumbledore."

The bell started to toll nine o'clock and Samuel, Elanus, James and Filch went out the office door. They stopped by an empty classroom, and Elanus changed into his invisibility suit, and Samuel donned his armour.

"Is all that necessary?" Filch asked.

"Adds to the effect." Samuel said as he pulled his hydra skin cloak over his shoulders. Samuel buckled his sword around his waist and pulled the shadows from the corners of the room around the four. Elanus activated his suit and ran down ahead of them. Samuel, James and Filch put on the special glasses Elanus had given them. They started down the corridors, and could see Elanus' outline clearly in red. He motioned them to follow, and they quietly made their way down the halls. They arrived at the secret passage and James cast a silencing spell on the wall. The passage opened and the four went down the hall and to an old classroom just before the tower. Samuel and James hid in small alcoves where suits of armour stood. Filch hid in a classroom. Elanus tossed James an invisibility cloak, and hid in the classroom with Filch. Samuel's cloak did as good a job as any invisibility cloak of hiding him, along with the shadows which were still pulled around his team members. The effect was interesting, the hall appeared slightly darker then usual, and anyone entering the classroom would have to run into Filch to see him. Samuel set his glass mouse on the floor and it scampered off to his office. The next group pulled on their cloaks and glasses, and positioned themselves a bit up the hall. McGonagall's group came soon after and placed themselves in the only other connecting corridor. Finally Longfellow's group positioned themselves in the hall just before the opening wall. Another glass mouse was sent, and McGonagall sent her own rodent to communicate with the other groups. A long half hour passed and the sun set. The mice communicated the message to get ready. The sound of footsteps faintly echoed down the hall.....