"Evangeline is gone, Albus. The Death Eaters have her!" announced Snape with barely concealed rage, as the four of them entered Dumbledore's office.
Black piped up. "You don't know that. Just because you can't find her, doesn't mean that she's come to harm."
Snape ignored him as he would any unimportant background noise and focused on Dumbledore.
"What makes you so sure the Death Eaters have Evangeline, Severus?" asked Dumbledore quietly.
"She told Minerva that she was planning a trip to Gringotts to access her vault. Lupin and I followed her tracks in the snow. As we exited the gate, we saw that three extra pairs of footprints suddenly overtook her. There were signs of a struggle. Apparently, they all disapparated away together. There were no tracks leaving the area of the gate."
Dumbledore sighed and looked grim. "That sounds conclusive to me. If Voldemort had discovered her whereabouts, why do you suppose you weren't requested to abduct her yourself?"
Snape looked uncertain. "I don't know. I suppose it might depend on how he found her, or even who found her. Certainly, if it was someone like Lucius Malfoy, who found out about her, he'd want to capture her himself, to curry favor."
Black stepped forward. "Well, if you're so sure that Voldemort has her, why can't you just go find out then? You're supposed to be a Death Eater, after all!"
"It doesn't work that way!" Snape snarled. "The dark mark is a one way signal, and the Dark Lord is the only one who can activate it. He calls, we come. He has many meeting places. We never know where we'll appear when we disapparate. Do you really think I care so little for her that I wouldn't rush immediately to her rescue if I had the slightest inkling of where to look?! I'd tear up heaven and hell to find her, but I must have a place to begin!"
"Well, he will summon you, right? To help get answers out of her?" Black snarled back.
Snape went very pale and paced over and looked out the window. "If they do what's been done before, I probably will be summoned…eventually. However, I won't be the first to try to get her cooperation, and break her to his will," he said in a hollow dead voice.
"What will happen to her?" asked Lupin in a quiet voice.
Snape sighed raggedly and clenched his fists. "She'll be tortured magically, then physically…if Malfoy is involved, then sexually, as well." His voice dripped with pain. "Mind controlling potions are a last resort with this crowd. They enjoy the pain and suffering of others far too much for that." He leaned his head against the window.
For once, Black seemed to lose his belligerence. "Maybe she'll tell them what they want to know, before it gets that far."
Snape shook his head. "She won't tell them what they want to know."
Lupin asked, "How can you be so sure?"
Snape sighed. "Because I know what's at stake here…you do not."
"Perhaps it's time we did," stated Lupin flatly.
Snape looked at Dumbledore, who sighed. "They're right, Severus. It's time they knew the truth. When Evangeline Winthrop came to me, she was being pursued by Death Eaters. She told me that she thought they were after her, because of a talent that she alone possesses. Her mother also had this talent and was sought by Voldemort, many years ago. Galatea Winthrop jumped to her death from a high cliff into the ocean to avoid him."
Snape closed his eyes at this and turned back to the window.
Dumbledore continued, "Evangeline demonstrated this talent to me when she first came here, and many times since, as I've sought to stop her to no avail."
Lupin frowned. "Well, what can she do?"
Dumbledore smiled slightly and gestured to a portrait on the wall. "Evangeline can walk into that picture on the wall, like you or I walk through a door. She can enter the painting and move from painting to painting, just like the painted figures themselves can. Only she can go in and out, and she can take others with her. She can enter a painting in London and step out again in my office, and no one, and no magic, can stop her."
Lupin and Black looked shocked. Apparently McGonagall had heard this before, she merely continued to look scared.
"You've actually seen her do this?" exclaimed Black.
"Yes, I've not only seen her do this, I've gone into a painting with her…a remarkable experience," said Dumbledore.
Snape spoke up. "I, too, have accompanied Evangeline into a painting."
Both Black and Lupin stood there with their mouths hanging open in astonishment.
Finally Lupin seemed to find his voice. "My god! No wonder Voldemort wants her. If he could harness this talent, he could go anywhere. No magical barrier would get in his way. It would force the destruction of all the paintings in the magical world, in order for people to feel safe at all. He could enter Hogwarts any time he wanted."
Dumbledore nodded and sank back in his chair. "Yes," he said quietly.
McGonagall stepped forward. "What can we do to get her back safely? Voldemort can't be allowed to abuse her!" She was actually wringing her hands in distress.
Black, Lupin, McGonagall, and Dumbledore stared at each other and then, as one, turned to stare at Snape, who sighed. "If I knew what to do, don't you think I'd do it?" he whispered in an anguished tone.
McGonagall stepped to his side and put a hand on his arm. "Yes, Severus, we all know you'd do anything to help Evangeline. Eventually you will be summoned. We need to plan what you can do then."
He nodded. "There may be a way, if I can persuade Evangeline to give them what they want."
"What!" howled Black.
Snape looked at Black. "You don't know what it's like inside a painting. Let me explain."
And he did.