A/N Thank you Maria for beta checking this.

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            Normally Alastor took the notes and kept himself quiet during these sporadic meetings.  He didn't like Snape and he didn't trust him.  Bully for Albus if he wanted to believe in redemption and was willing to buy into Snape's repentant act.  But as far as Moody was concerned, repentant or not, Snape was still a Death Eater and the whole lot of them belonged in Azkaban. 

            When he thought about it, Snape's kind of Death Eater bothered him the most.  Say what you would about You-Know-Who and the rest of his followers, but at least they were working for a cause they believed in.  No such misplaced honor for Snape.  Snape had just gone along for the ride and when things started to get a little unpleasant, suddenly wanted off - or so he claimed.  Being too weak willed and weak stomached to handle the reality of what he had signed up for didn't make Snape any better than the other Death Eaters as far as Alastor was concerned.  Something of the opposite.

            And even if Snape was sincere and this eager to turn against You-Know-Who as soon as things got a little dirty, what did that say about his commitment to Dumbledore?  No, once a traitor always a traitor.  Snape would sell them all out at the first sign of trouble.  Moody had no doubt that Snape was up to no good.

            "I, like everyone else, had heard that Professor McGonagall had been killed so naturally I was surprised to see her there.  I wondered if she was there on your behalf or if she genuinely believes in the Dark Lord's…cause?"

            The silence that followed Snape's question was an answer in itself.  If Snape had any doubt, Alastor's question took it away.  "Are you sure?"

            Snape nodded to him, but Moody questioned him again.  "How can you be sure?"

            Snape glanced at the still silent Albus before answering.  "I did see her almost everyday for seven years."

Despite his reservations about the source of this information, Alastor couldn't keep himself from crying out.  "We have to get her back!"

He would have thought that Dumbledore would be right with him, but Dumbledore adamantly shook his head.  "It isn't really her.  It's a trick.  Voldemort must have discovered that you have betrayed him.  It's a trap."

Snape insisted, "It was her.  One doesn't forget that temper easily."

Albus refused to concede.  "Minerva is dead.  Poppy was there.  She saw the Killing Curse used on her."

Snape looked slightly uncertain while speaking, not uncertain about his facts, but about the wisdom of challenging the word of Dumbledore's wife.  "Perhaps Madam Pomfr-Madame Dumbledore was mistaken."

Dumbledore didn't respond.  He turned away from them, towards the window.

Moody's mind was awhirl.  "We have to rescue her.  Obviously, she is being held there against her will."

Snape disagreed.  "I saw no evidence of that.  Quite the contrary..."  Snape looked as if he were about to say more, but instead he grabbed his forearm.  When he opened his mouth all that came out was a gasp.  "Gentlemen, I fear we must continue this discussion at another time."

Moody tried to get him to wait; these meetings were so irregular.  Dumbledore still said nothing.

Snape would not remain, but perhaps seeing the desperation in his eyes, he gave what little assurance he could.  "I will return in the morning.  If I can."

With Snape gone, Moody started to make plans aloud, but Dumbledore interrupted him.

"We need to find out where he's keeping her.  We need-"

"Minerva is dead.  Poppy told me.  She was there, she saw it happen.  This is another of Voldemort's tricks."

Alastor knew that Albus was almost certainly right.  "But if there's even a chance that she could be alive, don't we owe it to her to try to find out?"

Dumbledore continued to refuse the possibility.  "Minerva is dead.  She has to be."

Alastor was about to say something more, but seeing the look of anguish on his friend's face when he turned, he didn't have to.

"She has to be, because my gods if she isn't and I left her there with that monster all this time…"

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A/N Thank you my reviewers for your overwhelming response to the last chapter.  Please by all means, feel free to overwhelm me again!