As ever, standard disclaimers apply.
Coppers prowled every inch of the Stonehenge archeological monument. Most of them not the uniform types. Many of them not even regular police. Preston was one of them. But his reasons for being here were much different than anyone else's. Sellinger had tipped him off. A wizard attack she'd said. And she'd told him about the so called "Dark Mark" which hung sickly green over the field until Aurors (wizard coppers she explained tersely) dissipated it. There were no wizards here now, of course. Or if there were they blended in amazingly well. There were only police, military, and the ubiquitous newspaper and television reporters.
He hadn't expected to find much of anything this late in the day. But curiosity won out and he joined the prowling detectives, flashing his credentials when asked and ignoring everyone else otherwise. It proved to be a waste of time and effort and an afternoon he could have spent more productively engaged. If there were any clues to be found they'd been found before he'd got there. If there were any wizards they'd come and gone. He left without having gained anything but more curiosity.
--
The rain kept falling, falling. The day remained grey and forbidding. So housekeeping, it seemed, was the perfect solution to the dreariness that tried to settle in the Order's headquarters. Mrs Weasley had set the teens to cleaning their rooms in the morning and they had not whined even once. Later, after Fred and George had removed the portrait of Mrs Black from the entrance hall (no mean feat as the sooty burn marks and gouges around the general area had to indicate) and banished it (almost anticlimactic really) to the attic, the matron of the Weasley family began to notice a change in the attitudes of her youngest son and only daughter and in Harry Potter as well. It wasn't hard to pin down. They didn't cringe when passing anywhere near the foyer. their voices quickly adapted more relaxed and playful tones as they occasionally yelled -- and didn't have to worry about the painting starting up its awful caterwaul. They'd been boisterously exuberant when she told them they could owl Hermoine to see if she'd like to join them on Monday's outing to Diagon Ally for school supplies.
So while the day might have been dank and gloomy outside, a kind of sunlight finally rose inside the old Black family residence. And it lasted well into the evening. At least until the Order meeting commenced.
Ron, Harry, and Ginny were again excluded form the meeting. But ever resourceful (not to mention curious) they'd gathered in the first floor hall, just outside Snape's room, with three sets of Extendable Ears courtesy of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
The first clear sound they had was Arthur's, "... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named apparently has no idea that we've rescued Professor Snape. I believe his attack on Stonehenge was meant to be a message to the Muggles."
Moody huffed and growled out his rejection of the idea, "You give him too little credit, Arthur."
"I hardly think so, Alastor. If he knew where Snape was he'd send Death Eaters after him. They have no fear of Muggles after all, do they. If he thought the Order had the man, he'd be torturing sympathizers--"
"Which he'd do for sport anyway--"
"But he doesn't know who has him, except someone has told him that the Muggles at least did."
Kingsley Shacklebolt interrupted, "Arthur, Moody, there have been Death Eater sightings all over England since the attack. But almost all have been attributable to nothing more than frightened old witches with more imagination than sense."
That comment elicited a giggle from Ginny, which sound her brother stifled by clapping his hand over her mouth.
"Severus has been twice summoned and not answered. What do you think this tells him?" Arthur countered.
"I don't know," Moody admitted testily.
"Unless Severus' role has been discovered, Voldemort should take his lack of response to mean that he can't respond." Albus Dumbledore's calm voice spoke up. "Despite the fact that most Purebloods do not have any contact with Muggle news services, I cannot imagine that the Dark Lord has not heard of Severus' incarceration at a Muggle hospital."
"Then he should guess we've got him since clearly the Ministry does not." Moody countered.
"That means the message is for us, for the Order." Arthur reasoned, his voice soft and dismayed. "He is telling us to return Snape to him or he will continue to attack Muggles."
"I'm afraid I have to agree with that assessment." Dumbledore's voice was firm but lacked encouragement. "The question is, then, what should we do?"
"Much as I don't like Snape, I like his lord and master even less. I'm not for giving that dark wizard anything but a Dementor's Kiss." Moody was fervent in his assertion.
"Well of course not," a stately witch of indeterminate age remarked with a slight sting in her tone. "But a more useful suggestion would be appreciated Moody."
"Azkaban." The Mad-Eye rolled around in its socket as if drunk with joy.
"Alastor--"
"Where else? St Mungos? Hogwarts? All those innocents, Dumbledore, are you prepared to use them to shield a turncoat?"
"Not Azkaban." Dumbledore replied almost too quietly to be heard.
"Why not? It's better warded than ever. They can try all they want to get him back and all they'll get is dead."
"He doesn't deserve that," Tonks grumbled in an unusually subdued voice.
"No? He is a Death Eater! Nothing he could do for us would balance the evil he did to us!"
"Not Azkaban, Alastor."
"Why not, Albus?" The ex-Auror was practically shouting. "Why won't you tell us why he is so precious to you."
Dumbledore's voice was arctic. "I cannot."
A shuffling sounded behind the three teens almost causing Ron to yelp loudly. All three turned to find a singularly confused looking Severus Snape staggering slowly from his room. His face was contorted in pain and he was holding his arm against his chest. He was barefoot and dressed only in a long nightshirt, disheveled and open at the throat. He didn't seem aware of the three young people arrayed in front of him until Ron and Harry had grabbed hold of his arms and forced him to halt.
"Mum! Mum!" Ron yelled, his eyes wide. "Ginny go down there and get some--"
She hadn't needed to. Everyone in the kitchen had heard his call. Kingsley Shacklebolt, closest to the door, was the first to reach them. He edged Ron away taking his place at the dazed wizard's side. "Professor Snape, can you hear me?" He asked calmly.
"Oh he only knows that he is Severus," Molly gasped breathless from having run up two flights of stairs.
"Severus?"
"Hurts."
"Where are you going?" the Auror asked loudly now.
"I do not know." He was shaking now and couldn't stay upright without the larger man holding him up.
Albus came to his other side, displacing a more than willing Harry. "Come child, let us take you back to your room."
"Yes. Headmaster. Will it stop?"
"Yes child." Albus promised somberly. He gestured to Shacklebolt who grimaced but easily lifted the diminished wizard and carried him back to the rumpled bed. He was none too gentle at dropping him back down but Dumbledore didn't seem to notice as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "This will help, Severus," he murmured as he drew out his wand. But Snape's eyes were squeezed closed and he didn't see the Headmaster point his wand as his head and he didn't hear the spell that stole away his consciousness. But at least he no longer felt pain.
Most of the Order members looked troubled. Moody looked furious. No one noticed, though, that Mundungus Fletcher looked thoughtful. Likewise no one had noticed the Extendable Ears Ginny had shoved into her pockets and when the adults resumed their meeting the teens resumed their surveillance.
"There. An example of security." Moody grumbled.
"The man couldn't stand up by himself. He wasn't going to get anywhere. Those kids could have stopped him!" Shacklebolt was almost at wits end with this discussion. "What are we going to do about You-Know-Who? Do you think the Muggles are going to be easy to Obliviate forever?"
"If only the Ministry would see that," Dumbledore mused thoughtfully.
"Well they don't, so we have to take care of it."
"What can we do but try to weaken the Death Eaters. Himself as well if we can." Arthur spoke plainly. "We need to be more" he winced as he said the next word and the three youngsters could hear it in his voice, "...vigilant."
The meeting broke up shortly thereafter with only a few boring reports that Harry, Ron, and Ginny lost interest in. Arthur returned to the ministry with Tonks and Shacklebolt. Dumbledore stayed but went to sit with Snape. Molly let the teens have a snack but then sent them directly to bed.