As Marya stepped out onto the hearth of No 12 Grimmauld Place, she was met by Arabella Figg.
"What is going on?" Marya asked, her heart beating fast.
"An attack on a Muggle place in Cornwall, that's what," Arabella said, obviously distressed. "Some sort of farm, I believe. You are one of the first ones to show up – Tonks and Mad-Eye are already out there. Better get going." With that, she pointed to a pile of pebbles. "Portkeys. Be careful, dear."
As soon as Marya felt solid ground under her feet again, she rolled off to the side and crouched down, not knowing what to expect. She dropped the pebble carefully into her pocket. In the light of the half-moon, she could see that she was in a desolate stretch of gently rolling countryside. Next to her was a low stone wall. Carefully raising herself so she could see over it, she could barely make out an old dairy barn sitting on one side of the enclosure. Dilapidated farm equipment and piles of more rock were strewn around the grassy field. Off to one side, there was an empty watering trough.
As she looked in that direction, she heard a whispered, "Psst. Marya. Over here." Following the voice, she could make out two figures crouching behind the scant shelter. As noiselessly as she could, Marya climbed over the wall and loped over to the trough, keeping low to the ground.
Tonk and Moody were looking towards the side of the barn Marya had not been able to see from her previous vantage point. As her eyes adjusted to the low light, she could make out a handful of cloaked, hooded figures holding flickering torches, standing in a rough circle. Inside the circle, there was something on the ground.
"What is going on?" she asked the two Aurors in a whisper.
"I don't know. That is what worries me." Moody said through clenched teeth. "But I can tell you that those are Muggles on the ground. Five or six. I don't know if they are dead or merely unconscious."
The sight of that limp pile in the midst of the Death Eaters made Marya's Healer blood run cold. Yet she knew it would be foolishness to barge in there on some half-cooked plan to free the Muggles.
At that moment, several more members of the Order appeared on the other side of the wall, Lupin and Shacklebolt among them. Tonks and Moody went to fill them in, while Marya kept an eye on the barely visible group across the field, ready to raise the alarm should anything change. Nothing did.
Fnally, Tonks, Moody, and Lupin crept back to where she was.
"We have to do something to help those Muggles. They could be dying as we are sitting here," Marya whispered urgently.
"I don't like it. Smells like a trap," Moody said grimly.
"She is right though. We can't just wait and do nothing," Lupin said. "Let's try and get closer, at least."
With Moody, who could best see what the enemy was up to, in the lead, the members of the Order crept up towards the eerily silent group, taking shelter behind rock piles and a wheel-less old wagon to stay out of sight. When they were as close as they could hope to get without being discovered, they stopped to regroup.
"What are they waiting for?" whispered Tonks."Why aren't they doing anything?"
- - -
Severus Snape stood in the neglected gardens of the ramshackle manor house where the Dark Lord had summoned his Death Eaters. Around him were more than a dozen of Voldemort's servants, all ready to disapparate on command.
He didn't like this at all.
They had been informed of the time and location of the attack early that evening after being entertained and regaled since the evening before by a Dark Lord who seemed to be in a particularly good mood – and Severus in turn had informed Dumbledore, apparating to Headquarters for just a second to drop off a note containing the information, under the guise of having to use the privy.
From then on, things had not gone at all as expected. The Dark Lord had gone off with two of his most trusted servants, and there had been a lengthy conference. Snape had done his best to get close enough to overhear the discussion, but had been unsuccessful.
Then they had been separated into three groups, and the first group had disapparated along with the Dark Lord to who knows where. The second group had disappeared soon thereafter, leaving Snape and the rest to wonder what on earth was happening.
It was obvious that Lord Voldemort suspected a spy in their midst, and was taking precautions to minimize the possible damage. Too often Aurors had shown up unexpectedly and interrupted the Dark Lord's revels. There wasn't anyone he trusted completely.
Once they had been split into groups, no one had been allowed to be alone for even a second. He had not had a chance to talk to Dumbledore at all after that. The leader of his group had pulled aside five of their number, and huddled with them for several minutes. Then those, also, had disappeared. Severus found himself getting more and more nervous as the time drew closer. Something was going horribly wrong. He wished he knew what the hell was going on.
Finally, their leader spoke up.
"Our comrades have gone ahead, and have hopefully by now captured a family of Muggles that our Lord has given us for our entertainment. He has arranged to have the information leaked to appropriate Ministry sources. Aurors should be arriving presently to defend the filthy little creatures. In a few minutes, we will apparate far enough from the location so our arrival will not be heard. We will then surround enemy forces quietly from behind. When we have got them completely enclosed, we will attack. Whichever of them we can...dispose of, we may. Our main goal though is to keep them occupied. So take your time, enjoy yourself, there is no hurry. We want the attention of those Muggle-lovers and mudbloods on us for as long as possible."
Severus was glad that the mask he was wearing hid how white his face had turned. He had just sent the Order smack dab into the middle of a trap. At trap that was nothing but a diversion, while the Dark Lord's real business was being conducted somewhere else.