"Ah, there you are Severus. What can I – " Dumbledore caught sight of Severus' face as he came more fully into the light. "What happened?" he asked in a very different tone.

There was no point in delaying the inevitable. "Emmeline has been whoring for Lucius," he said succinctly. The Headmaster's mouth tightened briefly, and anger flared in his eyes. He reined it in fairly quickly, although Severus could sense it just below the surface.

"I'm very sorry to hear that," Dumbledore said calmly, taking a seat. He studied Severus with concern; the younger man met his gaze levelly, praying Dumbledore would let this alone, just for a little while. The wound was too raw. If the Headmaster insisted on probing it he wouldn't be able to get through this meeting, and right now he desperately needed help.

Severus didn't need sympathy, he needed a plan.

"What is your take on the situation?" Dumbledore asked at last.

"Lucius has probably been at Grimmauld Place since the escape," Severus admitted wearily. "The fact that he didn't go to the Dark Lord for all this time means he's planning something - either big enough to restore his position when he finally does appear before him or big enough to replace him. Proof that I've betrayed him would qualify for the former, but he seems to be holding it in reserve."

"Is Lucius aware that you know?"

"No." His lips twisted in painful self-mockery. "Emmeline is not that good."

"Could he be there with Voldemort's approval?"

Severus hesitated. "I find it hard to believe he would allow me to live if he knew how I had betrayed him - and Emmeline is proof of that. I would not be able to smooth that over; the Dark Lord ordered her brought before him too long ago." The only possibility for preserving his credibility with Voldemort would be for him to turn over Lucius and Emmeline - preferably dead, or at least in no condition to answer questions - before they turned him in. He knew Dumbledore would never agree, which left him in a very precarious position. It was only a matter of time.

"You can't go back," Dumbledore said at last, then just as Severus was about to protest, he added, "to Voldemort or to Grimmauld Place."

"You cannot seriously – "

"I will see that Lucius and Emmeline are handed over to the Ministry, but we cannot expect to be able to maintain your cover under such circumstances."

"No!" Severus protested almost violently.

"Severus – "

"That is not the solution." He had not endured what he had this night for nothing.

"I don't know what else we can do at this point without placing you at undue risk."

"There must be a way to handle this without abandoning our original objective," Snape insisted harshly.

The problem was that he was in no condition to figure it out at the moment. Simply getting through the evening with Emmeline had taken too much out of him. He had expected the Headmaster to be able to come up with a plan for preserving their original objective - not for aborting the mission. He had lived with this for literally years, he would not fail just as the Potter boy was nearly ready - certainly not because of Emmeline and Lucius. The tide of fury at the thought was almost enough to drown out the persistent pain.

"Perhaps Catherine might have a suggestion?" Dumbledore suggested at last. "I have found her counsel useful in the past."

Reluctantly, Severus nodded his agreement. He was reasonably sure she would have enough sense not to try to sympathize with him.

On the other hand, she was married to Lupin.

Catherine, when summoned, agreed to join them in Dumbledore's office, arriving immediately via Floo powder in a flare of green flames. She had come in her dressing gown, and was as matter of fact about her informal attire as she was listening to Dumbledore's succinct summation of the situation, much to Severus' inward relief. When the Headmaster finished, she was silent for a few moments as she considered.

"It seems that we need to pre-empt them somehow - destroy their credibility with Voldemort before they destroy Severus', " she said thoughtfully. "Lucius isn't really an issue for us, the real problem is Emmeline. The fact that we've been hiding her all this time is what could trip us up."

"Exactly," the Headmaster agreed with a sigh. "I must admit that I did not foresee this when deciding upon the course of action we took last year. It did not occur to me that Emmeline would wish to continue to serve Voldemort after he had effectively ordered her execution, but apparently I underestimating the strength of her attachment to Lucius."

"What if we turn that around?" Catherine mused. "Let Voldemort think he underestimated Malfoy's attachment to Emmeline?"

"And allowed himself to be captured and taken into custody by the Ministry?" Severus sneered, but Dumbledore looked thoughtful.

"Knowing that he would be unharmed while in custody and having already arranged a prompt escape," the Headmaster proposed. "Lucius told her to wait for him at Grimmauld Place, having learned about it from Narcissa." Catherine raised an eyebrow in inquiry, and he explained. "Lucius' wife Narcissa was one of Sirius' cousins."

"Emmeline did allow Lucius access to Grimmauld Place, notwithstanding the Fidelius Charm protecting it. She must have retained the note you wrote her so that she would have it available for exactly such a purpose."

"So we twist that too," Catherine continued. "Emmeline was acting for the Order, trying to gain information as a double agent, pretending to Lucius that her loyalties were with Voldemort. Is there anything we can tie to her instead of you?" she asked Severus. "This could actually work to our advantage. Voldemort's been getting suspicious about a spy," Catherine smiled slightly, "so let's give him one."

Dumbledore frowned. "My dear, I really cannot allow – "

"I'm not suggesting we turn her over to him," Catherine interrupted. "Frankly, it would be much too risky. We need to keep her out of his hands, but that's no reason we can't allow him to think she's the double-agent who's been responsible for the leaks."

Severus turned this scenario over in his mind. "While this particular plan has potential, we have yet to address the most significant issues."

"Lucius and Emmeline," Dumbledore agreed.

"Emmeline turns Lucius in to the Ministry – we'll need Kingsley for that - now that she's discovered that he's no longer providing valuable intelligence, having been working to further his own interests rather than Voldemort's," Catherine proposed. "The public is told she's been a captive and managed to escape. Sketchy on details for security reasons, but big play on the heroine line for the press. Malfoy goes back to prison, and Emmeline goes off somewhere quiet to recover."

"The Dark Lord will, of course, know that the public account is a lie, but that may lend more credence to the story that we wish him to believe," Severus said with an air of concession.

"A workable plan," Dumbledore pronounced, an unusually steely glint in his light eyes. "If it is presented to Emmeline as a fait accompli, with Lucius already in custody, I believe I will be able to convince her to cooperate. Her options at that point will be severely limited."

"We should try to get Lucius to believe she turned him in if we can. I'm not overly optimistic about the Ministry's ability to keep him in custody." Catherine regarded the Headmaster with slightly wry resignation. "I suppose you'll have to continue to protect her, but I would suggest some place out of the country this time, preferably with someone to keep an eye on her." Her casual comment brought back to Severus the enormous magnitude of his failure - Dumbledore had trusted him with this task and he had failed abysmally - and another spear of pain stabbed him.

Something of this must have been revealed in his expression - yet another failure on his part - for Catherine, when her eyes fell on him, told him abruptly, "That wasn't a slam at you, Severus. I don't see how you - or anyone else - could have expected Emmeline to behave like such a colossal idiot." He was silently grateful that she continued on without appearing to expect any further response from him. "What kind of a timetable are we looking at for this?"

Dumbledore looked gravely thoughtful. "I believe I will be able to secure an appropriate place for Emmeline, but it will require a little time to arrange. The matter of arranging for Lucius' arrest is a simple one, of course, since we will be able to look to Kingsley and Tonks for assistance."

"Now that I think about it, aren't they the ones who arrested him last time?" Catherine objected. "We don't want to draw too much attention to them in the wrong way."

"You have a point, but I think we can risk it here," the Headmaster decided. "They can claim to have been on his trail because they were determined to bring him back to justice after having captured him themselves the first time."

"I'm a little more worried about Voldemort than about any Ministry officials," Catherine returned, "but we probably don't have a lot of time here, so I guess we can't worry about it now anyway."

"If you will let me know as soon as you have made the necessary arrangements, I will be ready," Severus interjected stiffly. The Headmaster glanced over at him, and Severus wished silently that this conference would end quickly and he could retire to his dungeons to nurse his wounds in peace.

"You will not be needed for this, Severus."

"I assure you that I am perfectly capable – " he could hear the shrill note in his own voice and knew he was revealing too much of his pain, so he stopped speaking abruptly. Dumbledore probably had a very accurate idea of his current emotional state, but that was no excuse for displaying it.

The Headmaster rose, walked over to him, and grasped his arms, gently but firmly pulling Severus up and out of his chair to face him. If Dumbledore's eyes had been too kind, Severus might have broken down then and there, but they were very firm instead, and Severus was silently grateful to have been spared this humiliation. "Whether or not you are capable is not an issue - you will not participate in this aspect of our plans any further. You may continue your work with Voldemort as long as you wish to do so and it can be done without undue risk, but there is no need for you to have any further contact with Emmeline. I would not ask it of you, nor would I allow you to offer." Severus gave a short jerk of his head in reluctant - and relieved - acknowledgment, and the Headmaster released him, sighing. "I believe it would be better if you were not even here, however I am – "

"Potions conference," Catherine interjected, and Severus realized that he had actually forgotten she was in the room for a moment. The Headmaster looked thoughtful.

"Is there a suitable conference at the moment?" he inquired. "I confess I have not been keeping up with some of my journals lately."

"It's the Western Regional - well, something or other - and it's next week," Catherine supplied with a shrug. "Well, this week, by now."

Snape cast around in his mind for the conference information. "The Western Regional Confederation of Alchemists and Potion Brewers Quadrennial Conference." He looked at Catherine. "I was unaware that you subscribed to the Journal," he added. While there were many journals, the group of people who subscribed to the only one carrying a notice about the conference would not need to use its full name.

Catherine smiled slightly, obviously amused. "Whatever it is, I don't. A friend of mine is going and asked to use my house there. The conference is being held in a Muggle hotel, and she wanted somewhere more relaxing to stay. There's some other conference at the same time for a group of people who will all be dressed in costume, so the wizards will be able to wear normal clothes without attracting too much attention, but she didn't expect it to be a very restful environment."

Dumbledore was nodding his approval. "That should do very nicely, Severus. I'll see that you're registered immediately."

"Unfortunately, I must point out that registration for that particular conference closed officially three weeks ago," Severus said wearily. It had probably been totally booked for some time before that, he decided regretfully. He remembered reading the notice when it came out in the fall quarterly, but he had not expected to be able to leave Hogwarts during the winter holiday break.

"Nathanial Beaker is an old acquaintance of mine. I don't believe there will be any difficulty in arranging your attendance," the Headmaster assured him.

Catherine rose too. "You're welcome to stay at the house as well if you like," she said casually. "Anything else?"

"Not at present, my dear," Dumbledore told her warmly. "I appreciate your coming on such short notice. Do give Remus my best, as well as an apology for dragging you away like this." Catherine laughed.

"I think I can manage to persuade him to forgive you," she parried lightly, her eyes dancing as she stepped back into the fire and then disappeared.