The Spy and the Apprentice

by Samantha-Ives

[COMPLETE] The war has started. Sides have been chosen. But nothing is as it seems. Eyes can deceive, murderers can become heroes, and heroes...well. They become normal people. HBP SPOILERS! SSOFC, with tidbits of DMOFC and HG

22. Chapter 22

A/N: Woohoo! You reviewers are awesome!

Chapter 22- Jealousy of the New Best Friend

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Severus, Samantha, Harry and Draco stood in the center of the ballroom. Harry and Draco were back-to-back with black blindfolds over their eyes.

"How is this supposed to be helpful again?" said Draco as he fingered his covered eyes. He pulled out his wand as Harry flicked his out of his holster.

"It is supposed to teach you to listen to what is around you," said Severus as he circled the boys. "Which you cannot do if you are talking." Severus motioned for Samantha to go across the room, while Severus walked in the opposite direction. "You are to try to stun us without the aid of vision. We start now."

Harry and Draco split up and walked around the room slowly. After a few minutes of silence, Samantha took off her jacket and banished it across the room. Immediately, two stunners hit the wall where the jacket hit. Severus grinned at her and nodded. They stood still for a long time, only moving to step away from the boys' path. Severus walked silently up behind Draco, following him closely. Draco stopped and turned his head, his forehead wrinkling. Severus shot a harmless spell past him and crouched, keeping out of the way of Draco's feet. Draco spun around, his shoes scuffing the floor. He was nailed by a stunner from Harry.

"Oh Severus, that was brilliant!" cried Samantha as Severus woke up Draco. Draco sat up and fumbled with the blindfold, blinking in the light of the room. Harry took off his blindfold and sighed.

"Damn," said Harry softly. "Sorry about that, Elias."

"No problem," said Draco as Severus helped him to his feet. "I guess that didn't go well, did it?"

"No, not at all," said Severus. "What went wrong?"

"You mean besides me being hit with a stunner?" drawled Draco. Severus raised an eyebrow at him. Draco looked to Harry. "James, you want help me out here?"

"I heard a noise and fired," said Harry, running a hand through his hair. "I didn't think about it being Draco."

"Exactly," said Samantha. "You also both fired at where my jacket hit the wall." She pointed her wand at her black jacket on the floor. "But you didn't stop to think before you fired if your teammate would be in the way of your spell."

"And I was behind Draco for a good ten seconds before I fired a spell past him, alerting him to my presence," said Severus. "Plenty of time to get off several Avadas or any number of equally fatal spells."

"And then my bloody shoes made noise, and I was shot," said Draco.

"Think about this as we try again." Severus pointed to the middle of the room with his wand. "Go back to the center of the room and blindfolds up, if you please."

They started the exercise again with the same results. Severus shot a spell from Harry's direction, with Draco firing a stunner into his teammate's unsuspecting chest. The fourth time was by far the worst, with both boys firing stunners at each other. The seventh ended with Samantha on the floor unconscious, but Severus outmaneuvered both the boys and Harry fell due to Draco's spell.

"Again," said Severus after he enervated Samantha. Draco and Harry walked back to the middle of the room. Draco eyes widened suddenly. He whispered something in Harry's ear, causing the other boy to grin. They both nodded and replaced their blindfolds. Severus and Samantha looked at one another and nodded.

"We begin now," said Severus. He and Samantha proceeded to opposite sides of the room. However, Draco and Harry clung to each other, moving slightly around in a circle. Severus frowned a little as he scratched his arm. He was instantly hit with a stunner. Samantha's eyes widened, as she turned sharply to look at the duo in the middle of the room. She was felt a beam of light hit her and everything went black. She awoke to Harry's smiling face.

"Hi there, Sam," said Harry. Draco was enervating Severus as Samantha sat up.

"Wow," said Samantha. Severus looked up at Draco, who was smirking down at him.

"Most impressive," said Severus. He stood up and looked between the two satisfied boys. "What did you do differently?"

"We kept track of where each other was by holding the other's sleeve," said Draco. "That way we wouldn't hit the other by mistake. We knew that any sound we heard outside of the two of us would be either one of you." Harry nodded in agreement.

"Well, I must say I'm impressed," said Severus. "You figured out how to accomplish that fairly quickly." He looked at his watched and smirked. "Leave us more time for Occlumency." Both boys groaned. Samantha kissed Severus on the cheek on her way out of the room.

"I'll be upstairs, Severus. You seem to have all the books in this entire house on potions sitting on your floor." She left through the doors and went up the stairs to Severus's room. In front of his bookcases were tall stacks of books, all in various states of shabbiness. She pulled one off the top and opened it, immediately disgusted by the figures on the opening pages. She shut the book and flipped it over to look at the spine.

"Moste Potente Potions," muttered Samantha. "Disgusting." She picked up One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi instead and began to read. She was about halfway through the book when she heard her name being called from downstairs.

"Sam!" cried Severus. "Come eat before the boys clean out the entire kitchen!" She got up quickly and strode to the kitchen.

"No, no, they're awful," said Draco emphatically as Samantha walked in the door. "The Cannons will never make it to the finals in our lifetime. Ever. Not even if you were to play Seeker for them."

"Oh, and I suppose the Falcons are going to stomp the Tornadoes?" said Harry. "Oh, hey Sam. But seriously, the Falcons have no defense whatsoever."

"I like the Falcons," said Samantha as she picked up an apple. "Their Chasers are unbeatable."

"I can't believe I'm marrying a Falcons fan," muttered Severus. He took a drink of pumpkin juice and moaned. "I absolutely love this stuff."

"I remember you used to drink it by the pitcher during Quidditch season," said Samantha, grinning. "No one near us could ever get any because you would drink the entire pitcher as soon as it hit the table."

"What position did you play?" asked Harry, excitement shining in his green eyes.

"Chaser," said Severus smugly. "I was never quick enough to beat Lucius for Seeker when I was in first and second years, but then the position went to Rosier and to some young, unmemorable kid after he graduated. I never had a chance, so Chaser it was."

"So you played against my dad?" asked Harry. He grinned. "Did you ever beat him?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact," said Severus with a smirk. "We beat the Red and Gold five years running for the Cup when your father and Black were Chasers, two of which when I was captain of the Slytherin House team."

Harry sat in shock as Draco smirked at Harry.

"Gryffindor wasn't always the unbeatable force they have been the past few years," said Severus. "There was that brief time when Weasley's older brother player Seeker, but even then, they only won until Weasley's seventh year when Terrance Higgs played Seeker for our team."

"Unbelievable," said Harry as he shook his head. "No wonder McGonagall went nuts when we won the Cup in our third year."

"Yes, she was nauseatingly smug the rest of that term," said Severus. He turned to Samantha who was munching on her apple. "Did you find anything in the books upstairs, love?"

"Not really," said Samantha, swallowing. "Although, Potions isn't really my area of expertise, if you recall."

"Hmm," said Severus. "Indeed. I'll have to look through some of my other books."

"So what kind of potion are you brewing?" asked Draco. "I may have some books in my vault if you think you'll need them. Father's potion section of the Manor library was ridiculous. I did manage to get most of the books into storage before the Ministry came calling. Might have some cool Charms books too, if you're interested."

"Ooh, charms books? Which ones?" asked Samantha. She leaned towards Draco. "Do you have any older ones? I remember one from the Hogwarts library that I used all the time for essays but when I graduated, I couldn't find it anywhere. What was its name?" She looked off into the corner of the room. Draco looked at Harry with raised eyebrows.

"She's kind of into Charms," said Harry softly.

"Or something," said Draco. Severus rolled his eyes at her.

"If I need some books, you can go with me and look at the others, Samantha," said Severus. "Now, if everyone is done eating and discussing inferior Quidditch teams, perhaps Sam would consent to showing us some of her more spectacular charms in the ballroom."

The rest of the afternoon was spent showing Draco Samantha's modified Disillusionment charm, along with some more complicated Defense hexes and jinxes. Severus also showed him the Patronus Messaging Charm.

"You can use this to give me your reports," said Severus after Draco had mastered the spell. "Every time you attend a meeting, we would like to have a detailed account of things that are important."

"So, basically everything," said Draco. "I won't know what's not important and what is at first."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to send it all to us anyway," said Samantha. "We're the middle men in this whole thing, so we'll just pass the information on to the rest of the Order and let them call meetings as they see fit." Draco nodded and turned away from them, pacing slowly in the room.

"You alright, Elias?" asked Harry. Draco glanced at him and shook his head.

"I think I'll be okay," said Draco. "It's just a lot to remember, you know?" He ran a hand through his shoulder-length locks. "I don't really do well under pressure."

"You'll do alright," said Harry. He frowned a bit and looked worriedly at Severus.

"Elias, you'll be fine," said Severus softly. "But I'm not going to lie to you. It is going to be hard and it will take a toll on you, physically and emotionally. But we will always be here for you. You can drop by here anytime, now that you know where the house is."

"We're all up pretty late if you need to come by after a meeting as well," said Samantha softly. "Or if you want some good food, or if you need someone to talk to about how to handle a situation. I'm sure Severus has plenty of experience."

"Too much," said Severus. Draco nodded at him, still wringing his hands a bit.

"No worries, Elias," said Harry. Draco looked at him, and Harry smiled. Draco grinned a little and straightened his lithe frame, holding his head up. Just then, they heard the floo fire in the kitchen.

"Uh oh," said Samantha softly. He could hear footsteps out in the hall as Ron and Hermione walked into to ballroom.

"Hey Harry, we got you some -" Ron froze as he soon as he saw the pale-headed boy. Draco crossed his arms and gazed casually at Ron.

"Malfoy," said Hermione coolly. Draco nodded at her.

"Granger. Weasley. Good to see you," said Draco in a blank tone. He looked at the watch on Severus's wrist. "Wow, look at the time. I had better get going."

"Yeah, wouldn't want you to miss any important meetings," said Ron as he looked down his nose at Draco, unconsciously mimicking Draco's once-familiar gesture.

"Weasley," said Severus softly, in a tone usually reserved for the likes of Neville Longbottom during potions. "I do believe you had better rethink your words, lest you choke on your huge feet."

"I don't care what you say," growled Ron as he got threateningly close to Severus. Severus raised an eyebrow at him, but did not step back. "There's no way any Malfoy would ever side with the Light. It doesn't matter what he's been through. We've all been through a lot and never thought that the Mark was the solution." Draco's face paled at Ron's words, while Harry's cheeks flushed with anger.

"I cannot believe you," said Harry angrily, glaring at Ron. "I can't believe you have to guts to compare yourself to him. You have no idea what he's gone through. NONE!" Harry gave Ron a shove, pushing him away from Severus and Draco, his voice increasing in volume. "You have no right to say anything about it! He has made his decision. He is going to stand by his word and we are going to help him. You're so self-righteous you can't even see straight!" Ron's face reddened as Harry continued in a low tone. "If you don't want to help him, you can leave. Your parents never wanted you to come with me this summer anyway. Percy would be thrilled."

"Oh, I see how it is!" cried Ron. He pointed sharply at Draco. "You're all friendly with Malfoy now that he's in a position to help you. Don't you see, he's only using you to get a free ticket out of a nice, cozy cell with his father in Azkaban!"

"That's not true!" cried Harry. "What would you do if your entire family was going to be killed if you didn't take the Mark?"

"My family was never in good with V-V-Him like Malfoy's was!" yelled Ron. "They brought this on themselves for siding with him!"

"YOU ARROGANT PRAT!" shouted Harry as he shoved Ron violently. "NO ONE DESERVES TO HAVE THEIR PARENTS KILLED BY A MADMAN!" Another shove. "NO ONE! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE NOT TO HAVE PARENTS TO TURN TO FOR EVERY LITTLE THING!" Harry pulled back his arm to hit Ron's furious face when Draco grabbed Harry's arm.

"James, calm down," whispered Draco. "I'm not worth this much trouble. Just let it go."

"I will not just let it go, Elias," hissed Harry. "He has no right to do this to you after you've agreed to spy for us. No one deserves to be treated this way." He glared back at Ron and looked to Hermione. She was glaring daggers at Draco holding onto Harry's arm. Harry sneered at her. "Come on. I'll walk you to the park so you can get home before it gets late."

Draco sighed and let go of Harry as he turned to Severus and Samantha. "Thank you for today. Let me know when I can come back over."

"You won't be coming back over if I have anything to say about it," said Ron furiously.

"Then it's a good thing this isn't your house, then, isn't it, Weasley?" said Harry in a smooth voice. "I think if anyone has a say in who should be allowed into my house, it should be me, as I own it." Harry looked to Draco. "You ready?"

"Yeah," said Draco wearily. He shook Severus's hand and gave Samantha a kiss on the cheek. "See you later, Sam." She nodded at him as he turned to Ron and Hermione with an unreadable expression. "Weasley, Granger, I bid you both a pleasant evening." He gave them a small bow and left the room behind Harry.

Ron scoffed as the boys left. Severus stalked out of the room, not speaking a word to either of them.

"Can you believe this, Samantha?" asked Ron. She narrowed her eyes at him, never breaking eye contact as she walked slowly towards him and Hermione.

"No," she said angrily. "I thought the four of you would be such a great team. You each have abilities that the others can only dream about. Yet you choose to focus on the things that keep you apart." She stopped right in front of Ron and Hermione, glaring at both of them.

"I'm actually surprised you've both been friends with Harry for so long. You and he are nothing alike, what with him being branded by the Dark Lord since he was one, his parents being murdered, his being a Parselmouth, his being almost mind-melded with the most evil wizard to walk the earth, and being singled out in a war that involves our entire way of living. The Weasley family is still surprisingly whole for as large as it is, as are the Grangers despite their ties to a famous muggleborn witch. None of your family members have become fodder for the Dark Lord and his minions. None of your close friends have sold you out to be murdered. None of your family has had to take the Mark in order to survive. You've never gone home to find the Dark Mark floating over your house and your parents lying in pools of their own blood!"

Tears were streaming down her face as Ron and Hermione paled slightly. "My father won't get to give me away at my wedding, my mother won't be able to fuss over my robes. They won't get to meet their grandchildren and watch them grow up. Lily Potter will never get to see if any of her grandchildren have her eyes or James's hair. They won't get to see if Harry's kids inherit his amazing Quidditch skills. But you two, you stand there telling Draco that he deserves to have no parents and no one to love him because he made the wrong decision in the hopes of saving his family. I hope to God you never have to make a decision like that. Your families would be in a lot of trouble."

Samantha stalked out of the ball room and upstairs. She burst into the bedroom and slammed the door shut, leaning her forehead against the cool wood and sobbing. She felt hands on her waist and turned around, crying hard into Severus's shirt.

"Damn him!" cried Samantha as she beat her fists against Severus's chest. "Damn him to hell!" Severus didn't say anything, but let her cry as he ran his fingers through her curly hair. He rested his chin on the top of her head as her body slowly stopped shaking.

"God, I miss them, Severus," she whispered. "I miss them so much."

"I know, love. I know," whispered Severus. He pulled away to look at her face. He kissed the middle of her forehead and touched his face to hers. "Everything will hopefully cool down soon. I didn't expect them home so early or Elias would have been gone ages ago."

"I don't think anything is going to change," said Samantha, shaking her head. "It'll be just like with you and Sirius, always at each other's throats when you were in the same room. It's divisive, Severus. It will keep us from accomplishing what needs to be done and will end up with us losing more people."

"We can't force them to like each other, Sam," said Severus softly. "Merlin knows I wish they would all just get along, but it's not that simple. But, we will train them and teach them everything they need to know so that they can fight to win, instead of fight to simply survive, no matter who is friends with whom."

They stood in each other's embrace, their minds churning in the silence. Both of them jumped slightly when they heard a hard knock on their door a while later. Severus frowned and opened the door to see Hermione standing in the hall.

"Can you both come down to the kitchen for a few minutes?" she asked. "We all need to talk."

"Of course," said Severus. He and Samantha walked downstairs behind Hermione and found Ron and Harry sitting tensely in the kitchen. Ron stood up as Hermione came into the room. He waved his hand at the table.

"Please, sit down," he said. "This won't take long." He waited until they had taken their seats and cleared his throat. He took Hermione's hand in his. She gave him a small smile.

"We've decided that Harry's right," said Ron. Harry frowned at him. "We have no desire to help Malfoy or to even be around him. We don't trust him and we will never get along. Us being here while he's here will be a distraction for him and an irritation for us. We've decided to move back to the Burrow."

"YOU'VE WHAT!" shouted Harry. "Ron, Hermione, this is the safest place you could be! You will be risking your life -"

"Save your speeches, Harry," said Hermione softly. "We've decided. We're not going to change our minds. We might have been wrong about Malfoy last year, but we don't think we're wrong this time. Ron's already told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley to expect us tonight for dinner and we've already flooed our belongings to the Burrow."

"So, that's it," said Samantha. "You're not even going to see if you all can be friends."

"We will never all be friends," said Ron bitterly. "That's the whole point of us leaving. You three have made your choice as to who you will believe. We have made ours. It's as simple as that. We're planning on officially joining the Order, so that we'll still be involved."

"Nothing is ever that simple," said Severus softly. "But if you feel this is the right decision for your personal safety and well-being, so be it. I wish you both the best. If you would please not tell anyone about Draco, I would appreciate it. He is in enough danger as it is." He stood and strode from the room, looking weary and defeated.

"We are only as strong as we are united," muttered Harry softly. He looked at his two friends, standing side-by-side and hand-in-hand. He got up and went over to them, offering his hand to Ron. Ron took it and shook it briefly. Harry gave Hermione a hug, which she returned weakly. He walked slowly out of the room as Samantha stood up from the table.

"Bon courage, my little blackbirds," said Samantha. "I truly hope that the two of you find happiness together." She gave them a small smile and walked out of the room, hearing the floo fire up as she walked down the hall. She could hear loud crashes, most of which sounded like the shattering of glass, coming from one of the rooms off the hall. She stopped outside the door, but the crashes became more frequent. She stepped away and walked into the library, shutting the doors behind her. She inhaled the comforting scent of old books and parchment as she walked silently towards the chair in front of the window. She spun it around so she could sit and watch the sun finish its descent beneath the horizon. She leaned her head back against the chair, the room slowly darkening around her. She could spot one or two bright stars in the late September sky despite the bright glare of London's city lights. She wondered idly how she was going to tell Remus and Arthur that they had another spy in the circle, without telling them specifically who it was.

Severus sat in the middle of a completely destroyed room. He had conjured glass balls the size of puffskeins and had thrown them against the wall, conjuring another as the one before it shattered into a million pieces. Bloody Gryffindors and their damn intuition, or at least what they thought of as intuition. It was really just prejudice and ignorance, two of the most dangerous and damaging things in the world, in Severus's opinion. They never listened to reason. They were awful at empathizing with anyone who was different from themselves. They always knew without a doubt that whatever they believed was the truth, no matter how many other people tried to convince them of being mistaken. All this time and energy, wasted. Wasted so that they could go back to what was comfortable, to what was known and familiar. He hated waste. Hermione's intellectual talents would be brushed aside slowly as her commitment to Ron grew, just as Ron's strategic mind would only be exercised in the random chess games played with whoever was dumb enough to challenge him to a match. Harry would be left alone without two people he trusted with his life, leaving Severus himself, Sam and Draco to pick up the slack. He waved his wand at the broken glass, vanishing it with a flick.

Harry walked slowly up to the third floor, wondering how in the world things had gotten this far out of control. He was lost without Ron and Hermione. They left just when things were getting more intense. How would they get the chest and destroy it without Hermione's help in researching? How would they plan an attack on Voldemort without Ron's strategy? He sighed as he walked into the room he used to share with Ron.

"It's nice and quiet around here," drawled a voice from the corner. "Like someone died."

"Hello, Phineas," said Harry dully. "Ron and Hermione left because they hate Draco Malfoy and refuse to believe that he's switched sides."

"Did he really?" said Phineas in a delighted tone. "Albus talks all the time about this boy who he thought would be a great asset and another brilliant mind for his Order. Of course, I always told Albus he needed more Slytherins. So, is he doing the same work that Severus was doing before?"

"Yes," said Harry as he sat on his bed. "Severus is training him on how to do it. Draco will send us reports and we'll pass on the information. Ron and Hermione are back at the Burrow."

"I always thought they were a bit one-dimensional," said Phineas. Harry rolled his eyes at the portrait, causing Phineas to tsk softly. "I've always been of the opinion that you would have done better in my House. Maybe now you'll pick up more Slytherin-like traits, hanging around Severus and his lovely lady."

"Goodnight, Phineas," said Harry as he lit the candle on his bedside table. "You can go give your report to Dumbledore's portrait now and gossip the night away."

"See, it's already happening," said the painting. The figure walked out of the frame and back to his portrait at Hogwarts. Harry pulled out a quill, ink and some parchment.

Elias -

Hope that you weren't late getting home and that your dinner wasn't interrupted. I thought you would like to know that the king and his brainy queen have moved back to the castle with the king's parents. They decided that I was right in my assessment of their situation and that we would be best served by their departure. Do not feel bad for their leaving. We will all be a bit happier without the village idiot running his mouth. Just thought you might want to know. I'll talk to Mum and Dad about you visiting again. Maybe next time we won't be shooting at things in the dark. Let me know when you are free to do a little deer hunting so that I can know for in the future.

James

Harry walked down to Severus's room with Draco's letter in his hand. The door was open, but no one was in the room. He looked to the corner and saw Madeline in her cage.

"Come here, girl," said Harry softly. "I've got a job for you." The owl flew over to the desk and held her leg still as Harry tied on the letter. "Take this to Draco for me, Madeline." She nipped his finger and flew out the window. Harry penned a quick note to Severus, saying he'd borrowed his owl to send a letter to Draco as Hedwig was too visible. He walked back up to his room and shut the door quietly.