Chapter 26

Draco waited for Sophia a few minutes before seven o' clock in the Astronomy Tower Thursday night. As the minutes ticked by, Draco got more and more anxious.

What if she doesn't come?! What will I do then? Draco thought.

But he refused to let himself complete that thought since he knew there was no good in dwelling on the consequences that awaited him if he found nothing of use for his father. At fifteen minutes after, he really started getting worried.

It's over! I'm done for! Draco thought, ready to give up waiting for Sophia.

Just as he was going to leave, he began to hear someone walking up the Astronomy Tower steps. He moved so that he would be in the darkness of the Tower's shadow when the person came up. Soon he saw it was Sophia. She saw his dark figure and began to walk towards it.

She assumed it was George and so she said, "George, I don't know why you had to call me here to apologize – "

She abruptly stopped her sentence when Draco stepped out of the shadows.

She looked at him in surprise and confusion and said, "Malfoy?!? What are you doing here?!?"

Draco looked at her very seriously and said, "It was me who sent you that letter. Not George Weasely."

"Why?!" Sophia asked, still very confused, but now starting to get angry.

"Because I knew that you would never talk to me if I approached you myself." Draco replied.

"And you wonder why! I can't believe that you spied on me! I'm out of here!!" Sophia said, starting to walk off.

"Stop!" Draco said grabbing her arm, "Look, I understand that you wouldn't trust me very much given the way that I've treated you in the past. I don't blame you. But you have to listen to me."

Sophia looked at him and realized that there was something very different about him since she had last seen him. She saw that he was looking at her with a weird kind of desperation in his eyes, and that there was no pompous and aloof air around him like there usually was. But even after seeing all these changes, she wasn't going to readily trust him.

"Oh, please. I don't know what you're plotting, but I want no part in it." Sophia said, starting to get a little curious.

"I'm not plotting anything. I just want to ask you some questions." said Draco.

"Now you look. I'm not going to stand here and play twenty questions with you. I don't even know why I'm wasting my time here at all!" Sophia said.

"My father is a Death Eater and he and Voldemort sent me after that necklace!" Draco burst out, now getting pretty desperate, pointing to the dragon claw necklace she was wearing.

"What?" Sophia said, very shocked, "Why?"

"I don't know. But I do remember that my father gave it to your mother in Knockturn Alley a few years ago and I want to know why. If he had it then, why did he give it away? Is your family connected to Voldemort too?"

Sophia looked at him in disgust and said, "Of course not! I don't even like associating for people working for Voldemort!!"

"I'm not working for Voldemort! I'm finding this out for myself. They told me to get the necklace from you, but I'm not going to do it." Draco said, slightly irritated.

Sophia looked at him in surprise.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" she asked, still fairly suspicious.

Is he just saying this to get me to cooperate with him? Sophia thought.

"Well...someone...made me come to my senses..." Draco said a little sadly, remembering Violet and how she probably hated him now, "So, will you help me or not?"

Sophia looked at him in suspicion, but decided that he probably wasn't making all these things up. She never thought she'd see Draco Malfoy looking like this, but she obviously was wrong.

"Look...my mom and...oh never mind!" Sophia started saying, suddenly cutting off and turning away to leave.

Draco stopped her and said, "No! You can't leave without telling me why! What's so hard about saying it?!"

Sophia stopped and looked straight at Draco with a hard expression on her face.

"Your father gave my mother this necklace because...he's my father too." Sophia said bitterly.

"What?!" Draco said in absolute shock, "Are you out of your mind?!?"

"I want to deny the truth too, but it still is the truth. Do you think I wanted to have a father like him?! I would have much rather never found out who my father was."

"It can't be..." Draco said, thunderstruck.

"Now you have to deal with the truth that I've had to deal with for the past two years. It's about time too." Sophia said, stalking off.

Draco just stared after her.

Out of all the things that I thought I would find out, this was not one of them. Draco thought, feeling overwhelmed.

After a few minutes of just standing there, he decided that it was time that he got back to his Common Room.

Now Draco waited in the Common Room for his father to arrive. He had waited there since his meeting with Sophia, even if it was hours ago. As he waited in front of the fire, he tried to decide what exactly he might tell his father, but his thoughts were severely clouded by the information he had just found out from Sophia that night.

How can this be true?! Draco thought, still in disbelief, Could father really do this to me, to mother!?

Draco did not want to believe it was true. But then he thought about how Sophia looked. It wasn't noticeable at a glance, but if you looked at her closely, she did have the shape of his father's eyes and had the same cold look when she was angry.

There's no denying it...she is my father's daughter. I knew he was selfish, but this is absolutely unforgivable! Draco thought, getting angry.

Suddenly a crackle in the flames brought Draco's attention to the fire. Draco found his father's face there.

"Good to see that you're on time." Lucius Malfoy said.

"You wanted to see me, father?" Draco asked, trying to keep the anger out of his voice.

"Tell me what information you gathered about the girl and her necklace." Lucius said, jumping straight into an interrogation.

"Well...I know she has the necklace and I know her schedule." Draco said, thinking some more and realizing that he would be in a lot of trouble with his father if he didn't tell him something.

Whether I'm angry at him or not, I can't let on too quickly that I'm not going to help him or Voldemort. Who knows what he would do to me if he knew that now... Draco thought, repressing the urge to shudder.

"Is that it?" Lucius asked, "You did not get it?"

"No." Draco said a little more forcefully than he had intended.

"No?" Lucius said sharply, giving Draco a warning look, "I expected so much more from you, Draco. But at least you found out that she does have the necklace. When the time is right, do whatever you have to do to get it. You know the Dark Lord does not listen to excuses."

"Yes, father." Draco said, not really meaning it.

"Good. Be ready once we meet again. If you come up short handed then, I don't know what might happen to you, or to us." Lucius said, disappearing from the fire.

No matter what happens, I'm not going to be standing by you. Draco thought bitterly, looking at the now empty fire.

Draco sat in the empty Common Room, watching the fire go out, alone with his thoughts.

Sirius and Remus waited for word from Dumbledore of Snape's condition for many days in their cottage. They both were rather restless since they could do nothing but wait and ponder the possibilities of what Snape could have found out or possibly leaked to the Death Eaters. Yet, still, there was no word. Sirius paced for the hundredth time around the cottage when he finally stopped and turned to Remus, who was sitting very fidgety in a chair.

"I don't know about this, Remus. I think we should have heard from Dumbledore by now. Do you think something might have happened to him and Snape?" asked Sirius, his restlessness slowly getting the better of him.

Remus sighed, also impatient, and said, "Even if we want to do something, we shouldn't jump our guns. What if we jumped to the conclusion that something happened to them, rush over, and then somehow lead the Death Eaters to them, or worse, alert Muggles to their presence? If we didn't end up leading the Death Eaters there, that sure would. We have to wait until Dumbledore comes with more news before we do anything."

Sirius knew that Remus was right, but he didn't want to just sit in a forgotten cottage deep in a forest while the wizarding world as they knew it could be in danger.

"I know that you are probably right, but I just can't take this wait anymore! I'm going to go right now. It would be best if you stayed here in case I really did make a mistake, so that way we both won't be wiped out if it was a blunder." said Sirius getting ready to leave.

"No, Sirius, wait! Don't do this! You can't – " Remus started protesting, when he was suddenly interrupted by a large crackle in the fire.

This brought both Remus and Sirius's attention to the fire. They found Dumbledore's face there. They could see that he looked gravely serious.

"Severus has shown some signs of waking, so it is imperative that you join me right now." Dumbledore said.

"We will be there shortly." Sirius replied.

Dumbledore gave them a nod and disappeared from the flames. After he was gone, so were Sirius and Remus. Minutes later, they were in the small room they met Dumbledore in earlier. Dumbledore was there waiting for them.

"Come now. We will finally get to the bottom of this mystery." said Dumbledore, leading them back to the bed Snape was laying on.

As soon as they stepped into the room, they saw Snape tossing and turning on the bed like he was having a bad dream. Suddenly, startling them all, Snape jolted upright from bed and frantically looked for his wand. But when Snape finally had all his senses back, he looked around himself and realized that he was no longer in danger. With the rush of adrenaline subsiding, Snape felt a throbbing headache setting in.

Holding his head and looking at Dumbledore, he asked, "How did I get here?"

"I came to your aid when the Death Eaters were alerted to your presence." replied Dumbledore.

"I see." said Snape.

Then Snape looked around the room and saw that Remus and Sirius were there as well.

"What are they doing here?!?" Snape said, looking at them both with his eyes narrowed.

"I thought it best if we all could know exactly what had happened the day you were attacked by the Death Eaters. We want to know who was there, and anything you might have found out before you were attacked." explained Dumbledore.

"And you were mumbling in your sleep the last time we paid you a visit. You had said something like, 'It was Malfoy'. What did you mean by that?" Sirius said, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

"Sirius. Let's give him a chance to explain himself." said Dumbledore, "Alright, Severus. Go on."

Snape looked at Sirius in disdain and then started talking.

"I knew there would be a meeting taking place involving some of the Death Eaters since I had been keeping tabs on them for some time to keep track of Voldemort's movements. I went there well before the meeting was to happen to conceal myself properly for when the meeting would take place. I was not concerned of them sweeping the place for spies, as they usually do before having an important meeting, because I was protected from being traced since I had...the Dark Mark..." Snape said, faltering a bit on the last part, once again forced to remember the mistakes that he had made in the past.

"I see." Dumbledore said, "And then what happened next?"

Sirius kept glowering at Snape due to the same reminder. Snape narrowed his eyes a moment at Sirius and then kept talking.

"I knew that Lucius Malfoy would be there for sure since the intelligence I had obtained earlier was of a conversation he had with some other Death Eaters. I could not identify them, so I believe they are new recruits." said Snape.

"Voldemort is really coming back...how many new recruits are there?" asked Remus in concern.

"All I know of are those who were at this meeting. There were two there." Snape replied.

"Please continue." Dumbledore said, wanting to know the full story himself.

"Once Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and the two new recruits were all there, they did something I had never seen before at the beginning of the meeting. They all stood in a circle. Malfoy appeared to be the leader. He raised his wand up with his right hand and he put his left hand, palm up, in the center of the circle. He waited for the others to follow him. When everyone had their left hand in the center and their wands up, Malfoy said, 'Lumis Unum'. The tips of all their wands began to glow a fiery red and I could see all their Death Marks blazing. I even felt my own Death Mark burning on my arm. Then a red light shot out of all of their wands and seemed to envelope the immediate area. They all held this stance a few moments, but eventually the red light faded away. When this happened, they all put down their arms and wands. I suppose this was some sort of new security measure devised by Voldemort lately. Then Malfoy began to speak. 'Our plan has been set into motion. We know what our next move concerning Hogwarts is. I have discussed it personally with the Dark Lord.' Then one of the new recruits pointed to the other new recruit and said, 'We both have children at Hogwarts. They can aid the Dark Lord in anyway he needs.' Malfoy replied and said, 'That will be helpful when it is time for us to act.' One of the recruits then said, 'When will that be?! We grow tired of waiting. When will the Dark Lord be back with us?' Malfoy sneered and said, 'Have patience. That time will be soon. Very soon. Our spy is working to get us something we need.'" Snape said.

"Albus, that sounds bad. Could a student in Hogwarts be working for Voldemort?" Sirius said, turning to Dumbledore.

Dumbledore somberly looked back at Sirius and said, "This does sound bad. Did you find anything else out, Severus?"

"No. That is it. I felt that this would be good time to leave since they would probably find me if I stayed much longer. Malfoy continued to say something, but I did not listen since I was trying to apparate out, but quickly I realized that I could not. It suddenly hit me what that spell they did in the beginning of the meeting was for. It was to make sure that no one could apparate in or out of the enclosed area. I knew now that I would have to fight them. I saw that they seemed to have felt that someone had tried to apparate out. 'Someone's here. Find them.' Malfoy said, beginning to search, himself. I just stepped out of my hiding place and faced them. Malfoy sneered at me and said, 'Why, Snape. Long time no see.' I told him, 'I only wish it could have been longer.' He laughed and then said, 'I don't even know how you could have the audacity to show your face here again after leaving. You were lucky to even get away with that. But don't count on your luck this time.' Malfoy then told Crabbe to hold on to me. He lifted his wand and said, 'Avada Kedavra.' But before the killing curse hit me, I elbowed Crabbe and dived out of the way. The curse narrowly missed Crabbe. I got out my own wand tried to fight them off, but I really didn't stand a chance since it was five against one. The last thing I remember is being hit hard by a curse from one of the new recruits. I fell to the floor and I heard Malfoy laugh and say, 'Now the real fun begins!' Then I passed out." Snape said, finishing his long recount.

"At about this time, I felt that Severus was taking too long to return, so I decided to follow him to see what happened. I apparated to approximately the same place that he did. Once I got there, I saw a huge duel going on. I knew that this probably wasn't good, so I rushed forward to see what was happening, but when I got close, a red field of some kind seemed to be blocking me. As I looked inside, the Death Eaters noticed me and stopped what they were doing. They quickly formed a circle and did something I could not see since I was too far away. I assume it was to bring down the field that was blocking me. Once the red field was removed, I looked closely at the faces of the Death Eaters and I recognized one of them for sure. Lucius Malfoy. They glared at me and apparated away. It was then I noticed that Severus was unconscious on the floor. I levitated his body and apparated us here." Dumbledore said, finishing the story.

"So what should we do now, Albus?" asked Remus.

"I don't know, since we do not have any hard proof of Malfoy's role in Voldemort's plan. Also we do not know which student they could be using to get inside information." replied Dumbledore, "All we have is our word that it happened, and I don't think it will count for much since Fudge refuses to believe that Voldemort even returned."

"But you've got to do something! We can't just let a spy for Voldemort run freely around Hogwarts! There's got to be some way we can figure out who it is and stop them. I bet it's Malfoy's son. That seems like an obvious conclusion, doesn't it? Harry even had a vision of his and told me that Voldemort said that he needed Malfoy's son for something." said Sirius.

"I am inclined to believe you, Sirius, but I can't take action based on hearsay. I really doubt that Fudge would believe one of Harry's visions and our testimony alone. We need solid proof. Malfoy still has a lot of weight in the Ministry, and he would not stand to hear such accusations against him or his family." Dumbledore said.

"So we just leave the spy in Hogwarts? Don't do anything about it?!" Sirius said in disbelief.

"No, of course not. I shall return to Hogwarts immediately and think of a solution there. I have already been away much too long." Dumbledore replied, "And, Severus. I want you to stay with Sirius and Remus for some days until we are sure you have returned to full health."

"But, Headmaster, I – " Snape started to complain in irritation.

"I do not want you to come back to Hogwarts right now since the spy may report back to their father of your return, and this may put you in more danger. I also will not leave you alone here until we all know that you are completely alright." Dumbledore said.

Sirius looked most displeased by this as well. Remus looked between Sirius and Snape uncomfortably, knowing that these next few days would not be happy at all. Snape knew that there was no convincing Dumbledore of otherwise when he had made his mind up.

"Yes, Headmaster." said Snape, very disgruntled.

"I expect you all to stay at the cottage until I hear more word of this plan. I will get back to all of you as soon as I can." Dumbledore said.

With that, Dumbledore apparated out of the room. Sirius and Snape looked daggers at each other and apparated back to the cottage.

Remus shook his head and thought, These are going to be a long few days...

Then Remus followed the two back to the cottage as well.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Violet, amongst many other fifth years, stayed up late yet another night to study since the O.W.L.s were now just around the corner. Finally the four stopped when Ron reached the end of his rope.

"I can't take this anymore!!!" Ron nearly shouted, throwing down his Transfiguration book, "I simply don't care about how to turn a feather duster into a bird or about turning pins in a pincushion into matches in a matchbox!!!"

Harry, Hermione, and Violet looked at him in some alarm, but Violet and Harry were basically with Ron on this. They too felt like they had enough for one night. Hermione, on the other hand, was willing to push on for another chapter before giving it up.

"We haven't even covered anything on Potions yet! We still need – " Hermione started saying.

But she quickly stopped when Ron gave her a murderous look. Harry, looking between the two, promptly realized that he needed to intervene before there was a blow out. He knew better than anyone else how prone to fighting these two were.

"Okay, you guys. I think we'd better stop. We've all studied to our limit." Harry said.

Hermione began to protest again, but Harry cut her off.

"Well, almost all of us. I think it would be best if we just rested and studied more tomorrow." Harry said.

"Oh, fine." Hermione grudgingly agreed.

Then they all gathered their stuff and made their way up to the dormitories. Violet just quickly said good night to Ron and made her way up to the girls' dormitories, still wanting to distance herself as much as possible from her problems between Ron and Draco. Ron looked slightly hurt at this quick good bye, but he let it go and went upstairs to the boys' dorms himself. Harry gave Hermione a hug before saying good night to her.

"Wow, so much has been happening these past few weeks, that we hardly had any time to ourselves!" said Harry, still holding Hermione close.

"Yeah, I know. But we do need to do well on our O.W.L.s! Our future careers depend on these!" said Hermione.

Harry smiled at Hermione and shook his head a little.

"Won't you ever lighten up Hermione? You're fifteen going on thirty!" Harry said jokingly.

Hermione smiled back at Harry and said, "I'm trying...Hey, it's getting late. We should probably get to bed now."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Harry replied, "Good night, Hermione."

Hermione gave Harry a little kiss on the cheek and said, "Good night, Harry."

Then they both made their way up to their respective dorms. When Harry got inside his dorm, he saw that Ron was already asleep. He decided not to bother him since Ron looked really tired. Harry decided that he should just get to sleep as well. He got under the covers and fell asleep almost immediately. But some hours later, Harry began to dream.