Chapter 15: Trust, But Verify

November 9, 1995

Kingsley Shacklebolt

"You really think this is going to work? And you are quite willing to go through with it?" questioned Shacklebolt, not able to at all disguise his blatant surprise at Lupin's foolhardy proposition.

"Yes, of course." Was the quiet but resolute response.

Shacklebolt then turned a considering eye onto the spy's silent form, who was sitting on the other side of the room, arms folded across his chest and hands vanishing into the black depths of his robes.

"You realize I will be watching the whole thing?" the Auror probed.

"That was the general idea." Severus Snape said, his voice well-oiled with sarcasm. "You know as well as I that this spell will shift the balance of power against the Death Eaters. I can't well introduce it without your help. Which is what I am asking for. Once you see that it is quite safe, and not impossible for a skilled wizard to cast, you would be an utter fool not to assist me."

"Calm down, Severus." Lupin stepped in.

"No, that's alright." Shacklebolt help up his hand. "What you say is quite fair enough, Snape- if this spell is what you claim it to be. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I would be remiss if I didn't take peripheral precautions for the safety of another Order member. But since Lupin appears willing to be the test subject, I will not object further."

"Thank you." Snape appeared to be struggling to maintain civil. Doubtless having his loyalty or competence questioned was not something that brought the best out in the brooding wizard. He got up, flinching as he did so, and withdrew an ebony wand to point it directly at Lupin, who braced himself. "Forgive the Unforgivable." Snape quipped, before muttering, 'Imperious.'

Lupin's eyes immediately frosted over and his arms hung limply down at his sides. Shacklebolt shivered. Even after so many years, seeing that spell in action was a haunting experience. He couldn't help glancing at Snape, whose expression, as usual, gave nothing away.

"Now, in order to prove that the wolf is 'leashed', so to speak, I will demonstrate his incapacity in whichever way you would like, Auror Shacklebolt. Lupin said he would not resist, but we will have to make him want to."

"Ahh…" Shacklebolt really didn't want to have to embarrass the helpless man. "Make him, well, perform a jig then."

Snape focused his eyes intently on Lupin, who immediately leapt into a crouch, holding one leg out in front of him, and then hopping back and forth, alternating that position with either leg before swinging back up onto both feet and whirling around in an impressive display of leg waving and saluting. Then, back into a crouch with bended knees, like a sprightly little beetle, he began leaping back and forth on his legs, mixing it up occasionally with a split. Finally, Lupin stopped dancing, and resumed his slack, lifeless expression.

"All right." Shacklebolt interjected, although he was impressed. "What was that?"

"A solo act from the Alexandrov Ensemble. Would have been better with the music." Snape twirled his wand lazily around his wrist. "Shall I have him do an Irish reel now?"

"No!" Shacklebolt said hastily. Poor Remus must not be made to suffer unduly. "Just show me your spell."

Snape inclined his head, and then, raising his wand above his head, uttered, "Divordermone!"

At that, a web of purple energy exploded onto Lupin, sending him crashing to the ground and covering him entirely. Simultaneously, a loud whine sounded over his body, not deafening, but irritating enough to draw attention.

Shaklebolt stared at Lupin, crumbled on the ground, trapped, and then stared back at Snape. "Quite impressive." He raised his voice to speak over the cacophonous alarm. "Kindly turn it off now."

Snape obliged, cancelling both spells with a flourish.

Lupin, now freed from both the Imperious curse and the Divordermone net, dusted himself off. "You have quite a strong Imperious, Snape. And quite coordinated too- I'd love to learn that dance."

Snape ignored Lupin, which Shacklebolt considered to be rather ungrateful. Regardless, what he had witnessed was taking up most of his attention. "I am interested to learn this spell, and try it for myself. How long will it take?" the Auror asked.

The Order meeting for the evening was in three hours- he had responded to Lupin's owled request that he come at 4 pm instead, and it was for this purpose that they had holed themselves up on the upper floor of Grimmauld Place. Shacklebolt was grateful that he had studied up on Severus Snape. If he hadn't been aware of the man's capacity for spell-crafting, than it was unlikely he would have agreed to Lupin's proposition of allowing Snape to Imperious him in order to test out his detector.

"To learn this spell? I don't know." Snape cast prospecting eyes over Shacklebolt. "You are a competent enough wizard, however. I shall try and teach you."

This time they used an owl as the test subject, as Lupin joined the session as a student instead of as a guinea pig. Severus Snape did not prove himself to be an altogether bad teacher, however much Tonks and Bill had complained about his pedagogical style. He definitely understood the process, and was, if not patient, at least clear and concise. Shacklebolt, being the one whose strength was patience, found himself able to cast the spell on the fifth go. It took a lot of power, he could tell, and was stunned by how drained the completion of the spell had left him. Lupin had to try a few times more, and Shacklebolt was concerned to see the werewolf shuddering afterwards. Snape passed Lupin a potion from within the folds of his robes. "It won't expend your magical reserve that much once you are used to casting it, but an Invigoration potion can be useful to keep with you just in case."

They tried a few more times until Shacklebolt found himself satisfied. "We need to show this to Moody."

Although Shacklebolt could see Snape's eyes glint with triumph, he held up one hand. "Wait. There is something else." He removed his wand from his sleeve and flicked it to open the door to the room. Then, "Divordinomaneatus!" and for a moment, the entire doorframe blazed violet, before flickering out. The owl, still Imperioused, flew straight towards the doorway, evidently on Snape's wordless command. But it didn't get very far, for the moment that it was about to pass through, the doorframe was again illuminated in purple, and that same high-pitched whine filled the ears of all who occupied the room.

Snape cancelled out the spell and explained, "I have adjusted the spell to also be a ward."

"Indeed." Shacklebolt was, again, impressed. How had they failed to utilize such a valuable wizard in this way? "You know, we have been trying to find something like this for more than a hundred years."

A faint sneer crossed Snape's face. "No one has really been looking that hard, I can assure you. I have studied all the previous attempts- they were extremely weak-willed."

"I thought some of our greatest minds in Wizarding Britain had set themselves to the task."

Snape nodded. "And they aided me in my search for the creation of this spell. But they all either died or gave up before discovering the spell."

'Obviously, Snape considers dying to be evidence of a weak will.' Thought Shacklebolt humorously.

"Think of how many lives it could have saved in the first Wizarding War, Kingsley." Lupin looked eager, and a little proud, actually, which the Auror couldn't help find strange. He had thought the two men grievously hated each other, and although he could tell Snape still didn't harbour any tender feelings for the other man, there definitely had been a shift in their relationship.

"Yes… this is quite monumental. But enough said. I would like to see us using this as soon as possible. If only the Ministry were not being such fools, I could have the whole Auror office learning these spells within the week." Shacklebolt turned back to Snape. "What about those communication devices? I should have contacted you about them before, but things have been quite-"

"Busy, yes, I know." Interrupted Snape. 'Had the man no social awareness?' Shacklebolt wondered. "I have them back at Hogwarts, but they have all been constructed- even those of Black and Moody. The trick is convincing everyone to use them."

"I am sure we will find some way around that." Shacklebolt said placidly. "Well then, I think the first thing to do is get in touch with Moody. We have two hours until the Order meeting- let's hope that is enough time."

With a flick of his wand and an incantation, Shacklebolt cast his Patronus- and couldn't help smiling to see the jaunty little lynx. Entrusting his message verbally to the creature, he sent it off through the window to find Moody.

Snape made a little sound with his throat, to which Shacklebolt raised his eyebrows. "Something to say?"

"No… just that it will be a full twenty minutes until that Patronus arrives at Moody's home, and it will probably take until Judgement Day for the man to take the spell for what it is."

"Moody we can only try our best with." Shacklebolt reasoned. "As for the Patronus- well, Snape, you have given us a very handy solution. While we wait, why don't you tell me more about it?"

Shacklebolt could see Lupin attempt to hide a smile. Of course, the best way to distract a misanthrope on edge was to absorb them in their passions- and Shacklebolt was beginning to discover what made the man tick.

In fact, it was an extremely interesting twenty minutes. Circe, but the man was clever. The communication devices would have to spelled under the skin on the right arm, and a certain code was required to access it- basically a pattern tapped or traced across the skin. Snape was the only one who could set up those codes- "so if anyone forgets the code, that's their problem"- and upon accessing it, with the wand and a certain spell, you could chose to send verbal messages "which can be accessed through the wand, or wandlessly, for those who have the aptitude". If active communication is required, again, the devices are able to complete that, although it takes mental concentration. "The idea is that they will be speaking into your own head, so no one else is able to hear. Of course, if you wish anyone else to hear, you must only cast the appropriate spell. It's all quite simple, really." Snape concluded in a bored tone of voice.

It didn't sound so simple, and Kingsley really hoped that he wouldn't look like a clueless fool once he got his hands on one of the communication devices. "Intriguing. But it sounds like you are going to have to give us some classes on this mind messenger."

He could see by Snape's fallen expression that he hadn't quite factored that in. Which was strange, considering that Snape obviously had a keen and uniquely active intellect. Guess he is a bit of an egg-head, then.

From all the way downstairs, they could hear the ancient creak of the front door being opened. Shacklebolt quickly hurried out of the room to meet Moody, but before he could, Sirius's voice sounded from the landing. "Mad-eye, you are way early!"

"Not here for the meeting, laddie." Moody said, puffing a bit. "Shacklebolt sent word of something important to be discussed first- would you know where he'd be then?"

Shacklebolt cringed when he heard the outrage that filled Sirius's voice. "I haven't heard of anything important! I didn't even know he was here!"

Moody looked as awkward as it possible to look awkward when your face was nothing but a mesh of scars. "I don't know anything about this- I'll find him somewhere." He ambled up the hall, but Sirius followed him.

"Well, if it doesn't take too long and you still have time, have a drink with me?" he sounded desperate.

Again, Shacklebolt cringed. Sirius of the 1st Wizarding War was never so greedy for companionship.

"Sure, lad." Returned the Auror stoutly. "But mind you, non-alchoholic, not until after ten pm! Constant vigilance!"

"Indeed." Now Shacklebolt spoke, from the landing, amused when Moody immediately swung around, startled. He obviously hadn't aimed his magical eye directly above him.

"Oh- Shacklebolt." Moody gathered himself, and climbed upstairs to meet him, leaving a cross looking Sirius staring at his hands. "So, what is this all about? Has that undead dark fiend finally made a move on the Ministry? Speak up!"

"It's all fine, we're all safe, you can relax." Smiled Shacklebolt. He rather liked the raddled old man, for all his eccentricities. "I just come into the possession of extremely valuable knowledge that I know you will be excited about- it could give us a winning hand against You-Know-Who."

And quickly without pausing for breath, he told Moody all about it. Moody, who had been turning more and more purple as the narrative went on, finally exploded- metaphorically, of course. "Are you off yer goddamned trolley? You think that this Death Eater is giving us a spell to help us out- like some charitable little St. Mungo's celibate? And I thought you were our best working Auror- they did nae' make them like they used to, I can tell you that."

"Be reasonable, Moody." Shacklebolt knew it would not be easy. "Now think. Why would Snape show us this spell, show us how it works, and give us an opportunity to test it out before it is put into action? If it is a spell with nefarious intent, someone is bound to find out about it soon enough, and his cover would be blown. Whatever side the man is on, he isn't a fool. I have looked at the spell, tested it out, I know what it does. I can't very well cast a spell without understanding it, that's a basic rule of magic!"

He could see Moody wasn't convinced. "I'm going to have to see it for my own eyes." He growled. "Anywei', even if that Death Eater has given us a real spell, how do we know he isn't just doing it to try and win us over? Double doubts, that's the way his filthy mind probably works."

Not quite sure what a double doubt was supposed to be, but assuming that the old man had probably read it from one of his doomsday prepper books, Shacklebolt proceeded on. "Well come on, and find out for yourself. He is willing to teach you."

"He's in the house? Is he alone in there?"

"No, Remus is with him." Shacklebolt turned to walk into the upstairs parlour but Moody marched past him and entered the room first. He bore down on Snape, who suddenly seemed very small compared to the burly Scotsman.

"Right then, ya' dirty dog, you. What's this I hear about you trying to butter your way into our good books?"

"I don't know." Responded the younger man insolently. "What have you heard? I haven't listened to any good stories in while, so please go ahead and share."

Shacklebolt honestly couldn't fathom out Snape. It was obvious he wanted the Order to trust him- why did he have to rise to every unkind comment?

"Don't you take that tone, or I will throw you out on your arse. I've taken many a better Dark wizard than you."

"Yes, I am sure you have, but Shacklebolt didn't bring you here to relive the 'good old days'." Snape rolled his eyes. "And frankly, you are being quite insulting of Shacklebolt's intelligence at the moment. He wouldn't have asked you here if he didn't think he had something worthwhile to show you."

"A good Auror can make a mistake… what they sometimes need is a second set of eyes." And Moody's ever-mobile eyeball scanned in on Snape. "Speaking of which, these eyes have really gotta compliment your lovely new set of scars."

Scars?

"Again with the peeping, Moody." Snape stiffened. "Anyone would think you have a thing for me, the number of times you seem to have the urge to look beyond my robes."

And- burn. Very nice, Snape.

Hassled, Moody backed off. "As if there is anything worth seeing." He sneered.

Lupin came forward. "This is wasting time. Look, Mad-eye, be sensible, would you? We actually have something real here. Just sit down, and we will demonstrate."

Pushing the disgruntled man into an armchair, Lupin and Shacklebolt prepared to cast their spell, while Snape Imperioused the owl to fly back and forth.

But seeing the purple light and hearing the alarm was not enough to satisfy Moody. He first wanted to be the one to Imperious the owl, in order to make sure that it actually was Imperioused, and then insisted on learning the spell from Kingsley, instead of Snape. Snape appeared extremely sullen throughout the whole process, which he understandably seemed to feel insulting.

Once Moody had got the hang of the spell, he then announced that he intended to test it out on Snape.

"The Imperious? Aren't Aurors' firmly against using that curse on humans?" Lupin exclaimed.

"I'm retired." Was Mad-eye's retort.

"You want to Imperious me?" Snape repeated, very slowly, as if he was speaking to an extremely thick student.

"You damned right I do. If this works, I want to make sure it works on a human, and I don't intend to volunteer either of these two loyal Order members for the task."

"No, just this loyal Order member- oh, sorry, I forget, I'm only a Death Eater, according to you." Snape looked furious.

Lupin hastened to intervene. "Really, Moody, I am quite happy to be the one to-"

"No." Moody was set. "It's going to be Snape. After all, if you really are on our side, Death Eater, then you shouldn't have anything to worry about."

"I worry about giving over my control to a certified madman. As you should well understand." Snape said, and despite his words, his tone was now calm and measured.

"Yer', well. You can deal with it. I won't hurt yee. Much." Grinned Moody. Clearly, he was trying to force Snape to admit that the spell was not worth it. Shacklebolt looked at Snape, and wondered if he would drop the whole venture then and there.

But Snape surprised him, yet again.

"Fine."

Eagerly, with a greedy air that Shacklebolt found quite stomach turning, Moody cast the Imperious on Snape.

Nothing happened. Snape stood just as ramrod as ever, his eyes had the normal flat black expression, but not the glassy vapid gaze that Imperious would usually bring.

They all stared at him for a moment. And then for another moment. He stayed exactly the same.

Then Snape noticed their slack jaws. "Oh- sorry." He said, and relaxed into the hold of the curse.

Moody was incensed. "What in the blazes? Even if one can throw off an Imperious, it's not supposed to be as if there is no bloody effect at all! What are you playing at?"

And he focused carefully on Snape, obviously planting an order in his brain.

A sleepy voice emanated from Snape's mouth, although it sounded quite strange. "Moody, I have given over most of my control to you, but I would rather you don't make me stick my finger up my nose. It's really quite unsanitary. Try again."

Spitting now, the Auror screwed up his eyebrows until they nearly covered his eyes, magical one included.

Then Snape lifted a leg and an arm delicately up into the air, and then flipped over into a handstand, black robes falling all around him- thankfully he was one of the generation of wizards that wore trousers.

Moody then cast Divordermone, and, like Lupin had done before, Snape toppled to the ground, rolled up in the squealing, flashing web.

Moody frowned pensively down at Snape for quite an inappropriate period of time. Finally cancelling out the spells, he hauled the man to his feet.

"All right then lad. I'll believe you- that is, I believe that this spell works for what you say it does. What I want to know is, why are you giving it to us?"

Snape was flushing red- Shacklebolt discerned the Slytherin had been a bit distressed by the experience. Nevertheless, in a regulated tone, Snape said, "I want to see the Dark Lord dead. I don't believe in him or in his ideals and I happen to dislike him quite a lot, actually. I can help- more than help- I just need you all to let me."

"Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater." Snorted Moody.

"Really, and what holy book did you get that from?" Snape hissed back. "You don't have to like me. I definitely don't like you. You just have to let me work alongside the Order for our mutual goals."

"You can appreciate the difficulty, though, Snape." Shacklebolt now spoke. "Of course, this spell is brilliant. I know it works. I just wish we knew more about you. Is there anything you can show us that will help us trust you? I want to."

"What about his boggart?" came an uninvited voice, and the door opened.

Everyone whipped around.

"Sirius!" Lupin cried, looking guilty. It seemed he had not related to his friend the reason for the little gathering in his own house.

Sirius had obviously been watching through the door's peep-hole for some time, and judging by Moody's unperturbed demeaner, the old man had been quite aware of this. "What about his boggart?" Moody repeated the words, but with a question.

"Well, we don't know what it is, do we?" Sirius stalked into the room, skinny hands planted on skinny hips. "I tried to find out a few months back, using the boggart hiding in the chest in the backroom. Well, I got him in front of it, but the git used dark magic so the boggart couldn't form. Obviously so that no one would see what it was."

Shacklebolt quickly glanced at Snape, his mind buzzing with questions. It wasn't possible to block out a boggart! They were amortal magical beings. Their very existence was based on reading fears. "Is this true?" he queried politely.

"I didn't use dark magic." Snape was glaring at Sirius with a very familiar expression of loathing, although he addressed Shacklebolt. "I have my own method."

"Well, I'm sure if you really, really want to show that you're on our side, you won't use it, just for this once, will you, Snivelly?" Sirius coo'ed at him with baby talk.

Moody nodded stridently. "It's fair. We know next to nothing about you, Snape, except that you are a slimy Slytherin, supposed ex-Death Eater. Why should we trust you?"

Snape's eyes blazed, but his voice was steady. "You violate my body with your disgusting eyeball, you violate my mind and my dignity, and now you want to access my greatest fear? Am I not a human to you?"

"Non-human until proven human." Quipped Sirius, grinning in excitement. "I don't have any boggarts on me, since Snape strolled off with the last one. What do you reckon though, Moody?"

"Let's do it." He returned. "I'll go to Knockturn Alley tomorrow and see if I can buy one."

"You haven't even got Snape's permission to do this!" Protested Lupin, his typically gentle expression now alive with indignation.

But once again, Shacklebolt was startled to hear Snape say, coldly, flatly-

"Fine."

November 10, 1995

Kingsley Shacklebolt

It made sense to do this, of course, invasion of privacy or otherwise. Remus Lupin wanted nothing to do with any of it, but Snape had actually asked him to be there. Snape's one caveat was that Sirius not be permitted to be a part of the process, but Sirius raised such a holy hell that Shacklebolt and Moody had to deny that request. "After all, it was the boy's idea in the first place." Maintained Moody.

They met up in the Grimmauld Place armoury the following day- it being a Sunday evening. Moody held under his arm a large metal briefcase, and Sirius had poured him and Lupin a round of drinks, obviously preparing to enjoy the show. (Lupin put his glass aside, looking queasy.)

Snape himself showed no emotion, but his face was chalkier than usual. Shacklebolt couldn't help but be recalled back to the day of Snape's trial, so familiar was the younger man's bearing now.

"You really don't need to do this, Severus." Lupin pleaded.

Snape shrugged. "I can't see any other way."

"What about Dumbledore?" Lupin lowered his voice, but Shacklebolt could just hear it.

"I told you, no."

Why not bring Dumbledore into it? But Dumbledore had been very closed mouth about Snape's motivations for loyalty, so Shacklebolt didn't personally want Dumbledore involved either. Dumbledore, despite being such a polarizing personality, really did have a way of making you feel in the dark about things. And that was something Shacklebolt found extremely galling.

"You ready then?" Moody placed the briefcase down on a small table.

Snape nodded.

The rest of them all moved further down to the end of the room, and then Moody waved his wand to unlock the briefcase.

Snape stood there, not having even shifted a foot or a shoulder or readied a wand. Shacklebolt withdrew his, just to be safe…

And then the boggart began to form- Shacklebolt moved in closer to get a better view.

It was-

"It's you?" Sirius's incredulous voice cut through the air. "You're afraid of yourself?"

Indeed, that was what the boggart had become… and now two Severus Snapes faced each other, indistinguishable, except for…

"Look at his face." Lupin murmured. "The other Snape."

Evil. It was pure evil- evil that distorted the features into some grotesque kind of mask. And the eyes, red, slitted back into the sockets like a snake.

"Letting out your little secret, eh?" the voice that spoke was ever so Snape like- but with a harsh, hard edge. Snape backed slightly away from his counterpart, still not having removed his wand.

"Pathetic, really, wouldn't you agree, Black?" the boggart continued, smirking. "Trying so hard to get all of your attention, when what he would really prefer to be doing is burning down this whole bloody house and the rest of the wizarding world with it."

"No." croaked Snape- the real one.

"No? What a little liar we are, now aren't we? Always hiding from the anger, the hatred. You know it's inside of you, all that power, screaming to explode out. You could do so much, but you never do. Always running away, always thinking of your lost little love, poor-."

Then Snape leapt on top of the boggart, wrestling it to the ground- punching him, it. "Hold on just a moment!" interjected Moody, moving forwards to intervene between the scrambling mortal and amortal.

But before the ex-Auror could do much else, the pair broke apart, and one of the Snapes, from his knees, stared intensely at the other one, who even then was removing a wand. Whatever he was planning to do with the wand was not something that they were to find out, however. For he suddenly morphed into a queer coloured lump of something that Shacklebolt really couldn't quite name. Then, cutting his palm through the air, Snape sent the blob of boggart hurtling into the chest with an angry wandless incantation.

"Happy now?" he demanded, getting up. He looked rather frightening, with his hair all over his face and his normally pristine robes rumpled. His mouth showed up very red against his pallid cheeks.

Shacklebolt couldn't understand. And from the look of the people around him, they didn't seem to be in the know either. Couldn't understand why the boggart was what the boggart was, and couldn't understand what Snape had just done to disempower it (although Sirius had related what happened last time.)

"You're afraid of yourself?" repeated Sirius stupidly.

"I'm afraid of what I could be." Snape said. This was the first time, Shacklebolt noticed, that there was no trace of venom in Snape's words as he addressed Sirius Black. Shacklebolt was brought back to that wistful childish face that he'd seen back at the Record's office- the only other time he'd seen the man so very defenceless.

"What- could you be?" Lupin asked gently, actually putting one hand on Snape's shoulder- which of course, though after a brief spell, Snape shook off.

"Like.. the Dark Lord."

Later that evening, Shacklebolt had a letter delivered by owl to one Severus Snape, Potions Master, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry.

Dear Severus,

After this weekend of fascinating revelations, it appears to be that we, the Order, are extremely fortunate in having you on our side. I intend to lose no time in setting up the Imperious detecting charm upon the doorway to the Department of Mysteries. Moody is still unconvinced, as your boggart gave him new questions- Black thinks you faked it somehow. I have to say that for myself, I am humbled that you chose to reveal something so very beautiful to us, your allies. I am a man who prides myself on the ability to read the hearts of others. Until today, I could not read you at all. It's still very difficult. I don't need to know your soul though- only your heart, and I know now that your heart beats for the Order. Feel free to communicate with me whenever you wish to- your loyalty has earned you MY loyalty. Also, I intend to insist that all Order members learn to use your communication devices. However, this is something we may need to discuss with Dumbledore.

P.S. Thank you for showing me how to key the paper to a 'DNA' signature. I won't forget that little charm.

Respectfully,

Kingsley Shacklebolt