Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JKR, anything you don't is mine.

A/N: Thanks givetherabbitthefreakintrix and Duskfire1954 for the reviews!

This took so much longer than I had hoped! Sorry about that! And I'm also sorry about how it's slightly shorter than usual. I had a slight writers' block for a few days, but then I went back and reread the last few chapters and I got it all fixed. Again, sorry about the slow update and shortness! The more reviews I get, the fast I update! *hint hint*

Chapter 6

"Ahh, I was given special orders from Dumbledore himself not allowing you to leave the grounds."

"What? I'm a teacher, I'm of age – "

"Technically, you're not."

"Shut up, Astoria," I snarled at her. She frowned and headed out the gates to go to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day – it was the first Hogsmeade weekend since I had started teaching merely six days previously – as I turned back to Filch. "I can make my own decisions, and I – am – going – to – Hogsmeade!" Filch smiled nastily.

"Oh, no you're not."

"Oh? And pray tell why, exactly, Dumbledore won't allow me to leave the grounds?"

"Because he knows that the only reason you'll want to leave is because you want to go in to work."

"Please," I said in disbelief, "I'm not that stupid. Everybody there knows that I can't come in."

"You still can't go." I huffed and looked around me, spotting Harry, Ron, and Hermione not too far away.

"Fine," I snarled, running over toward them. I tapped Harry on the shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Do you have the cloak?" He shook his head. "How about the map?"

"No, Dad has them both. He needed to borrow them for work or something."

"Damn it!" I cursed, turning away. James didn't really need them for work, I knew. He had just taken them so that I couldn't use them. But, I thought, I'm not that stupid. I had another idea.

Filch wasn't looking. He was too busy sneering at some second year Gryffindors (Miles Shacklebolt among them) he had caught trying to sneak into Hogsmeade unnoticed to see me put a Disillusionment charm on myself. I slipped silently down the grounds, first heading toward Hagrid's hut and then veering to the left. Before long, I was standing in front of the Whomping Willow and levitating a stick to poke the familiar knob to make it immobilized. I took one final glance back at the gates to the castle, where McGonagall was now yelling at Miles and the other second years. Nobody was bothered to notice me slip into the gap in the roots of the Willow.

I lit my wand and walked swiftly through the silent, eerie tunnel. Despite the fact I wasn't very tall at all, I had to duck over, nearly crawling, to be sure I didn't hit my head on the ceiling.

Once I reached the Shrieking Shack, I Apparated instantly. I had already made my decision.

The streets were busy, full of Muggles. Not a single one of them seemed to give a second thought to the abandoned department store Purge and Dowse, Ltd., as though years of seeing it and wondering when and why it had closed had long ago gotten old and gone out of style. A single dummy dressed in outdated clothes sat in the display window. I walked up to it and nearly leaned completely against the glass.

"I'm here to see Severus Snape," I whispered. After a moment, the dummy gave a tiny nod and beckoned to me through the window. I didn't need telling twice – I stepped right through the glass into the hospital lobby. I ignoring everybody there, although I glanced around to make sure that Mary wasn't there, for she was sure to know that I wasn't supposed to be there. Instead, I walked straight up to the stairs, which were down a short hallway, and up to the fourth floor. I already knew he'd be there, I just had to find the right room.

I walked up to the Mediwizards' station and waited for one to acknowledge me.

"Hello, could I help you with something?"

"Could you tell me which room Severus Snape is in?" The Mediwizard frowned.

"Can I ask how you are related?"

"He-he's just a close friend," I replied, wondering why they had asked. "A really close friend," I added. The Mediwizard smiled slightly at me, although it was obviously one of those "I'm sorry" smiles.

"I'm sorry, miss," he said, and he really did sound sorry, "but I can't tell you." I stared at him.

"What?" It was all I could say. I was pretty shocked.

"That is classified information, Mr. Snape only wants family members and Albus Dumbledore to be allowed to know." Shite, Sev, why'd you have to do this to me? I groaned, but I knew what to do. The Mediwizard smiled one final time at me before turning around, but I quickly called,

"Wait!" Irritated, he turned back to face me. "I-I lied," I said quietly, looking down at my hand and twirling my ring.

"You lied?" he asked in disbelief.

"Sev is actually my-my fiancé." I lifted up my left hand and showed him the ring.

"You're fiancé? Then why didn't you know what room he was in?"

"Well, you see, I was away in Paris on business for a whole month," I invented quickly, messing with my ring again. "I came home today to find my best friend telling me that he was hit by a terrible curse and he was here. You see, our relationship is kind of secret, at least our engagement is, which is why I said that he was just a close friend when you first asked. Has he been asking for me?" I added quickly, trying to sound worried.

The Mediwizard still looked skeptical, but he said, as he motioned for me to follow him down the hallway,

"Well, he's hardly said anything yet. He just woke up a few days ago, and has only spoken to Albus Dumbledore when he came to visit." He led me past several doors, through which I could see other Mediwizards and Healers leaning over their sick patients.

"How's Sev doing?" I asked as we kept walking.

"Oh, Mr. Snape has been awake several times the past few days. We've gotten most of the internal damage fixed, he should be ready to leave in about a week or two." He opened the door to one of the rooms and led me in, past two curtained beds to the third curtained bed. He pulled the curtains back and said, "Mr. Snape, your fiancé's here to see you."

"My fiancé?" Sev asked, sounding confused. The Mediwizard nodded slowly, turning around and motioning to me to come forward. Severus looked extremely confused as I shuffled forward, but I motioned for him to be quiet until the Mediwizard was gone. Once he was, Severus turned to me.

"What did I do to make you my fiancé? Sorry, but, I think you and Regulus go better together – "

"Oh shut up," I said, sitting in the only chair beside his bed, "I had to tell them that, or they wouldn't let me come see you." I frowned and then added quickly, "Which, by the way, they say is your fault. You really shouldn't have it so only Dumbledore and family members can visit you."

"You're not supposed to be here," Severus said, suddenly stern, "are you?"

"Well – "

"Don't lie."

"Okay, fine, I'm not supposed to be here!" I exclaimed, standing up again and running my fingers through my hair as I paced back and forth by the bed. "But I have an excuse! I don't like being cooped up in Hogwarts with nobody to tell me what's going on! I need to be out on the battlefield. Nobody will tell me what's going on. Even Regulus won't tell me when he comes there at the end of the day. I bet even you know more news than me."

"Well, I know about your dream about our dear friend Bella. I know that Dumbledore has three spies – although who they are, he refused to say – only one of them is actually hanging around the Death Eaters right now, though. I also know that Voldemort hasn't come back to life yet, and that only Bella seems to know how to bring him back because the spy claims that nobody else seems to know."

"Who the hell are his spies?" I asked, sitting back down.

"I have no idea," Severus said, looking as though he were deep in thought.

"I bet, maybe, one of them is Draco Malfoy," I said thoughtfully.

"That makes sense," Severus said, "and maybe one of the Aurors?"

"I don't think any of the Aurors would want to go undercover, or even have what it takes. They all had families that were torn apart by Death Eaters or Voldemort himself, or else were somehow inflicted in pain by one of them, and they don't want to go anywhere near them let alone pretend to be one of them."

"Has Dumbledore reformed the Order?" I shook my head slowly.

"As far as I know, no. I don't know anything, though, so I have no idea." I groaned, putting my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. We sat in silence for a moment before Severus asked,

"Stressed?"

"Like you have no idea," I replied moodily.

"How's teaching?"

I groaned in response. "It's been only one week and these kids are driving me crazy."

"Now you know how I feel," Sev joked. After another moment of silence, he said quietly, "You should probably leave. Mary comes in about every hour to check up on me, and it's been a while since she's came. She will know that you aren't supposed to be here." I looked up at him.

"You won't tell, will you? That I was here?"

"Course not."

"Thanks Sev." I stood up slowly. "I guess I'll see you in a few weeks when you get out of here."

On my way out, I was much more careful to try to avoid Mary. Luckily, I didn't see her anywhere. I Apparated back to the Shrieking Shack. The whole time I was crawling through the tunnel, I was debating what I was about to do. It could be reckless – maybe there wasn't anything to tell me – but it could actually be a smart move.

By the time I reached the castle, the sun had set behind it. It was past curfew. And I still hadn't made up my mind.

It wasn't until I reached the stone gargoyle that I decided – yes, I'm going to do this. "Bertie Bot's Every Flavor Beans," I muttered. The gargoyle jumped aside, allowing me to step onto the moving spiral staircase just beyond. I didn't bother knocking – what else was new? I hadn't knocked when I was angry at Dumbledore and was going to his office since before I could remember – and instead threw the door open roughly.

He was sitting calmly at his desk, writing something, He looked up at me over his half-moon spectacles, a surprised expression on his face.

"Nicole," he said, also sounding surprised, "I didn't expect to see you here,"

"Cut the formalities," I snapped, closing the door loudly and walking up to him. I put my hands onto his desk and leaned onto them so I was close to his face."I don't know what you've been planning lately," I said quietly. "But I do know is that you're doing something with either the Aurors and/or the Order that you haven't told me! I understand that I'm younger than the rest, but wasn't I the one to defeat Voldemort in the first place? I should at least know these things – !"

"Nicole," Dumbledore said calmly. I stopped talking to glare at him. "I haven't been telling you for your safety. The Death Eaters are already going to be after you, and if you know they will be after you even more if I let you know everything that has been going on lately – "

"Do I look like I care that they're after me? No! I couldn't care less! But I do want to know everything that you aren't telling me, like who these three spies are, if – "

"Wait," Dumbledore said suddenly, sounding confused again, "how did you know about the three spies?"

"I went to see Severus," I said smugly.

"But how did you get out? Filch was told to not let you out at all costs."

"Oh, I know other ways to get out of these grounds," I said mysteriously. "Now who are these three spies?"

"I'll tell you one for now. It's Draco Malfoy."

"Ha! I totally called that one!" Dumbledore rose his eyebrows. "Sorry."

"Anyway, Mr. Malfoy has been keeping tabs on things for me and leaving notes on my desks for me. He says that Bellatrix is the only one that seems to know about how to bring our dear old friend Tom Riddle back from the dead, and that she obviously hasn't – at least yet."

"Have you recreated the Order?"

"Not yet," Dumbledore replied. "I've been working on it, but haven't yet. And to answer one of your previous questions, but I haven't been doing anything with the Aurors. I do know that they have some Aurors looking for any other places that the Death Eaters may be using as Headquarters for when Severus gets better and you and him go out."

"Who are your other spies?"

"Well, one of them actually hasn't started his work yet, and the other I haven't even talked to about it yet."

"Well who are they?"

"The first wishes to remain unnamed, at least for now. The other is, if they'll agree and will hear me out, you."

A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Leave me a review to tell me your opinions! Constructive criticism is appreciated! You can even tell me what you'd like to see happen later in the story if you want.