Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

15 March, 1980 - Offers

Albus Dumbledore had known for some time now, that Lord Voldemort would be seeking a spy. Ever since Sybil Trelawny had given that prophecy, he had known. Ever since Aberforth had interrupted Severus Snape spying and informed his brother of the eavesdropper. So of course, Albus had suspected that Voldemort wanted to know the end of it. Voldemort wanted a way in, a way to find and hunt down whoever ended up being that fated child who could defeat him.

Yes, Albus had known for a long time that this was coming. So the confirmation he had just received was not what surprised him. What surprised him was the young woman who had offered this news. Lavinia Selwyn. Whose loyalties he had never entirely worked out. Lavinia Selwyn who was standing in front of him, knowing just how suspicious this made her.

She was, the old man supposed, a reasonable gamble for a spy. She had ties to the Death Eaters already, old loyalties that could have been leveraged against her. And yet, those old loyalties were not why she had come here.

The first words out of her mouth once she'd finished her story had been: "You need to protect him." And it was clear who she meant even without the help of legilimency.

Actually, she was rather hard to read, no matter how skilled a legilimens Albus was. And he was very skilled. Even so, the best he seemed to be able to get was flashes of moments and emotions. A few faces accompanied by a handful of emotions that didn't seem to be nearly as strong as they should be. Like she was holding them back. Or perhaps even making an attempt at occlumency. But he could still read them, dulled though they seemed to be. There was a wild, reckless fear. A quiet, aching grief. And a fierce, fierce love.

It was this last that convinced Albus more than anything. More than her fear or her bravery. Indeed, Albus trusted few things more than he trusted love. And her love was as unmistakable as it had been from the very first moment he had seen her and offered her a place in the Order. When she had defended the people she loved with a vehemence he honestly hadn't expected.

It was why he had never challenged her dual loyalties, why he tolerated her unwillingness to commit. Why he trusted that she would keep her mouth shut even though he knew she was in contact with known Death Eater sympathizers. He had been told, more than once, by other lead Order members that she was a liability. And it was true. She was. But Dumbledore had ignored them because she was useful and because he trusted the love she held for her friends on this side of the war to keep her from betraying them to those on the other side.

It had been a gamble, a calculated risk, and he knew full well that many would not have made it, but seeing her now, standing in his office at Hogwarts, he knew it had paid off. Because even though she didn't like him in the slightest, even though she thought he was manipulative and self serving, she was still here, still offering him invaluable information in return for, not her own safety, but the safety of the people she loved. Safety they both knew even he couldn't guarantee.

"What do you propose I do?" Albus asked now, watching the girl over his clasped fingers.

She blinked. An unexpected question, then. She had simply expected him to act. Not surprising, given what he knew of her upbringing. She likely wasn't used to people giving her choices, especially not adults who held power over her. And Albus most certainly did hold power over her right now. She wanted something from him. Something he could tell she was willing to pay handsomely for. But he didn't know yet whether or not he would ask for something in return.

"I don't know," Lavinia Selwyn admitted, a slight frown on her face as she watched him. "Make him go into hiding. Make them all go into hiding. Keep them away from this war."

"You know I can't do that," Albus replied, but gently. She knew it was impossible and that she asked it at all spoke all too clearly of her desperation. He wondered then what exactly those Death Eaters had threatened her with. She hadn't gone into details and he hadn't pried. He didn't need to know. What mattered was that it was serious enough for her to be here.