fatal love

chapter 167

2ND JUNE 1980

Sirius sat in another Order meeting. He'd dragged Benjy to this one, because it was the only thing that he could think that Benjy would agree to go to. And Sirius wanted him to start talking to people again, and stop hiding away at his parents' house.

People trickled in slowly, and Remus sat next to Sirius, but they didn't talk. Remus engaged Lily in conversation instead, who was getting pretty big by now, while Sirius eyed Benjy and Marlene, who were muttering to each other on the other side of the table.

He'd hoped those two would help each other, but he was starting to worry the opposite might happen. They both looked dark as they whispered, and Sirius wished he knew what they were saying.

As soon as the clock hit eleven, Moody strode in with Frank by his side. They both looked even more grim than usual, and a hush fell over the room.

"We've got some bad news," Moody announced without preamble. "Someone here is a spy."

Sirius sat up straight, looking around, and saw everyone else doing much the same thing. Immediately, he started thinking who it might be, without even questioning the news. He'd always thought Mundungus was no good, but perhaps that was too obvious.

"Oh, come on," James said in disbelief. "There's no spy, no one here would do that. You're getting too paranoid, Moody."

"He's not," Frank said. "The Bones are all dead."

For the first time, Sirius noticed that Edgar was missing. A flurry of whispers broke out, and Moody stomped his foot, silencing them.

"They were at the safehouse Edgar set up," Frank continued. "Only Order members could have known where it was, it had all the necessary wards, all the protections."

"But-"

"Believe me, Potter," Moody said gravely, "we've looked at this from every angle. There's only one explanation. Someone in this room sold them out."

"What... what does that mean?" Pete asked, his eyes wide with fear.

"It means we're adding more precautions!" Moody barked, and Sirius could see the anger behind his professional façade. "All missions will now be classified, and no one here is to share the jobs I give them with each other. The times and locations of meetings will not be given in advance, you will just be sent a Portkey. This is serious shit, do you all hear me?! We don't have the luxury of trust anymore. We need constant vigilance from everyone!"

Frank sighed, but he nodded. "Moody's right," he told them, "until we find who sold out Edgar, we have to assume everyone could be a traitor. Or we just put ourselves in more danger."

Moody strode towards the door briskly, not looking back. "Nothing else for today!" he shouted. "You'll all be hearing from me shortly!"

The door slammed shut behind him, and an uneasy silence filled the room. Sirius wasn't sure if he was surprised or not. Even if he hadn't been expecting it, it was sort of inevitable. People were already shifting away from each other, their hands inching towards their wands, and suspicion hung heavy in the air.

"Frank..." Lily said quietly, "what actually happened to the Bones?"

Frank sighed, a pained expression on his face. Sirius suddenly felt very sad for him. Ted, Frank, Edgar, the Prewetts, they were all roughly the same age, they must have grown up together, gone through their school years together, and fought together for much longer than Sirius had been fighting. And now only Ted and Frank were left.

"We think it was a coordinated effort of werewolves and Death Eaters," Frank said. "The... the bodies... well, it was certainly werewolves that killed them. But someone cast the Dark Mark as well. I'm sorry, that's all we know right now."