Riding a Nightmare

Scarlet Letter

Tom leaned up and looked at the twins, "Me? I'm Tom Riddle-"

"As I was saying." Moody grumbled, but he couldn't regain control, but he felt a nagging feeling in the back of his mind when he heard that name. It must've been a while since he couldn't recall it immediately, but he definitely found the name familiar.

Fred grinned, more interested in his and his twin's questions than anything Moody had to say, "Is it true what Remus-"

"-told us? That you're Professor Snape's-" George said, easily continuing where Fred left off.

Fred excitedly continued, "-husband?"

"THIS LETTER ..." Moody snapped loudly, so determined to force this topic that he shouted over the twins and didn't quite catch the entire sentence. He assumed the pause was for him to continue and not that the other people were shocked. "-is from Lucius Malfoy is what brought everyone here today-"

"Severus is married?!" Everyone yelped at once.

Minerva's jaw dropped, "Since when? He never said anything. I understand not wearing a ring as a spy, but to not tell us?" The witch looked a bit hurt, but suddenly remembered Moody was talking. "Right. Right. Spit it out, Moody. What's so important about this letter?" She asked impatiently, preferring to move along and hear the new juicy details. "Moody?"

The Auror was stunned and frozen for a moment. In complete silence he slowly turned to face Tom directly for the first time that night. The second he saw the red eyes calmly gazing back at him, his own eyes twitched as if trying to glance at someone for help.

Tom smirked, "Who did you try to look at just now?" He asked using a tone that made Moody feel like a mouse being stared at by a cat.

It was a sickeningly playful tone with a sadistic edge. Still Moody tried to stay calm. Unfortunately, no one here would know the truth about Tom's appearance, save for his accomplice, so screaming Voldemort would be something hard to explain. After all, how would he know that? Now he had to use a different tactic. In this case that was the letter.

"Ah. Yes. Congratulations. " Moody said, hoping people were thinking he was just shocked about who the man was in relation to Severus. "Now this letter came from Lucius Malfoy. It's a clear threat on Harry's life." He said and used a spell on the letter that had the letter read itself out loud.

Once he noticed the letter was read out loud the atmosphere became quite serious, except in Tom's case. Tom's red eyes were scanning every person in the direction Moody barely glanced in by mistake. Granted, the dark lord shouldn't be suspicious of him anymore than any other member of the Order. However, Tom should also not be here so it was clear something was wrong. If Moody didn't do something both him and his accomplice could be in trouble.

"Lucius Malfoy is awful!" Fred snapped as he and his brother jumped to their feet.

George nodded, "He's basically threatening Harry!"

"He can't do this!" The twins exclaimed in perfectly synchronized worry.

Everyone else seemed concerned too, except a few people. Obviously no one expected the newcomers to immediately grasp the seriousness of the situation. However, Albus Dumbledore should look worried and be jumping into action, right?

Molly stood with her sons, "Albus, how do we deal with this?" She asked, hoping that would snap the headmaster into action.

Albus just lazily sipped his tea, "I'll tell you how." He snapped his fingers and the letter zipped into his hand despite Moody's grip. "We'll start by reading the real letter."

Moody suddenly felt fear seep into his veins and tried to reach out to take the letter back, "What do you mean-"

"Why worry? I wrote this letter." Dumbledore said cheerfully and tapped the letter. "To be precise, I wrote the original letter and someone reworded it."