☽☽☽
"RENA SOMETHINGS WRONG" Remus said as he stared at her. His eyes bore no resemblance to the ones that she knew, they were cold and clouded over in a faint fog. Did he even know who he was?
"Everything's fine" Athena replied,
"How does it come so easy to you?" He asked,
"What?"
"Lying"
Athena's head was spinning. This wasn't real, this couldn't be real. She reached up and placed her hand on the side of his face to feel that his skin was cold as though death had taken him. She flinched and backed away as though he had burned her.
"You can't lie forever Rena, I'll figure out the truth sooner or later, surely you know that?"
"I didn't want to lie" Athena sobbed, "I'm protecting you Remus, don't you see I'm protecting you?"
"It'll only be worse when I find out"
"Nothing can be worse than I now feel Remus" Athena shook her head, "nothing"
"We'll see about that"
Athena's eyes snapped open and she found herself staring at the ceiling patterned in sunlight. Her eyes felt heavy with a slight pain. Why was waking up always so bitter?
The memories of the dream lingered with her as she tried to blink away her own exhaustion. Today was a Sunday and Athena had grown to know exactly what that meant. However today wasn't the regular dull and dragging order meeting, today was the day that she'd have to convey the news of Severus Snape.
She'd been trying to forget about it. The idea that there were two traitors in a group of people she trusted to the end was terrifying. Furthermore, if this was true then so was the prophecy that Trelawney made and she didn't want to know exactly what those words entailed.
Athena had been trying to figure out a way to give this information without giving away that Snape wasn't purely a death eater anymore. If Athena said this information was from a source, this would be relayed back to Voldemort and there was a risk that Snape could be caught up. However Athena was sure that she would be able to come up with something. As Snape had said, she was a Ravenclaw after all.
"Rena?"
She turned to see that Remus was watching her. She hadn't realised before now.
"Yeah?"
"You like like you're deep in thought, what's going on?"
Athena hadn't yet told Remus about the imposters yet again because it had been a weight on her own mind and she didn't want to pass this on. She also didn't want to start theorising who this might be and she didn't want to hear anyone else's guesses either. Something told her that this was going to cause disruptions.
"It's just the meeting" Athena sighed, "I... I have something I have to tell everyone and I don't know how"
"What's this?" He frowned,
"It's the information I've been given from Snape" Athena murmured.
"Snape?" Remus questioned before remembering the agreement that had been made between the death eater and Dumbledore, "oh... Snape"
"Yeah"
"What did he tell you?" Remus asked.
"That there's two imposters in the order" Athena admitted. Remus' eyes snapped up to meet hers in sudden worry.
"That can't be right"
"That's what I said initially but he was positive, Voldemort had information that could have only come directly from the order"
"Two?" Remus mumbled, "I can't even imagine that one of them would betray us, never mind two"
"I know" Athena nodded, "I don't want to think about it"
"But you have been haven't you?" Remus sat up, "you have been thinking about it?"
"Yes of course I have" Athena replied, "it's been stuck in my mind"
"Who do you—"
"I don't know and I don't want to question it" Athena shook her head, "it's awful Remus, I trust them all so much and I don't want to— I can't believe that any of them would relay information to Voldemort"
"But some of them have" Remus sighed, "I'm sure Dumbledore will figure it out"
"That's the thing" Athena murmured, "I don't want to figure it out, I have a feeling that we're not going to like the answer"
"Well no I don't want to find out people we've trusted are death eaters but it's better than everyone being in danger over this"
"I know" Athena nodded,
"Why didn't you tell me straight away?" Remus continued, "it's obviously been eating at you"
"Sorry" Athena looked back up to him, "I just didn't want to say it out loud... makes it true I suppose"
"It's alright" Remus smiled lightly as he pulled her closer to him.
"I have to figure out a way to give the information without giving away Snape" Athena added, "because Voldemort can't know he has an imposter too"
"Could Snape not just find out who they are?"
"I asked but apparently not" scoffed Athena,
"You'll just have to make it seem that you found this out on your own" Remus shrugged, "overheard something"
"Yeah that's what I was thinking" Athena nodded, "Remus, can we not make guesses towards who it is?"
"We have to at some point Rena, everyone is going to be. That's why this information is important, it'll open people's eyes and if the imposters even slightly slip up we'll have them"
"I know" Athena murmured,
"You know there's people in the order we don't really know, people we haven't met who do outside work for the order"
"Yeah but Voldemort knew information directly from the meetings"
"Maybe the information is passed on?" Remus suggested,
"Maybe" Athena sighed, not really believing this at all.
☽☽☽
The meeting was at Hogwarts that day. This was a good thing because it meant that nearly everyone would be there and Athena only wanted to tell this imposter story once.
She began to worry that people wouldn't believe her. Athena hadn't even believed Snape at first. She mentally asked whether she'd even believe herself. Her story was going to be a lie anyway however she had to make sure they did listen because if they didn't the imposters had an even bigger advantage.
Remus and Athena walked through the front gates into the school and Athena almost forgot how long it had been since Remus had been here. There had been a few meetings at Hogwarts since they'd left however Remus hadn't been to all of them because of the moon. Athena presumed that it must have been a while since he'd been in the castle, staring up at the tall ceilings and stone walls.
Athena missed it too but she missed how she'd been then rather than the place. She missed a time when she wasn't empty and devoid of any happiness or worry. Now her life seemed so helpless however back when she'd walked these halls as a student, things had been ok. She tried to hang on to these memories as they walked to the headmasters office.
They barely passed anyone on the way. A few students ran past and Athena saw her old head of house Professor Flitwick from a distance. Passing the old classrooms, Athena had flashes of her memories of her lessons. She stated into the defence against the dark arts classroom and wondered who taught it now. She knew it had still been a new teacher each year, the job was definitely cursed.
Remus and Athena reached the head masters office where the staircase was already sat waiting. Remus went first and they climbed the spiralling stone until they made it to the office.
Inside the table was laid out and nearly everyone was here. Lily was looking incredibly pregnant now and Athena was surprised that she had even come to the meeting. Alice hadn't although she was due earlier. Lily was getting to the point where she could give birth at anytime however she was evidently still determined to attend these meetings.
Athena and Remus sat beside Marlene and Dorcas who smiled up at them. After that they were waiting for Peter, Aurora and Diggle who didn't take long to get here.
Dumbledore opened his mouth to start talking when Athena stupidly raised her hand into the air. She knew that she wasn't a student in a lesson however she felt nervous about simply speaking out. However now sat with her hand raised she felt even more pathetic.
"Yes Miss Sinistra?" Dumbledore asked and all eyes turned to her. Athena's arm darted down.
"I have something important to talk about" Athena began,
"Do go on" Dumbledore frowned and Athena wondered whether she should have told him first. However after her visit with Snape she hadn't been in the mood to visit yet another person who she hated.
Athena got to her feet (which was something the order members did when it was their time to present information). She was very aware that everyone was staring at her however she tried to not let this put her off.
"I have had this worry for a while" Athena began, already constructing the story in her mind, "when Mary knew of the twins plan to follow her, we were ambushed and I wondered how they had known exactly what we were planning. This wasn't the first time this had happened and that's what led me to try and figure it out... the other day I was in knockturn alley following a lead"
Athena wasn't sure how these lies were coming so easily however it seemed everyone was rapt with attention, they all believed her. She hoped that Dumbledore would read the truth. She wasn't blocking her mind so Athena was sure with his power of occlumency he'd be able to figure out that this was Snape's information not her own.
"While I was following this lead I heard information from some of those on Voldemort's side. They didn't know I was there, I'm sure of it so this information has not been planted—"
"What's the information?" Marlene interrupted in evident curiosity,
"There are two spies in the order, two people who are relaying information to Voldemort himself"
There was a general gasp around the room as everyone's eyes darted around. Athena was too looking around to take in the reactions of people, trying to see a break or weak point in their visage.
"You're sure of this?" McGonagall asked,
"Positive" Athena nodded, "it explains everything perfectly"
"Two imposters?" James frowned, "who?"
"I don't know" Athena shrugged, "they didn't say"
"What does this mean for the order?" Slughorn asked, "surely we can't continue with meetings knowing that everything we say will be passed on to Voldemort"
Athena took this opportunity to sit back down and she felt Remus' hand enclose around hers immediately,
"This is indeed an advantage for their side" Dumbledore solemnly, "I'm not going to pretend I saw it coming... I trust everyone here"
"Can't we use verita serum?" Tessa asked, "and ask people if they are the imposter"
"We don't have enough for everyone" Slughorn replied, "it takes months to brew... but I could start to brew some"
"Surely we need a faster option?" Vance questioned, "in a few months anything could happen"
"Right whoever it is just say now" Dorcas tried. Athena stifled a laugh at this.
"Yeah that was definitely going to work Meadowes" Kennedy smirked.
Athena couldn't help but notice that most people were staring at Kennedy with unsure expressions. Some people in this room had never trusted her and this pissed Athena off. However how could Athena be sure that Kennedy could be trusted? She'd broken her trust before. This had created so much confusion in her mind. Yet as she looked at Kennedy she couldn't imagine her betraying the order, maybe she was naive in this?
"I'm not sure what we can do" Aurora pointed out, "we need to have meetings, without meetings there is no order... not really"
"She's right" Dominique nodded, "but then do we just risk knowing that Voldemort is finding out everything we say?"
"Surely there's enough verita serum to use on the right people?" Vance asked,
"The right people?" Frank frowned, "it could be anyone here, there are no right people"
"You have to remember that verita serum can be avoided" Dumbledore sighed, "there is dark magic learned by many that allows you to lie through this potion"
"You think Voldemort would have taught his followers this?" Aurora asked,
"Almost certain" Dumbledore nodded, "does anyone have any suspicions of who it could be?"
Everyone stayed quiet. Athena expected that people did have suspicions and just didn't want to say them. She could tell by shifting eyes and blank expressions that everyone was calculating things in their mind.
"Well if no one else is going to say anything I will" Vance spoke out, "Vulpes"
Kennedy looked up without any surprise on her face,
"She was a death eater if we remember"
Everyone looked at Kennedy who just shrugged,
"What do you want me to say?" She asked, "I suppose me saying it's not me isn't going to convince you"
"Kennedy gave information to the order when she joined" Sirius brought up.
"Not enough to give us much advantage"
"She was the one who informed us about the attack at the ministry to get the prophecy" Athena added, "she gave us the information about the horcruxes, forgive me but aren't they two of our biggest advantages?"
Everyone went rather quiet after that but Athena could tell that this didn't quell their thoughts. Kennedy was the obvious answer to most of them. However the former Slytherin didn't seem to care, she sat back with a small smile which wasn't helping much.
"I need time to think over this" Dumbledore said, "there is no point giving information today after the knowledge of this, I need time to think of a solution"
There were nods of agreement as everyone stood up.
"Miss Sinistra stay behind please I need to question your story once more"
Athena wanted to sigh in annoyance as she was sure Dumbledore already knew the truth.
"I'll be waiting at the bottom of the stairs" Remus smiled as everyone moved out the room. They stood around for a moment before Dumbledore was sure that everyone had left. After that he turned to face Athena.
"This was Severus' information was it not?"
"Yes" she nodded, "I had to come up with a story to not give him away"
"Of course, I understand that this was the best thing to do... Athena I trust your judgment more that many others so I will ask you this, who do you think the imposters are?"
"It's not Kennedy" Athena said confidently, "I know it's not"
"You don't have any guesses to who it could be?"
"No, I'm sorry but I trust everyone, wrongly in some cases it seems but I can't even imagine one of them being a betrayer never mind two"
"Yet you think this information from Severus to be correct?"
"Yeah" Athena nodded, "unfortunately I do"
☽☽☽
A/n
Words - 2500
Published - 5th April 2021
Can't say imposters
without thinking of among us
so now I'm just imagining a big
among us game lmao
anyway who do you think
the second one is ?
I'd love to know who everyone
suspects