Chapter 5: Repercussions

Albus Dumbledore couldn't quite understand how he ended up in the situation he was now in. It was certainly not the way he had thought this day would go but here he sat nevertheless staring at the face of his former student and Order member.

Wormtail had just finished offering all the information he had on Voldemort's current endeavors and what he wants to occur in the near future. It was now nearing midnight and he had been telling them information for over seven hours now.

"Why?" Dumbledore asked after Wormtail said that was all he had.

"Why?" Wormtail asked, showing that he wanted to know which part of the story he wanted more information about.

"Why did you turn yourself in?"

"I've ruined my life and the lives of the only ones that ever treated me as a friend. My actions have lead four of them to death. I betrayed the wizard debt that I owed to Harry by not warning you, or him, about Severus sooner. I-I have nothing else to live for. I don't want, deserve, to live anymore. I only hope that some of the information I've given you will be able to save some lives in the near future."

Dumbledore sat deep in thought while Minerva and Filius sat in chairs close by with their wands at ready in case Wormtail decided to make a run for it. Minerva had already taken the necessary steps to make sure that he couldn't transform anymore. While it was not a permanent solution, it did last for about a week.

"You realize, of course, that you will be questioned by the ministry and given the dementors kiss immediately, do you not?"

"Y-yes, sir." He mumbled.

"Minerva," Dumbledore turned toward the Gryffindor Head of House. "I would like you to make a visit and inform certain entities that I will not be able to make the meeting tonight."

Minerva nodded in understanding. Dumbledore couldn't come out and say that Harry was still alive when Wormtail thought him to be dead.

"Filius," Dumbledore addressed the short charms teacher. "If you would be so kind as to escort our friend here to the ministry while I inform the correct people of his 'return.'"

Filius nodded his agreement with the idea and bound Wormtail before levitating him towards the floo. They disappeared in a flash of green flames while Albus followed them to alert the Minister of Magic and the Head of Magical Law Enforcement.

OoO

Minerva McGonagall knocked on the door before entering. Regardless of the fact that they couldn't answer the door she thought it wise to announce herself before rushing in. After all there were two women and one young man in the room and while she didn't think that anything 'inappropriate' would be going on, though she had to admit that she remembered being young and some of the things she got into when she had nothing better to do, and they certainly had nothing better to do, being locked in a room for almost a week, she was being courteous anyways.

She slowly opened the door and entered the confined room. She was immediately met with unhappy glares from all three inhabitants. She sighed, mentally cursing Albus, and decided to just inform them of the meeting cancellation and move on.

"Albus won't be able to make the meeting tonight. Something rather…..unexpected occurred earlier this afternoon and he is still dealing with the situation. I would imagine that he will be busy most of tonight, well, this morning before the matter is taken care of.

"I am sorry to say that I cannot tell you what is going on right now but rest assured that Albus will be sure to go over all the information with you when he meets with you all, I assume, tomorrow."

She figured it was also best to just head off any questions they may have had before getting stuck in the room with them until Albus could get away from the Ministry.

The room's inhabitant, especially the females, were not at all amused at the delay of their meeting, but said nothing as Minerva backed out of the room and closed the door behind her.

OoO

Severus Snape was getting ready to return to Hogwarts. His summer mission now finished, he was ordered to return to his post and inform the Dark Lord of anything of significance that the old man gets around to doing.

He had just finished packing his bags from his month long stay at Gaunt Manor and was heading towards the apparition point the Dark Lord had created.

Nodding to the three guards stationed around the apparition center he strode confidently into the center before disappearing with a swirl of his cloak and a scowl at those watching.

OoO

Albus Dumbledore had just finished gathering all of the necessary individuals to carry out what needed to be done before morning. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones, and Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, Delores Umbridge were all gathered into the conference room. Just to be on the safe side he had also asked for Kingsley Shacklebolt and Hestia Jones, both working for the MLE division of the Ministry of Magic to be at the meeting as well. None of the invited guests had been made aware of the actual reason for the meeting; they were just told it was a matter of extreme urgency.

Dumbledore was getting ready to call in Filius and their 'guest' when he was hit with a message spell from Severus. He sighed internally at the thought that he was betrayed yet again by someone he thought could be trusted. Now he was facing the certain fact that he would be in the same room as both men at the same time for the first time since they attended Hogwarts together.

Ignoring the spluttering Minister of Magic, Dumbledore excused himself for a few minutes, to gather another attendee, and created a portkey to headquarters to await Severus' arrival.

Once he was at headquarters he set about making anti-apparition wards around the building to avoid any quick attempts to leave the area. Once they were set he floo'd Cynthia Edgecombe, in the floo regulatory office. She had been changed to night shift for some reason after her daughter's botched attempt to assist Fudge. He used his authority as, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, recently reinstated, to order the closure of all floo travel indefinitely starting in fifteen minutes.

Once he was certain that the area was secure enough to capture Severus, not that he doubting his own dueling abilities but never leave everything to chance, he sent a message spell to Severus to have him floo to headquarters immediately to debrief him of his month long mission. He tried to take notice away from the fact that he was to use floo by saying that recent events have caused anti-apparition wards to be added to the area around headquarters.

Satisfied with his work thus far, Albus settled into the chair across from the floo in the sitting room. Since he had a few moments free time before he expected Severus to arrive he sent another message spell to the three current prisoners in the third floor corner bedroom.

OoO

Harry, Tonks, and Fleur were just getting ready to sleep for the night. It had been about ten minutes since Minerva had left, and despite the amount of sleep all of them had had recently, they were quite tired and had no real reason to stay awake any longer.

They had turned out the light, one of the amenities they had been afforded so far, and were starting to drift off when three silver bolts of magic entered the room and each headed for an individual.

Harry, having never been told a message in this fashion before was skeptical to believe it, once he figured out that he wasn't gleaming more thoughts from Voldemort's mind.

"Its okay, Harry. Dumbledore derived some sort of message spell from the patronus charm. Only the members of the Order know how to do them."

Somewhat reassured Harry took the limited information in stride and drifted off once more. He was too tired to even be mad at the headmaster for not telling them anything useful. What good did it do them to know that they had a captured death eater? Sure that let them know why he couldn't meet with them but it really didn't answer any of the questions that they had, nor did it reduce the amount of frustration the three captives still felt.

OoO

Severus Snape was not amused. He had just spent the last month locked in his lab at Gaunt Manor with no human contact. He had only made brief visits to apprise the Dark Lord of his status on his assignment. Now all he wanted to do was fall into his comfortable bed at Hogwarts and sleep until school began.

Of course, the reason he was not amused, was because the old man had asked him to report immediately to headquarters to debrief him on where he had been for the last month. He had had more than enough time to fabricate a story that would suffice but he didn't want to have to meet the headmaster now. He was tired and wasn't in the mood to act like he cared about Dumbledore's ideals.

He didn't care that he had to floo there. It wasn't all that surprising that they had added more wards to the house; in fact, he was amazed that it had taken this long to do it. He headed to the floo in his chambers at Hogwarts and set off to meet the old man.

He arrived in sooty mess. He was too busy clearing his robes of soot to notice the slight green flicker in the fireplace and Albus' body relax slightly.

"Good evening, headmaster," Snape said silkily. "I assume that you want to know my whereabouts for the last month?"

"Indeed, Severus, I would. Have a seat," Dumbledore gestured formally to the chair next to his.

Snape nodded curtly and sat in the offered chair. "Lemon drop?"

Snape declined to offered candy. Dumbledore didn't seem the least bit bothered by the refusal. He reached into his robes and extracted a bag of his sweets and set them in his lap so he would have easy access to them.

The meeting continued formally with Snape outlining his actions during July. Once the meeting was concluded, Dumbledore stood and Severus followed suit. Dumbledore bid him good night and started to move the bag of sweets back to his pocket. As soon as his hand was inside his pocket he let go of the bag and grabbed his wand. In one of the most fluid and precise displays of magic, the 160 year old man stunned, gagged, and bound the unsuspecting Death Eater before making a portkey to the ministry.

A/N: Short, yes, but I'm getting back into my writing mood again.