The Half Blood Princess

Chapter 19: The Inside Man

Monday morning, Talia made her way through the Great Hall to her usual spot at the Gryffindor table. As the morning mail came, she opened her copy of the Daily Prophet and fiddled with her DA coin in her robe pocket. After breakfast she made her way to the Gryffindor Quidditch Changing Room to run a few laps before her first class of the day. "We need another meeting Harry but we also need to go careful so that we don't get caught" Hermione grumbled as she paced the Changing Room. "Relax Hermione, we're not going to get caught." Harry sighed as he pulled on his Quidditch Robes. "Guys, after the incident at the Ministry don't you think that the DA needs to lay low for a while?" Talia sighed as she leaned up against the doorframe. "Lia! What are you doing here? I thought you were taking Transfiguration?" Hermione questioned as she eyed her up and down. "I dropped Transfiguration like pretty much everyone else. I couldn't stand all the incense" she fake gagged, her nose crinkled in disgust. "You gonna tell me what happened between you and George?" Harry asked as he pulled up his trousers. "I caught him kissing Johnson" Talia shrugged as she pulled her Quidditch jumper over her head. "I'm sorry to hear that. I thought you guys were going to get married one day" Hermione sighed before making her way to the stands. "Yeah, Ginny was looking forward to having you as a sister-in-law," Ron shrugged as he reached for his broom. "You think you can get rid of me that easily, Ron? Nah, I'll be annoying you for the rest of your life" Talia chuckled before heading out to the pitch. After a few laps around the Quidditch Pitch, Talia was the first to touch down. "Smooth landing, are you sure I can't convince you to come back on the team?" Harry questioned as he hovered 20ft above her. "Tell me, dear cousin, how do you expect to complete your O.W.Ls and hold practices?" Talia retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. "We'll practise during our study periods or on Saturday's" Harry shrugged as he landed next to her. "You mean on the days you usually spend with Professor Snape in Detention?" Talia questioned, her eyebrow raised. "She's got you there, Harry. You do usually end up in detention with Professor Snape" Ron chuckled as he too landed and joined the conversation. "When's the next DA meeting anyway?" Talia rolled her eyes as she waved Hermione down from the bleachers. "Soon, we're working out what to teach everybody. At this rate it's most likely to be Friday night" Harry shrugged as they made their way back to the Castle. The week seemed to drag by but thankfully soon Friday arrived and it was clear that the members of the DA were excited. When everyone was waiting inside of the Room of Requirement whispers floated around the room trying to work out what they were going to be taught this time. "I need someone on the inside to know what Voldemort is up to" Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione. "Dumbledor has Professor Snape as his inside man, Harry and he's a member of the Order." Hermione reminded him. "I don't trust Professor Snape not to sell us out" Harry huffed, crossing his arms. "I'll do it" Talia piped up as she placed her book down. "It's dangerous, Lia. Are you sure you can handle it?" Ron questioned, sceptical that she could pull it off. "If I can beat you in today's lesson, Ronald then I'm going" Talia bargained as she held out her hand. "Ron's too easy to beat, if you can beat either me or Hermione then we have a deal" Harry smirked as he shook her hand. "I don't approve of this Harry, what if something goes wrong?" Hermione hissed, clearly annoyed. "Hermione, I wouldn't have volunteered if I wasn't sure that I could handle it. I've been working on my Occlumency so I have a way to close my mind to him if I feel he were to try to get any information out of me." Talia argued as she tried comforting Hermione and bring her around to the idea. "I still don't like it. What if Professor Snape tries to out you as a spy?" Hermione was pacing now, still uncomfortable with the whole thing. "How do you think I'm going to get in?" Talia sighed as she perched on the nearby windowsill. "Dammit Lia, you're going to get yourself killed" Hermione groaned as she continued to pace. "If I knew how to get in with the Death Eaters another way then I would but I don't know any other way" Talia grumbled now getting annoyed by the delay in the plan. "The time we spend arguing about it Hermione, is the more time Voldemort has to plan his attack against us" Harry huffed, putting a definitive decision in place. As everyone parted from the Room of Requirement, Talia made her way down to the Dungeons to speak with Professor Snape. "Absolutely not! Are you insane?! Why the hell do you think I would let you do this?" Severus yelled a few moments later. "Severus, I haven't come here to ask for your permission, I came here for your help but if you won't help me then I will find someone else who will" Talia huffed in annoyance as she sat on top of his desk. "You're serious? You really want to go through with this." Severus sighed in defeat knowing that he wouldn't be able to change her mind on this. "I wouldn't ask you to help me with this if I weren't certain that you would do everything in your power to protect me to prevent anything bad happening to me" Talia hummed as she placed her hand on his arm. "And you can't tell me why you suddenly want to become a Death Eater?" Severus grumbled as he looked down at her. "Correct. You're just going to have to trust me" Talia muttered as she leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "I still don't understand why you want to do this but I will help you" Severus sighed defeated knowing that he wasn't going to win the argument.