The Darkness Within

Chapter Three - Strange Killings

  Chapter Three

Lily was not amused. She had been looking forward to seeing James for over a fortnight now, and as soon as he had come, they both had not even been able to say two words to each other before Professor Dumbledore had requested an urgent Order meeting. James hadn't even said hello to Damien yet. Lily sat with her arms crossed against her chest and was trying her best not to let her foul mood to show. Honestly, a couple of minutes with her husband were all she wanted, was that too much to ask?

Her thoughts were cut short when the room suddenly quietened down. James took his seat next to Lily, taking her hand into his and giving it a gentle squeeze. She looked up at him with a half heartened smile. Looking around the room she saw familiar faces, most looking tired and as annoyed as she felt. She spotted the forever paranoid Mad-eye Moody, sitting next to Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. Tonks was clearly noticeable with her bubble-gum pink hair. She looked around at Remus and Sirius sitting next to James. Her fellow colleague and former Professor, Minerva McGonagall was sitting near the front of the room, next to Snape. Next to them were two empty seats that Lily tried to ignore. She couldn't bear thinking about them again.

Her attention was drawn to the Headmaster who now stood in front of all the members. Albus Dumbledore was looking immensely tired and worn out, pretty much like everyone else. He cleared his throat and the already quiet room hushed into complete silence. He could see the expressions most were wearing; there were a few who looked annoyed at the last minute meeting while others looked like they were trying to prepare themselves for more tragic news.

"I thank you for attending this meeting at such short notice.” Dumbledore began. “I am aware many of you had to cancel or rearrange your plans so I will not take much more of your time." Here he gave a significant look at Lily who seemed to blush and lower her gaze to her hands in her lap.

"It's okay, Lils, no one else noticed." Sirius joked quietly to her.

Lily threw him a sharp look but didn't say anything.

"As you all are aware, there have been a number of attacks on Death Eaters in the past year.” Dumbledore continued. “It's been confirmed that these Death Eaters killed were inner circle members. Since neither the Ministry nor the Order has taken responsibility for these attacks, it leads to the question of the identity of this attacker." The room was silent, every eye on Dumbledore. "The most recent attack was carried out last night. A Death Eater named Jason Riley was killed in his home. The Ministry claim not to be responsible and we know that the Order wasn't responsible. It leads to the question of who is tracking down these Death Eaters and killing them." Dumbledore finished sounding concerned.

"What does it matter?” Moody asked in his gruff voice. “Whoever this is, they are killing Death Eaters. They are helping us. Why should this be a cause of worry?"

A few murmured their agreement to Moody's statement.

"It is a cause of worry since we don't know who is doing this and for what reason." Dumbledore explained.

"Maybe there is another secret society formed, like the Order. Maybe someone has formed another group to fight against You-Know-Who and they are targeting Death Eaters." Tonks offered.

"That may be a possibility." Dumbledore inclined his head in her direction. "However, I think it would be in our best interest to find out the truth of this matter as soon as possible."

Lily noticed that there was something Dumbledore wasn't saying. She had spent a lot of time with Dumbledore, firstly as a student and then as an Order member and finally as a member of his staff, to see that the age old wizard was hesitating to say what was on his mind.

"Dumbledore, is there more?" she asked.

Dumbledore looked at Lily and his blue eyes fixed to her for a moment. With a sigh, he began.

"I have a suspicion, and at this point that is all it is, but from reading the case reports on the deaths, I think Voldemort may be responsible."

There was a sudden intake of breath at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. Dumbledore gave a mental sigh. How many times had he told them that fear of a name was just plain silly. Voldemort wasn't going to appear if you said his name out loud.

"Why do you think that?" McGonagall asked, composing herself the best she could.

"As I have said, it is only a suspicion. What I do know for a fact is that if Voldemort's men were being targeted and killed like this, he would not be sitting back and allowing it to continue. From the reports we have, it doesn't suggest that Voldemort is concerned with these killings. On the contrary, he seems to be happy with the demise of these men. It makes me think that these men may have wronged Voldemort in some way and so he has arranged to have them killed." Dumbledore turned to look at Snape. "Severus, I have to ask you to try and find as much information as you can. I have a list of all the names of the deceased Death Eaters. See if you can find out what mission they were a part of before they died. See if they upset Voldemort in any way."

Dumbledore passed the parchment onto Snape who took it but didn't look at it. His dark eyes were fixed on Dumbledore.

"That is all for today. I thank you for your patience." Dumbledore finished with a polite nod at everyone.

James stood up from his chair as did the rest. His head was spinning with the news.

"What do you reckon?" Sirius asked. "Do you think it's another secret society or Voldemort has just decided to get rid of his old followers in favour of new ones?"

“They're Death Eaters not clothes that need to be replaced!” Lily said annoyed at Sirius.

“Yeah, but like that monster can tell the difference.” Sirius replied.

"It does seem strange." James said, deep in thought.

"I'm with Moody. I don't think we should care who is killing them, as long as it's Death Eaters he's killing, we should be grateful." Sirius continued, walking his friends to the fireplace. He had nowhere to go as the Headquarters was his home.

James didn't say anything. He silently agreed with Dumbledore though. If Voldemort was concerned about the death of his men, he would be doing something about it. The fact that he wasn't could only mean that he was the one ordering the killings. But the question was, why?