The Little One with Green Eyes

6: The Order's New Spy

-September 4 1991-
"The Dark Lord has no weakness."

Severus sighed. It'd been close two and half weeks since his meeting with the Order and he was still thinking about it. After he had refused to share the Dark Lord's weakness, he'd been tasked with finding something, anything, that could bring the Dark Lord down. Severus had accepted the assignment with a grim nod before he flooed home.

He'd been sending the Order short notes, each one declaring the same thing; The Dark Lord has no weakness. It was an easy enough lie to believe---most of the Order considered the Dark lord to be untouchable, not human. It wasn't hard to believe that someone like that would not have a weakness.

But damn if Albus did. The old coot refused to accept such an answer, and continued to send Severus out on what the rest of the Order believed to be a wild goose chase. Severus wasn't complaining, however, as it gave him more time to try and warn the Dark Lord.

Severus was a Slytherin through and through; he was cunning, he was resourceful, but most importantly, he was as self-serving as they come. When the Dark Lord's raid inadvertently killed Lily, he had, in a moment of weakness, turned to the Order. He regretted it more than anything, and wished for nothing more than to betray them and return to the dark. But he couldn't. Why?

Because of Albus bloody Dumbledore.

The old man, while ridiculously optimistic and rumored to be senile, was a smart bastard. When Severus had turned to him in his moment of weakness, he was not turned away. Rather, he was welcomed with open arms. But the welcome was conditional. Dumbledore was smart enough to realize that he was in the middle of a war. Just because the battles had ended, did not mean that the war had stopped being fought. And Dumbledore wouldn't let just anyone into his ranks.

And that was when the oath came into play.

Severus had accepted the oath that bound him to Dumbledore's cause, and because of it, he was unable to betray them nor warn the Dark Lord that the Order was searching for his weakness. Not without losing his life and magic.

So Severus was stalling.

He didn't want to lose his magic or life, but he couldn't let the Order get their hands on Little One. Putting aside the obvious destruction the Dark Lord would cause if he lost his Inferius, Little One was too innocent, too precious to expose to the monstrosities of war.

Severus thought about the adorable Inferius. He had first met Little One during the Yule of 1987. The Dark Lord had introduced the inferius to his inner circle and closest Death Eaters during the celebration feast. He had brought the child in and informed them that Little One was to be protected as his life was most precious.

The members of the feast had looked at each other in shock and confusion, but it was all collectively agreed that the child Inferius in front of them would be protected. They had noticed their Lord was acting more and more sane lately, and they had all wondered about the cause of such a feat. When the Dark Lord introduced Little One, crimson eyes shining with such a deep fondness, it was obvious who was responsible for their Lord's sanity.

Little One had smiled at them silently, and Severus had been unable to hide his surprise when the Inferius walked around the table and handed everyone a personalized flower. They had looked at their Lord for guidance, but he had only nodded at them, so they accepted the flowers.

When Little One had approached Severus, he tilted his head at him, and the stitches on his neck were put on broad display. His eyes were an uncanny hue of green---glowing like that of the Killing Curse---and Severus's jaw dropped as the Inferius handed him a single lily.