"Well?" said Ron eagerly, as Oleandra looked up. "Are you finished?"
"Yes," replied Oleandra. "Now, would you happen to have Phineas Nigellus Black's portrait with you? As I recall, it was hanging at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place."
"Yeah, we brought it along to keep an eye on Snape after we lost my house," said Sirius. "We usually keep him covered so he can't spy on us. Why do you ask?"
A few months ago, the Gryffindor team's infiltration of the Ministry to secure Oleandra's inheritance had gone disastrously wrong owing to the unfortunate timing of their attempt— since it had coincided with Oleandra's rescue of the Muggle-Borns destined for Mai's sanctuary. With the Ministry's security heightened, Harry and his friends had been swiftly discovered and forced to flee, inadvertently bringing a Death Eater back to Grimmauld Place…
…and, as far as the Fidelius Charm was concerned, that was tantamount to tacitly granting said Death Eater the status of Secret Keeper. Once Dumbledore, the original Secret Keeper, had died, every individual privy to the secret had in turn become a Secret Keeper, thereby permitted to reveal the address of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.
"How should I put this," Oleandra said, drumming her fingers on her mug. "Severus Snape is a double agent."
"We already knew that," Harry said impatiently. "He fooled even Professor Dumbledore."
Oleandra took a sip of tea. It was awfully bitter.
"He did fool us all," said Oleandra. "According to Dumbledore's diary, Professor Snape is a double agent whose true allegiance lies with him."
It was the duty of a double agent to relay his own side's intelligence to the enemy, in the hope of obtaining information far more valuable in return. Unfortunately, it was impossible to know whether the details he passed on were confined to what he had been authorised to disclose.
Like it or not, double agents were obliged to leave their handlers' side to make contact with the enemy… and it was that undefined gap in communication which made them so hard to trust entirely. Who could say whether they had been turned by the enemy and become triple agents in the process?
Trust, but verify…
Ordinarily, a spy's intelligence would be cross-checked against that of others within his cell, but in this instance, it was impossible to confirm whether Professor Snape truly served their cause, because he was the only spy they knew Dumbledore possessed.
All others had fallen to the Dark Lord's Legilimency… including those whom the Order of the Round Table had sought to plant amongst the Death Eaters.
"Snape's always hated me because of my dad," Harry said coldly. "He's a traitor through and through. He sliced off George's ear."
"And he's the one who took Oleandra's eye!" Tracey hissed. "There's no way he's really on Dumbledore's side!"
"They're right, for as long as I've known him, Snivellus has always been a slimy little coward," said Sirius, nodding smartly. "Look, even Dumbledore slips up now and then, and do you honestly think Voldemort wouldn't notice a spy in his own ranks? During the First Wizarding War, he made a mockery of the International Wizarding Community's spies. Why do you think the other countries never dared to interfere in our civil war?"
The Gryffindor Trio looked at him strangely.
"Sirius…?" Hermione said slowly. "How do you know that…?"
Sirius grinned sheepishly.
"That curse Bellatrix hit me with must've jolted my brains," he said. "My memories from the past twenty years are a bit muddled, but they're mostly back. That's why I've been going on walks, to put my mind in order. I'd meant to tell you once I was certain."
No wonder he'd been acting strangely ever since he'd woken up!
"Sorry for everything," said Sirius with a grimace, remembering how hard he'd tried to flirt with Oleandra. "Looking back on all I said and did, I feel a complete fool… some godfather I turned out to be."
"Then, do you know how you ended up… looking like this?" asked Hermione. "You're still physically our age, and from everything I know about magic, complete rejuvenation ought to be impossible… changing your appearance with Transfiguration is one thing, but true age reversal…"
Sirius shook his head.
"It's the strangest thing," he said, frowning. "I remember having an adult body when I woke up, and I remember it was bothering me, since my last memories were of me being sixteen years old… and I remember Oleandra was there too… and then I was young again."
The Gryffindors looked at Oleandra. Busted…
"Look, I told Harry I'd help Sirius recover," she said with a sigh. "I thought that a Sirius who woke up with only sixteen years of memories in an old man's body wouldn't fare too well, so I made his outside match his inside, that's all."
"So you simply rejuvenated him? Just like that— as an afterthought!?" said Hermione, goggling at her. "How on earth did you manage it!? If you can do that, then surely you could live for ever!?"
Even Tracey was staring at her with eyes as round as saucers now.
"The Philosopher's Stone!" Harry blurted out. "You said it had crumbled to dust, but you kept it for yourself all these years, didn't you!? You used the Elixir of Immortality on Sirius! And that's how you survived Voldemort's Killing Curse, that night!"
"But…" Hermione said, troubled. "The Philosopher's Stone doesn't have that kind of power… it can't rejuvenate or prevent violent death, only halt ageing…"
Oleandra smiled enigmatically.
Thick tendrils of Fairy magic coiled about Harry and his friends … she had only to seize them, and she could take anything she wished from them. They had deluded themselves into believing she still possessed the Philosopher's Stone, even though it had been completely consumed years ago to power her Realm Travel Spell.
"Well, you're free to think whatever you like," she said lightly. "Now, about Professor Snape… what would like to do about him? I, for one, would very much like to kill him, but if he's on our side…"
Harry was at a loss.
On one hand, Oleandra was definitely untrustworthy. She clearly had her own agenda, and her priorities were not aligned with his. She had refused to disclose the contents of Dumbledore's diary word for word, and she could very well have invented this story about Snape being a double agent on their side.
On the other hand, although Oleandra's soul was compromised, she had slain Voldemort's mortal form once and taken one of his Horcruxes. If what Tracey had said about Snape bursting Oleandra's eye was true, then she had no reason to lie about this.
"Fine," said Harry, grudgingly. "We'll hear Snape out, but if I don't like what I hear…"