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Ginny was not eavesdropping, not really.
She had just gone down to get some water; she didn’t expect to interrupt a meeting between Snape and Dumbledore. It was her fault they didn’t put any spell on the door or even close the door entirely.
From her spot on the stair she could see Dumbledore sitting down looking even more exhausted than during the tournament, while Snape was walking around the table visibly nervous.
“I didn’t hear a word about it, Albus, he still doesn't trust me completely” Snape whispered
“I know Severus, but people died, we need more information” Dumbledore continued. Ginny didn’t know what attack they were talking about but she could confidently deduce that Voldemort had launched an attack somewhere and that the order had arrived too late.
More intells.
Ginny understood how important information was, that’s why she was eavesdropping right now. That was a lesson she had learned long ago, information was power, it could give you the upper hand on a situation or on someone… And the order was lacking that, that was why they were inactive, they had no idea what was going on. Sirius had explained to her how the Order was the shadow of what it once was. She knew she didn’t know every member but from what she knew their only spies in the ministry were aurors and her father, so people who weren’t in the room while decisions were made. Even worse, they only had one spy behind the enemy's line, Snape, who Tom didn't seem to trust.
“What can we do, Albus ?” The tone of Snape’s voice lacked the usual sassiness and cruelty, it was weird to hear him like that, worried.
“Nothing, the ministry propaganda is working, not many people want join us, too scared, and the few that are aware of his return prefer to stay out of his way” the spark in the director’s eye had disappeared, he was still in his chair but his aura didn’t have the same comforting feeling as normally. Dumbledore in all his greatness was only a man, Ginny realized. She had caught a glimpse of it the night Cedric died but he had hid it so quickly she thought she had dreamed. “We can only hope people will take the right choice”
She moved just a bit, trying to see Snape's reaction, clearly not expecting the stairs to make noise. The two men stopped talking and Ginny quickly climbed the stairs praying not to get caught. She successfully made it into her bed without them catching sight of her nor waking up Hermione. Being in bed didn’t make falling asleep any easier, on the contrary Ginny was left looking at the ceiling all night, her thoughts rummaging in her mind.
She spent the next few days in a bubble, she envisaged talking about it to the others but had stopped herself. Hermione and Ron spent their days disappearing for some secret meeting, and Fred and George locked themselves inside their room. She decided to act unsuspicious, not complaining about cleaning, listening to her mom, not even protesting when she was sent out for some Order meeting to take place. If Molly had grown suspicious but was too busy holding the house together and too preoccupied by the war at their doorstep to pay it too much attention. Honestly the only one who had taken note of her change in attitude was Sirius, whom she had befriended, while he didn’t say anything he just warned her that if she was planning a prank she better tell him about it. So she spent days thinking of the Order, of its members and sadly about Tom. She tried to remember everything he had told her, trying to find even a bit of useful information.
The only time she got out of her bubble was days later when someone knocked at their room’s door, Hermione opened it to find Dumbledore
Ginny’s heart jumped out of her body. Did he find out if it was her ? Was knocking to scold her ?
She tried remaining calm, to only look surprised, not panicked. She sighed with relief when he called out Hermione, wanting to talk to her about Harry. She might have sighted a bit too loud as she got a puzzled look from Hermione before she got out of the room.
If this intervention was scary it got her out of her bubble.
She had tried for the past few days to think of the implications of not having any spies. She knew Tom, she knew what he was capable of. And she knew how talented he was at getting things he wanted. He probably already had multiple spies in the ministry and honestly maybe even in the Order. That gave Him the advantage. They needed more people but it wasn’t easy. Being a spy was dangerous, you needed to be discreet, great at gathering, not being behind doing horrible things and more important a believable reason to be on their side. She had looked at every Order member that had come to the headquarters and none of them really fit the criteria.
At this rhythm they would lose. Dumbledore and Snape knew it too. Because if they were losing, people would die. She thought about Cedric’s body, about Harry’s parents, about the uncles she never got to meet. The look on her mother's face when she talked about them, she saw the way she was looking at the twins since His return, like she wasn’t looking at Fred and George, her fear every time they talked about getting involved in the war. What her mother didn’t understand was they were already involved. Ron had to fight against threat since he was eleven, being Harry Potter’s best friend, Fred and George had spent their fourth year escorting younger ones to keep them safe, Percy had been in the front line as a prefect during his seventh year to try and catch Sirius Black, Charlie was providing the Order with illegal equipments and Bill was recruiting. Of course herself had been involved from the day she had opened a certain diary.
All this thinking led her to one conclusion.
She went back down that night and surely enough she found the door opened with the two men inside. Only this time, she stepped inside the room.
“We were wondering when you would show up Miss Weasley” Snape’s tone was cutting, accusative even. His face was cold as always but his eyes betrayed his anger. The only reason he hadn’t come to get her before was probably Dumbledore. Talking of whom, he was looking at her with curiosity, the famous sparkle back in his eyes. “So Miss Weasley what owe us the pleasure of your visit” Ginny was sure he knew since he came to get Hermione that she planned on talking with them.
“We are losing,” she stated. She ignored the snide ‘what would a child know’ from Snape, her eyes fixed on Dumbledore. “We lack the most crucial thing, information. We don't know what he's planning or what he’s thinking”
Dumbledore had dropped his usual light face to embrace a close one, he seemed to study her and she felt like his eyes were looking into her heart when he finally said “I suppose you have something to propose, Miss Weasley”. All her nervousness vanished, he would listen to her. “I can become your spy” Before she could continue the Headmaster cut her “No” A simple world that left no place for discussion.
“Did you really think a child would be capable of this kind of work” Snape seemed genuinely mad “You would get caught before even catching a single piece of info”
Ginny knew that what she was proposing was mad but she also knew it was their last chance. She forced herself to calm down and to not jum at the potion master’s throat and turned her eyes on Dumbledore who had kept his attitude.
“You don’t have much choice Professor, you need a spy and nobody on our side is capable of it right now” She saw that Dumbledore acknowledged that she was right however he didn’t look like he was agreeing either. “And what make you believe that you would be ?” Ginny swear if Snape continued to interrupt her she would hex him, she send him her deadliest glare “First you need someone that would grab their interest, I am the sister of the Harry’s best friend of course in their mind I would have access to him, second you need someone discreet and I am pretty sure that the fifteen minutes I passed listening without you knowing is proof enough” she sensed the Slytherin was about to protest again but she continued before he had time to say anything. “And most importantly you need someone that has a motive” she paused, Dumbledore was looking at her intently and Snape had stopped walking around to look at her “I am the heir of Slytherin”
She hadn't played this card since her second year when she had used it to stop her roommates from bullying Luna. She saw on their faces the shock.
Lucky
They regained their ??? before she could continue and the interjections started.
“Do you really believe people remember you ? Are you so arrogant that people would remember something so futile ?” She ignored the sting as the worst event of her life being called futile “Well as I still get insulted because of it yes they remember” Oh how much she loved the colour Snape’s face was getting to. “You wouldn’t resist the Dark Lord for one second” “Well I did resist him an entire year” and so. Despite his arguing and all his reticence, Snape couldn’t deny that she was right. Once she got all his argument they both turned to Dumbledore who hadn’t uttered a single word yet. “No, too many lives are already at risk. I won't risk yours too” He was referring to Harry, she knew it, he was trying to refrain from the guilt but it was showing on his face. She shouldn’t but she knew the only way to get her way was to play on this guilt, they needed her and ethics were the least of her worries when her whole family was in danger.
“If I can be honest Professor” he nodded “If you worry about conserving my innocence or wanting me to enjoy a worriless life or any crap like this then you are too late” They both knew she was going with this and they were both aware she was going to win. “I already lost it with Tom, I will never be innocent again after what I’ve done for him and my life will always be full of fear of him coming back to haunt me. So instead of risking somebody else's innocence, use the already ruined one” She hadn’t planned on calling herself ‘ruined’, she had never thought of herself this way, yet the word was the one with the most impact. She could see ghosts of his past coming back to mind. He sighted “I will allow it at one condition” Ginny stood up on her chair “Only if you can prove that you will be able to protect your mind”
Ginny almost laughed. She could tell they didn’t expect her to be able to use Occlumency. Jokes on them. Did they really believe that after spending a year having her mind violated she wouldn’t search for a way to protect it. She had spent months in the library rummaging all the books on mind magic that she could find, she even went to the Forbidden Section with the involuntary help of the Golden trio (Harry should really hide his invisibility cloak better). Her defenses were messy as she was self-taught but it existed, she wasn’t strong enough to block people but she had learned to fool them.
She felt the moment their eyes connected how his mind entered hers. She kept herself from wincing at the feeling, only breathing a bit heavier but keeping a straight face. She had to force herself to look like she was unaware of anything yet she could feel turning and returning her mind. He was searching for her memory of the other day, of her spying to know what she had heard exactly. She did what she could to hide it. In the Quidditch field that was the form of her mind, she had cut the memory in half, he found where it was supposed to be only the memory of her getting down for water. She sensed his surprise and pride at realizing she had fooled him. Now that he realized she knew how to defend her mind, he started taking it seriously. The other half took him only half a minute to find,hidden as a golden snitch in a case full of snitch.
“I must admit I am quite surprised Miss Weasley, how did you do it ?”
“Never underestimate someone who was abused as they will always find a way to never be in this position again. I would have found a way even if it took my entire life”
“I see that” he smiled in agreement “then it is decided sadly, Severus will help you but just to make it clear, if you want to back down at any moment before starting I won’t think less of you. However the moment you will become a spy, you can never back down. I hope it’s clear Ginevra” he gave her the same look from behind his moon-shaped glasses as he always gives to guilty students. Ginny never felt more sure in her entire life. After giving him her confirmation, Dumbledore left wishing her good luck.
“I’ll meet you next week at the same hour Miss Weasley”
On these words, Snape left too.
She was left alone in the kitchen, she finally got her glass of water and went back to bed. Her dreams were full of Tom again, except that he didn’t have the same appearance this time and that she wasn’t the one being fooled.