Chapter 165 – Getting Close
"How many people have we lost?" Dumbledore asked, his voice sour but still maintaining his always calm attitude. He was scanning the room with his blue eyes, looking over his half-moon glasses while sitting at the head of an oval table, surrounded by all the high-ranking members of the Order. "A dozen, not counting all the prisoners we had." Moody answered coldly, tapping the bottom of his flask on the table before taking a big swing from it.
"Did Snape betray us?" McGonagall asked what everyone was thinking about. They were unaware that something like this was being planned by the Death Eaters and that anything as significant and dangerous as this was being planned should have been told to them in advance.
"I don't believe so." Dumbledore answered her after a moment of silence, thinking through everything that played out in the past twenty-four hours. Even if their ambush was a success, rescuing people from the grasp of Tom Riddle, it was a hollow victory now. "I think this was directly from Tom and was decided on a whim. Also..."
"..."
"..."
"Dumbledore?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked after a long minute, seeing him fall into silence, his lips moving behind his white beard but no voice leaving his throat.
"Sorry, I was thinking, and I am sure the Anguine kids have something to do with this. Start tracking the information back from where we got the tip for the prison. Capture the informants and probe their minds. I do suspect that we would find something interesting within them if we look deep enough."
"Are you sure, Albus?" McGonagall asked, making the old wizard nod his head resolutely while she was feeling a bit nervous because it was her who confirmed the source at first.
"I agree." Moody spoke up, his magical eye swirling in his socket like a compass in a magnetic storm. "There were three cells there that, although being empty, showed signs of being occupied right until the moment we arrived. Someone smuggled prisoners out right under our noses."
"Could it be Severus?" Flitwick questioned, but Dumbledore once again shook his head.