“When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions.”
--William Shakespeare

October 15th, 1975

The clock struck ten as Albus Dumbledore reached across his great oak desk for a certain piece of parchment. It had arrived earlier that morning from the Auror Department at the Ministry of Magic, and from one Auror in particular: Stephen Mantooth, a recent graduate of Hogwarts, who was Dumbledore’s chief informant within the Ministry. Not that the Ministry was generally uncooperative, but Stephen made sure Dumbledore knew every bit of Voldemort news that came across his desk. And with the recent upsurge in “incidents” related to Voldemort, there certainly was a lot of news. Unfortunately�”in Dumbledore’s opinion�”not all of it was released to the public, and who could be sure where the Ministry would trend in the future? Certainly during Grindelwald’s years of terror there had been significant lapses of judgment on behalf of the entire Wizarding government. It was incumbent on Dumbledore to have the most current news regarding the situation. He had to do anything within his power to prevent another Grindelwald from taking control.

Dumbledore felt a pang of guilt in his stomach as he thought of his former friend, but forced himself to move on. There were other, more pressing matters to deal with. He located the memo and read it for the third time that morning:

To: Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster, Hogwarts School
From: Stephen Mantooth, Junior Auror, Department of Magical Law Enforcement
Re: Potential Spies

Professor Dumbledore,
Too many reports from the Department have been surfacing for me to not tell you this: the Ministry suspects there may be spies within Hogwarts’ walls. Sources are unclear as to the identity of the spies; most likely faculty and staff, but perhaps students as well. If no spies currently are working at Hogwarts, the Ministry suspects that You-Know-Who may try to place informants in the school some time in the not-too-distant future.

Might I also caution you, sir, to be keen for any news on the Society of Pureblood Sorcerers. It is too early to say anything concrete about the Society, and it is also extremely risky as many members are generous patrons of the Ministry, but speculation exists as to their motives. I certainly believe they may be in league with You-Know-Who, and if they aren’t now, they may be in the future. Of course, this is not official Ministry suspicion by any means, but you always told me to trust my instincts...

Again, sir, I urge you to contact the Ministry should you feel you require any additional assistance or protection at Hogwarts, and also to contact the Ministry with any information regarding the V. case.

Best regards,
Stephen

Dumbledore folded up the memo and pushed it to the side of his desk. Stephen’s words rang true: Dumbledore was sure he had hired staff with... questionable loyalties in the past. In fact, even a few Grindelwald supporters had been in the employ of Hogwarts back in the 1940s. Not that Voldemort was anywhere near as powerful as Grindelwald. Yet...

Dumbledore had never really considered the possibility of student spies, though, or at least never let himself consider the possibility. He always tried to see the best in his students, even those who were misguided. But Tom Riddle had been Dumbledore’s student, after all, so the headmaster surmised that perhaps it was time to investigate. After all, the students at Hogwarts were just the right age to be trained to become Riddle’s minions. Old enough to make their own decisions and yet still too young to know exactly what they were getting into. It was a terrifying prospect.

Even more terrifying was the thought that Riddle could actually command such a loyal following. The spate of killings had not subsided in the many months since Riddle’s grand proclamation of himself as “Lord Voldemort.” True, there had been few incidents as destructive and terrorizing as that first fateful night, but Dumbledore knew the worst was yet to come. There was a long road ahead of the British Wizarding Community, and perhaps that of Europe, Asia, the world? Where would Riddle stop? People were too slow to take action. If Riddle really had started recruiting young, impressionable minds, then the time for action was certainly upon those on the side of good, and that time was now.

And yet, was action even possible at this point? Dumbledore thought back to Stephen’s letter. Stephen Mantooth, a bright, intelligent, aggressive Junior Auror was too afraid to say Voldemort’s name, even in a letter. Sure, there had been people too scared to utter the name before, but they had been the uniformed masses, not Aurors in the Ministry of Magic, whose very job depended on the absence of fear.

Dumbledore had noticed this trend more and more in recent weeks, and this thought scared him more than anything. If, after only such a relatively short time of Voldemort’s existence, people were already so afraid of him, what could possibly happen next? More importantly, what could be done to combat it?

The problems were mounting, rising proportionately with fear. And soon, Dumbledore feared, soon it would be too much.