Hi guys, So this is an idea that's been kicking around my head for a while. The character Magpie is my own. I am trying to keep this as cannon as possible, but some small changes might be made.

Severus Snape lived a life of accursed monotony. Every day he woke up, worked a job that he hated, pretended to be civil with colleagues he could barely stand, and in the evenings he would retire to his quarters where he would read either a new book acquisition or the latest potions journals. He rarely left the castle, rarely socialized with his classmates from school, and rarely had a moment where he was truly content. He was a very young man to be so bitter, at the age of 23 many others would still be spending their days partying, going to discos, and generally having the irresponsible fun and self-discovery that so defined the early 20s. However Severus was no ordinary man, for his life effectively ended two years previously.

Two years had passed since the Dark Lord had fallen, and it had been two years since she died. Two years since he lost his purpose in life. The world had moved on from those dark days, and the peace that had been so tenuous in the early days had settled across Great Britain. People stopped looking at him with suspicion and revulsion, as other accused death eaters rose once again to positions of prominence and respectability, and nobody embodied this more than Lucius Malfoy.

It was Lucius Malfoy who disturbed what he had hoped would be a quiet summer evening. He was finally free from students, free from meddling bosses and colleagues, and free from distractions, for a blessed two and a half months. He had arrived to his childhood home in Cokeworth, a suitably bleak and miserable place, content to spend his few weeks of freedom hiding away in the quiet ruined house. And yet upon his arrival, he found an invitation for dinner with his old classmate waiting for him. Albus had suggested, in his meddling way, that he stay civil and in touch with people such as the malfoy's, however Severus had always managed to find excuses to duck their company while at school. Now that it was the summer holidays, he had little reason to not accept their invitation.

So his peaceful evening turned into one of preparation. While teaching Severus never gave much mind to his physical appearance, he had no one to impress and no reason to spend the extra time, and he had much better things to attend to as well. Such as reading—or sulking. That would not do for an invitation to the malfoys, so with a long suffering sigh he began to make himself at least acceptable for company, if not presentable. He would go, do his duty, and make nice with his old friends, but he didn't have to be pleasant company.

The evening drew out, there was a lot of small talk, gossip about this witch or that at the ministry. Narcissa spent the whole evening speaking about her son, a three year old whom severus found barely worth acknowledging. Despite his job, severus never much cared for children, and being three years old hardly counted as something worth acknowledging. Lucius boasted about his new position in the ministry, and belittled anyone who managed to resist on of his bribes. Severus dutifully ate his food, made all the appropriate noises expected of him, and counted down the minutes until he could politely excuse himself.

His counting was interrupted however when Lucius began to show off his latest black market acquisition.

"this should interest even you Severus" he said as he had his house elf fetch his new toy. And interest it did, it was a book, it was a very small tome, no more than a few centimeters thick and small enough that severus could easily slip it into his pocket. There was nothing extraordinary about its appearance, it looked like any other spell book, what marked it a unique and rare find however was its aura. The house elf, and Lucius for that matter, wore gloves while handling it, dark magic roiled off of it in waves, oily and oppressive. Severus could feel the books magic against the pores on his skin, it tickled his nose, and caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise. This innocuous looking object was dangerous. And severus found it absolutely beautiful.

"its cursed obviously, but the story that follows it is truly remarkable. My contact found it in Northern Germany, locked away by muggle's beneath an abandoned church. The muggles, simple as they are, have a convoluted story that involves a card game, a devil, and their superstitious religion. But the magic of this book Severus is that it eats magical energy and stores it. Some poor wizard, or wizards as it feels, were the unfortunate victim of this book. And even more are probably very willing victims. My contact assures me that there is a way to take the magic stored here for yourself, but it will bestow a curse on your very soul, similar to the curse of unicorn blood. And once you die, and im assured it's always a painful and premature death, your magic is recalled to the book, and you yourself are trapped." His eyes glittered as he basked in the dark energy coming off the book. Narcissa looked at it distastefully, carefully drawing Draco closer to her, and further from the book.

"Lucius you know I do hate that thing" she sniffed, eyeing her husband carefully.

"and just what use is that then" severus finally drawled.

"Use, Severus of course I would never use it, I have all the power I need" Lucius drew himself upright "its about owning the most dangerous book in the magical world. One never knows when it might be useful." He wilted a little under his wifes glare and severus's questionng look.

"well it also served as a test to my new supplier" he snapped for his house elf to take away the book. Lucius paused, looking at Severus expectantly.

The man sighed, "and who is this new supplier, I thought you never changed contacts" he grudgingly asked, trying to act interested.

"Magpie" Lucius said simply, handing Severus a business card. He examined the card while Lucius continued "She—" he hesitated "it, the organization that is, can find you anything you need, anything you want. If it exists and you have the money, they can get it for you in a timely manner. Big or small, legal or not, it is all possible. They're new in town, and are dominating both the legitimate and illegitimate business around London. The ministry of course doesn't know what the do with this Magpie, and the aurors are tearing themselves apart over it. I just had to see this organisation for myself."

The business card was cream coloured, made of linen, and held no contact information except a stamp of a black and white bird. Or at least he thought it was a monochrome bird, however when he tilted it in the light, bright iridescent blue lined its back.

"How is the black market interfering with legitimate businesses" he asked curiously. Maybe he had misheard Lucius.

"Magpie will find you anything at a competitive price. Including those things that are not illegal in the slightest. I've heard of people going to this organization for very mundane things, such as potions that can be bought at any apothecary, tailored household charms, or even one fool asked it for flowers for his wife. " Lucius shook his head. "they've been nearly successful at wiping out all the competition in the underground, but they are also undercutting many above board business that thought they were safe to charge whatever prices they feel. "

The two men debated the likelihood of this business model succeeding, and Lucius exalted about the customer service until a reasonably late hour in the evening when severus finally felt that it was polite enough to call it a night without causing offense.

Xxx

"What exactly is the meaning of this Mr. Malinsky" Severus sneered down at the shop owner of Slug and Jigger Apothecary. This was the sixth such place he had visited on this abysmal trip to Diagon Alley, and his patience was wearing thin.

"This bill" his face twisted as he threw a piece of parchment back at the proprieter, who was now sweating profusely "is ludicrous. You are charging six times what you should be for very basic ingredients".

"I am s-sorry professor" Malinsky, an aging wizard, twisted his hat in his hands with anxiety, tried to use it to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "It's just, well there was a shortage" his voice faded as he saw the lines of cold rage take over severus's face.

His voice was barely above a whisper, "A shortage." It wasn't a question, so much a statement of damnation for this poor proprietor.

"y-yes sir, the whole country's supply was wiped out by a virulent disease" the man squeezed his eyes shut as he proclaimed this, bracing himself for violence.

Severus threw the paper in the Malinsky's face, causing the man to flinch violently.

"forget it" he snarled before storming out the shop.

A disease? Impossible, but it was the same story every apothecary in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley told. There was a national shortage of basic, and essential potions ingredients. The prices for the needed herbs would quickly drain what little supply budget he had from the school, and the quality would be significantly below his exacting standards. It wouldn't do at all. If he had known about the diseases spreading across the British crops earlier in the year, he could have had Professor Sprout grow some essential herbs, and where there was always an emergency supply being grown at Hogwarts of all the basics, there was not enough to line his stores.

In a foul mood, and uncertain of his next move Severus went to a dark, dingy bar in Knockturn Alley to plot his next step. He could ask the headmaster for a temporary increase in the supply budget, but that still didn't solve the quality issue. He ordered a firewhiskey at the bar, and as he dug around his pockets for some loose change, his hand found a business card he had long forgotten about.

He took his drink and settled in the corner of the bar in a booth that overlooked everything happening. The place was deserted, the barman looked half asleep, and all was quiet. Carefully he drew out the business card, and ran his fingers across the stamped impression of a bird. Only instead of staying stationary as it did the last time he examined the card, the bird twitched its tail, and looked at him. Its beak opened and words unfurled themselves out of it delicately. The instructions were simple, turn over.

'Bossy' he thought

On the back of the card were two prompts. Name and Item—next to the two prompts as a line where he would have to fill in the relevant information. He contemplated his next move for a while, thinking, and planning. After finishing his drink he put the card back into his robes and departed back to Hogwarts. He had a potential solution, but he also knew he needed to get explicit permission before he acted on it.

So to Hogwarts he went, his foul mood had hardly abated despite the possible solution presented to him. He hated asking for permission, he hated that he needed to, and in that moment, he hated his monotonous life. The headmaster was cheerful as ever, and seemingly oblivious to the dark mood the potions master was in. After the obligatory small talk, to which severus took a savage joy in responding to the polite chatter with one word replies, the headmaster leaned forward and peered over his glasses at the young man seated across from him.

"Since you are not here for small talk Severus, what then brings you to my office" he asked, seemingly amused at his employees dour behavior.

Severus outlined his problem, the disease and the national shortage succinctly.

"Ah, yes I had heard. A rather sudden and virulent disease from what I understand. So you'll be needing an increase in the supply budget then" Albus concluded.

Severus jerked his head, as if the get rid of an irritating fly.

"im afraid, the herbs that have survived this disease, are almost entirely unusable. No shop that I could find, and I did look, had anything in any respectable shape to use in potions. Im afraid, even if we did buy these outrageously overpriced ingredients, our potions would suffer if not outright fail." The headmaster was silent as he digested his words.

"So we are in a conundrum then Severus."

Before Severus could bring up his solution the headmaster was opening a drawer in his desk

"There is one possible solution I can think of" he searched his desk, and pulled out a book, tucked within the book was a very familiar business card, being used as a bookmark. Albus carefully withdrew the card and marked his space with an empty sweet wrapper from his desk.

"Have you ever heard of Magpie?" the headmaster offered out the business card. Instead of responding, Severus drew out its twin from his pocket.

"Of course, you had a solution already dear boy" the headmaster gently placed his card on the desk.

"And how is it, headmaster, that you have the card of a rather notorious black market dealer?" Snape drawled.

"Magpie may be new the Great Britain, but it is not a new organization. She's been thriving for years on the continent, I can only imagine her, or should I say it's, expansion to this country is taking advantage of our new found peace. If you are looking for my permission Severus, you have it in this matter. Magpie does not deal with only illegal contraband, it also has a very healthy legitimate business arm."

"And how can you be so sure their stocks will not be impacted by this disease? I have heard the Ministry is threatening to ban the whole organization, legitimate or not. Is it wise to take such a risk?" these were concerns that Severus couldn't quite answer himself.

"Magpie is an increasingly global organization, with the UK being just a small facet of it. Inherent in that nature is a diversified supply chain. As for the ministry, I wish them luck in tracking down and dismantling Magpie. It is a challenge that has been answered by many governments, including the international federation, and no one has yet to succeed."

Severus digested this as he looked at his card. It had reset itself to its default profile of a bird.

"if that is all Severus, I do believe an afternoon nap is beckoning" the old man smiled gently as he dismissed the potions master. "oh and Severus," Severus paused on his way out, his hand hovering over the door handle "if you wish to get a reasonable deal, don't mention my name." with a curt nod he let himself out.

Severus knew Albus held many secrets, and yet somehow this one managed to surprise him. He made his way down to his office, picked up quill, and carefully filled in the required information on the back of the card. As he wrote the ink disappeared into the card, and it went blank. For several tense seconds he wasn't certain what to do, did he mess it up? How long would he have to wait? How did this process work? He wished he had asked Lucius or albus about it before he jumped in. He let out a long breath he hadn't realized he had been holding when a date, time, and location appeared on the back of the card. He had just long enough to read it and memorise it before the card burst into flames, briefly stinging his fingers. Cursing he threw the card into an empty cauldron sitting by his desk, and watched it paper smolder to ashes.

Apparently his order would be ready by the next evening, and he would have to meet this Magpie at an address in London.

Xxx

A muggle pub.

Severus didn't know what to expect when he read the address on the back of the business card, he recognized it was in Camden, in North London, and the name sounded like a wizarding establishment, albeit one he had never heard of.

He had never heard of the establishment because it was indeed, a muggle pub. He was surrounded by the sounds of revelry, heavy guitar music strung through the air, a screeching that he supposed was singing assaulted his ears, and despite being dressed in his wizarding robes, and he was not the strangest sight to behold. Muggles surrounded him; some wearing copious amounts of leather while others wore hardly anything at all. Loud extravagant black and white make up, hair styled to stand in gravity defying spikes, and heads were partially shaved and were every unnatural colour under the sun. It was very much still summer here, as there were copious amounts of drinking, of fighting, and laughter echoing off the brick walls of the neighbourhood.

The pub, called Knowhere, seemed to be a quieter establishment, though no less dirty than the streets were. The smell of spilled alcohol, stale cigarettes, and a pungent smell of cannabis assaulted his nose as he passed a few patrons hovering near the door. Despite his dress, the patrons completely ignored him. Inside the pub it was quiet, an unnatural chemically induced quiet he was sure judging from the look of the few patrons inside the bar.

Unwilling to look out of place and uncertain, he walked confidently to the bar, readying his darkest scowl for anyone who would give him a hard time. He needn't of bothered, it was as if he was invisible to everyone. Logically he knew it was impossible for that to be the actual situation, and this was confirmed when the bar tender, a man with a blue Mohawk shouted a greeting at him "a minute mate" as he continued to make what looked to be an elaborate drink.

"Severus Snape. Potions Master" a voice whispered in his ear. It was a testament to how out of place Severus that he was caught entirely unawares by the woman who smoothly sidled up next to him, stood on her toes, to whisper into his ear. She gently wrapped her arm around his, resting her hand in the crook of his elbow as she gently guided him to a table in the back.

Severus Snape hated being surprised, he hated being touched, and he hated being in situations where he was not in control. He gathered all of his displeasure around him like a cloak and tried to infuse as much venom into his glare as he took a seat. He did notice she chose a perch that afforded them both a place against the wall overlooking the whole bar.

He might as well been glaring at a wall for all a difference it made. The woman in front of him was completely unfazed as she held out her hand. "Magpie, it's a pleasure to meet you Severus Snape"

He was annoyed at how she said his full name. That was twice now, like she was making a point. She was of average height and looks, her hair was dyed a dark black, but auburn roots were showing through, she was thin frame, and a face that was a touch on the narrow side, and her nose a touch on the large side. Multiple piercings lined her ears, and one delicate hoop in the center of her nose. Her eyes however were stunning, a deep dark blue, piercing and sharp, striking on an otherwise entirely unremarkable and forgettable person.

Her eyebrow raised as she kept her hand outstretched in front of her "I should say, Severus Snape, that I only do business with people who shake my hand" the corner of her lips quirked.

That was three times she said his name. Reluctantly he shook her hand, holding it for the briefest of seconds.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he groused.

"Doing what, Severus Snape?" She asked, a smirk slowly growing as she shot him a challenging look.

"Saying my name"

"Well, you've never confirmed whether you are indeed the man I am meeting, Severus Snape… You could be anyone, I had to make sure the person in the wizards clothing is my wizard" her accent wasn't quite British. She spoke like someone who had spent a lot of time in Britain, or around the accent, but was raised somewhere decidedly foreign. He just couldn't place where.

"Well, I am." He didn't like how familiar she was being. My wizard? Ridiculous.

"Well then, what do you prefer I call you, Severus, Snape, Mr. Snape, Professor, Prof—"

"Severus is fine" He immediately regretted his answer. Why would he say that? Wasn't he just complaining out how familiar she was being?

"If you don't mind, er Magpie is it? Is that really what you want me to call you?" he faltered; it felt unnatural addressing someone as an animal.

Her smile was back "Some people call me Magpie, some people make up a name, others just say hey you"

"So what? I could just call you witch then? Insufferable, overly familiar, witch?" his temper was flaring.

"If that's what you want to call me, I can dig" Her smirk never wavered during his rant.

"Well witch, Magpie, whatever your name is, I would prefer to skip pleasantries." This woman, this bar, the whole situation had him on a back foot, and he would rather have it completed as soon as possible.

She was nodding and was pulling jars out of a rucksack he had only just now noticed. His blood chilled as he looked around the bar to see if anyone was watching? She was going to do this here? This wasn't just a meeting place? Surely someone would notice their decidedly not muggle activities he worried. And yet as she lined up jars of potions ingredients, mainly herbs and a few fresh flowers, the whole pub remained completely ignorant and uninterested.

"You know Severus, Muggles are very easy to misdirect. You needn't worry about someone observing or listening in on us" her words were easy, and her eyes swept across the bar, taking in the complete indifference.

"Now, I believe these are the products you requested. Of course take your time to inspect them, and when you're ready, here is a cost breakdown." Her smirk was gone now, as she slipped into business mode and carefully placed a folded piece of paper in front of him.

Severus did inspect every jar, he pulled out every ingredient, he scrutinized every detail, he sniffed them; he looked at them under the light. He did pause his examination to briefly shoot a glare at the insufferable witch when he heard her snort as he took out his wand. He needed to check they weren't transfigured to look like the real deal. She waved him on, her amused smirk firmly back in place.

Finally, when he was satisfied that they were healthy, ideal specimens, he unfolded the invoice. His eyes widened briefly in surprise. Her prices and cost breakdown was well, competitive. It was far less than what he was expecting given the nature of her trade and the relative scarcity of these ingredients.

She laughed when she saw his suspicious glance at her, and he had to physically refrain himself from retesting the herbs.

"Don't look too surprised, we always promise competitive pricing. We are not interested in a single pay out from a customer over the barrel, we thrive on customer loyalty and repeat business"

"But this would be competitive even if there wasn't a blight afflicting our crops" he hissed suspiciously

She shrugged "your crops. This supply comes from the USSR, where we don't have the blight. Besides, you're not asking for anything that isn't perfectly legal to sell, why wouldn't we offer you a fair price?"

This would solve a lot of his problems, but it still bothered Severus "so what is the catch then? For this price and quality?"

She was smirking at him again, "you are a prickly wizard aren't you?"

"This wouldn't be my first time dealing with a less than respectable organization" he answered smoothly, his eyes examining her face for any falsehood.

"No catch," she shrugged lightly, her eyes twinkling "just keep us in mind next time you supply up. We are consistent, timely, and as you've mentioned, competitive. So do we have a deal?" she glanced at her right wrist, checking the time. He noticed she wasn't wearing a watch.

"Have other pressing matters to attend to?" he retorted. This brought another smirk to her face as she leant forward over the table, giving him her undivided attention.

"Not at all, but you made it clear you have pressing matters to attend to. Just trying to help you along."

He asked several more impertinent questions, about the provenance of the herbs, the fertilizations, and the supply chain. None of these factors actually made a difference, he just wanted to make things difficult for Magpie. Much to his chagrin she was completely prepared for every such question, and answered them with enthusiasm and wit. Finally, after a while he gave up and purchased the damn ingredients. Before he could rush away with his new purchase however she stopped him, and placed a fresh business card in his hand.

"if you need anything else Severus, please don't hesitate to contact us" he allowed a jerky nod and left quickly. He walked as fast as his legs would carry him without it looking like he was running.

xxx

Severus disliked the witch called Magpie greatly; she was overly familiar and so god damn cheerful. She actually reminded him of Albus, with that all knowing look and good humour in the face of life. It was annoying.

Unfortunately the quality of the raw ingredients she provided was disgustingly amazing. She truly was the best source for competitively priced potions ingredients, and her supplies were always fresher than what he could find in the apothecaries. So he found himself in her company several times a year. They never met in the same place again, and she thankfully never instructed him anywhere quite as loud and busy as Camden. They normally met in quiet cafes, pubs, or one time an abandoned warehouse. The only consistency was that her places were always in the Muggle world. When he asked her about this she just smiled and said, "If you can guess why I always meet in the Muggle world, ill tell you my name"

He, of course, was on his worst behavior at every meeting, and always questioned her relentlessly about whatever potion supplies he was buying. She never faulted in an answer. It started as a cruel goal of his, to catch her off guard and to humiliate her. To unbalance her as she so regularly unbalanced him. This ambition was soon forgotten as his unreasonable questions and her prompt answers became their routine. Soon he began to actually look forward to whatever witty retort she would come up with.

Severus knew from speaking with Lucius that Magpie very rarely sent the same person twice. In fact, the woman Lucius initially dealt with, he had only seen once. And from his description she was nothing like the woman Severus was dealing with. Lucius regularly seemed to have men handle his request from the underground organization.

The woman Severus dealt with, witch, as he had taken to calling her, first out of mean spiritedness and now out of habit, changed her appearance every time he saw her. It was subtle, different hair, different piercings, sometimes she had tattoos, a change in height, a subtle change in her facial features, or her eye colour would shift. She was a master of disguise, constantly wearing different faces, different bodies, but he always knew it was her. However she looked, she was always exceedingly plain. He began to wonder if that was manufactured, maybe a charm, but she always seemed to be so average it was almost aggressive.

He quizzed her on his ingredients, and very comfortably slipped into his professor persona as he attempted to intimidate her at every meeting.

"and this moss comes from where exactly?" He always tried to sound suitably condescending

"Denmark, from the bogs"

"water PH?" he drawled lazily

"8"

"Harvested when"

"full moon, three days ago, very fresh"

"With?"

"silver tools obviously"

"why do you handle my requests" He asked suddenly changing tack

"because you are paying me to" she smirked, guessing that wasn't what he was asking

"it seems as if you organization has no shortage of people, why then am I always stuck with you" he eyed her closely, trying to catch any hint of deception. He could read most people, but this woman was infuriating. Even when she made direct eye contact, his legilimancy was useless.

"Do you want someone else?" her eyebrow twitched, and she leaned forward curiously.

"Don't answer my question with another question" he snapped sharply

She would then pause, she always did when she contemplated whether she was going to tell him the truth or give some non-answer. This occasion he was in luck.

"Potions isn't my expertise, but I know more about the finer details than most. My—ah—superiors thought you would appreciate this." She tried to be nonchalant in her answer, and she would have fooled most. However Severus wasn't most, she was eyeing him just as carefully as he was her.

"You'll suffice I guess" it was his turn to try and fail to be nonchalant.

This continued for years, and their routine was cemented. He didn't enjoy the meetings he had with Magpie, but he didn't not enjoy them either.

One thing that always defined their working relationship is that neither was ever late to an appointment. They both arrived perfectly on time. Until one day, that was no longer true.