The Conspiratress
"Good evening Clarice, what a lovely surprise." Albus pulled the door to his office open wide to allow the woman to enter. "Have you heard from Severus since he left?"
"Not a word." Clarice Snape replied cheerfully settling herself in a plush armchair. "Which means our plan must have worked."
Albus smiled at her, his eyes twinkling good-naturedly. "OUR plan Clarice? If I remember correctly all I did was dangle the bait, the rest was you."
"Don't be silly Albus. You provided the girl also. If it had been up to me I would have sent him alone and arranged for him to sit next to an appropriate companion on the flight who just happened to be going to the same resort." She grinned wickedly. "I'm much more Slytherin than you Albus."
"Buying into the stereotype at last I see." Albus poured her a cup of tea and levitated it to rest on the desk in front of her.
"Hardly," Clarice rolled her eyes. "It's only a stereotype if it's false."
Albus raised an eyebrow but decided he wouldn't get anywhere arguing with the queen of Slytherin. He could still remember her school days, she had been a fourth year his first year teaching and he recalled vividly how she had controlled the entire Slytherin house. Her flare for drama had given her a control that the other members of the Snake house only dreamt about. She hadn't changed much in the forty-five years she had been gone. "I would argue your logic if I thought it would do me any good, but as it is," Albus sighed dramatically causing Clarice to smile, "I suggest a change in topic." He picked up a plate that had been sitting, neglected, on the corner of his desk and offered it to her, "Sherbet Lemon?"
Clarice shook her head no and took a sip of her tea. "You haven't heard from either of them have you?" she asked, "I would have to be quite put out if you were withholding information from me."
Taking a drink from his china tea cup Albus nearly choked at her question. "Withholding information?" he queried his voice suspiciously tranquil. "What on earth would make you think that?"
"Oh I don't know," Clarice's smile was that of a cat who had not only caught the canary, but that of the cat who had caught the canary and was slowly tearing the flesh from it's bones and purring rapturously, "possibly that photograph of my son in what looks suspiciously like golfing attire which was obviously taken in a place far too sunny to be Scotland."
Albus had the grace to look ashamed as he reached for the photograph. "Oh this," he said, handing it to her, "Hermione sent that for you this morning. She wrote that she would try and get a photo of him in one of the suits he bought but she wasn't certain of her success. Other than that she had nothing of any interest to report."
Albus was feeling fairly smug about his self rescue from a rather unpleasant position, until Clarice cleared her throat and help out one manicured hand, "May I see her letter?"
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A/N: I wanted to give a little glimpse of what the meddlesome mother was up to while her son was gallivanting all over America with Hermione. I had decided that Albus would need Clarice's help to pull of the Florida stunt, if only because she knew exactly how to manipulate Severus. I hope that you enjoyed my plotless wonder. PLEASE REVIEW.