~* REPORTING TO THE LIGHT*~
~ Three weeks after the return of Lord Voldemort~
Severus Snape arrived outside 12 Grimmauld Place, unsteady on his apparition arrival, due to the slow, tormenting rain, drizzling down and causing puddles on the ground. The summer's evening was unnaturally dark already, and the droplets seem to drop from invisible clouds. He walked furiously up to the tall, crooked building he loathed, snarling as he stepped blindly into a deep puddle on the doorstep. He rapped on the door, and counted 20 wasted seconds before it was answered by Molly Weasley.
"Oh!" she quickly stepped aside to let him in, "Professor Snape! Come in!" but he had already walked in, warming and drying himself with a languid whip of the wand. The house was old and smelt musty, and he felt hatred boil up as he realised this was the house of his enemy. This was the Black residence, and true to the name, it was grim, old, and dimly lit.
Molly Weasley hurried up to him. " Dumbledore's in the kitchen, along with the Order. They're all waiting for you before they begin." A Weasley twin could be seen, lurking under the stairs, back to them, shoulders moving suspiciously. "GEORGE!" Mrs Weasley yelled. The red-head dropped what he was holding, and with a small explosion and horrible rotten pong, revealed it was a dung bomb. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOUNG MAN? THIS IS NO TIME TO-" but George apparated mid-sentence, leaving his mother shaking with rage. Snape realised how tired she was looking, and her flustered appearance betrayed the fake smile she put on as she led him to the kitchen.
Snape studied the room's occupants, all looking either worried, stressed or jumpy; the exception was Dumbledore, who smiled and indicated an empty seat between Tonks and Moody. To his contempt, he saw Sirius, lounging on his chair, looking tired and lacking his normal smirk.
"Wotcher, 'fessor Snape," Tonks said weakly as he sat next to her. He nodded sharply.
"How y'doin', Snivellus?" Sirius yawned. Snape bit back a growl and ignored this remark.
"Dumbledore? Are you going to start or what?" Moody banged his staff on the ground impatiently. Dumbledore nodded.
"Well, Remus is still working with the werewolves, and he owls to tell me he is making sparse progress," he said with a sigh. "Cornelius Fudge is, under no circumstances going to accept Voldemort's return-" most of the people in the room reacted to the name: Moody tapped his staff lightly, some jumped and Molly Weasley gasped. Tonks sighed heftily.
"Are you lot ever going to get over his name?" she said in an exasperated tone."You're doing exactly what he wants if you fear him! Everyone said Grindelwald's name! He's just another evil guy, who wants respect he hasn't earned, damn well misused it, as a matter of fact!" she pounded the table with her fist.
Snape silently agreed with her, she had a point. If the Order couldn't say his name, how would the public react?
"Bad news all around. There is not much else to report apart from...Severus?" Dumbledore nodded towards him.
Snape straightened up a little, "The Dark Lord-"
"Voldemort," Tonks cut in.
"- is currently focused on intercepting the Ministry of Magic. He believes that they are on low guard, with the Minister refusing to believe his return-"
"I wonder who told him about that, hey, Snivellus?" Black snarled.
"The Daily Prophet. Haven't you seen the stuff they're writing about Harry and Professor Dumbledore?" Tonks replied smoothly,"'That's so ridiculous, we could put a lightning scar on it.' You know it, Sirius. It isn't exactly a secret what the Minister believes." she gave him a glare.
"You were saying, Severus?" Dumbledore cut in the argument. Tonks sat back in her chair, with a defeated sigh.
"He believes that the Ministry contains something he needs. He's...quite vague about what exactly it is he needs, he says it is 'something he didn't have last time'. His next aim is the death of Potter. He believes once the Death Eaters have found power and the Ministry falls, everything will go very smoothly. That is how far he goes in conferring with-"
Sirius had got up from his seat abruptly, chair scraping loudly as he flung it back. Snape's lip curled in disgust at the wasted features, he was so familiar to seeing, and hating...
"Yes, Black?" he sneered at him.
"Let's just say, I don't trust old Snivelly," he said hotly, "What if he's double crossing us? He's not given us a valid reason to trust him-"
Snape stood up too, hand clutched around his wand.
"I trust him, Sirius, and he's given me a valid reason to trust him," Dumbledore stood up too, "And if you trust me, you trust him. He is part of the Order, one of us."
And as the conference came to an end, Snape stormed out, cursing Black in his head, wishing he were still locked up in Azkaban...