The White Tomb
Hogwarts should be Dumbledore's final resting place.
Lola set down the empty tray and began to wipe it down with a grey rag that had seen better days. Two of her regulars, Mike and Davey sat in their usual seats, at the end of the bar, sipping whiskey, occasionally leaning in toward each other to speak and be heard over the jukebox. A boy band hit from a few years previous was playing, and Lola sang quietly along, without realizing. "Baby take me, high up on a hillside." She looked up from the beer stained serving tray to find Mike, a shortish heavy set man, trying to catch her eye as he waggled two stubby fingers at her. With a smile disguised sigh, she tossed the grey rag on to the back bar where it landed on the supply of chilling bottles of beer. Still singing along with the song on the jukebox, "I could love you, build my world around you," Lola ambled over to the two men, grabbing the bottle of whiskey as she passed, pulling it along with her.
"Quiet night, huh?" Mike said for the third time that evening as she poured. The neon sign advertising a beer brand flashed red, reflecting on his balding horseshoe shaped scalp that disappeared underneath graying blonde hair, grown long in compensation, a race between the length of his hair and the balding patch. The scalp was winning, Lola noted as her sharp eyes found two strands of hair lying on his shoulder amidst a dusting of dandruff.
"Yeah, so you two had better tip big," Lola repeated, also for the third time. She forced her smile wider as she said it, her stomach lurching as the picture of the electric bill sitting at home on her kitchen table floated up into her mind.
Both men laughed, more drunkenly than they had done previously, and Lola knew the power company would be calling soon. She moved away, and from the corner of her eye, Lola saw Davey lean toward Mike, a leer in his eye as he glanced at her, his mouth moving close to Mike's ear, and a moment later, Mike burst out laughing, his small brown eyes disappearing between his fleshy eyelids and the thick bags that hung beneath. There was nothing else for it, she thought, slipping the whiskey bottle back into place, she was going to have to try her luck elsewhere. Maybe Oxford or Canterbury would hold better luck for her than Cokeworth.
The song on the jukebox ended with a few trailing notes, silence erupting into the pub at the same moment the door from the street swung open, revealing a shadow of a man standing still in the doorframe. After a moments pause, the stranger stepped inside and Lola thought he looked quite like a shadow come to life, with his crisply creased black slacks, long sleeved black button down collared shirt, with every single button done up, even the one at the very top against his throat. His long black hair fell into his face, hiding most of his features, save for a large hooked nose. A lost traveler, Lola assumed, stopping in at the pub, perhaps for directions, although Cokeworth was on the way to no where.
"Help you sir?" Lola asked as the door swung shut behind the stranger. She gave him her widest smile, thrust back her shoulders and cocked out one hip. Never hurts to flirt, she thought, might be my ticket out of this place, or a big tipper, he does look like he could use a drink.
"Whiskey," the stranger said in a cool, blunt voice, his eyes, squinted almost shut against the harsh electric light, traveled the room crossing over the empty tables then over the bar where Mike and Davey sat. He crossed the room in a few steps and sat down at the bar, choosing a stool a few away from Mike.
"Right you are then," Lola answered, pulling out the whiskey bottle once again. She glanced at her reflection in the large mirror that ran behind the length of the bar as she filled a short glass. "You're new 'round here, aren't you?" She asked turning and setting the whiskey down in front of the stranger.
The dark stranger took a sip of his drink and seemed to consider his answer. "No," he said, making eye contact for the first time, "It's my childhood … home."
"What's that name then?" Mike asked loudly. He'd lived here all his life, and was certain he knew everyone who had lived here in the past sixty years.
The stranger seemed to consider his answer for a moment, and Mike wondered how hard it was to remember ones own name. "Snape," came the answer quietly. A face flashed in Mikes mind, the long forgotten face of another pub patron. Red rimmed coal black eyes, short dark hair and a hooked nose surrounded by cheeks with spider web like broken veins.
"Yeah," Mike said slowly, "I remember a Snape. He'd be yer dad then? Died twenty years ago, wasn't it?"
"About that, yes," answered the stranger, and lifted his glass downing the rest of its contents in one. His hair fell off his face with the movement, allowing Mike a better look.
"Yeah, you look quite like yer father," Mike slurred a bit.
Severus Snape sneered with all the connotations that remark dredged up for him and closed his eyes against the images of two Potters. He opened them only to find his fathers face reflecting back at him from the mirror behind the bar, and looked quickly away. There was a task at hand, his only reason to have come to this muggle pub, and he needed to focus. Signaling the woman for another drink, he turned his attention to the two men. The one who'd known his father was still staring at him.
"Mean bloke, wadn't he?" Mike said and drained his own glass. "Can't remember him ever mentioning he had a son." He held up his empty glass and Lola filled it before sauntering back over to stand in front of Severus.
The comment clenched at Severus' stomach, but he showed no outwardly signs of the blow. No surprise that Tobias Snape had never mentioned his son. Severus studied the man for a moment, he'll do, he thought. No worse than anyone else. Now, the question was, how to go about getting… "cheated him in a card game, damn near killed the poor SOB with his bare hands." Severus realized Mike had been speaking.
"Oh?" Severus said, not really caring who had been nearly killed by his father, for there was no question that it was Tobias Snape who had been on the delivering end of those blows. Mike began to ramble again, and Severus tuned him out, but kept his gaze fixed on the older muggle. From the corner of his eye, Severus saw Lola, still standing right in front of him, watching Mike as he spoke, but stealing glances back to Severus, gauging his reaction to whatever story Mike was reeling off about the elder Snape. Severus was about to utter another noncommittal comment when he noticed the sprinkling of dandruff on the muggles shoulder. Dandruff would meet the requirements of the potion, and while it was a disgusting thought to digest, it was, Severus had to admit to himself, no more so revolting than any other alternative.
That mattered settled; it presented a new dilemma, the timing of the acquisition. Severus shifted his gaze over the three muggles in the pub. Mike was still talking, rambling on about the 'good old days' when the factory was still open and the bar would fill with men drinking, forgetting or just trying to get through the night. The other two, the muggle sitting next to the reminiscing bloke, and the barmaid both had their eyes on the man droning on. Accio Severus thought, and pulled the empty small glass bottle from his trousers pocket, uncorking it and holding it near his knee and out of sight. The dandruff rose as one, up, off Mikes shoulder and floated toward Severus. His gaze casually drifted toward the barmaid and found her staring in the empty air between Mike and himself. Not sure if she was lost in thought, or if she had seen the particles of dandruff floating. No matter really, simple matter to clear up before he left.
The dandruff, and as a bonus, two hairs Severus had not seen, floated into the glass bottle and he corked it quickly. Standing up, he slipped it back into his trousers pocket, pulling out folded muggle money to cover the movement. Peeling off a bill, he caught Lola's eye and in the brief moment they held the bill between them, Severus stared into her eyes, and thought Obliviate. Her eyes glazed over and Severus let go of the bill. With a perfunctory nod to Mike, who had stopped speaking when Severus stood, he turned and left the bar.
As the door closed Lola was surprised to find herself clasping a bill. She blinked and looked toward Mike, about to ask if he had given her the money, but before she could Mike interrupted her thoughts, "Odd bloke, wadn't he?"
Lola blinked again. "Who?"
Out in the cool night air, Severus slipped into the shadow of the Railview Hotel and Disapparated.
a/n: credit where credit is due: the song on the jukebox is Could it be Magic lyrics written by Adrienne Anderson and music mainly composed by Barry Manilow. And for my fellow Americans, was covered by Take That in the early 1990s.