written for a drabble challenge on LiveJournal. I got very carried away--it's 300 words!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this story and make no profit from writing it.
Severus Snape meets Grima Wormtongue!
"A Chance Encounter"
Severus Snape was having a bad day. A bad year. Several of them, in fact.
So who could blame him for stepping into the Leaky Cauldron on a rainy afternoon in early December? Such were his thoughts as he sat down at the bar to a butterbeer, ignoring the stares from the other patrons.
"Penny for your thoughts," came a rough, slithering voice beside him.
The voice matched the visage--that was for certain. Snape had never seen so disagreeable a creature. His face was pale and drawn, his dark hair greasy. There was a shifty look to his eyes, like he knew something he wasn't telling. The irony did not escape him that people said the same things about Snape's own appearance.
"Grima Wormtongue is my name," the man said, with a sneer. "I know who you are."
"Do you now?" Snape said, taking a drink.
"Of course. You are well beloved by the Dark Lord." The man kept his voice low, but it was haughty, taunting. There was a glimmer of humor in his eyes, but it was challenging.
"And what do you know of the Dark Lord?" Snape said, with asperity.
"Much, much more than you could ever know or imagine," the man said. "His power is older than the ages, extending much farther than the boundaries of any time upon this earth that you have ever known or dreamed of."
"Sounds like hero worship, to me," Snape said, again with disdain.
Wormtongue smiled, and Snape's skin crawled. The man was altogether snake-like, and only one other person had ever given him that feeling before. A person he longed to forget, but knew he would never escape.
"Forgive me," Snape said, finishing his beer with one last gulp. "I must go."
"We'll meet again," the man said.