Author's notes: Just as a warning, this part skips between perspectives a bit but for good reason.
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Tempting Fate Chapter Three The Saberling Girls
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If someone who knew them was looking at Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape at this very moment, they would either never recognize them or have some sort of odd reaction to the site of the two Wizards walking up Rosewood Avenue in the middle of the day on a Saturday. They had transfigured their robes upon leaving City Hall and would transfigure them back in front of the Saberling girls in case they needed to be convinced that magic is real.
For now though, much to Severus' dismay, Albus is dressed in dark purple bell bottom pants, nearly black long sleeved Elizabethan cuffed shirt, and dark walnut wooden flip flops. The old Wizard has a yellow peace sign dangling from his neck and his hair and beard are tied back loosely with matching yellow hair ties.
Severus, on the other hand, is dressed much more normally albeit his outfit is almost of a single color. The Potion Master is wearing black jeans of a comfortable fit, a deep emerald green normal –here Severus shoots Albus a slight glare- long sleeved shirt of a rather snug, defining fit, his normal black shoes, and a black jacket.
If not for the fact that Halloween is just under two weeks away, the inhabitants of Rosewood Avenue would be looking at the pair, Albus in particular, much more scornfully than they currently are.
"How much longer can this street possibly be?" Severus scowls back at the number of the house they had just passed. The house is only Number 20 and they have already walked half way up a thankfully not so steep hill.
"It appears as though we've only come about half way up the street," Albus replies cheerfully, a surprising spring in his step for someone his age as he completely ignores Severus' scowling.
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Ten minutes later after climbing the steepest part of the street, Albus and Severus approach the final block of the street. They pass Number 35 on their right and
Numbers 36 and 38 on their left. The two lots on the left make up the bottom quarter of that side of the block where as the lot on the right makes up that same section on its own. The next house up on the right is Number 37 and the lot adjacent to it holds Number 39 with Number 41 just past it.
Severus shakes his head in disgust while Albus stares over his half moon spectacles at the only lot remaining on the left side of the street. The corner lot Number 40 rests on occupies the remaining three quarters of the block. Just by looking at it, Severus estimates the lot to be about the size of the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts. The lot has some maple trees scattered about the property, most of which line the street except for one or two that apparently form the boundary with the neighbor's yard. The lower half of the lot is mostly bare with the exception of a tree stump surrounded by what looks like a small rose garden, a rectangular flower garden in the center of that section of the yard, and a swing for two people facing the gardens. The center of the yard neither Severus nor Albus can explain but the gravel driveway contains a small black automobile that has a small blue-green rose above the left front wheel. As for the house itself, Albus recognizes the design from back near the turn of the century, stating that the house is probably around a hundred years old. The two story house has white siding and dark green, almost black, roofing with a decent size wooden porch that connects the front and back doors of the house. A large bay window overlooks the road from the ground floor and a smaller window looks out over the oak porch.
A loud cawing catches their attention as the walk up the cement sidewalk to the front door. As they near the foot of the porch steps, the source of the cawing becomes clear. Standing at the top of the steps being the gate is one of the Saberling girls, a forest green Macaw perched on her shoulder, both of them glaring at Albus and Severus. The girl before them looks intimidating enough in her blue jeans and black shirt adorned with a red dragon, her brown hair pinned to the back of her head in a messy half bun. The bird on her shoulder, with the red fringe on its forehead, grey-black beak, and yellow eyes, merely gives the two Wizards something else to contend with.
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"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Toni Saberling demands of the two men on the front porch steps, hazel eyes cold and fierce.
"Forgive our intrusion, but are you one of the Saberling girls?" the obviously older of the two asks.
"Yes," the brunette raises an eyebrow at the men. "Who are you and why are you here?"
"My name is Albus Dumbledore," the white haired man introduces himself before motioning to his companion. "And this is Severus Snape. We are here to request the assistance of you and your pseudo-sister, the other Saberling girl."
"We are hardly girls anymore," Toni sneers defensively, effectively covering up her surprise at the men's names. She'd heard a few stories but refused to believe them. Hope wasn't something she and her sister Sam put much faith in nowadays.
"I told you this was ludicrous, Albus," Snape turns to leave. "These girls know nothing about our world. They wouldn't understand if we told them and I'd rather not have to wait for the other one to return home."
Dumbledore gives Snape what appears to be a warning look. The Military Macaw, Kayla, caws loudly as a way to distract the men before they can argue. She'd lived in the Saberling house long enough to sense a fight brewing.
"What are you going on about? You're not suggesting that- well that, magic and the Wizarding world is real, are you?" Toni knows her tone is still harsh but can't help the curiosity and, though she'd never admit to it, faint hope in her voice.
"May we come in so that we may speak freely?" Dumbledore at least has manners, unlike Snape.
Kayla caws and Toni nods in agreement, opening the porch gate in the process. Unsure why she's even listening to her instincts, Toni allows the two to enter the house.
"Explain," she says rather bluntly as Kayla flies off to her perch in the next room while motioning for her guests, she guesses, to sit at the dining room table.
"Severus," Dumbledore warns before Snape can even open his mouth. "You will have to forgive him, Miss Saberling. Severus likes to believe he is more intelligent than others."
"It's fine, sir," Toni gives Snape a sickeningly sweet smile, a mocking gleam in her eyes. "Don't call me 'Miss Saberling,' please. It's Toni."
"Then I must insist you call us by our given names as well," Sna- Severus snorts at this and Toni nods before Dumbl- Albus continues. "Now, Toni, I do not like reminding someone of painful events in the past and forgive an old man for his
ignorance, but what do you know about the Wizarding world? I am assuming you know of its existence at least from the Death Eater attack two years ago?"
In an instant, Toni goes from slowly warming up to the two Wizards back to relying on the sarcastic and withdrawn defensive nature she has when talking with anyone but her sister about the past.
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"I know that those Death Eaters," here both Severus and Albus recoil imperceptibly at the undercurrent of hate in Toni's words, "who didn't betray their bastard leader all deserve to rot in that prison the Auror Sam and I overheard talking before he escorted us out of St. Mungo's, I think it was, mentioned to one of his co-workers."
"Is there anything else?" Albus asks gently, willing Severus to keep any comments he has to himself seeing as the man would most likely not be able to keep his tone neutral. "You seem to know enough to not be completely baffled by the request I have if you do not know the current situation in Wizarding Great Britain."
"Yes, the Auror explained to us that he would set up a charm for us to call a post owl if we wanted to understand anything about the Wizarding world. He said something about asking you to explain things because of your status," Albus takes Toni's apparently thoughtful silence as a sign that she has more to say.
Toni gives a low whistle and the Macaw ruffles her feathers to show she is listening. She tells the bird to bring whatever it is that the bird is seemingly looking at over to her. A few minutes of arguing and bargaining with the Macaw later and the feathered familiar lands on her owner's shoulder after dropping a newspaper on the table, some blue wing feathers and a red tail feather landing on it.
"This is what I meant for you to explain, Albus," Toni motions to the front page of the American Daily Prophet, her withdrawn aura fading. "Before you ask, I asked the Auror that escorted us back from St. Mungo's about getting a subscription to the paper. I figured it might help if we could know about other Death Eaters being captured. I'm guessing you want to ask us about using our home for a safe house until the remaining Death Eaters can be caught now that the war's over, right?"
Albus and Severus exchange concerned looks and scan the article while Toni scolds Kayla for complaining that the 'funny looking Wizard and his normal looking friend'-to use the Macaw's words- are blocking the moving picture. True to the girl's word, the article states that Albus and Severus are searching for a safe
house for Harry Potter and his closest companions but that they are staying at Hogwarts until then.
"At least the idiots at press think we're searching for an island to hide them on," Severus comments dryly. "Is there a chance that the Auror Core dropped that hint to try and lead the Death Eaters to Azkaban Prison, Albus?"
"My thoughts exactly, Severus," Albus nods in agreement. "Toni?"
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"Sam'll be home soon. We'll discuss it then," Toni shrugs and Kayla directs her attention towards the kitchen. "Tea? Uh coffee?"she adds with a hesitant look towards Severus.
"Allow me," Albus raises his wand and points towards the tea kettle boiling on the stove.
Toni recoils slightly at the sight of Albus shutting the stove off, seemingly creating three teacups out of thin air, and making two cups of tea and a cup of coffee. Not a bad reaction for someone whose initial encounter with magic was of a deranged idiot casting the Killing Curse on her family. She watches in wonder as the old Wizard levitates the cups, three teaspoons, the sugar bowl, and the gallon of milk that was inside the refrigerator onto the table in front of her.
"T-that was amazing," Toni smiles in spite of herself. "Thank you. How'd you do that?"
"With magic, how else?"Severus retorts sarcastically.
"A type of magic called Transfiguration. I simply turned the molecules in the air into teacups and used a type of magic known as Charms to move the objects from one place to another," Albus explains before Toni can say something back to Severus.
Kayla squawks indignantly about the three of them hogging the newspaper. Said Macaw takes the newspaper and flies into the next room to continue watching the people flying around in the pictures in the sports section. The would-be awkward silence for the next half hour until Sam comes home is filled by Toni asking various questions about magic and the Wizarding world along with Albus trying to keep sarcastic comments between Toni and Severus at a minimum.
"I'm home!" Sam's loud voice is followed by the kitchen door being slammed shut, as usual. "Hey Tone, I'm going- how come I wasn't told you were having company over?"
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"Relax, Sammy," Toni takes her dark blonde haired pseudo-sister off to the side and explains things to her slowly and calmly.
Albus and Severus discuss quietly how to describe their little group in as positive of terms as possible. The general outcome of this is that Severus should talk as little as possible.
Snorting in irritation at the circumstances, Severus turns his attention towards the two girls. Yes, he would continue to call them 'girls' for as long as it takes to make at least one of them try to kill him. The girls are rather similar to one another. While one has a fairer complexion and darker hair and eyes, the other has a slightly darker complexion and not much lighter hair and eyes. Both of them have athletic builds although Sam is maybe four inches taller than Toni. Severus can't help but think that they'd make rather decent Quidditch players, judging by their builds alone. Sam could very well be either a Chaser or Keeper where as either of them could pass for a Beater going by the muscles in their arms.
"Alright, we'll hear them out," Sam sighs after a few minutes before coming over to the table and sitting in the seat across from Severus. "Toni's already told me who's who so don't bother introducing yourselves and I'm pretty sure she's already mentioned me."
"Yupp," Toni smiles cheekily at the other girl and sits across from Albus, foregoing her old seat at the head of the table. "Albus, can you tell us about this plan you have to hide Potter and his friends?"
