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"Checkmate!" Severus grinned. It had been desperation as much as anything that had made him try that series of moves—Alastor had been decimating his pieces on the other side of the board—but it had worked even better than he'd hoped.
Alastor shook his head. "So it is. Well played, youngling. But I daresay it's past time that both of us were asleep."
"We could play again," Severus suggested. "You won the first game." Brewing the goo hadn't taken nearly as long as he'd expected, and he'd been happy enough to accept Alastor's challenge of a game when they'd finished. He'd issue his own challenge in return when Alastor had won, but now they were tied, so….
"Aye, and if we do that, neither of us will be in any shape to be up before noon tomorrow." Alastor clapped a hand on Severus' shoulder, flicking his wand to send the chess set floating back to the study with his other hand. "Come along. We'll have plenty of time to play again in the future."
"But I have to go back to school." The statement came out more plaintive than he'd intended it to, and he shrugged and tried to cover. "I mean, we can't exactly play then."
"Suppose we could try a game by owl if you'd like," Alastor said after a moment. "But we can talk about that tomorrow. Bed, now."
Severus nodded reluctantly. He still didn't feel like going to sleep, but he did plan to spend tomorrow wandering around Diagon Alley. And even if he hadn't, Alastor had to go to work. "Goodnight."
"Sleep well."
He was apparently more tired than he'd thought because he felt his eyes closing almost as soon as he slipped under the blanket. If it hadn't been for a quiet 'Severus' drawing him back to consciousness, he'd probably have been asleep in less than five minutes. As it was, it took a moment for the words to penetrate, and then he blinked at the figure in the doorway. "Hm?"
Alastor chuckled. "Suppose I should have accepted that game. You'd have been asleep on the board two moves in."
"I would not." Probably. He rubbed his eyes and then shifted sideways, making room for Alastor to take a seat on the edge of the bed. "What is it? Is something wrong?"
"No, not wrong, exactly." The bed dipped under Alastor's weight. "But are you sure you're all right? It's…the circumstances are a bit different, I suppose, but I always liked going back to school. You never seem very happy when the subject is mentioned. I know you've OWLs coming up and all, and the testing can get a bit stressful, but…." He shook his head.
Severus shrugged and stared over Alastor's shoulder at the wall, glad that his expression was well-hidden in the darkness. What was he supposed to say? That he pretty much hated school, or most of school, anyway, and would much rather stay here? Hogwarts had been a relief when he'd been living with his grandparents, granted, but now…well, the classes themselves were okay, and Lily was there, of course, but the Moronic Marauders were always doing their best to make his life miserable, he didn't even like most of his housemates all that much, and the headmaster and most of the professors weren't much use when it came to anything outside the subjects they taught. He barely held back a snort. He definitely couldn't say the last, especially now that he knew Alastor and Dumbledore were friends—and old friends at that—and it wasn't like Alastor could do anything about the rest, so there wasn't really much point in talking about it.
"Severus?" Alastor prompted as the silence drew out.
"I'm okay. Really. School is just…school." He could handle it. He'd been managing for the last four and a half years, after all.
Alastor was quiet for a minute, and then, "All right, then." He patted Severus' chest lightly and then pushed himself back to his feet, tucking his crutch under his arm. "Goodnight. I'll wake you tomorrow morning."
"I'll be back in time for dinner," Severus promised. "And I'll wait at your desk if you aren't back yet."
"And you'll keep yourself out of mischief?"
"Yes, sir." He ducked the flick to his forehead with a quick grin. "Mean, yes, Alastor."
Alastor shook his head and flicked Severus' forehead again before gesturing towards the door. "Off with you, then, before I decide to make you stay and do my paperwork."
"We have a volunteer for paperwork?" Gideon asked, coming up behind Severus and slinging an arm around his shoulders. "You know, that's a brilliant idea. Our most charming department head was just mentioning that I'm several cases behind, and—"
"Alastor says I have to go, so I'll see you tonight," Severus interrupted, ducking away quickly. He didn't doubt that Gideon did have a pile of paperwork sitting somewhere, and he probably wouldn't think twice about foisting it on some unsuspecting victim. Behind him, he heard Alastor's chuckle overlapping with Gideon's protest, and then he was out of the Auror Office and headed for the elevator.
It took longer than he expected for it to arrive, but that probably shouldn't have been a surprise given the time of day, and when he finally reached the ground floor, he found himself moving against a large crowd. Apparently the majority of people who worked here all liked to arrive at the same time. He did his best to move through the mass without actually running into anyone, but it was harder than it should have been. Especially when he caught sight of Malfoy—two Malfoys actually, Lucius and a man that had to be his father—standing just outside the press of bodies.
At first neither of them seemed to see him, their focus on something in the elder Malfoy's hands, but then Lucius glanced up, and—
Severus shook himself, apologizing quickly to the older man that he'd stumbled into when he caught Lucius' eye. He was being stupid. The two Malfoys were obviously here on business; it was just a coincidence that they'd seen each other. And Malfoy—Lucius—certainly wasn't going to suddenly attack him in a fit of pique in the middle of the Ministry. With another shake, and a casual glance to check that the crowd now obscured any view that they might have of him, he turned back for the door.
The feeling that he was being a little paranoid didn't prevent him from taking a careful look around when he got outside, but there was nothing suspicious to be seen. Just more people headed to work. He returned Marlene's quick wave when he caught sight of her—she was too far away to hold an actual conversation with—and then skirted the edge of the crowd to get out into Diagon Alley proper.
His…surprise…at seeing Malfoy faded as he walked. Yes, Malfoy was probably annoyed with him for breaking his deal with Riddle—particularly since Malfoy had been the one to set it up—but did one fifteen-year-old, even a talented one, really rate that much attention? Of course not. Oh, if there was something casually vicious that Malfoy could do, he probably would, but Severus didn't think that he'd exert himself for it. He hadn't done anything when they'd seen each other at the café, after all.
With a shake of his head, he checked the goo in his pocket. It was sunny today, for a change, but the temperature was still below freezing, and he wasn't sure what effect that would have. It didn't seem to be causing any problems, but he wouldn't really be able to tell until he started testing it. Unfortunately, it was early enough that the people on the street were obviously all the going-to-work sort as opposed to the out-for-a-day sort, and since bothering people on their way to work would definitely qualify as getting into mischief, he would have to occupy his time with something else for a little while.
Which lead to the contents of his other pocket. He took out the handful of coins that Alastor had given him before they'd flooed to the Ministry. A quick check showed that there was a more than sufficient amount to allow him to both obey the order not to skip lunch and to stop at a bookstore or the apothecary. Well, if he had a light lunch, anyway.
He made his way down the Alley, glancing down each of the side streets in turn, not in any particular hurry, before deciding to stop for a few minutes in an out-of-the-way used bookstore that he couldn't recall visiting before.
The lighting wasn't the best, the shelving scheme was pretty haphazard, and the proprietor seemed less than interested in helping Severus find anything, but it smelled like a bookstore, and it wasn't as though he was in any hurry. He found a few potions books first, but he had enough potions material to keep him busy for awhile. And the only defense book that jumped out at him was way out of his price range even if he skipped lunch entirely. There was a lot of fiction, but fiction had never been a particular interest of his and he was about to give up and go to one of the bigger bookstores, when he found a history book tucked in among the mess. It was an in-depth account of the dragon attacks that Mr. Prewett had been telling him about, and with a glance at the proprietor—who was still studiously ignoring him—he found a quiet corner to examine it in more detail.
"You would be Snape, correct?"
He was halfway through the third chapter, and it took a moment for the voice to penetrate. And when it did, he wasn't very happy. He hadn't really meant to read the book in the bookstore, but he'd just reached a good part, and— Severus frowned as he finally looked up from his book and identified the intruder. Or kind of identified the intruder…the hair color was off, but her features were nearly a match for Narcissa Black's, and he knew Narcissa had two older sisters. But he'd never met either of them, and to his knowledge neither of them had any idea who he was.
"Yes," he acknowledged after a moment. There was something vaguely menacing about her, and he pushed himself to his feet as quickly as he could without being obvious about it. "I'm sorry, but I don't recognize you."
Her lip curled slightly. "Bellatrix Lestrange."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." The eldest one, then, the one engaged—well, married, now, obviously—to Rodolphus Lestrange. The one rumored to be not too far from barking mad, if he remembered correctly…they were quiet rumors, of course, since the Blacks were an old family, but they were there all the same. But he hadn't done anything to offend her that he knew of, aside from being a half-blood, so he had no idea why she would be approaching him. Even if she just happened to be in the bookstore, there was no reason that either of them had to speak to each other. "May I help you with anything?" he asked.
"I must say, I'm a bit surprised to see you here."
The sense of menace was greater now, and he couldn't help but hope that those rumors of insanity had been greatly overstated. He made a dismissive gesture. "I've always been an avid reader. But I can't imagine that that's of any interest to you." Maybe he was blocking a bookshelf that she wanted to look at?
"I'd simply assumed that you'd suffered some sort of tragic injury when my dear Mr. Riddle said that you were no longer working for him."
Her 'dear Mr. Riddle'? Severus felt his stomach twist. This couldn't be a coincidence…could it? Seeing Malfoy, and then meeting some other friend of Riddle's—someone he'd never even met before—in this little bookstore? And while he'd thought that Malfoy might be a minor threat...well, Riddle was the one who'd attacked Alastor. Or someone working for Riddle, anyway. Someone without a lot of qualms about inflicting injuries.
Severus kept his expression as casual as he could as he examined her a little more closely. She hadn't done anything overtly threatening, but her current position neatly blocked any escape that he might have made. He still held the history book in his dominant hand, and he wished that he could put it down somewhere, just in case he needed his wand. That would give her too much of an advantage though, showing that kind of weakness, so he settled for a shake of his head. "No, I'm afraid that's not the case."
"You seemed so promising. You disappointed all of us."
Considering that they'd hurt Alastor and Gideon and who knew who else, Severus didn't give a rat's arse if he'd disappointed them, but he had better sense than to say anything of the sort. Of course, what he should say…. "I believe the original terms were that we would see how the arrangement served all concerned. It no longer served me." He paused. "And as I heard it, the apothecary and my workroom were flattened this past summer and the facility has yet to be rebuilt—" he didn't know whether that was true or not, but given the state it had been in, he'd be exceedingly surprised if the owner had been willing to spend anything on restoring it—"which renders the entire thing somewhat moot."
Her entire face twisted into something grotesque, and Severus decided that enough was enough, shifting his book to his other hand and drawing his wand. He covered the gesture with a casual Tempus, but now he was armed and she wasn't, and he couldn't help but feel a little better about the whole situation. He gestured at the remains of the Tempus spell. "I'm sorry, but it seems to be later than I realized. I need to be going. If you'll excuse me?" It wasn't the smoothest exit, maybe, but if it got him out of this bloody corner and away from this person, he'd happily take it.
For a moment he thought that she was going to object. And that maybe her curved fingers concealed a wand of her own tucked into her sleeve. However, with a slight sneer, she stepped aside. "I would consider my choice of acquaintances carefully, were I you."
"Good day," Severus murmured in return.
He barely remembered to pay for the book still clenched in his hand—that the proprietor would probably have noticed—and then he escaped out into the street. Which suddenly seemed more crowded than it should be. Of course, people were probably getting out to do their shopping about now…it probably didn't mean anything.