Disclaimer:

All characters in the story are the property of J. K. Rowling and Bloomsbury Books, with the exception of Eleanora Sterling and a few supporting characters, who are my own creations. This story is created purely for the entertainment of myself and other like-minded readers and no copyright infringement is intended.

By mentioning J.K. Rowling in this story I do not intend to present her as a fictional character or to imply that the Harry Potter books are not her own 100% original works.

Any opinions, political or otherwise, on world events, personages or governments expressed in these pages, are the opinions of the characters speaking them and not necessarily those of the author.

Chapter 14: Strange Alliances

Upon reflection, Remus decided it would be best to give Snape a run-down about what he and Vera had discussed the previous evening before he met with the technicians at J.M. Walsh & Associates. Although to his mind the kind of demonstration Vera had suggested seemed like a good idea, knowing Snape, he might veto it out of hand, if for no other reason than that he did not think of it himself. No point in proceeding without his approval.

Remus knew that by collaborating with Severus Snape in this project, he was treading a thin line. Not only in dealing with his old rival—the gods knew that that association would be full of pitfalls enough—but by doing something like this behind the Ministry and Dumbledore's collective backs, he risked a severe reprimand. He supposed that at some point he would have to come clean to Dumbledore about what was planned and leave it to him to inform the Ministry, if he saw fit. But, he reasoned, there would be no need to do that until the plan was actually in place!

Also, on the issue of other operatives, he was undecided. Should he try to find Devani and Plotkin as suggested, or should he attempt to come up with a few people himself? He couldn't see doing this without Sirius Black's help, for example. Sirius probably had as much reason for wanting to witness Voldemort's ultimate defeat as Snape did. For that matter, so would Harry Potter.

But on the other hand, if he were to be able to find out where Devani's and Plotkin's loyalties lay, they might indeed make good operatives. He had to admit that Snape's instincts on such matters were generally good, and the other wizard had indeed been a lot closer to the magical underground over the past few years than he had himself.

Remus decided to give Snape a call that afternoon. Nora answered.

"Remus! Good to hear from you. How are things with you?" she asked.

"Just fine, my dear, but I need to talk to Severus, if you don't mind."

"He's around somewhere, but I have to say that you two certainly seem to be burning up the trans-Atlantic phone lines! Don't tell me you miss one another?" she teased

"Hardly..." Remus replied dryly, "but I do have some further word for him on a matter we were discussing yesterday."

"If this is about him going back to Britain, I do not approve!" the young woman replied vehemently.

"Well, Nora, I'd say feel free to use your influence in that area, as I don't exactly approve of his returning to Britain either, but I think you'll find that once Severus has his mind made up to do something, no power on earth will stop him."

"We'll see about that…" Nora said ominously. "I'll go and get him."

* * *

Snape had been sitting on the deck reading when Nora called him to the phone. He was most anxious to see what Lupin had to say. His unlikely co-conspirator wasted no time in getting to the point.

"I've been making some discrete inquiries about the possibility of setting up some sort of demonstration. It turns out there's device which just might fill the bill." Lupin briefly explained to him what an EMP was and what it would do, and how they might augment the effect with a little pyrotechnic trickery. "I'll leave it to you to decide what additional effects we should think about creating, and to come up with a story to explain it," he added.

"That's all well and good," Snape replied dubiously, "but who will build it and how much will they have to know? And how much will this cost, by the way?"

"To answer your last question first, an arm and a leg. I won't know exactly how much until I talk to them. Since you won't get Ministry backing on this, are you prepared to cover the expense?"

"I suppose I'll have to... but I do have some resources at my disposal." Although it had occurred to him that he would be footing the bill for this himself, he was not thrilled with the idea.

"Good. Well, the Goodge Street people would be building it, of course – they are very discrete, so we don't need to tell them much. My contact tells me they are itching to play around with something like this, so I imagine they'll be rather enthusiastic about doing it. If you approve of the idea, I'll try to set up a meeting with them in the next few days." 

"All right, I approve of it in theory," Severus agreed. "But just sound them out on the possibilities before we commit to anything. I wish I could be there for the meeting… but I suppose in my absence I'm forced to leave these details to you," he sighed. "By the way, how is my passport coming along?"

Remus paused for a beat before answering. Snape got the distinct impression he was stalling. "Ah, they do seem to be backed up a little at present, but I'm assured the documents will be ready fairly soon."

"I hope so. I feel as though my hands are completely tied, being stuck over here."

"That's understandable, Severus, but I wish you could just trust me to get on with this. I don't think you should be considering travelling until the last possible minute, to be safe."

Snape scowled at this unwanted advice. His level of frustration with this situation was increasing daily. Being so far away from the centre of activity was bad enough, but the telephone was a completely unfamiliar form of communication for him. He simply could not read the thoughts of his interlocutor, even if he wanted to, which put him at a huge disadvantage. Being implored to "trust" someone had never been enough for him, and in fact this made him distrust Lupin even more.

"You've been talking to Nora, haven't you?" he asked sourly. He well knew her feelings on the subject.

"She has made her desires known to me, yes. But it's also my opinion that you should stay put until things progress further. For one thing, if you are discovered here by someone from the Ministry, that would be a pretty big tip-off that you are up to something. I think to maintain the secrecy of this operation as you requested, you'd be better off where you are. Don't worry, we'll be in constant touch and I won't make a move without consulting you first."

"How will I know that you are actually doing something and not just stringing me along and giving me false reports? And would you send me the bloody passport even if it was ready?"

"You'll just have to trust me on that. Have I ever lied to you before?"

"I don't know. Have you?" Snape challenged.

Lupin sighed heavily. "No need to be so belligerent, Severus. As for the passport, I'll send it when it's ready, but only if I have your word that you won't come until I send for you."

"I'm not sure I can agree to that. And who are you to withhold it from me? Still, I suppose I'm at your mercy unless I can get my own forged passport."

"I'd advise against that," Lupin replied tersely. "I just wish you'd consider the consequences before you do anything rash."

This comment was met with several seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"All right, I'll set up a meeting as soon as I can. I'll let you know their recommendations as soon as I've met with them. In the meantime, I'll put someone to work on finding Devani and Plotkin. I think Hermione Granger might be able to help."

"But Granger works at the Ministry! How could you trust her not to report to Fudge or someone else?" Snape retorted.

"Hermione has done some covert work for us before. Don't assume that Dumbledore's core operatives are always so forthcoming to the Ministry higher-ups with the details of our various operations. For example, there are still a quite a number of people who think you actually did go back to the Death Eaters, or that you are dead. There are only a handful of us who know the real story. And that is another good reason for you to stay where you are," Lupin explained.

"I know that my whereabouts are being kept a secret, of course."

Also, he had long known that Dumbledore did not always operate strictly within Ministry guidelines – certainly that was true in his own case, and in the case of Sirius Black—but it was good to be reminded of this fact.

"Look, Severus, I know this is hard for you," Lupin continued, "but try to contain your impatience and stay where you are for the time being. I promise I'll send daily reports, either by phone or e-mail. And I'll let you know when I think it is time to come back. I've as much to gain or lose by doing this as you do, believe me. We'd all like to see Voldemort defeated. But please appreciate that I'm also taking a big risk by conspiring with you like this."

"Fair enough," Snape allowed. Though he failed to see that Lupin would stand to gain as much as he would by Voldemort's death. For one thing it meant his freedom to return to his own world. Lupin, not being a marked man, had the freedom of living in both his own world and the Mundane one.

After he rang off, Snape considered his position carefully. Might it be prudent, he wondered, to let Dumbledore know about his plans without the Ministry being involved? He'd be concerned about the elder wizard's reaction, but if he could get him onside without alerting the Ministry, it might just be possible to get more people involved in the operation.

Also, if he were looking for loyal allies, who better than someone who had as much to gain by Voldemort's removal as he had? Though his relations with Sirius Black had long been strained, he knew that for his old enemy, Voldemort's defeat and Peter Pettigrew's capture would mean Black would be finally be cleared of the murders of the Potters and thirteen others, and would be able to come out of hiding. It might be advantageous to put old enmities aside for once and solicit his help. And Lupin had already suggested using the fugitive wizard as an agent. Yes, Black was indeed someone he could exploit in his cause.

NEXT: Meeting Ms. Granger

A/N

Thanks for the reviews! To answer Kit Cloudkicker: Yes, I'm a fan of the Tolkien movies but I confess I never finished reading the books. (I did read The Hobbit back in high school, which was a VERY long time ago!) Yes, I do know about the Jelly Belly "Every Flavour Beans" but I don't think the characters in my story do. (And anyway, grass and sardine not withstanding, they really are not "Every Flavour" are they?)

-Grey Lady