Chapter Five - The Official Propagandists
"Gentlemen," Tom addressed the two. "This
shall be our first mission."
Tom pushed open a rickety old door to reveal their new
living quarters. The room was a nasty shade of gray and very dusty. Cobwebs
hung in every corner and an odd musty smell lingered from the apartments lack
of use.
"Some mission," Severus snarled, analyzing
the room. "I was hoping you could do a little better than this,
Riddle." As of now, they were to live on the third floor of a white
apartment building in the heart of London. The outside appearance wasn't
impressive, either. The paint was chipping and a cheesy yellow could be seen
where the white was gone. None of the trees had leaves, the place was covered
with garbage, and everything had graffiti all over it.
Lucius, on the contrary, was thrilled.
"This place has such possibilities!" he
said. He skipped to the window, avoiding some old issues of SheMale and
a couple moldy muffins. He swung open the shutters and began to sing.
"'Don't cry for me, Argentina!--'" A speeding bullet nicked the side
of the window and Lucius ducked.
"My goodness," he said, closing the window
and dusting off his hands. "People here sure aren't friendly."
Tom emerged from a room he claimed for his own.
"That is unfortunate for you," he said, "for you are to get
acquainted with this town."
"And what do you mean
by that?" Severus inquired. He began dusting off his back, for he had
accidentally leaned against one of the dirty walls.
"I mean that you two
shall go out into town and spread word of our organization to the other members
of the wizarding community."
Lucius crossed his arms.
"That doesn't sound like a very official job to me."
"A club requires
affiliates, does it not?" Tom tapped his fingers together. "You two
will be the Official Propagandists and lure people into a celebration we are
having tonight."
While Lucius became giddy
at the thought of the party, Severus pondered.
"Oh, and one more
thing," Tom exclaimed, a little glint of cunning in his eyes. "Give
me your wands."
"Our wands?!"
Severus bellowed. "Why?!"
"Why, Severus, my boy,
to prove your undying faith in this cause. I wouldn't want you two to
just disappear when the times get rough. You do trust me, do you not,
boys?"
They handed over their
wands. Lucius cowered and Severus glared at Tom.
"How are we to go
about doing this?" he asked Tom, who whisked around, still wearing his
month-old dress robes. "We are not equipped by any means to handle
ourselves out in the muggle world--"
"We could be
killed--"
"Or worse--"
"That, gentlemen, is
for you to figure out." With that, Tom left to his room and shut
the door.
"Oh my," Lucius said. "What are we
going to do?"
"Hell, Lucius, I don't have any idea."
"I bet I know who would." Lucius smiled
uncertainly. "James' father worked for the Ministry before he died, I'll
bet you anything he knows all about the--"
"We are NOT bringing Potter into this operation,
I don't care how desperate we are."
"Fine then, we better get started."
In about two hours or so, the boys were standing
outside a wizard pub. They were dressed in red-orange suits and Uncle Sam hats,
shouting at the people who entered the pub.
"Come one, come all!" Lucius shouted, his
arms raised. "To the greatest party on Earth! There will be food, alcohol,
and girls, girls, girls!"
Lucius went on and on as Severus grumbled and waved a
little flag with an angry face on it. Suddenly, he stopped mid-sentence.
"Narcissa!" he screamed. "Narcissa!
Narcissa, over here!" He jumped up and down and waved his arms all around,
knocking the hat off Severus' head and attracting the attention of too many
muggles.
Narcissa covered her face and tried to turn away, but
the swirling crowd of people forced her in the direction of the pub.
"Lucius," she greeted, as monotone as
possible. Her girlfriends giggled.
"Narcissa! Oh, it's been ages!" He jumped up
and squeezed her. "You just have to come to our party tonight!
It'll be so much fun!"
"I'll try, Lucius," she choked.
"Oh, excellent!" He squeezed her one more
time, harder than before. "See you there, dear!" She quickly squirmed
out of his arms and dragged her friends along, ducking into the nearest
department store.
"Can we take a break?" Severus questioned,
rather disturbed by the previous incident. "Let's go inside and get a
drink." Lucius beamed and nodded.
The bar was dark and crowded. A little weary-looking
man was filling up some mugs and passing them around the bar. Severus and
Lucius wormed their way to two empty seats.
"Samuel Adams," Severus said, eating some
nuts and raising his hand. The publican nodded and looked at Lucius.
"Well, I," Lucius squinted around the room,
looking for a menu and finding none. "I guess I'll just have a Shirley
Temple." He smiled and the stout man looked at him oddly. Lucius then
began laughing, butting into the conversation two wizards with long beards were
having. As he started telling them about a "super party" they were
having, Severus pulled him away.
"God, Lucius, you embarrass the hell out of
me."
His eyes teared up. "You don't have to be so mean
to me, Severus."
Severus sent an angry look at Lucius and seemed like
he was about to say something, when suddenly he felt a rather large thump on
his back. He cursed and turned around.
His eyes narrowed maliciously as he was face to face
with two of the most revolting people he had ever had the displeasure of
meeting.
"Lupin. Black. What a pleasure."
"Certainly, 'theverus, the pleasure is all
ours," Sirius sneered, rolling out his arm like a pompous butler while
Remus laughed stupidly.
Lucius turned around and gaped. "Hey guys! We're
having a neato party and maybe you guys would like to come! It'll be so much
fun, you do--"
Severus slammed his fist on the table. "Like hell
we're having a party, Lucius. Excuse him, gentlemen, Malfoy here is a
compulsive liar."
Remus looked at Severus. "And it looks like
you're a compulsive bad dresser person, dude. What are you wearing?"
"Dude, that was so funny!"
*thump*
They bumped chests and chuckled their infamous
chuckles whilst Severus repeatedly bashed his head against the table. Lucius
looked around happily, getting a little wired from the Shirley Temple. Sirius
came back to his senses.
"What were you sayin' about a par-tay, 'wucius?
Hey, where's that goon, Riddle?"
"Oh, Tom's fine, he's up in our ne--"
Severus quickly clapped his hand over Lucius' gabbing
mouth.
"Tom is dead," he covered.
"Dead?" Remus said, a little unable to
believe this. "How?"
"Silly, Tom isn't--"
"We killed him," Severus said with a grin.
"Sure ya did," Sirius said, adjusting his
shades. "Hey, pubby, I'll have a Bud."
"With nothing but our snarling teeth and bare
hands!!" Severus stood up on his stool. "We crept into his room and
ransacked the place!!" He stepped onto the bar, kicking over a few drinks,
enwrapped in his performance. "We tore open his chest with our ungodly
fingers and slurped his flesh with our hungry mouths! AHAHAHA! Rapture, I tell
you! PURE ECSTASY!" Severus broke down in a fit of mad laughter and Remus
and Sirius backed up to the door.
When they had left, Severus stopped abruptly and
ignored the odd stares from the men around the room.
"Why, Severus, not a word of that was true! I
think it is you who are the compulsive liar."
Ignoring Lucius, he picked up his empty mug and peered
in. Sirius' drink arrived next to him and Severus downed it.
"I think I'll have another, Mr. Bartender."
Lucius shook his head and began poking at a cherry in
his cup with a straw.
