Chapter Three

Positively Foul

The denizens of Knockturn Alley darted quickly out of the wake of Thurspire, Weasley, and Snape as they bore down on the pawnshop, their faces so grim, pale and exhausted that not even a fool would have tried to get in their way. Mr. Borkin looked up from where he was rearranging a strangling fox wrap, quickly hurrying up to the front the moment he caught the look in their eyes.

"Minister Weasley," he greeted stiffly as stepped behind the counter. "Something I can do for you today?"

"The tray, Borkin," Arthur ordered.

"Tray, sir?"

"The velvet ring tray in which you keep the cursed ring you illegally attempted to sell to a minor," Arthur said evenly.

"Ah, I see. No, Minister Weasley, I merely showed a minor a ring. Selling would imply a change of coin, which never took place," Mr. Borkin said smoothly.

"We don't care about that ring. Show us the tray." Arthur said again. Borkin sighed and slowly brought it out, while Ederick and Arthur shifted their gazes Severus, whose face seemed to turn to stone and his black eyes darken as they captured the sight of the Dragonheart ring, dull and ownerless. "Severus?" Arthur asked quietly.

"Who sold you my wife's ring?" Severus said in a voice so low it was almost a whisper.

"Your wife's ring?" Borkins repeated, his leathery skin paling a bit from surprise. "It wasn't marked, so I had no idea…"

"A name, Borkin," Severus said, his voice so cold and dangerous that Arthur and Ederick exchanged a concerned look.

"I'll go get the book," Borkin said somberly, stepping away from the counter.

"Severus, you know, now that you've identified the ring, perhaps you'd like to step out, get some air, some rest, a drink perhaps…" Ederick began, his words dying on his lips as Severus gave him a murderous look.

"Severus, all we ask is that the moment you hear the name that you don't do anything drastic," Arthur said in a gentler tone.

"I wouldn't have to go anywhere to do anything drastic," Severus said in a tone that sent chills down Arthur's back. But he certainly wasn't about to send him out of the shop. How would he have felt if it had been Molly?

"I think I found it," Borkin said after a moment. "Just as I remembered, too," he added, putting the book on the table and showing the entry.

"Irma Luckless?" Thurspire read out loud. "She's nothing but Knockturn Alley's local panhandler, Arthur. A squib at that. She must have found it scavenging." Arthur read off the payment amount and took it out of his pocket, putting it on the counter.

"We'll be taking the ring and the book," Arthur said, glancing at Severus, who was gazing at the entry with a grave look. "Ederick, go see if you can't track her down and see where she got it. Come on, Severus. I think it's time that you went home and got some rest."

"No," Severus said flatly.

"Severus, you haven't slept in over twenty-four hours, and neither have I. If I have to, I'll make sure you get rest in the Tower. But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather just take you home," Arthur said, leading him out by the arm.

"You wouldn't do that to me," Severus snapped.

"That and more for a friend, Severus," Arthur assured him seriously. "So will it be your key or mine?"

It hadn't taken long for Ederick to track down Irma, for he knew her fairly well. The homeless woman had caused a complaint or two any time she got brave enough to try her luck digging in the trash at Diagon, and as a Deputy, Ederick often got called on to deal such trivial matters when Brown was busy looking into 'real' cases. But as troublesome as the homeless woman could be at times, there was no doubt in Ederick's mind that she had nothing to do with whatever truly happened to Jennifer. She couldn't have even if she had wanted to; for not a breath of magic had been endowed to her, and she had grown thin and tired over her many years of rummaging in trash cans for survival.

Not that there hadn't been an occasional attempt to 'save' her by some local patron or another. But no matter the amount of effort they spent attempting to get her cleaned up, a home, and once… even a job… In a matter of days, Irma would wander off again, and in no time was back to her old habits. Something either just wasn't right in her head, or perhaps she merely wanted to be left alone, Ederick mused. But in any case, the woman was very startled to see him when he came over to her corner of stacked boxes, looking skittish and defensive.

"What you doin' 'ere, Ed? I ain't dun nuthin'," the old woman said immediately. "Haven' been seen in Diagon since Christmas, I 'aven't!"

"I'm not here about that, Irma," Ederick said, holding out the ring in a gloved hand. "I just want to know where you found this. Did you see who dropped it?"

"I didn' steal it!"

"I didn't say you did," Ederick said impatiently. "Where did you get it?"

"In a dumpster, where else would a respectable tramp get anything?" Irma said irritably. "It was behind the pawnshop near where it cuts over to the candle shop."

"You found that tiny ring in a dumpster?" Ederick frowned.

"Well, it wasn't just the ring," Irma admitted almost embarrassed. "But I knew the pawnshop would buy it. I didn't know if he'd buy the wand the ring had been snug about."

"Wand, what wand?" Ederick snapped, feeling a lump in his throat. Reluctantly the old woman bent down to get in one of her boxes, and what seemed to Ederick like years later came back out with a bunch of old fish paper that she carefully unrolled to show him a black rosewood wand. "Oh, dear God," Ederick murmured, choking back his emotion as he glanced at the puzzled old woman. "It was an acquaintances," he explained. Gingerly she offered it to him then, her eyes somber and her gaze was even older than her years.

"The Alley can be a very cruel mistress to the unsuspecting," the woman said softly. "I am sorry about the ring."

"Next time you find something like this, find me," Ederick said, putting a few coins in the woman's weathered hands. "Borkin cheated you, you know," he explained before walking out of the Ally. The old woman watched him go silently, testing the coins thoughtfully with her teeth before heading back into her box once more.

"Jennifer, did you see that? Jennifer?"

"Severus, get down, I can't see."

"There he is, right there, arrest him at once!"

"Drop it, Snape. You're under arrest under the suspicion of committing intolerable acts as a Death Eater."

"Mr. Thurspire! What are you doing! Let go of him at once!"

"You're an idiot, Ederick, and I don't have time for this. Professor Craw has disappeared."

"Go, Severus, I'll take care of this. I only hope we aren't too late. Make haste, Severus. Time must be on our side."

Severus awoke and sat up in a cold sweat, a bit disoriented until he recognized his room in the second basement of the Broom Closet. Immediately he pushed himself off the cot and got dressed, combing his hair back with his hand.

It was quite early and the sun had barely risen, but Severus heard voices in the kitchen as he went upstairs. Mercy, it seemed, was busy helping Anna get used to where everything was, although she was rather puzzled by Anna's insistence of making her own toast and coffee. Anna looked up when the basement door opened, regarding her brother silently for a moment as he paused at the top. Finally he made a move to the kitchen window to grab the post.

"So how are you doing?" Anna asked.

"Any word from the Ministry yet?" he asked in return.

"No, I already checked," Anna said, watching him carefully. "Want something to eat?"

"Hardly," Severus said, glancing at a note.

"I don't think anyone's going to think less of you if you take some time to breathe," Anna said gently.

"Time is something we don't have," Severus snapped. "Here's a note from Essie, letting us know that she can take the children at any time if needed. If the Ministry comes looking for me, I am going to go to the school and relieve Hermione."

"You're going to work?"

"I'd like to think I'm getting something accomplished!" Severus snapped. "Besides, I have to feed Rasputin."

The sound of echoing footsteps preceded the opening of the front room bookcase as the four Snapes came out, already dressed with their brooms in hand, leaning them by the corner near the fireplace before coming to the kitchen.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Severus said dangerously, his eyes flashing in a way that Andrew and Alicia hadn't seen before.

"Father, it's June third. We're going to meet Aurelius' friends at Aviation Park," Alex said.

"You'll be doing no such thing. Until further notice I don't want any of you going anywhere without some direct supervision, and I'd prefer that someone stay here in case I need contacted." Severus said.

"But we've been planning this for almost a week, since Alex's…"

"Plans change, Aurelius!" Severus snapped angrily. "Or do you think I wanted this to happen any more than you did?" All four of children grew very quiet. "I am returning to work. I had better not be hearing one single complaint of discipline about any of you," he said, his eyes glancing over at Aurelius. "Is that clear?"

Just then there was a knock on the door, and Severus' attention immediately shifted away from his children as he scrambled for the door. It was Thurspire with two other men, all of them looking incredibly solemn. Quickly Severus stepped out and closed the door behind himself, feeling a chill before he even asked the question.

"Well?" he asked.

"We were able to locate her wand," Thurspire said quietly.

"Jennifer?"

"No, just her wand," Thurspire said. Severus knew what they were thinking. He felt his temperature rise at the look in the deputy's eyes.

"She's not dead," Severus said firmly. "If she were dead, her watch hand would have stopped on Mortal Peril, not Elsewhere."

"Are you quite sure that hand is still active? Have you had it checked since she disappeared?" Thurspire asked.

"We'll check now," Severus said acidly, Disapparating.

Gribitz' Emporium was a small watch shop nestled on the far end of Diagon Alley, run by the goblin watchmaker Gribitz himself. His shop had not yet opened for the day, but Gribitz was there, answering the repetitive banging on his shop door and finding himself quickly surrounded by intent Ministry officers as the professor handed over the watch for him to study. He gazed at it through a monocle for some time, nudging each hand with a fine, needle-like instrument, opening the back and checking all the mechanisms before closing it again, satisfied.

"One of my best pieces, if I do say so myself. It could use a detail cleaning," the goblin suggested, "but in perfect working order, Professor Snape."

"What about the malfunctioning compass?" Thurspire asked.

"It is not malfunctioning, Deputy Thurspire," Gribitz said. Turning it to Alexandria's hand, the compass immediately responded with a direction. "If something is interfering with the compass, it is on Jennifer's end."

"Could it be affecting her personal hand as well?" Thurspire asked.

"Yes, it could," Gribitz agreed.

"So it's possible that she might have been killed?" Thurspire asked solemnly.

"Oh, no, she is definitely alive," Gribitz said. "Didn't I say this watch was not malfunctioning? If she were dead, it wouldn't be working at all. This watch was custom made at her request to keep track of her movements. It's bound to her, just as the watch you had made is bound to you, Severus. As long as it's taken care of, which it seems to have been, it'll last as long as she does, short of a loose spring now and again. But if she does die, it'll never tick again."

Severus exhaled audibly, while Thurspire nodded and thanked the watchmaker. Gribitz carefully closed it, polishing its cover before returning it to Severus who gripped it tightly in his gloved hand for a moment before reluctantly putting it away.

"Well, I think we've definitely made some progress," Thurspire said as they stepped out, sounding a bit less troubled than he was going in. "Where there is life, there is hope. And the wand's appearance supports the theory that there was foul play involved." Severus stopped short in the middle of the alley, staring at him.

"Just what do you mean by that?" Severus snapped. "Of course it was foul play! What else would it have been?"

"Well, no offense meant, Severus, but when the ring ended up in a pawnshop like that, it looked as if she might have just left you on her own."

Not one of the other officers moved a muscle when Severus turned and planted a fist in Thurspire's nose, sending him flat on his back in the ally.

"None taken," Severus said acidly, turning and walking towards the Leaky Cauldron.

"Don't just stand there. He just struck a law enforcement official!" Thurspire barked, holding his nose and attempting to sit up, but dizzily lying back down.

"I didn't see anything," the first wizard shrugged.

"I was looking the other way," agreed the second officer.

"Ed, you need to be careful coming out of the shop like that, you may trip and fall or something," the third one advised.

"For the record, you're all on report," Thurspire said, sounding very strange through his injured nose. "As soon as I'm able to stand."

Andrew offered to play chess with Aurelius, but Aurelius was most definitely not in the mood. In fact, it was obvious that his brother was feeling a bit sorry for himself and perhaps he had some right to be. It was, after all, his birthday, and not only was his mother not there, but his father had left as well. It almost seemed, in Aurelius' mind, as if his father was running away from them… as if looking at them was a reminder of what was missing. Upstairs, Aunt Anna was busy with something to do with her profiling work and hadn't spoken to them much, and even Alicia was bored of sketching and painting.

"Do you suppose Aunt Anna would let us go swimming?" Alicia wondered.

"I doubt she wants to go out there and 'babysit' us," Aurelius said.

"Let's just go sit in the tree, and maybe act something out," Andrew suggested, Alex's face brightened and she nodded.

"I'm not in the mood. To be myself, or anybody else," Aurelius muttered.

"We can't just sit here all day and mope," Andrew said, pointing out the large window on the other side of the family room. "Look out there, it's gorgeous. And I'm sure going outside will make us feel better. Come on, Rel. We can stop by the kitchen for a snack on the way."

"Don't you think of anything besides snacks?" Aurelius complained.

"Birthday cake wouldn't hurt," Andrew said cheerfully, going upstairs. The others followed behind, opening the door to see their Aunt with papers spread out on the table. She gathered the papers quickly, as if not wanting them to see what she was working on. "Anything to eat?" Andrew asked.

"Again?" Anna replied with exasperation, glancing at her wristwatch.

"Can we go outside?" Alicia asked.

"As long as you leave all quills, chalk, paints, paper, and broomsticks here, yes," Anna said. "Sorry, your father's orders."

"We might as well all be grounded," Aurelius complained.

"Well, after what you pulled going to Knockturn Alley, you're lucky that you're not," Anna pointed out.

"Is it too early to order pizza?" Andrew asked wistfully. "We can head over to Essie's now to wait for it."

"I want to handle the Muggle money!" Alex volunteered excitedly. "I know how it works now, you know." Aurelius rolled his eyes.

"Reading an exchange pamphlet hardly qualifies you for knowing how to handle Muggle money," Aurelius sneered.

"All right, all right, hang on," Anna sighed, pulling out her pocket phone as the four Snapes watched her intently. Her explanation of how wireless phones worked had gone straight over their heads, but it was fascinating to watch just the same. "I need to check my messages first."

"How exactly does she get the Owls to tap on that key thing again?" Alicia whispered to Andrew.

"Cellulite," Andrew whispered back.

"Satellites, dimwit," Aurelius said more loudly, getting hushed by Anna. All four of them began to watch her then, because her face had taken on a sudden look of alarm, putting one hand over her other ear as she walked around with it.

"Why in the world would a cottage with no electricity cause so much interference?" She said with frustration, pushing more buttons. The four Snape children shrugged at her, not having the faintest clue what she was talking about. "Look, I need to make a call about work real quick. Why don't you go ahead over? I won't be long." The four glanced at each other again and went outside, Andrew grabbing a Quaffle on the way out, tossing it as they walked.

"How come every time she says that it ends up taking forever?" Alicia sighed.

"Because adults are liars," Aurelius said bluntly. "Why do I get the feeling we're going to be abandoned again?"

"No one's abandoning us, Aurelius," Andrew sighed.

"Mum did, didn't she?"

"Rel, that's a terrible thing to say!" Alex scolded. "Aunt Anna is busy with all that criminal stuff she does. She didn't have to come and be with us, but she did."

"And brought her work with her," Aurelius pointed out. "So we're expected to go off and be good little children and not to make any waves that might further upset the adults. This entire thing is positively stupid. And for what? They'll never find her. It'd be so much easier if they'd just admit that she's dead so we can get on with our lives."

"Mum's not dead!" Alicia shouted, ready to take a swing at him. Andrew jumped in quickly, grabbing her arm gently.

"Of course she's not, Alicia, he's just upset, that's all," Andrew reassured her.

"Then how come you couldn't get to her in a painting? Answer that, then?" Aurelius challenged.

"I… I don't…" Alicia suddenly burst into tears, jumping over the boundary wall and ran through the field, a herd of disturbed Slumber Sheep baaing at her noisily as she passed.

"You just have to push things to the limit, don't you?" Alex said angrily to Aurelius, before hurrying ahead after her.

"I don't suppose you want to talk about it?" Andrew asked Aurelius as they climbed over the wall themselves.

"Please, don't start the patronizing thing again, I'm not in the mood," Aurelius scowled at him.

"I was just wondering what was really bothering you, is all. You wouldn't be saying all of this stuff you didn't really mean without a reason."

"I mean every word I say, now shut up and stop pretending to be an adult," Aurelius snapped.

Andrew sighed, deciding perhaps it would be best to let it go for now, and turned his mind to thoughts of the carload… no, no, perhaps even the truckload of pizza coming. But as they got to the porch, Andrew spied Doug Brim watching them with his arms folded, and he looked far from happy.

"Is there a problem?" Aurelius challenged. Andrew sighed again.

"Well, now, that depends on you," Doug said. "If you want to come in this house tonight, I suggest you find a way to control that foul mouth of yours, because it's not going to be tolerated in there. If you'd rather, you can stay out here all night, birthday or not."

"I don't take threats from sheep farmers," Aurelius retorted. Behind him, Andrew shook his head.

"Fine. Then you can have your pizza in the barn. Sorry I haven't had time to clean it. Hope you don't mind the smell," Doug said. "Coming, Andrew?"

"You go on, I'll be along in a bit," Andrew said.

"Suit yourself, but I'm not sure he's worth it," Doug said, eyeing Aurelius once more before heading inside.

"Porthos the Sheep Farmer. Pathetic," Aurelius said the moment he went in, sitting on the edge of the porch.

"You can't blame him for being cross, can you? Your mouth has been going past even your normal limits ever since Mum disappeared," Andrew said. "Even if you don't care about what Doug thinks, you could at least care about what you're doing to Alicia."

"Alicia needs to learn to face the facts," Aurelius said. "She's not coming back."

"And to think you were Sorted into Slytherin," Andrew said. "I never imagined it'd turn you in such a quitter."

They were both in the dirt by the time Anna arrived, plucking them apart and shouting at them. Doug stood in the door and had obviously been watching them brawling for some time.

"Enjoying the view?" Anna asked him irritably.

"I thought maybe letting them fight it out might wear down some of that penned up aggression one of them seems to be having," Doug said, not bothering to mention Aurelius by name.

"Nice thought, but it won't work," Anna said, motioning Andrew to sit on one side of the porch and Aurelius on the other.

"Why's that?"

"He's a Snape," Anna said dryly.

"Good point," Doug agreed. Essie appeared in the doorway beside him.

"You're not supposed to be here right now," Essie said matter-of-factly. Her knack for divination had earned her more than just honors in school. Despite her choice to stay and take over the family farm she still practiced the art of Prophecy now and then as a hobby.

"No, you're right, I'm not. Something's come up back home that I really need to attend to," Anna said in a low voice. "A major suspect in a case I've been profiling for the last year and a half was just arrested, and they want me at the interrogation. Believe me, the last thing I want to do right now is leave with my brother in the state he's in, not to mention these kids."

"No, we understand," Essie said. "What happened with Jennifer interrupted all of us, really. You just try to get things squared away at home."

"I wish that were as easy as it sounded," Anna sighed, glancing at the two boys on the porch. "I'll be back as soon as I can, seven or eight hours…"

"Just stay safe," Essie said.

"Pizza's on the way, boys, if they think you deserve it," Anna told them as she stepped off the porch, Disapparating.

"Let me know when you're ready to get back to that promise. It might get cold sleeping out here tonight," Doug said. Essie seemed slightly amused by that, whispering something to Doug as they stepped back in and shut the door.

"I knew it, I just knew it. Every adult in this family has now officially abandoned us... unless you count grandfather," Aurelius scowled, folding his arms. "Who doesn't have much choice in the matter."

"Poor grandfather," Andrew agreed. "I wonder how he is taking this?"