Chapter Two: What's Dumbledee Up To, Anyway?
By Fyres Destiny
Severus Snape was not in a good mood. Scowling, he made his way down to the dungeons, the mysterious wedding invitation still clutched in his right hand. Albus had all but said that he was required to go to this sham of a wedding- and he didn't even know who's it was.
Snape was no fool. He knew that the meddling old headmaster had something up his sleeve - and, if he didn't know better, it probably had something to do with Harry bloody Potter. Everything had to do with Potter, and thus, he was also to blame.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he ground out the password, stalking into his private chambers. Upon doing so, he made his way to the elegant stone fireplace that adorned one wall.
Grabbing the metal tin that sat on top of its ledge, he took some emerald colored powder from within, throwing it quite roughly into the fire, calling out 'Vincent Snuckmoor' as he did so. Stepping back from the now green fire, Severus folded his arms, tapping his foot rather impatiently as he waited for the person he had summoned to appear.
"Severus. What the bloody hell do you want?" a rather unkempt man, who could only be Vincent Snuckmoor, called, his head embedded in the flames. Despite his rather rude greeting, the black-haired wizard was smiling.
Now, Severus wasn't a spy for nothing. When he himself could not find out what the Dark Lord was planning, his contacts were simply a firecall away. Vincent Snuckmoor had previously been one of these contacts, and was still a very proficient Auror. Well, you could say former Auror; halfway through Voldemort's reign, he had quit the force, becoming a well-informed vigilante. But that's an entirely different story.
Snape smirked. "I want a lot of things, Snuckmoor, and you dead is just one of them."
Vincent allowed himself a short laugh before once more giving Snape the full effect of his piercing gray eyed stare. "I'm pretty sure that's not the reason you've called me here."
"You're right, it isn't. Why I called you here is because of this." Saying so, Severus opened up the envelope, putting it close enough to Snuckmoor's face so that he could read it.
As he studied the invitation, Vincent's eyebrows furrowed, his expression morphing into a frown. "Sounds strange."
Snape rolled his eyes. "That, dear Vincent, is quite obvious. Now, I feel that Dumbledore is involved in this. Probably some new idea about how I deserve to be happy," Snape continued, waving his hand vaguely in the air to emphasize his point.
Snuckmoor raised an eyebrow. "You want me to find out who's getting married? Well, sorry to tell you, Snape, but if this is ol' Albus' doing, then there's no way in hell that I'm going to be able to figure out what the bloody hell is going on."
"Yes, yes, I realize that. I just want the list of people who have been invited - for some reason, I feel that Dumbledore's not telling me the entire truth. Perhaps I can come to a conclusion from who's attending."
Vincent fixed him with a skeptical look. "Sure, Snape, but somehow, I doubt that you'll be able to find anything out. It is Albus Dumbledore, after all." He smiled mischievously. "That isn't to say that I don't love a challenge. I'll get back to you, Severus." With that, his face disappeared from the fireplace, and the green flames morphed back into a regular fire.
Feeling slightly placated, Severus took a seat in his leather chair,
summoning a bottle of scotch from his personal cabinets as he did so.
On the other side of Britain, Harry Potter was doing much the same thing, however, he wasn't exactly alone.
In fact, half the Weasley clan had shown up on his doorstep, which had resulted in a rather impromptu party.
"Oi, Harry!" Fred Weasley said, before collapsing into a fit of drunken giggles.
Harry looked blearily at the mischievous twin, blinking several times to focus. "Eh?"
"You going to that wedding, right?" Fred slurred.
Harry squinted his eyes, wondering why there were now four of them, when previously there had only been twins. "At Hog… Hoggy… Hogwoo…" he paused, frowning. "You know, that school?" he finished, smiling triumphantly.
"Yeah…" Fred took another sip of his Magick Mead before stuffing his hand into the pocket of his robes, pulling out a quite crumpled invitation.
Harry waved it away, nodding. "Dumbledee's making me go."
Ron looked up from his place on the floor, gazing at Harry sagely. "Dumbledee's like that."
Suddenly, Harry frowned. "Y'know… I still don't know who that wedding's for."
George's eyes narrowed. "Seems a bit suspicious, if you ask me. After all, couldn't… You-Know… Him have set this up?"
Ginny rolled her eyes; out of the five, she was the least intoxicated. "Honestly, George, do you think Dumbledore would allow it to continue if he really had no idea?" She leaned closer, as if about to reveal a secret. "I think that Dumbledore is behind this."
Harry blinked. "Well… obviously. Dumbledore has something to do with everything."
The five friends continued their fun late into the night, joking about anything and everything. What they didn't notice, however, was the narrow, blood red eyes that were watching them, following their every move, and the snake that slithered in the shadows, its mouth wide open, fangs bared and ready to attack.
~tbc~