"News, Remus?" McGonagall paled slightly. "Not about...oh, I do hope..."
"Let me guess," said Snape. "Bad news?"
The cold was already eating through Snape's suddenly thin-seeming black robes, and he could feel a foul mood beginning to take hold. Seeing Lupin's face, even if he looked as care-worn as he did at the moment, could always take a perfectly fine day and send it south. This was by no means a perfectly fine day, so at the moment Snape found he did not care one iota if something bad had happened to Lupin. Even if he were in the best mood of his life, he doubted he could find much sympathy for Remus Lupin. As usual, he was certain that any news was bad news, but if it only threatened Lupin, so much the better, though he very much doubted that this was the case.
Dumbledore held up one hand. "Patience everybody. I can only speak for myself, but I don't think standing out in the cold will us any good. I'm we all will feel better if we go inside, sit down, and have a bite to eat. Perhaps you should put some water on, Remus."
"You're right Albus. Please, why don't you all come in?"
They filed into the hallway, blinking as their eyes slowly adjusted to the light. Lupin sighed and rubbed at his forehead, and Snape couldn't help but glower as he noticed the worried expression that instantly came to Hermione's face. Naturally he would be her favorite professor. He's probably playing up a little headache and she's all sympathy. I on the other hand could be lying on the floor bleeding and she wouldn't so much as glance in my direction. All right, that wasn't fair, but since when was he fair?
Lupin was now apologizing as he hurried to set the table. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking... Here, have a seat, have a seat. Oh, I made tea already, and I—"
Tonks emerged from the kitchen, slightly flushed and not quite as cheerful as usual. "Oh, hello! Look, I even opened up a tin of biscuits ahead of time. I think I'm becoming quite the cook, eh?" She gave a little laugh that instantly grated on Snape's nerves.
"Good, good. Shall we then?" Dumbledore was his usual self: composed, cheerful, and unflappable. Mad-Eye Moody on the other hand sat at the table, appearing, if anything, more serious than ever.
Snape decided that it wasn't only him; Tonks' laugh seemed forced and lacking any real joy. Definitely bad news then, he thought.
In fact, a desolate pallor seemed to hang over the whole house, more so than just the ever-present combination of gloom and grime. Snape considered himself a connoisseur of bleak moods, and the one he was heading towards certainly wasn't going to be improved by a cup of lukewarm weak tea and a stale biscuit. Maybe a cup of something truly hot and alcoholic would do the trick, but not anything in this grubby place. Unbidden, a scene came into his mind. He was sitting in an armchair in front of a fireplace, a warm fire crackling away, and Hermione Granger curled up on the floor at his feet, reading. Or sitting next to him, or perhaps even sitting in his lap... No, no, no. That was one place his mind was not going right now. He snuck a quick guilty peak at Hermione, who was busy slapping Ron's hand away from her plate and most definitely not looking in his direction.
"Would you like sugar? Milk? Lemon?" said Tonks, hovering at his elbow hopefully.
"No thank you," Snape replied, frowning at the tray in her hand.
"Oh all right," she said, rather disappointed.
"Don't mind Severus," said Lupin. "He never eats here. Evidently he finds it too offensive to his sophisticated tastes."
"I see," said Tonks, sounding as if she did not see at all. "Well, your loss I suppose." As she turned to leave, she stumbled and lurched in Snape's direction. "Oh oops...sorry. Sorry! It was an accident, how clumsy of me. Oh, you know how I am..."
Tonks face flushed red as the contents of the cream pitcher slowly ran down the front of Snape's robe and spread across his lap in a large damp spot. She continued to stammer apologies as he pulled out his wand and muttered a drying spell with a great sigh. After Tonks had finally quieted down and taken a seat next to Lupin, Snape saw that Hermione was looking at him curiously. He felt his face beginning to turn red and he scowled in her direction. She looked away immediately and did not glance back for the remainder of the meal.
After the cups of tea were drained Lupin began to speak. "I'm sorry everyone can't be here right now. We decided that it's too dangerous for us to all meet in the same place at the same time. We're sticking to small groups. In fact, I wouldn't have called you here now if I didn't feel it was necessary. I didn't feel safe sending owls, so I suppose this will have to do." Tonks fidgeted in her chair and Lupin gave a slight nod in her direction. "Thanks to her...family connections," (Tonks grimaced) "a possibly problematic matter has been brought to our attention. I'll let her tell you the full story."
Tonks blushed a little now that she had everyone's attention. "Well, it just so happens that my mother got a letter from her dear sister. You know, one of the ones she hasn't spoken to in years, Narcissa Malfoy. Apparently my lovely aunt wrote a letter about how 'Blood is thicker than water' and 'past mistakes should be forgiven'—she didn't say whose mistakes, but I'm pretty sure she isn't talking about herself—and 'family of all people should bury the hatchet and move on'. And at the end she just happened to ask for a loan. Just until she gets back on her feet, but what with Lucius 'unfairly' in prison and the trials and court fees and the cost of a decent solicitor these days..."
"You mean she hasn't been able to find enough stuff to sell off?" asked Ron. "Dad always said that the Malfoys must have loads of illegal things hidden in their house..."
"Hold on a sec. Who's telling the story?" Tonks said. "Anyway, a few days later, Narcissa owled my mum again and said she didn't need the loan anymore. According to her, she and her solicitor had been going through some documents and found a copy of the last will and testament of Mr. and Mrs. Black. Funnily enough, it turned out there was something they had missed before. Upon the death of the Blacks, their house would pass to the next deserving relative, who in this case happens to be Narcissa. Lucky for us, she seemed to enjoy rubbing the whole thing in Mum's face so much it didn't cross her mind not to spread the news. And well, that's the story."
The room went silent for a moment. Dumbledore looked as calm as ever, Ron looked confused, Harry was frowning, and Hermione appeared to be thinking.
"But 12 Grimmauld Place is unplottable, and then there's the Fidelius Charm," said Hermione. "It's simply not possible for them to find it...is it?"
"I just don't know," Lupin said. "It doesn't seem that way, but I don't know if we can rest easy quite yet."
"Well of course we're not going to rest easy, lad!" Mad-Eye Moody spluttered. "We'd be a bunch of half-wits if we weren't worried right now."
"All right, Alastor," said McGonagall. "I think that's enough for now. Perhaps we should retire to our rooms." She shot a meaningful look in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's direction.
"Agreed. That's enough for one day," said Lupin. In fact, he looked as if it might have been too much. Snape did some quick calculations in his head, and realized the full moon was tonight. Well, isn't this wonderful timing we have.
"If that's final, I had best be off. I have some business to attend to," he said.
"Not your exams, I should hope," McGonagall said. "I finished those ages ago. Not a hard task, believe me. Why in my day, we didn't even have Correcting Quills. You young teachers are so spoiled today, you wouldn't believe it."
"Right. As I said, I'm off now." Snape stood up, ready to leave the room as quickly as possible without apparating upstairs, when a voice from behind him stopped him abruptly.
"Professor, you wouldn't have happened to correct my exam yet, would you?" He turned around to face a large pair of rather imploring brown eyes. Hermione Granger was talking to him. Not that she would ever speak to me if it weren't about something like grades.
"I, er..." He paused, feeling like an utter fool. To let a pair of big brown eyes get the best of you? You're losing your touch Severus. What would happen if you kept going like this? You'd be a spineless puddle of jelly in no time at all. Snape drew himself up as tall and straight as possible. "I do not show preferential treatment towards any of my students, Miss Granger. Just because you happen to feel that you've gotten cozy with the Order of the Phoenix is not going to make you teacher's pet. If you're going to grade-grub, I suggest you try elsewhere."
He pivoted on his heel and left, but not quickly enough to miss the whispering that followed, and the not quite whispered comment from Hermione. "I hope you remember that the next time Draco licks your boots...or are you too busy groveling to Lucius Malfoy?"
It took self-control, but he did not look back.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'd like to say thanks to all my reviewers. I'm glad you liked the previous chapter, and you really do inspire me to write more quickly. Please continue to read and review!