Summary: PostHBP, not slash. Sugar and spice and everything nice... Severus Snape and Mad Eye Moody meet unexpectedly. Will the murdering spy and the paranoid auror unite to get a job done to save the war? Harry tags along for the ride.
Disclaimer: All characters you recognize are owned by J.K.Rowling.
Beta'ed by: Aithril (Thank you!)
Why, oh why, can't Severus and Harry realize how alike they are? It's just so frustrating...

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Sugar and Spice
Chapter Two: The House of Mirrors

"Novo crudus."

Greasy black hair melted into shimmering green locks.

"Minor sublimitas."

Bones crunched together to reduce the size of the towering figure.

"Renovo tergum."

Warmth and color spread over the man's skin in waves.

"Priscus forma."

The hooked nose reshaped to that of a small, straight, baby-like feature.

With a final wave of his wand, black robes were now dark green, and the professor-turned-outcast was stalking out of the back alley and toward the entrance to Ghoul Lane.

He reached the part of town with broken down, significantly aged houses and quickly found the building he was looking for. Instead of going inside, he headed for the backyard. He stopped to face the back wall. With a glance around to make sure no one was watching, Snape slipped his ebony wand from the pocket of his robes.

Pointing his wand at the wall, he murmured, "Ostendo incognitus."

Before him appeared a giant mural of a scene one might find in a pub. People were laughing and spewing drinks out of their mouths while the bartender cleaned the counters. Snape sneered at the image and walked forward, straight through the picture, and appeared in the real-life pub. This time, however, there was no one there but a young witch curled up in a corner snoozing and a stray cat that let out a pitiful meow as he walked by.

At one point, this place had been the busiest spot in all of Ghoul Lane. Everyone had stopped by to either say hello or drown their sorrows in a few drinks. The bartender would take anyone in off the streets who needed a place to sleep, even if they couldn't pay right away.

In the summer after his fourth year, Serverus had come bursting into the pub, nearly ready to collapse. He and his uncle had argued, yelling back and forth about purebloods and muggles and what a traitor his mother was to the family. The screaming escalated to hexes and afterwards, he'd had only enough strength to Floo to the pub.

The bartender -- Carl -- if he remembered correctly, had helped him up to a room and let him stay until Severus was fully healed. Only then did he even bring up the topic of payment. That wizard was one of the only people to have seen Severus Snape at his worst, and yet he'd never recounted any of his secrets to anyone. Yes, that bartender had been a friendly man.

And then came Voldemort.

Darkness had swept up the whole of Ghoul Lane and turned it into the focal point of evil and wretchedness. Shops were looted, burned, and then replaced by new buildings run by purebloods. Severus had yet to find out what had happened to Carl the Bartender, and for a while didn't even care. Those had been the bad days, years ago, before he'd turned spy.

With one last glance around, Severus left the old pub and headed for the one place he knew he'd find some useful information.

He was already outside when the supposedly sleeping female in the corner opened her eyes and threw off her thin blanket. The cat came over and meowed again for food, but the witch ignored it and walked over to the window to see if Snape was indeed gone.

When she saw he wasn't lurking around outside, she turned back to the cat and said, "He's left, Amycus. Let's go."

In the next moment, the cat was now a wizard. "Really, Alecto, you look stunning in those rags," Amycus said with a snicker. He ceased, after a hard slap stung his face, to glare at her.

"Shut your mouth, or you'll be out hunting for your dinner, cat boy!" she shouted at him.

With that, Alecto crept out the door to the dusty pub, her brother trailing close behind.

-

"I would've had you, admit it!"

"Heh, not likely, Potter," Mad Eye Moody replied with a huff. "That fruitcake had a pretty good grip on you."

"It's not like I asked her to rip my shirt off," Harry grumbled as he massaged his sore wrist. "She just flew at me. I couldn't get a spell in edgewise."

"Macero dolor. You didn't have to, your scar asked for you. Cover it up before anyone else notices," was the growled response he received. Moody stopped for a moment to pull off his hat and duplicate it, his magical eye zooming around and alert all the while. He handed one to the Gryffindor and continued on.

Harry stared at in distaste, but gave in when he heard, "Is that who I think it is?" from someone passing by.

"So, Potter, would you mind telling me why you even followed me in the first place?" Moody grunted even though he knew the answer already - he could practically predict what the boy would say: "I have to save him or die trying." Well, perhaps that was a bit over-the-top, but the Gryffindor behind him did have a bad habit of putting others before himself. It would be admirable had they not been in a war for more than a decade and he their hero.

"Ron's my best friend. I can't just sit around waiting for him to get killed. He'd do the same for me." Harry picked up the speed he was walking to catch up with Moody. In a low tone, he added, "I have to help."

Alastor whipped out his wand and turned around to face Harry, his magical eye fixed upon something in the window of a nearby shop. Pointing his wand directly at the teen's throat, he stepped closer. "The next time I tell you to stay put," he growled menacingly, "you will stay. No arguments."

Keeping his eyes on the wand tip inches from him, Harry replied, "Yes, sir."

Moody narrowed his eyes. "This is no joke, Potter."

Harry raised his head, looked into one normal and one oddly positioned magical eye, and spoke without falter. "I'm not laughing, professor."

The grip on Moody's wand tightened as he ground out, "Mad-Eye, Alastor, or Moody. I am not a professor, therefore, do not address me as such." Too many memories. "I can see you're not laughing, Potter, but you are lying. That is not a wise thing to do when you cannot do so convincingly."

At the last sentence, Harry was strangely reminded of a certain Potions master. That thought did nothing to brighten his mood. With a scowl, Harry changed the subject in hopes of getting the wand away from his face. "Why did you jump out at me in the pub anyway, Moody? If you were so sure I'd follow, then why the orders to stay at Headquarters? You could have wasted valuable time in finding Ron!" he shouted, causing a few wizards to glance over at them.

"Constant vigilance, Potter! If I were the enemy, you'd be dead right now!" Moody's wand came closer as he continued in a fierce whisper, so as not to attract more attention. "Constant vigilance! You need to learn that for all our sakes. Never let your guard down, or you might find it to be the last thing you ever do."

Everything after that seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Moody stepped back and raised his wand to point between the Gryffindor's eyes. For a split second, Harry wondered if the ex-arour in front of him was actually some Death Eater in disguise, but that idea flew out the window when he saw the magical eye go wild in its socket. 'Move!' a voice in his head screamed at him, but he couldn't... Why couldn't he? 'Your wand! Use your wand!'

Harry was just about to reach inside his pocket when Moody bellowed, "REDUCTO!"

The Gryffindor leapt back and raised his hands to protect his face out of instinct. He remained that way as he heard the sound of the shattering glass and the screeching of the Banshee's Books owner. Lowering his arms, he looked around cautiously.

The front of Banshee's Books was blown out completely. Torn pages and glass shards were thrown about everywhere, including on the nearest bystanders. Harry could barely see Moody through the cloud of dust and dirt that surrounded him. When more debris had settled on the ground, he saw just what Moody had been after. The ex-arour was binding a wizard with ropes and hauling him over and out of the front of the book shop.

When they reached where Harry was standing, Moody barked, "Come on" Without waiting for a reply, he led the way down the Lane. Harry remained quiet until they reached a brick building that only had a door and a purple-glowing sign.

"The House of Mirrors," Harry read. "What are we doing here?"

Mad Eye poked his wand into the side of his captive a little harder, and the wizard whimpered. Keeping his gaze on the wizard, he replied in a low tone, "It's the closest place that's connected to the Floo Network." They stood there a moment before Moody snapped, "Well, open the door! I've got my hands a bit full." He shook the wizard in his arms as Harry reached for the doorknob. Before he could grasp it, the sign changed from glowing purple to red, and the door swung open.

Harry looked questioningly over at Moody, but the man just walked in with the bound wizard held firmly in his grip.

-

"What do you mean he's not here?" Severus snapped at the tiny wizard behind the counter. "He's owned this shop for twenty years!"

"I'm sorry, sir, but he does not reside here any longer," the wizard repeated calmly. "I can help you if you are looking for some-"

Severus cut him off with a glare. Even though he'd shortened his height to throw off his two fellow Death Eaters, he was still considerably taller than the new owner of the shop. He was just about to yell again when a chime tinked somewhere in a back room. The small wizard squeaked and waved his wand at the door. Severus didn't pay it any mind. Why should he?

"You will be very sorry if you do not tell me where Mr. Grime is this instant!" Severus pulled out his wand.

"Sir, please, if you need something, I have a large stock in the back."

"I don't need-"

"Where's your Floo?" a voice growled from behind him. Oh, he knew that voice...

Severus stopped mid-sentence, and his whole body tensed up. Of all the places on this Lane, and he had to come here...

"In the back," the shopkeeper told him. Moody pushed his captive into the back rooms while his companion remained studying the merchandise. The whole place was covered in mirrors of all shapes and sizes: small and round, tall and rectangular, everything you could think of.

Severus turned to watch him take a glance in the different mirrors. With the duplicate of Moody's hat on, it was hard to get a good look at the skinny wizard. He finally caught sight of the face that represented almost everything he hated in the Wizarding world.

Potter.

Snape narrowed his eyes and whipped back around, before he could be caught staring, and rethought his last reply. "Actually, I think I will have a look."

The keeper eyed him warily, but then complied with a reluctant nod of his head. "Follow me."

-

Harry was meandering around, looking into mirrors that changed the size of your head in the reflection, when he heard a commotion coming from somewhere else in The House of Mirrors. He strained to hear what was being said, but the voices were muffled by the door leading in between the rooms. Thinking that perhaps it was Moody and the wizard he'd caught, Harry walked in to try and help.

The sight that greeted him was not what he'd been expecting. The keeper and the green-haired wizard who had been arguing before were now wrestling on the ground, trying to reach their fallen wands. Harry hesitated, unsure who to help: the keeper or the customer? Then the keeper grabbed one of the wands and blasted the other man off him. The wizard with green hair flew right into a full length mirror.

But, instead of shattering, it absorbed him, taking in the green-haired wizard like a giant amoeba. Harry nearly did a double-take when he saw this.

"What-?" Harry began, but soon found himself on the receiving end of a blasting curse. He was thrown backwards into a wall, and his vision blacked out right after his head impacted the stone.

The shop keeper lowered the wand and took a moment to catch his breath. Then, with a glance at the Floo, walked over to the teen laying on the floor and dragged him over to the mirror that Snape had fallen into. With a great shove, he launched the young wizard forward. He too was apparently absorbed into the reflective surface.

Wiping his brow, the keeper turned and left for the front counter where he was sure that Moody would be looking for his companion. 'I should get more money for this,' he thought with a sigh. 'Well, do not let it ever be said that Dumpling Travers doesn't get the job done.'

Author note: Thanks to duj (for bringing upthat bit about Harry), this chapter actually was easier to write. excessivelyperky- I wonder what Snape will do to pass the time now... chess perhaps? Hehe, I loved "Midnight..." A great thanks goes out also to all the reviewers (lot, Shad, FarretBouncer, Lilith11, duj, and excessivelyperky).

Next chapter: You thought seeing Moody was bad for our Potions master? Heh, you ain't seen nothin' yet.