Evening was creeping over the old factory town. A dirty stream flowed from a disused mill on its way to better places. A few scrawny blackbirds hopped along the bank, scratching for insects when they were startled by the sudden appearance of a tall, thin figure in their midst. A stern-looking woman in a long black cloak had stepped as if from the very air, accompanied by nothing more than a soft popping sound. Barely glancing at the squawking birds as they flapped into the air, the woman strode purposefully toward the little town. Down alleyways thick with evening shadows and onto a brighter street, she peered somewhat curiously into a few lighted shop windows. A couple of workmen were hammering away in an open doorway, and they paused for a moment to stare at the passerby in her cloak that whispered along the ground. She ignored them, but did, as she approached the towering mill, pause again to read a large sign hung up from two of its boarded up windows that read "SOON TO BE LUXURY FLATS: ELEVATED PROPERTIES LTD." She smirked and set off again, turning down a dingy street, whose faded corner sign proclaimed it "Spinner's End."
At the end of the street, she stepped along a path toward a dark and sagging little house. "No Solicitors" read a sign on the door, and she rapped smartly on the sign as though scolding it.
After several long moments, the house still appeared quite empty, but she knocked again, harder this time and after a few moments, the door opened a crack, revealing one black eye, looking annoyed. And from behind the door, Severus Snape said "It's customary to send an owl if you're planning to drop in. So that I have the option to refuse your presence."
Minerva McGonagall gave a tsk in reply.
"We both know your proximity sensors and security charms gave you ample warning I was coming. If you did not want to see me, you wouldn't be here. Now, are you going to invite me in?"
There was a pause after which Snape replied somewhat petulantly, "No."
"Come off it, Severus. I have something important to say and I'd prefer not to do it on the stoop."
There was another pause and Minerva tried another tack.
"I brought you something. She withdrew from the folds of her cloak a small crystal vial full of purple liquid. "Horace brewed it up for you."
"In that case, kindly leave it on the stoop and give him my thanks."
"I see," said Minerva, she turned imperiously to stride back up the walk.
"Fine!" barked the voice from behind the door, and she turned again, failing to hide a look of triumph.
The door opened just wide enough to admit her and, leaving her to close it herself, Severus walked further into his dark house.
Minerva stopped a few steps in, very pointedly not being invited to sit, and took in the dingy sitting room with its many bookshelves along the walls.
"You've made a few changes in the last year, Severus. I think that saggy old chair used to be underneath the broken lamp, but I think you were right to move it over to the grimy window. It really opens up the room."
He scowled and crossed his arms tightly.
"Is that what you couldn't say on the stoop?"
"Couldn't trouble you for a drink, could I?"
His scowl deepened at her evasiveness and he turned to bang into the kitchen, returning shortly with a bottle of amber liquid and two glasses.
After sloshing a bit of liquor into each glass and handing it to her from as great a distance as possible, he strode over to the maligned armchair and sat down.
Clearly taking this as her cue to make herself comfortable, Minerva removed her cloak, tossed it over the threadbare sofa and sat down.
"How have you been? In seriousness, are you staying well?"
"Perfectly well. And content when I'm being left alone." He replied coldly.
"Well, I'm certainly glad to see you. The outside world would love to get a visit."
He scoffed. "The outside world has never liked me much."
"Well absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. It's been-my goodness-five years since the fall of Voldemort. Can that be right? And Eldred Worpole still pesters me about securing your autobiography for him."
"Irritating man," he reflected idly. "He sent me owl after owl about it the whole first year. Until I sent a curse back to him."
"Mm" she replied with equal mildness. "They said it took two weeks for him to find a way to put his feet back on the right way."
He smirked and sipped his own drink.
"And of course there were your many appearances in the Daily Prophet. You still make page 6 from time to time."
He harrumphed.
"I've made cuttings. And I pin them to my office wall according to subject."
This seemed to unnerve him and he looked at her with great alarm before deciding after several seconds that she wasn't serious. Trying to sneer, he recited "Hogwarts Man of Mystery: Where is Severus Snape?"
"Everyone likes a bit of human interest," said Minerva, her mouth suspiciously pinched. "The Byronic Romance phase was quite fervent, was it? All those letters we received at Hogwarts to forward to you! And then of course we even had a couple of witches come in person, big-eyed things, asking if we'd tell them where to- "
He pushed himself out of his chair and held out his hand. "I believe Horace sent something for me."
She seemed unperturbed. "Oh of course. Silly of me, I almost forgot!" She reached once again into the folds of her cloak and produced the little vial. "He told me to tell you he's made that quite strong, so you ought not to have it all in one-"
He has snatched the vial from her hand and downed its full contents before she could finish speaking. As he turned away to toss the now empty container into his saggy chair, her expression darkened slightly for the first time.
"Severus," she said in altered tones. "Really."
"You had something to discuss with me?" He said shortly. "Something other than my press cuttings, I assume?"
She considered him for a long moment as he stood above her, his body like a wire about to snap.
At length she said "Horace is retiring. We'll make the official announcement in a few weeks."
He gave one humorless bark of laughter and said "You must be joking."
"Quite serious. He never intended to come back all those years ago, but Albus persuaded him. He feels it's past time. Wants to get back to his quiet life."
"You know what I mean. You can't seriously expect me to come back to replace him."
"I have no expectations whatsoever, Severus. I'm merely here to convey that...should you want to return to Hogwarts, I'd like to offer you the right of first refusal."
"Thank you, Minerva." He inclined his head, sardonic. "I refuse."
"Think about this, Severus. For just a moment. There are a great many reasons you might want to come back."
"Such as?"
"Well," she began with obvious delicacy. "There would of course be the matter of access to your own potions lab, and all the ingredients and resources at the school's disposal. You wouldn't have to rely on Horace to owl your potion every-"
"I don't rely on the potion, Minerva," he interrupted her again. "Horace makes it and sends it, but I have never asked him! I'm in no way reliant on-"
"Of course not." She interrupted him in turn, her voice slightly raised. "I was merely trying to illustrate one reason you might find it more ah-appealing than perhaps you realize to come back to Hogwarts. There's also the fact that I would now have the capacity to increase your salary, rather considerably in fact. Shacklebolt's Ministry has organized a number of educational reforms and renewable grants we've been able to make good use of. I don't know how much you know about it. I thought you might not be taking much news."
She waited, evidently hoping for some reply, but, receiving none, plowed on.
"We've already used most of the money to brush up a few neglected departments. Septima has been making hay. And we've revived Muggle Studies. Brand new hire. Very enthusiastic."
He cut in sardonically "how gratifying to know that bringing me in is almost as important as Septima's numeralogical charts or-" his voice became delicately scathing, "muggle studies."
She ignored the jibe. "What I'm trying to tell you Severus is that if you wanted to make changes-reimagine the curriculum or invest in higher quality supplies. Whatever you want. We can have those conversations."
"What an appealing prospect for your new potions professor."
"Severus, I understand your reluctance. Just please consider-"
"What is there to consider, Minerva?" Do you think money could induce me to abandon my privacy and return to a place that holds nothing but unpleasant memories?"
"As opposed to all the happy memories you must be reveling in while you stay in this house?"
He sneered but seemed not to be capable of an immediate rejoinder. She seized the advantage and rushed on. "I noticed some changes to the neighborhood since the last time I was here. And more to come it seems-they're turning these old buildings into posh flats for muggles. You've always been, well, rather isolated here. No other wizards nearby. But not too many muggles either. I think that might change soon. The muggles will come pressing in. Shops and restaurants will start opening up. I'm not sure you'll have much privacy here in a few years in any case."
He continued to look surly but again made no immediate reply.
"Just think it over for a few days-a week." She stood quickly, gathering her clothes and looking imploringly back at him. "Don't answer until next Sunday. If you still decide not to come back, I'll drop it. But just think it over."
She went to the door, obviously hoping to forestall more objections.
She had opened the door and was halfway through it when he said "No one knows me here anymore. No one looks at me."
He caught the look she gave him as she turned and averted his eyes, not wanting to feel like an object of pity.
"I don't have a past to any of these people."
"I understand, Severus," she replied quietly. "But you have no present and no prospect of a future with them either. Maybe instead of never being looked at, what you want is to be looked at differently."
And she turned and walked back down the uneven paving stones toward the road.