"P-Privet Drive?" the suddenly nervous woman asked as she removed the whistling teapot from the burner and added the tea. "What could possibly be of interest there? Just one muggle place after the next."
"Well that's where Harry Potter lives, isn't it?" Lester asked as total silence fell. "Tell me, why didn't you go to him for this investment? He owns this house, after all, and is your business's primary backer."
The curious old squib turned to look at him with large panicked eyes.
"With him living right down the street, you must see him all the time," Lester continued with a smile. "Did he not think it was a good idea?"
He expected evasions, he expected denials, what he didn't expect was a well-aimed teapot scalding him and sending hot water all over the room. Damn squibs were crafty, and quick. The only thing left of her at the last place he looked was a single tartan house slipper. Emerald flames erupted in the fireplace and if it weren't for a quick flick of his wand the old biddy would've gotten away.
"Help!" the old woman cried to the flames as she fell to the floor with conjured ropes all around her.
Lichfield Summoned the woman to him and held her in front of him like a shield as twin gouts of flames saw a couple of young people shoot out of the fireplace.
"Halt! Aurors!" one young girl with pink hair called, before promptly tripping on the rogue teapot and tumbling to a halt herself.
"Aurors, you?" Lester had a good laugh. "You pups couldn't be any higher than trainee cadets. What, did everyone else go out for a long lunch and not come back?"
Somewhat embarrassed looks passed between the kids some fool had left too close to the floo network. The pink-haired girl's hair shifted slightly towards red before returning to its normal color as she stood.
"Release the woman and give yourself up," Pink-Hair's compatriot commanded. The boy didn't look like he was old enough to shave.
"Why should I?" Lichfield asked. "I'm a Bailiff and here in my official capacity, but you? What're new recruits like you doing out without someone to change your nappy?"
Mr. No-Need-To-Shave looked to Pink-Hair for support. These kids had no idea what they were doing. If someone intelligent had been there though, sending them in would be a nice diversionary tactic while they sneaked up from behind, if they didn't mind them being killed before they could get the drop on him that is.
"Tell me," Lichfield said. "Is that old coot, Alastor, still working there?" Lester saw in the flicker in their eyes that he was. "You tell him I said, 'razzle-dazzle!'"
And with a swirl of color and a hooked feeling behind his navel, the old bailiff left the fool kids wondering what the hell had just happened.
...
If the bright mid-morning sun had Severus hating the blighted orb slightly more than usual, the children running along Diagon Alley had him hating all of mankind. Was there nowhere he could go and no time of day that'd see him safe from those intrusive dunderheads?
Catching sight of a sign to his right with a particularly large group of the little urchins in front of it, Severus angled his way there. Before he even crossed the intervening space one of them had seen his reflection in the window and they had decided, en masse, to go elsewhere. There were benefits to being the most hated teacher in the history of Hogwarts.
The garish green sign had promised a spectacle, and it delivered. Set out like an exhibit at a museum, a dirty and peeling set of trainers sat next to the traced footprints of an orphaned boy, and next to them was a copy of what the boy would be wearing from now on. Severus wanted to point to the autograph the boy had included or the expense that must've gone into the new shoes and see nothing more than pampered privilege, but the fact remained the boy had taken better care of himself in that one act than Albus Dumbledore had done in the ten years before it.
The night before, the man had dared to ask if he had formed an attachment to the boy. If the man had any sense remaining he would've known it doesn't take an attachment to know that even people you despise for being who they were still deserved a minimal level of common decency shown to them. If he still had any doubts at all on his current course of action, those trainers had settled them.
He left the display quickly before the odious shopkeeper could solicit his patronage. Down the Alley he went, most shoppers moving aside to open a space for him - though more out of fear and uncertainty than any respect. These people were all fools and only a fool would want respect from them. Severus gladly took their fear; fear made them move faster anyway.
The goblin guards of Gringotts noticed him when he was still two shops away from the bank. He noticed that they noticed that he'd noticed, and noticed how they shifted slightly as he made to enter the bank. The goblins bowed courteously, as was their custom, and Severus strode through the large double doors without giving them any apparent notice, as was his custom.
The bank was thrumming with activity, kicked into high gear by breeders flocking with their ungainly spawn to purchase putrid potions paraphernalia pawned off on them by sloppy shopkeepers who knew they wouldn't know the difference. Some tried to blame him for their precious little spawn not knowing if their Fluxweed was flattened or their Knotgrass was too knotty, but if the breeders couldn't take the time to look after their own spawn then they shouldn't have spawned at all.
After waiting in line for several infuriatingly slow minutes behind a particularly annoying mother and urchin, one he seemed to recall asking for an extension on his essay last term, which he had so gladly denied, Severus finally got to the teller.
"Ah, Professor Snape," the goblin said. "We don't often get the Hogwarts crowd in here, but now we seem to have one a day. You normally do your transactions through mail, don't you?"
"I think we both know that would be useless to try and do now, wouldn't it?" Severus asked with a knowing sneer.
"It would," the teller smiled.
"Then you may tell - whoever it is - I am here for a rather informative meeting."
The teller looked at him closely and nodded before slamming a 'Next Teller Please' sign on his desk and gesturing to a door to the side.
"This way, professor."
Hearing the groans from people behind him, and knowing he was forcing them to wait in yet another line by taking the teller away, gave Severus one last moment of joy to sustain him through what would come next.
.....
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