Chapter 5
Severus hated the order meetings, he had ever since he first joined. He was surrounded by people he didn't like and who didn't like him. He still showed up to every one Dumbledore asked him to, however, for fear of disappointing the man who had given him a second chance .Walking through the door to twelve Grimmauld place, Severus received a sneer from the late Lady Black before continuing through to the kitchen where meetings were usually held.
“Kind of you to join us Snape. How has your summer been so far?” That was Lupin, ever the “peacekeeper” really Snape just thought of him as a coward too scared to stand up against his friends. He looked haggard, the full moon two nights ago definitely didn’t help with his unhealthy, emaciated look.
“As well as it can seeing as, you know, I’m playing double agent against the dark lord.” He responded, giving Lupin a derisive look that said he should know better than to ask stupid questions.
“Ah. Sorry about that?” It was phrased as a question and the wolf was rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. Before Severus could think of another snarky response to make Lupin more embarrassed Black walked in with his usual swagger that even Azkaban couldn’t take away.
“Moony!” his face brightening ever so slightly as he saw his long time friend “Why didn’t you come find me? Harry finally responded, he said he won’t be visiting this summer but that’s what Dumbledore was saying anyways. Do you think he’ll want to come for Christmas?” Upon seeing Severus, Black’s face dropped into a sneer that was scarily similar to his mother’s “Snivellus, what are you doing here?”
Giving a sneer that he hoped showed his mutual hatred of the man, Severus spat “Ask Albus, he’s the one who invited me.” He walked away before Black could respond, finding a seat between Kingsley and Tonks while nursing a cup of tea Mrs. Weasley sat in front of him.
Just when it looked like Black might follow him to continue their fight, Dumbledore arrived with a flourish of green flame. With a twinkle in his eye he greeted everyone before taking his place at the head of the table. Severus proceeded to ignore most of the rest of the meeting, instead choosing to mentally review his to-do list before the start of the year.
“Severus, has there been any news from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?” Severus’s mind snapped back to the present only to see everyone’s eyes on him.
“I have not yet been called, but word from Lucius is that the dark lord is staying at Malfoy Manor. From what I can gather he is trying to rally his forces and stay in the shadows to further discredit you and Potter.” Many looked relieved to hear this while others seemed to be concerned about the more long term effects of the dark lord’s actions.
“That’s all well and good then,” he said with a smile that some may have considered grandfatherly, “If no one else has anything else to add I think we can draw this meeting to a close?” Severus hoped no one said anything, he was ready to go to bed. Just when he thought he was home free Black stood up to say something.
“Harry has written to me, he said that him and his relatives have settled their differences and he wishes to remain there for the rest of the summer. He said he would get himself to the train come the first.” This caused Dumbledore and a couple others to pause.
“Has anyone on guard duty noticed anything different in Harry or his relatives’ schedule as of late?” Dung seemed to be the one on duty this week and seemed to stop and think if he’d seen anything out of the ordinary. Severus gave a mental scoff knowing Mundungus was either asleep or drunk the entire time.
“Not that I can think of, I haven’t actually seen the boy all week but that’s not too unusual for him. You know how teenagers can be. But other than that his family has continued on as usual.” For being put on the spot, Severus thinks Dung did an admirable job of bullshitting a response.
“Good, good. Do let me know if that changes, hm? I worry about the boy you know?” Again, another “grandfatherly” smile that didn’t quite comfort Severus. As others started to stand and ready themselves to leave, Severus saw a small ear be pulled back under the door. Knowing something suspicious was no doubt happening he followed where he thought the ear might have gone only to find two identical redheads sitting on the stair trying to wrap a wire around an ear while racing up the stairs as quickly as possible. And because Severus obviously didn’t deal with enough of their shenanigans at school, he decided to follow.
Upon reaching what was apparently the twins’ room he heard rushed, whispered voices. “That couldn’t have been him, George, he’d take any chance to get away from that place. We’ve got to get him, we can apparate now, it’d be way easier than in fourth year.” Fred, apparently, didn’t believe that Potter had actually written his godfather. This peeked Severus’ interest so he decided to stay and listen to the rest of the conversation.
“I know Freddy, but he hasn’t even been responding to our letters. What if randomly showing up just makes it worse for him? I say we figure out a sure fire way to get a letter to him.”
“We’ll have to leave Grimmauld place for that to happen, the wards on this place make it basically impossible to send a letter. We could always ask someone like Tonks to send it out for us?” But even to Severus’ ears that sounded like a weak suggestion.
“So we’ll figure out a time to go out to the street to send the letter, if he responds we get him immediately?”
“Georgie, I don’t tell you this enough but I think you might actually have a brain.” The grin in his voice was apparent now that they’d figured out a way to reach their friend.
Severus was getting ready to leave so he could make his way back to spinner’s end so he could figure out what he had just heard. In the end, however, his curiosity won out and he decided to make his presence known. Opening the boys’ door more than the crack it had been previously, he stepped in.
“Sorry to intrude, but I just couldn’t help but overhear the whispered conversation you clearly didn’t want anyone else hearing,” Severus started with a smirk, “But if you can have a letter written in the next five minutes i might be able to have one of the Hogwarts owls deliver it the next time I stop by.” The twins both froze and looked to each other as if the other would have the answer. They seemed to engage in some sort of telepathic conversation before George went to his chest to grab ink and parchment while Fred turned to him.
“I don’t know what you think you heard but you seem to be able to keep a secret. This is one that needs to be kept. If we catch wind of you having told someone it will be your sanity on the line.” The last line might have been one of the scariest things Severus had ever heard, especially partnered with the twins’ history of pranks that already challenged his sanity. “Glad we could get that out of the way professor because I smell a wonderful partnership brewing.” Fred finished before snorting at his own joke.
By then George had sat down to start penning their letter to Harry, calling Fred over to help with the contents. At the five minute mark exactly they both stood before rolling up the parchment and handing it to Severus.
“We’ll be eagerly awaiting his response so please do your best to get it to him.” George said, looking as solemn as a Weasley twin could. Severus just nodded, taking the letter he finally made his way to the floo which had by now cleared out of other order members.
Severus always made sure to floo to Hogwarts before his home so if anyone heard him say his destination he would still remain safe. With a shout of “Snape’s office, Hogwarts” he stepped out into his office. Deciding it was best to get the letter sent out now then to have to remember the next time he returned to the school, he made his way to the owlery.
When he arrived, only about a fourth of the usual owls were there, all home with their owners. Finding an owl to send the letter was easy enough but first he had to do the thing that made him offer to deliver the letter in the first place. Unrolling the scroll, he started reading the urgent message from the twins to Potter.
Dear Harrykins,
We haven’t heard from you this whole summer and while we know you are oh so busy being the wizarding world’s almighty hero we are starting to get worried. We can help you like we did in your second year, just say the word. If we don’t receive a response by your birthday we are showing up anyways. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to write before this, there are wards in place to prevent it but we still receive your letters, so write back. Remember, we know where you sleep so you might consider responding.
Your dearest and bestest friends,
Gred&Forge