The Everlasting Day

4

Hogsmead was bustling with life as people finishing work were hurrying about trying to get whatever it was they needed before the shops closed for the day. The only place that was still fairly quiet was the Three Broomsticks pub, which had only just opened up for the evening. Ariadne threaded her way through the crowds, keeping her head down, hidden beneath her hooded cloak, even though it must still have been thirty-five degrees outside. Her eyes were pinned to the cobblestones so that she wouldn't have to see the poison-studded looks she would be getting if someone recognised her and she managed to reach the pub without a single acerbic comment, which was something of a personal achievement for her.

Ariadne ordered herself a large Firewhisky, took off her cloak and secreted herself quietly into a booth right at the back of the dark, smoky, slightly musty smelling pub, which afforded her views of both the door and the bar. Madame Rosmerta must have finally recognised her as she brought her drink over because she bumped it down hard against the table, splashing most of it over the coaster.

'Ten sickles,' she said abruptly, the scowl on her face only marginally more sour than the drink.

'Your prices seem to have inflated somewhat since I was last here, Rosmerta,' Ariadne replied coolly, scattering the coins onto the table, 'but I'll pay it. From the look on you and this place, I'd say you could use the profits. Go treat yourself...get your hair done...and while you're at it, that hair on your chin needs plucking too.'

Rosmerta scowled even more deeply, snatching up the coins. 'Drink that quickly, Snape. We don't welcome your kind in here.'

Ariadne just smiled infuriatingly, raising the glass to her as she went back to the bar.

At least she had managed to get herself served, which was far more than most of the other traders in Hogsmead were willing to do, she thought with some amusement as she sipped the Firewhisky and trained her gaze back on the door.

Ariadne had been prepared to sit there for most of the night, although she did have her doubts as to whether her sickles would hold out at Rosmerta's new price hike just for her, but as it turned out, her target appeared just half an hour after she had arrived.

Lucius Malfoy blew through the doors like a hurricane, pausing in the doorway as though waiting for some kind of royal reception. Realising he wasn't going to get one, he moved to the bar to order something for himself and his wife, Narcissa, who had taken to one of the booths closer to the door. Rosmerta would never have dared to show open hostility to the Malfoys, even though they were widely suspected to still have Dark Arts connections too. She probably knew that Lucius had sufficient wealth to buy anything or anyone he wanted, not to mention the connections he maintained within the wizarding community that even Fudge himself envied. Malfoy could have a small, insignificant little place like the Three Broomsticks closed down quicker than Rosmerta could have said 'Butterbeer', and she knew that perfectly well, so she fixed her smile on her face and even made pleasant small talk with him as she served him.

The discrimination should have annoyed Ariadne, but she really didn't care much what a bartender thought of her anyway. She didn't know which was worst - false niceties or honest hostility.

Ariadne grabbed her drink and went over to the Malfoys' booth.

'Narcissa!' she smiled hollowly as she slid herself into the seat beside her. 'It's good to see you again. It's been, what, twelve years? I see the passage of the years have been tolerably kind to you. Considering.'

Mrs Malfoy looked up at her with one perfectly-plucked eyebrow raised, as though she were regarding a lower form of pond life. 'Well, well...Ariadne Snape,' she said, each slowly drawled word an icicle. 'I was under the impression that you'd retreated to life in a cave somewhere since your unceremonious dismissal from the Ministry.' She made a point of raising her voice quite unnecessarily for her last pronouncement. 'What brings you back to civilisation?'

'Now, Narcissa, that's hardly a charitable way to greet an old friend is it? Whatever happened to plain old 'How are you?''

Narcissa's thin lips pursed into a malicious mockery of a smile. 'It is generally assumed, dear, when one asks that question, that one cares how a person is feeling. As I feel no such concern for you, why on earth would you presume I should I ask?'

'Ooh...ouch,' Ariadne gasped, clasping her hand to her chest in feigned horror, just before her eyes narrowed to near slits. 'You know, Narcissa, you're lucky I'm not a sensitive person or you might have just hurt my feelings. Then, I'm afraid, I might have been forced to curse you.'

Narcissa's thin, bony fingers flashed towards her wand concealed in her robes. 'Why don't you just try?'

Ariadne smiled and backed off. 'I wouldn't want you to feel inadequate or foolish, Narcissa. But we can always save it for later, if you like.'

'Ah...Ariadne,' said Lucius, arriving at the table with drinks for himself and his wife. 'I thought it was you.'

Maybe she was mistaken, but she could have sworn that Narcissa almost breathed a sigh of relief when he came. Perhaps it was just as well for Ariadne's sake as well - she might have excelled at Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, but duelling just wasn't her forte. She would probably have ended up hexed six ways from Sunday if she had attacked Narcissa. But as Narcissa hadn't known that, Ariadne chalked the encounter up as a score for herself.

Ariadne and Narcissa had never exactly been on good terms with each other ever since Narcissa found out that Lucius once had developed quite an attraction to the young Ariadne while they had still been at Hogwarts. Of course, Ariadne had been far too involved with Sirius to have ever looked at someone like Lucius, coolly attractive though he might have been. And still was, in a dark sort of way. But Narcissa had, for some reason, always felt a little threatened by Ariadne, particularly during their latter years at Hogwarts, and for a while afterwards, when Lucius had begun to spend so much time at the Snape family home with Severus - planning their Death Eater activities.

Even when Ariadne had left home to live with Sirius, Narcissa had still made her dislike of Ariadne more than plain. Now, as it turned out, Ariadne was discovering that some petty, childish jealousies survived the passage of time as well as some of the more positive feelings. It was, perhaps, just as well that Ariadne cared as little for Narcissa's opinions as she did for the woman herself. Lucius, however, was still an unknown quantity. Perhaps he would not be so open to her, now that his loyalties were divided. She had to be careful with him.

'I always said that you had to be up early in the morning to catch out a razor sharp intellect like yours, Lucius. I was just telling your wife how lucky she is.'

'Indeed?' he sneered, sliding into the seat beside Narcissa. 'Well, now you can tell her goodbye. This is a two person, private conversation.'

'That's a shame. Because what I had to say I thought that you, or at least your...associates...might find interesting.'

'Really?' Lucius said, sipping his Firewhisky. 'And just what might that be?'

'Are you sure it's alright for us to speak here?'

Narcissa rolled her eyes and squeezed the stem of the glass holding her Gillywater so hard that it was a wonder it didn't crack.

'I'm sure,' Lucius replied sternly, leaning forward across the table, but he muttered an Imperturbable charm all the same. Instantly, it was as though their whole table were cocooned in a bubble. It was a curious sensation, like being underwater. 'Make it fast, Ariadne. I'm already growing tired of you.'

'What would your associates say if I was to offer your organisation the services of a Ministry-approved, and highly talented, herbologist and potions master?'

Malfoy inclined his head thoughtfully, his perfectly straight, well-groomed white-blonde hair falling forward over his shoulder. 'Our organisation? I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Ariadne. I am part of no organisation other than the governing body of Hogwarts.'

'Oh come on, Lucius. Who do you think you're dealing with here? Do you think I've enjoyed being on the fringes of society for all these years? Being ousted from my own life, betrayed by people I thought were friends, accused of being something I wasn't? What benefits could I possibly have by remaining where I am? I'm tired of it all. I want my life back. I want in, Lucius. I want to be a part of the glory the Dark Lord is offering. I want to make all those people who've made my life hell to pay. A thousand fold.'

A thin, vicious smile spread slowly across Malfoy's face, but it never touched his eyes. It was a cold, cruel smile, one born solely of hate. But for once, he was smiling with her, looking at her with a flicker of something in his eyes that made her shiver.

'What makes you think that the organisation, assuming of course that there is one, would have need of such services?'

'You were betrayed by the man who last held that post. A man of my blood. He was weak and pathetic, full of fear. I am not. I am willing to give my life for the second coming of the Dark Lord, if I can make those people pay first. You and I both know, Lucius, that no-one has skills in both herbology and potion-making as I do. The Dark Lord is still interested in conquering death, is he not? I could help him, Lucius.'

Narcissa was sipping her Gillywater with a new, deeper loathing for Ariadne creeping across her bird-like features. Lucius himself had leaned back in his chair and had reached for his Firewhisky again. He took a long, slow drink before lowering the glass back to the table as he licked the last traces of the whisky from his lips. He sighed, smiling to himself as he turned the glass around in his hand before picking it up again.

'So what would be in this for you, Ariadne?' he asked, in between sips. 'Aside from revenge, of course?'

'It's something very small really. For a man with such influence as you have in the Ministry. I want Sirius Black's name cleared.'

Malfoy almost choked on his firewhisky. 'You know where he is? You've seen him?'

'I didn't say that. All I can tell you is that he feels exactly the same as I do about the fools who have cost him the past twelve years of his life. He could be useful to the Dark Lord, Lucius. If his name was cleared, he could get close to Potter. He could infiltrate Hogwarts. Just imagine the advantages that both of us could offer. Neither of us have a life anymore. Everything we had has been destroyed, ripped apart by the Potters and their kind. The only chance we have is with your organisation. The Dark Lord could have no more loyal followers than us.' She leaned closer to him until their faces were mere inches apart, much to Narcissa's barely contained fury. Ariadne smiled, her eyes flickering seductively from Lucius' eyes to his thin lips, gazing at them as though she would like nothing better than to feel them against her own. 'Think about it, Lucius. You know it makes sense. We would owe him our lives. And I, of course, would be forever in your...debt.'

Malfoy smiled as he leaned back, finished his drink and set the glass back down on the table. He carefully wiped the edges of his mouth with his gloved fingers and cast a brief glance around at the bar. Aside from themselves and Rosmerta, the bar had only two other tired and rather old looking wizards slumped in the window booth looking as though they were half asleep.

Satisfied that they were unobserved and safe for the moment, Lucius pulled out a piece of parchment from an inside pocket of his robes and detached his wand from the end of his silver tipped walking cane. He touched the wand to the parchment then quickly secreted it back into its holder.

'Be at this address at ten tonight. Sharp. We will discuss this matter further then.'

Ariadne reached across the table for the parchment. It was the address of an old cemetery in mid Wales. She didn't know it specifically, but she knew the area. That would be good enough to allow her to apparate.

'I'll be there,' she said determinedly.

Malfoy nodded and extended his hand across the table to her. She accepted it, making sure she maintained his eye contact as they shook hands. His index finger moved gently back and forth over her skin and a smile flickered briefly on his face before he released her.

'Later then,' he said finally, indicating with an almost imperceptible nod of his head for Narcissa to follow him.

They left the Three Broomsticks only a few seconds before Ariadne did herself, but by the time she got outside, they had already disappeared.

She braced herself against the wall, overcome by a sudden wave of extremely unpleasant nausea at the thought of what she had just done...how he had touched her...how she had looked at him. Her hands were shaking a little too, but as she breathed in the fresh air and closed her eyes briefly to compose herself, the feelings soon dissipated. She shoved her hands deep into the long folds of her cloak - even though it was still far from cold - and found a quiet corner behind Dervish and Bangs to apparate back to the room she had rented, under a false identity, at a Muggle hotel in London not too far from the Leaky Cauldron.

She had specifically chosen this bed-and-breakfast hotel because she had known that most of the rooms were decorated in an Olde-World type style that still had fireplaces in most of the rooms and there were no wizarding folk around who may have noticed her presence and asked awkward questions. She threw off her cloak, conjured herself a cup of elderflower tea and pulled out a small, ornate silver case from her trunk. Gathering a handful of Floo powder from inside it, she cast it into the fireplace and called, 'Padfoot!'

Barely a few seconds later, Sirius' head was floating in a halo of green flames where the fire should have been.

'It's so good to see you,' she beamed at him, kneeling down in front of the hearth.

'You too,' he said sincerely. 'Are you all right?'

'I'm fine. I just wanted to tell you that everything is going to plan. I'm meeting them again tonight.'

Sirius' concern was etched into his face, but he tried not to let it creep into his voice. 'Where?'

'I don't think I should say over the network. You never know who might be listening. What about you? Is everything okay there?'

Sirius smiled ruefully. 'As well as could be expected. I've kept myself busy writing to...well...you know to whom...just to let him know that I'm all right. There were a few things that I didn't have the chance to tell him before I...well...I just didn't want him to worry about me.'

'You haven't told him where you are though?'

'No...no, of course I haven't. But a man has to do something to keep himself occupied.'

'There are plenty of books on the dresser in the living room if you're bored. Try polishing up some of your charms and hexes. You'll be needing them.'

'I suppose,' he said morosely, 'one day.'

'Hey, maybe you should try Cheering Charms first,' she teased, trying to draw a smile from him. She succeeded. Just.

'I'm sorry. I am trying. I miss you.'

'I'm missing you too,' she said softly, feeling his absence like a knawing hunger at the centre of her being. She had never wanted so much to be held and reassured. But he would only worry if she told him how she was feeling. 'Look, I'll contact you again later when I get back. I promise. In the meantime, try and stay out of trouble.'

'Are you sure that you can trust him?' he persisted. 'What if it's a trap? What if...'

'Then I'll handle it. Trust me, would you? I don't know what's gotten into you, you never used to be so wary of taking risks.'

'Yeah, when I'm taking them. Not when people I care about are.'

She shook her head in exasperation. 'I have to go now. I have to get changed and prepared for tonight. I will contact you, I promise. Try not to worry, hey?'

'Yeah,' he sighed, 'all right. I'll wait up until I hear from you.'

'That would be nice. I'd like to see you afterwards. I love you, you know. Very much.'

The tension vaporised from his face for the first time in the whole conversation and his smile was warm and sincere. 'I love you too,' he said, his voice already an echo as the fire around him flickered and died, leaving an empty, cold, silent space where he had once been.