Two Old Friends

Chapter 6

"I do believe if I never got my parents' money I never would have been remotely successful after school..." Adriana says thoughtfully.

"Are you kidding me? You lived in other people's houses after school," I inform her, setting down my tea cup.

"I never would have been a Magi Defender," she tells me.

"When did you ever put that education of yours into use?" She ignores me.

"Well, as you rolled about in your parents' gold, I was barely making enough to purchase myself a home," I continue. "However, I was quite lucky to live with Lucius considering that he housed and fed and did everything for me that needed money, so I could just stash away my small heaps of gold and save."

"Yes, yes. He was very kind to you," she says grudgingly.

"He was very good to me, Adriana. And despite how awful he was to you, I will forever be in his debt." She snorts at me.

~*~

"Severus," Lucius said, knocking on my door. I opened a bleary eye. I spent all night making a potion that could only be made between the dead of night and sunrise. I glanced at the clock. Twelve o'clock. I've only had five hours of sleep. Of course, this was not an extravagant feat for me yet, I was still accustomed to nine hours of sleep daily as opposed to my Hogwarts sleeping hours of three to seven.

"Yea?" I inquired groggily.

"Would you like to accompany me to lunch? I don't feel like eating here." I stared at the ceiling, trying to regain consciousness.

"Isn't Adriana going with you?" I asked.

"She's at a meeting with the Institute of Magi Defenders' Learning trying to figure out when she can start term. Is that a yes?" I cleared my throat and sat up and fished for pants.

"Yea, sure."

"Excellent. Get yourself ready and come out." I put on my robes and groomed and left my room after checking the potion that was settling at my window sill.

We had lunch at a nearby out of business shabby pub that was actually an elaborate café to wizard eyes. It was called Basilia's Café and Regal Dining. I sipped my very strong coffee and ate my complimentary sandwich as Lucius ate his own.

"So, Lucius, is there a reason that you wished me to accompany you or are you just being friendly?" I inquired, rearranging the tomato slices. Lucius feigned hurt shock.

"Severus! Am I not allowed to treat my very good friend to a nibble on rabbit food sandwiches and insanely high priced coffees?" he asked lightly.

"Lucius, all the years I've known you, you've never done anything to 'treat' another without an ulterior motive." Lucius gave a slight nod to note my point.

"I don't mean to pry, Severus, but I was looking to find out your financial state," Lucius said, his finger idly circling the rim of his coffee cup. I swallowed my own coffee and stalled before speaking.

"Ah, well. It's only been a few months since I started work, so I'm not rolling in gold, and seeing how my parents haven't died yet I'm not inheriting anything anytime soon. Unfortunately, the option to just go kill them is very much not in the light." The rest of my train of thought hung at that last sentence before I finished it. "I really am very grateful for your hospitality, Lucius -"

"Oh, don't get sentimental," he said, brushing it off.

"I wasn't going to. Anyway, even though your hospitality is very much appreciated, I hope to get a house of my own as soon as I can. Perhaps I'll get a second job, I've been glancing at the Daily Prophet, but those idiots are spending every space of parchment on obituaries and news on how the war is going, so they're not doing anything to help the poor, such as myself." I sniffed.

"Well, you very well know that you are welcome in my home..." he trailed off as he eyed some woman walking by. He cleared his throat. "Ahem. Anyway, you know you're welcome to stay as long as you have your feet on the financial ground. I just wanted to warn you," he dropped his voice and kept his eyes on my face as he spoke, "I have offered my manor for the our lord to hide certain... objects and in case you stumble across them, I trust you will leave them where they belong." I nodded.

"Of course, Lucius. You know where my loyalties lie. I am slighted by your assumption that my manners as a houseguest lack so that you think that I'd pry and try to bother certain things that are not my business."

"No offence meant, old friend. I just felt, as you will be staying that you keep your wits about you as our involvement deepens in the cleansing of our rightful Earth."

"Have you ever known me not to?" Lucius grinned.

"Touché."

We finished our lunch without any other events. Lucius claimed that he needed to go to a nearby robes boutique and I tagged along. He promised to show me to an apothecary that sells very rare potion ingredients that I had to order that made my employer constantly gripe and grumble about foreign prices.

"Hello Anastagio, good day, good day!" Lucius said cheerily to an irritable looking little man. He had dark hair and skin with a curly moustache and beady little brown eyes. He wore a burgundy newspaper boys' hat backwards that matched the burgundy pants he wore. His robes were deep, dark blue and he had a tape measurer draped over his shoulders.

"Lucius, my friend! Lucius, how are you?" he said, his face putting itself into a feigned delight as he placed his hands on Lucius's shoulders and brought him down to his height to bring two kisses to each cheek in greeting.

"I am wonderful, thank you. I don't believe you know my friend here, Severus Snape?" I stepped forward and firmly shook his hand as the man advanced with the same open arms as he did Lucius.

"I am pleased to make your acquaintance," Anastagio said.

"I'm afraid, Anastagio, that I am in dire need of an outfit and yet I do not have an appointment. Now, you know that I am very willing to accept any extra charges for lack of appointment."

"Of course, Lucius, my friend! Of course! I'll just have Emily over there bump a few appointments and I'll take you now. Emily, move two o'clock to three and three to three thirty and so on. You're very lucky, Lucius, I just returned from my lunch break. Otherwise, I would be a bit cranky." He shared a chuckle with Lucius.

"I'm glad I came later than I was going to. Now, I am in a slight fickle over what I wish to wear. You see, I am having a dinner party for the winter holidays and I don't want to show up in any old predictable robe set..." I spent that hour sitting and listening to the two debate what colour went better with Lucius's eyes and complexion without offsetting either and eventually Lucius managed to get his robes fitted and put into a box and we wandered off to the apothecary Lucius was so eager to show me.

"A good man, Anastagio," Lucius was telling me. "Very supportive of our master. Not official, however. He's one of the lot who will only sit in the bleachers and cheer instead of doing the actual task. But, he has his heart in the right place. He seems to think that his business will flop if he is found by the Ministry to be so deeply involved. Once you get your fortune collected, you ought to make sure you limit your spending to those only who have the right mindset."

"Lucius, I think how I spend my money or lack thereof is my business. But thank you for the thought," I said shortly.

"No need to be touchy, Severus. I am only trying to fulfil my duty that your father has so blatantly ignored. Granted, he was a brilliant potions master, no doubt where you get it, and a definite help to our master... But when it comes to fathering, he obviously was not quite intelligent. Do tell me if I am going too far, but I think he was a very selfish character. A little too traditional, if you understand. All this ridiculous domestic politics with the wife beating and so on. Though, he did obviously whip you up nicely with your education before you were shipped off to that Muggle Lover. It's quite unfortunate that Payden Snape did not realize exactly who was to be your Headmaster before letting you go. He was not a very rational man."

"You say 'was' as if he had recently converted to something," I said. Lucius peered down at me.

"You mean... Wait, are you honestly telling me you don't know?" I blinked.

"Know what?"

"You don't know? I know you aren't putting this pressure on me just to be an arse."

"I have no clue what you're on about."

"Severus, your father died." I blinked again.

"Come again?"

"Payden Snape is dead, Severus."

"Is he really? What - How?"

"You are a bleeding," he dropped his voice so low that I barely caught what he said, "Death Eater," he raised his voice again. "You can't be telling me that you don't know how he died."

"Obviously I am." Lucius shook his head.

"He was caught giving false potions. Apparently this has not happened less than once because our master then, close without any explanation, relieved him of his duties."

"Oh... I had no idea. I mean... my mother hasn't told me anything. I assumed that if either of them were to snuff it first it would be her. Wait a minute, if he's no longer the primary Potions Master than who will be?" Lucius shrugged. It obviously did not concern him.

"Anyway. If I ever become a father, it's that whole tradition thing that will be the first to leave my household. I am from a very traditional family and certain things I am very fond of, but the violence is not something that ought to be in a family. For one thing, it can turn the child against you and decide not to carry on the family name. And -"

"Are you planning to have a child? With Adriana?" I inquired suddenly. Lucius did a double take. It then must have occurred to him how serious it may have been between him and Adriana. He regained his superiority and strutting stride.

"Don't be daft, Severus. Adriana is not the mothering 'type'. Eventually what we have will simmer out and we'll just be acquaintances again and I will move on to find the mothering type. Until then, I will enjoy my young life."

Lucius showed me to the apothecary, I gaped at the prices and Lucius took the opportunity to enjoy his favourite hobby: haggling. In the end of the trip I had new ingredients that I found near impossible to find at a very slim price after Lucius's butchering.

The next week, Lucius was at the Ministry doing whatever it was that he did before becoming a Hogwarts governor. My potion was finally finished and I poured it into as many vials as I could and was ready to take them to the shop when Adriana came barrelling out declaring that she wished to accompany me.

"Why do you want to come with me? You claim that place makes you ill," I said, readjusting my bag in which the vials sat.

"I want to come with you because, my dear friend, I want to see exactly what it is you do," she told me, trying to sound dear and loving. I was not impressed. "And I want to go to Bella's shop and I'll be bored out of my mind after pretending to listen to her predict her customers' fates, so I'll have you to complain so I can leave before hurting myself and claiming that I need medical help."

"You need medical help without hurting yourself," I informed her.

"Shut it. I'll meet you there." And she Disapparated. I rolled my eyes and Disapparated after her.

"Severus Snape, how wonderful to see you. You are here to restock, I presume?" Mr. Gergo's voice came when I appeared before the counter. Adriana was inspecting a vial of grey liquid.

"I am, Mr. Gergo. Here is my latest finishings," I confirmed, drawing out the vial rack from my bag and setting them on the counter.

"Hey, Severus, what's this? Did you make this one?" Adriana asked, moving on to a pure white liquid. I squinted at it and recognized it as another potions maker's work.

"No, that's Ursula Dikanov's," I informed her. "And I think that's an ice potion. It freezes the drinker from the inside out."

"You mean to tell me that there are other suppliers? No wonder you have no money..." Adriana said with a sneer.

"And will there be anything else?" Mr. Gergo said, his look narrowing at me.

"Erm, no there isn't. Unless you have a list of what is needed to be done?"

"No, Ursula has been working on the latest," he said icily.

"Ah. Okay, well, I have other business. Adriana, come," I said, bowing graciously at my employer. He watched us leave with a cruel expression.

"Thank you, Adriana, for that," I said sarcastically.

"For what? Trying to get you a pay raise?"

"No, for hinting that my salary is not enough which, in his mind, will make him think that I complain, so now he is tempted to pay me less."

"Oh. Sorry about that. Hey, maybe you can talk Bella into selling potions so you can be her supplier," Adriana suggested. I grunted something inaudible and we took off to Bellatrix's little shop.

"Hey, Bella," Adriana greeted, strutting into the store.

"Welcome, welcome to my lovely shop of Bellatrix Lestrange's Novelties," she said lavishly.

"So he proposed?" Adriana asked, grinning. Bellatrix dramatically held out her left hand to show off the moonstone and diamond ring on her finger. "Oh, that's lovely."

"And you? What do you have to say?" Bella demanded of me.

"Er... Congratulations?" I said half-heartedly.

"Hmph. So. What do you lot want?" Bella asked.

"I came by to say hello. How're sales?"

"Lovely. You see that old hag over there? She's going to buy that leaky pen thing over there and she's going to try to use it, but then blind her self by stabbing herself in the eye from it while trying to see why the pen flow won't stop," Bella informed us, pointing at some old lady who was examining some sort of writing utensil.

"That's fascinating. Hey, have you thought about selling potions? Severus can be your supplier," Adriana said.

"Subtle, Adriana," I commented.

"That's a possibility," Bella said thoughtfully. "But I have no room for potions, and we don't really specialize in potions, you know? Nearly everyone in Knockturn Alley sells potions of some sort." Adriana was outraged.

"But you said in school that he could be your supplier!" she said hotly.

"That was in school, Adri. You said that you were going to run a dictatorship in South America," Bellatrix said with an air of impatience.

"And don't say that I won't! But right now Severus is in need of a little more money so he can get out of Lucius's! Aren't you supposed to help out your fellow Slytherins?"

"I'm not doing anymore hiring at the moment. Maybe later if he fills out an application -"

"He doesn't need an application! You went to school with him! You know how good he is at potions! If it weren't for him you would have failed!" Adriana said shrilly.

"Adriana, don't make something into this," I said. "I'll just get a job somewhere else. It's not a big deal. Although, this would be a lot easier for me as it's close to my other job where I make only nine galleons per potion, despite how rare many of them are..." I said indifferently, glancing at Bella.

"No, Severus. This is a big deal. Bellatrix here is just being big headed because her pathetic excuse for a business if doing so well, she thinks she's so much better than the rest of us now."

"Look, Adriana, I'm simply not hiring! If you'd like to borrow some money, that's a different story. But I'm not hiring anyone. Now, if you're not here to purchase anything, I suggest you leave," she said with a slight iciness to the last statement. Adriana sent her a very cruel look and dragged me out of the shop.

She stormed off and I followed her, slightly offended by Bellatrix's treatment of me, but obviously not nearly as much as Adriana. Occasionally, she'd turn around to say something like "how could she? That utter cow!" or "after everything you've done for her - after everything I've done for her, this is how she treats me? How she treats you?"

"Will you calm down? I never really liked her much anyway, I don't especially care," I said in irritation.

"This isn't about you, Severus! She's been acting like this ever since she got that thing going! She thinks she's Dr. Filibuster or something!"

"Oh, yes. Silly me for thinking that you're so angry because she wouldn't give me the job," I said in mockery. Adriana didn't respond.

"Well, if you're still interested in getting another job I know a pub that's hiring," she said after cooling down.

"Is there a reason why you're so anxious to get rid of me?" I asked suspiciously.

"No! I mean... Well... Don't tell anyone but..." she gave a funny little grin and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I think Lucius is going to marry me." I blinked.

"What? Why would you think that?" Adriana pursed her lips in an affronted sort of way.

"Because, Severus, I'm pregnant!" she said, still in a whisper. "He's been rather distracted lately and I think he's been thinking about having an heir before he hits thirty. So, well, I got him one!" She wrapped her hands around her very flat stomach.

"How do you know you're pregnant? Have you had a test or anything?" She rolled her eyes in an impatient sort of way.

"A woman knows when she's pregnant, Severus. My period is a million years late, so obviously I'm pregnant," she said knowledgably.

"Uh huh. I'm making you a test before you go off and tell Lucius this," I said sternly. She rolled her eyes again.

"Fine, fine. But don't take too long. I won't need it if by the time I get it I start showing."

We went to the pub that she was talking about was for hire and I filled out an application. She ordered a gilly water and I a brandy. We talked about random fluff. She was mostly going on about baby crap. It seemed as if she was dying to tell someone. I had stopped listening for a while now and was watching people wander around over her shoulder. And then a familiar pair of people walked in and ordered a few drinks to go. It was Lucius and Narcissa, together. I thought of interrupting Adriana and calling them over, but they had left. Lucius's hand was on her waist. I then realized that nothing good could come out of this.