Vignette 1
Note: This is the first of three or four vignettes about Snape.
They
likely won’t be interconnected. They’re semi-inspired by T.S.
Eliot’s
“Preludes” and other bits from Prufrock and Other
Observations,
if that’s any help. ::grin:: Much thanks and a friendly assortment
of
virtual cookies go to Zsenya.
Disclaimer: Just borrowing, despite what T.S. Eliot may have to say
on
that subject – “Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal.” I filch
things
from Canto XXXIV of the Inferno here, and Sherrinford
Shiftlet
got his first name from Sherlock Holmes’s eldest brother –
not
Mycroft – and his last name from the protagonist of Flannery
O’Connor’s
“The Life You Save May Be Your Own”.
***
Despite what anyone else might have thought, he positively
abhorred
Knockturn Alley.
Severus wound his way down the dank, filthy street, wishing he
could
look up and see the stars. An image that had always stuck with him
from
the bits of Muggle literature that he had read was Dante and Virgil
emerging
from the Inferno to see the stars. Dante had freed himself from the
Inferno,
led by his mentor.
A bit too analogous for his liking.
But the sense of wonder he got from his mental image of Dante,
surfacing
and looking at the stars as though they were a breath of fresh air,
was
a feeling that he never lost. Sometimes he’d even go back and
re-read
the entire canto on the bad nights when he couldn’t sleep, and then
he
would go up to the Astronomy Tower and sit and try to think about
better
things.
Tonight, the buildings were too close together, and they leaned
over
the street. To add insult to injury, it was cloudy.
Severus turned the corner and came face-to-face with a hag. She
hissed
in his face; a foul reek of decay rudely invaded his nostrils. He
shoved
his way past her and continued.
He heard her throwing curses at his back. Let her, he
thought.
She wouldn’t dare try anything. If she did, then it would be a sore
mistake
on her part. He was not in the mood to be trifled with.
Dumbledore had asked him to run some papers down to Sherrinford
Shiftlet
at the Lethifold’s Lair so Shiftlet could verify the intelligence
information
listed there. Lucius Malfoy again, up to his old tricks. Severus
allowed
himself a brief sneer. The papers, among other things, contained an
inventory
of certain Dark Arts materials held by Lucius at Malfoy Manor.
Sherrinford,
having been a denizen of Knockturn Alley for years, could confirm or
deny
many things on the inventory. The old curmudgeon probably sold
half
those things to Malfoy himself, thought Severus irritably.
This minor errand was a detestable task, but not nearly so bad as
the
things that Dumbledore had had him do before the war ended.
And so Severus found himself in Knockturn Alley without – audible –
complaint.
He stormed down the dark cobblestones, cloak billowing behind him.
And
then suddenly, the feeling that one always had of surreptitious eyes
watching
one in Knockturn Alley was gone – it was as though he was alone in
the
world, blessedly alone. The moon had come out; the stench of rot and
mildew
was gone as it was for a few fleeting moments after a rain shower.
Severus took a deep breath, savoring the clear, cool air. His mind
cleared.
He turned to his left and was faced with the dilapidated façade of
the
Lethifold’s Lair.
He stretched one hand forward, planting his palm on the smooth,
age-worn
wood of the door. The door swung open on silent hinges; he
entered.
His eyes adjusted to the greater darkness quickly. He saw Shiftlet
standing,
gaunt as ever, behind his counter, eyes glittering.
“Mr. Shiftlet,” Severus said softly.
“Professor Snape,” Shiftlet returned in gravelly, gruff tones. He
stepped
into a square of moonlight that fought hardily to enter the shop
from
a rather dirty window. “You have something for me, I believe?”
Severus withdrew an envelope from an inner pocket of his robes and
handed
it to him wordlessly.
Shiftlet broke the seal on the envelope and scanned its contents
quickly.
“Tell him I’ll get back to him within the week.”
He nodded and turned to go. Shiftlet’s voice stopped him.
“Professor
Snape.” Severus turned and saw an odd little half-smile cross
Shiftlet’s
craggy face. “You might want to look up when you get outside.”
Severus looked at him mistrustfully for a moment. Seeing nothing
more
on the other man’s face, he left.
Once he was free of the shop, he stopped in the middle of the
alley.
Shiftlet worked for Dumbledore; he would not leave one of
Dumbledore’s
couriers a trap – even if that courier was an ex-Death Eater.
Severus looked up.
And he saw the stars.
The old, decaying buildings had somehow been pulled away from the
alley,
and the clouds had dissipated, leaving a clear, magnificent night
sky.
Severus looked at his old friends among the stars – the Old Bear,
Orion
standing firm and strong, Cassiopeia in her chair, the Twins smiling
down
at him. A warm feeling spread from his chest all the way out to the
ends
of his fingers and toes. His friends, the stars.
He turned back to look at the Lethifold’s Lair. Sherrinford
Shiftlet
was standing at the window holding a candle and giving him that same
half-smile.
Shiftlet raised a hand in salute and blew out the candle.
Severus raised his own hand in return, suddenly feeling more
light-hearted
than he had in a long time.
Placing his hands in his pockets, he left Knockturn Alley, fighting
a
smile the entire way.
