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A sigh was the only answer which came of the figure hidden behind dark grey wizarding robes.
"Are they related to the current problems Albus Dumbledore face at the Wizengamot?"
"Difficult to say, My Queen. The old meddler's control over Hogwarts makes it hard to recognise the gravity of the situation. And we no longer have an agent in his stronghold since the death of our last pawn there."
"Regrettable, Knight Informer." There was no inflexion in the voice. The conversation might have been about flowers for all the feelings the two figures showed. "Continue to monitor the situation as best as you can. Any weakness presented by Albus Dumbledore is worthy to be noted."
"Acknowledged. Should I start some of our contingency plans if the situation develops...poorly?"
There was a brief pause in the conversation, as the second masked figure estimated the risks.
"No. The King has ordered us to put the greatest priority to the operations in the Middle East. Dealing with Albus Dumbledore and his Order of Phoenix would require funds and manpower the King is not going to give."
A very minor movement of the hood was the only manifestation showed by the first figure hidden by light green robes.
"You disagree?"
"Not exactly, my Queen. I agree with your point on our resources now, but surely there will be a time when our organisation will be free to turn its attention to Hogwarts? When this day comes, I believe it will be in the Exchequer's best interest to have agents and caches in place to deal with the situation."
"Your proposition... has merit." Seconds of silence followed more seconds of silence before finally being interrupted. "But you will need insight on Dumbledore's actions and plots to correctly plan his demise and our take-over of Hogwarts."
"Our last spy lived at Hogwarts during nine months and was never revealed as such." Objected the first figure.
"True. But he was also instructed to keep a low-profile among his colleagues, which meant he never created an information network among the students or tried to rally one or more core teachers to our cause."
"With all due respect, my Queen, what is done is done. We could however try to infiltrate another spy when the new school year will begin in September."
"We could. But this time I think we will need to bring someone stronger than a pawn to the playground if the Exchequer wants tangible results."
"What about someone who knows Dumbledore?"
The Queen of the Exchequer paused for fifteen seconds while looking at her interlocutor.
"Him?"
"He has the motivation."
"I will discuss it with the King."
22 December 1992, Hogwarts, Scotland
Severus Snape waked in great strides along the deserted corridors of Hogwarts, his dark mood preceding him like a dark aura of terror, his black robe billowing like a bat emerging from some tormented hell and his jaw tightened in the extreme. The Senior Potions Masters was rarely in a pleasant mood at any time, as a lot of Gryffindors could have vigorously attested over the last decade, but on this particular evening, his thoughts were particularly murderous and dark.
Severus Snape had been charged by his master Albus Dumbledore to patrol Hogwarts in the Headmaster's absence. This had been a rising occurrence over the last school years, Dumbledore being too busy assisting to Wizengamot and ICW meetings to deal with the mundane things requiring his presence inside the castle, but refusing to hire more people to deal with the menial tasks. Minerva McGonagall was doing his paperwork, to take one example amongst many. That patrolling was a simple task did not mean it was a pleasant one, especially it offered the friendless Professor the opportunity to see a lot of human interactions between students no one was ever going to give him. One impartial observer could have told it was Albus Dumbledore way to pass a subtle message to a man who had been part of the Death Eaters before coming to the magical school. Too bad the message had been totally ignored by the receiver.
Severus Snape's second mission was to find whoever was behind the series of attack that terrified the entire school, and to arrest him, on the spot if possible. The Chief Warlock remembered how Hagrid had been blamed fifty years ago for a crime he hadn't committed, and wanted no such errors to happen again. The problem, aside from the fact all Professors and at least two dozen Aurors should have been ordered to do this considering the sheer danger it put four hundred-plus students, was the sheer impossibility of it. Hogwarts was a large castle, with seven open floors, hundreds of classrooms, secret passages and magical artefacts. Finding something or someone who didn't want to be found was close to hunting illusions. Ancient alumni of the school had often said Hogwarts was a place where you could lose an entire army and never find them after decades of searches.
But Severus Snape was a Professor, even if a couple of hundred Gryffindors alumni would have jumped in the air to disagree vehemently this point. The job itself implied classes to assist, essays to correct and grade with unfair marks, cauldrons and ingredients to prepare, detentions to oversee and potions supplies to order from half a dozen suppliers. There was seven years of curriculums to decide, because it was not the mediocre Junior Professor Whitehall who was going to do it. There were analyses of confiscated love potions to do and idiotic girls to punish. All these necessaries activities made sure his patrols and his searches did not happen before curfew and sometimes later than this hour-mark. To add a little difficulty to the procedure, Severus Snape had not been given any oversight over the formidable wards protecting Hogwarts. The mysterious attacker petrifying the Muggle-born children could have been attacking one corridor away from him, and the Potions Professor wouldn't be aware of it if the struggle didn't produce some noise. Little wonder then that the track of the Heir of Slytherin was going absolutely and utterly nowhere.
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