The Queen of Albion

Chapter 1: Dad

He hated these meetings. He strode in quickly, passing the socialising crowd in the drawing room, heading straight to the dining room and taking his place. There was no reason to socialise, not with this crowd, they viewed him with too much distrust in the actual meetings anyway. He rolled his eyes as he realised he was the first one there. Of course, no one here could be bothered to be punctual. It's not like they had punctuality driven into them by Cruciatus like he had from his other master.

The rest of the crowd start to come in. He keeps his gaze level as the glares of disgust roll off the newcomers. They take their places on the other end of the table staying far away from him as possible. He stifled a small snort. The feeling is mutual, he thought. The further they were from him, the safer and better it was.

Moody and Black were the worst but there he wasn't sure he was so benevolent. He still blamed Black for the Potter's deaths, Lily's death. If the stupid mutt hadn't convinced them to change Secret Keepers, if the idiots weren't so obliviously Gryffindor, they would have seen Peter Pettigrew for who he is. Not to mention their childhood rivalry.

Moody reserved suspicion for everyone. He was the one to arrest him after the First War. Moody took pleasure in the process of arresting him. Humiliating him as he was made to strip naked, poked and prodded and then given the Azkaban grey. He even took some cheap shots, using a few special Blood Boiling and Whipping curses just before he was taken to Azkaban, both of them quite sure that he would never see the other. No, there the feeling was completely mutual.

Glaring at them as they walked in seemed to satisfy at least some of the mutual loathing. He grumbled under his breath about how late Dumbledore was. Honestly, the old coot called these meetings and insisted on his attendance because he thought Severus should bond with the rest of the old crowd. Severus scoffed internally, he was more likely to bond with the Death Eaters than with these crowds. Even Arthur and Molly Weasley sent barely laced contempt his way, probably due to his treatment of their children all throughout their years at Hogwarts. Well, he probably deserved that.

Finally, the man of the hour strides in his bright purple robes. Albus Dumbledore. Finally, they could get started, and he could get out of there.

'Severus, ah good you're here,'

Of course, I am, you requested my presence, old man.

'Severus, please give us your report,'

'The Dark Lord is still interested in Potter, he knows that he has been moved, but not his location. He believes the boy is at The Burrow with the Weasleys as we have planned.'

'Well done, Severus.'

He inclined his head, knuckles clenching over the armrests of his chair. The memory of that night was unpleasant. He left out the multiple rounds of Cruciatus he had to endure as punishment for not telling the Dark Lord when the child was moved in the first place.

They moved on to other topics, getting updates from the wolf and Hagrid on their attempts at convincing the werewolves and Giants to join their side. Fool's errands in his opinion, werewolves faced much too many recriminations from the Ministry of Magic and have been oppressed for centuries. They had their own code, their own principles and from one glance at Lupin, he knew that they shared the same thoughts. The Giants were already aligned with the Dark Lord from the First War.

'Ah, just in time, come in, child,' Albus said as the whole room turned to the door.

'Nicole?! What are you doing here?' he was taken aback as the last person he ever expected walked through the door, followed by another person he never expected to see within these walls.

'Uncle Sev! Good to see ya', said the young man, Emmett.

'Albus, what is the meaning of this?' he hissed to the twinkling eyes across the room.

'Honestly dad, it's not a big deal...'

'DAD?!!!'