Silent Paws

Kefir

Severus knew Lux and the Circus Arcanus had to be near Diagon Alley. He could sense her magic. It fluctuated in strength, but he knew she was nearby. The only difficulty was convincing the Aurors to search Diagon Alley, Knockturn Alley, Horizont Alley and Carkitt Market, without telling them how he knew the circus to be there. Somewhere.

The only humans who'd known that Severus had become the new Guardian of the Titans had been Gandalf, Minerva, Hermione and Ronald Weasley, and Hugo Granger-Weasley. And Hugo had only found out by accident.

"We searched the Market many times already," said Miriam Shacklebolt and shot Severus a slightly peeved look. "I don't exactly know why you insist we check there again."

Severus leaned against the wall of Shacklebolt's office and narrowed his eyes. "I don't need to explain anything to you," he said, "but I know the circus will be there somewhere."

Shacklebolt's great-granddaughter huffed annoyed. She was one of the few Aurors Severus deemed competent and the only one who had agreed to listen to his theory about the circus' location. But even she couldn't do much if he didn't tell her everything.

"I can't ask for permission to search the buildings at Carkitt Market without a good explanation, Markus," she said and exhaled slowly, trying to keep her cool.

Severus shot her an icy look. "I don't remember ever giving you the permission to call me by my first name," he said. Officially, his name was Markus Severus Snape since the real Severus Tobias Snape had to die at some point, if he didn't want to arouse any suspicion. As far as the ministry knew, he was a distant relative of Severus Tobias Snape.

It was a real pain in the ass to fake his death regularly. Gandalf must have had it easier in the Middle-Ages, when no one cared who'd died. A handshake and the sentence, 'I'm the distant cousin of Mr. Miller' had been enough.

But not in this century. He had to get a new bloody passport every time and fake his birth date and so forth, for a lot of money. It was amazing how many people offered to do that, once you showed them a large pouch of gold.

Miriam raised an eyebrow. "After five years of us cooperating together, I'd say we're on a first name basis now."

"We're not."

"Do you want me to call you Severus instead?"

Severus' eyes narrowed and Miriam smirked. "I think it suits you better," she said and rifled through a few papers in her drawer.

"You're not calling me anything but by my last name, Shacklebolt," snapped Severus and pushed himself off the wall. He walked over to Miriam's desk and crossed his arms.
"If you fail to understand that I know that the Circus is in London, then I'm investigating on my own. There's too much at stake here."

The Auror's head snapped up. "No. Out of the question. You do not have the ministry's permission to be involved in this case," she said sharply.

"I need to find it," repeated Severus with a growl in his voice. "Friends of mine have been taken."

Miriam sighed. "Look, I know that you want to find the unicorns and the Silverwing, but the truth is, without proper evidence-"

Severus raised an eyebrow and turned around, his black cloak billowing behind him.

"Snape!"

The door banged shut.

****

Cita paced restlessly in her cage, growling. She'd been stuck inside now for several days and longed to move. Her food was shoved through the bars once a day, enough to fill the hole in her stomach, but never actually making her feel satisfied. Rosaly had been taken twice to perform for little children, while Scorpius had had to endure people trying to pet him.