𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 - 𝑨 𝑺𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒏𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

CHAPTER SIXTEEN - Friend

UNEDITED
_______

Summer was always too hot. Ice cream stores and ice lolly venders would begin earning fortunes, and the plants the neighbors would have sitting around in their balcony would dry up and die. Spring barely shone any flowers, autumn was cold and depressing.

Winter however, always blessed Spinners End with a cozy blanket of snow. Regardless of the run down state, it was quite lively. Families would be visiting, adults and children playing in the snow, racing around on their brooms. Windows would display warm dinners being prepared, wives and husbands dancing together because they either love each other, or they're about to get divorced but they haven't yet told their children, hence they're simply just putting up a ruse.

Why didn't he moved out? Severus ponders, standing by his office windows while Lucius sat at his desk where books and parchments were messily scattered about, a single lamp contributing to the soft yellow hue illuminating the mahogany.

"How have you beaten me Severus? For the third time in a row that is." The bright haired man was straining to find some sort of charm, an enchantment stuck to the chessboard he was analyzing in his hands.

"I suppose it boils down to sheer brilliance in my part." He declares with a hint of sarcasm, pulling his attention away from the glass to face his companion. "You'll get there one day, I'm sure."

"Codswallop." He tossed the chess board aside and stood up, moving to rummage through the liquor cabinet. The half empty bottle clanked and clicked as they got shuffled around, and soon his fingers reached a poison to fit his tastes.

"Ah, rich Bordeaux. I'd pour you a glass but you cheated."

Severus didn't protest. He was staying off anyway even though he was doing a shitty job at it. He sat down at the edge of his desk where the Malfoy man soon joined, a satisfied hum leaving his chest after he tastes the wine from the bottle before pouring himself a glass. "Cissa would have loved this."

"Are you not meant to be procreating with her?"

"Oh, do piss off." He rolled his eyes effortlessly. "I meant to ask, what are your thoughts on the Azkaban murder?"

There was a moment of silence. His brows furrowed in confusion. "Azkaban....murder?"

"Do you not read the papers? It was on the headlines this morning."

Mia usually delivers him his papers, but lately she has been neglecting tiny bits of her duties.

Last week she gave him coffee with salt instead of sugar, and he was still left wondering if she did it on purpose or not. Not that he blamed her.

With a sigh, he pinches the bridge of his nose.
Lucius reaches into his coat, moving his fist around inside before pulling out a crumpled page of the Daily Prophet. "Here."

He places it in front of the dark haired wizard who picked it up, soothing out the corners to read it.

Azkaban Shock: Bartemius Crouch Jr Found Dead in Cell - Culprit Remains a Mystery

"Odd isn't it?" He says, waiting for Severus to be done reading the article. "The investigation has began yet no clues has been found. It doesn't seem like anyone had broken in with force. The Aurors are currently trying to find some trace of magic in the cell."

"How....upsetting..." He uttered in a dry tone as he kept reading.

His jaw tightened the very slightest as he finishes the last lines, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. Taking a sharp breath through his nose Severus neatly folded the paper up, tucking it into his robes. He was no longer a spy, no longer a Death Eater. None of this was relevant to him anymore so he had to stop his mind from overanalyzing everything.