Chapter 28

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 Regulus sat in the Minister's office, or should I say temporarily his office, and stared dumbly at the huge pile of papers. He had no desire to work with them at the moment. How tired he was of pretending. Fudge's persona was difficult for him, but not in the sense that Cornelius was a very clever and cunning mage, no, quite the opposite. The Minister of Magic - Cornelius Fudge - was a stupid, greedy, ambitious and cowardly little man, and how he had managed to get into politics and become the first face of the magical world of England, Regulus did not understand. Yes, of course, Dumbledore had been involved in Fudge's becoming Minister; it was convenient for the old man to keep a wizard with so much power in their world under his wing, because thanks to Cornelius's rotten nature, he could easily control him. But how Fudge had managed to stay in the Ministry was unclear. Though they do say that fools are lucky. Maybe in his case Fortune had played a major role. But what was there to talk about? It doesn't matter now. What matters is the Minister of Magic's reputation. Fudge had a very bad one. Where would he start? Or maybe...? It's time to help an old friend, cos his precious daddy's digging his nose into the ground. Yes, I think that's where we should start. Regulus nodded to himself and headed off to the archives, telling the receptionist to reschedule today's appointments for another day as he was busy today. The pretty blonde girl nodded quickly, quickly at the chief's words. The girl felt that something had changed in the Minister, but she couldn't understand what it was. Although, deep in her soul she had a feeling that her chief had become a dangerous predator or was always like that, just hid his nature too well. Thinking about it, the blonde began to look through the list of today's visitors to reschedule meetings for other days. Though, thoughts of Fudge were quickly enough out of her head, giving way to other thoughts about her upcoming date with the young, handsome auror. Ah, how easily he'd caught her yesterday when her bloody heel broke right in the middle of the Ministry Atrium as she was walking home. If it hadn't been for Ryan, she would surely have fallen, what an embarrassment that would have been.

- I'll have to remember not to get shoes from Madame Malkin anymore, they're not very good quality," she muttered as she pulled a stack of official parchments from her desk drawer. For a few seconds the girl's gaze faded into a dreamy haze. - Maybe Ryan wouldn't be as stingy as Steve and take me to a Parisian shopping alley. Ah, what shops are there...

 The changes that had happened to her boss didn't occupy even the tiniest space in her thoughts. She was simply not interested.

* * * * *

 Finally, the X-day came. The boys had not seen the girls who would be accompanying them to the Ball tonight since morning. Occasionally, either Draco, Neville or Harry would cast anxious glances at their fourth mate. But they seemed to be worried for nothing. Ron had come to his senses rather quickly after the day he had learned that Molly and Arthur Weasley were not his real parents, but the usual murderers who had destroyed his own mother. Outwardly the young man was calm, but there was a small light in the depths of his eyes that warned him that one day his thirst for revenge would break free and wreak a brutal reprisal on the murderers of his mum and her kind. But for now, Ron could still control that lust. It was true that his attitude towards everyone who bore the Weasley surname had changed drastically. Even the twins, whom he had previously treated very warmly. No, of course, his brothers and sister, if they could still be called that, Ron didn't blame for Lady Vanessa's death, but... It was both physically and mentally hard for him to be around them, for they were the flesh and blood of those damned murderers.

 Harry, Neville, and Draco understood their friend's floundering and prayed that Pruett would make it to the holidays, and then the twins would be out of England. Their papers, that's what the Minister of Magic was on their side, had already been sent to the American school where Fred and George would have to finish their studies. And then... It would be decided later, and maybe by that time Ron would get what he wanted and be able to communicate with the twins normally again. It wasn't their fault for what their parents had done, after all.

 All four of the young mages were now gathered in the Potions Master's sitting room. He wrinkled his nose at the mess the boys had made, but graciously kept quiet. He would still have a chance to vent his irritation today, for Black, who was Sirius, had invited him, Barty-Humour, Lucius and Igor to have a couple of glasses of firewhiskey at the Grimmauld Place house and talk about matters of the day. A satisfied smile flashed across the Potions Master's thin lips for a brief moment. Tonight he was going to beat the arrogant muzzle of that mordred animagus dog. Even though they'd resolved all their past differences, almost every time they met was marked by the usual Muggle brawl. The rest of the group, watching this amusement of men who were still in their teens, just smirked, saying, "Whatever the child wants, as long as they don't throw avado cruciatus at each other.

 Half-closing his eyes, Severus watched the boys and listened to his godson's ingenious plan with a sinking heart. He was already imagining with quiet dread how Dumbledore would react to the tigers' next prank.

- We should warn our own people," Snape muttered, barely audibly, "to be ready to cover the four fools, just in case. And why did they choose to gather in my rooms?!

 The boys paid no attention to the man's rhetorical exclamation and continued to move things from one large pile to other smaller ones. Suddenly Harry was distracted from his work and stared at Snape. The boy's gaze became interested at first, and then took on a sort of manic glint. Severus swallowed nervously, watching as his personal nightmare in reality, and leader at the same time, moved towards him. More than anything, Snape wanted to fall under the ground right where he sat. He realised he was in trouble, and big time. What was he supposed to say? If he had, he wouldn't have been reminded of him....

- Professor," Harry sang out, and Severus shuddered, "can I borrow your devouring robe?

- Potter," Snape glared angrily at the boy, "I strongly suggest you think of something else to wear to the Ball tonight.

- I don't want to," Harry stretched out crankily and Neville grunted with laughter behind him.

- Godfather, really," Malfoy said, stretching his vowels and giving him a pleading look, "it'll be fun. And it's too late to cancel. I've already sent Daphne a note with the elf. She's probably already told Millie, Astoria, and Fleur.

 Severus glanced at his godson doomedly. That boyish look was a forbidden trope. Snape was very fond of the blond-haired lad and could never refuse him if he asked for something while looking at him like that. Yes, it was one of the dark potions master's deepest secrets. Really, thank all the gods, Draco hadn't done that in a long time. But now he remembered.

- All right," Severus said curtly and headed towards his bedroom.

 As soon as he grasped the brass knob to open the door, the man stood stunned, staring into the unknown distance with the unseeing gaze of bottomless black eyes. A wild thought suddenly popped into his head, striking him as hard as lightning. What if it wasn't Draco, but Potter looking at him like that? Of course, such a thing had never happened before, nor could it, since they hated each other. But when you combine the pleading look his godson was using and the emerald green eyes of the son of the beloved red-haired bestie, her eyes on the boy's face, would he be able to refuse? Oh gods, of course not! He would get both the moon from heaven and the devil from hell, if only the boy would thus ask him.

- Professor? Are you all right? - Came the slightly concerned voice of his personal curse.

- 'Yes,' the man's voice suddenly snapped to high notes and he pushed the bedroom door open sharply.

 Severus leaned back against the closed door and ran his palm stiffly over his face. It had come to this! He had just shamefully run away from his own student. After a few seconds of pulling himself together, Snape retrieved the necessary robe from the far corner of the wardrobe and returned to the study. Already there he found that the boys had wasted no time and had apparently chased down the housekeepers for the missing robes. After that he resumed his favourite place in the living room - the chair by the fireplace. After a couple of minutes of watching the guys witching, he heard a knock on the door, but didn't have time to react to it. Draco was the first to go to the door and opened it, letting the four girls into the living room. Severus shook his head, he honestly hadn't expected the boys' companions to go along with their plan so easily, especially as far as he knew the Greengrass sisters weren't privy to the mystery of the four. But, as it turned out, he had miscalculated, the two lovely girls were real beasts, and having learnt the purpose of the plan, they immediately made adjustments to it. On eight devouring robes - four female, most likely Bellatrix and Narcissa were generous, Snape decided, and four male - were superimposed several layers of powerful illusions and some quite incomprehensible to the potionist charms. All of this was secured with runes. Only then did the whole company begin to change clothes, having previously conjured up a couple of screens. A quarter of an hour later, the Dark Lord and the seven Death Eaters appeared before Snape, and a second later their appearance changed to that of ordinary students: the boys in ceremonial robes, the girls in evening gowns. Every few minutes their appearance changed, then it was Voldemort and his servants in front of them, then the students.

 Severus regarded the illusions of the first appearance with amazement. The Dark Lord and his companion Bellatrix Lestrange were Harry and Fleur, Lucius Malfoy and his consort Narcissa were Draco and Daphne, Barty Crouch Jr. and Alecto Carrow were Neville and Millicenta, Antonin Dolohov and Adelaide Rosier were Ron and Astoria. They all seemed so natural that it was impossible to doubt their reality. And they were just as the public remembered them during the Death Eater raids. Snape shuddered involuntarily; he had some very bad memories of that time.

- Is this what everyone's going to see? - The Potions Master asked, pushing the unnecessary memories aside.

- 'No,' Draco replied, smiling devilishly, 'only our beloved Dumbledore.

- This evening will be the first stage of a campaign to have Albus Dumbledore declared insane," Harry smirked.

- But, then why am I seeing this? - Severus asked another question.

- We want it that way," Neville replied, handing Potter a white, bone mask removed from his belt.

 Harry cast the necessary spells on it and Longbottom put it to his face. A second and Snape sees him in the mask, a second and he sees the young man's face again. Potter, meanwhile, was casting his spell on the others.

- Professor, don't you want to take part in this? - Millicent asked suddenly.

 The man was about to answer in the negative, but suddenly realised that he was infected by the enthusiasm of the students.

- Well, I won't refuse," he said, and in the depths of his eyes sparkled such rare and unusual for him chuckles, "but please make me a different appearance.

- What? - Harry asked immediately, stepping closer to Snape and looking him over with an appraising gaze.

- In the style of our esteemed Headmaster...