All Hail the Dark Lord, Or Something Idiotic Like That

A New Friend pt9

A/N: Not my story! Original available on ao3

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"Black," Snape acknowledged him before sliding into the booth opposite. "Was your partner not able to make it?"

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"Hadrian, please," Harry corrected him with a smile. "And he's at the bar getting us a round. How was the start of the new term?"

Snape grimaced. "How up to date are you on the events happening in Britain right now?"

Harry nodded knowing that Voldemort was probably being a right arse to his Death Eaters and Snape in particular since none of them besides weak Pettigrew had sought him out when he was wraith to raise him back to life.

"Very," Harry commented, purposely turning his left arm just so Snape could be abundantly sure he didn't have a Dark Mark even if he'd clocked his bare arm before. He cast a quick ward around their booth so no one could listen into their conversation, something that had Snape nodding at him in appreciation.

"As a Master of Dark Arts, I did my research into the state of the country and ministry politics so I would know how welcome I was here. I have to say, your dark practitioners have absolutely not been helping our people's case in promoting magic equality," he said with a sneer that showed just what he thought of that.

Snape nodded, and tapped his left arm significantly over the covered Dark Mark. "What has your cousin mentioned about me and my association with him specifically?"

Harry smiled at the man and leaned back, seeing Percy returning out of the corner of his eye. "Schoolyard rivals, he says you were a git, but frankly he sounds like a bully. I imagine things were worse than he made them out to be, but I also know that he's a different person now. He also spent way more time in prison than whatever he did would have warranted if he actually did something illegal, which knowing Siri, he probably did."

Snape sneered but nodded. "I was an anti-social git, but your cousin was most definitely a bully. That isn't what I was asking though."

Percy walked through the ward and put three whiskeys on the table before promptly sitting down beside Harry. "I have your bottles shrunk in my pocket, and no shrinking them absolutely doesn't change the taste, don't even go there," he told his partner with a glare before turning to a baffled Snape across from them. "Professor...good to see you outside the castle. I was surprised you and Hadrian had met before."

"It definitely changes the taste," Harry rolled his eyes but looked between the two with a smirk and waited. "Thank you though, Perce. I'll get the next round."

"Percival Weasley," Snape said in as much a tone of disbelief as his very expressionless self could muster.

"Ergh! Please call me Percy," the man shuddered. "Only Aunt Muriel ever called me that. You're giving me bad flashbacks of mothballs and crushing disapproval."

"How did...?" Snape didn't seem to be able to finish the sentence as he looked between them, seeming to add up the age, geographical locations, and magical belief differences between them.

"Ministry trip to Amsterdam last year before the Tournament really got going," Percy shrugged in explanation. Harry pushed Snape's whiskey closer to the man with one finger and a smirk.

Snape gave him a twisted smirk back before taking a sip of the drink. "You do realize he'd a light wizard, right?" Snape put down the glass and asked Harry with a dry glare over at the redhead.