Brief is the light

Disclaimer: Neither Severus, nor Kingsley belong to me, but I love them nevertheless *shrugs*

Rating: NC-17, slash - don\'t like, don\'t read

A/N: I\'ll give slash for feedback

Thanks and a big hug to my wonderful beta dragonquills

Brief Is The Light

The headmaster’s office was exactly as Kingsley remembered it to be, although it had been more than ten years since he had been called to visit Dumbledore for a cup of tea.

It seemed to him that neither the office nor his old headmaster had aged a single day since then, and suddenly he felt as if someone had sent him back in time, right back to his days as a Hogwarts student.

“Kingsley, my dear boy! How good to see you!” the old wizard beamed as he entered his office. “Sorry, that you had to wait.”

Out of a reflex the young man jumped to his feet, just standing next to his chair and waiting until his former headmaster had taken his seat.

“It’s good to see you, too! It’s been quite a while since I have been in your office.” A warm smile spread over the friendly face of the younger wizard and with one of his broad black hands he gestured at his surroundings.

“Seems to me that you haven’t changed anything in here, have you?”

“Neither have you changed it seems. Your manners have always been remarkable, my boy.” Light blue eyes were twinkling behind the half-moon glasses Dumbledore wore. “Now take your seat and have a cup of tea with me!”

“I happily will.” Kingsley’s smile grew even brighter as he saw the blue patterned cup Dumbledore placed in front of him, and he sat down in his chair again.
‘Even the tea is the same,’ he thought while the grey-haired wizard filled their cups and the strong, sweet, scent of peppermint reached his nose. He had always liked Dumbledore’s tea, which tasted more like a peppermint bonbon than actually tea.

“Hm. Where have I placed them? Hum…” Albus mumbled to himself and rummaged in the many drawers of his desk when he finally found what he was looking for. He took a small plate full of cookies out of the bottom drawer and handed it to Kingsley after taking one for himself.

“Here we are! Toffee-cookies – the best you can find.”

Kingsley had been one of the few students who had never rejected Albus offers to drink a cup of tea or have a piece of cake during their meetings in his office – something Albus liked very much about him. Instead of being too shy or too nervous to enjoy teatime with the headmaster, the black wizard has always shared Dumbledore’s opinion that every discussion was twice as pleasant (or half as worse) if sweetened with a cup of good tea and a handful of cookies.

Both men sat in a peaceful silence for a while, just crunching the sweet cookies and taking a sip of the hot tea every now and then. Kingsley didn’t knew if he should interrupt Dumbledore who was obviously deep in thought, so he patiently waited for the old wizard to talk to him.

When Dumbledore had finished his toffee-cookie, he absentmindedly stroked some crumbs out of the silvery grey flood that was his beard, and cleared his throat.

“I am sure you have been wondering what the reason for our meeting is.”

“Of course, I have,” Kingsley looked up from his teacup, his face showing concern. “Order-business I suppose or a job of similar priority.” He knew that Dumbledore wouldn’t call him for nothing and prepared himself for bad news.

“Severus is missing,” Albus stated outright. “He didn’t come back from the last Death Eater meeting, which happened to be four days ago.” The bluish eyes blinked sadly, looking much older than a minute before. “The Order has already been searching for him, and young Nymphadora Tonks found out that he got captured by Aurors, who were searching for followers of the Dark Lord.”

“Merlin! They truly take him for a Death Eater?” Kingsley’s brown eyes widened. “Have you talked to the Ministry about Snape? If they had known why he was at the meeting they will surely set him free.”

“Actually the Ministry denies that Severus was caught by Aurors. Tonks couldn’t find a single official hint about the whole round up, nor that a Death Eater was actually caught. Furthermore she could not find the Aurors, who caught Severus. It seems that the Ministry hides the information about the whole affair extremely well.”

“If the Ministry hides the information so well, how did Tonks find out that Snape is in the hands of Aurors? I haven’t heard the tiniest bit about Snape at the Ministry.” Although he knew that Snape had been working for the Order in the past, Kingsley had never trusted the mysterious wizard. The greasy-haired, sarcasm-spitting man that was Severus Snape had always been rather hostile and a complete enigma to him; he wouldn’t be surprised if Dumbledore’s spy would have changed allegiance. “Maybe he has just stayed with the Dark Lord…”

“Tonks knows the few bits about Severus’ capture from Alastor Moody. It seems that one of the Aurors of that team was a former student of his.” With a short but sad sigh Albus took up his cup of tea.

“So Moody and Tonks know where Severus is? Why don’t they get him out?” Kingsley asked dumbfounded, his face showing his puzzlement.

“The Ministry does not trust Alastor. Of course, they know that we were old friends and they probably fear that Alastor would hand me information if they would put him charge of Severus’ interrogation. Tonks situation is quite similar.” The old man took another sip of his tea. “Except from the fact that Severus is in the hands of the Ministry we know practically nothing.”

“And you want me doing some research about it…to find out if Snape’s really in Azkaban?” The black man took his own cup, holding the bluish china in his strong hand. “Truly, I don’t see a chance that the Ministry will allow my presence in Azkaban. I have still the order to track down Sirius Black.”

“Yes, my dear boy. Nymphadora Tonks told me that the Ministry wants to believe that poor Sirius’ death was nothing but a trick.” The silvery grey flood of hair rustled softly as the old wizard sadly shook his head. “But I do hope that their fault and their disrespect for Sirius’ death will at least help us to save Severus’ life.”

Silently, Kingsley nodded his head. He had never cared much about Severus Snape, but he knew his old Headmaster did, which was all the reason he needed to offer his help.

“Kingsley, you are the leader of the search-team for Sirius, and as you have already said, the search still goes on. Maybe you can convince the Ministry that you have serious hints that Severus knows Sirius. Convince them that you need to interrogate him about Sirius Black’s ‘Escape’.” The old man stared directly into Kingsley dark brown eyes. “I know how much I ask for, but you are the only person who actually has a chance to get to Severus.”

“I see,” Kingsley lifted his nearly empty teacup again, just to gain some time. He had had much more dangerous jobs than selling a few lies to his superiors, so he couldn’t understand why he was hesitating. Maybe it was the idea of going to Azkaban. - Probably. –

He had been there on his first mission as an Auror, and even two weeks after the end of his assignment he had had nightmares, although the Dementors hadn’t touched him. It hadn’t been just the ghostly, soul-destroying demons – the whole isle was cursed, illness and fear dripping from an invisible source, covering everything and everyone.

“Azkaban.” The black man sighed heavily. “If the poor chap is really there, we have to get him out, Professor. I don’t think checking if he’s still alive will be enough. After all, he’s one of us, right?”

“I will give my word for that, Kingsley.” Albus gently smiled at him. “I always knew that you have the heart and the mind to decide what to do, and I will support you in any way I might.” With that he opened another drawer, took out a dirty piece of parchment and handed it to Kingsley.

“This, my boy, is an old note Severus had sent to Sirius. Padfoot had been his contact that days, and Severus had always informed him about their next meeting point by sending a short note. Unfortunately, this is the only one that wasn’t destroyed by Sirius.”

Cautiously, as if it was a precious spell-roll Kingsley unfolded the parchment. The short message was written in a sharp, calligraphic hand:

Meeting at the Dragon stone. Midnight.
S.S.

“Dragon stone?” Kingsley raised a dark brow.

“Yes,” the Headmaster gave a low chuckle. “The boys had some sort of code to disguise their meetings. I have no idea where or what the ‘Dragon stone’ is.”

“Snape and Black had a code?” Kingsley couldn’t believe what he had just heard. The two most conflictive men he knew had created a code to communicate secretly? One minute ago he had been quite sure that their only way of communication had been throwing life-threatening curses at each other.

“Yes. Not only for places. People, potions, nearly everything. And both them always confirmed how much they disliked it, of course.” Albus chuckled again, and wiped his eyes behind his half-moon glasses.

“Of course,” Kingsley smiled. “So I may use this note and show it to the Ministry?”

“That is why I gave it to you. The Aurors will find a couple of Sirius’ fingerprints on it. On the backside is also a short note from Sirius. I suppose that is the reason why he kept this note, instead of burning it as usual. Hopefully, that will be enough to allow you an interrogation with Severus.”

Kingsley turned the small piece of parchment to see what was written on its backside.

“Aldebaran - What does that mean?”

“It is the name of a star, but that’s all I know. I fear only Severus or Sirius could tell what the real meaning of this message is,” the old wizard admitted.
”But I am quite sure that it is neither a spell nor part of a spell. Maybe a password…”

“If I succeed in finding Severus Snape I will ask him,” Kingsley grinned slightly, still amused from Black’s and Snape’s secret code. He folded the small piece of parchment and put it into one of the numerous pockets of his dark blue robe. Then he rose from his chair and offered his strong hand to his former headmaster, who shook it gently.

“I will feed them my story as soon as possible and I will contact you if I have any news.”

“I know you will, my dear boy. Off you go,” he said smiling kindly, his eyes twinkling, as he watched the young man leave.