"This weather... it's bloody awful!"
Albert emerged from a street corner and looked up at the gray, overcast sky. He suddenly turned to look in a certain direction, his gaze piercing through the thick fog to land on the rooftops not far down the street, where several Ministry of Magic employees were holding up their wands and whipping up wind and snow to obscure the passersby's view.
High above London, Aurors on broomsticks took cover in the wind and snow as they summoned their Patronuses to drive away the Dementors lingering over the city.
Albert breathed warm air into his palms and rubbed them hard before tightening his trench coat and walking down the dim street. Eventually, he turned into a steaming coffee shop.
The moment he pushed open the glass door, a wave of hot air thick with the aroma of coffee hit him in the face. Probably due to the terrible weather, there were few customers inside.
His gaze swept through the shop before settling on a customer in the corner. It was a red-haired middle-aged man, drinking coffee while reading a newspaper.
"I hope I haven't kept you waiting too long!" Albert went over to greet him.
"No, I just got here!"
Scrimgeour put down his newspaper and smiled as he gestured for Albert to sit. "What would you like? It's on me today."
"A cappuccino," Albert told the waitress.
Once the waitress had left, Scrimgeour lowered his voice. "Kingsley told me about Snape."
They had not used magic to conceal their voices, because doing so would have seemed even more suspicious.
"Oh, it seems Kingsley is still brooding over it!"
Albert understood what he meant. Scrimgeour clearly cared a great deal about whether Snape might betray Dumbledore.
Although Scrimgeour was becoming more and more like a