Moonlight flowed between the twisted shadows of the trees.
The fir trees looked like toys flattened by an invisible hand. The patterns on their bark were as neat as printed designs, and the place was deathly still, like a world pieced together from Lego.
Under the moonlight, the silver-haired old man grasped the Elder Wand that represented authority. The hem of his robe swept across the ground, and the seemingly real fallen leaves dissolved away with a rustle like pixel fragments.
"Headmaster Dumbledore!"
Only then did Hermione let out a startled cry, slow to realize what was happening. Her wand nearly slipped from her hand, and the dead branch she stepped on as she backed away snapped with a crisp sound, like breaking plastic.
However.
Very soon.
The crushed substance repaired itself completely, unlike the fallen leaves beneath Dumbledore's feet, which had vanished outright. Neither she nor Snape could affect the things that existed in this space.
Perhaps it had something to do with status.
After all.
Albus Dumbledore had not cast any magic as he walked.
"Why are you here?" Snape looked at Albus Dumbledore with a hint of wariness. He had not lowered his wand from beginning to end.
Perhaps Dumbledore's words had overturned too much of what he knew about Albus Dumbledore, or perhaps the instincts of a double agent had made him more vigilant than ordinary people.
In any case.
After recovering from his initial shock, Snape did not completely trust the Albus Dumbledore before him. After all, there were many methods in the world for becoming someone else.
For example, Polyjuice Potion.
It was the most common means of changing into someone else. It was a potion brewed from lacewing flies, leeches, fluxweed, knotgrass, powdered bicorn horn, shredded African tree snake skin, and something from