"Enough!"
The old wizard's rambling was cut off by Snape, who had finally reached the end of his patience. "I'm not in the mood to listen to this nonsense. I only want to know—what exactly is Vaughn's situation?"
Dumbledore, having been interrupted, seemed somewhat reluctant to stop.
But he also understood that this was as far as he could take the teasing. Otherwise, Severus's "shyness" might very well backfire.
He spread his hands. "The papers say he's under house arrest, and that isn't inaccurate. Vaughn sent me another letter yesterday. Apparently, that North American alchemical artifact, the Dreamcatcher, is now monitoring the hotel where he's staying without even trying to hide it. The Muggles within the hotel have been driven out as well. From top to bottom, it's filled with wizards sent by the Magical Congress of the United States."
The muscles in Snape's face twitched. He tightened his grip on his wand and demanded loudly, "If that's the case, why are you still spending all day studying Grindelwald without taking any action? You should go to North America and bring Vaughn back!"
"Er... calm down, Severus," Dumbledore soothed. "I made a similar suggestion to him, but he refused."
"?" Snape frowned.
Dumbledore rose to his feet and waved a hand. A dish carrying sweets floated over from the corner and stopped before Snape. "Would you like a sweet, Severus?"
"Make it go away!"
"Very well." Dumbledore summoned the dish back to himself, picked up a Cockroach Cluster, and popped it into his mouth. Then he continued, "The house arrest does exist. At the same time, it is also true that Vaughn is 'complying' with the Magical Congress's house arrest."
"...Why would he do that?"
"How should I put it..." Dumbledore considered for a moment. "Because of DeSantis, he wants