"Fine black tea should be drunk plain. Certain barbarians never understand such taste." Snape gave Harry, who was holding a teacup with a troubled expression, a pointed look.
Harry felt that Snape's malice was immense.
Fortunately, Snape did not seem inclined to be overly harsh on Harry in front of Vaughn. After casually taking a jab at him, he began chatting with Vaughn.
"North America produces green tea too?"
→??????????.??????
"Of course. The Yankees are very fond of Far East tea. Their habits have even begun to invade England. Haven't you noticed?"
"—I have noticed. I just didn't realize it, or perhaps I couldn't put it into words."
"Oh, an Unbreakable Vow, or some unknown secrecy spell?"
Huh?
Harry, who had been staring at his teacup and wondering whether he should drink the strange brew inside, suddenly snapped to attention.
Weren't they talking about tea? How had they suddenly switched to magic?
Harry blankly raised his head and watched Snape take a sip of black tea before saying, as if nothing were amiss, "There aren't that many secrecy spells. One is enough."
At that, Vaughn pondered for a moment, then nodded. "It seems the caster's contract places heavy restrictions on you. I won't say his name, then. I'll take out a few things. You don't need to answer; just use whatever method you think appropriate to give me a hint."
With that, under Harry's increasingly bewildered gaze, Vaughn slowly began pulling things from his satchel.
First came a Chocolate Frog card. Dumbledore on the card kept moving about in the photograph.
Then came a newspaper, whose front-page headline featured a photograph of Vaughn himself.
Snape showed no reaction to either item.
Vaughn paused, then pulled out another newspaper. Harry noticed that it seemed to be an old paper from last