Gin

Lucius Malfoy hurried through an alley utterly at odds with his status, his luxurious robes nearly being steeped through with the surrounding stench.

Garbage was piled everywhere. Plastic bags, beer bottles, and rotting refuse had almost submerged the original pavement. The air was thick with the pungent sour reek of spoiled food, while withered yellow weeds stubbornly forced their way out through cracks between the bricks and along the base of the walls, growing wild and unchecked.

Lucius Malfoy's face bore undisguised disgust and wariness. He did his utmost to avoid stepping directly onto the filth on the ground, clutching his black Cloak tightly around himself as though it could shield him from the decay and grime around him.

"Damn it! He's been living in a place like this? Keeping company with Muggle trash heaps?"

Lucius muttered curses under his breath, but he still had no choice but to pass through the narrow alley. Reaching the last house, he raised his Snake-headed Cane and knocked sharply on the door three times.

Before long, he heard footsteps behind the door. It then opened a crack, revealing Snape's sallow, gaunt face, his greasy black hair hanging down on either side of it.

At the sight of Lucius outside, there was not the slightest surprise in his eyes—only a grave, knowing heaviness.

"Lucius."

"Let's go inside first!"

Without time for polite greetings, Lucius seemed driven by an invisible terror as he hurriedly squeezed sideways through the narrow gap in the door.

Snape's sharp gaze swept over the empty alley outside before he swiftly shut the door. The heavy bolt dropped with a dull thud, completely cutting off the inside from the outside.

Snape's home was dark and cramped. Though he was a wizard skilled in Charms, he had not cast a single space-expanding