Snape and Dumbledore appeared in a very crowded room.
The room looked like a hybrid of a magical antique shop and a botanical greenhouse.
Exquisite display cabinets filled with Enchanted objects stood everywhere, along with bookshelves packed with gilt-edged books, racks holding celestial globes and astrolabes of various sizes, and numerous lush plants growing from copper vessels.
Before them, an extremely fat old woman was busy in front of a small mirror studded with jewels.
Holding a large powder puff, she dabbed rouge onto her face, which was already as red as a ripe apple.
Hepzibah Smith wore an elaborate ginger wig and a dazzling pink robe. Its layered skirts spread around her, making her look like a melting ice cream cake.
Hokey knelt at her feet, carefully squeezing the old woman's plump feet into tight satin shoes and fastening the buckles for her.
"Tut, tut, tut," Snape could not help remarking. "Tom certainly has quite an appetite. Looks like he really does not want to work hard anymore."
"How do I look?" Hepzibah asked, turning her head and admiring her reflection from every angle.
"Beautiful, ma'am," Hokey squeaked.
"Rich, ma'am," Snape said almost at the same time as Hokey.
But the moment the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake and quickly corrected himself. "No, I mean—rich, darling."
Dumbledore shook his head and gave him a disdainful look.
"Sir, do you know what Hepzibah's most beautiful quality is?" Snape asked, turning to Dumbledore.
"What?" Dumbledore said. "Could you be quiet for a while, Severus?"
"Certainly, sir," Snape replied without thinking. "Her most beautiful quality is precisely that she does not have many days left to live. How many young men must dream of a partner like her? Tom's ambitions are still too small."
The doorbell rang in a