Letter 18: Severus Snape to J. Alfred Prufrock, 15th February 1998

A/N: For simplicity’s sake, titles of books, journals etc are underlined and emphases are italicised. In reviving the old tradition of epistolary novels, I understand the plot may be a little slow, laborious and difficult to follow. Some might consider it AU and a little OOC.

In order not to weary the reader’s patience, a number of letters from the series of correspondences have been suppressed; those only have been given which appeared necessary to a complete understanding of the events in this group. For the same reason, some letters from the actors in the events of this drama have also been suppressed.

Proestigium or What the Seasons may Bring

Letter 18: Severus Snape to J. Alfred Prufrock, 15th February 1998

Severus X. A. Snape

Hogwarts Castle,

Potions’ Office,

The Dungeons,

Scotland,

UK

15th February 1998

Your office informed me that you were on leave this week. I hope this missive finds you at home; otherwise, I will deliver a hex on your bald pate. I have just received from your office, a forwarded card from Obscurus books and its Estoericae House imprint informing me that the finalised proof for Magical Drafts and Potions is in its hands. Thank you for your efficiency. As soon as the copies arrive at your doorstep in a few days’ time, I want 3 copies delivered to my usual address. Do not question me, man! This is important and a matter of great delicacy. I trust you have sent my request for the re-drawn dedication page to that ridiculous puffskein, Heaney.

Everyday, the toil of this act knots itself around my neck. Not only do I have to play spy to the Dark Lord, I have to pretend to be Jigger to answer the Granger chit’s letters. Easy enough to stop writing altogether, you say. Therein lies the trouble – I enjoy writing to her. In a perverse way, I enjoy being privy to her thoughts on me. And I get a sense of how the blasted Golden Trio feel about the Order’s mad schemes to defeat the Dark Lord. Damn it, I am a moral egoist! It may sound odd, but I feel a certain affinity to the girl in our correspondence. I cannot explain it. Damn me, Prufrock – I now know EXACTLY how Merlin felt when tempted by Nimue’s charms. Yet, this girl is no Nimue, as you well know. Her mind is keen and her wit is sharp.

Enough on me, on to more pressing matters. Albus desires both your presence and Aberforth’s at the next meeting. He will send word as to the time and the date. He may want us to strike the first nail in the Dark Lord’s coffin, so to speak. As the Dark Lord’s plans are near completion, it would be expedient for us to act before he does. The minutes of the last meeting plainly indicated that the Dark Lord’s Headquarters will be stationed at Cardiff. If all goes well and if Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy keep their word, we may have an easier time breaking in with the Second Front. At present, I have every reason to believe that the plans known to me are outdated by a fortnight. After the next meeting with the Dark Lord, young Malfoy and I will endeavour to report all to the Order.

On the professional front, Jigger WILL NOT be available for comment on the latest imprint of Magical Drafts and Potions. There will be no official book launch or book signing at Flourish and Blotts or Esotericae House or Obscurus Books. I will pre-sign 50 copies. These will be sold at 20% more than retail price. The proceeds to these will go to the Order funds and the war orphans. I am also expecting some letters from Ars Chemica and Nomos. There is a debate about Voudoun love potions that I wish to follow. Jigger is also expecting two copies of a book entitled Dark Potions by Thomas Strauss; it could be useful for adding that narcoleptic Lupin’s private cause.

S. Snape.

Footnotes

Proestigium is Latin for illusion. Ironically, the English word Prestige derives from it.

For the confused, Severus refers to Hermione as Nimue in the context of this letter. Those familiar with the Merlin-Nimue story (not the one propounded in the film version starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Rossellini) will see why. In Sir Thomas Malory’s Le morte d’Arthur, Merlin becomes infatuated with the enchantress Nimuë. She is young and he is considerably older. She wants him to teach her all that he knows of the magical arts. He promises to do so in return for a lover’s fee (as to what that is – use your imagination). She agrees to the terms. He teaches her, but instead of the ‘lover’s fee’, she buries him under a great rock, sealing it with a form of magic that she had learnt and adapted from him. And poor Merlin remains under the rock from which he could not escape.

Now apply this to the context that Severus presently sees her, what do you see? Think about it.