-A Meeting In The Serpent's Tail Bar-

The Serpent's Tail bar was crowded. Men with stubble on their chins, greasy blokes with strange tattoos, hags, vampires, and every odd and unsavory character from the darkest reaches of wizarding society. Britain's freakiest and most dangerous wizards had converged upon this spot, gathering in tight clusters, dark eyes darting from one to another, sizing up the competition, eyeing the other hopefuls for their potential. All this activity was centered around a small booth in a corner where two men sat with quill pens and parchment paper before them, drinking malt from stout mugs and interviewing one person at a time.

"Next!"

One of the two men was a tall bald black wizard with a stud earing. He was dressed in a neat shirt coat and well shined shoes. Kingsley Shacklebolt couldn't have been more out of place here than a light bulb in a candleshop. An auror amongst some of the pettiest of criminals and darkest wizards in all Britain. Or so that was one of the qualifications required for this venture.

"So Mister Jodebort, you've been studying and practicing dark magic for six years?"

"Tha's righ', an' the black magery...Mah grandaddy taught meh..."

Next to Shacklebolt sat Remus Lupin. His shirt was tattered, his graying auburn hair was pulled back in a tiny pony tail and both amber eyes were darting back and forth, from the applicant before them to the large mob crowding the barstools and booths around them.

"Can you demonstrate a little dark magic here for us please?"

The bartender gave them nervous cautious glances, refilled their mugs when Remus lifted a hand, but otherwise stayed out of view. If the auror was here interviewing people for a job, but not arresting them, then he was obeying the unspoken rule that Knockturn Alley was a safe place for those who practiced magic which most folks deemed acceptable but which the Ministry did not. This did not always mean dark magic; vampires and werewolves who weren't registered, hags and other part-humans frequented Knockturn as well.

"Well thank you Mister Jodebort," said Kingsley softly with a smile. "We'll let you know by the end of the month if your assistance will be required."

Remus sighed and leaned back in his seat, ruffling his hair and raising his hand to summon the bartender. But this time he ordered a coffee. The crowd was getting antsy and as the next prospective applicant sat down, a witch, Remus had to stifled his urge to yell at them all to go home. They all looked so spindly and thin, especially the women. Not the rugged types that they were looking for.

But some women are quite strong under all their frail facade. I wouldn't put it past Hermione to come along, regardless of her husband's objections. Her researching skills have been almost paramount to all of this...

A movement by the door caused Remus to trail his eyes away from the applicant in front of him and roll it towards the entryway. A shuffle of sorts occurred, and a gruff voiced man demanded an ale from the bartender as he pushed through the line. A bolt of acid shot its way up from Remus' stomach to his throat upon spotting the person, and he nearly choked.

"Kingsley..." Both men shifted a little uncomfortably in their seats as a dark haired figured approached them.

"No line cutting," said the witch across from them instantly. "I was 'ere first."

"I'm not here to apply for the job," said Severus Snape, ignoring the woman and looking at both men directly. "I do believe I am far over qualified."

"Well!" the woman huffed in stuffy complaint at the man who had interrupted her interview so casually. "I never!"

"Severus," Remus felt the acid in his own voice and fought to force the bitterness from his tone. "I wasn't expecting to see you here, in such a public place, at such an inopportune time..."

"Don't be silly," Snape said with a sneer, pulling his robes around himself tightly; it was January and the bar was a little cold. "I know all about your little venture, and quite frankly it wouldn't have changed my mind about coming here today one jolt. I always come to the Serpents Tail during the winter. I doubt," his eyes jerked briefly to Kingsley, "that the Ministry has become so bold as to attempt to arrest me in Knockturn Alley of all places, surrounded by oh so many supporters of the Dark Lord..."

"Severus..." Remus said thickly. "If you aren't here to apply for the position then you should probably leave."

More shuffling of people near the doorway. Snape didn't move.

"I came, as a matter of fact, to tell you that this venture is worthless," Snape said, not sparing an inch of the derision from his voice. "Dark wizards care only for one thing; themselves. A suicide mission like this cannot succeed. Of those few who will accompany you on this mission with the possibility of being paid exhorbant amounts of galleons, most will stick a dagger in your back the moment you turn it to them. It is futile."

"Afraid are you Snape?" said a voice behind him.

Every person in the bar stopped moving. The witch in the booth had the good grace to cover her mouth when she squeaked. Even Remus felt himself flush fearfully, watching as Snape slowly and deliberately turned to face the new speaker, who had entered the bar only moments beforehand.

"Potter...I should have known you were behind this."

Harry Potter was a bright light in the darkness of the bar. His skin was like pure moonlight. Remus had to stop himself from breathing too hard or too loudly. Harry's eyes looked like twin lights of pure intensity. Something about this man, standing so casually in the bar full of dark wizards, with his reputation as Voldemort's arch nemesis, seemed so surreal. At the same time his pale skin and dark hair seemed to lend himself well to his gothic facade and the persona of the dark wizard that the denizens of this bar tried desperately to maintain. These people may have the talent to be dark wizards, but Harry Potter actually looked every inch the part.

"I'm surprised that you came," Harry said softly, striding a foot forward. "Not your cup of tea, this sort of thing...is it Snape?"

"How would you know what my 'cup of tea' is Potter? For all you know the Dark Lord has ordered me to be here today and is playing to your very weaknesses!"

"Fuck Voldemort!" Harry said loudly, causing most of the people in the bar to jerk and twist in very interesting ways. "He can sit in his little hidey hole and rot. I've washed my hands of him, and his so called pure blooded bigotry. Half the people in this bar aren't even human, let alone himself. This quest is so much more important than fighting a hiding snivelling creature who has little more in common with his minions than a house-elf!"

A hush followed this pronouncement. A few wizards left the bar, but Harry didn't seem to care at this point, nor did the bartender, who had slunk down behind his bar in anticipation of a duel.

"You are insane Potter," Snape hissed, crossing the room so that his pointed nose was an inch from Harry's. "It is suicide and you know it!"

"Are you a coward?" Harry said immediately. "Afraid are you Snape?"

"YES!" Snape said, to many astonished stares. "Fighting the Dark Lord is one thing, but this...this THING...it is entirely another matter! I didn't kill that old man just to throw my life away. You. Will. Never. Succeed. It is death you go to Potter, and I pray that you will see this too before it is too late! Good day to you."

Snape attempted to leave the bar but Harry lifted a hand briefly to Snape's arm to stop him.

"Take your hand off me Potter," Snape said, his voice now wavering on the edge of hysteria. "This. Instant."

"If you change your mind Snape, we'll be meeting on March 2nd to depart. If you have any interest I'm sure you'll figure out where to find us."

Snape snorted and left the bar, slaming the door behind him with a violent crashing of wood on wood. Silence followed his exit, followed by nervous shuffling.

"Harry," Remus said meekly.

"It's cool," Harry said sheepishly. "I didn't have any plans to fight with him if he showed up here today. I have more important things to worry about."

Kingsley wiped his bald head with a sweaty dew rag. Harry strolled over to where Snape's untouched ale was sitting and order a coffee from the bartender. He took an experimental sip of it, then turned to address the crowd.

"What I put in the ad for this position is correct," Harry told the bar in a round carrying voice. "Your pasts and political affiliations are not important to this mission. This trip is vitally important to the very stability of the wizarding world and I'm willing to pay top galleon for any strong soul who is willing to take on this venture. I hope you can take this into consideration, and any dire warnings of folly and disaster you can leave to me to take care of. I'm not afraid and neither should you be. Fear is so last century."

He then went back over to the booth, and sat with Remus and Kingsley for the rest of the afternoon, ignoring the many eyes that seemed to fix with frightening determination and devotion upon his lightening bolt scar.

I hope you know what you're doing Harry, Remus thought tiredly, as they continued on with the interviews. God help us all if you are wrong on this one.

---

Harry waved his hand in the air in front of his face, wafting away the clot of dust bunnies he had stirred up by lifting the book from the shelf. Four years ago he had found this book, and every time he came back to it there was a layer of dust, as if his frequent explorations of the volume had made little difference to the general air of disuse in the restricted section of Hogwarts library. He held the book for a moment, wiped the dust from its cover, then approached the librarian's desk with soft careful footsteps, so as not to disrupt the ominous silence of the library.

"Thank you for letting me borrow this book again..." Harry said to Madam Pince. "You don't seem to mind as much as you did the first time I borrowed it."

"You're not a student any longer," Madam Pince said gruffly. "Though that book is a nasty peice of work."

"I bet," Harry said, carefully drawing a finger over the rune symbol on the cover.

He had discovered 'The Top Ten Most Dangerous Magical Creatures On Earth,' during his NEWT year, while doing a research project on dementors. In it listed also a thousand or so smaller less dangerous species of dark creatures, and the top ten, with a bit of a paragraph of each. Most of the creatures had no more than a lineart technical drawing and some info about their habitat and migration. Of the dementors there had been denoted two pages. Basilisks, vampires and werewolves were also in there.

But what really had caught his attention the last time he borrow this book was the one creature, related to the true vampire, which there seemed to be no name for and no explanation for. Just a location; Mongolia. Harry was confused about this at first, but the image was very striking.

In the image the creature had no eyes. Several journalists studying the creature had given their own variations on the eyes, or drawn the creatures with their eyes closed. But these drawings were all based on descriptions given to them by other magical creatures. No human being had ever set eyes on these creatures...and lived. Harry wanted to know why.

"You can keep it for awhile if you like. Really nobody uses it anymore since Snape scarpered. His family was big into studying the darkest creatures, you know."

It was a common occurrance for members of the Hogwarts staff to talk about Snape in a derogatory way when the subject of dark and nasty things came up. Harry did not.

"Yeah, I know," Harry said. "Thank you Madam Pince, I'll let you know when I'm done with it, or if I found a copy for myself."

"Its a hard book to find on shelves. Ministry reprints it once in a blue moon..."

Harry nodded and let his feet find the door quickly. As nice as it was that Madam Pince was helping him, she was a bit of a sour puss, and the library was creepy at this time at night.

The Mongolian Vampire was listed as one of the lesser dangerous creatures, seperate from true vampires, but listed under that heading. But like giants the creature was nearing extinction. It was expected they would be removed from the dark magical creatures registry within the next ten years. There just weren't enough of them to consider them a 'species' any longer. But why?

So they're having trouble breeding. Or else we just don't see them anymore because they're good at hiding. If any wizard and muggle who goes near one dies, then how would we know if they were around or not?

Harry wanted to know; what did these creatures look like? Why couldn't anybody go near themwithout dying? And the most important question, why was the Ministry trying to cover up the existance of these creatures to the point where they would remove instances of them from all books and written materials?

I have to figure all this out! Damn them! Won't let me even go near the Ministry anymore, let alone sign up to be an Auror! Why are they so determined to keep me out of the Ministry?

Harry shook his head to clear it.

Stay on track, Harry. We're trying to figure out what is going on with these creatures. What's so scary about these creatures that Snape would be so deathly afraid of them? Yes they kill people, but why only wizards? What is it that Snape knows that has scared him so badly? He was shaking in that bar! SHAKING! What is going ON in mongolia!?

Harry gave a soft shake of his head again as he finally arrived at the door to his bedroom. As a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher his resources were slim, and his chances to take this trip had become fewer and fewer.

This is my last chance. The school is dead and empty; no students, no teachers. Everyone is devoted heart and soul to fighting Voldemort, who hasn't moved from his hiding spot in months. Something has to change, something has to give. As long as I'm here in Britain, wracking my brain over the Ministry's lack of judgment, I'm just going nowhere. I have to draw him out; and I have to give Ginny her chance to go after Hufflepuff's cup. Only she can do it. This Mongolian vampire problem has been on the Order's plate for weeks and presents me with this opportunity. Kill two birds with one stone. This is my chance to draw Voldemort's attention away from the Order and after me. And perhaps to get one of his strongest followers away from England and under my direct control. If there's anything that could draw Severus Snape's attention and haul his arse out of England, it's this.

Harry wiped the last bit of dust from the book cover and set it on his desk next to the rest of his research.

"Well then, Professor Martin Valentine Prince," he said silently, tracing the name of the author with his eyes. "Lets see if your grandson is as interested in dangerous mongolian creatures as you were!"