ds_flashfiction | Two challenges in one!

See,

bethbethbeth had this challenge, and I never got a chance to do the Canadian Shack challenge, and ...never mind. There's really no excuse for this.

Snape shivered and drew his cloak tighter around his shoulders. Damn that meddling old man for sending him to this frozen wasteland. Snape did prefer solitude while he was working, but this was ridiculous. Still, if this potion failed, the consequences could be quite fatal to anyone within a forty-mile radius, and Dumbledore had been quite insistent.

“No need to worry about that here.” Snape muttered. “Perhaps I should warn the caribou to duck.”

He gently crushed three flamewort leaves, held his breath, and deposited them gently into the cauldron.

POOF! Sparks and a puff of red smoke burst out of the cauldron. Snape sputtered and waved the choking fumes away. There, hovering above the cauldron, was the oddest looking man turning toward him…

“Back home, I see! Well --.” He stopped and frowned at Snape. “You’ve let yourself go, son.”

“I beg your pardon?”

The figure peered a little closer at him. “Never mind, I thought you were someone else. Are you dead?”

Snape drew himself up. “Now, see here, old man. Are you or are you not the spirit that has come from the deepest, darkest, pit of –“

“Montreal?”

“Excuse me?”

“Never could stand Quebec myself. It’s so …foreign. You know the French. They’re –“ He waggled his hand from side to side. “You know.”

“Are you mad?”

“Just because a fellow is dead, there’s no reason to question his sanity.”

Snape stalked to the back of the room to consult his books. Ah, yes. Three flamewort leaves, creased, not crushed. Stupid novice mistake.

He folded his hands and addressed the spirit. “Sir, you are obviously here in error. I will dispatch you back to your dimension of origin.” His lip curled. “The sooner, the better.”

“That’s fine by me. It’s not like I don’t have anything better to do.” The old man readjusted his large, furry hat.

Snape drew out his wand. “Spirito Disparum!”

The old man disappeared in another puff of red smoke. Snape sighed in relief. He was beginning to get a headache. Perhaps he should lie down for a bit before attempting another spell. He was obviously losing his touch.