Snape and Lupin appeared at the entrance to Knockturn Alley. A light snow was falling, and the sky was a leaden gray. Snape gathered his cloak closer around him and looked at Lupin. “Well, let’s get on with this, shall we?”

Lupin nodded and led Snape farther down the twisting crowded alley past rows of dark disreputable shops. A short way down they came to a narrow cross alley. Lupin peered into it and pointed to a hanging sign halfway along.

““The Waning Moon”, that was it! You’d think I could’ve remembered that, wouldn’t you? I’m always a sucker for lunar names.”

“I’ll buy the sucker part,” muttered Snape under his breath.

Lupin frowned. “What was that, Severus?”

Snape smiled noncommittally. “I said, “after you”, Lupin.” He gestured down the alleyway.

Lupin grinned knowingly. “Of course you did, Severus.”

Snape merely raised an eyebrow as Lupin started off, and the two of them made their way along to stand outside the rundown and dark looking bookshop. Its display window was full of seedy looking books on curses and various dark wizards. There was even a book purporting to be a biography of Lord Voldemort.

Lupin pointed to it. “Bet that’s interesting.”

Snape sighed. “Bet it’s not. Do you really think anything of value concerning Lord Voldemort has made it into the popular press?”

Lupin shrugged. “Probably not. They might have something on Salazar Slytherin, though. I forgot to ask when I was here before.”

“Perhaps. I wouldn’t count on it being overly useful though. People have tried to track down Slytherin before. If it was easy your manuscript probably would not be here.”

Lupin nodded thoughtfully. “You’re probably right about that.”

Lupin stepped up and opened the door. Snape followed him into a narrow crowded shop. Books and scrolls cluttered every surface and stuck out of all the floor to ceiling shelves in a haphazard manner. The shop had a musty disused air to it and was very quiet save for the loud ticking of a clock, which sat on the proprietor’s desk at the front of the shop. Currently the chair behind the desk was unoccupied. In fact, no one seemed to be anywhere about.

Snape glanced inquiringly at Lupin. “Where was the manuscript page to be found, Lupin?”

“In a box at the back of the shop.” Lupin nodded toward the back and began walking down the aisle.

The box of loose manuscripts sat on a shelf near the back end of the first row of bookcases. Lupin pawed through the box and came up with the page he wanted. “Thank goodness, it’s still here!” he exclaimed with satisfaction as he turned and handed it to Snape.

Snape took the page and moved over near the wall sconce where the light was better to examine Lupin’s treasure. Lupin watched him anxiously until he was interrupted by a voice from behind him.

“May I be of service?”

Lupin spun around to face a young man in his very early twenties with thick brown hair and dark eyes. The young man scowled when he recognized Lupin.

“Oh, it’s you. What are you doing back here? I thought you couldn’t afford to buy anything. The prices haven’t changed since yesterday, you know. The manuscript page is still six Galleons.”

Snape turned around and came up behind Lupin. “And here I thought highway robbery had gone out of fashion in England.”

The young man gulped, and his face lost all its color. “Professor Snape, sir! What brings you to this shop? I’ve never seen you here before.”

Snape’s face wore his most intimidating scowl. “No, I’ve never had the dubious pleasure of shopping in this establishment before. And frankly, if that is a sample of your usual pricing, I dare say I won’t be back again, either.” He paused and studied the young man thoughtfully. “Mr. Kingsley, is it not? Dorian Kingsley?”

The young man nodded nervously. “Yes, uh…yes, Professor Snape, sir. I’m surprised you remember me, sir. It’s been awhile.”

Snape nodded. “I do try to remember my former students, Mr. Kingsley. Some do tend to make more of an impression than others, I suppose.”

Kingsley nodded dubiously, clearly not quite sure what kind of an impression he’d made on his former professor. “What can I do for you, Professor Snape?”

Snape handed Kingsley four manuscript pages from Lupin’s box and gave his former student a wintry smile. “Tell me, Mr. Kingsley, how much are you charging for these pages?”

Kingsley glanced down at the pages in his hands. “Uh, let’s see. This one is four Knuts, these two are six Knuts each, and this one here is eight Knuts.” He looked up with a successful smile on his face that made Lupin think that Kingsley felt he’d passed Snape’s test.

Lupin glanced at Snape, curious as to what he was up to.

Snape nodded thoughtfully at Kingsley. “I see. They are indeed a representative sample of what is in that box. So please explain to me why, this page,” he held up Lupin’s treasure, “is six Galleons instead of six Knuts. A mistake perhaps?” He raised an eyebrow and glared at Kingsley.

The young man licked his lips anxiously, but he stood his ground. “No, no…uh, sir. It’s not a mistake. That particular page comes directly from the private library of Salazar Slytherin himself!” He grinned nervously.

“Really,” purred Snape. “Well, I can certainly see why that would make it more valuable.”

Kingsley nodded in relief, but Snape wasn’t through with him yet.

“Tell me, Mr. Kingsley, how on earth do you know this to be true? There’s nothing in the document itself to suggest this to be so.”

Nervous again, Kingsley blinked at Snape. “Uh, well…no, there isn’t, but I was assured by the person who sold it to me that he’d torn it out of a book in that very library himself.”

Snape nodded thoughtfully. “I see. Now tell me, did you ask him why he’d so viciously defiled this book? Why didn’t he sell you the book itself?”

The young man nodded happily. He knew the answer to this one! “The man said that the book was chained to the shelf so all he had time to take was one page. I’m not sure just what the hurry was.”

“Hmm. Tell me, Mr. Kingsley, is this your shop?”

“No, of course not.” Kingsley laughed hesitantly. “It belongs to my uncle.”

Snape crossed his arms. “Ah. Does your uncle usually allow you to purchase merchandise for him?”

Kingsley licked his lips, nervous again. “No. Not usually…but sometimes. This seemed like such a good deal. I mean, come on…the library of Salazar Slytherin! Who could pass that up?”

Snape nodded, a small smile on his face. “Who indeed. Did this man offer any proof of what he said?”

Kingsley hesitated. “Well, he did show me a couple of other things he had…a small box and a letter opener. They both had Slytherin’s crest on them just like at school. Except that the snake wasn’t green…it was red. At least it was on the box; the letter opener was silver.”

There was an odd gleam in Snape’s eye as he questioned Kingsley further. “What was the name of this man who handed you such a bargain?”

“His name was Lorca Zgreb. He said he was from a small village in Romania near the Carpathian Mountains, Targa Lipus.”

Snape asked, “How long ago did this manuscript come into your hands?”

“Only a couple of days, actually.”

Snape fingered the manuscript thoughtfully. “I suppose your uncle is out of town at the moment and has left you in charge.”

Kingsley gulped nervously. “How did you know that?”

Snape smiled calculatingly. “Lucky guess. Would he be happy to discover how much you spent on this spurious document?”

“Spurious? You mean fake!” Kingsley’s face got very pale.

Snape nodded sadly. “I’m afraid so. The parchment is far too modern to have come from any book in Salazar Slytherin’s library.”

Kingsley looked crestfallen. “Oh, dear. What am I going to do?”

Snape sighed. “How much did you actually pay for the manuscript?”

Kingsley swallowed hard. “Three Galleons.”

Lupin snorted. “That’s some markup.”

Kingsley shrugged. “I wanted my uncle to be impressed with my business sense.”

Snape raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yes, indeed. This should impress him greatly.”

Kingsley sighed.

Snape reached into his pocket. “Here Mr. Kingsley, since the subject matter is of some small interest to me, I will pay you two Galleons for the page. You’ll have to make up the rest from your own pocket.”

Kingsley smiled in relief. “Thanks, Professor Snape! That’s very generous of you.”

Snape smiled benevolently. “You’re welcome, Mr. Kingsley. I should be more wary of itinerant peddlers in the future if I were you.”

Kingsley nodded gratefully. “Yes, sir. I intend to be, sir.”

Snape and Lupin headed for the door. Snape paused with his hand on the knob. “Oh, Kingsley. Have you seen this man Zgreb around since you purchased this?”

Kingsley shook his head. “No. He said he had to go straight home again. He had to watch over his sick father or something.”

Snape nodded, thanked Kingsley again, and he and Lupin left the shop for the cold alley outside.

Lupin turned to Snape who was examining the manuscript again. “Well, that was quite a performance! I take it you think the manuscript is genuine.”

Snape nodded thoughtfully, carefully rolled up the parchment, and stowed it away within his voluminous cloak. “Oh, yes. It certainly appears to be genuine. What seems most telling is not actually the parchment but Mr. Kingsley’s description of the other artifacts that our peddler had for sale.”

Lupin nodded. “Yes, I wondered about that. I figured that since the snake was red not green though, that it was some sort of bad forgery.”

“Yes, most people make that assumption. Actually, after leaving Hogwarts, Slytherin changed his crest to better reflect his belief in the superiority of pure wizard blood. He repainted his crest a lurid purplish red. Any artifacts from his place of residence postdating his time at Hogwarts should reflect this change.”

Lupin smiled. “Well then. I guess we make a little visit to Romania.”

Snape smiled in agreement. “It certainly looks that way.”