Snippet for Shati

[louiselux]

Here's a snippet for shati, who wanted something about Crowley and Aziraphale reading or discussing Harry Potter.




'I didn't know you'd read this,' said Crowley, his head tilted to one side, scanning Aziraphale's book shelves.

'What?' Aziraphale said guiltily, looking up from his crossword.

Crowley held up a hefty paperback with a black and silver cover.

'Oh. That. It's quite good.'

'Thought it was for kids.'

'Well, the series has really quite adult themes: death, betrayal, injustice, the basic struggle between good and evil.'

A look passed between them. The only struggling they'd ever done with each other was of a very different kind than was usually considered appropriate between two corporeal representations.

'You might like it. There's snakes in it. And an evil Dark Lord.'

Aziraphale said this in a voice that implied that for Crowley there could be nothing more fascinating than snakes and Dark Lords. Crowley sneered, but all the same he left with it stuffed in his jacket pocket.

'You read it, did you?' Aziraphale asked, some time later.

'Oh, yeah. It was all right.'

Aziraphale opened out his newspaper.

'Ooh, look, it says here that she's richer than the Queen.'

'That was one of the stipulations, yes.'

'What?' Aziraphale said sharply, putting his paper down. 'Crowley, tell me you didn't?'

Crowley shrugged. 'She wanted to sell millions, I was around at the right time.' He sauntered over to Aziraphale's desk. 'I didn't know she'd use my ideas though,' he said leaning on his elbows and giving Aziraphale his best charming smile. He said something in a fluid sibilant tongue that no one on earth had heard for thousands of years. 'Parseltongue. That's me, that is,' he said proudly.

'And I suppose she got the evil Dark Lord from you?' Aziraphale said tersely.

Crowley nodded. 'And Snape. A man after my own heart, that.'

Aziraphale shook out his newspaper and pointedly ignored him.

'Anyway,' Crowley went on, more gruffly, with a slightly embarrassed air, 'it gets the kids reading doesn't it? Isn't that what you want?'

Aziraphale stared at him, then broke into a sunny smile. 'Crowley, you're so thoughtful!'

'Oh, shush.'

Comments

[maeglinyedi.livejournal.com]

Heeee! The idea of Crowley behind JKR's success is hilarious and oddly plausible. Loved that parseltongue came from him. And the ending is just too sweet. Lovely. :-)

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

I'm sure Crowley would be annoyed about the accusations of it being the work of Satanists - he'd want all the glory for himself. *g*