A Little Souvenir
Bella smiled at Snape - he was such a stick.
"Alecto, darling, so good to see you," she said, with what passed for warmth - for her. "You have a drink? Excellent."
She leaned gracefully against the mantel. "Thank you all for coming, darlings - I'm sure you've figured that this wasn't just a little soiree for old time's sakes, although there would be nothing wrong with that. However ..."
She sipped her wine, then set it on a small table.
"You may all remember a small incident in Hogsmeade a little while ago ... some destruction, fire, explosions, panic. Ah, the good old days."
She looked around with a small smile. "I just happened to be there that day during the ... festivities. I was meeting with an old acquaintance, one Peter Pettigrew." Bella's voice grew disdainful. "Still a most unpleasant-looking man, and also thought dead. Ah well. But the point of our little meeting was for him to pass along a little memento to me, something he knew I would have great interest in."
She moved swiftly to a drawer and slid it open, removing a slim, black ebony box. She placed it on the table around which their chairs were arranged.