Unexpected Visiting
Disclaimer: Harry Potter's not mine. Nor is Snape. His sister, however, is mine, unless JK Rowling decides to mention in a future book that he has one, in which case this fic would either be AU or using a character of hers without permission. *gets a headache*
This takes place immediately following the chapter "Snape's Worst Memory", when Snape is fifteen. In short, Marauder generation.
Also: I know that in book 5 it says that Harry and Ron can't get into Hermione's dormitory. Severus being able to get into Susan's can be explained in several ways: A) he's her brother, B) she charmed it to allow some people in, or C) Slytherins/Ravenclaws broke that charm altogether. Choose whichever reasoning you desire.
I don't know what house Susan's in. I thought it was Slytherin, but a friend commented that her traits were more of a Ravenclaw. So she's there for now, but if Susan tells me otherwise, I'll listen to her.
Rating: PG for violence. If it should be PG-13, by all means, let me know.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated/begged for. :)
***********
The pale faced, long, mousy-haired girl swore loudly as she witnessed some of the scene outside. She had been reviewing for her Transfiguration exam that was to take place on the following day. As soon as DADA let out, she raced to her dorm to begin studying. Moments afterwards, her review was interrupted by raucous cheers.
Susan looked up from her notes about vanishing kittens, a thin line framing her face. She simply abhorred being interrupted while working, especially since Transfiguration was hardly her best subject. Of course, she could hardly deny its usefulness and was determined to pass the exam with a decent mark.
The noise was making this horribly difficult to accomplish.
Susan put her notes next to her bedside table and peered out the window frame. A tall boy with unkempt hair who she recognized as Potter was, quite loudly, threatening to remove Severus' underpants before the crowd. Susan noticed with a start that her brother was hanging upside down in the air.
At least Lily Evans was telling Potter off for acting like a git. She called him some rather unflattering terms, including an "inbred toerag."
Well, Susan always knew that Evans had at least some sense under that frizzy hair of hers, though the pureblood part of her knew that the insult reflected on pure bloods as a whole. So Severus had probably led the m word slip, and Evans was retorting it to him, but with the appearance of shouting it at Potter. Gryffindor boys were so stupid with their pathetic crushes; if Susan had to guess, she would have said that the humiliation began with Potter trying to look good in front of Evans. It was common knowledge among her year that he was infatuated with that curly haired witch.
Suddenly, Susan was crushed out of her reverie as she saw her brother fell to the ground face first.
Susan winced sympathetically and clenched her hands into fists. "That must have hurt," she said aloud. Then, "How dare they pick on him like that? Surely they have more ways to enjoy themselves rather than this torment! Makes me sick."
Lily muttered something, stomped off, and then Severus was up in the air again. One of the boys, probably Lupin, said something to make Potter put Severus down. He came crashing to the ground (probably breaking a few bones in the process, Susan thought painfully), grabbed his wand and his bag, and stomped off to what Susan assumed would be the Ravenclaw house.
Her house. He knew the password to the tower, but she always wondered how her brother managed to get into her dormitory without being caught.
Of course, he did have nearly five years to perfect his method.
He'll be stewing again, she thought bitterly. Those Gryffindor brats just won't give up on him. It's only because he's in Slytherin and knows more hexes than they do. What do they expect? We came from an abusive environment, for Merlin's sake!
Their father abused their mother horribly ever since Susan could remember. The abuse consisted in the muggle form of hitting and the wizarding form of hexing. Mainly when he was drunk and unemployed. He was decent enough at Charms, but often forgot to show up for work and ended up fired.
So far, he never laid a hand on Severus or Susan, but this might have been because he knew that the other twin would do something about it, rules or no rules.
Susan had wondered, when she was young, why her mother didn't just leave her husband. She knew now that it was because he provided her with the money needed to raise her children. Besides, the wizarding world didn't look kindly on divorces.
She forced her mind away from these thoughts and searched her drawers for some chocolate. If this was anything like the other times, her brother would need it to calm down, and everyone knew that chocolate had mental calming powers.
And to get the taste out. The thought entered her mind without permission, but Susan had seen pink soap bubbles come out of her brother's mouth. Poor Severus. She just wanted to hug him as she saw him gag, spitting out the soap. That punishment was sickening, far below any civilization. She paled and tried to hurl the thought from her mind.
It wouldn't leave. The images haunted her and paralyzed her for what felt like hours.
Fortunately, Susan didn't have much time to think about Severus' torture at the hands of the Gryffindor brats (as they were wont to call them). There was a faint rapping sound on the door.
At that point, she uncovered an unwrapped chocolate frog from a corner of her desk. She tossed it onto her bed.
"Come in," she called, hoping that her tone was nonchalant.
She heard the door turn and the familiar panting, red-faced Slytherin made his way in. His hair fell into his eyes and Susan would have bet galleons that he had been crying. It took all of her strength not to hug him at that moment. She knew from experience that he wouldn't let her. He needed to calm down first. That was her first job, and Susan was quite experienced at it.
"Anyone else there?" he croaked, trying desperately not to show the pain he was in.
Humiliation and physical pain. Add that to OWLs and the result isn't pleasant, Susan evaluated, rather sarcastically.
By now, Susan was more than used to this. She shook her head and put a hand on her brother's shoulder. He flinched at first by the sudden movement of her arm, but relaxed slightly once it rested on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. They're in the library," she reassured. She gave his shoulder what she hoped was a gentle squeeze and then pressed, "Go on, then. Sit down. I know it was a long day for you. And I don't just mean the OWLs. Which, by the way, I am sure you did fine on."
Severus seem torn between not wanting to seem like an invalid and genuinely wanting comfort. Finally, he took a seat on Susan's bed. She plopped down next to her brother, arm still on his shoulder. She wrapped it around his back. Severus looked as though he was giving it all of his effort not to cry.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Susan handed Severus a chocolate frog and then began to rub his back with both hands, slowly and carefully. She wondered if there were any bruises from his fall, and vaguely realized that this was a way to check for them. In addition, it might calm Severus.
He unwrapped the frog, took a bite, and mumbled, "Thanks," not quite looking Susan in the eye.
"I saw part of what happened," Susan spoke after a few minutes of this.
Severus flinched. "I wish you hadn't," he mumbled.
Susan glared at him. Ridiculous self-sacrificing babble.during these times, her brother sounded like a Gryffindor!
"Absolutely horrible, what they put you through. You should report them. You did nothing wrong," she fumed.
He didn't speak for several minutes. Just enjoyed the chocolate and the back rub. Sometimes, muffled sobs would escape his throat, despite his best efforts to hold them in.
Susan, unlike her mother, was very understanding about tears. She wouldn't tell her own brother to shut up and stop acting as though he was two.
Instead, Susan just murmured comforting words and held him, wondering where she learned this endless patience she seemed to possess.
"Let it out," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around Severus tightly, pulling him into a backwards hug. "Don't bottle it up. Cry."
Finally, her advice seemed to be working. For what seemed like hours, tears just poured down her brother's face, and sobs literally wracked his body.
How long had he been holding it in for? she wondered, completely mystified.
At last, Severus was calm enough to approach reasonably. He knew that Susan did not blame him for the mess he got into with Potter and the other Gryffindors. He had just been studying, after all. He had been minding his own business when they decided it would be fun to hex him senseless.
"Are you going to do anything about it?" Susan finally asked, somewhat timidly.
He shrugged in response. "They won't do anything. They think all Slytherins are scum."
"Dumbledore wouldn't think that," she pressed, removing one hand to throw out the candy wrappers. "He'd listen to you."
He shook his head violently. "I don't want to be a tattletale," he mumbled.
Susan let out a strangling sigh. "Severus, this isn't a preschool. It's not as though you're saying, 'he pinched me.' What they did was what muggles would consider assault. Harassment. Whatever you want to call it. You could have been killed."
Severus merely shook his head again, but Susan couldn't help but notice some fear in his eyes when she compared his treatment to assault.
"You're exaggerating," he insisted.
"No, I'm not." She got up, her light brown eyes wide with fury. "At this point, Severus, you don't have much of a choice in the matter. To be blunt: If you don't tell Dumbledore, I will."
"Don't. I'd rather face those Gryffindor brats again than face them after one of us rats on them. We both know it will do nothing in the long run." The voice was pleading. So much different than the confident one Susan had seen in classes. So much like when Severus cried in his room when their dad hit their mum.
Susan sat down next to him and put an arm around him. He fidgeted a little, but finally hugged her back. Her eyes were blurry with tears.
"Head of house, then?" Susan tried.
"He doesn't give a rat's tail about us. Says we're in Slytherin and he's not about to baby us. That we have to solve our own problems."
"Lazy git, then, in other words," Susan translated, trying to hide a grin.
"That's the size of it, yeah." Severus grinned sourly.
"Well.Evans can help you," she mumbled. "I saw her try and protect you."
"She won't. I called her a mudblood," he admitted, eyes downcast.
Knew it. You're so predictable, Sevvy, she thought, knowing full well that he'd kill her if she ever called him by that name. Or, at the very least, put the tickling curse on her for five minutes.
"You didn't." Susan was horrified. "But, why? Potter listens to her, albeit grudgingly."
"Yeah, and Potter had a massive crush on her. I knew he'd hurt me even more if I didn't act like her presence disgusted me."
"Hindsight." Susan grinned despite herself. Evans had helped Severus out before. She always made things worse. "Still."
"I'll think about talking to her, if it makes you feel better," he promised. He got up from the bed, eyes weary.
Susan couldn't help herself. She wrapped Severus into a huge hug. He had referred to it as a snake hug in the past. Severus looked embarrassed, but squeezed back.
He must have needed it as much as I did, she realized, astounded.
He rarely hugged her back before. Maybe three times in their life.
"Thanks for the chocolate. I have to study now, though," he said, his face unable to be read.
"Same here. Transfiguration?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah. I still can't figure out how to vanish kittens, damn it," he swore.
Susan grinned. "Me neither. Maybe we should try the third year approach?"
"What? Study together?" Severus raised his eyes in disbelief. "And endure the twin taunts?"
It worked before. We got top marks on those subjects. Besides, Sevvy, we're fraternal twins." Her eyes twinkled.
"Watch it, Susan, or I'll hex you for that." Severus let out a laugh which resembled a bark. Even so, it was the first one Susan had heard from him in days. "All right. I'm defeated. Let me get my book."
He left the room, considerably happier than when he had entered it.
Susan smiled faintly. Things had certainly improved from earlier.
The End
Disclaimer: Harry Potter's not mine. Nor is Snape. His sister, however, is mine, unless JK Rowling decides to mention in a future book that he has one, in which case this fic would either be AU or using a character of hers without permission. *gets a headache*
This takes place immediately following the chapter "Snape's Worst Memory", when Snape is fifteen. In short, Marauder generation.
Also: I know that in book 5 it says that Harry and Ron can't get into Hermione's dormitory. Severus being able to get into Susan's can be explained in several ways: A) he's her brother, B) she charmed it to allow some people in, or C) Slytherins/Ravenclaws broke that charm altogether. Choose whichever reasoning you desire.
I don't know what house Susan's in. I thought it was Slytherin, but a friend commented that her traits were more of a Ravenclaw. So she's there for now, but if Susan tells me otherwise, I'll listen to her.
Rating: PG for violence. If it should be PG-13, by all means, let me know.
As always, reviews are greatly appreciated/begged for. :)
***********
The pale faced, long, mousy-haired girl swore loudly as she witnessed some of the scene outside. She had been reviewing for her Transfiguration exam that was to take place on the following day. As soon as DADA let out, she raced to her dorm to begin studying. Moments afterwards, her review was interrupted by raucous cheers.
Susan looked up from her notes about vanishing kittens, a thin line framing her face. She simply abhorred being interrupted while working, especially since Transfiguration was hardly her best subject. Of course, she could hardly deny its usefulness and was determined to pass the exam with a decent mark.
The noise was making this horribly difficult to accomplish.
Susan put her notes next to her bedside table and peered out the window frame. A tall boy with unkempt hair who she recognized as Potter was, quite loudly, threatening to remove Severus' underpants before the crowd. Susan noticed with a start that her brother was hanging upside down in the air.
At least Lily Evans was telling Potter off for acting like a git. She called him some rather unflattering terms, including an "inbred toerag."
Well, Susan always knew that Evans had at least some sense under that frizzy hair of hers, though the pureblood part of her knew that the insult reflected on pure bloods as a whole. So Severus had probably led the m word slip, and Evans was retorting it to him, but with the appearance of shouting it at Potter. Gryffindor boys were so stupid with their pathetic crushes; if Susan had to guess, she would have said that the humiliation began with Potter trying to look good in front of Evans. It was common knowledge among her year that he was infatuated with that curly haired witch.
Suddenly, Susan was crushed out of her reverie as she saw her brother fell to the ground face first.
Susan winced sympathetically and clenched her hands into fists. "That must have hurt," she said aloud. Then, "How dare they pick on him like that? Surely they have more ways to enjoy themselves rather than this torment! Makes me sick."
Lily muttered something, stomped off, and then Severus was up in the air again. One of the boys, probably Lupin, said something to make Potter put Severus down. He came crashing to the ground (probably breaking a few bones in the process, Susan thought painfully), grabbed his wand and his bag, and stomped off to what Susan assumed would be the Ravenclaw house.
Her house. He knew the password to the tower, but she always wondered how her brother managed to get into her dormitory without being caught.
Of course, he did have nearly five years to perfect his method.
He'll be stewing again, she thought bitterly. Those Gryffindor brats just won't give up on him. It's only because he's in Slytherin and knows more hexes than they do. What do they expect? We came from an abusive environment, for Merlin's sake!
Their father abused their mother horribly ever since Susan could remember. The abuse consisted in the muggle form of hitting and the wizarding form of hexing. Mainly when he was drunk and unemployed. He was decent enough at Charms, but often forgot to show up for work and ended up fired.
So far, he never laid a hand on Severus or Susan, but this might have been because he knew that the other twin would do something about it, rules or no rules.
Susan had wondered, when she was young, why her mother didn't just leave her husband. She knew now that it was because he provided her with the money needed to raise her children. Besides, the wizarding world didn't look kindly on divorces.
She forced her mind away from these thoughts and searched her drawers for some chocolate. If this was anything like the other times, her brother would need it to calm down, and everyone knew that chocolate had mental calming powers.
And to get the taste out. The thought entered her mind without permission, but Susan had seen pink soap bubbles come out of her brother's mouth. Poor Severus. She just wanted to hug him as she saw him gag, spitting out the soap. That punishment was sickening, far below any civilization. She paled and tried to hurl the thought from her mind.
It wouldn't leave. The images haunted her and paralyzed her for what felt like hours.
Fortunately, Susan didn't have much time to think about Severus' torture at the hands of the Gryffindor brats (as they were wont to call them). There was a faint rapping sound on the door.
At that point, she uncovered an unwrapped chocolate frog from a corner of her desk. She tossed it onto her bed.
"Come in," she called, hoping that her tone was nonchalant.
She heard the door turn and the familiar panting, red-faced Slytherin made his way in. His hair fell into his eyes and Susan would have bet galleons that he had been crying. It took all of her strength not to hug him at that moment. She knew from experience that he wouldn't let her. He needed to calm down first. That was her first job, and Susan was quite experienced at it.
"Anyone else there?" he croaked, trying desperately not to show the pain he was in.
Humiliation and physical pain. Add that to OWLs and the result isn't pleasant, Susan evaluated, rather sarcastically.
By now, Susan was more than used to this. She shook her head and put a hand on her brother's shoulder. He flinched at first by the sudden movement of her arm, but relaxed slightly once it rested on his shoulder.
"Don't worry. They're in the library," she reassured. She gave his shoulder what she hoped was a gentle squeeze and then pressed, "Go on, then. Sit down. I know it was a long day for you. And I don't just mean the OWLs. Which, by the way, I am sure you did fine on."
Severus seem torn between not wanting to seem like an invalid and genuinely wanting comfort. Finally, he took a seat on Susan's bed. She plopped down next to her brother, arm still on his shoulder. She wrapped it around his back. Severus looked as though he was giving it all of his effort not to cry.
They sat in silence for a few moments. Susan handed Severus a chocolate frog and then began to rub his back with both hands, slowly and carefully. She wondered if there were any bruises from his fall, and vaguely realized that this was a way to check for them. In addition, it might calm Severus.
He unwrapped the frog, took a bite, and mumbled, "Thanks," not quite looking Susan in the eye.
"I saw part of what happened," Susan spoke after a few minutes of this.
Severus flinched. "I wish you hadn't," he mumbled.
Susan glared at him. Ridiculous self-sacrificing babble.during these times, her brother sounded like a Gryffindor!
"Absolutely horrible, what they put you through. You should report them. You did nothing wrong," she fumed.
He didn't speak for several minutes. Just enjoyed the chocolate and the back rub. Sometimes, muffled sobs would escape his throat, despite his best efforts to hold them in.
Susan, unlike her mother, was very understanding about tears. She wouldn't tell her own brother to shut up and stop acting as though he was two.
Instead, Susan just murmured comforting words and held him, wondering where she learned this endless patience she seemed to possess.
"Let it out," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around Severus tightly, pulling him into a backwards hug. "Don't bottle it up. Cry."
Finally, her advice seemed to be working. For what seemed like hours, tears just poured down her brother's face, and sobs literally wracked his body.
How long had he been holding it in for? she wondered, completely mystified.
At last, Severus was calm enough to approach reasonably. He knew that Susan did not blame him for the mess he got into with Potter and the other Gryffindors. He had just been studying, after all. He had been minding his own business when they decided it would be fun to hex him senseless.
"Are you going to do anything about it?" Susan finally asked, somewhat timidly.
He shrugged in response. "They won't do anything. They think all Slytherins are scum."
"Dumbledore wouldn't think that," she pressed, removing one hand to throw out the candy wrappers. "He'd listen to you."
He shook his head violently. "I don't want to be a tattletale," he mumbled.
Susan let out a strangling sigh. "Severus, this isn't a preschool. It's not as though you're saying, 'he pinched me.' What they did was what muggles would consider assault. Harassment. Whatever you want to call it. You could have been killed."
Severus merely shook his head again, but Susan couldn't help but notice some fear in his eyes when she compared his treatment to assault.
"You're exaggerating," he insisted.
"No, I'm not." She got up, her light brown eyes wide with fury. "At this point, Severus, you don't have much of a choice in the matter. To be blunt: If you don't tell Dumbledore, I will."
"Don't. I'd rather face those Gryffindor brats again than face them after one of us rats on them. We both know it will do nothing in the long run." The voice was pleading. So much different than the confident one Susan had seen in classes. So much like when Severus cried in his room when their dad hit their mum.
Susan sat down next to him and put an arm around him. He fidgeted a little, but finally hugged her back. Her eyes were blurry with tears.
"Head of house, then?" Susan tried.
"He doesn't give a rat's tail about us. Says we're in Slytherin and he's not about to baby us. That we have to solve our own problems."
"Lazy git, then, in other words," Susan translated, trying to hide a grin.
"That's the size of it, yeah." Severus grinned sourly.
"Well.Evans can help you," she mumbled. "I saw her try and protect you."
"She won't. I called her a mudblood," he admitted, eyes downcast.
Knew it. You're so predictable, Sevvy, she thought, knowing full well that he'd kill her if she ever called him by that name. Or, at the very least, put the tickling curse on her for five minutes.
"You didn't." Susan was horrified. "But, why? Potter listens to her, albeit grudgingly."
"Yeah, and Potter had a massive crush on her. I knew he'd hurt me even more if I didn't act like her presence disgusted me."
"Hindsight." Susan grinned despite herself. Evans had helped Severus out before. She always made things worse. "Still."
"I'll think about talking to her, if it makes you feel better," he promised. He got up from the bed, eyes weary.
Susan couldn't help herself. She wrapped Severus into a huge hug. He had referred to it as a snake hug in the past. Severus looked embarrassed, but squeezed back.
He must have needed it as much as I did, she realized, astounded.
He rarely hugged her back before. Maybe three times in their life.
"Thanks for the chocolate. I have to study now, though," he said, his face unable to be read.
"Same here. Transfiguration?" she asked innocently.
"Yeah. I still can't figure out how to vanish kittens, damn it," he swore.
Susan grinned. "Me neither. Maybe we should try the third year approach?"
"What? Study together?" Severus raised his eyes in disbelief. "And endure the twin taunts?"
It worked before. We got top marks on those subjects. Besides, Sevvy, we're fraternal twins." Her eyes twinkled.
"Watch it, Susan, or I'll hex you for that." Severus let out a laugh which resembled a bark. Even so, it was the first one Susan had heard from him in days. "All right. I'm defeated. Let me get my book."
He left the room, considerably happier than when he had entered it.
Susan smiled faintly. Things had certainly improved from earlier.
The End