The Archer's Son
Snape stared down the empty corridor trying hard not to recall memories lost. Trying to tear them from his thoughts and eliminate their very existence. To deny them completely. So hard to do. The single window let in warm sunshine. Beautiful mocking torturing sunlight. If only he could retreat to his safe dungeons. They were the only place he felt safe and secure. The darkness welcomed him. But no more. The warm sunlight that seared his very soul, that soul already full of torment and torture that was longing for the one thing he had never felt. True love. All he had ever felt was false hopes and shattered dreams. All his life he had been lied to. The brand on his arm further alienated him although he had never been accused of being on their side. No one knew his dark secret. Actually it should be secrets for he had so many. So painful. He reached for the Muggle bow at his side. The potions master pulled an arrow from his invisible quiver, mounted it, and fired. It hit his target, the flame of a candle, and instantly put it out. The memories came flooding back to him as if that single candle was their floodgate . . .
"Cut it out you stupid Slytherin freak!" Black's voice bellowed through the hall. The arrow had taken root not a centimeter above Lupin's head. Severus could tell the werewolf had wet himself. It brought him very little satisfaction. The Marauders rushed over to their companion to make sure he was alright. Severus drew another arrow and watched as his victem fainted. He then turned his heels and ran. He felt the curse hit him full force. Severus was knocked to the stone cold floor. How many times he had been in this position, laying on this floor that was as cold as his heart. Before the enraged trio could reach him, he sent his bow and arrows back to his room, "Oicca bow, quiver, and arrows." James plucked Severus off the floor and pinned his arms behind his back. Sirus was now in his face, "So the archer's son thinks he can get away with a stunt like that without getting punished." "What are you going to do, Black? Put me in a pie?" Severus sneered. He knew what was coming. He insulted the fact that Sirus loved to cook daily and it always ended up the same. The same taste of crimson blood. The same repulsive bruises. The same trip up to his room on his hands and knees. It was all so routene, he didn't notice it anymore. So when he found himself lying in his own bed with blood streaming down his face, he didn't wonder why. Then, as usual, he got up, washed his cuts, and went to practice. It was always the same.
'Let's see, today is Sunday so I practice clarinet,' he thought as the water in the sink ran red. He grabbed his horn and went outside to the gardens with some sheet music in a big black binder. Severus played his scales mindlessly as if he were some sort of machiene designed to play them perfectly. He thought about things while the damn horn squaked on. 'Why am I here? Why couldn't I have stayed in France like I should have?' he thought as he moved from scales to durges. 'Why did I have to be the archer's son? Why can't I be Severus? I don't think anyone even knows my name!' It was true. No one called him Severus. It was always the archer's son. Even his teachers called him that. He wanted to cry, but tears had left him years ago. He felt a firm hand on his shoulder, but he continued to play on. The deep dark voice of the bear blasted him like a freight train even though it was bairly over a whisper, "You missed." 'Don't stop playing. Ignore him,' Severus fought to fight the urge to tell his father he had not missed and he had done exactly what he had intended to do. "My own son missed." Fight it. "Fool." "I did not miss! I did exactly what I intended to do and I would be much obliged if you didn't bother me while I'm practicing," Severus spit the words as if they were sheer poison. More pain. This time, another usual routeine. His father's hand across his face. A red mark. "Don't get smart with me! You have a legacy to uphold. Don't screw it up." 'Like hell I won't! If I said half the things I thought . . .' "Yes father," poured out of his lips instinctivly and he went back to his practicing as his father left him.
Back in the Slytherin common room, Severus lay his head on his pillow. The green and silver snake-shaped arrow that had been his christening gift lay beside him. 'Do it,' a voice inside him urged. He turned his bony wrists so he could clearly see his target. The blood flowed so smoothly. Who knew it would be taking a different route soon? Severus lifted the arrow and plunged it deep into his stick-like wrist. Pain. A scream. 'Was that my own voice?' he wondered as he slipped into a sea of darkness.
'Where am I?' Severus wondered as he opened his eyes. "He's coming to," the chubby nurse's voice said. 'Damn it! I'm not dead.' Severus thought as things came in to focus. Over him loomed like a giant hawk was the one thing he didn't want to see. His father. No concern on his face, just anger. "You're lucky Jessica found you when she did. Otherwise, you'd have been lying in a cascet right now young man," Madam Freepom flustered. "I think that was his goal," his father said with a dissaproving glare. 'With you arround, it would be anybody's goal,' Severus thought glaring right back at his father. He raised his head to sit up, but Madam Freepom kept him in his submision. She then turned and left. Severus wished she hadn't gone. "What do you think your sister is going through right now?" his father continued, "I'll tell you exactly what she's going through, Hell! For some reason, she thinks you are just wonderful, unlike I, who knows you are a failure." "Shut up," Severus replied with defiance in both his voice and his eyes. "That is the last straw. You are no longer my son," his father said menecingly. "Fine. You never loved me anyway," Severus snapped back. With that, his father stormed out of the room.
Just then, a small timid girl peeked arround the corner. Severus's sister. She waved, pointed at his night table, then was pulled away by her father. Severus loked over at the table and saw a small green and silver envelope. He opened it quickly and pulled out a little note written in green.
"Dear Sev,
I hope you are alright. I sent this to you using a version of the Oicca charm. I heard what daddy said to you. No matter what, I wil always love you. You will be my big brother forever.
Love,
Your little sis, Jess
"Only Jessica," Severus murmered with a smile. A small corked flask with a note attached to it appeared beside him with a soft pop. The note read: Invisibility Potion. Meet me in the Ravenclaw common room. Password: brain over brawn -Luv ya Sev!
Severus poped the cork and tasted sweet freedom.His body vanished and he quietly slipped up to the eagle statue near the owelry. He still felt as weak and weary as if he hadn't eaten in years. He murmered the password as he grabbed the wall for support. His sister was standing before him and she gently helped him to the girl's dorm. He sat down on her bed and let his head rest in his hands. "Sev," Jessica began. Severus raised a hand to silence her, but she grabbed it and pushed it aside. She had her mother's soft touch and her father's strength. "Severus, I just want to know why you did it. Please." He looked up into his sister's pleading eyes. They were so beutiful and so innocent. He sighed heavely and turned away, "You know I hate this pittiful existence. I have to live up to the title that father has. I have to be 'The Archer's Son', but not anymore. He disowned me. Now I get to be my own person. I am not the archer's son, I am the Archer," Severus said with a cackle. "Sev, you're scaring me. I hope you accomplish your goal, but dont forget about me," Jessica whispered, sitting down beside him. "Never," he said as he held his little sister close.
There was a pounding on the door and suddenly their father burst in. "Get away from her," he growled, his voice full of hatred. "Make me," Severus's short reply came. The Archer lost it. He pulled a single arrow from his dragon hide quiver and fired straight at Severus. Jessica screamed and Severus found himself on the floor with his sister on top of him, an arrow through her heart.
Everything went quiet. Jessica looked up at her father, "I forgive you." Severus was astounded at her quick mercy. She looked up at him with those same innocent eyes, "Sev, remember . . . you will always be . . . . my . . . . . .brother . . . . . . . ." Her head fell into Severus's lap. Blood flowed like rivers down their robes. Severus stood up and picked up the lifeless body of his only grasp on sanity and happieness. Her pulse beat no more. Every inch of him was shaking as he walked her down to the infirmary. He walked down the corridor where he had taken a beating only a few hours ago. The arrow used to frighted Lupin was still lodged in the wall. He was halfway down when James, Sirus, Remus, and Peter rounded the corner and saw Severus clutching his lifeless sister. Peter fainted. "Murderer!" James shouted as they ran to get help.
Professor Dumbledor was the first on the scene, "What happened? Dear god." The professor rushed over to help Severus. "He killed her," a deep dark voice of a bear boomed down the hall. Severus knew his father hated him, but to pin the murder of his own sister on him? Dumbledor took Jessica's limp body from Severus. "I didn't do it," Severus muttered. "Of course he did! He was angry at me so he went up to her room and shot her with the same arrow he tried to use to kill himself!" his father, no, ex-father fumed. He was a great actor. It was true though. Severus saw his snake arrow lodged in his sister's chest.
"I didn't do it. My bow is still in my room," Severus protested softly. "Liar! I found your bow in her room. I saw you shoot her! Here!" the archer said as he tossed the bow at its owner's feet. The evidence was stacked against him. His father had planned the whole thing! The tiny voice inside of him that usualy kept Severus from lashing out seemed so far away. It was too late anyway. He grabbed his bow, drew an arrow, and pointed it straight at his father. "You killed her. You killed her, then you try to say I did it. How could I destroy the one thing in my life that made it worth living? You sorry bastard," he hissed, his voice as cold as ice. 'Don't do it, Sev,' this time, it wasn't the usual voice of his own mind, but the sweet chimes of his sister. He heard her flute sing sweetly in the distance. He remembered the songs they played together as children. He thought back to her love of everything in nature. How could something so sweet be lost?
Severus dropped his bow and the arrow panged softly on the ground. "Even in death, she keeps me from being irrational. I'm going to my room. Don't try bothering me," Severus muttered as he swept upstairs to attempt to mend his shattered heart.
Daily Prophet
Murder at Hogwarts!
Young Jessica Snape McMillan was shot with an arrow throught the heart yesterday. Ministry officials have pinned the brutal murder on her older brother, Severus Johan-Sebastian McMillan. The only witness, their father, more widley known as 'The Archer' has this to say, "I walked in the room just as the wretch released the arrow. How he could slaughter his own sister when he seemed so close to her I haven't a clue."
Severus dropped the paper. He couldn't bear it anymore. The memories of his sister haunted him forever. He remembered how the rest of the story went. He had been acused of his sister's murder, but there was no solid evidence since there were no fingerprints on his bow. His father had gone back to France, leaving him to fend for himself. He become a Death Eater out of rebellion and hate for his father and in the end, the Archer had been tortured beyond recognition. He remembered when his father was caught by some other Death Eaters. Severus had taken his sister's middle name for his own last name to honor her. To remember his last bit of sanity and happyness. Gone. The archer's son was no more. Now only the Potions Master remained . . .