Warnings: Mentions of alcohol abuse. Mentions of child abuse. Mentions of domestic abuse.
Abhorrence Over Tolerance
The only way Tobias Snape knew how to cleanse the tiresome and very long work week at the factory was to clock out and meet some coworkers at the pub every evening. It helped him be able to relax and enjoy himself before facing his home life and family he now loathed. The hag he was suckered into marrying was not the woman he thought he fell in love with. Upon the startling discovery of what she really was, it caused him to question everything else in Tobias' life from then on.
Sure, she claimed to have wanted to give up her crazy magical nonsense when they first met, he was none the wiser about it back then and wished he still was. Six years after they married, he discovered she wasn't an ordinary person that she lead him to believe. What was she expecting to tell him what was wrong when their four-year-old son started having strange things occur around him? Tobias was about ready to institutionalize the boy for all the crazy things happening until Eileen confessed to what she and their son were.
"You're a fuckin' what?" Tobias hollered, feeling utterly confused and outraged all at once. He pointed at Severus who was doodling on the floor. "And he's cursed too?"
"It isn't really a curse, you see," Eileen tried to explain to her now very irritated husband. "There's more people like me– us out there. We usually just stay out of Mu–" she hesitated a moment while finding the right words. "Ordinary people's populated areas."
"You just described it like it's a bleedn' death omen, but now yer makin' it sound like it's a damn joke?" He snarled, not finding the humor in such a twisted game she was playing.
He grumbled under his breath about being called ordinary. What was that supposed to even mean? Tobias shuffled to the kitchen to grab a beer; he certainly needed one after being told magic was real. He was half hoping the woman was jerking his leg, but based on the serious look on her face and the weirdness his son was doing on the floor with his drawings, Tobias didn't have much leverage to deny that she wasn't joking.
He never knew how to handle or process such bizarre information Eileen dropped on him that day. She talked about it as being a curse, but it wasn't viewed like that to everyone who wielded magic, just to her. She claimed to never wanting the "magic gift", so she fled from it and hid it from him all these years. To learn that actual magic – and not the sort that Tobias saw people perform on the streets for pocket change – but in fact real magic found in fairytales truly existed and lived among them weirded him out and made him suspicious and insecure about his entire life. He remembered that witches were known for luring and tricking people into doing things from the childhood stories, and the realization of being controlled by someone he thought he loved disgusted him to no end. Was he a victim of being lured into loving Eileen like the fairytales described witches doing?
Tobias couldn't talk about it to anyone, either. Who would believe him? They'd toss him in the crazy house and throw away the key if he tried. Being afraid of magic was humiliating, but he was not going to tolerate feeling intimidated by someone who was deceiving him this entire time. That was what magic did, right? Alter people's minds and bend their wills to do the witches bidding?
Of course, leaving Eileen wasn't ideal, they had to go and have a bloody child to muddy things up. All hell would break loose with Tobias' grandparents should he turn into the sort who'd walk out on his family. He should know first hand how that was like, but it wasn't because he couldn't invest in his family anymore like his parents – he simply didn't want to. Eileen was not the person who he thought she was, and he felt betrayed in knowing he was tricked by the woman into starting a family. It damaged him in ways he couldn't describe, but he wasn't going to let something such as magic get the best of him. It was not going to have him cower, it was not going to further harm his pride.
Instead of divorce, because the wrath from his grandparents outweighed his personal distaste of the situation he was placed in, he resulted in coping with it by simply not caring topped with a thick coating of alcohol. It was the only way he could allow himself to reason with the magic episodes he witnessed as Severus grew more adept in using it. There were times when it scared him enough to backhand the kid for it, or toss him into his room to get him out of his sight. Eileen would protest Tobias' crude reactions to their sons magic, but it only redirected the anger at her instead for teaching him control.
He started to get home late, living off scraps and alcohol as money grew even tighter for the sake of Severus' education. Many nights Tobias couldn't even remember coming home at all, or waking up to see the fresh black eye on the witch's face, but he was just fine with not knowing. It kept her scared, it kept the boy scared, and it kept him feeling like he was still in control. Let them be the ones who cower, let them dare to use their witchiness on him should they try. A raised hand kept them in check.
The three somehow tolerated each other just long enough for Severus to graduate the creepy school he and his mother always went on about. Eileen was proud of him and his aspirations to become some sort of alchemist or chemist, he never cared enough to pay attention to the magic talk. All Tobias remembered of that day was that Severus had come home and hastily packed the few belongings he had to his name. Obstructing his son's bedroom door, beer in hand, the berating commenced.
"Where you off to, boy?" Tobias half-curiously inquired, sipping at his life essence.
"Why do you care? It isn't here with you," Severus spat back. "Should be glad I'm not bothering to stay in this squalor anymore."
"What? This ain't good enough for you?" he taunted with a half-drunk laugh, sweeping his hand over the room. "Rather live on the streets with the rest of the vermin. Fine. You ungrateful little shit."
Tobias shoved his son down the stairs when Severus attempted to slip passed him. The young wizard tripped down the stairs and collided with the front door.
"You'll gravely regret that," the youth snarled.
Tobias stomped down the stairs like a horse, laughing. The air filled with the strong scent of last nights liquor radiating from his breath. "You threatening me now, boy! Let's see you back your words."
He grabbed Severus' arm and pulled him off the door just to rip it open and shove him through it. When he didn't fight against Tobias' aggressive handling of him aside from a firm shrug to be released, Tobias just laughed again.
"Didn' think so. Worthless brat."
Eileen was hidden in the shadows, witnessing her son being kicked out the door hours after he had just returned home from school.
"I don't want to see your sorry arse around here again!"
Eileen had tried to go after her Severus, but Tobias slammed the door closed and rounded on her. "If you even think of allowing that good for nothin' freak back in my house, Eileen, so help me..."
She dared not to cross Tobias. Since she had kept her promise on swearing she'd never use magic on him, it never helped his insecurity of it silently looming over him, knowing that she could easily overpower him if she really wanted to. She claimed to still love him despite all the abuse she endured from him and witnessed being inflicted on their child. Tobias always made sure to remind Eileen that it was her fault for his reckless actions. It was, to him anyway. Had this magic rubbish never surfaced, Tobias would be fine with his life and family. They would still struggle but not in this way. Feeding the habit occasionally left them starving for days, but it never stopped him from recycling the outcome when finances grew thin.
Eileen still stayed with him despite her better judgement, but they were hardly considered a couple anymore. He couldn't recall a time when he felt happy and love for the woman without feeling like it was all a clever little lie she spun. Tobias made sure to hardly ever be home, and when he was, he was too drunk to fully recall what transpired between them. The yelling and fights were the only distinct blurred memories, but her drawing that wretched piece of wood on him was the one time that he finally really snapped.
After twenty-two years of being around that cursed witch, he had come home from work one day to her not being there at all. She never did come back, either. Tobias could care less on where she ran off to, he never bothered to look for her. Why should he? Like mother like son, forever running from their problems. Tobias simply grabbed a beer and watched the news that night knowing that he had won against the magic she dared try to use against him.
Four blissful years trickled by without any magical interruptions in Tobias' life. He sat in front a poker table placing his bet like he grew accustomed to doing for year now. Body slightly swaying from the lack of control he lost long ago to being perpetually drunk enough that he now could appear sober. As he made the wager on the not so grand hand he held, Tobias took a long drink of cheap whiskey from the tumbler that lingered beside his hand. A dark figure had approached from behind as everyone laid out their hands. Tobias' three of a kind was bested by a full house.
A new game was being dealt, the men surrounding the table were oblivious to the cloaked person's presence that watched them gamble their paychecks away to the better players in the group. The man sneered in disgust as he watched his father lose for a third time in a row.
"Squandering away your earnings while your family starved. Habits never change, it seems. Pathetic."
A sharp, bitter tone resonated from beside Tobias, startling him into looking up into the black, emotionless gaze of his son. At first he didn't recognize his son since he'd not seen him since that fateful day he forcibly removed him from the house. But that voice, the resentful, angry, bitter tone Tobias heard from the boyd adolescence was unmistakable to not remember. He abruptly got to his feet, meeting the cold gaze of Severus with his own glare.
"Thought I told you I didn't want to see your sorry arse ever again, boy," Tobias snarled, sweeping his hand to collect the cheap amber liquid nearby.
Severus took a half step back at the unpredictable action, but remained holding his ground. "Don't flatter yourself, I'm here to collect what's rightfully mine."
Tobias glanced around him, his coworkers stared back. Some were annoyed that their game was interrupted after dealing out a new hand, others shrugged it off. Feeling embarrassed in front of them, he finished his drink and laid the freshly dealt hand face down on the table.
"I fold."
The man then stormed off toward the backdoor. The dark-clothed wizard silently following behind. As soon as the cold autumn air hit his face did Severus draw his wand and jabbed it into his father's chest when Tobias whipped around to face him. He was not expecting it and raised his hands at the mercy of Severus' hand.
"Listen you legless tosser," Severus growled, pressing the tip of his wand deeper into bony flesh. "Mother is dead, not like you give a damn. I am here for your signature to revoke your name from the deed to her house."
Tobias spat on the ground at their feet, glaring back into the cold, dark eyes. "So the witch finally croaked, eh? Good riddance, I say!"
The sharpness in Severus' eyes pierced right into his father's. A silent stinging hex had Tobias stumble back from the shock. He placed a hand over the area that now burned from the magics residue.
"I told you you'd pay for your actions, how befitting to finally see you cower."
"Who says it was even hers to give you?" Tobias hissed out. "You have no right to take what's mine!"
"Watch me." With a flick of his wand, Severus had Tobias be tossed back into a pile of rubbish bags.
Feeling a bottle nearby, Tobias grabbed it and threw it right for the wizards face. It was easily deflected, but it only angered Severus more.
"I knew that you and your mother were nothing but storybook freaks!" Tobias snarled, pushing himself upright. "And here you are proving it by using your filthy curse on me rather than fight like a proper man."
Severus flicked his wand again, tossing Tobias into a large metal bin. Another slash of the air had a huge gash appear cross Tobias' face. The man was frightened now, struggling to stay conscious after the impact his head made to the hard metal. It was almost enough for Severus to crack a smirk at the sight before him.
"I much prefer hurting you with what you've feared my entire life." Kneeling down, he withdrew some official papers and a pen and laid them on the filthy ground in front of Tobias who scrambled away from his son. "Sign it, or I'll make sure that will be the last insult you will ever spit out of your pathetic mouth."
If a stupid signature was all that his good-for-nothing son wanted from him to keep him out of his life, then so be it. Hesitantly, Tobias snatched the pen from the ground and shakenly signed across the line at the bottom. Severus grabbed the paper and tucked it away. Without another word, Tobias watched as his son turned and vanished back through the door, leaving the drunk and barely conscious man alone in the filth of the dead end alley.
Written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments)
Assignment 9: Mythology - Task 4: Erymanthian Boar - Write about someone who doesn't handle alcohol well.
Writing Club - Emy's Emporium: Guyuk Khan - write about alcoholism
Book Club - Eddie's Dad: (character) Tobias Snape, (plot point) not speaking to someone for a long time, (word) damage, (emotion) bitterness, (action) gambling, (trait) stubborn, (dialogue) "What? This ain't good enough for you?"
Insane House Challenge: 517. [Action] Drinking
365 Prompts Challenge: 111. [Emotion] Anger
Word Count: (Per Google Docs) 2,427
