All I want for Christmas is cut my two front teeth paste Willy Wonka & Severus Snape.
But alas, no amount of money could buy them for me, so I'll have to settle with borrowing them.
"What a pleasant way to get to know your brother," thought Snape dryly. "First, you invade his mind, knowing full well that he doesn't know what Legilimency is, let alone know how to Occlude against it. Not that he could sever the brotherly bond that we share. Then, after you get him to leave his little factory and hear you out- the very sight of me causes him to faint. Great, just wonderful, dammit!"
With that Snape turned to leave, only to realize that the gate was closed. Apparation was probably not the smartest idea, with his brother lying on the cold ground unconscious. What if he were to wake up? Severus may not know his brother very well, and he may not even see him again, but he certainly did not want to scar him for life like he did the sniveling first years. So, he begrudgingly strode to Willy's side, kneeled down, and began the process of a diagnostic charm.
"Oh gosh," mumbled Wonka, pinching the bridge of his nose, knowing that a headache was coming on, though it may have simply never left. Slowly he grasped his cane and propped himself up. When he opened his eyes, he was more than surprised to see a man leaning over him, greasy black hair threatening the back of his throat. "Ew!" Willy swatted the offending (hair) away and glimpsed that pale face that had startled him earlier. That face, that face.
Then Willy Wonka offered that offending face his most precious possession– his touch. His hand might have been gloved, mind you, but in that poke there was something. Some twisted concoction of hate, betrayal, angst, anger, loneliness, and could it be- brotherly love?
Snape looked down at his brother. "Did you just poke me?"
"Mhmhhh."
Snape wrinkled his face.
"What do you want?" Willy blurted, not really knowing how to compose any other speech for his tied tongue to give. He wondered why his brother was here, and how he had managed to find him. Why would his brother even consider coming here in the first place?
Willy pulled his slender frame up out of the strange impression he had made. He looked at his brother slowly. His face was blank, his hair was greasy, his skin hinted stress, and there seemed to be small boy perched on his shoulder.
Wait! Small boy? Willy Wonka doubted that wizards kept small boys on their shoulders. No, the boy was Charlie, standing beneath the awning of the factory.
Charlie Bucket stood bewildered at the sight just yards in front of him. There was another strange man in the count yard. This one had a funny stick in his left hand and he was waving it over his mentor like a metal detector which a security guard would use to screen people who beeped at the entrance of the airport. And the stranger thing was that Willy touched him. Willy rarely touched Charlie and he had lived here for months. And even when they did touch it was an accidental brush and Willy would always flinch.
Willy stepped to the side of his brother and stared straight at Charlie, then at the door with a Go-Away-This-Is-Not-Your-Business-And-I Am-Not-Responsible-For-My-Actions-If-You-Don't-Heed-My-Warning look; one Charlie had seen only once before when he stumbled on the mystery that was Willy's quarters, on a bad day too.
Charlie scrammed.
"I need your help," spat Snape, looking at the ground. He was not a person who usually asked for help, or even offered it for that matter. Instead, he preferred to be independent. This asking for help thing was new.
"I need a place to stay. Some bad things have been going in my world and I haven't got many options so I came to you first, and... well... ," told you this was new to him, "can I please just stay the night?"
Willy Wonka did not know what to say. This situation was so impromptu, and he was not an oompa loompa by any standard. He considered saying no, and dropping the whole thing. He had every right to. It was his factory. He hadn't even seen his brother since he was a little kid. He had been seven when Severus left him by himself with his father. And what if he was involved in fishy things? He could be a murderer for all Willy knew, just looking for a place to wait while his case cooled off.
But as hard as Willy tried, he just couldn't say no. He wasn't sure why, but the vulnerability of his brother made Willy feel sad. Severus had always been the strong one. He had been the one who endured father after a bad business day, or Halloween, or both. He was also the only one who talked about Eileen Prince, their mother. If it wasn't for Snape, Willy wouldn't know anything about his X chromosome.
Willy was visibly shaking now.
"Well..." prompted Snape, trying to rouse Willy from his wandering thoughts- of ponies and shopping, no doubt, Snape guessed after eyeing his brothers attire.
If Willy wasn't going to let him stay, than he needed to get going. Hearing no reply, Snape leaned back on his heel ready to turn around and leave.
"Wait. You can stay."
It's short, I know. But this is all I wanted to do with ths chapter. The next one will be longer.
I want to thank my reviewers and my beta. You guys mean so much to me.
Please Review.
