Black Eyes
The spring sun was unusually hot on Severus's shoulders and he could feel the damp of sweat beginning on the back of his neck. Readjusting his grip on Darla's small hand, he chanced a glance away from the sight of their parents' caskets in their freshly dug graves to the priest reciting the typical funeral prayers. The middle-aged man looked as warm as Severus felt and was absently dabbing at his perspiring forehead with a handkerchief every now and then as he hurried through the typical internment prayers.
Severus then looked out of the corner of his eyes at the others in attendance. There were very few. A couple of work and pub mates of his father and the neighbor woman and her mother, who'd called Severus after she'd been entrusted with Darla by one of the firemen who had been at the fire that killed his parents. He looked down at the top of his sister's head. It was pulled into two neat plaits. Severus would have to find a way to thank the neighbor woman's mother for doing Darla's hair for him. His own attempts had all ended with his sister's hair looking like a niffler's nest and Darla nearly in tears from the pain of him tugging at snarls he made and having to hold still for far longer than a toddler had the attention span for.
A tantruming sister was the last thing Severus had needed on the day of their parents' funeral.
Abruptly, he was pulled from his thoughts when the priest started the Lord's Prayer. Severus joined him and the rest of the mourners in reciting the prayer. When done, they all took turns throwing a handful of dirt into his parents' graves. As he helped Darla throw her dirt into the graves, he explained, "We're going to leave now. If you have anything you want to say to Mum and Dad before we go, you should say it now."
His sister met his gaze and gave a small, solemn nod. Returning her attention to their parents, she said, "Bye Mummy and Daddy. Miss you."
Severus looked behind him. The women and men who'd come to his parents' burial had followed the priest to the graveyard's gate to give him and Darla a bit of privacy. He rested his hands on his sister's shoulders a moment. "I'll take good care of Darla, Mum," he promised. Migrating his hands up to cover his sister's ears, he hissed, "I hope you rot in Hell, old man. For nearly twenty years Mum has been telling you not to smoke in the bloody house, but what did you do? Smoked in the house and now you've killed her and left Darla an orphan."
He wished he could spit in his father's grave, but doing so in view of not only his sister, but the priest and other mourners would be horribly uncouth. Instead, he settled for sneering at his dad's casket as he picked up his sister to leave.
-o-O-o-
"Absolutely not."
Severus yanked his sister back to his side for the fourth time in as many minutes since they entered the apothecary. "No, Darla!" he snapped at her before returning his attention to Mr. Mulpepper. "She wouldn't get in the way," he assured. "I'd put up an age line and keep her in the break room. She's really–" Severus grunted when his sister tried once again to run off at full throttle to explore the apothecary. "–That's it!" he hissed. Bending down, he lifted Darla into his arms and held her firmly in spite of the way she wriggled to get away.
"Nooo!" she complained.
"She's really quite good. Quiet too," he told his boss.
The old man brought a liver-spotted hand to his temple and began to massage it. "I know you're a clever lad, Snape," he said, "so I'm going to pretend this poppycock you just tried to sell me didn't happen."
"Sir–"
Mulpepper motioned for Severus to shut up. "No, young man." The old man glanced around the apothecary a moment, then he took Severus by the arm and led him into the back of his shop away from the gossipmongers Severus was forced to call his colleagues. Once there, Mr. Mulpepper used the privacy spell Severus created and taught him when he first started working for the old man. Once done, he met Severus's gaze dead on and told him, "You've been a reliable employee the past couple of years. I would hate to lose you over your… acquisition.
"Now, I don't want you to breathe a word of this to any of your coworkers. I can't have them thinking I'm playing favorites, but I'm going to give you a bit of a raise, and today off and tomorrow to make arrangements for your sister. If you don't have things in hand the day after tomorrow when you come into work, you're gone, lad."
For a moment, he could only stare at the old man in shock and wonderment. "You–" he sputtered. Then, quickly shuffling his sister to one arm, he reached out to shake Mr. Mulpepper's hand, hoping to convey the true depth of his gratitude. "Thank you, sir. You don't know how much this means to me."
He smirked at Severus. "You've got a keen eye for measuring and some fairly brilliant ideas for new potions, I want to keep you around. You're bound to make me a small fortune one of these days with some concoction or other."
"Thank you again, sir."
Mr. Mulpepper put a guiding hand on Severus's shoulder as he saw him out. "Don't forget now, I expect you here at seven AM sharp on Thursday!" he proclaimed as he opened the apothecary's door for him.
He nodded. "Yes, sir."
-o-O-o-
Finished with cleaning up from supper, Severus cast a quick look around the room. He furrowed his brow a moment, then, with a dawning idea, crouched down to look under the kitchen table. He smirked partly in amusement, partly in relief when he saw his little sister looking at one of her picture books beneath. "Hey," he called.
She hardly spared him a look before going back to her book.
"I'm going to pop out on the terrace a moment, okay?"
Darla nodded, but otherwise didn't react.
He sighed. "When I come back you're taking a bath, understood?"
Her shoulders hunched around her ears and she scowled into her book. Severus closed his eyes a moment; he knew it was going to be a fight with her when he came back from having a smoke. For now, though, he wasn't going to think about it. He had other matters to consider. Such as what he was going to do with Darla. He had to go back to work at Mulpepper's tomorrow and he still didn't have anyone to mind his sister while he was gone.
Getting to his feet, Severus let his thoughts carry him out to the terrace. As he lit his cigarette, he thought of yet another problem. He'd been lucky this last week, not once had he been called by the Lord. However, it was extremely unlikely things would stay that way. What was he going to do with Darla when the Lord demanded his presence?
Severus needed more than just a day-minder. He needed a full-time nanny. But how in the Hell was he going to afford that? Not to mention finding someone who was trustworthy (or unscrupulous) enough to not sell him out to the Aurors?
He breathed out a cloud of smoke and scanned Knockturn's Alley below. A teenage girl of about sixteen stepped out of the shadows of the building located diagonally from his terrace. Severus watched on with disinterested eyes as she posed salaciously for an older wizard walking past her. The wizard didn't even spare her a glance. The girl didn't immediately meld back into the shadows, however.
Instead, she dropped her pose for something more dejected and just stood there, watching people walk by her. Severus noted she looked thin. Almost unhealthily so. He had a feeling she was having a poor time of being a prostitute. An idea coming to him, he put out his cigarette and hurried back inside. What he was going to do would either turn out horribly or brilliantly.
Making a beeline for the table, he reached under it for his sister and dragged her out.
"No!" she complained.
Severus ignored Darla's whining in favor of tucking her under his arm so he could rush out of his flat to the street below. Once down there, he looked around, searching for the teenage prostitute. After a moment, he spotted her sinking back into the alleyway between the two buildings she'd come out of in the first place.
"Hey!" he yelled at her. "Wait!"
The teenager froze, eyes large.
As Severus got closer, he realized why it might be she hadn't had many takers. The lower right side of her face was covered with an ugly burn scar. Only a drunkard or half-blind man (or woman) would be interested in her. While the half-blind were probably a favored clientele of the teenager, he doubted she took on many drunks. They had a tendency to be volatile in his experience.
Severus took a deep breath. Here he went.
"How would you like free room and board?"
She blinked. Then, frowning, asked, "In exchange fer wha'?"
"Nannying my kid sister," he answered, holding up Darla for her to see.
The prostitute crinkled her freckled nose. "Tha' it?"
"Yeah."
She crossed her arms. "I wan' it in writin'."
He grinned at her, pleased with the teenager's shrewdness. Perhaps it was a good sign for him and Darla. If not, Severus would be sure to include a clause that allowed him to kick the prostitute out of his flat at his discretion. "Of course," agreed Severus.
Thoughts on these turn of events guys?
Thanks a million for reading!
