Chapter Four: Heading To a New Home:
It was a bright warm sunny day that Severus was finally able to leave the hospital wing of the school. Regulus took him home with him as his wife wanted to help care for Severus. She had been a Auror before getting married to Regulus and had heard a lot of stories about Severus Snape from Regulus. He had been a good friend to Severus, really besides Lucius Malfoy he was Severus's only true friend, and that friendship had been strained badly in the last year. Terra Violet Black nee Williams waited in the parlor for Regulus to come back. The nanny was with the children as Terra was not sure how Severus would react to five children all at once. The man had dealt with so much change in the last month she wanted to make this as easy on him as possible. She looked into the hall mirror and tucked a lock of her dark hair behind her ear. She was tall, shapely and like her husband tanned with deep blue eyes. She was clad in a simple gown of dark green and she wondered how this formidable man would receive her.
The door to the house opened and Regulus was there with Severus Snape. The pictures of him she realized did not do him justice at all. True he was not a handsome man but he was not ugly either. His long black hair hung to his shoulders and his nose dominated his sallow face. Deep black eyes and his thin frame reminded her mostly of a vampire though she knew he was not. He looked so pale and sick as she knew he still was, the bite had taken a lot from him and it would be some time before he was fully healed. She lead him into the parlor and had him sit down as she did not want him standing any more than he had to. She saw he was clad in simple high collared buttoned robes of black and she saw his boots were of dragon skin, perfect for the type of work he did.
"Professor Snape I am Terra Black." She said extending her hand, he took it and she noticed how callused his hand was. "Welcome to my home."
"Thank you Mrs. Black." He said quietly.
"What she means is make yourself at home, raid the refrigerator, brew potions in the basement, scare the dog but not the children." Regulus said trying for a joke. "Never the children."
"I enjoy terrifying children." Snape said, "mostly first years as they need to be kept in line."
"Yea you would," Regulus shot back at him, "look I mean it, make yourself at home, Gabby!" Regulus said and with a pop a house elf appeared.
"Your elf is wearing clothes?" Snape said looking down at the small creature clad in a simple white tunic and breeches.
"Well elves here are not slaves Severus." Regulus said. "The American constitution forbids slavery, we in the magical world here follow the constitutional laws as the American witches and wizards helped found this country too."
"It is strange to see one like this." Severus replied looking at the small elf who started back calmly at him.
"It's okay, Regulus had a lot to learn when he came here too." Terra assured Severus.
"How may I help you sir?" Gabby asked Regulus.
"Help Severus Snape find his rooms and get him anything he many need." Regulus replied.
Severus got up and followed the little elf out and was pleased when the elf lead him to basement where he found rooms very much to his liking. He saw that Regulus had made sure there was a bedroom and bathroom set up for him complete with a good sized tub and good sized bed in the bedroom. Most of the basement was set up as a potions lab with book shelves set up near the fireplace where there was an old but comfortable arm chair set up. Severus saw to his surprise the books were his and he realized all the trouble Regulus had to have gone through to get this here for him. He had gone through a lot of danger to get him and for him to set up the basement of his home for him was almost too much for Severus. He felt a tug on his robes and saw the elf pointing to the bedroom. He got the hint but had to get the last word in, or so he thought.
"Annoying creature aren't you?" He said to the elf.
"Thank you sir, then I am doing my job." Gabby said. "You are still weak and need rest after being bit as you were."
"Hnn, and you will make sure of it?" Severus said. "Oh joy, now Regulus said you were to give me whatever I wanted…"
"Not poison sir, you cannot have that." Gabby said. "He didn't go to all that work to get you here to have you drink poison! Now you go to bed, I will come and let you know when dinner is."
Severus gladly did as he was asked as he was very tired even though he had not traveled far at all. He took off his robes and boots and curled up on the bed in his shirt and trousers too tired to argue. Gabby covered him with a blanket and left him alone to sleep, making sure the wards to warn if he had any nightmares were up in the process. Terra had these put up as she worried about Severus as she knew his mind was very fragile right now. She knew Severus would never admit yet and she would give him time to realize he was cared for. She got the children fed as they were still very young, Luna was the oldest at seven, then came Diana and Mercury the twin girls, Phinus Sirius Regulus Black, the oldest boy at three and his brother Leonous Orion Black at one year of age. They all looked very much like their parents with dark brown hair and either blue or gray eyes. The nanny came and took them to the nursery and Gabby readied the dining room for dinner for the three adults.
Severus woke up in time for dinner and came up dressed as always in his black robes. Terra wondered if she could get him to dress more in muggle attire as the black made him look extremely severe. He took a seat at the table and quietly ate what was put before him. She noticed he had a guarded look about him, he never smiled or showed any emotion at all. This worried her, she hoped it was not too late to help him as he appeared to have shut down completely. He was so very pale too, true he hated going out in the sun, had even as a child from what Regulus said. Still this was a sickly pallor and probably due to all he had been through in the past few years not just the fact he was bit by a Nagini snake. She knew from the pictures of him he was normally sallow but in person he looked so frail as if he would break at a moment's notice. Yet he had survived so much pain and suffering and was now here with them. She felt a kinship with him as Regulus has spoke of him often as he had always respected Severus Snape from the time he had started Hogwarts.
"Is there anything you need Severus?" Terra asked him.
"No ma'am, thank you for all you have done for me." He replied quietly.
"Are the rooms to your liking?" Regulus asked.
"Yes, you know me well, the basement is perfect for me." Severus replied nearly smiling.
"Well yea we were friends all through school." Regulus said. "Even met your mum and dad if I recall."
"Yes, they were good people." Severus said quietly.
It simply was not true Severus had a bad childhood. The memories he had given to Harry, well they were about Harry's mother and a confession for what he had done. The sainted brat did not need memories of his family, he didn't need to see how a muggle man and a witch could even fall in love and raise a son with love and kindness. Oh yes they were poor, there was no doubt about that, Severus did not have much in material things growing up. He never starved, never was beaten or abused but he was sure that the sainted brat would taint anything he showed him of his parents to how he had been raised. Call Severus a cold bastard for treating Harry the way he did but damn it the boy needed to be kept down, he did after all have all the markings for a dark lord himself, or so Severus told himself over and over again. That and the brat looked like his father and that pained him through the boy's schooling.
James and Sirius were arrogant stupid boys who had seen smart talented in all things magical half blood Severus Snape as beneath them. He was a slimy Slytherin, they were noble god-like Gryffindors and they were so full of themselves they did not see how even students in other houses didn't always like them. The prank in Severus's fifth year had divided the school nearly down the middle, those for the clever marauders on one side, those for Severus Snape and his talents with potions on the other. Severus was a Slytherin in all true aspects of the word, he knew how to get allies and survive very well, thank you very much. It was ironic really that James and Sirius best friend was a werewolf of all creatures! Severus was sure that the only reason they really were friends with him was for the danger, at least that was the reason Sirius would have been. James had proven a truer friend when he had stopped Severus from going into the shack and saved his life though even now Severus was sure he did it to save his neck more than Remus.
"I am tired." Snape said getting up at the end of dinner. "I need to rest."
"Of course." Terra said watching him walk back to his rooms. "I hope he will be alright."
"I do too." Regulus replied. "Now I think back on it he really started to go downhill after his parents died in his sixth year."
"I thought it was because of the prank." Terra said knowing full well about that as she was close to several Aurors in England who knew Severus's history.
"No, you know he never even saw Remus, James convinced him not to go down to the shack. Saved his and Remus' life that night. My brother could be such an ass at times, thought that really was not completely his fault, you can thank our parents for that. Cruel evil people who delighted in torturing us as kids, well mostly Sirius, he protected me."
"I know how he did things for others, he continued to make the Wolfsbane for Remus Lupin, was not Professor Slughorn willing to make it for him?"
"Yes, the official reason Severus would continue to make it was 'because he was asked to' no he did it because he cares. Oh he is a cold bastard, was to Harry Potter but he was scared of him, hell even now I am. I mean I don't think the boy will be another dark lord but that power! Were the hell did he get the power to throw off the death curse?"
"It was not him." Terra said. "It was a miracle, not magic."
"How can you not say it was magic?" Came the voice of Severus from the doorway.
Both turned to see the dour potions master in the doorway and they looked a bit stunned. How much had he heard and how long had he been standing there? He came and took a seat still weary but felt he should stay here and talk, if these two were going to talk about him he should be there to join the fun. So Regulus feared Harry too did he? Severus had feared the brat, yes he had, feared him and feared for him. When Dumbledore had told him about the Horcrux in Harry it had made since but still, still the damn old fool had used him! Gained his trust, kept things from him and used him. Terra saw pain fill the young potion master's eyes and she wanted to comfort him, she knew he would not take that well at all so she stayed seated where she was.
"Well it was not, there is no magic or non-magical way to explain it." Terra said looking pained, oh if only people turned to God instead of trying to explain everything in human terms and ways of doing things! "Harry Potter is no dark lord, he is a miracle, he survived by the grace of God, a miracle to show us God has not forgotten us in the magical world."
"How do you know of God?" Severus asked. "Where was this God when my parents died, to keep me from taking the dark mark, to keep Lily alive? Tell me Mrs. Black where was he then? Where was he when the dark lord came back alive and turned England into a bloody war zone once more?"
"God is there always." Terra said quietly, "I know there are some pretty awful things that have happened throughout human history. I will not deny that ever. However God gave us free will and unfortunately some people choose evil instead of good and cause a lot of pain and suffering."
"Or he uses us as his own lab rats." Severus snarled, not wanting to listen to any more of this but not moving from his seat. "What if he likes to see how far he can push us, to see how much we can take until we break?"
"I know it is hard to believe but God is not that way." Terra said.
"He really isn't Severus, I once was like you too." Regulus said. "It took my searching out and working out things for myself to see the truth."
"You can keep your truth, I will have no part of it!" Severus snapped, he was annoyed that neither Regulus or Terra showed offence to this and normally he would have risen and stalked off in a billow of robes, but now he was still so very tired. "I cannot believe in your God, not now, not ever!"
"That is okay Severus." Regulus said quietly. "Now you need your rest, don't glare at me you may intimidate your students with that but not me."
"I never could intimidate you Regulus could I?" Severus said coolly.
"No and come to think of it not even the dark lord scared me." Regulus said. "I am not bragging but when the only torture he used was Crucio and you had to dodge lethal curses from your own mother, well the dark lord is not so scary."
"He got worse when he came back." Severus replied softly remembering the violence that Voldemort dished out when he had come back. "I managed to avoid much of the physical torture, he seemed to enjoy torturing Lucius the most. It is what got him to turn completely from Voldemort, I doubt without his help this last year Voldemort would have been defeated."
"So old Lucius finally turned when he was beaten like he used to beat his house elves?" Regulus said. "Bastard deserved it, you don't treat your servants the way he did his."
"I quite agree." Severus said. "Though he knew not to treat Narcissa or his son badly, he truly loves them, I take it they survived?"
"Yes they did." Regulus replied.
"Good." Severus said rising slowly to his feet. "I am tired, I am going to retire."
He left the dining room and walked slowly down the hall and down to the basement. He went to his room and collapsed onto the bed fully clothed and was asleep at once. Gabby came into the bedroom a bit later and changed Severus into a long white night shirt and tucked him under the bedclothes. He stirred but did not wake through this and Gabby thought he looked so peaceful as he lay there asleep. Upstairs Regulus and Terra were still worried for Severus, he had gone through so much and it was still not clear if he would mentally survive…
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Oh yes the thing about Severus fearing Harry becoming a dark lord? Yea that would not be too farfetched. After all he knew all about Tom Riddle becoming Voldemort and he did not want Harry going down that path. It was fear that kept him from caring for the boy, fear, pride and the fact that Harry looked like James Potter his father.
As for Terra and Regulus believing in God and what Harry had gone through being a miracle for the magical world to see God has not abandoned them. Though there is not as much spoken directly about God in the Harry Potter books there is proof of him throughout if you look for it. Severus's response is not out of line and Regulus and Terra understand this.
I do hope I explained enough about Gabby being free, even the way she speaks shows her freedom too. Slaves are just not legal in America of sentient beings which would be citizens of course not slaves!
