CH 4 A Father Son Chat

Severus walked with determination toward the headmistress' office. Students who were generally afraid of him anyway gave him an even wider berth than usual. He approached the gargoyle and for a moment couldn't remember the blasted password. 'Oh yes,' he thought, "Bannockburn" he said and the gargoyle seemed to leap aside as though it could sense his impatience. As soon as he emerged off the moving staircase into McGonagal's office, he launched into what was less a request than a demand.

"Minerva, I need to use your office for a bit, to have a private conversation with Dumbledore," he stated.

"I see," she said and from the soft and understanding tone of her voice he thought perhaps she did.

"Do you?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yes, but there will be time to discuss that later," she turned to the walls of her office and spoke in a commanding tone. "Come, let us leave Severus and Albus alone to their private discussion."

Some of the past head masters and headmistresses grumbled a bit at being rousted from their frames, but then Phineas suggested they all head to a pub scene and the grousing seemed to stop.

When they were finally alone Severus strode over to stand in front of Albus' portrait.

"Do you know why I'm here?" he asked.

"Not entirely, no." Albus responded.

Severus was immediately angered at the prevaricating response. It was neither a true yes nor a no and left the ball very much in his court.

"Fine let me explain what my day has been like today." Severus began to speak in a rapid fire and almost forced manner. "This morning at breakfast, the students were all in a tizzy discussing the Marriage Act that mandates that Pureblood Wizards and Witches must marry Muggle born Witches and Wizards, when suddenly in came owls from the Ministry of Magic bearing Notification Letters for all those who would be affected by the act. Imagine my surprise when I received one as a pureblood wizard! I requested time from Minerva to go straighten out the obvious error at the Ministry. Well, a few hours of jumping through administrative hoops and a few drops of my blood added to some Veritaserum and here I have the truth of the matter in my hand. This is a copy of my true pedigree. Albus. Care to see it?" he asked and without waiting for an answer he unfurled the parchment and held it so the portrait of Albus could see it.

"So tell me, did you know? Did you know I was your son?" Severus' voice had gone from his normal strong baritone to a thunderous roar that was rattling the frames on the wall.

Albus waited a moment for Severus to calm down a trifle, because he knew his answer would take him back up to new heights of anger.

"Well," Severus prompted.

"Yes, I knew," he answered softly.

"You bloody bastard!" Severus cursed and then he laughed. "No, I guess I'm the bastard now aren't I, or did you simply take another man's wife?"

"No, I didn't take another man's wife," Albus answered sharply. "Eileen was not married when you were conceived."

"Neither to Tobias Snape nor to you," Severus pointed out.

"Correct, because I had told her we could not marry or have children," Albus explained.

"Why not?" Severus asked, still angry but truly curious.

"Do you think Voldemort was the first ever Dark Lord? Have you never heard of Grindlewald?" Albus quizzed his son as though he were as Severus would say, a dunderhead.

"Of course I've heard of Grindlewald, every first year knows you defeated him in 1945, but that was 15 years before I was born!"

"Yes, it was, but at his death many of his followers simply slipped into the night and awaited some new Dark Lord, and I knew that some day Tom Riddle might be that Dark Lord. I wanted no one I loved to be a target to the new Dark Lord. I begged your mother to understand how things had to be and she swore she did. I should have remembered I'd taken a Slytherin to my bed."

"What's that suppose to mean?" Severus asked in a roar, his house and filial devotions rising up to add to his already prodigious temper.

"Every time we made love I watched her take a contraceptive potion, but I should have known that as great a potion mistress as your mother could brew something that would look like a contraceptive potion but have the opposite effect. She was sure when she told me she carried my child that I would change my mind, but when I didn't change my mind immediately, she cursed me without so much as a second thought."

"How did she curse you?" Severus was now even more curious.

"Her curse upon me was that I would never be able to acknowledge in any way to any person that you were my son. I don't think she realized it would be, or at least I don't think that she meant it to be, but the curse was irrevocable," the sadness in the portrait's face and voice was genuine and wrenching.

"She left you no room to change your mind?" Severus asked barely above a whisper.

"No, and believe me I did change my mind almost immediately, but it was over and done as far as she was concerned. She went off and found Tobias Snape and convinced him to marry her and be your father."

" A father,' Severus chuckled. "I'm not sure who was a worse father you or Tobias. I mean I can understand Snape, he was stuck raising another man's son, that would tend to make a man mean and cruel," he turned so he could look Albus more directly in the eye. "Did you know he used to beat me rather routinely? It was actually good training for working as a spy."

"Oh, Severus, how I wish I still had a body that I could reach out and hold you son, comfort you."

"I wish you had a body too, so I could punch you in the jaw. Mighty Gryffindor the cowardly lion, afraid to get his heart torn up, that's why you didn't want a wife and child, not for our protection for yours. I'm ashamed to be your son and damn glad I'm the one who killed you!" Severus turned and bolted from the room.

"Winky!" Dumbledore bellowed.

"Yes, Master Dumbledore," Winky said as she magically appeared in the headmistress' office as house elves could and would do when summoned.

"Winky, please see that master Severus is watched over by the house elves. He is in a very bad mood and may do damage to himself or others."

"Oh yes Master, house elves look after your son very good sir."

"Wait Winky how did you know Severus was my son?"

"Elves know, see Dumbledore and Missy Prince make baby, wizard baby all love and magic."

"I've managed to take all the love out of my boy. I have to find a way to put it back in his life. I have to find a way to be a better father to him now that I'm dead than I ever was while living."