Posted: 11/25/15
Beta: the artful scribbler
Unexpected Offerings
11th June, 1998
The Dark Lord had been forced to conclude that she didn't know how to find Potter. She had writhed and screamed and cried and panted through the mild but merciless beating and had all the while adamantly maintained that she had never seen him. The thought that she could have lied niggled at the deepest recesses of his mind. He thought he could always distinguish between the veracious and the fallacious, but with this fey child he had lost all confidence. With her, the Dark Lord found himself hovering beside a deep precipice of uncertainty; he wanted to push her into this chasm, to end her, but somehow this idea made him feel weak. She was young and grossly ignorant; it made him possessed of a voracious need to keep her and use her the way Dumbledore had. He wanted to surpass the damage she had caused him by erecting his own towering tally of ways in which she served him. She had to cancel out her debts to him, fill them in with a sizable application of her power.
He was so unnerved by her existence the only thing he could fathom doing was keeping her chained at his feet.
~x~}{~x~
"If we ask him that, he might think we're saying we don't want to keep It for him," Narcissa said, as she replaced her teacup in its saucer.
The Malfoys and Bella were in the sitting room having their afternoon tea. The Dark Lord was in their spare room with Jane, doing Merlin knew what with her. He had come upstairs several times since her spanking and shut himself in with her over the last week. He usually stayed with her for a couple of hours. He must not have been saying nor doing anything to distress her, much to their mutual disappointment, because whenever they took her supper afterwards she was always calm.
Every time they took her food, she asked when they would let her out of the room. Never. Of course.
"Perhaps, but if I suggested it as though it were in Its best interest, don't you think that would make him see that we're not trying to shirk our duties to him?" Lucius asked.
His wife just shook her head and Draco and Bella remained silent.
None of them knew what to do. The longer the Dark Lord left her in their care the more hopeless they grew of him ever finding another situation for her. They knew why he had chosen them, singled them out for this feculent task. When the Dark Lord addressed them any more he didn't ask, he told. He was so disgusted with the Malfoys that he barely looked at them, and all four of them had been banned from attending his weekly meetings. Narcissa and Draco didn't mind at all, but it worried Lucius, and broke Bella's black heart.
There was a soft knock on the door of the sitting room. Bemused at this unexpected request for entry, Lucius called, "Come in."
The Malfoys couldn't have been more astonished or pleased when Severus opened the door and came to them. They all, save Bellatrix, stood to show deference to his presence, and they noticed that there was a large box, levitating a few feet off the ground, which crossed the room with him in his wake.
"Severus, this is a pleasant surprise," Lucius said with feeling.
Lucius would never forget his gratitude to his old friend for taking care of his son so thoroughly, while he had been locked up in Azkaban. Nor would his wife it seemed, as she went around the table and greeted him with a chaste kiss on his cheek. Lucius saw the pasty pallor of Severus's cheeks flush slightly pink at this profusion of gladness on Narcissa's part.
"Please have some tea with us, Severus," she asked him quietly and with genuine warmth.
Severus thanked them and took a seat around the large square table. He put the box on the floor behind his chair and since he didn't mention it, neither did they. They soon had their honored guest equipped with tea, sandwiches, biscuits and all the tasty treats they could offer. Severus accepted it all with a stolid politeness.
Severus tried to assess their well-being based on their appearances. Bellatrix looked as wild and disheveled as she always did since her escape from Azkaban, but Severus didn't really care about her. He moved his attention to the Malfoys. Draco was fairly well turned out in some gray robes and his hair was at least combed. Other than that, the skin around his eyes was tinged with blue tones, perhaps indicative of lack of rest, and his eyes were a little bloodshot. Lucius wasn't looking anywhere near as good in person. His cheeks were flushed and his face was bloated, from his excessive drinking Severus thought, and, though his hair wasn't as untamed as his sister-in-law's, still it seemed as though it could use a good brushing. Narcissa, on the other hand, looked as gorgeous as ever; she always appeared as though she had just spent two hours in front of her dressing table, and she probably always had. She was attired in a fitted green satin gown, adorned with many elegantly placed flourishes and flounces. Her honey-blonde hair was smooth and shiny, every gold and amber strand lying in its proper place. Her face was seamless and unblemished – flawless, really - probably covered in the most expensive creams and powders that gold could buy. She was decked out with a full set of matching silver jewelry, inlaid with emeralds to accentuate her shimmering robes. Even if the world was ending, Narcissa would show up for it looking like a million galleons.
"How are you enjoying your summer holiday?" Lucius asked.
Severus used a spindly finger to push back a lank portion of his black hair and a look of suppressed amusement stole across his face as he said, "I'm bored."
They laughed at this honest response and felt at ease with their companion once more. It was nice to know that there was at least one person who wouldn't abandon them.
"How are you doing?" Severus asked, his face serious again.
Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco exchanged loaded looks. Bellatrix was looking out of the window and seemed a bit oblivious to what was going on around her. She was this way most of the time of late.
"We're holding up, Severus," Narcissa said. "It's been hard since…since…"
"I know," he replied, wanting to save her the unpleasant need of saying it.
They were silent a moment. The room seemed heavy with things that shouldn't or couldn't be said.
Narcissa attempted to shift the direction of their thoughts and began, "Severus, I've been meaning to write you a letter, but I've been distracted lately. Since you're here I'll just ask you. If the Dark Lord permits it, when his anger has abated, will you help Draco complete his last term at Hogwarts? I mean, would you accept him next year after Easter so he can finish his education and graduate?"
Setting down his ginger biscuit he nodded, and addressing himself to Draco he said, "Of course. As soon as the Dark Lord allows it, you're more than welcome to return to school, Draco."
Draco nodded and said, "Thank you, Professor."
Draco knew he hadn't been fair to Professor Snape. In fact, Draco wanted to cringe when he remembered all the infantile things he'd said to him the night of Slughorn's Christmas party. He'd just been so upset about his dad being imprisoned, and he was terrified he wasn't going to complete his mission. His whole sixth year, when he remembered it - which he tried not to do - was an odd combination of hazy blurs and lucid images. The foggy fruitlessness of his time in classes and the evenings in his dormitory were divided with the stark clarity of the Room of Hidden Things, where he crooned those wretched spells at that accursed cabinet, and those stolen moments where he sat sobbing in a bathroom stall, confessing his fears into the ears of a dead girl.
"How's the resident Muggle?" Severus asked them rather abruptly.
"It's fine," Lucius answered him. He didn't even try to mask his bitterness when he added, "I'm sure It's thrilled to find Its circumstances so greatly enriched of late. This must be a palace compared to Its last place of residence. Large meals, soft bed, luxurious accommodations, what more could any mudblood ask?"
Severus noticed the absence of feminine pronouns and couldn't decide who he felt sorrier for, his old friends or the poor creature currently in their care. He couldn't help pitying the Malfoys, though he knew they hardly deserved it. It was patent to him how acutely abused they must feel by being put in this position as guardians of a muggle.
"Could you speak to him, Severus?" Narcissa suddenly asked, her voice both urgent and also plaintive. "We don't dare broach it, lest he think we're unwilling to carry out his requests. But if you asked him for us, he would listen. I'm certain."
"I'm sorry, Narcissa," he apologized, at sea. "Ask him what?"
In a tone that clearly implied she thought him dense, she clarified, "To remove It from our home. To take It someplace else to live, someplace more…appropriate,"
And after she said this, Severus thought her meaning should have been apparent to begin with. All three of the Malfoys, and even Bella, were looking at him now, their eyes gleaming with unmasked hope. Severus was still taken aback by this request.
"Where do you think he should take her?" he asked, genuinely curious to know what they would say.
"Does it really matter?" Lucius asked. "It doesn't belong here. Perhaps he could take It to London and find a home for It with some other Muggles, the way Dumbledore did."
"I doubt the Dark Lord will ever be willing to leave her anywhere on her own. And I especially doubt he'd being willing to leave her in the care of Muggles," Severus told them. He could see the dismay in their eyes.
"He could take her to live with another Death Eater," Bellatrix suggested. Severus was surprised she hadn't spoken before now. He hadn't spent enough time in her company lately to notice how subdued she had become since the Potter incident. Without the grace of her Master to bask in, without a wand to wield, Bellatrix was empty.
"I'm sure the Dark Lord has other servants that would be willing to take her. Many of them don't have homes as old and as…unsullied as ours," Narcissa supplied. "Severus, our home isn't meant to house mudbloods. We…our ancestors…this isn't right, Severus," she finished, too upset to articulate anything more specific than this argument for her cause.
Severus wouldn't voice his real opinion aloud for a thousand galleons, but as he thought of Jane going to live with another Death Eater, he was quite repulsed by the notion.
He agreed whole-heartedly with Lucius and Narcissa that she didn't belong here. She never would. Severus, on the other hand, knew this to be the case for completely different reasons than the Malfoys. They could only see this from their own perspective. Lucius had even spoken a few moments before about how his manor must seem like paradise to the child, like she fancied herself staying in a five-star hotel. Severus understood that she probably saw it more like the proverbial gilded cage. She was a foreigner in a land of magic and wealth, lost in a wonderland maze of beauty, cruelty, and no traces of comforting familiarity. Her world was all cars, television, cinema, telephones and electricity. They weren't comparable to the world of magic that the Malfoys enjoyed. Severus didn't automatically think that the Muggle world was so much less, just incontrovertibly different. While the Malfoys were revolted by the idea of her meandering through the sacred halls of their pristine home, courting ideas above her station perhaps, imagining herself their equal, Severus knew she would most likely consider this place to be an inescapable labyrinth of boredom and doom.
Sending her to stay with another Death Eater might change the scenery for her but not the sentiment. But Severus would not beseech the Dark Lord to move her somewhere else, even if they offered him unlimited access to Narcissa's greenhouse, which supported, he knew, some of the most valuable collections of rare magical plants in all of England. (He had always coveted the Malfoys their priceless flora for the potential potion ingredients.) In fact, if the Dark Lord consulted Severus, he had every intention of saying that, if he couldn't abide the thought of her living with Muggles, she should remain with the Malfoys.
There was a very good reason he had always been on such excellent terms with Lucius Malfoy. He wasn't a wholly evil person. He was conniving, cunning, duplicitous to a fault, very self-absorbed the majority of the time, but he was also principled. Severus knew that Lucius, for all of his failings, had certain redeeming features that the other Death Eaters lacked. For one thing he was a family man through and through, whereas many of the others wouldn't scruple to torture and kill their own "beloved" grandmothers if they thought for a second it would get them a better position with the Dark Lord.
Lucius had been schooled from an early age with the Codices of Fordyce, which was a collection of tomes written approximately five centuries ago that espoused a fundamental philosophy along the same lines as the 'For the Greater Good' rubbish that Grindewald utilized so effectively in his campaign against Muggles. Many pure-blood families in England made sure that, by the tender age of eight, their children could recite long passages of it to them by heart, which they often did of an evening for entertainment purposes. These sort of anti-muggle books were rampant in the abundant libraries of wealthy pure-bloods, each filled with graphic drawings of Muggles engaging in animalistic behaviors; children and adults sleeping piled up together in dirty nest-like heaps in a corner, always on the floor; pictures of them crawling around on hands and knees, naked, in bizarre pre-coital rituals; Severus had seen one, which he found highly amusing when he was fifteen, depicting a group of muggles, their faces shown in transports of unparalleled delight while they huddled in a muddy ravine playing with their own feces and flinging it at one another 'for some jolly good fun', the caption had read.
Despite his ignorance and his tragic greed for power, Lucius was almost angelic when contrasted with his co-workers. Severus knew that as miserable as Jane would inevitably be here at Malfoy Manor, Lucius, along with his wife and son, wouldn't lose control of their tempers and physically damage her. And though they would indubitably assault her verbally, he doubted they would find seemingly innocuous ways to psychologically terrorize her. At least he hoped. And he also knew that neither Lucius nor Draco would ever contemplate her in a highly hypocritical, salacious way.
"I believe you're looking at this from the wrong angle," Severus said. "She has the potential to become a valuable asset to our master. If that turns out to be the case, then how she lives will be important to him. You'll have the chance to redeem yourselves in his eyes by providing her a home where she can work for him."
"Severus," Lucius said, clearly shocked by his remarks, "we don't care how valuable It may or may not be to him. It has to go. Whatever abnormal "powers" that little freak may possess, It's not a pure-blood nor even a witch. It's too vile to stay here, full stop."
Severus sighed. "Lucius, I can see how hard this must be for you." He could tell by the looks on their faces they seriously doubted the truth of that statement. Though it hadn't been brought up by any of them for a long time now – leastways, not to his face - Lucius and Narcissa were very aware of Severus's upbringing.
Bellatrix, on the other hand, had no reservations about throwing it in his face as she jeered, "Please, Severus, don't make me laugh. I've seen that hovel you live in, and you can't possibly see how tasteless this is for us."
"I can't see why you care at all, Bella," he swiftly retorted. "How's your husband doing? I hear he has a bad case of the shivers."
"He's fine, thank you for asking," she returned, thoroughly unabashed by his attempts to shame her into caring for the husband she'd abandoned.
Severus looked at Lucius and Narcissa. They seemed so despondent now that he hadn't agreed to intercede with the Dark Lord on their behalf. He wished he could ease their suffering, but knew, at this point, they were beyond the sort of help they were seeking. The Dark Lord wasn't a forgiving person - he might decide to punish them for years.
They were quiet again for a while.
Severus was disheartened by the Malfoys' attitude. He wished there was some way to make them see her differently. Perhaps he should show them his box.
"I brought some things for her," he said.
"You brought some things for whom?" Lucius asked.
"I brought some things for her," he stated. "Jane."
"What sort of things?" Bellatrix asked suspiciously. "I hope you're not saying you brought some filthy Muggle rubbish into this house."
"It is Muggle, but it's not filth, Bella. They're necessities," he explained.
"Severus, we're perfectly capable of providing all of Its necessities," Lucius said with ill-disguised alarm.
"If she is truly impervious to all magic, you're not."
This was too terrible, Narcissa thought. Had he actually had the audacity to bring some items of a Muggle nature into their home?
Severus stood up, set his box on the chair he had been occupying, and opened it. He pulled out some bottles made of plastic.
"These are some medicines for her," he explained, as he began setting them on the table. "None of these will suffice if she's gravely ill or injured of course. If anything of that nature were to occur, I hope you'll send for me at once.
"This medicine is a mild pain reliever and it will also alleviate a mild fever," he said pointing to the writing on the bottle.
Their curiosity got the better of them at this point, and they began picking the bottles up to inspect them.
"What's this one for?" Draco asked, holding his bottle up.
"That one is for an upset stomach. Remember that if she does begin to complain of abdominal pains, keep an eye on her. If she doesn't start feeling better after a couple of hours, or if she's crying a lot and acting as though she's in excruciating agony, send for me straight away. If she needs to be hospitalized for some reason, I'll go with you."
Narcissa and Lucius began to realize that their old friend was concerned for them and truly did mean well. He was completely right, of course, when he told them they couldn't provide all of her basic necessities since magic wouldn't work on her. It just hadn't occurred to them until he started showing them the Muggle healing 'medisinine'.
Narcissa held up a bottle and asked, "What's this one for?"
"Allergies."
"What are they?" she asked.
Severus had to think for a moment, to come up with a word she would understand. Finally he settled on, "Hayfever."
"Oh," she said and gazed at the bottle with wonder.
"You'll want to be careful with that. It has soporific effects, so don't give it to her before she's supposed to slip away, or it will put her to sleep.
"All of these medicines are to be dispensed in certain amounts, exactly like healing potions."
He showed them the panel on the back with the dosing index and began explaining it to Narcissa and Lucius.
Bella was trying to open one of the bottles to see what the Muggle medisinine looked like. She tried twisting the lid, pulling it off, and then she began to bang it loudly and roughly against the table with no regard for damaging its contents.
"For Morgana's sake! This stupid Muggle bottle is broken or something! It won't open!" she exclaimed over the thumping noises.
His lip curled in obvious disdain, Severus reached swiftly over, plucked it from her inept grasp and, his voice drenched with derision, told her, "You can't open the lid because it's child proof, Bellatrix."
She lost interest at this point and left the room.
It hardly mattered to the Malfoys. She wasn't doing anything to help them with the mudblood anyway. For three days after she was spanked, Bellatrix had taken her every meal so she could spend a few minutes watching her stand over the table to eat, as Jane wasn't able to sit down. Bella had issued banal jokes, and laughed heartily at them all, and as soon as Jane was healed enough to take a seat for her meals, Narcissa, Lucius and Draco had resumed all the catering duties.
After he was finished explaining the proper dosing procedures he showed them a box of bandages. "For minor cuts and scrapes only. Anything too deep and she'll need the hospital.
"This," he said, pulling out a small tube, "is an antiseptic salve. Just a small amount will be adequate. I also suggest you make sure to wash any abrasions with plenty of soap and hot water."
Narcissa took the tube from him and wondered at this receptacle. All of her salves came in small lidded pots. This was like a toothpaste tube. How odd.
Next, he pulled out a small case and opened it to reveal a row of shiny metal instruments.
"It's a manicure set," he told them.
He pulled out one of the tools and manipulated a lever until it was protruding from the rest of it at a minute angle. He held out his hand and showed them how it worked by clipping a little portion of his fingernail away.
Narcissa was amused by this and couldn't help laughing at it. She used a special spell for cutting her and her family's fingernails. How clever of Severus, she thought. It seemed he thought of everything. He proved this again when he pulled out another box.
His face was going beet red as he handed it to Narcissa.
"This is something for women. I know that witches have a lot of different ways to deal with this…sort of thing…by magic, but, er-
"Well it's just…" he didn't seem able to complete his sentence.
Narcissa looked at the box and turned it over a few times, reading the various panels. It was clear to her it was meant exclusively for women, but she still wasn't sure what it was for. Draco took it from her and started to open it.
"That's - no Draco, don't open it!" Severus said, getting more flustered every second. He took the small box out of Draco's hands and dropped it back into the bigger box resting on the chair.
"It's for women," he said sheepishly.
"Yes, you said that already," Lucius reminded him.
"Never mind, if you just give it to Jane, I'm sure she'll know…" he trailed off, looking as though something very shocking had just occurred to him.
Would she know? What if she hadn't begun yet? How educated was she about such matters? Oh, God! He'd been stupid to bring it for her, but how could he not? As embarrassing as it was, he needed to make sure that Narcissa at least knew what it was, in case Jane didn't.
"It's for her…time…her, you know…her monthly time," he said, giving Narcissa what he hoped was a significant look. She looked blank. "You know, her…cycle?"
She finally cottoned-on at the word 'cycle'. Then her face began to glow pink as understanding came over her.
"Right. Thank you, Severus," she said quietly. "You think of everything."
"What is it?" Lucius asked, quite stupidly Narcissa thought.
Eager to protect her son from this unsuitable topic, she said, "I'll tell you later, dear." And she gave him a significant look of her own.
Fortunately Lucius took the hint and decided to drop it for the time being.
Severus next produced some books and some more small boxes.
"These are some materials for her to draw and color with," he said.
They picked these up and began to explore the contents of the boxes and flip through the pages of the books. These items were the most curious of all. They didn't really know what to say about them, so they just set them aside.
The Dark Lord walked into the sitting room and he had Jane with him. She was wearing another ill-fitting dress that had once belonged to Lucius's deceased aunt, and they noticed her face was splotchy and she had the shiny remnants of what had probably been tears on her cheeks.
She followed the Dark Lord across the room, looking around at everything but them, as per usual.
The Dark Lord stopped in front of them, looked at Severus, and asked, "What brings you here, Severus?"
"I was dropping off some basic necessities for Jane, my lord."
"What sort of basic necessities?" he inquired.
Severus showed him the things he'd brought and explained what some of the medicines were for. This pleased the Dark Lord to no end, though he kept his face neutral as showing enthusiasm for anything muggle wouldn't be proper.
When Severus was done the Dark Lord turned to the Malfoys and told them, "You can't keep Jane locked up anymore."
Though it hardly seemed possible, their pale faces grew whiter as they contemplated his command for a minute.
Then Lucius and Narcissa began to protest at the same time.
Lucius started to say, "My lord, what if It tries to run away?"
While Narcissa began, "What if It falls down a staircase?"
"Quiet," he hissed. They both fell instantly silent.
He looked at them in disgust for a few moments until he saw the appropriate fear replacing the anger in their eyes.
"You'll make sure she doesn't run away," he said, looking at Lucius, and then he turned to Narcissa and continued, "or fall down the stairs, or any other undesirable thing. From now on she's to stay with you three during the day and you can lock her in her room while she sleeps. She'll eat with you too.
"She's going to be a part of your cozy, precious family," he told them. He was quite pleased to see the blush creeping across their cheeks. Their love for one another disgusted him.
"I'm leaving now. I'll see you at the meeting tomorrow, Severus," he said.
"Yes, my lord," Severus replied. This was the closest the Dark Lord could come to saying 'goodbye'.
When he was gone Lucius was so overcome with despair he went to the sideboard for an afternoon drink, Narcissa sat down, quite heavily it seemed to Severus, and Draco went to the window and gazed out of it blankly. Jane wandered to the table, began to nibble a biscuit, and she lightly caressed a coloring book.
"These are for you, Jane," Severus told her.
Jane looked at Severus fully. He didn't know it, but he was the only person she'd looked directly in the eye since she had come here.
She studied him for a few moments and then, through a mouthful of biscuit, said, "Fank you, Mr. Snape."
