Chapter 9 – Salem
September 30th , 2001
Severus Snape was a private man. He enjoyed his rooms, they were brighter and more alive than it had been in the dungeons, and he usually preferred to have his breakfast in there, alone, most days of the week. He used to ask house elves to prepare and bring it to him, and he could have all that he liked in the calm bliss of his solitude. It was a good way to wake up and prepare for the day, to face his dunderhead students.
For the past weeks, though, he noticed he'd been staying in his quarters less frequently. Going to the Great Hall for breakfast was more common now, and he took a while denying to himself what was the reason of that. But damn him if he kept lying to himself. He promised that there would be no more lies in his life, and had to remember that it should include himself. No, after those weeks holding it back and pretending there was nothing happening, he had had that incredible night with Heather in her quarters, and it was finally stronger than him.
It had been amazingly hot. He hadn't thought that sleeping with her could get any better; it had been amazing since the very first time, but that was a great surprise. The most intimate they got, the hotter it was, the most given and open she was to him, and he felt even more into her, given to the moment, entirely there with her. And her soft creamy skin, her eyes, her smile, and her voice whispering his name and telling him to… Fuck. He almost groaned at his place in the High Table where he sat now. Not a good place to have those thoughts.
But that is not all and you know it, his mind kept wondering out of his control. No, there was something about her, a mystery and deepness in those eyes, like a person who had seen the worst things and was still capable of holding some sweetness, of having moments of complete surrender and devotion and openness; but still being so private and so closed. There was definitely something about her, and Severus found himself willing to find it out, to break through her, to open a hole on her walls and climb in. Why?, he had asked himself many times now. Why did he want that? More than want, why couldn't he stop thinking about it and about her? He hadn't open himself for those foolishness, not now and not ever in his life, so why was this happening to him now? Are you stupid or what?, his mind barked at him. It was too damn obvious.
Like a magnet attracting his eyes, he looked suddenly to the front doors of the Great Hall right when Heather entered wearing her uniform and her bag hanging on one shoulder, with her guy friend on her side. They talked smiling and waked over to other two Ravenclaws and sat with them. Immediately after she sat down he saw her eyes seek for something, and find it in him. They locked eyes in the distance and he gave up instantly on denying or trying to understand. The answer was right there, inside his tight chess and the almost uncontrollable desire to smile.
She tore her eyes away from him a moment later when an owl dropped an envelope in front of her. Severus watched her take it somewhat excitedly, but it vanished in a moment when she registered the writing on it. Her smile dropped and her eyes hardened. He knew there was something wrong. Silently leaving the conversation around her, Heather opened the envelope and the letter inside, starting reading it quickly. Severus could see her eyes sweeping over the parchment and her frown go deeper at each read line. Clutching the paper in her hand, she stood up, said something briefly to the other ones and walked out of the great hall in long, quick strides.
Before he could think, Severus was also on his feet and leaving the High Table, walking slowly to the side door. Once he was out of people's view, though, he fastened his steps through the corridors until he reached the Main Stairs Hall. The place was empty now and it was easy to find Heather's figure running up a moving stairs, having already reached the second floor.
"Hea…", Severus started but stopped himself. Now almost running after her, he looked around before trying again, "Miss Sebastian!"
She didn't give any signs of having heard him, as she still ran up. With longer legs than her, he was quickly just one floor below her, and he tried again, "Miss Sebastian?"
She reached the third floor now and entered the corridor, Severus on her trail. When he got to the corridor, he saw the portrait that hid the corridor where her room was swing closed. He held it before it could completely close and entered the corridor. In front of her door, Heather had stopped running. She has her palms resting against the wooden door, head bent low between her arms, breathing heavily.
Severus let the portrait close behind him before speaking. "Heather". She didn't look up, but he saw her take a sharp breath. "Is there something wrong?", he asked, and then mentally slapped his forehead. Stupid question, obviously something is wrong. He approached her slowly, as if she was a scared animal, but didn't say anything else. When he stood right on her side, Heather lifted her head and looked at him. Her eyes were clouded with tears and her face wet. Her chin trembled when her eyes met his. She whispered a word that he didn't catch, lost as he was at the surprise to see her cry, and the door opened with a click. He walked in right after her. Heather didn't mind about the door or about hosting the man inside her rooms. Nervously, she started pacing in front of the couch and dried her face angrily.
"She doesn't deserve it", Severus heard Heather say to herself. She wasn't looking at him.
"Heather, what happened?", he asked, closing the door. "Whose letter was that?"
She took the crumpled parchment from her pocket and gestured with it to Severus. "This is from my sweet, beloved mother", she spit. "I can't believe this!", she said angrily throwing the paper on the coffee table and pacing again.
Silently, Severus walked to the center of the room and, looking at Heather to see if she would be opposed to that, took the letter. She looked at him holding it now, but didn't say anything and just moved to the window, crossing her arms and looking out. Seeing that as an authorization for him to read, he looked down at the parchment. It was a small message, an elegant handwriting in an expensive looking ink.
Heather,
It came to my knowledge that my son Jonathan has received a letter from your sending in his school. I wonder how you came to get the information of his whereabouts. I surely do hope you are not investigating or stalking this family.
With this information, the interesting new that you are currently in the United Kingdom, more specifically in Hogwarts School, also got our attention.
I hope you enjoy your time there, for it is going to be absolutely shorter than you might expect. Your father and I are going to write to the Board of the school, in which we have great contacts, and make sure they put an end to this nonsense. Hogwarts is the best school in our world, and I'm certain that it would not want to be paid with the unclean money that only the Gods know how you managed to arrange.
Best wishes in your life outside Hogwarts,
Theophilia and Adolphus Sebastian.
"Lovely woman, isn't she?", Heather said when he raised his eyes from the letter
"It's signed by both of—"
"— She's the one who wrote it. It's dripping Theophilia all over".
"Heather, whatever reason she has to tell you those things, I don't think she will be able to actually convince the Board about anything".
"She always gets what she wants, Severus!", she snapped and started pacing again. "She has contacts; how haven't I known she had contacts in Hogwarts? Damn rich, noble family from hell. Fuck, I can't believe this is happening!"
"Heather", Severus said walking over her and making her stop. "Calm yourself. The Board of School is not that easily manipulated. If you paid for the entire term, the only way they will expel you is if you break some important rule—"
"—Like sleeping with a teacher?"
Severus was taken aback by that and, for one of the first times in his life, didn't know how to answer. Heather breathed out and walked away from him, back to the window. "You have no idea what she is capable of, Severus. You don't know what she's done to me".
Her voice was quiet and soaked in bitterness as she looked outside, not really seeing anything. Severus approached her again, stopping right behind her, and rested a hand on her shoulder. He saw her head drop at his touch.
"Why don't you tell me?"
She was silent for a few seconds before turning and leaning against the window, looking up at him. "I never told it to anyone", she said quietly. "I don't think I ever said out loud what happened".
"It's time do to so, then", he said taking her hand in his and pulling her to the living room, sitting beside her on the couch.
Five years earlier
February 17th, 1996
A narrow, silent street, completely empty at that time of the afternoon was only disturbed by a young couple who walked quickly, gloved hands entwined. They wore hats and scarves trying to hide their faces from the cutting cold air from Salem. When they reached the last house in the street, before the next corner, they stopped.
Heather looked up at the two stored house. The front porch was directly on the sidewalk and it gave space only to a wooden bench. It was a charming place and she longed for some warmth, but she was anxious. Looking again at the boy, she squeezed his hand.
"Are you sure they're not home?", she asked in a shaky voice
Ryan smiled and pulled her closer, a hand reaching up to put a lock of hair inside her hat. "I'm sure. They work all day; I'm always alone when I come back from school. Also, they don't mind if I bring friends home. I know", he said quickly when he saw Heather open her mouth to speak, "that you are nor just a friend. But I didn't tell them that I have a girlfriend yet. I will, though. Please, come in, we're freaking freezing out here".
She nodded, smiling nervously, and let him guide her to the porch and inside the house. It was warm and a comfortable light entered the windows. Ryan took Heather's coat and hang it inside the closet with his own. Taking off the hat, gloves and scarf, Heather followed Ryan upstairs, still nervous but not too hesitantly. He closed the door behind them. The house was silent and Heather could feel a good energy, a warm, loving vibration, and understood why Ryan as the way he was.
She had met him in a party three days before. She knew it was a real short time, but she had never felt that thing before. She had obviously found him cute when she first saw him; probably every girl in that room was thinking the exact same thing. He had a radiant white smile and honey eyes, which contrasted with his dark skin. A cousin of his knew someone Heather's friend knew, and somehow she had managed to get to that muggle teenage party with this muggleborn friend, Sarah, from the Salem Institute, where she and Heather were in the fifth year.
Her parents couldn't even dream that she had been there. They frowned upon her friendship with Sarah, but it hadn't seemed to them that it would be a very lasting friendship, so they hadn't done anything about it. They were purebloods from a noble, ancient family from Salem, and couldn't imagine their older daughter being related to mudbloods. She never cared, though. Heather absolutely adored Sarah, they had been like sisters from the moment they met in their first year, and she had no problems at all with relating to non-purebloods. Actually, doing it behind her parents back felt incredibly good.
Ryan had approached her and offered a beer. The party was in someone's basement and an older friend had bought the drinks. Nobody there, except for Sarah, knew Heather was a witch, and she had never felt so free in her life. Other girl's envy looks in their direction amused her; she was with the cutest boy in the party. They had kissed and drunkenly made out that night, but they had also talked a lot, completely leaving the rest of the party going on without them. He had walked her back to her block; she had told him not to go to her house, she knew the problems it could bring her. In the next day and the following, they had met after each one's school, and quickly like this, it seemed they couldn't spend a day without seeing each other.
Now she was in his bedroom, tangled with him in bed, and he was such a good kisser… Heather was almost sixteen, and this was not the first boy she had kissed, but it was definitely the first one to make her feel like that, and that was really good. She gave herself to him that day, her first time, and it had taken hours. It was slow, tentative and sweet, a perfect first time for both of them. After, when they were sleepily lying in his bed, Ryan said he had never felt like this before. He was in love with her.
April 2nd, 1996
Heather's sixteenth birthday was on a Tuesday. She got all sorts of presents from her parents, a dinner with them and her little brother, and her Sweet Sixteen party was scheduled to happen on the next Saturday. It was almost perfect, except for the fact that she wanted more to be with Ryan than with Mr. and Mrs. Sebastian and their formal dinner and expensive food. When the family went to bed and the house fell silent and dark, Heather waited for more than one hour before adventuring out. On the tip of her toes, she grabbed her coat and slid out the doors and to the street. Half hour later, she was silently running towards Ryan, who was waiting for her in front of his house. He kissed her and whispered his happy birthday in her ear, Silently, he took her inside his house and down to the basement, where nobody would go at that time of the night, and nobody would hear their birthday celebration.
A few feet from the house, on the cold night outside, the disillusioned form of her father watched. He took a calming breath, rage filling him and threatening to burst away, but he took control over himself. Turning around, he apparated back to the Sebastian Manor.
April 3nd, 1996
The first lights of the day were starting to invade the manor when Heather silently slipped in through the wooden doors, tiptoeing on her sneakers. When she reached halfway up the stairs, a massive shadow appeared in front of her, right on the top floor. She stopped dead and looked up to see her father glaring down at her. There was silence. Heather knew what it meant. His eyes were narrowed and dark in rage, and her heart sank to the stomach when he saw he had his wand in hand. The moment they looked at each other seemed to extend for hours. Her fear rose even more when another figure showed up behind him. Her mother had her arms crossed and chin up, looking disgusted at her. They didn't have to say a word; Heather knew what it meant.
Holding her breath, Heather turned around and ran down the stairs, her feet thumping loudly on the wood. Before she could reach the bottom, though, she saw the room before her being lit up by her father's hex light, and then she was falling, rolling down, landing on her side on the bottom of the stairs. Before she could regain her ability to move, as her painful ribs didn't let her breath normally, she heard heavy steps approaching her; Next thing she knew she was being lifted up, her father's strong hands grabbing her upper arm. She screamed in pain and fear, and all she could hear was his deep, ragged breath as he dragged her to the drawing room and threw her to the floor again. Before he could do his next move, Heather looked at the door, hopping for a way to escape, and saw her mother calmly enter an shut the door behind her. Arms still crossed, she just stood there and observed.
Adolphus used his wand and his hands to punish his teenage daughter for slipping out of the house in the middle of the night, for relating to a muggle, for having sex in such a young age, and especially with someone with such a dirty blood and disgusting skin color, for dishonoring her noble family's name and for embarrassing her parents before the wizarding society if someone found that out.
It seemed to last for days to Heather, but it was just about two hours. He just stopped beating her when he felt tired, not caring about her bleeding lips and eyebrows, the bruises on her face, arms and probably around the whole body. When he left, Heather limp on the floor, crying desperately, Theophilia approached her, looking down, arms still crossed, lips twisting in a sickened expression. She took out her wand and Heather flinched. She couldn't take anymore, she preferred to just pass out to go through it again. But her mother just moved her wand a few timed up and down her body, murmuring a few spells, and Heather felt the cuts on her face close and stop bleeding and her cracked ribs getting fixed. The pain didn't do away, though. Theophilia had just fixed what could get worse with the time, but then turned around and left her girl there, in pain, crying and humiliated.
April 5th, 1996
She couldn't leave her bedroom for the next two days. Theophilia send the house elf to her with food two times a day, but even Tatter, the creature who had practically raised Heather, didn't speak a word to her, though she looked at her with loving, tearful eyes. Even Jonathan was forbid to go to her.
When the pain was gone and all that remained was the humiliation, dread and a painful fear and longing for Ryan, Heather was once again visited by Mr. Sebastian, who without a word crossed her bedroom and grabbed her arm. She cried and screamed, asking what he was going, but the just dragged her out of the bedroom and to the aparating area of the house. Her mother was waiting for them there and, without giving Heather time to prepare, they vanished from the house.
After a moment of dizziness, Heather freaked out. She was not standing, still firmly held by her father, in the living room of the Russell's house. It was Ryan's house.
A couple stormed down the stair, having heard the loud crack of apparition, but completely unaware of what that was. The husband, a big, tall black man, stood in front of his wife as to protect her and shouted to know who they were.
"Do you know who this girl is?", Theophilia said in a loud, firm voice, and her husband pushed Heather in front of them
The man looked confused at Heather and saw she was crying and hurt. He felt for her, but he had never seen her before and he just wanted to know what those strangers were doing in his living room.
"No, I've never seen her before! Who the fuck are you?"
Heather saw her father's wand being pointed by her side, directly at the man's face. "Run! Please, just run!", she shouted, but there was no time for anything else. A red light and the Russell couple were stunned on the foot of the stairs.
"Why? They have nothing to do with this!", she shouted again, trying to move away from her father's strong grip
"Shut up!", he yelled, pushing her towards the stairs, where they walked through the stunned couple and upstairs
"Where is his room?", Theophilia asked
"No! No, please!"
"Where – is – it?", she asked again
"I'm not telling! Please, leave him alone. I promise I'll never see him again, please!"
"Well, you see", she said calmly and approached her daughter, suddenly grabbing her hair and puling strongly, making Heather scream again. "That is not enough. That disgusting boy will pay for laying his filthy hands in a pureblood witch", and she looked calmly directly to her daughter's eyes. "With you, we'll deal later".
With that, she walked in front of Heather and Adolphus opening the doors on the hallway, looking for Ryan. When she opened the third one, she stopped and smiled looking inside. Adolphus dragged Heather to stand behind her, and Heather saw Ryan sitting in a chair with his back to the door, listening to music on his headphones. Heather screamed, trying to get his attention, but even from far she could hear the faint sound of the loud music. Theophilia slowly and silently walked in, followed by her husband, and closed the door behind them. Heather knew her arms must be bruised with the marks of his fingers gripping her, but that was the last of her worries. She fought to escape and get to her boyfriend, but as quickly as his parents, he was attacked; not stunned, but he flew from the chair, landing heavily on his bed and sliding to the floor.
Desperately scared, he turned to them and looked terrified. "Heather?", he was able to ask
"Yes, Heather, you filthy creature", Theophilia said and flicked her wand in Heather's direction. Her voice was immediately cut, but she still tried to scream and convince them to stop whatever they planned on doing to the innocent boy who was still on the floor.
"Get up and go sit over there", her mother said, pointing the wand at him. "Now".
Heather could see the fear in Ryan's eyes. He looked at her, seeing she was being hurt, and obeyed.
"You're hurting her", he told Adolphus as he sat down. "This is not necessary".
"Shut up, scum".
"Stop calling me those things!", Ryan said, now starting to get irritated. "What's this you're pointing at me anyway?"
"See that, Heather?", Adolphus said. "He doesn't even know what a wand is. How can you relate to someone like him? How is that possible you thought we'd be ok with that?"
"We didn't come here to talk", said Theophilia, still calm. "I don't want to be in this kind of environment longer that I must".
Heather only had time to struggle one more time to get rid of her father before she froze. She heard her mother say "Obliviate" in a cold, clear voice. A small light lit in the tip of her wand, and then Ryan's eyes were glassy, fixed on it. For a moment, Heather thought it was going to be ok. She was only going to delete her from his memories, and if it was the best for him, she would let it go, accepting it. Heather cared too much about Ryan to get him into trouble a second time.
But she'd had a Theoretical Charms course at Salem Institute, and she knew how long the spell took to have an effect on the attacked person.
"That's enough!", she said after ten seconds. "He's forgotten about me, it's enough".
Her mother still held the wand, concentrated on the spell, and she wasn't stopping. Heather started to yell at her to stop, and her father dragged her closer to the door, away from the spell, and slapped her face. The spell was working for almost a minute now, and Heather knew the damage it would make.
"Please…", Heather cried, now with no forces to scream anymore. "You're ruining him… Please stop".
"Look at him, Heather. Look at you little boyfriend", her father said close to her ear. "When she finishes it, he'll have nothing. He'll be nothing. And that's the price one pays for messing with our family. Do you understand that? That is the price you pay for trying to confront us. It's your fault and yours alone. You did this to him".
Ryan's bedroom was silent when Theophilia lowered her wand, looking down at him proudly. His eyes were fixed on nothing, glazed, empty. In a moment they closed, rolling back, and the boy passed out, falling from the chair to the floor. Heather tried to go to him, being once again stopped. He had passed out from brain exhaustion, and Heather knew when he woke up there would be nothingness. No more memories, no more life experiences, not any knowledge, from the basic ones like walking and talking. She knew the Ryan she had met and been together for less than two months no longer existed.
Theophilia came closer and stood in front of her. "You have only yourself to blame". And, with this, she held her husband's hand and they apparated away.
April 14th, 1996
Sarah had heard news from common friends she had with Ryan. It seemed he had been stricken by a brain condition that no one could explain, and was now completely blank. Friends were mourning his lost and hoping for a miracle, which the doctors were already discarding. No one could mourn and suffer more than his parent, though. They didn't remember what had happened that night, they could just tell that, when they got to Ryan's bedroom, he was on the floor, crying like a baby, as had never been the same again after that.
More than mourning and suffering for her former boyfriend, Heather blamed herself just like her parent had told her to. She knew that she should have foreseen that something was going to happen; that if her parents found out she was seeing a muggle. A muggle they would call, in their words, colored, nonetheless.
I should have known.
It was my fault.
I've ruined his life. His family's life.
He loved me and that's what happened to him.
I hurt people.
I don't deserve to be loved again.
Sarah was the only one who knew what had happened, but just like Heather, she had her hands tied. The Sebastians were a very wealthy, influent family in the US, with contacts and power inside the Aurory and the Government itself. Reporting them would be like pointing the want at their own faces. Sarah constantly tried to convince Heather that it was not her fault; that this was exactly what her parents wanted her to feel; that it was their doing, not hers, but she couldn't be convinced. At the end, her plea was that if Ryan had never dated her, he'd still be himself; he'd still have a whole, brilliant future before him.
For those weeks that followed that fateful day, Heather's parents didn't talk to her, but didn't punish her any further. She had spent every minute she was in the house locked in her bedroom. She went normally to school and still dedicated completely to the studies as she had always done, now with one more goal in mind: graduate when the time came and disappear from Salem and from the Sebastian's sight. Forever.
Today it had been exactly eight weeks since Heather had had her first time with Ryan; eight weeks and two days since she had met him. She kept repeating those dates to herself, unable to believe it had been such a short time before. It seemed like a lifetime. Everything had changes in those eight weeks, and not just in her life. She was scared to death that it was going to change even more at this moment.
"I can't look", she said a turned her back to the sink, trying to leave the toilet
"You have to", Sarah said, holding her by the shoulders. "Looking at it or asking me to look won't change the result. Please, just do it".
Already crying, Heather knew what the result would be. She'd been having characteristic symptoms and, more than just that, she just knew. But knowing didn't prepare her for the moment she saw the result on the muggle test. She felt to the floor desperately crying, Sarah holding her. Hadn't everything that happened been enough? Hadn't seeing her own parents attack and destroy her boyfriend been enough? Apparently not. Now she was finding herself pregnant with his baby, and completely alone. She couldn't tell her mother, she wouldn't ever tell them.
But at the same time, she thought on the next few days, she just wouldn't be able to finish this pregnancy. She couldn't kill Ryan's baby; it was everything that lasted from him. She thought about going to his parents and telling she was his girlfriend before what happened and tell them they'd have a grandchild; but what would that do to the family? They were now spending all the money they had trying to treat their son, as using all of their energy taking care of him. No, she couldn't throw another bomb for them to take care of. Also, she knew she'd be putting then in risk as well as she had put Ryan. She'd have to do it by herself, and that needed to be as far as possible from Salem.
She was only sixteen, though. She was still close to finish her fifth year at school, but if she had to choose, whish she did, she'd keep the baby. Two weeks after finding out she was pregnant, she already had a plan in mind. To hell with school. She'd be a mother, and that would happen far from her parents' eyes. The solution was aunt Violet, her father's older sister who had been disinherited by the family years ago when she started working as a volunteer in a muggle nursing home. She had left Salem and moved to California, where she married a muggle woman – another reason for her beein disinherited was that she had told everyone she was a lesbian and proud of it – and adopted three sons. Heather knew aunt Violet would understand her situation and be there for her.
May 15th, 1996
Heather decided to remain in Salem and in her parents' house just until her OWLs. She didn't want to waste a year of hard work and good grades at school, and if in the future she wanted to go back to school, she's need at least those grades. She wasn't showing too much, and it was easy to hide with larger clothes. Her mother never got close to her enough, anyway. As a sign of her support, Sarah had given her a very small baby onesie in white. Heather had cried, her mother instinct slowly starting to claim her heart, and hid the small pie of cloth in her closet. She had a big problem, though, when it came to her pregnancy symptoms. She was suffering for morning sickness and heartburn and felt sleepy all the time like she never had before.
She started waking up earlier, despite her sleepiness, to be able to go through her daily sickness with less fear than anybody would hear. On her nightshirt, kneeling before the toilet seat, Heather heard the door open and steps come close to her. Scared and taking a deep breath to try and control her stomach movements, she looked up to see her mother staring down at her, the disgusted look on her face again.
Tightly held on her hand, a small white piece of cloth. She raised her hand and let it fall into the dirty toilet. Heather looked down to see her baby's onesie sink into it. Her stomach still turning, she felt tears fall from her eyes, no energy to help it.
"I am not having a mudblood grandchild", her mother started. "You are going to end this pregnancy".
"No!", Heather said among tears. "I won't!"
"Get up and clean yourself. Tatter!", she raised her voice and, in a second, the house elf popped into the toilet. She saw Heather on the floor, a mess of tears and vomit, and motioned slightly to help her. Theophilia stretched a leg in front of her and Tatter stopped, looking up at her mistress with big, scared eyes.
"Go to Orchid's Potions e bring me two vials of Apstraho".
Heather screamed again but Tatter obeyed. She was able to get up now and her mother told her to clean up before going back to her bedroom. When she left, her mouth washed but tears still falling from her eyes, Theophilia was sitting in an armchair close to Heather bed.
"Mother…", she said, her voice weak. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I was afraid—"
"You were afraid I'd be angry and put you on a detention?", she said calmly, her voice painfully sweet. "And I've told you already: call me Mum".
Heather swallowed hard. "Mum… I was afraid but I… I was going to tell you", she lied. She had never had the intention on telling her parents she was pregnant. "I just didn't know how. I knew you'd be upset".
"Upset is a very soft word", she spat harshly, but then her voice became sweet again. "I don't have any reason to be upset any further, though. I told you, my dear: I am not having a mudblood grandchild".
"But Mum, I—"
"—This is not up for discussion, Heather Sarah. You are going to take the potion and terminate it. And then everything will be back to what it was before this… Disruption".
"But Mum, please—"
"Silencio", she cut having her wand quickly and Heather felt her tongue glue to her palate. "This is not your decision. You are a Sebastian. And as you do not have regular mental faculties or common sense to make your own decisions, we will do it for you as your responsible parents".
I want to keep the baby", Heather could only think, screaming in her head. As she thought of turning to the door and running away, Tatter reappeared carrying two glass vials, and Theophilia was up and gesturing her wand to the door. It slammed shut as she slowly turned to her daughter, Tatter placing the vials in her hands and disappearing.
"Drink them", she said and Heather shook her head, eyes wide open, walking backwards. "Are you really going to pot on a fight with me over this? Over a filthy mudblood unborn child?"
My child!, she thought pointing to herself, a look of fear and loath to her mother
"I will not discuss it any further", Theophilia said and lost completely her cool. She advanced to the scared teenager and slapped her in the face strongly before grabbing her cheeks and forcing her to turn and face her. She wrestled, Theophilia trying to dip the contents of the vial in her mouth and Heather fighting will all she had. Her mother was taller and stronger than her. Heather was a skinny, short girl, and had no chance in the fight. She ended up on her back, her mother straddling her, holding her head and dropping the potion in her mouth. She tried to spit, but Theophilia forced her jaw closed and clapped her nose. Heather fought, her legs bouncing, truing to make her mother unhand her, but soon she was out of breath, her lungs desperately fighting for air.
The natural reaction of her body was to swallow. She did, but didn't stop fighting. Theophilia yelled for Tatter again when she saw her daughter swallow and gave her the order to watch her and do not let her go to the toilet to force vomit. She got up, leaving a desperately crying Heather on the floor, smoothed her clothes and hair and turned to the door, saying, "I'll be back tomorrow to give you the other vial. You know you have to take it now or it will be stillborn".
June 21st, 1996
That Friday marked the end of the OWLs in Salem Institute. Heather handed her last theoretical test and joined Sarah in the hall outside the salon where they had been handed.
"So, that's it", Sarah smiled at her friend. "Fifth year done, two to go".
"I'm not returning for next term, Sarah", Heather said seriously
"What?", she stopped and turned to Heather. "What do you mean, Heat?"
"Sh, not so loud!", Heather said. "I mean it. I'm leaving my house. My parents' house, I mean. I just remained there all this time after they did so I'd take my OWLs. I swallowed it all down for more than a month after what she did. I can't take it anymore".
"What are you gonna do?"
"I still don't know. Maybe California with aunt Violet, but I'm not sure. Boston, probably. I can't stay under them anymore".
"What about school?"
"I'll get a job this summer and when I return to sixth year I'll have my own place to live. I won't depend on them anymore. My school is already paid until the end of seventh year, so I believe it'll be ok".
Skeptical, Sarah tried to make Heather think of more details than her angry mind had been able to think, whilst trying to convince her not to do it. She was sure her friend would have too many problems, and that it would be worth it to stay there for the next two years and, just then, move from their house. Heather was decided, though. They had ruined Ryan's life. They had killed her baby.
In dinner that night, her father raised a glass to celebrate the end of her OWLS and she didn't even try to force a smile. She just said a weak 'thank you' and kept eating. In her bedroom upstairs, a backpack with a few clothes and toiletries waited for the moment. Hours later everybody went to bed and Heather waited a few more moments until the usual noises she knew so well from her house had died. She then grabbed her pack and stopped by her younger brother's bedroom to say goodbye before silently slipping out of the house.
August 10th, 1996
Heather stepped out of a bus in Forest Street, in Peabody, city next to Salem, and walked down the dark sidewalk. It was past nine thirty in the night and the street was silent. She had never been to Peabody before going to the Altman's place, and had loved it. Perhaps it was just for it representing a new part of her life, away from Salem and the Sebastian's power on the wizarding community, but she did love it either way. She was going to miss it.
Since the day she escaped her parents' house, she'd been staying with Sarah's parents. They had been very supportive and didn't ask too many questions. Sarah had already told them her parents were controlling and that they had done something horrible to her, but didn't say what. Heather was able to convince them not to look for them and tell she was in their place, thinking they would be worried. But as the days passed and Heather didn't hear from them, she breathed relieved. They were not going after her.
During the holidays, Heather got a part-time job in a restaurant in Peabody and another in a bar in Lynn. She worked all day, commuting by bus through the cities, and was doing a good job and being fairly paid. The Altmans strongly refused her offer to pay for her stay in their house. She adored them and was so thankful for what they did for her, but now it was time to walk on her own two feet. The bar in Lynn had an empty room upstairs, in which she would live now after being offered a full time opportunity there. Days later, she asked if she could sing a song with a musician who was playing that night, and the bar owner got astounished by her voice. Once a week now she'd sing and get a lot of tips.
Now she just had to get home, tell her friend and her parents she'd be leaving, and quit the job in the restaurant.
August 29th, 1996
Heather had imagined it could happen. She knew the Sebastians. She knew her parents were calculating and vindictive. But at the time, she had refused to believe what her own mind was foreseeing.
"I'm sorry, I'm not sure I get it", she Said, trying to understand
"I'll tell you again then, Miss Sebastian. You do not have a seat in this school anymore", the Deputy Headmaster told her, his arms crossed
"But my parents told me my school was completely paid, until the end of seventh-"
"Yes, it was, Miss Sebastian", he said rolling his eyes, feigning patience. "But it's not anymore. You father told the board to take the money for these next two years and use it as a donation to the school's vault, and he told me very clearly that he was not paying for your education anymore. Therefore, Miss Sebastian, if you do not have a vault full of money to pay for sixth and seventh years, I'm afraid you do not have, as I have told you already, a seat in Salem Institute".
She didn't know how she'd left the office and the school, and battled her own mind to accept it. She had thought it could happen, anyway. She knew, but hearing the headmaster say it to her face, and in a so cold manner… That's why her parents haven't gone looking for her. Their vengeance had already been prepared.
So she went back to Lynn, to her work, and to the small room upstairs.
