Chapter Ten - Confessions
"SEVERUS! SEV – E – RUS!" Severus jumped awake to screaming next to his ear. Julia was sitting up in bed next to him, leaning against the headboard, her knees pulled up to her chest, eyes staring fixedly at the foot of the bed.
"What? What?" Severus asked, looking for any signs of danger.
"SNAAAAKE!" Julia screamed.
Severus looked to where Julia was gesticulating. Astarte was moving around the foot of the bed, obviously having awoken from the screaming as well.
"It's alright Julia. It's just Seb's snake, Astarte. Calm down."
Julia turned eyes that were wide with fear on him. "What?" She asked, incredulous.
Severus just stood up, picked up the snake and left the room. He placed the snake in its tank in Seb's room, closing the hatch firmly and went back into the bedroom. Julia was confused, he could tell.
"Severus, would you like to explain to me why your five year old son has a pet snake?" Her tone was rather deadly and Severus couldn't help himself from gulping.
He knew he had to tell her now, be honest with her about everything. She had been honest with him and now he had to be honest with her, but not this second. It was the middle of the night, and Severus could hardly think. In the morning he would tell all.
Severus climbed back into the bed. "There's an explanation, trust me, I may be a little ignorant about parental matters but I'm not a complete idiot, I like to flatter myself that I'm rather a good father." Severus gave her a sardonic smile and settled further into the bed, pulling a reluctant Julia down to settle on his chest.
"I promise I will explain everything to you in the morning, let's just sleep now. I'm still tired from… before." Severus smirked.
He could feel Julia's smile against his chest, "Yes well, it was quite impressive Sev."
Severus laughed and Julia joined him. They were asleep within minutes.
Severus marvelled at what simply being honest with each other could do to a relationship. Last month Julia had told Severus her deepest darkest secret and now Julia was so much more open and accepting of their relationship. She didn't mind that Severus touched her, because it was Severus, Severus who she trusted beyond a shadow of a doubt. Severus just hoped that she still trusted him after everything he had to say to her today. He hoped that she would be alright, that she would understand, because really - he needed her, and he craved her support. He wanted to worry over Seb's health with someone other than a brother or surrogate brother, he wanted the support only a partner could really give.
He knew that she felt like he supported her, especially after her confession and his acceptance of who she was but he longed to feel supported himself and he hoped that she would fulfil that need.
Currently she was laying in his arms, using his chest as a pillow and breathing deeply in her sleep. He ran his fingers through her impossibly soft hair. It was fine and delicate and the most amazing colour he'd ever seen. Under light it looked like liquid gold, even though ordinarily it was a light brown shade.
It was six o'clock and the sun had already begun to rise. He sighed, he loved this. He'd never woken up with Julia in his arms before. She'd never felt comfortable enough, safe enough to do so. But everything had changed and he hoped it would be enough for her to forgive not telling her earlier, and to accept a whole new world.
"Mmm, Sev'rus." She mumbled, she rubbed her face into his chest as she woke up. "That feels nice." She said, and he realised she was referring to his hand in her hair.
"Morning, love." He smiled and leant down to kiss the top of her head.
He felt her smile. "Morning, dear." He heard the sarcasm in her statement. "We sound like an old married couple, you know that." She said.
"I don't think you should complain, if you do I might just greet you how I greet Si when he wakes up." Severus' fingers traced down Julia's bare arm.
"Oh, and how's that?" He could hear Julia's teasing tone.
"'Morning idiot,' or 'Hey it's the teenage drama queen,' or 'Oh my god, you're alive' or 'Did you still live here, I hadn't seen you all day so I assumed you'd moved out,' or…"
Julia laughed, "Okay, okay, I get the picture. You're mean to your little brother." Julia moved further up Severus' chest and turned her head so that she could see him properly.
"Hey! Don't say it like he's some poor little defenceless puppy, he gives just as good as he receives." Severus defended.
"Uhu, I'm sure." She leant in and captured his lips in a soft morning kiss, before pulling away. "Now, tell me about the snake." She narrowed her gaze as if that would somehow squeeze the truth out of him.
Severus coughed. "It's a very long story. And please just listen and wait until the end. And I promise everything I'm about to tell you is the truth, I'm not lying. And I'm sorry I haven't told you before but I mean at first we were just casual and you weren't really allowed to know and then it just got easy to forget to tell you, especially when I didn't know where this relationship was headed. But I do now, I know that I love you, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I know that now so I want you to know everything, but please just don't be upset with me -"
"Severus! Calm down. I'll hear you out, just like you heard me. I promise. I won't judge you." Julia stilled his uncharacteristic rambling with a hand to his mouth.
Severus nodded and Julia removed her hand.
"Okay. I don't really know how to begin." He mumbled.
"The beginning is usually a good point." She teased.
Severus made a face, "There's not much of a beginning here, it just sort of is…" Severus trailed off, trying to collect his thoughts and Julia just watched him patiently, resting her chin on his chest.
"I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm a wizard." Severus blurted.
The room was silent for a moment, and then Julia began to laugh so hard she couldn't breathe. Severus watched her with a worried frown. By this point she was sitting up, holding Severus' hand.
"I think that was the most random joke I've ever heard!" She managed after a few minutes, before finally settling down and turning a serious face back to Severus. "I'm sorry. Okay, now you can tell me whatever it is you were going to say."
"It's not a joke Julia. I am really a wizard, and so is Seb and Si. Magic is real Julia." Severus spoke slowly.
Julia just stared at him. "Oh."
Severus sighed and sat up also. "There's a whole other world beside this one Julia. A Wizarding world. A world filled with magic and creatures that you could never imagine. I understand that this is a little overwhelming but please believe me. " Severus grasped both her hands in his, holding them tight. Julia just studied him for a moment.
"Alright…say I believe you. Tell me about how this works?"
"I'm not sure how to explain it to you. But, um, the world you live in is the muggle world. Muggle is a word we use to describe people who are non-magical. Um, it's different in the Wizarding world, we have different customs and expectations. When our children are eleven they go to magical boarding schools to receive training to become witches and wizards, before that children are educated at home but are not able to perform any kind of magic that is not accidental."
"What do you mean?" Julia seemed to be accepting this rather well, but Severus wouldn't allow himself his sigh of relief just yet.
"Children are either born with magic or they are not. When magical children are born they have access to their magic from birth but are not able to use it intentionally until they turn eleven and receive their wands and go off to school. Before then their magic does work but is only used when the child is in great distress or need. Or sometime just because they really want something." Severus smiled at a private memory.
Julia frowned. "Alright, you're a wizard." She breathed deeply. "Prove it."
Severus raised an eyebrow and smirked. He retrieved his wand from the bedside cabinet and waved it at his shirt that was lying discarded on the floor. The shirt rose into the air and hovered over to them, landing softly in Julia's lap. She looked at it, studied it and put it on.
"Okay." She breathed again. "Continue. What about Seb's snake?"
"Well, see in the Wizarding world we have pets of course but instead of just them being close to us as we care for them we actually bond with them. It's more of a give and take relationship, the pet takes care of us as well and is not really a pet but a part of the family, who knows its bonded human probably better than most other humans ever could. We call these pets familiars. We only really bond to magical creatures, but of course wizards and witches do also bond to ordinary muggle animals as well. Rocky is Seb's familiar."
Julia kept breathing deeply, it was as if she was trying to stave off a panic attack. "Right, and the snake?"
"Yes, well, we generally only have one familiar but Seb found Astarte in the neighbour's garden two weeks ago and they bonded. Seb is a rather special boy."
"How so?" Julia seemed very interested, and Severus couldn't help but feel hopeful. He wanted Julia to feel for Seb, he wanted her to love him as a parent would, because if everything turned out like he hoped, Julia would soon become another parental figure in the little boy's life.
"It's not often that wizards bond to snakes because they are seen as 'dark' creatures. Seb, however, has a unique ability that makes him much more conducive to liking snakes. Seb is a parselmouth, which means he can talk to snakes. This is a very rare ability and it is almost a near impossibility for Seb to have the gift, but have it he does. But our world is very prejudiced and his gift is seen as a 'dark' ability, because some wizards from the past who were dark had the ability." Severus was trying to explain as best he could, and Julia seemed to be understanding.
"Right." She said at last. "I think I need a shower, clear my head a bit." Severus nodded and she stood from the bed and ambled into the shower. Severus spelled some of his clothes for her and then retreated downstairs to make breakfast. He hoped she'd be alright.
Almost an hour later Julia joined him downstairs in a pair of Severus' black slacks that had been resized and one of his shirts.
"You know, I really should bring clothes. I don't know where you manage to find clothes for me." She said, sitting down.
"They're mine. I resize them for you." Severus placed a plate of eggs before her.
Julia looked at him, uncomprehendingly before realisation finally dawned and she let out a half-hearted chuckle, "Of course you do." She began to eat slowly.
Severus watched her, having already eaten, and sipped his coffee.
"I think I understand. I may have questions later but I think I understand." She said when she finished.
Severus held his breath, "You're not mad at me for not telling you before?"
She shook her head, "No, why would you? It wasn't right for you to tell me before, I probably would have run away screaming. No, you had to make me love you first, so that I couldn't possibly want to leave you." She sent him a smirk.
Severus sighed out his relief, "A very Slytherin tactic that." He responded.
"What?" She frowned.
He waved it off. "Don't worry dear, more information than you need right now. We'll just let you absorb the basics first before we get right down to the basics of Wizarding society." He smirked and she rolled her eyes.
"I can stay 'till lunch but then I have to get home, I have a huge pile of paper work waiting for me." She put her plate in the sink and began washing the dishes.
"Alright, I'll just have a quick shower." He hugged her from behind quickly before starting up the stairs.
"Severus." Julia called just as Severus' foot landed on the second step, she spoke absently as if she wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying, "Don't think I missed or forgot that comment about spending the rest of your life with me. We will be talking about that." She continued washing dishes, and Severus couldn't help but grin at the woman's back. She would have been in Slytherin were she magical, she was just so magnificently manipulative.
Here we are Chapter 10! How'd you like it? I know not much really happened but I realised that we still needed to inform Julia of some rather important aspects of Severus' life.
cara-tanaka: There you go dear, hoped you enjoyed it!
LemonDropsWoolSocks: OMG! I'm so going to make people call me Oh Great One more often. Suits me don't you think? ;D I'm so happy that you love Julia and Sev almost as much as I do, they make me so happy, I had not anticipated how much I would fall in love with these characters when I begun the story! I definitely like the assessment on the dirt factor in my story, and if there are people who can't handle my references I guess they shouldn't be reading stories rated M. haha! I KNOW RIGHT! I've seen the movie twice already, it was brilliant, i loved the extra Snape scenes they made me happy, made me like Alan Rickman as Severus Snape much more. :D
PLEASE REVIEW! If you have ten minutes to read my chapter surely you have twenty seconds to leave a review. Thank you lovies!
Oh and I wanna commission some fanart for this fic for a future chapter so if anyone's interested let me know. I'll give you spoilers for the next couple chapters in return as well as a full overview of one chapter for which the art is intended. Thank you!