Go the Distance
In case there was any doubt, I don't own the Harry Potter series or any recognizable characters. But thank you for the compliment.
Also, thank you to everyone who reviewed.
Severus sighed and lifted Aberdeen back onto her shelf. He wasn't exactly in the mood to play right now. By his estimate, that Eustace woman had been speaking to Alastor for over thirty minutes. Nearly forty-five, in fact. That was longer than she'd spent with him, he was fairly certain.
Would Alastor be angry at him for telling? Surely not…Alastor would have told him to tell the truth if he'd been there. Wouldn't he have? It hadn't exactly been her business, but since she was the one who was going to decide where he lived…. He groaned and flopped back on the bed. Who knew, anymore? Maybe he should just take a vow of silence and not talk at all.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts, and he sat up quickly. "Come in."
"You all right, lad?"
"Yes, sir." Alastor didn't exactly look pleased as he crossed the room, and Severus focused on the ground, biting his lip. It just figured that he'd muck this up. "I…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything about getting punished. I just—she asked, and I wasn't sure—I didn't think—"
"Severus," Alastor interrupted, sitting down on the edge of the bed and tilting his chin up. "You've nothing to apologize for. You told the truth, exactly as I expect. Understand?"
"But she was upset when she went to talk to you." And Alastor didn't exactly look thrilled now.
"Aye, that's true enough, and I damn near got my ears blistered. But that's my fault, not yours. I'm the one who hasn't a ruddy clue what he's doing, after all."
Severus shook his head in automatic denial. Alastor did just fine, and anyway it wasn't like he'd asked to get a teenager dropped in his lap.
"Suppose there's no point in arguing about this right now."
The light pressure of a callused hand on the back of his neck helped Severus relax a little, and he glanced up at Alastor. "What's going to happen?"
"She needs to talk to the committee at work, and we should have a decision in the next couple days."
"We have to wait?" More?
"I'm afraid so." He patted Severus' back lightly and stood. "But I think it will be all right. Up. Come along."
Severus stared at him. "Where are we going?"
"I don't feel much like cooking at the moment, and I doubt you do either, so I thought we'd go into town for dinner. You can show me one of these…films."
"Oh." Severus wasn't hungry—though he supposed that he should be—but he got to his feet automatically. "Okay." He'd rather stay close to Alastor right now than be alone in his room anyway.
"Would you prefer anything in particular? Chinese, maybe? Fish and chips?" Alastor asked as they left the house.
"Whatever you'd like," Severus said with a shrug as he waited for Alastor to lock the front door behind them. It seemed rather pointless—there were plenty of intruder detection and removal spells all over the doors and windows—but since this was a Muggle neighborhood…. He sighed. The way he felt right now, it didn't matter where they went. There was no way that he was going to be able to keep down more than a few mouthfuls anyway.
Alastor cleared his throat. "Well, we'll see what looks good when we get there. You know, I haven't gone into town in quite awhile."
Severus nodded absently.
They matched paces in silence for several minutes, and then Alastor glanced down at Severus. "What is it, lad?"
Severus flushed, glad that the darkening sky kept most of the color rising in his face from showing. He hadn't meant for any of his quick glances to be caught, although it was probably stupid to think an Auror wouldn't notice. "I…." He wanted to know what the woman had asked Alastor, what Alastor had said, how she had reacted—down to her exact words—but Alastor hadn't asked him any of those questions, so he didn't precisely have the right to inquire. "It's nothing."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir." He wasn't exactly lying, not really, anyway…it wasn't anything important, after all.
A rough hand rested on the base of his neck for a moment, and he ducked his head.
"What if she says 'no'? What if they send me back to my grandparents?" Aside from the fact that he'd hate having to leave Alastor's…they'd kill him. No one would believe it if he actually said something like that, but he knew they would. He knew it.
"No one's going to send you back there, laddie. Whatever else happens, I can promise you that."
"No you can't."
"Yes, I can. The fact that they basically abandoned you for an entire summer has already disqualified them as guardians, at least in the short term—if it hadn't, Wizarding Family Services wouldn't even be considering my application. If it hadn't, I wouldn't have considered putting in an application because I have no desire to give either of those two any ideas."
'The short term' didn't necessarily cover the next year and a half until Severus was of age, but he supposed that it would do for now. Though it didn't solve his immediate problem. "I want to stay with you."
"I know, and I'd just as soon keep you around. Like I said, I think it will be all right, but the fact is that they're just trying to do what's best for you. Whether you agree with me or not, the fact is that I really don't have a bloody clue what I'm doing. To them, at least, that shows."
"Not like I know how it's supposed to work either," Severus pointed out. "I think it's going okay."
"Aye, well, you haven't what I'd call a lot of experience to draw from either."
Severus kicked the nearest rock viciously.
"Enough of that. No sense in worrying right now—we'll have their answer soon enough."
Maybe Alastor wasn't worried, but then Alastor wasn't the one they were going to drag off who-knew-where, was he? He kicked another rock.
"Severus."
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"Do you want to go home, lad?"
Severus nodded. He'd been right about dinner—he couldn't even remember where they'd eaten—and though Alastor's interest in the film equipment had distracted him for a few minutes, the film itself wasn't exactly holding his attention. It was some sort of crime thing, he thought, or at least from what little he'd paid attention to the main character seemed to be investigating something. And doing a poor job of it if Alastor's disgusted mutters were any indication.
They made their way out of the cinema quickly—the film hadn't exactly drawn a crowd—and began the walk back towards Alastor's.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" Alastor snorted before he could say anything, gripping Severus neck lightly and giving him a quick shake. "You've a right to be a bit nervous, but I really think that it will be all right."
"Why? She didn't like what I said."
"Oh, she was annoyed with me, no question. I believe the phrase she used was 'antiquated and counterproductive ideas about child rearing,' in fact. But other than the fact that giving a lad a thrashing when he's earned it is apparently now considered out of date—not sure why—and that we're apparently supposed to 'talk' more than we do—not sure about what—she didn't have too much to complain about. You eat properly; you've stayed out of major trouble; you've even managed to find a friend. Most of which is your doing rather than mine, but…." He shrugged. "I expect I'll get lectured a bit more, and I doubt I'm going to enjoy it, but I don't think they've any real reason to send you elsewhere. 'Antiquated' or not, nothing I did is illegal by any stretch of the imagination, and it's not as though there aren't other families that use the same methods."
It was Severus' turn to snort. He couldn't imagine Alastor being anything but…he didn't even know the word. Not exactly perfect, but something like that. He didn't mess about with shades of gray, and the idea of him doing something actually illegal was more than faintly ridiculous.
"And if you don't believe any of that, well, you might take a bit of comfort in the fact that I doubt they'll have any more luck finding another place to store you than I did originally. Though I grant that I stopped looking pretty quickly."
The last was true enough, Severus had to admit. There probably weren't many Wizarding families willing to take in some random fifteen year old, especially one like him. It was an odd thing to find comforting.
"Try not to worry so, laddie. We'll know soon enough."
"But what if they send me to the Weasleys' or something?" A year and a half with two annoying toddlers and two adults that weren't really much better.
"Then I expect that you'll cope. You'll be in school most of the year anyway, and as for next summer…well, you know where I live, and you're welcome to come by any time. I'd bloody well expect you to come by. I'll even sneak you books if Molly tries taking yours away."
Severus smiled slightly. "Yes, sir."
"That habit we're going to have to break, though. It's Alastor."
"Yes, sir. Alastor. Sorry."
Alastor shook his head and flicked Severus' forehead lightly. "Close enough, I suppose."
"I am sorry I spoiled your film." He hadn't exactly been good company tonight.
"Ah, wasn't much good anyway. Fascinating how they do it—playing back those 'reels'—but if that's how Muggles go about solving crimes I can't see how they ever accomplish anything. No tracking spells, no Veritaserum…and all those odd exploding wands."
"They had a really big one in Jaws," Severus offered. "A rifle, I think they called it."
"Hm."
It was well after dark, and Severus wasn't surprised that Alastor forewent the whole key thing in favor of a flick of his wand to open the door. "Do you think we might find out tomorrow?"
Alastor sighed. "I don't know, lad. I suppose it depends when this committee meets. Do you want Dreamless Sleep tonight?"
"Can I?" He probably shouldn't be taking potions to go to sleep, but he didn't doubt that he'd be up half the night worrying if he didn't.
"Just this once."
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Aberdeen squeaked indignantly, and Severus muttered an apology and lowered his hand to let her take the last bit of cheese. Alastor had left for work by the time he'd woken up this morning—it was technically a weekend, but Aurors schedules tended to depend more on open cases than what day of the week it was—and he'd been left with nothing to do but wander around the house and worry. That was the same thing he'd been doing for the past several days, and it was seriously getting old.
He'd taken a quick walk around the neighborhood after breakfast, but Brian hadn't been out and he really hadn't wanted to talk to him so much that he was willing to go up and knock on the door. Especially since he wasn't entirely certain which house the other boy lived in. And then it had started to rain, so now he was stuck indoors.
A knock at the door startled him, and he paused a moment unsure if he'd really heard it. Alastor wouldn't knock…Fabian or Gideon might if they were visiting, but they were at work now. At least Gideon was, and he couldn't come up with a reason why Fabian would come over at ten in the morning. If it was an emergency his visitor would probably have come through the floo…wouldn't he?
He opened the door cautiously, wand tucked in his sleeve, and found himself staring. "Ah…Ms. Eustace? May I help you?"
"May I come in?"
"Oh. Um, of course." He stepped back from the door and waved her inside.
"Thank you." She cast a quick drying spell at herself. "Perfectly miserable day, isn't it?"
"Yes, ma'am." Now if she'd just tell him what in Merlin's name she was doing here…if they'd made a decision, shouldn't Alastor be here as well? Unless…. He swallowed hard and repeated his question. "May I help you?"
"We were going over the records of you and Auror Moody's conversations, as well as your personal records, and I realized that we'd missed a rather important figure. Your father is still living, correct?"
"I…yes. As far as I know." Unfortunately. But he'd told her that he didn't want to live with him….
"I thought we could speak to him today."
"We?" She'd interviewed Alastor alone, why couldn't she do the same with Tobias Snape?
"Well, as I understand it you haven't lived with him in seven years. You don't wish to see him?"
"Not particularly."
"I really think that this would be good for you."
And Severus really thought that it wouldn't. "I…but, Alastor…." Maybe if Alastor went with them it wouldn't be so bad.
"I'm certain he'd agree. If we go now, we could perhaps speak to him over lunch."
She obviously wasn't planning to take no for an answer, and he sighed and reached for Aberdeen. "Let me put her back on her shelf." He scratched a quick note while he was in his room—if he didn't come back this time, he definitely wanted Alastor to know where to look—and then sighed and transfigured his robes. He'd rather go out in Wizarding garb so Eustace could see what his father was really like, but since she was wearing Muggle clothing he doubted that he'd be able to get away with it.
"Ah, good. You're all ready to go, then?"
"Is there a floo station?" As he recalled, he and his mother had had to take a bus to Manchester before they were able to enter the Wizarding world. Spinner's End wasn't exactly in the middle of a bustling city. If his father even still lived there…well, he could always hope.
"We'll take the Knight Bus—I've already booked us seats. It should get us there in more than enough time."
"How efficient of you," Severus muttered under his breath as they exited into the rain and she held out her wand. A Muggle bus couldn't do it, but from the stories about the Knight Bus it probably could make the trip that quickly.
"I'm sorry?"
"That was nice of you," he said a bit louder.
A triple-decker bus painted an absolutely hideous shade of purple that rivaled even Professor Dumbledore's most offensive robes materialized along the street abruptly, and she smiled. "Excellent. Shall we go?"