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25- Happy House

Severus left the building after a long day of brewing potions for Professor O'Flaherty and was met by Raven, who was waiting for him at the entrance. It was so good to see her that his heart almost skipped a beat.

She was American tanned, dressed in a low cut and much too short summer dress, but she looked like summer itself. For the first time in many days, he noticed that indeed the sun was shining.

Some of his co-brewers wolf-whistled when they spotted her. Raven, however, paid them no heed.

"Sev!" She exclaimed as she flung herself at him. "I missed you so very much!" Throwing her arms around his neck, she hugged him tightly.

"Lucky devil," one of his co-workers mumbled, before he salaciously cheered, "Hey Snape, have a good night!"

"I'm so sorry for what happened, for not being there for you; I read about it in the Daily Prophet- you can also get in in America, although it's already outdated when they get it there, but Mum buys it anyway, because she sort of wants to stay in touch with the events over here. I tried to call you a couple of times, to hear if you're alright, but no one answered the phone at your house. What happened Sev?"

Extensive babbling was a phenomena all women seemed to have in common, he thought. "Well, you read it all in the papers."

"It was the Daily Prophet! We both know how much they like to twist the truth for sensation-seeking headlines. Please tell me what really happened."

He wasn't keen on talking about it, so he gave her a short summary. "Mother had a fit when father told her he wanted to leave her for an Italian grocery shop owner, so she tried to kill him but failed. Her trial will be in ten days. My presence is required since I'm the only eye-witness."

"That's so horrible... but you did save him, didn't you? At least that's what the papers said. So did you alert the Aurors? And how is your father faring?"

Severus shrugged. "He left to be with his mistress and since I'm of age, I don't give a damn."

"But where are you staying now?"

"For the time being, at the Leaky Cauldron-"

"Oh Sev," she cut him off, sounding exasperated, "you silly, silly boy! Didn't I tell you I've got a flat in London now? You could've stayed there. All you ever had to do was give me a call. There was no need for you to shove all your money down the innkeeper's throat."

"Given the situation, I most definitely didn't have money to waste on a phone call to America of all places." All of a sudden, anger flared up within him. "Don't you know how expensive that is?"

"Sure- or why did you think I told you to make a bloody R-Call if you're in need of a friend?"

Anger rose it's ugly head and struck. "I don't need you to hold my hand all the time, thank you very much. I'm perfectly fine on my own, Lestrange. There really is no need for you to mother me."

"Great, be a complete git if you really have to! I'm sorry for worrying about you. After all, it just happens on a daily routine that someone's mother tries to kill someone's father and you're in the middle of it. Of course it doesn't matter to me if you've got no place to go now or-"

"I'm sorry," Severus muttered, sounding sheepish.

"Are you? Does that also mean you will stop behaving like an insufferable git now? Well then, let's go out for dinner somewhere; I'm starving. And after that, we'll move your stuff to my place. It's big enough for the two of us."

"Raven, I'm not a charity case..."

"Good to know," Raven replied, smirking at him as she simply gave him another hug, "because I'm not a bloody charity lady. I just see no point in you spending your money for a room at the Leaky Cauldron when you could as well help me pay my rent. I'm not a house elf either, so I expect you to help with the household chores and fill the fridge on regular turns."

It sounded sensible to him, so he agreed to consider that option, while she pouted a little because he wasn't as enthusiastic about it as she had hoped. To her, it was the perfect solution so she tried to pitch it to him.

"You know, neither of us will have much money when we start our further education next year; it would make sense to share. We could still study together," and go out on the weekends, she added in thoughts. "It will be fun."

A little later, Raven and Severus were sitting on a mattress on the floor of her London flat, which didn't look homely at all yet. Her former life was still stored in a cluster of boxes, but at least she had already unpacked her stereo rack and her record collection. Marc Bolan was singing about a crimson moon.

There were two empty pizza boxes and a bottle of cheap red wine on the floor between them. Raven exhaled cigarette fumes as she leaned backwards, popping herself up on one elbow to glance lazily at her friend. She was so damned tired- blame it on the jet lag- but she would never grow tired of watching Severus. Although she'd had a great time in America with her parents and the acquaintances she had made, she had missed him more than words could say. Severus would always be the centre of her universe, never mind the fleeting love affairs with whoever she'd choose to fill the void . There simply was no way to get over him, she knew for sure as she stared at his long and delicate fingers reaching for his wine glass, thinking if only- if only he wouldn't be so damned obsessed with Lily-bloody-Evans...

Nevertheless, he was here with her now; they were going to live together! She was jubilant about that even if they were only flat mates and not lovers, but it was definitely a good thing. Something good that had come from something as horrible as his mother trying to kill his father. Wasn't life ironic?

"But how did the Aurors get there?" Raven suddenly interrupted his summary of said evening. He was so much more communicative after a glass of wine.

Severus shrugged, silently pondering her question. Actually, he had never wondered about that until now, and he tried to come up with an explanation. "I don't know... but I do have an idea. You know, when Lily and I received our Hogwarts letters, her sister Petunia wrote to Headmaster Dumbledore. Apparently she wanted to attend too, even though she called it a freak school. Perhaps she was just envious because we were going to a special place-

Anyway, she sent the letter via Muggle mail and yet it reached Dumbledore, who posted a reply the very same way. I still don't know how it is done, but it is definitely possible to contact Hogwarts using the Muggle mail system..."

"I guess I'm beginning to understand," Raven interjected. " If it's possible to send letters by Muggle Mail and they arrive at Hogwarts, then it's also possible that a Muggle emergency call will alert the Magical Law Enforcement... given that the reported address is registered at the Ministry?"

"Indeed."

"Hm... on a second thought, I'm not certain I like the idea that the Ministry has sort of Trace on households of mixed couples. Isn't that just discriminating per se? Well, in your case it was certainly of advantage that the Aurors arrived..."

Severus agreed silently, while pondering why he was feeling so indifferent about the whole matter, as if it wouldn't concern him at all. But fact was, he had no pity for his mother, even though it was likely the Wizengamot would send her to Azkaban. After all, she had chosen to cast an Unforgivable Curse at her Muggle husband instead of simply filing for a divorce. He wasn't proud of having saved his father's sorry arse either, although it had been the right thing to do. Perhaps he was just treating his parents with the same lack of emotions as they had always shown towards him.

Raven reached for his hand and he let her hold it for a moment, but when she asked about the date of the trial and whether he'd like her to accompany him for 'moral support', he quickly withdrew his hand and replied with a harsh, "No."

She tried to not look hurt but failed, and he was feeling bad for having been so bloody abrasive when she only meant well. He didn't want to push her away; she was the only good thing in his life and he very much appreciated the fact that she had offered him to stay at her flat.

He changed the subject. "I trust your parents are well?"

"Yes," she smiled slightly, "and they send their love to you. Dad would have loved to see you but he understands that your traineeship is more important than a trip to the States. By the way, his show is quite a success in Vegas. He just bought a house with a large pool in the nicer outskirts of the town- Las Vegas itself is a nightmare of plastic-fantastic glimmer and glamour, and the music scene there... well, it's all mainstream shit, of course..."

Raven told Severus all about her American experience and the people she had met, including a young man called Jack who was riding a Harley Davidson. She didn't go into details about her relationship with him, but she pointed out that she had taken a liking to riding motorbikes and wanted to get one soon.

Severus frowned at that. Not because he was jealous or anything like that; it was more the fact that he wasn't overly fond of Muggle transportation when there were quicker ways to get from one place to another, like Apparation.

"Alright, Apparation is quicker," Raven agreed, "but riding a motorbike through the desert, hearing the powerful purr of its V-engine and feeling the wind in your face- that's as close to feeling free as you can ever get. It's so much fun, Sev."

"Don't you need a license for doing that?"

"Um... " Raven blushed slightly, "well, theoretically yes, but... I think I already learned enough to Confund a driving instructor to give me that licence. There has to be some benefit in being a witch- anyway, how's your traineeship going?"

"Fairly well," Severus replied, smirking at her cheek for changing the topic before he could chide her, She knew him much too well to not take advantage of the fact that he would likely choose to talk about the potions laboratory of St Mungo's instead.

And indeed, his traineeship had gone fairly well so far. In the first week, O'Flaherty had made him brew a variety of simple healing potions you could find in every decent wizarding household, presumably to test his brewing skills. O'Flaherty had also been so kind to show interest in Severus' notes about alterations on traditional potions and the ones he had created on his own. Apparently, he had been impressed with his young trainee because he had actually advised him to file a patent for some. The renowned Potions Master had even accompanied him to the patent office at the Ministry to expedite the process, knowing that Severus was short of money. In the end, the generous advance from the patent office had helped him pay his room at the Leaky Cauldron, and he was grateful that O'Flaherty had enabled that. More so, the Professor had made him his personal assistant in the second week of his traineeship. Of course, that only meant he was mostly busy cutting, chopping or squashing for the Head of St Mungo's Potions Research team now, which Raven imagined to be a tiresome task, but Severus insisted that he was learning a lot.

So she was happy for him, and indeed, his eyes were sparkling when he spoke of his work. Severus had found a place where he truly belonged, a niche for himself.

In the days that followed, Raven did her best to turn her flat into a cosy home for both of them. She unpacked all of her boxes and arranged her furniture, but when she took a glance at Severus' room, she realized that they would have to go shopping. That, however, was not the only thing that needed to be done.

She also pestered him about a lot of formalities she considered necessary; everything to please the Muggle authorities, like going to register his new address in the Muggle registration office. She also wanted him to open a Muggle bank account.

Severus thought that a waste of time. After all, he was a wizard; he wanted to live in the wizarding world and become a famous Potions Master one day. He needed a vault at Gringotts and not a Muggle bank account.

Raven begged to differ. "Just try to see the advantage, Sev. If we're registered in the Muggle world, it will be so much easier to go into hiding there, just in case things go totally wrong with Lord V. Without a Muggle ID or passport, you can't leave the country- except you take a Portkey, but they are being monitored by the Ministry."

"There are ways," he insisted stubbornly. "I could use a Confundus Spell to get away, should the need arise..."

She chuckled at that, recalling his face when she had insinuated to Confund a Muggle driving instructor. "Right, we can always Confund Muggles to get our ways, but it doesn't really take that much effort to just go to that damned registration office. Besides, if you are registered and have a bank account, you would be able to apply for Child Benefit since you haven't finished education yet. It'll help you pay your share of the rent. Of course," Raven paused to shoot him a sheepish glance, knowing he wouldn't like that, "you'll have to arrange that with your father."

As sure as death and taxes, he sneered at her and spat indignantly- just as she had expected him to, "I don't want his money!"

Silently, Raven counted to ten before she addressed him with a confident smile on her lips. "Yes, I know that. But don't be stupid, Sev. It's so very un-Slytherin to not take advantage of a situation, and besides, it's not exactly his money. You have every right to get support. So, unless you can fill the fridge with your pride and eat it- unlikely- well, just stuff it!"

They were arguing about it for a while, but- as much as it bugged him- in the end she did have the better arguments since she knew the Muggle world better. As it seemed, there were indeed some advantages in being a half-blood and knowing both worlds, no matter how much he had always hated his tainted background as the unfortunate offspring of a fatal liaison between a Muggle and a witch. All his life he had been taunted about being different, except for the subculture circles of society Raven was part of. There, he felt a strange acceptance- the few times he accompanied her to social events like a concert or just a night out in one of her favourite clubs, to which she had dragged him...

"Fine," he snarled eventually, "but I won't call his mistress, begging for an audience."

"Oh, you've got her phone number?"

Severus rolled his eyes.

"Anna? Anna Bertolli? Hi, I'm Raven... um, I'm a friend of Severus..."

"Ciao Raven. It's so good you're calling- how is Severus faring? His papà talks about him a lot and he worries if his bambino is well."

Anna had a charming Italian accent and Raven took an instant liking to her. Soon, they were chatting lively on the phone, especially when Raven found out that Anna was from a small village near Lucca in Tuscany.

"I've been to Lucca!" She cried. "My parents and I visited Tuscany some years ago; it was very beautiful!"

Severus entered the kitchen, frowned at her, and poured himself a glass of water. An hour later he entered the kitchen again to see that she was still talking on the phone. Now he scowled.

"Bye, Anna! See you on Sunday." Finally, Raven ended the phone call and glanced at her friend, smiling cheerfully.

"See you on Sunday?" He inquired in a waspish tone, feeling betrayed. "How dare you make arrangements behind my back? And I thought I could trust you."

"I'm not-" No, Raven would not defend herself. Instead, she snapped, "Damned, Sev, you're such an enormous GIT sometimes! Your behaviour is hurting me. How dare you accuse me of being not trustworthy, when all I ever do is for you?"

"I didn't ask you to call that woman. And I won't go there and play happy family reunion with my begetter."

"Fine. You don't have to. But don't tell me with whom I'm allowed to speak or meet, because I won't miss the chance to get home-made Italian pasta!"

She brushed past him, leaving Severus feeling strangely... rejected. It pained him more than he would have expected, and he was suddenly reminded of Lily cutting ties with him.

"Raven, I..." He hurried to follow her into her room, where she was sitting on the sofa, looking defeated as she lit a cigarette in an almost resigned gesture. "I'm sorry."

"You wouldn't have to say 'I'm sorry' that often if you could refrain from hurting people, at least occasionally." Surreptitiously she wiped her eyes to not let him see how teary they were. "Fuck, just stop hurting me."

"I'm sorry," Severus sat down next to her on the sofa, feeling utterly awkward since he didn't know what to do. Would she expect him to move out now? Gingerly, he lifted one hand to pat her shoulder.

"I understand your reservation against your father," she said after a while in which she fought the urge to throw her arms around his neck and hug him, kiss him, slap him- in whatever order. "Mind, I'm not asking you to like him. But Anna... she seems to be a really decent person... and people do change, if you give them a chance. Most likely, your relationship with him will never be good... I guess he knows that, too, and Anna said he feels sorry for... you know, how things went between the two of you.

"All I'm asking you is to let him give you the money you have a right to get. You don't even have to go there; I can arrange things for you."

Severus bit his lips, but his hair was falling in curtains to cover his face and hiding the fact he was actually mulling over her words.

"I'm not a coward. I can face him and you... you don't have to-"

"I know," Raven took his hand in hers to give it a gentle squeeze, "you don't want to be mothered, or mollycoddled, but I want it to work, and I'm an egoistic person. If you pay your share of the rent, I can buy more clothes."

"And you want home-made Italian pasta."

"Yes, I most certainly want home-made Italian pasta." Raven said with a smile.

Sunday's dinner at Anna Bertolli's cosy home was a rather awkward affair. Severus had at long last decided to accompany Raven although he really wasn't keen to meet his father and his mistress. He just couldn't let Raven deal with things that were his business, and she insisted that he had to get children benefit; she was quite a stubborn witch if she had set her mind on something.

Father and son were acting as polite and reserved as if they were strangers, meeting for the first time, while the two women got on splendid with each other from the start. They exchanged hugs and kisses and immediately started chatting as if they were best friends.

Severus, however, didn't even know how to address his father's mistress. He just couldn't call her 'Anna' because that was much too personal and he wasn't familiar with her; 'Mrs Bertolli' didn't sound right either when everyone but him was simply calling her Anna. So he tried to not address her at all. Instead, he merely spoke when he was being asked a question and a response was unavoidable for politeness' sake. He wished he could just get done what he was here for. Of course, that would have been considered rude behaviour, especially since Anna had put more effort into one Sunday dinner than his mother had in all those years together. And it was delicious. Raven was right in her gushing about home-made Italian pasta.

"Let me help you with the dishes," Raven offered when they were done eating, and she followed Anna into the kitchen.

Now Severus was alone with his father; there was no way to ignore him any longer. Probably that was exactly what the two females had intended when they had left with that paltry excuse.

"So... um, how are ye, m'boy?" Tobias asked after a while. It was about the tenth time he had already asked that question tonight and Severus replied as usual, "I'm fine."

"Hm... that's good, ain't it? And... um, ye've got a decent place to stay? I mean... ye know ye can stay in the house, don't ye?"

"I am not interested."

"Aye... guess I understand that. Anyhow, if ye ever need somethin'..."

Severus didn't want anything from him. He still blamed father for his miserable childhood, although he knew by intellect that mother was just as much to blame. But she had never beaten him up. She hadn't helped him either. She had just watched emotionless, without ever brandishing her wand and hexing that filthy Muggle (as she used to call father.)

He cleared his throat to finally address the matter he had came here for. "Indeed. I would appreciate if you transferred the Child Benefit- which you undoubtedly receive, since I haven't finished school yet- to my account. By standing order, if you please."

Tobias shot him a surprised glance (surprised that his weird magical kid knew about those Muggle things so well), nevertheless he agreed to do that at once. Then he fell silent, and that silence lasted for quite a while. They heard Raven and Anna talking in the kitchen, but they couldn't make out what they were talking about.

"I was told there'd be a trial, but that wizard police officer of yers said me presence isn't required there since ye're a reliable eye-witness enough and they don't wanna have to mess with me mind".

"Indeed." There was no use to tell him that the wizard police officer was a called an Auror or that he would have to Obliviate Tobias Snape the very moment he ever set his foot into the sacred halls of the Ministry of Magic, where the Wizengamot would gather to decide upon the fate of one Eileen Snape nee Prince. They would send her to Azkaban, that much was certain.

"When's that trial?"

"I expected you to be glad now that you're finally done with us freaks, so why bother at all?" Severus snapped as he stood, glaring at his father. That very moment, Anna and Raven returned from the kitchen with a tray holding four small cups of freshly brewed espresso. "I wish to leave now."

Before Raven could even roll her eyes, he had already brushed past her and was out the door without waiting whether she would follow or not. She heaved a sigh and considered it is wise to give him a moment to cool down, so she took her time to say a proper goodbye, thanking Anna for the delicious dinner. It was decidedly not her fault that the atmosphere had been so strained.

"I give you a call," she promised Anna and then she left as well before her dear friend could accuse her of siding with the enemy. Oh, she knew so very well how Severus ticked and no matter how understanding she was, sometimes it just bugged her tremendously.

Of course, she hadn't expected an evening spent in blissful harmony, nor a sappy and tearful father-son reunion. She was very well aware of the fact that too much had happened between the two of them, and that she only knew very little about it at all- the tip of an iceberg perhaps.

He didn't want to talk about it. Not about that evening and even less about the trial that took place two days after the dinner at Anna Bertolli's place.

Fifteen years.

It took them less than fifteen minutes to decide upon the fate of Eileen Snape, nee Prince, before the Wizengamot sentenced her to fifteen years at Azkaban for the attempted murder of her Muggle husband.

Severus shot his mother a fleeting glance as she was being led out of the courtroom, feeling nothing at all. She could have been a total stranger to him.