Chapter 25
It was strange for Severus Snape to enter King's Cross Station with his mother by his side, she had not been able to visit him in while he had been living with his Aunt over the holiday, but she did send him letters by owl, two days out of the week, on Mondays and Sundays. Eileen's bruises and wrist had healed over the course of the holiday, his father had spent a few nights in Azkaban for his crime of spousal abuse, but even the horror of that dank and death fearing place had not brought him out of his alcoholism and need for cigarettes. Even if he did have nightmares of the screams of his fellow inmates, and the drifting and bone chilling effect of the Dementors. That left happiness to be nothing but a forgotten fog in one's own mind.
Eileen and Tobias had hardly stopped yelling at one another, and Severus was nearly one hundred percent positive that his father had backhanded his mother across the face last night, because her lip had been split open and blood had been dripping down her chin, like a rain drop on a windowpane, when she had come in to check on him in the middle of the night.
He had decided that it would be best if he stayed the night before the day to return to Hogwarts, so his Aunt did not have to fret over him missing the train, while trying to get her own son, his cousin, Leopold off to Durmstrang.
Of course, he had feigned sleep, when his mother's hands had brushed his fringe away from his forehead in a loving manner, tears and blood fell on his skin, like warm and sticky rain drops. He made sure not to wipe the salt water and crimson liquid off his forehead until he heard his mother gently shut his bedroom door behind her, when she returned to the hall, and he could hear the squeak and groan of the steps as she made her way back down stairs.
They left in morning on foot, to King's Cross station, taking Muggle buses to get there, after his father had left for work, with their neighbor in his truck.
With his trunk on a trolley he made his way through the crowded train station, which was as always packed with non-magical and magical people alike. His mother trailed behind, a handkerchief pressed against her bleeding lip, the navy blue cloth with silver doves sown in silver, getting darker and stained with the crimson liquid.
Neither of them spoke, they both knew that Tobias was never going to change his monstrous ways.
Wearing a baggy and slightly unraveled navy blue sweater and jeans that needed to be held up by a belt, the Fifth Year Slytherin turned to face his mother, just as they stopped at Platform Nine and Three Quarters. She was wearing an old coat over a floral long sleeved dress, she had a job interview to go to at the Ministry for a secretary job in the Animagus Registry department, while her sister worked in the Department of Runes and Symbols.
Severus thought that his mother getting a job was a good idea, she could escape the clutches of his father for at least a couple of hours, even if it what just sending out letters via owl, and scheduling classes for inspiring Animagus Witches and Wizards, who were struggling with the process. But what he could not comprehend is why his mother would take a job in the Wizarding World when she lived in the Muggle one? Was she clinging to her old life as much as she could, so she would not have to think about what waited for her at the end of the day when she had to return to Spinner's End?
"Mum, why are going to work at the Ministry with Aunt Calanthia?" The barrier between the platforms that led to the one where the Hogwarts Express waited for the students that needed to board was straight ahead of them, almost as if it was telling them that their conversation was about to come to an end.
"So, you have something to live off of, once you graduate. I am going to open a vault under your name at Gringotts."
"Mum, you don't have too…" Severus started to say, but his mother stopped him, by embracing him gently, and kissing the top of his head.
"I want too. You have a choice, you can still be who you want to be. I can't." Eileen replied with a sad smile, "Now go on, before you miss the train."
The Fifth-Year Slytherin made his way through the barrier, and lugged his heavy trunk on to the train with him. He would change into his school robes, once they were closer to Hogwarts. As he continued to lug his trunk behind him. Finding an empty or close to empty compartment was going to be difficult, with most of the upper classmen students, plus others in their younger years returning from the holiday break. The train was filled with laughter and the noisy hum of conversations about the holiday and the upcoming return to Hogwarts, classes and homework.
He was just about to make his way into a seemingly empty compartment when he saw a flash of long red hair coming toward him in Gryffindor robes.
"Sev!"
The way Lily Evans said his name was one that was filled with relief and a somewhat damped amount of excitement, she embraced for a long moment, her chin resting against his shoulder.
She pulled back, embarrassment flooding both of their cheeks red. "I-I'm glad you're alright."
Severus cleared his throat a tad, trying to get the redness to go away. It felt like his face was too close to a blazing hearth. "Um…how was your holiday?"
"Good, I'll talk to you later, okay? Prefect meeting…" she disappeared back into the massive crowd of students, making her way toward an exhausted Remus Lupin.
Severus Snape pushed his way through the crowd and toward what he thought was an empty compartment, but sitting in the corner with her face buried in Tails written by Edith Nesbit, was Annette Negrescu. There were two other trunks pushed into the luggage bin above her, one was bit torn and abused, worn out leather with the initials J.B. The other was a dark onyx black with silver clasps and the initials embossed in silver, P.L. Annette's trunk was dark leather and dark wood, embossed over the old first initial Q, was a slightly faded A, the last name letter was almost all the way faded off, the N barely visible.
She was using it as a footrest, when she caught Severus looking at her from the open compartment doorway, she slid her bookmark into the chapter that she was on. She was wearing a soft butter yellow hoodie with a black scarf and jeans with snow boots that nearly went up to her knees. Her copper brown hair was plaited into a braid and was held with a black and yellow ribbon.
Her olive colored eyes seemed to light up as Severus completely entered the compartment, and she got up from where she was sitting, her book tumbling to the floor as she almost tripped over her trunk and practically fell into his arms. He could not tell if she was laughing or crying into his chest as he helped her to be steady on her own two feet, before he pulled her away from him, long enough for her fingers to somehow find his and hold on, her thin fingers gripping on to his.
"Are you alright?" He questioned, he could not help but smile softly.
He had indeed missed her, and he kept his word about writing her, even though it ended up being every four days rather than every day. He had kept in touch with her more than he had with Lily.
Annette gently tucked a loose strand of Severus's hair, her fingers brushed against his cheek for a second.
"Yeah…I'm fine, I just missed you…if that's okay?" the Hufflepuff replied softly.
Severus raised an eyebrow at her, and he could not help smiling. "It's fine. I missed you too."
"Do you mind if I stay here with you?"
The Badger grinned at the Snake, "I would love if you would. Jen and Pan are in the Prefect meeting, and I never know how long those meetings are going to take."
Severus settled himself down beside her, he copied her way of using her trunk as a footrest, and he bent down and put Tails back into Annette's lap. The Hufflepuff Fifth-Year smiled a little.
"So how was Ireland?"
Severus wanted to shrug it off, but he could not help but indulge Annette's question. "Were the letters not enough? It was rainy with a lot of sheep."
"I would love to use a sheep as a pillow." Annette said in an almost dreamy manner.
"A pillow? You could sheer it and stuff the wool in a pillowcase." Severus countered.
Annette looked at him wide-eyed in shock. "Sheer it! I could never do that, the poor thing would be running around…well very naked. What if it got cold?"
Severus chuckled silently, earning a slight glare from the Hufflepuff. "You were making me picture naked sheep."
Annette stuck her tongue out playfully at the Slytherin, and then she rested her head on his shoulder. "You owe me."
Severus raised an eyebrow, "I do?"
"Yes, you used me as a pillow in Saint Mungo's."
"Right, I did, I apologize." Severus said quietly, "Which means I also owe you one of these."
He placed a kiss gently against the locks of her copper brown hair.
It was the flash of a camera blub that startled Annette and Severus out of their comfort zone. And in to a place neither of them wished to be in, they were friends and nothing more, and yet somehow even though Severus was deeply, head-over-heels in love with Lily Evans, he found himself twisting into a boyfriend for Annette, something his mind did not seem to mind him doing, but it also felt like a betrayal toward Lily. He was happy when he was around Annette, the way he used to be around Lily, when they were younger and had not been separated by the Sorting Hat's choice of their Houses. But he and Annette, they were just friends, weren't they?
Pandora stood in the open doorway of the compartment, a grin on her face spreading from ear to ear, a camera in her long and delicate fingers, purple smoke curling out from a hole in the device. Jenna was beside her smiling and squealing like little girls bouncing around a bunch of hyper Crup puppies.
"You two truly make an adorable couple." The female Ravenclaw Prefect announced. "I will give you a copy of the picture, once I am able to owl out the film to be processed."
"Thanks, Pannie." Annette muttered hiding her face in her hands, trying to cover up her embarrassment with her hands. She then peeked at Severus from between the cracks in her fingers. "I am so sorry…"
Severus's smile edged across his face, nearly but not quiet completely forced. "It's alright."
He saw Lily waving at him as she passed the still opened compartment door, she stopped and back tracked, leaving Remus to find the rest of the Marauders on his own. She sat down beside Severus, leaving her luggage to be watched by Alice at least for a little while longer. Now the Snake was a tad bit trapped in the middle by a Badger and a Lioness.
"Hello Annette, how was your holiday?" Lily said politely and with a speck of nervousness.
"Hectic to say the least, but fun. Yours?" Annette found herself to be less jealous of the Lioness, and now leaning more towards a possible friendship with her.
Lily rolled her eyes as her mind played the dreaded holiday she had to spend with a pouty and jealous Petunia. "It was alright. I'm a Muggle-Born, so the being a Witch is kept secret."
"I think your sister, Daisy is in our house."
"Yeah, she is." Lily peered out of the now closed compartment door, seeing Alice waving at her frantically.
James and his crew thought it would be amusing to let out a whole trunk full of chocolate frogs loose on the Hogwarts Express.
"Damn it, James Potter you are such a git!" Lily yelled storming out of the compartment, trying to dodge the chocolate frogs as she made his way toward him.
Severus let out an exhausted sigh, "I better go help her." He trailed after Lily, ducking out of the way of a chocolate frog as it splattered against the compartment window. The two Badgers and the Eagle could only wince and groan in sympathy.
"I'm very proud of you, darling." Pandora said, whisking the compartment door shut, so none of the chocolate frogs would actually get in to where they were seated.
"Why are you proud of me?" Annette mused aloud, opening up Tails to the page she had been reading.
"For not clawing out, Lily Evans eyes." Pandora continued, taking her seat across from Annette, and sitting down beside Jenna.
"I wasn't going to do it with Severus so close." Annette replied.
The train lurched to a halt at the station, the students disembarked and braced themselves against the January chill as they made their way toward the chariots and back to the warmth of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.