Remembrance and Renewal By Avatar Arkmage and Nigel Tatsuya
Chapter Twenty-Nine: A Father's Heavy Hand
"RIDDIKULUS!" Severus shouted forcefully, causing the boggart to retreat.
After quickly determining that he was truly alone, Severus wiped the remnants of tears from his eyes. Even across the expanse of time, Lucien still held the power to deeply affect his only son. 'It was merely a boggart,' Severus repeated to himself over and over, but he did not fully recover from the shock for several minutes more. Was Lucien Snape truly Severus Snape's greatest fear, or was it the fear of becoming like Lucien that fuelled the boggart?
Pushing what Severus concluded to be superfluous thoughts aside, he commenced searching the room. There was no sign of Lucius, and no evidence that he had ever been there, save for some white-blond strands of hair on a towel in the bathroom and on a hairbrush under the bed.
"Draco must have seen the boggart..." whispered Severus to the empty room. But who had placed the boggart there? And why? What good would come of scaring muggle medical staff and patients who had the misfortune of being interned here?
Or did one of the overzealous members of the Ministry's investigation units put the boggart here merely to keep Muggles out of the room?
'I hope you are still alive, Lucius.' Severus thought grimly, knowing that Azkaban was a fate only slightly preferable to death. The dementor's kiss, by contrast, was worse.
"H-harry!" gasped Draco, prying the youth's surprisingly strong hands off of his neck. "What on Earth are you doing?"
Harry went pale, hunting his mental shelves for an excuse that would sound even remotely plausible.
"One would think Granger was your girlfriend or something!" Draco pushed Harry back. "But you're much too young for her! By the time your voice drops, she'll have had at least three kids with another bloke."
"You sweared!" Harry pouted.
Draco laughed heartily. "You choked me because I swore?"
"Yes! You've got a foul mouth! Such a naughty word! Your daddy is going to scold you if he heard you say that."
"My father!" Draco grinned, finding Harry's innocence amusing. "He would not scold me! He says it too."
"Well it's not nice!"
"Mudblood Mudblood Mudblood Mudblood!" Draco exclaimed just inches from Harry's face.
"You calling me a mudblood now?" Harry went for Draco's throat again.
"HAH Hah!" Draco fended off Harry's tiny hands now that he was prepared for them. "You said 'mudblood' too!"
"DID not!" Harry covered his mouth. "Oh! I did, didn't I."
"Ah it's okay, don't worry." said Draco, "I won't tell Uncle Severus about your naughty mouth. You're probably a half-blood anyway, you'd only be insulting half of yourself."
"OH YEAH?" Harry raised a fist. He was no longer able to suppress his disdain for Draco. "Well you're an inbred, loutish, neanderthal, potty-mouthed, vulgar, uncouth twit!"
"Oh! You even insult people like Uncle Severus." Draco appeared amused, but not offended.
"You're not mad?" Harry asked disbelievingly. As good as it felt to be deemed similar to Severus, he was not used to Draco reacting to him in this manner.
"Nah! You're rather cool." Draco said, patting Harry on the head.
"Why?" asked Harry.
"Because I like you, chap."
"Why would you like me?" Harry crawled closer to the pale boy.
"Because you've got balls!"
"YOU like me because I got balls?" Harry paled. "You fancy other blokes, Draco? You're not a child molesterer are you?"
"What? What's a molesterer?" Draco thought on it for a moment then went equally as pale. "Hang on! That's not what I meant! I'm not like that." Draco's pale colour morphed to a bright red.
It felt good to twist the proverbial knife, and Harry crawled off the edge of the bed and backed away. He did his best to look very frightened. "Help help! A MOLESTERERER!"
"I only meant that you were brave, Har. That you stand up for yourself!" Draco piped defensively. "Don't muggles the say 'you've got balls' when a person is brave?"
"They don't ordinarily say that to girls though." Harry broke out into peals of giggles and concluded that Draco must have been learning too much from watching the muggle telly.
"YOU SLY little PRAT!" Draco bellowed.
"Inane, incompetent, overzealous...!" Severus made another round through the apparently empty patient room, looking for more evidence of Lucius Malfoy's current location. Sadly, between the boggart, the hairbrush flung under the bed, and the residual signatures of legal magic, all circumstantial evidence bore the earmarks of the ministry. Judging from the general sloppiness of it all, Severus concluded that the unit sent to apprehend Lucius had consisted of new, untried Aurors with no shortage of enthusiasm, and lead aurors who either held a grudge against Lucius or the Malfoy family as a whole.
Severus closed his eyes and tried to make sense of the residual magic in the air. Legal binding curses. Ministry approved pain and discomfort inducing spells. The stench of fear in the air. The faint smell of blood. Severus exhaled in disgust. He was no stranger to the darker side of the ministry, and had even faced the wrath of the ministry's inquisitorial squad during Voldemort's first reign. His body still ached just thinking on those times.
Were these questionable methods truly necessary against Lucius Malfoy? Granted, Lucius had been guilty of bribery, and was responsible for many crimes and deserved to pay some form of penance... but did he deserve such brutality? Surely he was not in a favourable state to resist arrest? He was still hospitalized, after all...
Severus realized that it was likely that some one was still monitoring this room, or perhaps the entire hospital, and would have noticed the spell used to annihilate the boggart. Thankfully, Severus had not used his wand, so they would not easily know who had cast the spell, but the ministry would certainly send an investigation team to assess the situation further.
A feeling of foreboding washed over his thoughts, what if some one from the Death Eaters had been monitoring Lucius all along? It was Voldemort who had Malfoy hospitalized in a muggle hospital in the first place.
What if that Death Eater...WAS working at the Ministry of Magic?
Severus bolted from the room. He and Harry would have to leave the hospital as soon as possible. And lay very low.
"Give me my fizzy drink!" Harry shouted through his teeth at the soft drink machine.
As Severus had foreseen, Draco was very thirsty after the muggle medicines had been purged from his system. Harry kept having to refill Draco's pitcher from the bathroom faucet, for the staff had not been in to see him for at least an hour. Instead of refilling the pitcher a fourth time, Harry decided to buy a few drinks from the dispenser he had seen in the staff lounge. Draco had probably never had a muggle fizzy drink before, and Harry had grown thirsty as well from running to and from faucet.
Thankfully, Severus had filled Harry's purse with both muggle and magical bills and coins, and Harry had more than enough to buy soft drinks. Now if only the machine would cooperate.
"Where's my drink, you reject from the machine junk heap?" Harry reiterated, shaking the machine with his tiny hands.
Thinking that the coin slots were jammed, Harry inserted more coins to dislodge the first ones. All for naught.
Whilst watching the telly box with Draco, Harry had seen an irate person kick a Coca-Cola machine that would not dispense its product. Harry decided to attempt the same. Knowing that he had neither the strength nor the height to kick the machine properly, Harry walked to the other end of the empty staff lounge, did an about face, and then came running at the machine. He jumped into the air and kicked it as hard as he could; causing several tins to fall from the machine.
"Oh! Owee!" Harry had kicked it so hard, that he not only sent waves of pain through his leg, the force sent him sprawling on the floor.
Draco's grey eyes widened when little Harry returned. As small as he was, Harry had somehow managed to carry roughly eight muggle containers of what appeared to be beverages back to the room. Because the young boy's pockets had been too small, Harry shoved a few cans in the waistband of his trousers whilst carrying the remainder in his brightly coloured shirt.
"Did you ever have one of these before?" Harry asked, holding a cola out to Draco.
"No I haven't. Muggles preserve their drinks in iron tins?" Draco replied, examining the can in the hopes of finding a way to open it.
"These tins are made of aluminium. And yes, because muggles can't preserve foods and drinks with magic, they put things in tins, glass and plastics." Harry explained, enjoying the fact that he was actually talking about muggles, and Draco wasn't sneering in disdain at the mere mention of them.
In fact, Draco seemed to be quite intrigued. "They sure are resourceful. Did they remember to make a way to open this?"
Harry set the rest of the cans on the tray table and popped the tin in Draco's hands open, and took a strawberry fizzy drink for himself.
"Try it." Harry encouraged.
Draco coughed a little after taking his first sip. He had not expected the carbonation.
"You like it?" Harry climbed back onto the bed and sat next to Draco.
Draco nodded. "It's quite tasty! Isn't it a bit strong for little children though?"
"Not at all, some adults even give their babies fizzy drinks like these." Harry paused to take a long drink. "You'll grow used to it."
Draco was about to ask Harry what herbs the cola drink was made of when Severus returned to the room.
"Uncle Severus?" Draco started anxiously. "Have you been to visit my father? How is he?"
Severus explained everything he had seen and had been able to deduce from Lucius's empty room. The fact that Draco had, in all likelihood, seen the boggart and not a dead Lucius Malfoy, seemed to offer little comfort.
"Bloody Granger!" Draco tightened his grip on the tin, "Sure father deserves to pay for his crimes, but... Oh Merlin! Father isn't well right now! Uncle Severus, I've been to visit father when he was in Azkaban, and I barely recognised him!"
"I am aware of the conditions of Azkaban, and its effects on..." Severus acknowledged.
"You don't understand!" Draco interrupted. "The Dark Lord had us all hammered! Mother and I received some healing at St. Mungo's before we were sent here, but because father's a wanted man, he was brought directly to the Muggle hospital! Muggle Doctors can't heal like our healers can. Father's still in a dreadful state! His jaw is wired, so he can't even eat! He can't walk on his own yet! If he is returned to Azkaban in this condition he'll die, I'm sure of it!"
Harry felt genuine concern for his one time adversary. "Won't they at least let a healer heal Mr. Malfoy before they send him back?"
Both Severus and Draco scoffed.
"So they just...throw him in there...and leave him to...Aw, Draco!" Harry said, putting a hand on pale youth's shoulder.
Draco scowled, but did not fend off Harry's hands. "Father wasn't evil! He might have been a git sometimes, and he might have been cruel to people he didn't like, but he's a good man!" Draco groused. "Bloody Granger! Meddlesome, eavesdropping, trouble-making Granger! She doesn't know when to keep out of other people's business."
Harry longed to cut the blood supply to Draco's brain, thereby effectively shutting the boy's pompous maw. Yet at the same time, Harry could empathize, at least a little.
"Damn that Potter too!"
"You mean, Harry Potter? What did...I–uh– I mean what did he do?"
The pale teen sneered. "He's a no good tattletale too! He ratted my father out in the first place. If it weren't for that no good Potter..."
"Draco," Severus's face remained emotionless as he placed a calming hand on the youth's shoulder. "We must depart. It is late, and it is past Harry's bedtime."
The pale boy sighed, the sneer slipped from his face. "Nice to meet you little fellow." Draco said, ruffling Harry's long hair once more and squeezing his chubby cheeks. Harry was so angry that he almost bit Draco's hand. "Come back and visit some time, will you?"
"I would rather move into the toilet next to Moaning Myrtle." Harry said under his breath. He forced himself to look Draco in the eyes, and felt his anger instantly dissolve like a mist in bright sunlight. Draco looked nothing like the Slytherin youth Harry knew from school, and saw something akin to affection in the boy's steely grey eyes.
"Right." Harry nodded.
"Uncle Severus is my godfather, so I believe that makes us family." Draco weakly pulled himself upright, put an arm around Harry's tiny body, and hugged him lightly.
"I suppose we are." As much as Harry disliked Draco as a person, he returned the embrace. Having a family again, any family, was a strange, yet comforting feeling indeed.
"Being that we are family," Severus moved to the other side of Draco's bed, "I trust this visit will remain a secret of this family."
"Of course, Uncle Severus." Draco wrapped his arm around Severus's waist and hugged him as well. "I know it wouldn't reflect well on you if it was known you had an illigi..." Even Draco knew that some things were better left unsaid. "A son."
Draco turned back to Harry once more. "A really admirable son! You're so much like your old man, Har!"
Severus accepted one of the fizzy drinks from Draco and left with Harry on his shoulder once more.
"Father!" Harry almost pulled off Severus's wig in his excitement and pointed out one of the windows. "The Aurors are here! There are two robed figures outside!"
Severus cautiously peered out of the nearest picture glass window and saw two Aurors walking into the front entrance of the hospital. He slid Harry off of his shoulder and carried him like an infant as he ran towards the staff exit.
"There's Aurors on this side too!" Harry whispered from his ideal vantage point.
"My eyes have not suffered an abnormal degree of macular degeneration in he past hour! I can see that!" Severus retorted. "We have no choice..."
"We're going to turn ourselves in?" Harry asked incredulously.
"No we are going to dance whilst gadding about on our heads!" Severus replied sardonically, walking in the general direction of the Aurors near the staff exit. "As you're no doubt skilled in the art of deception, we shall do what is known as 'hiding in plain sight!' Now, you are to play the part of an injured muggle boy going home from the hospital."
Harry understood, and curled up in his father's arms. He then wore the most pained expression he could muster on his face, and began bawling...loudly enough for anyone within a kilometre's radius to hear. "AAAAAAAAH! Oh Daddy! I'll never imitate a stunt just because OWEE! I saw Bart Simpson do it first."
Not knowing what Harry was on about, but doing his best to play along, Severus lowered his head as he passed the Aurors and spoke in a way that would have made Molly Weasley proud. "Oh, my poor poor darling little boy!" Severus said in a voice at least an octave higher than his normal speaking voice. "Daddy will take you home and make you all better."
"You will?" Harry whimpered.
"Indeed!" Severus replied, feeling relief that the two aurors weren't even looking in their direction despite how loud Harry's wails were. "And I will be sure to have a word with Bart Simpson's parents! Surely they do not want their son to end up in the hospital as well. Now come along my precious son, daddy will take you home."
When they were out of earshot of the Aurors, Harry buried his face in Severus's chest and exploded in laughter. "'Poor poor darling little boy!" More laughter. "'Daddy will make you all better!' If only people knew that the dour, mean, grumpy Professor Snape were capable of such words..."
"You will tell no one of this!" Severus hissed, his chagrin evident.
Once well away from the hospital, Severus quickened his pace to a run and did not stop until he was standing at the barrier leading to Snape Manor. He brusquely pulled Harry off of his shoulders, and placed him on the pavement.
"Harry, you are to count to five, and then you may walk through the barrier after me." Severus instructed before disappearing into the tree.
Father and son walked back to the second Snape Manor; the night's events washing over them in silence. Once again, Harry had the feeling of some one's gaze upon him from one of the windows in the first mansion. Harry paused to face the manor, expecting to see someone or something looking back, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was curious though, there appeared to be faint light emanating from within the manor's walls.
"Father?" Harry tapped on Severus's hip. "The first Snape Manor is lit up..."
Severus gathered Harry into his arms without answering, and ran all the way back to the second manor, not even slowing his pace until he was in the sitting room.
Harry continued to inquire about the first manor and how it did not seem to be empty, but Severus either told him to stop asking his infernal questions or else just ignored Harry completely.
Eventually realizing that Harry would not leave well enough alone, Severus decided that redirecting Harry would be a more suitable course of action. "I haven't run like that in a while. I'm thirsty. Harry, what did you say this was?" He withdrew the cola from one of his jacket pockets.
"It's a fizzy drink. Lots of muggles, both kids and adults like to drink those." Harry replied. "Draco was rather thirsty, as you said he would be, and I got thirsty refilling his pitcher for him, so I remembered the cola dispensing machine we passed on our way over to Draco's room, and I went and got us drinks. Except that the machine didn't want to cooperate at first, so I had to kick it really hard. So that's why there were so many sodas. Draco has a few more to drink in case he gets thirsty."
Once more, Severus had to struggle to make sense of what Harry just said. Six year old children weren't so easy to understand, after all. "After running all the way back to the barrier, I find that I am very thirsty," Severus said, slipping his finger under the pull tab on the tin. "Would you care to have some with me...?"
"WAIT!" Harry exclaimed. "You shouldn't open it! You were running with it in your pocket! You shook it all up! It's going to...!"
BAKOOOOOON!
"...explode!" Harry finished.
Severus sputtered. The soft drink had sprayed him in his face and hair, and he was now thoroughly soaked with the sweet beverage. "Harry, am I to understand that both muggle adults and children imbibe this beverage?"
"Yes?" Harry replied giggling at the absurd sight before him.
"Then those muggle parents are derelict in their duties as parents! Allowing their children to drink a beverage that doubles as an explosive is not very clever!" Severus frowned, accepting a towel from Rastus, who was already spelling the area clean. "If you will excuse me, Harry. I had intended to give you a bath when we arrived at home, now it would appear that I need one more urgently."
Severus was about to lower himself into the large bath when Harry burst into the room.
"HARRY!" Severus yelled, instinctively holding a washcloth over his groin. "I am going to bathe now..."
Harry looked at the large bath, which had been built to resemble a pond complete with water lilies and magical brocaded carp. Even the taps were concealed behind the rocks of the waterfall. "Well, this bath is large enough for both of us isn't it? Even if there were ten of us, we'd all fit comfortably wouldn't we?"
"...!"
"Aw, why not?" Harry said as he removed his own clothing. "Why can't I join you?"
"Uh..." Severus was genuinely flustered. "Because uh.. uh... it is not customary for parents to bathe with their children."
"But why not?" Harry protested, stomping his feet on one of the rocks. "We're both boys, er... men, you know what I mean, so what's the difference? Besides I've already seen you in the shower before, it's not like you've grown a tail or something."
Severus tried to think of a suitable response, but none was forthcoming. In the end, he nodded and Harry immediately jumped into the bath, being careful to keep his hair out of the water. He cringed slightly, for Severus apparently enjoyed taking very hot baths.
"Father," Harry asked after wading about after a while, "can I get my hair wet?"
Severus, who had also been swimming around the 'pond,' resurfaced. "You may."
"But won't my extensions come out?"
"No, the adhesive is resistant to water and should stay in place for a few weeks." Severus replied, diving beneath the water once more.
"What if I want to take them out before then?"
"You may ask Rastus to assist you, Rastus will be happy to." the elf popped into the room bearing fresh towels and clothes. "Does young Snape want to take the extensions out?"
"Oh no, I rather like them!" Harry said, diving under the water gleefully. "I was just wondering about them, that's all."
Severus climbed onto one of the larger rocks on the far end of the 'pond,' summoned a bar of soap and a washcloth, and proceeded to wash himself.
"Father," Harry swam over to Severus, carefully avoiding the school of magical koi as he went, "you think Draco will be all right?"
Severus paused, causing the lather to drip down his chest, "You never were concerned about Draco Malfoy in the past."
"Yes, well." Harry swam beside Severus' legs. "I guess I never got to know him properly before . And to tell you the truth, I really didn't want to know him. When I first saw him in Madam Malkin's back before our first year, I thought he was an utter twit! Every moment I listened to him, I liked him less and less. Over the years, with his pompous ways and his holier than thou attitude, I disliked him even more." Harry paused to watch his father work shampoo through his hair. Yes, Severus Snape really did wash his hair. "But now, well I'm not so sure anymore. When he thought I was Harry Snape and not Harry Potter, he acted so differently towards me, he seemed like another boy entirely. I think he's really a nice fellow if he doesn't put on airs."
Severus helped Harry clamber onto the rock beside him. "So now that I know that he's not a git all the time, well... I-I'm worried about him."
Severus gave a nearly imperceptible nod and began washing Harry. Although the boy's bruises were practically healed, Severus was still very careful not to rub too hard. He did not want his son fearing his hands as he had feared his own father's.
"Since Mr. Malfoy is probably back at Azkaban by now, you don't think they'll give Mr. Malfoy the dementor's kiss, do you father?"
"I hope not." Severus said absently, working the tearless shampoo through Harry's long hair.
"Every time I started to get annoyed with Draco, I kept thinking... 'what if it were you instead of Mr. Malfoy in that situation?'" Harry's voice faltered as tears filled his eyes once more. "I can't bear even the thought of you going to a place like Azkaban. I don't want you to be sad, or cold, or hungry, or lonely, or in pain. You've suffered too much already! But Poor Draco, what about his father? He must be still awake thinking how his own father must be suffering..."
Harry fiercely threw his arms around Severus and launched into his customary bawling. Severus knew that any snide comments or even saying anything at all would prolong the bout, so Severus just held Harry until the boy cried himself out.
Roughly an hour later, Severus carried his little boy to the bed. The child had literally worn himself out and had nearly fallen asleep in the bath.
"Does Master Severus want Rastus to help?" The house elf asked when he noticed Severus contemplating which set of pyjamas to put on Harry.
"That will not be necessary." Severus replied, finally pulling a brightly coloured, union suit style pyjama set onto Harry's limp form.
Harry rolled contentedly under the covers, but would not let go of Severus' hand. "On second thought, Rastus. I do need your assistance..."
After dressing Rastus in one of Severus's nightshirts, Severus coaxed Harry to grasp the octarelf's hand instead of his.
"But where will Master Severus sleep if Rastus is sleeping in his bed?" the human-like elf whispered.
"I do not know that I will be sleeping tonight, Rastus." Severus replied, a sombre look spreading over his gaunt features. "Stay with Harry, he will sleep more securely if there is another person in the bed with him."
"Yes sir." Rastus replied, closing his large eyes. "Rastus will sleep here then. Goodnight, Master Severus."
Draco Malfoy could not fall asleep. He doubted if he'd ever fall asleep for the rest of the week. Not long after Severus and Harry had left, a group of Aurors paid Draco a 'visit.' Although their words had been friendly, Draco knew they were here to investigate something or other. Draco made sure that they would know nothing of Uncle Severus's visit earlier in the evening, and they would most certainly know nothing of Harry.
Before the Aurors departed, one of them, a young man who Draco recognized as a Gryffindor who was several years older, callously tossed a special edition of the Daily Prophet on the foot of his bed. Draco treated the young Auror to a look of the purest loathing as the young man left with a satisfied look on his face.
The headlines crowed of the recent capture of Lucius Malfoy, and showed a moving picture of the pale man, clad in tattered, greying robes, being levitated onto a prison barge by four aurors. A barge destined for Azkaban.
"Father!" Draco called to the image of his sire, who floated helplessly onto the barge over and over again. "Father!"
Draco angrily crumpled the newspaper and tossed it across the room, where it burst into flames and vanished immediately thereafter. "So! It was planned!" Draco hissed to the empty room. "Those wretched nits brought the paper so that I'd see it but the screwspawn put a self destruct charm on it to prevent its discovery by the muggle medical staff."
"BLOODY COWARDS!" Draco snarled. "Ministry Lapdogs! Mindless pack animals! The lot of you! Bloody cowards!"
Draco turned his attention to the far corner of the room where he had tossed the paper. Not a vestige remained of it. The magnitude of the day's events crashed upon him like a wall of water from a broken dam. The moving image of Lucius on the front page of the newspaper, although indelibly burned into Draco's heart, was gone. Lucius was gone. Was that the last time Draco would see his father alive? A prisoner...
Early memories of Lucius coaxing Draco into eating another spoonful of porridge meandered into Draco's consciousness. Visions of Lucius making the stars dance over Draco's crib resurfaced, along with the memory of Lucius healing a scrape on Draco's knee whilst Narcissa sang to him. Those memories were forced to the background by the ugly image of Lucius being led onto the prison barge in tattered rags.
They must have dressed Lucius Malfoy in those rags for the sole purpose of humiliating him and the whole Malfoy clan.
Memories of riding behind Lucius on his broom forced their way into Draco's consciousness. Long before Draco was old enough to ride on his own, Narcissa fashioned a harness that would allow Draco to ride on Lucius' back. He had looked forward to those all too infrequent rides, and seeing his mother and the world below them shrinking away as they took to the air was nothing less than exhilarating. The first flights were scary, and little Draco often held onto his father's white-blond hair for extra support. Lucius made no complaint, even though Draco was sure he must have tugged a bit too hard on his father's tresses at times.
Once again, the ugly picture of the same man, now clad in rags, being levitated onto a prison barge dispersed his happier memories into the background.
"I HATE YOU ALL!" Draco turned around and punched his pillow with all his might. "Fudge's dogs! Father couldn't even defend himself! Couldn't tell you that we wanted to raise the wizarding world back to it's former glory! Just because father went about things the wrong way before, you cowards want to put him back in Azkaban without even allowing him to speak in his own defence!"
Some of the malice faded from Draco's voice, and were replaced by undertones of desperation that no one would ever hear. "People can change! You don't know my father as I do!"
The Malfoy heir cast a glance around the empty room, as though to reassure himself that no one would hear him. Or see him without his pompous airs. Malfoys were beyond grovelling weren't they? "Father isn't well. He can't eat! He can't even walk! Can't call for help if he needs it..."
Draco's next words were sobs, as were his next ones.
Wearing nothing but his thin, grey silk nightshirt, Severus walked out of the maple doors of the manor and walked along the porch until he stood facing the first Snape Manor. The cold night air made the pale man, who was already shivering slightly, shiver even more. Severus Snape rarely trebled at anything anymore, but was doing so so much now that his legs felt as though they wouldn't be able to support his weight much longer.
In acquiescence, Severus sat on the top step of the stairway facing the first Snape Manor. An abnormally cold breeze licked at his damp hair and cut his cheek like more effectively than a shard of cold glass. Severus looked up at the moonless, crystal black sky and leaned against the balustrade for support as the stars flickered like the dying embers of distant bonfires.
The potions master had known that returning to Snape Manor would reopen wounds that he had strived ceaselessly for nearly seventeen years to forget. Now the wounds were bleeding anew. Festering...
"Child?" Albus Dumbledore asked the teen, who was still struggling to walk normally, and lagged several paces behind him, "are you certain you are ready to go home?"
"Yes." Severus replied. The newly made brand on the teen's arm still burned fiercely, and the wounds that were too deep for the healers at St. Mungos, ached with every step that Severus took. The deepest cuts hurt as though the Death Eater's claws were still in him, and his head still ached whenever he moved.
Severus shivered when he thought of what Lucien would do to him when he went home again. Lucien had not visited him the entire time he had been hospitalized. Furthermore, according to the staff in the Spell Damage Ward, Lucien had not even been by to visit mother. How could he show not an iota of concern for his own family? Was he really that cruel?
Lucien had expressed his disappointment in Severus, when he first learned of his joining the ranks of the Death Eaters, and had even thrust young Severus against the shelves in Voldemort's labs for it. Father must have been exceptionally angry if he hadn't even come by to visit Severus at all in the hospital.
What would father do when he returned home?
"Severus?" The aged Headmaster asked once more as Severus prepared to apparate away from Dumbledore's Loft. "Will you be all right?"
"I'll have to face father some time." Was all Severus said before popping back to Snape Manor.
Severus paced up and down the street several times. Would father just backhand him when he arrived at home? Would he say something like "How could you be so stupid as to join the Death Eaters, when I tried to keep you away from their influence your whole life?" and give Severus a few lashes of the belt or the whip? Or would Lucien be so angry that he'd beat Severus unconscious as he had done twice before?
Steeling himself, and putting the most neutral expression on his face, Severus turned toward the unkempt lot leading to Snape Manor. Hopefully Lucien would not strike him across his left cheek this time, as he still had a fading bruise where one of the Animalia Potion-influenced Death Eaters had ripped a deep cut into his flesh. The area still ached horribly and even three weeks after the fact, Severus still had difficulty chewing because of it.
Severus was about to pass through the barrier when his foot came in contact with an object in a bloody burlap bag partially obscured from view by the thick brambles. Frowning, Severus gingerly lifted the coarse material away. Had someone disposed of some trash in their lot again, just because it looked like an abandoned lot? Was some one attempting to make compost? Did some one leave something here by mistake?
All of his guesses were wrong.
"FATHER!" Severus almost screamed at the sight of his father's badly mangled body in the bag.
The teen retained enough of his wits to drag the undignified body bag through the barrier with him. He collapsed bonelessly to the grass just on the other side, sending waves of pain through his pummelled body. Hoping beyond hope, Severus tore the coarse fabric of the bag and pulled out the lifeless body of Lucien Snape and felt along the man's neck and chest for a pulse or a heartbeat. The senior Snape's white hair was matted together in several places by his own blood, and his body was badly marked by the injuries of both magical and conventional tortures. His muscles still spasmed intermittently, indicating that Lucien Snape had endured the cruciatus curse for a considerable length of time.
"You're still warm, father." Severus said hopefully, feeling under Lucien's nose for the slightest trace of breath. There was none. Severus felt once more for a pulse, a heartbeat... any sign that Lucien Snape was still alive.
"FATHER! Father please! Please!" Even though he knew his father would have disapproved, Severus could not stop the flow of tears down his still-healing cheeks. He tried desperately to stop himself, but that only made him cry more earnestly.
With all the strength he possessed, Severus lifted his father into his arms and staggered into Snape Manor, and into the very potions lab Lucien had forbidden Severus from ever entering. "I won't let you die father! You will not die!" Severus shouted, pouring various healing potions down his sire's throat. "Father please!" In desperation, Severus began casting every healing charm he was capable of in his weakened, convalescent state. But to no avail.
Exhausted, the teenaged Severus fell to the floor of his sire's potion lab and pulled the pale man into his arms. Severus held his father in his arms in death, in a manner in which he had longed to do while the man had been alive. "If only I had come home just a little earlier, maybe I could have saved you...but I was a coward!" Severus buried his face in his father's chest, he was sobbing too much to continue. He pressed his ear over his father's heart, silently praying to any deity that might have been listening for there to be a heartbeat, even the faintest one. "Your body is not cold yet! You must have just died. Please don't go! Please don't go! I'll be a good son to you. I'll do whatever you want me to! I'll not shed a tear in front of you ever again! I'll even abandon potions forever! I'll even assault Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew, James Potter and Remus Lupin every day of the week if you tell me to! Just don't go! Don't GO!"
The heat inevitably began to fade from Lucien's body. Severus held Lucien in his trembling arms until he went completely cold. "Oh Father! Who did this to you? Who was so cruel as to force you to expire under torture!" Severus knew very well who could have been so cruel, but he wailed his questions regardless.
Severus saw the stars in the chasm above the roof of the second Snape Manor blur. Simultaneously, he felt long repressed tears force their way from his eyes. He bit his lower lip to still it, but more tears came notwithstanding.
End Part Twenty-Nine
