A/N: I'm so deeply touched by the warm returns from my last (and well overdue) UL update! Thank you so, so much to ALL who commented! Hearing from old (and, perhaps, some new?) readers was truly heartwarming and makes me all the more excited to be resuming these stories again. :')
As for this update, I would have posted it a lot sooner if not for something else...
Shameless Plug Time!: For those not subscribed to my Author Alerts (Why not? Do the thing! *puppy eyes*), I've been posting a new SSHG story of late, which you can check out if you're interested in reading something else of mine. It's called The Sound of Magic, based on The Sound of Music, and it will be completed very soon!
All right, now onto the newest (rather angsty but hopefully still enjoyable) UL prompt...
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is copyrighted to and belongs to JK Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox and own none of her associated characters. New characters belong to me.
Markings and Mistakes
(Surina does something her parents don't approve of. She's prepared for their objections, but not for some of her father's grave, personal reasons).
This prompt is a mixture of my own and one from a dear reader, Hannah, which was asked for a while ago (heh, aren't all of them?) and involves one of the children getting caught doing something Severus doesn't like. I think my own prompt interweaves with her's pretty well. The idea has been in my head for some time.
"Sis, what on earth are we doing?"
Surina ignored Lily's utter confusion and yanked her inside the false safeguard of her bedroom. She noiselessly shut the door behind them and extracted her wand from inside a jean pocket as Lily whirled around, bewildered. Then Surina sealed her bedroom door so that no one else might enter—well, not without fair warning; she and Lily knew their cleverer parents could un-ward the door at any time, if they so desired—and placed a Muffling Charm around them.
The few inquisitive markings on Lily's fair face deepened. "Surina, what's going on?"
"Keep your knickers on!" Surina half teased, half exclaimed. Disregarding Lily's hard look of offence, she began tearing off the severely worn, black Weird Sisters t-shirt she was wearing, shimming out of the fabric both carefully but also with undoubted excitement.
Lily scrunched up her nose at the foreign bandages that materialised on Surina's left bare shoulder, knowing that they shouldn't be there. "What the hell, Surina?" she began to berate, pointing at the mysterious bandages, but Surina interrupted her again.
"Shut it, would you? Mum and Dad might come knocking!"
Lily huffed, "You placed a Muffling Charm on the room! I don't think anyone's going to overhear us!"
"Even so!" Surina countered. She began meticulously peeling back a sheer covering that was keeping the bandages in place.
Concern settled across Lily's features, her voice calm, yet unnerved when she beseeched her sister once more, "What did you go and do now?"
Surina locked eyes with Lily, her own dark depths suggestive and naughty. She slowly removed the last of the bandages for Lily, and her older sister let out a small gasp. Bringing a hand to her gaping mouth, her eyes expanded in horror. "What in the bloody hell?"
"I went to a muggle tattoo parlour shop this morning in London with Beatrice," Surina explained in haste, hoping to get the words out before Lily could descend on her in what she suspected would be a fit of rage and worry. "Oh, we used the Floo to get to Diagon Alley first and then found our way from there. Nice little shop. The chap did exactly what I wanted! It only hurt a little bit; I don't know what those muggles were whining about. It's wicked, isn't it? I love it!"
"But... But... Surina!"
"I know, I know, I should've told Mum and Dad first, but you know they wouldn't have approved." She added, hoping her sister might see things from her perspective, "It was with my own money anyhow. I spent two of my last paycheques on it and look how it came out! Just perfect! Worth every muggle pound!"
"Did - Did Uncle George know you'd be wasting the money he paid you to work for him this summer on that monstrosity?"
Surina glared daggers at Lily. "No, he doesn't, and who the hell cares?"
"Mum and Dad will, that's what!"
"Oh, give it a rest, Lily! I wanted it."
"Since when?"
"Since this morning," Surina sheepishly confessed. "See my initials there? And the Slytherin serpents—?"
"I don't care about the ruddy image right now, Surina! I'm more concerned about you and you should be, too!" Lily pointed a trembling, accusatory finger at Surina's tattoo. "Mum and Dad are going to hex you to the States and back for this!"
Surina rolled her eyes at more of her sister's dramatic misgivings. "No, they won't, sis. It's just a bloody tattoo!"
"Are you kidding? Mum's going to go mental on your arse! You must know that, surely?"
"Probably," Surina snickered with defiant impishness, which only served to confound Lily further. "I think Dad will like it, though. What do you think?"
Lily gave a slow, ill shake of her head, stunned into disbelief at her sister's actions. "I... I highly doubt it, sis."
"Oh, c'mon," Surina protested in a low moan. "It's so tiny!"
"It's not that tiny—"
"And so me! A tee will cover it easily!"
To Surina's disgruntlement, Lily's frown lengthened. "Mum and Dad really aren't going to be happy about this. Just you wait, Surina. You're in for it."
"Who says I gotta tell them?"
Lily stepped back, aghast. "You think they won't find out, regardless of whatever tricks you have up your sleeve? Are you that delusional now?"
Surina's smile flipped upside down. Lily had a point. Perhaps it was best to just confront her parents and get it over with. Her mother wouldn't be pleased, but really... How bad can it be? It's just a tattoo.
"WHAT IN MERLIN'S BALLS HAVE YOU GONE AND DONE?"
"Mum, relax! It's just a small tat—"
"HAVE YOU GONE SPARE, SURINA?"
"Wha—?"
"DO YOU WANT TO BE GROUNDED FOR THE REST OF YOUR RUDDY EXISTENCE? MY OWN DAUGHTER! Where did I go wrong?"
"Mum, stop! Would you just—?"
"IS IT YOUR OBJECTIVE TO MAKE YOUR MOTHER LOSE HER NERVES WELL BEFORE HER TIME?"
"Blimey, Mum, would you calm down?" exclaimed Surina, recoiling another step back from Hermione, with her eyes nearly bugging out of their sockets. "You're already acting plenty barmy without my help!"
Surina (and Lily, who was standing nervously nearby but staying well out of arm's reach of their mother) swore that if flares could have shot straight out of Hermione's wild mane, they certainly would have sent sparks flying at that moment. Hermione's fiery eyes narrowed into slits and her cheeks took on a vividly crimson-coloured shade that reflected her past Gryffindor status. "SURINA GRANGER SNAPE!" she growled lowly like a threatened lioness.
Surina hastily threw up her hands. "All right, all right, I'm sorry, Mum! I just..." Surina brought her hands back to her sides and straightened her posture, determined not to back down, despite her mother's dreadful warning signals. "I'm not sorry for this, all right? I paid for it myself, and I love it!"
"Surina—"
"It was my choice, Mum! Mine! I wanted it and I did it! There's nothing to be done now!"
Hermione sharply glared her daughter down, placing her hands defensively on her hips. The energy around her continued to crackle with heed of manifesting, untamed magic. "Well, we don't always get what we want in this house, do we, Surina?"
Surina's already pallid cheeks turned whiter still. "You can't get rid of it!" she settled for screaming, her voice trembling with a combination of outrage and fear. "You can't, Mum! I won't let you!"
Hermione's wand suddenly emerged from inside her net of frizzy curls, somewhere behind her ear. Even though Lily wasn't being subjected to their mother's wrath, she withdrew into the hallway, as if the witch's wand was about to be unleashed on her instead. "These are the consequences for going behind our backs, Surina," Hermione stated with frightening collectedness. "You know better than to behave this way."
"Yeah, I do!" Surina snarled back, ready to reach for her own wand in order to stop what she suspected was coming. "I knew you'd react this way—all wonky and out of your bloody mind—"
"Language!" Hermione snapped.
"—which is why I didn't tell you in the bloody first place!"
"HOW DARE YOU!"
Lily stepped forward into the sitting room, heart pounding furiously. "Mum, wait!" she pleaded, intending to butt in on her sister's behalf. A firm hand suddenly dragged her backwards, a little too forcefully but positioning her well out of harm's way.
"What in the Devil's Snare is going on here?" came a deep, male snarl they all recognised, and every witch's head spun in the direction of Severus, who had surfaced from his laboratory on the bottom level without a sound (though, of course, Surina's and Hermione's yelling had pretty much drowned out every other noise within earshot).
"Your daughter!" Hermione barked and pointed adamantly towards the girl's left-sided, heavily inked shoulder with her wand. "Look what she's done!"
Severus's nonplussed gaze settled on Surina's tattoo, following the shape of its fanciful curves, which formed the slinking bodies of two open-mouthed snakes. Entwined between their coiling tails were the letters 'SS', coloured in blotches of emerald green that mirrored a water colour technique. It was about two and a half to three inches in size and impossible to miss, what with Surina having pulled her sleeve up all the way for them to scrutinise.
Slowly, and silently, the harsh, angled lines Severus wore dissipated into something akin to smooth indifference. His mouth, too, formed a stern, rigid line. Lily, Surina, and Hermione watched, dumbfounded, as the wizard quietly turned his attention from the tattoo to his daughter, his eyes lingering on Surina for a considerable pause, before he simply turned on his heel and disappeared down the hall.
"Severus!" Hermione called after his retreating footsteps, unhinged by her husband's abrupt dismissal and for not backing her up just then.
All three witches heard the laboratory door softly close, and the unexpected result of what was supposed to have been another confrontation but wound up as silent bypassing snuffed much of the fire out of Hermione's and Surina's testy argument. Surina turned pleading to her mother, dark eyes brimming with tears. "I love it," she repeated, whispered, her voice pained at the thought of her mother vanquishing it for good. "Please don't get rid of it, Mum. Please? I want to keep it. I did it because I wanted to so badly—"
"Surina, enough." Hermione let forth a frustrated sigh and rubbed at her temples. Her wand carefully found its way back to its proper tuck behind her right ear, and her regard towards her second daughter eased into consideration rather than continued displeasure. "We know you're old enough to make these decisions without our input, but it doesn't mean we don't deserve the respect of knowing what your intentions are, preferably before you go and do something this brash to yourself." Her gentle brown eyes, previously heated and intense, turned saddened before her daughter, conveying the witch's hurt so deeply that Surina was forced to look away. She would have readily taken her mother's ire over the disappointment she was now facing. "You should've told us, Surina."
"I - I know, Mum," Surina admitted, mumbling into her chest. "I'm sorry."
"And I'm sorry for losing my temper on you." Hermione patiently crossed her arms over her chest and awaited the return of Surina's gaze, which uncomfortably came back to her a few moments later. "Give your father some time, and then go speak to him. You've heard what I have to say; you will hear his as well."
"But he just—"
"This is not up for discussion."
"But it was my decision!"
"No but's, Surina. You're fifteen-years old. You may think you can make decisions like this all you like, but as long as you're living under our roof, you'll respectfully listen to what your father and I have to say about them, whether you want to or not. Is that understood?"
Hermione's tone was hushed but firm and non-negotiable, prompting Surina to obligingly lower her head again. "Yes, Mum," she agreed as she stared at the ground. Lily was right...but she's never going to hear it from me.
"Dad?" Surina called into the darkness, her voice fainter than usual as she squinted to make out his lanky, hunched over silhouette at the end of his spacious laboratory. She didn't mind coming down here most of the time, even if it was undoubtedly the coldest spot in the whole house, and her father seemed to have acclimated to its conditions more so than anyone else in the family. She just would have preferred not to be here at the moment, seeing as she was certain that this conversation wasn't going to be pleasant. She and her father rarely had those sorts of talks.
Severus was sitting on a chair but had evidently been staring into space prior to Surina's interruption. She chanced taking the last step off of the stairs when he turned his head, and the bottoms of her shoes scuffed and echoed across the stone floors. "Can I come in?"
"You may."
Well, not very encouraging, Surina lamented as she reluctantly strode closer. She purposely slowed her stride, however, taking a moment to survey his lab and the brews he had in progress. Several cauldrons were frothing, boiling, or steaming upon their respective burners, seemingly without her father's supervision, though the Potions Master, of course, would never have left such matters alone. Stirring rods magically twirled in his stead, adjusting the temperature and contents for him. "What, erm, are you working on?" Surina asked of him, partly to distract from the nerves sprouting in her stomach.
"Nothing terribly important," was his short, stiff reply.
Yeah, definitely not encouraging. Surina sucked in a breath as Severus's shadowed face came into focus, and she could detect that his eyes were deeply troubled. They darted from her face to her bandaged shoulder more than once in the short interim that they stared at one another, the silence filling between them.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity to Surina, Severus softly but commandingly requested that she remove the bandages, and Surina obeyed. She wasn't aware of her father brightening the lit torches and hovering candles throughout the lab so that they might glimpse one another's expressions better. That was, until she peered down at him once the bandages had been peeled away and felt her insides churn at his ill reaction.
With a disheartening, parting glance, Severus's jaw tightened and he cast his sights towards the floor, sighing gravely. His despondence with what she had done was irrefutable, and yet, it still stumped her. The small shake of his head didn't go amiss either.
"Dad, let me explain," she requested as calmly as possible. When Severus met her eyes again, they weren't alleviated or softer. He said nothing, however, only stared on, so Surina nervously began to rattle off her explanation, "I... Well, Beatrice and I had heard a bunch of these prats outside The Leaky Cauldron this morning talking about—"
"What were you doing outside of Diagon Alley?" Severus forcefully interrupted her story, eyes crimping with indisputable suspicion as they bore into hers.
The teen felt the slightest tap of Legilimency against the outer walls of her mind and instantly pushed back, not wishing for her father to instigate that kind of approach towards uncovering what he wanted: honesty. Surina was easily resigned to play fair. She would come clean and be done with this, hopefully without tears or being grounded for the rest of her life. "We were going to do some shopping with her older sister in London, honest! But she had an appointment and couldn't show."
"And why didn't you tell your mother and me of your real plans?"
"I..." Surina's cheeks went hot. "I'm sorry, Dad. It really wasn't my intention to get a tattoo today, I swear it. It was rather spur-of-the-moment."
"I'm gathering that much. Continue."
Once Surina felt the phantom-like fingers receding from her mind, apparently placated for the moment, she carried on in a hurried fashion, "Well, these wankers were all moaning and groaning about this joint tattoo they'd gotten together, and I asked one of them where he got it done. I thought... I thought it was a brilliant idea at the time. I also figured it couldn't hurt as badly as they were complaining. I... I still do," she added under her breath, trying not to wince at the sour grimace Severus projected in return. "I convinced Beatrice to go with me and... And that's how this all went down. Beatrice chickened out of getting hers, but I went through with it because..."
"Because you had some foolhardy point to prove?"
"No!" Surina countered—pleaded, rather—in the hopes of alleviating some of her mischievousness, though she suspected it wouldn't do her much good. "I really do like it, Dad. I think it turned out great!" When Severus looked away from her to sigh disgustedly a second time, Surina frowned, her self-consciousness worsening. "What's the big deal? It's just a tattoo."
Severus's hanging head snapped upright. "'Just a tattoo'?" he hissed through clenched teeth. "You think permanent markings on one's skin are all just that, harmless good fun?"
"Dad, really, it's not the end of the world! Why are you being so—?"
"I'll have you know it was nearly the end of mine," Severus growled and, in a flash, wrenched back his sleeve to hold out his left arm, revealing the disturbing but faded Dark Mark of his past, "and I was only a little older than you are now, Surina!"
Surina blinked a few times, stunned into momentary silence. "Dad," she whispered after she felt her voice come back to her, quivering despite her best efforts, "this is not the same thing..."
"Oh?" Severus challenged, arching an eyebrow. "You could've fooled me. And here, I was starting to think it was blatant disrespect and disregard on your end!"
"What?" A cruel awareness surfaced in Surina's widened eyes. She stepped forward, in spite of her father's foul temper, with a sudden desperation to be heard. "Why would you think that? I had nothing like that in mind when I got this done!" Severus snorted, unconvinced, and Surina's face reddened. "Muggle tattoos aren't the same thing as a bloody Dark Mark, Dad! We both know the difference! For goodness' sake, I meant you no disrespect!"
"Fooled me still," he insisted, though dangerously quiet, his words crushing and hard. He angrily huffed and tugged his sleeve back down to cover the mark whilst Surina looked on, aggrieved and increasingly upset.
"Dad, c'mon," she all but whined, though her words came out feebler than she would have liked. He kept averting his gaze, however, so Surina dropped into a chair next to him and scooted closer so that she might properly lean into him. She, too, dropped her eyes for a moment and, exercising cautious fingers, curled the former Death Eater's wrinkled sleeve back up to his elbow to re-examine the Dark Mark at length. Severus made no objection.
The repulsive skull with the head of a serpent slinking out of its mouth was as nettling an image as Surina remembered reading about in her textbooks. She despised its message of hate and rejected its overwhelming association with her Hogwarts house. Not all Slytherins detested muggle-borns, that much was true, and her father was a glowing attestant to the abolishment of such deep-seated prejudice. It had always made Surina and her sisters proud of him. Doesn't he know that? she wondered with growing despondence.
Surina continued to trace her fingertips over its outline, a frown set along her mouth. She and her sisters had long known that their father still carried the Dark Mark, of course, but he rarely left his left arm exposed for them to see, not wishing for any of them to be terrified by its presence. Although Surina understood why he tended to keep the mark out of sight, looking upon it now left her disquieted for a number of other reasons besides its history. Not only did it speak against everything she well understood and loved about her father, but it sickened her that such a marking might even be comparable to the innocent, Slytherin-like pride on display on her shoulder.
After gently tracing the serpent's head for a time, Surina reclined further into Severus's shoulder, her voice crestfallen when she spoke, "I'm so sorry, Dad."
There was a short pause and then words she hadn't expected to hear from him: "It's all right, sweetheart."
"I... I had no idea you'd take it like this; that you'd compare mine to yours! I honestly didn't think it was that big of a—"
"And I stand corrected. You've done nothing remotely of this magnitude, Surina. Forgive my outburst; it was wrong of me."
"But I really never meant to hurt you, Dad! Honest."
"And you haven't, love," he reassured her, expressing a level of tenderness she now recognised. A warm peck to the top of her head soon followed. "It just... It reminded me of a terrible lapse of judgment I once had a long time ago. I've always dreaded you and your sisters making the same mistakes one day; it's a recurrent nightmare of mine. And it petrified me for a moment when I saw it. I lashed out at you unnecessarily in fear."
"It's not like that, Dad, I swear..."
"Of course it isn't, sweetheart. You needn't keep insisting. Still..." He reared back and cupped Surina's chin, forcing her to raise her head and stare into his much more affectionate regard. His mouth soon twisted into a dissatisfied line, his eyes scrutinising the bandages more closely. "It is rather... Well... Are you certain this is what you want: a pair of snakes and your initials etched into your skin for the rest of your life?"
Surina was relieved to feel as though she could laugh again and easily broke into a smile, one her father matched, if only in his eyes. "Yes, I'm sure! It's not that bad, you know."
"I shall politely agree to disagree."
Surina shook her head. "Fair enough."
"Perhaps you'll change your mind someday."
"No way!" Surina giggled in return before peering up at him, this time with heightened hope. "You'll let me keep it, won't you? Mum was threatening to hex it off."
"So I overheard." Severus turned his head, contemplating. He settled the matter with a drawn out sigh. "Very well. If this is really what you want to waste your summer job money on, you have my blessing."
"Oh, Merlin and Circe... It's muggle-made, Dad! I can get rid of it at some point." Surina suddenly shot him a defiant look. "Not that I have any intention of doing so, so don't count on it!"
"Suit yourself," Severus resigned with a small toss of his head.
There was a short, silent interlude and then a quietly ruffled question from the younger, "And Mum? She... She's really upset."
"I'll deal with your mother. Poor woman. You've really done a number on her, Surina. I hope you apologised."
"I did!" Surina's face morphed into exasperation.
Severus's returning stare was long and measured, however. "And don't say anything else to get yourself into more trouble, do you hear?"
Surina's chagrin melted into a smile once more. "Deal!" Then her irises twinkled suggestively. "And...my punishment?"
"Whatever your mother's determined, that will still stand."
"Hey, but I—"
"I'm your father, Surina. I can support you, but I can't work miracles." Severus's glint of a smirk disappeared, replaced by more steeling resilience. "You know why you're being reprimanded. You're a smart girl, so I suggest you knock off the attitude and try to make things more bearable for us all."
Surina slouched next to him, knowing he was correct...somewhat. "Fine." She glanced admiringly at her tattoo again, a proud grin emerging beneath the low spotlights. "You know, I was daft enough to think you might actually like this!"
Severus gave another one of his single eyebrow raises. "I thought we knew each other better than that."
"So did I!" Surina gamely laughed along to his humour. She leaned in for a hug, wrapping her arms loosely around his waist; Severus did likewise, squeezing his daughter tightly to his chest. "We still do, I think?"
"Yes...but I want you to promise me something else, Surina."
This time, Surina willingly stared up into her father's face, her faith renewed. "Yeah, Dad?"
Severus's pale countenance remained serious, though nonetheless loving. "No more secrets," he declared evenly, and it took Surina only a moment or two to comply.
"All right, no more secrets."
"Promise me?"
Surina slowly nodded and concurred, "Promise."
Together, she and Severus got to their feet and ambled towards the stairs. They were about halfway there when Severus casually filtered the silence with a curious inquiry. "So, it really didn't hurt? Not even a little?"
"Not all that much. I don't know what those blokes were crying like babies about."
Out of the corner of her eye, Surina thought she caught Severus's thin, barely-there smile. She could have sworn, too, that there was a glint of amusement to his brief smirk, perhaps even some smugness over his daughter's unmistakable grit.
Maybe, if she was fortunate, her tattoo might grow on the wizard eventually. Then again, Surina didn't hold out much hope of her mother coming around to the idea. Lily was right...but she's never going to know.
A/N #2: I'm not sure what's next in line, but thank you to those who review! And, as always, you can send in prompts of your own, too! If they fit with my UL world, I'll happily write them. Sometime. Eventually. (I swear I will!)
