Hello, my wonderful readers!
Everyone enjoying October? I know I sure am. It's only this time of year where my normally witchy wardrobe makes sense to people!
So, I've seen a lot of celebration in the comment section over Lily's apology. A lot of you are overjoyed the pair are back together...but are they? I mean, what a lukewarm way to become a couple again. "I'm sorry," "Apology accepted, let's move on." They haven't really spoken about whether they're together again or anything.
But that may change...very, very soon...
If Someone Cared Enough
Chapter Seventy-Seven: Ponderosa
The trip into Westminster was a subdued one, filled with sparse conversation and nervous silence. Neither Severus nor Lily really knew what to expect from the impending meeting with the barrister, this Ponderosa. It left them in a state of uncertainty. They didn't know whether to view the meeting with trepidation or optimism, it could easily go either way and the lack of indication in the barrister's brief letter left the possibilities up in the air.
Now they sat in a posh little waiting room, dusting floo powder off their clothes while a witch with a pinched face watched them pointedly over the rim of her magenta framed glasses.
"So," Lily said slowly, "Are you excited?"
Severus shifted uncomfortably in his seat; the cushions were too plush, too mushy, "Everyone's asked me that, and the answers is becoming more 'no' by the minute. Excitement isn't really the best way to describe this; it isn't like I've been invited to meet Nicholas Flamel. Nervous, perhaps. Wary, certainly."
"Why wary?" Lily inquired.
Severus shrugged, "A number of outcomes could come from this, Lily. Sure, this could be the grand beginning of reconnecting with my family, but this could just as easily be the end of my search for them. They might want me to stop pursuing them, worried my relation to them besmirches the Prince lineage. They could demand back what few items me and mum have from her youth on the grounds that they were bought with Prince money and therefore Prince property."
"I hardly doubt anyone would be that petty over a few old school books, Sev," Lily said.
Severus shrugged again, "Well you and I would like to believe people are better than that, but who really knows. I mean, what kind of family casts out their own daughter for falling in love? Even if it was with the scum of the earth," he added morosely.
"Okay, so let's say they haven't changed their ways," Lily ventured, "That still doesn't mean that this meeting will be a bad one."
"How do you mean?" Severus asked.
"Think about it," Lily said, "You told me most Purebloods are all about appearance. Plenty of them with stances on Blood Purity have been reigning in their behavior because they don't want to be associated with the likes of You-Know-Who. They can say and think anything behind closed doors, but to the public they have to maintain an image of social, charitable, high society."
"So?" Severus asked.
"So," Lily rolled her eyes, "You've been in the paper constantly for your bravery and sacrifice for me and Mary, then with your father's death and the leak about how he treated you. With how much of a spotlight is on you, don't you think your relatives might not want someone to turn a scrutinizing eye on them and question why they haven't reached out to you and your mum after all you've both been through. I bet it would look pretty bad of them to keep enforcing the disownment."
"So you think they might wish to reach out to me to save face," Severus said blandly.
"I'm just saying it would certainly helped their image," Lily pointed out, "And that could benefit you. Having connections, even ones forged insincerely or out of obligation, are better than nothing. With an attachment to the Prince family name, more opportunities could open up for you."
Severus mulled it over, "I suppose…"
Lily nudged Severus, "You and Simone both said that being muggleborn or halfblood tends to get you overlooked, despite your skills and talents. Wouldn't it be nice to have the connections to get a good potion's apprenticeship?"
"Not as good as earning it by my own merit," Severus huffed, "And anyway, I'm not doing this for my own benefit anyway, Lily. I'm doing this for my mother. Money and titles are all well and good, but they mean little to me if these people are still the same muggle hating family they once were. Being around that hatred would hardly do my mother any good."
"And you really think her reconnecting with her family can help?" Lily asked, genuinely interested.
Severus nodded, "You haven't seen what my mum's been like, Lily. All her waking moments are spent trapped in this dream world of her youth. It's like she's crafted a whole new reality for herself, one were her married life and her magical life intermingle. I may not be able to give her a husband who doesn't drink—or who isn't dead, for that matter—but I can at least try and reconnect her with her youth."
Severus turned to Lily, "From the few things mum ever shared with me of her family, she was happy with them. Back before she married my dad, her mother and father doted on her endlessly. If that side of them still exists somewhere, I really think they could help my mum get back to reality. If I can provide a world for mum that's better than the fantasy she's created, she'll come back. I just know it."
Lily didn't look convinced, "And if she doesn't?"
Severus looked away, "I'd rather not think about that right now."
"Okay," Lily acquiesced. She slipped her hand into Severus's intertwining their fingers.
A bell sounded from the pinched face witch's desk.
"Mr. Ponderosa will see you now," she said in a nasally voice.
Standing as one, Lily and Severus approached the office with careful steps as one would a sleeping dragon. Hand resting on the doorknob, Severus looked back at Lily for reassurance, receiving a comforting squeeze to his hand in response.
The office was massively oversized compared to the expensively cozy yet cramped lobby. High tray ceilings stretched up over their heads in deep, rich hues of mahogany and rosewood browns. Floor to ceiling shelves lined the walls, exotic little statues and sculptures from far off lands sat meticulously spaced settings between even numbered stacks of books.
A large desk stood in the middle of the room, placed before a large window that overlooked a set of topiaries and hedges that Severus remembered seeing outside on his way in.
Despite the overwhelming size of the desk, it was remarkably bare. Papers were lined neatly to the farthest corner in a tidy little stack and three quills and a glass inkwell had been arranged on the right. Other than that, nothing. There were no knickknacks, no folders, not even a photo of one's family.
A door on the far side of the room, in a place that no door or adjoining room could logically fit—bloody magic—opened up, admitting who Severus could only presume was Ponderosa.
He was a fairly tall man, thin, but not gangly, with dark black hair combed back and swept to one side. His face was all sharp features and points, with small, keen eyes and high cheekbones. His lips were thin to near non-existent and the smallest, most painstakingly symmetrical goatee decorated his chin.
"Severus Tiernan Snape, I presume?" he spoke in a high, somewhat nasally voice.
"That's what the T stands for?" Lily whispered.
"Shh," Severus hissed. He nodded to Ponderosa, "That would be correct."
Ponderosa smiled suddenly, an act so foreign looking on so tight and stiff a face it almost seemed as if his face would crack in half.
"Lovely to meet you," he said, striding forward with his hand already outstretched. When the man walked, it gave his prim and proper appearance a far more gawky and clumsy feel to it, wide steps and clunky movements. It was much like watching a Great Dane stumble about on their gangly legs, "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me. I understand you must be quite busy with your studies so I appreciate you taking time for this."
"No trouble," Severus stumbled out, his arm jerked around with Ponderosa's handshake. He was relieved with the man released him, "I mean, it's the weekend and all."
"Oh right, right," Ponderosa said, as if just remembering that himself, "No classes on weekends, right, right. Well come, sit, sit," he urged them to the pair of chairs in front of his desk, "I knew your mother, you know. Grew up with her; my father was formerly your family's barrister. Then I took over." He spoke a mile a minute, animated and lively.
"I'm sure you have some questions," Ponderosa continued, coming around to sit at his desk. He sat expectantly, steepling his fingers and looking brightly at his visitors.
Severus looked questioningly at Lily, at a loss, "Um…yes. For starters, I find it a little odd that my family themselves didn't contact me…"
"Of course," Ponderosa said understandingly, "Well that's because I contact you on behalf of someone who couldn't do so. You see, I am Saoirse Aurnia Prince, the matriarch of the Prince family."
"I see," Severus nodded, "So my grandmother."
"Oh no," Ponderosa said with a shake of his head, "That would be Siobhan Aileen Prince. No, this would be your Great Grandmother."
"I'm confused," Severus stated, "What does my Great Grandmother have to do with anything? Why is she the matriarch? Did something happen to my grandparents?"
Ponderosa frowned, "Saoirse Prince has always been the head of the Prince family, ever since the mantle was passed down by her father, Tadgh Ignatius Prince."
Severus shook his head, more confused now than ever, "I don't understand. I thought my grandparents were the head of the family. How else would they be able to disown my mother? Was that approved by this Saoirse?"
Ponderosa looked just as perplexed as Severus, "Mr. Snape, what exactly do you know of your mother and her family?"
"Mostly what my mother told me," Severus admitted with a shrug, "That they were purebloods…that she was close to her mum and dad. Then, that she was banished for marrying a muggle."
"I'm afraid there's been a bit of a misunderstanding," Ponderosa stated, "Severus—may I call you Severus—your grandparents didn't disown Eileen…your Great Grandmother did."
"Saoirse?" Severus bawked, "Mum never mentioned her Grandmother even being alive. What did she have to do with anything?"
"That's what we're here to discuss," Ponderosa explained, "You see, it was brought to my attention that you'd tried to get in contact with my client's family for some time now. At first, I had no idea you bore any relation to the Princes. Since you aren't official acknowledged as an heir of the family, there'd be no documentation of you."
"But with a little digging," he went on, "I managed to find the one thing that couldn't deny your lineage."
Ponderosa opened up his desk and rummaged around in the contents for a minute. With an 'ah-ha!' he pulled a tightly folded up square from within the confines of the desk.
"Just a moment," he said, drawing his wand. Setting the square down in the center of the desk, he carefully tapped it with his wand twice.
Immediately the square began to grow rapidly in size, spreading across the desk at an alarming rate as it started to unfold.
"Careful," Ponderosa said to no one, snatching up his inkwell before it could be upended by the growing square, "It is rather large."
Eventually, the square's growth ceased, the item now covering nearly Ponderosa's entire desk and hanging off the sides. It was only after Severus noticed the image of a tree with faces hanging off its branches instead of fruit that he realized what he was looking at.
"The Prince Family Tree," Ponderosa said proudly, "Well…tapestry to be accurate. Normally these would be displayed in the main sitting room, but for some reason I found this old thing shrunk up and stored away in one of my client's storage rooms…I probably shouldn't have been rooting around in there."
"Look, Sev," Lily breathed, "It's you."
Just where Lily was pointing sat an oval frame much like the others hanging off a tree branch. Severus's own unimpressed visage stared back at him from the tapestry, thoroughly uninterested in being gawked at.
"That's right," Ponderosa said, tapping the picture, "At first, all I had ever heard of yoyu was when you made the papers back this past summer, then again when your father passed. The reporters mentioned very little of your mother, so I didn't make the connection. I couldn't fathom what it was you wanted with the Prince family. Then I found this," he tapped the tapestry again, "and things became clear to me. See, there's your mother, and branching off from her is you."
"And my father?" Severus inquired. There was no picture of Severus's loathsome sire.
"That's him," Ponderosa said, pointing to a shriveled, rotten little fruit dried up on a twig, "The tapestry was enchanted to leave off the wrong sort of people as deemed by Saoirse."
"So because he's muggle," Severus said flatly, "Unsurprising."
Ponderosa shook his head, "We're still not on the same page here. Severus, Saoirse didn't take issue with your father's lineage."
"Oh really," Severus snorted in disbelief.
"No," Ponderosa continued unperturbed, "It would be rather silly for her to take issue with him while her own son-in-law was a muggleborn."
"Was a what?" Lily gaped.
"Could you maybe repeat that?" Severus asked in stunned bafflement.
"Your grandfather was a muggleborn," Ponderosa explained, "Technically, that would make Eileen half blood—or three quarter blood, but no one does the math. However, its generally accepted by wizarding society that so long as both parents are magical, the child is considered pureblood."
"My mother never eluded to any of her family bearing muggle heritage," Severus stated.
"I'm not surprised," Ponderosa said, "Saoirse didn't go around introducing him as such at every party. To most people, Brion Cullen—that's your grandfather—was a Nouveau Riche who integrated himself into high society, a virtual unknown. His family is relatively unknown to wizarding England, but they were exactly very prosperous merchants. Brion applied his magical education to his family trade and managed to amass quite a great deal of wealth. Even with the muggle-wizard conversion, it is still a good sum of money. When he asked for Siobhan's hand, it was far too profitable of a union for Saoirse to turn down."
"But she still wasn't fond of muggles," Severus clarified.
"Well of course she wasn't," Ponderosa agreed, "But then, most wizards weren't exactly fond of muggles at the time, even if they didn't hate them. The 1920's was a sort of revival of the religious based hate muggles applied to magical folk, both here and in the Americas. Regardless, Saoirse would have been a fool to turn down a bridegroom offering so much for her daughter, and a hypocrite if she rejected others for their blood thereafter."
"Then why did she disown my mother?" Severus asked.
Ponderosa grimaced, "That's where things get a little complicated."
Ponderosa strode over to one of the nearest bookshelves, reaching up to one of the higher shelves. What he pulled down was not a book, but in actuality, a stack of papers tightly bound together in a thick leather folder.
"You see, Severus," Ponderosa began, "I know I said your geat grandmother was responsible for disowning Eileen, but that's not wholly correct. As far as the outside world knows, your mother never was disowned…she was missing."
"Missing?" Severus asked, "How?"
"She just vanished from the wizarding world," Ponderosa explained, "No one knew where she had gone or what had become of her. Not even her own parents had a clue where she went. Poor things; they looked for her for years."
"That can't be possible," Severus sputtered, "They're the ones who sent my mum packing. She said so."
"Did she ever actually say who cut her off from the family?" Ponderosa pried.
"Well…no," Severus admitted, "She spoke often of her mother and father. I had no idea her grandmother was even still alive. When she mentioned she was disowned and couldn't go back…I mean, I just assumed…"
"Assumptions can make fools of us, Severus," Ponderosa advised, "Siobhan and Brion had no idea where Eileen went. Not even her grandfather Septimus knew; he died of heartbreak, saddest thing. However, his wife…Saoirse…she knew. Oh, she knew plenty."
Ponderosa waved his wand and the tapestry folded itself back into a square before shrinking down to miniscule size again.
"You see," Ponderosa said, carefully realigning the quills and inkwell back on his desk; he was a peculiar man, "There was no statement of disownment ever issued publicly. Normally, when a family disowns someone, the barrister draws up the official paperwork laying out the terms, any clauses or litigation, etc. However, there wasn't anything of the sort with Eileen. As far as wizard law recognizes, Eileen was and still is, a Prince."
"However," Ponderosa continued, raising his hand to silence any questions by Severus, "When I realized who you were I did a little digging. It was odd to me that Saoirse possessed the tapestry citing your existence, yet made no former acknowledgements of you. If she really was the grieving grandmother she claimed to be, wouldn't she have found it important to reveal that the tapestry showed she had a great grandson as well, someone else to search for? Yet she kept silent about this, even hid the family tree."
"So I did some searching through the personal records," Ponderosa explained, "And found this."
He slid an official looking document across the table to them.
"What am I looking at?" Severus asked.
"A marriage arrangement," Ponderosa revealed.
"Eileen Prince…" Severus read, "And…Alphard Black?"
"Sev's mum was going to marry Sirius cousin?" Lily asked in amazement.
"I take it this Sirius is the recently disowned heir of the House of Black?" Ponderosa ventured, "Yes, it would seem that was the plan, though judging by the lack of any other signatures on the form, neither Eileen's parents nor Saoirse husband were aware of this arrangement. I imagine Saoirse intended to reveal it at a later time."
"From what I've heard, Alphard is considerably reasonable and sane compared to his relatives…how mum go from engaged to him to marry to Tobias?" Severus asked in puzzlement.
Ponderosa tapped the parchment, "Look at the date, parties from both families signed it in March 1959. Eileen went missing the following month."
"She ran away," Lily whispered.
"And then she probably met my dad at some pub and nine months later I popped out," Severus huffed.
Ponderosa shook his head, "Not quite. The betrothal agreement was signed near the end of March. Eileen disappeared in April. And you," he pointed at Severus, "Were born January of 1960, approximately nine months later."
Severus stared at him, "She was already pregnant with me when she left."
Ponderosa nodded, "Now, details are still a little hazy due to lack of concrete evidence, but how do you think it would go over with the Saoirse that her granddaughter got pregnant and ruined her whole plan to get her hands on the Blacks fortune?"
"Poorly, I'd imagine," Severus replied.
"Poorly indeed," Ponderosa agreed, "And how would the Blacks react to the bride to be becoming pregnant with a muggle's child?"
Severus's expression grew dark, "They'd kill it."
Ponderosa nodded with a grimace, "Unfortunately given their history, yes. But you're still alive. Even if the marriage were called off, the Blacks would consider it a great insult to their family that you exist at all. It would be a testament to Eileen preferring a muggle to their noble blood. They wouldn't have let your mother just up and leave to marry your father and have you. So…they must never have been told."
"It is my belief," Ponderosa went on, that my client gave your mother an ultimatum, either terminate the pregnancy and marry Alphard, or—if she wished to keep you without the Blacks finding out…leave, and never return."
"That's terrible," Lily said, horrified, "She'd really hold the life of a baby over someone's head?"
"Saoirse is many things," Ponderosa admitted, "Ambitious, driven, and prideful. Warm, she is not. That fact that she lives on only moderate wealth bothers her. She has probably always felt she deserved more. Alphard Black had quite an inheritance waiting for him from his father; I believe Saoirse would be quite eager to get her hands on it."
"There is one more bit of evidence," Ponderosa added, opening his desk. He set out in front of them a stack of yellowing, wrinkling envelopes, all bound together in twine.
"These letters were found in Saoirse's study," Ponderosa stated, "All nameless, all unopened. They're addressed to Siobhan and Brion Prince, your grandparents. The return address reads—"
"Spinners End," Severus read aloud, staring at the letters.
"They never made it to their intended recipients," Ponderosa said sadly, "They been hidden in Saoirse's study for years. She probably never wanted her family to find out Eileen was alive somewhere."
Ponderosa shook his head, tutting to himself.
"Poor Eileen," he bemoaned, "She was always such a quiet, sweet girl. I never imagined she'd been treated like this."
Severus stared listlessly at the stack of letters.
"So if my mother had chosen to marry a Black," he said hollowly, "She would have had a stable life in exchange for ending her pregnancy…but she chose exile and was stuck with Tobias…all because of me…"
"Oh Sev, I'm sure it's more complicated than that," Lily assured him, wrapping an arm over Severus's shoulders.
"You've explained your reasoning for calling me here," Severus pushed forward, face set, "Now onto why I agreed to come."
"My mother is sick, Mr. Ponderosa," Severus said simply, "She has been for a long time, but losing her home and her husband seems to have worsen it."
Concern and sympathy overtook Ponderosa's features, "I'm sorry to hear that. The Prince's have some marvelous doctors who would be more than willing to make house calls."
"It's not physical," Severus interrupted, "My mum is unwell in the head, so to speak. I've always noticed a bit of vacant detachment in my mother's eyes; she was often somewhere else mentally when her and father's fighting came to blows. But lately, she has retreated into a world wholly constructed by her imagination. A world where my father wasn't a bastard, one where she was never cast out by her family."
"It's growing worse," Severus confessed, "As time passes, what little remains of my mother's sanity is waning. I had hoped reconnecting her with her parents would give her something good in reality to cling to."
Ponderosa's eyes grew sad, pitying almost.
"I'm afraid that isn't possible," he said woefully, "Eileen's parents passed quite some time ago."
Severus stilled while besides him, Lily sucked in a breath.
"How long have they been dead?" Severus asked softly.
"Seven years," Ponderosa admitted, "You would have been about eight at the time, I believe."
"Is there…" Severus trailed off, wetting his lips, "is there anyone else of the family remaining?"
Ponderosa looked away remorsefully, "Only one, I'm afraid."
{page break}
Severus stood in the doorway, staring down at the wrinkled, prone form lying in bed.
"She spends most of her time sleeping now," Ponderosa explained. He'd brought them through to the Prince estate by floo network.
"I'll try not to wake her," Severus promised, taking a step forward.
Saoirse Prince was a frail, tiny woman in her advanced age, most of her size eaten away by gradual weight loss as she lingered well into her considerable years. Most of her hair had fled her body aside from a sparse smattering of wispy white still clinging to the crown of her head. Her face was comprised mostly of wrinkles now, eyes set deep in her head of sagging, shriveled skin and hollowed cheeks.
Severus wanted to hit the woman before him; a realization so startling it unnerved him. This was a frail, incredibly defenseless old woman and all her wanted to do was grasp her by the shoulders and shake the life out of her.
Severus took a step closer.
"I should hate you," Severus admitted quietly, "I should hate you with ever fiber of my being..."
She'd ruined his mother's life; he knew now. Her vanity and greed had driven her to throw away her grandchild in so callous a manner, leaving a pregnant and presumably scared young woman to fend for herself in a hard, world she knew nothing about due to her years of pampered privilege. Forced to marry the man who'd trapped her in her predicament, stuck with Tobias because her grandmother was too cruel and selfish to show Eileen leniency...trapped because Severus was growing in her belly…
"I'd like to go," Severus announced suddenly, moving quickly back towards the door, "Let's go before she wakes up."
"Sev!" Lily called out in alarm as Severus brushed past her, "Sev, wait!"
Severus didn't stop until he was safely back inside Ponderosa's office.
"I realize this has all been a lot for you to take in," Ponderosa stated as he stepped out of the floo after Lily, "This is far from a pleasant discovery, I'm sure."
"Understatement," Severus grumbled.
"This is one final matter," Ponderosa said before Severus could make his way for the door, "As Saoirse never legally disowned Eileen that makes you entitled to any rights and property left to inherit. Unfortunately for Saoirse's money lust, Siobhan and her husband left wills for if Eileen should ever be found."
Ponderosa handed over a scroll sealed with the Prince's coat of arms in wax. "Siobhan and Brion left Eileen to inherit their wealth, a great deal of it earned through Brion's own business savvy and therefore not at liberty for Saoirse to claim as Prince property."
"When Saoirse dies, as the last of the line of Prince, the manor will become yours and your mother's home by birthright," Ponderosa went on, "I'd say you were welcome to live in it now, but I'm sure given the circumstances, you probably would like to wait for Saoirse's passing."
"You may take the letter as well, if you wish," Ponderosa added, summoning the unopened stack of mail with his wand, "They were addressed to Siobhan, so they were never Saoirse's to keep."
"I truly am sorry, Severus," Ponderosa said with sincere remorse, "No one deserves to go through what you and your mother went through. I only wish we'd known sooner what Saoirse had done."
"Will you go to the authorities about her actions?" Severus asked as they walked out of the office, "Tell them she faked her grandchild's disappearance?"
"That's up to you, really," Ponderosa replied, "I felt it would be more publicity you did not want, considering the scandal it would cause and all."
"Good," Severus said, nodding absentmindedly, "Good…let's keep it that way."
"As you wish," Ponderosa acquiesced retreating into his office, "It truly was wonderful to meet you, Severus. I hope to see your mother sometime as well."
"Should you ever have need of me," Ponderosa said before closing the door, "You know where to find me." The door closed with a quiet click.
Severus was out the door and on the sidewalk before Lily could blink.
"Severus!" Lily called, running after him. She struggled to keep up with his furious pace, "Severus, slow down!"
"I shouldn't have come here," Severus was muttering under his breath, "Shouldn't have bothered…"
"Sev," Lily grabbed a hold of Severus's arm, tugging him back sharply, "Severus what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?!" Severus growled, whirling around on her, "What's wrong? Did you not hear any of that in there?"
"That's not what I meant," Lily defended, "I know what's wrong. I just want to know what you're feeling. Look, I know you're understandably upset about what your great grandmother did. Honestly, she sounds right awful."
"That's just the mere tip of the iceburg, Lily!" Severus snapped, "With or without that discovery the situation is clear; I came here for nothing! There's no family left for my mum, not anyone who matters. I came here hoping to find people who could bring her back to who she used to be, but there is no one I can turn to. Just some old crone dying in a bed!"
"But what about the inheritance," Lily suggested feebly, "I know money matters little to you, but it could probably get Eileen the best treatment money can buy—"
"There is no treatment for her!" Severus nearly shouted, "This isn't a broken bone or a backfired spell, Lily. Do you know what they do with nutters in the wizarding world? Throw them in St. Mungos. Do you ever seen those folks come back out? No!" spittle flew from Severus mouth, he was seething so hard, "They're locked away and forgotten by society, deemed unnecessary because they're unless."
"Sev…" Lily tried.
"And even if I used the money to keep her in comfort at home, what then?" Severus asked rhetorically. He let out a hopeless laugh, "She just sits around, and wasting away with every passing minute until the day comes where I look her in the eye and no longer seeing her looking back? Do you know how breaking that would be?"
Lily risked taking a step forward.
"What about Occlumency?" she queried, placing a gentle hand on Severus shoulder.
Severus wiped his face, "What?"
"The books I read said it could be used to help people with troubles of the mind," Lily reminded him, "Is there no chance it could help her?"
"But what if it doesn't?" Severus asked quietly, "What if everything I try fails, Lily. What if this is all for nothing?"
"Oh, Sev," Lily soothed, reaching for him.
"You know the worst thing in all this?" Severus went on, rubbing at his eyes, "I know the truth now. My mother didn't have to live the life she had. All these years I thought my mum had no one left to turn to, cast out by her family for loving Tobias and then being unable to leave him because they wouldn't take her back. But that wasn't it at all. She chose this life all because of me, Lily. She could have just gone back and married Alphard and all her dreams would come true, but I had to exist, so she was stuck with no one but Tobias to turn to."
"You don't know that," Lily said, "Perhaps she chose him because she loved him."
"Think about it," Severus cut in, "My mum spoke of when she and my father met. March, Lily, the year of the betrothal. She got pregnant with me soon after. Without support from home, she wouldn't have survived alone, so Tobias was all she had. She could have avoided all of it if she weren't pregnant, but she just had to have me; had to give me a chance at life. She gave up happiness for me. I'm the reason that she suffers. Me!"
"That's not true," Lily insisted vehemently, gathering Severus into her arms.
"But is it," Severus sobbed, "None of this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been born, but she thought it unfair to me to terminate the pregnancy. She felt obligated to me; I'm the reason she gave it all up. And now I'm losing her."
"I have no family," Severus choked out, "No grandpas or Aunt, no cousins or relatives. I won't even count that wretch old bitch back there as family. All I have is my mother and I don't even know how long that's going to last."
Lily shushed him, rubbing her hand up and down Severus back, "You're not alone, Sev. You have me, you'll always have me."
"Until you're sick of me," Severus hiccupped.
"Never going to happen," Lily assured.
"I never got to thank you," Severus muttered, stepping back to see her probably, "For coming with me, I mean. You didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to come, Sev," Lily said firmly, "I would never let you face this alone. You mean…" she swiped away some of his tears with her thumb, "so much to me, Sev."
"I know," Severus admitted, wiping at his eyes, "I know. It's just…I'm so used to everything good in my life leaving me…or never happening to begin with."
"I'm never leaving, Sev," Lily declared softly, cradling his face in her hands, "I nearly did once, and it was the worst mistake I ever made. You mean everything to me, Sev. I can't imagine my world without you."
"I feel the same," Severus confessed with a watery smile.
They stared at each other for a moment, gazing deep into one another eyes.
Slowly as if drawn by some indecipherable spell, they moved as one, arms going around waists and shoulders, lips meeting lips.
In the back of her mind, there was some reason Lily knew she probably shouldn't be doing this. The timing wasn't right. Severus was vulnerable. And wasn't there a promise she made someone about this very behavior?
For the life of her, Lily couldn't recall the exact reason it was wrong. All she could focus on was the warmth of the arms wrapped tenderly around her, the scent of spice in Severus's hair, and the sense that everything she ever wanted in the world was falling into place…
Hope you appreciate the twist!
The common trope used in regards to Snape's maternal family is that his grandparents, Eileen's parent's, were such bigoted pure-bloods that they disowned Eileen and never spoke to her again. The other, equally common trope is that they weren't fond of muggles, but that they dearly loved their daughter and would have taken her back if they'd known how bad her life was with her husband.
It's never confirmed in canon that Eileen was a true pureblood or that she was disowned. The first was an assumption made by Harry in the sixth book after Snape kills Dumbledore. Official HP sites state that Severus would be halfblood either way, regardless of if Eileen was halfblood or pureblood, due to the way blood purity is actually measured in the wizarding world (as in two magical parents makes a pureblood, even if one of them is muggleborn, etc).
The belief that Eileen was disowned is pure speculation by fans based on things like how Severus apparently never possessed another abode aside from his parents' house (surely if there was a wizarding residence left to him by wizarding relatives, he'd take it in a heartbeat, right?) and Severus never opting to change his surname to his mother's family name.
I decided to mix things up a little, flip the whole concept on its head here. Most fanfics depict Severus's grandfather as the head of the Prince line, patriarch overall. But given how old wizards and witches seem capable of living, it wouldn't be far fetched that an older family member was still sticking around and calling the shots, much like the Queen of England.
Sooo...how do you think things are going to go down when our reunited lovebirds return to school?
Review please :)