by SnapeRulez
Chapter Ten: "Murder of the First-born Son"
It gives you an odd feeling when the truth is brought up to the light of day, lingering before your eyes, ready for an inevitable closer examination. During his miserable childhood, Lupin had never thought there could be someone who wanted to be a werewolf, a beast, a monster.... Yet there had been (or there was, he couldn´t be sure anymore).
The Whomping Willow actually looked peaceful from up here.
Absent-mindedly, Lupin tried to picture a 16-year-old Snape running after him, hoping to receive a bite. If someone had told Lupin the true reason for Snape´s following him, he would have died of laughter. There were mysteries in life you could never solve, and many you didn´t even come across - consciously.
Lupin watched a small drop of rain running down the window. The weather had been terrible for days. The hospital wing´s wide window had received a "promotion", so-to-speak, from a place for ill students to gaze out and feel even sicker when watching their friends outside, to Lupin´s favorite place to sit and think.
He had always wanted to have a brother. Imagine having a father who wants to kill your brother. He shivered at the idea.
I have seen Severus´ parents once or twice. His father always scared me, Lupin remembered, he had a very cold and frightening air about him.
Lupin could remember only too well how intense his feelings had been. After all, he had always been very empathetic, many werewolves were. He had, however, never dared to mention it to his friends. He shook his head in disbelief as the next thought struck him:
I thought they were alike, Severus and his father. I actually thought Severus was just like his father...
Lupin grimaced. The disgust he had been feeling in his stomach for days whirled up again.
Killing your own child. I can´t find appropriate words to describe a...thing like that. No wonder Severus was the way he was like.
Bewilderment and shock were still present in Lupin´s mind, caused by both the fact that Severus -yes, Severus Snape, spiteful Slytherin, known for insults of the worst kind, feelingless as a stone- had told him, Lupin, about the murder of his brother Aureus, and by *what* he had said.
Lupin assumed Snape had felt he could just as well do the thing properly and tell him the whole story -which was not a pleasant one.
Aureus´ father, after having decided to focus his plans for the family´s future on Severus and choosing him as his heir (Lupin could remember Severus´ own words clearly:
"In my father´s eyes, there was still hope for me. Getting my brother killed meant getting rid of that 'brat' and of my werewolfness. My father knew losing Aureus would shatter my world to pieces."), had put a quite complex spell on his oldest son Aureus.
A very clever spell. It could not be detected, not even by skilled wizards. It was a spell that paralyses your muscles the moment an inch of your skin gets into contact with water.
In the old days, wizards used this spell on too reluctant baits in fishing (wizards needed bigger baits, and therefore they were a whole lot stronger than little ones. They also liked to put the spell on magical sea inhabitants or fish they had already pulled out of the water so that they couldn´t swim away when the managed to free themselves somehow.).
All there was left for him to do now was to get his oldest son into the water. There was a lake near the Snape mansion, Aureus´ and Severus´ most favorite place in the world. Aureus loved swimming, something his father disliked ("Yet another annoying thing about him", Severus had said ironically, "enjoying fun and lakes, being a nice person, being someone who didn´t obey my father like everyone else did, and -being a Gryffindor.").
During the summer holidays, shortly before Aureus´ second year at Hogwarts would have started ("I realized later it had not been a coincidence that my parents hadn´t got his new books for school although the summer was nearly over - my father knew Aureus wouldn´t need any and wanted to save the money."), the family leader took his oldest son for a boat tour on the lake.
Of course, the 12-year-old accepted the invitation. Lupin snorted. The bastard was his father, after all.
Lupin´s eyes wandered over to the school lake. And then, he thought bitterly, his own father pushed him into the water - and watched.
The image of a boy floating motionless, head down, in the water popped into Lupin´s mind, and he realized he was shaking with anger - the story tortured him more than one would think (even to his own slight surprise).
Unconsciously, he closed his eyes as Snape´s ghostly voice began to speak in his mind, hesitantly and only just audible, like it had sounded the day before:
"He must have sunk right down to the bottom at first. He couldn´t move a muscle. My father said he looked like a small log with a face. Yes, when I confronted him, my *father* was only too happy to tell me all about the 'incident' and all its details. I tell you what, Lupin: He was proud of what he´d done."
Before his inner eye, Lupin saw a pale boy again, sinking deeper and deeper, a twisted expression on his face because he couldn´t open his mouth to try and scream. Then, suddenly, the boy´s face changed into a girl´s. Lupin shook his head violently.
He moved a shaky hand to his forehead and pushed some hair out of his eyes. I thought we had gotten over that...
Quickly and quietly, Lupin turned around and walked over to his bed, where he sat down. After a moment´s peace, his mind was back on Snape´s story.
Telling Severus about the murder to his face and with utmost pride, Lupin thought disgustedly.
The fact that Severus didn´t strangle his father right away proves he is very different from him, and different from what I used to think of him. I can´t believe I once thought they have much in common.
And nobody could ever prove old Snape´s guilt. Lupin wondered who knew the truth. He hadn´t dared to ask about Snape´s mother.
Dumbledore must know, and now I do, too. I am one of the few who do know, how strange if you take the past into account.
Well, less than a handful of beings on the surface of the earth knew about the girl...