COAL BLACK
Once
upon a time there was a boy named Severus. Oh, I know what you would say,
Severus is not a good name for a fairy tale hero, but it really was his name. When
he was very little he lost both his parents. And, yes, this is going to be a
very sad story. So he had only his godfather to take care of him, but his
godfather was a very busy man and although he loved the boy very much he could
not spend as much time with the boy as the boy really needed. So the boy was
very sad, and he was growing sadder and sadder. But as years passed, the
sadness began to evolve, and by the time the boy was to begin his education, it
became anger and bitterness. And it is not good for such a young boy to be
angry and bitter, but Severus was.
And
it was getting even harder for him, because his godfather got married. He got
married to a witch, and by the way, the boy's godfather was a great wizard, the
greatest of his time. Severus would eventually become a wizard like his
godfather, but he did not look up to his godfather anymore. For how could he
look up to someone who abandoned him? However, the witch did not see that and
she was jealous of any sign of attention that the boy was getting from his
godfather. Although she was hiding her feelings in front of her husband, she
did show them to Severus. And the older the boy was the more annoyed he was
becoming with her behavior.
But
she was even more angry then he was, as every day she looked into her
looking-glass and the looking-glass was constantly confirming that her husband
loved the boy more than he loved her. And so she was even more spiteful towards
the boy than he was to her. Finally she decided to tell him, that his godfather
had never loved him and he was taking care of the boy only because of pity. And
pity the boy hated most of all. He felt like she had destroyed all his feelings
he had for his godfather. He decided to run away from his guardian, and it was
to be an ultimate escape. He run down the castle staircases. There were many,
many staircases as the castle was very, very old and very, very big.
He
finally reached his room which was located very deep in the dungeons. He
approached his desk and took out a long and sharp dagger. It had belonged to
his father, and before that to his father's father, it was even older than the
castle. But it looked surprisingly sharp and new. But the boy didn't know that
the dagger was magical and anyone who tried to take their own life with it
would survive, but be punished even more severely. They would feel that people
they love pity them for what they are, because they weren't even able to take
their own life in a finite way. And pity the boy hated the most.
Severus
didn't know what was going on around him for a few days, but when he finally
opened his eyes he saw his godfather on his bedside. The godfather's eyes were
filled with compassion, but the boy mistook it for pity, and pity he hated the
most. But what really hurt was the unmistakable pity in the eyes of the
godfather's wife. The boy was already filled with self-loathing, and he was not
able to endure it anymore. Severus wanted to punish someone for all his
suffering. He decided he would punish the witch, as down deep in his heart the
love for his godfather remained hidden. And although the boy was very angry
with the godfather, he blamed everything on the witch. Nonetheless, he stopped
speaking to his godfather, and when his godfather was looking at Severus with
love and compassion, all that the boy saw in those eyes was pity. But the boy
wasn't going to act in haste, no, he was going to plan everything carefully.
When
he was back among his schoolmates, he knew that they knew what had happened to
him. But he saw no pity in the seven pairs of eyes, as his seven closest
schoolmates were unable to feel pity. But the boy was glad, he felt good among
his schoolmates, as pity he hated the most. His schoolmates took care of
Severus, they taught him everything they thought he would need. And he needed
to know everything it would take to punish the witch.
And
finally he learned a spell he needed. He began to follow the witch, he was very
careful so she didn't notice anything unusual. And when the right moment came
the boy did not hesitate and put the spell on the witch. She lost her breath
and fell down. The boy was just about to laugh when he saw his godfather, who
quickly cast a counter-spell and the witch was able to breathe again. The
godfather turned round and went away without saying a word. The witch looked at
the boy and told him for the second time that the boy's godfather had never
loved him and only pitied him. The boy was very angry, but he didn't say
anything, he just stared at the witch with his coal black eyes.
He
went back to his schoolmates and told them what happened. All seven of them
said that they would teach him even more and he will be able to punish the
witch in the end. So the boy learned and learned, and he was very skilled at
potion making. Every potion that his seven schoolmates were able to make, he
was able to make even better. So he began to make his own potions, and some of
them were deathly poisonous. And he made one poison which was extremely
dangerous, it didn't have any taste or smell, but the moment it touched the
skin it began to work. But it didn't kill immediately, no, it would be too
easy. It was killing slowly, the more poison was absorbed through the skin the
quicker the person died. But Severus waited for the right time to use the
poison. And the time came.
Just
before Christmas, the boy went to a nearby village and bought a beautiful
tortoiseshell barrette, it was a present for his godfather's wife. But what a
present it was supposed to be. The boy carefully dipped the barrette into the
poison, took it out and left to dry. Then he wrapped the barrette in beautiful
paper and had it delivered as a Christmas gift for the witch. And she was
delighted with this present, she immediately put the barrette in her hair. The
poison began to work.
The
witch liked the barrette very much so she used it every day, and she touched it
often. Within a few weeks she became deathly pale and thin. And her husband was
constantly at her bedside. One evening, quite by accident, he crushed the
barrette she liked so much. The witch cried over the barrette and told her
husband that it was her favorite Christmas gift. She seemed to think that this
gift came from her husband, but the wizard was too clever to correct her
mistake and he promised to buy her a new one, even more beautiful that the one
destroyed.
The
boy was very angry with his failure to punish the witch, but he was more than
willing to try again. Because the witch was looking at him with pity in her
eyes, and pity the boy hated most of all. His godfather avoided looking at the
boy and although the boy was hurt by that he wouldn't admit that even to
himself.
Severus began to work on a new
potion, a potion which would make other people think that the person who took
the potion was dead. And the only way to reverse its effect would be to give
the person something they really needed. It was a very dangerous potion, as
nobody really knows what other people need and it would take a long time to
find the right thing. When the potion was complete, the boy tried to find the
best way to give the potion to the witch.
The
witch liked apples very much and everybody knew that. Each morning a very
beautiful apple, ripe red, was delivered to her room. Severus managed to sneak
into the kitchen. He found the most beautiful-looking apple and injected the
potion inside the apple, he was sure that next morning the witch would eat the
apple. When the next morning came, the boy noticed that the witch brought the
apple to the dining-hall. And he heard her say to her husband, that it was the
most beautiful apple she had ever seen, so she decided to give it to him as a
token of her love.
Severus
was petrified with shock, he never intended to hurt his godfather. He was
looking so intently at the witch that she finally noticed. She wasn't as clever
as her husband but she indeed saw that there was something wrong. She pointed
the boy's behavior to her husband, and he laughed. Maybe the boy wants to eat
the apple. He summoned Severus and asked him whether he wanted to eat the
apple. The boy answered that he did not, but answered a bit too quickly. The
witch placed her gaze on Severus and asked, but why didn't he want the fruit.
It was so beautiful as if it was pleading to be eaten. The boy denied to have
had a want to eat the apple, but the witch insisted. The godfather looked at
the boy suspiciously, he was surprised that Severus did not want to eat the
fruit. And the boy did not endure his godfather's gaze. He took the apple,
looked at his godfather for the last time and bit into the apple. He fell as if
dead. The godfather ran up to the boy. He was a clever wizard so he was able to
notice that the boy was not dead, but he was so grief-stricken that he did not
figure out what had happened to the boy and how to reverse it.
The
godfather was not able to keep this seemingly dead body in the castle. It was
too painful to him to watch the boy. Severus seemed so innocent and fragile.
The godfather decided to put the body of the boy into a coffin made of glass
and put the coffin in the middle of the forest near the castle. All people were
afraid to go into the forest as it was inhabited by various dangerous
creatures. The godfather put many spells on the coffin so the forest creatures
would be unable to break it. But there was someone who was not afraid of the
forest.
He
came across the coffin quite by accident and was very surprised to see it
there. He managed to break every spell and opened the coffin. The boy seemed
beautiful to him, so innocent and fragile, so he kissed the boy softly on the
mouth. And the boy opened his eyes, for the man who opened the coffin was a
very powerful wizard. Somehow he knew how to reverse the effect of the potion,
he knew what the boy really needed. The boy needed love, acceptance and
appreciation of his talents, and Severus knew he would get all that from this
strange man. The only thing he didn't know, was the price he would eventually
pay.
The
boy looked at the man and said, thank you. And the man welcomed him and bid the
boy to follow him. Yes, my Lord, answered the boy.
*************************
A/N: For some of
you the last fragment may look familiar. Victoria H pointed out to me that it
reminds her of George Herbert's "The Collar". I knew the poem before
I wrote the story, but I have completely forgotten its content. However, it
might've been lurking somewhere in the back of my mind, but the similarity is
completely coincidental and unintentional. Although, it gives the story even
more meaning.
