Eighteen
It was an interesting trip out of Boston and into the country until we could find a place to apparate. Once we did, though, it was a quick trip to my uncle's farm in Coskata, which is just off the coast of Massachusetts. It's a pretty secluded place and mostly just sand and beach. Most people think Coskata is just a wildlife refuge, but hundreds of years ago, when it wasn't so popular to be a witch or a wizard in America, my great great great great great great great uncle Rowan built a farm out here and protected it with many of the same charms that are used to protect Hogwarts. He moved his family out to the farm and it's been a homestead ever since. Of course not much will grow out in the sand but you can keep a few patches of grass growing farther inland and horses can live off of that. Furthermore, it is an island, silly, and the fishing is amazing. There's also plenty of deer and birds (if you happen to get really desperate), so it's not a totally barren place. I can actually think of no place I'd rather be if I couldn't stay in England.
We entered the house, a two story white wooden farmhouse with lots of windows and a porch that wrapped all the way around the perimeter to a cascade of clapping and hugs.
"Acacia Acacia Acacia Acacia Acacia Acacia!" I was presently run into and knocked over onto my back by my six year old cousin Amanda. Her mother, Geneva, was my mother and my uncle Lupus' sister. She was the baby of the three, which made Amanda the baby of all of us cousins. Geneva's husband, my uncle Thomas was also there, along with their other son Rowan (named after my ancestor), who was ten. Also present were my uncle Lupus and aunt Adonna's three children, Rhea, who was fifteen, Norah, who was seventeen, and Adonis, who was my age.
I sat up, Amanda still on my lap and clinging tightly to my waist and hugged her fondly. "Hey, kid," I tried to sound happy as hell. "What's goin' on? How's school?"
"Good," she was bubbling. "I have a boyfriend."
I laughed. "You do? "Why do you want one of those? Boys are icky." I heard Snape snort behind me and everyone became quiet. I realized it was now time to introduce my consort. I picked Amanda up and held her on my left hip. She hung on tight around my neck as I went and stood beside Snape. She hid her face behind my neck and peeked out behind my hair as I talked. He still won't admit it to this day but I noticed him smiling at her behind me as I introduced him.
"Everyone, this is Snape. Severus Snape." I sighed. I was reminded of Bond. James Bond. "Albus, the headmaster at Hogwarts has sent him to see that whoever had it in for my mum and dad don't come after me as well." My family smiled knowingly to each other. As if they knew something I didn't. This perturbed me to no end. "What," I asked, irritated.
"That English accent you've got now," my aunt Geneva teased from her spot at the table, a cup of strong black coffee grasped and steaming between her hands. She smiled and turned her attention back to the cup, shy as always in the face of a stranger.
"Oh come on, aunt Gen," I begged as I set my cousin down and went over to the counter to fix myself a cup of tea. "I'm still the same as I always was. I'm just cultured now." Everyone laughed.
"Look at you fixing tea," my uncle Lupus was the next to tease. "Used to be you could drink coffee just like the rest of us simple folks."
I laughed. "Yes but I've since realized that coffee tastes like hell. Severus," I asked, looking up at the man who had till then been silent and remained in that same spot. "Would you like a cup?" He shook his head and held up a hand, mumbling a 'no thank you', but I pressed him. "You'd better have one," I said, finding the ball strainer I had bought on my summer trip last year and getting down two cups. "They've bought fresh tea, not those crappy tea bags, and they never even keep tea in the house unless they know I'm coming." I finally wore him down and fixed us each a cup.
I couldn't help but feel that everyone was watching the way I interacted with him as I fixed his tea, brought it to him, and asked him if he'd like to have a seat. The whole house was almost silent. After I had finished cleaning up my mess I went and took a seat at the picnic style kitchen table with my aunt Geneva and Uncle Thomas.
Everyone else was sitting and I realized that Severus probably expected someone to offer him a seat. This wasn't exactly customary here at the Green home, so I turned around and motioned for him to come in from the doorway and sit beside me. He did, reluctantly, and I began to speak. "Well are you all going to tell me who did this, and why, or am I going to have to pry it out of you?" I took a sip of tea. It was a good blend. Orange blossom, cinnamon, vanilla bean, chamomile, and sweetened with honey.
"We don't know." I choked on my tea and Severus reflexively reached over and patted my back. I looked at him, confused, as if he was the one who had told me he didn't know who had killed my parents. He shrugged as if to ask me what I was looking at him that way for. I turned my attention to my family as a whole. "What do you mean? The killer was never caught? No one was ever found?"
Everyone turned their gazes everywhere but at me. "No." A blue light was filtering in through the sheer white drapes at the windows and I realized that that light could only shine in a house beside the ocean. I suddenly hated that light. I loved it but I hated it at the same time. The way I loved and hated Snape at the moment he handed me that letter from Dumbledore.
I was suddenly just so angry. So my parents were dead. They were cold and stiff and we were going to throw them in a hole in the ground in a few days and I'd never see them again and the person who did it would walk away free as a bird and live his life without having to answer for anything. I slammed my hands palms down on the table the way Snape had done when I had told him I'd never told anyone about what Michael had done before. I let out an exasperated yell and stood up and strode angrily out of the doorway. My heart sank when I saw Amanda, just coming in from playing in the ocean, flattened against the wall of the hallway trying to stay out of my way as I left the house in a huff. I don't think she'd ever seen me angry before and she looked scared shitless.
I threw the screen door open and heard it slam shut on its hinges behind me. I was going for a ride.
It was an interesting trip out of Boston and into the country until we could find a place to apparate. Once we did, though, it was a quick trip to my uncle's farm in Coskata, which is just off the coast of Massachusetts. It's a pretty secluded place and mostly just sand and beach. Most people think Coskata is just a wildlife refuge, but hundreds of years ago, when it wasn't so popular to be a witch or a wizard in America, my great great great great great great great uncle Rowan built a farm out here and protected it with many of the same charms that are used to protect Hogwarts. He moved his family out to the farm and it's been a homestead ever since. Of course not much will grow out in the sand but you can keep a few patches of grass growing farther inland and horses can live off of that. Furthermore, it is an island, silly, and the fishing is amazing. There's also plenty of deer and birds (if you happen to get really desperate), so it's not a totally barren place. I can actually think of no place I'd rather be if I couldn't stay in England.
We entered the house, a two story white wooden farmhouse with lots of windows and a porch that wrapped all the way around the perimeter to a cascade of clapping and hugs.
"Acacia Acacia Acacia Acacia Acacia Acacia!" I was presently run into and knocked over onto my back by my six year old cousin Amanda. Her mother, Geneva, was my mother and my uncle Lupus' sister. She was the baby of the three, which made Amanda the baby of all of us cousins. Geneva's husband, my uncle Thomas was also there, along with their other son Rowan (named after my ancestor), who was ten. Also present were my uncle Lupus and aunt Adonna's three children, Rhea, who was fifteen, Norah, who was seventeen, and Adonis, who was my age.
I sat up, Amanda still on my lap and clinging tightly to my waist and hugged her fondly. "Hey, kid," I tried to sound happy as hell. "What's goin' on? How's school?"
"Good," she was bubbling. "I have a boyfriend."
I laughed. "You do? "Why do you want one of those? Boys are icky." I heard Snape snort behind me and everyone became quiet. I realized it was now time to introduce my consort. I picked Amanda up and held her on my left hip. She hung on tight around my neck as I went and stood beside Snape. She hid her face behind my neck and peeked out behind my hair as I talked. He still won't admit it to this day but I noticed him smiling at her behind me as I introduced him.
"Everyone, this is Snape. Severus Snape." I sighed. I was reminded of Bond. James Bond. "Albus, the headmaster at Hogwarts has sent him to see that whoever had it in for my mum and dad don't come after me as well." My family smiled knowingly to each other. As if they knew something I didn't. This perturbed me to no end. "What," I asked, irritated.
"That English accent you've got now," my aunt Geneva teased from her spot at the table, a cup of strong black coffee grasped and steaming between her hands. She smiled and turned her attention back to the cup, shy as always in the face of a stranger.
"Oh come on, aunt Gen," I begged as I set my cousin down and went over to the counter to fix myself a cup of tea. "I'm still the same as I always was. I'm just cultured now." Everyone laughed.
"Look at you fixing tea," my uncle Lupus was the next to tease. "Used to be you could drink coffee just like the rest of us simple folks."
I laughed. "Yes but I've since realized that coffee tastes like hell. Severus," I asked, looking up at the man who had till then been silent and remained in that same spot. "Would you like a cup?" He shook his head and held up a hand, mumbling a 'no thank you', but I pressed him. "You'd better have one," I said, finding the ball strainer I had bought on my summer trip last year and getting down two cups. "They've bought fresh tea, not those crappy tea bags, and they never even keep tea in the house unless they know I'm coming." I finally wore him down and fixed us each a cup.
I couldn't help but feel that everyone was watching the way I interacted with him as I fixed his tea, brought it to him, and asked him if he'd like to have a seat. The whole house was almost silent. After I had finished cleaning up my mess I went and took a seat at the picnic style kitchen table with my aunt Geneva and Uncle Thomas.
Everyone else was sitting and I realized that Severus probably expected someone to offer him a seat. This wasn't exactly customary here at the Green home, so I turned around and motioned for him to come in from the doorway and sit beside me. He did, reluctantly, and I began to speak. "Well are you all going to tell me who did this, and why, or am I going to have to pry it out of you?" I took a sip of tea. It was a good blend. Orange blossom, cinnamon, vanilla bean, chamomile, and sweetened with honey.
"We don't know." I choked on my tea and Severus reflexively reached over and patted my back. I looked at him, confused, as if he was the one who had told me he didn't know who had killed my parents. He shrugged as if to ask me what I was looking at him that way for. I turned my attention to my family as a whole. "What do you mean? The killer was never caught? No one was ever found?"
Everyone turned their gazes everywhere but at me. "No." A blue light was filtering in through the sheer white drapes at the windows and I realized that that light could only shine in a house beside the ocean. I suddenly hated that light. I loved it but I hated it at the same time. The way I loved and hated Snape at the moment he handed me that letter from Dumbledore.
I was suddenly just so angry. So my parents were dead. They were cold and stiff and we were going to throw them in a hole in the ground in a few days and I'd never see them again and the person who did it would walk away free as a bird and live his life without having to answer for anything. I slammed my hands palms down on the table the way Snape had done when I had told him I'd never told anyone about what Michael had done before. I let out an exasperated yell and stood up and strode angrily out of the doorway. My heart sank when I saw Amanda, just coming in from playing in the ocean, flattened against the wall of the hallway trying to stay out of my way as I left the house in a huff. I don't think she'd ever seen me angry before and she looked scared shitless.
I threw the screen door open and heard it slam shut on its hinges behind me. I was going for a ride.