I haven't mentioned them, but two others of the Order have had to put more
than one Link, so it's nothing personal! It's just that Snape is more
familiar with the Death-Eaters, etc. etc.
Something you might want to know: Lucretia is based on me at age nine, Martin on my younger brother and Kela on my youngest sister - the last of the four of us - and my best friend's neice.The third of us may have a self in this fiction, who knows? Maybe as one of Eleni's children...
I know, I know... I was the family's favourite daughter, no need to rub it in... ; ) However, I've only described her as my parents have described me. I don't really believe them, but then again, they don't know the whole truth... *mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha*
Chapter 21: Baptist
"Jona will be coming with his wife and children," Eleni explained, words slightly rushed as if she were in a hurry. "Miriam is her name and she's very nice. I think you'll like the children... they're very sweet..."
"How many of them?" Remus asked.
Eleni looked at him. "Three. Lucretia, Martin and Kela."
"So you'd have six children, then," he said without thinking.
This time, her look was sharp and her eyes had turned almost as dark as her brother's. "How would you know that then?"
"Severus mentioned that he had nine neices and nephews in total," Remus answered quietly.
"Oh? Did my little brother mention anything else?" Even Sirius seemed a little surprised by the only very slightly acid tone in her voice. "Any other interesting fact about his family?"
**Oh, what the hell...**
"Apparently Miriam is quite the traditionalist," he smiled politely. Much to his own shock, Eleni gave a laugh. A deep, throaty laugh that vibrated throughout the Entrance Hall in the early hours of the day.
"That she is," she grinned. "Darling thing."
Sirius shook his head. "I had no idea that Snape--"
"Which one?" Eleni grinned again, face relaxing.
Sirius grinned in return. "Well, not you, obviously." He laid an arm around his wife's waist. "Severus, I mean. I had no idea that he had anything like a family... not like the one it seems he has at any rate."
The four of them made their way out to the front of Hogwarts. Eleni sat on the large marble banister's top, looking down over the lake with a gleam of wonderment in her eye. Lira went to join her. "It's beautiful isn't it?" She said quietly. "I spend so much time just gazing out over the lake... From the towers," she gestured upwards with her hands and Eleni looked up, "You can see a bit more of the forest as well... It's like something out of a film..."
"Or travel brochure," Eleni added.
Remus had doubted that he would ever find anyone more puzzling than Severus. Now he was faced with the challenge of his older sister. Obviously, there was some kind of conflict going on between her and Severus, for it was only at a mention of him that Eleni seemed to turn slightly cold. Apart from that, she seemed alright, in her way.
"So..." Lira began again, "I know that Severus came to Hogwarts... I was wondering if you ever did."
Eleni is silent for a while. Her eyes didn't turn black or cold, rather, almost far away. "No," she said finally. "I was educated in a boarding school for girls. The rest of my magical education was left to our grand parents, aunts and uncles."
"Why just him?" Sirius asked.
She shrugged. "Ask the family."
A few random owls flew overhead.
"Remus mentioned that you had children," Lira said, eyes still on the tree- blocked horizon. "It seems a shame that you didn't being them, when Jona is going to."
Eleni gave a laugh. "There's too many of them! Between the six of them, they'd raze Hogwarts down to the ground in a matter of hours!" She saw Sirius' smile. "Really. You don't want to *know* what they did to our basement once..."
Lira smiled widely. "Ha! Do tell!"
The older woman shook her head and began to tell them how Johnathon - her eldest - had decided to see what would happen if one combine moth wings with Dragon blood and had gotten his younger siblings involved as well...
During her story, Remus noticed Eleni continually look out towards the trees. After a few minutes, there was a sound of beating hooves. Lira and Sirius both looked towards the direction of the sound and Eleni had stood up.
She walked down the steps, through the centre, and waited. She didn't have to for long.
A large carriage - black, 18th century from the style of the workmanship - drawn by four dark stallions, came into view. Out of one of the windows poked a girl's head, dark red hair blowing in the gust. She was grinning widely. "Aunt Eleni!" She screamed. "Aunt Eleni!" The girl managed to get an arm out as well, and was waving wildly.
Eleni smiled, but with this one, her eyes seemed more animated.
The carriage slowed down, but the other children and their red-headed sister, didn't seem to care too much about the fact that it hadn't actually stopped. They all leapt down and sprinted towards their aunt, who crouched slightly and let herself be smothered by the three children. Her laugh then wasn't the loud throaty one in the Hall of a well-born, forthright woman, but the one of a delighted aunt, the sort who seemed more content sitting by the oven, making cookies, than remedies for over-worked, pregnant women.
"Children!" Said a delicate voice. Looking up, Remus could see that the carriage had stopped and a slim woman dressed in dark shades of blue and purple was stepping out carefully. "Oh, children, really!"
This was Miriam.
Miriam wasn't as dark as Remus expected her to be. She had ivory pale skin and delicate hands. Her eyes were large and an odd sort of dark purple colour. At present, she was wearing a hat with a wide brim, which had a dark blue muslin material wound once around it with the rest floating behind her as she walked over slowly, carefully avoiding potholes in the grouns. What Remus could see of her hair, however, was a sandy brown.
"Oh, Eleni, darling!" She exclaimed, genuinely pleased to see her sister-in- law. "You *are* looking healthy!"
"The same for you, I see," Eleni replied. The children were still latched onto her, even as she straightened herself up. "You don't even seem the slightest bit tired, my dear."
"I've been on worse journeys, 'Leni," Miriam sighed. She turned round. "Where is that Jon? What *is* he up to, now?"
"He's probably talking to the driver, mama," the boy said.
Miriam sighed again. "Honestly," she began to rifle through her small handbag. "I dont know *what* it is with him and-- ooooh!"
Remus couldn't help smiling. Miriam seemed to be the typical, rather floaty and absent-minded, wealthy woman, no doubt ever-so slightly spoiled by her parents and treated offhandedly by her all-knowing husband. Rather stereotypically the upper middle-class Victorian wife, concerned only with her looks, though as soon as her husband came into view, her eyes had a rather steely look to them.
Jona was by far the largest surprise for Remus.
For starters, he was blonde. Not a dark brown blonde like his wife, but an ash mixed with strawberry sort of blonde. He didn't have the nose, either. His was very straight, yes, but not aquiline in shape. He was taller than Eleni, though not by much. Remus grinned: he couldn't wait to see Severus besides his siblings.
"Yes my dear?" He asked, interpretating her look.
Miriam 'tch'ed. "Never mind."
Jona turned to Eleni. "And how are we today?" He smiled, dark green eyes glittering. He looked down at his children, who grinned up mischievously at their father. "Barbarians," he sniffed, in a mock-haughty tone.
Eleni shook her head. "I'm doing just fine. I arrived here yesterday. Goodness', Jona! You should see the cuisine, here! You'll never believe that most of it's just for the students!"
"Wonderful," Miriam muttered, casting a sidelong glance to her right. "More fattening food..."
Sirius blinked and Lira covered a grin. Remus saw Miriam notice her and give her a look of utter delight: she was well pleased that there would be another woman she could talk to.
"Care to introduce us, 'Leni?" Jona asked, looking towards Remus and Sirius.
"Ah," Eleni pointed to Sirius. "Mr Sirius Black. Remember him, from the papers?"
Miriam stared at him and a look of realisation came into her face. "It's alright, Miriam, love... no need to scream, we're all well aware of who he is." Miriam blushed. Eleni went to Lira, "this is his wife, Lira and he--" she nodded and smiled at Remus, "is Remus Lupin... it seems Severus has told him quite a bit about our family."
"Now there's a shock," Jona said, a wry smile on his face. He and Eleni exchanged a look. "Who would have thought he'd have anyone to ever tell such a thing?"
The red-headed girl looked up at Remus. "You know Uncle Severus, then, sir?"
"In a manner of speaking..."
"Shouldn't we be going in, now?" Miriam said, turning round and gesturing to a warmly robed footman to bring in their luggage. "I'm sure it won't be so good for Lira if we all stand out here in this brisk weather." Mrs. Jona Snape smiled at Lira, forgetting that she was the wife of a 'murderer'.
"Of course, of course," Jona nodded. "Let's go, then, yes?"
~
The red-headed girl's name was Lucretia and she was nine years old. Despite her fiery appearance and enthusiastic greeting of her aunt, she was rather quiet. Probably because of the fact that she had two appallingly lively younger siblings.
Martin had more of his mother's hair, though a tinge of red shone through it. He had his father's eyes and nose, his mother's skin, and his father's build. At seven, he was three years older than Kela, who looked the most like their mother, but was the same sort of blonde as Draco Malfoy, just a little darker.
All three of them were very respectful and obviously well-trained, the only thing with the last two was that they both liked talking.
"He first started how to talk when he was nine months," Miriam said wearily. "And he's never stopped talking since."
Kela simply liked to copy her big brother, who she evidently adored. Remus had to side with Lucretia, however, because the poor girl was nine going on to twenty-one. If she were old enough, the werewolf swore that her two siblings would be giving her grey hairs. She would often be the one who'd keep them out of trouble - which they deserved - due to her quick wits and common-place common-sense.
"They're a bit of a handful, those two," Sirius once started during their dinner. Well mannered as always, Lucretia swallowed her forkful nefore answering.
"Not really," she said calmly. "You just have to know how to deal with them."
Jona was a bit easier to talk to than Eleni, but Remus still didn't think about mentioning Severus to him. As much as he would have liked to see all three of them together, Remus got the feeling that it would be the two of them versus their brother.
"C'n I have some of that, please?" Kela lisped and extended an arm to a bottle of pumpkin juice. Remus retrieved the bottle and poured it for her. "Thank you." She drank.
"Where exactly have you come from, my dear?" He asked her.
She gave a shy smile.
"We come from Brighton," she said. "Near the sea!"
"Have you ever been in it?" Remus ventured.
Kela shook her head. "I don't like it. It goes *whoosh* and sometimes Martin 'n' Lucreesha... swing me into it." When saying *whoosh*, Kela flicked out her little fingers. She was a very endearing child, complete with blonde curls and violet eyes. Rather like a doll.
She continued to eat.
Remus grinned to himself before saying rather recklessly, "Does your uncle Severus ever visit you?"
The little girl shook her head again. "I've only seen the photo's when he was my age," she explained, eyes wide. "But Lucreesha 'n' Martin say that he's veer tall 'n' he wears only black..." she leaned forward and whispered, "Martin says he's a *vam*-pire!" She giggled, perhaps at her own daring, and continued to eat again.
"What does Lucretia say?"
"She says that Papa doesn't talk about him because of Society," Kela lisped, hesitating before the word 'society'. "Mama says that Uncle Sev'rus has nothing to do wiv it..."
"Oh?"
Kela nodded deeply, blonde curls shaking vigorously. "Martin says that *he* wants to be like Uncle Sev'rus when he becomes a vampire. He says he'll ask Uncle Sev'rus to bite him!" She giggled again.
Before the end of the supper, Remus tapped Martin on his shoulder.
"Yes?" The boy said.
"Don't tell anyone that I said this," Remus whispered, "but your uncle Severus?"
"*Yeeeees*?"
"He's not a vampire."
Remus was sure that for the rest of his life, he would remember the look on Martin's face as the truth sunk into him. He rather felt like laughing out loud and even kissed Miriam's hand before going to bed.
*
*Told you* I'd be updating soon! Stay tuned, folks!
Something you might want to know: Lucretia is based on me at age nine, Martin on my younger brother and Kela on my youngest sister - the last of the four of us - and my best friend's neice.The third of us may have a self in this fiction, who knows? Maybe as one of Eleni's children...
I know, I know... I was the family's favourite daughter, no need to rub it in... ; ) However, I've only described her as my parents have described me. I don't really believe them, but then again, they don't know the whole truth... *mwahahahahahahahahahahahaha*
Chapter 21: Baptist
"Jona will be coming with his wife and children," Eleni explained, words slightly rushed as if she were in a hurry. "Miriam is her name and she's very nice. I think you'll like the children... they're very sweet..."
"How many of them?" Remus asked.
Eleni looked at him. "Three. Lucretia, Martin and Kela."
"So you'd have six children, then," he said without thinking.
This time, her look was sharp and her eyes had turned almost as dark as her brother's. "How would you know that then?"
"Severus mentioned that he had nine neices and nephews in total," Remus answered quietly.
"Oh? Did my little brother mention anything else?" Even Sirius seemed a little surprised by the only very slightly acid tone in her voice. "Any other interesting fact about his family?"
**Oh, what the hell...**
"Apparently Miriam is quite the traditionalist," he smiled politely. Much to his own shock, Eleni gave a laugh. A deep, throaty laugh that vibrated throughout the Entrance Hall in the early hours of the day.
"That she is," she grinned. "Darling thing."
Sirius shook his head. "I had no idea that Snape--"
"Which one?" Eleni grinned again, face relaxing.
Sirius grinned in return. "Well, not you, obviously." He laid an arm around his wife's waist. "Severus, I mean. I had no idea that he had anything like a family... not like the one it seems he has at any rate."
The four of them made their way out to the front of Hogwarts. Eleni sat on the large marble banister's top, looking down over the lake with a gleam of wonderment in her eye. Lira went to join her. "It's beautiful isn't it?" She said quietly. "I spend so much time just gazing out over the lake... From the towers," she gestured upwards with her hands and Eleni looked up, "You can see a bit more of the forest as well... It's like something out of a film..."
"Or travel brochure," Eleni added.
Remus had doubted that he would ever find anyone more puzzling than Severus. Now he was faced with the challenge of his older sister. Obviously, there was some kind of conflict going on between her and Severus, for it was only at a mention of him that Eleni seemed to turn slightly cold. Apart from that, she seemed alright, in her way.
"So..." Lira began again, "I know that Severus came to Hogwarts... I was wondering if you ever did."
Eleni is silent for a while. Her eyes didn't turn black or cold, rather, almost far away. "No," she said finally. "I was educated in a boarding school for girls. The rest of my magical education was left to our grand parents, aunts and uncles."
"Why just him?" Sirius asked.
She shrugged. "Ask the family."
A few random owls flew overhead.
"Remus mentioned that you had children," Lira said, eyes still on the tree- blocked horizon. "It seems a shame that you didn't being them, when Jona is going to."
Eleni gave a laugh. "There's too many of them! Between the six of them, they'd raze Hogwarts down to the ground in a matter of hours!" She saw Sirius' smile. "Really. You don't want to *know* what they did to our basement once..."
Lira smiled widely. "Ha! Do tell!"
The older woman shook her head and began to tell them how Johnathon - her eldest - had decided to see what would happen if one combine moth wings with Dragon blood and had gotten his younger siblings involved as well...
During her story, Remus noticed Eleni continually look out towards the trees. After a few minutes, there was a sound of beating hooves. Lira and Sirius both looked towards the direction of the sound and Eleni had stood up.
She walked down the steps, through the centre, and waited. She didn't have to for long.
A large carriage - black, 18th century from the style of the workmanship - drawn by four dark stallions, came into view. Out of one of the windows poked a girl's head, dark red hair blowing in the gust. She was grinning widely. "Aunt Eleni!" She screamed. "Aunt Eleni!" The girl managed to get an arm out as well, and was waving wildly.
Eleni smiled, but with this one, her eyes seemed more animated.
The carriage slowed down, but the other children and their red-headed sister, didn't seem to care too much about the fact that it hadn't actually stopped. They all leapt down and sprinted towards their aunt, who crouched slightly and let herself be smothered by the three children. Her laugh then wasn't the loud throaty one in the Hall of a well-born, forthright woman, but the one of a delighted aunt, the sort who seemed more content sitting by the oven, making cookies, than remedies for over-worked, pregnant women.
"Children!" Said a delicate voice. Looking up, Remus could see that the carriage had stopped and a slim woman dressed in dark shades of blue and purple was stepping out carefully. "Oh, children, really!"
This was Miriam.
Miriam wasn't as dark as Remus expected her to be. She had ivory pale skin and delicate hands. Her eyes were large and an odd sort of dark purple colour. At present, she was wearing a hat with a wide brim, which had a dark blue muslin material wound once around it with the rest floating behind her as she walked over slowly, carefully avoiding potholes in the grouns. What Remus could see of her hair, however, was a sandy brown.
"Oh, Eleni, darling!" She exclaimed, genuinely pleased to see her sister-in- law. "You *are* looking healthy!"
"The same for you, I see," Eleni replied. The children were still latched onto her, even as she straightened herself up. "You don't even seem the slightest bit tired, my dear."
"I've been on worse journeys, 'Leni," Miriam sighed. She turned round. "Where is that Jon? What *is* he up to, now?"
"He's probably talking to the driver, mama," the boy said.
Miriam sighed again. "Honestly," she began to rifle through her small handbag. "I dont know *what* it is with him and-- ooooh!"
Remus couldn't help smiling. Miriam seemed to be the typical, rather floaty and absent-minded, wealthy woman, no doubt ever-so slightly spoiled by her parents and treated offhandedly by her all-knowing husband. Rather stereotypically the upper middle-class Victorian wife, concerned only with her looks, though as soon as her husband came into view, her eyes had a rather steely look to them.
Jona was by far the largest surprise for Remus.
For starters, he was blonde. Not a dark brown blonde like his wife, but an ash mixed with strawberry sort of blonde. He didn't have the nose, either. His was very straight, yes, but not aquiline in shape. He was taller than Eleni, though not by much. Remus grinned: he couldn't wait to see Severus besides his siblings.
"Yes my dear?" He asked, interpretating her look.
Miriam 'tch'ed. "Never mind."
Jona turned to Eleni. "And how are we today?" He smiled, dark green eyes glittering. He looked down at his children, who grinned up mischievously at their father. "Barbarians," he sniffed, in a mock-haughty tone.
Eleni shook her head. "I'm doing just fine. I arrived here yesterday. Goodness', Jona! You should see the cuisine, here! You'll never believe that most of it's just for the students!"
"Wonderful," Miriam muttered, casting a sidelong glance to her right. "More fattening food..."
Sirius blinked and Lira covered a grin. Remus saw Miriam notice her and give her a look of utter delight: she was well pleased that there would be another woman she could talk to.
"Care to introduce us, 'Leni?" Jona asked, looking towards Remus and Sirius.
"Ah," Eleni pointed to Sirius. "Mr Sirius Black. Remember him, from the papers?"
Miriam stared at him and a look of realisation came into her face. "It's alright, Miriam, love... no need to scream, we're all well aware of who he is." Miriam blushed. Eleni went to Lira, "this is his wife, Lira and he--" she nodded and smiled at Remus, "is Remus Lupin... it seems Severus has told him quite a bit about our family."
"Now there's a shock," Jona said, a wry smile on his face. He and Eleni exchanged a look. "Who would have thought he'd have anyone to ever tell such a thing?"
The red-headed girl looked up at Remus. "You know Uncle Severus, then, sir?"
"In a manner of speaking..."
"Shouldn't we be going in, now?" Miriam said, turning round and gesturing to a warmly robed footman to bring in their luggage. "I'm sure it won't be so good for Lira if we all stand out here in this brisk weather." Mrs. Jona Snape smiled at Lira, forgetting that she was the wife of a 'murderer'.
"Of course, of course," Jona nodded. "Let's go, then, yes?"
~
The red-headed girl's name was Lucretia and she was nine years old. Despite her fiery appearance and enthusiastic greeting of her aunt, she was rather quiet. Probably because of the fact that she had two appallingly lively younger siblings.
Martin had more of his mother's hair, though a tinge of red shone through it. He had his father's eyes and nose, his mother's skin, and his father's build. At seven, he was three years older than Kela, who looked the most like their mother, but was the same sort of blonde as Draco Malfoy, just a little darker.
All three of them were very respectful and obviously well-trained, the only thing with the last two was that they both liked talking.
"He first started how to talk when he was nine months," Miriam said wearily. "And he's never stopped talking since."
Kela simply liked to copy her big brother, who she evidently adored. Remus had to side with Lucretia, however, because the poor girl was nine going on to twenty-one. If she were old enough, the werewolf swore that her two siblings would be giving her grey hairs. She would often be the one who'd keep them out of trouble - which they deserved - due to her quick wits and common-place common-sense.
"They're a bit of a handful, those two," Sirius once started during their dinner. Well mannered as always, Lucretia swallowed her forkful nefore answering.
"Not really," she said calmly. "You just have to know how to deal with them."
Jona was a bit easier to talk to than Eleni, but Remus still didn't think about mentioning Severus to him. As much as he would have liked to see all three of them together, Remus got the feeling that it would be the two of them versus their brother.
"C'n I have some of that, please?" Kela lisped and extended an arm to a bottle of pumpkin juice. Remus retrieved the bottle and poured it for her. "Thank you." She drank.
"Where exactly have you come from, my dear?" He asked her.
She gave a shy smile.
"We come from Brighton," she said. "Near the sea!"
"Have you ever been in it?" Remus ventured.
Kela shook her head. "I don't like it. It goes *whoosh* and sometimes Martin 'n' Lucreesha... swing me into it." When saying *whoosh*, Kela flicked out her little fingers. She was a very endearing child, complete with blonde curls and violet eyes. Rather like a doll.
She continued to eat.
Remus grinned to himself before saying rather recklessly, "Does your uncle Severus ever visit you?"
The little girl shook her head again. "I've only seen the photo's when he was my age," she explained, eyes wide. "But Lucreesha 'n' Martin say that he's veer tall 'n' he wears only black..." she leaned forward and whispered, "Martin says he's a *vam*-pire!" She giggled, perhaps at her own daring, and continued to eat again.
"What does Lucretia say?"
"She says that Papa doesn't talk about him because of Society," Kela lisped, hesitating before the word 'society'. "Mama says that Uncle Sev'rus has nothing to do wiv it..."
"Oh?"
Kela nodded deeply, blonde curls shaking vigorously. "Martin says that *he* wants to be like Uncle Sev'rus when he becomes a vampire. He says he'll ask Uncle Sev'rus to bite him!" She giggled again.
Before the end of the supper, Remus tapped Martin on his shoulder.
"Yes?" The boy said.
"Don't tell anyone that I said this," Remus whispered, "but your uncle Severus?"
"*Yeeeees*?"
"He's not a vampire."
Remus was sure that for the rest of his life, he would remember the look on Martin's face as the truth sunk into him. He rather felt like laughing out loud and even kissed Miriam's hand before going to bed.
*
*Told you* I'd be updating soon! Stay tuned, folks!
