Chapter 3



When Eugenie closed the study door, it took all her determination to remain standing. She quickly moved to one of the chairs that stood along the gallery wall and sat. Thoughts raced through her mind. Was it something she had done? Something she had failed to do? Then the words of Valerius Snape began to repeat themselves in her mind.

"...After the death of Isaias, Severus is now my heir."

Isaias' death had been a shock to his parents. He was the child that they doted on; their beloved son. All their attention had been given to him. Eugenie had only met Isaias a few times during the two years. He had spent Christmas, and a few weeks of his summer breaks at home but the rest of his free time was spent traveling or at the home of his close friend Lucius.

Severus was six years younger than his brother. His parents had never planned to have a second child. Soon after his birth his mother abandoned him to a nurse and the house elves, who raised him until he was ready for an education.

Isaias was a tall proud boy with rakish good looks and a cavalier attitude. He had always been excessively polite to Eugenie but when she observed him with his younger brother there was a noted evil streak. Like any younger sibling, Severus looked up to his brother and Isaias took advantage of this. One minute Isaias would be kind, generous and attentive; the next his actions would do something that would leave Severus hurt and humiliated.

When she regained her strength, the young governess realized that the task of informing the Severus was now hers.



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The door to the schoolroom seemed heavier than it had felt before. It took her entire strength to push it open. Inside she could see Severus sitting on the window seat with his legs crossed under him. On his lap was an oversized book of Roman history. The summer breeze lazily furled the sheer draperies as the boy sat reading

"Miss Eugenie?" he asked with his always questioning air, "Did Hannibal really think that he could take elephants over the Alps in the winter? What as he planning on feeding them?" He looked up at her with the smile he always had on his face when he asked her challenging questions, but when he saw her expression he knew something was wrong.

Eugenie walked over to the window seat and gently sat next to Severus. She quietly took the book out of his lap and took hold of both of his small hands in her larger ones. She sat quietly for a moment as the summer sun shone in through the bay window. She looked at his large dark innocent eyes and his child's face. A lock of his ebony hair had fallen before his eyes.



"Severus." She said as she brushed the hair from his face. Trying to speak in a low controlled voice to keep the tears away she continued. "There is something I must tell you and you must promise to be a strong young man."

He looked into her face, searching for a clue, then looked down into his lap.

"Yes, I promise," his voice now lacking the inquisitive tone it had earlier.

Still holding his hands, Eugenie began.

"Severus, remember the note that I received a little while ago? It was from your Father."

His now pallid face looked up into hers as she tried to continue. She sat motionlessly for a moment as she attempted to form her thoughts into words. All they could hear was the twittering of the birds in the tree outside the window.

"Your Father has arranged for you to work with a new master. His name is Professor Quen. He will be arriving so you may begin your studies on Wednesday."

Severus looked out the window across the lawn to the lake.

"Does that mean . . . " She could hear the quavering in his voice.

"Yes, I'm afraid that it does," Eugenie said. She could see a tear that he was trying to fight forming at the corner of his eye. "I will be leaving the day after tomorrow."

"Why?" he muttered in a cold distant tone. He continued looking across the lawn.

Eugenie stood and he turned to look at her.

"Your Father feels that it is time for you to begin . . . " she grasped for the correct word ". . . a new course of study. You are now the heir and he wants you educated as an heir."

For a moment the boy looked frantic, "What are we to do, I can run away, we could go to Rome and study history!"

"You will not run away, we will not go to Rome, " Eugenie countered with a calm but stern tone. The governess rose and stood behind the boy with her hands on his shoulders.

" You are grasping at straws, Severus. We must obey your father's wishes."

"Obey . . . obey?" he rose letting the volume of history slip to the floor and turned to her? "Does he know the meaning of that word? You obey someone you respect and esteem. I have neither for him."

"He is your father Severus, even though it is painful we need to do what is asked of us and if this is what he wishes we must comply."

His countenance suddenly became steely and calm as if he was another person; a look that Eugenie had only seen fleetingly after Isaias' death. He turned to face her.



"Good Day, Miss Ermengild," he said with a formal bow and left the room.

After he had left she mechanically began to straighten the school things spread across the table. In her mind's eye she could see him sitting at the table working as he did each afternoon. A bright and sensitive boy who had been a thrown away by parents to busy too care. For the past two years she had been the only caring adult in his life and now she would be leaving also. She walked to the window to pick up of volume of Roman History lying on the floor and began to cry.