Chapter 7 – The End of the Matter
Minuet had pleaded to stay the rest of the summer, but Uncle Severus had been adamant that they leave August first. So the night before they were due to leave she had made a special diner and set the dining room table.
Draco had left a few days before and Professor McGonagall had visited only once more, she was staying with her sister in Cornwall and had apparated over for dinner one night. Minuet was enjoying the time alone with just the three of them.
Severus Snape was nothing like Min's father. He had been a very demonstrative man who laughed easily and bought his daughters every imaginable luxury their hearts desired.
Watching him over the rim of her cup during dinner, she saw in Uncle Severus a reserved man with an aversion to foolishness and idiocy, who neither laughed a great deal nor spoiled them. Yet, she felt far surer of Uncle Severus than she ever had of her father. There had always been something rather flimsy about her father, like he was a paper cut-out of a man who could be blown by any breeze.
Uncle Severus was like a rock. Min had known her father would die for her, but Uncle Severus would try to keep her safe, would avenge any harm and he would make sure to live long enough to make the bastards pay. There was something comforting in knowing that rather than dying for one, there was someone willing to kill for you.
He was a very dangerous man and he loved her. She smiled at him as she sipped her tea. She loved him too and she was also quite willing to make the bastards pay.
"What's that smile, Minuet?" He asked her in low tones that would frighten most people. He still made Tina jump a bit sometimes, but she was getting used to it.
"I was just thinking how unlike Father you are." She responded and he raised a brow at her.
"Indeed." It was an invitation to continue, but it wasn't something she was sure she could articulate.
"Father expected me to grow up to become someone's wife; you want me to do my best at whatever I choose." He nodded and she stopped. Tina had always been Daddy's little girl and Min didn't want to say anything bad about her father in front of the little girl.
"Your father wanted what he thought was best for you. I am not certain as to what that might be, so I mean to give you every opportunity to find it out for yourself." That was probably the most tactful thing she had ever heard him say and looking at Tina's contented expression as she ate, Min knew he had sensed the dangerous ground they were on and skirted it neatly.
"I want to go to university -- Oxford Arcane, if possible -- get a degree in Arithmancy and figure out why magic works the way it does." She announced her goals to him with some trepidation. Her father would have laughed. Uncle Severus merely looked thoughtful.
"There is plenty of money for university in your father's accounts. Your grades are good and I have no doubt that Professor Dumbledore will write the recommendation, so I don't see how it would be a problem for you to get the degree." He shrugged. "As for the rest, that will be up to you."
"I thought you wanted to marry Harry Potter?" Tina blurted out and Min flushed to the roots of her hair. Uncle Severus choked on his tea and Minuet hurriedly rushed to forestall any comments he might make.
"I was joking, Tina!" she kicked the younger girl under the table and Tina yelped.
"Fortina, that is not a safe ambition to discuss, joke or not." Severus scolded gently, but his brows were lowered and his face quite serious. "The rather dangerous men who killed your father must never hear even a whisper of such a thing." Fortina became still and very white.
"Will they kill us too?" The child asked wide-eyed and Minuet winced. Severus looked steadily at Tina.
"I will never let them hurt you, Tina." He replied and the low deadly tones made the hair stand up on the back of Min's neck.
He was, after all, a very dangerous man and he loved them. The two girls looked up at him with perfect trust and their own love plain to be seen.
The next morning they rose early and Minuet made breakfast as usual. She wished that she didn't have to leave but she could see Tina's impatience to get back to their mother. Minuet loved her mother, but her grief was so heavy that Minuet felt suffocated by it. Her mother was angry lately and heart-broken and Minuet was just turned fifteen. It was too much for her to carry all the time.
Uncle Severus stomped down the staircase and Minuet silently handed him his coffee. He took it from her without a word, but he rested his hand on her shoulder for a brief moment and she realized he was sad to see her go.
His mood had lightened since Professor Leblanc's letters had come but he was still slightly morose.
"Christmas seems like a long time away." Minuet commented and got a grunt in reply. Uncle Severus looked up at her from over the rim of his mug.
"I will be bringing a surprise with me to Hogwarts when I return." His tone implied a not very happy surprise so she guessed it wouldn't be Professor Leblanc.
"Oh?" She enquired.
"My son should be born sometime in the next week." His flat tone made her mind race. Two months since she had seen Professor Leblanc and when last she had seen her there had been no evidence of pregnancy, therefore…
"Does she know?" There was no need to use names; they both knew what Minuet was talking about here.
"Yes. I had no choice and she understood." No choice? It had to be Voldemort's orders then, because Professor Dumbledore wouldn't order something like that.
"I look forward to meeting him." Minuet replied and gave him an encouraging smile. He relaxed infinitesimally and it occurred to her that she had the power now to hurt him badly with her disapproval and disgust. The understanding that came with that realization caused her to walk around the table and put her arms about him. "I love you Uncle Severus." She murmured gently. He had stiffened under her touch, but he didn't scold her, he merely patted her arm awkwardly.
"Yes, very well." The discomfort in his voice made her smile.
Breakfast passed too quickly and they were packed and ready to go far too soon. Fortina was bouncing beside her and Uncle Severus had pokered up and was already withdrawing back into the shell he lived in.
Fortina threw herself at him and he lifted her in a single movement, holding the little girl, who wrapped her arms around him, kissed him on his cheek and whispered something that made him smile just the tiniest bit.
"Behave yourselves." He admonished as he summoned the Knight Bus for them. He set Fortina down and nodded briskly at Minuet who found herself tearing up.
"Take care of yourself." She returned and dragged Fortina onto the bus. Stan Surepike, who had chattered incessantly at them during the trip out, was staring at Professor Snape with deepest fear and said not a single thing as he took their luggage and their money.
Minuet and Fortina went to their seats and she looked out the window at the little cottage sitting on the Downs and was sad to see that he had already gone inside. With a bang and lurch, they were off home again.