Severus Snape Makes a Visit
"A guest sees more in an hour than the host in a year." (Polish proverb)
The soft crack of an apparition on the drive way of Malfoy Manor made a house elf who was busy sweeping the steps in front of the main portal jump up in alarm, but as the small magical creature beheld the dark robes and lanky black hair of a visitor instead of the pale, arrogant features of his master, he quietly exhaled in relief and merely bowed down deep in greeting. The wizard flung back his robes and ascended the steps without even acknowledging the elf with a single glance.
Summer was the season Severus Snape detested above all else. It was hot and miserable, one constantly had to use cooling spells, and the bright light was just designed to give one splitting headaches. It didn't help that some of his worst memories connected with his old school days had mostly happened in summer. This year the Hogwarts potions master had spent a large part of the summer vacation holed up with old Daniel Stolcius, the Durmstrang alchemist, in Iceland doing research. At least the temperatures up there were bearable.
He had planned on a brief return to England on the 25th of July, but an experiment had gone rather horribly wrong, and he had been confined to the wizarding hospital in Reykjavik for about two weeks. Finally the rose bouquets that kept erupting from his ears and nostrils at inopportune moments had stopped sprouting and now he had to catch up on one duty he had neglected so far.
He looked around the cool, dim entrance hall of Malfoy Manor and spotted another house elf.
"Tell your mistress I'm here to see her," he said curtly and took a deep breath, happy at having escaped the hot, relentless sunlight.
The elf bowed and vanished, and a few minutes later he heard the light clatter of steps on the curved central staircase. As he looked up he saw Eleanor Malfoy-Sartorius. She was dressed in some light but rather formal looking grey-green robes and waved at him as she spotted him. He cleared his throat.
"Severus! What a nice surprise," she smiled as she reached him. "We were wondering what had happened to you when you didn't show at the party without sending word. Lavinia kept asking about you. I think she was quite disappointed you missed her birthday. You know how like her father she is."
Snape smirked. Self-centered didn't even begin to describe it, but of course in an adorably pretty two-year-old girl that was still quite an endearing quality.
"Well," he said. "I was held up by a rather unfortunate occurrence at your old school. Otherwise I would have visited my godchild, of course. However, I've come to make up for my absence."
He pulled a delicately wrapped gift box from the voluminous right sleeve of his black robes, the pink and gold of the paper and ribbons looking somewhat out of place in the long, spidery fingers of the rather somber-looking wizard.
Eleanor smiled.
"Let's go and wait in the salon," she invited her guest. "Libby? Please go over and tell Maleficia to come see us and get Lavinia ready and bring her with her."
They settled in to wait and Snape turned to his former colleague.
"So how are things around here?" he asked.
The witch looked at him, then shook her head.
"Well, life could be better, Severus. You know Lucius has become chief muggle liaison at the new Office for Muggle Cooperation at the Ministry?"
The potions master, who had just accepted a glass of water from another house elf, almost snorted his first sip all over his robes.
"What!" he choked. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. Lucius would never cooperate with muggles, Hecate, he wouldn't even speak to one, unless he was cursing them."
Eleanor sighed.
"That's the general idea. Lucius has accepted the post in order to work on damage control, as he and some of his associated see it. So far he has managed to kill off quite a few proposals and initiatives already. He has also managed to put two of his muggle contacts in the hospital, but they seem besotted with him, regardless. He claims it was all due to unfortunate accidents and misunderstandings, and amazingly, so far they believe him. I had almost forgotten how expert he is at manipulating people. Minister Weasley wants him out, of course, but so far he's done rather well.
You may be happy to hear that only two weeks ago he quashed a plan to start an exchange program between Hogwarts and a muggle school somewhere in Essex. I know you're not too keen on muggles and muggle-borns either. Interestingly enough in the end it was not Lucius but his muggle counterpart who strongly advised against the plan. They had an interview with him in the Daily Prophet. The reporter visited him in the muggle hospital where he was undergoing surgery to have a growth removed from a rather embarrassing part of his anatomy. I have a good suspicion how it got there, but as usual nothing can be proved conclusively…"
Snape chortled quietly and carefully replaced his glass of water on a side table.
"Yes, that sounds like Lucius and his old school pranks all right. How about Draco?"
"I don't see too much of him these days. Lucius is giving him some responsibilities with his business ventures which have him traveling a lot to Eastern Europe. He stays with his Lucius' sister Cornelia in Prague quite a bit. I suspect Lucius wants to keep him away from England for a while. He's not happy about Draco's current love-interest. Inappropriate and far too serious in his opinion."
"That would still be Melanie Pucey, I assume?"
Eleanor remembered watching the young people dance together at her and Lucius' handfasting.
"Yes, it is quite a disappointment to his father, who had hoped Draco would follow in his footsteps, sow a rather copious amount of wild oats and break a few hearts in the process. Plus the Puceys have some muggles on their family tree, sometime around the early 1800s… Though these days with the backlash against Voldemort and the pureblood ideology that might actually be something of an asset. At least Lucius isn't planning an arranged marriage for him like his father did when he picked out Narcissa."
Snape nodded somberly.
"And what about yourself? Any plans to resume teaching one of these days? I heard this summer they've had mixed success with their DADA teachers at Durmstrang over the last few years and I think the headmistress would welcome you back."
She considered for a moment.
"Eventually, I should think, but I want to wait until Lavinia is about five or so and will start attending lessons herself. For now I quite like my life as a Defense freelancer."
The Hogwarts professor took another sip of water.
"Freelancer?" he asked.
"Consulting jobs, research, writing, that sort of thing," she said offhand. "Actually I've advised the corps of aurors on several occasions. That rather hushed-up series of quintaped attacks in Dorset a year ago that killed several muggles and three wizards – I consulted with the Ministry over that. It's enough to keep me busy and interested, but not run off my feet…"
Suddenly a small, shrill voice cut her short.
"Uncle Sev!"
A moment later a tiny whirlwind of red robes and white-blond hair shot into the room and launched itself directly at the black-clad wizard, who had barely time to get up when the youngest Malfoy had already attached herself to his trouser-leg with all the persistence of a small barnacle.
"Uff! Let go, Lavinia," he protested, but she didn't pay any attention.
"You don't come to Lala's party," she accused him. "Why not? It was fun! We had pets! I got a big cake! And presents!"
Eleanor had to smile as she watched the potions master bend down and very carefully lift up his godchild who eventually relinquished his leg. He would probably handle an alembic with highly combustible materials in the same way. But eventually she sat perched quite comfortable in the crook of his arm and looked at him with an accusing pout.
"Why not, Uncle Sev? Mummy sent an owl for you!"
The wizard launched into a serious and elaborate explanation for his absence, and as she looked around Eleanor noticed Maleficia enter the room noiselessly behind her charge. The older witch nodded at her and then quietly stood off to the side, watching Lavinia intently. Eleanor found her attention wander. The nanny had seemed strangely preoccupied and subdued over the last few weeks. Maleficia was never particularly talkative, but she had become positively taciturn.
Whatever affected her didn't seem to influence Lavinia, though, who appeared rather boisterous in the warm summer weather, romping around in the garden and park at all times and managing to acquire a rather alarming collection of scrapes and bruises.
Severus voice brought her back.
"And what do we have here?" he asked lifting and examining her left hand. "A bandage? What did you do?"
Eleanor stepped closer. She certainly hadn't noticed a bandage on her daughter when she and Lucius had tucked her in the night before.
The little girl tossed back her head.
"Nothing," she said haughtily. "Lala fall down."
Severus shook his head.
"You must be more careful, Lavinia."
Eleanor stepped up to him and stretched out her fingers.
"Let me see that, sweetie," she asked her daughter and looked at a neatly wrapped strip of white linen that was carefully fastened to protect the palm of her hand.
"She barked her hand just after breakfast on the patio, mistress," a quiet voice announced next to her and as she turned in surprise she noticed that Maleficia had joined them. "It's nothing, but at the moment her impulses are better developed than her motor skills. It happens sometimes. She should catch up to herself in a few weeks. I try to have her walk rather than run, but you know how she can get sometimes."
Severus looked somewhat grim as he took one last look at the bandage and then refocused his attention on the little girl in his arms.
"Well, if you promise me to be more careful in the future and listen to your nanny, I could give you your birthday present. Would you like that, young lady?" he asked.
"Yes!" she nodded emphatically.
The wizard reached over to the side table where he had placed his gift box and handed it to his godchild.
"Have your mommy help you," he suggested. "It's probably a bit difficult to open with that bandage."
Between them they stripped the paper and unwrapped what appeared to be a golden ball that fit neatly into Lavinia's hand.
"Snitch! Snitch!" she cried excitedly, shaking it, but her godfather shook his head.
"No, Lavinia, it's not a snitch. Here, it opens like so, and now, when you blow into it, see what happens…"
The little girl followed the wizard's instructions and a moment later huge soap bubbles filled the air around her, shimmering and glowing in all colors of the rainbow.
"Beautiful! Oh, so pretty," she breathed, trying to catch them.
Eleanor had expected her to be disappointed when they would burst in her hands, but the bubbles remained intact as she moved them about with her fingers. She found herself reaching for them and grinning in delight much like her daughter. Soap bubbles that one could actually play with – just any kid's dream.
She looked over at the wizard whose eyes followed the shimmering spheres that a giggling Lavinia now launched at the ceiling, and she decided it was probably the first time she had ever seen the potions master's saturnine face light up in a genuine smile. He actually looked quite human like that, but she knew better than to comment. He returned her gaze, silent laughter still crinkling the corners of his eyes.
"They'll evaporate after about an hour or so," he reassured her. "I came up with the formula myself, rather by accident, I have to confess. The potion is not poisonous, so you don't have to worry about her drinking some."
In her efforts to grasp the soap bubbles, Lavinia had started to strain and wriggle in Snape's arms and become quite difficult to hold. He gingerly lowered her back onto the floor and ran his narrow pale hand over her white, silky hair.
"There," he said gently. "Run along and play now, and watch your feet."
The little witch barely paid attention to the grown-ups as she immersed herself in her new game of chasing the escaping rainbow spheres floating in the air before her. The potions master handed the golden container with the bubble potion to Maleficia, who walked behind her charge.
Eleanor followed the small, skipping red-clad figure of her daughter with her eyes until nanny and child had left the room, and when she finally turned back to her visitor she noticed that the expression on his face appeared grimmer than usual.
"I don't like to see her hurt," he said sharply.
She sighed.
"Neither do I, but she's outside and all over the place all day, and she's developed quite a temper if anyone wants to slow her down. She's got a number of scrapes and bruises over the last few weeks."
One of Snape's black brows rose sharply.
"Are you sure that's all there is to it? Are you really sure these are all just 'accidents'? Are you sure Mrs. Babbitt isn't covering for someone?"
She stared at him now.
"What do you mean?"
"You haven't read 'I Married a Death Eater', have you? I guess you refrained out of loyalty to him."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"I know Lucius. I know all I want to know. Why would I poison my mind with Narcissa's drivel?"
The Hogwarts professor shook his head.
"Yeah, you know what you want to know, but perhaps you should want to know more – for the sake of your child. According to his first wife Lucius beat Draco severely when he was a little boy. How's that for knowledge?"
Eleanor felt an icy chill spread through her at her visitor's words, despite the warm summer air that filled the vaulted room. She knew old Octavian Malfoy had been a horrible father to Lucius, and victims of abuse could easily become abusers themselves later in life.
She clenched her hands into fists, closing her eyes for a moment. She pictured a scene she had witnessed only the evening before. Looking for her husband, she had come across Lucius and Lavinia in his study, a place that was normally off-limits to the two-year old. Father and daughter had both sat on the large, elaborate geomancy rug that covered the center of the wood-paneled room.
She had smiled at seeing Lucius abandon is usually rather formal and meticulous manners and sprawl on the floor, his back resting against one of the heavy oak sides of his desk. Their little daughter was comfortably snuggled up between his long black-clad legs and they were both looking intently at an old grimoire he was holding open for her.
"Daddy, show the dragon eating the wizard again," she demanded and looked up at him out of huge, trusting green eyes.
Her father obligingly pointed his wand at the wood-cut in the book which promptly came to life as a little three-dimensional scene above the old yellowed parchment of the page. A rather grotesque-looking fat dragon snorting tiny puffs of smoke out of his nose craned his neck to survey a small beetle-sized man in long flowing robes. He licked his dangerously fanged jaws, bent down and with one quick movement picked up the unfortunate wizard. A squeaky, panicked exclamation and a long gulp later he settled back down and spouted a few flames as he let off a satisfied burp.
Lavinia shook with laughter.
"Oh that's funny, Daddy. Do it again!"
Lucius had noticed his wife at that point and cocked an eyebrow at her. He laid his arm around his daughter.
"That was sixteen times so far, number seventeen coming up," he said in mock exasperation. She had smiled, settled down with them and watched him perform the same spell for another fifteen times without the slightest trace of real impatience.
She looked up and met Snape's dark eyes with resolve.
"I refuse to believe your implicit accusations. I don't know how Lucius raised Draco. He was younger then, and I did not know him. But I will not have you tell me that he is hurting Lavinia in any way. He'd kill anyone who dared lift a hand against her. He has never so much as shouted at her."
Snape snorted, and when he answered her, his voice sounded bitter.
"Yeah, my mother refused to believe, too. My father used to beat her, but when he beat me she wouldn't see it. I could be black and blue, and she'd tell everyone, including herself I was clumsy and fell down a lot."
The witch stared at him.
"Lucius is not your father," she said. "I know what happened to you. You told Lucius and me when we tried to get Draco back from Voldemort, and I am truly sorry for the terrors you had to endure as a boy. But you can't see everybody else's life in light of your experience, Severus."
He tugged on his dark robes.
"You both made me her godfather because I protected Draco. I shall protect her also. And if I see anyone causing harm to her, including him or yourself by omitting to see what's right in front of your eyes, you'll have to reckon with me. I mean that!"
In the awkwardness that ensued Snape took his leave. Eleanor sat down in a deep chair before the empty fireplace and closed her eyes. In her mind she tried to recall every encounter between Lucius and Lavinia she had ever witnessed from the moment he had held her in the delivery room at St. Mungo's, swaddled in white soft blankets that bore the Malfoy crest, her tiny face still red and furious from the ordeal of her birth. She remembered his long elegant hands cradling her small head as if she was the most precious and fragile thing they had ever touched.
The potions master was wrong, she was sure of it. And yet, why did this tiny nagging voice in the back of her head urge her to go out right now and get a copy of Narcissa's book?