Chapter 4: Snakes, potions,…………………
Some times later
/A pet, Dad decided to give me a pet. 'A friend who will never betray you', were his words. And now she's curled around my neck, so beautiful and lethal, the pet shop owner, was so surprised when she chose me to take care of her and her little family./
Flashback
They had visited the five pet shops in Diagon Alley, and, yeah, Lex had seen some very rare and interesting pets, but none of them were made for him. A big black cat-like thingy had tried to get his attention, and a strange naked bird had sung in the most enchanting voice, but he had just past in front of them, they had not felt right. After the last one, he had wanted to give up and go back to the castle but his Dad had insisted. They finally tried the one at the end of Knockturn Alley, the Tenebricosus Animalis shop. Inside, Lex began to wander between the rows, when a flash of light that glinted in a dark corner attracted his eye. He made his way to that corner and, after brushing a mass of spider sheet and dust, discovered a big terrarium, which seemed like it had been there since the beginning of the magical world. Inside, five beautiful snakes were curled on themselves. They were asleep, their skin shinning like really soft leather, where some shadows were dancing slowly and an aura of power surrounded them, in the centre was a neutral grey one, who opened his eyes very slowly to look at Lex.
"Sssssssssssss, who are you sssssssssssstranger?"
"Alexander"
"Alexssssssssander, an name who 'hisssssssssssssssed' so nicsssssssely, you smell like ussss little sssssssnake. Why?" during his speech, the snake at uncurled his upper body to look at Lex, his head swaying slowly to the right, then to the left, like if he was listening to a song that no one else could ever hear.
Lex took several minutes to think, and let the words of Salazar Slytherin come back to him. Now, he truly understood the meaning of one of his gifts for the first time. So that was what understand the language of the snakes meant. Then he answered the snake's question, with a serie of strange hissing sounds.
"I've been gifted by a very powerful wizard with the way of the snakes."
"A pressshiousss gift, but it doesssssn't explain why you're dissssssturbing our ressssssst?"
"My father has decided that, since I'm away from my friends and that they seemed to always reject me I needed some one with unconditional loyalty, and what's better for that than a pet."
"I ssssssssee, do you find ussssss beautiful, little sssssnake?"
"Ye..yes,…………………………… Yes, you are, but very dangerous too!"
"You are right, we are indeed! Will you let me tasssssste your blood?"
"Why?"
"Why do I want to tasssste you?" the snake stopped his balancing movements, hissed lightly and said "No one hassssss been able to wake usssss for ssssscenturies, but you, you made me awaken from my eternal dreamsssss. Only that fact, makesssss me think that I'm meant to sssstay with you, but before I trussssssst you with my family and my hissssstory, I want ssssssssome guarantiessss and asssss every snake knowsssss, the history of a man issss in hissssss blood. That's why I want to tasssssste yoursssss. sssssssssss" said the snake, his eyes shinning more brightly than before.
There was a long silence, during which Lex took his time to take up his right sleeve before giving his assent.
"I'll let you taste my blood, but I cut myself, you are not to put your fangs in me until we trust each other," Lex drew Eline, his master blade, gift of Godderick Gryffindor, from the magical black leather cuff who had appeared on his left wrist just after his talk with the hat. The cuff was designed to contain the long, shining and deadly elfish blade, which was decorated with the union of a Snake and a Gryffin. Then, he cut his wrist lightly, before extending it to a little purple forked tong, who licked at the blood for a long time, learning his history, his destiny, his dreams, and the place where her own destiny fit in all of that.
"I will be your pet and your friend little ssssssnake, but you musssst promissssssss me to take care and protect the family who'sssss mine."
Lex took his time once again, considering all the aspects of the bargain he was preparing to make with this strange pet. In himself, he knew that the snake was meant to come with him, like he had know that the wand was his, a feeling of rightness and a hot circle around his heart was the only proof he needed. And if it was not? His HufflePuffle gift, in action for the first time, were letting him see the neutral aura around this strange pet, a aura so much similar to his own. Now, only one last question was in left before he gave his final accord.
"First, your name and the name of the members of your family!"
"My turn to assssssk why, little ssssssssnake."
"I can't read your history in your blood, but most of the time a name contains as much history and power as the blood."
"Ssssssuch an intelligent and paranoid little sssssnake, keep that modus operandi and you'll have a very long life. Very well, I'm Neutralisssss and I'm the older one of the family. After me is Obssscuritasssss, my younger brother" she said, indicated the dark grey black snake, then she made a movement to a grey white snake "and hisss mate, she isssss Luminisssss." After that first presentation she looked at the last two neutral grey snakes, one a little thinner and the other much larger than the first two. "The one with the blood red sssssssssscar above hisssss left eye isssssss my mate Sssssanguissssss and the little one with the green key like mark issssss our daughter Clavisssssss." Then she looked with expectation for Lex's next move.
"I, Alexander Lavelle Snape promise to take care and protect you and your family as I would my own pack. Will that pledge, be enough to satisfy you."
"Yesssss it will, my massssssssster."
"Good, time to go pay the greasy git at the counter and go find Dad. It's time to go home. Tonight, I'll have a story for dad and you'll have one for me." With those last words, Lex took the terrarium in his harms and Neutralis found the way to her new master's neck, resting comfortably.
End flashback
Two weeks later, Lex's bedroom, long after midnight
/So much has changed in two weeks. Especially after that second night with Dad, after the shopping marathon, I just felt so happy for a moment. Before, we had dinner with the staff. They were all very nice, but McGonagall looked really green, well, for a Gryffindor when Dad introduced me. I think I heard her say that for the greasy git's son, I looked almost normal. After that kind of comment from a Head of House nonetheless, you know how the rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor had survived all these centuries, it's pitiful. And the staff seemed to find that very funny. My attitude cooled quickly and I even gave them a good impersonation of Angelus the brood-maester in is best if you have nothing to say, just shut up Xander, you're such a useless, boring little brat expression. The dinner was almost nice. Dad began a conversation with Professor Sinistra about the next blue moon, some problem with the Brevis-Vita flowers, which contrary to their name had the propriety to extend life in different cases of incurable diseases, but needed to be collected that special night. And I had a nice argument with Professor Flitwick about the possible mixing of impervus and glamour, to make the glamour more difficult to break. After dessert we went of in the direction of the dungeons.
Dad sat on the couch with a glass of faërie bourbon; I just lay beside him with my head on his knees. He lit the fire and began to caress my hair in a soothing motion. After a moment, I began my story. There was so much to tell that hours just flew by, he laughed with me at some of the most ridiculous episodes of my life, like the giant lady preying-mantis Professor. He hugged me tenderly when I recounted of the rejection of the gang and let me cry on his shoulder for the loss of Anya. At the end of the night, we were pretty much drunk and most of the stories I was telling had Spike and Dawn as main characters. More and more bourbon appeared and disappeared from our glasses as the time passed, and I don't know how but I was so drunk at one point, that I finally emptied the contents of my heart to dad. All I was holding back, was brutally spilled out. To say that he was surprised, is an understatement. He seemed pleased to have a kind of adopted granddaughter, but the 'I'm in love with a vampire and he doesn't even know that I exist' part was not taken quite as well. /
Flashback
"You're in love with a ………………WHAT? Are you bloody insane! I've always thought that the Potter family and especially James's brat wanted me dead, but obviously he's not going to have to do the work! Because, my dear son has taken it on himself to ASSASSINATED ME! I'm going to have a bleedin' heart-attack! And if that's not sufficient to kill me, that blood-sucker of your can just finish the job!"
"But Daaaaaaaaaad."
"Don't 'but Dad' me young men! I knew that those muggles would corrupt you, I'm fuckin' going to…………………………………………………"
End flashback
/It had taken more than an hour to calm him and another one to explain why I had fallen for the big bad. Finally I had to let him try the Legilimens spell on me and that had taken more than three and a half hours for him to understand and be satisfied by what he found in my mind. Merlin knows that only my dad can pull a tantrum for something that I did and try to find a way to understand it in the same time. He really is the best/ a little chuckle escaped him at that moment, his two chocolate brown eyes shone brightly./and to know that he wants for Dawn to take our family's name and be legally registered as my daughter, it's sweet in a creepy weird kind of way, maybe one day, who knows/ another chuckle / sometimes his degree of adaptation amazes me. He is a true Slytherin in every sense of the word!
The next day had been slightly less joyful, I woke up to find that he had made the potion for my eye and that he had to sedate me after I took it, because regrowing an eye hurts like hell. And once again, he was right, I stayed asleep for the next three days and each time I resurfaced in that lapse of time, it was like some one had put a healthy dose of acid on my face, bloody hell! After that episode, every day looked pretty much the same as the precedent, potions, potions, potions and more potions, add to that bunch of potions, Dad's sarcastic comments. And voila! what has been my life for the past two weeks. / and then Lex used Severus's most sarcastic tone and began to speak for himself aloud.
"NOT Like that Lex! For crying out loud, you need to make an eight figure with your spoon when you add the Tenebrae-Solaris grass in that potion, it's basic Lex! Change your knife between each ingredient Lex! Don't add the dragon shell to quickly Lex! It's supposed to be indigo, not cyan blue Lex! Stop whining Lex! Try not to make this one explode Lex! NO, no, no, no, stop, stop, stop, stop, Lex, Lex, Lex, Lex,……………………………………………"
/how, for Merlin's sake did he want me to concentrate with him breathing down my neck, or looking over my shoulder, he can be an obsessed bastard when it comes to teaching potions to his own son! His only chance is that I love him so much, because some one else would have killed him by now. But I must admit that I've learned much in two weeks with him, than all my years at Sunnydale high./
At that precise moment, a banging sound came from the living room and made him rush to see what had happened. In the room's fireplace were standing the two people who had occupied his thoughts most of the time since his departure, they were looking with big eyes at an angry Severus Snape, wand in hand who was at the verge to hexing them. A big grin came to his face, as he put his hand on his Dad's wand to stop him and tried to speak, but only two words came out of him before he hugged them to death.
"Dawnie! Spike!"
Tenebricosus Animalis / dark animal
Neutralis / neutral
Obscuritas / darkness
Luminis / light
Sanguis / blood
Clavis / key
Brevis-vita/ short live
Tenebrae-solaris/ dark sun