Mysterious Hearts
~~~Histories~~~
Severus' mother to everybody's relief did not come back to Hogwarts to visit her only son. She did however on the odd occasion owl them. She was the master of the guilt trip. But Severus had far more to worry about than what his mother thought about his wife. Strange and foul deeds were afoot.
Tonks meanwhile just ignored caustic the remarks that her mother-in-law made. She was far to busy with her own work to care. A few months past since that day and Tonks was only a little slightly curious about her husband's father. Severus rarely talked about his father, Sebastian.
One evening as Tonks and Snape were heading from the headmaster's office to Severus' office they were accosted by the incredibly handsome DADA teacher. Now Severus was not one for public displays of affection and he kept physical contact at a minimum while in view of his students. The last thing he needed or wanted were rumors.
"Severus, old chap," came the obnoxious voice followed by an equally obnoxious grin of one Gilderoy Lockhart.
"Professor Lockhart," Severus said not very carefully masking the distain he felt for the DADA professor. Severus glanced down at Tonks and she was trying to keep from smiling at his reaction to the man he often referred to as a peacock or a popinjay. Tonks ran her fingers through what were currently long black tresses. Lockhart turned his blindingly white smile on to her.
I am, Gilderoy Lockhart, the Defense of Dark Arts professor, and five time winner of Witches Weekly best smile award," He said extending his hand.
"Nymphadora Snape," Tonks smiled.
"Severus, I was not aware that you had a sister, and such a charming one at that," Gilderoy said kissing her hand.
"She is my wife not my sister," Snape hissed through clenched teeth, he was desperately trying not to kill his colleague; Albus would be disappointed if he did. Severus grabbed Tonks' hand out of the grasp of the other man, "Now if you will excuse us."
Snape dragged Tonks away from the other man and down to his rooms. Tonks giggled on the way. Severus pushed her up against the door and kissed her firmly.
"I think someone is jealous," she sang.
"I am not," he said, "don't tell me that you have fallen for his charms like many of my esteemed colleagues and all the other daft witches in this world."
"You don't have to worry about that Severus," Tonks replied in a serious tone, "I don't care about looks."
"Good," he said and turned to open his door. He whipped back around to face her and scowled at her grin, "NYMPHADORA!"
"It was a joke, Severus, lighten up," she said pecking his lips with hers, "I happen to think that I am the luckiest woman in the world."
"That is much better, Madame Snape."
"I am not your mother, Severus Snape, and if I ever hear you call me that again I will punish you!"
"I can not wait," drawled Snape before continueing to explain every fault he found with Lockhart, including the mishaps at the dueling club.
Snape and Tonks entered the rooms and Tonks pulled her husband over to the couch and pushed him onto it. She sat besides him and pulled his arm around her.
"Sev," she began, "would you tell me about your father?"
Severus sighed and eventually replied, "alright."
Snape took a few moments to collect his thoughts.
"My father was Sebastian Snape the younger of two sons and he sister. His father was Sylvester and his older brother was Samuel."
"What is it a Snape family tradition to name their children with the letter 'S'?"
"Yes, and there was about four years between the boys. My grandmother died in childbirth three years later. His sister was named Regina. My grandfather died about seven years ago. Regina is married and living in France with her husband and Samuel is living in Manchester. All three of them attended to Hogwarts. He had an interest in the dark arts and charms. He was horrendous at potions."
"So you got potions from your mother?"
"No, she abhorred all work," he shrugged, "I am not sure how she made it through Hogwarts. The interest in potions came from my grandfather Pierre. My mother's father."
"Oh."
"Stop interrupting me," he told her, "my parents marriage was arranged, they did not get along very well. My father was somewhat of a wanderer. He would travel a lot and doing research and he was one of the foremost experts on the dark arts. He was interested in all aspects of it. I was born early into their marriage, their needed an heir. My father began to teach me at a young age, so it is true that when I began at Hogwarts I knew more hexes and curses than some seventh years. He died in my fifth year at Hogwarts; he was in Egypt working on some research. And he disappeared and hasn't been seen since. In his will and other paperwork that stated that if he was missing for five years that he was to be declared dead."
"I am sorry, Severus," Tonks said resting her head on his shoulder and looking up at him.
"Do you want to tell me about your mother, what was Andromeda like?" Severus asked.
"I suppose that I could," Tonks said, "my mother had two sisters, as you know, Bellatrix and Narcissa, mum was the oldest. They were born to "the most ancient and noble house of Black" all were Slytherins. My mum met my dad not long before she graduated from Hogwarts. My grandmother was not happy with this and she cast my mum off of the family tree. My mother did of course marry Ted Tonks and they had two children, my older brother James, who lives in the states, and me. My mother named me, and my dad James. My mother was a free sprit; she did whatever she wanted, without caring for the consequences. She gave my brother and I free range of the house, she let us do what ever we wanted."
"Interesting," Snape said as he raised an eyebrow, "so you and your bother had a good childhood."
"Well about as good as one can have when they are as your mother so delicately put it a "freak", not only that but we were a family of freaks, strange things happened at out home that scared the other kids, you see we lived in a muggle neighborhood, I think that was my mother's way to continue to spite my grandmother."
Tonks spent the rest of her evening working on paperwork with Severus. She kissed him goodnight before she returned to their London flat.
To be continued…