Chapter 4 We have company.
At breakfast the next morning in-between a lecture from Martin about what he expected from his potion class that day and the serving of the pancakes an owl started tapping on the window with his beak. Tracy looked to Father for permission and at his nod opened the window to admit the strange owl. It flew directly to Father and held out its leg so Father could remove the letter attached to it. After casting a few spells at it to insure it was safe to read Father opened and read the letter. After he was finished he turned to Martin and told him "We have company coming. An old acquaintance of mine. According to this letter he'll be here for four days. He's a potion master and a teacher at Hogwarts."
Ice went paler than normal at these words. "Snape" He whispered. "Father, is he coming for me?"
"No child, he doesn't even know you're here and even if he did there's nothing he can do about it. I have guardianship over you because your natural father was abusive. He can't harm you, I promise."
"If you want I can supply you with a polyjuice potion to hide your features for the duration of his visit" Martin offered.
"Do you want that Ice? Will it make you feel safer?" Father asked with concern and love evident in his voice.
Tide walked up behind the upset boy and started to rub his shoulders, "We won't let him hurt you or take you back. You're our brother and family now."
Ice looked at Shadow and asked him what he thought, "Should I take the potion?"
"Only if it makes you feel safer, I don't think I would cause it taste like…" With a quick grin at Father, "Something a dog may have accidentally dropped on the floor before it was house broken." Shadow paused for a moment then added, "You know that we'll all keep you safe from anything Ice."
"When is your company coming Chandos?" His wife asked. "I have the kids for the morning today and I don't want my lessons disrupted with visitors."
Father chuckled, "Who would be brave enough to disrupt one of your classes my love. Not Snape. He has to remember you from when you were teaching him Legilimency, and Occlumency at the time he was recruited by the Order of the Phoenix." If anything Fathers grin got even wider. "As I recall he left one of your lessons so traumatized that he stayed in his shower for almost 8 hours just scrubbing himself. If I remember rightly you had to heal all of the abrasions on him from all the scrubbing."
"He deserved it. He knew you and I were engaged and he still thought of me that way. Yuck." Mother looked at the children with a gleam in her eye. "If you lot don't work hard this morning at your healing lessons I may just show you what I showed our soon to be guest."
All seven children gulped and quickly answered "Yes Mother" then bent to their plates to finish eating.
"The answer to your question is about 11:00 today. Ice, have you decided if you want the polyjuice? You have about four hours to decide you know although if you do choose to use the potion I would take it about 10:30 just in case he comes early." Father looked at his watch then said, "Finish eating kids, LeAnn hates to start lessons late and you DON"T want her mad at you."
The kids finished eating and followed Mother to begin today's lessons in the Healing Arts
After the kids left to begin their lessons for the day Martin asked Chandos what he wanted the rest of them to do before their guest arrived.
"I don't think there's anything really for anyone to do although I am sorely tempted to tell him he's not welcome. I don't like Ice upset like that." Father replied. "The house elves will get a room ready for him."
"I can at least keep him out of your hair somewhat. We can talk shop. Did he even say why he was coming?" Martin asked.
"He said he had some important information to discuss with me. I suspect its something to do with Ol' Moldy Shorts. I never did think he was gone for good but if he thinks I'm rejoining the order he's got another thing coming. The last time Albus and his disregard for the safety of his followers almost got my wife and daughter killed. He's got the rest of the order as well as the Potter brat. He doesn't need my family on his front line anymore." Chandos looked at the other teachers. "All of you, our children, we're family now and I won't allow any of you to be put in danger trying to defeat a monster that that old busy body helped create with his neglect."
Jonauspatted Chandos on the shoulder, "Don't worry so much my friend, we're all safe now and no one will ever hurt our children again. I will never forget what we all owe you but especially what I owe you. You gave my family a home after the death eaters killed my wife. I stand beside you no matter what, we all do."
The others agreed with Jonaus before they broke up to begin their day.
At 11:00 prompt the fireplace in the hall flared to life with green flames and spat out Severus Snape. Chandos reached out to steady him then pulled him into a quick hug.
"It's good to see you again Severus, still terrorizing the children at Hogwarts?" Chandos asked.
"And what else would I be doing?" Severus asked dryly. "How have you been my friend? I haven't heard from you since you took off after the first defeat of The Dark Lord."
Chandos sighed, "The first defeat…That means he's back. When did it happen?"
"He finished building a Gollum to inhabit about 6 days ago. Two days ago a blood ritual was preformed to transfer his sprit to the body. He used a newborn baby's blood, the hand of one of his followers and the bone dust of his father to power the ritual; the baby of course did not survive. Chandos, we need you back." Snape said.
"No, I won't go back. Do you think I've forgotten what Albus did to my wife and daughter? He almost got them killed." Chandos said.
"He's not perfect but he's not a murderer either. Chandos, I know it's hard for you to understand but it wasn't Albus's fault. He just didn't understand how high up on the list of those to be killed you and your family were or else he would have never removed the protection from them. Please reconsider. We need you." Severus said.
"Severus, you're a guest in my home and as such you will be treated with respect but please respect my wishes also; this is not something I will talk about." Chandos smiled, "Come, I'll show you to your room. Lunch will be in about an hour and a half. Do you remember my younger brother Martin? His wife and daughter are here with us."
"Ah yes, I had heard you were a headmaster of a small school. It's hard to believe that you would settle down that way." Snape said.
Chandos laughed. "Not a headmaster, or at least not in the traditional sense. It's just my wife and my three children, Martin and his wife and their one child and two other very good friends and their children. I guess you could say we are just pooling our skills to homeschool our kids." Chandos face lost its smile for a moment. "Severus, one of the children here was rescued from an abusive family. He's still dealing with emotional wounds. I'm telling you this because you might recognize him. We offered to let him take pollyjuice for the duration of your visit but he declined. In a way I think he is testing all of us because we all told him we would protect him from you if you tried anything. Do us all a favor and don't. I have legal guardianship of him and his adoption is being planned."
Severus felt a momentary thrill, could it be this easy? Was the child perhaps Harry Potter? But wait, Potter had been sold at the age of three. Still, no one knew where he had ended up at. Chandos could have found him in an abusive situation and rescued him and Snape would recognize him or at least his scar. Almost anyone in the British magical community would have. "What's the child's name?" he asked.
"Oh no my friend. All of my children go by a pseudo name, they think it's cool. You'll see him at lunch with the rest of the kids. Just don't approach him if you do recognize him unless he wants you to." Chandos said. "Here's your room. I'll send a house elf to get you for lunch."
With that Chandos left Severus alone with his thoughts.
Severus changed into some black slacks and a white shirt after washing up. He used the rest of the time before lunch unpacking and exploring his room. It was very comfortable with a large bathroom attached. The view from the windows was of a picturesque garden and two greenhouses. There was a lake in the distance that fed into a swamp. The whole was surrounded by a thick forest. Two people, adults if he wasn't mistaken were working in the garden pulling weeds. As he watched the two working his mind began to drift going over the information Chandos had given him.
He knew that Albus had pulled the guards off Chandos family but he had not known that they were almost killed. That would explain why Chandos had left the order so abruptly without a word to anyone. Snape had always blamed the bad blood between the marauders and Chandos as the reason for his departure. Children, three…He knew about the girl. Almost a year older than the Potter brat. What was her name, Tina or Brina or something like that. Humm, wait, it was Trina. A cute little two year old with a head full of brown curls and deep blue eyes. She must be what; about 15 years old now. And Chandos had two more children now. Well, he would meet them all at lunch. I wonder who the abused boy is. It could be Potter. I hope it's Potter. I can't think of any other boy who vanished that I might recognize.
When lunch time came around Snape was escorted to the dining room by a house elf named Flossy who apparently had a major case of diarrhea of the mouth. He couldn't get her to shut up for anything. The whole trip it was master this, master that, the children this and that. Sheesh, would she never shut up? Most house elves were silent unless addressed with a question or asked to explain something to someone. Not Flossy. Severus was never so happy to see a dining table in his life. At least he would be away from the elf.
The only people present at the time were four adults. Chandos was one. He got to his feet and escorted Severus to a place beside himself and indicated that he should seat himself. "Lunch will be served as soon as the others arrive. Would you like a drink? For lunch we always serve several types of juice and for the adults wine if they wish. I'm sorry but nothing harder is allowed here in the compound."
"Wine is fine." Severus smiled as his glass filled itself. He lifted it and inhaled the smell of the wine. If he wasn't mistaken it was a very fine Merlot. He turned his gaze to Chandos and raised his eyebrow in surprise. "A Merlot I believe?"
Chandos was about to respond when a commotion was heard coming from the door opposite from the one that Severus had entered. Snape watched as Chandos wife and seven children came into the room. Three girls and four boys. Snape felt his jaw drop open in surprise. It couldn't be. He was dead. An accident from the summer after his first year. He knew he was dead, Snape had attended the funeral.
Snape turned to Chandos, face pale and whispered "Malfoy. How is this possible? He was killed in an accident several years ago. Is this the child you warned me about?"
"We'll talk about it later." Chandos said. "Just remember what I warned you about."
(Riddle Manor)
"Nothing, nothing and nothing. Is this how you gather information for me? I don't want your sorry excuses or petty reasons for failure. I want results. I want that boy." Vodermort was almost spitting in his rage.
"Master, it's only been two days, we will find him I swear to you" Knott said as he groveled at his masters' feet.
Voldermort lashed out with his foot and kicked Knott in the face. "You should have never lost site of him in the first place but instead of doing my work the time I was gone you were all working to cover your own asses." He glared at the other assembled death eaters. Who here was faithful to me. Who here sacrificed for me? Not one of you. My truly faithful are all in prison right now. Just remember, I do not forget nor do I forgive. Each of you will work hard to rebuild my trust and if you do not you will die. Find the boy and find him quickly."