ζ waking up from a dream
Ψ scene change
ﻲ change from someones thoughts to third person point of view
ﺞ time change
אָ one persons point of view to another person's point of view
↑ This is important!
Those are symbols that are used within the story. Some of them I may not use but… some I will.
If you don't want to read my stuff scroll past all the italicized writing…
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other characters/themes/plots/stuff created by J.K. Rowling… but I wish I did… though, I bet anyone who writes theses disclaimers wishes that they could own whatever they were saying that they didn't own… I mean, if you write fan fiction, you're obviously a fan which usually means you really like the story and you can wish that you owned/wrote/created/made up most of it. But, to my great happiness, I do own Neil Snape, Heather Snape, Alexander Snape, Lancelot Snape, Bethany Snape, Deuteronomy Snape, Torrell Snape, Robert Snape, Theresa Snape, all eight of Theresas/Roberts kids, Timothy Snape, Margery Snape, all of the other ancestors of Snape, Sahara Snape, Xerxes Riddle and anyone else that I made up! And I make them up with great detail. Lots of them are "Snape"s because this story is about Snape… the Severus one… Yeah…
You know
Music: Dragostea Din Tei by O-Zone
Book: Something Upstairs by Avi
Anime: Fruits Basket
Manga: Imadoki by Yuu Watse
School Project: River Valley Civilizations: The Geography and Religion of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India and China. (hate China, hate China, hate China) AND!…A Minoans paper that I have to HAND WRITE! I hate HAND WRITING! BECAUSE MINE SUCKS! But, I still like the Greeks… they're pretty cool! But, this is about the Minoans… dies I can't stand school projects! I mean, I always get good grades. We got them today in the mail. My lowest grade was an A-. That's a 92 for me! ONE BELOW AN A which was all my other grades except two A+'s. ARGH! I hate school.
But, it's kinda sad…my math/science teachers parents died. First her mother. Then, during the ceremony, her father had to be taken to the hospital because of breathing difficulties. After the ceremony, he died. So, she's probably feeling pretty sad right now, so, my class has to be a lot less… annoying, I suppose. Yeah. That was about…well, her mom on the 16th of April, father on the 21st of April. So…counts on fingers he died… five days after his wife… and they say I'm in the advanced math class…PAH!
I'M SORRY! I know, I know… it takes me forever to write chapters for this story! ARGH! I'm terrible. I'm really, really sorry! I mean, it took me soooooo frickin' long to write the second chapter and then really long to write the third chapter… I mean, I guess you've gotta know. You are my fans anyway… (Well, I hope you arecheer) but, I don't really ever work on this. It takes a long time to write and I just want to get to my favorite parts, but if I just wrote them, no one would understand them. But, this is still fun, anyway! I mean, I GET REVIEWS! I love reviews. You know what… I bet no one even reads this part of the writing. My little bios and writing parts. Well, if you do read these long things, please put it in the review if you do or not… 'cause then, I'll know if you guys want me to keep posting them in… or just get rid of them. I mean, I won't be hurt by your opinions. But, please be honest. And, I hope someone does read these things. They don't take me TOO long to write. (Well, maybe they do… at least, this one did!) They're just fun. And this one just happens to be particularly long. Much longer than the usuals. That's because I talked about my recent happenings. But, still, REVIEW!
Thanks to VegetandAru for reviewing.
The twins names are Alexander and Deuteronomy. They were kinda named after Severus' father, Timothy, and brother, Torrell. Timothy's middle name was Alexander and Torrell's middle name was Deuteronomy. So, the twins that Severus had were named after the middle names of his brother and father. Yeah… that's right!
Okay, now, I hadn't worked on this for a while. It's May 27th today… that's been a LOOOONNNNNGGGG time since April, which was when I wrote the top half or so of this thing. So, I'm gonna make a new charty thingy about what's "in" for me right now.!
Music: Opening by Linkin Park
Book: The Lost Years of Merlin by T.A. Barron (sp?)
Anime: Love Hina
Manga: Ranma ½ by Rumiko Takahashi (I know! I know! Ranma again!)
School Project: Well, I just finished my Greek ABC book where we (my class) would put a word that described the ancient Greeks for each letter of the alphabet. Then, we would right a paragraph or two (or three, four, five) about that/those word(s). We also had to have a colored picture to go along with it. My list of words was as follows:
A: Aphrodite
B: Baths
C: Crete
D: Dionysus
E: Eros
F: Funerals
G: Government
H: Hades
I: Io
J: Jason
K: Knossos Palace
L: Leda
M: Medusa
N: Narcissus
O: Oracle
P: Persephone
Q: Queen of the Amazons
R: Rhadamanthys
S: Styx
T: Triton
U: Underworld
V: Victory
W: Water God, Oceanus
X: Xeno
Y: Youth Goddess, Hebe
Z: Zepharys (I think that's the right spelling… I don't have my book with me at the time, it's being graded.)
But, my current project… no, no, no… that's not right… Actually, I don't have a current project… ya see, I just got back from Outdoor School which is having school outside… camping is another term that can be used for my Outdoor School. It was fun… kinda. But, my whole cabin kept on getting pissed at EVERONE ELSE IN THE CABIN. AND OUR CABIN COUNSELORS WERE POPULAR PEOPLES AND ALL MY FRIENDS IN THE CABIN ARE UNPOPULARISH!
Okay, anyway, the project that my class is going to do is a book project… but I don't think that that's all that's in store for us… I swear that my teacher said that we had another project on the way… but that sucks… SUCKS! I hate book projects anyway. I it's do on June 9th… and I haven't finished reading the book that I think I'll be doing! So, I just gonna read a shorter book and do that one instead.
Unpopularish: Being unpopular… but not totally. Meaning that my friends and I aren't POPULAR popular, but we aren't VERY unpopular (everyone hates you, no one likes you, you're a geeky nerdy, weirdo…) My friends and I are in the middle! We're just special!
Now, my patient fans… or unfans… here is your story…
Chapter Four
Capitolo Quattro
The Siblings Remember
I Fratelli Ricordano
"So, who called?" Neil asked, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, when his parents came back in the room.
"My father," Snape said.
"Oh!" the twins said at the same time. "When are they coming!"
"Soon," Was the answer from Severus's lips.
"Oh, okay," Alexander said.
"That's not a very clear answer, but… I guess you can't do any better…" Deuteronomy said, sighing.
"He's right!" Rafale spoke, looking up from his plate of waffles. "Soon could be in five minutes, an hour, tomorrow, a week… it's just not clear enough!" Severus stared at his youngest son with an unreadable face. Rafale just stared right back, not letting his argument drop or be defeated. (This'll be fun. We'll stay up late, swapping manly stories, and in the morning... I'm making waffles. – Donkey from Shrek I'm sorry, cries as much as I dislike that movie and its sequel… I can't resist the famous waffle line!)
"Then," Severus said, breaking the silence in the room. "Let me rephrase myself. They are coming at different times. Soon, meaning in a day or two or three, perhaps even more. The most being five days. Does that suit you better?"
"Thank you," Rafale said and resumed his eating.
"You're welcome." Severus said, sitting down on a seat at the table and sighing lightly.
"Fuck, it's already 8:00!" Neil said with his teeth clenched. He quickly stood up and started out of the room.
"What is it?" Alexander asked.
"It's Monday! I have work!" He said, storming out of the kitchen and to the nearest bridge to the stairway.
"He works?" Clarissa asked, still staring out of the doorway at Neil racing up the stairs. "I thought he only did plays and musicals…"
"He got a job a few weeks ago at a coffee shop. It's in the mid-morning so it doesn't interfere with his rehearsals which are all at night or during the afternoon. Also, he only works on Mondays and Thursdays." Rafale answered and popped a piece of waffle in his mouth.
"Here's some more food!" Heather said, walking over to the table and setting down a huge plate full of waffles. "And talking about rehearsals… did you know that he's got two of them?"
"What?" Clarissa said, astonished.
"Yeah, that's right! Two! He's doing two different plays without anyone knowing it! Well… except for me!" Heather declared.
"That sneaky little twerp…" Clarissa said, sitting down and stealing a random cup of coffee to sip from. "He shouldn't do that… anyway, what plays are they? He never talks to me anymore…"
"They're called Club of Brethren and Grave Master." Heater said, pouring herself another cup of coffee since Clarissa had taken hers.
"What parts does he have?" the mother asked.
"Well, in Club of Brethren he plays a bisexual stripper who's also a famous male porn star. And in Grave Master he plays the Grim Reaper… well, he's called "the Grave Master" and looks like the Grim Reaper but doesn't kill people… he just makes their graves and he owns the graveyard…" Heather replied and gave a small smile. "Men these days… they'll do anything for money…"
Clarissa gave a small laugh and the conversation ended there. Everyone who was still standing took a seat and started eating. Other conversations arose between most of the family and guests. Rafale and Hermione had a deep discussion about Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry and Ron talked about how strange the Snape household seemed to be, and the twins were giggling about something that was making them both have a small blush creep up their cheeks.
In the middle of their meal, Neil burst in, announcing that he was leaving for work. He was wearing a white polo shirt, black trousers and black studded boots. And so, he left.
After breakfast, which lasted for about half an hour, most of the occupants who had been at the table went back up to their rooms, except for Hermione, Severus, and Clarissa. Hermione went with Rafale to his room to look at some books he had about Defense Against the Dark Arts and Severus and Clarissa stayed in the kitchen.
"So, what do you think about Neil and all his jobs?" Clarissa asked her husband as she sipped some more coffee.
"I think that he's an adult and he can do whatever he damn well pleases to do with his life. I am no longer in control of him so, it does not bother me how he chooses to live." Severus snapped. Clarissa stared at him, her coffee mug still at her lips. She blinked a few times, set the cup down and got up.
"Is something troubling you, love?" she asked, getting behind her husband and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her mouth was right next to his ear. Severus sighed.
"No…" he answered, moving his head back so that his cheek rubbed against Clarissa's.
"Really?" Clarissa said in return, kissing her husband softly on the cheek.
"Yes," was his reply and he turned his head more, kissing her softly upon the lips. The door burst open and the couple quickly pulled apart. Standing in the doorway were the twins, wearing a simple school uniform of black trousers, black shoes, white long sleeved cuffed shirt and a simple grey vest and carrying black book bags (A.N.: not back packs, book bags (think "duffle bag-ish")).
"Oh, God… people'd think that we're your parents, the way you two pull away when we walk in on you kissing." Alexander scoffed. Clarissa giggled, jumping up and running over to her son, giving him a hug.
"Mum…" the boy groaned as his mother squashed him between her arms.
"Don't 'Mum' me… I can give my son a hug if I want to!" Clarissa gave another giggle and kissed Alexander's forehead gently. When she let go of him, her eyes went to Deuteronomy who was inching out of the room, trying not to get caught in his mother's lethal embrace. Clarissa sighed and staggered over to her seat where she sat and sipped at her coffee.
"Boys… after age six and they won't get caught dead giving their mum's a hug…" and she just drank her coffee.
"It's not that, mum… it's just…" Deuteronomy started.
"Never mind him," Alexander said, kicking his brother out of the doorway and hearing an echoy, "Alex! What the hell was that for!" Alexander just cleared his throat.
"Well, father, we need a ride to school! And since it was your idea to enlist us in summer school, we are asking you to drive us there today!" Alexander cracked a fake smile as he said this.
"And," Deuteronomy said, getting back into the door way. "One of you two peoples needs to sign this!" He held out a piece of paper. Snape got up and took the paper from his son's hands.
"A dance… Clarissa, they need our permission to go to a dance on Friday!" Snape sounded astonished.
"So, what's the matter with a dance?" his wife asked him.
"I didn't know that summer school had a dance!"
"Severus, think of it as something in return for getting all their homework in."
"Why should they get anything in return for that? First of all, they are supposed to do that and there is no reason for them not to. Second of all, they don't do their homework. They wait for me to wake them up at two in the morning to ask if they've done it! The only reason that they both get it done in such a sort time is because they both have all the same classes and all the same homework. So, one tackles half of the homework and the other does the other half. They then copy the other twins work down so that it looks like they did it all themselves!"
"Do you want a medal or a monument?" Clarissa asked.
"What?"
"Do you want a medal or a monument?" she repeated. Her husband just stared at her like she had two heads. "It's a phrase, Severus… in short, it means, 'Shut the hell up, I don't want to listen to your ranting.' Okay? Okay! So," she took the paper from her husband's hands, picked up a pencil which was conveniently lying on the counter and signed her name where it asked for a parent signature. "there you go!" and handed it back to Deuteronomy.
"Thanks, mum!" Deuteronomy said, placing the paper in his book bag.
"That was for both of us to go to the dance," Alexander said. "And that was all we needed so… we'll be in the car!" Deuteronomy pulled out some keys from his pocket, jangled them and then the twins pranced off to the exit of the house.
"Boys… stole… keys… valuable… twerps…" Snape grumbled as he followed the twins.
ﺞ
It was now one fifty-nine in the morning. Severus could see the glowing analog hands of a clock near his bed. He had been awake for about ten minutes and did nothing but watch the second hand of the clock count the seconds by. And now, he decided to get up. He walked up to the seventh floor… to the twins room. Severus opened the door and peered in on the two boys who were asleep. The light of the gibbous moon lit the twins bodies with its pale light. Both were wearing blue plaid boxers with white tanktops. Alexander had on a necklace with the Snape family crest as the pendant (this is what I decided the crest would look like! http: www.celticcraft /tribalhtml /SC89.html (there are spaces within the link...take them out to follow the link... you also have to put in the slashes after the http: part! and a .net after the celticcraft!) you see, that's what they make me do to place a link within my story! ISN'T THAT JUST CRAZY? if you don't understand what to do, look in the reviews... I'll place it in there.)and was spread out, his body covering more than half of the king sized bed and… he was snoring, not loud snores, but still… snoring. Deuteronomy, on the other hand, was curled up, and breathing softly. Severus gazed at his two sons for a moment before shaking Deuteronomy gently. The boy gave a small moan and opened his hot chocolate warm black eyes. Seeing his father, he smiled.
"Hi, dad," Deuteronomy said, sleepily. Sitting up, he stretched his arms and legs and yawned. He then, pushed his brother off of the bed, making him fall to the floor. Alexander was instantly awake and alert. He glared over the top of the bed at his brother and then jumped over it, pouncing on Deuteronomy and pinning him on the floor.
"What in bloody Hell was that for?" Alexander yelled at his brother.
"I was just wakin' you up…" Deuteronomy yawned, easily pushing his brother off of him and got up, yawning again.
"Hi, dad…" Alexander grumbled, spotting his father near the doorway of the room.
"Hello," Severus answered his son, walking into the room.
"Whatcha doin' 'round these parts of the land?" Deuteronomy asked. Severus raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think I am doing, waking you up at two in the morning so that I make you formulate a plot for the assassination of Harry Potter?"
"Yes," they both said. Severus scoffed.
"Actually," Deuteronomy started. "You are waking us up at two-twelve in the morning so that you can make us create a plot for the assassination of Harry Potter."
"No, it was formulate… formulate a plot… like in that song," Alexander corrected.
"Oh, yeah," And Deuteronomy started rapping, "I've got to formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot, success is my only mothafuckin' option, failure's not.?"
"Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go, I cannot grow old in Salem's lot, so here I go with my shot, feet fail me not!" Alexander added. And the two rapped together, "This may be the only opportunity that I got!"
"Wait, wait, stop, stop, stop… stop… were you singing?" Their father asked, bewildered at how horrible their "singing" voices were.
"No… we were rapping!" They said together and then scoffed. "Duh!"
"Rapping?"
"Yeah, rapping!" Alexander said. "You know, what Eminem, 50 Cent and whole bunch of other Americans do!" Severus blinked a few times.
"M in M? Fifty Cent?" Severus asked his children.
"Their rappers, dad." Alexander answered. Severus sighed.
"Anyway, have you two done your homework?"
"Yes, actually, we did," Deuteronomy answered his father. "We only had two sheets of math problems to do."
"Which translates to four pages of problems, twenty problems per page." Alexander added. "And, since we had the same homework…"
"I did the odd problems and he did the even ones!" Deuteronomy exclaimed, happily.
"See… that's why I always wanted a twin!" Severus turned around to see a handsome redheaded man standing in the doorway, his left arm wrapped around a young female child who was resting upon his left hip. His other arm was next to his side, the hand clasped around a younger hand which belonged to a girl as well, though this one was older than the one who was being carried by the man. (A/N: By the way, only Severus turned around because Alexander and Deuteronomy were already facing the direction of the doorway, but Severus had his back turned to it.) Severus' eyes lit up and his lips gave way to a small grin.
"Robert, how nice to see you, brother."
"Severus, it is good meeting you again." Robert walked into the room, leading in the girl holding his hand.
"Which ones are these?" Severus asked.
"This one, the one I'm holding, this is Fiona." Robert gave a hearty laugh. "Her full name, Fiona Sakura Okelani Snape, means 'White Cherry Blossoms From Heaven" that is, excluding the Snape. She's one and has got a twin… that's Septimus, he's coming later with his mother. Anyway, this other one is my oldest, Severina Delwyn Son Snape. She's named after you, Severus."
"Indeed," Severus said, bluntly, as he looked at the black haired six year-old girl who was trying to hide behind her father's back.
"Severina, this is your Uncle Severus, he's my brother." Robert said to the girl with a caring tone, he looked down at her sweetly. She blinked her huge black eyes and said with her voice which sounded full of tears, "I want mommy!" Robert sighed; his whole body seemed to shift as though a heavy weight had been place upon his back. He sighed again and rolled his eyes, handing the one year-old over to his brother and squatting down closer to his eldest daughter.
"Severina… we had this talk before you came, love, you said that you'd be alright with just daddy. Mommy is coming soon… you just have to wait tonight and tomorrow, she'll be there in the morning! Please, Severina, stop crying. Can't you spend some time with daddy; spend a good day with daddy?" Robert pleaded with his daughter.
"No, I want mommy!" The girl cried even louder, covering her eyes with her hands. Robert's concerned face that he had on before molded into something of annoyance.
"Severina, stop crying," Robert ordered his daughter. Severus' eyebrows went up… he never knew his brother was the type to order children around. Robert had always ordered the other brother Torrell around, but had always had a soft spot for young children. They were so precious to him, and he always wanted to spoil and please his children. It was a big improvement for him to give them discipline.
"But, daddy!" Severina whined.
"No, Severina, you will stop crying. Even if you really needed your mother right now, I couldn't give her to you. She's coming here in less than two days. Severina, you're a big girl now, you can wait that long, can't you?" Severina sniffled a bit.
"Yes," she answered, quietly, wiping her eyes dry. Robert smiled, looking smug, and stood up.
"Now, there's a good girl!" He said, ruffling his daughter's feathery black hair, turning back into his natural self. He turned to Severus and said quietly, "I can't stand being mean…" His eyes had a far-off look in them.
"You're not being mean," Severus said, handing Fiona back to her father. "You're showing her that she has to listen to what you say and obey you." Robert took Fiona and gave Severus a strange look.
"You sound like father…"
"I do?"
"Yeah, a lot like father. You know what, Severus?"
"What?"
"I bet you could fool anyone that you are father… I mean, you look and sound like him."
"We have differences,"
"Yeah," Alexander started up. "Doesn't grandfather have grey-streak?"
"And different colored eyes? Right?" Deuteronomy added in.
"Yes, actually," Robert sighed, blinking some. "He's got that grey-streak and he has different colored eyes. One's dark green and the other is a medium green." Severus nodded.
"But, besides our eyes and his grey-streak, father and I look very much alike." Severus said.
"Well," Robert started. "If you want to get into major detail, you have high cheek bones, sharper hipbones and you're the tiniest bit shorter." Severus just stared.
"You actually have compared father's and my hipbones?" Severus was bewildered, not just because it was absurd to pay attention to ones hipbones but also because Robert wasn't one to pay attention to small insignificant details like that. "You are much different from the last time we were together, Robert. You show discipline to your children, you notice detail, you can have a civilized conversation…"
"I really seem that different to you?" Robert asked, one of his eyebrows going up and then shrugged. "Whatever…"
"Um… could you people get out of our room now?" Deateronomy asked in a polite and quiet voice. Severus and Robert turned to look at the boy who seemed almost to be hiding behind his brother who was dozing while standing up. Robert smiled, flashing his sharp, white teeth, and answered, "Of course, boys," Then turned to Severus. "Come on, Sevvie!" And he grabbed his older brother by the arm and ran out of the room together. Deuteronomy looked at the little girl who was standing where she had been the whole time, just turned so that she looked out the doorway after her father and uncle. She sniffed once and blinked her tear-filled eyes twice. Robert came back in and smiled at Deuteronomy again.
"Heh… shouldn't leave the little one behind, now should I? Come on, Severina, follow daddy to our rooms! Bye, Deuteronomy!" And he left, closing the door behind him. The awake twin bonked his sleeping brother across the head, making him fall over and wake up at the same time.
"What in bloody Hell was that for?" Alexander yelled at his brother who was already in the bed.
"Just go back to sleep!" Deuteronomy answered, his voice muffled by the covers which he had pulled over his body until only his eyes and top of his head were showing.
"Fine…" and Alexander murmured and got back into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.
Ψ
"So… where do I sleep?" Robert asked Severus as they walked down the large stairway to the fifth floor. Severus kept quiet until he got to the room, which was opposite his and Clarissa's.
"Here, you and your wife will sleep, Fiona and Septimus will be in the same room as you since they are the youngest. The room to the right is a bath room, though, your room has an add on bathroom attached. The room to the left of yours is where Faolan, Fairfax, and Zádor will sleep. And the room to the left of theirs is where Severina and Sesha will sleep. The room to the left of your daughter's room is a bathroom, next to that is Clarissa and my room, next to ours is an spare bedroom, next to it is Rafale's room, then the bathroom, then your room. We are on the fifth floor. The fourth floor is where entrance and kitchen are. The third floor is where the large dining room for dinner is. The second floor is where the ball room is. And the first floor is the library. Then there is the dungeon which is locked very securely. The sixth floor is above us and it is where Neil, Heather, Lancelot, Bethany, Potter, Weasley and Granger have their bedrooms. Neil and Heather have their bedroom above mine, Lancelot and Bethany have theirs above the empty bedroom next to mine. Potter and Weasley have their bedroom above where Severina and Sesha will sleep and Granger has hers above Faolan, Fairfax and Zádor's. The seventh floor was the one we were on before, where Alexander and Deuteronomy sleep. Their room is the one two floors above Rafale's. The fifth, sixth and seventh floors all have eight rooms. Two of the rooms are bathrooms, four are bedrooms, and the other two are master bedrooms with add on bathrooms. The rooms go in an order. Starting from the location of your room, going to the left, the order is: master bedroom, bedroom, bedroom, bathroom, master bedroom, bedroom, bedroom, bathroom. The fourth floor has one of the master bedrooms as the entrance room and two of the other bedrooms as a kitchen. The third floor has a master bedroom, a bathroom, and another bedroom as the dining room. The second floor has the master bedroom, bathroom, and other bedroom on the other half of the building from the dining room as the ballroom. The whole of the first floor is one entire room which is the library. Then, there is the staircase. It circles around a large pole in the middle of the house. Each floor has two bridges that lead from the staircase to the floor. The bridges are located at different rooms on each floor. Starting from the bottom and going up, the order of where the bridges make you end up on each floor is: the two library doors on the first floor which are located in the same place where the room between me and Rafale is and your three son's rooms are, or… where they should be on the first floor. The second floor has the bridges lead off to where the room which is under Rafale's and the room under Severina and Sesha. The third floor bridge is leads off to where the bathrooms should be. The fourth floor has the bridge right in front of the entrance room and the master bedroom opposite. The fifth floor has the bridge in the same position as the first floor bridge, the sixth floor has the same position as the second floor bridge and the seventh floor has a bridge in the same position as the bridge on the third floor. If you have any questions, just ask me." Severus explained. Robert looked wide-eyed at his brother.
"Did you memorize that whole speech?"
"No, I just explained where everything is so that you don't get lost within my house." Severus answered.
"Wow… first of all, I can't believe you just said that whole thing without stuttering, saying any "um"s or "er"s, and without pausing to think! Second of all, I can't believe you remembered all the names of everyone, including my children, with what seemed to be no thought at all, and third of all, where are mum, dad, Torrell, Sahara and her child gonna sleep?" Robert exclaimed.
"Mum and Dad are going to have a master bedroom on the seventh floor. Torrell with have the other master bedroom on the sixth floor. And Sahara and Xerxes will have a room next to one of the bathrooms on the seventh floor." Robert still looked bewildered.
"You know, it's hard to tell that we're brothers, seeing as you seem to know everything and the only thing I know is the differences between you and dad's hip bones!" Robert said in a depressed voice. He opened the door to the room he was staying in and placed Fiona on the bed. Severina followed her father and climbed up on the bed, falling asleep next to her younger sister. Robert exited the room, shutting the door behind him, looking Severus in the eyes. And then… he broke down in tears. Severus pulled his brother to him, holding him close, embracing him with brotherly love.
"I want to be like you!" Robert choked out. "I want to be able to make decisions like you, talk like you, take care of my children like you take care of yours, treat my wife like you do yours, act like you, think like you… I want to be you, Severus!"
"No," Severus answered him. "You don't and you shouldn't be. You should be yourself… don't try to be me, Robert, it's not you, you would hate it." Robert looked up, his face covered with tears.
"I'm so jealous of you, Severus, I always have been. Torrell never was because he never wanted to be looked up at or become noble… he didn't care that he was lowly and a slut… he was proud of his occupation and didn't see any reason to change. But, me, I always saw you… taking blame for what I did, protecting me from father… you were so mature and smart. You had skills, smarts, and a way with words. Me… I only have a job because father already had that career, I'm stupid and I never say the right words at the right time! I'm so jealous of what you have, Severus… so jealous!" and he buried his face in Severus' chest again.
"Robert… you are not stupid, you are a very smart man, you just tend to remember all the mistakes you've made and forget the good things you've done. You do say the right words at the right time… you see, I think about what I'm going to say before I say it. You, Robert, just speak your mind… you're not afraid to say what came across your thoughts at any moment and you always keep yourself calm. I envy you of that ability, Robert."
"You do?" he looked up.
"Yes," Severus answered, wiping away some of the tears that were on his brother's face.
"But… but, you haven't answered anything about me still having the job of a carpenter because that's father's profession!"
"Robert… I started out as a carpenter, and while I was, I studied about potions, all about them. Then, I tried for a job at Hogworts and I got it. All you have to do, Robert, is try and you will succeed."
"But, I have, I've gone to job interviews for practically everything! An assistant shopkeeper, an apprentice dragon trainer, any job opening at the ministry… and I'm always turned down!"
"You're just not trying hard enough. But, someday, you'll get a good job… for all you know, maybe being carpenter is what you're best at!"
"I know I'm not… and you're better at creating things than I am! Every time I do something wrong, or the object I'm trying to make doesn't turn out the way it should, father yells at me, saying, "Severus was such a better son and a better craftsman!" He always talks about you! Whenever I try to talk with him, it always ends up as a "Severus this!" "Severus that!" conversation! And I hate it! I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!"
"I'm sorry, Robert, but, that's not my fault… and, I've given you as much advice as I can… why don't you go to sleep, Robert, you look tired, go to bed and hopefully, you'll be refreshed in the morning."
"Alright… g'night, Severus…" Robert sniffled, opening the door to his room again.
"Goodnight, Robert," Severus answered back and Robert shut the door. Severus sighed lightly and walked back to his room, opened the door, and closed it behind him. Since he was already in pajamas, he got back into bed instantly. He glanced over at his wife sleeping peacefully, gave her a kiss on the cheek and then fell into the folds of sleep once more that night.
YES YES YES YES YES YES YES! I finished yet another hugely long chapter! YES