Chapter Seven
The 'Talk' and Her Escape
Lenore curled up on the corner of her couch, happily reading one of her adventure stories while sipping a cup of hot chocolate (one she had to ask especially from a hyper-active house elf named Dobby.) When she and Dumbledore got back from the joke shop he bid her farewell and for the next few hours she enjoyed making a list of ways to use the Weasleys jokes against Snape. After changing the colors in her bedroom (the comforter a dark hunter green with a rich emerald green carpet and flowery pillows) she had chosen a book from the many on the shelves and set herself up for a pleasant read.
She heard a sudden pop and, after saving her place in the book, she looked up. "Dobby," she said surprised, she hadn't called him nor had she finished her drink as of yet. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello Mistress Lenore Keller ma'am. I was sent here, Mistress Lenore Keller ma'am, by Master Snape," she watched a look of disgust trickle across his face as he said the name. "To remind Mistress Lenore Keller ma'am to come to dinner at seven, Mistress Lenore Keller ma'am."
She made a face of her own. "Thank you, Dobby. Oh, Dobby," the elf looked at her a little comfortably. "Please just call me Lenore or Leo."
"Mistress Lenore Keller ma'am is very, very, very kind to include me in such name!" his squeal of delight came. "I am very much happy Mistress Leo ma'am is including me!" He said, his large eyes dancing. "Thank you Mistress Leo ma'am!" and with that he popped out of the room.
She sighed with a smile, shaking her head. She would never understand why wizards thought house elves were lower than them nor why the elves believed idea. She glanced at the time, six thirty. She had a little while to read, she at least wanted to finish the chapter. Once the chapter had finished (thankfully not in a cliffhanger) she stood up, stretching. She wouldn't play any pranks on Snape tonight, she was too tired with the time change and felt a little at odds. She ran a brush through her hair quickly and threw the robe, which she had removed once alone in her room, on. She was beginning to like the feel of the robe, almost like a cloak, she reasoned with herself as she pulled on a pair of black slippers. She didn't feel like lacing up the boots again.
She left the room and began to walk down the hall. She was in the hall of stairs (as she had now taken to calling it) before she realized: she had no idea where Snape's rooms were. She looked at the numerous staircases…maybe I should have left when Dobby came. She thought making a face. It was not as if she wanted to see Snape but, if his temper was anything like hers, she shouldn't be too late. She sighed and turned to the portraits on the walls.
"Excuse me," she said to a young man who had fallen asleep at his desk (he was apparently writing something.)
The man snorted waking up. "Huh? What? I wasn't asleep."
"No you were merely resting your head, you neck must get so tired." She joked with a nervous smile. The man glanced at her and chuckled. "Do you think you could help me?"
"Why anything I can do for you it will be done! What do you need?"
She giggled. "Do you know the way to Professor Snape's rooms?"
"Good Merlin, why would you ever want to go there?"
She made a face. "He is forcing me to have dinner with him. Do you know the way?"
"Aye, do you think you could find the dungeons?" She nodded, that sounded simple enough. "His rooms are on the first floor you get to, do not go all the way down or you'll have gone too far. It looks as if there is a false wall there, just walk through it."
She nodded slowly. "Thank you. Just point me,"
He motioned to her right, away from the Great Hall, and, after thanking him again, she took off down the hall in a slow pace. She realized later that she should have merely asked the portrait to accompany her for she had managed to get lost three times before she asked another portrait and before she finally found the stairs the young man was talking about. She hurried down the first set, knowing she was a good ten to fifteen minutes late and stopped. The portrait had told her not to go all the way down and that there was a false wall. She just had to walk through it.
She shook her head and, shutting her eyes, walked towards the wall on her left. She braced herself for an impact that never came. She turned and saw a see-through wall; she had made it through! She smiled and moved down the hall. Just as the young man had said there were two portraits, the first being on the right wall and it was of…she let out a gasp staring at it, tears welling in her eyes. It was of her mother, much, much younger though, around Lenore's age by the look of it and dressed in Slytherin school robes. The young woman was leaning against a tree, asleep at the moment.
A throat cleared and she whirled around, her wand out. The second portrait gasped. "No need for that! I'll assume you're Lenore?" She nodded. The second portrait was against the far wall and of an older man, maybe Snape's age, with skin the color of Honeydukes chocolate and eyes the color of coco beans. In the background was a potions lab, which amused her greatly. "This is the door then. You better hurry, you're late."
She shrugged and, after taking one last look at the portrait of her mother, stepped through the portrait, which had opened for her. She found herself in a set of rooms larger than her own. A door, closed, was to her right and she was currently standing in a sitting room (oh the irony of that, she thought to herself) with a stretch of corridor to her left (a door or two from what she could see in the darkness) and a second door nearly next to the doorways she had just stepped through. The smells of a hot meal wafted through that open doorway so she headed towards it.
When she walked in she was surprised to see a quaint little dinning room with two place settings and food spread out across it. A bar, she could see was farther in the room, and a fireplace was behind the table…behind a very annoyed looking Snape. She didn't look at him as she sat down at the other place setting. His brow arched at her, studying her under a calculating gaze.
"You're late." He said with hints of annoyance.
"You didn't give me directions." She retorted filling her plate with food.
"You didn't ask."
She rolled her eyes. "I didn't want to come." She said taking a bite of the mashed potatoes.
"I will not tolerate lateness, no matter what you want."
She rolled her eyes again. "Whatever."
They were silent for some time, long enough for the meal to be finished and desert to be brought. She grinned, apple pie was her favorite. "I had to leave, Lenore."
She paused before taking a bite. She looked at him. "Why ruin a good meal with you talking?" she snapped, shoving her fork in her mouth. His glare hit but didn't faze her. "You look like you're sucking on a lemon."
"I expect you to behave with a certain level of maturity at meals."
She mimicked him. "Why should I? As long as I'm being forced to eat with a man I hate I'll at least have to make it fun so I don't have to listen to your constant talking."
"Refrain from insulting me at my own table."
"Why?"
Snape stared at her. He shook his head and waved his hand, the rest of the food disappearing. "I had to leave." He repeated again.
"The meal is over, I'm leaving."
"Remain in your see, young lady!" he ordered.
"Or what?" she sneered, not liking where this conversation was heading. He arched his bow at her. She tried to stand up but found she couldn't. "What did you do!"
"You will remain seated until I have my say out."
"Slimy, good-for nothing bastard!" she said loud enough for him to hear.
"I will put a silencing spell on you if you would not stay quiet." Ire burned in her, shooting out through her glare. She raised her own eyebrow, as if telling him to start. He looked defeated, sad even but she didn't care. He drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I had to leave Stef. For reasons even she couldn't fully understand."
"You fucked her and then left her. I understand perfectly."
"Language!" he snapped. "And I loved her, no matter what you might think. I had to leave. It would be too dangerous for her and a new child to remain with me."
"How many times did you tell yourself that in order to believe that crock of bullshit?" she asked sarcastically.
"If you cannot keep your words clean I will be forced to clean out your mouth." He said with an icy look. "And it is the truth. I loved her more than life itself and because of that I left her." She rolled her eyes in disgust. "I could not tell her why I left, nor could I talk with her."
"Because of your service to Voldemort, right?"
He winced considerably. "Don't say his name!"
"Well am I right? That's what you want me to believe?"
"I want you to believe it because it is the truth. If I had a child, a half blood no less," She looked away. She hated being called that. "The Dark Lord would be sorely displeased but also seek to use you to his advantage." She rolled her eyes, the dark look returning. "If I could have, I would have stayed."
"Right. Sure," she said sarcastically. "Can I stand up now?" she asked, her legs cramped in an awkward position. He nodded and she bolted from the chair and turned her back to him. "Now that you've had your say, I will have mine." She gathered her emotions, fighting the urge to release them. "I don't care what bullshit you made yourself believe but this is what I think. You were scared, only married her because her family demanded it. When she told you that she was pregnant with me you were scared yet again and knew this wasn't the life you signed up for so you left her."
"There are so many flaws in that it rivals one of Longbottom's potions!" he snapped.
She had no idea who Longbottom was but she didn't care. "Really?" She slammed her hands on the back of the chair she had been sitting on. "I saw it." She ground out. He stared at her. "Did you enjoy watching my mother get raped, beaten and tortured in front of you?" He paled. "Yes, Snape, I know. I saw it. From the moment your friends came into my house, kidnapping her, I saw it. I heard it!" Tears sprang to her eyes. "I heard her beg, ''Severus, please, help me! Make them stop! PLEASE! Severus!'" Lenore fought her tears but her voice caught, a tear escaping her eye as Snape face grew paler. "How did it feel to watch that? Did you enjoy it? Did laugh with your friends afterwards? Laugh about how weak, and idiotic she was. She begged you! And what did you do, you merely stared. You brought more potions to torture her with."
"Stop." His voice was low and controlled but he was no longer looking at her.
"Stop." She mocked him. "She begged you to do that too. But did you? No. You laughed at her attempts to fight, her strangled sobs, her cries of pain." She was shaking now. "That does not show 'love' to me. That shows blind hatred. Hell not even that! No one could sit through that and not be made of something evil! She was crying! Screaming your name!"
"Stop now." He ordered again, his hands clenching.
"What about her last words? I would have never thought my own mother to be pitiful but great Merlin! She hung onto the image she had of you, this fucked up image of a perfect man until the very end! 'I love you, how disgustingly sentimental,' you said. 'Allow me to dispel this repulsive thing, my Lord. Let us not taint our presence with this filth any longer.' How noble that must have sounded to the woman who loved you not matter what you did to her! Were you trying to save her or were you growing bored of her sobbing cries of help!"
"SHUT UP!" he shouted at her, his eyes burning with rage and something that looked like remorse.
"Yeah, you shouted that at her too. When she was first brought it, you were in front of her as she was brought before Voldemort—(Hard wince passed his face.)—she was begging you to let her go, she had to take care of me. I only had a year left before I hit the Change. You hit her across the face, splitting her lip open, telling her to shut up! 'Shut your mouth, foul woman. Do not speak to me!'" She shook her head. "You should have let me stay in America, at least I'd be safe with my potions professor there. She wanted me. Why did you bring me? You mocked my mother! You—"
Lenore never got a chance to finish because Snape grabbed her gruffly by the arms. "You speak of things you cannot understand!"
"Really! I understand enough to know that you watched her die and then laughed!"
"I had to! What could I have done that wouldn't have gotten us both killed! You needed a parent, one of us had to survive!" he shouted.
"You're no parent! You're a fool! An idiot! A murderer!"
She was more than startled when he slapped her across the face. "I will not allow you to speak in such ways to me!"
She stared at him, shaken. "Let me go." She said numbly. She couldn't believe he had just hit her. Yes she was shouting at him but she had never expected him to hurt her.
Remorse hit his eyes. "Lenore, I—"
"I don't want to hear anymore of it!" she said, tears burning. "Just let me go!"
She wrenched herself from his grasp and took off running. She didn't even think about the false wall as she raced through it and up the stairs. She felt hot tears roll down her cheeks. She hated that man with a fiery passion. She burst into her room and threw herself on the bed. More than anything she wanted to leave, go back home. She wanted a friend but she didn't have one. Not here anyway…
She had to get out of the castle, away from the man. She needed to blow off steam. She grabbed her bag of floo powder and threw it into the fire. She hated traveling by floo but at the moment it didn't matter. She said the first name that came into her head. "Weasley's Wizarding Wheesbys!"
