Emergency Housing

Author's Note: My heart goes out to the victims of the fire in London's Grenfell Tower.

Cokeworth, June 27th, 2017

Severus Snape was enjoying a glass of ale on the stoop of his backdoor on Spinner's End. It had been an unreasonably hot day considering this was England. The Potions master had finished the summer planting in his garden, after the peas had been harvested he had transferred the eggplants and tomatoes from the little greenhouse. He calculated whether he had time for a shower before watching today's match in Wimbledon on TV when a knock on the front door was to be heard. Grumbling the wizard came to his feet. Although he had recovered better than expected from the snake venom his joints protested a half day of gardening.

"Coming!"

The spy glass showed no wizarding visitors. Snape swore under his breath. He had not any longer the need to lash out with his temper at the slightest provocation but did not wish his evening to be interrupted by Jehova's Witnesses. Opening the door with more force than necessary he froze.

"You!"

Tobias Snape had aged, all right, but still he looked better than an alcoholic of 78 years should. The elder man was carrying a small suitcase.

"Severus, please hear me out."

"Why should I? You never did, did you? You never held back, did you? You never gave Mother a chance, did you? You never ever looked beyond the obvious, did you?" Severus's voice had risen, the few people on the street were looking in their direction.

Tobias drew himself up and looked his son into the eye.

"You are right, Severus. I have been a bad husband and a worse father. I know I do not deserve your forgiveness but you should know that I acknowledge what I have done and that I have tried to make up for it these past four decades."

The former spy had calmed down enough to really look at the man in front of him, to use his sense of smell – no alcohol, no cigarettes, only tired desperation. Right now Severus was living well, finally, after having been granted a second and a third chance. Even if he was angry, mostly about himself, because the sight of Snape Sr had woken a deeply ingrained sense of terror, it went against Severus' sense of honour to not at least hear his father out.

"You're on the wagon?"

"32 years, 9 months and 17 days, yes."

The younger man turned around and left the door open. When he had put the kettle on he heard the scraping of the one kitchen chair he never sat on. After he had rummaged in the pantry for some biscuits his father surprised him with preparing his cup just as he had always liked it.

The story was a depressing one. After the devastating fire in London's Grenfell Tower the external cladding of council houses of similar build all over England was checked. In the case of the high-rise block Tobias was living in in Manchester the residents had to be rehoused. And the septuagenarian had been offered a place in an old people's home.

"They said it would take until December to change the cladding. I can't, Severus, I can't live with nurses and a curfew. I tried every mission and men's home in the area. Either I'm too old or not poor enough for them. I hoped with you being away at school most of the time it could work. There's no one else I could ask."

Severus thought it over. He had some options. One was to pay for a room for his father, as he could afford it. The other was to let him stay. The latter option was the more arduous one but even this few minutes had given the Potions master a glimpse of a man completely different to the bane of his childhood. There was one thing Severus had learned the hard way – one should never lie to oneself, should always confront one's deepest fears and that denial was useless in the long term.

"I do not teach at Hogwarts anymore, I work for St Mungo's in London and for the Aurory as a consultant. Will you be all right in my former room? I have to move some books but otherwise it should be fine."

"Of course."

Surprisingly enough the Snape men settled into a quiet routine. Tobias attended at least two AA meetings a week and went to church on Sundays. Severus conducted his research and brewing as usual, only now he got to eat more regularly as his father had taken over the kitchen. The fare he produced tended to be simple. Even if the elder man had proclaimed it to be no problem the younger forwent any alcohol at meals or when watching TV. One particularly short match at Wimbledon prompted the first of several long talks about Eileen Snape née Prince. A chance sight of a tennis match had made her curious enough to explore the Muggle world, the Everly Brother's "Bird Dog" from a juke box had drawn her near a pub. Toby, being late in joining his friends for the dance because of visiting his sick mother in hospital, had spotted the odd girl outside.

The rest was history. The bad parts of which had yet to be tackled.

Wandering through the empty house Severus Snape tried to look at the old building with a critical eye. Tobias was right, there were enough parts that would crumble if not for magic. And while his father was skilled at carpentry the younger man did not think that they could do the necessary renovations alone. He planned to contact his former pupil Gregory Goyle, who had gone to live with a distant cousin after avoiding Azkaban narrowly, had learned those cousin's trade and was now a successful magical carpenter.

The former Slytherin had cleared his calendar to help his old Head of House, looked the house and attic over and proposed a plan. Which was why the Snape men were here now.

"You have that list again, Sev'rus?"

"Yes, of course, you asked two times already." Getting cranky when shopping in a building centre was a trait father and son shared. The blasted place had straight aisles and blinking neon signs and still it was quite easy to get lost and terribly hard to find what you needed. To find a helpful employee was proving as difficult as finding an ashwinder in the Arctic. There – Severus glimpsed a young woman in the green trousers and red t-shirt uniform of the building centre. He hastened his step and caught her before she could vanish between the stacks of paint again.

"Miss, could you please point us to the timber section?"

Turning around she answered, "I am sorry, I have no idea! Could you show me were the tiles are?"

"Well as you work here and I do not that question is m – Ms Granger! I thought you were an Arithmancer? Why are you slaving here?"

"Professor Snape! Why ever would you think that I am working here?"

"Have you gone colour blind? Look at you!"

"Severus, that's no way to talk to a lady!"

"Da, please – "

Hermione Granger's nerves were shot to hell, but still she could appreciate the sight before her. Even without the appellation the relationship was clear, made more apparent by the similar way of dress – jeans, black trainers and checkered shirts – and never in her wildest dreams had she thought of meeting two Snapes here. Taking time off before murdering her boss had seemed the sensible thing to do, trying to keep busy was not a bad idea either, but trying to exchange the pink tiles in her bathroom herself, the Muggle way no less, had turned out disastrous so far. The Snapes seemed to be in a similar state of despair and ready to strangle each other or whoever came nearest. Which was Hermione, at the moment. Choosing to ignore the comment about her dress (did he do renovations in his dress robes?) she reigned her temper in.

"Sir, you were a triple agent, youngest Potions master in four hundred years and you hold more patents than anyone else I know. I had the highest NEWT scores ever and have singlehandedly averted the 2013 money market crash in Muggle and Wizarding economy. We will not be bested by a blasted building centre!"

"Hear, hear, young lady. Toby Snape at your service."

"Hermione Granger, pleased to meet you."

"You have a list, too?" At his father's question Snape Jr mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like `Naturally, colour coded, too.´ which earned him a glare from his father. For the next hour he limited himself to wheeling a trolley after Ms Granger and his father, a trolley that got filled more and more with all the things they needed. Goyle had thought it most sensible to use magic only for the actual work and buy the necessary materials in the Muggle world, which was cheaper, too.

Three weeks later Hermione Granger Apparated to Spinner's End with the plan to invite the Snapes to dinner, or at least Toby, who had been a tremendous help in remodelling her bathroom. Since it no longer resembled Umbridge's office the young Arithmancer hoped to enjoy long baths and good books in there in the future. The backdoor to the garden was still stuck – she was fairly sure that Snape Jr. intended it to be just so – and she nearly bruised her shoulder while pushing it open. Although the sight that greeted her was worth it. Severus Snape was sitting on the stoop blowing soap bubbles, Muggle ones, for a toddler trying to catch them. The child, a sturdy boy of about two, was shrieking in delight and the corners of her former Potions master's mouth were curled upwards in a smile.

"Good afternoon, Mr Snape, good afternoon, young sir."

"Ms Granger," the Potions master's relaxed mood seemed to be gone.

"Hermione, hello!" Snape Sr. on the other hand greeted her with friendliness.

"Have you met little Vince here? He's the son of our carpenter. His dad had to Apparate back to his workshop for a special chisel."

She crouched down to greet the boy who pressed himself closer to Snape Jr.

"Hello Vince! The bubbles are lovely, aren't they?" The child hid his face in the Potion master's side.

"Hermione, come, I'll show you the attic!" The young woman followed Toby upstairs. The roof structure had been reinforced, two windows added and the roof mended.

"It doesn't look like much now but Severus is going to enlarge it with wizarding space."

"I can imagine it. Is this going to be your bedroom?"

"I think Sev's planning a study up here. The council wrote last week, I might be able to go back even earlier than December."

Hermione knew that Toby would have liked to stay with his son but that they had not talked about it yet. She knew that bringing the topic up could very well make her former professor act out of spite. Snape Jr might want to call it tenacity but it was clear from whom he'd inherited his stubbornness.

"When you talk to your son please tell him about your lung."

Two decades of working in the mill had affected Toby Snape's lung, smoking and drinking had not helped. His doctor had given him two years at the most and prognosed slow suffocation in the end. Funnily the air in Cokeworth, now that all the mills and factories had closed, was much better than in Manchester which was why the chronic disease had not been as noticeable. Hermione suspected that Snape Jr knew anyway. But she had grown up since her school days. She no longer tried to champion everyone, despite their willingness or not. The Snapes would work through their problems or not, without any interference from Ms Granger. For now there was a bathroom to celebrate.

"I wondered if you and your son were free for dinner? I wanted to thank you for your help with my bathroom."

"Gladly. I'll ask Sev."

The Potions master protested that he hadn't done any work but when Hermione argued that he had to Apparate his father every day to her flat he relented and they took off for a pub in the area with outdoor seating and good food after Greg had finished.

Cokeworth, November 21st, 2019

The wake for Tobias Snape was held in the same pub they had celebrated Hermione's new bathroom. Severus had known about his father's illness, had worked to find a potion to help him but in the end could only ease the symptoms and keep him comfortable until he passed over in his sleep. Toby never returned to his council flat. The last few months he needed a lot of help and during the last weeks he was unable to leave his bed. But he still enjoyed tea with Hermione Granger-Laitinen every other week. The Arithmancer had left the ministry to work for Gringotts International where she'd met her now husband Onni Laitinen.

Because Severus was using potions and other magical means – an oxygen charm next to the bed, a charmed portal to transport Toby's chair from upstairs to the living room or the garden – he had looked for a nurse and had found Irene Shafiq. She was a witch with enough magic to call the Knight Bus and brew simple potions but not enough for Hogwarts and therefore had gotten her education in the Muggle world. For the Snapes she was a godsend and from the look of it Severus would continue the acquaintance. Hermione winced as her baby was particularly active today. Six more weeks and her first child would be born. Onni and she did not know yet whether they would have a boy or a girl but Tobias had made the short list for names for a son.

Fin