Chapter 20: Ephraim Fayden

Rose eased Severus's classroom door open only a fraction of an inch. "I do not have high expectation of any of you." Rose heard Severus say. "Very few individuals appreciate the subtle art and exact science of potion making." Severus paused. His voice was no more than a low hiss. "However, I do expect you to pay attention and to not make idiotic mistakes that result in injury to yourself or others." Rose smirked to herself. She couldn't imagine that any student would be brave enough to ever cross Professor Snape. "Mr. Temple, your ten-inch essays on the proper use of beetle eyes in potion making will be due on my desk by next lesson. With that, class dismissed."

Rose opened the door as the students began collecting their belongings. There was a definite burnt smell in the air like someone had blown up something. The students were all exceedingly small. They must be first year students. Severus was already making a reputation for himself as the most intimidating teacher at Hogwarts.

Severus stood at his desk. He was focused on a roll of parchment he was reading with a frown. He had not noticed Rose come in. Many of the students eyed her as they passed through the door. Rose gave them encouraging smiles as if to tell them 'don't worry, he is actually not so bad.'

Severus looked up from his reading, just as all but one student remained, a boy in green and silver robes packed his bookbag with extreme care.

"What are you doing here," Severus said bluntly.

Rose laughed. "It's nice to see you too," she said.

Severus moved towards her. It had been a week since term began and their only contact had been nightly conversations through the mirrors. It felt like an eternity compared to their daily meetings before term. He stood right in front of her. His blood boiling with her presence.

Rose ran her palms over both his arms. Severus stiffened, his eyes fell upon the lone boy. Rose let her hands fall.

"Mr. Fayden," Severus said, turning towards the stray student.

The boy looked up in surprise to be noticed. The boy was very thin, his chin formed a sharp point, and his cheeks were not a childish round, but hallow. He had clear blue eyes that looked too large, sunken, and surrounded by dark rings on his pale face. This child looked like he had never had a proper night's sleep in his young life. He had unkempt, light brown colored hair. Everything about this boy said neglect.

"If you move any slower, you will miss dinner," Severus said. Severus did not speak harshly to the boy. He clearly saw what Rose did too.

"I'm not very hungry," the boy mumbled as he stood up.

"Perhaps try and eat a little something," Rose chimed in, afraid that the boy would just wither away.

The boy eyed her skeptically. "Who are you?" he sneered.

Rose grinned, feeling relieved that at least the child had enough strength to have an attitude. "I'm Rose," she told him. "I'm Professor Snape's girlfriend."

The boy looked from Rose to Severus with suspicion.

Rose eyed Severus. He looked momentarily taken aback. To his knowledge, she had never called herself that before. She did say that she loved him, but to just call herself his to a complete stranger, seemed far too normal and did not seem to match the rest of his life.

Severus recovered. "Don't over think it," he said to the student. "Go on, then."

Rose and Severus watched the boy leave the classroom and shut the door hard behind him.

"He seems…" Rose began.

"I know," Severus confirmed. "I think he is going bullied by the other students."

"Have you caught them doing it?"

Severus shook his head. "He always lingers after class and he is always alone." Severus said bitterly. "It doesn't help matters that he is a Slytherin and a muggle-born."

"But why would that matter anymore?" Rose said under her breath.

Severus threw her a look that clearly said, 'you are smarter than that.'

Rose looked sadly at the door that the boy had just exited.

Severus gently touched her cheek and turned her face towards his own. "Now tell me what you're doing her," he said, pulling her attention away from the boy. "I thought you were going to wait for me at the Three Broomsticks."

"I was," she told him. "I got there early. But I met Hagrid and he asked me if I was 'Snape's girl' and I told him that I was." She smirked at Severus. Amusement was visible behind Severus's black eyes. "Hagrid helped me get onto the grounds. Are you upset that I'm here?"

Severus placed his hands on her hips and pulled her into him, a light smile playing on his lips. "I'm not upset," he told her.

"Good," she said. "I wanted to see you in action. This whole professor thing really does it for me."

"Is that so?" Severus said in a low voice before leaning in to kiss her.

Rose pulled away slightly and grinned. "Perhaps going to the Three Broomsticks would have been a mistake," she said, feeling Severus's growing erection press into her abdomen.

Severus kissed her again. "Perhaps," he hissed, his mouth still against hers.

He quickly led her to his private rooms.

Several hours later, Rose was again wearing the black t-shirt she had brought Severus when he had been in her care. It had become unofficially hers now. She sat cross legged facing Severus.

Severus sat fully clothed on the bed, his legs outstretched in front of him. Rose had barely been able to unfasten a few buttons on his robes before her need for him was too intense to take the time to further undress him.

Rose was now telling Severus about work that day. It was already nearly midnight and they had not left the bedroom.

Severus liked to listen to Rose talk about her life outside their relationship. Her stories were always so vibrant and unmistakably innocent. However, Severus would often feel jealous. He did not like sharing her with the rest of the world. Every time Rose would mention another man, if only in passing, Severus could not help but imagine that man's eyes crawling over Rose's body. He didn't want anyone to think they could take what was his. Severus feared that if someone tried, they would succeed.

"Someday, we are actually going to have to go outside," Rose said.

"Why," Severus sneered, pulling her towards him and kissing her lip that had become so familiar to him.

They had already made love three times that night. "We will never get anything done," Rose laughed. "But I guess that's typical with any new relationships, it's hard to do anything else at first and then as time goes on, you settle down a bit."

Severus frowned. "I wouldn't know," he said a little uncomfortably. He didn't know what made him say it. Rose was his personal brand of veritaserum. And he also did not like her comparing what they had to 'any new relationship.' His frown transfigured into a scowl.

Rose looked at him curiously. "We've never really discussed this," she said, "I mean I know that you'd never, you know, before me, but-"

"There is nothing to discuss," Severus confirmed bitterly.

"You've never dated anyone?" Rose asked.

His scowl deepened. "Had you thought I had?" Severus said in a hard tone.

Rose pondered this for a moment. She knew that Severus and Lily had been school friends. Well he hadn't told her that, they never talked about Lily. Rose learned most of her information about Severus's past from his trial when the panel from the wizengamot was reporting on his memories. Then Rose knew that Severus became a deatheater at 19. But deatheaters are not celibate nuns.

"Severus, I just assumed that you..."

"Well you assumed wrong," Severus told her roughly.

Rose shrugged. She suddenly felt uneasy. Rose knew that Severus's love for Lily ran deep, but his devotion for her took on a new meaning if he truly had sustained completely from all other woman.

"What," Severus said defensively.

"Nothing," Rose said, "it's just you're 39."

Severus's face darkened and he felt his neck get hot with embarrassment.

Rose immediately caught hold of his anger. "That came out wrong," she said quickly.

"Perhaps you would prefer a man in which you are just another name on a list," Severus scolded.

"Severus," Rose sighed. "That's not what I meant at all. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to learn more about you." She touched his hand lightly. He did not pull away, but he did not return her gentle touch either. "This is the part where you are supposed to accept my apology."

Severus narrowed his eyes at her and then looked away. "How many have there been before me?"

Rose's eyes widened. "This does not seem like a great conversation to be having."

"Just answer me," Severus ordered in a hushed but fierce tone.

"Severus," Rose pleaded.

Severus looked at her with raised brows and his mouth was distorted into a cruel leer. "As evident from your behavior that night I found you before the ball, perhaps you have lost count."

"Okay," Rose said angrily. "I guess we are going to have this discussion." She took in a deep breath. "You are the fourth man I have slept with."

Severus stared at her, his face blank as if trying to decide what he thought about the number four.

"Any follow up questions?" Rose asked bitterly.

Severus pressed his lips together. "Who were they," he said slowly.

"There was a neighbor boy that I had a crush on growing up, the summer after I finished school we had a little fling and then I left to study healing and that was the end of it. Then there was another healer that I dated briefly, then Tiberius and then you. Happy?"

"No, not really," Severus told her.

"Well not all of us have the perseverance to pine after one person for nearly three decades," Rose retorted.

Severus stood from the bed, turning his back to her before he said something he would regret.

Rose watched him from where she sat. She knew she stuck a nerve and she didn't care. Severus had borderline called her easy. "What was it about her?" Rose blurted, hurt evident in her tone. "I think I would have preferred if you had slept with a thousand woman before me, rather than just holding on to 'her' perfect memory."

Severus turned slowly to look at her. Rose was fuming before him. "Are you," Severus surveyed her, "jealous?"

Rose's eyes darkened. "Of course, I'm jealous," she admitted freely. "Every time I think of Lily, I feel so insecure. Which is not something I enjoy feeling."

"And you don't think I feel similarly," Severus retorted, "when I see that chain around your neck with the ring 'he' gave you."

Rose pressed her hand to her chest where the ring rested. She vaguely wondered if Lily's photograph was once again tucked under the mattress. Hopefully Severus would have had enough sense to have moved it.

Rose looked at Severus with wide eyes before carefully unclasping the chain around her neck. She squeezed her engagement ring once in her hand, took in a sharp breath, and placed the ring into Severus's unexpecting palm.

Severus stared down at the ring and then back at Rose. Her eyes began to glisten with forming tears, but she forced them back.

Severus sat beside her once more. Then with a pounding heart, Severus slid the ring from the chain, took up Rose's right hand, and slipped the ring on her finger.

A lone tear escaped Rose's eye and rolled silently down her soft cheek.

Severus set the chain aside and then pulled Rose into his arms. "You know I love you," he whispered.

Rose nodded against his chest. "Did you ever notice other woman before me?" Rose asked.

Severus let out a humorless laugh. "Your logic is so twisted," Severus told her. He sighed. "Of course, I noticed other woman." He took her hand in his. He thoughtfully fiddled with Tiberius's ring on her finger. "But things were different before I met you."

Rose looked up and surveyed him skeptically. "How so?"

"Rose," he began, "I have barely touched a woman before you. When I was 17, I kissed Eloise Burke, a girl in my year. I was trying…"

"To let go of Lily," Rose finished.

"And that is the extent of it. She was pox faced and tasted of ham sandwiches."

Rose burst out laughing.

A small smile formed on Severus's lips. "Believe it or not, despite my sculped features and charismatic personality, woman don't usually throw themselves at me."

Rose pressed her lips together.

"Even if they did," Severus continued, "it never seemed worth it before."

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"Because," Severus said, "they weren't you."

Rose was momentarily dumbfounded. She then recovered and rolled her eyes. "You are laying it on thick, aren't you," she teased. Then her face grew serious. "What is it about me?" She wondered how she could have ever compared to Lily Potter in his eyes.

"I don't know," Severus admitted.

"Not exactly the answer I was looking for," Rose replied.

Severus smirked. "What I meant to say is," Severus told her, "it is not just that you are kind, smart, and beautiful." His voice became a barely audible whisper. "You make me feel like I'm enough, like for five minutes I don't have to be constantly looking over my shoulder or trying to be something else." He paused and rested his cheek against the top of her head. "I don't know how you've done it."

"Me neither," Rose said with a smile, "but I'm glad I did." Severus had never opened up to her as much as he did right now. This was progress.

There was suddenly a loud knocking coming from a slight distance. Severus stood at once. Rose followed, grabbing her black jeans from the ground and pulled them on under the oversized t-shirt she was wearing. She slipped on her shoes.

Rose followed closely behind Severus to his office door.

Severus swung the door open to reveal a sour faced teenage boy in a green and silver robes over pajama bottoms. The boy had a prefect's badge pinned to his robes.

"Professor," the boy said, "I'm sorry to disturb you." The boy's eyes widened slightly as he caught sight of Rose behind his teacher.

"What is it, Thompson?" Severus pressed irritably.

"It's the first-year boys, Sir," Thompson explained. "They are fighting in their dormitory."

Severus turned to Rose, "I will be right back," he sighed as he made to follow the prefect.

Rose followed them.

Severus eyed her from his peripherals and rolled his eyes, but he did not say a word.

The Slytherin common room was decorated in green and silver. Rose recognized that it was under the lake just like Severus's rooms.

The prefect hurried them down a long hall. Commotion could be heard as they got closer to the door at the end to the hall. Voices were shouting at each other and some were cheering and chanting.

Other students peered from their rooms. They mumbled as they saw Professor Snape rush by them. They mumbled even more when they saw Rose following behind him.

Severus stepped in front of the prefect and opened the dormitory door. The room glowed with a bright blueish light.

Severus and Rose stepped in.

The light was coming from a huge orb surrounding one of the beds. That boy, the one who lingered after Severus's class sat in the middle of orb. The other boys laughed and threw pillows and books at the orb. The objects would bounce back and fly across the room. Occasionally things would break through the protective light and hit the boy or land in his bed.

None of the children saw Severus at first.

"Enough," Severus said in a carrying voice to be heard over the first years.

The boys throwing things froze in mid toss. The glowing orb faltered and went out.

The boy Rose had met earlier sat with his knees to his chest, angry tears streamed from his eyes, and his lower lip was swollen and bleeding. Rose looked around the room. Another boy had a bloody nose and a bruise forming around his eye.

Severus surveyed the scene angrily. "What is the meaning of this?" he hissed menacingly.

No one answered him. They just looked from peer to peer nervously.

"Well?" Severus pressed.

The boy with the bloody nose came forth. "Ephraim attacked me, Professor," he said.

Both Rose and Severus's eyes fell on the boy sitting in the bed.

Something about the little smirk on the bloody nosed boy's face did not make Rose trust him.

"Ephraim was screaming in his sleep," another boy chimed in. "And look he wet the bed." The boy pointed and the other boys around him laughed.

The boy, Ephraim's face turned bright red.

"Silence," Severus ordered.

The laughter stopped at once.

"Matthews." Severus indicated the boy with the nose bleed. "Go clean up your face." He turned to the room at large. "The rest of you, back to bed. We will discuss punishments in the morning. But for now, 20 points from Slytherin."

A couple of the boys groaned.

Rose and Severus exchanged a quick glance.

Rose stepped forward. "Ephraim," she said gently. The boy turned his reddened eyes towards Rose. She reached out to put a soft hand on his shoulder. Ephraim instinctively flinched at her touch.

His pajama bottoms and surrounding sheets were wet.

"Come on" Rose whispered to him. Indicating that he should stand. Ephraim eyed her for a moment before doing as she asked. The blanket on the bed appeared to be dry so Rose draped it over the boy's shoulders. "Grab some dry pajamas and we'll leave."

Ephraim rummaged through his trunk quickly and produced a bundled of clothes. Rose took it from him and led him out of the dormitory.

Severus followed behind them. "All of you in bed, now," he demanded before closing the door.

The curious older students quickly shut their doors too as they saw Professor Snape swiftly walking up the hallway.

Once in the corridor away from the other Slytherins, Rose paused and knelt in front of Ephraim. She examined his swollen lip. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" she asked the boy.

Ephraim grimaced at Rose and shook his head.

Rose nodded and then looked back at Severus. "Let's take him back to your rooms," she said, "and he can get cleaned up."

Severus nodded curtly. He eyed the neglected, battered boy. He seemed to be sinking deep within himself, clearly embarrassed and frightened.

Once in Severus's rooms. Rose showed Ephraim the bathroom and handed him back his dry clothes. "Go ahead and clean up. Just leave your wet pajama's in the tub for now. We can take care of them in the morning."

Ephraim nodded at Rose and then disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Rose walked over to the sofa in Severus's little siting room. She pulled out her wand and tapped it twice. The sofa transfigured into a single, plush bed, with warm thick covers and fluffy pillows.

Severus sent Rose a quizzical look. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing," Rose replied, adjusting the pillow on the bed.

"He can't sleep here," Severus protested.

"Well we can't send him back to his dormitory tonight," Rose said. "You know as well as I do, that the moment you leave, those little brats are going to attack him again."

"I will take him to the hospital wing," Severus said.

Rose moved over to Severus, standing right in front of him. She gently placed her hands on his arms. "He doesn't have anyone here, Severus. It would be good if he knew that he could rely on someone. He needs to feel safe coming to someone if he is being bullied."

"And you think he would want to come to me," Severus said with exasperation.

"You are his head of house," Rose pointed out.

Severus narrowed his eyes at her.

"Please, Severus," Rose said far too sweetly. Her eyes poured into his.

"Fine," Severus told her roughly. She was soon going to figure out that he did not have the power to refuse her anything.

Rose grinned and stood on her toes to plant a kiss on his lips. Severus smirked and took Rose by the hips, pulling her closer still and kissing her again.

Ephraim cleared his throat. He stood in clean pajamas looking awkwardly from Rose to his professor. His pajamas were far too big on him and the pant legs dragged on the floor.

Severus stepped away from Rose at once. Rose grinned to herself.

"Ephraim," Rose greeted, "you will be sleeping here tonight, okay?"

Ephraim looked at Rose with mistrust, his eyes still red rimmed.

"Let Rose look at your lip," Severus told the boy coarsely. "She's a healer."

"Will you come sit on the bed, Ephraim?" Rose said softly.

Ephraim did not move but continued to look towards Severus as if waiting for permission.

Severus nodded. "I have dreamless sleep potion I can give you," Severus said before exiting the room.

Hesitantly, the boy sat on the bed. Rose sat beside him.

"May I touch our face?" Rose asked, remembering how the boy had flinched away at her touch before.

Ephraim looked for a moment as if he would refuse. He glanced at the spot where Professor Snape was standing. He then gave Rose a curt nod.

Rose slowly reached out to grasp Ephraim's chin. She examined his bloody and swollen lip. "I know a quick spell that will fix it up," Rose told him, but she did not reach for her wand at once. She waited for the boy to absorb her words before she pointed her wand in his face.

Wordlessly, Rose waved her wand and the boys mouth returned to its normal state.

Rose released Ephraim's chin and he reached up to feel his lips.

Rose gave the boy a sad little smile. "Will you tell me what happened back there?"

Ephraim looked away from the healer. His hands instinctively balled into fists. "I had a nightmare," Ephraim answered her roughly. "And I…" He trailed off, his face turning bright red. "The other boys woke up and…" Ephraim shrugged. Rose could pretty much put two and two together.

"Do you often have nightmares?" Rose asked knowingly. The boy was still not looking at her, but his slight body began to shake. "Ephraim?" Rose pressed gently. She reached out to touch his shoulder but stopped herself, not wanting to alarm him.

"I thought they had stopped," he said in a choked voice as he suppressed a sob.

Severus walked back in at that moment. He eyed Ephraim Fayden looking healed but utterly miserable. Rose looked distressed as she watched the child.

"Ephraim," Severus said softy, kneeling before the child so they were at eye level. Severus handed the boy a small vial of potion, the cork already off. "Drink this, you'll sleep soundly."

Ephraim looked at the vial nervously and made no move to drink it.

Severus sighed. "It's not poison," he said, a twinge of impatience in his voice.

Ephraim sniffed and took the draft from Severus. He drained it in one swallow. Immediately the effects of the potion began to take effect.

Severus and Rose could see the child's eyelids grow heavy.

Rose moved from the bed and urged the boy to get under the covers. She carefully tucked the blankets around him, trying her best not to make too much contact with him to avoid making him uncomfortable.

Severus stood back as Rose fused over the boy. Severus observed as the child watched Rose warily through his drowsy eyes. The whisper of tears shun in Ephraim's eyes. Rose saw it too.

Without much thought, Rose reached out and stroked Ephraim's hair. His breath was heavy at first, but he did not draw away. Rose knelt beside him and continued to brush at his hair. She felt the boy ease beneath her finger tips.

Severus, still onlooking from a foot away, could see that calming power that radiated off Rose work on Ephraim Fayden. Any creator she touched instinctively knew that she meant them no harm. Severus suspected that the boy would not need a dreamless sleep potion if he had Rose to put him to bed nightly. Rose's mere presence could ward off the worst of nightmares. At least it did for Severus.

The boy rolled over on his side and quickly fell asleep. Rose pulled the covers up close to his cheeks as if to protect him.

"Severus," She whispered, her eyes were wide, and she looked so troubled.

"What is it?" Severus replied.

"Come look," Rose said in a barely audible whisper.

Severus moved in closer to where Rose was still knelt beside the boy. She brushed back his shaggy hair from the nap of his neck. There were several tot, shiny, white, little circular scares peaking from the top of Ephraim's collar.

"Are those what I think they are?" Rose asked Severus with horror.

Severus scowled deeply as he bent to get a closer look. "If you think they are burns," he confirmed, "then yes."

Rose looked disgusted. "Who would to such a thing?" she asked. "His parents?" She looked up at Severus for the answers. The boy appeared to be used to put out cigarette buds.

Severus held his hand out to her to help her stand. Rose took it and straightened her legs.

"I don't know," Severus breathed, "but I intend to find out."

Both Rose and Severus gave the boy on last lingering stare before going back to bed themselves.

The next morning, against his protestations, a portrait of Phineas Nigellus was hung in the first year Slytherin dormitory. Another portrait was hung in Severus's quarters.

"What an unpleasant place to be, surrounded by loud, sticky, prepubertal boys," Nigellus complained.

"You took a vow to protect the students of this school," Severus pointed out.

"I take it back," Nigellus complained. "Besides, a 'muggle-born' Slytherin. Every time this happens I think the sorting hat is losing its wits." Severus noted the portraits use of 'muggle-born' after Severus had scolded him for using another derogatory term last year.

Severus also had a conversation with the headmistress. Minerva informed Severus that Ephraim Fayden had been moving between foster homes and group homes, which was just the softer name for orphanages. Minerva explained that Ephraim had a history of acting out and "strange things" would follow, resulting in Ephraim being sent to a new home multiple times per year. This has been going on for the last four years. "I will see to having him placed with a wizarding family during the summers. Or perhaps another home for children with magic." More and more of these homes had opened recently, both magical and muggle, due to the surplus of orphaned children that followed Lord Voldemort's return to power.

"What happened to the boy's parents?" Severus wondered.

"He was taken from them," Minerva said somberly, "for their abusive behavior."

That would explain the burns. Severus wondered what other harm had come to the boy in his family's care. "Was it for his magic?" Severus asked bitterly. He thought of his muggle father's hatred of magic. And based on the protective field that Ephraim had produced last night, it was clear that he would be a powerful wizard, enough to make any muggle envious or terrified.

"I couldn't be sure," Minerva said. She eyed Severus, remembering him at school, with the same neglected air about him.

When Severus had told Rose what he had learned, she openly wept for the child. She barely knew Ephraim Fayden and she looked as though her heart was broken. Rose did not tell Severus that the boy made her think of him. She imagined Severus to be the same way as a child, serious, with a clever face, forced to grow up too fast.

As the first couple months of school ensued, Severus would bring a vial of dreamless sleep potion to Ephraim every night in the Slytherin dormitory. When Rose was with Severus, she too would come.

At first, Ephraim felt embarrassed to have his potions master visit him at his bedside. Though none of the other boys would dare say a word with Professor Snape there, muffled comments usually followed later in the night or in the corridors between classes. The portrait of the cranky looking wizard kept the boys from hurting Ephraim physically at least.

Despite everything, Ephraim felt a sense of security knowing that Professor Snape was looking after him. Even though, Snape said very little to Ephraim, he noticed his watchful eyes from across the great hall and how the professor's gaze followed him safely out the door at the end of potions class. Ephraim never had that before, someone protecting him.

The healer, Rose, became a weekly fixture in Ephraim's life. At least twice a week, she would be knelt beside his bed, with Snape standing beside her. She would watch him take his potion and he would hand her the empty vial. She always smiled so kindly at him. She was pretty and nice, and she smelled like flowers. She would rest her hand beside his; when their flesh touched, Ephraim did not draw away, instead he would ease his fingers nearer to hers.

Rose would say sweet things to him like, "Professor Snape tells me that you have a natural talent for potion making" or she would ask him about his school work. She would check if he was warm enough and ask him how he was feeling.

Ephraim would talk to her in quick whispers, not wanting the other boys to hear and share their moment.

Severus would listen intently to Ephraim with Rose, but never would comment. He let sweet Rose reply. Severus saw the boy's eagerness to talk to her and how he was starving for the nurturing presence of a woman.

Ephraim's time to talk to Rose was so brief. Throughout the day, he would prioritize what he most wanted to say to her, just in case he ran out of time to tell her everything.

Rose always looked so pleased to listen to him speak and she praised him often.

With the healer's gentle attentions and Professor Snape's protection, Ephraim wondered if that was what it felt like to have real parents.