Rose reappeared down the road from their cottage. She filled her lungs with clean air and coughed once to get the putridness of the flat out of her lungs. She was making a mental list of everything she would need tomorrow if she truly was going to care for her father-in-law. She walked slowly through the night her legs protesting against going home. She had no idea how she would ever explain this to Severus.
Rose stepped inside the house. It was dark and quiet. Rose wasn't sure but it must have been around 2:00 am.
The lights suddenly turned on. Rose was momentarily blinded by the brightness. She squinted against the light to see only a dark figure storming towards her.
Severus was suddenly gripping her hard on the shoulders. Rose expelled a sharp gasp of air. Severus held her at arm's length, running his keen eyes up and down her body several times. When he was convinced that no harm had come to her, his face distorted into a cold, hard mask.
"Where have you been?" Severus said in a venomous whisper.
Rose stared blankly at her husband. "I-" Rose did not know where to begin. She felt like a naughty child who had gotten caught sneaking out of the house. She had to remind herself that she was, in fact, an adult who could come and go as she pleased. "I went for a walk," Rose said.
Severus dropped his hands from her so quickly Rose was momentarily taken off balance and tripped back a few steps. "In the middle of the night?" he asked, his eyes widening with anger, but his voice was a forced calm.
"Yes," she said shortly. She had never feared Severus's anger before, but she did now. She knew she had crossed a line.
A shadow fell over his face. He moved so that he was right in front of her and glared down from the end of his nose. "Don't. lie. to. me," he hissed.
"Severus," Rose pleaded.
"Mum," Ephraim appeared in the room. His eyes were red and swollen. His lip quivered as he saw her. He ran towards her and wrapped his arms around her and began to sob into her shoulder.
Rose hugged her son to her, looking horrified at Severus.
"Ephraim had a nightmare," Severus told her coldly. "He woke up looking for you, but you were nowhere to be found. You left no note. You left your mirror behind."
Rose stared down at Ephraim. "I'm so sorry," she said, pressing her cheek against the top of his head and squeezed him tighter. Ephraim hadn't had a nightmare in months. The stress of seeing Severus upset this afternoon, plus his suspected behavior once he realized Rose was missing from the house surely did not help to calm their son down.
"Where were you?" Ephraim asked brokenly, peaking up at his mother with wet eyes.
Rose was not looking at Severus, but she felt his glare upon her. "I stepped out for some fresh air," Rose answered guiltily. It was bad enough that she was blatantly lying to Severus but now she was lying to her son too.
Severus took a step back from her as if disgusted by her lack of honesty.
By the look Ephraim was giving her, he did not seem to believe her story either. However, from his state, he didn't seem to care much where she had gone, only that she was with him now.
"Go with your mother," Severus told his son, his voice much gentler than with Rose. "Go sleep in our room."
Telling their son to sleep in their bedroom, though a kindness, made it perfectly clear that Severus had no intension of laying down next to his lying wife.
Rose opened her mouth to speak but Severus scowled at her and took a seat in one of the armchairs. He extended Rose a look that clearly told her that he would be there waiting for her when she was through with their son, no matter how long it took.
"Come on, Sweetheart," Rose said, ushering Ephraim from the room. She threw Severus a final nervous look, in which he met with deep contempt.
It took a couple hours for Ephraim to settle down again. Rose did her best to completely focus on her son's needs and address his fears. Ephraim told Rose about the torment that he relived at night and the small child that he couldn't let go of. Rose soothed him, telling him again and again that he was safe and loved, and protected. Ephraim finally fell asleep gripping Rose's hand. Every time Rose saw Ephraim struggle with nightmares or be pulled into dark thoughts during the day, Rose was vividly reminded of the hatred she had for those who hurt her son. Then why, she wondered, was she abled to stand right in front of Tobias Snape and not look upon him with the same type of loathing.
Rose made her way into the sitting room; her body was both tired and alert with anticipation and anxiety. The summer night was fading into a dim, misty morning. Severus stood as soon as he saw her. He pointed his wand towards the bedrooms and the air at the entrance of the hall shimmered slightly. He did not want them overheard by the children.
Rose had hoped the time she was with Ephraim would have allowed some of Severus's anger to fade, but as she looked at her approaching husband she knew the time only gave him the opportunity to build upon his internal fire that boiled his blood.
He stared down at her with a look of utter disgust. "What have you to say, Rose?" Severus asked her, his scowl deepening all the while.
Rose inhaled. "What would you like me to say, Severus?" she answered in a small voice.
"How was your walk?" Severus asked in a cold hiss.
Rose's eyes fell.
"You have no talent for deceit," Severus told her sharply. "I can see right through you. Even if it was not for the thick stench of caraway in the air from your locating spell."
She met his gaze again. "It wasn't my intention to deceive you," Rose told him.
Severus's eyes flashed with a fresh burst of fiery. "Really?" he questioned sardonically. "Your actions seem to suggest otherwise."
"I was going to tell you," Rose said, "I just knew you wouldn't have let me go. I couldn't stand to see you so upset. My plan was to wipe his memory and send him to Timbuktu or wherever, so that you would never have to see him again."
Severus's face softened slightly for just a moment and then he realized Rose's use of past tense. "Your plan 'was'?"
She had just wanted so badly to protect him. "I couldn't go through with it." She was so ashamed. "I had every intension to do it but-"
"But what?" Severus said. His voice was no more than a whisper, but Rose withered under the intensity of his glaze.
"Severus, your father is dying," Rose told him.
Severus did not react to the news; his face was carved in stone.
"I got there and the place was a mess and he was such a mess and so sick," Rose explained hurriedly. "The spell you had casted years ago did not fully work on him. He remembered you, in a way, all these years. I took the enchantment off him and I believe he's remorseful. I think he wants to make amends before he dies."
Severus stared at Rose as if he had never quite seen her before and what he found in front of him was clearly not to his liking. "I will modify his memory. As I had planned," he said.
"Severus," Rose began.
"Tell me where he lives." Severus said coldly.
"Severus."
"Now," he hissed.
"No," Rose said.
"No?" Severus flexed his left hand once, making the muscle twitch in his forearm where his dark mark had been.
"No," Rose confirmed. "I want you to consider-"
"I will find out for myself," Severus said, walking towards the kitchen. He was planning to find Tobias exactly how Rose had. But that wouldn't work. Rose had shielded the location before she left.
"The place can't be located by magic," Rose mumbled.
Severus whipped around, wand in his fist.
Rose was ready for this. She instantly tried to clear her mind, imagining an invisible forcefield around her brain. Severus's legilimency was strongly pushing against her skull. The pressure built as she fought back.
Rose brought her hands up to her head. "Stop," she cried, "You're hurting me."
Instantly the pain stopped. Taken off balance, Rose fell to her knees.
Severus's anger momentarily was replaced, looking as if he were in pain too. He took a step towards Rose. She instinctively flinched. Severus took a step back. His grip slackened on his wand and he starred down at his wife, his eyes blank once more.
Rose did not bother standing up but sat on the floor with her husband towering over her.
"Why are you protecting him?" Severus asked in a dead tone.
"I was trying to protect you," she muttered.
Severus stepped slowly over to where Rose sat. He then glared down at her. Rose could have never imagined that she would have been at the receiving end of that look of loathing. "I don't need your protection," Severus said in a barely audible hiss.
Rose wanted to fuse into the floorboards as if he had shouted at her, but instead she forced herself to slowly stand. "I was only thinking of you," Rose told him, trying to keep her voice strong.
Suddenly a vase exploded behind them. Rose jumped and swung around to see who had caused it, but she realized after only a moment that it was Severus. She had never seen him loose control over his magic before.
He was radiating hot anger; Rose could almost feel the heat coming off him. "If you had been thinking of me, you would not have gone looking for him," his voice rose in volume and shook slightly, his eyes deranged. "It was thoughtless. 'You' were thoughtless."
"I was going to modify his memory," Rose pleaded. "I swear that I was. He was just so sick, and he asked about you. Maybe if you make peace with him-"
"PEACE," Severus broke in. "There is no peace with that man. But how could you possibly know, how could you possibly understand." His statement was not an allowance, it was a condemnation.
"Severus," Rose begged. "I've seen how your father has had an effect on you. I know how much it bothers you. I love you, Severus. I just want to help you with this because I love you so much.
He was clearly unimpressed with her words. "Anyone who truly knew me, would know that this is not something to be done out of love," he spat. "You should have known better." He looked like he was about to say something else.
Rose could hear the words in the back of Severus throat, waiting to be spoken. "Say it," Rose tested. "Say what you're thinking."
Severus's eyes flashed. "Lily would have known better."
Even though she knew that's what Severus was thinking, she hadn't expected it to sting so much hearing it out loud. "Well of course perfect Lily would never do such a thing," Rose said quickly matching his anger. "She knew you much better than your wife and the mother of your children."
"You said you've seen how much Tobias affects me, how much it 'bothers' me," Severus returned. "Well you haven't. You know nothing of it."
"But Lily did," Rose finished for him coldly.
Severus stared at Rose through narrowed eyes. "She was not perfect," he told Rose, "But she was the nearest to it that I've even seen."
Rose stumbled back slightly as if Severus had hit her. Every fear she'd ever had was validated in his single phrase.
Severus raised his wand and his cloak flew through the air and he caught it in his fist. He immediately started for the door.
"Where are you going?" Rose called after him.
Severus turned at the door. "The school," he answered.
"You tell me not to leave when I'm angry," Rose said through a shaking voice. "The same doesn't apply to you?"
Severus hesitated for a moment, pressing his lips together and gazing off in a spot slightly above her head. "I do not want the children to be around this," Severus told her, "and quite frankly, I can't stand to look at you." With that Severus stepped into the night without a backwards glance.
Rose pressed her back against the closed door and slid to the ground. She clasped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sobs.
Rose usually felt strongly about her decisions. It was right to be with Tiberius despite the danger. It was right to heal Severus despite the allegations against him. It was right to marry Severus because they loved each other. It seemed all too right to help Tobias Snape in the moment, to not leave a dying man on the filthy bathroom floor. It also seemed right to grant his request to keep his memories. That is what Rose's deepest moral compass told her to do. Now she was questioning right and wrong. Who deserved to suffer in this world? Surely anybody who hurt a child. Who deserved mercy? Those who show remorse?