Chapter 16

Eileen embraced Severus when he got home, having travelled in Tiberius' carriage. Severus thought she looked younger.

"Mum, you've got so pretty!" he blurted out.

Tears filled her eyes.

"Oh, Sev! I am sorry I let you get caught in spells sometimes. I don't know what I was thinking of; I couldn't think all the time, just trying to get some retaliation in first. How you've grown!"

"It's all right, mum," Severus was uncomfortable with his mother's tears. Crying because his father had beaten her, he could understand. This was weird. "I'm sorry if I upset you."

"You didn't," she hugged him fiercely. "I … I am glad to be pretty for my boy. I haven't been any sort of mother. I've realised that since your grandfather took me away from Tobias. I wasn't good to you at all, and I didn't protect you from him. Can you forgive me?"

"Yeah, sure," said Severus. "When I'm grown I'm going to knock his block off. And do it without magic too. When I've learned enough from granddad."

"He was so sweet when I first knew him," sighed Eileen. "Protective. And when he first learned about magic, he was fine with it. It was when he found out magic could hex people that he got mad, and when he was shouting, you did your first accidental magic and electrocuted him."

"So it's my fault he beat on us?"

"No! No it's his fault that he didn't accept that magic is like any tool, it can do good or bad, and that little kids protect themselves in the only way their instinct knows how. And I managed to stop him beating you for it, because that might have made you stop using magic, and I thought he'd understood. But it was then he started drinking. He hadn't realised how different we are, and he didn't want to know. It's not your fault. It's not even my fault. It's his problem and he can't handle it."

Severus thought about this.

"If he knew about the wizarding world when you got married, he has no excuse for getting mad about it later," he said. "And I know he bets on Quidditch."

"It started when I cast a grooming charm on him when he was going to work," said Eileen. "It wasn't even a hex, but he went ballistic that I could do something to him without his permission or being able to stop it. And I said something like 'oh come on, it's only a grooming charm, it's not like I was hexing your knees backwards,' and he grabbed me and shook me and demanded to know if that was possible. And you'd have thought that as every Quidditch match starts with the rules, including no jinxing, he'd have figured it out. Unfortunately, he seemed to be smart but wasn't as clever as either of us thought," she sighed. "And then it all just got out of hand."

Severus nodded.

It wasn't his fault. He didn't have to apologise. He didn't have to be afraid. He was a Prince, and his grandfather valued him, and so did his friends, and …

"Did you say sorry to Tessi, Mum?" he asked.

She flushed.

"Yes," she said, in a low voice. "I had some … friends … at school who didn't think you ought to be courteous to your elves. I … I wanted to be like them. People like Walburga Black, who was a prefect."

"Yuk, she's my mate Sirius' mum and he says she's awful," said Severus.

"She was certainly forceful," said Eileen.

"You weren't at school with a Tom Riddle, were you?" asked Severus.

"No, not that I know. What about him?"

"Oh, nothing much, I just heard of him as an old boy," said Severus. Mum might want to be a proper mum but she needed protecting from some things.

Christmas was like everything Severus had always imagined Christmas ought to be, the way it was in muggle story books, with gifts under a tree, having been to Diagon Alley to buy his own Christmas gifts for his family and friends. For his grandfather he had found a second hand book called 'Rune and Ritual' which was missing its covers but it was heavily annotated. Severus hoped the notes of another wizard might prove helpful, even if Tiberius already had a copy. For his mother and for Mrs. Evans he had bought silk scarves enchanted to change shade to either blend with, or contrast to, any costume it was worn with, on command. For Mr. Evans he bought a quill which wrote to dictation, having checked that it was guaranteed to work for a muggle too. He had made gifts for Petunia and Lily, brooches with the protection charm carved onto the stones, rose quartz for Petunia and turquoise for Lily. Lily knew he had to give Petunia as good a gift as he gave her.

Sirius was the boy who had everything, and so was James. Severus hesitated, and then made his way to a muggle joke shop to buy them both a selection of jokes and tricks that neither would have seen before. For Charity and Narcissa, he chose another scarf each, because he couldn't think of anything else and girls were difficult. He knew what Peter wanted was a wizarding chess set, because he could never afford one, and he was going shares with Sirius and James to buy the boy a really nice set, having already pooled their resources to that end. And for Remus, who was also not well off, Severus bought a set of books about Ancient Runes he knew Remus coveted.

And then he had his own gifts on Christmas day. A broom from his grandfather, and a set of practice balls from his mother, a set of muggle story books from all the Evans family, by Malcolm Saville, about a gang of kids called the Lone Piners who solved mysteries, a collection of semi-precious stones from James, for carving, a travelling potioneer's kit from Sirius, a pack of muggle cards from Remus and the note 'at least you can't argue with these ones' and sweets from Peter. Charity had knitted him a scarf, and Severus knew she had done the same for the other boys, and Narcissa had sent him some basic potioneering ingredients. Probably she had put her head together with her cousin.

"Wow," said Severus. "I never knew people could have so many presents all at once."

Eileen started crying again and Tiberius tapped her on the forearm.

"People give what they can," he said, gruffly. "And may I say you managed to find the perfect gift for the man who has almost everything; I don't actually have a copy of this book, and the notes in the margins make it even more valuable."

"I hoped they would be of use, even if you did have it," said Severus. "I didn't understand a word of it, so I knew it was advanced enough for you."

Tiberius laughed.

"It is indeed," he said. "It will be a few years before you can read it readily. And I'll want to check there are no traps in the notes."

"What do you mean?" asked Severus.

"Some wizards know the skill to place traps in things they write," Tiberius explained. "Anything from an implanted compulsion to actually casting a spell. Be careful when reading handwritten notes, my boy! Especially in books in the restricted part of the library."

"I shall," said Severus. "Though you need a note from a Professor to get those out, and I'm not sure how old you have to be."

"Bear in mind that I will be a professor," said Tiberius. "Though I'll only send you to study specific texts, not to browse."

"That could be useful," said Severus, happily.

Much as Severus enjoyed his holiday, he was glad to be going back to school for the new term. Tiberius had apparated back and forth for a few days before the end of the holidays to settle in to his new quarters, and then involved Severus in a simple chant as he set up a concealed gate between Prince Mansion and the quarters of the DADA professor. It was hidden by a password, Primus inter pares. It was their secret, and only to be shared with other Marauders in emergency.

Tiberius duly saw Severus and the Evans girls to the train before apparating directly to the school himself. Severus and the girls went looking for their friends and were waved at by Sirius Black. He and Narcissa had bagsed a compartment, and they were rapidly joined by all their friends.

"I didn't have any kit stolen from my trunk on the way home, thanks to your rune, Sev," said Charity Burbage, happily. "It is nice to have protections against being ragged."

"I call it bullying myself," said James. "No it isn't like holding Iggy Weasley's prep out of reach and screwing it up and tossing it like a quaffle to Sirius, because we only played with it for a couple of minutes and I did smoothing charms on it and I cast a handwriting clarity charm on it for him, so don't look at me like that, you girls."

"You did give it back in better condition than you took it, so yes, I agree," said Lily.

"And it was quite funny because Iggy had been awfully rude again about us using etiquette," said Petunia. "He doesn't even have any manners."

"And Merlin help me, I'm going to be related to him," said Narcissa. "It's all sorted; I'm going to enter a formal betrothal with Fabian Prewett after my OWLs, and the only fly in the ointment is my sister-in-law elect, Fabe's sister Molly, who is the bossiest moo in creation, hates Slytherin, and after all her holier-than-thou as a prefect only went and eloped with Arthur Weasley who is some kind of cousin to Ignatius."

"Oh well, you don't have to see an in-law too often," said Sirius.

"And it's a minor point next to marrying Malfoy," said Narcissa. "After the pater turned down the betrothal, do you know what old man Abraxus suggested?"

"Not unless you tell us, Cissy-delicious," said Sirius.

He spent several minutes chasing his ears around the carriage, where they fluttered in a futile attempt to escape.

"Don't call me that," said Narcissa.

"No, mighty one," said Sirius, having re-attached his ears successfully. Narcissa decided to merely roll her eyes at that epithet.

"We want to know what old man Abraxus suggested even if Sirius is in one of those moods," said Severus.

"He wrote to my father suggesting that if I did not like his son, I might consider marriage to him, as he was strongly considering disowning Lucius, and would need another heir."

"Cheeky old perv!" said Severus. "And hasn't it crossed his mind that even if you were geriatric enough not to find that disgusting that Lucius is going to try to kill any sibling that might replace him?"

"It's less his age as the fact that he has sideburns and is more starchy than even my family," said Narcissa. "By the time I'm middle aged he'd still be middle aged, and Malfoys tend to be long lived, but I don't think he's even passably good looking and I really don't want to be in a family with Lucius anyway. And I like Fabian, and my parents accept that just fine."

"Well that's good," said Severus. "What are we going to do to prank the school this term?"

"I came across a recipe for a babbling potion," said Sirius. "If we brewed enough we could spike the pumpkin juice with it, and if we only pretend to drink it we can listen to all the babbling other people are doing and point and giggle."

"Sounds good," said James. Severus nodded.

"We need to get it into the jugs of pumpkin juice and I don't suppose the elves will help twice."

"You need a switching charm," said Narcissa, "which isn't a charm, it's a transfiguration, but the names are sometimes pretty poor. It goes like this …"

If anyone suggested to eight first years that they should spend their journey practising school work they would have chorused indignation. When a perfectly good schoolwork spell could also be used for mischief, this was a different matter. And Narcissa drilled them ruthlessly until even Peter could perform a switching spell better, had he known it, than many OWL students. They were quite surprised when the train pulled into the station, and they had to switch back the right eyebrows to the right foreheads, and the right shoes back to the right feet.