Chapter Six

Consequences and Meetings

When Severus awoke he was in a comfortable bed in a light, airy room.

"You're awake!" The voice was female and vaguely familiar.

His vision was fuzzy. With a groan, he rubbed his eyes and blinked. "Nar…Narcissa?"

"Yes. Let me get Lucius."

"No, please, Narcissa, just some water."

"Dobby will get you some water while I fetch him."

Small hands helped Severus to sit up just enough to sip from a glass. He blinked again at the creature that was assisting him. Bat-like ears, protuberant green eyes—he knew it had to be a house-elf, but he'd never seen one before.

"Is this Malfoy Manor?" he asked the creature.

"Dobby serves the Malfoy family, sir. And their friends," the elf added carefully. "Sir is in the green bedroom, directly above the dining hall."

Lucius strode through the door. "How's the newest Death Eater?"

Severus choked. "That was just a trial run, right?"

"The Dark Mark is given as a trial before someone is accepted. If they are worthy, and if they wish to seal their commitment, they so indicate by casting the killing curse," the older man said quietly. "As you did so adeptly last night. Most need a couple of tries, their first time around."

Severus lifted his left arm, looked at the mark burned into his flesh, and rolled over so he was lying face down: he could no longer bear to look Lucius in the eye. "Dear God, what have I done?" he mumbled to himself.

~~SS~~

Before he could leave Malfoy Manor to visit with his mother, Severus had one more discussion to have.

"I knew you would not disappoint me," said Lord Voldemort.

Severus struggled to maintain his liar's palace under the force of the Dark Lord's Legilimency. "You are wise," he said tentatively. "I did not know I could do it." No resistance was needed to state that—it was the truth.

"I hear you are a master at brewing." Voldemort rubbed his hands together gleefully. "I'm sure a powerful wizard like yourself would rather be out harassing Muggles, but I could use some assistance with a few potions…"

"Whatever you want, Master," replied Severus, hoping his relief would not show too clearly. He could brew potions, all right. Especially if it meant he didn't have to kill again.

~~SS~~

At last, Severus was able to Apparate back to Lockerbie to meet up with his mother.

"Sevvie!" she exclaimed happily, hugging him, and then reaching up to ruffle his hair. "You're turning into a man. Look how tall you are! Just like your father!" She ignored his sharp hiss, continuing: "Come in! I've been baking. Let's eat, and you can tell me all about your classes. How's Potions with old Sluggie?"

The Easter hols were only a week (plus a weekend); Severus had spent a day traveling and most of another day at Malfoy Manor. This meant that, fortunately, there were only six days before he had to return to King's Cross. (He normally thought it was a shame that you couldn't just apparate directly to Hogwarts. But in this case, he was glad that a whole day had to be devoted to travel.) The whole week was awkward. Severus helped with brewing, as usual, but he had no desire to make small talk with his mother the way he normally did.

The night before he was to leave, his mum made a pot roast with Yorkshire pudding to celebrate their last evening together. They were just sitting down to eat when there was a knock on the door.

"Who could that be?" Eileen asked bemusedly. "There are Muggle-Repelling Charms on this place."

Severus got up. "I'll look, Mum, don't you worry." His hand crept into his pocket, closing around his wand. Carefully, he brushed back the drapes just enough that he could peek out. The man standing on the doorstep somehow looked familiar, and yet Severus was almost positive he'd never met him before. Perhaps he'd seen a photograph somewhere? He was a fairly young man, not much over thirty, with a severe face and long, stringy, brown hair.

"Who is it, Severus?" his mother whispered. She'd tiptoed behind him. He shrugged and moved aside, still holding the drapes ajar. Eileen peeked out and exhaled sharply. "No, no, it can't be!"

"Be who, Mum?"

Eileen ignored Severus and, pushing past him, flung the door open. "Ty?"

The man stumbled inside, enfolded Eileen in a fierce hug, and started sobbing on her shoulder. "Eileen, Eileen, you're safe!"

"Tiberius, what are you talking about? Of course I'm safe. How did you find me? I'm supposed to be Secret Kept!"

"Minerva told me. She couldn't come herself—something happened at the school, some student injured or something. I've been looking for you for days! I was terrified when I couldn't find you, and then I finally went to Hogwarts in case Severus was there, and that's when Minerva told me where to go."

Eileen bodily dragged the man over to the table and pulled out a chair. "Sit, Ty. Let's talk about this slowly and rationally." She paused, looked at her son—still standing across the room with one hand on the door—and said, "Severus, this is your Uncle Tiberius. Ty, your nephew."

Severus scowled, tamping down fury. "How did you even know I was at Hogwarts when I've never met you in my life? Where have you been all of these years?"

Tiberius Prince rested his elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands. "It's a long story. Why don't you close the door and sit down? There's a lot to say."

Severus nodded and swung the door shut, then stalked over to the table. His Mum sat down and carved the beef, portioning it on plates, as Tiberius began his story.

"Your mother was just shy of nineteen when she met your father. I was eight. Yes, there was a big gap in our ages—our mum, your grandmother, had a hard time staying pregnant, and there were only ever the two of us. Once I was born and there was officially a male heir, she retreated into her room and never spoke to my father again. I only have fuzzy memories of her; she died when I was seven or so."

"Eight," interjected Eileen. "The beginning of my sixth year."

"Could be," remarked Tiberius mildly. "We didn't celebrate my birthday that year. Anyway, when I was eleven, your mother ran off with your father, and the whole family was horrified. Mum would have been okay with it, if she were alive, but Dad was angry and our grandparents were absolutely livid. So the three of them—my grandfather, Augustus; my grandmother, Bridget; and my father, who was also named Severus—cast a Banishment Charm on her."

Severus spoke up. "How is a Banishment Charm different from a Banishing Charm?"

Tiberius shook his head, frowning. "Banishing pushes things away from you, right? Banishment keeps things away. Not things, really—people. She couldn't come back. Not to the house, not to any of the family. It's blood magic."

"But you're here!"

"Grandfather died a few years after casting the Banishment—not long after you were born, Severus. Grandmother died—let's see, it would probably have been six years ago now. And then Dad died just last year."

"And then the spell was broken?"

"The blood part, anyway. It was easy enough to get rid of what remained. And then I had to find you."

"That part was fast," said Eileen carefully.

"Mum, you knew? And didn't tell me?"

"This is the first time I've seen Ty since he was a boy. But he sent a house elf."

"Yes, Mopsy told me where you were living, and that you had a son. So I came to the door myself—"

"Where he was promptly confronted by your very drunk father," interjected Eileen. "You hadn't come home from Hogwarts yet—it was late May, I think. Tobias told him that if he ever came back…"

"He'd kill her," said Tiberius angrily. "So I had to plan. In the meantime, I sent Mopsy back to scout, and she told me that you had no money, so I sent food—"

"But not too much, and not too good," Eileen pointed out. "So your father didn't suspect."

"When I went back in person the first time," Tiberius continued, "No one was home. There were a lot of empty whiskey bottles, and I feared the worst. But I noticed that all of your things were gone, Eileen, including the photo albums. So I knew you must have left him. I tried sending Mopsy to you again, but she couldn't find you."

"Because I was Secret Kept."

"I went back again, last week, hoping Tobias would be home, so I could talk to him and get clues. But the whole house was surrounded by those cars with flashing lights—"

"Police?"

"Yes, those. And the neighbors were all standing around and whispering, and then they took out a body in a bag—I thought the worst, at first, but it was too tall to be you, Eileen. So I figured it must be either Tobias or you, Severus. A bit of sleuthing helped me figure out it was Tobias. He's dead, Eileen. You're safe."

She shook her head sadly. "I can go home. But I can't go home, Ty. I can't go back to a place of awful memories. Not Spinner's End, and not Prince Hall. What am I going to do?"

"There's always the villa," Tiberius said cautiously.

"ITALY?"

"Wait, what? Italy?" Severus was dumbfounded.

"Yes, yes, we have a villa outside of Genoa. You're descended from proud Italian wizard stock, Severus—that's why all our boys have emperor names. It's also why we never made the Sacred Twenty-Eight—no proper British wizard would ever accept foreigners," Eileen exclaimed haughtily. "Even though the Prince family has been in Britain for over five hundred years. Arrogant bastards. But Ty, I can't possibly leave Britain when Severus is still in school."

Tiberius shook his head. "Eileen, there's magic! We can have Portkeys made, and talk through magic mirrors, and—well, we can't do it here thanks to the Ministry, but in Italy we can create a protection locket for him. He'll be safe!"

"But my job—"

"Oh come, now, Eileen, you're of age; you can have the gold that was put aside for your dowry. You're independently wealthy in your own right."

"But I like brewing," she said sadly.

"And you can keep on brewing. But brew what you like, not whatever some apothecary wants you to make. Or find an apothecary there who wants things brewed."

"But I'll be so lonely—"

"I'll come with you, until you settle in, until Severus can join you," said Tiberius earnestly. "Please, Eileen. I've been waiting so long to have my sister around again."

"And I'll be done in June," added Severus. "Just a few months, Mum."

Tiberius looked down at his plate, poked at the beef with his finger, then pulled out his wand and re-warmed everyone's dinners. "Now I think I can actually eat this," he said merrily.

~~SS~~

There was another meeting Severus had to endure, and he postponed it as long as possible. Eventually, two weeks after returning to Hogwarts, he pulled Aziz's lamp out of the balled-up shirt he'd shoved to the bottom of his trunk and rubbed it.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" roared the djinn, swooping furiously about the room. "Did I not say—Didn't I tell you—"

Severus crumpled to the floor. "You did, and you were right. I should have sent for Tiberius. I should have given Lucius a wide berth. You were right."

Aziz draped a translucent arm over his master's shoulders. "And you need someone to listen, not someone to yell. I'm sorry, master." He pushed Severus's left sleeve up and prodded the Dark Mark cautiously. "I really can't do anything about this, you know."

"If only I had a wish left," groaned Severus miserably.

"Oh, no. Didn't I say? The three-wish limit is also a myth," said Aziz cheerfully. "It's rare anyone actually gets more than three wishes to come true—they all take a while to happen—but it's possible."

"Oh, Aziz!" exclaimed Severus eagerly. "But you said you couldn't—how do I phrase it?"

Aziz tapped his chin thoughtfully. "It's linked to your master. So you could wish that he would be destroyed. You'd have to do everything within your power to make it happen, of course, even though that mark makes it impossible to do the deed yourself."

"Aziz, I wish that I can enable a powerful wizard to arise and destroy Lord Voldemort!"

Severus gritted his teeth as the jolt of magic that always accompanied a wish rushed though his body. Then he looked longingly at Aziz. "Well?"

Aziz rubbed his eyes. "Oh, master. Poor master Severus. It's going to be a while. Decades, in fact. But I think that I know a way to make it more bearable. You'll need to sacrifice a lot. Are you prepared?"

Severus closed his eyes and thought of his father's writhing body. "I'll do anything, Aziz. And this time, I really mean it."