Chapter Three: Finally Home:
Indian Bend Maryland May 8, 1998:
Severus woke up early and looked up at a strange ceiling, it all came back to him at once. Waking up in America, coming to a new house, was it his home? Or was he just staying here, it seemed that Melissa Scully thought he might be staying here permanently. He got up and went to shower, pleased to find he had an en-suite with large shower, walk in closet and (strange to him) double sinks but no tub. Still he did not mind and after showering he went into the walk-in closet to find his clothing put away expertly in a cedar lined closet. He dressed in jeans, a tee shirt and his dragonskin boots and walked down stairs. He drew his wand at the strange man cooking breakfast in the kitchen. He turned and grinned at Severus who stared back, he looked familiar, like a Weasley but with brown hair not the flaming red.
"Hello professor, Fred Weasley at your service." Fred said, "you like coffee for breakfast sir?"
"How do I know it is you?" Severus asked.
"First year, you were given permission by dear old mum to spank us if we ever pranked you again." Fred replied cheerfully. "Your turn sir."
"I have a doe Patronus." Severus said, "now what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I died, well officially. I am a kind of spy I guess you could say." Fred replied, "I am here to see you get settled in."
"I am lucky to be alive." Severus replied. "What is for breakfast?"
"Bacon, eggs, sausage, fried tomato, beans and toast." Fred replied, "and the hair, I well I learned to do that with wandless magic, I can only change my hair and eye color not like dear Tonks could." Fred replied, "so many died, but so many lived too thanks to you."
"I feel I did nothing, not enough really." Severus said taking a seat, "where did you learn to cook?"
"Mum, all us kids learned to cook, though she did not like to give up cooking for us." Fred replied, "still we did learn well, even with a wonderful house elf here who has set up the home the best he could as he does not know you well yet."
"Thank you for being here." Severus said meaning it, "sorry for George."
"Don't be, we knew why you did it, trying to save Harry and all."
The food was placed before Severus and he tucked in. He was glad he did not have to give up how he liked his breakfast, he had seen how one headmaster ate, over sugared brightly colored cereal and he, Severus Snape hated cereal! Oh maybe some oatmeal once in a great while but he needed a large fat-filled and calorie rich meal. Quite like most magical in fact as magic took a lot of energy and add to that Severus had a very high metabolism. He had not ate well the past year though and he needed to make up for lost time, which was why he just took the nutrient potion that Fred slid over to him. He had orange juice, two cups of coffee and finished off two plates of food before he sat back with a sigh and Randy the house elf cleared the table and set the dishes to washing.
"So where exactly am I?" Severus asked.
"A very small settlement, magical of course called Indian Bend, between Easton and Cambridge Maryland." Fred replied, "the muggles don't give this place much thought, there are four magical farms here."
"I see, so what of me?" Severus asked.
"Well your cover was approved, her majesty will funnel your monies here." Fred said, "this is a very good cover by the way, very inspired."
"It is, isn't it?" Severus smirked.
He had worked with the queen, he was a smart man to have a way out. Still he was lucky, his potions would have healed him in time but whatever Melissa had done had sped that up rather quickly. He was now Stephen Timothy Stone, muggleborn son of Timothy Stone and Emma Proctor. He had not gone to Hogwarts but was tutored at home and went to high school in his home town of Newcastle. After he got his A levels he went to the Newcastle University where he got his masters in chemistry and mathematics. He then went on to travel and study abroad getting his magical studies done at this time, his masters in potions by the time he was thirty and ancient runes just a few years ago. He had worked for a time in England but was forced out due to the ministry of magic's purge on muggleborn. He traveled a bit in the muggle world before deciding to settle in America and if all went well he was thinking of staying here and not going back to such a backward society as magical England.
"Harry is alive too, and that was not suppose to happen." Fred said, "it was not magic that saved him either."
"Never was," Severus replied, "we humans tend to refuse to see the divine when it is staring us straight in the face."
"Too right, and Harry, well he is nothing like the rest of us sir." Fred said, at Severus's face, "he was not like his father, sure he looks like him but he is Harry, and Harry, well he is not perfect but he is great."
"You sound like a fan." Severus muttered.
"Well George and I, he trusted us quite a bit and he knew he had to die a year or so before you told him." Fred said and at the look from Severus, "we did not know professor Dumbledore wanted you to tell him or that he did not know that Harry knew. Swore us to not tell anyone."
"He knew, and still did what he did, so like his mother." Severus said getting emotional.
"He does not blame you for anything, he understands." Fred said, "you are a great man, you did so much good."
"I don't think so." Severus said, "I was, am selfish and not the sort of man any want around."
"Well I am here, oh why don't we take a look at the house and property fully today?"
With that Fred led him on a full tour of the house, Mellissa had showed him some of it but he got a good look at it today. The ground floor was fully furnished, he found built in bookshelves in the living room that would fit most of his books, a green couch and what the Americans called a loveseat but was his old shabby couch from Spinners end and armchair. The floors were a dark wide oak and the walls were painted a plain cream color. The stairs were at the front of the house and a door led down to a large basement. There was an apartment down here set up for Randy (what a odd name for a house elf Severus thought), that was sized just right for the house elf. Thought was taken for house elves here, then again he was free, paid four galleons a month and wore a brown uniform not the rags house elves did back in England. There was a space for the boiler and a storage room and a large space with shelves and a long table perfect for potions.
He walked back upstairs and opened the door next to the kitchen and saw a large two car garage, it seemed witches and wizards were part of the muggle world here to a point. He was led out of the house and saw it was all stone with a slate roof with blue shutters, a purple front door and wrap around porch. A sidewalk led to a paved road and he could see three other homes and a the end of the road a small church, made of the same stone and with the same slate roof but they were larger than his home. It was bright out here and warm, Severus breathed in the smell of fresh cut grass and flowers in the flower beds and the good rich smell of earth after rain. He was led around the house to the back of the house to find a fenced garden with grass with a large herb and vegetable garden attached. He saw the orchard that spread out at back of the house and realized that there were pear trees here.
"So what do you think?" Fred asked.
"I like it." Severus said, "who does it belong to?"
"Well it is an hundred thousand American dollars, for the house and an hundred acres of pear orchard, same amount of land that your neighbors would own. The pears here are used throughout magical America and will grant you a tidy sum."
"Then why is the land so cheep?" Severus asked, "I mean it's worth far more."
"Well that is the part you will pay, the Queen has given you roughly a half a million pounds sterling, comes out roughly to a million American dollars. So the hundred thousand, that is what would be left over for you to pay out of pocket. It comes with a colony of gnomes to do the actual work of taking care of the orchard."
"I always wanted to live in the country, but how is Stephen Stone, meaning me to afford it?" Severus asked, "people will ask."
"Not really, no, that is taken care of, so what do you say?"
"I say yes, I like the house, everything is to my liking, who do I speak to in order to buy this?"
"Me." Melissa said walking up, looking at the logo on his tee shirt "good morning, you look well, did not take you for a Led Zeppelin fan."
"I love them, Stairway to Heaven is one of my favorites, though Moby Dick is pure genius." Severus replied.
"Don't let Fox here you said that." Melissa replied, "that is my brother in law, Fox Mulder."
"So how do we finish this transaction?" Severus asked.
"We will go back to Bethesda, it's the magical area for the capital. It was put in place before Federal City, renamed Washington DC was put in, part of the reason that Washington DC was placed where it was. Maryland was able to keep Bethesda and the magical parts which is why DC does not have it's own magical district. A few magical museums but that is it."
"I am up to going today." Severus replied. "Though I do have a question, why are you helping me so much?"
"You did so much and deserved a new start." Melissa replied, "spies are rarely liked during or after they finish their job. You deserve a good life, never had it from what I learned of you from the day you set out for Hogwarts to the time you ended up here. You are a good man, I would not have been able to help you if you were not."
"You have empathic abilities." Severus said. "So too did others…"
Everything Severus had been through came back to him, the years of holding off emotion, of trying to be what he was not crashed down on him then. He did something that really was not weak or should be seen as such. After all he had been through he broke down, but this time, unlike the last time he was not alone. There were three people here for him, two were human, the other a house elf who stood back respectfully as his new prospective boss broke down fully. Severus buried his head on Melissa's shoulder and gave vent to his emotions and Fred was there to offer comfort, just as he and George had done after their sister's horrible first year. He wept for his evil wicked ways, for those lost and for what could have been if he had not heard the prophecy and told a certain dark lord. Finally he found himself seated on a chair with Melissa crouched by him with Fred on the other side concern in their eyes. Finally he managed to calm down and dried his eyes.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of, you needed that sir." Fred said, sure he was a prankster but he had a caring heart too and he cared about Severus, he had saved his sister's life last year with the so called "detention" he had given her, she loved the Forbidden forest and it was no punishment for her. "After all that has happened to you sir."
"We can hold off on meeting the lawyer for today." Melissa added.
"No, no I want to do this, to change my life to make this my home, I have nothing back there, and I never really want to go back." Severus said standing up, "I will need a suit and tie, my robes are a dead give away as to who I was."
"I could transfigure one for you sir." Randy said hovering near his new boss.
"No thank you Randy, I actually bought one, it's off the rack, well you could make sure it fits right if you would please?"
"I would be glad to sir" Randy replied grinning and following his new boss into the house.
Severus knew house elves needed a magical non house elf (or gremlin if you wanted to use the real name of house elves for gremlins is what they were) family to boost their own magic, without this family they were not very powerful. However in a good home they could do amazing things, well even in a dark home they could but not like what a free house elf could do serving a good family. The fact that Randy had trained gnomes to tend the orchard was testament to the vast power he had. Severus changed into his suit, it was black with a gray shirt and green tie. Randy did the adjustments needed and Severus thought he looked good, he hesitated before he took a hair tie and tied back his hair. He thought he would grow a patch of hair on his chin as Severus Snape was well known to not have any facial hair at all and this would help change his looks to that of his new persona.
He walked down and took the floo back to magical Bethesda and to the law offices of Poe and Raven. He raised an eyebrow at the name but found the lawyers cheerful and helpful, even if Mary Poe looked quite a bit like her ancestor, for she was a direct relation of the famous author, he was a so many great uncle and she was the daughter of a first generation wizard. The paperwork was straightforward and Severus wrote out the check and after a few signatures, several copies he was the proud owner of Aconite Farms. He had an hundred acres, most taken up by the pear trees, he had forty gnomes who lived in their own burrows near the house but not too close to bother him. He had a fine house in the country and truly felt like he finally had everything he could want in life. He was free and there was little more he could ask for. He went home happy and determined to make the most of the new lease on life he had been given.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
So yes, Severus is home, he now owns a nice farm of his own and I think he would deserve something like this after all he went through. He cannot go back to England, spies are rarely wanted around after a war is done and Severus is no exception. So Severus Snape had to die off and now he is a new man in a new land which is his home now.
Fred is alive, but most people will not know that. He is more a warrior and spy than his brother but that is okay, he is alive and that is how I wanted it. Severus breaking down as he did is natural, he needed it. He will go back to being his old self in no time, and with no teens to make him grumpy I think he will be far happier too.
Oh and Severus' name is pronounced SteF-an not SteV-en or Steve, SteF-an.
Anyway do review please!