Chapter 91: Upon Reflection
{A/N: Here's Another Update...}
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{"Son...she said...have I got a little story for you...What you thought was your daddy was nothin' but a...While you were sittin' home alone at age thirteen...Your real daddy was dyin'...sorry you didn't see him, but I'm glad we talked...Oh I, oh, I'm still alive...Hey, I, I, oh, I'm still alive...Hey I, oh, I'm still alive"} Alive, Pearl Jam
Cokeworth England, Muggle World...
A black muggle sedan made it's way down the long and winding roads that lead to the cluster of dilapidated brick houses that had once been the site of the infamous textile mill community of Spinner's End. The driver known to the muggle world as Sidney Sinclair had been the only son of textile mill worker Tobias Snape and his long suffering wife Eileen Prince-Snape. The Potions Master had taken off after work and found himself drawn to this seemingly abandoned stretch of road leading all the way back to his childhood home. The house itself had been destroyed by a fire during the second wizarding war when the order of phoenix had rightfully blamed him for the supposed death of Albus Dumbledore. He had taken quite a few brutal hexes from the enraged Auror Alastor Mad-eye Moody as a result. His miserable existence had been saved thanks to the efforts of his former lover Bellatrix LeStrange and The Malfoys.
A chilly mist drifted over the dirty river that wound between overgrown, rubbish-strewn banks. An immense chimney, relic of a disused mill, reared up, shadowy and ominous. There was no sound apart from the whisper of the black water and no sign of life apart from a scrawny fox that had slunk down the bank to nose hopefully at some old fish-and-chip wrappings in the tall grass.
The place had not been much in the way of life but it had been his home since childhood and well into his early adult years. Snape pulled the car into an empty lot and made his way over toward the burned out shell that had once been his home. The fire had not been too bad considering how close his home had been to the others on the street. The Order had taken care to only destroy what belonged to him in their rage from that night. The Potions Professor made his way through the soot and ash that had become of his home. He could still smell the charred wood and noted the soot covered kitchen floor where his mother had been slain by his father.
The sorrowful witch had spent a good deal of her life scrubbing and re-scrubbing that blasted floor and it was only for Tobias to come stomping in from being out in the mud and muck to get it dirty again. The brick frame had still been largely intact but the respective doors and general collection of long sought after books was lost amid the apparent ash and rubble.
Snape tried not to think of all the time and effort he had put into filling the once barren sitting room with shelves of books. Anything to make it appear that the house had not been as ghastly empty as it had been in his youth. Whatever wasn't smashed up by Tobias during one of his drinking binges made it through the years following his death.
The Potions Master turned his attention to a threadbare sofa badly burned in the wake of the fire to the point of the wooden frame being exposed right along with scorched furniture stuffing...not there had been much inside to begin with, the old armchair where Snape had spent many a night reading had once belonged to his brutish father. Tobias often sat there after his drinking escapades got the better of him and drifted off to sleep. Occasionally, Snape would fantasize about slitting the son of a bitch's neck as he slumbered and if often kept him going after a particularly brutal beating at the arrogant muggle's hands. The rickety old table where Snape placed a lamp to enable his reading at night had been scorched as well but largely intact which was more than he could have said for his mother's old lamp.
Incidentally, it had been the only piece of furniture that had belonged to his mother from her life prior to marrying Tobias. She used it to read as a girl back at the Prince family manor in the wizarding world. Charmed to perfection on a daily basis, it remained largely intact until that night Snape had come home overly drunk and proceeded to further drink himself into a drunken stupor after the initial end of his relationship with Hermione Granger.
It had been the reason for the bloodied cut on his right forearm when Bellatrix arrived and found him passed out amid the rubble of his belongings due to his foul temper. He had not been much company on that dreadful day but had been grateful to her apparent kindness none the less.
The stench of rot and burning wood filled Snape's nostrils as he ventured rather gingerly into the house. The stone foundation of the once hardwood covered floor in the sitting room had been largely intact and supported his weight despite the scorching it received.
Closing his eyes, Snape envisioned the way the house use to be down to the smallest detail. Truth be told all these many years later standing in the center of his family sitting room had made him feel the same uneasiness as he felt long ago when dreading the next time Tobias would come crashing through the front door drunk off his arse and lashing out at his family. He had vowed his own children would never have to endure such a site nor have absolute fear of him in the way that Tobias inspired it in him since he was a boy.
He couldn't imagine the drunken brute being anywhere near Phaeron or Sidney, grandchildren or not. Regulus had not gotten to live passed the first day of his life and for this he wasn't figured into the terms of having to endure Tobias Snape's company. It had been strange. The last time Severus Snape had seen his drunken brutish father alive, he had already gotten Bellatrix pregnant and he had been only seventeen.
Hermione had not known the full story behind Snape's childhood peril and with good reason. He had intended to keep that from her if only to spare her the inclination of feeling sorry for him. And of course possibly linking his actions in with that of Tobias. Snape smiled some thinking of his young wife. Hermione Granger had definitely been someone his mother would have approved of. She had been driven, capable, intelligent, and a damn good mother. The obvious differences between Hermione and Eileen had been due to her sons preference for a strong-willed woman. Not so much dominant as she was able to look after herself and his children should any unfortunate outcomes occur.
Snape's only problem with Eileen was her submissive stance when it came to anything Tobias had done. He swore that he would never be with a woman who had even remotely resembled the weakness his mother displayed. Lucky for him he ended up with Bellatrix LeStrange and Hermione Granger in terms of long standing relationships.
Snape made his way out of the house where he was treated to the curious staring of a little girl with lengthy yellow hair and baby blue eyes. She stood in a hand-me-down cotton dress that had seen better days.
"Hey Mister." said the girl observing him.
Her expression had been one of someone that had truly been born of this place. Grim and without pity.
"That place isn't safe." she said. "The people that use to live there all died...people say that place has a curse on it."
Snape smirked looking at her.
"I use to live here." he said evenly. "Do I look cursed to you?"
The little girl stared at him as if she had not known what to make of him. He certainly didn't look cursed, with his gray suit and heavily polished shoes. Still that place had inexplicably caught fire one night out of the blue. The neighborhood kids use to whisper about the eerie man in black.
"Y-You're him aren't you?" she asked nervously. "T-The man in black."
Snape almost chuckled at her childish description of him.
"He and I are one in the same." he replied.
"Is it true you can do magic?" asked the girl.
Snape looked around and picked up a single blade of grass. He let it fly off his hand toward the little girl who watched with wide eyes as it fluttered about.
"You tell me." he said with a rather cheeky grin.
Hogsmede Village, Wizarding World...
A trip to Hogsmeade Village had been supposedly just what the doctor ordered in the wake of all that had happened at Hogwarts. Phaeron Snape had been less in a festive mood with Ursula gone and Harry Potter outed as the bastard that tried to murder his father. Still he put on a good showing despite his feelings because of his friends. Scorpius had been greatly concerned about him and Albus Severus was just glad to have his friend back even if it had been at something of a distance that had not existed before. Ziare had been happy he had not been expelled from Hogwarts following Ursula's coup attempt. He had also been happy that he had not done a thing to get on Phaeron Snape's bad side. After getting to see Severus Snape emerge from the dead in defense of his son against Harry Potter of all people he had grown a bit more cautious when around his friend but nothing had changed all that much. Carlo Reddy remained captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team but he had little to no interest in the game outside the clinical showing. He had believed Phaeron Snape to have been the best Slytherin player to ever grace the field. And it had been a shame the young Snape could no longer showcase them on the field. He had accompanied them into Hogsmeade just the same.
Professor McGonagall had been in charge of this weeks venture. She had been reluctant to do so given the state of things with the Slytherin students but it had been her turn after all.
Phaeron had remained largely quiet in her presence. It often reminded her of how quiet Snape got when he was...up to something. She made up her mind to keep a close eye on the young raven haired Slytherin.
The young Slytherin seemed to be getting on well enough with his fellow house mates in comparison to the previous few weeks following all the truths that had been outed. Minerva sighed as she watched him rough house with the other boys. He seemed to be taking all that has happened in stride but if there was anything the last war had taught her. Looks can often be deceiving when it comes to a Snape.
Open Field, Unknown Location...
Severus Snape had rarely ventured outside of Muggle society and often it was even more rare to catch him without Hermione. His visit to Spinner's End had been born of unbidden thoughts that had plagued him since his return to the land of the living. He left the gasping little girl with more hope than she could have asked for in her entire lifetime. The possibility of getting to journey to a school for magically gifted youths was enough to put a smile on her otherwise sour face. Snape recognized the hidden traces of magical talent almost immediately. She would make a very formidable witch if given the right direction.
The Potions Master's journey took him to his parents graves. He had not been surprised at the decoration of the headstones. While he had not been overly fond of Tobias, his mother's headstone had been another matter. Snape cleared away the over grown weeds and used his wand to erase the slurs that had been carved into the stone by some no doubt arrogant son of a bitch who had believed himself to be a hero for his antics. He laid flowers on his mother's final resting place.
He briefly imagined what it would be like to have been able to tell her about Hermione and his children. Even sharing the heartbreak of losing Regulus with her would have done him a world of good. Sadly she had died before he had even bedded his first witch let alone given her hope to having grand children.
Still, he believed she would have been proud of Phaeron and all that he had accomplished. She would have loved Regulus even after his death and welcomed Sidney with open arms. He imagined her getting excited about the new grandchild Hermione had been carrying. While she wouldn't have approved of his relationship with her due to her age or Bellatrix for that matter, she would have undoubted loved her grandchildren.
The dry air had not bothered Snape much as he looked at the familiar oak tree in the center of the vast field. The headstone had been a new addition given his guilt over all that had happened between him and his child's mother. He had not seen hide nor hair of Bellatrix since that day in the cavern. He feared her rage since that time not wanting his family to be caught in the cross-fire if she chose to unleash her wrath upon him.
The Potions Master made his way over toward his eldest son's grave.
Regulus Sebastian Snape had been the name on the new headstone. It was Snape's final gift to the boy prior to the battle at the Fortress of Solitude. Everyday Phaeron and Sidney grew under his watchful eye, and everyday he couldn't help but reflect on the loss of Regulus. It had been at the very core of his rage during the second wizarding war.
"Hello my son." said Snape looking over the tiny child's grave.
He had not grieved the loss of him in all those years prior but the knowledge that Regulus would have been about thirty-six years old and possibly established as a formidable wizard in his own right by this time made it that much harder to suffer though this.
Phaeron was already a force to be reckoned with and Hermione Granger had been his mother.
A child of himself and Bellatrix could have done wondrous things, even going so far as to assist them in the fall of Voldemort. The fact that he had never been given a chance only made the heartbreak of his loss that much more painful. Looking back, Snape couldn't help but wonder if Bellatrix would have been better off if Regulus II had survived.
She had already taken a blow with the disappearance of her cousin.
Snape stood at the grave of Regulus II for a few minutes more before he apparated for home. He had not noticed the dark chaotic eyes of his child's mother watching him from a distance.