The Pureblood Prince
by MystFatale.
Warnings: A lot of violence in this chapter, including that of a sexual nature – I'm considering changing the rating to M because of it. You have been warned.
Lots of angst. But you couldn't write Severus Snape's story without it.
Disclaimer: All characters you recognise belong to J.K. Rowling.
CHAPTER XI: Oranges to plums
It was the same, usual story - as it had been for the past 15 or so years. Eileen used to cherish these moments with her husband, yearn for them, even. He used to be a lot more accommodating when they made love, he made her feel such pleasurable sensations that she was sure no-one should lawfully be allowed to feel them… but that was a long time ago, a time when she was young and restless and it felt good to hurt.
That time, however, had long since passed. She couldn't continuously keep saying no to him – it would skyrocket his temper into frightening heights. Tobias's advances always seemed to get worse the closer the school holidays came looming… he always used the "we won't have much more time to be alone" excuse, and Eileen always seemed to accept it and immediately regret it.
The day had started pleasantly well; it was a Sunday, and Tobias hadn't given her any grief to speak of which always put her in a good mood. She had only cried once that week… Eileen suspected that if Severus were here he would hardly believe his eyes – he may even perhaps have been rather proud of her. She was doing well for a change.
Tobias's parents had come around for dinner that night, which never was as ghastly as one would expect. John Snape had his usual "ah, our Soren will be in medical school before yer know it, son. First of the Snape men to be bound for University, let alone medicine! Yer did a good job there, Tobe." talks – which always made Tobias hot at the collar as he took a swig of his beer and exchanged apprehensive looks with Eileen. She had an unrivalled air of grace about her compared to the Snape's, however, and merely smiled as she gathered up the chipped plates of the roast meat that Veronica had prepared. Audacious or not, her in-laws were almost a pleasure to deal with when Eileen considered the other option of her own parents. She imagined the revolted sneer on her mothers face if she were ever to be presented with such a dinner.
"You must miss him, pet," Veronica Snape said after watching her daughter-in-law's face from the kitchen sink. Eileen liked Veronica (or 'Grandma Ronica' as Severus penned her when he was in his infancy); she was warm and completely unpretentious: the exact opposite of her own mother. She was the only person in the entire family who used to come over and spend the days with Severus as a child, play Muggle games with him, take him out to the park to feed the ducks with his cousins… she had been the sole grandparent that he deserved, until he began to distance himself away from the Snape's at least, and Eileen loved her for that.
"Always," Eileen answered with a sad smile. "Always will. He is a grown man now though, Vee, he won't be missing his 'ma anymore". Funny, she only had just realised how much she missed Severus calling her 'ma'. He hadn't done so since he was 11; it had been "mum" until he was 16 and then it had become such a cold and distant "mother" after that.
Eileen was feeling so pleasant from having company that she didn't even attempt to reject her husband as he placed rough, unshaven kisses upon the back of her neck. Though he stank of lager and he was obviously tipsy (though Tobias being tipsy was as good as him being sober to be honest), Eileen knew it was the best mood she was ever going to get him in and she best not ruin it.
The alcohol had not been kind to Tobias… though he was still the rugged, working class Muggle man she had been attracted to 23 years ago, the drink gave him an air of slobbery and brutishness that was hard to overlook. Eileen had to focus on the orange lamppost outside their window and not on the off-putting alcoholic smell that was radiating from his lips as he struggled with her bra, finally flinging it to the end of the bed.
"Use it," he demanded. Eileen knew what he was referring to but she shook her head.
"We've been through this a hundred times. You broke it; I can't cast anything on you.."
With a frustrated murmur, Tobias busied himself in the cabinet drawer as Eileen lay hushed next to him. When he returned, he barely laid a finger on the other parts of her body before he spread her legs apart; Eileen winced in pain as he attempted again and again to enter her.
"Can't you do something about that?" he stipulated with an annoyed tut, as if she were deliberately making the situation tricky.
"You never listen to me, Toby. It's brok-"
"I didn' mean your stupid magic stick! You used to make those… those potion things for yourself. Not that you ever needed to back in the day."
"They take four days to infuse."
"Oh, how convenient for you, Ei. You have every other bloody magic thing under the sun at your beck and call but you couldn't give a shit about us."
Eileen lay back in the pillows, exasperated. There was some slight truth to what he said… what on earth had happened to them? There had been a time they couldn't get enough of each other; times where he'd come back from work and the first thing they'd do was rip each others clothes off. She closed her eyes and remembered the old Tobias – the one without alcohol and Merlin knows what other drugs swimming around in his veins – "urgh!" she cried in pain as he finally managed to penetrate her.
"What's wrong now?" Tobias said; he was a decent man in many aspects, and Eileen would be prepared to argue that point to her grave. He always stopped when she told him to. Unlike…
"Nothing, nothing's wrong," she whispered, trying desperately to block out the images of the garden of her parent's manor. She was here in Spinners End, not there; she was here making love to her young husband. It wasn't the same, it wasn't the same. "Keep going. It feels good."
She wanted to believe that so badly that she almost convinced herself that it did. Tobias was certainly convinced – he gave her an extremely rare smile, it almost melted her completely.
"I love you, Tobias Snape." … Despite it all, in these moments she did.
"You're my Princess, Ei." He replied, using a very old term of endearment – he only ever used it when he was in bed with her; it was moments like these that Eileen remembered why she had once cherished the late hours with him so much. A ridiculous child-like part of her hoped that Tobias had finally chosen her and Severus over the drink; that everything would be better now because he had smiled at her.
She was twelve years old… she had always loved that garden, all the make believe games she could play; she would pick flowers for her mother who would always place them in a blue crystal vase and display the proudly on the mantelpiece. Sometimes her mother would sit with her in the garden, they'd lie on the grass and she would fall asleep in her mother's safe delicate arms where nothing could hurt her…
"Ungh…" Eileen moaned, managing to mask the pain of the images so well that it made her husband moan back.
But her mother was busy that night as Eileen played in the garden. Her parents hosted many parties at Prince Manor; that was the reason that daddy was so very well respected at the Ministry, her mother would say. Eileen would be forced to look "presentable" in the vile pink, purple or lilac dresses her mother used to make her wear… she'd sit in the garden playing with the other spoiled children until dinner was called or mother dragged her back into the mezzanine to impress her friends with.
"Oh, my little Eileen is going to be a first class witch, you know." Serafina would brag over her vintage elf-made wine. "Already knows everything there is to discover about potions. She loves her potions. Isn't that right, darling?"
"Yes, mummy."
"Say 'mother', dear."
"Yes, mother."
Eileen knew her mummy's friends would roll their eyes as she moved on to talk to others at her party. They didn't like mummy very much; Eileen wondered why they even came to these parties, they didn't seem to like anyone.
"Mmm, Eileen… you feel so good, Princess."
The adult Eileen bit her lip in trepidation. She wished he wouldn't call her that anymore. It made her feel so dirty.
She had finished her dessert early and with a nod of agreement from Serafina, Eileen made her way into the garden to play with her pet kneazle Bella. She had run around the garden a multitude of times trying to chase Bella, but she was always too fast.
"Hello there, girl."
Eileen stopped in her tracks, a man about the same age as her father had stumbled out into the garden; he was wearing red robes and looked equally red in the cheeks.
"Hello, sir." She knew instantly that she didn't like him. Children are, after all, very quick to make up their minds like that…
"You're Atticus Prince's daughter, I believe?" the man asked, and without waiting for an answer, stated: "I'm Arcturus Black, one of his superiors at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Owes me a lot of favours that Atticus does, after I stuck up for him through all those… Auror entanglements."
"Oh, OK." Eileen replied, not interested in the slightest. She turned away and moved towards Bella again before the man approached her yet again.
"Said I could take whatever I wanted so that he could repay me, o- old Atticus did," Arcturus slurred. He pulled Eileen by her collar, which made her scream out.
"Silencio!"
She tried to struggle free, but his grasp was too strong. The only person who had looked up from the house was the very man Arcturus had been referring to… the very same man who took one look at his superior grappling with his daughter in the garden, and instantly turned away again. Eileen screamed for her daddy to come and save her, as daddy's should do – but no sound came..
Her hands gripped tightly onto their bedspread. She wanted to scream now. Stop it, stop it, stop it.
"If you tell anyone little girl, your father is going to Azkaban and he knows it, let's make that perfectly clear."
It happened in the space of a flash of lightening… he had ripped her violet dress apart and was bearing down upon her, salivating all over her – she was helpless.
She couldn't go through with it anymore; not after thinking about it again… why did she have to think about that again? It always ruined everything.
"No! Please, Tobias! Stop it."
Stop it, stop it, stop it! Why won't he listen?
"Urgh, Eileen, yes… yes… I'm gonna…"
"STOP, TOBIAS!" Eileen screamed, and he did at once… thank Merlin.
"What the bloody hell?!" Tobias shouted in utter confusion. "What the hell is wrong with you, woman?!"
"I'm sorry, Tobias, I'm really sorry. You know I love you, but I can't… I can't tonight."
Tobias sighed heavily and pushed himself viciously off her. He sat at the end of the bed, shaking his head as she gazed at him, not sure whether to reach out for him or not.
"Same old, same old, Ei... I'll never be good enough for you, will I?"
Eileen reached for them then, but he pushed her away. "It's not that Toby – you know you are. I just can't. You know it's not you..." she reached for him again and this time managed to pull him back towards her, she kissed the back of his neck and moved her hands down towards his naked lap tenderly as he flinched irritably. "... let me please you, Toby, you don't have to worry about me."
"You know what would please me?" Tobias started up again, his eyes flashing with rage as he turned to face her. "Is a wife who actually wanted to fuck her husband once in a while! Oh, once in a blue moon yer'll lie on your back, close your eyes and open your legs and take it - but I know you find me revolting. I ain't as stupid as you think, Ei!"
"What are you talking about?"
"It's pretty obvious, you dumb witch! Yer seeing someone else, aren't you?!"
Eileen gaped at him in pure astonishment. "Wha-?"
"Some poncy magic man, I bet!"
"I would never do that! I made a vow to you. Even if you don't believe that, you know how I feel about wizarding men."
"Wouldn't say no to a normal man then, eh?"
"I would say no to any man."
Tobias snorted and pulled on a dressing gown which was hanging over the dresser. "Probably seeing a woman then, wouldn't put it past you..."
"What was that, Toby?"
"Disgusting, that's what yer are!" he suddenly fired from across the room. "Who the hell knows what sorta filthy acts you witches get up to when I'm not around!"
"I'm in this house all the time! The only time I get out is do what shopping I can with the money we have – witches don't perform rituals like you believe, Tobias, let alone in the middle of the supermarket."
"Who knows where you go when I'm working my arse off to keep you!" Tobias countered. It seemed as if he were just itching for the perfect opportunity to bring this up – and Eileen had delivered it to him on a silver platter. "Yeah, I know. Bleed the stupid working class husband dry as he slaves away in a fucking mill all his life; no holidays, no life, just the ungrateful family I come home to every night!"
"I know how hard you work Tobias, and you know I love you for that. I wanted to get a job, but I can't… it's different in the wizarding world; it's expected that women get jobs too…"
"I don't need you to get a job, Ei." Tobias told her furiously. "I would be ok with it if weren' for the ice cold reception I get from our dear son every time I walk through the door! Or a wife who's too bloody frigid to fuck me once in a while-"
"-it's talk like this that gets you no where, Toby." Eileen replied calmly, she had given up fighting long ago. It wasn't worth what he did to her and said to Severus. "- well that and the drinking."
"I'd have to bloody well drink to want to have sex with a vampire like you!"
"You used to like that about me."
"Before I knew yer actually were a vampire."
"I'm not a vampire."
"Bloody well close enough."
A few minutes of silence followed, Eileen returned to staring at the lamppost and Tobias sat at the end of their bed with his head in his hands. Were she not so hurt by her husbands comments about her looks that he once found so captivating, Eileen would have embraced him. He looked utterly defeated within himself this time.
"Never thought I was enough for yer, Ei, but I tell yer what – I was the happiest man in the world once," Tobias continued through his hands. "Somewhere along the line that went to shit, didn' it?"
"Things change, yes, but it doesn't mean it's any worse," Eileen replied tenderly. "We had a beautiful son together; you gave me the best thing anyone could dream of."
As if setting off a high-pitched alarm, Tobias crawled towards her on the bed, his face was full of hatred. "Don't remind me of our beautiful son! He's nothing but an ungrateful piece of shit who ripped my life away from me and gave me nothing in return!"
All the sympathy drained from Eileen then. She jumped up from the bed; she was ready to fight him now, she was already ready to fight for her child.
"How can you call a father and say that?!" she demanded. "Severus loved you with all his heart when he was a boy. He'd follow you everywhere, he'd follow you around the house when you came home and hug onto your waist and cry for piggy backs, do you remember? And all you ever did was belittle him and degrade him and scar him inside over and over! Tell him how it was his fault that you hated your life. Well it's your fault he hates you!"
She expected it, but she didn't care – Tobias grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her off the bed, where she landed in a heap. "Then go back to that cesspool of inbreedin' and Satanism your parents are so found of! I'm sure Sev wouldn't mind that! I deserve a normal woman to have a normal child with."
Fear shot through Eileen like a bullet. "No, Tobias!" she cried, "You know I never want to go back there! And I've told you I never want Severus to ever be in sight of my father! … and he is normal!" she added indignantly.
He slapped her straight across the face. Instead of cowering in front of him, Eileen turned away and ran to the landing – she didn't expect him to run after her, he usually stormed off to his unnecessary study room – but he did.
"Stop it!" she wailed as he grabbed her wrist and turned her around on the landing as she made to rush down the stairs.
"You've taken away the best years of my life, you bitch! I have a son who wishes I were dead and a wife who DELIBERATELY turned him against me!"
"YOU did that yourself. You bastard."
Tobias started to shake with rage; as if he had so much fury inside him that he didn't know what to do with it. Eileen could tell by the way his mouth curled in a malevolent smirk that he was about to swing at her, not a slap, but a punch that could have broken her jaw.
The fist came towards her, but instead of wincing, anticipating the excruciating pain that would soon follow, Eileen threw out her hand to stop him.
As if hit by an invisible wall moving at the speed of sound, Tobias flew back in the air where he hit the opposing wall, looking down upon the stairs.
"Toby!"
Before Eileen could do anything to stop it, her husband slid down the wall and onto middle step of the stairway, where his motionless body rolled down towards the front door.
Eileen could have sworn that she had just flown towards him… she fell to the floor and lifted his head; blood was pouring from his temple where he had hit the edge of one of the steps. Without a wand, and with most of her potions missing, all she could do was shake him in terror.
"Toby! Toby! I'm sorry! I didn't – I - Oh, Toby, Toby… wake up! Wake up!"
All coherent actions that she should have taken had suddenly drained away from her. The terrified Princess clung to her lifeless knight, and screamed.
~*~
~*~
It took all of Severus's strength not to just run and throw himself off the Astronomy tower as he watched Sinistra walk briskly away, wiping her face viciously every few steps or so. Single handily he had managed to turn the only person he had considered a real friend for these entire seven years against him. There wasn't any point in trying anymore… it seemed the entire human race despised the very ground he walked on. After searching the high heavens for her to explain himself away – as if he could have managed that anyway! – he stamped back up to his dorm feeling as if his mind was caught in a deep fog. It did not help that, as he punched his pillow violently and threw himself upon his bed, he noticed the scent of her still lingered on his sheets.
And eventually, the endless traces of mandarin oranges and plums (which, after seven years of knowing her, he had only just managed to decipher) became too much for Severus to handle. He tipped the remaining few vials of his safer-to-handle potions ingredients all over his bed and left with the intention of returning when all the liquid had dried and had replaced that damned eclectic aroma of hers.
It was this same feeling of distress that managed to get him to walk past Lily and James at the end-of-year feast that night without feeling like he'd been stabbed in the stomach. As usual, Potter shot him the usual smirk and Lily the usual disapproving glower. This time, though, it only made him thankful that he wouldn't have to suffer it ever again. A few seats across from him, however, Aurora did not look half as disdainful as he thought she would look. He had expected her to have gone straight down the same path as Lily did… either refusing to look at him out of pure revulsion or constantly staring at him out of pure revulsion. Sinistra had done neither. It was like a train had run smack-bang into his stomach when he saw her red, puffy eyes.
"Room for me, Sev?"
Severus looked up to see Regulus standing above him. He didn't even answer before Regulus had sat himself down next to him; frankly, Severus was thankful for the distraction.
It wasn't quite the distraction he wanted, however, as Regulus (who had clearly not heard that Severus had not been recruited to the Death Eaters) started to hound him with questions regarding his initiation as they began to eat.
"Merlin, Sev you must be excited! I have to stay in this blasted place two more wasting time with Quidditch and Potions… you will write and tell me how its all going?"
Severus snorted as he shoved a forkful of potatoes into his mouth – it would be his last hearty meal in God knows how long. "I don't think so Regulus, not unless you want both of us to be arrested."
First-rate excuse, he thought to himself.
"Well, I suppose." Regulus replied, swigging a glass of pumpkin juice. Noticing that Severus's gaze continued to be fazed further up the Slytherin table, he added: "that Punjabi girl there… what's her name…?"
"Bengali."
"No, that's not it…"
Severus was forced to put his head in his hands after that comment. "No, you idiot - she's Bengali, not Punjabi."
"Who cares? Same difference; they all look the-"
"Sinistra." Severus thought he might as well make it easy for Regulus before he spouted off on one of his blinkered tangents.
"Yeah, Sinistra… I'd stop eyeing her up if I were you. She hates your guts."
"Couldn't care less," he lied, scraping his fork across his plate with such pressure it made Mulciber grimace across from him.
"Hah, just as well," Regulus chuckled. "That day of your detention she was telling me what a slimy, snarky git she thought you were. Completely agreed with everything I said and then some. Well… you know, we weren't on speaking terms or anything then, Sev."
The pressure released itself slightly. She certainly didn't hate him, then. Well, not before today's occurrences anyway. Being called a creepy, nasty git by that astrophysics drip was more of a term of endearment than anything. He'd be much more worried if she'd called him a decent and respectable person.
"Well, I won't have to put up with her utterly naive way of looking at the world anymore, the self-righteous know-it-all that she is, I don't think I could bear the sight of her for another term." Severus bit back – hoping that somehow the miserable looking Sinistra would hear him and they could settle their differences right then and there.
Unfortunately, she had just drunk down the rest of the contents of her goblet and scurried away, barely noticeable in the clamour of cutlery and gossip.
"Ho ho! I think she heard you." Regulus joked with a mouthful of pumpkin pasty. The conversation then turned into more meaningless drivel. Severus wanted to follow her, of course, to confront her and get everything off his chest, but he knew Aurora well enough to know that she would tear him a new one if he were to walk into her at the height of emotion – that would not help things.
There were the usual graduation speeches from various teachers and the end of year address by Dumbledore – Severus took hardly any of this in and instead lazily stared at the starry ceiling. Regulus would nudge him from time-to-time every time the Headmaster mentioned anything to do with having a meaningful future and fruitful ambitions. The Quidditch cup was presented (Slytherin had managed to triumph over Gryffindor this year, which gave Severus ample opportunity to relish in witnessing Potters stupid little disappointed face) and the House Cup (just snatched from them by a few point by Ravenclaw – Professor Slughorn looked extremely unconvincingly cheerful), before Dumbledore called the feast, and the year to a close.
Now what to do…? Exist, I suppose. He thought, a wave of miserable acceptance washing over him.
"Come on, old boy," Rosier exclaimed, clapping Severus on the back, which caused him to flinch. He would never manage get rid of that nervous tick, he was sure. "A bit of end-of-year carousing in the common room, eh?"
"I'm stealing some of your Firewhisky," Regulus murmured as they both rose to their feet.
"Have all of it." Severus had never touched a drop of alcohol; the mere thought of it frightened him to death. He certainly did not intend to start out on the same road as Tobias on the cusp of adulthood. As they walked side-by-side to the entrance hall, he turned the opposite way to his younger associate.
"Where are you off to? You can't run away from this party like all the others, Sev." Regulus protested. "Come on, we got to give you all a good send-off!"
"I need some air," Severus replied. It was half true; he would not have been able to stand a common room packed with every current Slytherin under the sun if his life had depended on it. "I'll join you later."
~*~
~*~
With Regulus finally out of his hair, Severus took his walk to the only place he could think of at present. The steps to the Astronomy tower were just what he needed to work off the tonne of food he had just consumed, and to clear his head. He didn't quite reach the top floor, as he knew the fate that awaited those poor fools who were found by Professor Alcor in his treasured domain. Severus merely stood on the middle landing, looking out over the great lake and breathing in refreshing gasps of fresh summer air. He had only just begun to wonder why Sinistra hadn't come up here when she had run out of the Great Hall (she was exempt from Alcor's strict rules by weaving her way into becoming something of a grovelling apprentice to him) when he heard something from above that set the hairs on the back of his neck on end.
She was up here. And she was bloody crying up here.
Something in him told him to continue up the stairs; the weeping noises continued and continued and it etched into his skull and he wanted to leave but he wanted to stay and… he took a deep breath. You're not going to help anyone if you deprive yourself of so much oxygen that you pass out and fall all the way down the stairs, he told himself.
And so he continues up the stairs.
She didn't see him enter, being that Severus was enveloped in the shadows. But Sinistra was as clear as day… she was cowering on the floor in a patch of moonlight, no longer merely sniffing away tears and looking puffy – this time she was heaving with sobs and violently shaking with her hands on her head like a madwoman. Fluid was pouring out of both eye and nose… it was something that should have been an utterly vulgar sight to behold; if he knew that the tears were not for him Severus would have given her such grief for acting like such a mawkish, overly sentimental fool, and he would have advised her to wipe all the snot off her face.
But instead, he completely froze. Try as he might, Severus could not take his eyes off her. He frozen in between two very different feelings; of feeling overwhelmingly shamefaced that someone was hurting this much over someone like him, but at the same time feeling… almost touched that someone would hurt this much over him. It had never happened before. The image of her weeping burned itself into his subconscious; it would never leave him again.
He couldn't let her know that he had seen it all… he knew that it would ruin her; it wasn't right to do that.
He turned to vanish down the spiral staircase and out into the grounds, but as he did so, there was the sound of footsteps creaking up the opposite way. Before he could make a run for it, Sinistra had looked up to where he now stood. Severus snapped around and the midnight black and chocolate brown eyes met one another…
"Who's up there? The Astronomy tower is out of bounds!" came the voice of Professor Alcor.
Severus willed himself to say something, anything, even just to tell her how ridiculous she looked… but he just could not find the words. Aurora was gaping, wide-eyed at him; it was a candidly raw sight to behold. The swollen eyes and the clammy face.
It was too much. Severus turned away and walked straight into Professor Alcor. Aurora jumped up from the floor and hastily wiped her eyes with her school robe.
"What is going here, Mr. Snape? … Miss Sinistra?" Alcor inquired.
"Sorry, sir." Aurora replied – she had gathered herself up quite well, considering. "Severus was just looking for me; I know I should've gone back to the common room but I – I wanted to have a look through the telescopes one last time…" she didn't even cast a single glance at her fellow Slytherin.
The silver-haired Astronomy master looked quite convinced, albeit still a tad perturbed.
"As admirable as that is Miss Sinistra, the tower is out of bounds andofficially out of hours for the both of you now - ad infinitum. You are both exceedingly lucky that I'm not able to take forty collective points from Slytherin for this. Come along!"
Severus could tell this last touchy command was more for him than the other Slytherin in the room. He swiftly turned and almost ran from the tower, leaving the Astronomer and the Astronomer-to-be in peace – half of him pleased to have had an excuse to leave and not to talk… half of him bitterly frustrated that he had not been strong enough to talk.
He spent his last night as a Hogwarts student sitting in the corner of the crowded common room, sulking. When the considerably inebriated Mary Parkinson fell into his lap, spilling the contents of her redcurrant rum down his shoulder and proceeded to let Avery place his clumsy hands all over her, Severus thought he ought to head to bed.
As he threw the blankets over himself the unmistakable air of plum and orange hit him, once again. He sniffed at his pillow and wondered briefly if Sinistra smelt that way because she had used the same perfume for seven years, or if she just smelt that way naturally. He cursed himself for even thinking such a thing, as he found the latter option made him very hot around the collar and unexpectedly tingly somewhere else. Nevertheless, he knew he would never smell it again; there was no point dwelling on it now.
Severus closed his eyes and, after what felt like eons, fell into yet another troubled slumber.
~*~
Thanks everyone for all your constructive and intelligent reviews. Appreciate them greatly.