The Pureblood Prince
By MystFatale
CHAPTER XII: The First Occlumens
"Mine's closest, Ma!"
As if waiting for his victorious command, the Gobstone had spat a foul smelling liquid at Eileen; she screwed her face up and stuck her tongue out comically at her son, which made him giggle.
"Ok, you won again…" she replied, handing Severus the silver and black Jack ball. "You're getting to be better than this than I am, Sev, and mummy was Hogwarts team captain!"
The boy shook his head stubbornly, "no I'm not Ma. You're letting me win. Let's play a real game."
For a five year old, Eileen's boy was astoundingly perceptive. It made her quite proud.
"Alright, then, here's your Gobstones – you be blue, I'll be green."
"I wanna be green."
"As Team Captain I'm afraid my decision is final, my young recruit."
Severus laughed again, which in turn made Eileen grin. At least she had managed to make him forget about his bad day at Brassington primary school, even for a little while. "You're funny, Ma. Anyway, you're not Team Captain anymore!"
"Have you been captain?"
"No… but I want green!"
"You have to know when it's in your best interest to fight or take commands, Severus. No-one likes a bossy boots do they?"
"You're a bossy boots!" he replied as he stood up, smirking and crossing his arms. The little boy shrieked in joyful glee as his mother took out her wand and chased him into the kitchen with it. "No! No!" he screamed in false terror as Eileen made one swish of her wand and levitated him up into the air.
"I'd take that back, Mister, if I were you!" she chuckled as Severus made swimming motions in the air.
"Nope!"
With a complex twirl of her wand, Eileen gently turned him around in a complete circle in mid-air, Severus shrieked with childlike joy. "You're like Peter Pan, you." She beamed, moving him around the edges of the room – her eyes fixed upon him, ensuring she wouldn't lose her focus.
"I like him. Can you read me that story again tonight, Ma?"
"If you won't put up a fuss in the bath,"
Severus groaned dramatically. "Fine. Maybe I'll find pirates at Hogwarts to fight!" he motioned swishing a sword in the air; he looked so positively sure of himself, it was a sorrowing sight to Eileen… who knew that he would never have the advantage at Hogwarts over the children who were born into the world of magic; her little boy would have to work so much harder than them, and have his self-assurance shattered in the process, she knew it.
"There aren't any pirates at Hogwarts, silly boy - only wizards and witches and magical beasts. Some of your friends won't even know what pirates are, I expect, or Peter Pan."
Goodness, Eileen thought, even she had only known of the existence of so many Muggle fairy tales and stories after she had gotten pregnant.
"They must be stupid then."
"Don't you be arrogant, Severus Snape. Only arrogant people publically announce things like that…and overconfidence is a dangerous thing."
"Sorry, Ma. What's overconfident mean?"
"That misjudge your abilities by thinking you're better than everyone. You won't get many friends if you do that, sweetheart."
Eileen positioned herself underneath him, "ready?" she asked. He nodded excitedly. She released her spell and he fell, laughing, right into her arms. Eileen bounced her son up and down playfully a few times before kissing him on his cheek. "You know your Ma loves you more than anything in this world, Severus." – he screwed his face up in boyish disgust – "come on, bath and bed."
"And story." He reminded her.
"And-"
The sound of keys scraping across the lock silenced the both of them, Severus whipped up his head to the sound of it clicking open.
"Hullo!"
Severus squirmed out of his mother's arms "Da's home!" he cried and ran to the hallway, leaving Eileen to stand apprehensively in the middle of the cold kitchen. She hastily tucked away her wand and moved into the dining room (which was basically the same room as the kitchen, only with carpet) to clear up the Gobstones they had left on the floor.
"Leave your pa alone, Sev, he's had a rough day," she heard Tobias grumble as entered the room with Severus attached to his waist.
"Hello, love," Eileen said quietly as she came to kiss him quickly on the lips.
"Bloody rough day," Tobias said, looking past her into the kitchen. "They've only gone and laid off Ted and Mark haven' they? You know it'll be me next, Ei. Dinner ready?"
Eileen motioned to the fridge.
"I was just going to give Severus a bath; do you think you could warm it up for me?" Eileen asked, eyeing her son as he continued to tug on Tobias's jacket, looking up at him with complete attentiveness.
"s'pose," Tobias replied, dragging both him and his son into the kitchen. "I don't know, Ei, all these mill factories are closing down in the area… if I didn' put in so many hours it'd be out on my arse – then-"
"I drew a picture for you today, Da" Severus told him proudly, in which seemed to be an attempt to make his father forget what he was saying. "Ma wanted to wait for you to get home before she put on the fridge. It's of a dragon!"
"- I'm gonna have to prove to ol' Gary that I'm worth keepin' –"
"- They're not usually purple but Henry stole my green pencils. Da! I'll go get it… Da!"
"Sev, would you SHUT YER FUCKING MOUTH for one minute, Jesus Christ boy!" Tobias ripped his sons arms from his waist, which sent him tumbling into one of the dining chairs. Eileen screamed and rushed towards their son, who burst into tears as he buried his head in her chest.
"You swine!" She shot at her husband, who instead of coming back over to his son had busied himself with taking food out of the fridge. "All he wanted to show you was his picture he drew for you!"
"Of his little freaky dragon thing; something you must've told him about eh? What, did you have it as a pet once Eileen? I've had a rough day! He should learn to keep his mouth shut!"
"He's FIVE!"
"He's fucking annoying is what he is."
Eileen could have tortured him. She could have ripped him to shreds right there and then. But the boy sobbing into her embrace was the one who deserved all of her attention. She wrapped one of her thin hands around the back of his head, tenderly.
"Come on Severus," she cooed soothingly, rocking him. "Let's go have a bath and then I'll read you Peter Pan." Her son nodded, and through rasps of sobs managed to sound out the words: "I-I'm sorry Da, I'm sorry – I didn't mean to –to make you angry!"
Eileen stood up with his arms around her neck, "don't youapologise to him, my darling, don't you dare," she said – her eyes flashing with pure revulsion at Tobias, who looked as if he were about to advance on her, but had decided to point his finger vehemently at her instead. As if to say 'you just wait…'
Severus had calmed by the time Eileen had got him into the bath; she would have preferred it if he had kept crying, as she was unnerved by his silence as he sat in lukewarm water. He sat staring at the wall as she in-turn sat on the toilet seat with her head in the hands, occasionally glancing over to make sure he was still there. After she had gotten him dry and dressed in his decaying pyjamas and ready for bed Eileen reached for the book and opened it up without word.
"I don't want you to read me a story anymore," the little ebony-haired boy whispered glumly, pulling his blanket up around him like a cacoon. Eileen nodded though he was facing the opposite way – and put the back on his bedside table. She reached out and kissed him gently on the head.
"Why does Da hate me?" came his small voice. Eileen felt her heart break from deep within her. She had to turn away from him to hide the tears that had welled up in her eyes.
"He doesn't, Severus, he doesn't hate you… he loves you. You- he just- he's-"
Her voice broke and she wept as silently as she could.
A shifting of the springs told her that he had turned to face her… now he was watching her… watching her back tremble with sobs.
"I didn't mean to make you cry, Ma." he sounded positively terrified.
"You didn't make me cry, Sev. Mummy's just being daft,"
"Can you stay with me, Ma?"
She turned to see him looking straight up at her, his lip trembling. Eileen gave him as much of a smile as she could manage and held out her arms to him. "I'll stay with you."
She lay with him there tucked into her arms, stroking his hair and humming soothingly, trying anything to make him sleep. When she heard the deep breathing of a five-year-old boy in slumber, Eileen wiped at her soaking wet cheeks and took out her wand. Thousands of tiny stars and planets and galaxies covered the room from ceiling to floor, illuminating the dark with tiny shimmers of light.
She locked his door with the key that she always kept close to her. No one was going to disturb him. Not tonight.
~*~
~*~
The last night at Hogwarts was certainly not the most comfortable. In fact, Severus could not recall having such a restless, sleepless night; even in fifth year after Potter had stripped him naked in front of Lily and half the school, and he had woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat… at least he had gotten some sleep.
He couldn't even imagine facing Aurora's wrath that morning at breakfast – which was why he skipped it. Severus instead spent the morning feeling like a coward and reading in a dark corner of the library – all the while Madam Pince eyeing him with suspicion. When the time came for all the students to meet at the gates, he took one last look at the place which had been his home, his sanctuary, for the better part of seven years… a place that he had dreamed he would finally find solace in ever since his mother began telling stories about it… a place which, as it turned out, left him just as alone and just as despised as before.
He could only blame himself as he managed, yet again, to let Aurora walk past him on the Hogwarts Express without a word and avoiding his eye. He knew that his reluctance to try and make amends with the only person who had tolerated his presence for the whole seven years would cost him so dearly. Severus swore that he would always deny that, conversely… stubborn astrophysics drip that she was.
For the first time in his whole life, no one was there to pick him up from Kings Cross. They must've finally gotten the message… Severus thought to himself grumpily as he looked around for Aurora and just managed to spot her hastily leaving through the barrier with a grey-haired Indian woman. But before he grabbed his luggage and followed them, they were nowhere to be found. Many people were crowding the train station, making Muggles everywhere stop with morbid curiosity; there were embraces all around and the occasional nonsensical crying teenage girl or two… Severus gave his goodbyes to all but none of these people and instead found a toilet cubicle to apparate within.
The home that greeted him was silent and bare as he walked through its doors, but at first Severus took no notice. He was so hungry from missing breakfast that he grabbed the last two pieces of bread from the breadbin and stuffed them into his mouth; lack of taste did not concern him for he had grown up believing that food was food and all it did was keep you alive. Tobias had always said that they were too poor to "enjoy life like Toffs do"…
Only after an hour or so had passed of ever increasing silence did Severus even notice the piece of paper on the living room table.
~*~
~*~
Far away from Spinners End, the cobbled streets of Derby and the mad rush of her grandson as he made his way to the Muggle hospital, Serafina Prince lay in anguish upon her rich mahogany bed; her usually immaculate black hair trickling all over the satin pillows like a waterfall of ink. As fierce as her resolve to end this was, she could not help but writhe over the thought of… His face… the Dark Lords face… his eyes searching to meet her own. She could hear her disgusting husband gasping loudly for air next to her, completely unperturbed that in less than six hours, his wife would have to explain face-to-face why she hadn't yet met the Dark Lords very specific demands.
Serafina peeled back the covers to let the corpse snore in peace; and minutes later she sat in her vast library, a cigarette in one poised hand and one of the many hundreds of books here in the other. She was a very well-read woman, naturally, but on this occasion Serafina stared in between the words… her eyes glazed over as her thoughts played around just on the inside of them.
How am I going to do this?
She hadn't felt good at entrapping her only grandchild like this; she'd have to be a monster if she did. She was not a monster. She simply couldn't find any other way. Serafina knew that what she was doing meant a life of servitude and the carrying out of endless horrid and evil acts for Severus… she half-assumed that were she present for the last eighteen years of his life and had grown to deeply care for him as a grandmother should, then she wouldn't have even thought to agree to this. But that man needed to pay. Both menneeded to pay. This was the only way everything could finally be made right; or, at least, that was the way Serafina saw things. The Dark Lord could promise them all the safety that the family sorely deserved.
"Mistress Sera?"
Serafina jolted out of her contemplation to see her House Elf (almost as ancient as her husband but a lot more appealing to the eye) at the entrance to the library, her little face full of concern upon seeing her Mistress outside of her chambers in her night attire, which was something of an exceptional experience.
"Go back to bed, Missy." Serafina mumbled over her cigarette.
"Yes, Mistress," the timid little elf didn't move from her spot at the doorway, however; she continued to blink worriedly. "… Mistress Sera looks very unwell. Shall Missy make Mistress some tea-?"
"That was NOT A REQUEST!" Serafina snapped loudly – throwing her closed book to the floor, the full weight of the thing giving a deafening resonant crack across the entire room. The elf gave a nervous squeak before turning and running away down the dark hall. Serafina rubbed her porcelain temples in circular motions; she was not usually so maltreative towards her servants (there was no need for such brutality… besides, she'd rather have servants readily willing to conform to her wishes than unhappy ones ready to pounce at any time), but at present she could not bare to be in anyone's company. As her previously guarded thoughts grew more clearer in her exhaustion, she thought of going back into bed with that half-corpse, wheezing and gasping and clutching onto the last few strands of life he had life in him; it made her hair stand on end. In fact, Serafina was sure that were it not for the gift of Occlumency, she would not have survived five minutes with the man.
Morning had come around as if it were minutes instead of hours.
Serafina had ordered Missy to help Atticus out of bed and get ready for the day (though why they even bothered was beyond her) while she prepared herself for the meeting that was now only around an hour away. She sat at her dresser almost laughing at herself for concentrating so much on her make-up… but there was something about the white powder, the immaculately shaped eyebrows, the smoky shadows that made her black eyes seem even more unfathomable… it felt almost as shielding as Occlumency itself. Serafina couldn't help but smirk at the thought.
As planned, a cloaked figure stood waiting for her as she apparated into the dark glen. With one swift movement, he threw out his wand at her – clearly jolted. "State your name!" the cloaked man hissed.
Serafina drew her black hood back to reveal herself; though with equally as black hair it barely made any difference. "I am Serafina Prince, wife of Atticus and matriarch of the Prince family… as pure a wizarding dynasty as anyone will find."
The man followed her lead and threw back his own hood; through his ivory mask she could spot an unamused smirk.
"Or so you would like to think, Mrs. Prince."
Serafina sneered in displeasure at the boy's barefaced impertinence.
"I can assure you, masked man number five, I did not come here for a casual natter with an infantile adolescent. Especially one who is evidently more engrossed in his hair than creating intruder charms," Serafina bit, with a contemptuous glance over his well-groomed tresses. The blonde man's expression darkened to further heights.
"Ah, yes… I see where your grandson got it from," he replied plainly. He stalked away through the dense grass of the glen – and Serafina followed closely at his heels, her mind now completely shut in the deep meditative trance that only Occlumency could offer.
After about half an hour of trekking through the thick woodlands, they came to rest in a deeply covered hollow next to a muddy lake that seemed entirely infested with insects. It was the least likely place in the world were one would think to find Serafina Prince, and she whole-heartedly approved of it. Though she knew it was not to hide her herself, but another man… and he was here too.
"You found our guest in good health, I assume, Lucius?" the Dark Lord murmured from the other side of the small lake.
The blonde man named Lucius exchanged a glare with Serafina before answering. "Yes, my Lord. She is very eager to explain why she hasn't fulfilled what you asked of her yet."
If looks could massacre, the entire population of the county in which they met would have dropped dead on the spot. Serafina had to step forward a few meters so that the temptation to strangle him could lessen somewhat, and her mind could stay clear. "My Lord, is it necessary to have such an inconsequential teenager here with us…? Especially one who twists truths in front of your very eyes." She asked of him.
"I'm the truth twister? Why don't you come join the Blacks, your supposed family, for dinner sometime and let them decide-"
"Lucius, your brash words displease your Master," Voldemort hissed, moving further towards them with each slow step. "Leave us. Wait for me at the meeting place… we have initiations to prepare for."
"Yes, my Master." And he was gone.
This wasn't the first time Serafina had been left alone with the Dark Lord, but last time she had been full of promises and he had been full of answers… now she knew that Voldemort saw her as something of a grovelling servant, full of excuses, and nothing like the strong alley who had first met with him three years ago; it made her feel physically nauseous.
"Time is running out for you, isn't it Serafina Prince?" he stated matter-of-factly, Magiking himself across the lake as if he were merely walking across the solid ground on which they both stood.
"My Lord, we both knew that would take some time for Severus to gain my trust enough to realise that the path we offer him is the best one."
"Precisely why you have not departed this world at present," Voldemort spoke as if the words simply rolled off his tongue. "I would have hoped your meeting with him would not have ended so… abysmally."
His eyes penetrated the black chasms of her own, but she grew deep satisfaction in the knowledge that he could go no further than her eyes. She desired so badly to tell him that it had been far from abysmal, that she had finally managed to cast her eyes and speak with the boy whom she had yearned to meet since the day he was born, the day that she had become a grandmother; and that now she had an image of Severus in her mind she had grown more and more attached to him every day… but Serafina assumed such an answer would be lost on Lord Voldemort.
"It will get better, my Lord, I promise."
"And seeing that your promise is a life or death one for you, my friend, I am inclined to let you continue with your mission."
"Thank you. I won't fail you."
Voldemort gave an icy laugh. "If you do, you shan't be around to know, will you? … But your blood-traitor daughter will."
Empty your mind… empty…
"I am taking a risk Serafina. Trusting your words, your promises that your grandson will be of a great asset to your Lord Voldemort's cause. Why, part of me still believes that I should simply murder your petty little whore of a daughter at this very moment… have her worthless existence over and done with – it would be more of a charity than a crime, I believe."
Serafina felt her breathing grow harsher. But if she were to crack, the consequences would be disastrous – and all of this would be for nothing.
"Does that upset you, Serafina?" Voldemort asked, by the smile on his face she could tell that he greatly hoped it did… he was aching to glimpse pain today; there was no doubt in her mind. She began relaxing every muscle in her body, slowing her breathing… empty your mind…
"She is my daughter." Serafina replied austerely. He could make of that what he wished.
Voldemort's lip curled into a vicious sneer, he was clearly contented for the time being. "Good, good. Remember, you are now bound to me forever, servant! The tie of the Unbreakable Vow you made your Dark Lord will never break. Once Severus joins us, he must remain loyal. I am sure you know this."
"I am…"
"If he strays, if he runs from our world like his coward of a mother… Serafina, you will breathe your last."
"I know."
"And have no reservation, my valued friend – I will slaughter them both after your own demise. I will butcher your daughter in the most painful of ways in front of her only son's eyes as his punishment; and then, after her body has begun to rot away and he can smell her death and his failure - I shall graciously relieve the traitor of his own futile life. The Princes shall be no more."
No…
"Severus will not fail you."
"Yes. Let us hope so, for your sake. As a lasting token – remember this: if he refuses your requests, consider my… terminal promises unchanged."
No…
"You already have my word, my Lord. My life, and the lives of my family rest on it."
"Very well. Get out of my sight; I have initiations from willing followers to instigate. I shall be in contact in three months; if he is not ready and willing to become the Death Eater that you promise Lord Voldemort he will, consider the Vow broken. Go."
And Serafina went. As soon as she apparated into the entrance hall of her home, the curtains of her mind opened up and the emotions came flooding back in to an intolerable level… it was a common after-effect of a skilled Occlumens… her body shattered with the full force of what Voldemort had told her.
The last thing she recalled as she lost consciousness was seeing her ten-year-old daughter smiling at her from the top of the stairs, a time before innocence had been so unjustly ripped away from her.
~*~
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