The Pureblood Prince Chapter XV -White Picket Fence
Warnings: swearing, sexual allusions.
For the first time in years, Eileen Snape's family home was a peaceful one.
The past two weeks in Spinners End had actually, astoundingly, been… almost bearable. It was shockingly almost bearable. Almost… pleasant. Tobias continued to heal in the sanctuary of their bedroom – rarely coming downstairs (and even when he did so, he was so subdued from the painkillers and sober from being barred from drinking that even Severus barely noticed him), and this newfound freedom meant that Eileen herself was completely free to unwind in her own home… without the agonizing wait for Tobias to come home from work, wondering if he would be in a decent mood or a vicious one. It was as blissful as she could ever have hoped bliss could possibly be.
There were evenings where she would sit with her son after putting Toby to peaceful sleep with her draughts, and they would eat dinner and then settle down wordlessly in the two run-down floral couches reading their respective books. Not a word was spoken between them as they mutely turned the pages, but Eileen had never felt closer to Severus than when they read together, sharing their passion for knowledge and especially the sciences. She felt she could almost be something resembling a mother nowadays, and Tobias something resembling a father; it was as close as they could get anyway… thiswas her family, and she loved it, them, more than life itself.
"How's the head, Toby?" she asked upon leaving Severus to his literature downstairs and retiring to bed.
"There's nought wrong with my head, woman." Tobias mumbled, turning over to face his wife. Eileen mentally chuckled – he could be set alight and burned at the stake and he'd still tell everyone to 'stop bleeding fussing', it was the working-class Yorkshireman in him. "I wish yer'd let me get back to work."
"The doctor said you needed a couple weeks of bed rest."
"That quack doctor doesn't bloody well know me, that was for pansy arse men like him that advice was."
Eileen rolled her eyes affectionately and sat on the edge of the bed, pulling off her pale blue top and jeans and reaching for her nightgown. "Say that when you've ceased the doses of painkillers, will you Toby?"
"Say that when yer've got nothing to eat, will you Ei?"
Eileen turned to face him, expecting yet another row; but to her pleasant bewilderment he was grinning at her. It had been established long ago when he awoke in the hospital that he had absolutely no recollection of how he managed to injure himself… the only two people who knew were Severus and Eileen, and they were not about to divulge that information to anyone. She had told the staff and his family that it had been a mere fall… though Tobias was clearly under the impression that he had been drunk again and was almost appreciative of Eileen for keeping it under wraps. The remorse would have been totally overwhelming were it not for the thought of what he would do if he found out the truth. That she had in fact almost killed him with wandless magic.
"Thanks," Tobias continued, Eileen frowned in misunderstanding, "for, yer know…" he shrugged, "…thanks, Princess."
She vaguely understood what he was thanking her for, but the reasoning didn't really matter. She couldn't actually believe what she was hearing so she felt less guilt than she thought she would; Eileen left her nightgown upon the bed and simply leant forward and kissed him. A lot more than once.
"You - do this now – " Toby garbled through each breath of their kisses, " when I'm – poorly…" he didn't even wince when he rolled on top of her, however. Eileen supposed he really was better, but she was not about to tell him that; struggling as they were with finances (as ever), these past few days where Toby was at home and not allowed to go out and get completely sauced were some of the best she'd had in a decade.
"You can't deny – ah…" Eileen caught her breath as she felt him between her, only this time it felt much, much more pleasant. "– It'll make you feel – better –"
It was mainly thanks to feeling as if she had been given her old Tobias back that Eileen actually took pleasure in making love to him tonight. No horrid memories of that… Ministry wizarding man Arcturus Black, no staring up at a Muggle man who barely recognised his own wife from drink, now it was just the two of them, both in their own right minds, just two people who loved each other despite it all. He loved her… he saved her, so he loved her… didn't he?
They remained unclothed together for the rest of the night, which made Eileen slightly edgy but not edgy enough to pull her night dress right back on like she usually did – most times she wouldn't even take the thing off when they made love (if you could even call it that) – but she had been brought so far over the edge tonight that she hardly had had one thought of how underweight and unwomanly her figure was; Eileen lay wrapped in the blankets with her husband and felt dimly attractive for once in her life.
It was about six' o'clock in the morning when a loud screech outside her window shocked her awake.
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Eileen sat bolt upright in bed and blinked furiously a couple dozen times. What the…? She glanced to her right towards Tobias, but from what she could make out in the Derbyshire murky, early morning light was that he was still peacefully slumbering – on his stomach with his head to the side as he always slept. Suddenly the screech sounded again, only less shrill as it did moments ago and Eileen jumped once more. She knew that sound…
"Ungh…" Toby mumbled from the pillows, "Time to clock off s'it?", his head then promptly made contact with the bed again and he issued a loud snore. Eileen managed an amused Prince-like scoff in her trepidation and decided to get up, pulling on her nightdress and robe as she left Toby to his considerably unimaginative dreams.
The hallway was dark, quiet and cold as always; she leant over the banister to see if there was any light coming from downstairs but it was as quiet and dark as the rest of the house; Severus was obviously not up yet. She turned to her right and opened the door on the top of the hallway as if in slow motion, desperate not to make any noise. Sure enough, from the limited light seeping in through the bottom of the curtain, she could make out her sons silhouette and his shambolic black hair spilled out upon the pillow… he was breathing slowly and deeply, clearly still in deep sleep. Eileen allowed herself a few maternal seconds to look at him before heading down to the kitchen; she decided she was going to make them all a hot breakfast for a change.
She was halfway through the lounge heading towards the kitchen when the hooting creature flew at her.
Eileen gave a petrified yelp and ducked at the thing flew over her head and landed on top of the bookshelf, where it perched itself calmly. Ah, so it was an owl… thank God Tobias wasn't here to witness it… Eileen frowned up at the beautiful black thing; she had made it specifically clear to the wizarding authorities that they were to receive everything by post, it was a rare sight indeed to see an actual owl sitting in her living room with a letter in its beak. She was almost as shocked to see it as a Muggle would.
"Where did you come from then, you pretty little thing?" she coaxed, holding out her arm for the thing. Instead of flying onto her arm, the owl merely dropped the envelope onto the floor in front of her and took off up the chimney in a whirlwind of flapping feathers. It had obviously been waiting for someone to collect the package. Eileen gave a quick suspicious glance towards the door to make extra sure Tobias hadn't witnessed any of this and bent down to pick up the letter.
Severus Snape
52 Spinners End
Derbyshire
That's interesting… Eileen thought. She did not recognise the handwriting but it was certainly feminine in appearance. She loosely recalled a few owls flying into Spinners End over the holidays, and while she could not remember if it had been at all similar to the script on this particular envelope, they had all been written in very feminine handwriting; Eileen put the letter in the pocket of her dressing robe, out of reach of her spouse, and smiled to herself. Perhaps there was something her son wasn't telling her…
It was around seven thirty when Severus came downstairs. Eileen gave him a warm-hearted smile from the kitchen and in return he gave her a look that could more or less be mistaken for the look one gave when visiting a mentally unhinged person in an institution. He sniffed the air.
"What are you doing?" he asked, seemingly genuinely perturbed by the vision of his mother actually cooking something on the stove.
"Well, I believe I'm cooking bacon but I could be wrong… you never know what it is when you ask for the cheapest in the butcher," Eileen responded. Severus leant over the kitchen table with crossed arms and a raised eyebrow.
"You bought bacon? Occasion?"
"No occasion, I just felt we could we do with a bit of overindulgence for a change," Eileen replied, "or you could pull out those stale Rice Krispies you love so much, Sev."
"…Bacon is fine. You needn't have had to get up early to do this all by yourself, Mum. I can cook my own food."
"Haven't you turned into quite the self-sufficient gentleman..."
"Is that a joke? Or are you legitimately surprised that some people don't see women as inferior beings? Because if you are, than that's rather sad."
Eileen sighed sadly, wishing it was a joke. "It is rather sad."
"It is."
It was also rather asinine over how proud Eileen was at this moment - that he was her son. She wasn't used to many men saying things like that. And that was certainly sad.
"Oh," Eileen suddenly remembered the letter that she had put in her dressing robe pocket. "I have something for you – hang on – watch the food, Sev." She walked swiftly up the stairs and into hers and Tobias's bedroom (where he was still snoring away) and rummaged through the drawer.
When she came back and handed her son the letter, she simply could not keep the smile off her face. "An owl came this morning for you," Eileen said lightheartedly, handing him the envelope with a huge uncharacteristic grin. Severus took it from her hands with great consternation and swept his gaze upon the front of it.
"Who's it from?" he asked, frowning with suspicion at her.
"Well I don't know," Eileen beamed, returning to the stove-top and shoveling bits of bacon onto cracked plates. "You should know."
"I think you know by the looks of you."
Eileen threw up her hands in a declaration of innocence. "I honestly, sincerely have no idea. Now, I'm going to take this food up to your father – you can put as much as you like on yours, the rest is all in the pan."
She left Severus and the letter in private and made her way back upstairs to the sleeping Toby. As she set the plate down by his bedside, he stirred.
"Mmmm," he mumbled, and then caught her gaze. "Mornin', Princess."
"Morning, my love," Eileen leant down and shared a fervent kiss with him, feeling so happy that his breath didn't stink of bourbon for once. "I've made some bacon for you… I'll leave it here shall I?"
Tobias glanced over at the bedside table, "blimey, Ei, what's gotten into you?" then he added with a cheeky lop-sided grin: "apart from last night, I mean-"
Eileen smacked him gently on the shoulder. "Tobias John Snape, don't be so vulgar." But she said it with a pinkish hue on her pasty cheeks.
"Ah don't pretend yer don't lust after scoundrel blokes, woman, I know you get off on it you dirty-"
"Toby…" this time Eileen's voice flashed a real warning and for once, he actually shut up; possibly because he was still waking up and didn't have the energy for a full-blown row. She cleared her throat, "how are you feeling today?"
"Nought wrong-"
'-with you, I know." Eileen said in tandem with him. "Well, perhaps you'd like to get up for lunch this afternoon, then? I'll get Severus to-"
She heard a groan and it incensed her once more.
"Please, Toby," she implored. "Please be good to him. He did visit you an awful lot when you were in hospital…" well it was only a half-lie… Eileen presumed that one time was indeed an awful lot for him.
"I will be good to him," and this declaration would have made Eileen kiss him yet again if Toby hadn't snidely added: "…if he stops being a waste of time and space…" under his breath at the end of it.
Hah! Look who's talking! If only Eileen had her wand. She would have jabbed him in the eye.
"He's not a waste of anything!"
"Oh, here you go! Can' hear a single bad word 'bout your precious little prince!" Tobias's brutal temper had exploded once more and the disappointment Eileen felt was almost unbearable.
"He hasn't done or said anything to you, Tobias: you're just looking for any old excuse to antagonise him. Heck, you did it when he was an innocent toddler who unconditionally loved you to the ends of the earth - why should you stop now?"
It was almost as if they'd been transported back a few weeks to the very same argument they had when it had all ended in catastrophic circumstances. Eileen didn't very much like the idea of Toby suddenly being hit with the memory of his wife Magiking him through the air and down the stairs and so quickly changed her tone…
"Eat you bacon before it gets cold," she sniffed haughtily. "If you need me-"
"'Just dance around naked blarin' incantations to a fucking voodoo doll?'" Tobias bit.
"- I'll be downstairs!" Eileen continued in indignation and stalked out of the room.
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