A/N: I'm in the beginning stages of preparing a new fic that deals with the Hogwarts-era that succeeds this Marauder-era fic. So please look out for it :) Nothing else to update. I hope you enjoy chapter nineteen and I'm sorry I'm so slack with pushing chapters out... life is incredibly busy and frustrating at the moment.

The Pureblood Prince Chapter XIX – Bad Love

Warning: Coarse language

Tobias had stumbled back home just before midnight. How he even managed to both remember where he lived and get the key through the lock was beyond Eileen.

"Starting work tomorrow then?" was the first question he was subjected to as he entered the kitchen to find his wife sitting calmly on a chair, sipping at a cup of coffee.

"Eh?"

"Well, if you're well enough to go out and spend what little money we have on the piss," Eileen spat, "you're well enough to put a loaf of bread on the table for once, aren't you Toby? Aren't you, dearest?"

"Ah, fer fucks sake w-woman, go ter bed and shuddup for once." His words were jumbled and slurred as usual.

The coffee cup clanged hard upon the table.

"I would have tried that, were it not for the fact that both you and Sev saw fit to just leave the house all day with not a word of explanation!"

Toby looked as if he could only just comprehend the sentence that Eileen had strung together. He slumped onto the couch and struggled with his shoelaces.

"Tobias Snape!"

"Ah for Christ...! WHATDERYOUWANT?" he stumbled.

"Did you hear what I said? Did you even comprehend what I said, or do I need to start grunting like those baboons you call friends?"

Eileen was less careful with what she said when he was completely sauced; she knew he would not remember a word of her insults come morning and even if he did, and retaliated, Severus was not here to witness it. It was doubly obvious that she needn't worry about retaliation in this situation, for as soon as the words left Eileen's mouth Tobias's head was lolling to one side. She ran and grabbed a flat cushion from one of the opposing chairs and was about to hurl it at his face, before she noticed something rather odd.

He didn't usually have sweat pouring from his face like that.

"Toby? Toby, you stupid thing! Wake up." Eileen managed to shake him forcefully enough so that he opened his bloodshot eyes… his very bloodshot eyes. She titled his head up towards the ceiling light, wishing that she had her wand to Lumos them for a clearer view. His pupils were dilated to the size of dinner plates.

"Oh… brilliant." Was all she could muster.

It was the next morning when Tobias awoke groggily to find Eileen sitting next to him on their bed, coolly turning the pages of one of her books. When she noticed him stirring and moaning and holding his head, she asked coldly: "good night, was it?"

He didn't answer. She knew he was coming down and she loved how he must be hurting from it.

"Well I certainly had a good night," Eileen continued, flipping over a page. "Firstly I cleaned all of your vomit up from the carpet, which could have been the consequence of any selection of substance you ingested last night. Secondly, I found out that my husband is not quite the recovering drug addict I thought he was; and thirdly, I assume that we now owe some tattooed baron even more money that could have gone towards alleviating our starvation... it's almost just like old times, Tobias - only I'm not pregnant this time."

Ah, and what fond memories they were.

Tobias rubbed his face furiously and groaned as he pushed himself up from the pillows. "You quite done bein' a nagging bitch are you?"

"Where did you get it?"

"Get what?"

"You know what."

"No I don't."

"Christ. I've met three year olds that were more mature."

"I had a few drinks at the local and watched the footy with the lads, alright! Not against the law is it, Ei? Or does your voodoo religion frown on such things?" Tobias was in far too painful a state to advance on her; she felt strangely empowered by the fact.

"And then? You can't have been in the pub for twelve hours, Toby, that's a record even by you."

"And then I went to Parker's place to escape my insane wife, a'right?"

Eileen rolled her head back against the headboard and stared at the ceiling despondently; she knew Mr. Parker well – one of Toby's less than reputable friends, and that was saying something. "And by escaping, you mean…"

"Yeah. I do mean that. Done now? Now yer can go back to my son and have a jolly little chat about what a failure and loser his father is."

"If he were here I think he would be perceptive enough to see that for himself," Eileen snapped – her dark eyes narrowing. "He always was a rather observant child; always watching what his heroic father did, hanging on his word… it's a tragic shame that he didn't just morph into an exact replica of you, isn't it?"

Tobias looked at her for the first time. "The little shit ran away again," he said in more of a statement than a question.

She shrugged. Much as she loved her son, Eileen was the first to admit that she was not the most maternal of mothers. She had enough trust in Severus that he could look after himself. He was quite experienced in that department; as most of the time she had been too far in the abyss of manic depression to be able do anything of use for him as a proper mother should have done.

Tobias slowly sat up upon the edge of the bed with a wince, where he sipped the glass of water that his wife had set down for him. "With that girl down the road, probably."

"You don't owe anyone anything, do you?" she continued, knowing he was trying to avoid answering any questions. "We're not going to have people banging on the door like last time, are we?" Toby shook his head.

"It's nothing like last time, Ei," he reassured. "I just needed that one hit s'all…"

Toby always needed just the one.

"It better be all. I put up with it once; I swear to you if you even think of touching that stuff again I will take a vow of celibacy for the rest of my natural life."

She knew that threat would work more than any other. Tobias finished his drink and placed it loudly down on the table. He stretched out and gave his wife a rough kiss on the cheek which made her draw back, though that bothersome insecure part of her wanted him to kiss her again.

"Well no-one wants that to happen, Ei."

And with that – the hourly argument was over. Ended as always did: with Eileen being too weak to withstand the constant fire that surrounded her husband, whose empty promises she forced herself to believe. They were the human equivalent of a yo-yo.

"Go to the mill and ask them about coming back this week, will you?" she asked.

"I was gunna do that," Toby replied defensively, though Eileen knew he wasn't.

"… I'm going to look for a job-"

"I'm going to get a bit of rest before I head down to work," Toby said almost simultaneously as Eileen and therefore her declaration went unheard and washed out. Eileen sat up in bed long after he had turned over and gone back to sleep, wondering many things… wondering where she would start to look for a job, wondering if Severus would eventually find the common decency to inform her of his whereabouts… wondering why she had let Toby get away with what he had just did…

If Mr. Parker ever dared to show his face in Mrs. Snape's house, she would make damn sure it would be an experience he wouldn't soon forget.

~*~