Casa Snape, on first sight, was breathtaking. However, after the first couple of days it became a little monotonous. All Snape would let me do was homework, homework, and more homework. If he was feeling jovial he'd let me roam the grounds and house, so long as I didn't damage anything. But of course, his idea of 'damage' is far different from mine.
"That was a priceless family heirloom! I can't believe you ruined it!"
So I'd stumbled into a marble column and almost knocked a vase over. "It's not like I broke it." I replied shrugging. "It doesn't even has a scratch on it."
"That, Potter, is not the point! The point is you've done something that I specifically told you not to do!"
"You told me not to destroy anything! You didn't say don't bump anything!"
"Well I'm saying it now! Do not disturb anything that is on display!" he growled, furiously.
"We all say things after the fact…" I mumbled.
Professor Snape bristled and looked as if he were about to say something particularly nasty when a beautiful blue-gray dove swooped down between us and landed on his forearm.
"Hello Abydos." Snape said, stroking the bird with a gentleness I'd have never thought he possessed. "I see you have something from Mina for me?"
"Mina? Who's that?" my curiosity piqued.
"Wilhelmina is my estranged wife." He replied, rather wistfully.
"Oh? You were married?"
"Obviously. She is my estranged wife." He said taking the letter from Abydos.
"Well I never knew you were married. Did you ever have any kids?"
"Two." He said, taking the parchment out of its envelope and scanning it quickly. "That's why she's writing me. My daughter normally visits me in the summer."
"So… when is she coming?" I asked politely.
"Today. She should be here in a few hours. Excuse me." he said, stepping past me.
A few hours later, just as Professor Snape and I were leaving the dining room, the fireplace flared to life and admitted two people in quick succession. One was a beautiful, vaguely familiar woman with wavy brown hair that she wore pulled back from her face. She was tall (for a woman at least) and slender, with a regal bearing and kind, blue-green eyes that slanted slightly upwards at the outer corners. She was dressed rather oddly for a witch, wearing a knee-length, pale gold toga that accentuated her toffee skin instead of robes, and coordinating shoes. She looked rather young – perhaps in her mid-twenties – and I was just about to ask if this was the daughter he spoke of when he took her by both hands and kissed her in a very non-paternal way.
"Mina!" he said, once they were no longer attached at the lips. "It's excellent to see you again! You look radiant, as always."
She treated him with a smile and responded, "It's wonderful to see you too, Severus. And I see that you are still taken to wearing black in the summertime."
They laughed at this, and I was rather taken aback, until the second person elbowed her way between them.
"Daddy!" the girl said, burying herself in Snape's arms so that only her waist-length, wavy black hair was visible. She favored her mother in complexion, height, and build, and had blue eyes so dark that they were almost black, much like Snape. When she released him, I could see that she was very well-developed, and would no doubt be surpass her mother in beauty. She was wearing a short, sleeveless black dress (that did an excellent job of showing off her shapely legs) and matching shoes.
"Hi Rein." I said, drawing attention to myself.
"Harry!" she said surprised.
"You know each other?" Snape asked. Rein nodded. "How?"
"He came into the store one day. We had a lot of fun picking out new things for him."
"I see."
"Harry, this is my mother, Wilhelmina Nightshade. Mom this is Harry." She said gesturing between us.
"Hello Harry, we talked briefly, I remember." Her mom said, shaking my outstretched hand.
"Yes. I thought you were her sister." I said, blushing faintly at the memory.
"Oh yes! That made my day. Do I really look that young?"
"Yes ma'am. I didn't recognize you when you arrived, and if Rein hadn't shown up when she did, I'd have thought you were Professor Snape's daughter."
"Oh my!" she said, placing her hand on her breast in a gesture of surprise, "Well, we should all hope that no one kisses their daughter like that!"
"I suppose not." I said, laughing. "Ms. Nightshade, Professor Snape said that the two of you were separated?"
"We are dear. And you can call me Mina. But… what can I say? Old habits die hard."
"Quite." Snape said, taking Mina's hand. "So how is Dorian?"
"He's rebellious as ever. I wonder where he gets it from."
"Who's Dorian?" I whispered to Rein.
"My brother." She replied. "He's nineteen. Him and his fiancée – her name is Rebecca – own Repertoire."
"Oh ok. I didn't think that your parents were that old."
"They married young. Want to go to the gardens?"
"Ok. Are you sure they won't mind?" I asked, gesturing towards her parents.
"They're too wrapped up in each other to notice or care." She said, rolling her eyes.