Wonderful chapter 7

Conciliation?

Hyqual grabbed the strap around Toby's neck and snapped off the two amulets. "I don't know what witch or wizard would give this to a muggle, but it is going to the ministry."

"I need that." Toby was pointing. To protect myself from those two."

"Your son and your wife?"

"You saw what happened tonight."

Hyqual turned to Ele. "He has a bit of a point." He held out his hand. "Ninety day wand suspension." Ele reluctantly handed it over. Then the inspector cast protecting spells over all of them; One that prevented any of the three from harming each other. "This is only a temporary charm."

"Listen Mr.Snape," Gast now added. "You married a witch and have a child. You've got to expect this sort of thing. You're fairly lucky. Most of these domestic situations involve a kid casting some pretty nasty spells on places of ones body I'd not like to mention. That's usually a teenager, you're lucky he's only a sprout."

"And you young man," Hyqual spoke again. "You had best remember your age and not do any spells like this until you're in school. Not here in the middle of muggle territory."

Severus appeared sufficiently scared. The two men had painted a dreary enough picture of the prison and it's dememtor guards.

"A report will be made," Gast informed. "If you attract the attention of the muggle police, there will be a big problem."

It seems that no one needs a trip to St.Mungo's." Hyqual was summing up. "Everyone's calmed down?"

Ele nodded, Severus nodded, Toby still looked a bit perturbed. "We're all done here."

The E.M.M.T.s left first. Before leaving Hyqual threatened, "I'm warning you mate." He pointed his wand in Toby's face. "You lay a hand on either one of them, and we'll be back, and not as nice. Why she don't toss you out on your rear, I don't know." He then made a threatening move. Toby flinched, but no spell came forth. Hyqual left.

Gast sneered at Toby and muttered, "Nasty muggle." Then he was gone.

Incredibly, Toby's mood changed. "I guess I deserved this.

"Ha!" Ele sputtered.

"You know how I get."

Ele was still giving him s look that would shred if it were a curse.

"I uh, here." Toby shoved some muggle money into Ele's hand. "I won today." Toby got excited again.
I might win even bigger tonight."

"Tonight?"

"I parlayed most of what I won - - "

"You parlayed it." If steam could come out of her ears it would. She wanted to slap him and say, 'parley that!' She didn't. "I need you to stay home and watch Sev tonight."

On hearing this, Severus' heart beat quicker.

"Why?"

"I have an honest job."

"Who told you you could - - "

"Don't you dare." Ele's look was enough to stop his protest.

"All right."

"And I mean watch him Toby. Not get drunk ass and ignore him."

"Right. Don't want those two coming back here anyway."

Severus' eyes seemed to be pleading with his mother not to leave him with his father. To him it was worse than when she wanted to leave him alone earlier.

"It will be all right Sev. The charm will keep him from hurting you." Ele being so thick skinned because of her own father's beratements didn't bother to think that Toby could 'hurt' Sev with something other than his hands or feet. He could hurt the boy just as much with his words. Even if they were not magic spells, Toby's words had power in them. It hurt the muggle part of her son. She seemed to forget that he had that part of him. "There's some food in the kitchen, make sure he eats later."

When Ele left a few minutes later the two Snape men folk stood still, watching each other for a few more.

"Well," Toby nervously said. In an attempt to apologize he asked, "Why don't we play your record there then?"

"No," Sev said in a mope. "I heard it enough today."

"All right then, I'll tell you what. I'll get out the old football and we can kick it about outside."

Toby was sure Severus would not want to, so he'd have an out. He could then suggest something the boy could do on his own. Reluctantly Sev actually said, "Okay." He was confused. The three of them had just nearly killed each other and now he was supposed to go play soccer with his Dad, like nothing had happened. "That'd be - - fun." He hoped.

The year before, when they were still a somewhat normal family. Toby had tried to show his son the ins and outs of the muggle game, but Sev wasn't very good at it. St the time Toby had said, "It's okay, you're only five yet." In the year since Toby changed and forgot all about, "Trying again next summer." Now it was fall and Sev was almost seven. Surly he'd improved.

Toby found the soccer ball. It wasn't that shabby. It hadn't been used that much. They went out to the cobblestone street in front of the last cottage on Spinner's End. Tobias began kicking the ball around, not passing it to his son. He shot it up to his knee and bounced it several times. Apparently at one time he'd been good at something.

"Let me try Dad," Sev called out.

Toby kicked it. To his surprise and satisfaction Severus stopped the ball without falling over. The boy flitted the ball up to his knee to bounce it up in the air. Instead he bounced it into his own face. "OWCH!" Sev grabbed his nose. The ball fell to the ground with a thud.

Toby tried to be fatherly. "That's all right. Try again."

Sev bucked up and flipped the ball into the air again. This time he bounced it on his knee several times before he lost his balance and fell on his butt.

"You're not supposed to fall." The insult had not come from Toby, but from one of the nationhood boys. A few of them had been attracted by the ball playing.

"I didn't fall on purpose," Sev informed.

Another of the boys asked, "Can we play?"

Sev shot back, "NO!'

"Sev," Toby rebuked. "These lads want to play and be friends."

'Friends?' Sev recognized some of them as a gang that had chased him on more than one occasion. 'They only want the ball.'

To his son's great consternation, Toby told the boys they could play. There were no teams just the boys scrapping for the ball. Severus spent a good amount of time chasing the ball, just never getting to it before one of the others did. None of the others were any older than Sev, but they all looked well fed. It did not take long to wear him out. Toby actually noticed. "You tired Sev?"

The boy wouldn't say he was. It was obvious. "Why don't we make you the goalie?"

"What's that?" Severus was in seriousness. He had no clue what a 'goalie' was.

"You keep the ball from going in the net."

"What net?"

Toby looked around. "Look, you stand in front of the stairs and keep the other lads from kicking it past."

Sev nodded and took up his new charge. He was sure it would be easy. Sadly the first ball kicked in his direction was hit really hard by the biggest of the boys. Toby's son did stop the ball; he stopped it with his face while falling back over the brick steps. He wasn't sure what hurt more, his nose or his elbows.

"You're not supposed to stop it with your face," the boy who had told him he wasn't supposed to fall down before put in.

"I didn't do it on purpose," was becoming Severus' rally cry. After a few more of these mishaps Toby said, "Maybe you should sit out a bit."

Toby continued to teach the nationhood boys how to play soccer as his own son sat on the porch watching. He didn't even notice when Severus disappeared inside to find something to read. His mother's magic books were all out of reach, on purpose. The one book that wasn't a muggle book Ele had left in her son's reach. It was an illustrated copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, fairy tales for Wizard children. He lay on the floor and began reading all of the Babbitty Rabbitty stories. His favorite part was making the drawings of the trickster witch move. None of those boys outside could do that.

tbc