Wonderful chapter 13
Muggles, Muggles, That Spells Trouble
Little Severus didn't need to be told twice, he was out the door before his mother could do any more nagging. He literally ran up Spinner's End in a rush to get as far away from there as a boy on the verge of being seven could go. In those days that was a lot of places. At that time the Snape boy didn't stand out like a sore thumb as he would a few years later. He wore not a new shirt, but at least one meant for a little boy. The jeans he had actually fit him at the time. There were decent looking tennis shoes on his feet. The only thing that slowed him down was the fact that, other than the breakfast he had just consumed, meals in the Snape house were far and in-between. It had made him not grow as much as an average kid his age, and he got tired very quick. After a block of running, he had to slow down to catch his breathe and give his skinny little legs a break. Severus was heading to one of his favorite places. Down by the river in a sea of cobblestone, brick, and hot top there was one last fortress of the wilds. A century ago when the mills were going up and trees were going down, the city planners kept one part of the river bank a place where the mill workers, if they had time for anything that frivol, could enjoy nature. That was not why Severus wanted to go there. He wanted to go there because no one else did, much. It was a place where one could hide under a tree and practice magic without prying eyes. That could never happen at Spinner's End, there was always some bunch of the neighborhood kids around there.
When he felt he could run again the boy went the rest of the way to the green space. Solitude was not what Sev found when he reached his private forest. There was a bunch of people there. What they were doing there, the boy was determined to find out. On occasional person might be found walking through, or teenagers finding a secret make out place, but this was a lot of people. They seemed to have make shift fishing lines of some kind. This demanded an investigation. These people didn't look all that friendly, or clean. That didn't stop young Snape. Bold as could be the kid walked right into the group of people on the riverbank.
Just as boldly Sev solicited, "What you lot doing? No fish in there."
Sev knew of what he spoke. Fish were rarely found in the river that had been a dumping ground for a century of dyes and other solvents used in the woolen industry. Other manner of pollutants came down from further up river making any fish one could get out of the river not exactly something one would one to eat.
"Not feesh," an old man said with a thick accent. "Eels."
"Eels? What's that?"
"Eels," a boy a bit older than Severus said before holding up some thing that looked like a black snake. Apparently they lived in the river.
The local boy asked, "What you want those for?"
"Good for eating," the old man informed. "Roast on fire."
"You're not from around here, are you?"
"No leetle boy, ve are not from round here."
"Where you from then?"
"You are noseeey leetle boy, eh."
This statement took Severus back a bit. Was he being nosey? Maybe he shouldn't be talking to these people. The old man put the boy at ease. "Es okay. Just curious leetle boy."
Sev nodded.
"You vant to try?"
"Grandpa, we'll never catch enough if we let this kid help." Apparently the boy did not have an accent.
"No, es good to making friends with local people." The old man beaconed for Severus to come closer. "Geev him a pole."
The grandson made a sour face, the rest of the men and boys seemed to ignore Snape altogether. One of them just caught another eel. That seemed to be of prime concern. The older boy let the young stranger use his pole to try and catch an eel. It was not really a proper fishing pole; it was an old piece of reed with a length of packing string attached, and a safety pin on the end for a hook. How they caught anything with them was a miracle itself. A long stretch of time passed and it seemed as if the eel that had been caught as Severus had arrived would be the last one for a while.
"They've gone dry," one of the other men said. "Must have gone up stream."
Innocently, Sev asked, "Why don't you call them back?"
Most of the men and boys laughed, "Call them back that's a good one."
The old man with the accent however took what Sev had said seriously. "You theenk you cin call de eels?"
Severus suddenly realized what he had done. He began to shake and dropped the pole on the ground. "I - - " He backed up. "I never said that." He ran as fast as he could to get away from the strange group. "Stupid," he berated himself when he was well away from them. "If they hadn't laughed you would have gone ahead and called the stupid things to yourself. Then where would you be?" He thought it best, for now, to get away from the riverbank.
Another of Severus' favorite places was Market Street. As it's name implied it was where there were all manner of markets. It wasn't what was being sold that interested the boy. What interested the boy was what some of the merchants used to sell their wares in. Some of them used old-fashioned horse drawn wagons. It gave a sense of ambiance for what little tourists the old mill city got these days. The little Wizard boy liked to go and 'talk' to the horses. He didn't worry about muggles seeing this. They just thought he was a cute little kid, pretending to talk to the animals. No one ever believed he could hear what they were saying back.
One particular horse that was nice enough to actually talk to the boy instead of telling him to get lost, as many of the poor work horses did, was an old cream colored mare who pulled a fruit wagon. "Hello there Severus Snape," she greeted with an apparent neigh and a big nod of her head. "Good to see you again."
The boy petted the mare's muzzle. "Good to see you too Buttercup. What's that thing on your head?"
"My owner thought it would be 'cute' to put a floppy straw hat with the ears sticking out on me. It's rather embarrassing to tell you the truth."
"Yhea, I could see why." It would have looked all right had she been a silly beast, but Buttercup had once been dignified.
"I don't suppose you could use your magic to help me out could you lad?"
While continuing to pat the horse, Sev looked around to see where the owner of said beast and cart was. Sev leaned in close to whisper in the mare's ear, "It would be easier with a wand. But I'll try." Just in case a Muggle did look his way, the boy put a hand up to block anyone from seeing what he was doing with his mouth. Severus was making a blowing wind noise then he began to repeat the word, "Breezy," over and over. Little kid magic always worked. A gust of wind did come at the little wizard's command. It was strong enough to send the offending hat off of Buttercup and rolling down the street. It also send dust and anything that wasn't tied down in the same direction.
"That worked a little bit too well," Buttercup pointed out. "Thank you."
"Anytime."
The owner of the cart came back cursing, "Bloody weather man said it was to be calm today. Shows you what they know."
"You there." He caught sight of Severus. "Didn't I tell you last week to stop pestering my horse?"
"I'm not pestering her. She likes me."
"Well, I don't so unless you're going to buy something, move on."
The boy wrinkled his face at the man but walked away. Buttercup showed her disproval by kicking the front of the cart sending a good deal of the fruit on to the cobblestones. "You lousy creature." The owner took a riding crop he kept on the cart and swatted the mare several times.
"Don't do that!" The little boy was back.
"It's my horse and I'll smack it all I like. Get out of here boy before I call the police." The man began to swat the horse again. Before the second blow could touch the horse, a tremendous cramp came over his entire hand. "Ah!" The crop fell to the ground. The pain in the man's arm was now pulsing. The boy walked away and the pain disappeared. If he didn't know better - - Severus was very lucky, many times, that Muggles didn't know better.
tbc
I wanted this to go longer, but I need sleep. More tomorrow I hope.
