Wonderful chapter 15

History's Mysteries

Snape followed the two muggles around the grounds as they sold the eels to various people. It appeared to be the older folk that wanted them. The more he walked among these people, Severus was sure that none of them were wizards or witches, despite all the claims that they could predict the future. The young

wizard was convinced they were as muggle as muggles could be. That would describe his dad, so Snape thought it might be possible these Snapeivitskys were related to him. Once the boy became fascinated by something, he always pursued it till the end. As he watched them, he plotted, 'the boy, he'll tell me.' Sev kept following, waiting for a chance to get the boy alone, and 'make' him talk.

Eventually, the old man and his grandson stopped at one of the old fashion wooden wagons on the edge of the encampment, near an alley. An old woman, even older than the old man, greeted them. She promptly began to order them about in a non-English language. A lot of pointing accompanied the orders.

"Grandpa," the boy whined. "Buna knows I don't understand that gibberish."

The grandfather's hand raised, but it did not strike the boy. "That geeberich es yur nateeve tongue Ovidius. Do not mock et."

"I was born in England," the boy shot back. "My native tongue is English."

The old man shook his head before commanding, "Go make a fire."

Ovid took some wood from under the wagon and carried it to a steel drum cut for a barrel standing at the back of the wagon, almost in the alley. He began to stack the wood inside to build a fire. This was what Sev was waiting for. The boy was quite alone. Quietly Snape slunk towards Ovid. He was good at walking up on people without them hearing him. Not being seen was not his intent, so he stood there on the opposite side of the barrel until Ovid saw him. The gypsy boy jumped with a start on seeing Severus seem to just appear there.

"Oh, its you." Ovid kept stacking the wood inside the barrel. "Why did you run away from us down at the river?"

Sev shrugged. He wasn't about to answer that question. Ovid thought the boy looked a bit scrawny and so said, "We're going to roast some of the eels, you want one? I'm sure Gramps would give you one." Knowing where the eels had come from, Snape wanted no part of them. The fact that they looked like slimy snakes didn't help. How was he supposed to know they tasted good? All Severus did was stand there and stair at Ovid with those pitch black eyes. After a while it began to creep Ovid out. "Is there something you want?"

"Yes, there is something I want." Severus did not break eye contact. His mother had taught him a thing or two. He hoped that Ovid would do what he wanted. It wouldn't have worked on and adult, but it did on the boy. "I want you to tell me about your family history." Ovid tried to fight the urge to talk. "Tell me. I want to know about your grandfather."

His resistance failed. Ovid was forced to answer, "Gramps and Buna are from Romania. They've been here for about five-teen years."

This answer didn't seem to satisfy Snape's curiosity. He commanded. "What else?"

"He sent his son, my dad, here before the war to live with the others."

"Others? What others?"

"The ones who became English."

Even as young as he was, he was an inquisitive being. This sounded like a thread Severus wanted to follow. "Tell me about them."

"They came here a long time ago."

"How long"

"I don't know, seven hundred years or so. They came here as the servants of the dark prince's nephew."

This interested Severus intently. "Tell me about this nephew. Why did he come here?"

"The dark prince's brother sent one of his sons here, to hide him, and to learn the ways of the sorcerers at the ruined castle that is not empty."

'Hogwarts?' Snape couldn't believe his ears. 'It can't be,' he thought as Ovid continued. "The nephew of the dark prince did not want to return to his homeland. He wed with one of the sorceresses of a family of the old magic. It was at this time our ancestors escaped his service, and joined with the highland travelers."

Severus wanted to know more, but now the old man and the older woman were coming around to that side of the wagon. "Tell them nothing," Sev ordered before breaking eye contact. Ovid shook his head not realizing what he had just told this strange boy.

Before Severus could digest what he had heard, the old woman was talking in that language again. Then her son, Ovid grandfather said, "My mother vants to know vhy ve have never seen yu before?"

Sev's eyes darted back and forth before he replied, "Because you've never been here before." Before he knew it, the old woman was grabbing him by the wrist and turning over his hand and looking at his palm. She said something else.

"My mother vants to varn yu to bevare of de - - " the man paused to think. "Vhat es de word - - varevolves."

"Werewolves?" Severus snickered. There were no werewolves around there, and if there were he certainly wouldn't associate with them.

The woman hadn't let go of Severus, what she said next he understood. In a hushed tone she murmured, "Vizard."

Ovid's grandfather looked confused. He shook his head and repeated, "Vizard?"

"Vizard."

How did this woman know he was a wizard? He tried to pull away, and yelled, "LET GO OF ME!" In times of extreme stress, kid magic could come out in unplanned ways, or it could evaporate. Sev's was not showing up. Something was trying to keep him from confirming that he was a wizard.

"Vhat es yur name boy?"

"None of your business!"

"Buna let go of the kid," Ovid broke in. "Grandpa this is ridiculous."

"Es not ridiculous. Yu know Buna es vitch - - " Sev's struggling interrupted this statement. He got out of the old woman's grip but fell into Ovid's grandfather. He caught Severus before continuing, " - - Es vitch hunter." Severus had never been more frightened in his entire life, not even during one of Tobias' tirades. The boy freaked out. Tears were rolling down his face.

"Grandpa, let the kid go." Ovid was now shouting. "You're going to get us all in trouble."

"Ef ve let da sorcerer's spawn go, ve'll be en bigger trouble."

"Grandpa, there's no such thing as sorcerers, wizards, or witches."

"Yu know leetle my grandson."

The woman was saying something else in the language Snape didn't understand. The grandfather translated. "Not only es dis one a vizard, he es spawn of our enslaver."

"Grandpa, what are you talking about?"

"Dragon Prince. Descendent of de Dragon Prince."

"That doesn't make sense," Ovid believed. "He looks more like one of us, that nose - - "

Ovid tried to calm Severus down while asking, "Can you tell me your name kid. I want to get you home."

"I'm not saying anything until this old coot gets his filthy muggle paws off me!"

"See he even uses vizard verds. Vhat dey called us vhen ve vere slaves, Muggles."

"Kid, how do you know that word?"

"How do you?"

"It's in our legends."

"Maybe it's in ours too." Severus couldn't believe he'd just said that. His only hope now was that Ovid didn't believe any of it.

"Yours too, just what does that mean?"

Sev figured he had one way of getting away from these people, admitting part of the truth. "I'm a Snape. That's why I followed you. My name is Snape."

The three gypsies looked at each other. Ovid was the one to realize, "Guess he is one of us."

tbc