Wonderful chapter 26

Family?

When Eileen finally reached 'the Serpent's tongue' Joe was relieved to see her. "Thought something might have happened to ya'."

"I'm sorry I'm late my son - - had a problem."

"S'all right, these things happen. Yer here now."

For a muggle, Joe was all right. Eileen put on a bar apron and started working.

"Thought maybe something'd happened to Toby," Joe added.

"Oh?" Eileen acted unaware.

"It's goin' around Toby owes money to Stone. He ain't a man to cross."

"So I've heard."

"Some makes idol threats, not Stone," Joe warned. "He says he's gonna' do something, he does it."

A chill went up Ele's back as she notice one of the pub's patrons staring at her. She asked Joe, "Is that him?" She directed a look towards the man.

"Yeah, that's stone. You want I should throw him out?"

A warm feeling came over Eileen knowing that someone felt protective of her. "That's sweet of you, but I'll deal with him myself." She drew a pint and walked over to where Stone was sitting with a few of his cronies.

"Lads, look who it is," Stone said.

"Who's she?" On asked.

"Why this is Mrs. Tobias Snape. The resemblance between her and Toby's little brat is unmistakable."

Eileen plopped down the ale in front of Stone. She wished she had a potion to put in it. "I understand my husband owes you three hundred pounds."

"You're well informed," Stone replied.

The woman took the muggle money from a pocket and threw it on the table. "Now leave us alone."

"Oooh," the cronies chorused. "Leave them alone she says," one added with a laugh.

"If Toby is foolish enough to make a bet, why shouldn't I be the one to take it?"

"He won't be making anymore bets."

Now all of them were laughing.

"I suppose you believe in the tooth fairy too."

Ele didn't answer. In fact she was on good speaking terms with all of the tooth fairies, but she understood what the muggle meant. Stone drank the ale down in what seemed to be one glup.

"Thank you ma'am," Stone said as he pocketed the money. "I'll trust it's all here. I'm assuming you like Toby's knee caps." The thug and his cronies left.

Things went smoothly that night and Ele made a lot of tips despite not having any potions to put the customer in a good mood. It was close to closing time when a different sort of trouble came in the pub. Eileen looked up from wiping the bar to see grandpa Snapeivitsky and several other gypsy men coming in.

"Joe," she called in a whisper. "If you want to do some throwing out, start with those three." She indicated the men who had just entered.

"Oi, you there," Joe called out. The tone in his voice told his own 'lads' to keep a heads up. "This lady don't want you in here."

"We haven't come here to cause trouble," one without an accent said.

"Right," Ele scoffed.

"Ve are her to varn you," Dinu added.

"You keep your mouth shut you old goat," Ele demanded.

"What's this all about Mrs. Snape?" Joe wondered out loud.

The third Gypsy asked, "You know you got a witch working for you?"

Joe laughed. "Definitely not serving this lot. They're already drunk."

"You are in peril," Dinu warned. "She es a vitch."

In a prideful slip of the tongue Ele admitted, "I prefer the term enchantress."

"Oi." Joe liked Ele, but he couldn't stop thinking, 'Nothin' enchanting about her.' Out loud he said, "I don't care what you call yourself as long as you do the job."

"You vill be sorry."

"You lot are gonna be the sorry ones if you don't get out of here." Joe grabbed a cricket bat he kept behind the bar and brandished it at the three men.

"We didn't come here for trouble. We saw her and the old man thought you should know what you're dealing with."

"You're all right nut cases, aren't you?"

"You vill see," Dinu shot before they left.

"Crazy Gypsies," Joe said as he put the bat back.

"Yeah - - " Ele agreed. She was glad Joe didn't even believe her own slip up admission. As long as her boss didn't believe in witches, she had a job. "Listen Joe, I know it's early, and I got here late, but there was a lot of trouble today - - "

"Say no more." In a few days Joe had seen what a hard worker Eileen was, and he was in general a nice guy. "I know with Toby, and the little one, it must be hard." He pealed off the money he owed her and gave her share of the tips. "Go home, and I'll see you tomorrow."

-

Back at the Snape house, things had been quiet. There was nothing for Tobias to do but sleep off whatever bender he had been on the night before. There was nothing left to drink or smoke. He didn't want to think about what was going to happen to him the next day if Eileen didn't come through for him this time. Fear that she wouldn't crossed his mind. How he had been behaving lately didn't warrant anything but contempt from her. The man himself didn't understand why he acted the way he acted. All he knew was he liked the way he felt when he was drunk or high. He didn't want to remember the real world. He didn't want to be reminded that his grand scheme had not gone the way he had wanted. He did not end up with the Prince fortress as his home; he got this little dump, the brat and her. At first she had been fun, but when the money ran out Eileen became a real killjoy. All he wanted was for her to wallow in it with him, at least that would be fun. She wouldn't do that. She actually wanted him to go out and work. He had married her so he wouldn't have to work ever again.

Toby didn't want to think about anything so he slept. His sleep was not peaceful. Even in his dreams Eileen screeched at him. He kept dreaming of a man in a hooded robe turning him into a toad. Maybe one day Eileen would go to her family and tell them they could do what she had protected him from all these years.

"Toby, wake up." It was Eileen. Was it that late? She sat next to him. "Toby wake up."

Eileen's husband's eyes opened. He wasn't drunk, but he wasn't awake either. "What?"

"I thought you might like to know you don't have to worry about tomorrow." Her statement brought a questioning look to his face. "I took care of your problem."

"That's my girl." He reached across to give her a kiss. Eileen pulled away. She wanted to be mad at him; at the same time she missed his affections. "I want you to promise you will not get into this kind of situation again."

It wasn't as if she could really trust him to keep his word, but she was happy to hear his lie of the moment. "I won't. I'm through with Stone." He reached for her again. She still pulled back. "What?"

"I want you to promise that you will try to make an effort to stay sober, and get some kind of work."

"All right, all right. Happy now?"

It wasn't the most romantic moment, but she felt as if she could now give in. She reached for him. And for the first time in a while Eileen and Tobias remembered they were husband and wife. Both of their insecurities fed off of each other. In some weird dysfunctional way, they were made for each other.

-

In the morning Severus woke to the smell of breakfast. An actual cooked breakfast within days of the last. What was the special occasion? As he ran downstairs he could hear his mother humming as she cooked. She must have been - - happy. That hadn't happened in a long time. The little boy ran into the kitchen hoping for the best. He froze when he saw his father sitting at the table. What kind of a day was it going to be? It depended on which Toby showed up. After all Sev knew there were two Tobys. Good Toby, and bad Toby. Even when good Toby showed up the boy had learned bad Toby could show up anytime and ruin everything.

"Well boy," Toby called. "You going to stand in the doorway all morning or come and get some of your mum's cooking."

It was good Toby. So Severus timidly made his way to the table. He didn't take his eyes off of his father, in case it was a trick. He sat at the opposite side of the table so as to be out of whacking range. Sev looked at his mother smiling as she fried eggs. "Maybe we could all go to the park today," she proclaimed.

"The park? Really?" Severus tried to contain his excitement. After all there were many times when such a trip was promised, but never materialized.

"Really." It was Tobias who answered. "Your Mum and I decided we needed a day out. As a family."

Two looks kept dancing across the confused boy's face; one of worry and one of hope. This was a new trick. Sev wanted to ask if he could ride on the merry-go-round at the park, but that might be pushing his luck. "That will be - - nice." He reached across to the plate of sausages to grab one before he could be told he was dreaming.

"Go on," Toby was talking to Sev again. "Eat up, you're a growing boy."

Had his father just called him a boy instead of a freak? Was Tobias actually now even pouring him a glass of orange juice from the pitcher that was in the middle of the table? This was so good it was scary. He remembered what Eileen had said last night. 'I'm going to make Daddy promise - - ' She had said promise not to be bad anymore, or something like that. Had he promised? Would he keep his promise? When would bad Toby show up? Severus was sure it would be any second now. All day the boy thought that same thought. Bad Toby the toad would show up any second. Maybe Severus was in for a surprise today.

tbc