BIG, big, big appologies for the wait. Without going into details, April was a bh.
Wonderful chapter 36
Trap Snapped
The rest of that night Severus felt bitterly disappointed. After all of that walking and knocking on doors, he ended up with less than a dozen chocolate bars. 'Suppose it's better than nothing,' he told himself as he thought of his Halloween loot in the drawer down stairs. He wanted to sleep, but his mind kept racing. 'How long will it take Mum to find Dad's funny tea?' 'What if Dad sees it before he goes to work?' The boy eventually nodded off, but every noise woke Severus up again. He could have saved himself a night of anxiety if he had just shown his mother what his father had been up to. In his little boy's way of thinking, Sev thought if he did that he'd pay for tattling. If Eileen ran across the evidence on her own, Severus could deny any of Tobias' accusations.
Both Snape men were up early the next morning. When he heard his father clomping down the stairs, Sev silently went from his room to the top of the steps. The boy positioned himself so he could see down to the sofa while remaining unseen. All went well as Toby ate breakfast in the kitchen, then was strait off to work; no stop at the sofa. Now all Severus had to do was wait for his mother to wake up. Ele had been waking up later in the weeks she had been working at the Serpent's Tongue, so it was around ten when she came down stairs. Severus had been amusing himself with various things around the house. He had even managed to get Agri to talk to him again; she told him the names of all the plants in the kitchen garden box again. This time Sev thought he might remember them all.
Ele looked in the fridge. "You eat breakfast?" she asked. Her son shook his head. He hadn't even thought of eating. He just wanted her to find the artifact he had planted in the sofa. "We can't have that now can we?" Sev shrugged. Wondering why he wasn't saying much she questioned, "Worn out from last night?"
Reminded of Halloween, Severus finally spoke. "Can I have one of my chocolate bars? Dad hid them in the living room."
Eileen gave her son a stern look. "You know that's not a good breakfast."
"but that's what I want." That was what every kid wanted the morning after Halloween.
"Tell you what," Eileen made a suggestion, "you eat a bowl of cornflakes, and I'll let you have a chocolate bar for later."
Sev really didn't like the sound of cold soggy cereal but he had a plan. He asked, "Can we eat breakfast in the living room?"
"Why would we do that," Ele countered as she poured out two bowls of cereal, "When we have a perfectly good table right here?" She patted Severus' place at the table. The milk was poured over the flakes and the boy reluctantly sat. A few tentative spoonfuls in his mother saw the look on Sev's face. "You'd think I put a bowl of flobber worms in front of you."
Eileen had to suppress a laugh when her son retorted, "They'd probably have more flavor than this junk." A stern look followed. After a few more mouthfuls of the cardboard like cereal Severus noted, "If you had your wand, you could make it taste like chocolate."
Teasingly his mother came back with, "I could also make it taste like flobber worms."
A groan of "Ick," was followed by a scrunched up face.
"A minute ago, you said you'd prefer the worms," Ele continued to tease.
"I'd prefer if you bought the cereal that already tastes like chocolate."
"And how do you know about that?"
Severus had to think fast. He didn't want his mother to know that on some of his free roaming days, when muggle kids were in school, he had gone into a store that gave free samples and he'd made out like a bandit until they told him to leave. "Some kid told me about it," he tried to pass off.
"What kid?" Eileen's tone became stern. "You know you're not supposed to get chummy with muggle kids. And there are no wizarding kids around here."
"Just some kid." The boy swallowed and his eyes shifted.
"Severus Snape, I know when you are lying."
"I'm not getting chummy with any muggle kids Mum, I promise."
Looking to her son's eyes Ele knew that part of Sev's story was true. "If you promise."
Mother and son went back to eating the tasteless breakfast. The boy was not giving up on one subject. "Now that both you and Dad are working - - " he tested the waters. "Couldn't you get one box of something that doesn't taste nasty?"
'This doesn't taste nasty," Eileen proclaimed. "It barely has any taste." She dropped her spoon into the bowl and pushed it away from herself.
"See," Severus said waggling an accusatory finger at his mother. "You don't like it either."
Another laugh had to be suppressed by the young parent. "That is neither here nor there. It's good for you; it won't rot your teeth like that sugary one; and we still have to watch our money. Merlin knows when your Dad will screw up again." Eileen couldn't believe she'd said that out loud.
Silently Severus thought, 'Sooner than you know.' Then he wondered if throwing Toby under a bus was the right thing to do. His desire to do something he felt his father deserved out weighed any consequence the boy could think of. He finished the cereal without further comment. When he was done he inquired, "Can you teach me a spell today?"
Eileen sighed. "Without a - - " She stopped her comment about not having her wand short. An idea had come into her mind. "Find Agri and bring her into the living room."
For two reasons inside Sev was shouting a silent 'yes!' One, a magic lesson was on the way, and two, Eileen was closer to finding Toby's secret. The little wizard found Agri where he had left her among the other plants. Wrapping his fingers around her stem torso whisking her into the other room.
"Whoaaaaaaaaa," the plant said in surprise.
"Sorry Agri. We're going to do magic." Severus plunked her down on the floor in front of the sofa containing what he wanted his mother to find. He sat next to the animated plant and waited. As he knew she would Eileen came in a few minutes later a mug of coffee in her hands. She took a sip before sitting right next to the bag of pot in the crevasse of the cushions.
"Now Severus," She began. "I want you to try and figure out what Agri is thinking."
"Muuuum - - " Sev pointed out, "I can already tell what people are thinking."
"Believe it or not, it's harder to penetrate the mind of an enchanted object than an unshielded person."
Cocking his head Sev argued, "That doesn't make sense. People's minds are more complex that a flower's."
"but Agri is enchanted. It's the enchantment that makes it harder.
Still not believing it would be more difficult to see what a plant was thinking than seeing what cards Toby's buddies were holding he tried to see into Agri's thoughts. It proved harder than the boy expected.
"See," Ele gloated.
"What's the trick?"
"It's not a trick; it's a skill. One I expect you to master eventually." This made the boy a bit intimidated. "But for now, I will be happy with one of her thoughts."
Most of what the boy could sense was that the plant was chiefly concerned with the intake of oxygen and nitrogen, even if he didn't know what they were called, and the searching for a source of water. "I gave you water this morning," the boy blurted out at the plant.
"That doesn't mean I can stop looking for it," the plant shot back.
While Ele took another sip of coffee, Severus notice another thought coming from Agri. "She doesn't like you drinking that in front of her."
"Is that so?" Ele asked the flower.
"I know the smell of steeped Caffea Fadenii when I smell it."
The little wizard thought he was being cleaver when he pointed out, "How can you smell it? You don't have a nose."
"Not one as obvious as yours." Severus gave a sour look as Agri continued, "I can, as it were, 'smell' things through every cell I have."
"Oh." The boy wondered if he could smell things with, say, his finger or elbow; spell not withstanding. "That must be weird."
"Not at all." The flower puffed up with pride. "As a matter of fact, I can tell that this room contains 80 dust; You young man did not wash today; and there is a small amount of - - " Agri became agitated in her manner. "Oh my! What did they do to you Cannabis? Dried up; encased in a film of plastic parchment, and stuffed in a sofa - - " her flower head drooped. "Poor Cannabis."
Eileen came out of the relaxed state she was in. What was the anivegi saying? What was next to her? She reached down between the cushions and felt the plastic and dry leaves. Underneath her breath she swore, "I'm going to hex that man into December." Other than that Eileen gave no sign of what she'd found though Severus knew his trap had been sprung. Feigning innocence, the tricky boy asked, "What's the matter Agri? Who's Cannabis? A friend of yours?"
Before the living flower could answer, Eileen ordered, "Don't you dare answer that question Agri."
"But Mistress Eileen - - "
"Severus is too young to know about that plant." If she only knew how familiar he had been with it the night before. "Don't give me that look. I didn't bring it here, and you have got to face the fact that humans, weather wizard or muggle, use plants in ways that may not make you happy.
"I remember when I lived in the dirt," Agri mused. "I didn't care about such things."
The witch felt a little twang of regret wondering if she'd done the right thing in giving the flower that extra spark that might be called an individual soul; but what was done was done. She began thinking about what was going to be done to Toby when he got home. Unknown to her, her son was thinking about the exact same thing. A wide smirking smile grew on the boy's face.
tbc
