Title: Blue October, Volume One – Chapter Twenty-Two.

Author: Woodland Goddess.

Rated: M

Author's Notes: Thanks for reading and reviewing, guys. I love hearing your thoughts! ^_^

Chapter Twenty-Two: Building Bridges

The weeks passed by at a good pace and Severus managed to accomplish a number of things; not all of them Magical. He suffered through Mrs Evans' disapproving looks and frosty smiles in order to be measured for his Halloween costume. He did so only to receive a bright and happy smile from Lily, under whose watchful eye he had been the whole time. Mr Evans had been pleased, too, of course – until Petunia had heard and threw a strop, demanding that Mr Evans choose between them; either Severus would be trick-or-treating that year or she would be.

Sitting in the back garden of the Evans' household with Lily, Severus remembered, with clarity, the open shock and quiet hurt on Mr Evans' face when the elder girl had confronted him. He had looked exceedingly torn, with good reason. Severus had been certain that he would choose his daughter; what father would not have done so? The man had thrown them all for a loop, however, by straightening and looking at his daughter quite seriously. "Lily wants him to go," he had said, though his voice had indicated that saying so caused him pain.

Mr Evans' answer had been made clear. Severus' stomach twisted with guilt as Petunia's expression swam to the forefront of his mind. Everyone in the room had been able to tell the precise moment when Petunia's heart had split in two as her face crumpled, her eyes flooding with tears. She had not waited to hear another word, running away from them all, a choked sob echoing in her wake. Mr Evans reached out for her, but his action had been too late, his fingertips just brushing the tips of Petunia's hair before she was gone from the room.

The look Mrs Evans had given Severus, then, had been positively venomous. Severus had quickly excused himself from the household, having intruded too much already. He had been conflicted for a long time, afterwards. Part of him had leapt with joy and surprise that Mr Evans had chosen him, but mostly Severus was angry with himself. He could imagine what had been going through the girl's head. Merlin knew he was subjected to the same feelings on many occasions; it had almost become a second skin to him, in fact.

As a result of that catastrophic day Lily and Petunia had fallen out. It was not the first time, but Severus had never seen Lily so upset afterwards. Her cheek had been rosy red, as if she had been slapped, and her face had been drenched in tears. Severus had tried to comfort her, but she flinched away from his touch. Even after the passing of eight weeks, Lily still blanched whenever Severus tried to bring up her sister's name; their dispute still had not been settled. "You have to talk to her," Severus said, looking at his friend quite seriously. "Don't let me come between your family; I'm not worth that."

"Yes, you are," Lily said firmly, though she glared down at the grass beneath her. Her expression was defiant, yet pain was flickering in and out of her eyes. Severus hated to see her so torn up inside. "You never call me a freak. You don't run away from me. You don't push me to the ground if I scare you. Hell, I don't even frighten you." Lily ripped a fistful of grass from the ground and began tearing them to shreds as she spoke. "Why should I choose someone who does any of that, over someone who doesn't?"

"She could be worse," Severus retorted quietly, "a lot worse. She could take a belt to you; beat you until you were bloody. She could call you every derogative term under the sun. But she doesn't; she lashes out with childish name-calling and shoving because she doesn't understand – and in that regard, she is no different from any other child. Petunia doesn't understand why you can do what you do and she can't; you both came from the same genetic pool. In her mind, she should be able to do Magic, too. That isn't the only difference between the pair of you, either. She isn't nearly as pretty as you are; you inherited good bone structure and physical traits that she didn't."

Severus raised his head and looked up at the house. Petunia was sitting by her window, upon an upholstered windowsill. She rested the side of her head against the pane. Her hands rested limply upon her lap. She was not looking in their direction specifically, but Severus would not be surprised if she could see them in her peripheral vision. "She's not as smart as you are, judging by the results you told me about at Christmas, and yet she is determined to prove to your parents that she can be."

"Why, Severus, I didn't realise you cared about how Petunia felt," Lily said teasingly, turning her head to look at Severus.

"I don't," Severus huffed, his attention regained by his friend. Lily's emerald eyes burned with something that Severus was not able to determine. "I care about you. You care about your family, so, naturally, I care about what happens to them, in turn." As Severus spoke to her, he felt a few droplets of rain upon his head, signalling that the pair of them should head inside. They did so in good time and managed to escape the downpour that had begun outside. "Trying to help your problems will reduce my own headaches, because you'll be whining and crying less."

Contrary to what Severus thought would happen, Lily laughed. "You're so self-serving!"

"Naturally." Severus grinned in amusement and Lily elbowed him playfully, a gesture which he gamely returned. "Seriously, though," Severus continued, setting the fun aside for the moment as Lily lead him into the kitchen, where she fixed them both a ham and cheese sandwich. "You really need to talk to her; you'll regret it if you don't. There's nothing more important than blood."

"Sev, I don't want to talk about this."

"One day she won't be here anymore," Severus said, as if Lily had not said anything, "and it'll hit you hard that you never tried to rebuild the bridge between you. It's something you need to do – for your own benefit." Lily cut their sandwiches into small triangles and arranged them on a small plate, which they would be able to share. The girl glanced at him as she lifted the plate from the counter, before carrying it over to the kitchen table, to which Severus followed her, taking a seat.

"Severus, you don't have any siblings. How can you know what's best for me?"

"You're right. I don't have any siblings – thank Merlin for that – but why should that mean that I'm incapable of offering advice?"

"Do you always answer a question with a question?"

"Do you really want an answer to that?" Severus asked, clearly amused, as his friend selected a triangle. Lily snorted and shook her head, taking a bite out of her sandwich segment. Severus took the liberty to select his own portion, savouring each bite he took. After swallowing two or three marvellous bites, he continued talking. "I'm just saying that familial bonds are important. You shouldn't waste the opportunity to put this petty squabble behind you. One day you may need her and she won't want anything to do with you, otherwise." Severus took another bite of his sandwich, chewing thoughtfully as he eyed Lily across the table.

Lily sighed around the sandwich she was devouring and swallowed, with some measure of difficulty. "You're trying to make me be self-serving. I'll tell you now; it won't work."

"If you won't do it for yourself...then do it for your father; he's been miserable."

"Now you're trying to fill me with guilt."

"Is it working?"

"Yes," Lily grunted, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. "I'll be back in a moment." She brushed crumbs from her hands and lap, before rising from her chair. Her back straight and her head held high, she left the kitchen in pursuit of her sister's bedroom. Severus did not bother to listen; he knew very well that Petunia would forgive her sister. He was beginning to understand their dynamics, now, after so many months as Lily's friend. He finished his sandwich in silence and polished off two more by the time Lily returned.

The girl wore a smile as bright as the sun and her eyes were slightly dazed. "Went well, then, I take it?" Lily let out a giddy laugh, nodding happily. "Well done," he said, a tad mockingly, earning a hard swat on his arm as Lily passed him on her way to her chair. Severus smirked and bit into his last sandwich segment. "I knew it would go swimmingly, so now you know to take my advice in the future." Lily sat down on her chair, extraordinarily prim and proper for such a wild child, and then completely ruined the effect by sticking her tongue out at him.

They shared an amused grin. Gradually, they struck up a conversation, chatting animatedly with each other for quite some time. Lily ended up dragging her chair around to Severus' side of the table, leaning in close to him as they spoke excitedly about Magic. Intermittently, the pair of them would chuckle, as if they were discussing some enormous and very dirty secret. Their discussion came to an end when Mr Evans came through the front door, whistling merrily to himself as he removed his rain-jacket, visible to them through the open kitchen door.

Lily went to greet him, a grin on her face. Severus watched them, a pang of jealousy flaring as Mr Evans swooped down on her, gathering her up into a warm embrace. For a brief moment he wondered what it would have been like had his own father been so loving, but he pushed the thought away quickly, his lip curling in derision at his weakness. Mr Evans ran his hand through Lily's fiery hair, his lips moving as he made a comment to which Severus was not privy. It was clearly something nice, judging by the expression that washed over Lily's face.

Mr Evans turned towards the kitchen and waved cheerily at Severus. The boy returned the gesture, somewhat more subdued than Lily's father. The pair of them entered the kitchen, Lily following behind her father. Mr Evans ruffled Severus' hair fondly as he headed towards the fridge. Severus felt a surge of pleasure at the familiar action. A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Perching herself upon her chair once more, Lily grinned at him, clearly amused by his reaction.

Severus stuck his tongue out at her briefly, an innocent expression washing over his face as Mr Evans turned away from the fridge, yoghurt in hand. The man eyed him for a moment, green eyes calculating. Under such intense scrutiny, his innocent demeanour crumbled and the man smirked, a hint of triumph flashing in his eyes. Blast, I'll have to work on that, Severus thought, pulling his gaze away from Mr Evans. Chuckling, the man disappeared into the living room, picking the newspaper up from the counter as he left the kitchen.

"From your reaction, you'd think he was your Dad," Lily joked, her green eyes sparkling.

Severus snorted in amusement, shaking his head. "Spare me; I don't hold with such sentiment."

"Careful, there, Sev; with those lies, you might start growing an enormous nose like Pinocchio!" In answer, Severus stared at her in confusion. He had no idea who Pinocchio was and he doubted his nose could get any bigger, regardless of how many lies he told. At his expression, Lily jumped up from her chair. "This is an outrage! You must learn about Pinocchio! He's a timeless classic!" She marched around the table, grabbed Severus' hand and dragged him out of the kitchen.

Amused and partially irritated at being hauled around by a girl, Severus followed Lily as she dashed up the stairs. He soon found himself standing in the familiar confines of Lily's bedroom. Lily pulled him over towards her bookcase and perused the shelves, her fingertips caressing the spines of her beloved books. When she found the book she wanted she withdrew it from the shelf. She held the book out to him, a smile tugging at her mouth. Taking the book from her, Severus gazed down at the cover. It was a copy of The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. "You want me to read it, I'd imagine," Severus drawled.

"No, I want you to sit down and stare at the front cover all day."

"That could be arranged," Severus said cheekily. "In fact, if you like, I could stare at you all day." He proceeded to show her just how long he could stare, then, following her around, his eyes unblinking. Severus stopped staring at her long before she would have grown irritated, but not before they started elbowing each other, almost but not quite playfully. Soon their fun came to an end, for Severus had to return home for supper; he did not want to intrude on the Evans' family time.

Severus endured a hug from Lily and a hair-ruffle from Mr Evans when it was time for him to leave, after vowing that he would read and protect the book Lily had entrusted to him. When he arrived home, he sat through a tense meal with his parents and took care of a few chores in an effort to appease Tobias, who appeared to be in a rather volatile mood. His mood was nothing unusual, but Severus managed to avoid drawing the man's attention towards him. He was the only one to avoid Tobias' ire, however.

Sometime after Severus had disappeared into his room, he heard the beginning of a disturbance downstairs. Sitting on his bed, defence text open on his lap, Severus cringed as Tobias' voice echoed through the house, horrible phrases falling from his barbed tongue. He thought he heard his mother say something in response, before her cry of pain reached his ears. A loud crash followed. Severus assumed it was the kitchen table being knocked over during Tobias' rage. He closed his textbook sharply.

A grim sense of determination overcame him and he climbed out of bed. He retrieved his wand from his satchel, which had been stowed under his bed. Gripping his wand tightly in his right hand, Severus tiptoed out of his room, avoiding all the floorboards that creaked. He crept downstairs and positioned himself outside the kitchen door. Tobias' back was to him – a good thing, too, because Severus knew he would be lynched within an inch of his life if the man saw him with his wand.

If Eileen had noticed Severus' appearance she made no effort to advertise the fact. Severus did not want Tobias to be alerted to Severus' presence behind him. He raised his wand, aiming it at his father's back. Severus knew it was a lowly thing to do, but he imagined it was the lesser of two evils. His mind went over the spells that he had practiced until they were etched in his mind. He could not do anything too harmful or obviously magical, but there was a spell he could use without too many problems arising. Not for him, at least.

Severus thought of the incantation and the effects as he performed the wand movements, concentrating fiercely. A smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as a non-verbal blast of magical energy, dark green in colour, slammed into Tobias' back, causing the man to stumble fractionally. Severus danced out of sight immediately, disappearing up the stairs as quickly as possible, without making a sound. The spell he had used was the Curse of the Bogies, which would give Tobias a severe head cold.

It was not the most spectacular spell that Severus could have performed, but it was serviceable. It would distract Tobias long enough for him to leave Severus' mother alone. Severus was up in his bedroom again, wrapped up in his blankets, his textbook open once more, when he heard Tobias sneeze loudly. Then he uttered a curse, followed by another louder sneeze. Tobias hardly ever got sick and so Severus had never had a chance to hear the man sneeze before. It was loud and high-pitched, uncomfortable against Severus' ears.

A smug grin danced across Severus' face. For five whole minutes Tobias sneezed uncontrollably, before uttering another loud obscenity. The man's heavy boots stomped up the stairs and passed Severus' bedroom. Severus held his breath, just in case Tobias decided to come in, but the man did no such thing. He continued on his journey, heading into the bathroom. Severus tuned out when he heard his father begin to blow his nose; he did not care to listen any further, nor was there any need to.

Severus read a few chapters of his defence text – already he had three-quarters of it memorised – before retrieving the book Lily had lent him. It would take him a number of days to get through the entire book; he could really only enjoy a book when he was in his room, alone, or when he was at the playground with Lily, sitting under the shade of a tree. He knew, however, that the book would be returned to Lily before a third week rolled over. Severus was glad; he was not a fan of borrowing books, in all honesty.

The fact that he had little choice but to do so irked him ceaselessly. Severus wished, with all his heart, that he could have funds enough to buy his own books and build himself his own personal library. "Lily's so lucky," he softly said, the words accompanying a sigh as he opened the book to the first page...

To Be Continued

Ah, Pinocchio; such a disturbing story!

Anyways, feel free to let me know what you think!