Title: Blue October, Volume One – Chapter Thirty.
Author: Woodland Goddess.
Rated: M
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's read/reviewed this fic so far. Hope you enjoy. Similarities to real incidents that may have occurred are coincidental.
Chapter Thirty: Fenwick and Lestrange
Severus fidgeted with his bowtie, only to have Lily slap his hands away. "Would you stop fussing with it; you look fine!" Gentle hands ran down the lapels of his jacket, smoothing out the fabric almost tenderly. Smiling softly, Lily glanced up at his face. "You look very fetching, actually," she admitted, almost reluctantly. A flush of incriminating scarlet filled his cheeks at that and Severus looked anywhere but at the girl in front of him. He thought he saw her frown in the corner of his eye. "Must be the bowtie."
Snorting in amusement, he glanced at her. "Bowties are stupid, especially this one." He only just managed to duck out of the way of Lily's fist. "I'm joking," he said in the face of her green eyes, glittering with anger and disbelief. The heaving of her chest eased and she glowered at him, her mouth a thin line. "Bowties are cool," Severus assured her, tone soothing for the moment, "very cool, indeed. I'd appreciate it if you didn't try to punch me again." He gave Lily a meaningful look. "I'd hate to have to hurt you."
The girl scoffed, waving a dismissive hand as she did so. "You just try, Sev. I'd have you on the floor so fast you wouldn't know what hit you."
Shaking his head, Severus chuckled. "We'll have to test that one day." Lily's answering laugh was promise enough. They shared a grin, but hers looked strange without her frame of crimson tresses. For tonight, her hair had been swept up and hidden beneath a wig of curly brown hair, offset by slightly pointed ears made out of rubber. She and her parents had gone to great lengths to perfect Lily's costume and it paid off now; Lily looked almost exactly how he had imagined Frodo Baggins to look, her feet being the only exception as they were clad in regular shoes. Despite that failing, Severus was impressed.
His own costume was less impressive, but that was to be expected; the Second Doctor had been a bit of a raggedy man. "Have you got your recorder?" Severus picked up the recorder from her library shelf and waved it around. "Good. Now, come on," said Lily, taking his hand in hers. The two of them left her room and hurried down the stairs. They found Mr Evans waiting for them in the kitchen, garbed in his own well-made costume. Stepping through the door, Severus startled at the sight of him.
The long grey robes and pointy Wizard's hat, accompanied by the faultless beard, moustache and wig, made him seem like a completely different person. The staff in his hand was the only give away that it was Mr Evans; Wizards used wands. Mrs Evans was fussing with the man's hat, but he batted her hands away. "Leave it be, Jen! Honestly, woman, you're a nightmare!" The fondness in his tone soothed the sting of his words. The man slipped an arm about her waist and pulled her in close, pressing her warmly against his front.
Mr Evans brushed a kiss against her cheek, earning a flush of embarrassment and a giggle as she tried to move her face away from his beard. "Stop it, you fiend," she said, laughing as she pushed his face away. Mr Evans grinned behind his beard and tried harder, eventually succeeding in planting a proper kiss on her flushed cheek. Severus felt uncomfortable as he witnessed their easy display of affection. Averting his gaze, he fiddled with his recorder, wondering what he was supposed to do now.
Eventually Mr Evans and his wife parted, the pair of them sharing smiles filled with tender love. No wonder Lily's such a bloody romantic, Severus thought, trying not to look at them. Lily was eyeing him an amusement, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking. Disgruntled, he glared at her. A smirk danced across her mouth. "Is Petunia definitely not coming?" Mr Evans asked curiously, fingers dancing an odd rhythm along his staff.
"Definitely not," Lily's mother answered, shaking her head calmly. "She's having a sleepover with her friends, instead."
"Right." Mr Evans did not sound too pleased to hear that, but he tried to cover it up with a bright smile and a twinkle in his eyes. "Come on, then, you two; we're going on an adventure!" Mr Evans led the way out of the kitchen, his elaborate grey robes swirling and billowing in his wake. Grabbing a twin set of bags from the table, Severus and Lily hurried after him, exchanging grins as they did so. The three of them burst out in to the evening air, the children following behind Mr Evans with an excited gait.
The first and second houses they visited gave them naught but peanuts and fruit – Severus was unable to stop himself from plucking an apple from the bag, munching on it as they continued onwards. In every house that they stopped at, someone was impressed with their costumes; some of them even squealed and clapped their hands in delight, before raining mountains of sweet things on them. In no time at all, the first bag was filled practically to bursting. When he noticed Severus' arms were trembling under the weight, Mr Evans was quick to take the bag from him, carrying it manfully.
They were two-thirds of the way through Cokeworth, their arms laden with bags, which Severus had replicated from the originals with a sly wink at Lily and her father, when they bumped – quite literally – in to a young man, hardly twenty-one years of age. The man, clad in deep purple trousers and jacket, with vibrantly green lapels, over a white shirt, was quite handsome. His eyes were a bright blue and his hair was ginger, though more orange than red. The beard on his was face was neatly trimmed.
Severus recognised him as a Wizard immediately; the colours were a dead giveaway. Purple and green were often worn, in some way, when Wizards were wearing Muggle clothing, trying to blend in. At least, on Halloween, the Wizard's monstrosity of a wardrobe was not too ostentatious, considering countless Muggles were in costume that night. "Good evening," he said cheerfully, waving his hand in greeting. "Lovely evening, isn't it? I must say, I love this time of year; it's like a breath of fresh air."
The Wizard held out his hand to Mr Evans. "The name's Benjamin Fenwick, but you can call me Benjy; everyone does."
Severus and Lily exchanged a glance, the latter slightly apprehensive. Mr Evans juggled his bags and his staff around before finally managing to grasp Fenwick's hand in a firm grip. "Harold," Mr Evans answered, "Harold Evans."
Fenwick grinned, blue eyes twinkling. "Harold Harold Evans? That's a bit redundant, isn't it? Merlin's beard, naming traditions are getting weirder with every passing year!" A child dressed as a Vampire strolled past, fangs on display constantly as they were too big to fit in his mouth fully. "That kid's costume is fantastic; I met a Vampire who dressed just like that once. Spitting image of him, I swear! Very strange man, he was," Fenwick said excitedly, almost rambling.
Mr Evans stared hard at Fenwick, green eyes unfathomable, presumably wondering if the man had been ingesting narcotics of some sort recently. "Harry, Mr Fenwick is a Wizard; he can do Magic like Lily and I can," Severus quickly explained in hushed tones, tugging on the man's grey robes to capture his attention. Then he gave Fenwick a sharp look. "Mr Evans is, unfortunately, a Muggle. So, if you want to stay out of trouble, you'd best cease your incessant babbling, Fenwick."
"Well, aren't you a ball of sunshine," the man replied, but the easy grin he flashed at Severus implied it was not his intention to insult. Fenwick was too affable; no one should be that genial, in Severus' opinion. It was disconcerting in ways he was unable to describe. "And what's your name, young sir?"
"Severus Snape," the boy answered, holding his head up high, silently daring him to make a comment about his parentage. Fenwick offered his hand to him; Severus took it with some trepidation. His skin was cool, the grasp firm; the handshake of a confident man. When blue eyes flicked to the side, Severus' dark ones followed in their wake, lighting upon Lily. A smile pulled at his mouth when he noted her expectant expression. "This is my friend, Lily Evans." Turning to face Fenwick, he said, "You're not from around here, are you? I haven't seen you before..."
"No," Fenwick answered, hands searching the numerous pockets of his jacket. When he found what he was looking for, he withdrew them; a box of Muggle cigarettes and a box of matches. Severus' mouth twisted in distaste at the sight of them. Elegant hands fished a cigarette from the box before it was slipped back into his pocket. "I'm from Cornwall." The cigarette rested between his lips as Fenwick struck a match, bringing the small flame to the end, one hand shielding the flame from the breeze. A moment later the matches joined the box of cigarettes. Fenwick glanced at Mr Evans. "Apologies for the rambling; those robes are terribly misleading. They're really well-made; where'd you get them?"
"My wife tailored them for tonight," replied Mr Evans, a proud smile lighting up his face behind his grey beard.
"Is she a Witch, then?"
"No."
A dubious expression washed over Fenwick's face. "Are you sure about that? What's her maiden name?"
"Burke."
Blue eyes gleamed through a cloud of smoke. "That's interesting."
Mr Evans' eyes narrowed at him. "Why is that?"
Pale pink lips smiled around a cigarette. "Oh, no reason." Fenwick flicked his gaze in Severus' direction, giving him a meaningful look. But the boy was nonplussed; Fenwick's amusement rose in the face of it. He took a drag of his cigarette, held it between two elegant fingers and lowered it from his mouth. After a moment a cloud of smoke was expelled from the man, the tendrils drifting in spirals around Severus and his companions. Fenwick looked back at Mr Evans. "Give her my compliments on a job well-done."
"Very well."
"They really are something," Fenwick continued, beginning to circle Mr Evans like a fashion-obsessed vulture. He opened his mouth to say something further but, all at once, the three people with Magical abilities went rigid with sudden awareness. The little hairs on the back of Severus' neck stood on end and goose bumps rose upon his flesh. Fenwick straightened, his jaw clenching as a flash of steel entered his blue eyes. "You need to go," he said quickly, tone authoritative. "You need to go, now. Go home as quick as you can."
"But we're not finished!"
Fenwick shook his head sharply. "There's no time. Go. Go home; lock your doors, turn off the lights and keep your heads down." The cigarette was thrown on the ground, snuffed between shoe and concrete. He pushed at Mr Evans roughly, shoving him away even as he forced him to turn around. Blood beginning to pound in his ears, Severus did not doubt the man's urgency. Neither, it seemed, did Lily. She caught his hand tightly in hers and they ran, Fenwick and Mr Evans following along behind them, the former still shoving at the latter in urgent encouragement.
They had only just ducked around a corner, hidden from view by a house, when Severus heard the tell-tale sound of apparition. Fenwick latched on to the back of Mr Evans' robes and tugged, hard, putting a stop to his forward motion. Severus and Lily, still holding hands, stopped beside them, trying to keep quiet, though their hearts were trying to explode out of their chest. In silence Fenwick drew his wand; Mr Evans looked as though the Doctor had just asked him to be a companion.
With a flourish of his wrist and a nonverbal incantation, all the bags were shrunk. For once in his life, Lily's father did not start asking questions like the curious man he normally would have been. Instead, he calmly slipped the shrunken bags into the pocket of his robes. He gave Fenwick a grateful look, but the man was not paying attention. Instead, he looked to be steeling himself for something. He pressed a finger to his lips and gestured for them to leave, as silently as possible.
Back straight, shoulders back and head held high, Fenwick slipped around the side of the house, his wand gripped firmly in his hand. "Didn't expect to see you here, Lestrange," the man said jovially, though there was an undercurrent of a threat in his words. "How long has it been? Five years?" Severus did not have the chance to hear any more of the conversation, for Mr Evans wrapped his hand around his upper arm, grip tight, and pulled him away on silent feet. The three of them fled the scene as quickly and as quietly as possible and, once they reached the Evans' household, they barricaded themselves inside without pausing to answer Mrs Evans' surprised and nervous questions.
Mr Evans had Lily and Severus run around the house to turn the lights off and check all the windows, then the four of them hid away upstairs in the master bedroom. Only then did they explain what had happened to Mrs Evans, who looked at them all as though they were barking mad, but she did not leave the safety of the room. Instead, she settled more firmly against her husband's side, munching on a handful of peanuts from the bags – Severus had negated the Shrinking Charm that Fenwick had applied to them as soon as Mr Evans had given him permission to do so.
The night passed slowly after that, the four of them curled up on the bed, with Mr Evans getting up to peer carefully out the window every so often. His wife was the first to fall asleep, dozing almost contentedly against his shoulder, and once that happened, Mr Evans was quick to follow her into oblivion. Lily and Severus remained awake for another while longer, curled up around each other, the former trembling slightly. He had no doubt the girl's thoughts were similar to his own, wondering what had happened, why Fenwick had been so determined to get them away from there.
Severus had a feeling they would find out in the morning. Eventually, the pair of them slipped into slumber alongside Lily's parents, Mr Evans' hand resting next to Severus' head, one long finger tangled in dark locks. In the morning he woke when the bed shifted. Startled, Severus sat up, dark eyes instantly seeking out the others. Mrs Evans and Lily were wrapped around each other, sleeping peacefully; the girl had clearly moved sometime during the night. Mr Evans, however, was by the window, peering out through a gap in the curtains, a nervous expression on his face.
The boy must have made some noise for Mr Evans tilted his head slightly, one wary green eye fixing on him. A tired smile pulled at his mouth. "I think everything's fine; nothing seems to be disturbed outside. Hungry?" When Severus nodded Mr Evans moved away from the window. "Well, let me get dressed in to something fresh and I'll make breakfast. We'll watch the news and then I'll drop you home; your mother must be sick with worry. I...best not to worry her much more; last night will be our little secret, yeah?"
"Yes," Severus muttered in response. Running a hand through his sleep-messed hair, he climbed out of bed, careful not to disturb the others. In silence, he slipped out of the room and descended the staircase. He waited patiently in the kitchen, unsurprised when Mr Evans handed him a comb when the man arrived, dressed in clean trousers and a loose shirt. Combing his hair, he watched as Mr Evans made a start on breakfast – a boatload of toast, a large pot of porridge, a jug of orange juice, a pot of tea and a number of boiled eggs.
The smell of the food cooking woke Lily and her mother, the pair of them coming downstairs, following the lovely scent. Lily waved at him and beckoned for him to help her set the table for breakfast. They did so in relative silence; their stomachs grumbled hungrily as the smell of breakfast permeated the room. The meal, when they sat down to enjoy it, was a quiet and tense affair. Almost as soon as the plates were cleared, Mr Evans was turning the television on in the living room. Settling down on the couch and armchairs, the four of them waited for the morning news to come on.
"Last night, between the hours of nine and ten," said the broadcaster when the news finally came on, "a terrorist attack seems to have occurred in Cokeworth, a town in Manchester. As you can see in the photographs to my right, the structural damage to the street is quite extensive." And it was. It seemed as though the street had been struck by a meteor; there was a crater in the middle of the street, rubble and dust strewn everywhere. Several poles had been damaged and three whole gardens and vehicles had been incinerated.
"Though they haven't yet claimed the attack as their own, IRA involvement is suspected. Local authorities have been dealing with frantic witnesses, claiming they saw two men fleeing the scene prior to the arrival of the police. One of these men has been described as dressed all in black, the other in alarming shades of purple and green. Unfortunately, the witnesses later seemed to start suffering from short-term amnesia not half-an-hour after their statements were taken. Local experts theorise that narcotics might very well have been involved in this street-wide memory-loss epidemic. Fortunately, other than a few scatter-brained witnesses, no one was hurt during the attack. For now, it remains a mystery. In other news –"
Mr Evans turned off the television, his breath leaving him in a sharp exhalation. "Bollocks."
Severus had to agree...
To Be Continued.
Yay, a brief look at two new Wizards. Well, not new; we already know Lestrange and Fenwick was mentioned in the series. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it!