Chapter 51

Like Father Like Son

(Same day)

"Severus!" I screamed hysterically.

"Severus!" yelled David. "Alex," David turned to me. "Alex, don't worry he is out here somewhere. You go that way," he pointed to the left. "And I will go that way," he pointed in the opposite direction.

I nodded.

When David's back was safely turned, I reached for my wand in my pocket hoping to be able to find Severus by magic but before I could do this David called out to me.

"Alex," David said. "I found him." I heard David chuckle. "Alex, come here; you have to see this."

I ran towards him. He was barely five yards away. Why didn't Severus answer us? I wondered.

David held out his hand to me. I ignored it and looked down into the grass.

At first I was not sure what I was looking at; it didn't make any sense in my mind; I wouldn't accept it.

I saw my son sitting innocently, with his legs crossed. The large piece of chocolate cake sat beside him, practically untouched.

Somewhere far away David laughed again. I didn't understand why.

Severus's head was bowed. He was looking at something, something he was holding, but what.

As if in slow motion I bent down to get a better look.

The wind blew softly through the air, creating a low hissing whisper in my ears.

But no, the hissing was not the wind. The hissing was smoothly flowing from my son's lips and in his hand was a small green snake.

The snake's head bobbed back and forth as if nodding, listening to what my son was saying.

The snake hissed back in the same tongue.

A sound, half shriek, half sob erupted from me. I was suddenly doubled up in agony. I fell to my knees and pried the snake away from my son and tossed it aside. It quickly slithered away.

Severus looked at me with angry eyes.

"Why did you do that, Mommy?" He yelled at me.

I pulled my son to me and kissed his head repeatedly. He pulled away from me.

"Alex," David said with alarm. "It was just a garden snake, nothing to worry about. It wasn't going to hur-"

I threw David a piercing glare and he silenced immediately.

"Why didn't you answer us when we were calling you?" I asked Severus heatedly. My hands were tight on his shoulders. Severus tried to resist.

"Why did you throw the Snake, Mommy?" Severus screamed, angry tears began to fall from his eyes while hot scared tears poured from my eyes.

"Answer my question, Severus!" I sobbed.

Severus stopped trying to pull away from me and wiped away his tears at once. He began instantly calmer and eyed me thoughtfully.

"I didn't hear you," Severus told me.

"What do you mean you didn't hear us? We were calling for you so loudly," I cried.

"I didn't hear you," Severus assured me through narrowed eyes. He was still angry. "I was not listening to you."

Tears continued to roll down my cheeks. "Why?" I asked through a sob.

"Because, Mommy," Severus said defiantly. "I was talking to the Snake."

The words rang through my ears over and over again. With each time I heard the words replayed it was as if a knife was being driven deeper and deeper, twisting inside my ribcage.

"What did the snake say to you?" I asked softly in attempt to keep the hysterics out of my voice. My tone still shook violently and the knife had almost made its way completely through me.

"Alex?" David asked with shock.

"David, be quiet!" I snapped.

"Alex," David said anyway, "he was just playing."

"No, he wasn't," I said in an almost in audible whisper. "No," I moaned to myself. I slowly fell backward into the dirt. I brought my knees to my chest, "No, no, no." I was falling back further, much further, much too far. Why wouldn't it go away?

I was in that room again. That tiny side room in Malfoy Manor. It is dark except for the low flickering embers of the dying fire in the corner and the light that comes from beyond the open door. But I look away from the open door because I know who is going to walk through it at any moment. I sit on the ice stone floor with my knees to my chest. My breathing comes out in quick, sharp, stabs. I can't seem to fill my lungs. My heart sends hot lead into my veins, further anchoring me to the spot. I am isolated from the outside world, trapped in a tiny cage of black ice. I cannot feel, hear, or remember anything past this room, this moment.

The door shuts with a slow creak.

I sink completely; I am part of the floor.

There is a soft thud as a great snake falls to the ground from his master's shoulders. It begins to slither towards me.

I don't look up. I won't, not yet.

I hear bare feet slap against the floor. The footsteps get progressively louder as the walker gets closer and closer and closer. I feel the snake slither pass me. I shiver as its cold scales brush my skin.

I hear the sharp inhale of breath and then I feel the cold exhale on my face and it pours down my neck.

I force myself to look up and there, inches away, are those horrible red eyes, glowing from the dim light of the fire. They are hungry.

I don't put up a fight; I cannot put up a fight.

The eyes get closer.

I lean away from them.

They get closer.

I continue to lean back, but the eyes get closer.

I lean until I am flat on the floor, nowhere else to go.

The lipless mouth lets out a low hiss. I feel the heavy snake slither over my legs. My hands are held back. Thousands of icicles pin my skin to the floor.

My heart freezes, sticking itself to my spine.

Then there is a weight covering me, breaking me, shattering my frozen form until I am just a thousand pieces of broken ice.

The weight goes and I am left to melt into a puddle.

A little hand touched my cheek.

"Mommy," said my angel's voice.

I touched the hand on my cheek.

"Mommy," said Severus again. "I'm sorry," a sob entered his voice. His anger had evaporated. "Mommy, I promise I did not say anything bad to the snake. I just was asking him if he wanted some cake too because you said I couldn't have it all and the snake said he didn't want any and then, Mommy, he told me that he didn't usually talk to people."

"Okay, Baby," I wept.

"Mommy, did I do something wrong?" Severus asked me worriedly.

I shook my head.

"Is it bad to talk to snakes, Mommy?" he asked still unconvinced.

"No," I sobbed.

"Mommy?" Severus cried.

My face fell into my hands and I rocked back and forth.

"Alex?"

I felt a warm hand on my shoulder.

"I am going to take you into the house, okay," said David from miles away and the next moment I was in his arms headed back inside. "Come on, Severus," David called behind him.

"Is Mommy going to be alright?" Severus asked wetly.

"Yes," David assured him. "She is just really sleepy," he said roughly.

I almost chuckled at his comment. I buried my face in his chest; it was warm and dark and he smelled so good. The ice was melting. I was coming back.

"Severus," said David, "I am going to take your mom upstairs to rest, you like TV right?" I felt as David's body tilted and he took one hand off me to grab something else, evidently a remote control. I heard the television flip on. "Here, go to Town, Kid," said David. I knew he was handing Severus the remote.

"I want to be with Mommy," Severus cried.

I finally looked up. Both Severus and David were eyeing me nervously.

"David," I said with force calm. "Thank you, but you can put me down now."

David gave me a long skeptical look.

"I'm fine," I said my face growing hot.

I could tell he didn't buy it, but he slowly set me down anyway.

My head spun a little and my legs wobbled at first, but soon I was calm, cool and collected as always…yeah, I wished, but really I was fine, fine enough at least.

Severus was wide eyed and he let out a perceptible sniff.

"Severus," I whispered.

He held out his arms to me. I carefully picked him up, trying not to fall backwards.

He tightly wrapped his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck

"Mommy," he sobbed into my shoulder.

I squeezed my eyes tight and then opened them again. "I'm so sorry, Baby; I didn't mean to scare you."

"Was it my fault?" Severus cried.

"No," I said beginning to cry again too. "None of it is your fault. You have done nothing wrong."

At the sound of my cries Severus began to sob harder. I could feel his hot tears run down my shirt. How could I have lost it like this? How could I have created such a mess?

I sniffed and tried to swallow my weak feelings, to feel nothing.

I felt as my emotions sank within me, causing a horrible pressure in my chest and stomach.

I turned to look at David, trying to not really look at him.

"We should be going now," I said coldly as if this man had not just cooked for me, helped me find my son and then carried me inside.

"There are no buses this late," David said shortly.

"I wasn't planning on taking a bus," I said moving towards the front door.

"A cab then?" asked David stepping in my path.

No. "Yeah sure," I said, "let's go with that." I brushed my hand through Severus's hair to sooth him.

David looked confused for a moment but then disregarded what I said. "I am not going to let you leave when you are like this," he told me firmly.

"Like what?" I snapped.

"Really sleepy," David said, his tone strongly meaning 'Unstable.'

"I'm fine," I said stiffly.

"Spend the night," he said.

"No way," I said.

"I'm not going to let you leave."

"I'd like to see you try."

"Oh I'm really frightened," said David mockingly. "But really, you are staying here tonight and it is not going to be as bad as you think," he smirked.

I looked at him with confusion.

"It will be very G rated. You and Severus will sleep upstairs in my bed," I felt my stomach involuntarily do a summersault, "And I will sleep down here on the couch."

"No," I said.

"You can leave first thing in the morning," he told me.

"I will leave now," I said moving towards the door. David stepped in front of me again.

"It would be better if you stayed," David said seriously.

I was about to retort when Severus looked up from my shoulder. His eyes were red and puffy and there was a thin worry line in between his eye brows.

"I think we should stay, Mommy," he said with a shaking voice.

And that did it.

David clapped his hands once. "It's settled then," he announced. "It will be just like a slumber party," he leered at me mockingly. "Come upstairs then."