BitterSweet, Chapter 15:
Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling hence I own none of the characters etc. etc.
Severus Snape's POV:
A sudden crack wakes me and I suddenly rise from bed.
"Master Prince, Mercury has come to bring you to the Manor on Madam Prince's orders." The intruding house elf announces.
"Where are my parents?" I reply, rubbing my eyes.
"They are going to arrive at Spinner's End once I bring you to the Manor, Sir." Mercury replies. I swing my legs off the bed and walk over to my wardrobe to grab my robes.
"Can you wait just a minute?" I ask the elf, grabbing a piece of parchment while changing.
"Certainly, Sir." Mercury replies. I give a short whistle and open my window. I quickly scribble a note explaining my absence. Henners' flies in through the window and I tie it around his foot, sending him to deliver the message to Lily. As soon as I get changed, I grab the elf's arm, knowing that Grandma likes punctuality. We apparate into the formal parlor where I had first met my grandparents and I see a glimpse of my parents just before they apparate.
"Severus! Come quickly, lots to be said but I am now too short of time." Grandma half greeted and half stated as she came fluttering towards me. Without a word I follow her into the fireplace and into our secret room where two luxurious couches await.
"Sit." Grandma invites. I sit down and watch Grandma as she paces the room, her usually neat hair a mess and her robes askew.
"What's wrong?" I ask bluntly. She stops in her tracks, looks at me then continues to pace, unanswering. Finally she turns to me.
"Let's quickly revise everything we've done over the holidays. Occlumency, Legilimency and general battle." She says, pointing her wand at me. I nod my approval, getting my wand.
"Legilimens!" She casts. I feel the pressure build up in my head; the force trying to penetrate my mind. Feeling the pressure getting harder, I push against it and slowly the pressure lifts until I break through. I immediately enter into her prominent thoughts and memories.
"Perhaps another dose of Crucio would help you to remember who you're training?" A cold, shrill voice asks. "Do not think I do not know. I know everything, and am aware of the strength in the boy. But no matter, no matter. Your precious grandson will be taken care of soon, the foolish boy. If you were smart Henrietta, I wouldn't waste my time on that half-blood for you will go down with him. I know you are training him against me. Don't bother." Voldemort warns as he casts another spell at Grandma, who screams in pain.
Falling to the ground, I break the connection.
"Grandma, what was that?" I ask, my voice worried. She slumps down onto a chair and looks at me in the eye.
"The Dark Lord knows I am helping you and he has given me a task I am afraid I cannot do. I am afraid I will not be around much longer – that is why this time is precious." She explains matter-of-factly, as if her death means nothing. I sit quietly in my chair, trying to absorb the information. I can't believe that Grandma has been threatened, and that she will give into the threats. Not her. I will not let the only remaining family who loves me, die.
"I will not let you die." I swear, looking at Grandma.
"You naïve boy!" She snaps, her eyes glazing over. Her face changes slowly from anger to despair and sadness.
"My dear, dear boy. You can not prevent my death any more then you can the sun from setting. Nor do I want you to." She whispers, taking my hand shakily. "My death is a necessary part of your future." She says, seeing me about to protest.
"But I can save you!" I yell in anguish and hurt. I feel a lump in my throat rise as I see her face clearly, which is full of tears.
"My Severus, you have saved me. You have saved me from a path of destruction and despair." She whispers gently.
"Why, why did you help him?" I ask, closing my eyes. Despite everything, she chuckles.
"I'm a Slytherin my boy. And a Prince. I could not resist the temptation of gaining rewards."
"What rewards did you gain?" I ask curiously, opening my eyes.
"Oh, nothing really. We gave money and he gave us status, and the ability to do whatever we want, granted it did not disturb him." She replies. She takes a deep breath as if to draw in strength.
"Now, no need to grieve for something which has not yet happened. We only have a few short hours, so we will revise a bit more, and let's chuck in a bit of the Dark Arts, eh? I think there are a few tricks I must teach you before we depart. But, I can't help but feel you know them already…" She encourages, standing up and levitating the chairs to the corners of the room.
For hours we practiced and tested my magic skills until I was at the point of teaching her.
"Very good." Grandma congratulated, lowering her wand. "You will be a fine match." She whispered under her breath.
"Match for whom?" I ask, wiping the sweat off my forehead. I watch as Grandma's face changes and it is obvious she is trying to hide something.
"Don't hide it, tell me." I plead.
"I wouldn't bother hiding anything from you; you are too good a Legilimens!" She retorted proudly.
"Well…?" I inquire. She slowly levitates the chairs back into the middle of the room then sits down, resting her head on her hand.
"Lily." She says. I feel my neck grow hot under my robes at the conversation I know will follow, but still sensing that she is hiding something. "So tell me, how did you go with my granddaughter in law?" She asks smugly. All previous thoughts disappear as I focus on avoiding the question.
"We are not married and are unlikely to ever be." I cough. She resigns and stares at me as if it would force me to tell her
"Severus, give me a peace of mind. I don't want all my efforts to have gone useless now." She says. I breathe deeply and close my eyes to any reaction she may have.
"She claims she loves me, and I spent Christmas at her family's." I say. To my surprise though, Grandma chuckles, the sound snapping my eyes open.
"You know, it's not bad to feel emotions. You and your father have that in common – both try to block feelings out." She comments slyly. "Now, Severus, you must promise to take care of yourself, and to keep the Prince family line going." She says seriously. I nearly scoff at the comment - talking about me being a future father is absolutely ridiculous and impossible – but I notice that she is serious.
"Uh..I-I'll try, but I don't know whether…" I begin, but she cuts me off.
"I don't want to hear any negativity from you!" She snaps harshly and my face withdraws into a stone mask. Grandma's face softens and she grabs my hand.
"I am sorry dear. I am very proud of you. You are an extremely accomplished Legilimens and Occlumens. You know how to act in difficult situations, you think quickly. Not to mention your crafty ways with the wand and ability to create your own spells…you can create potions and are the most knowledgeable person of the Dark Arts… and of course you're a parslemouth..." Grandma praises. I feel myself immediately reject the compliments but chide myself and remember a question which has been haunting me.
"Why am I a parslemouth?" I ask, albeit worried. All known parslemouths have been named as some of the evilest people in the world, possessing inhumane natures.
"Mmm…" Grandma ponders, letting go of my hand and relaxing into the chair. "I believe that is something which you are too young – and innocent- to have knowledge of. I will, when the time is right, give you a book which will it explain it all. But for now, let me just say that it is a genetic issue and that speaking parsletongue will be a key to your future. Now don't you want to ask me how I went with your parents?" Grandma asks, trying to change the subject. With no encouragement from me, (for I was to busy thinking of what she meant), she continues.
"It went quite well. I have missed your mother's company an awful lot. Mind you, she seems much more willing to please us then normal." She comments, as if talking to herself.
"How did Xavier cope with my father?" I ask curiously. She opens her mouth and closes it, then opens it again but I intervene. "Grandma, how do you control Xavier?" She sighs, mumbling something along the lines of "if I don't say it now I never will".
"Remember how I told you when we first met that Xavier and I were never against your mother marrying a muggle? And that Grindlewald put Xavier under the Imperius curse which even when removed, damaged him?" She asks. I nod, trying to work out where she is going with the story. "Well, that was only half true." She ways, waiting for my reaction. I start frowning and crossing my arms, not happy with her lying to me.
"Let me explain." She reasons, taking in a deep breath. "Your grandfather and I were not always muggle-haters, but we were easily influenced by Grindlewald and followed his directions exactly as if we were, indeed, under the Imperious curse. Grindlewald's hate for all muggle-borns was well known, and we adapted that view, Xavier more whole-heartedly then I did, for I had no personal prejudice against the people. This, of course, happened before your mother met your father. Anyway, once Grindlewald was defeated, Xavier became obsessed with the fame and glory he had given us, so much so that we joined up to help Voldemort the moment he rose, without second thought. As I mentioned before, I have always had my own mind. I grew weary of the greed controlling our lives. I tried telling Xavier how blinded we were by it, but he wouldn't listen.
When I decided that I no longer wanted to support the Dark Lord, I was foolish enough to tell your grandfather. He protested and kicked up a big fight, threatening to turn me in to the Dark Lord. It is like his old self, the Xavier I married, has been wholly consumed by greed; his love for me drowned by it." She half-whispers, her face showing decades' worth of sadness. "It was from that day forward I knew I couldn't trust him again. Unable to let him run around telling everyone of my change of loyalties, I created a spell. It works similarly to the Imperius curse; however, I do not completely take over him."
"What do you mean?"
"I cannot order him to do stuff through the spell, or stop his feelings. Unlike the Imperious curse, I can only block out a limited number of thoughts, memories and in this case, knowledge, from Xavier, but his personality and self remains untouched. I can not control how he feels. For me, it was the only option. I couldn't use the Imperius curse, because it is too obvious." She explains. I look at her and agree with myself that she really more then what meets the eye – who would've known she takes control of her husband?
"What's the spell called?" I ask.
"Cholericamore." She says. I shift slightly in my seat, uncomfortable with the information.
"Why did he threaten you?" I ask. She sighs.
"You must understand, we are one of the most powerful families in the entire wizarding world. Being in allegiance with Dark Lord secured our hold on fame and glory. Xavier is a Slytherin, as am I. We didn't care for the random deaths of courageous people. We just paid the money. But, I got to a point where I felt guilty, and I couldn't take it anymore. He thought it was fine, and wanted to become a death eater, and we had a fight about it. As I mentioned before, I was stupid enough to tell him of my change." She says. I feel my eyebrows knit together in confusion.
"But aren't you guys still in allegiance with Voldemort? Why were you guys invited to the tea party if you're known as haters?" I blurt out.
"Well…we aren't exactly in allegiance…"
"What do you mean?"
"We don't send money, but we didn't cut off our communications with them either. I convinced Xavier he is too old to be a death eater and that the Dark Lord has enough money, but he insists on helping anyway he can. And I had no other real way of helping the cause against Voldemort, so I just stayed silent. You have to understand how difficult that would make our situation if we ignored him; we would be in absolute danger because we possess knowledge which could bring the Dark Lord down…we would have been killed…"
"And so now you will be killed anyway?!" I shout in anger, fed up.
"Severus, please. Don't make this harder then it already is. You have a life ahead of you full of purpose and meaning, and I just don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. I am so proud you aren't going to be a death-eater." She says, taking my hand into hers. I sigh, and nod my head in final understanding. She lifts herself from the chair and retrieves some milk and cookies which appeared, but I don't feel like I can eat much.
"Severus." She says, turning to me after taking a cookie from Mercury. "Lily is a muggle-born, is she not?"
"Yes, she is a muggle-born. Is there an issue with that?" I ask, remembering her mentioning upon our first meeting that she knew that Lily was a muggle-born.
"No, no issue for me. But for you're mother, it might be."
"What do you mean?" I ask, cocking my head slightly to the side.
"When she was here, she expressed how she deeply regretted your friendship with that 'little muggle girl'. She believes you ought to marry a pureblood, or at the very least half-blood." She says. I choke on my milk.
"Since when did my marriage ever come into the picture?" I ask in a disgusted tone.
"You count yourself lucky that we didn't marry you off already!" Grandma says. "All I am trying to say is that your mother isn't too fond of Lily's blood status, and she'll give you a tough time about it. Mind you, I think it's a tad hypercritical, considering she married your father." She comments.
"I think that is the reason." I mumble, swallowing the rest of my milk.
"Oh?" Inquires Grandma as she sits down.
"I believe she uh…believes muggles are like Tobias, harmful and disrespectful, and she doesn't want my life to turn out that way." I reply.
"Mmm…That does make sense." Grandma says, closing her eyes.
After a little while longer, Grandma announces that we must move on, and we both get up to leave through the fireplace, but Grandma grabs me.
"Severus, I know I have said it several times today, but I want you to know how proud I am of you. You are so unlike my other children, you have a heart. I know that you will always do well." She says, cupping my face with her hands before turning and walking through the purple flames. I stand there for what seems like minutes, feeling warm inside. She's proud of ME. For being ME.
Eventually I snap out of it and walk into the fireplace, jumping out in the parlor, nearly bumping into Xavier. I walk out and sit down on a plump chair, looking around the room. I shiver at the thought of how much money was spent on this house, and feel worse thinking about how much they gave to Voldemort.
"Severus, when do you resume your education at Hogwarts?" Xavier asks, slouching over the fire, marveling at his wand.
"In a few weeks, sir." I reply, not stuttering once.
"And what year will you be in?" He questions as Grandma sits down on a chair opposite me.
"My Sixth year, Sir."
"Interesting. In a year you will be of age…you would have joined the Dark Lord…we would have married you off…I believe it's time we add your portrait to our fireplace family tree, as a mark of good fortune to come." He muses, twirling his wand around in his hand. I sit there staring at him, not making a comment. Xavier stands up straight and faces me, his eyes still lifeless and cold as they were when I first saw them.
"When your Grandmother and I die" Xavier begins "it leaves you as our only male heir. Despite your disgusting blood status, your inheritance of our fortunes will cover up your status and make you one of the most powerful members of the Dark Lords recruitment." He says proudly, pausing as if to wait for me to praise Merlin himself for what he said next.
"And we will marry you off, and certainly not to any half-blood or freakin' mudblood…"
"What did you say?" I ask, my eyes snapping from looking at the thread of my robes to Xavier's eyes.
"I said, you won't be marrying a freakin' M-U-D-B-L-O-O-D." He replies, spelling it out. I stand up, level with Xavier.
"Don't ever use that word." I spit.
"Ah. Touched a nerve have we? Would that happen to be because of a certain mudblood living near you?" He asks, amused. Without one word I brush past Xavier and lean down to kiss Grandma on the forehead.
"Be safe." I whisper, and she nods in response. I stand up straight and walk out of the room, with Xavier following behind me, shouting.
"Don't you go do what your mother did, boy, or you will end up like her!" He yells as I walk down the marble stairs, ignoring him.
"Mercury!" I call, staring at the large black door and hearing Xavier's footsteps get closer. The house-elf appears just as Xavier closes in the distance between us.
"If you walk away from here, you will never set foot in this place again." He says, puffing at a mere metre behind me.
"So be it." I say, about to take Mercury's arm.
"You won't ever touch the Prince fortune!" He yells, as if that sentence would make me beg for forgiveness. I turn around swiftly.
"If getting your fortune means endlessly abusing people because of their blood and having to join the world's biggest criminal, I don't want any of it." I say, my voice clear and strong. I take one last look into his eyes and see deep sadness turn to amusement. Sick of his appalling nature, I grab Mercury's arm, whisper "Spinner's End" and apparate home.
We arrive at the front of the house and I watch wordlessly as the house elf disappears. I walk up the pathway and into the house, not sure I am yet ready to see any other people, for my head is spinning with all the information. The only comfort I get is the fact that I return to Hogwarts in a matter of days.
Hello!
Again, so sorry it's taken me so long, but I DID post it! I am quite aware of how imperfect it is, and I will re-edit it soon, so please excuse any errors.
I hope this chapter isn't too confusing, but I wanted Sev to get some clearer idea of Henrietta and who she really was. Honestly, I hadn't intended the chapter to turn out the way it is, but that's ok.
I also have one question for my readers, (and try not to read into it too much), but, should I kill Xavier off, or not?
Thank you all for reading, and for all of my reviews :) They are lovely and heart-warming.
I hope I haven't disappointed anyone with this chapter, but please feel free to review with questions/comments and I shall answer them promptly.
Thanks a ton for everyone for your support :)
Lots of love,
Angela (Missteque)
(P.S. A big Happy Birthday for Severus for the 9th of Janurary xox)
(P.S.S, Sorry about the whole chapter mix up, computer a bit haywire at the moment, sorry for any convenience!)