Chapter 23

Puria

Snape lay as still as he possibly could, whilst he stared up at the cloth-covered underside of the canopy on his bed. He would be leaving to return to Hogwarts tomorrow. Technically, he had two additional days that he could remain with her, but he could not bring himself to do so no matter how much he wanted it. He knew that enough of the other teachers would be returning tomorrow for preparations that his absence would be noted instantly, especially since he had never before been known to return late.

A slight tickling of something through the fabric of his sleeve caused Snape to clamp his eyes tightly shut and work to steady his erratic breathing. She knew. He did not know just how much she was aware of his feelings, but he could tell by her reactions the night before that she knew enough. His secret was no longer safe from the person he had most feared knowing, but he had not seen the expected derision or revulsion in her eyes as she had told him that she would come back to his room once she had changed. As he had been talking to her later, he had felt the same gentle kindness that he had witnessed when she was a student, as she had moved from her usual white chair to a stiff Jacobean so that she was closer to his desk. Even though his pride had felt like an open wound rubbed with astringent and salt as he saw her pity for him, he had been unable to keep himself from reacting to the fact she was willing to be near him.

Snape opened his eyes again and allowed himself to turn his head to look at her. She was still sleeping, but, at some point in the night, she had rolled to face him—tucking her face into his arm. He was well aware that this meant absolutely nothing. One of his bed partners had once thrown her arms round him during her sleep, but since she had later called him Tristan he had not been concerned that the woman had felt anything for him. Likewise, he knew that his wife still felt uncomfortable and embarrassed by his physical attentions towards her. Nevertheless, he still could not bring himself to lose the physical contact until she awoke or rolled away. Therefore, he had lain in his current position for over an hour and was finding the feeling of cramping in his legs and arm to be increasingly uncomfortable.

At that moment, he heard her breathing change and then felt the light pressure against his arm disappear as she moved to sit up. Snape did not allow himself to look at her, but he did raise a finger towards the fireplace as he realised that she would be too cold in her thin nightdress.

The sound of her soft voice surprised him, since he had expected her to try to slink away as she had before—embarrassed to have him looking at her, as if she thought he would force her to undergo the ordeal again in the mornings. "How do you do that?"

Snape looked inquiringly at her from where he lay against the bolster.

"Do what, precisely?"

"You don't need your wand. I know that some people don't need to speak the spells, but I thought everyone needed their wands."

Snape sighed. "I do need my wand for most things, Patience. There is only one type of magic for which I never do."

"I've seen you do heaps of things without a wand."

"Have you? Haven't they all had one quality in common, Patience?"

Snape looked at her beautiful face and found himself unable to infuse his words with invective. It did not matter how long it had taken her to ask, since he had known she would. "I am a Promethian, Patience. All that means is that I can control fire. I can raise the fire, lower it, and control what burns."

"Oh, so that is all?"

"Yes, that is all. It is a gift that is exceedingly rare, but is not particularly useful to the average wizard, since there are spells to do most of what I can."

"But you aren't the average wizard, are you?"

Snape looked sharply at her, but he saw nothing that told him that she was intentionally flattering him. Snape sat up and pushed the curtains on his side of the bed open before leaning back against the headboard. "No, I am not. There are other applications, Patience, all of which involve the Dark Arts. My talent is known only to my family, Rem, and now yourself, since I have avoided the Ministry registry for Abnormal Magical Manifestation."

Snape watched her face and saw that she looked only confused as she asked, "They make you register?"

"The Ministry keep a record of everything, Patience, from animagi to metamorphmagi. They like to keep their noses in everything."

"Why didn't you register?"

Snape cleared his throat and looked at her with slightly narrowed eyes, "Because I did not want my ability to be publicised, since it is more useful if all of my strengths are not widely known. Additionally, there are weaknesses that come with every gift, Patience."

"And you do not want these known either, yes, I see. Does Luther know?"

"No, however he will. He has taken the Vow not to betray our family or me. I am leaving tomorrow, Patience. There is quite a lot to discuss later today."

Snape could see that she was still thinking about what he had said; probably trying to think of whatever applications there might be for controlling fire other than lighting lamps. He interrupted her thoughts saying, "It will be time for breakfast soon, Patience. You will want to be dressed."

Patience looked at him in surprise and then nodded her head, but Snape saw her glance briefly in the direction of the fireplace before she asked, "Severus, are you able to travel through fire without your wand?"

Snape, who had never expected her to remember her experience with Xulopurian travel, found himself strangely pleased, but he still avoided answering her question. "So can you, Patience. That is the purpose of Floo powder."

Patience looked at him with an expression that told him that she was clearly not amused, which caused Snape to feel quite the opposite.

"Yes, I can travel without Floo powder, but it takes immense energy and concentration, as well as considerable knowledge of Dark magic. Be aware that this is something that you may never discuss, not even with Luther and certainly not with your friends."

Patience indicated that she understood, so Snape threw back the bed covers and prepared to get up.

Snape indicated that he wanted his wife to come to where he was standing at his desk. As she disentangled her Crup from her lap and slowly moved across the room to his side, Snape watched her expression to determine if she were still in a receptive mood. Unfortunately, he found Patience impossible to read, so he gently pressed her into the high backed chair and then pulled a stack of papers in front of them.

"As I told you this morning, we have a lot to discuss. Did your family explain to you the terms of the marriage contract?"

Patience's eyes widened and she replied uneasily, "No. I know that you got some money."

Snape was not surprised that she had not been told anything, but it would have been easier for him if she had. "I did. This money, like the house and everything in it, is my own property. As it stands now you own nothing other than what belonged to you prior to the marriage, such as your clothing."

He was relieved to see from her reaction that she already understood this, so he pulled out a paper from the middle of the stack on the desk and said, "This is the marriage contract. I think that it would be useful for you to read it."

"I read the one I signed."

"Read this one. The settlement terms are included."

Snape rested his hand on the desk and watched as she bent her head to read the words on the fancifully decorated parchment. When he could see that she had finished Snape said, "Do you understand?"

"Yes. I own nothing, not even Biter or my wedding ring."

Snape frowned, but she was correct in her assessment. "According to that contract you would have received an annual sum upon my death until your remarriage and some provisions for any offspring."

Snape tossed the marriage contract aside, trying to ignore the unhappy expression on his wife's face, and pointed to a thick packet of papers that were stamped with several wax seals and jurisconsultary insignia. "The house has a complicated entailment, which was how I inherited even though Gideon's father was a Prince and only my mother was. However, since the house is entirely in my possession and I have no siblings and my mother has no living siblings, I am able to break the entailment now that I am married."

Snape glanced quickly at Patience to make certain that she was following him before he added, "This means that I can change the inheritance of the property from going to Gideon upon my death and designate my wife as the recipient."

"You are saying that I will now inherit this house?"

Snape nodded, "Yes, the house and all the property within, as well as whatever is left in the vault at Gringotts'." Snape had expected Patience to be surprised. It was better if she thought that the only reason that he had broken the entail had been to benefit her. She did not need to understand that, at least initially, his primary motive had been the desire to cast a final blow at Gideon.

Patience's voice was uncertain as she asked, "Why are you doing this now?"

"Because nothing is certain, Patience. There are events going on of which you are not aware, but that may cause me to have to leave or for something to happen to me. I want to be assured that there are no questions as to what should happen to you and this house in that event."

Snape looked down into Patience's upturned face, as she seemed to be searching his eyes for the truth. "What are you doing that might make you go away?"

"I cannot tell you about that, Patience. You only need to understand that I have business, which is extremely dangerous and not at all sanctioned by the Ministry so you must remain quiet."

"Oh. How long would you be gone?"

Snape shook his head. "I am not talking about taking a holiday, Patience. If my residence in this house is a risk for you, then I will permanently leave it. Of course if I feel that things have become too dangerous for me in Britain, then I shall disappear altogether."

"But…what about me?"

Snape felt her hand on his arm, looked down into her pleading eyes, and said gruffly, "It would be unsafe for you, Patience. I will never involve you in my business. It is for me alone. I will not allow you to be endangered, which is why I want you to know that I might have to go away."

"But that is not fair to me. I do not want to be left alone. How would I know when you would come back or if you were safe?"

Snape felt an enormous thrill of emotion at her words, but only allowed himself to reply, "I am not discussing this with you, Patience. If I find that you will be safer if I do not return to this house, then I shall stay away. This is not the only property that I own. I have explained to you before that I will put your safety first and that is not something that is negotiable. All that you need to understand is that you are provided for in this event."

Snape moved to pull back from standing so close to his wife to regain his composure. However, Patience grabbed his hand and said urgently, "It is not fair to expect me to simply accept that you might suddenly abandon me permanently—likely with no warning. That is not right."

Snape gently pulled away his tingling hand and said with an air of finality, "It does not matter whether you think it is fair. It is my job to protect the both of us, Patience. You will accept my decision."

Patience turned her face away and said angrily, "I don't see how I could ever stop you from doing what you please, but I can tell you that I think you are being unfair and that you are wrong. I shouldn't have to wonder if you are dead or hurt."

Snape turned her face towards him with his left hand and said succinctly, "The decision is made." He held her chin so that she was forced to look at him and then continued, "Now pull yourself together, since we are not finished our discussion about your affairs."

Patience pulled her face free from his hand and replied coldly, "I am listening."

"You must sign the papers to break the entail."

Patience took the Compulsatory Quill that he had handed her and signed her name in bright red ink where Snape indicated.

"Now then, do you understand how to access an account at Gringotts' and how to write a bank book?"

Patience shrugged "No, but I am certain I can manage. Eva will know."

Snape placed another of the parchments in front of her, saying, "Then sign below. This is an agreement regarding a quarterly payment that will be paid to you. If we separate then the sum will increase slightly although household expenses will continue to be managed with another account. There is also provision for any future children."

Patience signed her name quickly and said, "What is next?"

"We need to discuss your studies."

"Luther talked to you?"

"He did. I would prefer for you to learn transfiguration, but that is your own choice, which I have explained to your brother. He, however, told me something interesting that we need to address."

Snape could see that Patience did not know what he meant, so he continued, "How is it that you are able to plan an astrocartographic chart? You did not take arithmancy or any advanced theories of astronomy, correct?"

Patience nodded. "I have always been able to understand how the planets and close stars work. I don't know why, but it has always made sense."

Snape asked seriously, "Do you use an asterothen?"

"Oh yes, I always cheque my positions for any but the very nearest stars. The more distant stars are much harder to understand. However, I do not use the calculations."

"Are you able to do the calculations?"

"Of course not. I never had arithmancy or logic classes. I just know how it works, but I cannot explain why."

Snape walked to the cupboard along the far wall and got out an asterothen and a trixulos, which he brought back to his desk. "I want you to show me what would be the chart for the next date on which I could make a Venutian-influenced potion."

Snape watched Patience take a piece of parchment and place it flat before tapping the surface with her wand. To his astonishment, drawings of all of the solar planets appeared in a clump near the tip of her wand. As she set up the trixulos, Patience touched her wand in several places, causing small yellow and blue circles to appear. Snape could see by the way that she handled the asterothen that she had a better understanding of its various spikes and bumps than he did. With a final sweep of her wand, all of the blue or yellow star dots and the moon and planet drawings suddenly moved round one another into their proper orbits, which were drawn neatly by the rapidly spinning quill that Snape had handed Patience.

Snape had not been so flabbergasted by anything in longer than he could remember. His wife had just created an RAS standard astrocartographic chart within minutes, when Astrocartographers with decades of experience would have taken several hours. She had also demonstrated an agility with magic that he had never guessed that she could. She had cast unspoken spells and used her wand to draw the map, instead of the quill, all of which were challenging for some seventh-years.

"Do you have any idea how difficult creating this sort of chart is for most wizards, Patience?"

Patience nodded her head, "Professor Sinistra told me that she had never seen it done by a student."

"You cast some very complicated spells, Patience; I do not just mean your apparent talent for understanding celestial patterns. That was excellently done, which tells me that you are far more capable of learning to handle your wand than I had believed. If you learnt to Apparate, no matter how long it took, and if you can manage the spells for mapping, then with individual tutoring you might even be able to learn fourth-year Charms and Defence, Patience."

Snape had not intended to compliment her; however, he could see that she was genuinely pleased by his words. "Do you really think so?"

"Yes, some slow students are able to learn when they work at a different pace. Perhaps you will benefit from your brother's lessons more than I had hoped."