September 10th, 1969
Sandwiched between my lumpy mattress and threadbare blankets, I shiver slightly, even though it is summer. I have not eaten since yesterday morning because the only food left in the house since yesterday morning is stale saltine crackers we bought last month, and I know if I eat too many, I won't have anything, since blackberry season's over. I know my mum gets to eat a bit at her waitressing job in Knockturn Alley, and my dad gets to eat a bit at his current job in the car factory, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to eat. My mum has been too busy working to go grocery shopping in a while. She's been working a lot of overtime lately. My dad's boss got mad at him yesterday because he didn't meet his production goal at the car factory. When he got home, he said it was my fault because I got in his way too much and distracted him when he was trying to rest after work. My back is still sore from his belt. At least this time it wasn't his fists.
My stomach growls. Ignoring it, I sit up, brush the hair out of my face, and look around my room to see the cardboard box I keep my mum's old school books and my dad's old Bible in, my old, rickety wardrobe, and my mum's old trunk. In the trunk I keep my collection of strange rocks, a couple of little toy trucks and army men that used to belong to my dad that my grandma gave me before she died, my baby blanket that's falling apart, and a harmonica I found at the park. I push myself up off my mattress, put back on the same t-shirt, jeans, socks, and sweater I've been wearing for the last four days, and slip on the only pair of shoes I have— an old pair of canvas sneakers that used to be black, but are now faded and full of holes. I sneak down the stairs, listening carefully for signs of life as I reach the bottom step. Hearing none, I walk to the bathroom to comb my dirty hair with my fingers so that it covers my yellowing black eye. The water heater's been broken for months, and I'm always cold anyways, so I haven't showered in about a week and a half. Stopping by the kitchen, I lower my head to drink from the tap. I drink enough water to fool my stomach into thinking it's full so I don't have to eat as many crackers. My stomach might be full of water, but my brain knows I'm still hungry, so I count out four saltine crackers. It might not be much, but in my head I pretend every cracker is a whole different meal. The first one is grilled cheese, and the next one is chicken tenders and fries. The one after that is mashed potatoes and gravy. The last cracker is cherry pie. While I eat, I sweep the floor. The whiskey bottle my dad threw last night is still shattered on the floor of the living room. I don't want to forget to clean it up and have him or my mum be mad at me. After sweeping, I feel too tired to leave yet, so I curl up on the couch and sleep for a bit. Once I wake up, I drink some more water, and leave the house, locking the door behind me. I stop on the outskirts of the woods to double check the blackberry bushes, just in case there are some berries still left, then, finding none, I leave for the playground. When I have walked a little way down the block, I stop and sit down on the side of the road. I feel dizzy and faint, and my heart is beating slow. My muscles shake, and the cold in my bones that never seems to go away creeps into my chest. After a few minutes, I force myself to stand back up and continue on to the park. As I walk, I quietly sing to myself,
"Will ye go, lassie, go?
And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the bloomin' heather
Will ye go, lassie go?"
When I get to the park, I see Lily. She is flying from the swings like an angel. Her hair fans out behind her like wildfire. She is wearing her school uniform, and the top half of her hair is tied in a white ribbon. From behind the bushes, I watch her swing, favoring to wait and watch rather than draw attention to myself and cause her to stop enjoying herself. She launches herself off the swing and floats to the ground like an angel. I always feel as if she must be hiding her wings somewhere, and that if I can just catch her off guard I might see them. I sigh, and begin walking over to her.
"Sev! I didn't see you there! How are you? Tuney's been angry with me again," she continues without waiting for an answer, "You look so tired! Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. She's always mean to you, though. Are you surprised?" I grin, playing with a loose thread on my sweater.
"Don't be too cheerful, Sev," she laughs, "You wanna come over to my house today? I told my parents you might come!"
"I don't wanna intrude."
"No! My parents don't care! They said they're glad I made a friend here!"
"If you're sure. We can just stay out of their way," I shrug.
"Okay! My dad will probably be grading or watching T.V. He might want me to to my homework when we get home, but you can play with Lady or something," Lily says, beginning to walk.
"Who's Lady? And what do you mean he's grading?"
"Lady's my dog! She's cute. You'll like her. And my dad's a teacher. Come on!"
I sigh, and begin walking. I'm nervous to hang out near her parents, especially if her dad's just come home from work. My dad wants to be left alone when he gets home from work, so we'll just have to be quiet.
While we walk, I ask her lots of questions about school. My mum pulled me out at the beginning of last year. She said she was going to homeschool me, but she never has the time. Lily tells me that she doesn't mind school here, but she misses going to school back in London. She's not used to the way we speak down here, and some of the other kids make fun of her for her accent. She says they tell her to quit putting on airs, and they call her carrot-top because of her hair. I tell her that they're probably just jealous of her, and to ignore them.
"Do you think there'll be mean kids like that at Hogwarts, Sev?" she asks, "I don't wanna get made fun of there, too!"
"Maybe, but we'll all be the same, won't we? We'll all be magic there!" I say excitedly.
"I can't wait to go! I'm so excited!" Lily exclaims. The ribbon on her hair begins to dance, but there's no wind.
"Me too! I can't wait to get out of here. My mum said there's always food there! And the feasts are huge!"
"Yeah, but you can get food anywhere, silly goose!" Lily exclaims, then, as we pass some of the other kids from school, she whispers, "I'm excited to learn everything about magic I can! I'm gonna be the best witch in our grade! You wait!"
"I bet you are. You're really good at everything you try already!" I smile, and wave at Billy. He's the son of one of my dad's co-workers, and we used to hang out before the mill closed and my mum stopped letting me go to school. She said muggles don't want little boys who have magic around them. What if I did something and they found out? She said that they'd hit me even worse than my dad does, and we'd have to move and find a new place to live, and it would be all my fault.
Billy waves back at me, and calls out, "Hey, Rus!"
I smile, and call back, "Hey, Billy!"
"He calls you Rus?" Lily asks.
"Yeah, that's what everybody here calls me," I mutter, "'cept my mum. Rus is a more common name than Severus, anyways. My dad don't want it to seem like we're tryin' to sound fancy, you know?"
"I guess that makes sense. Do you like Rus, or Sev better?"
"It don't matter to me. I guess I like Sev," I smile.
The rest of the time we're walking, we talk about what we're going to do when we get to Hogwarts. I want to learn everything I can about potions, and Lily wants to learn about transfiguration and charms. She says she wants to learn how to make her room clean itself so that her mum can't nag her to do it anymore! I don't tell Lily, but I want to learn a spell that will make my dad forget about drinking so that he'll be nice again. I guess I want him to forget that my mum and I are magic, too, but I feel like that would be asking for too much.
When we get to Lily's house, she runs up the sidewalk and unlocks the door. A large, copper colored pitbull greets us, smiling and wagging her tail. I am afraid because my dad has always told me about how vicious dogs are. When I was little, he used to tell me that if I misbehaved, he would feed me to a big dog. Lily greets the pitbull lovingly, squatting down and rubbing her hands all over the dog's squirming body.
"Hi, Lady! How's my precious little baby girl? Oh, I love you love you love you!" she coos.
"You sure it's safe?" I ask nervously.
Affronted, Lily turns back to me and says, "Sev, you silly goose! Lady is the best dog in the world! Of course she's safe!" Then facing Lady again, she says, "Don't listen to the mean little boy, Lady-girl!"
I smile tentatively at the dog, and she smiles back. Her tongue is hanging out of her mouth, and she looks friendly enough, but her teeth are big and sharp. At that moment, Lily's father comes into the front hall. He is tall and looks strong, but not as tall or strong as my dad. He has brownish-red hair that looks as if it's starting to thin out. His green eyes look kindly out from behind his glasses. He smiles when he sees Lily squatting down with Lady, then he smiles down at me. I look at my feet.
"Lily! How was school today? I just got home myself!" he exclaims.
"It was okay. Marcus pulled my hair again at recess, so I pushed him. Patty says he only does that 'cause he likes me, but I think he does that 'cause he's mean!"
"Did Miss Johnson say anything to him about it? I know this isn't the first time he's done that."
"No," Lily shakes her head, frowning, and I have an urge to go find Marcus and give him a piece of my mind, "She didn't see it."
"I'll let her know that Marcus has been doing that so she can be on the lookout, alright? And I'm proud of you for sticking up for yourself."
"Thanks, dad!" Lily smiles, and gives her dad a hug. I don't remember my dad ever sticking up for me or saying he was proud of me. I wish he did, though.
"You must be Severus! Lily has told us so much about you!" Mr. Evans says, as he reaches down to shake my hand.
I shake lightly, and withdraw as soon as possible. He seems nice, but you never know.
"I'm doing some grading in the living room. Do you have any homework to do?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Why don't you come do it before you and Severus play? Severus, I haven't seen you in school! Do you go somewhere else?"
"No, sir," I mumble, "My mum said she'd homeschool me. I really miss school, though."
"Well, since Lily will be doing homework, would you like to help me with my grading?"
"Yes, sir!" I smile.
While Lily does her homework, I help Mr. Evans with his grading, then he gives me something to read. It's tough, but he doesn't mind when I ask questions. After Lily's done, we play with Lady. She can do sit, paw, down, go-to-sleep, play dead, and dance. Lily makes me give Lady a treat after she plays dead. I'm scared, but Lady takes it so gently from my hand. I take a chance and pat her on the head. She smiles up at me, and I feel the fear starting to melt away.
Petunia is strangely quiet throughout supper, and leaves the table quickly after finishing her plate. Lily's parents notice her leaving, and exchange worried glances. They ask me about my parents, if I have siblings, and what I like to do in my free time. Mr. Evans tells me he is a teacher at the school here. He recently left a nice, parochial school to come live down here. He thought he could do more good working at a school where the children did not have as many opportunities. He heard of the steel mill shutting down a couple of years ago and saw how so many people lost their jobs here.
"My dad used to work in the mill," I say, looking at my empty plate sadly.
"Really?" he asks as Mrs. Evans ladles more food onto my plate, "Where does he work now?"
"He works in the car factory now. He don't like it, though."
"I understand. I wouldn't like to lose my teaching job and have to do something totally different. You know, I have some extra workbooks the district gave me, if you'd like them. I've heard that it can be hard for parents to find resources for homeschooling."
I nod, and thank him.
After supper, Mr. Evans gives me two workbooks and a pen. One for math and one for English. I hold them very delicately. I don't remember the last time I had something this new! Lily wants to play more with Lady, but I want to work on my new workbooks, so she helps me instead. It's hard for me, since I've missed a whole year of school, but Lily is helpful, and Mr. Evans teaches me patiently. I wish my dad were patient like Mr. Evans. Whenever I used to have homework that was too hard, my dad would yell at me, and tell me that I was stupid, but Mr. Evans just re-explains the problem as many times as it takes for me to understand.
When it's time to go, Mr. Evans walks me home. I tell him I can walk on my own, but since it's dark out, he insists I let him walk with me. My dad's old truck isn't there when we get to my house, so he's either working overtime tonight, or at the bar. Hoping he's working overtime, I whisper a quick thank you to Mr. Evans, walk slowly up to my house, and unlock the door. I turn around and wave before I go inside, and Mr. Evans waves back, then turns to walk away. I quietly shut the door, and, still thinking about Lily's house and my new workbooks, I walk upstairs. I check my parents' room to see if my mum is home, but she isn't, so I open my bedroom door, gently place my new workbooks and pen in my cardboard box with my other books, and lay down on my mattress. I know I should take a shower, but I know it'll be cold, and I just can't deal with it tonight, so, instead, I roll over and close my eyes.
I wake to the sound of a car door slamming. I look out my window— it's pitch black outside. As I huddle up under the blanket, I wonder how long I have been asleep. I briefly consider trying to find somewhere to hide in case he's come home drunk again, but there's no time now. My mum must be home by now! Maybe she'll tell him everything's fine. Maybe this time she'll protect me! The front door slams, and I hear him curse and start stomping up the stairs.
"RUS!"
My heart is beating too fast— I shake, eyes wide, staring into nothing.
"RUS!" I smell the whiskey on his breath as he rips open my door, tears the blanket off me, grabs my tiny arm, and throws me into the hallway. The light from the dingy wall lamp blinds me, and I stumble and fall down the stairs. As I hit the floor, the back of my head slams into the ground, and I see lights dance in my eyes. I try to scramble back up and make a break for the door, but, dizzy, I trip over my own feet. He grabs my tiny, bony waist and throws me bodily against the wall.
"TELL ME WHY THE FRONT DOOR WAS UNLOCKED, BOY!" He grabs the front of my shirt, hauls me up, and shakes me hard.
"I'm sorry!" I cry, "I forgot!"
"YOU STUPID FUCKIN' KID! HOW DO YOU FORGET TO LOCK THE FUCKIN' DOOR?!" He smacks me across the left side of my face.
"I'm sorry!" My eyes begin to well up with tears, and they start rolling down my cheeks as my dad slaps my left cheek again, as if he didn't hit me hard enough last time.
"STOP FUCKIN' CRYIN', YOU GODDAMN BABY!" He shakes me again, then punches me in the eye and throws me back down to the floor. He kicks me in the ribs, kneels over me, backhands me across the face, and punches me in the jaw, "YOU WORTHLESS, STUPID, GODDAMN, MOTHERFUCKIN' KID! GET THE FUCK UP— YOU AIN'T NEVER GONNA LEAVE THAT DOOR UNLOCKED AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME?" And he picks me up, throws me over his shoulder, and carries me back upstairs. When we get to my bedroom, he throws me back down to the floor, rips off his belt, and yells, "TAKE YOUR FUCKIN' SHIRT OFF!"
I know better than to say anything, so, still sobbing, I shakily stand up and pull my ratty old t-shirt over my head, looking at the floor so he can't see the tears rolling down my cheeks. He grabs my hair, jerks me around to face the wall, and shoves my face forward. I reach out with my hands before my face hits the wall, and he begins whipping me with his belt. My mum never comes in.
The next day when I finally wake up, the light from the afternoon sun streams through my grimy bedroom window. My head aches desperately, and I cover my eyes to block out the sunlight. As I move, my ribs burn and some of the welts on my back reopen and begin to bleed. Shakily, I shove yesterday's t-shirt and sweater back over my head and walk slowly to the bathroom. I try not to look at myself in the mirror. My mum isn't home, so I guess she's already gone to work. I wish she had taken me with her today, or at least come in to see if I was okay before leaving, but it's fine. I go down to the kitchen and grab four saltine crackers from the pantry, and sit on the bottom step of the stairs to ponder my situation. My head hurts fit to burst, and so do my ribs. My jaw and my eye hurt where he punched me, and every time I move, I can feel the welts from his belt oozing blood. I know I ought to go to St. Mungo's, but I was just there a few weeks ago and if I go too often then they'll know, and my mum and dad will fight, and I'll get beaten again, and and and and… But then again, they told me if my head gets hit again they needed to see me. Something about brain damage. I guess I'll just wait for my mum to get home after work tonight. Hopefully she doesn't work overtime today. Not wanting to stay at home any longer, I shove on my shoes, grab my key, lock the door, and set off for the park.
Upon arriving, I hear a familiar voice, "Sev! I was hoping you'd be here! I just got out of school, and all day I've been wanting to ask you… Sev? You look terrible! What happened?" Lily exclaims.
My voice shakes as I mumble, "Nothing."
"That doesn't look like nothing!"
"I said it's nothing."
"What happened?"
I take a deep breath, and respond, "I just fell down the stairs. I'm fine. Everything's fine."
"Whatever you say, Sev. Do you wanna come over to my house again? Or do you wanna just hang out here?"
"Just gimme a second. I gotta sit down for a minute," I say. I feel breathless from the wall to the park, my head is pounding, and the cold in my bones won't go away, even though it's a warm afternoon. I sit down on the ground, draw my knees up to my chest, and lean sideways against the slide, wrapping myself in my dad's old sweater. It's far too large for me, but it's warm and comfortable, and makes me remember the days when he wasn't drinking as much. After a couple of minutes, Lily walks over and sits down next to me.
"You didn't just fall down the stairs, did you?" she murmurs, and puts her arm around my shoulder.
I shake my head, then, eyes wet, I rest my forehead on my knees.
"Do you wanna go see my dad's classroom? He said he was getting some grading done while Petunia talks to her teacher about her test, then he's gonna walk me home."
I shake my head. I don't want her dad to see me like this, "No, it's okay. I should go home, anyways."
"But you just got here!" she exclaims, "Come on!"
I shake my head again.
Lily sighs, and asks if I want to play on the swings.
I shrug, and get up.
We sit on the swings for a bit in silence until I see Lily's dad and Petunia come out of the school. I try to get up and say goodbye before they see me, but he waves, and I don't want to be rude, so I wave back.
"Did you have a good day today, Lily?" he asks, then, looking over at me, he exclaims, "Severus! What happened to you?!"
"He said he fell down the stairs," Lily says.
"Those are some big bruises for falling down the stairs," Mr. Evans frowns.
I shrug. As I look down, I catch Petunia's eye. She's looking at me with a disgusted expression, as if I'm a grub she found while gardening.
Mr. Evans is quiet for a second, then sighs, "Why don't you walk with us? I've got a new worksheet for my students that I'm not sure they'll like. Maybe you'd like to test it out for me? And you're welcome to have supper with us as well."
I thank him quietly, and walk behind him, Petunia, and Lily as they go home. While we walk, Mr. Evans asks his daughters how their day at school went, and about what they learned, and what kind of homework they have. Maybe once I get to Hogwarts and come home for the holidays, my mum will ask me those types of questions, too! My dad used to ask me about my homework sometimes, but he wasn't very good at helping me with it. He used to yell at me when I got confused, and my mum was always too busy to help, so I didn't always get the best grades. I remember I always really liked math and science, though! I startle as Mr. Evans turns to look at me and asks me how my day went.
"It was okay," I mumble.
"Did you do anything fun? Get any schoolwork done?" he asks.
I shake my head, and quietly say, "No, sir. I didn't sleep too good last night, so I woke up real late."
"Why didn't you sleep well? Was it too noisy? I know it can get pretty loud by the factory!"
Grateful to not have to come up with an excuse, I nod my head, and say, "Mm hmm, and my dad got home from work real late last night 'cause he's been puttin' in lots of overtime lately, so I woke up when he came in."
"It must be hard for him having to put in so much overtime! I can't imagine how exhausted he must be after working so hard in that factory every day," Mr. Evans says, shaking his head.
"He don't like workin' there much, but he says it's the only option right now. He was a lot happier before the steel mill closed," I mumble, looking at my scuffed up sneakers as I walk. We were all happier before the steel mill closed. I kick a pebble out of my way, and from the corner of my eye, I see Mr. Evans turn back to look at Petunia as she asks him if she can bake cookies before doing her homework.
When we get to Lily's house, Mrs. Evans asks what happened to me, and Mr. Evans tells her that I said I fell down the stairs. Mrs. Evans raises her eyebrows, and tells me to come to the bathroom with her so she can clean up the cut on my face. Lily and Petunia follow Mr. Evans into the living room to work on their homework, and I follow Mrs. Evans into the bathroom. She has me wash my face, then puts a some ointment and a bandage over the cut, being careful not to touch any of my bruises.
"That must have been a pretty tall staircase to have hurt you this badly," Mrs. Evans remarks.
I shrug.
"Why don't you tell me about some of your other friends here in town?"
"Um, sometimes I hang out with Billy. He's Mr. Keith's son. Him and me and Lily are the same age. And sometimes me and Billy hang out with Hunter and Rusty, but when we hang out with Rusty, we have to call him his full name, not just Rus, 'cause I'm called Rus," I explain.
"I see," she says with a small smile, "and do you boys often wrestle and get into tussles? I know my brother used to do that with his friends pretty frequently when we were kids!"
"Um, I guess," I mumble.
Mrs. Evans pats me on the back, and I flinch. I scratch my head, trying to play the flinch off, but I don't think she seems very convinced, so I thank her for bandaging me up, and she says it's no problem, and that I can go hang out in the living room, and to make sure I eat some of the snacks she left out for Lily and Petunia. Lady is waiting for me outside the bathroom door, wagging her tail. I smile at her, and hold out my hand for her to sniff. She lets me pet her, and walks with me to the living room, then sits down next to Mr. Evans, who gives me a worksheet to do. I try my best, but my head starts hurting after a few minutes of reading, and noticing my pain, he gets me a pain pill, and tells me I can finish the worksheet the next time I come over.
Once Lily's done with her homework, we play fetch with Lady until supper is ready, and after supper, before it gets too dark outside, I say goodbye, and slowly walk home. My dad isn't home yet. When I open the door, I see my mum sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands. She looks up at me, then rests her forehead back on her hands as I walk inside and lock the door. If I wasn't here, she wouldn't have had to drop out of school and marry my father in a muggle court at 18 years old, already seven months pregnant and disowned by her family. If I wasn't here, she would still be a Prince. I feel a bit sorry for her, but she made her own choices.
"Mum?" I ask, closing and locking the door.
"What?" she snaps.
"Nothing," I mumble.
"I heard you left the front door unlocked last night," she says.
"Yes, ma'am."
She shakes her head, and says, "Well, you won't do that again, will you? That was stupid. You knew better than to do that. Your father's told you multiple times to remember to lock the door when you come and go. You had no business forgetting something like that."
Anger flares up inside of me, and I shove it down, saying, "Sorry. My head got hit again. Can you take me to St. Mungo's to get my potion?"
"I'll take you tomorrow morning before work, then you can just come to the tavern with me. I'm too tired to take you tonight. Anyways, where've you been?"
"At Lily's house."
"Did they feed you?"
"Mm hmm," I nod.
"Good, then your father can eat the leftovers I brought home from the tavern when he gets home."
"My head hurts."
"Then take a potion and go to bed," she sighs.
"Yes, ma'am," I say quietly, and turn around.
"Oh, and take a shower before you go to bed. You look filthy."
"Yes, ma'am."
"And Severus?" she asks.
"Ma'am?"
"I did a load of laundry when I got home from work. Can you check if the clothes I hung up to dry are ready to be folded up and put away?"
"Mm hmm, yes, ma'am," I mumble.
"If they're dry, can you put them away?"
"Mm hmm," I say, trying not to have an attitude.
"Thanks," she murmurs, and takes a sip of her drink.
"Mum? When's dad gonna fix the water heater?"
"I don't know."
I wait for a couple of seconds, expecting her to continue speaking, but when she doesn't, I turn around and go take my pain potion and get in the cold shower.
Once I get out of the shower, I dry off and go back into the kitchen. My mum isn't there, so I go upstairs. She's sitting on the floor of her bedroom folding laundry.
"I was gonna do that after I showered," I say.
"You can do the rest. You father's gonna be home soon. I'm going to go warm up his supper. Finish this laundry up before he gets home, please."
"Yes, ma'am," I say, sitting down to finish folding the laundry. We don't have many clothes, so there's not much to do. As I'm putting away the last article of clothing, I hear the door open, and my dad's heavy footsteps come in. I freeze, listening for any indication of his mood. Not hearing any yelling, I put away the jeans I was holding, and sneak to the top of the stairs.
"Here's your supper," my mum says from the kitchen.
My dad grunts in reply. It sounds like he's taking off his boots.
"How was work today?" my mum asks, setting down a plate.
"Fine. Met our production goal for the day, so that's good. You make any tips today?"
"I had a party of 12. They tipped alright, but for everything they asked for, they should have tipped better. But it's fine," my mum sighs.
"Where's Rus?" my dad asks through a mouthful of food.
"Upstairs. He's putting away laundry."
"Ain't he got nothin' to eat?"
"He said he ate at his friend's house."
"What 'bout you?"
"I ate at work."
Satisfied that he's not in a bad mood right now, I sneak back to my room, quietly close the door, and lay down, staring at the dark ceiling.
After a little while, I hear my dad coming up the stairs, and my tired eyes jolt open. Before I can think of what to do, he quietly opens my door.
"You awake?" he says gruffly.
"Yes, sir," I say, sitting up.
"You get any schoolwork done today while your mum was at work?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good boy. You goin' to work with your mum tomorrow?"
"Mm hmm, yes, sir."
"You be good while you're there, you hear me?"
"Yes, sir," I nod.
"I ain't scheduled to go to work tomorrow till 10. You wanna toss that ol' ball around for a bit before you and your mum go to work?"
"Yeah!" I smile, excited that he wants to spend time with me.
"Alright, well I'm goin' to bed," he sighs.
"Goodnight!" I say with a small smile. I'm excited to play catch tomorrow, but I'm really bad at it, so I hope he doesn't get mad at me. It takes me a while to fall back asleep after my dad closes my door. My headache has started to come back, and I toss and turn, trying to get comfortable around all the bruises and welts on my body. When I finally fall asleep, I keep waking up and having a hard time falling back asleep from the pain.
By the time my dad finally wakes up in the morning, it's time for my mum and I to leave for St. Mungo's, and for him to go to work. As he laces up his work boots, he says that we'll play catch next time he works this shift. I just nod, and tell him to have a good day at work. It's fine. I'm not good at playing catch anyways, so at least I won't disappoint him that way today. Still, it would have been nice.
Upon arriving at St. Mungo's, the receptionist greets us warmly, and tells us that Healer Smithwick, the healer who always helps me, is with another patient, but will be with me in about 30 minutes. My mum nods, and we sit down to wait. My mum reads one of the magazines, and I try to work on my math, but my head starts to hurt, so I put it away. Soon, Healer Smithwick opens the door to the waiting room and calls me over.
She shakes her head sadly when she sees the bruises on my face, quickly takes my height and weight, and says, "Alright, lambie, come with me, I'll get you your potion. Mrs. Snape, will you please come with us as well? Healer Molony needs to speak with you about Severus. We just have a few questions we hope you can answer regarding what's been going on lately. He's been here pretty frequently over the last year and a half, and we just want to make sure everything is alright."
"Everything is fine," my mum snaps.
"Nevertheless, Healer Molony needs to speak with you. We appreciate your understanding in this matter," Healer Smithwick says through a smile.
"What's there to talk about? The kid's clumsy and gets into fights!"
I lower my gaze and look at the floor. It makes me feel worthless when my mum lies about what's going on because she always blames me. I'm not that clumsy, and I'm not getting into fights. She always says that I can't tell anybody what's really happening, because it'll embarrass her and my dad, and they'll take me away, and the family they put me with will hit me even worse than my dad, but it still hurts when she lies about me.
"This is not the place for this discussion, ma'am. Healer Molony will speak with you when we get to the examination room," Healer Smithwick turns on her heel and begins to walk. I look at my mum, then follow Healer Smithwick. When we get to the room, Healer Molony is already waiting for us. He greets us with a kind smile, then takes my mother to the adjoining room.
"Can I have a potion to keep the ticks away, too, like last summer? They've been real bad in the woods this year," I ask.
"Of course!" Healer Smithwick smiles, and gets both of my potions ready. While I'm waiting for her, I kick my shoes off and sit down on the hospital bed. Healer Smithwick hands me the anti-tick potion first, and I drink it quickly. Afterwards, she hands me the potion for my head, and I take it like my dad takes shots of whiskey. I just manage to lay down before the potion forces me asleep, and when I wake up, the first thing I see is my mum tapping her foot.
"Good, you're finally awake. Let's go. I don't want to be late for work," she says tersely.
Without speaking, I sit up, stretch, and slip my shoes back on.
Healer Smithwick knocks on the door and comes in, checks my head to make sure the potion worked, and gives me a small bag of chocolate chip cookies she baked herself, whispering, "I brought these for a potluck, but you look like you could use them more than we can. Stay safe, lambie!"
"Thank you!" I smile, and give her a hug before we leave.
When we get to Madame Circe's Tavern, I sit at the bar and work on my workbooks while eating Healer Smithwick's cookies and the cold chicken tenders and fries my mum brings me. She doesn't get off until 8 o'clock, and we still have to go grocery shopping. By the time we get home, my dad's already asleep. It's fine. Maybe we'll get to play catch tomorrow.