Boulevard Of Broken Dreams,
Chapter 35, Cruel Summer
The next few days passed with Severus remaining in his room brooding and reading. He didn't want Grandfather Prince to see how much not getting to go to Raislen's for the summer had gotten to him. As he wasn't very good at keeping his feelings from his face, the best way to accomplish this was simply to remain to himself. He kept expecting letters from Heather and Raislen, but none came.
He began to wonder if old man Prince was withholding them, but he'd gotten Regulus's so likely not. Eileen seemed to make an effort to get the mail first to make sure she and Severus received their letters untampered with, which he appreciated. He wouldn't put anything past his Grandfather if it made either Severus or his mum miserable, after all.
During that time, he only emerged from his room for meals and bathing. During meals he did his best to keep his expression blank or at the very least, low level sullen. He chatted with his Mum, only giving his grandfather a cursory nod of greeting. He'd not have bothered with that if the old man wouldn't have started a fuss over how rude he was. Such had actually happened in the past when Severus pointedly ignored him. At times the old man could truly be stunning in the worst of ways. Why would Severus not ignore him when the old man hated his mere existence? Yet in spite of this sound logic, Severus was expected to be polite because he lived under old Prince's roof.
Granted Prince basically forced Severus and Eileen to live there, but again, logic had no place in the old man's cruel machinations. Nearly two weeks later, when Eileen invited Severus to go book shopping in Knockturn Alley, he was finally glad to escape the four walls of his bedroom. Though he'd found a welcome distraction in books over the past few weeks, his mind kept wandering back to the strange fact that neither Heather nor Raislen had written him. Not with a comment about the fact that his summer was being ruined, and not with any of their own news. He'd exchanged two letters with Regulus, but the other boy hadn't heard from the two older Slytherins either.
Severus considered inviting Regulus and Kreacher to meet them in Knockturn, but he didn't want it to appear that he didn't wish to spend time with his Mum, so decided against it. He'd basically ignored her while shut away in his room, after all. Normally during summer vacation they spent time together discussing potions books or playing board games or taking walks if it wasn't too dreadfully hot out. He didn't want to take his upset out on her, but for those first few weeks, he simply hadn't felt social. Probably it pleased Grandfather Prince to no end, knowing he'd made Severus that unhappy.
For that reason, and because he did wish to spend time with his mother, he vowed to do better for the rest of the summer. They had a lovely day in Knockturn Alley book shopping and having lunch at a small cafe called The Spider and The Fly. It had the best salads with a delightful berries and cream dish for dessert. Severus and Eileen always enjoyed having cool lunches in the summer to combat the heat. Though Severus spent a lot of time browsing the book stores, there were three of them, he only bought two books, not wishing to tax his mum's limited funds.
The books were both old moth eaten rarities that he was eager to get home and read. Neither had been cheap, thus he'd stopped at two, and there was enough left over for Eileen to get herself a book as well; A thick botany text larger than Grandfather Prince's old bible. Severus didn't understand Christian wizards, considering that their god didn't feel like suffering witches to live, but it may have been the least of Grandfather Prince's evils. When they returned to Prince manor after book shopping, Severus hugged his mum tight, thanking her for a wonderful day. "I'm just glad you're feeling a bit better," she replied, hugging him back.
Rather than retreating to his room to read, Severus perused his new books with his mum in the parlor where she immersed herself in her new botany tome. For the next several weeks of the summer, Severus spent the majority of the time out of his room spending time with his Mum. When they weren't reading, playing board games or strolling outside in the fresh air, he was helping her make potions. About a week after their trip to Knockturn Alley, a large order came in from one of the magical mail order catalogs that bought her potions.
"Having you here to help when they want two-hundred potions in a week makes such a difference, my baby boy," Eileen told him gratefully. The two were up late finishing the final batch of Polly Juice. The catalog proprietors had wanted twenty bottles of that and they were nearly out of supplies by the time the order was filled. "I think I'm going to study how to make perfumes and eventually begin selling those as well," Eileen shared suddenly. As she spoke, she pressed the final cork stopper into the last bottle of completed potion and passed it to Severus so that he could slap on a label. "That botany book has given me some ideas." Her smile was excited, and the sight of it lifted Severus's heart. He hadn't seen his mum excited in a very long time, and it made him smile back.
"That sounds great, Mum."
She nodded. "Perfumes are potions too, after all, so I should be able to manage it with ease. They will be all natural and perhaps some shall even have magical traits. Scent is very powerful, after all. I could likely craft perfumes to draw people to whoever is wearing them, not desire, because that's just wrong, but captivation or something, where people think the one wearing it is at least very interesting," she went on excitedly.
Severus felt himself becoming excited for her as well, for her own joy was pleasantly contagious. "I could probably get away with that without the Ministry coming down on my head, and such perfumes would certainly sell for a nice chunk! And I could also craft some for things like focus for the one wearing it or energy or... I could do all manner of things, and sorting them all out shall keep me busy when you return to Hogwarts. That's a good thing, because when you're gone it can be so dreary around here." Severus nodded, knowing that it had to be dreadful, shut away in this dreary mausoleum with old man Prince and his cold disapproving looks. As if reading his mind, her expression went sad. "Living here your childhood has been so similar to my own, and I wanted it to be so different," she said. "Tobias and I would have made it different too if only..."
"I'm glad you'll have something to do that you enjoy," he told her brightly. He'd liked the lighter moment and strove to bring it back by giving her a bright smile. "You must write me updates as things progress."
"Of course I will," Eileen promised with a chuckle. "It shall give me something interesting to talk about for a change."
"I always enjoy our letters even if nothing is going on," Severus told her, meaning it. "They help me not to miss you quite so much."
"Yours too," she said, smiling warmly at him. "And I always appreciate you taking the time to write your old Mum when you're so busy with your friends and your studies."
"You aren't old, and I'm never too busy for you," Severus told her firmly.