Hey! Sorry if the update took too long, I have exams right now, but they're almost over just one left in French. As usual I own nothing from the Harry Potter World, only Eva her family and my imagination. Thank you to all who have reviewed, added the story to favorite/following section, you guys all awesome.
17. Feeling different.
Severus unpacked a few items to feel more comfortable in his room. He went through his clothes, deciding if he wanted to change. Remembering how simply Eva was dressed, he decided in the end not to change, and went back downstairs.
"So, Sev, you like your room?" asked Eva who was by the stairs as he came down, smiling at him.
"Yes, its very nice."
"Great, I'm glad to hear that. Come on, my father and grandpa are here, and they want to meet you."
Severus nodded and followed his friend into the living room. There, the entire family had arrived, or in this case, just Eva's maternal grandparents. Severus easily recognized her father; he sat by an older man who Eva said was her grandfather. The man was no Albus Dumbledore with glasses, a beard or even long traditional wizard robes pureblooded families he knew wore. The man was dressed as simply as any other person, but of course had some wizard fashion on him.
"Grandpa! This is Severus, he is staying with us for a while. Severus this is my grandfather, Cyrus." Said Eva as she brought Severus near the man.
"Ah! Severus, pleasure to meet you." He replied.
Severus remembered his manners and reached out to shake Cyrus's hand "Hello sir, its nice to meet you as well."
The man smiled and shook hands with him "Oh, no need for this sir nonsense with me, not anymore. Call me Cyrus."
"Yes sir, I mean Cyrus."
Cyrus smirked at the young man's hesitation. With everyone being introduced, they proceeded to having their lunch, which was made by Kristlan and Danio the house elves. Severus was not used to the calm table. There was, of course, talking going on just like in any other family. There were no arguments. Well, there was a friendly one: Which Quidditch team was the best, the Scottish Montrose Magpies or the American Fitchburg Finches.
"I'm just telling you grandpa, the Montrose Magpies are better. It's not that I don't like the Fitchburg Finches, but the Scottish team is way better. They won the League Cup thirty-two times and the European Cup twice. You can't argue with that."
Eva's grandfather raised a brow, he wasn't going to lose the 'fight' "Line, the Fitchburg Finches have won the American League Cup twenty-nine times, and won the North American League twice as well. With these facts I think I can argue with that, as you say."
"I'm not saying that."
"You just did."
"You know what, the Fitchburg Finches are good I will give you that. But the Montrose Magpies are my favorite team, and I think they are the best in not only all of Scotland but also in the United Kingdom, and according to the European League the second or third best team in all of Europe."
Severus chuckled. Eva was a fighter; even for the smallest argument she tried hard to not give in.
"There now, I guess we have come to an agreement. You know, I bet that Salem could beat Hogwarts at Quidditch.
Eva made a silly face at her grandfather's idea. "I would just love to see that. They play Quodpot just as much as Quidditch. They may get mixed up with the rules."
"May I remind you, you went to Salem for the young witches and wizards primary education. And you know very well they play like Gods."
The family, along with Severus, bursted into laughter. Cyrus loved to exaggerate as much as possible, for better or worse.
"Well grandpa, at Hogwarts we play fairly well. If you want me to stay modest that is."
"Really now? What are your thoughts Severus?"
Severus turned to Cyrus, who was waiting for his opinion.
"Umm, to be honest…Cyrus. I don't know the Salem Institute at all, even less the Quidditch teams playing there. But it would be interesting to see both schools play against each other. The Hogwarts Houses play very well, they have many skilled players."
Lisbeth leaned in to hear more. "Is that so? How skilled? I'm curious."
Severus took a deep breath and carried on. "Some are very good at the sport. Regulus Black in my house, which is Slytherin, is a great seeker. Katy Higgens does well for a Hufflepuff. In Gryffindor, they're mostly dunderheads, but there are a few good players. In Ravenclaw, Frezidoft is a good keeper, and Eva…is…an excellent…chaser." He finished quickly feeling his cheeks heat up a little bit.
Eva and her grandfather smiled. Cyrus was told a bit about Severus by his granddaughter, how Quidditch wasn't his favorite pass-time, and he preferred reading outside or practicing potions. They started a new conversation on the Salem Institute and Hogwarts. Severus found it interesting to learn about other magical school besides Hogwarts. Alexandrina told him that since the reunion they were going to attend was in Salem, and the school reunion was at the same time he was going to be able to visit it. The headmaster allowed them to use the main hall, the Hogwarts equivalent for the Great Hall, as the reunion place. Alexandrina spoke highly of the school, and openly expressed her impatience to go back and see the halls she walked in for five years before being transferred to Hogwarts. Severus was happy to be able to go and see the Institute.
"Oh and I have got the dates for the school and family reunion. We leave five days earlier that I thought. Severus, I have notified your mother, so she knows where we will be. We will stay at the family manor, my parent's house, if you must know."
Severus nodded in agreement, and continued his meal.
Once lunch was finished and the house elves cleaned the table, Severus and Eva went outside. They walked further away from the house, down a hill and passed a few trees. The pair sat on the grass in front of a small creek. Eva removed her shoes and put her feet over the edge, with her toes touching the water. Severus had to say Eva and her grandfather were really in to Quidditch.
"So Sev, how are you liking it here so far?"
"Eva I have only been here half a day, but it's nice. Your grandfather really loves Quidditch."
"Oh yeah he does, just as nuts about it as me. As you heard, he loves Salem too. He worked there for a bit, taught Charms."
He chuckled. "Professor Alisgton, it sounds right."
"Very funny Sev, actually Alisgton is in private only, he worked under a different name. But yeah he loved teaching. He retired about five or six years ago."
Severus looked at his friend who was smiling at him. He then decided to remove his shoes as well and put his feet over the water like Eva. He felt lucky at that moment; he knew Sirius Black and two or three guys would kill him for this spot. He enjoyed the beginning of the day.
"Eva, what did you mean by a different name?"
"Oh umm, I guess I can tell you. Might as well since we leave for the 'family' reunion in five days. You know my grandma?"
"Yes what about her?"
"Her maiden name is Wickford, and my grandfather took her name for work because it's so prestigious in the States."
Severus turned to her; he was quite surprised at her revelation. "Wickford? I thought that they…you…practice dark…"
"Dark magic? Are you serious? No, not this part of the family. Wandless hell yeah we do it. But dark magic, sure we know some, enough to deal with it that's it."
"I guess that explains the W on your mother's stationary. But that means…"
"Means what?" She turned to face Severus and took a serious tone. "I want you to understand something Severus. Just because the Wickford reputation here in the UK and most of the world is said to be evil doesn't mean it is. Like your house Slytherin. It's said to be evil, bad but you're not. There are a lot of Wickfords in the US just like there are a lot of Blacks here. Not all of us are bad. My mother's side of the family plus two or three other members have stopped the Muggle and Muggle-born hatred for some time."
Severus looked puzzled at his friend. "What do you mean by stopped the hatred?"
"They hated Muggles for what they did to my…our ancestor Elizabeth. Ever since they swore revenge on Muggles. Killed them, tortured them you name it. Awful things. Muggle-borns and Squibs were not treated any better. The Wickfords then called them a disgrace, disgusting, the names go on and on. Although in the early 1800's things got better."
"Wow, that's not a very…"
"Happy memory? Great story? We all have dark times, Severus."
"I suppose we do."
Severus let out a sigh. He never would think Eva capable of those things. It was a good thing she wasn't born back when her family was like that, like the Blacks or the Malfoys. He knew that every family had their secrets and dark times, and hers were apparently recent. The 1800's were not that long ago, even if it felt like ages. Severus saw it was part of the past that Eva didn't like at all. He understood why.
"How did things get better?" He asked
Eva let out a small sigh; she was sharing something with him that he could tell his friends, but she knew Severus well enough to trust him with this information. She knew he wouldn't go telling them, or at least she hopped.
"One day, a little girl was playing outside the Wickford Manor. Her mother was watching her and she was doing what any four year old would. The little girl walked over the frozen pond that is in front of the house. Her mother couldn't see the pond since it was covered in the heavy December snow. The girl had fun playing with her doll, then all of sudden the ice under her gave in and she fell in the freezing water."
Silence settled in after Eva's words. Severus allowed them to sink in before she could continue. The little girl she was telling about should normally have died in those circumstances. Eva later carried on her story.
"The mother looked up and saw her daughter was no longer there and started to cry for help. At that very moment, the family's neighbor heard her screaming to help her child. He didn't hesitate at all, even though he disliked the family. He ran up to the house and towards the pond. The man removed his coat and dived in after the little girl. After one long minute, he rose with the girl from the ice-cold water. The mother rushed towards them to heat them both up. She pulled out of her winter robes a wand and used a heating charm on both of them and brought them into the house."
Eva stopped in the middle of her story; she turned to Severus with a light smile on her face.
"The man was a Muggle by the name of Drake Thompson, and he saved a little girl by the named Amelia Wickford. He knew they were wizards, but put that a side when he saw they needed help."
Severus nodded as Eva continued.
"The woman was extremely grateful, and almost immediately gave up all of the Muggle hatred she married into, her husband as well. I know it sounds weird to give all those beliefs up in less than fifteen minutes, but it was life changing. Ever since that episode, part of the family looks at Muggles, Muggle-borns and Squibs differently. Sure they still think they're more powerful then them, but they are given a newer look."
Severus was curious at the 'new look' they were receiving. From what Eva told him, the Wickfords now had mixed feelings towards Muggles. Squibs were no longer disowned but still frown upon, and marriages to Muggle-born marriages, even if they were rare, were tolerated.
"So how recent was this episode?" He asked.
"Amelia is Lisbeth's grandmother, my great-great grandmother. And you know what Amelia did as she got older?"
"What?"
"My great grandfather's name is Drake Alexander Wickford. Drake in honor of the man who saved her, and Alexander for her husband who died two months before he was born."
"Wow. It really changed a lot I guess."
"You can't erase centuries of hatred in one day. But it changed things here, that's for sure. I'm glad it did."
Severus agreed with Eva's statement. She trusted him with information he could share with others, but Severus knew better than betray her trust like that.
"We should start to go back now. I'm sure they've got something planned for us today."
The pair stood up, being careful not to fall in the creek. Eva slid her sandals back on and used Severus to keep herself balanced as she did so. Severus couldn't help but blush the minute she put her hand on his shoulder.
The pair walked back the house, talking about their plans for the summer. Severus couldn't bring out the fact that he had gotten closer to the Death Eaters this year, more then he wanted too. The power was tempting to him, since he grew up with nothing and had to 'fight' to get what he wanted.
Eva told him a bit of her family, the members he was going to meet up at Salem, and at the Wickford Mansion. She barely mentioned her aunt, saying her name once, stating her and her mother were not on speaking terms.
"Do you know anything about your aunt?"
"Isabella, not much. You should ask my grandmother about her if you want. I'm sure she won't mind at all, but if you do, don't get too personal with the questions. Let's just say Isabella and her daughter Lucinda aren't our best pals right now."
"Why is that?"
Eva stopped walking and turned to Severus. "Isabella supports Voldemort, and I have reasons to believe that she and Lucinda have joined him, but I can't be sure. I am not going to be pointing fingers."
Eva then resumed her walk up towards the house. Severus was behind her, but shaken a bit by the information. He remembered at one of his meetings with Lucius, the man spoke of a Lucinda and Isabella but not Wickford. Severus was sure of that. The two women he spoke of had the surname Scarlett.
They arrived back at the house, where Lisbeth greeted them. Severus was tempted to ask her about the magical abilities she knew he could learn.
"You're both finally here. Now Line, your parents have taken your grandfather to pick up some Quidditch gear for your cousins, Autumn and Thomas. That leaves the three of us here. Is there anything you want to do?"
Eva and Severus shared a look. Eva didn't care what they were going to do, and as long as Severus was comfortable around them, and participating, she was fine with it.
"Can we practice magic? Wandless spells?" asked Eva.
Lisbeth made a small face. She did love sharing her magical knowledge with her family, especially Eva who was so far from her most of the time, but she was afraid of it being used against her, and her beliefs. She taught those abilities to all her children, and one could use the knowledge for the dark arts.
Lisbeth knew Severus was sorted in Slytherin, and was skeptical of teaching this to him. Slytherin was the house of the Dark Lord after all, but it was also a prejudice held against it. Lisbeth did admit Severus was different in a good way, and that he shouldn't be judged because of his house's infamous reputation.
"Sure thing, wandless levitation? Non-verbal wandless spells?"
Eva turned to Severus who was a bit confused with all the wandless abilities.
"So Sev, what do you want to do? We can start with a few basics."
"I agree. It will be very interesting to learn these things."
Lisbeth laughed "Interesting? Yes but it's important to know not to always depend on your wand. If someone uses the disarming charm on you, you can use the wandless levitation spell to throw objects at them while you use a wandless summoning charm to retrieve your wand."
Eva and Severus followed Lisbeth to the area Eva was earlier that day when Severus arrived with his mother. Lisbeth summoned their wands and handed them to their owners, to practice the summoning charm.
"Alright Line, you start. Disarm Severus."
Eva pointed her wand at Severus "Expelliarmus!"
Severus' wand went flying in the air and landed a few feet behind him.
"Now Severus, don't move. Point your hand towards your wand and summon it. You may not get it the first time, it took Line several tries to get it, and she still has a hard time."
Severus did has told, he was quite nervous at the fact of trying the wandless version for the first time. He let out his hand, and tried to summon his wand, but it didn't work.
"It's alright, things like this take practice, try it again." Said a smiling Lisbeth.
Eva approached Severus and once again put her hand on his shoulder.
"Come on Sev, you can do it. Just like when we did the patronus remember?"
Severus raised his hand again and yelled out the spell.
"Accio wand!"
The wand on the ground started to move a little bit, a few inches but no more, Eva was still holding on to Severus with a lot of excitement. He started to turn red scarlet again, a site Lisbeth did not miss at all.
"Sev! It moved! Come on you can do it!"
Severus put out his hand yet again and said the same spell. This time the wand took off from the ground and went directly to his hand. He turned his face to Eva who had the biggest smile on her face. Severus couldn't help but smile back, she had one contagions smile!
"You did it! Gosh, I'm so jealous! It took me three weeks to get it! The first few times I got hit in the head when it came flying back! You're good!" She told him.
Eva pulled him in for a hug to congratulate him. At that moment Severus felt as if it was just him and Eva. A feeling he hadn't had since Lily. He didn't even see Lisbeth approach them like a mouse, and take their picture with one of those fancy wizard cameras.
"Smile!" She exclaimed.
The pair didn't have time to think or separate when the flash went off. They blinked a few times, and opened their eyes to a grinning Lisbeth.
"Grandma!"
"What? I haven't seen you this close with a boy since Jeremy Wilkes!"
"Hey! No more of that!"
"Oh, my dear sweet Line, you know that we Wickfords never stop. Now smile for the camera."
Eva turned to Severus "Sorry about this."
"It's alright."
Lisbeth was getting a kick out of the situation. "Hey, less talking, more smiling! And no moving!"
The pair faced the camera; Severus hated smiling, but made the effort so Eva's grandmother would leave them alone with the camera.
"Perfect! You are absolutely adorable!"
Lisbeth started to head back up to the house, leaving behind two very red Hogwarts students.
"Again, so sorry."
"Again, it's alright."
Eva kept her smile on, she felt at ease around Severus. She never understood why the Marauders bullied him. He was a good person, just put in the wrong book as they said in her family.
Severus turned to her with a puzzled face.
"Jeremy Wilkes? The Hufflepuff?"
Eva laughed, "Is that jealousy I sense? Yeah the Hufflepuff, I dated him in fifth year. Have something to add about it?"
Severus started to rub the back of his neck nervously. "No, absolutely nothing."
"Want to hear more? I didn't tell anyone, but I dated Lovegood for about a month last summer."
"The loony Ravenclaw?"
"Yeah I know! He is quite, unique."
"More like mad."
"And into Nargles."
"What are those anyway?"
"No clue!"
They started to head back to the house. Eva's parents had finally come back with different Quidditch gear for her cousins.
A few hours later, they all sat down for dinner where Lisbeth pulled out her camera again, taking as many photos as she could. Eva had the usual discussion with her grandfather regarding Quidditch and Salem.
"Grandpa we've been through this before! Hogwarts would kick Salem's behind back to the founder's age, it's that simple."
"Now that is something I would love to see."
Alexandrina decided to pause the talk between the two. "Father, Evangeline, I think we all understand, and you've both made your points. Now Line dear, what did you and Severus do today?"
"We went by the creek and talked. Grandma taught Severus the wandless summoning charm."
Alexandrina raised a brow. "Really? Did you succeed Severus?"
"Yes, madam."
"On his third try, Mother!"
Eva's mother was surprised. She didn't think a half-blood could get it faster then a pureblood, much less her pureblood daughter. Now another point had been indirectly made; maybe it was skill, not blood, but her daughter was skilled.
"Third try, how…interesting. You must do well in charms. Am I correct?"
"Yes madam. I got O's on my charm OWLs and end of term exams."
"Really!? That is very impressive. Did you know that I taught charms at Salem?" exclaimed Cyrus to cut in the conversation.
"Yes Si…Cyrus, Eva told me."
"She did! Well done girl. Charms are absolutely positively amazing. I hear your charms professor is Filius Flitwick. What luck! He was one great dueler. Came to demonstrate at Salem when I taught. Marvelous! Drina you remember when he came, you were in your third year."
Alexandrina put her cup down to answer her father. "Yes, Father I remember. You kept going on and on, like a fan girl, quite embarrassing really. Good thing you were able to duel him."
"You dueled Professor Flitwick grandpa!?" exclaimed Eva with Severus being just as surprised as she was.
"Yes, and I lost, but it was grand!" he said.
When dinner was over, they all retreated to brush their teeth, put on their pajamas… Severus was ready for bed and sitting on his bed reading another book when Eva knocked on his door.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure. "
She entered to room, and sat on the bed beside him.
"I hope you enjoyed your first day here. My family can be quite, let's say invading, but they're good for the most part. You're still reading the potion book I got you?"
"Yes. It's quite instructive and I enjoy it. I had a good day today, thank you, Eva."
"You're welcome Sev, sleep tight." she said as she pulled him in for a hug. She closed her eyes as she; unbeknown to her Severus was doing the same. After a few seconds, they disbanded. Eva then kissed Severus on the cheek, got up and headed towards her room.
"Good night Eva."
She turned around before completely exiting the room. "You too Sev." Then left in her room.
Severus stood still on the bed, slightly rubbing his cheek. He then shook his head, put his book down, slipped under the covers and turned off the light. He laid in the dark for a while thinking about the day that had gone by. Severus had a weird feeling come to him as he laid on the bed, mixed feeling about Eva went through his mind. Feelings he didn't think of before.
~~~~~~~~END OF CHAPTER~~~~~~~~
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