(Untitled)

[mroliverwood]

Date: November 25th
Time: 'Round Noon
Place: Spinner's End
Characters Involved: Oliver Wood, Wini Wood, Perry Derrick, and any of the other residents
Rating: PG-13 at least, probably.

Comments

[subtle_simmer]

Severus didn't come back to the house every weekend. Indeed, except for the full moon or if one of the household specifically asked him to come, Severus hadn't returned to the house since the school year had begun.

However, as he was about to find himself more stringently restricted by the Ministry, there were certain... issues... in the house which he needed to address. Primarily dealing with the storage and concealment of an assortment of items. As he would not be able to use magic to get to them once the Ministry could record his every magical action, he was creating various mechanical methods of concealment, instead, which would allow him to get to the possessions through more mundane means, should the need arise

[mroliverwood]

"Mr. Snape," Oliver said levelly, eyeing him. He would have much preferred June, or even Derrick, answering the door. He took two steps inside, giving Snape a curt nod. That was about as close as he'd get to saying, "Thanks for letting me in."

Wini looked up at him from the place where she was held against Oliver's chest, and Oliver felt a little out of place with the baby carrier wrapped around him -- the sort you probably usually saw on Mums, not dads, but he kept his face in a stone-like stare.

"I'm here to see Derrick. I owe him something." Oliver tiltted his head towards the bag on his back as a sort of explanation. "He knows I'm comin', and so does June. She said she'd be here." That was a comfort, at least someone who he hadn't punched would be around. "I thought they might have let you know, too."

"Da." Wini pressed her face against his chest, no longer looking at Snape.

"Yeah, 'salright, Wini," Oliver said. "We'll be out of here soon." He looked at Snape in the silence. "Is Derrick around?"

[subtle_simmer]

Severus didn't give a rat's arse what Wood thought of him - the animosity was quite mutual. However, he was highly incensed that there had never been any acknowledgment of the antidote he had provided to the child upon her discovery. He also cared, more than he wanted to admit, what the child thought of him, and more importantly, how well (or not) she had recovered from her over-sedation and near-poisoning of Asphodel

[mroliverwood]

Oliver went and sat down, removing Wini from the baby carrier, and setting her on his lap. He stared at Snape for a few moments, determined to keep disliking the man. He knew that Snape's antidote had helped, but there was no way that he was going to give Snape the sense that he wouldn't have been able to take care of Wini without him. He would rather pretend that he had been able to take care of her all by himself, no matter how much Ginny had said that the antidote was going to aid in Winifred's recovery

[subtle_simmer]

Severus would have preferred to sneer at Wood, who seemed intent on taking his every word the wrong way...

Well, okay, maybe Severus had intended to imply that Wood was continuing in his inadequacy in the parenting department.

Still, Severus was too pleased to see Winifred showing signs of 'life' to bother to sneer at her father. Instead he offered her his rare, almost-fond-smirk, and nodded.

"Biscuits it is, then."

He, too, realised there was nothing which a toddler might find appealing about his floor-to-ceiling-book-decorated house. Severus could not recall ever possessing 'toys', himself, so he certainly had none stashed away in an attic somewhere to pull out for her amusement.

It was then that he remembered the Bobble Heads the Weasleys had presented him long ago, and quickly summoned the box. He took care to leave the Lucius one, Remus' likeness, and his own inside the box, but took out the others and set them on the coffee table, before putting the lid back on and setting the box on a high shelf

[inner_human]

Damn. He'd forgotten all about Wood.

It was by chance that Perry had come home for his lunch break. Since agreeing to meet Wood, Charlotte had informed him of her plan to be away for the weekend, leaving him alone in the bookshop. He had planned to take his break in Diagon Alley, but by the time eleven o'clock rolled around, he was sick of people. Half an hour later he locked the place up and went home.

Indeed, he was fully dressed when Snape knocked on his door, but by the time he opened it the man was already gone from the hallway. Perry ran a hand through his hair and walked out, closing the door behind him before he headed to the sitting room.

Hm. Seemed Wood brought the kid along. Perry leant against the doorframe and crossed his arms.

"Is that what you're giving me?" he said dryly, nodding to Winifred. "If so, I'm not interested."

[mroliverwood]

Wini had gone quickly bored with the bobble-head dolls, and had asked her father for her crayons and colouring book -- or demanded it, in any case. She was on the floor colouring, Oliver hovering anxiously over her as though worried that something nasty was going to burst up from the floor.

He looked up, nonplussed, at Perry.

"Don't be a git," Oliver said, grunting at him. "She's much too precious," he touched his daughter's shoulder gently as she coloured, looking much more at ease now that she was distracted by the dozen crayons right at hand. "I've got something else for you," he said, slowly moving his hand from Wini's back. He reached into his pack and withdrew a bag of gold. It was charmed to weigh only a fraction of it's natural weight -- not even Oliver Wood could carry around 1,000 galleons easily. He tossed it to Perry.

"Here."

[inner_human]

Right. Perry shrugged, regarding Wood with a bored expression. But he did tense reflexively when Oliver went for his pack. He threw the bag so suddenly that Perry had no choice but to catch it. But the metallic jingling inside, he knew what it was. Hm, he forgot about the reward, too. How much was it, again? Well judging by the size of the bag, the weight of it must have been magically altered. He stared down at the bundle, his eyes widening slightly in the way that only a bag full of money could inspire.

Here was the answer to so many of Perry's problems. His life having gone from riches to rags, this was like a sudden windfall. In his hands was money that he had earned, that he could call his own, with which he could start a savings and attempt to gain some independence in his life.

He looked up to Wood with a bit of a dark expression, both regretful and annoyed, as if what he was about to do was all the Quidditch player's fault.

"I don't want it." He tossed the bag to the space of floor between them.

[mroliverwood]

Oliver was a bit surprised and stared at Perry.

"Take it," he said. "There was a reward. It was posted. It's only fair." He didn't like the idea of the person who found Wini not having a reward for it. It made it seem like he didn't love his daughter enough. Oliver reached out and touched Wini's head insticntively.

Oliver couldn't read Perry's expression very well. He figured it had something to do with not wanting to take anything from Oliver. Pride. Oliver understood pride, but, hell, this was Oliver's pride at stake, too.

"You saved her, you get the reward. Do whatever the hell you want with it, I don't care. Just take it."

[inner_human]

Damned right Perry wasn't going to take anything from Oliver, not after all the shit he'd put Perry through the last several months. Even if it was pretty much a fair exchange, Perry wasn't giving him the satisfaction of 1,000 galleons to hold over his head whenever he felt like it.

...And perhaps, in a twisted, indirect way, robbing Wood of a chance to ease his conscience would serve as vindication for the way he'd treated Perry in the past.

Besides, it wasn't as if the wolf had searched for Wini wholeheartedly. Really, if it weren't for June, they may not have found her so quickly. It had all been a very lucky sequence of circumstances, of which Perry could only take partial credit.

If anyone deserved that gold, it was not him... not that he would admit that verbally.

He remained resolutely in the threshold, hands in his pockets. "I'm not taking it." And then he pushed away, turning to go.

"Give it to the others. June, Snape, Remus... they're the ones who worked to find her." He shrugged. "I just happened to be in the

[mroliverwood]

Oliver made a huffing noise. "Right, well, it's staying right there, than," he said. "If you don't want it, give it to someone else. I don't give a shite, really, but I'm not taking it out of this house." He turned his face down to study what it was that Winifred was colouring, ignoring Perry as though somehow it would make the man take the bag of gold. Whether or not Perry felt like taking the gold didn't matter to Oliver. He'd promised it, and he was going to make good on that promise.
To hell with Perry's pride.

"You got this with bein' there at the right time and the right place," Oliver said. "So, if you think my daughter's life means a damn thing, just take the money." He'd forgotten Wini was there for a second and closed his mouth, a bit annoyed at himself for letting his language get away with him.

[subtle_simmer]

The sitting room being just off the kitchen, Severus had been able to hear snippets of the conversation, and tried to stay away long enough to allow Derrick some privacy, regardless of his opinion of Wood.

However, he had promised Winifred biscuits, and so biscuits she would have - complete with juice in the Slytherin cup. He returned to the sitting room and completely ignored Wood and Derrick, choosing a chair nearest to Winifred. He set the tray down on the table near the bobble-head dolls he had gotten down for her, and pretended to be engrossed with the child.

It didn't take much pretense - he was glad to see her colour much improved and her eyes having lost the very glassy look of the poisoning she had endured.

However, he also spared a moment to cast Derrick an approving smirk. Granted, it was a lot of money, and Severus knew any one of the werewolves could have used a windfall like that in light of their difficulty in finding employment. But there were some windfalls that came with just too high of a price..

[mroliverwood]

Oliver was not going to leave with the money, and so he left it there, turning to watch Snape with his daughter. He knew he should thank Snape for the potion that he had given him. That antidote had helped save Winifred's life. But even so it was difficult for a man like Oliver to thank a man like Severus Snape. You didn't just come out and say it.

"Ginny reckons the antidote worked," said Oliver smoothly as Winifred picked up a biscuit and began nibbling at it, studying Snape for a few moments before she set it down next to her paper and began colouring a picture that had a lake on it, surrounded by trees.

She scribbled over the lake with greens, yellows, blues and reds in turn, never making a neat line or a correct judgement of colour. Wini reached down her hand and picked up her biscuit again, her blue eyes moving back to Snape. "Pot'n?" she said, pointing a chubby finger at the colouring page she had just scribbled over.

[subtle_simmer]

Severus ignored Oliver, at first. In part, because he did not know what to say. Well, that was untrue - to be honest, he had a great deal to say, but none of it was very pleasant.

He was trying, for Remus' sake, to be something less of a total bastard.

It was very 'trying', indeed.

Instead of turning his attention to Oliver when he spoke, Severus continued to watch Winifred, noting with satisfaction that she did not seem to have any fine-motor-tremour or weakness as she gripped the crayons, which again assured him of her physical wellness, at the very least.

If it was possible for a man such as Snape to 'melt' in the presence of hostile company, then he did so as Winifred pointed at the picture and said the word she had learnt from him. His thoughtful expression and frown-line softened into an almost-smile and he nodded.

"Yes, Winifred. Potion. I've seen Mr Longbottom make a potion which looked just like that."

Only after addressing her, did he lift up his eyes to the father, striving to find something neutral to say

[inner_human]

To hell with Perry's pride? To hell with Wood's. At that last command Perry paused to pay Wood a thoughtful glare. He hardly even noticed that Snape had entered the room. He only watched a moment as Snape examined the child and shared awkward words with Wood, and for some reason the sight of the Quidditch player and the rugrat sitting here, in their house, was becoming increasingly annoying.

He nodded to the bag then returned his sharp gaze to Wood. "And you certainly think very highly of her. Is that all your kid's worth to you? Or perhaps you think a bag of money is all you need to settle our differences?"

The heat in Perry's gaze was rising as he warmed to this new material, and his tone along with it. "Why would I give a kneazle's arse about your kid? Just last week I was nothing but a 'mongrel' to you. Just last week the papers were speculating that it was a werewolf that snatched her in the first place. You know how your friend the Ministry is thanking us for finding your spawn? A fucking tag around our necks. And

[mroliverwood]

Oliver watched Wini and Snape with caution in his eyes, annoyed that his daughter could be so calm around him.

It wasn't right.

"Glad you think so," Oliver said, more relieved than he cared to admit. He didn't know what he would do if Wini had been damaged. He knew that at the least he wouldn't be able to wait until the Wizengamont took charge of the situation. He would have destroyed the slag himself.

"I haven't called you a mongrel in weeks," Oliver said sharply, standing. This was it. He was going. He had tried to wait around for June, but he wasn't about to try his luck that Perry and Snape would play nice.

"Just shut up, alright? I didn't write that bloody article." He bent down to where Wini was still nibbling at her biscuit. "And of course my daughter is worth more, but I fucking said that I was going to give a thousand galleons to whoever found her. If I don't honor that then I say that I don't honor my daughter. Dump the gold in your fucking backyard, if you want." He was breathing quickly, his brow furrowed