Cobwebs of the Past (19 - 24)
Title: Cobwebs of the Past
Team Name: The Order
Word Count: (6 x 100)
Rating: PG
Challenge: Family Visit
Characters: Hermione/Severus, Eileen Snape
Eileen’s hand was icy cold; eerily chilling, like the incorporeal ether of the Hogwarts ghosts. It was a striking comparison that struck her, then. Eileen’s was a life half-lived, with a ghostlike detachment from reality for so many years.
The older witch took brief comfort from her touch, and then wiped her cheeks with trembling hands.
“The Princes had always been gifted at Occlumency, and I spent so many years hiding within myself. It’s so easy to do, put up shields to numb everything.”
Severus does the same.
“That night, I looked into his eyes and let him see …”
sSs
“I let him see too late,” she whispered. “Either he didn’t believe me, or he’d just lost the capacity to care … lost in darkness and power.
“He was so very angry - in that moment, he was Damien … frightening in his rage.”
Severus still had those moments - where he lost himself in rage; became a dark man who Hermione didn’t recognise. She had a name for that man now. Damien … demon of the past.
“So I fled, knowing that I’d lost my son to Voldemort forever.” She shook her head. “No, I let my son be lost …”
sSs
“I thought him lost all these years, until I saw this yesterday.” She held up the tear-ruined newspaper.
“I am deeply ashamed now that I did not have faith in him then, that I did not stand firm for him, that I thought him a monster.
“I did not know if Severus had ever returned to this house - he inherited it all those years ago from Toby. Perhaps I just wanted to -” Eileen stopped, perhaps unsure of why she’d ventured to Spinner’s End again.
Eileen smoothed the wrinkled newspaper out and traced the sneering photograph. “Do you know why?”
sSs
“No, I don’t.”
Hermione didn’t know why Severus had switched sides; Dumbledore had taken that secret to the grave, and Severus was exceedingly tight-lipped about it.
There were speculations that Severus had been in love with Lily Potter, or perhaps that Voldemort had finally crossed the line with a heinous assignment. Or perhaps, Hermione reflected now, perhaps his mother had tipped the scales that evening.
“It is probably too late to beg forgiveness, but I wanted him to know.”
“He does know,” Hermione whispered, feeling a new wave of apprehension and guilt now that her burning curiosity had been satisfied.
sSs
“What do you mean?” The narrowed, suspicious eyes that Eileen gazed at her with were unsettling; another inherited gesture.
Surely she deserved anger from Severus for hexing him and listening to his life story without his explicit permission. It was a Gryffindorish flaw, she knew; one that always coloured her actions … acting without forethought … leaping into fire.
“He - arrived home just after we began talking,” Hermione said in a small voice. “I - he’s standing the doorway under a Body-Bind Curse.”
She glanced towards the door, guilt acidic. “I’m so sorry.” It was directed at both Severus and Eileen.
sSs
Eileen followed Hermione’s gaze, and her spindly fingers tightened reflexively, crushing the handkerchief tightly. Hermione couldn’t tell if she was angry, dismayed, or both. Eileen’s dark eyes lingered on her son’s unmoving form for a moment before she turned back to Hermione.
“Perhaps not the wisest thing to do,” Eileen said softly, her words carrying to Hermione’s ears only. “But effective at making a Prince listen, nonetheless.
“Before you release him, thank you, Hermione … you were a wonderful listener.”
Hermione didn’t feel much better; the bitter taste of bile flooded her mouth as she reached for her discarded wand.
Team Name: The Order
Word Count: (6 x 100)
Rating: PG
Challenge: Family Visit
Characters: Hermione/Severus, Eileen Snape
Eileen’s hand was icy cold; eerily chilling, like the incorporeal ether of the Hogwarts ghosts. It was a striking comparison that struck her, then. Eileen’s was a life half-lived, with a ghostlike detachment from reality for so many years.
The older witch took brief comfort from her touch, and then wiped her cheeks with trembling hands.
“The Princes had always been gifted at Occlumency, and I spent so many years hiding within myself. It’s so easy to do, put up shields to numb everything.”
Severus does the same.
“That night, I looked into his eyes and let him see …”
sSs
“I let him see too late,” she whispered. “Either he didn’t believe me, or he’d just lost the capacity to care … lost in darkness and power.
“He was so very angry - in that moment, he was Damien … frightening in his rage.”
Severus still had those moments - where he lost himself in rage; became a dark man who Hermione didn’t recognise. She had a name for that man now. Damien … demon of the past.
“So I fled, knowing that I’d lost my son to Voldemort forever.” She shook her head. “No, I let my son be lost …”
sSs
“I thought him lost all these years, until I saw this yesterday.” She held up the tear-ruined newspaper.
“I am deeply ashamed now that I did not have faith in him then, that I did not stand firm for him, that I thought him a monster.
“I did not know if Severus had ever returned to this house - he inherited it all those years ago from Toby. Perhaps I just wanted to -” Eileen stopped, perhaps unsure of why she’d ventured to Spinner’s End again.
Eileen smoothed the wrinkled newspaper out and traced the sneering photograph. “Do you know why?”
sSs
“No, I don’t.”
Hermione didn’t know why Severus had switched sides; Dumbledore had taken that secret to the grave, and Severus was exceedingly tight-lipped about it.
There were speculations that Severus had been in love with Lily Potter, or perhaps that Voldemort had finally crossed the line with a heinous assignment. Or perhaps, Hermione reflected now, perhaps his mother had tipped the scales that evening.
“It is probably too late to beg forgiveness, but I wanted him to know.”
“He does know,” Hermione whispered, feeling a new wave of apprehension and guilt now that her burning curiosity had been satisfied.
sSs
“What do you mean?” The narrowed, suspicious eyes that Eileen gazed at her with were unsettling; another inherited gesture.
Surely she deserved anger from Severus for hexing him and listening to his life story without his explicit permission. It was a Gryffindorish flaw, she knew; one that always coloured her actions … acting without forethought … leaping into fire.
“He - arrived home just after we began talking,” Hermione said in a small voice. “I - he’s standing the doorway under a Body-Bind Curse.”
She glanced towards the door, guilt acidic. “I’m so sorry.” It was directed at both Severus and Eileen.
sSs
Eileen followed Hermione’s gaze, and her spindly fingers tightened reflexively, crushing the handkerchief tightly. Hermione couldn’t tell if she was angry, dismayed, or both. Eileen’s dark eyes lingered on her son’s unmoving form for a moment before she turned back to Hermione.
“Perhaps not the wisest thing to do,” Eileen said softly, her words carrying to Hermione’s ears only. “But effective at making a Prince listen, nonetheless.
“Before you release him, thank you, Hermione … you were a wonderful listener.”
Hermione didn’t feel much better; the bitter taste of bile flooded her mouth as she reached for her discarded wand.