Biweekly response: Found
Ellis Victor knows why Severus noticed him that day at St. Mungo’s and it wasn’t the tantrum he was throwing over having to take his potions. He wonders if his dad will ever tell him why, although he doubts it. His dad is the kind of man who keeps secrets more for his benefit then for others and that’s okay. Really. He doesn’t mind. He wonders if he ever explained it to mom though. The why…
Details. His father likes details. The more insidious, the better: it’s like a game for him, so it had only been natural that the first thing Severus noticed about Ellis was not his smile (which actually looks his dad’s) or how his laugh sounds like Lily’s. No. What his father first notices is the scars on Ellis’ left side where Fenrir’s claw gripped him and send him flying for the first time in his life. He noticed that Ellis disliked the Healers with soft voices because he couldn’t hear them. He noticed that Ellis cried. Often. The world is not catered to a six year old who can’t hear it.
The first thing Ellis noticed about his father was that his hands shook. Later on, he would wonder if it was the drink or the war, but at that moment, all Ellis knew was that those shaking hands that plucked him up and sat him back on the table for the Healer, and kept him steady there would never drop him. He was six and the world didn’t make sense but that did.
This man who wore black, and spoke softly but vibrated when he talked would never drop him.
The man came to visit him three times in the orphanage after that day in St. Mungo’s. Once, alone. They colored. Second, with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. And third, with two other children: one with serious, searching eyes that was only a year older then him, and a girl who giggled and was all hugs and kisses. The fourth time the man with strange hands came, he plucked Ellis up and took him to a house that was loud and hectic and home.
Ellis Victor knows why Severus noticed him that day. He knows why he was named after tragedies. He knows why he cried. He knows that the world was not made for boys who couldn’t hear it. He knows all the reasons he shouldn’t be as happy as he is, why he should still cry, why his father’s hands shake because Ellis has his father’s sins still etched on his skin. He knows…
But Ellis also knows, he has the best mother in the world. He has the strongest big sister in the world. He has the weirdest brother ever. He has the greatest younger siblings in the world. The best half-siblings. His world isn’t quiet any more. It loud, and bright and noisy and yes, it needs more laughter but Ellis does what he can.
It wasn’t that the world wasn’t build for him. He just had to find the right place.