The Saving of Them (G; Severus, orig. house-elf, Madam Malkin, ofc; 3652 words)
Title: The Saving of Them
Author:
iulia_linnea
Characters: Severus, original house-elf, Madam Malkin, original female character
Rating: G
Word Count: 3652
Summary: Severus saves a house-elf; she saves him right back.
Disclaimer: This work of fan fiction is based on characters and situations created by J. K. Rowling and owned by J. K. Rowling and various publishers, including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made from (and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended by) the posting of this fan work.
Author's Note: This might have been a pinch-hit for
snapecase, but it wasn't.
THERE ARE
TWO TYPES
OF PEOPLE
IN THE WORLD.
THEY BOTH SUCK.
Severus looked at the black lettering on his white porcelain mug with the black interior and handle and snorted. American slang. Objectionable, but accurate, he thought, sipping from the mug.
There was a house-elf there to clean the sprayed substance that he had almost imbibed the moment it left his mouth.
"What is this swill, Gabby?"
Gabby's ears drooped and her shoulders curled as she wiped down Severus' worktop. "Gabby is sorry, Master Snape! Gabby thought you would enjoy the roasted dandelions."
Severus squeezed shut his eyes. "Gabby, was that because I said-"
"It might be nice to 'light a fire under those lions'!" interrupted Gabby, rubbing her hands together in what looked to be a painful manner.
Severus caught them. "Stop hurting yourself. You do not have my permission to hurt yourself."
"Gabby will await perm-"
"Gabby will never receive-I do not want you to hurt yourself. Please don't do it again."
Severus released Gabby's hands. She stared at him with wide eyes. Birdsong filtered into the laboratory through the open windows.
Severus was annoyed by that; breezes were unwelcome while brewing, but he said nothing except, "And don't call me 'master'. I pay you. I am 'Mr. Snape'."
Tears filled Gabby's eyes.
"What?" demanded Severus.
"You are a very good master," said Gabby, before winking out of the room.
A moment later, cups of steaming chocolate, black coffee, and sugary tea appeared, with a variety of biscuits, upon a tray atop the worktop.
Severus felt like smiling. He almost did. Instead, he took the tray out the back and sat in his garden, enjoying the scents of his plants as they bloomed in the light and heat of his tiny artificial suns.
George Weasley had turned out to be quite the inventor; his little suns brought light and happiness to many a wizarding garden-and his daughters delivered people's purchases for free.
Severus picked up the chocolate and a lemon biscuit, dipping the latter into the former, nibbling at it, and taking in the excellent January day. Life was good, especially when most people thought you were dead.
"Gabby!"
Gabby appeared. "Yes, good mas-er, Employer Snape?"
Severus snorted. Baby steps. "Thank you for breakfast. Would you like to bring in another house-elf?"
"Gabby displeases Ma-Emp-Mr. Snape?"
"Not at all, no. I merely thought you might like some company. It's lonely out here."
"You is, er, are lonely?"
"No, but I thought you might be."
"Gabby is grateful to Mr. Snape for taking her out of that awful, empty house with no family. Gabby could not have left it on her own. Gabby doesn't even mind taking the Galleons."
"There are other elves in your situation who would like the opportunity to-"
"Serve!"
"-work."
"Oh, yes. Gabby works!"
"And you should have the opportunity to play as well," said Severus, who suddenly realised that he had been a bit lonely before he'd found Gabby in her family's abandoned home. Bound to serve a dead family, Severus thought, with a shudder of claustrophobia. Forced to obey a nonexistent master.
He was glad to have saved her from that fate.
"Gabby has never played, not since she was a nestling."
"Would you like to play a game with me?"
"Mr. Snape wants to play a game . . . with Gabby?"
Severus drained his cooled chocolate. "Mr. Snape does. I don't feel like working today, Gabby."
"Oh!"
"It's all right," Severus told her. "One needn't work all the time. Do you know any games?"
Gabby looked at him, her hands clasped and eyes, pleading. "Is spending the Galleons a game?"
"You wish to spend some of your salary?"
"Gabby is a bad seamstress, Mr. Snape, and Gabby wishes to have a . . . a fancy pillowcase!"
"Why a pillowcase when you could have a dress? or trousers and a jumper?" asked Severus.
House-elves isn't wear-don't wear wizard clothes!"
"House-elves who earn their own money are welcome to spend it on anything-even," Severus said, surprised that the idea hadn't come to him sooner, "to put it in the bank for safekeeping."
"Gabby knows nothing of banks!"
Severus threw the black coffee down his throat, washing down a chocolate biscuit and, unselfconsciously, belched. "Yes, but I do. I could-"
Severus stopped talking, suddenly wondering what he was about. He'd been little more than a hermit since recovering from Nagini's attack and setting up his little house and laboratory. Until he'd discovered Gabby's old family's ancestral home falling into ruins and convinced her that she was free, he hadn't taken particulary good care of himself.
Since Gabby had entered his life, however, he'd bathed every day.
"Master's bath awaits him."
He'd eaten every day, often more than once.
"Gabby has placed Severus Snape's breakfast upon the table."
He'd banked by owl to secure Gabby's salary and the monies for the Potions ingredients she'd procure for him.
"Gabby is needing the filthy Galleons now."
Gabby had treated Severus as if he were the head of an actual family since entering his household, but there wasn't much for a house-elf to do while working for only one wizard. It didn't seem fair; house-elves were not actually solitary beings. Just because he'd chosen to eschew other people didn't mean that-
Severus shook his head. "Gabby, I could show you about banks. Under glamour. And then, perhaps, we could go looking for other elves in need of help. You could help them with me. Would you like to do that?"
"Gabby would like . . . Gabby would like to help other elves. Gabby will learn about banks."
"Gabby?" urged Severus, sensing that she had more to say.
"Gabby wants a pretty pillowcase, a pillowcase worthy of Mr. Snape's household."
"You may have whatever you like, Gabby," Severus replied, unwilling to push her towards clothing, which seemed to be a step too far. "It's your gold."
Gabby clapped her hands together in apparent glee. "Gabby's gold!"
"I'd better dress," Severus told her, quickly drinking his tea before eating the last of his biscuits. "Would you like to use a glamour, as well? The shopkeeps might not want to do business with a house-elf."
Gabby considered him. "Gabby is an . . . an employee?"
"Yes," Severus affirmed.
"And it's Gabby's gold?"
"Indeed."
"Then Gabby will spend it!"
Pleased, Severus took himself off to dress.
~*~
Severus' glamour made him appear something akin to a tall dark irritable Father Christmas with a fiery red beard shot through with white. His navy blue robes were of the finest quality, and his walking stick-which was in actuality his Transfigured wand-boasted a silver, animated raven's skull with snapping saphire eyes.
"Welcome, sir!" Madam Malkin greeted him.
"I am accompanying my employed elf, Gabby. She wishes to purchase 'pretty pillowcase'."
Severus' explanation was more an order than anything else, and being the good businesswitch that she was, Madam Malkin immediately turned to Gabby.
"Are you sure, dear? I could make you robes, dresses, why, anything you like! If you're, er, employed, then you don't have to stick to pillowcases."
Gabby's ears drooped.
"Oh, but of course, if your heart is set on something, well, traditional, then you must have it! Come with me to the back so that I can take your measurements."
Severus saw how Gabby's eyes half filled with grateful tears, and he felt . . . happy. Sniffing at the unfamiliar feeling, he moved to look out of the shop window.
I am not as lonely as I was, but . . . .
He was, he decided, lonely, but for what? Adult company, perhaps-Gabby was very young at heart, and as she'd lost her family while still actually young, he'd fallen into the habit of teaching her things. Everything was new to her, especially the concept of freedom. With a start, he realised that the concept was rather a new one, in practice, for him, as well.
I can do what I want, now. I'm free.
Severus was free of masters, free of all complicatinng relationships and obligations. Free.
I've done nothing with my freedom, he thought, frowning.
But that wasn't true: he'd freed Gabby from the prison of her family's abandoned home.
"Would you, Gabby, an elf with no family, enter my service?
"What is being your family name?"
"Snape. I am Severus Snape. I . . . I would pay you a wage."
"Speak not your mocking words to Gabby! I is a proper elf!"
It had taken some effort to persuade Gabby that she should serve him as an employee, that they could make the vow of master and servant if and when she elected to do so-but even then, Severus had resolved to do everything in his power to teach Gabby that it was better to be free.
It is better to be free . . . even if you don't know what to do with that freedom, Severus told himself, wishing he had already figured out what to do with his.
"Er, sir?" a feminine voice said.
Severus turned. A young witch in brown robes covered in pins and tools stood there. "Yes?"
"Madam asks if you would care for tea while you wait. Miss Gabby's order has become, er, complex."
Severus felt himself smile slightly. "She has relented in the matter of the 'pretty pillowcase'?"
"No, but now she has agreed to have various 'useful' outfits made because she is 'a free elf'." The shopgirl seemed pleased by this concept.
Severus found himself wondering how Malkin treated her.
"Susan!"
Susan started. "Forgive me. I must go."
"Susan," said Severus, and the girl turned around. "Susan, do not permit Madam to shout at you. You are not a slave."
Her eyes widening in much the same manner that Gabby's always did when Severus said something that astonished her, Susan ducked her head and hurried off.
A tea service appeared in front of Severus and led him to a small sitting room off the main shop area. It poured for him, and added three lumps to his tea without being asked to do so.
"Thank you," Severus murmured.
It suddenly occurred to him that it was bloody odd, indeed, that he should find himself waiting on a house-elve to be fitted for clothing, clothing that she was going to purchase because he paid her a wage.
Freedom takes one to odd places.
So bored had Severus been during his recovery that he'd anonymously cured the common cold.
Now whenever I do venture out into the wizarding places of the world, I'm free of the sniffling of brats.
He had sent his receipt for the potion to every major brewing publication in the wizarding world. He had wanted it to be free for everyone. He had been feeling . . . grateful, grateful to be alive and functioning and free to be creative, free to create.
I love brewing.
Brewing had been enough for months, years. Mail order and owl correspondence had been sufficient to his needs for a great long time before ever he'd ventured out to collect some of his own ingredients, which is how he'd happened upon Gabby. Once he'd seen her, so desperately lonely and frightened and bored . . . .
I could not have left her in that house.
He had enjoyed having Gabby in his life. She had become his friend.
It will be a long time before I tell her that, though. She wouldn't know what to do with such an idea.
Severus realised that he had used his freedom for several things: he'd survived, he'd Healed, he'd made something of a home for himself, he'd cured cold, and he'd befriended Gabby.
And we're saving each other.
"That's good," Severus said, looking up abruptly as Gabby exclaimed in delight.
"Oh! Is you thinking so? Truly?"
Gabby levitated before him in front of a beaming Madam Malkin. Her "pillowcase" was more a light green dress edged with copper-coloured lace than a covering for a cushion. The waist was gathered a bit, and Gabby radiated happiness as she wore it.
"You look lovely, Gabby," Severus told her.
"Gabby is thankful. Gabby is glad!" She spun in the air and giggled. "Gabby has the prettiest pillowcase that ever was made!"
"So you do, Miss Gabby," Madam Malkin said. "Your full order will be ready in a week's time. You may pay me then."
"Oh! But Gabby is wanting to pay you now!"
"For your pillowcase, of course," said Madam Malkin. "Susan!"
"A moment, Madam Malkin."
"Yes, er, sir?"
"Please be good enough to not shout at your staff. It gives Gabby the wrong impression."
Madam Malkin's brow furrowed. "Er, yes, sir. Forgive me, but I didn't catch your name."
"I didn't throw it."
"Very good, sir. Susan," Madam Malkin said, "take, er, please take Miss Gabby's payment for her pillowcase."
"Yes, of course."
In Gabby and Susan's wake, Madam Malkin told Severus, "It's not every day that I serve a house-elf."
"But you are serving her."
"Gold is gold. I'm pragmatic that way."
"Good, then you shall have my family's business."
Madam Malkin opened her mouth as if to speak but elected merely to nod.
"Thank you for the tea," Severus told her without even considering giving her his name.
~*~
"You could be telling her you is alive."
"Please try that again, Gabby."
"You could tell her you are alive."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you is tired, are tired of hiding."
Severus frowned.
"Oh, but is you not hiding?" Gabby, decked out in her new pillowcase with matching lace ribbons tied around her ears, asked.
"I merely wish to avoid dealing with people. I value my privacy."
"Gabby saw a shirt in the back of Madam Malkin's shop. The Susan made it."
"Oh?"
"It said what your mug says, 'there are two types of people in the world. They both suck'."
"American slang. How wonder-ah! That's how I came by the mug. You'd already learnt to spend your money."
"The Susan gave Gabby the mug when Gabby picked up your new blue robes. Gabby took ink out of the linens for Susan. Susan is nice."
"And what made you think I'd like such a mug? or such a shirt, for that matter?"
"Gabby is seeing your smirk. It is being a funny mug-and a funny shirt for misanthropes."
Severus found himself actually smiling. "You've been reading the dictionary."
"Gabby likes the words better than the grammar."
"The grammar book would serve you well, perhaps better."
"Gabby is an elf, not a wizard."
"Yes, but you want to move through the world."
"Gabby wants . . . I want to do what you said, to help . . . house-elves like me, and . . . and witches like, well . . . ."
"Like Susan?" asked Severus.
"Susan is being an orphan. Susan has no family. Madam Malkin gives her work but no play, and Susan has no friends. She is being stuck in the shop all the time."
"You did a good bit of information gathering, didn't you?"
"Gabby did what you taught her. She kept her ears and eyes open! Susan is being only fourteen!"
"Fourteen!" Severus rose and went to stoke the fire. "That's very young."
"Susan should be in school. But Susan is being the Squib." Gabby's ears drooped, and her ribbons slid off them. "Oh!"
"No wonder she's stuck," said Severus, flicking his wand at Gabby's ribbons.
"Thank you, but Gabby can gather her own ribbons-and be doing the stoking!"
"I'm not trying to take away your job or your independence, you know. I was merely being helpful."
Gabby giggled. "You is, are, an odd wizard."
"I am reborn. That in itself is odd."
"That is being lucky, Mr. Snape."
"Severus," corrected Severus.
"Mr. Severus," said Gabby.
Baby steps, Severus thought.
"You are lucky. Gabby is lucky. Susan," Gabby said, her eyebrows rising as if in emphasis, "is not lucky."
"And you think that I should do something about that."
"You are being very smart!"
"What would you have me do, Gabby? I can hardly adopt a foundling who has already been-"
"But she is not! Susan is not adopted! The orphanage takes fees for her service. Susan is not paid! The orphanage is paid! Madam Malkin is paid in service. Susan isn't paid! Susan. Isn't. Free! It is being the outrage, Mr. Severus! It is being. The. Suck."
"Well," said Severus, not actually thinking things through, "we'll have to do something about that."
~*~
Severus found Susan smoking behind Madam Malkin's establishment.
Fshhhh!
"Hey!" she cried, as her cigarette fizzled out.
"My understanding is that you're not being paid. How is it, then, that you can afford the coffin nails?"
"I don't steal them!"
"I did not suggest that you did."
"Murph from the cauldron repair shop hard by, he's got loads of kids. I darn clothing for him. He gives me pastries and smokes."
"That is not fair recompense. Would you like a proper home, Miss Susan?"
"I'm no one's piece of-"
"Susan, I am not making an improper suggestion to you. Yes, I am a single man, but no, I am not a pervert. Gabby-you remember Gabby?" asked Severus.
"How could I forget! I've never waited on a house-elf before! And she helped me with the linens."
"Gabby has taken a shine to you, and she does not like the way you're being treated. Neither do I. If you work, you should be paid, but you shouldn't be working. You should be in school."
"Oh, but I have to have a trade, sir. I don't have a family."
"Nor do I, but I would like one. I am offering to adopt you. Before you agree, you should know that I had awful parents who did not love me and-"
"Would I have 'chores'?" interrupted Susan.
"If you mean would I work you without cease or pay, then no, but I would expect you to keep your room and belongings tidy, and to respect our home."
"A room? Belongings?"
"Yes, Susan. You would have your own room in our home if I adopted you," said Severus, "but as far as being a good father, I have-oof!"
Susan's hug caught Severus by surprise. Hugs he'd had, though few, and mostly, they'd been given to him by Lily. He felt uncomfortable, but he understood Susan's desperation for affection. He recognised it.
"There, er, there," he said, there-there-ing her with a gentle pat on her shoulder. "I will be a good guardian to you, but I don't know what kind of father I'll make."
"Don't you worry about that," said Susan, beaming up at him and wiping away her tears. "I can teach you how to be a good dad. Mine was lovely, 'til he died."
~*~
It was very much like a dream, the flow of Severus' life from "corpse" to employer to friend to guardian; Gabby and Susan bonded over packing up the small cottage-Severus managed the relocation of the laboratory-and moving into a larger one down the lane from the Hog's Head. It had long been abandoned, but Gabby and Susan worked tirelessly to clean, repair, and with a proper household budget, furnish it. Gabby set to teaching Susan to cook, Susan began teaching Gabby needlework, and Severus supervised the building of his new apothecary.
Madam Malkin, at first angry to have lost her shopgirl, became delighted to have Susan as a customer; Severus had insisted that Susan needed a new, colourful wardrobe.
"What about the elves?" Gabby, who now sat down to dinner with her family, asked. "You will need shop elves."
"I've not forgotten about our plans for 'orphaned' house-elves," Severus replied.
Susan perked up. "What plans?"
"We is, er, are going to rescue house-elves!" Gabby explained.
"But don't house-elves stay with their families?"
Gabby explained how Severus had found her and persuaded her that, since her family was gone, she should join his. Severus explained how he'd also persuaded her to try working for him before taking the vow to serve him as her master.
"Oh, hoping she'd never want that, yes?" asked Susan.
"Yes, that's right. I have no wish to be anyone's master."
"You're a strange sort of wizard. Even nice magic folk want power over other people, at least, in my experience."
"That is in line with my own," replied Severus.
"Thank you for not being a berk."
Severus snorted. "You're welcome, Susan."
"He doesn't suck, either," Gabby said.
Susan laughed. "Madam Malkin didn't like me sewing those tees, but the Hogwarts' crowd, they paid good money for them." Susan's face fell.
"Does it bother you not to go to Hogwarts?"
"I wish I weren't broken."
"You are not broken," Severus and Gabby told Susan.
"I might as well be. I'm a Squib. My mum left us when I was little 'cause of it."
"But your father didn't."
"No, Gabby, but, well, his magic wasn't very strong, either."
"The orphanage's manager told me that you have distant relations. Are you interested in-"
"No! They wouldn't help Dad when he needed them. I don't want to know them, Severus!"
"Then you never have to," Severus assured Susan.
She sniffed. "I'm glad."
"Their loss," Severus told her.
"No," said Susan. "I mean that I'm glad you're such a strange wizard!"
"You should be putting that on a mug," suggested Gabby.
Severus stopped chewing. "Interesting idea." He turned to Susan. "You do need an education, but . . . ."
"There's nothing to stop me from enlarging my little business, is there?" said Susan.
"No!" exclaimed Gabby. "You is free to be making your own Galleons!"
They looked at each other, an odd family, and Severus said, "The Raven's Roost, Apothecary and Sundries?"
"'Fundries'!" cried Susan.
Severus groaned, but as his girls giggled, he knew that would be the name of their concern.
It's absurd, but I don't care what either type of person might think about it.
If Gabby and Susan didn't think the name sucked, it was good enough for him.
Author:
iulia_linnea
Characters: Severus, original house-elf, Madam Malkin, original female character
Rating: G
Word Count: 3652
Summary: Severus saves a house-elf; she saves him right back.
Disclaimer: This work of fan fiction is based on characters and situations created by J. K. Rowling and owned by J. K. Rowling and various publishers, including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made from (and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended by) the posting of this fan work.
Author's Note: This might have been a pinch-hit for
snapecase, but it wasn't.
THERE ARE
TWO TYPES
OF PEOPLE
IN THE WORLD.
THEY BOTH SUCK.
Severus looked at the black lettering on his white porcelain mug with the black interior and handle and snorted. American slang. Objectionable, but accurate, he thought, sipping from the mug.
There was a house-elf there to clean the sprayed substance that he had almost imbibed the moment it left his mouth.
"What is this swill, Gabby?"
Gabby's ears drooped and her shoulders curled as she wiped down Severus' worktop. "Gabby is sorry, Master Snape! Gabby thought you would enjoy the roasted dandelions."
Severus squeezed shut his eyes. "Gabby, was that because I said-"
"It might be nice to 'light a fire under those lions'!" interrupted Gabby, rubbing her hands together in what looked to be a painful manner.
Severus caught them. "Stop hurting yourself. You do not have my permission to hurt yourself."
"Gabby will await perm-"
"Gabby will never receive-I do not want you to hurt yourself. Please don't do it again."
Severus released Gabby's hands. She stared at him with wide eyes. Birdsong filtered into the laboratory through the open windows.
Severus was annoyed by that; breezes were unwelcome while brewing, but he said nothing except, "And don't call me 'master'. I pay you. I am 'Mr. Snape'."
Tears filled Gabby's eyes.
"What?" demanded Severus.
"You are a very good master," said Gabby, before winking out of the room.
A moment later, cups of steaming chocolate, black coffee, and sugary tea appeared, with a variety of biscuits, upon a tray atop the worktop.
Severus felt like smiling. He almost did. Instead, he took the tray out the back and sat in his garden, enjoying the scents of his plants as they bloomed in the light and heat of his tiny artificial suns.
George Weasley had turned out to be quite the inventor; his little suns brought light and happiness to many a wizarding garden-and his daughters delivered people's purchases for free.
Severus picked up the chocolate and a lemon biscuit, dipping the latter into the former, nibbling at it, and taking in the excellent January day. Life was good, especially when most people thought you were dead.
"Gabby!"
Gabby appeared. "Yes, good mas-er, Employer Snape?"
Severus snorted. Baby steps. "Thank you for breakfast. Would you like to bring in another house-elf?"
"Gabby displeases Ma-Emp-Mr. Snape?"
"Not at all, no. I merely thought you might like some company. It's lonely out here."
"You is, er, are lonely?"
"No, but I thought you might be."
"Gabby is grateful to Mr. Snape for taking her out of that awful, empty house with no family. Gabby could not have left it on her own. Gabby doesn't even mind taking the Galleons."
"There are other elves in your situation who would like the opportunity to-"
"Serve!"
"-work."
"Oh, yes. Gabby works!"
"And you should have the opportunity to play as well," said Severus, who suddenly realised that he had been a bit lonely before he'd found Gabby in her family's abandoned home. Bound to serve a dead family, Severus thought, with a shudder of claustrophobia. Forced to obey a nonexistent master.
He was glad to have saved her from that fate.
"Gabby has never played, not since she was a nestling."
"Would you like to play a game with me?"
"Mr. Snape wants to play a game . . . with Gabby?"
Severus drained his cooled chocolate. "Mr. Snape does. I don't feel like working today, Gabby."
"Oh!"
"It's all right," Severus told her. "One needn't work all the time. Do you know any games?"
Gabby looked at him, her hands clasped and eyes, pleading. "Is spending the Galleons a game?"
"You wish to spend some of your salary?"
"Gabby is a bad seamstress, Mr. Snape, and Gabby wishes to have a . . . a fancy pillowcase!"
"Why a pillowcase when you could have a dress? or trousers and a jumper?" asked Severus.
House-elves isn't wear-don't wear wizard clothes!"
"House-elves who earn their own money are welcome to spend it on anything-even," Severus said, surprised that the idea hadn't come to him sooner, "to put it in the bank for safekeeping."
"Gabby knows nothing of banks!"
Severus threw the black coffee down his throat, washing down a chocolate biscuit and, unselfconsciously, belched. "Yes, but I do. I could-"
Severus stopped talking, suddenly wondering what he was about. He'd been little more than a hermit since recovering from Nagini's attack and setting up his little house and laboratory. Until he'd discovered Gabby's old family's ancestral home falling into ruins and convinced her that she was free, he hadn't taken particulary good care of himself.
Since Gabby had entered his life, however, he'd bathed every day.
"Master's bath awaits him."
He'd eaten every day, often more than once.
"Gabby has placed Severus Snape's breakfast upon the table."
He'd banked by owl to secure Gabby's salary and the monies for the Potions ingredients she'd procure for him.
"Gabby is needing the filthy Galleons now."
Gabby had treated Severus as if he were the head of an actual family since entering his household, but there wasn't much for a house-elf to do while working for only one wizard. It didn't seem fair; house-elves were not actually solitary beings. Just because he'd chosen to eschew other people didn't mean that-
Severus shook his head. "Gabby, I could show you about banks. Under glamour. And then, perhaps, we could go looking for other elves in need of help. You could help them with me. Would you like to do that?"
"Gabby would like . . . Gabby would like to help other elves. Gabby will learn about banks."
"Gabby?" urged Severus, sensing that she had more to say.
"Gabby wants a pretty pillowcase, a pillowcase worthy of Mr. Snape's household."
"You may have whatever you like, Gabby," Severus replied, unwilling to push her towards clothing, which seemed to be a step too far. "It's your gold."
Gabby clapped her hands together in apparent glee. "Gabby's gold!"
"I'd better dress," Severus told her, quickly drinking his tea before eating the last of his biscuits. "Would you like to use a glamour, as well? The shopkeeps might not want to do business with a house-elf."
Gabby considered him. "Gabby is an . . . an employee?"
"Yes," Severus affirmed.
"And it's Gabby's gold?"
"Indeed."
"Then Gabby will spend it!"
Pleased, Severus took himself off to dress.
~*~
Severus' glamour made him appear something akin to a tall dark irritable Father Christmas with a fiery red beard shot through with white. His navy blue robes were of the finest quality, and his walking stick-which was in actuality his Transfigured wand-boasted a silver, animated raven's skull with snapping saphire eyes.
"Welcome, sir!" Madam Malkin greeted him.
"I am accompanying my employed elf, Gabby. She wishes to purchase 'pretty pillowcase'."
Severus' explanation was more an order than anything else, and being the good businesswitch that she was, Madam Malkin immediately turned to Gabby.
"Are you sure, dear? I could make you robes, dresses, why, anything you like! If you're, er, employed, then you don't have to stick to pillowcases."
Gabby's ears drooped.
"Oh, but of course, if your heart is set on something, well, traditional, then you must have it! Come with me to the back so that I can take your measurements."
Severus saw how Gabby's eyes half filled with grateful tears, and he felt . . . happy. Sniffing at the unfamiliar feeling, he moved to look out of the shop window.
I am not as lonely as I was, but . . . .
He was, he decided, lonely, but for what? Adult company, perhaps-Gabby was very young at heart, and as she'd lost her family while still actually young, he'd fallen into the habit of teaching her things. Everything was new to her, especially the concept of freedom. With a start, he realised that the concept was rather a new one, in practice, for him, as well.
I can do what I want, now. I'm free.
Severus was free of masters, free of all complicatinng relationships and obligations. Free.
I've done nothing with my freedom, he thought, frowning.
But that wasn't true: he'd freed Gabby from the prison of her family's abandoned home.
"Would you, Gabby, an elf with no family, enter my service?
"What is being your family name?"
"Snape. I am Severus Snape. I . . . I would pay you a wage."
"Speak not your mocking words to Gabby! I is a proper elf!"
It had taken some effort to persuade Gabby that she should serve him as an employee, that they could make the vow of master and servant if and when she elected to do so-but even then, Severus had resolved to do everything in his power to teach Gabby that it was better to be free.
It is better to be free . . . even if you don't know what to do with that freedom, Severus told himself, wishing he had already figured out what to do with his.
"Er, sir?" a feminine voice said.
Severus turned. A young witch in brown robes covered in pins and tools stood there. "Yes?"
"Madam asks if you would care for tea while you wait. Miss Gabby's order has become, er, complex."
Severus felt himself smile slightly. "She has relented in the matter of the 'pretty pillowcase'?"
"No, but now she has agreed to have various 'useful' outfits made because she is 'a free elf'." The shopgirl seemed pleased by this concept.
Severus found himself wondering how Malkin treated her.
"Susan!"
Susan started. "Forgive me. I must go."
"Susan," said Severus, and the girl turned around. "Susan, do not permit Madam to shout at you. You are not a slave."
Her eyes widening in much the same manner that Gabby's always did when Severus said something that astonished her, Susan ducked her head and hurried off.
A tea service appeared in front of Severus and led him to a small sitting room off the main shop area. It poured for him, and added three lumps to his tea without being asked to do so.
"Thank you," Severus murmured.
It suddenly occurred to him that it was bloody odd, indeed, that he should find himself waiting on a house-elve to be fitted for clothing, clothing that she was going to purchase because he paid her a wage.
Freedom takes one to odd places.
So bored had Severus been during his recovery that he'd anonymously cured the common cold.
Now whenever I do venture out into the wizarding places of the world, I'm free of the sniffling of brats.
He had sent his receipt for the potion to every major brewing publication in the wizarding world. He had wanted it to be free for everyone. He had been feeling . . . grateful, grateful to be alive and functioning and free to be creative, free to create.
I love brewing.
Brewing had been enough for months, years. Mail order and owl correspondence had been sufficient to his needs for a great long time before ever he'd ventured out to collect some of his own ingredients, which is how he'd happened upon Gabby. Once he'd seen her, so desperately lonely and frightened and bored . . . .
I could not have left her in that house.
He had enjoyed having Gabby in his life. She had become his friend.
It will be a long time before I tell her that, though. She wouldn't know what to do with such an idea.
Severus realised that he had used his freedom for several things: he'd survived, he'd Healed, he'd made something of a home for himself, he'd cured cold, and he'd befriended Gabby.
And we're saving each other.
"That's good," Severus said, looking up abruptly as Gabby exclaimed in delight.
"Oh! Is you thinking so? Truly?"
Gabby levitated before him in front of a beaming Madam Malkin. Her "pillowcase" was more a light green dress edged with copper-coloured lace than a covering for a cushion. The waist was gathered a bit, and Gabby radiated happiness as she wore it.
"You look lovely, Gabby," Severus told her.
"Gabby is thankful. Gabby is glad!" She spun in the air and giggled. "Gabby has the prettiest pillowcase that ever was made!"
"So you do, Miss Gabby," Madam Malkin said. "Your full order will be ready in a week's time. You may pay me then."
"Oh! But Gabby is wanting to pay you now!"
"For your pillowcase, of course," said Madam Malkin. "Susan!"
"A moment, Madam Malkin."
"Yes, er, sir?"
"Please be good enough to not shout at your staff. It gives Gabby the wrong impression."
Madam Malkin's brow furrowed. "Er, yes, sir. Forgive me, but I didn't catch your name."
"I didn't throw it."
"Very good, sir. Susan," Madam Malkin said, "take, er, please take Miss Gabby's payment for her pillowcase."
"Yes, of course."
In Gabby and Susan's wake, Madam Malkin told Severus, "It's not every day that I serve a house-elf."
"But you are serving her."
"Gold is gold. I'm pragmatic that way."
"Good, then you shall have my family's business."
Madam Malkin opened her mouth as if to speak but elected merely to nod.
"Thank you for the tea," Severus told her without even considering giving her his name.
~*~
"You could be telling her you is alive."
"Please try that again, Gabby."
"You could tell her you are alive."
"Why would I do that?"
"Because you is tired, are tired of hiding."
Severus frowned.
"Oh, but is you not hiding?" Gabby, decked out in her new pillowcase with matching lace ribbons tied around her ears, asked.
"I merely wish to avoid dealing with people. I value my privacy."
"Gabby saw a shirt in the back of Madam Malkin's shop. The Susan made it."
"Oh?"
"It said what your mug says, 'there are two types of people in the world. They both suck'."
"American slang. How wonder-ah! That's how I came by the mug. You'd already learnt to spend your money."
"The Susan gave Gabby the mug when Gabby picked up your new blue robes. Gabby took ink out of the linens for Susan. Susan is nice."
"And what made you think I'd like such a mug? or such a shirt, for that matter?"
"Gabby is seeing your smirk. It is being a funny mug-and a funny shirt for misanthropes."
Severus found himself actually smiling. "You've been reading the dictionary."
"Gabby likes the words better than the grammar."
"The grammar book would serve you well, perhaps better."
"Gabby is an elf, not a wizard."
"Yes, but you want to move through the world."
"Gabby wants . . . I want to do what you said, to help . . . house-elves like me, and . . . and witches like, well . . . ."
"Like Susan?" asked Severus.
"Susan is being an orphan. Susan has no family. Madam Malkin gives her work but no play, and Susan has no friends. She is being stuck in the shop all the time."
"You did a good bit of information gathering, didn't you?"
"Gabby did what you taught her. She kept her ears and eyes open! Susan is being only fourteen!"
"Fourteen!" Severus rose and went to stoke the fire. "That's very young."
"Susan should be in school. But Susan is being the Squib." Gabby's ears drooped, and her ribbons slid off them. "Oh!"
"No wonder she's stuck," said Severus, flicking his wand at Gabby's ribbons.
"Thank you, but Gabby can gather her own ribbons-and be doing the stoking!"
"I'm not trying to take away your job or your independence, you know. I was merely being helpful."
Gabby giggled. "You is, are, an odd wizard."
"I am reborn. That in itself is odd."
"That is being lucky, Mr. Snape."
"Severus," corrected Severus.
"Mr. Severus," said Gabby.
Baby steps, Severus thought.
"You are lucky. Gabby is lucky. Susan," Gabby said, her eyebrows rising as if in emphasis, "is not lucky."
"And you think that I should do something about that."
"You are being very smart!"
"What would you have me do, Gabby? I can hardly adopt a foundling who has already been-"
"But she is not! Susan is not adopted! The orphanage takes fees for her service. Susan is not paid! The orphanage is paid! Madam Malkin is paid in service. Susan isn't paid! Susan. Isn't. Free! It is being the outrage, Mr. Severus! It is being. The. Suck."
"Well," said Severus, not actually thinking things through, "we'll have to do something about that."
~*~
Severus found Susan smoking behind Madam Malkin's establishment.
Fshhhh!
"Hey!" she cried, as her cigarette fizzled out.
"My understanding is that you're not being paid. How is it, then, that you can afford the coffin nails?"
"I don't steal them!"
"I did not suggest that you did."
"Murph from the cauldron repair shop hard by, he's got loads of kids. I darn clothing for him. He gives me pastries and smokes."
"That is not fair recompense. Would you like a proper home, Miss Susan?"
"I'm no one's piece of-"
"Susan, I am not making an improper suggestion to you. Yes, I am a single man, but no, I am not a pervert. Gabby-you remember Gabby?" asked Severus.
"How could I forget! I've never waited on a house-elf before! And she helped me with the linens."
"Gabby has taken a shine to you, and she does not like the way you're being treated. Neither do I. If you work, you should be paid, but you shouldn't be working. You should be in school."
"Oh, but I have to have a trade, sir. I don't have a family."
"Nor do I, but I would like one. I am offering to adopt you. Before you agree, you should know that I had awful parents who did not love me and-"
"Would I have 'chores'?" interrupted Susan.
"If you mean would I work you without cease or pay, then no, but I would expect you to keep your room and belongings tidy, and to respect our home."
"A room? Belongings?"
"Yes, Susan. You would have your own room in our home if I adopted you," said Severus, "but as far as being a good father, I have-oof!"
Susan's hug caught Severus by surprise. Hugs he'd had, though few, and mostly, they'd been given to him by Lily. He felt uncomfortable, but he understood Susan's desperation for affection. He recognised it.
"There, er, there," he said, there-there-ing her with a gentle pat on her shoulder. "I will be a good guardian to you, but I don't know what kind of father I'll make."
"Don't you worry about that," said Susan, beaming up at him and wiping away her tears. "I can teach you how to be a good dad. Mine was lovely, 'til he died."
~*~
It was very much like a dream, the flow of Severus' life from "corpse" to employer to friend to guardian; Gabby and Susan bonded over packing up the small cottage-Severus managed the relocation of the laboratory-and moving into a larger one down the lane from the Hog's Head. It had long been abandoned, but Gabby and Susan worked tirelessly to clean, repair, and with a proper household budget, furnish it. Gabby set to teaching Susan to cook, Susan began teaching Gabby needlework, and Severus supervised the building of his new apothecary.
Madam Malkin, at first angry to have lost her shopgirl, became delighted to have Susan as a customer; Severus had insisted that Susan needed a new, colourful wardrobe.
"What about the elves?" Gabby, who now sat down to dinner with her family, asked. "You will need shop elves."
"I've not forgotten about our plans for 'orphaned' house-elves," Severus replied.
Susan perked up. "What plans?"
"We is, er, are going to rescue house-elves!" Gabby explained.
"But don't house-elves stay with their families?"
Gabby explained how Severus had found her and persuaded her that, since her family was gone, she should join his. Severus explained how he'd also persuaded her to try working for him before taking the vow to serve him as her master.
"Oh, hoping she'd never want that, yes?" asked Susan.
"Yes, that's right. I have no wish to be anyone's master."
"You're a strange sort of wizard. Even nice magic folk want power over other people, at least, in my experience."
"That is in line with my own," replied Severus.
"Thank you for not being a berk."
Severus snorted. "You're welcome, Susan."
"He doesn't suck, either," Gabby said.
Susan laughed. "Madam Malkin didn't like me sewing those tees, but the Hogwarts' crowd, they paid good money for them." Susan's face fell.
"Does it bother you not to go to Hogwarts?"
"I wish I weren't broken."
"You are not broken," Severus and Gabby told Susan.
"I might as well be. I'm a Squib. My mum left us when I was little 'cause of it."
"But your father didn't."
"No, Gabby, but, well, his magic wasn't very strong, either."
"The orphanage's manager told me that you have distant relations. Are you interested in-"
"No! They wouldn't help Dad when he needed them. I don't want to know them, Severus!"
"Then you never have to," Severus assured Susan.
She sniffed. "I'm glad."
"Their loss," Severus told her.
"No," said Susan. "I mean that I'm glad you're such a strange wizard!"
"You should be putting that on a mug," suggested Gabby.
Severus stopped chewing. "Interesting idea." He turned to Susan. "You do need an education, but . . . ."
"There's nothing to stop me from enlarging my little business, is there?" said Susan.
"No!" exclaimed Gabby. "You is free to be making your own Galleons!"
They looked at each other, an odd family, and Severus said, "The Raven's Roost, Apothecary and Sundries?"
"'Fundries'!" cried Susan.
Severus groaned, but as his girls giggled, he knew that would be the name of their concern.
It's absurd, but I don't care what either type of person might think about it.
If Gabby and Susan didn't think the name sucked, it was good enough for him.