FIC: A Birthday Exposition (PG)
Title: A Birthday Exposition
Type: Fic
Age-Range Category: One
Characters: Severus Snape, Eileen Snape
Author: worrywart1966
Beta(s): timandsophsmom
Rating: PG
Note(s): I was idea crunching for this snapecase when I got distracted by YouTube. It was simply fate that I clicked on something Patricia Routledge was hosting which turned out to be all about Beatrix Potter. An idea was born!
Summary: It's Severus' sixth birthday and his mother takes him on a little adventure that will create lasting memories.
"Mummy! I've got my shoes on!" cried six year old Severus.
Eileen laughed, the excitement in her son's voice infectious enough to lift her own spirits. "Let's take a look at you then, love," she said, as she drew him closer to her to inspect his ears and face and then, using her fingers, combed his hair back away from his face.
"Where we going, Mum?"
"I have a surprise for you, but first, you must promise me something."
"What?"
"You know that I've told you that you have magic, yes? And that I do, too?"
"Yes," replied Severus.
"Today I'm going to use it, and you must not tell your father, do you promise?"
"I do, Mummy," Severus said solemnly.
"Good boy. Now watch me carefully. You never know when you'll need to use this, and only after you're eleven. You know the rules."
Severus rolled his eyes. "I know, Mum."
Eileen went to the cupboard where the few coats and shoes they owned were stored. She reached into the back, removed the coats hanging from hooks and dropped them onto the floor. "See these hooks, Severus? You turn each of them anti-clockwise like so," she turned them as indicated. "Then you pull the middle hook, and this entire board will come out. See?"
The board came away, and in a small niche, Severus saw a long, thin box. "Is that your wand, Mum?" he said in awe.
"Yes. And you must never let your father know it is here. He thought I had lost it since I've not used it in years, and he would be very angry if he knew I still had one. Someday, soon, it will be yours." She opened the box to show Severus the black wand nestled amid the cotton wool. It had an intricate vine-and-leaf carving along the handle, and as she lifted it out of its resting place, it glowed in recognition of Eileen's magic.
"Get our coats, won't you love, while I put the board back." As Severus picked up their coats from the floor, she quickly placed the board back into its spot at the back of the cupboard, hung up Toby's mac and shut the door. "Come along, we've got a bit of a walk to the spot where we can Apparate from."
It was cold, and the inside of Severus' nostrils stuck together when he breathed in deeply. He found the sensation of his nostrils sticking together and then coming apart rather interesting and breathed in heavily once or twice to repeat the sensation, making himself cough as a result.
"Are you okay, love?" asked him mother with some concern.
"Yeah," Severus wheezed. "The air caught in my throat."
"We're almost at the point. Remember to hold my hand tightly when I tell you to."
"Why can't you hold me in your arms?"
Eileen laughed. "Severus, you're too big! I can hardly lift you now the few times you fall asleep on the couch. We're here now; hold tight. It might help to close your eyes."
Severus felt a pull behind his belly button and then a sensation of being tightly squeezed. Just when he thought he couldn't bare the idea of being squeezed one more second, he and his mother landed in a dark alley. He swooned a bit and fell against his mother, who rubbed his back comfortingly.
Once he was no longer dizzy, he asked, "Where are we, Mum?"
"It's your birthday present, Sev; we're not far from a Muggle museum."
"What's a museum?"
"It's a large building where they've collected treasures for people to see. Wizards have them too, but today I wanted you to see a very special collection in this one."
"Have you ever been here before?"
"Yes. My father used to bring me here. He felt it was important for us to know about Muggles so we could try to live peacefully with them."
"Is that why you married Da?"
"Let's not talk about Da today, eh? Let's make this a special day for us, for you especially since it's your birthday."
Severus nodded and happily took his mother's hand. They left the alley and walked along the road for a few minutes. Eileen directed his attention across the road toward a large brick building. It was the biggest building Severus had ever seen and his mouth gaped open.
"It's HUGE!" he marvelled.
"That's not all of it," Eileen laughed. "Look." She pointed in either direction. "It fills the entire block and goes back for several blocks as well."
"How will we see it all in one day?"
"Well, we won't today. We're here to see one very special exhibit."
"Which one?"
"Do you know the stories I read to you about Squirrel Nutkin and Peter Rabbit?"
"Oh, yes! They are my favourites!"
"I know; we've read the few of them to absolute tatters."
Severus said quietly, "I do try to take care of them."
"I know you do, but they are quite old. They were mine when I was a child. Now, take my hand, we have to go across the road and it's very busy."
In just a few moments, Eileen and Severus were in a queue, waiting with dozens of others to enter the museum. Severus had never been around so many people before. He watched covertly as he saw many mums with their children, well dressed and faces scrubbed, just as he had been. Directly behind him stood a mother and her daughter who looked about Severus' age. When the little girl noticed he was looking, she smiled brightly as said hello.
"You here to see the exy-bission?" she asked.
Severus' face reddened and he nodded, stepping even closer to his mother.
"You happy to see it?" the girl inquired.
"Yes," Severus whispered shyly and buried his face in his mother's coat.
"It's gonna be cool!" she exclaimed.
Severus turned his head toward the girl. "Yes, I think so."
They had no more time to talk as his mother tugged at his hand and said, "Come along, Severus, we're next at the ticket window."
Severus followed his mother into the warm building. He was frightened by its size and wondered what would happen if he were separated from his mother; he held her hand tighter. He was furthered overwhelmed by the noise of so many feet clattering along the tiles of the floor. The bellow of the docents, calling the various tour groups to order echoed off of the walls and this too, frightened him.
"Mum! It's so loud. It's scary!"
Eileen bent towards her son and twitched the bangs of his hair away from his forehead, cupping his cheek lovingly afterward. "We'll soon be out of the noise and into the room where Miss Potter's exhibition is. I know it can be overwhelming. I was scared my first time as well and the building wasn't nearly as grand as it seems now!"
It was a crowded walk toward the room where the expo was, and Severus more or less gawped the entire time, looking at the paintings, the people, and the ceiling. The ceiling was fascinating and so high that he wondered if magic held it up.
"Mum," he whispered, "did wizards build this?" he asked, pointing to the ceiling.
Eileen laughed. "No. Only the magic of Muggle builders with the understanding of construction and physics."
"Physics? What's that?"
"I'll explain another time. Look! We're here!"
Severus looked around in wonder at all the wonderful drawings on display. He didn't know which way to go first.
The curators at Victoria and Albert Museum had anticipated the exhibit would be visited by many, many children as well as adults and therefore had set the displays at varying heights. Frames hung along the walls at adult height as well as child height, and small stools were placed along the walls in order for the children to be guided upward in order to see the drawings. At glassed covered tables stools were also placed, and this is where Severus and his mother went first.
Eileen stood behind her son, ensuring he did not tumble from the stool for Severus was simply transported by the images under the glass and had slipped once in his eagerness to take it all in.
Directly below Severus' head was a small drawing of The Lady Mouse Curtseys, from The Tailor of Gloucester. His little finger traced along the glass, following the outline of the Lady Mouse's ears, and then her tiny foot peaking from below a red dress. "Mummy," he breathed, "she's so pretty. Even prettier than in the book!"
"Yes," agreed Eileen, "these are the actual drawings by Beatrix Potter herself, love. These are the exact colours she chose to use for Lady Mouse. Isn't her little overdress pretty in periwinkle?"
"It looks like the colours of the ones Mrs. Fithers sells at the flower stall on Market Street," said Severus.
"Indeed. Beatrix Potter was a great fan of nature, Severus," Eileen explained as she helped her son off the stool. "Come over here." She led Severus to another table, this one short enough for Severus to look at without standing on a stool. "Look at these drawings."
"They're just mushrooms," he said. "Why would she draw boring old mushrooms?"
"Look again, Severus," Eileen directed. "Look at the colours, the details. You've seen the mushrooms growing in the forest the few times we've gone. Look at how she's managed to draw, rather well, the gills under the head of the mushroom. Look at the colours!"
Severus took a moment to really look at the painting of the fungi before him. They really did look lifelike with bits of dirt clinging to the stems, and he longed to pluck one to feel if it was as velvety as the painting showed.
"Did you know mushrooms are used in potions?" Eileen asked. "In fact, many of the animals Miss Potter drew could be used."
"Really? How did she draw them so well?" He leant closer to his mother. "Was she a witch?"
"No, she wasn't, but she had a great love of all things in nature. She apparently caught most of them, studied them and sketched them. It is said that when she was young, she and her brother would, erm, boil any of the small pets-rabbits and such like-that had died to study their remains."
Severus' eyes widened. "Really?" he asked with the thrill that all small boys have at the idea of blood and innards laying before one's eyes.
"Indeed. Now, I'm going over to that bench to sit. Whoever designed this exhibit didn't consider people's backs. You may continue walk around and look at the drawings, but don't leave the room without me. Once you're done, we'll go into the next room."
"Okay, mum."
Left to his own devices, he wandered around the room, stopping here and there to look at the art hung along the walls. He occasionally stood on a stool to see some of the lithographs that were a bit higher up. He so wanted to touch each one, to trace the lines but he didn't dare after he attempted once and the docent standing nearby cleared his throat and shook his head at him.
He went to another low table and saw the sketchbook in which, at the age of just nine, Beatrix had begun to imagine a world of rabbits, mice, hedgehogs all going about their daily tasks much as any human would. Severus laughed at the upright white rabbit, dressed in cream coloured trousers, a teal coat and holding a red brolly that the wind had turned inside out.
He went back to the table where some of Miss Potter's more graphic illustrations were displayed. She had truly made a study of her books' subjects, and that detailed study showed in the realistic drawings in her books. Severus was fascinated by the rabbits and other small rodents drawn over several sheets of paper. He was most enchanted by the display of flora and fauna. He loved to read his mum's potions textbooks and wanted to be a potions Master someday. It would be good for him to begin to learn all about plants and mushrooms and what better way than to admire the works of Beatrix Potter? The greens, blues, red, yellows-all the colours actually-were so realistic…tasty even, Severus thought.
A hand upon his shoulder startled him, but his mother's soft voice settled him quickly enough.
"Come along, Sev, there's another room to look at and then, at the end, they are giving biscuits and drinks for the children."
Severus' eyes danced happily as did his feet. "Let's go, mum!"
After several hours, it was time to go if they were to be home in time for Eileen to cook supper. Severus had had a small meltdown as he did not want to leave, but Eileen reminded him that it had been a long day and they needed to fix Tobias' meal. Severus acquiesced but sullenly so.
Eileen was just pulling a tray of rolls from the oven and the front door slammed.
"Eileen! Get in here you stupid bitch!"
Severus looked with fear at his mother.
"Go to your room, Severus. Keep quiet."
"But mum, he's mad! He'll hurt you again."
"Just go, Severus. I'll be all right."
As Severus left the room, he heard her murmur, "Better me than you."
Severus scampered up the stairs as Eileen went into the front room. He heard his father bellow behind him, "Why the hell did Fred Mock's wife see you and the freak in London today? How the hell did you get to London!"
"Toby, we went to see a free exhibit! It's Severus' birthday today. Have you forgotten?"
"How did you get there? You don't have any mon…." he trailed off as the penny dropped. "What have I told you about using magic?"
Severus, still on the landing of the upper floor just outside of his bedroom door, heard a slap and his mother cry out. "We Apparated! I didn't use money."
"How many times have I told you about your freakish ways? You're *slap* not *slap* to use *slap* magic!"
Severus' face crumpled as the tears flowed. He could hear his father yelling and slapping his mother and wanted to rush to her and save her. He had once, and he had accidentally thrown his father against the wall with magic he did not know he had. Once his father recovered from the blow, he raged at Severus, beating him so badly with his belt, that Severus had to miss several days of school. He fled now into his bedroom and lay in his bed, face in his pillow, screaming with hate and fear.
When he could no longer breathe, he rolled over and wiped his face. The slapping had stopped but was replaced with another noise he could never figure out. It was a rhythmic grunt and came from his father most loudly and less so from his mother. At the end, there was always a longer louder moan from his father, and then the man either would leave the house or lay on the couch, snoring. The noises usually always happened after he hit his mother, and he couldn't figure out how the two events worked together though.
In an effort to forget about it, he dug a book out of the box under his bed. It was the Tale of Miss Tiggy-Winkle and one of his favourites. He opened the book to a random page, tucking the other loose pages back into their place. He looked at the picture; it was of Lucie as she had climbed the stile to look up the hill to Little-town. The town looked up, up into the clouds, and it was these dreamy, fluffy clouds that Severus had wished upon.
He wished they would whisk him and his mother away to the warm home of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle where they would be welcomed with a pot of tea and delicious biscuits. They would laugh and tell tales in the snug little kitchen and never feel fear again.
Severus rolled to his side, clutching his book to his chest as he thought about better times. He thought about the wonderful day at the museum and the bright colours and absolutely perfect details he had seen in the drawings of Miss Potter.
He hadn't realised he'd fallen asleep until his mother woke him. "Wake up, Severus. I have your dinner. I thought you'd like a treat of it in bed."
Sitting up and scrubbing his face with his little fists, he asked, "Is Da gone?"
"Yes."
"Are you okay?" Severus asked, helping himself to a small bun.
Eileen nodded. "Yes, love, I am."
"Mummy, why can't we run away? Go somewhere where it is safe and happy?" Severus asked around a mouthful of bun smeared with jam.
Eileen sighed. It wasn't the first time Severus had asked that question, and she evaded the answer then and she would now. How could she tell him they simply had no place to go? Her parents had disowned her, and should she go back to the magical world, she had no way of making money to keep them safe and fed.
"We have our home here, Sev," she answered simply. "We have good days and bad, but we'll get through."
"Do you promise?"
"I make no promises, Severus, but I'll do my best."
Severus toyed with the edge of the plate holding two more buns. "Okay, mum," he answered quietly.
"Now, budge over, and I'll read Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle while you finish your birthday dinner," Eileen said with a smile, ruffling Severus' hair as she sat on the bed. She picked up the book and opened to the first page.
"Once upon a time there was a little girl called Lucie, who lived at a farm called Little-town. She was a good little girl-only she was always losing her pocket-handkerchiefs!"*
*Excerpt from The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter.