Chapter 17 - Thorns
They sat for a while in the parlor, Diana making an attempt to keep the conversations amongst the brothers civil. But Harry could see that the animosity amongst the three oldest at least was not going to be overcome in one night. Julius, for his part, seemed not to care about the family squabble, and participated very little in the discussion. Instead, to Harry's consternation, he spent the majority of his time staring at Harry. Whenever Harry looked over at him it was to see those dark eyes gazing speculatively at him, almost hungrily. It made him very uncomfortable.
True to Severus' word, Claudius, Marcellus, Delphina and Julliana each found a moment to speak privately with Harry, asking him about his plans for Snape Manor. The two women offered graciously to have it redecorated for him, while the two men pointed out the importance of having a suitable home for someone of his status to entertain important dignitaries in. Harry just smiled at them all and told them to talk to Severus about the subject since he was far to busy with his schoolwork to think about such matters. They each looked disappointed but not deterred.
Eventually Delphina and Julliana ushered them all into the dining room for dinner. Harry was seated beside Julius, directly across the table from Severus. One glance at the table showed the expected daggers Neville had talked about. To his relief there were also forks at each of the settings, but they were set off at an odd angle - indication Neville had explained that they were there simply as a courtesy to a Muggle-born guest, and not really intended for use.
Before the first course was served, a toast was made, Claudius giving a somewhat longwinded speech welcoming Harry to the family - something that would have been fine in and of itself, if he hadn't also managed to lace it generously with hints about their family name being formerly tarnished so egregiously. Severus, surprisingly, endured the comments in silence, most likely for Diana's sake, but they made Harry angry. It wasn't a whole lot different than that first letter they had sent to Severus. Harry had never gotten along with Severus, but he knew exactly what it felt like to be treated like scum by one's family. And considering that Severus was in fact the hero of this little family drama and not the villain, as his brothers would have everyone believe, it was doubly unfair.
Fine, he thought in irritation. If they were going to be rude, then he wasn't going to worry about offending them. When the first course was served, he unfolded his silk napkin in a decidedly Muggle fashion, and reached immediately for the fork, bypassing the dagger entirely. When he glanced over at Severus, he thought he detected the faintest of smirks on the man's face; there was certainly a definite gleam of amusement in his eyes. Harry just grinned at him, and wondered what other mistakes he could make.
Sure enough his manners went completely uncommented - not unnoticed. Harry was quietly amused to see that they were not unnoticed - Julliana actually made a warding sign against evil when he passed the salt the wrong direction. But no one said anything about it.
Julius distracted him for a good portion of the dinner, asking him about his position on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, a subject he loved to talk about. While talking he forgot about the man's intense looks that made him so uncomfortable, and actually managed to enjoy himself. "What about you?" he eventually asked Julius. "Did you play in school?"
Julius shrugged. "I tried out for a team, but I really was never much of a flyer. I didn't mind though - it was just as much fun to watch the game I thought."
Harry disagreed with him there, but didn't say so. "What house were you in?"
"House?" Julius asked looking briefly confused. "Oh, yes of course. The Houses. I didn't go Hogwarts. I went to Beauxbatons. We all did, except for Severus."
"Really?" Harry knew his surprise showed on his face.
Marcellus, who'd overheard their conversation, leaned forward. "Yes, Harry," he said, loudly enough for the rest of the family to hear. "Severus was the only one at Hogwarts. I'm afraid Father was overly concerned with appearances. Didn't think the rest of us would get sorted into the right House."
"The right house?" Harry frowned, recognizing the insult for what it was, but not knowing what to do about it.
"He means Slytherin of course," Severus informed him, voice silky smooth and laced with animosity.
"That was your house, wasn't it, Severus?" Marcellus remarked, though it was obvious he knew the answer already. "Merlin forbid that the son of a Death Eater be sorted into any house other than Slytherin. I'm afraid Father didn't really trust the rest of us."
Harry felt his anger resurfacing, not because he felt any fondness for Slytherin, but because these attacks against Severus were all horribly unfair. He could see a cold gleam in Severus's eyes, and Diana or no Diana, Harry didn't think he was going to put up with such behavior much longer.
"You know, I think you have a skewed notion of the different houses and the Death Eaters," Harry informed them.
"Hardly," Marcellus scoffed. "Everyone knows Slytherin produces nothing but Death Eaters."
That was a direct attack this time, and Severus' hand tightened on the handle of his dagger. Harry glared down the table at Marcellus. "Actually, sir, you're wrong. The Death Eaters have a mixture of all the houses amongst them, not to mention a fair few numbers from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. In fact Peter Pettigrew, the man who raised Voldemort from the dead two years ago, was a Gryffindor."
With the exception of Severus, the lot of them flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name. It was Alrik who got over the shock the quickest and spoke. "You seem to have your facts confused. Peter Pettigrew was murdered years ago by Sirius Black."
Harry shook his head. "Sirius Black was innocent. Peter Pettigrew framed him for those murders. Two Gryffindors - one good, one evil. All the houses are like that. Severus is a prime example. He's saved my life more times than I care to count. And he's risked his life for years to protect the Wizarding World from the Death Eaters. I'd say all of you have your facts confused if you think otherwise."
His words were greeted by silence, his challenge implicit in his tone. Harry risked a glance at Severus. The man was staring at him, a look of surprise on his face that bordered on shock. Harry couldn't help wonder if anyone had ever stood up for the man before? It was the least he could do, he thought. He still owed him for defending him against Draco that first day they were married.
"Well, that's the whole point of this dinner, isn't it?" Diana said quickly, ending the silence and looking around the table with a hopeful smile on her face. "To get our facts straight finally, and put the past behind us?"
Marcellus and Claudius looked at one another and then nodded grudgingly. "Yes, of course," Claudius agreed. "I suppose the Boy Who Lived should know if anyone does."
And to Harry's consternation he recognized that even that was a stab at Severus - they would take Harry's word for it. Severus's word wasn't good enough. But he saw Severus shake his head almost imperceptibly, telling him to let it ago. Harry sighed, wondering how the man could stand it.
"The Boy Who Lived," Julliana mused somewhat dreamily, breaking the tension. "Has such a wonderful sound to it. Tell me, Harry, what's it like being the Boy Who Lived?" She spoke his so-called title with something close to reverence.
"Excuse me?" Harry stared at her, uncertain what she meant.
"I imagine it must be utterly exhausting," she continued, smiling at him.
Delphina nodded in agreement. "Utterly exhausting," she repeated. "It would seem to me that the hardest part would be all the autograph signing."
"Oh, no, dear," Julliana disagreed. "I'd say answering all his fan mail would be far worse. He'd actually have to write more than just his name there."
"Well, what do you say, Harry?" Delphina asked. "What would you say is the worst part about being the Boy Who Lived?"
Harry just stared at them in disbelief. "I guess," he said hesitantly, "it would be all the people trying to kill me."
His words were greeted by looks of utter shock, and one barely stifled bark of laughter which Harry realized to his amazement had come from Severus. Severus actually had one hand over his mouth, and was visibly struggling to keep from laughing again. That was definitely approval he saw glittering in those dark eyes this time.
"Oh," Delphina said vaguely. "I suppose that would be difficult."
"Still," Julliana added, apparently having not understood what Harry had said. "I think my hand would start hurting if I had to sign so many autographs."
"Severus," Diana cut in quickly, changing the subject. "Why don't you tell us about your work? I understand your potion skills have far exceeded anything even Mother ever mastered."
Severus, having gotten control of his laugher, shrugged dismissively. "Well, considering the woman poisoned herself, that wasn't difficult to do."
Harry looked over at him in surprise. "Your mother poisoned herself?"
Severus smirked. "Yes, it's one of those obnoxious little family secrets that I'm sure you'll find fascinating."
Harry glanced at the others, wondering if anyone would fill him in. Diana smiled at him. "It's a peculiar story, Harry," she told him. "Not many people know it. Our mother had a rather odd, singular obsession. Have you ever heard the story of Snow White?"
Harry frowned. "Seven dwarves, poison apple, enchanted sleep, true love's kiss. That story?"
"Well, it was actually seven house elves," Diana told him. "But no doubt you heard the Muggle version of the story. The Wizarding version is quite a bit different. Our mother however was interested in the potion brewing aspects of the story."
"She wanted to make a poison apple?" Harry asked, wondering if that was how the woman had poisoned herself.
"Actually, Harry, the poisoned apple is remarkably easy to make," Severus informed him. "Even the enchanted sleep and true love's kiss part is easy enough to brew. A thousand wizards have come up with some variant on that old spell. Mother had no interest in that part of the story."
Confused, Harry glanced back at Diana. He couldn't remember any other potion that was brewed in the story.
"It was the beginning of the story that held our Mother's interest," Diana explained. "The part about the queen who wanted the perfect child. The fairest child in the land, with hair as black as night, lips as red as blood, and skin as white as snow."
White as snow. . . .Harry frowned, only to be struck a moment later by realization, a chill running down his spine as he spared a shocked glance around the room at all the Snapes sitting before him. All with the blackest hair and the whitest skin - he turned toward the impossibly beautiful Julius. Harry's eyes widening in shock, for the description fit him perfectly. The man smiled at him in amusement, inclining his head in acknowledgement of the thought Harry had not spoken but was obviously written plainly on his face.
"She tried with all of us, of course," Diana continued. "And continuously fell short. Until Julius."
"You said she poisoned herself," Harry said, forcing his gaze away from Julius Snape.
Severus smirked bitterly. "Yes, Mother failed to remember one little detail of that pathetic story. The queen dies in childbirth, and never gets to lay eyes on her perfect child. With every experimental potion she took, she risked her own life and the health of her children for something as silly as vanity."
"Did you ever ask her why it was so important to her?" Harry asked, finding himself fascinated by the story. He wondered if all Wizarding families had similar strangeness in their past.
"Mother didn't talk about her work," Marcellus told Harry. "Truth was we knew she was working on something, but we didn't know what. Severus was the one who went through her notebooks after she died and figured out what she was doing."
"Is that what got you interested in potions?" Harry asked.
Severus shrugged. "I had an interest prior to that," he admitted. "But it certainly didn't hurt. Nothing like a family secret to spark your interest."
They spoke some more about their mother, Harry listening attentively, curious about Severus Snape's past. It seemed that so long as they kept their conversation focused on their early childhood years, without mention of their father, the three older brothers kept fairly civil tongues. Julius only participated in the conversation occasionally, Diana making it a point to keep all of them on safe topics.
That dinner ended without any major bloodshed, Harry counted it a success. When they all retired again to the parlor, Harry excused himself to go to the bathroom, dawdling somewhat longer in the halls than necessary. It occurred to him that Severus might like some time alone with his siblings, or at least with Diana and he wasn't certain how to arrange it.
As it turned out, he didn't have to bother. Julius intercepted him in the hallway before he could reenter the parlor. "I thought perhaps you might like to look at the gardens, Harry," he offered. "It will give Severus a chance to speak with the others alone. I suspect they wish to discuss the future of Snape Manor. It's always been a rather sore point amongst them, and I doubt you want to get pulled into the center of that fight."
Remembering Severus' warnings about the Manor, Harry just nodded in agreement. "Sure," he agreed, falling into step beside the youngest Snape. "Bit dark though to be looking at the gardens, isn't it?" He'd thought a tour of the house would be more appropriate.
Julius flashed him a brilliant smile, his dark eyes glittering. "Oh, you needn't worry about that. They're well lit with Wizard Lights. Briarwood Hall is famous for its rose hedges. You have to see them before you leave."
He opened a side door that led out onto an exterior courtyard and a garden path. As Harry stepped through, he would have sworn he felt a hand lightly caress his back, and he glanced curiously at Julius as he walked beside him. The man just smiled again, making a broad sweeping gesture with one hand to indicate the garden beyond the courtyard.
It had grown dark, the waning moon still nearly full overhead. Beneath the light of the moon Harry could see the distant shape of Snape Manor on the far hilltop, but his eyes were drawn toward the garden Julius intended to show him. He'd seen pictures of garden mazes - enormous hedgerows groomed into a maze pattern - but he'd never seen one up close. And this garden maze was extraordinary, for it was made of enormous, tangled cluster of rose vines, twisting and locking in on each other to form the hedges. They towered well over his head, and all of them were in full bloom, enormous blood red roses filling the heavy night air with their scent. True to Julius' word, the maze was lit with glowing balls of light burning at the base of various hedges, giving the entire garden an eerie bluish glow beneath the cold moonlight.
As they stepped into the maze, Julius leading the way, the scent of the roses struck Harry, their perfume rather heady. Harry noticed that the thorns on the rose vines were deadly looking, long and horribly sharp. He didn't envy the gardener who had to tend to them.
They walked for a while, Harry asking a few simple questions about the estate they were on and about the estates that were nearby. He found it odd to think that Malfoy Manor was only a few miles away. And beyond that, it seemed the LeStranges had a home, along with the Goyles and the Parkinsons. Harry had the uncomfortable feeling that the majority of the people living in High Hill were either trying to kill him, or had been killed fighting him.
"Do you like it?" Julius asked as they walked. "The garden, I mean?"
"It's beautiful," Harry admitted. He'd done enough gardening at the Dursleys to appreciate the work that must have gone into the maze, though he supposed wizards probably had all sorts of gardening spells to make things easier. It occurred to him that Madam Sprout would love this place.
"It's been in my family for centuries," Julius told him, as he led him further into the maze, moving down twisted paths and corridors. "My mother loved this garden."
Harry frowned at that. From what he gathered from the story he'd heard earlier, Julius' mother had died when he was born. How would he know that his mother had loved this garden?
"Would you rather go back and visit with the others?" Harry asked him, thinking it was probably unfair of him to keep Julius from his brother's company. He probably didn't know Severus all that well and would want to speak with him privately as well. Harry was perfectly capable of looking the gardens over alone. Besides, the scent of the roses was growing overpowering, and he was getting anxious to move away from their perfume.
But Julius just laughed. "I was a child when Severus left," he told Harry. "I barely know the man. Besides, I'd much rather get to know you. I find you far more intriguing." To Harry's surprise, the man raised a hand as he spoke, and actually brushed a lock of Harry's hair back behind his ear, a remarkably intimate gesture that made Harry extremely uncomfortable. Even Ron wouldn't have done something like that, and he knew Ron far better than this man. He felt suddenly dizzy, and suspected the rose scent was starting to get to him.
But again Julius just smiled and continued on as if nothing had happened. "I imagine it must have been a great disappointment to you," Julius said as he led Harry around another corner and into a small courtyard with a gazebo in the center of it. "To find yourself married to Severus."
Harry stopped in his tracks. "What do you mean?"
Julius turned and smiled at him again, a knowing look in his eyes. "I mean he can hardly be the sort of lover a young man like you dreamed of having." He laughed at the thought. "You must have been horrified, to find yourself at the mercy of someone so hard and cold. And Severus is certainly nothing to look at. Do you cringe every time he touches you, or have you gotten used to being forced to submit to him?"
"What?" Harry stared at the man in shock, not having any clue how to respond to his words. At least when his Slytherin classmates had made their rude innuendoes they had all been in the form of crude insults. This was different; this was somehow far more personal, and he did not like the way this conversation was going at all. And he'd swear the scent of roses was getting stronger, the perfume oddly intoxicating.
"You're quite beautiful, you know," Julius told him, and Harry found himself blushing in spite of himself. "I imagine Severus didn't wait long to get his hands on you. How you must have hated having that beast touch you." He reached out to touch Harry's hair again, but Harry slapped his hand away and stepped back.
"That's your brother you're talking about!" he exclaimed in disbelief. Beast? Alright, the Gryffindors had certainly called him worse things than that over the years, but this was the man's own flesh and blood for God's sake! And besides, Severus had been more than decent to him. Not to mention the fact that Julius obviously didn't have a clue about who his brother was or why they had gotten married in the first place. He'd assumed it was just Claudius and Marcellus who believed Severus was still a Death Eater. Now he could see that Julius' opinion of the man was no better.
"Yes, he is my brother," Julius agreed, still smiling. "Which puts me in a remarkable position to ease your suffering. No one would ever think twice about why you were spending so much time in the company of your brother-in-law. Such family ties are encouraged." As he spoke he took several steps closer to Harry; Harry backed up just as quickly, starting to realize where this conversation was going.
"You don't actually think I'd be interested in you, do you?" Harry exclaimed in amazement. He couldn't believe he was in this situation - being propositioned by Severus Snape's brother. It was ludicrous.
Julius laughed softly. "Of course you're interested," he replied. "I've seen the way you look at me. I know you want me. Who wouldn't chose me over Severus?"
Harry found himself growing red with embarrassment - okay, maybe he had thought the man was beautiful, but anyone would think the same thing. But it seemed he'd inherited more than his magical beauty from his mother - Julius also apparently possessed her vanity. "You don't know me," he told the man. "And you don't know your brother. I'm not interested. Goodbye!" He turned to leave, willingly admitting that for once he was way out of his depth here. He had no idea how to react to the amorous advances of a man who seemed to think he was irresistible.
The corridor, through which they had entered the courtyard, was gone.
Harry stared in alarm at the impenetrable wall of rose vines in front of him. He turned, looking swiftly around him, thinking that perhaps he'd gotten turned around. But there didn't seem to be any opening in the hedge wall.
"There is an exit," Julius assured him with a soft laugh. "But only if you know where to look. This is a maze after all. But the thorns on the vines are strong enough to rip the flesh from your bones if you make the slightest mistake. And I'm the only one who knows the secret of the maze, the only one who can lead you back out again."
Harry felt his heart beginning to pound, his stomach knotting as he realized that he'd been lured out here, and he'd foolishly gone willingly. Led astray by a pretty face. He moved away from Julius again, stepping up into the gazebo, hoping that he might be able to see the exit from there. He supposed if worse came to worse he could burn the hedge down - provided it wasn't protected against such spells.
Julius followed him to the gazebo. "Do you like the scent of the roses?" he asked curiously. "They're yet another legacy of my Mother's. She used these very flowers in her potions. They're in my blood. Their scent has been known to drive men and woman mad with desire for me."
Harry paled, understanding what he was saying. He hadn't been that far off the mark when he'd thought the scent intoxicating. Apparently it acted like some sort of compulsion or charm, perhaps an aphrodisiac or love spell. But he'd thrown off the Imperious time and time again - he wasn't going to be swayed by this!
"I told you, Julius, I'm not interested!" Harry growled. He couldn't believe that the man really expected him to just fall into his arms. He was completely mental!
Julius' eyes darkened, his smile growing colder suddenly. "You seem to think I care?" Julius laughed, and then suddenly between one heart beat and the next, he was on Harry, pushing him roughly back against one of the pillars of the gazebo, pinning him with his own body, head lowering, lips descending.
The attack was so sudden, and so unexpected Harry barely had time to react. As it was he only managed to turn his head aside to avoid the brutal kiss aimed at his mouth. Julius didn't seem deterred however, attacking instead the tender skin of his neck, his hands moving over Harry's body as he struggled.
Harry hadn't been expecting a physical attack - nothing Julius had done so far had suggested he would try to over power Harry. And he was stronger than Harry - a great deal stronger, age, height, and muscle all working in his favor. Harry knew he had to get his wand drawn - if this was allowed to continued on a physical level he'd be in serious trouble. His alarm transmuted into blinding rage when he felt one of Julius' hands groping between his legs, touching him through the leather of his pants.
Without thinking he slammed his head forward, smashing it against Julius' head hard enough to knock the man briefly back. It was all the opening Harry needed. He shoved Julius roughly away from him, drawing his wand as he stepped back out of the gazebo, the tip of his wand already glowing, a curse barely held in check as Harry fought to gain control of his anger. He could hurt the man, he realized, kill him perhaps, he was so angry. His body shook with fury.