Chapter 15 Tossing Owls Out
Severus had considered not coming today. He doubted it was physical fatigue that weighed him down. Although he spent the previous night mostly sleepless, it was not unusual for him being raised under the roof of Tobias Snape, or rooming with Mulciber, Avery, Wilkes and Rosier at Hogwarts. Slipping into deep sleep was perilous in either environment.
Apathy infused his being after the fraught day he experienced yesterday. Severus failed to convey how powerless and insignificant he was made to feel at school. Every facet of his life there was beyond his control while others humiliated and mocked him and the perpetrators faced no measure of justice. After being stripped naked for the amusement of a crowd, what would be the encore? Maiming ... dismemberment ... death? As long as it was done in an amusing manner while cheered by the masses, there would be no respite for him.
It was no mystery that the only thing of true worth in both his existences at home and at school was Lily Evans. Other than her, Severus needed little else. It was absurd to think she in turn needed him though. Wooing and winning her was really his only course of action at this point. Without Lily, he had nothing.
Lily was a bit ticked. Petunia was probably sulking in her room till she heard Lily and Severus leave the house. For being the older sister, she sure could act like a little kid.
Sev was already seated at what Lily considered his seat at the counter. He got in that habit years ago when her sister used to kick him under the table whenever mum looked the other way. He probably could have sat at the table again after he dropped a tree branch on her head, but Lily told him not to come around after that. She was really mad then. Tunie could have been seriously hurt, and even if someone added up all the smacks, kicks and shoves that Petunia had done to a small boy three years younger than herself, a violent response like that still couldn't be justified. Lily knew more about children's wandless magic now, and understood that it wasn't completely intentional, but Severus did have a tendency to give back as good as he got.
There was nothing worth talking about in The Daily Prophet with Severus, at least with her mom around. They got a bit out of control the other day. Lily supposed that her mother could guess that people could be hurt and killed with magic. Didn't help that Severus expressed his paranoia that not even the Ministry of Magic could be trusted to not use those spells responsibly. And now, these mysterious disappearances which the Prophet couldn't be bold enough to speculate about the involvement of acertaingroup of dark wizards. This paper was run by a pack of cowards.
"Lily, honey, you got a couple letters."
Lily's mother already opened the kitchen window over the sink to allow the two owls entrance.
"Oh, Mary answered my letter overnight. That cute one's hers."
The second owl was big and solid black with glossy feathers that had a greenish sheen. Even though it was only an owl, Lily sensed that it was somehow annoyed at Mary's owl, and it stepped slowly over the window sill to enter like it was the Minister of Magic himself, full of disappointment that the Evans did not recognize the honor they were granted and hadn't rolled out a little red owl carpet to mark the occasion of his visit.
Ignoring her haughty brethen, Mary's Tawny launched herself across the kitchen straight towards Severus.
Taking the correspondence, he drawled, "I guess this is the joke you warned me about, Lily."
After shifting back and forth between her feet expectantly, Tawny gave up and then glided over to her friend, Lily, for a treat.
The Owl King remained at the window. It was demeaning enough to have to enter this … abode, but they really didn't expect him to wait on them, did they?
Cautiously, Mrs. Evans read the outside of the parchment with the addressee's name without touching the forbidding looking bird. "This is also for Severus."
Clearly annoyed, Severus got up and came over to retrieve the unwanted letter. The Owl King then decided to get into a staring contest with the lowly churl to whom he had made the delivery. Services were rendered, and now payment was expected.
Severus snapped at the owl, "What?" When the pompous emissary didn't take the hint quick enough, he added, "Get out."
The owl left in a huff. Clearly his mistress always said was absolutely correct, blood will out.
"Whose owl was that?" asked Lily.
Severus opened the letter, saw the ostentatious family crest atop the sheet, and then replied, "Black's."
His irritation was clear as he read the short piece of correspondence. With the intent of keeping his promise from the previous day, Severus brought the letter over to Lily. "It's a load of nonsense, and I don't know why he signed his brother's name to it. What kind of fool does he take me for?"
Just as Lily was about to take the letter from Severus's outstretched hand, he made a noise and snatched it away. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking. There's probably some sort of idiot charm on it … I'll do some reveals on it once I get home."
He laid the letter out on the table, and used the sugar, jam, salt and pepper to weigh down the corners to keep it flat for Lily.
Dear Severus,
I hope you don't mind me addressing you by your first name. I feel in this matter as the one in June, that we find ourselves allies.
My brother has put it about that the the June affair was caused by you publicly professing your undying love and devotion to him. Of course this is obviously and utterly false, and I'm happy to report that no one else seems to have taken this seriously.
Since so many others have written my parents regarding the June affair, I thought it my duty to let you know.
Rather than facing punishment for his dishonorable lies, my brother has departed. I believe him to be residing at Potter's for the summer.
Sincerely,
Regulus Black
Lily laughed, "You fancy Black?"
"His conceit really can't be so all-encompassing. That's why I think there's a charm on this. I'll probably go running over to him at the Welcoming Feast, prostrate myself before him and then spout poetry comparing his eyes to River Goyt."
"Goyt?" Lily asked, wrinkling her nose at the thought of their local river.
"Well, that's the only reason why I know the charm's not already in effect. I'm not thinking anything nice about Black."
"That's a relief. I was afraid we'd have to travel to Potter's so you can surprise Black by singing to him outside his bedroom window. Or would you prefer to give an impassioned speech? They don't know any Shakespeare so you'd not even have to write something original," Lily commented, before launching into an ardent soliloquy -
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Sirius is the sun.
Arise, fair sun ...
Severus' open laugh at Lily's imagined outing for him to seduce Sirius Black, caused her to stop and laugh in response.
He was still laughing while folding the letter to stick in his trouser pocket. Holding up the second letter, he asked with amusement, "Is Mary MacDonald going to be write me about who fancies who too?"
"Maybe she's charmed it so you can just crawl over a couple seats once you've done with Sirius, and lay some poetry at her feet too."
He rolled his eyes at the thought and opened the letter. Rather than waiting for Severus to read it through first, Lily stood beside him and pulled it slightly so he'd hold it between them.
Hi there!
We really do hope you don't find this too silly for us to write you for advice, Severus.
Us girls have decided we really cannot stand being cloistered away by the foul trolls of our house – by that we mean Black, Potter, Pettigrew and Lupin. They are conceited troglodytes and think they can tell us who the two of us and Lily may associate with. That's why we decided to write you, Severus – Lily's true friend who is brave enough to face overwhelming odds.
We are interested in knowing if your mates, Rosier and Wilkinson, would be amenable to joining us in our train compartment for the journey back to Hogwarts on September 1st. That would be a lovely opportunity to get to know each other. We're sad to say that after five years as classmates, we do not know many young gentlemen well at the school outside of Gryffindor house. It's quite unfortunate.
Of course, if the two gentlemen suggested are already occupied with other young ladies, we would fully understand. We're not the sort of girls that would try to break up a perfectly content pair on a whim.
Hopefully, Lily will readily vouch for our characters in order for you to recommend us to your friends.
P.S. We have a history with Mulciber and Avery. Please do not bother recommending them to us as alternates.
Yours in the hopes of future friendship,
Helen and Mary
"I'm not understanding the joke," commented Severus.
Lily was puzzled as well. "Uh … they didn't discuss this with me. I do know the Gryffindor ladies were going to snub those four boys off after those jinxes. This has got to be a response to that. It's worse for us because the three of us got classes with those bum rags."
"Not all the time now. They spent so much time screwing around during OWLs, they'll be lucky to get into any advanced classes."
"Ain't that the truth!"
"I can write them, and copy this letter to let them know that this wasn't my idea. I'll leave the postscript off."
"Is there a reason why this wouldn't be a good idea?" Lily asked. "I don't really know them myself so we are relying on your judgement, Sev."
After a moment of thought, he replied, "Mulciber … would be a bad idea."
Lily recalled that both Mary and Helen had wizarding parents so there wouldn't be that blood nonsense.
"All right, you can borrow my owl," Lily suggested, knowing Severus didn't have one of his own. She could talk to Sev more before sending the letters without her mum overhearing.
She then said, "So, how about we go to your house and test out Black's letter? I asked my parents last night about coming over to practice."
When Severus looked at Mrs. Evans to confirm that Lily's parents had lost their minds, she smiled and said, "It's so nice of your mother to allow Lily over, Severus. And Lily, don't stay there too late and make a nuisance of yourself."
"Should I bring anything, Sev?
Not understanding what Lily meant, he suggested, "Your wand?"
She gave Severus a hard stare to try to get her real message across, and answered, "Right. I'll just run up and get that."
After Lily used the bathroom, put a couple toothbrushes and a tube of paste in a cloth bag and was looking around her room for something else to fill up the bag a bit, her mother drifted in under the pretense of tidying up.
"Honey, that was a bit pushy just grabbing that letter from him because it was from a girl."
"Sev doesn't care if I read his letters."
"That's not the point, dear. And there's probably a lot of private stuff in your letters from me and your girlfriends that you shouldn't be sharing with a boy."
Lily made a face, "Mum! And don't think that. I don't give him my letters anyway. He'd find them boring."
"I don't think Severus finds anything about you boring, Lily."
Lily grabbed a couple schoolbooks and rolled her eyes in response to her mother.
Inspired, Lily raced down the stairs to Severus in the kitchen, and bluntly asked, "Should I bring a bit of a snack too?"
He shrugged in response, then said, "Whatever you want."
Taking that as permission, Lily pulled stuff out of the cupboard hurriedly, in case her mother came back to the spotless kitchen.
"Planning on staying the week?" he asked, as she forcefully pushed a bottle of juice into the already full bag.
Lily sighed dramatically and explained, "All right, you found me out. I got this mental disorder ..."
Severus held up a hand to stop Lily, and then mildly agreed, "Yes, I know."
"Well then, I won't waste time explaining it. Here," Lily said and thrust the full bag at Severus for him to carry