Time was passing, we had our party in the camp and we said goodbye to Tina. It was weird not having her with us, but she kept in touch through homing owls and my [Message] skill. Yes, I had told them about my ability, it made things so much easier.
Newt also started coming back to his house soon after, not living here like he used to, but coming one to three days a week. His research on us was pretty far along and there wasn't much he could get at the moment, keeping him here wasn't necessary, but I think Tina asked him to keep coming. Anyway, at least this gave me and Elise a little more privacy.
...
The day had come, the Evans family had crossed the wall and now they were on platform 9 3/4. They were somewhat fascinated that there was another platform hidden among the others.
"Is that the train?" Mrs. Evans asked, but her daughters ignored her.
"Can you see Sev or Red?"(Lily)
"No...wait, there's Severus." Petunia pointed in the distance.
Severus was here too, having entered the station a little earlier with his mother. There was no sign of his father, but that was normal now, he rarely had contact with him and, certainly, he enjoyed it.
Eileen Snape now looked much better than she did before. She was wearing new clothes, her hair was done up and she had light but beautiful makeup. Ever since a mysterious woman befriended her, her life had started to go uphill.
She and Andra got closer and closer. As far as Eileen knew, her friend had to go near her house very frequently on family business, so they took the opportunity to have tea and talk about life.
They had a lot of fun and being together, Eileen could feel all the tragedies of everyday life evaporate and she used to receive gifts from her quite often that embarrassed but cheered her up.
She enjoyed being together so much that even when she found out about the business that her friend was running, she decided that she shouldn't care, at least she could find out about the many upper class gossips from the wizarding world that she had left behind back.
Another reason that she looked so much better right now was the situation with her husband. She had stopped caring about him for some time now, he was almost not at home and she discovered clear evidence that he was cheating on her.
After the beating she took when confronting him about her infidelity and Andra's comforting words when she treated her injuries, she had decided this had to stop. They were almost on the verge of separation, but surely Tobias didn't even know it, he knew almost nothing about what was happening inside his own house because he was on the street with his lover.
Andra did her job well, bringing Snape's mother closer and closer to almost the point of no return. She contaminated her mind little by little, inducing her to the idea that it was she herself who wanted to end her marriage and seek her own happiness.
The highlight was a few weeks ago, when after some charm, trickery, seduction, and some wine, Andra got Eileen to push her into bed by…'her own choice'.
The next day they woke up and Andra acted as if all they did was sleep, making Eileen believe that her friend wanted to hide what happened, but she knew the truth and didn't know how to respond. She was in complete disbelief of her own actions and under innumerable emotions to reason properly, but luckily for her there was someone who would do it for her. The devilish words were whispered to her once more and under that vulnerability, the idea of escaping from that miserable life was carved strongly within her.
Now the unfortunate witch was about to send her son to Hogwarts and then find her friend and request her help to stop being Mrs. Snape and go back to being Mrs. Prince.
Severus, completely ignorant of his mother's ideas, was also looking for the Evans girls and possibly Red. He was very clear that the 'little cherry' was possibly wandering around here, hoping to scare him or something stupid.
Having heard Petunia, he saw the Evans family and caught her mother's attention before almost running towards them. He was somewhat excited to go to Hogwarts, although he wanted to not as much as before, since his father had stopped being at home and his mother paid more attention to him, his life was less and less horrible.
"Hey Sev" Lily called who also approached Severus.
"Lily...and the other" Severus greeted Lily warmly and called Petunia derogatory, but a bit friendly actually.
"Big nose" Petunia returned the insult. There was an unspoken understanding between the two of them, about getting along well and badly at the same time.
The three of them together seemed to be quite harmonious and joyful. The girls' parents and Snape's mother also met for the first time and greeted each other simply. It was felt that there was a little predisposed environment for a close talk, but there was not much discomfort.
Eileen had heard Andra talk a lot about the relationship between Red, her son and those girls and how she liked that small group, so in order not to have any problems with her friend, she did not want to have a confrontation with the Muggle couple and was courteous.
There was a slight dialogue between the adults, but a fairly large one between the children. The place was packed with Hogwarts students, but they seemed to ignore them to a certain extent, they looked and commented on them as if they weren't in the same place.
"Sev, do you know anything about Red?" Petunia asked
"Obviously I know something, since we live in the same house, I know everything about him" he replied sarcastically.
"That's why I ask, how do I know you're so poor that you had to live in his house to avoid ending up on the street" Petunia replied fearlessly.
"Ey, don't fight!" Lily stopped them, "Seriously Sev, do you know something? He didn't say anything to us, I hoped he..." She asked again, this was an important day for her and she hoped that her friend would come to say goodbye to her.
"As if that madman was going to tell me something, you know very well that that wretch loves it..."(Sev)
"AAAHHHH!!!" A loud scream rang out next to Snape's ear.
*Scream of a scared girl* (Sev)
*Screams of scared girls* (Lily/Petunia)
There was a bit of a commotion, both for the Evans/Snape group and for the rest of the station. Red, who had appeared out of nowhere next to Severus, had let out a sudden scream that startled the rest of the aconites.
"Son of a bi..." Snape stood up quickly upon discovering that it was me who was pulling a joke on them and came straight at me, starting a fistfight.
Everyone was somewhat shocked, mainly the parents and the other people at the station who were watching from a distance. The girls, they were angry knowing that it was me bothering them, but also somewhat happy to see me.
Mr. Evans as well as Eileen were the ones who separated us, we were so used to fighting that we might have continued without realizing that we were in the middle of the station, although that would be difficult seeing how the security of the place was already coming to control the disturbance.
After an apology to the staff, a small and discreet bribe on my part, and an apology to my friends' parents, things returned to a somewhat cheerful atmosphere in the place.
"Did you come!" Lily exclaimed.
"Maybe it would have been better if you didn't," Snape grumbled as he stuck his finger in his ear, trying to remove the temporary deafness caused by my scream.
"I couldn't miss this"(Red)
"But you could have come without causing such a fuss," Mrs. Snape said in a whiny tone. Although she was delighted with Andra and had accepted my presence, that didn't mean she was very comfortable with me.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Snape, I think I was excited" I put some emphasis when I said 'Snape' making her frown.
I talked a little more with the 'Aconites' and their parents until we could no longer delay their departure. I gave Lily a big, long-lasting hug, and one intentionally equal to Sev to make him mad.
"Sev, you're the man here, take care of Lily" I patted him on the shoulder.
"Hmm..." he snorted "As if you need to tell me"
"Huh…you know what… better… Lily, you're the man here, take care of Sev" I turned to Lily causing her to laugh as Snape almost wanted to start a second fight.
"Send us letters often, tell us what Hogwarts is like" Petunia greeted her sister and Sev lightly, but that was enough for them.
"Almost forgot, hold out your hands, Petunia, you too" I said as I searched for something in my bag, but it was actually my [Inventory].
From there, I took out what appeared to be 4 paper cards. Holding my friends' arms one by one, I placed the sheet of paper on their forearms, under their wrists, not forgetting myself.
The paper seemed to stick easily to our bodies and under my order to remove the paper together, we saw how on our skin there were now four drawings of flowers, a different one for each one.
Lily had a lily, Petunia a petunia, Severus a monkshood and I a rose. Four perfect tattoos that when they passed their hands over them, they couldn't tell the difference with their own skin. It was something I had ordered from the merchant.
"A symbol of friendship, besides that it has some benefits, in case of emergency..."
I used my [message] skill on them, lying that it was because of the tattoo. I told them that if they were in trouble, they should use it, but only for situations of real need.
They were a little amazed at this and I received another hug from the girls, since, in addition to being useful, the drawing was very beautiful.
After that, we saw how Sev and Lily entered the train car, both carrying only two small suitcases, suitcases with an expansion spell that I had obtained for them.
The train didn't take long to leave, after that I spoke very little with the parents of the girls and a little more with Petunia, even a few words in secret when I hugged her goodbye. I walked them out, but before I could get out myself, I was stopped by Eileen.
"Uhmm... kid"(Eileen)
"Red"(Red)
"Yes… your aunt…"(Eileen)
"She came with me, but I don't know where she is, I have to go" I said smiling mockingly and left the witch alone.
Eileen stood there for a moment, looking a bit lost, then she walked back towards the exit while she was drowning in thoughts, but without realizing it, someone approached her and hugged her around her waist.
"Hello my Eli" She said as she rested her chin on Eileen's neck.
"Andra!" Eileen exclaimed with emotion when she saw her friend, ignoring the close contact they were having.
"How is the most beautiful woman my eyes have seen?" Whispered into her ear seductively as she began to lightly kiss her neck.
Eileen's gaze seemed blank, unaware that she had completely lost her free will. When Andra was close to her, she had a drunken look, and she began to breathe more heavily.
"Great now that you're here" (Eileen)
"Tell me, now that your son is gone, what do you tell me about the matter of your husband?" (Andra)
"I'm going to leave him, I can't be with him anymore" (Eileen)
"And how do you plan to do it?" (Andra)
"I wanted to look for you to ask for your help" She answered sincerely with a goofy smile on her face. She was completely involuntary, she herself did not know that it was impossible to refuse her friend, even if she asked her to reveal her deepest secret, she would say it without being able to resist.
"That's good, I already planned everything anyway" Andra nodded pleased to know that everything was going as her master wanted, then she put on a loving look again as she released more of her charm "The sooner we do it the better... you can be free... no more beatings... no insults... you will be able to live more comfortably... "
Each word had a mysterious and perverse tone, words that invaded poor Eileen's mind and resounded in her head as if they were divine words guiding her towards her destiny.
"Yeah... ha, ha, ha... free" she giggled. If someone could see her up close, they could not differentiate it much from a mental patient or someone who had taken a drug, one that made her very happy.
"What will you do when you separate?"(Andra)
"First I thought I'd see if I'd be accepted into the Prince house again…" She replied.
"..." Andra frowned, she didn't know if that was what her master wanted from her, so she wanted to prevent it until she could ask "Why don't you better come live with me a while before of that?"
"Yes! As long as I can be close to you..." she exclaimed happily.
"Okay" (Andra)
Andra released her and little by little the charm dissipated, returning the poor witch to her normal behavior. Eileen started talking normally and struck up friendly conversations with her friend, acting as if there was nothing wrong with what just happened. The charm that made her comfortable together continued, but that deep control seemed never to have passed.