Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery

Chapter 61 ~ A Dark Discovery

When Severus received his mother’s reply that was when the nightmares began.

Hermione lay in the bed beside her lover, watching him toss and turn, occasionally shouting “No!” and “Stop it!” but not waking. In the morning he had no recall of his dreams.

Hermione had begun going to Golpalott but was having a difficult time of it. She was now coming to the “I’m hideous” part of her pregnancy. She was very big for six and a half months, and becoming quite unhappy with her body. Her breasts had become much larger, were tender and the areolae around her nipples had expanded in size and become darker. A thick, dark line had appeared between her navel and her pubic hair. The witch also felt she had to urinate every five minutes, which disrupted her class time, and no matter how bad she felt she had to go…only a little came out. Her balance was off, and she realized she really did waddle. Her back hurt her, and her shoes would barely fit, so she had a time carrying her books and walking about the school. She did her best but it was soon clear to her, her teachers and Severus, that she would have to have the baby, then return to school the next term. So she was home all day now, bad tempered and grumpy most of the time. Poor Eli had his claws full.

But what was happening with Severus at night bothered her. He insisted he wasn’t having nightmares, claiming he would remember if he did. But every night, it was the same thing, the dark wizard tossing and turning, crying out in his sleep. Finally, Hermione couldn’t stand not knowing any more and performed legilimency on him to see what the source of his nightmares were.

Hermione found herself in a small cottage. A pale, black-haired boy about the age of seven was sitting at a table eating dinner with a lovely black-eyed, black-haired woman, and a tall, brownish gray-haired man with rather bloodshot eyes and a cruel mouth. All were silent as they ate, the man looking at the woman from time to time, a familiar scowl on his face. The meal was meager, potatoes and cabbage, no meat. The little boy had a glass of milk, his mother and father drank water.

Hermione realized the little boy was Severus.

“I’m fucking tired of potatoes and cabbage all the time,” the man snarled at the woman, who winced. “Can’t you cook anything else?”

“Darius, I’m sorry, but it’s all we can afford. I have to buy food that will stretch,” she said timidly.

Darius looked at the glass of milk in front of Severus.

“If you didn’t spend money on milk, we could probably have some meat,” he sneered.

Severus looked up at him for a moment, then dropped his head, concentrating very hard on his cabbage.

“Severus needs milk. He’s a growing boy,” Isadora said.

Suddenly the man backslapped the witch, knocking her and the chair over.

“Don’t backtalk me you bitch,” he snarled, standing up, “It’s bad enough I bust my ass for pence a day to try to feed you two hangers-on.”

Severus looked up with a scared look on his face as his father approached his mother, who was scrambling to her feet.

“I’m sorry, Darius,” she said cringing as the man approached her.

“I’m sorry, Darius,” the man mimicked her, “That’s right. You are sorry. The sorriest witch in existence. What good is magic if you can’t use it to make us rich? Zap up some money,” he said, closing in on her.

“I can’t do that, Darius. It doesn’t work like that. You have to earn your money,” she replied, backing up. Darius slapped her again and she screamed.

Severus jumped up from the table and darted in front of his mother.

“No! Stop it! You leave her alone!” he shouted at his father, who stopped for a moment and looked at him.

“Ah. The young pup wants to protect his bitch of a mother, eh?” he said with an ugly laugh. Then he grabbed Severus and flung him across the room. The boy hit the wall and slid down it, dazed. His father started toward him when Isadora grabbed his arm desperately.

“No! No! Darius, he’s just a child. Please. Please, hit me instead. I can take a beating. Severus can’t. You’ll hurt him,” she pled with her husband.

Darius looked at her, his crazed brown eyes going a bit heated.

“You can take a beating can you? All right…I’ll leave the whelp alone. You come with me,” he said, striding from the room, loosening his belt as he did so.

Isadora followed him, stopping by Severus and kneeling, stroking his face.

“Severus, you stay here, love. No matter what you hear…you stay here. Don’t come after me. I’ll be all right. He’ll calm down after a while,” she said, kissing him on the lips.

The small boy grabbed her arm.

“Don’t go to him, Mother. Let’s run. Let’s leave here!” he said, tears filling his eyes.

“Shhh!” his mother said, her eyes going wide with fear as she looked toward the door her husband passed through. She looked back at Severus.

“Don’t you ever let him hear you say that. You understand me, Severus? Never. We can’t leave. He’s my husband and your father,” she said.

“I hate him,” Severus breathed, his small face contorted in a mask of hate.

“Come on, witch!” Darius roared from the bedroom, his belt in his hand.

Isadora looked toward the door again, then back at Severus, giving him a small, tearful smile.

“There will be better days, Severus. We’ll be happy someday,” she whispered, “You be a good boy and stay here. Finish your food and clear the table for me.”

Isadora gently took his small hand off her arm, rose and walked through the door. Severus sat on the floor, listening.

“What took you so long? I told you to come with me,” the boy heard his father say.

“I just checked on Sev…” the witch began cut off by the sound of leather falling on flesh. She cried out as the sounds started falling again and again.

“I’ll teach you to listen to me! I am the man of this house!” Darius screamed like a madman.

Severus covered his head with his arms, tears streaming down his face as he listened to his father whip his mother. Finally the sounds stopped. After a little while, he heard the familiar thump of the headboard, and his mother shrieking rhythmically.

Hermione couldn’t help thinking that although Severus looked just like his mother, he might have inherited his generous endowment from his father, by the sound of the witch. Her shrieks were uncomfortably close to sounding like Hermione’s own cries of passion when the dark wizard fucked her. She looked back at Severus, who raised his head, his expression defiant.

“I’m going to kill you one day, Father. One day when I am big,” the little boy hissed through his tears. “Kill you dead.”

Hermione drew back out of Severus’ mind, horrified. She hadn’t known his father abused him and his mother. She had grown up in a loving household. She couldn’t imagine what it was like to live that way. She looked down at the wizard, who had fallen silent, and ran her hand through his hair gently. Severus turned his face toward her, but didn’t wake up.

Hermione knew she shouldn’t do this, but she had to know more. She placed her hand on his arm.

“Legilimens,” she whispered.

Severus was sitting at the table, holding a parchment letter. He was older now, pale and unsmiling, a shadow of the wizard he was going to be. He was scowling.

His mother was sitting across from him, smiling brightly at him, looking proud as she could be.

Severus leveled his dark eyes at his mother.

“Mother, I don’t want to go to Hogwarts,” he said stubbornly.

His mother’s smile faded as she looked at him, arching one eyebrow.

“Why in the world don’t you want to go to Hogwarts, Severus? It’s one of the best wizarding schools in existence,” she said.

“Because I would have to live there,” he replied, his face dark.

“It will be nice to live at Hogwarts,” his mother said, smiling at him again. “You’ll be around witches and wizards your own age, and will learn a lot about magic and potions. You like potions don’t you? The letter says that you qualify to go tuition free because of your marks. You are very smart, Severus. Going to Hogwarts will help you make something of yourself.”

“I don’t care about that! I want to stay here, with you. Mother…without me here…Father won’t have anyone else to hit. Only you. If I leave he will beat you worse than if I was here. At least he can split up the beatings,” Severus said, his eyes wet. “He might kill you.”

Isadora moved into the seat next to her son.

“He won’t kill me, Severus. I can do things for him that will stop him from beating me. You’ll understand when you get older and learn about women. But I need you to go to school and do well. So you won’t be poor and powerless. So you become someone who’ll be respected. That’s what I want you to do, Severus. Promise me you’ll do that,” she said to him softly, rubbing his face.

“I promise, Mother. Then I’m going to take you out of here,” Severus said vehemently. “I’m going to stop him from mistreating you.”

Isadora gave her son a sad smile.

“Sure you will, Severus…sure you will,” she said.

Suddenly the front door slammed.

“I’m home, witch! Where’s my supper? And it better not be potatoes and cabbage again,” Darius roared.

Isadora and Severus both looked toward the pot full of cabbage and potatoes on the stove.

“I think it’s going to be a long night, Severus,” Isadora whispered as her husband entered the kitchen.

Hermione left that memory and sifted through several more. Severus getting older and coming home for the holidays and being beaten by his father for trying to protect his mother. His mother pleading with the boy not to hex his father. Finally she stopped at a scene where they were seated around a rather nice Christmas goose. Isadora had a black eye however, and Severus was scowling down into his plate. He looked close to seventeen years old. His father was eating heartily.

Severus’ father looked up over the table at Severus.

“Boy, go get me a cup of cider and be quick about it,” the man snapped at the young wizard.

Severus’ black eyes shifted toward his mother. She had bruises on her neck too. His father was getting worse. The boy got up sullenly and walked to the sink, picking up a glass. He opened the icebox, took out a pitcher of cider, filled the glass with the amber liquid, and put the pitcher back.

Hermione watched as Severus slipped his hand in his pocket and took out a piece of folded parchment. Looking over his shoulder at his father, he opened it and dumped the contents into the cider.

“No, Severus!” Hermione breathed as the wizard said an incantation over it, his hand on his wand in his pocket, pointing at the glass.

A bit of smoke rose from it. Severus carried the glass to his father.

“Took you damn well long enough,” his father said, tilting the glass to his mouth as Severus returned to his meal, his mouth in a thin line.

Hermione expected the man to keel over at the table, but he didn’t. Hermione fast-forwarded through Severus’ memories. His father was fine the next day, and the next. Severus returned to Hogwarts.

Then she stopped at a scene where a younger Albus Dumbledore walked into the Potions class. His hair and beard were red as any of the Weasley’s, but streaked with a lot of gray.

“Severus Snape? I need to speak with you,” he announced.

Hermione saw Severus look at the Headmaster with some annoyance from over his cauldron. He cast a stasis spell on it, wiped his hands on a cloth and glided over towards the Headmaster. He stumbled as he passed a black-haired student.

“Tripping over your own robes again, eh Snivelus?” barked Sirius Black among a hail of laughter from the other students.

Severus gave him a murderous look. Sirius returned it.

“Anytime you think you’re bat enough, Snivelus,” the wizard said, patting his wand in his pocket.

Severus’ eyes shifted to James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Remus Lupin. The only one who wasn’t glaring at him was Remus.

“Anytime you can face me alone without your girlfriends, Black, I’ll be happy to oblige you,” he hissed before turning with a billow of robes and walking up to Albus, who was frowning at the Marauders.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” Severus asked him.

“Yes. A matter of importance has come up, concerning your parents,” he said.

Hermione saw the fear in Severus’ eyes.

“Not my mother,” he said, trembling visibly. Albus put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“Come into the corridor,” he said kindly.

Severus followed the tall wizard into the corridor.

Albus turned to him.

“I’m sorry to tell you, Severus, that after an extended illness, your father is dead. The muggle doctors weren’t able to save him,” the Headmaster said softly.

Severus stared at him a moment, his black eyes cold.

“Is that all, Headmaster?” he said.

Albus nearly gaped at the boy. It wasn’t the reaction he expected a son to have upon receiving news that his father was dead.

“Ah…no…no Severus. I will make arrangements for you to be excused from classes so you may attend his funeral and have time to grieve,” the Headmaster said.

“That won’t be necessary, Headmaster,” the young wizard replied, “I won’t be attending his funeral.”

Albus was shocked.

“You won’t be attending?” he asked, “but why, Severus? He was your father.”

Severus looked at the Headmaster.

“He sired me, but he was never my father. And as for grieving, sir…if I were given time off, I would spend it celebrating his death. Rather frivolous however. I think the time better spent in the classroom,” he said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, Headmaster…I’d like to return to my cauldron. The stasis spell won’t last long and I need the marks.”

“But Severus, what about your mother?” the Headmaster asked.

“I will see her this weekend,” the young wizard replied heading for the classroom door. Severus turned and looked at the Headmaster.

“Some people in this world are better off dead, Headmaster. My so-called father was one of them. He was too cruel to live as long as he did,” he said, then entered the class and closed the door.

Hermione pulled out of Severus’ mind and stared at him.

Was he guilty of patricide?

If he was, she couldn’t blame him. His father had been a terrible man.

She looked down at Severus. He was still sleeping peacefully, his thick, black lashes resting against his cheeks. Who knew how much he went through as a child and young man? So much cruelty and evil from a man who was supposed to love him.

There was so much about the wizard she didn’t know.

But what she did know was she loved him despite his past. Him, and the child she carried for him. She had a chilling thought. Severus was the product of a dysfunctional family and had been abused. It was thought that the abusive nature carried over. It seemed obvious that Severus had his father’s “appetite” but did he have his nature?

Hermione was sure Darius didn’t start out abusing his wife. It was something that developed over time. Their situation was different too, he was a muggle without a good job, frustrated and bitter, casting the blame on his family. Then the witch paused as she realized that her lover was a half-blood. His father was a muggle.

Severus’ mother had fallen in love with a muggle man, and one much older than her at that. How bad could she be…unless she had been turned against them because of how cruel and abusive her husband was. But there were abusive wizards in the magical world as well.

She looked at Severus. Would he turn as abusive as his father was? His reaction to his father’s treatment of his mother was not one of acceptance however. He hated the way she was treated. Perhaps he didn’t have the same ugliness hiding within him. Perhaps he abhorred violence against women. He was snarky, yes…and had a temper. But he had never done anything that made her think he would strike her in anger. The wizard took out his wrath in a more pleasurable way…as did his father. But the father was violent. Severus wasn’t…at least toward her. It seemed the son had some of the father’s traits, if not all of them.

Hermione lay back down and Severus instinctively moved closer to her, shifting and turning until he flung his arm out and found her, pulling her close and sighing.

Severus loved her. She didn’t think he’d ever purposely hurt her

Hermione lay there, thinking. Maybe his mother would share some of her life story and his.

She could only hope.

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A/N: What a sad, violent life Severus lived as a child. Did he kill his father to save his mother? We don’t know. Perhaps we never will. Perhaps. Anyway, please review.

A/A/N: Yes…I know it’s late to be posting a chapter but I got caught up in writing. I’m going to bed riiiight now. I promise. 😉

A/A/A/N: I have sold a couple of the electronic poetry books online. Thank you so much, purchasers. Things are looking brighter billwise! lol. Anyway…I noticed an overlap in two of the poems in the book. I’ve repaired the error and those of you who have the link can go download the corrected version. But keep the messed up one…who knows…maybe it will mean something one day…yeah right. Whatever. Thanks again.

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The Burning Pen

Becoming Familiar with a Man of Misery
by Ruth Solomon

 

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence. Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately. You are not welcome here. The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 62

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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