When the Moment comes

Once upon a time, in a land where dragons soar through the brilliant skies and ancient trees whisper their legends, lived a wealthy nobleman, Emilian Snape. His family was happy and prosperous, until one day an accident ended his beloved wife’s life, leaving him with a tiny son, Severus. Emilian grieved but the love for his child pulsed stronger. He feared that his son would miss motherly care. Thus, three years later, he married a second time. The woman, Tanya came from a noble family, a widow with two sons, who were Severus’ age. She was strict, yet fair mother. Alas, Emilian could not watch his son grow. Soon, he fell ill. The illness carried him away to an early grave, leaving his seven year old son without true parents. The family, once his good father was gone, turned cold and cruel. Tanya begrudged young Severus his natural grace and radiance, more so, because her sons, Basil and Kerdo, were clumsy and ugly. She deprived the child of love and kindness, letting her sons beat him and giving him heavy chores, until she turned Severus into a servant in his own house. Years went by. Autumns turned to winters, springs to summers, until one morning.

“Master, master Severus, Sir. You must wake up.” The teenager curled into a tighter ball, desperate to keep the frozen reality away only an instant longer. He was dreaming about a place filled with light where he was warm and safe. Someone was embracing him and whispering how special he was. The shaking persisted until dirty pile of rags reluctantly stirred and the boy’s head emerged.

“Hello Rosy.” He mumbled sleepily. Pale, blue eyes of a house elf were huge and luminous in the dusk. “I keep telling you, I am not Master. Don’t let Tanya hear you. We will both be in so much trouble.” Stiffly he climbed out of the dark nook where he slept and ran his hands down his battered robes. It was pointless to take them off for the night when he had nothing to change into. At least they provided the little warmth he so desperately needed. The old rags could not look much worse anyway. The robes were handed down to him from Kerdo at the end of each school year. They were dirty and torn. The sleeves were several inches too short. The hem fell half way between the knee and ankle. Kerdo was not as huge as Basil but he had massive shoulders and stomach. The skinny, malnourished teenager drowned in the numerous material folds which resembled a distorted square. Unable to fix the attire his hands dropped limply by his sides.

“Master Emilian, Sir, was a kind master.” Rosy mumbled desperately. She eyed the floor in seeming contemplation whether to bang her head against it or not and saying nothing about the current rulers of the Snape mansion. Deep in her heart she never considered Tanya her Mistress. Rosy never told Severus, afraid that stubborn teenager would offer her freedom, as Emilian did before. She always declined. More so she would do it in the present, although she hated the servitude for the current family. She could not leave Severus at the mercy of his stepmother as the only servant in the house. “It’s Monday. Master must not be late.” She said the obvious. She hated to wake up the boy. Last night, Basil maliciously set lose his huge and hairy dog Butch after Amber, the house cat. Together, the team decimated the kitchen toppling over a pile of coal and creating a trail of dirty paw prints. The Mistress, who arrived second last on the scene of devastation, blamed it all on Severus, who was in the garden watering flowers when the incident happened. As punishment the boy scrubbed the floor all night. She threatened to leave him without breakfast next Saturday should she find one speck of dust in the morning. Severus was forbidden to do his chores using magic. Tanya took away his wand and locked it in the drawer, in her room. The sun was rising when Severus finished restoring the kitchen. He had very little sleep, Rosy contemplated sadly.

Loud ringing shattered the stillness. “Oh, no!” Severus gasped. He ran as fast as he could up the countless stairs separating the basement and the first floor.

“Severus!” he heard a shrill voice in the distance. “Severus!” the middle bell rattled so much it nearly flew off the hook. The bell system was installed all over the house to summon Severus, including the basement nook where he slept.

Severus was out of breath when he reached Tanya. She stood tall adjusting Basil’s tie. “Where were you, you insufferable brat?” She hissed at him. “You were to help dress my sons. Are you trying to make them late for school on purpose?”

Severus crouched, waiting for the occasional slap. Tanya brushed past him and called Rosy. “What are you waiting for?” She growled at Severus. “Tie his shoes.” She pointed at Basil.

Setting his face completely blank Severus obeyed kneeling beside his stepbrother. Basil was too fat to reach his toes. “Rosy, don’t forget to prepare the ice frosted, strawberry cake.” Tanya ordered. “Kerdo received an E in defence against dark arts, didn’t you dearest. Unlike some worthless bane of existence.” She eyed Severus menacingly.

Basil stupidly sniggered. “He got P for poor last year.” He volunteered gloating. Kerdo joined the sniggering.

Severus willed his hands to relax and not clutch into fists. As a matter of fact, he got O but his family did not need to know that. He remembered too well his first year when he was eleven. He came home beaming proudly because his report card had a lot of O and few E. Outstanding and excellent was not the praise he earned at home. Tanya was furious. This was the first time she used the cane. She took away his eating privilege for a day. Severus learned to forge his report card, careful to ensure his marks were lower than Basil’s in the future. It was challenging because the oaf mainly received A for majority of the subjects barely passing them. Tanya always took greatest joy reading Severus’ T and P out loud. She was waiting impatiently for the school administration to finally kick the boy out for sheer stupidity.

Severus stayed down to collect the discarded clothes that were thrown to the floor. He wondered what it might be like to smash the cupboard open, grab his wand and blast Basil in his laughing face. He could beat both of his stepbrothers with one hand tied behind his back in a duel, he was sure. Fear stopped him. Sometimes he caught murderous glitter in Tanya’s eyes when she glared at him. He had a feeling she wanted to poison him. Severus would never eat anything she might offer, not that she ever did. He fed on dinner leftovers when he stayed at the mansion.

Severus finished hanging the clothes and straightened looking at the floor. Tanya scrutinized him. “Finally, you are ready.” She said disappointed that there was nothing else she could punish him for. Reluctantly she unlocked the cabinet and threw the wand at his feet. “Out of my sight you.”

She hugged her sons good day and activated the port key.