An Unlikely Savior ~ (Edit) COMPLETED

Chapter 17 ~ Understanding and Closure

Raucous accompanied Snape home, flying beside the wizard as he headed for the cottage. From the air, he could see the lights in the living room and kitchen on, so Eileen was up and about. His stomach was tight as he landed in front of his home, Raucous landing on his shoulder and cawing at him encouragingly. As Snape’s familiar, the raven could feel his emotions and he knew the wizard was out of sorts because of Eileen and it had something to do with her hatching. Something concerning an egg mix-up.

Raucous saw things through a bird’s eye view, so although he didn’t understand everything that was happening, he got the gist of it. Snape let himself into the house and stopped, his large nostrils pulsating as a savory scent filled the house.

Raucous flew straight into the kitchen, cawing a greeting to Eileen. Snape could hear her addressing him fondly.

He took off his heavy traveling cloak and hung it up, then walked through the house into the kitchen, just in time to see Eileen removing a delicious cottage pie topped with melted cheese from the oven, Raucous eyeing the bubbling pie with his head cocked and one shiny black eye glistening greedily. She placed it on the kitchen counter, told Raucous not to even think about it, then turned to see her father.

Snape stared at her, expressionless, every nerve in his body tense—until she smiled at him.

”You’re just in time, dad,” she said to him, bringing over two plates and setting them on the table, then kissing him on the cheek. “Sit down while I serve dinner.”

Snape blinked at his daughter, and when she turned back to the stove he brought up one pale hand to touch the cheek she’d kissed, relieved. He sat down, and she walked over and scooped some green peas on his and her plate out of the pot, then put the pot back on the stove. She then retrieved a few small, ripe sweet tomatoes from the cooler and added them to the plates as well. Finally, Eileen scooped out a generous portion of cottage pie and added that to her father’s plate. She then made Raucous a little bowl of pie and placed it on the floor.

”It’s hot, Raucous. You’re going to have to wait for it to cool,” she admonished the raven, who fluttered down and danced about the bowl, fanning his wings at it to help it along cooling, since he didn’t have any lips to blow at it with.

Cottage pie was the same as shepherd’s pie but made with beef rather than lamb. Eileen served herself, put the pie back in the oven, then joined her father at the table. Once again they took their customary moment of reflection, Snape very grateful that his daughter wasn’t shunning him. They began to eat.

”This is quite a delicious meal, Eileen,” Snape said to his daughter as he took a bite of his pie, his fork slicing through the cheese, crispy potato crust and savory meat and vegetable filling, his eyes closing for a moment in pleasure as he chewed. It was delicious.

”I thought you could use something to fortify you, dad,” she replied, eating a forkful of tender sweet peas.

”Yes,” he said carefully. “I was feeling out of sorts the whole day. A nice meal certainly helps.”

Eileen nodded and gave her father a small smile, waiting for it. For him to broach the topic of her conception and birth. Instead, he started their dinner conversation on another subject.

“Your friend Alsop Potter came by the shop today,” Snape said.

Eileen looked surprised.

”He did? During school hours?” she asked her father.

Snape nodded.

“He claimed he visited during his study hour, so wasn’t missing any classes,” her father said.

Eileen seemed to do some calculating in her head.

”He’s such a liar. He doesn’t have study class on Thursdays,” she said, shaking her head. “And he must have Apparated too. There’s no way he could make it here from school and back in time by any other means. He’s going to get kicked out of Hogwarts on his bum if he keeps disregarding the rules. The git.”

Snape hadn’t even thought about how the boy got to Knockturn Alley from Hogwarts. It was quite a distance away. Of course he Apparated. Even by broom it took a while to make it to the Scottish mountainsides from wizarding London. But that was quite an Apparition jump for one so young—splinching was quite possible.

He looked at Eileen suspiciously. She had been Apparating successfully since the tender age of nine. She had only splinched twice, leaving a fingertip behind once, and her earlobe the second time. Of course, it was illegal for her to Apparate, but no one suspected her of being capable of doing it, because most children didn’t have working wands at her age, and you needed a wand somewhere on your person to Apparate. Unless someone was carrying you along.

He’d bet one Galleon to nine that Eileen had helped the boy learn how to Apparate correctly. He would have collected, too. All they needed was solitude and a few well-placed Silencing spells, as well as healing spells. For added incentive, Eileen warned Alsop if he splinched anything larger than a finger, he was on his own when he went to the infirmary. It made no sense for both of them to get in trouble.

”You’re always there for me, aren’t you, Eileen?” Alsop said to her sarcastically.

”As long as it’s convenient, Alsop” she replied, arching an eyebrow at him and smirking rather nastily. But, if Alsop really needed her, she would be there for him. She just wouldn’t tell him so.

”He’s quite the rule breaker, then,” Snape commented.

Eileen shrugged.

”Everyone breaks rules at Hogwarts, dad. We’re teenagers. You know, all about rebellion and duping the Man,” she replied.

Snape chuckled.

”The Man?”

”Authority figures,” Eileen elucidated.

”Oh,” Snape said shortly.

They ate in silence for several minutes, Snape gathering the nerve to ask Eileen what conclusion she had come to concerning his withholding of the truth from her. Just as he was about to speak, Eileen said, “Dad, why are you taking so long to ask me what my decision is about what you’ve done? It’s irritating.”

Snape blinked at her.

”I was just about to do that,” he replied. “I was just—just preparing myself for the worst.”

”Well, don’t. You aren’t going to get the worst,” she told him soberly, her brows furrowed.

Snape’s heart could have leapt out of his chest, but he concealed his happiness well.

”So you forgive me, then?” he asked her.

”Oh, I wouldn’t say that, exactly. Not yet. You’ve been caught in the wrong, dad and there has to be some consequences for that,” she told him.

Snape nodded.

”This is true, Eileen,” he admitted. “What are the consequences?”

”Well, first, I think I deserve some—token, something to show me that you are really sorry for not being forthright with me—“

”Token? Forthright?”

”Exactly. A peace offering,” she said pointedly. “Not every daughter would be as understanding as I’m being, but I weighed everything out. You didn’t mean to hurt me. You’ve only loved me as long as I can remember.”

Snape didn’t reply to this, but he had loved her even longer than she could remember. He began loving her on the night she was conceived, and through the entire time he protected her egg, and when he placed her in her stepmother’s womb. He had always loved her.

”The one who should be furious with you is my mother. She had no idea what you did. You’re going to have to deal with her in time. I don’t know where my temper comes from, dad, you or her, but I think you’d better hope it’s you. Because, to be honest, if I were her, I’d hex you into the next decade. But, that’s parents’ stuff. I’m not going to help you out there. If you get hexed by her somewhere down the line, you’ll deserve it.”

Snape arched an eyebrow at his daughter. So, she thought Hermione should get her pound of flesh, eh? Eileen was already taking her mother’s side. Merlin. But he didn’t say anything, he was so grateful she was being adult about this. And maybe Hermione did owe him a blast or two, but he’d be damned if he’d be a willing target.

“There’s one other person who deserves to know what you’ve done, dad. My stepmother,” Eileen said, her voice dropping.

”Delores? Why?” her father asked her. “She wants nothing to do with you, Eileen. I don’t see what difference it makes.”

”It makes a difference to me, dad. She never wanted me, I know that, but you deceived her and in order to make everything right and clear the air, she needs to know. I want you to tell her, and I want to be present when you do,” Eileen told her father.

Snape frowned slightly. He saw no reason to tell Delores anything. What purpose would it serve? She didn’t know a thing about this. But he looked at his daughter’s face. Maybe—maybe it would serve some purpose for her. Maybe give her some closure, some satisfaction to know that her mother wasn’t the kind of woman that would abandon her, wasn’t the kind of woman Delores had been. There was something deeper behind this.

”We’ll go to London tomorrow afternoon,” he promised his daughter. “I’ll tell her what I did, and apologize.”

Eileen frowned at him.

”I didn’t say you had to apologize, dad. Just tell her.”

Snape looked into his daughter’s narrowed brown eyes and knew that she felt Delores didn’t deserve an apology. She didn’t know she wasn’t Eileen’s mother, and she had turned her back on her completely.

”Anyway, you’re not sorry you did it, so why apologize?” Eileen added. “You’re just going to let her know you what you did.”

Snape said nothing, and Eileen stared at her father thoughtfully.

”Dad, did you ever love Delores, even just a little bit?” she asked him.

”No. I never did, Eileen,” he replied honestly.

Eileen was silent for a moment, then said, “Well, I’m glad, because she never loved me either.”

They finished the rest of their meal in silence. After Eileen took away the dishes and washed everything up, her father still at the table watching her, she turned to him.

By the look on her face, Snape could tell that she was about to ask him something very important. He looked at her attentively.

”Is there something else you want to ask me?” he asked his daughter.

Eileen nodded.

”Yes. Yes, I do, dad,” she said, then was silent for a few seconds before she spoke again.

”Dad, did you really put your spunk in the potion you gave my mother to drink that night? If you did, that’s really, really disgusting.”

Snape looked shocked that she knew about that ingredient, but he recovered quickly.

”It’s no more disgusting than say, toad entrails,” he retorted.

Eileen made a face.

”Yes, it is, dad. Way more disgusting. And you drank it too. Ew.”

”We both had to make sacrifices,” he stated flatly. “Besides, when you mix potion ingredients, the components and nature of those ingredients are altered.”

”Sperm is sperm, dad. I don’t care how much it’s cooked and blended,” his daughter replied shuddering. “I know you love potions, but—ew. That’s a bit too much love for my tastes. No pun intended.”

Her father didn’t see it that way and they argued about it far into the night.

Snape was never happier.

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Slap!

”How dare you, you bastard!” Delores snarled at Snape as he and Eileen stood on her doorstep. He had just informed her that he planted Eileen’s egg into her womb and that she wasn’t her biological mother. In response, she slapped him, hard. His left cheek was red and angry, but he didn’t move as he looked down at her.

”And all this time I thought she was my daughter—you dirty, rotten . . . “ Delores began, intending to browbeat the tall, pale wizard, but Eileen spoke up.

“You get that one, and only that one, Delores. What he did was wrong, but what you did afterwards was reprehensible. You didn’t know I wasn’t your daughter, but you turned your back on me anyway. What kind of woman just walks away from her child?”

Delores looked taken aback.

”But—but you were a witch—you needed to be with your own kind,” she said to the angry girl.

”You were my bloody own kind! You were my mother, you bitch!” Eileen snarled.

Startled, Snape stepped between Delores and Eileen. Eileen looked around him, her eyes narrowed and glinting with emotion.

”Even if I had been your daughter, it wouldn’t have made any difference to you. You proved that already, when I was thirteen and you turned me away. And when we came here today, the first words out of your mouth was ‘I can’t take her in.’ You thought my father came here to leave me with you, and you just—just denied me again.”

Delores just stared at Eileen, unable to say anything in her own defense. Eileen drew in a deep breath, her eyes full of water now.

“I’m glad you’re not my mother,” she hissed. “I’m glad the blood of such a horrid human being doesn’t run through my veins. My dad came here to tell you what he’d done, but I came here to tell you to fuck off once and for all!”

Eileen turned and walked down the stairs, heading for the street. Snape looked after her and then at the stunned and red-faced Delores.

”You’ve got your wish, Delores. You can live your life without feeling guilty about not loving Eileen—if you can,” he said to her softly. “But somehow, I think she’s always going to haunt you, because of what she could have been, and what she’s shown you to be. Goodbye, Delores.”

Snape walked down the stairs and joined his daughter, who was standing stiffly, facing the road, tears flowing down her face. He placed his arm around her shoulder.

”Let’s go, Eileen,” he said softly. “You’ve had your say.”

And with that, they Disapparated.

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A/N: I just had to write that final scene, because I think that if Eileen was angry with anyone, it was with the woman she believed to be her mother. She probably didn’t even know she was so angry with her. Delores had no obligation to Eileen, but she didn’t know that. She just turned her back on her. So, although Snape had blatantly used her, her treatment of the child who could have been her daughter was a horrible thing. She needed to be taken to task for it. Yes, Snape hid Eileen’s parentage, but he had always, always loved her. And that makes all the difference—to me anyway. Thanks for reading. ***