Troublesome

Chapter 17

This is the second to last chapter. I'm working on the epilogue now so it should come shortly. I would like to say that I'm not sad that it's almost over, like I normally am, but relieved. It's been a wild ride and I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and would like to encourage more people to review to tell me what you think. Again thank you all for reading and an extra warm thank you to those who took the time to review.

Lucille Ziff looked down at the blonde girl lying in the hospital bed and she felt sympathetic. But most of all she was grateful that she wasn’t her daughter or her responsibility. Lucy wanted to help her like she helped Severus but there was only so much she could do with out Evelyn’s cooperation.

“I’m sorry but Evelyn is sleeping,” said the medi-witch. Lucy turned and faced her, a little bit surprised by her sudden appearance. “You’re going to have to leave unless I see some form of identification.”

Lucy nodded her head, approvingly. Evelyn had been attacked and it relieved Lucy to see that the school was taking precaution to protect her. Lucy pulled out her Ministry badge and handed it over to the medi-witch who examined it closely with extra scrutiny. The medi-witch nodded, handed it back over and left to go check on another patient who was vomiting grossly. Lucy turned back to the sleeping girl. Evelyn was sporting two black eyes, a broken nose which was still on the mend and a sprained wrist. Lucy would have wondered who would do such a thing to the girl, but she had a faint idea. And she was glad Severus called upon her to come interview her again while she was vulnerable.

“Hello, Lucy,” a soft voice said behind her. Lucy turned once more and was face to face with Severus who was carrying an infant in his arms. Lucy grinned widely.

“This must be little Leilene,” Lucy said as she lovingly grazed the child’s cheek with her finger tips. “Eileen has told me so much about her.”

“Ah, of course. I wouldn’t expect anything less out of her,” Severus said. Lucy detected a trace sarcasm in his voice and placed a stern hand upon her hip.

“You know, Severus, you really hurt her when you said those horrible things to her. She made a mistake, she admits it. You ought to forgive her, after all, you’ve only got one mother.”

Severus cocked an eyebrow at her and said, “I never said I would never forgive her.”

“Yes but you know how she thinks.”

Severus was about to retort but he was distracted by Evelyn stirring from her slumber. Lucy turned around and they both watched as Evelyn slowly began to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open and she frowned grumpily.

“What time is it?” She asked, looking around.

“It’s ten o clock in the morning,” Severus replied with out taking his piercing gaze off of Evelyn. Evelyn groaned as she struggled to sit up. When she was sufficiently comfortable she closed her eyes. “Let me hold her, Severus.” Lucy watched as Severus handed the infant over to her mother. Lucy was touched to see that Evelyn had tears in her eyes when she opened them again to stare at her daughter. “God, I’m so sorry, Leilene. If I had…if I had spent more time worrying about you instead of trying to appease myself, I wouldn’t be in this mess.” Evelyn placed a shaky kiss on Leilene’s forehead and began to rock her gently. Lucy noticed that a few patients were sitting up in bed and gawking at Evelyn and the baby so she pulled the curtain shut around them to ensure their privacy.

“Evelyn,” Lucy said trying to gain her attention. Evelyn looked up at her, confused as though she just realized that Lucy was standing there. “I know who is responsible for this. I’ve got a reliable witness who says he knows who did this to you. “

“And what? You want me to ruin more lives? I’m sorry Madame Ziff, but I can’t do that. I don’t want to cause any more damage. It’s already hard enough for me to live with myself as it is and I don’t want to make things worse.”

“I thought you might say something like that, but I have a proposition for you.”

Evelyn stared up at her, tears glistening in her eyes. Lucy felt her heartbreak for the girl and for the baby that was asleep in her arms. Lucy’s job didn’t get any easier. She sighed.

“Evelyn, before you fly off the handle,” Severus said as he took a seat in a chair next to her bed. He took her hand. “I wanted to let you know that it was me who came up with this idea. It won’t be easy, I’m aware, but I think it’s in your best interest to seriously consider Madame Ziff’s offer. We know who did this to you. Liam McAllister testified to Madam Ziff earlier this morning. “

“Liam McAllister? The Ravenclaw boy? What’s he got to do with anything?” Evelyn asked. Apparently she’d forgotten that he’d been by her side until she woke up for the first time.

“He saved you, Evelyn,” Severus said, as though it pained him.

“Evelyn, if you give me Ulric, I’ll let Pansy off scot free,” Lucy stated, trying to get straight to the point. She held her breath for a moment, waiting for Evelyn to scream and yell. But it never happened. Evelyn stared down at Leilene for a moment before she nodded her head. Lucy felt as though a very large weight had been lifted off her chest. All of her hard work for the past few months was finally paying off.

“Before I testify, I want to you two to listen to me,” Evelyn said. Her voice was constrained and her chin was quivering. She looked at Severus and locked gazes with him. “Ulric is not a bad man. Pansy is not a bad girl. I love them both very much and the last thing I want is for either of them to get hurt. You have to understand, I wanted to protect Pansy. I still want to protect her even though what she did to me was very painful and cruel. Even if that means giving you Ulric. He’s not the best influence on her, and I think she might be better off with out him in her life, and I’m sorry it’s my choice now when it should be her mother’s.” Evelyn took a deep breath, and steadied herself. Lucy could tell she was trying to be strong and really, Lucy admired her fierce spirit though she couldn’t rightly sad to see that it had left the girl at the moment.

“Would you mind if I used a Quick Quotes Quill?” Lucy asked as she bent over brief case. She looked up at Evelyn briefly who was frowning. “Oh, I can assure you mine is more accurate than Ms. Skeeter’s.”

Evelyn shrugged as Lucy pulled out a piece of parchment and a light purple quill from her large brief case. She set it to work and conjured up a chair, sitting down with a grateful sigh. Her knees were killing her.

“I’d like to start off by saying that this will be completely confidential, so please, don’t hesitate on the details. I want to know how your relationship with Ulric began.” Start simple, get simple answers. But this was no simple matter. Lucy just hoped digging up old painful memories wouldn’t upset the girl and get her into a state worse than the one she was already in. The girl had Severus’ hand in a lobster like grip, Lucy could see his hands turning red and then white again. Severus didn’t flinch.

“The summer after I turned sixteen, my parents took me to a dinner party. Ulric and his wife Ursula were there. I was the only kid there, but my parents thought I was old enough to learn how to be a socialite,” Evelyn rolled her eyes. “And you know, as everyone mingled, I kept getting this feeling like I was being watched, so I kept close by my parents, because every time I’d look, he was there, just staring at me. Eventually my mother told me to start being sociable and sort of pushed me away from her and Dad. So I wondered over to the bar, you know, to see if I get away with it. And he was there. We started talking and he got my drinks for me, and eventually we sort of just disappeared together.”

“And that was when the relationship turned sexual?” Lucy asked.

“No. My mother and father kept taking me to dinner parties like that, and we’d meet up then, but it didn’t turn sexual until my parents had a dinner party of their own about a month after that first one. I stayed in my room for that one. When every one was nice and drunk and wouldn’t notice he was gone when he came up to my room, where I told him I’d be.” And then everything went quiet. Lucy watched as the quill before her scratched Evelyn’s story out in her own handwriting. It was sufficient enough, but Lucy, for some reason, wanted to hear more. It was transfixing, to look into the world of the wealthy and to learn how twisted it really was. The girl was surprisingly calm, a far cry from the emotional mess she seemed to be every time Lucy had met with her. “And after that, we met up regularly, in secret of course. He’d write me, and I’d make an excuse to go to Diagon Alley for the day and Mummy would let me go. I’d been going on my own since I was fourteen, so I don’t think she thought much about it. Eventually I had to go back to school, you know. And then some one in my family died, an aunt or something, I don’t rightly remember, in October, and we met up then. When I got back to school, everything was as usual until I found out that I was with child, his child, to be exact, so when we saw each other on Christmas Holiday, we talked it out and he told me the best thing to do would to be get rid of it. So we went a muggle clinic and he posed as my father. I find it rather ironic; you know that almost a year after that, I gave birth. I don’t think that child was meant to die. I was always supposed to have it. And here she is,” Evelyn said, nodding her head towards the sleeping baby in her arms. “Perhaps it was better this way. Ulric wouldn’t leave his wife for me to take care of his kid, where would I have been then? Where would Leilene be? I just want her to be safe and she wouldn’t be then. She wasn’t then. “

The tears that fell from Lucy’s eyes stemmed from the fact that that if Evelyn were her daughter, she’d be proud, no matter what, for caring so much. Lucy stopped the quill, rolled up the parchment and stuck it in her brief case. She stood, shook hands with Severus and Evelyn and left, to go file her report. When she left Hogwarts that morning, she went straight to her office and closed the door. She had a good cry. Her job never got any easier, and she’d had many days like this before. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to retire. Her old heart couldn’t take it anymore. But she had a job to do and it was gathering information and putting a report together. Lucy had more than enough evidence so it wasn’t all that complicated. With a sigh, she sent the report to the Department of Law Enforcement and waited for the response, her head laden. This was just too much for her. She was tired. She didn’t remember what it felt like to not be tired.

***

Evelyn was released from the Hospital Wing only mere few hours later with a clean bill of health and a prescription to take it easy and rest for the next few days. Not that she could for long, she had N.E.W.T’s coming up fairly quickly so the rest was business. She’d put off studying for far too long so she sat at Severus’ desk and worked the rest of the day away, Leilene laying in a bassinet not two feet away from where Evelyn was sitting, so she could reach over when she needed to. Evelyn was grateful that at least Leilene wasn’t putting up much of a fuss. It wasn’t until six o clock that Evelyn stopped what she was doing. Severus came strolling in, a plate of warm food for her, fresh from the kitchens and a goblet of pumpkin juice. Evelyn took a few bites, and took a swig of the pumpkin juice.

“This isn’t enough,” she said. “Do you have a bottle of wine or something?”

“I don’t think you should be drinking,” Severus said. Evelyn pouted a bit but took another tentative sip from the goblet. She ate in silence and finished off her meal as Severus observed her under a watchful eye, as though she were going to dump the plate in the floor like a child throwing a tantrum. Finally, he said, “They arrested Ulric.” Evelyn looked at him, unsure of what to say. Of course she knew that would happen but it didn’t make it any easier. Suddenly she felt extremely tired. “He’s being held for questioning right now and they’ll probably cart him off to Azkaban tomorrow to await trial.”

“I don’t want to hear about it,” Evelyn said.

“Pansy went home for a few days while everything is being sorted out.”

“What part of ‘I don’t want to hear about it’ did you not understand? I said stop, please!”

“Crabbe and Goyle are going to be serving detentions to their sixth year,” Severus said as he stood up. “I made sure of that myself. They’re lucky you’re so noble, a nasty Gryffindor trait if you ask me.”

“I didn’t know who they were!”


“Like hell you didn’t!” Severus suddenly yelled at her. “I warned you, Evelyn! I told you to stay away from Malfoy and you didn’t listen to me! Do you see where it got you?”

“I made a mistake! I know that! It won’t happen again,” Evelyn said, her temper flaring. She was tired, sore and had a headache; she wasn’t in the mood for this. But none the less she would not back down. Why did he always have to start shit with her at the worst possible times?

“A mistake? A mistake is something that you can go back and correct. No, Evelyn, you fucked up! You were almost raped,” he said, swooping down on her, planting his hands on the desk in front of him. He glared at her but she did not look away. She glared right back at him, her jaw hardened, her mouth clenched shut. “What is so awful about me that you have to go to some one like Malfoy?”

“You want to know the truth?” She asked lowly.

“Please do enlighten me, wife.”

Evelyn placed a thoughtful finger to her cheek as though she was thinking for a bit but then she smiled, falsely syrupy and said in a sickly sweet tone, “For one, dear, you’re a cold, spiteful, hateful bastard. At least Malfoy pretended he loved me. Granted I should have seen right through it but I’m not crying over him.”

“I gave you more than anything Ulric Parkinson could have given you and you show your gratitude by flouncing around like some sort of harlot! Malfoy didn’t love you and Ulric Parkinson sure as hell didn’t love you so if this is about love, girl, you’ve have a lot to learn!”

“Yeah and just what in the hell do you know about love you miserable old bat?” Evelyn said. His nostrils flared but Evelyn would not eat her words. Let him hit her. She didn’t care, hell she probably even deserved it, but she wasn’t running away this time. She was tired of being weak. Evelyn didn’t flinch has he took her chin in his hand and squeezed it rather hard, making sure she’d maintain eye contract with him, making sure she wouldn’t run. He licked his lips.

“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” he said in a low dangerous whisper. “You came to me, I might remind you, first. You’re lucky I didn’t deny you like Parkinson did but yet you still clung to him.”

“At least he knew how to show affection. For God sakes, Severus, I’m your wife and you treat me like I’m about five years old! You expect me to bend towards your will and I do and you’re upset with me because I tried to make myself happy!”

“You’re selfish, that’s what you are! Did you even take into consideration about how I would feel about you going behind my back and nearly getting yourself killed?”

“I know I’m selfish, Severus. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry if I hurt you but I didn’t really think you cared about me,” Evelyn said, her voice calm. This seemed to throw him for a loop, as he let go of her and just stared at her.

“How could I not care for you? You wormed your way into my life and festered there! I didn’t want you any where near me but you were so persistent, I didn’t have a choice,” he hissed at her. This seem to sting Evelyn as her face went slack for a moment but the frustration she’d tried so hard to let go of came back.

“That’s it then is it?”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! I’ve never tried to hide it from you!”

Evelyn stood and drew herself to her full height, her chest puffed out slightly and her jaw set firmly. Her brown eyes were blazing with fury her yellow hair glinting dangerously in the torch lights.

“I know I haven’t exactly treated you well in the past, but Jesus Christ that’s an awful thing to say!” Her nose scrunched in disgust. “If you want to know the truth, Professor, I love you more than I ever loved anyone else, but as far as I’m concerned you can take that and shove it up your oh so happy arse!”

Evelyn stormed to the bedchambers, kicked the door open with an angry foot and slammed the door behind her, making the shelves rattle. A few jars were dislodged from the vibrations, sending them shattering to the ground. The noise startled the sleeping Leilene, upsetting her, her cries echoing through the office, giving Severus a bigger headache then he’d already had.

This wasn’t going to be easy to defuse.

At least she hadn’t run off.

That had to mean something.

***

A few hours later, after Severus had finished grading essays and had made arrangements, he decided it was probably time to go try and talk to the wretched girl again. Why did she always catch him by surprise like that? He hated it. He wanted to hate her, and he did a little, but not nearly as much as she deserved.

It was all her fault. He’d come to that conclusion over and over again.

Had she said she loved him?

He snorted at the thought. She had a funny way of showing it if she did. He wanted to deny it; he didn’t want it to be true but the tugging in his chest told him otherwise.

Who in their right mind would love him?

This was what it had come to. A girl who was out of her bloody mind loved him. Fuck irony, he thought, fuck it with a sharp pointy object, preferably a lethal weapon.

Severus hoped the door would be locked when he tried the bedchamber door and he cursed inwardly when it opened. Hopefully she’d be asleep. He stepped in as quietly as he could and set down on the edge of the mattress, directly in front of the mirror and started to take off his shoes. He sighed heavily as he stretched his neck, moving from side to side, trying to rid himself of the tension he was feeling. Her movements were so light he almost didn’t notice them. He watched in the mirror as she gently approached him from the back, like a murderer in the night and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he could see her face almost perfectly as she laid a cool cheek on his shoulder, and watched as well, as if it were some sort of sordid play.

“I think we’re an attractive couple,” she said as though amused. Severus could see the small smile that formed on her lips. Her eye still had traces of a bruise, but for the most part it was gone. Her nose however had sustained permanent damage that Madam Pomfrey had not been able to reverse. It was barely noticeable, however, from that angle. “Then again, I’m not exactly the greatest judge.”

He frowned at his reflection. Looking at himself in the mirror was like facing an old enemy that just couldn’t be beat. But yet, with her resting her cheek on his shoulder, it looked right. It felt right. He wanted to break the mirror for betraying him so.

“I’m sorry for everything, Severus. I really am. I’ll make it right again, I promise,” she whispered directly in his ear. It sent shivers up his spine. The way she did said it made it seem ominous, though he was sure she was just trying to reassure him. It wasn’t working. Something told him it would never be right again. At least not for a long time.

“I sent Leilene with Nita to my mother’s. She’s old enough now that she doesn’t need you all the time anymore. You’ve only got a month left here anyway and you can go stay with her in June.”

Evelyn’s closed eyes opened slowly. She did not reply as she began to undo the clasps on his robes, one at a time, her fingers trembling slightly. With gentle hands, she removed the robes from his shoulders and tossed them aside. He was not wearing a shirt underneath and felt like slapping her hands away as she caressed his chest firmly with her palms. The idea quickly slid from his mind as she pressed her hot mouth to his neck, imprinting her lips there.

“I don’t understand you, Evelyn,” Severus sighed as he jerked away from her embrace and lay back in the bed. “You act as though I’ve got some horrible contagious disease but you say you love me? Tell me, how does that work?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“No, I don’t. But can you honestly blame me?”

“I don’t suppose I can. I don’t really understand it either. It just is. You’re the only one who has ever taken care of me. I realize that now and I’m sorry I didn’t see it earlier.”

“You’re not angry any more, or am I jumping to conclusions here?”

“No,” she said as she climbed gently on top of him. “I’m just so tired of everything. I didn’t mean for it to get all twisted like it has. I’m going to make it right.”

Evelyn began to undo his belt on his pants, sliding it gently from beneath him. Severus felt very serene, a sense of calm had over taken him, and something told him to go with the flow because it could be the last time he’d ever feel this way again. Suddenly Evelyn stopped trying to peel his pants off of him.

“If you don’t want to, we don’t have to,” she said. Severus finished the job for her. He slid all the clothing off his lower body and gently placed them over the side of the bed. Then he sat up, careful not to dislodge her from her spot. Very tenderly he placed one hand on her back and ran the other down her face as he stared into her eyes. He wanted her to mean it, he wanted her to do it of her own free will with out any goading from him, the way it should be.

“I’m not entirely opposed to the idea,” he said. Evelyn smiled and placed a small kiss upon the bridge of his nose.

“I want to take it slow. And when you’re inside of me, I want you to think of me as your wife, not your student.” So, in a not so swift and not so fluid movement, he laid Evelyn on her back, letting her long blond hair flow off the edge of the bed. Her night gown was easily removed as were her panties. Now there wasn’t a thing holding them back. Severus rather stared at her for a second. Her eyes were shut but not clenched shut, nor was she frowning. She looked rather relaxed as she stretched her arms backward, letting them touch the floor below her. This, he knew, was what he had been waiting for.

Never before had she wanted him. Not for recreational purposes anyway. It felt so right to be wanted like this by her, but yet he could not see past the barrier of her being a mistake. She’d treated him so awfully, perhaps it was biasing his view, but she was trying hard to make up for it.

There was nothing she could do to rectify the anguish she’d caused him.

But yet, as he tried to figure her out, he couldn’t help but admire the way she looked. With her head hanging over the bed, her face looked slightly flushed, her eyes closed, her lips parted. Suddenly Severus felt guilty over the want that was filling him upon looking at her. The ravenous hunger that he felt for her was suffocating him, turning him into a monster….

“Have you any idea what you do to me,” Severus said, trying to fight off the urge to split her in two, to make her pay for her sins against him. He wanted to make her pay dearly. “If you love me like you say you do, if you’re mine like you say you’re mine, why do you toy with me the way you do?” He grabbed a handful of her hair, wrapping his fingers in it, applying just enough pressure to her scalp to show her that if she did not give him an answer, she’d pay for it. With his free hand, he grabbed the blankets, throwing it over them both, covering only the lower halves of their bodies.

“I don’t know,” she said.

“That’s not good enough,” and with that, he yanked back on the snarls of hair in his fingers causing her to cry out. He let go immediately but the words that his actions spoke did not go unheard.

“You-you scare me,” she whimpered, lifting her head to look him straight in the eye. “I don’t know why, but you do. I’m not supposed to love you.”

“I suppose that can suffice,” he said as he ran his fingers over her torso, lingering over her breasts, not quite touching them but merely grazing her nipples with his fingers. Not surprising, they stiffened. She smiled at him, a wicked smile; a jaded smile that made him shiver. She was much too young.

But yet she was so enticing…at his mercy…

She wanted him.

No one wanted him.

It was with much regret and pleasure that Severus entered her. It wasn’t gentle; on the contrary, he shoved himself inside of her with as much force as he could muster. She did not utter a sound, but merely steadied herself by placing her hands on the floor below her head, stretching her body like a cat against him. He slowly withdrew himself from her and grunted as he pushed himself roughly into her once more. This time she mewled his name softly and bucked against his length, trying to fill herself with it. Severus lost all senses, he couldn’t control himself. The overwhelming urge to grind into her senselessly was too great for him to try to oppose. There she was, her eyes closed, her breathing heavy, her face flushed, her chest heaving; how could he resist her? His head was swimming with thoughts of her. From the first time he’d ever laid eyes upon her to the moment she’d revealed the horrible truth. This was her…this was all of her…had he ever thought he’d be married to her the first time he noticed her?

No.

But yet…it made so much sense to him now as if he knew this was what it would come to all along.

For the first time he did not feel guilty about shoving his cock inside of her. There was no little voice in the back of his head telling him that this was wrong…all wrong…This was his wife that he was fucking. It gave him great comfort to finally be able to think of her that way. The warmth of her body was his. The way she clenched and unclenched around his dick as he pulled it in and out of her was soothing to him…

“Evelyn, I can’t hold on anymore,” he gasped. He pictured himself a great shuddering volcano that was on the brink of erupting.

“Hold on for just a few more seconds,” she sputtered. “I’m almost…” She gave a great shudder as he shoved his cock in her once more. “Nevermind…”

With her approval, he pulled out of her once more and gave a grunt as he found solace within her…

He lay on top of her for a moment, chest heaving. His eyes were closed, letting the pleasure wash over him, the enormity of it all sink in.

“I’m going to make everything okay again,” she said softly. “I will make it right.”

It sent shivers up his spine, the way her voice seemed to sing that statement.

He opened his eyes to find her smiling, though he wasn’t sure if he liked it or not. She opened her eyes and gazed up at him, placing a cool hand to his cheek. He did not like what he saw within her brown eyes.

“I’m going to make everything right by you and by Leilene.”

***

Evelyn took a deep breath, lifting the phial to her lips, hoping that he was still asleep. It didn’t take much to find his secret stores. The two phials were not labeled, but she knew exactly what to look for. They were a bit dusty and Evelyn didn’t think she wanted to know why he kept stores of such potions but she was grateful he did.
The green one would do the job quick.

Before she could have any more second thoughts, she tipped the phial into her mouth, trying not to wretch on the bitter taste of it. Volatile. Before she knew what was happening, she felt her body give a violent lurch and the effect was almost immediate. The vomit spilled out of her mouth before she could make it to the toilet. Not that it mattered. Evelyn just hoped that she hadn’t taken so much that her body was rejecting it. Before another single thought could pass her mind, she threw up again, only this time when she looked at the puddle of sick on the ground, it had turned red.

Blood. The poison was doing its job.

The bathroom began to dissolve around her as her body started going numb. It wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be. Severus was free to do what ever he wanted now. Leilene could actually have a mother who could do the job much better than Evelyn had ever hoped. Yes, this was for the best.
Evelyn opened her eyes, surprised to find that she could. She was lying on the floor now and she knew these were her last few seconds on this earth, this plane, and the next was waiting for her. She would go with out a fight.
Something was running down her leg, something wet. Her bladder was letting go, she knew that much. She didn’t want to still be there when her bowels let go, so she closed her eyes. Instead of the usual darkness that was normally behind her eyelids, there was a bright light. She knew this was it so she opened her eyes once more, not really aware of a pair of boots just in her line of vision. She smiled.

Everything would be okay.

There would be no more pain.

Then there was nothing.

***


Severus sifted through his desk drawers, trying to find something, anything to take the edge off. He’d thrown out all of the alcohol in his cabinets after Evelyn’s little episode but right now he wished he hadn’t of done that.
There were too many arrangements to be made. There wasn’t a lot of time. He owed her this much. He’d driven her to it he owed it to her to make sure that she was properly taken care of.

Little Leilene…

Severus found tears welling up in his eyes since what had happened. What was to become of little Leilene? His mother certainly wasn’t young and there was just too much going on with him. Her parents certainly did not want a reminder…That only left one choice.

No. He could not do that to his daughter.

There was a knock at the door and Severus dabbed at his eyes, trying to erase the evidence that he almost started crying. Who ever it was would pay. They would pay because Severus was a busy man. There were too many arrangements to be made. The knocking persisted and Severus chose not to answer it. Who ever it was would have to wait.

“I need to talk to you, Snape,” a female voice said. Severus looked up, his wand ready to curse who ever it was. “I don’t mean to be a bother but this is about my daughter, your wife.” It was Mrs. Hewitt, in the flesh, looking quite serious but the bags under her eyes told Severus that she’d been just as worried about Evelyn as he was. Of course he contacted her parents. He didn’t have to but it was the right thing to do.

“Please,” Severus said. “Have a seat.” Diondra did not need to be told twice. She sat down rather stiffly in front of his desk, in the chair that he and Evelyn had…

“I know this probably isn’t a good time,” Diondra said as she gazed around his office, looking quite unimpressed. “But if you just sign these papers, you will be free of any burden my daughter caused you. I won’t fight for the…” The woman closed her eyes and licked her lips. “I do not wish to take the child away from you but if you sign these papers I will see to it that my daughter gets taken care of.” She rifled through her sleek looking briefcase that Severus had only noticed she’d brought with her. It was a wonder he didn’t, he snorted silently to himself. The damn thing was made to match her dark navy robes. Regardless, he took the papers from her jeweled hand and read over them, trying to make sense of the legal mumbo jumbo. It took him a second to realize that they were divorce papers.

“You want me to sign these?” Severus asked quietly as he sat them down on his desk. “Does Evelyn want this?”

“It doesn’t matter what she wants, Mr. Snape,” Diondra sneered at him. “My daughter is sick. She cannot think for herself.”

“She’s an adult now. She’s perfectly capable of making these sorts of decisions for herself, Mrs. Hewitt.”

“My daughter tried to poison herself! She almost died for god sakes! She’s only eighteen years old, she’s already been pregnant twice, she has a kid and she married you of all things! She’s proven that she cannot make the right life choices so I’m going to do so for her until she learns!”

Severus pinched the bridge of his nose; not exactly sure what to say to her if anything could reach her ears. It was like talking to a brick wall. It was hard not to get angry. Hell, he was angry but he understood Diondra to a degree. It just wouldn’t do to argue with her just now.

“You cannot make these decisions for her until she learns. She has to make them so she can learn. Mrs. Hewitt, Diondra, I will not sign these papers until Evelyn wants me to. You’re wasting your time, I’m afraid.” Severus stood the papers in hand, extending them forward. Diondra snatched them from him, scowling heavily at him.

“I hope you’re aware that she’s not coming back to you. She’s not coming back to you or the child.”

“I wouldn’t expect her to.” Severus said quietly. “But since you’re so intent on taking care of her, perhaps you will find it wise to take care of her schooling as I was working on before you interrupted me.” He threw another stack of papers at her, scattering them around her feet, causing her to shriek at being treated in such a way. “If it wasn’t for me your daughter would be dead, you’d do well to remember that I’m the one who pushed the bezoar down her vomit filled gullet.”

“You’re the one who put her in this mess in first place,” Diondra hissed at him as she began to pick up the scattered paper around her feet, looking quiet flustered. “You owe her everything. You owe her life back to her. She was going to be a wonderful healer, she was going to have money, looks and you took that away from her!”

“Get out of my office, “ Severus whispered dangerously. Diondra looked up at him and smirked, quite aware that she’d hit a sore spot. “I’m asking you nicely now.” He drew his wand but did not point at her. Diondra took the hint and left, leaving Severus alone.

Alone. Alone. Alone.