Dearest Harry - Eileen's Story

Chapter Two

Time stood still for Severus, he felt as if he had been sucker punched, as if the bottom had dropped out of his world. The little sitting room was the same with the cheery red rug in front of the fireplace and the rather battered “cottage suite” on which they sat, still in its usual place. The clock on the mantel ticked on, and normality continued, but Severus had just had his whole world turned upside down and nothing would be normal for him ever again.

He had had a sister, Lily had been his sister

Ever since he could remember, he had wanted a sibling; he had been such a lonely child, so alone, so isolated. They had spent much of his childhood on the run from Tobias so the young Severus had never really had time to make friends, not that he probably would have made any if he had had time, Severus had just been too other. But then he had started Hogwarts and Lily had been kind to him.

The first day on the train Severus had been terrified, he had never left his mother before over night, how could he have done? They had no friends, nowhere Severus could stay. He had wanted to cry, he remembered. He had looked different from the other children, as his mother could not afford new robes. He sounded different, with quite a thick Yorkshire accent, which had taken years to moderate and the other children, had laughed at him. But Lily had flown to his rescue, standing up to the others, including the newly formed gang that later became The Marauders.

She had been a fearless little hellcat, defender of the weak and his staunch friend from then on. She had been drawn to him, and he to her and all the time, all the time she had been his little sister.

Severus felt tears start behind his eyes and looked up to see his mother watching him with concern and tenderness.

“There love,” She said, “ don’t take on so! I wish I didn’t have to tell you like this, but I really have no choice.

“B-b….” Severus tried to speak but the words caught in the back of his throat, unable to squeeze past the huge lump that seemed to have formed there, he swallowed hard and tried again.

“Why didn’t you tell me Mum? Didn’t I have a right to know?”

“Oh Sevvy, I couldn’t. If your dad had found out he’d have killed me, giving away his little girl, and I’d made a promise to Rosie and of course I had no proof. I was going to tell you, when you reached seventeen, but then I couldn’t…”

“Because I’d joined The Dark Lord.”

Eileen looked at him apologetically

“Aye,” she said, “Aye, you did.”

“But if I had known, if only…”

“Aye love, I know,” Eileen reached across the small space that divided them and patted he son’s hand comfortingly.

“But why now Mum, why now? I’m on the run, hated by everyone, and Lily, why Lily is dead.” These last few words were more sob than anything else

“I’m dying Sev,” she said her eyes meeting his steady and strong, unwavering.

“NO! You can’t be, what do you mean, dying? What do you mean Mum?”

“I have cancer love, it’s eating me away inside, I have a few months at most, I very likely won’t see Christmas.”

“No, no. Don’t leave me Mum, don’t!”

Severus was sobbing now, he was on his knees with his head in his mother’s lap, crying like a little boy. He had her hand clutched in his and held it to his cheek, like he had when he was a little boy and she made bad dreams go away

He could not believe what she had just said it could not be true!

And yet, and yet.

Her skin had a yellowish tinge to it; her eyes had lost their sparkle, she was so very thin, and he knew with a certainty that he had very rarely felt in his life, that his mother was telling him the truth. She did not have long, she was dying. She was going away forever and leaving him behind.

He bawled then, burying his face in her skirted lap, while she stroked his hair as she had so many times before, humming gently as he cried as if his heart would break.

Finally he had no tears left, and he just sat there unmoving, and she just continued to stroke his hair and hum softly.

“Um Professor Snape, is everything all right?”

It was Draco. Goodness knows when he had made his way from the kitchen, but he stood in the doorway now, looking incongruous, in Eileen’s immaculate little home.

Severus whirled towards him

“GET OUT, GET OUT OF MY SIGHT YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SHIT!”

“Severus! That will do! I will not have such language in my home, or such boorish behaviour, come to that!”

“Mother! I am on the run, because of him, I have to leave you soon when I want to stay by your side, because of him and I have just murdered the greatest wizard of our age! And you, you tell me off for swearing?”

“Aye love, I’ve never liked bad language, it doesn’t speak well of a man if he swears all the time.

“And you didn’t murder Albus Dumbledore, he asked you to kill him.”

Severus’s jaw dropped open

Draco stood frozen in the doorway, grey eyes huge with astonishment. Severus had dragged him everywhere with him in the last few weeks, they had never been apart, but he had never told him the truth, he hadn’t spoken to him much at all come to that. Well he sure as hell knew everything now.

“Dumbledore left me a pensieve it tells the whole lot, it exonerates you for when the war is over, but Dumbledore didn’t know everything. It can only be unlocked by a close relative, only someone linked to you by blood can release it, and if this war drags on much longer I won’t be around to do it, we have no choice Sevvy, I’ll not see you go to Askaban, or Kissed. You have to find my grandson and bring him here to see me.”

Severus had made tea. He watched Eileen, blow on the hot brew and cup it in both her hands perhaps, trying to warm herself. Draco had crept nearer and now perched in the corner of the sofa, with a mug of his own.

Severus nearly felt sorry for him. But then again if it had not been for this odious little snot, Albus would still be alive, and they would have a chance of winning this war. And if Severus hadn’t saved his life like he had then at least he would still have been in The Dark Lord’s favour, well maybe he would Voldemort was completely mad now, there was no telling what he was going to do anymore. No one deserved a fate like the one that the evil wizard had set aside for the Malfoy heir, not that he thought Draco thanked him for his life. But he had promised Narcissa, and now they were bound together, so where Severus went Draco went and that was that.

Eileen had something in her hand, it must have been tucked beside her in her chair, but she held it out for him to look at.

“This is the only photo I have of them son,” she was saying, “Rosie sent it, just before she died. Severus stood and walked over to his mother and looked at what she was showing him. It was a muggle photograph, it didn’t move. It showed a red haired woman holding a tiny baby. Her eyes were dancing with joy; Severus could see that even in this flat, motionless thing, just like they had so often in life. And in her arms she held a child, a baby boy with a shock of dark hair, and eyes already as green as the eyes of the woman who held him. Eileen’s grandson. Severus’ nephew. Harry Potter.