An Unlikely Savior ~ (Edit) COMPLETED

Chapter 37 ~ Wisdom from the Strangest Places

”Now, do you mind telling me what you’re doing here, Odessa, and in my robe and house slippers?” Snape asked her.

”I’ll tell you if you tell me what the last thing you remember doing last night is?” she replied.

Snape winced a little.

”Having a drink,” he said.

Odessa nodded.

“You had a few drinks, Severus. You bellowed for me as if you owned me. People heard you from one end of Knockturn Alley to the other,” the prostitute told him. “And when I came, it was clear to see you’d drank too much. So I closed up your shop and brought you home.”

”Bellowed for you? Closed my shop?” Snape repeated, staring at the witch.

”I counted down your cash drawer and took out my fee of three Galleons. I wrote everything out precisely, don’t worry. I’m a hooker, not a thief. Everything will be in order when you get back.”

”I see,” Snape said, letting his eyes drift over Odessa’s curves in his house robe. “Did we—er—“

Odessa snorted a laugh.

”You weren’t in any condition to do anything other than pass out. Now that, you did.”

”Oh, well my apologies for wasting your time,” he told her as she walked up to him.

”I didn’t mind. I got to have a good night’s sleep in a nice, clean bed with a decent wizard lying beside me. I don’t get that very often,” she told him with a smile. “I hung around so I could help you get back to par. I don’t think you deal with hangovers very often.”

”I don’t,” Snape admitted. “I doubt if I have any sober-up potion. I’ve never had need of it. I usually only have one or two Firewhiskeys.”

”Well, you certainly were turning up the bottle last night. What happened that made you tie one on?” Odessa asked him conversationally as she walked by him and into his bedroom. Snape followed, watching her dig around in her little clutch purse. She took something out.

Odessa wasn’t close to him, but she had ears and was very discreet. Because of her work, she had to be. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to talk to her.

”My daughter betrayed me,” he said dramatically.

Odessa stared at him.

”Who? Your daughter? Eileen? Oh, come on,” the witch said, walking up to him and pressing something into his hand.

Snape looked down. She’d given him a Bezoar.

”I haven’t been poisoned,” he said to the witch.

”Muggle studies show that the effects of alcohol are just like poison. When you drink, it kills brain cells so it can’t be all that good for you. Plus it dehydrates both the brain and the body. Try the Bezoar. You’ll feel much better, better than you would with sober-up potion.”

Snape studied the Bezoar, then popped it into his mouth, holding it there. Surprisingly, it worked. He felt fine. He took the stone out of his mouth.

”This could put sober-up potion out of business,” he mused.

”Just a trick of the trade,” Odessa said, flicking her wand at the Bezoar and sterilizing it while still in his hand. Then she took it. “I use a Bezoar when my customers pass out before paying me. I try to get paid first, but it’s not always that easy. Now, what’s this about Eileen betraying you? She’d never do that. She loves you.”

Odessa had seen Eileen grow up and how close she and her father were. Eileen wouldn’t turn on her father anymore than she’d cut off her own head.

“Well, she has, and it’s all her mother’s fault,” he said sullenly.

”Oh, this sounds like a good one,” Odessa said to the wizard. “Why don’t you go shower and I’ll make us a bit of nosh and you can tell me all about it. I know Eileen, and it’ll be good to get it off your chest. Better than drowning yourself in Firewhiskey. I listen to wizard’s problems all the time. It’s part of my—service. I’m better than a therapist. Go on, get in the shower.”

”Won’t that cut into your ‘working’ hours?” he asked her.

”Work’s been slow lately. Lots of competition out there. Younger, fresher hookers. I’ve been around a while, Severus. The term ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ is a true one when it comes to prostitution. My best working hours are from Friday evening until Sunday morning. So, I’m not missing anything and I won’t have to stand around the alley all day for next to nothing.”

Severus stared at her for a moment.

”All right. I’ll shower and you cook. I hope your food is palatable,” he said, his mouth turning down a bit.

Odessa didn’t take offense.

”Oh, it’s fine. I used to cook for my fath—I was brought up cooking,” she said, a little hitch in her voice as she quickly amended her sentence. Snape caught it however, and wondered why she’d altered it.

He didn’t say anything else but walked into the bathroom and closed the door.

Odessa dressed quickly, made up the bed and placed his robe neatly in the wardrobe. Then she walked into the kitchen, and looked around to see what he had. There were eggs, tomatoes and bangers in the cooler, and of course, tea in the cabinet. She set about cooking as Raucous flew in and eyed her puttering around the kitchen. He squawked at her as she put the bangers into the sizzling pan.

She looked up at the raven.

”Want a banger?” she asked him.

Raucous nodded and she dropped in another.

”There you go,” she said to the raven with a smile.

Raucous was quite taken with Odessa. She was one of the few Knockturn Alley regulars that he didn’t dive-bomb, and it’s because she would talk to Eileen sometimes, and was quite nice to her. And honest.

When Eileen asked her what she did for a living, Odessa told her men paid her for her company.

”That sounds like an easy job,” the little girl told her. She couldn’t have been more than seven.

”Not too easy, Eileen,” Odessa said with a sad look on her face.

Eileen then went and told her father about the easy job Odessa had. Snape had been rather shocked, then Eileen explained she ‘kept men company.’ He mentally wiped his brow, glad Odessa had been ‘delicate’ in her explanation. At least she hadn’t lied to the child.

Snape delicately explained to Eileen that what Odessa did had to do with sex, and it wasn’t the kind of job that was good, but he didn’t put the witch down. He basically said she provided a service, but there were much better jobs for witches.

So, Eileen had always known what Odessa was, but she didn’t judge her for it. Her dad didn’t seem to do it, so she followed his example. And he never ran Odessa off when she chatted with his daughter like he did others he deemed unsavory. But, he wouldn’t engage the prostitute often because he didn’t want Eileen to know he was using her services. So they had a couple of quick engagements. Odessa really liked the wizard in her way. He wasn’t married, had a good business and he took care of his daughter.

Odessa used to watch Severus closely with Eileen. She had her reasons. She had grown up in a single parent family too. But her father was nothing like Snape, nothing like Snape. They were close—too close. At the age of sixteen she came up pregnant and he took her out of Hogwarts, railing at her about being a slut when he had fathered her child. He forced her to take a potion that killed the baby and destroyed her uterus. She was nearly dead when she was finally taken to St. Mungo’s and her father disappeared, fearing she would expose him. He was found dead six month later, his throat cut.

He had left her nothing, and she didn’t have the tuition to return to school, and at sixteen wasn’t old enough to fend for herself. Without money or family she had to count on the kindness of strangers, and men were willing to be kind, give her money to be with them. Once she fell into that life, it was hard to get out of it. She never did. She became smarter, but she was what she was.

She used to watch Snape because she knew the signs of a child molester, and she planned to turn him in if she saw anything untoward pass between him and his daughter. He was very solitary, not very friendly and kept Eileen close. One evening she looked in the window and saw him dancing with her, a smirk on his face as she laughed at the measured steps and he patiently taught her how to waltz. Then he bowed and kissed the back of her little hand, and Eileen curtsied.

Odessa had tears in her eyes at the obvious and healthy love Severus Snape showed his daughter. No, he was one of the good ones.

Snape entered the kitchen led by his nose and sat down at the table as Odessa served breakfast. It was surprisingly good.

”I don’t see why you couldn’t be a cook, Odessa,” he said to the witch as a compliment.

”I’m recognized in a lot of establishments. It’s hard enough to eat in them, much less work in them. Stigma, you know. I recognize a lot of people too, and they’d rather not see me, if you know what I mean. Especially if they’re with their wives. Anyway—enough about me. Tell me about Eileen,” Odessa said.

So, over tea Snape explained everything to Odessa, from conceiving her to last night’s incident, the prostitute listening intently, her mouth pursing from time to time, and eyebrows rising and falling. She shook her head a lot too. When Snape finished, he looked at her, feeling a lot lighter.

”My, you certainly wanted a child, didn’t you?” Odessa said to him.

”Very much,” Snape replied. “But I never thought Eileen would turn against me.”

Odessa snorted.

”But Severus, she hasn’t turned against you, silly.”

Snape glowered at her. Silly? Did she just call him silly?

”Eileen’s sixteen. She’s becoming an adult now. That clash was going to come whether she knew her mother or not. It’s just nature,” Odessa said lightly. “You’re just used to being the lawmaker. Well, she knows all the laws now, and she’s making her own and it’s trial and error. You’re going to have to give her space.”

”But she blatantly disobeyed me, deceived me!”

”Kids do that, Severus. Even the well-raised ones. That doesn’t mean she’s abandoned you. How did she react when you walked off?”

”She was calling me,” he said in a heavy voice. “Telling me to come back. But I didn’t want to come back.”

”So you stormed off like a little child,” Odessa said to him. “A martyr.”

Snape frowned at her.

”I certainly did not!” he declared, pounding the table with his fist. Odessa didn’t blink.

”Yes you did, then you sulked. Downed nearly a whole bottle of Firewhiskey because you felt sorry for yourself.”

”I did not.”

“You did. You know what you told me when I arrived? That you were in need of my services because you were lonely. And you said it so sadly it just tugged at my heart, Severus. I couldn’t leave you that way. You were absolutely miserable.”

Snape didn’t say anything. He still felt miserable. Suddenly, he felt Odessa’s hand on his.

”Severus, do you love your daughter?” she asked him, already knowing the answer.

”Of course I do,” he said quietly.

”Then you have to understand this, and listen to me. You’ve always been there for Eileen. You’ve been a good father and she loves you just as much as you love her. It was just the two of you for the longest. You’ve been the most influential person in her life. That’s not something that can just be tossed away. You’re a part of her, Severus, and will always be. But she’s growing up and you’re going to have to give her a little leeway. She’s finding out about her mum and her world had gotten a lot bigger. But there’s still space for you. There’s always going to be space for you. Last night, it was you who turned away from your daughter, not the other way around. You were the one who walked away. Never walk away from the ones you love,” Odessa said, her eyes glistening.

If only she’d had a father like Severus—

“You need to talk to your daughter and tell her how you feel, what your fears are and your hopes. Just let her know that you still want to be important to her. I know it’s hard but you can’t close her out. Now’s the time to open up. And you need to accept her mum in her life as well. Get together with her and find a middle ground so you can both care for Eileen but work together so she isn’t divided in her loyalties. The work’s not over, Severus. If you’re a good dad, it will never be over.”

“Have you ever had children, Odessa?” Snape asked her.

Odessa’s eyes glistened a little.

”No, I never have. But I had a dad—a bad one. I know what a bad dad is, Severus, and mine was the worst. When I was little, I cooked and cleaned for him like a slave, and when I got my period—the relationship changed for the worst. I used to dream about what a good dad would be like, and—he would have been a lot like you. You have something special with your daughter. Don’t mess it up because she wanted to go to her first ball.”

Odessa removed her hand from his and wiped her eyes as Snape looked at her.

”I’m sorry,” he said softly.

Odessa shrugged.

”That’s just how it was, Severus. Not everyone is as lucky as Eileen, or as you.”

Snape had never thought of himself as lucky. But he was fortunate to have Eileen in his life. And, she really was a good daughter. She’d gone all this time without getting a single detention. Yes, she had manipulated both him and Hermione, but right now, that seemed like such a small offense compared to years of love and obedience. He looked at Odessa.

”Thank you,” he said to her.

He meant it.

”You’re welcome, Severus,” she said with a soft smile. “Well, I guess I’d better go. I’m done here.”

Snape watched as Odessa gathered up the breakfast dishes and put them into the sink, then used her wand to wash them. Finished, she walked to the front door and started to put on her traveling cloak, Snape standing in the living room, watching her.

She was just about to tie it around her throat when Snape said, “Would you mind staying for a few more hours, Odessa? I’ll pay you for your time.”

Odessa looked at the wizard, at his eyes. He was still feeling lonely.

”I’m not going to make this go away, Severus. You’re going to have to talk to your daughter,” she told him softly.

”No, you won’t make it go away, Odessa, but you can give me respite and maybe comfort,” he said softly. “Stay.”

“But, what about the shop?”

”I own it. I can take a day off if I wish to, and I wish to,” Snape replied.

Odessa studied him for a moment. He really was a decent man, and his asking her to stay made this feel like more than a trick and him, more than a customer. She didn’t get to feel that way often. Like a human being rather than a hooker.

”All right, I’ll stay—but kinky things are extra,” she said, removing her cloak.

Snape smirked.

”Of course,” he replied.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.