Just Around the Riverbend

All rightie. A few of you were interested to see what Snape would do to Cole's 'father-in-law' so I added that to the beginning of this chapter. I think I'll do a bit of fast forwarding in the next chapter, but I wanted to go ahead and add this and the next part, as they're both crucial for the next part of plot. So enjoy. Srsly.

chrisdavis
katty
Greeneyes1992
Alina - Severus went to put the fear of God into Abigail's boyfriend. THe one who was whipping poor little Cole with a switch in Ch. 44, I think. It was a pretty emotionally charged chap.
HarryGinny4Eva - I just thought the DE robes were a way to 'hide' behind what he was about to do, which was revenge. It was really more symbolic than necessary per say, but meh, there you have it.
gypsy-rhodes
Serin Blackmoon - Just....just hold on to that. ^~^
April
Jillianspuzzlebox - Whoa. Well, I'm not writing this from experience. I just researched how often a pregnant woman should go to the doctor, and the first site I went to said once a month until about the sixth month. Was yours just a regular pregnancy? I plan on keeping Hermione low-risk. I don't think poor Lucius' heart could stand a complicated pregnancy. And we need his hear to keep pumping. All that blood has a special place it needs to be able to get to. ^_^ Oh! Also, it wasn't that Cole didn't know Hermione. I confused everyone there, I suppose. I had a neice who called everyone 'lady' and 'man' for YEARS. I should have said 'the' lady instead of 'a' lady. Hope that clears it up.
AMD2175 - Cute.
angeles
Cilly - *gushes*
hairsprayX12
HannahBanana - Just...keep....reading, darling. Just keep reading. 0_o


Okay...I noticed something. All of you are expecting Harry to rip Draco's pants off at any moment, or vice versa. Um...it's not that I don't find those stories terribly sexy when they're written well, it's just that...I don't know how to write them well. With the two specific personalities I have for my Draco, and my Harry, I don't think it will work. Sorry, my little smut-crazed peeps.

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Severus appeared silently on the stoop of the tiny house, sneering in disgust at the ratty yard. It was apparent that no one did any work around here. He straightened himself to full height, and smoothed down the front of his robes. He had made a promise to himself never to put them on again, but for this, he found they gave him the strength to do something he would have had too much self control to do otherwise.

In his normal robes, he would have just stayed away from this house, and the despicable creature inside. But in these robes, he wasn’t Severus Snape, Potions Master. He was Severus Snape, Death Eater, and he could take his revenge without guilt.

He became smoke again, and filtered underneath the door, rematerializing on the other side. There was a television blaring in the main room, and he could smell filth and alcohol. He walked slowly and quietly, looking at the crooked pictures on the wall. There were some of Abigail, the pretty dark-haired witch he’d met in the bar that fateful night. There were also some of her and the man he’d seen in Cole’s memory. There were no photographs of Cole anywhere. He slipped silently into a hallway, past the entrance to the room with the TV, and entered a bedroom.

It was Cole’s old bedroom, and the state of it made Severus cringe. There was a small crib in the corner, with several of the bars snapped or broken. Those broken pieces of wood could have easily gouged an eye out, if they were broken when Cole slept there. There were no toys in the room, and it smelled of staleness and mildew.

On a small dresser were a few items. A broken-tooth comb, a little binky, and one single framed photograph of Abigail and Cole. The boy couldn’t have been more than a few months old, and was positioned at the camera, with his mother waving his little hand at the taker of the picture. He reached out and picked up the frame. He carefully popped off the back, and withdrew the photograph to save for his son.

He opened the dresser, and frowned when he only found a few dirty shirts, and a few pair of pants that would have been too small for Cole now. He slipped from the room with no sound, and entered the only other bedroom in the hall. It was the master bedroom. It was poorly decorated, with a threadbare quilt on the bed, and clothing strewn everywhere. The closet was open, and Severus could see that there were still women’s clothes inside, but the majority of the clothing was male. His attention was caught by a picture of Abigail standing by herself. It was a Muggle picture, and didn’t move, but she was smiling. He took this picture as well, and tucked it safely away with the other photo.

He left the room, heading for the main room where the television still blared. The smell of alcohol was strong here. Some sort of raunchy comedy was playing on the television, and a gruff laugh made him pause. It was coming from the other side of the sofa. He needed a distraction. He pulled his wand, and began flicking his wrist while saying a silent spell in his head. The magic moving through him started to interfere with the electricity in the room, and the television began to flicker, as well as the single lamp. He finished his spell with a downward sweep of his hand, and the lightbulb in the lamp blew at the same time the television went off.

“Damn power!” said the voice. There was a noise of exertion as the man got up from the couch, and the clinking of several bottles as he moved. Severus stood perfectly still behind the couch, and the drunken slob didn’t even look his way. Severus followed him into the kitchen, watching as he went to a little grey box on the wall. It had been years since Severus had seen one of those. What were they called again? Breaking Boxes? They controlled the electricity to the house.

He opened the box and flipped several of the little black switches, but nothing happened.

“Bloody, buggering, fucking, hell-damned, shit!” the man cursed.

“Did you speak that way with a woman and child in the house?”

The man whirled, took one look at Snape, and went for the kitchen door. With a wave of his wand, the door was locked and bolted. The man looked at him.

“I knew that little bitch and her spawn would cause nothing but trouble. I only regret she didn’t drown him like I suggested after the first freaky accident!” the man snapped. Severus moved forward as if floating on smoke, and grabbed the man’s shirt in one hand, slamming him into the locked door.

“That ‘spawn’ is my son!” he hissed. The color drained from the man’s face.

“Abigail was mine!” the man blurted. “I had her first! We were happy together! When she got pregnant, I thought the child was mine…she never dissuaded me…” he was shivering as he spoke, the dark look in Snape’s black eyes was chilling him. “When the boy was born, I knew immediately he wasn’t mine. Abby had dark hair, but it wasn’t black. And neither was mine. And he had black eyes, for Christ’s sake! Who the hell has black eyes?” he snarled. Then he flushed, and gave a nervous laugh. “His real dad, apparently. Then the boy started doing strange things. He turned his water into milk, his milk into orange juice, and his orange juice into coffee. Had a right time getting him to bed that day.

Abby said it was magic. Said she was a witch, and the boy’s real father was a wizard. I didn’t want that in my house. I tried to get him to stop that devilry. But he wouldn’t, so I would punish him for it.”

“He’s one!” Severus snapped. “What he was doing was called accidental magic, as in he couldn’t help it!” here Severus threw the man to the floor, and pointed his wand at him.

“I took Abby’s wand. Hid it from her, and told her she would lead by example. If she didn’t do magic maybe the boy wouldn’t. The day she died…on that damned flying carpet, she had left me. She was going to take the boy and go live with her mother in Greece. She didn’t have any money for one of those teleporting items…she rented a flying carpet for next to nothing. The authorities told me she was trying to learn to drive it, and it threw her off. She died when she hit the ground. They asked me if I wanted to keep the boy, and I told them to either find his real dad or throw him in an orphanage.”

Dark magic was sparkling around the tip of Severus’ wand. Oh, he longed to throw an Unforgivable at this worthless Muggle. Something long-buried had awakened in him, and it was taking all he had to tamp it down. The Cruciatus was on the tip of his tongue.

“Where did you hide her wand?” Severus asked, trying to distract himself.

“I hid it under a floorboard in the bedroom. Look, don’t kill me…I just wanted the lad to be normal….” Severus zapped him with the sharp jolt of an electrical spell, and the man yelped.

“He is normal!” he snarled. The man began to sob helplessly. This was no infant wizardling he was dealing with. This was a fully grown, fully pissed off wizard with a pretty good reason to hurt him. Damn that bitch-witch for pulling him into her world. Snape narrowed his fathomless black eyes at the sobbing man, and his wand found a mark at the man’s head. “Alucinor Malum.” he hissed. The man felt the spell wash over him, like a wave of cold from opening the freezer. When he opened his eyes again, the wraith-like Snape was gone.

Snape made a pit-stop in the bedroom to retrieve Abigail’s wand from the hidden floorboard, before he left the house. He stopped by his own place to rid himself of the Death Eater robes, and put away the photographs and Abigail’s wand. If she had no family to give it to, he would save it to give to Cole as a memento of a mother he’d never know.

He felt as if he should have done more to that sniveling bastard. The spell he cast would haunt the man every time he closed his eyes. He would see his worst fears in his nightmares every night until the counter-curse was applied, or until he went mad. He’d go mad before Severus applied the counter-curse.

He slipped on some plain black robes, and stashed the Death Eater robes in the hiding place. He kept them only to remind himself of the sins of his past, so that he was less likely to repeat them. And for covert operations like today, of course. He grabbed a handful of gritty green Floo powder, and threw it into the flames of the fireplace.

“Malfoy Manor!”

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Hermione awoke to the feeling of something warm and wet on her face. She opened her eyes, and saw a giraffe in front of her. She jumped a bit, and looked down to see Cole watching her with a little smile on his face.

“’Raffe. ‘Raffe.” He said, and then pulled back the giraffe to hug it. Hermione sat up slightly, and smiled at the little boy. Then she reached up to run her hand over his black hair.

“You’re a cutie.” She said. He grinned at her, showing his little white teeth. So far as Hermione could tell, he had most of his teeth in. He seemed to be a fast grower. She wondered if her own child would grow as fast. And that brought up all sorts of complicated feelings. She wasn’t prepared for this. She didn’t know what to expect. She hadn’t planned anything.

She hadn’t realized she was crying until she gave an involuntary sniffle. Cole tilted his head slightly.

Why was the lady crying? He remembered mummy crying sometimes after the mean man would hit her. Maybe if he touched her like he used to touch mummy, and like mummy used to touch him when the mean man would use the stingy wish...

Cole reached up and put his hands on Hermione’s face, and wiped away her tears. “No.” he said. Hermione looked at the little boy in shock, before another sniffle escaped her. “No.” he said again, frowning. Hermione blinked away her tears, looking at Cole with a bit of surprise. How very smart he was… “Otay.” He added, before leaning forward and hugging her. She gave a half-laugh, half-sob, and put her hand on Cole’s back. What a sweetie.

Maybe she didn’t have to plan to the extent she was used to. Maybe this wasn’t something that could be planned for like she was used to planning. Snape hadn’t planned to have this little one, hadn’t even planned anything either, and the two of them were just fine. Cole was turning into a wonderful little boy, and Snape even seemed to be loosening up a bit. This one little boy had brightened her whole prospect on this pregnancy in the span of a few minutes. She reached up with her free hand to wipe her eyes, and Cole pulled back to look at her suspiciously, as if he were expecting her to be crying again.

“No, sweet, I’m not crying any more. In fact, you’ve made me feel better than I have in a bit.” She said, and planted a kiss on his forehead. He laughed, and it was the most precious sound Hermione had heard in a very long time.

“Is everything all right, Miss Granger?”

She looked up to see Severus standing there, watching the two of them.

“Everything’s fine. I wasn’t feeling very good, and Cole made me feel better. He’s so sweet and well-behaved. I think he slept most of the time he was here. Why was he here, by the way?” she asked, rubbing Cole’s hair some more. He seemed to like the attention very much, but he still looked around to watch his daddy.

“I was brewing a very dangerous potion, with some caustic ingredients, and I didn’t want Cole in the house.” He said smoothly. Hermione smiled, and turned back to Cole. She put one arm around him suddenly, and pulled up his shirt to blow a raspberry on his tummy. He jumped, but giggled and wrapped his arms around Hermione’s head. Severus sneered without malice.

“How unsanitary.” He commented. Hermione blew another raspberry, and Cole giggled harder. Severus found it hard not to twitch a grin at his son.

“Are you wanting to go home with daddy?” Hermione asked Cole. Cole, still grinning, looked over at his daddy, as if expecting an answer.

“There’s no reason to leave immediately. He seems quite content to be drooled over by you, Miss Granger.” Severus replied. Hermione responded by blowing yet another raspberry on Cole’s tummy, and Severus had to turn his head to hide a grin when Cole giggled helplessly. Hermione stood up from the sofa, hitching Cole on her hip.

“I think I saw some Children’s books in here one day, Cole. Let’s see if we can find them.” She said.

“If it helps, Draco used to keep his books in the corner shelf over there, just by Lucius’ desk.” Severus said, pointing to a shelf in the corner. Hermione bounced her way over to the shelf, seeing the colorful bindings. She picked out a bright blue book, and Cole brightened even more when he saw a dancing giraffe on the front.

“’Raffe! ‘Raffe!” he gasped, and clapped. Hermione found a squishy chair nearby, and plopped herself and Cole into it, opening the large book to the first page.

“Geoffrey the Giraffe had a very special talent…” she started, and Cole paid rapt attention to the moving pictures of the often dancing giraffe. He hugged his own giraffe closer, and sometimes reached out to touch the animated pictures. Severus watched the two for a few moments, before he swept out of the room to find Lucius. He supposed he owed the blonde an explanation.

Imagine his surprise when he found him having tea with one Harry Potter, the bane of his own existence for several years. It appeared one of them had even cracked a joke, as both of them were chuckling when he entered the tea room. Harry looked up, those brilliant green eyes showing shock, then what appeared to be anger, and then neutrality, though not one muscle in his face twitched.

“Professor!” Harry said genially. Snape drew himself up again, and looked down his large nose at Harry.

“I haven’t been your Professor for years, thanks be to Merlin for that.” He returned. Harry actually gave a little grin.

“Still a snarky old grease-ball, eh?” Snape frowned at Harry, and looked him over.

“I see you’ve finally decided to make use of the money your father left you…” he returned. “It never did look appropriate for the great Harry Potter to walk around looking like the little orphan he really was.” Severus snapped. Harry tilted his head slightly.

“Ah, but it really was a brilliant strategy on my part, even if it wasn’t intentional. I mean, who would disbelief a poor, dirty little parentless child who saved the world as an infant? All I really needed to do is bat my eyelashes and I could have had the world on a golden platter. Good thing for all of you I was too ignorant for that.” Harry replied coolly. Snape narrowed his eyes.

“Mr. Potter has apparently decided to embrace his magical heritage, Severus. I must say it suits him much better.” Lucius said, remembering the ghost-eyed boy in ragged Muggle clothes that had stayed there previously. Snape fixed Harry with a frosty glare, and Harry met him evenly with his green gaze. Severus tried to slip into Harry’s mind unnoticed, but was surprised when barriers snapped down quickly, and he was unable to penetrate.

“That’s not a very sociable trait, Snape. People’s minds are their own business.” Harry said with a half-grin. Lucius frowned.

“Really, Severus. If you’re going to try to mind-rape people, at least don’t get caught. Didn’t you teach the lad Occlumency yourself?” Lucius asked, taking a sip of his tea.

“Yes, but then he was an abominable student. I only wonder what’s changed.” Severus said softly, eyeing Harry with interest.

“I’m not a defenseless little fifteen-year-old anymore, Snape. I grew up, and my powers grew as well. Besides, I never really learned anything from you. You were too busy fucking around in memories that had nothing to do with you.” Harry said calmly, and sipped his tea.

“I was trying to prepare you for an encounter with the Dark Lord. He wouldn’t have littered around in memories that you didn’t care about, you ungrateful little shit. He would have gone straight for the ones that mattered most, the ones that would have broken you.” Snape hissed. Lucius watched the two with interest. Harry only smiled eerily.

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you? The Great Spy. He spent enough time filtering about in your greasy thoughts. But you could hide your thoughts. You could fool Him, couldn’t you? You didn’t think that information was important enough to share with Harry Potter, though, did you? You didn’t feel like I needed to really know how to Occlude. You told me to close my mind, but you never told me how. You told me to throw you out, but you never explained anything. You stupid, greasy, two-faced bastard!” Harry snapped, and a glass sconce on the wall exploded.

“Mr. Potter….you are no longer my student. You are a fully grown wizard, capable of being hexed by another fully grown wizard. Don’t try your luck.” Severus snarled. Harry put down his tea cup, and stood from his seat.

“If you think you can, Snape, then by all means…But tell me: who do you think the Wizengamot will side with? Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, or Severus Snape, ex-Death Eater and murderer of Dumbledore?” Harry asked, lifting his arms to his side in question. Snape saw red, and went for his wand, but Harry’s was already in his hand, and he Disarmed Snape with a flick of his wrist.

Lucius’ suspicions returned tenfold. Harry Potter had been good with a wand, but never at non-verbal spells.
Harry sneered, and held Severus’ ebony wand in his hand. “Pity.” He mumbled. He walked directly up to the tall Potions Master, and thrust the wand into his hands. “You’ve fallen out of practice, Snape. Next time be sure you can back up those words, or I’ll have to rearrange your face for you, although it might be a welcome change…” Harry said. He turned back to Lucius, and tilted his head. “Thank you for the tea, Mr. Malfoy. I’ll just call on Hermione another day.” He said, and disappeared with a pop. Lucius stared at the spot where Harry had stood, a grave look on his face.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into that boy, but I don’t like it. Not one bit.”

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*Cues up Jaws theme* Hmm....some happy stuff, and some creepy stuff. I must say, I don't know where this shit comes from. I think it's a mixture of Chocolate and just plain bat-shit crazy. Ah well, whatever the cause, if you guys liked this chapter, I'd love to hear from you. The plot bunnies got plenty to eat last time, and in return I got a good chap out really quick. So just imagine what will happen if I get even MORE good review-carrots.....hmm...

You've read my chap, now review/rate/both. LUVZ. V_V