The Upper Hand

Pale sunlight streamed through the tiny windows in the Leaky Cauldron, catching the dust that floated restlessly through the air and giving it a millisecond's glory before it passed back into the dingy darkness. Cups clinked against scrubbed wooden tables and the pub was filled with the chatter of those who were waiting for company.

Severus sat alone at a table in the corner, one leg curled under him as he waited for Charity. A table of girls his age tittered and giggled in the center of the pub, many of them occasionally looking his way. He smiled to himself. That's what he liked about strangers. When they didn't know him, they thought he was absolutely breathtaking. Then they got closer, discovered his bitter cynicism and the rate at which his skin produced oil, and instantly backed off. The waitress's shoes clicked over to him and she smiled down at him, asking him what he'd like to drink.

"No thanks," said Severus, waving his hand at her. "I'm just waiting for someone."

She scowled at him, her expression clearly stating that if he wasn't going to spend any money, he shouldn't be taking up table space. She said nothing, however, and soon bustled off to another table demanding service.

Momentarily, the door to the leaky cauldron squeaked open. Severus grinned, watching her search for him amidst the tables of prattling witches and wizards. Eventually, she spotted his table in the shadows, smiled, and walked over.

"Should have known," she said, plunking herself down on the seat across from him. (The table of girls was suddenly silent, watching her closely with narrowed eyes and looking horribly disappointed.) "Dark, silent table in the corner. Where else would you be?"

The waitress quickly swooped over again.

"Anything to drink, miss?"

"Erm..." she said, biting her lip and peering into her purse.

"Get what you want," Severus said. "I'll cover you if you don't have enough."

She blushed, but said to the waitress, "I'll have a small butterbeer, thanks."

"No problem, dear," and she clip-clopped away again.

Severus took a moment just to admire his best friend as she pulled some coins out of her purse and began to count them. Dark eyelashes fringed her equally dark eyes, pointing down to the money she counted. Her long, thin fingers separated coins into small piles. She bit her lip, dark brown hair flopping out from behind her ear and into her face. She brushed it away impatiently; then paused, looking up at him.

"Sev."

"Hmm?"

"You're freaking me out."

"Fabulous."

She smirked and scooped the money back into her purse as her butterbeer was set down in front of her.

"That will be three knuts," the waitress said, holding out her hand. Before Charity could fish three knuts out of her severely unorganized purse, Severus pulled the money out of his pocket and placed it in the waitress's hand.

"Thank you, sir," she said, acting much warmer to Severus now that he had deducted from the weight of his pockets.

"You didn't have to do that," Charity scowled at him. He shrugged.

""Not my money anyway. It's Father's, and I could care less what it goes for. Ready to go?"

"Sure," she said, slinging her purse over her shoulder and grabbing up her bottle. They made their way to the back door and out into the alley. Severus pulled out his wand, tapped the bricks, and they were in.

They got the necessities taken care of first, and quickly. They went to Flourish and Blott's to get their books, the Apothecary for required potion ingredients (from which Charity had to drag Severus: "Look, they sell that stuff plus tons more down Knockturn, and it's about five time cheaper, now come on!"), got their parchment and quills, and finally headed down to Knockturn Alley for more....interesting supplies.

The Apothecary at the end of Knockturn Alley was definitely more satisfactory than the one in Diagon Alley. Potion ingredients here were usually much more potent, and the making of them was not supervised or managed by the Ministry, so they sold for less.

Severus ran his pale fingers over the row of alphabetized jars along one wall, stopping and tapping his fingertips on the glass of one. It was a large jar reading "Pickled Mutated Grindylowe Loins." His lips curled up unpleasantly, and he pulled the jar off of the shelf.

"Mutated Grindylowe loins?" said Charity, crinkling up her nose. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"That means we're getting it," grinned Severus, adding it to the collection in the small cauldron he was also planning to buy.

"You don't need a jar that big!"

"You don't need a mouth that big, either, Char, but I don't say anything."

She scowled at him. Severus then waited impatiently as Charity finished making her meager selections. Then they walked up to the counter together.

Severus plunked his cauldron down on the counter.

"Well, well, well," wheezed the witch as she began ringing up his purchase. "Up to a lot of spending today, are we?"

"Yes," said Severus, winning a silent tug-of-war he'd been having with Charity on the other side of the counter, wrenching her jars out of her hands and placing them on the counter next to his cauldron. "We most certainly are."

"Um, Sev...?"

He smiled cheekily at her, and pushed her jars toward the witch.

"Sev!"

"I told you, it's not my money anyway, it's Father's, and--"

"No...That's not what I...!"

"--I don't give a damn how much I spend--"

"Good to know my son respects the origins of his money," snapped a deep voice behind Severus.

He whipped around, back instantly rigid as a board, and stared up at his father. Senan Snape smiled spitefully down at his son, and seemed about to make a chastising remark, when his eyes slid over to Charity.

"What are you doing here...I mean, I didn't know you were home..." babbled Severus uselessly.

"Yes," said Senan smoothly, his eyes still on Charity, who looked horribly nervous. "I came home from my duties in Austria last night, but apparently you were too daft to notice, hmmm? Then I discovered one of my private, important books missing...and found it in my likewise missing son's chambers. I then opened my safe and found that I was missing money. Naturally, I came to buy some potion ingredients for an assignment I'm due to start working on, and find my missing son frivolously spending my missing money on unnecessary purchases most likely inspired by my missing book?"

"I'm sorry, sir--"

"Don't bother, Severus. I wouldn't expect anything better out of you...And who is this?"

Severus's fear increased tenfold. "This...This is..erm..."

"Ch-Charity," she stuttered, holding out her hand. "N-nice to meet you, Mister Snape."

He laughed, a deep, sarcastic drawl, and then took her hand. She gripped her fingers around his hand as if expecting to shake it, but instead Senan drew it up to his lips and kissed it, keeping his dark eyes on hers at all times.

"I'm glad Severus has at least managed to make a friend so...worthy as yourself, Charity. And that would be Charity...?"

"Uh, Charity Meisner," she said, attempting to pull her hand back from his in a subtle manner. Severus flinched as she said her last name, and Charity glanced questioningly at him. Her eyes flew back to Senan as his hand closed around her fingers tightly, crunching them together. She looked as though she was trying hard not to wince, but failed miserably.

"Meisner? I don't believe I've heard the name before....What House would you be in, Charity Meisner?"

"Ravenclaw," she replied promptly, and Severus positively blanched.

His fingers finally released hers and his eyes darkened frighteningly. "Ah, Ravenclaw," he smirked, glancing minutely at Severus, who was biting his lip. "The House for the intelligent ones of...unfortunate circumstances."

Severus tensed as Charity looked questioningly at him again, confused.

"Un-unfortunate circumstances, sir?" she ventured.

He only smiled at her. "Tell me, Charity, what is your favorite main course?"

She blinked. "Er..."

"Well it's only proper that I invite my son's friend home for dinner," he said silkily, smiling wider. "I've only just met you, and I'm dying to know all about you..."

"She can't," said Severus quickly. "She can't...her...mother doesn't--"

"She can owl her mother," Senan said firmly. "I'm sure she wouldn't mind. I'll see you both for dinner, then. Shall we meet in the Dining Hall at approximately...six o'clock?"

They both just stared at him.

"Six o'clock it is. Good day to you, Miss Meisner," he smirked at her last name slightly. Then he glared for an instant at his son, and swept out of the shop without another word.

Severus didn't like this. There was just something not right about the way his father had responded...He heard a mutter behind him but ignored it...

"SIX GALLEONS!" Snapped the witch for the third time, and Severus jumped, grabbed a handful of gold coins from his pocket, and slammed them down on the counter. He grabbed his cauldron in one arm, shoved Charity's jars at her with the other, and stormed out of the Apothecary.

"Wait...Sev! Slow down!" snapped Charity, practically jogging along beside him to match his long-legged stride. His actions flew to the other end of the spectrum, and he stopped dead. Charity ran into him, almost dropping her jars. "What the hell is your problem???" she snarled.

"You have to go home," he said, a wild expression in his eyes as he looked at her. "You have to go home now."

"What...No! Why do I have to go home?"

"Because you can't come over for dinner. You're going to go home, and I'm going to tell Father that you owled your mother but she said you couldn't come--"

"Maybe I want to come."

He blinked at her. "You don't."

"Why not?"

"My father is not...erm...a companionable host."

"I don't care. I want to see your house."

"Manor, Char, it's a manor. A big, dark, evil-looking manor with gargoyles and angry people living inside it who don't take well to company!"

"Your father didn't seem to mind me."

Severus paused. "I know. That's what seemed so...wrong. He's not...He wouldn't normally..."

"I'm coming."

"NO."

"Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yesyesyesyesyes. And it's five thirty, so we'd better get moving." She elbowed in front of him and started walking briskly toward Diagon Alley.

Severus lagged behind her for a moment, watching her walk, and moaned. "Not. Smart."

There was only one word to describe dinner that night. No, actually there were quite a few: awkward, unnerving, stiff, uncomfortable, dismal, and a plethora of other selective expressions. It was mostly spent in silence, with Severus and Charity sitting on one side of the gargantuan table and Senan Snape sitting on the other side, staring unrelentingly at Charity as she ate. Consequentially, she didn't eat much.

There was occasional conversation, either triggered by sudden and irrational remarks that burst out of Charity when she floundered under Senan's stare, or by Senan himself. Severus remained silent.

"So tell me, Charity, how did you and my son meet?"

Charity's eyes widened and she looked straight over at Severus. Always good at cloaking his emotions, Severus stared stonily back at her, shrugging impassively and unhelpfully. Praying she'd say the right thing.

"We...uh...we were partners in Potions in our fifth year," she said quickly. "And we were both pretty good at it, and I guess we just...got to be friends..."

"I see," said Senan, leaning back in his chair. "Severus's fifth year was certainly an interesting one, wasn't it Severus?"

Severus stared determinedly down at his plate, twisting his napkin into grotesque shapes under the table. "Interesting year," he mumbled.

"We rather enjoyed it, didn't we, Severus?" Senan smiled coldly, Charity bit her lip, and Severus's thick cloth napkin was quietly ripped in two.

There was more silence for a while.

"What do your parents do for a living, Charity?"

Severus closed his eyes, waiting for the verbal blow that was sure to come.

"My father is...a-a pharmacist, and my mother is a florist," said Charity quietly.

"Ah, born to the Muggle world, eh?" chuckled Senan without a trace of bitterness. "Well, I daresay the wizarding world will have much better uses for you...yes, much better uses..." He smiled strangely at her, his thoughts obviously in some distant place.

That remark drove the rest of the evening into silence. Severus watched carefully as his father continued staring at his best friend, and his best friend determinedly stared anywhere but at his father. He watched as her dark eyes began to take in the cold world that was his home.

The entirety of the Snape Manor seemed like a dungeon. Even the Dining Hall, being one of the most glorified rooms, had a cold, white marble floor and stone walls. There were hardly any decorations; a tapestry here and there. The wall space was predominately taken up by large torches set evenly into brackets along the each wall. Their flickering light was all the light provided in the place, and there were hardly any windows.

It was pretty much just as Severus had described it: a big, dark, evil-looking place with gargoyles. Lots of gargoyles...even inside. Made for nasty surprises when you turned a corner and came face to face with an unexpected one. What made things worse was that the gargoyles seemed to have a mind of their own. They didn't move visibly, like the staircases at Hogwarts, but their facial expressions changed from time to time and they showed up in different places every day. You could be looking at one, blink, and quite suddenly be looking at an empty corridor.

As dinner finally came to a close, Senan stood. Charity jumped as Severus shot up from his seat as well, hastily mirroring his father's actions. Looking uncertain, Charity also got to her feet.

"It's been lovely having you, Charity Meisner," said Senan with a hint of a sneer that only Severus caught. "When will your mother be picking you up?"

"P-picking me...up...?" asked Charity, her eyes widening. "I'm terribly sorry, but I thought--"

"Thought we'd be taking you home?" Senan said cordially, after letting her stand in silence and wait for his response for a long moment.

"Yes...b-but I can owl her..."

"No, no, no, we can't be bothering your mother at this late an hour, can we?" said Senan abruptly. "I simply expected her to pick you up, and you simply expected me to take you home." He smiled at her, and Severus could see her tense nervously.

"It's not a problem. I'd be glad to take you home. Severus, go call for the carriage."

"I can take her home, Father, I know where she--"

"I said, call for the carriage, Severus," Senan snapped. "You will stay here."

Severus stared at his father.

"Now."

Severus flinched, but silently pushed his chair in and left the table. He hurried down the main corridor, hating to leave Charity in such an awkward situation with his father. Why wouldn't his father just let Severus take her home?

Severus reached the end of the corridor, where the door to his father's chambers was, and turned left. He broke into a run down that corridor, bursting out the door at the end and into the night.

"SKIPPY!" he bellowed. Within moments a high-strung house elf sprinted up.

"Yes, Master Severus, sir?"

"Get the carriage ready."

"Yes sir!" And the little elf was off. So was Severus.

He sprinted back down the hall, turned right, and ran back to the Dining Hall. They were still standing there, like statues. Charity was blushing and wringing her hands, looking down at her plate, and Senan was staring at her with a half smile on his face.

"The carriage...should be ready..." Severus panted.

Senan looked up at his son. "Good." He walked around to the other side of the table and held out his arm to Charity. "Shall we?" She smiled uncomfortably and took his arm.

"Get the elves to clean this up, Severus," Senan called back as he and Charity walked past Severus. "Then go to your chambers."

"Bye, Sev," Charity whispered as she walked past.

He watched as she and his father walked out into the corridor and turned.

"Bye," he whispered after she was gone.

Severus didn't sleep well that night. He tossed and turned in the dark, hoping that Charity made it home all right, and wondering what on earth his father was playing at.

At least it was quiet, he thought at around three thirty in the morning, as he finally drifted off to sleep. Good thing, really, living in a manor like this. Everything was spaced so far apart that you couldn't hear a thing that went on outside your own chambers.