For Our Parents Willed So

For Our Parents Willed So

*

Explanations

*

"Really, Mother, come off it," Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "Sirius wouldn't have invited you over if it wasn't fine with the Malfoys, too. They merely want to show you that I'm perfectly safe there with my friends."

"I still don't know about it," Amanda Evans said, frowning a bit. "We would feel like intruders. It should be just you and your friends, it's Sirius's birthday party after all, we shouldn't really go."

"Oh, stuff it. Like you'd ever let me go there alone. You let Petunia go to meet that Dursley boy, and you didn't demand to know something about his family when she asked for permission. How would my friends be any different?" asked the red-haired teenager. She was now fuming with anger.

"They -- they are wizards," replied Amanda uneasily. At her daughter's glare, she hastened to add, "I'm not saying that they were any worse than young Vernon's family only because they use magic, far from that. You know we are very proud of you, dear. However, their customs are very different from ours, like you know probably even better than I do. How could we know what will happen to you there?"

"Oh, honestly, Mom! They are my friends. Okay, so maybe Lucius isn't one of my friends, but I know him well enough to trust him. None of them would ever do something that might harm me, believe me. Do you really think I'd consider anybody my friend if they were a danger to me?"

"But you cannot know," her mother argued. "What if they try to -- to --" She couldn't finish her sentence.

"To rape me, for example?" asked Lily dryly. "For your information, Mom, the guys are all engaged. To each other. If you think that a gay guy would try to molest me, you're badly mistaken." Of course, she left unmentioned that all magical people were actually bisexuals. However, it didn't really matter. Her mother was being just ridiculous with all her paranoia. Honestly, what did she think of Lily's friends?

"Well, if you are sure," Amanda said uneasily. "But I still don't know..." Her voice trailed off.

"Well, that's exactly why you were invited there also," huffed the young witch. "So that you would know. Now, may I go to inform them that you accept the offer, or shall I go to ask Dad?" She knew that this at least would make her mother give in. She'd die rather than let her husband know what kind of excuses she'd tried to use. Really, Amanda was overprotective, but she did know that at times it got ridiculous.

"But how could we get there?" protested the elder woman still. "You said yourself that they're living in some special Wizarding area. You might be fine going, but we couldn't even find our way there!"

"James's parents will pick us up," Lily said ever so patiently. At her mother's doubtful expression, she sighed. "Really, Mom, it won't bother them one bit. They would drive past anyway." Of course, she conveniently forgot to mention that James and Severus could have just as well Flooed to the Manor.

"Well, if you are sure it's okay," said Amanda hesitantly. Then, however, she thought about another thing. "Wait a minute. Did you just say that they are engaged to each other? That they're gay?"

"Mom, so are half of the Wizarding World," sighed Lily. "You've met James, right? And you thought he's a nice young man. Well, he doesn't have a mother, only two fathers. And he is engaged to Severus. My best girl friend, Pamena Patil, is engaged to Mathilde Guss. It's nothing special, really."

However, Amanda still didn't look very approving. Lily sighed deep. This was going to be a long evening...

*

"Okay, do you have everything now?" Amanda asked worriedly. "Are you sure you have the present?"

"I do have it, Mom," Lily reassured her mother. "And yes, I have got my trunk packed. I've got everything I'll need for the rest of the summer, and the boys and I will go shopping for our schoolbooks together in the end of the summer. Really, everything is in the order. There's no need to worry."

"But I still do," muttered her mother. Her father, however, gave Amanda an amused glance. Yeah, Gary Evans knew very well about his wife's overworrying character.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Before Lily could rush to open it, however, it was opened from the outside, and two teenager forms could be standing in the doorway.

"Hello, James and Severus!" exclaimed the young witch, running to hug the bespectacled boy. As soon as she'd released the grinning Chaser, she turned towards Severus and jumped to his neck as well.

"Evans, that'd better be you and not one of your parents," Severus said snappishly. Then he raised his fingertips to Lily's face as she stepped back, allowing him to do that. "Good, so it is indeed you."

"Mom, Dad, you've already met James," Lily said cheerfully, turning back towards her parents. "This is Severus Snape, James's fiancé." Severus nodded briefly in silent greeting, his empty, milky eyes unfocused.

"But -- that boy is blind!" exclaimed Amanda Evans immediately as her brains made the connection between all the rather obvious signs. Her eyes were wide as platters.

"And your point is what, exactly?" asked Lily with an annoyed sigh. "How should that affect anything in any way? Severus can take better care of himself than most seeing people -- and, besides, you really ought to stop talking about people like they weren't present," she finished firmly.

"You know, Evans," Severus said lazily, "I'm finding it harder and harder to despise you by every passing second. In fact, if I don't keep ware, I might even start liking you -- though Merlin spare us all from that."

"Oh, shut up," James chuckled, poking his fiancé in the ribs. Turning towards the Evanses, he said then with a charming grin, "Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready to leave? My fathers wait outside in the car, they'll take us to the Malfoy Manor in no time."

Exchanging brief glances, Lily's parents followed the teens outside. James was helping Lily to drag her trunk forward. On the street in front of the house they saw a small, blue car, two men sitting on the front. Amanda and Gary both frowned, obviously doubting that even Lily's trunk would fit on the backseat, let alone five passengers, two of whom were adults.

When they stepped into the car, however, they were in for another surprise. To the outside, the car had maybe looked pretty small, but inside it was spacious and comfortable, with two rows of backseats. Lily's parents got seated on the middle row, while Lily herself, Severus, and James all sat behind them, although not before they'd lifted Lily's trunk to the back of the car, where the boys' school things already were.

As soon as they'd started driving, however, Severus got into a more comfortable position on the wide seat, resting his head in James's lap. The messy-haired boy chuckled slightly, then began affectionately stroking his fiancé's hair. Lily smiled as she watched her two friends.

"Wake me up when we're there," mumbled Severus to his fiancé, then fell silent, his breathing evening out. James merely chuckled again a bit, not saying anything in response.

"How can anybody be sleepy enough to fall asleep in the middle of the day?" asked Lily disbelievingly when Severus seemed to be truly asleep. "He certainly didn't look sleepy just a few moments ago!"

"Merlin knows," James muttered. "He's nowadays always tired. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's ill or something. Knowing him, though, he just sneaks up after I've fallen asleep to read his precious books." With a wink, he added, "You see, he knows that if I'm awake, he cannot read them undisturbed."

Lily laughed and rolled her eyes upwards. Then she gave a questioning glance to the two rows of seats in front of them. "What's wrong?" she asked. "I'd think my mother is immediately talking."

"Oh, there's a magical barrier between the front and the back of the car," replied James cheerfully. "If you want to hear what they're speaking, just lean forward, and you'll get through the barrier." While saying this, he leant a bit forward to show her how to do it. Severus, who was now too deep asleep to even notice, mumbled irritatedly and moved into a more comfortable position in his sleep.

"...That's so interesting," Lily's mother was just chirping. "Do you know the Malfoys from earlier, by the way?" she then asked. Her tone was carefree, but Lily recognized her mother's predatory mode.

"Well, not very well," replied Luke. His keen Auror instincts had him well aware of the woman's intentions. "I've heard that Malfoy Senior was a bastard, forgive me my language, but he was that. Beat his wife and threatened his son. However, from what I know, young Lucius is even on a bad day a thousand times better than his father was at his best. The fact that he's invited you alone proves that. His father would have never allowed a Muggle -- that's what we call people without magic -- enter his home."

"Then there's Junila Malfoy, Lucius's mother," Cedric continued from where his husband had left. "She's never been a bad person, her mother just made a bad choice for her. Anyway, she's a good woman, and has seemingly made a wiser choice for her son than her mother did for her. Lucius and Sirius are getting along really well, at least that's what I've gathered."

"Wait a minute," interrupted Gary, who always was faster to pick up things than his wife. "Why do you talk about Junila Malfoy and her mother making choices? Do you mean arranged marriage?"

"Why, of course," replied Cedric lightly. "It's a common tradition in all Wizarding families, especially for the firstborns. The mothers -- or, in some cases, carriers, like I am James's carrier -- make an agreement to have their children marry each other. Usually it's done when they're pregnant or when the children are just infants. However, sometimes this is done a long time in advance. For example, I and Severus's mother decided on our sons' marriage three years before either of them were even on the way."

"But what about if the children don't want to marry?" asked Amanda, still a bit stunned at this revelation. "For example, what if they don't like each other's... gender?"

Now, Cedric laughed shortly. "Mrs. Potter," he said in his ever-patient manner, "all Wizarding people are bisexual. Yes, your daughter as well, being a witch," he said as he saw the shocked expression on the Muggles' faces. "And as for not liking each other in general... Well, usually they just try to live with it, and grow fond on each other. Take Severus and James for example. Just a few years ago, they'd most probably killed each other rather than even considered marriage. Now, however, they're like glued together."

"That -- that just doesn't sound appropriate," muttered Amanda. Yes, ever the doubtful one.

"Well, in the Wizarding World, it is indeed a widely accepted habit," Luke said. "As these engagements are made public by purchasing engagement rings when the young turn sixteen, in the beginning of the sixth year all engaged couples are given their own private dormitories. If they're from the same House, like Remus and Peter, James and Sirius's friends, their dormitory is inside the House area. However, if they're from different houses, like James and Severus, their dormitory is outside any House."

The Muggles both nodded a bit, quickly trying to recall whatever little they'd learnt about Hogwarts from Lily. "So all firstborns are publicly engaged by the time they turn sixteen?" asked Gary for confirmation.

"That's right. And, after they graduate, they get married and start a life together," Cedric said. "It maybe sounds bad to somebody who hasn't grown in our world, but really, there's nothing bad about it. Some make these marriage agreements based on the other family's wealth and position, but especially if the parents truly care, they'll pick somebody like whom they'd actually want their child to be with. I picked Severus's mother because she was a truly wonderful person. It's a pity she's dead, though."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Amanda said hurriedly. "How did she die, anyway?"

"The official claim is that it was an accident. She fell down the stairs, if I recall right," Luke snorted. "The truth is that her husband killed her -- in front of Severus, poor boy, when he was only five. Philip Snape was the worst kind of a bastard. He beat both his wife and then his son at every occasion. His last deed before he got caught was blinding Severus completely -- he'd made him mostly blind when he was nine."

"That's horrible!" shrieked the Muggle mother. "How could he go on for that long time unnoticed?"

"How can any family abuse crime go by unnoticed?" asked Cedric back. "Do not question the juridic system of our world, Mrs. Evans. The problem is that nobody knew. Severus never told anybody, he didn't dare to. If the Aurors -- our 'police officers,' kind of, at least -- had known, they would have stopped him."

"I never said that the juridical system of -- err -- your world was incapable of getting criminals punished." Amanda Evans flushed a little. That'd been exactly what she'd suspected. Desperate to get a change of subject, she quickly added, "How exactly is it possible for two men to have children, anyway?"

Luke and Cedric exchanged brief glances. They'd known this would come. "Well," Cedric started, "the basical way to do that is this..."

By then, Lily and James pulled back, not interesting in hearing more. They exchanged amused glances.

"Your mother truly is annoying, isn't she?" asked James, grinning. "Never can give up her opinions."

"Her prejudices, you mean." Lily snorted. "I still can't believe she wouldn't let me come alone, in fear of you lot raping and murdering me or something!"

"Have no fear of that, Evans," said a quiet voice from somewhere on the level of their stomaches. "If James ever tried that, I'd kill him." As they both looked back, Severus looked no different than he'd been asleep.

"That's not polite, you know," James said good-naturedly. "Scaring people like that, I mean. You should have told us that you're awake again!"

However, Severus didn't answer. Instead, his breathing was even more peaceful and even than before.

Passing desperate glances, James and Lily then made to have a conversation of their own, while Luke and Cedric continued telling the common habits of the Wizarding World to the two Muggles.