Of The Serpent House

Chapter 3 -What Dreams May Come

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A/N- I think my muse blew a fuse writing this chapter. XP

Thanks to my readers who have reviewed.

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It was so dark, so comfortable. This place of not knowing, not sensing was--welcoming. He was in a tunnel; one side in the distance was a faint light and endless darkness stretched onwards on the other side. It didn't seem too important to recall how he had gotten there, even though he was puzzled. A part of him realised he was probably unconscious; he took no heed of it.

He heard someone speaking from the light and idly he wondered what the speaker saying. An image of a person flashed past, too fast to see the image other than to leave an impression of brown hair, gold eyes and a word--Lupin?

"Severus~!"

The man cocked his head. 'Severus...a name. Whose? That is my name, right?'

"You can't die~!" The words trailed off like it was spoken from a great distance.

'Die? Am I dying?' Another name came to mind--Voldemort? Yes, that was it. Voldemort, the Dark Lord; an evil wizard was going to torture him and then kill him.

A cold voice pierced loudly through the mist of thoughts at that. "What a laugh!"

Severus turned towards the unlit side of the tunnel where this new voice had rung from and was immediately sucked towards that end, Lupin and his voice growing further and further away behind him. His hands and legs waved about frantically trying to get a foothold or something to stop the onward rush.

His fingers clawed air as he tumbled through some kind of tunnel. Just as he was starting to panic, he was unceremoniously dumped onto a soft warm surface. With stars still clouding his vision, he slowly sat up. With a shake of his head, his sight cleared.

He blinked at what he saw. A warm blaze chuckled merrily from the fireplace where it threw light into various parts of what would otherwise be a shadowy room. Most of it fell in direct path of the small canopied bed which Severus was in. The bed took up most of the space in the middle of the room. Various clothes and toys littered the floor surrounding it.

A bedroom than, he was in a bedroom of some sort. From the toys, he could tell they were magical from what he saw, this was a child's room, probably a young wizard's room. The expensive rugs and rosewood furniture that decorated it told of a rich and ancient wizard family- probably one of the old blood.

Taking another scan of the room he was struck by the familiarity of the place. A second later, it struck him. He knew this room, intimately in fact; It was HIS room, the one he slept in as a child. The one in Snape Manor.

'Snape Manor?'

Strange, what was he doing back in his childhood home? After all, he hadn't been back since...he couldn't remember. He was barely more than a toddler when he left the place. Severus recalled hearing from his now-deceased grandmother that something had happened in Snape Manor, resulting in his hasty departure from the place and ever since it was only mentioned very rarely, even then, it was with hush whispers. Severus himself had never returned to the Manor, leaving the place mostly to the care of the resident house elves. He had lived in the Snape's town house after that with his grandmother, his only living relative left. It was also, he admitted to humour his grandmother's dying wishes; The old lady had gone to her death bed mumbling about the Manor being an 'evil place' and of 'terrible misfortune'.

The memories of the manor had been hazy at best. So why was he remembering it now? The details were shockingly sharp for a child's point of view. Most curious.

Footfalls sounded on the passage outside the room. They paused and the door to Severus's old room creaked open. Severus made out the figure of an adult male enter. The back of the man was facing the light, casting shadows on the man's appearance. Then, the latter moved forward towards the bed and an involuntary gasp escaped the Potion Master's lips.

Shadows danced at the edge of the sharp face, framing the features of the man, Severus knew as Johann Snape- his father.

Severus never actually remember meeting his father; The man had died when Severus was very young and all Severus ever saw of the man was through pictures and stories from his grandmother. When Severus was young, he had noticed that any mention of his father cast a sad expression into his grandmother's eyes so he had avoided the topic if possible. His mother...his mother was no help due to her illness. Besides, she too had died before Severus could form an impression of her.

"Daddy?" Severus was surprise at the sound that rang through the room even through he realised that it was his own voice abide the younger version.

He continued to keep his eye on his father as the man parted the bed curtains to sit. Johann smiled at Severus, however the smile was forced. His younger self however, didn't seem to notice. Rather, the feelings that the memories provided were curiosity about the late night visit. A wisp of smoke caught his attention and he spied the strange goblet his father held in his left hand. The vessel was made of crystal and silver, various mysterious wordings and symbols were carved on it. The base was made of a large milky white moonstone.

His father noticed his focus on the goblet and brought it closer to Severus's face.

"Can't sleep, Sevie? Here, Daddy made you a midnight drink to help you sleep better. You want it?"

Severus nodded his head, enticed by this new toy. Johann pushed the goblet into the small hands. Severus raised the cup, it was poised on his lips, then, he paused.

"Won't Mommy be angry if you give me snacks before bed?"

Johann froze then waved away the protest airily. "We won't tell Mommy. It'll be our little secret."

Severus sensed the alarm of his younger self at the news. 'Daddy never hides anything from Mommy! Never!'

Taking a second look at his father, Severus realised that Johann wore his travelling robes instead of his nightshirt very unusual considering that it was close to midnight and the Snapes usually retire earlier that.

Slowly, Severus started to lower the cup.

Johann's smile became a frown at this. "What's wrong Sevie? Don't you want the drink?"

Severus shook his head as he shifted uncomfortably beneath his father's intense stare. The drink was interesting but his father's peculiar behaviour nettled at him.

Johann leaned forward a hand clapped over Severus's. "Come on Severus, Daddy wants to sleep too, you know. Now be a good boy and drink up."

Still, Severus refused to budge. Johanna's frown deepened, his voice took on a stern tone. "Severus, drink up now."

The hand on Severus's own started to apply pressure. It only increased Severus's alarm and the boy started to struggle.

Johann's expression took on a frantic edge as he stole glances at the clock. In a falsely sweet voice, he attempted to coax his son again. "Severus, don't be stubborn. Doesn't the drink look interesting? I'm sure you'll like it after tasting it."

Severus's struggles intensified.

Finally Johann lose his patience with his son and he started screaming. "Merlin, just drink the potion!"

Johann used his free hand to grab his son's throat and pushed the child backwards to the head of the bed. The other hand forced the goblet upwards till it tilted the liquid into Severus lips. Severus felt his throat clench as his father force the potion down his throat till cup was emptied of the last drop.

Severus fell back limply in shock. Only to open his mouth in a silent scream when he felt the liquid blazed a path through him.

Pure terror gripped him as he struggled against the terrible burning inside him. He felt as if the potion was burning away his soul itself. Severus's body twisted in pain, squirms shook his form again and again as tears of pain rolled down his cheeks. All this while, Johann continued to remain seated on the side of the bed.

When Severus thought the pain was at its peak, Johann leaned over Severus, gently he pushed some of sweat sicken hair from Severus's forehead. "Don't worry, Severus. It'll be alright, son. Soon, soon. Just bear with it a little longer, Sevie."

As Severus fell back into darkness, he thought heard the cold voice of silver again. This time however it screamed only one word. "Betrayer!"

And then it was silence as Severus free fall through the darkness.

***

Severus opened his eyes in shock and sat up hurried. It resulted in a painful collision of his head with the lower jaw of one Remus J. Lupin. The latter let off a yelp and back-pedalled, cuddling his jaw.

Rubbing the sore spot, Severus lifted his head to stare into the Headmaster's amused blue eyes.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and smiled at his Potions Master. "Welcome back, Severus."