Angelinus

Chapter 12

Settling down

Angel and Linus laid on the hearthrug drawing pictures, tongue poking out the side of their mouth. They had been here at Hogwarts for two months and were getting used to the cold weather and the stone castle, and they did dearly love Uncle Remy and Uncle Severus. Sometimes Sandy came to visit them on Saturdays and once they had gone to Oxford to visit her. They went by floo, cuddled safe in Uncle Severus' arms. He had whinged and moaned about getting all dirty but Uncle Remy had just laughed at him and dusted him off with a charm.

They were funny sometimes, Uncle Severus was always pretended to be grumpy and Uncle Remy was always happy, except when he was being a dog. That had been a surprise! One afternoon Uncle Severus had sat her down on the sofa at home and told her that it was a full moon night. This meant Uncle Remy had to turn into Moony who was a wolf and very big! After dark, Uncle Remy went into the bedroom and Moony came out to play. He was fun and furry and cuddly! Next morning Uncle Remy was back again.

Contemplating the drawing again, Angelinus decided to draw Moony by the lake. They had already drawn a picture of their castle, which was so much bigger and better than Malfoy Manor. Lysander had laughed at them and said Hogwarts wasn't theirs, it was a school and they didn't own it not like the Malfoys owned Malfoy Manor but Angelinus knew better. Grandpa Albus had said they could have a piece of Hogwarts and Grandpa Albus knew everything! So there!

Uncle Severus said they had to learn to be real castle people if that was the case, and behave properly in all the Old Ways. That meant playing dress-ups, formal sorts of dinners that Uncle Severus said they had to practice at so they didn't make mistakes when they got older. It was sort of fun to dress up in special robes instead of everyday clothes, sit at the dinner table in their own rooms with all the sparkly glasses and shiny knives and forks on the table, and candles in the middle. Uncle Severus would pour red wine into their glass and they would sip it slowly while eating beef, or pale green wine while eating fish or chicken. Uncle Remy had said wine was bad for kids but Uncle Severus had said a little was not harmful and would educate their palette early. Angelinus didn't know what that meant but they did know the wine was pretty gross at times so they only ever sipped it, with lots of water in it. It also meant special chocolate and desserts for afters that were just yummy!

The first time they had arrived at Malfoy Manor for dinner, Aunt Mione and Uncle Dragon had been waiting with the kids in the main parlour. Lysander and Hanova were really big kids, ten and nine. Lysander would be going to Hogwarts in September and get sorted into a house. They called each other Ly and Han but no-one else was allowed to use their short names. Next kid down was Arathorn or Thorn, which he didn't mind anyone calling him. He was seven and like the older two had bushy blond brown hair, grey eyes and was big. The girl nearly Angelinus' age was Gladriel or Gladys as the older ones teased her. She was different, little, thin and had the most fantastic straight white hair and skin. Angelinus thought she looked like a real fairy and she was so shy. When the big kids called her Gladys and teased her, Linus had flown into them and even kicked Lysander in the knee.

Uncle Severus had been very upset and had even glared at them but Gladriel had smiled shyly and whispered her thanks as they had slipped away. They had even made up new names for each other. Angelinus became Gelin and Gladriel became Silky. Uncle Remus thought it was very cute that they had secret names but Uncle Severus was a bit put out but he didn't like short names anyway. He was funny like that.

There was a baby too called Emeris who was nearly two, small, fat and sleepy. He didn't come down for long but was sent upstairs to the nursery after an hour with his nursemaid. They, the kids, had been sent off to play for a while in the gardens while the adults talked then everyone had gone into the dining room and sat down at the huge Malfoy dining table. Silky sat beside Angelinus and they were glad their uncles had showed them how to behave at a formal meal. Even Hanova had been upset when she tried to work out which was the fish knife and her mother had to tell her when Angelinus smirked smugly from their place already neatly copying their Uncles as they ate their fish. They had even helped Silky when she needed it, which only made Lysander glared at the younger child.

Giggling quietly to themselves, Angelinus carefully sketched their uncles into the Hogwarts picture and added lots of students. Concentrating hard, they made a Slytherin and a Gryffindor coloured stick figure then paused to stare into space again. They briefly wished Sandy were here because Sandy was good at making drawings and paper airplanes and paper hats. They missed Sandy taking them out to the park or to play games in the sun or go swimming. Sandy was like Daddy, fun and cuddly, and she sounded right, not like everyone here who sounded wrong. Oh, Uncle Remy was cuddly and Uncle Severus was safe but they weren't Mummy and Daddy who smelled different too.

A tear dripped on the paper and Angelinus had a little cry, quietly because she didn't like to waken Miss Harkness who always had a sleep after lunch. Miss Harkness was her governess and was boring! She gave her boring things to do in the morning, read boring books about how boys and girls were supposed to behave as wizards and witches. She made Angelinus write her name again and again so it was no fun and she didn't let Angelinus sit on the floor or wriggle or anything. Deportment, she called it, as befitting a Pureblood. Boring!!!!!!

After lunch, Miss Harkness always went into the bedroom and had a 'little lie down'. That was a strange thing to do after lunch because Angelinus just wanted to run around and shout and play but after Miss Harkness locked her in the bathroom for ten minutes, she didn't make any noise after that. She didn't let herself out of the suite anymore either. She had done that once, a few weeks ago now, but she never tried it again.

Miss Harkness had been snoring and when Angelinus had asked her to go out to the garden she had snorted and said no! Setting her lip, Angelinus had stamped her foot and flounced out to the sitting room and flopped down on the couch. Just in case, she got up and tried the doorknob, which actually turned under her hand. Giggling a little, she crept out of the suite and down the corridor, to the nearest junction. She didn't know where she was going but one of the pictures told her that the gardens were to the left. After that the pictures told her how to get out of the big hall and to the small side door she had never seen before.

It took a lot of tugging to get the door open and then she was out and running, giggling wildly as she fled over the lush green grass toward the lake. Beside the cold grey water there were flowers to pick and birds to chase. A rabbit ran out from under a log and she squealed happily as she chased after it, leaving a trail of abandoned flowers behind her. As the small brown animal shot into the dark shadows of the nearby forest an arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her off her feet. She screamed and struggled but the boy who had caught her only laughed as he turned back toward the school.

"You put me down you meanie old drop-kick! I hate you! I hate you! I want my Uncle Sev'rus!" she shrieked and the boy seemed to be impressed, so were his friends.

"Oh shit! It's the Lupin-Snape acquisition," one of the girls in the group said warily, eyeing the struggling child as if she was about to turn into a snake. "Hey kid, are you Professor Lupin's little girl?"

Angelinus paused in her caterwauling to think about that one. Uncle Severus was the best protection in a bad situation but Uncle Remus would be less likely to yell at her for running away. She nodded, eyeing the girl calculatingly. "My Uncle Remy teaches daddy and my Uncle Severus teaches poisons."

"And never a truer word was spoken," the boy said while someone sniggered in the background. "Okay, I think we'll take you up to see your Uncle er, Remy because I don't think either he or your Uncle Severus would like you to get into the Forbidden Forest. You would hardly make a mouthful for some of the beasts in there. What's your name Kid?"

Knocking at the DADA classroom door, Mike Janson had popped his head around and smiled at the class before beckoning the teacher out. Angelina had launched herself into her uncle's arms with a happy squeal, dropping sloppy kisses all over his face. As usual he forgot to be angry with her and was happy to hold her tight while the big boy explained how they'd found her down by the lake, heading for the Forbidden Forest.

Angelinus had been allowed to stay in the DADA classroom and look at a picture book of Mythical Beasts while Uncle Remus finished the first year Hufflepuff class on Cornish Pixies. One of the boys had given her a liquorice wand to play with and it was really yummy and she got all black in the mouth but Uncle Remus didn't mind at all when she got sticky fingerprints on his robe. It had been fun and at one point Angelinus had clung to her uncle's leg while he cast charms on the little blue beasts, pretending to wave her own wand in time to his casting.

It was only after class when Uncle Remus took her back to Miss Harkness that Angelinus realised her kind and gentle uncle could be as cold and as nasty as her Uncle Severus when telling someone off. Miss Harkness had been most upset and very sad until Uncle Remus left then she was mean and nasty to Angelinus until Linus came out and told her if she slapped them again, he would tell his Uncle Severus and he would Hex her into next week, so there!

Just for curiosity, Angelinus had tested the door the following day but it was securely locked. Linus had tested the door every day after that, hoping that it would be unlocked but it never was.

The next time they had escaped had been even worse. Linus had had a think and had said he thought Miss Harkness was a piss-ant like the Shearer their Daddy had taken a stock whip to when he got pissed and cut open one of the ram's necks.

'Think about it, Angel. She has that little bottle like one of Uncle Severus' potions bottles in her pocket all the time and she drinks from it all morning. Then she sleeps all afternoon. She's a piss-ant.'

'But Uncle Remus would smell the funny smell. You know he could. He can tell straight away if you've been eating paint or crayons just by sniffing.'

'Yeah but she never smells of anything. Bet she uses her wand or something. You know,' he added thoughtfully, 'if we found her wand we could use alohomora and get out. I've watched Uncles do it all the time and I bet I could too.' Linus nodded decisively.

'You think? But where would we go?'

'To the kitchens. We could get some really nice dessert, they had chocolate pudding and whipped cream today. Maybe there's some left.'

'I think I know where her wand is.'

The wand was indeed behind the sofa cushions just behind Miss Harkness' head. She snorted and snuffled when Angelinus' foot touched her hand but she didn't wake up. Turning the body over to Linus, Angel waited with bated breath as her brother performed the unlock charm, the click sounding loud in the silence. Eagerly, they tossed the wand aside and ran off on tiptoe, giggling like a brook.

The portraits had all been warned never to guide the child to the outside world by Severus, with threats behind the warning that caused a few of the more timid portraits to flee their frames. Even the boldest were not prepared to take on Snape in 'protect the young' mode. When Angelinus assured the Fat Cavalier she didn't want to go outside but wanted to see if there was more chocolate pudding left in the kitchen, he was most sympathetic.

A portrait close to the kitchen entrance helpfully told them how to tickle the pear and the painting swung open. The house-elves were utterly shocked to see someone only as big as they were in the doorway. Angelinus was just as shocked as the elves, never having seen them before. The two parties stared at each other until one of the braver elves came forward and bowed nervously.

"How is Desky helping little Miss?"

"Hi, we're Angelinus. May we please; may we have some more pudding please?" Angelinus asked as politely as she knew how, dropping a curtsey as Silky had shown her last week

The house elves fluttered about and produced a bowl of pudding, whipped cream, ice-cream, cheese, chocolates, chocolate sauce, carrot sticks, fried potato chips, honey drops, fruit sticks, liquorice whips, biscuits, pies, cakes, sliced salami, anything the fertile imagination of two five year olds could think of. The pair gorged themselves until they were sticky and thirsty and the house-elves produced pumpkin juice, lemonade, water, cherry soda, lime spiders, chocolate milk and two kinds of orange juice.

And then Angelinus threw up!

Severus had been in the middle of supervising a fourth year Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff practical class when a house-elf snapped into being, threw itself down on the ground in front of him and began smashing its head on the flagstones wailing about poison. A few seconds later another one appeared and wrapped its long arms around his legs, effectively hobbling him to the spot. It was so unexpected he almost sprawled on his face but managed to catch hold of his desk before shaking the wretched little beast off.

Between the class giggles and the house-elves' hysterics, he almost cast Petrificus Totalus on the whole bloody lot, before first the house-elf's words began to make sense.

"Fuck!" he swore softly under his breath, snatching a handful of floo powder and tossing it into the fire. "Headmaster, I need to leave my class, could you come immediately?"

"Of course Severus, nothing serious, I hope?"

"Not sure yet, I'll be in the kitchens." He finished the call, used more floo powder and spun into the kitchen in time to witness his five year old charge vomiting into a bowl held by a small house-elf while the rest of the stupid creatures ran around wailing and banging into things. "What is going on here?" he demanded, waving a hand to banish some of the mess around the place.

Angelinus gave a pitiful wail and collapsed on the spot, greenish in complexion and obviously terrified. Taking stock of the situation, Severus pulled his wand and performed a careful cleaning operation on the child, taking away half the contents of her stomach with a delicate touch. He ordered a house-elf to bring a cup and carefully measured out a potion from his robe, holding the small body close as he made her drink. Ten minutes later, the little girl was sound asleep against his chest, wrapped deep in his robe and held safe. The house-elves were lined up in a quivering mass and being glared at without discrimination.

"This is a child, a small, not very sophisticated human whose eyes are bigger than her belly. She will be greedy for sweets if offered in a never-ending supply. Therefore when she asks for food of any sort again, you will only offer the choice of three things. When one lot is chosen then she is only allowed one serving of that food, no more, no less. She is only allowed one drink of flavoured drink but is allowed as much water as she likes. Either Remus' or my orders over-rule anything the child says until she is old enough to be Sorted. Is that clear?"

There was a rattle of frantic agreement before Severus left the kitchen with his child in his arms. As he entered his classroom, he was in time to sink wearily onto the desk chair as Dumbledore dismissed the class and chuckled at his worn expression.

"Is she a handful?" the old wizard asked in amusement.

"You have no idea," Severus confirmed grimly, still holding the child safe. "Last time she got out it was the Forbidden Forest, this time it is the kitchens. Where next? And what on earth is that stupid Governess doing at this time?"

"Have you called her?" Dumbledore asked. "She's probably frantic!"

Miss Harkness was indeed frantic, weeping and promising faithfully that she had only taken her eyes off the child for an instant. She didn't think a five year old could get around charms or she would have been much more careful to secure her wand before turning her back even for a tiny second. Dumbledore had calmed her down and told her to take the rest of the day off while he had taken over Severus' classes and Severus had taken Angelinus back to their quarters and put her to bed for the afternoon.

True to her word, Miss Harkness had not taken her eyes off Angelinus for two whole weeks, not even to sip from her potions bottle that she kept in her pocket. But Angelinus was a good child and had done nothing wrong, had been attentive and polite just as her uncles had made her promise. She had discovered how to summon a house-elf to play with her and often Desky came to make magic happen for her, bringing a serving of sweets or a drink of juice with him. Happily amused, Angelinus had not made any trouble and Miss Harkness' vigilance had gradually waned to its usual level of napping,

Angelinus tossed up whether to ask Desky for a drink or if they should take a nap themselves.

'I'm bored! I want someone to play with,' Linus complained. 'Desky doesn't know how to play and have fun, does he? Wish we could play with Silky, she's good fun.'

'Maybe if we ask Uncle Remus he would take us?'

'Class time'

"Oh, yeah'

They both sat staring into the crackling fire for a moment until the same idea seemed to take hold of them at the same time. 'Yesss!'

~~<*>~~

Humming happily, Remus knocked at the door of his old suite and waited for an answer. He was rather early to pick up Angelinus but then he was pleased to dismiss his class early as a reward for a perfect run. The seventh year NEWTs group had performed flawlessly and deserved an early mark. After five minutes there was no answer and he grew a little worried, a frown drawing his eyebrows down over his nose. Casting alohomora he kept his wand at the ready as he carefully pushed the door open. The place was undisturbed as he flowed into the room; old combat training coming to the fore as he visually and magically reconnoitred the space. His magic picked up a warm body in the next room, alive, unharmed but drugged in some way. He skirted the walls; making a note of the abandoned, tear stained artwork on the hearthrug, the spilled container of floo powder on the hearth and the lack of any other signs of disturbance.

Pressing open the door with one hand, he slithered into the bedroom and eased over to check the witch's pulse as she lay in sleeping abandon on the comforter. His nose twitched, his senses screaming 'booze' as he visually assessed the room and the situation. A waking charm was counting down beside the bed, with exactly seven minutes to go. If it activated, she would have five minutes to get ready for Remus' usual arrival time, he reasoned, waving a hand to stop the charm dead. What the Hell was going on?"

Slipping out and swallowing a heavy stone of dread into his gullet, Remus surveyed the room once again and checked the small hiding places he knew the room contained. Not for nothing he had occupied these rooms for five years; he knew every inch of them. Unfortunately, even that infinitely detailed knowledge failed to produce his cub and he was growing steadily more terrified by the second.

Stifling a bubble of panic, he put a floo call though to the Headmaster and one, which he really dreaded, through to Severus. Headmaster Dumbledore came instantly, flooing in to follow Remus' survey with one of his own. Remus was amazed by the old man's obvious experience in such a tense and unknown situation but then his logical mind kicked in and he realised the older wizard was as much a combat soldier as he was. Both were satisfied that there were no lingering enemies or booby traps in the suite by the time Severus managed to dismiss his class and floo in himself.

Although he hated the disorientation of flooing, Severus was instantly alert when he saw his two fellow Order members both exhibiting battle ready status. The black wand he didn't own was in his hand in an instant as he sent a signal to Remus and opened his mind to his Headmaster. In eerie silence, Severus flowed like a puddle of darkness into the bedroom and looked down at the witch who was supposed to be caring for his child.

She lay in sleeping abandon, a small flask stood on the bedside table near at hand. He picked it up and studied the carefully made object with a growing snarl. It was no standard flask but chaste silver, a hand made piece of art with her name engraved on the nameplate in elaborate copperplate script. Severus had one of very similar design tucked away somewhere in his rooms, sent to him on his seventeenth birthday by an interested and self-seeking relative as a coming of age gift. Most Purebloods would have received a similar gift on the same occasion. After all, Ladies and Gentlemen were supposed to carry hipflasks of their own private reserve about their person.

His narrow nostrils flaring, Severus scented the air and growled deep in his throat. There was no potion in that hipflask, no sign of contamination or illegal substance to fuddle the mind. It was purely French brandy or something equally expensive and imported from the source, probably from an indulgent parent. The bitch was drunk!

Before either Albus or Remus could react, Severus hauled off and slapped the girl across the face, making her yelp and cower, pushing him away with her hands as he reached down and hauled her put to his face with furious strength. "Where are they, you drunken cow? Where are my children?" he roared, no longer calm and in control of his reactions.

"Wha-." Her eyes were still rolling from the drink and the abrupt awakening but Severus had cast her back onto the bed where she bounced under the force of his push, his wand coming to rest a few inches from the end of her chin.

"Sev! Slow down now. Don't lose it, Love," Remus cautioned uneasily as he sidled over to where his mate stood rigid, wand literally quivering in anger as he glared.

A vague sort of sense of self-preservation suddenly caused Keelie Harkness to sober up in a hurry. She tried desperately to focus on the wand tip only inches from her face and followed it up to the sight of Snape's slit eyed threat of unfathomable retribution in the next ten seconds. "Ah fuck, the brat," she muttered, disorientated.

Remus knew Severus was about to lose it. Severus had rarely lost his temper in all the years they had known each other but Remus had never seen his irascible husband shake in just such a way, not even when dealing with the Ministry or the last Death Eater they had cornered in a dark alley two days after Voldemort's demise. Hell, he could even hear Severus' back teeth grinding together in his ire. "Where is my child?" Severus repeated grimly, death and destruction in his tone.

"Livin' room, drawin'."

"Try again."

"Stupid fuckin' brat, s' always causin' tr'bl."

Severus had never been so terrified or so angry in all of his life. He had always been a controlled and in charge sort of man, never allowing emotions to over-rule his Slytherin sense of self but in that instant he literally saw red! "Ava...."

Remus didn't think, he simply roared a silencing charm over his husband, jumped forward, wrenched the wand from Severus' hand and pushed him to one side all in an instant.

Albus grabbed Severus from behind and whirled him away from the hapless female, smothering his struggles in surprising strength. "No, no my dear boy, we'll have none of that now. We'll find them soon," he murmured in Severus' ear as he hauled the distraught man out of the bedroom and into the sitting room.

When Remus came out of the room, Albus had conjured a glass of firewhiskey for Severus and was chaffing his hands in an attempt to get some colour into those pale cheeks. Remus slid into place beside his husband and wrapped a comforting arm around his narrow shoulders. "Okay Sev? No harm done. She doesn't know anything. She has been trying to give it up for a long time but she has a real problem with brandy. She has no idea what happened but she knows that the alarm charms would have sounded if anyone unauthorised had entered the room without permission, she was careful enough to set those sorts of wards. She says the house-elves often come to the kids during the afternoon but they only bring sweets or drinks and only one of the varieties available as per order."

Severus turned jerkily to fix his husband with a flat black gaze. "And this is consolation for a missing child, how?"

"Sev! Think! There is no sign of forced entry; there is no ransom note anywhere around here. There is no trace of dark magic to be found and no sign of a struggle or fight. There is an overturned box of floo powder and a good fire going in the grate. What do you surmise might have happened?"

"She's floo-ed out?" Severus murmured then straightened abruptly. "Could she have floo-ed out? How could she have floo-ed out? Where would she have known to go? How would she have known how to make the floo system work?"

"Good, pertinent questions my dear and as soon as we figure out the answers we will know how to get her back," Remus said in measured tones. "So! Are you over your blue funk now? Good stuff." He dropped a short but emotion-laden kiss on Severus' thin lips before straightening and sighing. "Have you any ideas Albus?"

The older man sighed and stroked his hands through his long white beard. "Let's call a technician. Who are her friends?"