A Different Life

Chapter Two

Lessons to Be Learned

'Father ... Father, look what I caught!' a boy exclaimed as he dashed into a small office that was cluttered with papers and books. The boy eagerly held his cupped hands out to the tired looking man who was just coming to the door, waiting for the man to look at what he'd caught.

'Yes, son, very nice ...' the man said distractedly as he poked his head out the door. 'ANDREW! I need that list of supplies on the quick if you would!'

'Father ... it was very hard to catch it ... are you not at all proud of me?'

Trystan sighed at his son's tone and turned to look at his son who was now looking up at him with a hopeful expression. 'I am very proud of your abilities, Severus, but Father has a business to run. Now, do be a good boy and go find something productive to do, and please keep yourself out of trouble for a change.'

Although he was frustrated by his father's lack of enthusiasm, Severus held back saying anything further, instead he just nodded his head respectfully and left the room. The fragile butterfly he held so carefully in his hands after three hours of painstakingly trying to catch it he now let flutter free. With a sigh, he was about to go back outside and see what else he could do when he noticed a shady looking man enter his father's office, and his curiosity got the better of him. Picking an out of the way spot under the one way window that overlooked the large warehouse below, Severus squatted down out of sight and began eavesdropping on his father's conversation.

'... absolutely not! I will not pay such an exorbitant amount!' Trystan said. 'Do you take me for a fool?'

'Ain' easy ta get this stuff. Time's changin' out there, I got ta be on me toes more,' the shady man replied.

'Times may be changing for you, but not for me. Three hundred,' Trystan said.

'They're worth seven at least,' the man shot back.

'Four hundred.'

'Six.'

'Five and that is my final offer. Even at that price you will be making considerable profits,' Trystan snorted.

'Tch, fine then, five hundred per case it is. Ya drive a hard bargain Trystan Snape,' the man chuckled. 'I'll have 'em delivered tonight, ten cases in all. When can I expect payment?'

'I will be here tonight after supper and supervise the delivery myself, and if I am satisfied you shall have your money then. Make sure you switch the labels before you get here this time, I do not need my clients knowing from where some of my products really come from,' Trystan said sharply, then went over to a cabinet and poured out two glasses of liquor. 'Here, I believe you have earned this.'

The man took the glass greedily, slowly sipping at the amber coloured liquor, savouring it with joy. 'Ahh yes, ya really knows ya goods, Snape. What's this, a '20?'

Trystan nodded as he kicked back his own drink. 'I am not the only one who knows his goods I see,' he chuckled. 'So what is going on out there these days that has you so worked up? Anything I should be aware of?'

'For a Muggle ya certainly take keen interest in news ya shouldn't, Snape,' the man said eyeing Trystan warily.

'Be that as it may, if there is trouble in your end of things, that can only mean trouble on my end. I still have my interests to protect you know,' Trystan said.

'Ah yes, yer interests,' the man grinned. 'And let's not forget that boy of yours. He'll be goin' to Hogwarts in a bit I wager.'

'Like hell he will,' Trystan snapped. 'My son shall not be going to a school of flights of fancy. He will be doing what is expected of him, as Snapes have done for generations.'

'Makin' up for your shortcomings, eh?' the man snorted.

'I have no clue what you mean,' Trystan sniffed. 'I have no shortcomings that I am aware of.'

The man barked out a short laugh as if those words were extremely funny. 'Oh forgives me for bein' out of place, Mr High-an'-Mighty Lord. It's just that I can't see too many of ya snooty types havin' dealings with the likes of me is all.'

'I am an Earl, not a Lord, there is a difference you know,' Trystan said.

'Eh, maybe in the Muggle world there is, but not in my world, Snape. Far as I sees it you're a business partner, nothin' more, nothin' less. Ya pay me good prices an' I deliver the products ya need, works nicely for us both. Still say ya doin' wrong by the boy though, he belongs wiv us,' the man said finishing up his drink and standing up.

'Not if I can help it,' Trystan said finishing up his own drink. 'Severus will do as I tell him. He knows nothing of your world and I intend to keep it that way. He has not shown signs of his mother's abilities, so I assume he never will, all the more fortunate for me.'

'Bah, that means nothin', Snape. Some of the best didn't start showin' signs till they were older, nine or ten even. He's what, six? Seven?'

'He is ten, thank you much,' Trystan said huffily.

'Ten?!' the man exclaimed in surprise. 'He be a tiny thin' then ain't he. Don't take after his father in height does he.'

'He will grow, Snapes have a history of being at least six foot in height, if not more, not that it is any of your concern,' Trystan said irritably and sat down on the edge of his desk. 'I will see you tonight, and you best be on time. I have a date at eight o'clock with a fair-looking Countess whose husband is conveniently out of town, and I do not intend to be late.'

The man went over to the door then turned round and looked at Trystan critically. 'The talk on the wind is that there's things comin', Snape. Evil things ... terrible things. I'd watch me back if was ya.'

'If you are trying to convince me to let my son go to that infernal school, you can forget it. Albus tried to convince me of the same thing when Severus was born, I would not have it then nor will I now,' Trystan said. 'I have already found him a Tutor; I cannot keep him here at work any longer. It is getting tiresome to have my employees keeping an eye on him constantly, and he is picking up bad habits.'

'Wouldn't mind keeping an eye on the lass down in shippin' meself,' the man grinned.

'Go on with you,' Trystan huffed. 'She is engaged to one of my most trusted men, so you let her be. Now then, I shall see you tonight, I will be leaving by half past seven, if you are late you have only yourself to blame.'

'Tch, I won't be late, not for five hundred a case,' he said. 'I'd still be careful though, Snape, if the words on the wind are true ... an' I don't doubt they are ... dark times are comin' ... dark times indeed.'

'I hear what you say, but you also know I hold little stock in wayward gossips. I am a Snape, my blood-lines and title go back nearly two thousand years ago to the days of Lleuver Lucius Mawr of the Silures Tribe, the first true King of Briton and Wales. I believe in cold, hard facts not in dreams and visions, and I will not let my son become privy to such inane nonsense,' Trystan said.

'Sascha would have believed, ya knew what she was, ya married her knowin' it, ya saw things wiv ya own eyes, Snape. Yet ya still say it ain't proper to believe in the warnings? Even after she saved ya life with her "inane nonsense"?' the man asked curiously.

At his wife's name Trystan turned away, a pain of sorrow deep in his eyes. 'Even after ten years her loss weighs upon me deeply. I believed in her when she was alive ... of course I did, but when she died everything within me that believed in her world died as well. The last few years I have spent trying to forget what I have lost ... to stop the loneliness and the ache in my heart, even if it is nothing but cold consolation, nothing can ever replace my darling Sascha. There is little I have left these days except drink, women, and money to remind me that I am even still alive.'

'Ya have your son, don't ya?' the other man asked.

Trystan went over and stood in front of the one way mirror, looking down at the vast warehouse below him. 'Yes ... I have Severus ... but he is more like his mother I fear. He is too shy, too reserved, too emotional ... which is why I have no choice in my decisions. He needs to be prepared for the life he will have to lead in my place,' he said.

'Ya makin' a mistake, Snape, but I ain't goin' ta cross ya on this. I will say this though, ya can take the boy away from the world he rightfully belongs ta, but ya'll never take what he is out of him. Ya wife came from a powerful pure-blooded heritage, Snape, the boy won't be able ta ignore that callin' forever.'

Trystan didn't respond to that, there really wasn't much he could say. He knew the man was right though, he could squash all of what his wife had been from his son for now, but time would invariably tell. 'Tonight, Mundungus, and do not be late,' was all he could say, but by the time he turned back round the other man was gone, and the ringing of his phone reminded him of just what world he lived in.

Picking up the phone he asked, 'Snape here'

'It's me. It's arranged?'

'Yes, the shipment will arrive tonight.'

'Molto buon, my boys will pick up the cases first thing in the morning. Tell them they have to be back in Venice by tomorrow night, my clients are waiting. How much?'

'£10.000 per case, ten cases; I trust that is not a problem?'

'Not at all, in fact it's cheaper than I expected. Good job, Snape, knew I could count on you. Pleasure as always,' the man said gruffly and the phone went silent.

Trystan put the receiver back down. 'Oh no, my dear Signor Giovanni, the pleasure is all mine,' he chuckled softly, grinning at the thought of how much profit he'd just made.

A sound outside the door alerted him that something was wrong, however, and he went over and threw it open, staring down at the cause of the commotion. 'Severus? What is the meaning of this? Did I not tell you to stay out of trouble?'

Severus looked up startled, not expecting that his father would have heard him when he'd got up from his hiding area. 'Oh ... ah ... sorry, Father, my butterfly got away ... I was looking for it. I thought perhaps it had flown up here,' he lied.

Trystan just shook his head; the boy was too flighty for his own good. He would make sure that the Tutor would not fill his head with the nonsense that his Governess was fond of doing. Not that she was a bad woman, but sometimes Trystan had to wonder if she wasn't leading the boy astray in areas that he didn't need to be led in. Taking Severus by the arm he brought him into the office and sat the boy down on the small sofa that Mundungus had only recently vacated.

'Anna, come to my office,' he called out over the intercom then turned back to Severus. 'I am sorry, son, but the warehouse is no longer the place for you. Anna will take you home, and you will not be coming back after today,' he said.

'But Father, I like to come here,' Severus said.

'No, Severus, this is my decision. I have already hired a Tutor for you, and I think that starting tomorrow you shall begin your lessons,' Trystan said.

'Lessons?' Severus asked in surprise. 'In what?'

'Lessons in all the things you shall need to prepare you for your life. There are things someone of nobility should be properly versed in, things you are sadly lacking in at the moment which must be corrected,' Trystan said.

'What if I don't want to learn those things?' Severus asked stubbornly. 'I want to stay here with you, Father. Please can't I?'

'No, you may not. Do not have a row with me on this, Severus. You will do as you are told,' Trystan snapped, then glanced out the one-way window and saw that his son's Governess had arrived. 'Now go home with Anna.'

Severus rose from the sofa in defeat and walked to the door. 'Will I see you later, Father?'

'I will come to the nursery and see you after I have had supper,' Trystan said as he sat back down at his desk, shuffling round some papers.

'Will ... will you have time after supper for me?' Severus asked hopefully.

'I have to go out tonight; perhaps tomorrow night. Now go on, Anna is waiting.'

'Yes, Father,' Severus said quietly. 'I will see you after supper then.'

Severus didn't expect a reply, from the looks of things his father had already forgotten about him in favour of his paperwork. He left the room, closing the door behind him, and went over to where an older woman was waiting on him. 'I'm sorry to keep you waiting, Anna. Father wants you to take me home,' he said.

Anna nodded then walked him outside to where a black Bentley limousine was waiting. They got inside and the car began to head off, though the mood inside the car was not a pleasant one.

'What's the problem, luv?' the woman asked softly, not liking to see the boy she'd raised for ten years so despondent.

Severus didn't turn round from staring out the window; he loved to see the sights of London whenever he could. London fascinated him, from the poorer flats and duplexes, to the homes of the nobility where he and his Father lived. 'Father said I am to start lessons tomorrow. I can't go to the warehouse anymore,' he pouted.

'Ah, I see,' Anna said. 'Well, it's about time really; a boy your age should have proper teachings by now.'

'But I don't want to, Anna!' Severus said plaintively, finally turning from the window. 'I like the warehouse and all the funny things there. I don't want to have stuffy old lessons! The other boys don't have to have them, why do I have to have them?'

'Now, now, luv, it won't be so bad,' Anna said hugging the boy comfortingly. 'You're not like the other boys round the warehouse.'

'Why aren't I? What makes me so different?' Severus asked.

'You know perfectly well why, you're a Lord, Severus, they are not. One day when you're father has passed on you'll take over as the Earl of Tregaron. That puts you in a much different category than those other boys,' Anna said. 'Unlike the others, you'll be starting Eton in a few years, then go on to Oxford, and then you'll go to the House of Lords. That's the way it works, luv.'

'I don't care, I don't want to be a Lord ... and I definitely don't want to be some stuffed up pompous Earl ... not if it means I can't play and have fun,' Severus muttered.

Anna laughed and tickled Severus' chin. 'Sadly, you don't have much choice, luv. You are who you are, and you have to make the best of it.'

Severus sighed, once again defeated. 'All right, I will ... but I won't like it at all. Do you think this Tutor will allow me to keep my chemistry experiments, or will he take them away?' he asked fearfully.

'I dare say chemistry will be a part of what you'll learn, although I'd keep some of your more ... err, well ... interesting ... experiments to yourself. I swear I've never met anyone who has such a knack for the odd and unusual things you do. I admit I wonder sometimes about some of those concoctions of yours,' she sniffed.

'I love chemistry,' Severus said dreamily. 'I don't know why it's so easy for me, but it is. I love making things from other things. Do you think I could be a Chemistry Professor one day? I'd really like that.'

Anna sighed and shook her head. 'I'm afraid not, Severus, those of your standing don't become professors. You'll go to the House of Lords, and no doubt somewhere along the queue you'll get married and have children.'

'What? No, I don't want to be married!' Severus said in disgust. 'Don't say such awful things, Anna.'

Anna laughed. 'They might sound awful to you now, Severus, but trust me, one day you'll make some girl very happy.'

'Not if I can help it,' Severus said wrinkling his nose. 'Obviously marriage means little; Father goes out all the time with married women. Doesn't he miss Mother at all?'

'Oi, of course he does!' Anna said. 'There was no one on Earth he loved as much as your dear, sweet mother. But she's gone now, child, and there's only so much a man can take of being alone for so long.'

'He's not alone, he has me! Doesn't he want me anymore?' Severus asked.

'Oh, dearest, of course he does, he loves you very much. But a man needs things sometimes ... things that only a woman can give,' Anna said carefully.

'You mean sex,' Severus said matter-of-factly.

'Severus Mikhail Snape, where on Earth did you hear talk of such things?' Anna asked shocked at Severus' boldness.

Severus grinned slyly. 'One of the older boys at the warehouse was bragging off about it the other day. Said he'd "done it" with a girl that lives in his housing complex. Though if you ask me I think he really done "it" with a boy, and was just lying about it being a girl. He always seems keen on this one bloke that works with him anyway. I know they sometimes disappear during lunchtime, and when they get back they're clothes are rumpled up.'

'Goodness gracious me, child, you are far too young to be knowing things like that. I'm appalled that you'd listen to such gossips, let alone spy upon people that you have no right spying upon,' Anna said angrily. 'You're father is right, you don't belong at the warehouse. It's giving you rather bad influences.'

'But Anna --'

'No "but Anna," or anything else. I have half a mind to speak to His Lordship about sending you back to Wales until you're ready to go to school,' Anna said thoughtfully now.

'No, you can't!' Severus burst out in a panic. 'Don't send me to Wales, I hate the castle, it's so dark and gloomy ... I hate the servants, they're all so old and mean ... and it's haunted ... I know it is,' he said shivering as he remembered the only time his father had taken them to the family estate in Tregaron when he was six.

He was positive he'd seen something cross outside his nursery door, but by the time he jumped up to check it was gone. Over the course of the fortnight that they'd stayed at the castle more odd things happened, which caused Severus to become convinced that the castle had to be properly haunted. He could tolerate many unusual things, but the idea of the dead coming back from the grave scared him for some reason.

'Please, Anna, I promise I'll be good, just let me stay in London?' he said, desperately not wanting to back to Wales.

Anna sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. 'Oh very well, Severus, but no more talk of other boys, sex, or anything else of that nature. It's not proper to speak of, not to mention highly immoral, so no more all right?'

'Yes, all right,' Severus agreed readily. 'Thank you, Anna; I'll be on my best behaviour!'

Anna smiled and hugged the small boy. 'I know you will; if nothing else so you won't have to leave that laboratory you set up in the playroom. Now, let's put all this talk behind us; what would you like to do when we get home?'

Severus turned and looked back out the window, many things on his mind. 'Could I just go into the garden and read for a while? Thomas brought me a new book this morning ... a really wicked one at that. It's about dragons and werewolves and vampires and magic and the like ... could I go read that one?'

Anna nodded. 'As long as your father doesn't catch you reading it, that's fine.'

'Why doesn't Father like me reading about things like that, Anna?' Severus asked curiously.

'Your father wants you to be more practical, Severus, you do tend to take things to heart sometimes,' she said in reply to his question. 'There's no such thing as real magic really, you know that, only the kind you see in the theatre or at the cinema. It's all illusions and smoke, nothing more. As for the rest, I think you've been watching too many of those old Lon Chaney films. Werewolves indeed, next you'll tell me they're like everyone else and live right here in London!' she snorted.

Severus thought back over some of things he'd heard in his short life. 'What if it was all real? What if there was a world out there where people really could do magic, but no one knew about it? Where there was even a school to learn how to use magic? And why wouldn't werewolves live in London? They're people too, they're only ill tempered once a month,' he said.

Anna laughed. 'You are a dreamer, Severus Snape, that's what you are. It's time to take your head out of the clouds, luv, and put it into your lessons. Keep to your chemistry set, not on foolishness like wand waving, werewolves or anything else. Stick to what you know, not what is pretend.'

Severus sighed knowing that there was nothing he could say to convince Anna to the contrary. 'Maybe you're right, but wouldn't it be grand if it was all real?'

'If wishes were horses beggars would ride. You keep your thoughts on your school books, not on wishing on shooting stars to fall, it's safer that way,' Anna said.

Severus didn't reply, instead, he continued to look out the window. He knew what he'd overheard today had to be real, even if he really hadn't understood most of it. He knew that every now and again he caught glimpses out the window of people dressed in odd clothes, but they were gone before he could get a proper look. He knew deep within his father's warehouse where only a few select people were allowed to go there were the oddest things -- things that no normal person should have stored in a warehouse no doubt.

Severus really had no clue what his father did for a living, other than he did importing and exporting of various types of wares. His father made a lot of money, that much Severus knew, not that it mattered to him. His father never denied him anything, except perhaps his time. The past year or two his father had been going out more and more and spending less and less time with his only son.

Severus didn't know at first where or what his father was doing when he would go out or invite people in, but he quickly began to figure out things. He would sneak out of his room at night to an area over the dining hall when his father had his "parties" at the house to peek at the guests below. At first he had been shocked by the things he had seen, then curious as to why his father was allowing such things to happen.

Severus couldn't help but to be disgusted at the women with made up faces making advances on the men they'd come to the party with. The men and women drank too much Severus noticed, their drunken laughter echoed through the house, even as far as the nursery sometimes. Before the night was through the women would be halfway undressed and speaking as rude and coarse as a common whore. Severus would watch in shock as the women didn't seem to care at all that these were married men, most of them anyway, they freely flirted and kissed them in between glasses of liquor and course after course of food.

It made Severus ill to see his father being touched in the ways these women would touch him. He loved his father dearly, but he vowed he would never let himself fall to the depravity his father had. Even if it meant giving up his title and running away from the expectations of what he was. He wasn't going to allow such wanton women into his home, and honestly he didn't want any women at all if possible. All he wanted was to be a Chemistry Professor, and somehow he was going to hold onto that dream for a long as he could, along with the dreams of dragons, vampires, werewolves, and magic.