Before Harry Met Sevy

He returned home long after sundown, after he knew Sabine to be asleep. When he opened the door to the kitchen, he found chaos awaiting him. A large, unfamiliar owl was swooping around the house, a disgruntled and haggard-looking Silias chasing after it. Narrowly avoiding a mound of droppings, Severus stepped inside and closed the door. The owl immediately flew to his shoulder, and held out its leg, to which a rolled parchment was tied. The boy took it with curiosity, and the owl flew off, hooting with triumph. Silias' face was red with indignation and exertion as he slid upon the aforementioned pile and fell onto his backside.

"So it's for you, is it?" he sneered, clamoring to his feet and grasping his eldest son by the arm.

"Evidently," came the snide reply which earned him his first 'disciplinary action' since Christmas.

"Bloody owl's been flying about all evening," he said viciously. "Look at the piles it's left! Clean it up, and be quick about it!"

"I'm not allowed to do magic outside of school," Severus pointed out. "Do a quick scourgify, and you'll set it to rights." Silias' face grew even redder as his grip tightened. There was no further exchange as he was unceremoniously ejected from the room and down into the basement. Once the door had slammed, Severus pulled the letter from his pocket and began to read:

Severus ~ Father has granted his consent for you to stay over the final week before term. He is very anxious to get to know you, as I have told you many times before. I will arrive at your place at four o'clock on the afternoon of the twenty-fifth. Father has agreed to wait until you are here to go to Diagon Alley for our school supplies. There is no need to send an answer by owl. Father has made it perfectly clear that the matter is settled. ~Lucius

Severus grinned as he folded the note and stashed it inside his shirt. Lucius had sent him an escape from his family - and the boy knew his father wouldn't dare refuse the offer.

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Lily came down to the basement the next afternoon, looking thoroughly disgruntled.

"So he's been civil, has he?" she exclaimed, crossing her arms over her chest. Severus was far too excited about his impending visit with Lucius to notice the sarcasm dripping from her words. He handed the letter to her eagerly, puzzled when her face fell slightly.

"I know you don't approve of Lucius," he began, but she cut him off with a shake of her head.

"It isn't that," she said quietly, re-reading the letter. "It's just - I thought you'd be going with us to Diagon Alley again this year. Mum and Dad don't belong to the Floo Network, you know." His heart sank slightly at the disappointment in her voice.

"Oh," he said after a moment's pause. "Of course I will. It isn't as though Lucius thought of -" he stopped before he finished the sentence, seeing Lily's eyes snapping with anger.

"Neither did you, apparently," she retorted, turning to go. He scrambled to his feet and grasped her arm in an effort to keep her from leaving.

"Lily, don't. I wasn't thinking. The thought of getting out of this house an entire week early - I apologize," he finished lamely. When she did not respond, he dropped her arm and sighed heavily. "I'll have Uncle Sebastian take you, if you'd rather not -"

"I just told you that I wanted you to go," she replied, though a bit of the harshness had gone out of her words. "And I'm sorry that I made you feel guilty. I don't like Lucius, and I'm worried about you spending an entire week alone with him. But I'm not going to harp on it," she assured him as he raised his own voice in protest. "At any rate, Mum and Dad wanted you over for dinner tonight. They've sent Petunia over to a mate's house for the week-end, and they said they won't take no for an answer. I'll have to think of something inventive to tell them. The 'he's not allowed' bit is getting old." Severus glanced at the door to the basement, then at the ladder beneath the window.

"He'd never know," he mumbled, almost to himself. Lily stared at him for a moment before his words sank in.

"You're not thinking of sneaking out?" she demanded, her eyes flicking to the basement door. "Severus, I didn't mean for you to try anything -"

"Why not?" he challenged. He felt invigorated at the very thought of defying his father, of slipping out from beneath his very nose. Not realizing that his intense feeling was finding release in his gaze, he stared at his friend. "What'll he do? Stick me back down here?" She shrank back slightly, and he immediately headed towards the ladder, the fire he felt in his very soul urging him on. It wasn't until he was nearly to the window and he realized Lily hadn't followed that he turned around. "Well?" he demanded shortly. "What are you waiting for?" She stared at him, her eyes holding a sadness no twelve-year-old should possess.

"He might not do anything to you," she agreed, letting her sentence trail off as her blazing gaze met his own. Severus' gut instinct was to keep going, and to the devil with the consequences, but that nagging little voice spoke again in his ear. Steven and Sabine can't hide, it said matter-of-factly.

"Sebastian can keep them safe," he muttered, aware that he was having an argument with only himself.

He isn't there at night, the voice pushed. Steven has let the supplies run low.

"And it's a new moon tonight," Severus said resignedly, causing Lily to cast him a confused glance. Reluctantly, he retreated down the ladder, to be caught up in an embrace by his friend.

"I'll tell Mum and Dad we'll have dinner another night. Don't do anything rash, Severus," she said as she began to climb the ladder. He nodded and sank to the floor beneath the stairs, his head held in his hands. What would Lucius say if he saw him now? Would he ridicule him and tell him he was letting his emotions control him? The vivid image of his friend's angry scar swam before his eyes, and Severus knew exactly what Lucius would do: he would be shaking his head ever-so-slightly, his eyes holding the 'I told you this would happen' that his lips would not utter.

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Severus stood abruptly as he heard the door creak open in the darkness above him. It was not Silias, however, that descended the stairs.

"All right, boy?" The voice that emanated from the bottom of the stair elicited a mixture of emotions in the child. He had trusted it once, but now there were too many unanswered questions, too many half-truths to know if his uncle was truly concerned for his well-being. Hesitantly, he began to nod, then realized that in the gathering gloom, the gesture would not be seen.

"Fine," he answered tersely instead.

"Good," Sebastian remarked firmly. "Care to discuss the contents of that letter? If the description I have received of the owl is correct, I can only assume it is from either Lucius or Braeden."

"Lucius," he answered crisply, his uncle's words from the train station ringing in his ears.

"Ah. An invitation to Malfoy Manor, then?" It wasn't really a question, and Severus knew from the heavy tone in Sebastian's voice that he still did not approve. It was eerie, holding a conversation in the inky blackness of the basement. Steven had let the supplies dwindle, and there were no remaining candles to illuminate the space. It seemed as though he weren't talking to a living person at all, but a mere figment of his imagination.

"Yes." Again a short reply. He had no inclination to rehash the argument which Lucius' name never failed to bring up. Sebastian, however, was not to be deterred.

"Do not allow yourself to be blind-sighted," he cautioned. "The Malfoys-"

"You don't even know Lucius!" Severus interrupted, his voice rising. "It isn't right to group him with his family simply because of his name. Father is different than you, isn't he? The two of you are complete opposites, yet your name is the same. Isn't it possible that Lucius is different from his father?" There was silence for a moment, making the boy question whether his uncle had ever been there. Finally, Sebastian spoke again.

"It's late. You had best get to bed," he instructed quietly. His voice held no trace of anger, but Severus thought he detected a bit of resignation in his uncle's words. He remained silent, brushing past Sebastian without a word. Halfway up the stairs, the hairs began to rise on the back of his neck. Turning around, he saw Sebastian illuminated from an unseen source of light. It was not his uncle that bothered him, however. It wasn't even the fact that he could not find the source of the light which bathed him that bothered him. In Sebastian's arms he held Sabine, and as always, her eyes were locked onto her brother. The feeling of unease grew as Severus turned again, but it did not fade even after he had locked himself inside of his room. It was as though she were accusing him of something - but he hadn't done anything!

He lay awake for a long time afterward, thinking of his sister, and of Lily's insistence that she couldn't have a reason for watching him. But she does watch me, he thought with a frown. Try as he could, no reason for her ever-present gaze sprang to his mind. Drifting off to sleep as the first rays of morning sun filtered through his window, his dreams were haunted by a tiny set of hazel eyes.

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