Aftermaths, Part 84

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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Christmas morning dawned, and Theodore and Dylan woke earlier than usual, feeling more excited about Christmas than they had in years. Dylan felt like a little boy again, eager to run downstairs and see what toys were waiting under the tree for him, which was silly, because he was too old for toys, and there was nothing that he especially wanted this year. He supposed that what he was really excited about was spending his first Christmas with Remus and the Professor and Theo. Still, although there was nothing in particular that he really needed--he had plenty of books and clothes, and Snape had already bought him a new broom to replace the broken one--he was still eager to go downstairs and open his presents.

Theodore felt much the same, only even more excited, because when he had been a young child, he couldn't really enjoy Christmas unreservedly, having to gauge his father's mood first to see how he should act. If Thaddeus was in a bad mood, it was wise to remain quiet and tiptoe around him. The best times were when Rafe came to visit, or when they went over to visit the Dietrich family on Christmas, because Thaddeus never harmed his wife or son in front of witnesses (although he would punish them in private later if they angered him). And if those visits happened to coincide with Thaddeus being in a good mood, it was safe for Theo to laugh and run around and play with Rafe and his cousins. He could even recall a few happy times spent playing games with Aric and Aric's sister Erika, although they usually ended up fighting eventually, because the loser of the game would claim that the winner had cheated, or because they were tired of sharing their toys, but Rafe would intervene before things got out of hand. But even in the happiest of times, Theodore had never relaxed completely, always keeping a wary eye on his father. So now it made him almost giddy to feel no fear, but only joy and anticipation on Christmas morning.

They quickly dressed, but hesitated over whether they should go wake their parents or not. "It's a little early," Theodore said.

"The sun's up," Dylan pointed out with a grin. "It's not that much earlier than the usual time we wake up at school, but the Professors do like to sleep in on weekends and holidays. But we could at least go down and look at the tree. And maybe shake a few presents and hope they don't explode."

But as they walked down the hall, Lupin emerged from his and Snape's bedroom. "So you're finally up!" he said cheerfully. "I thought you were going to sleep all morning!" He looked back in the bedroom and called, "Rise and shine, Severus!"

"Oh, shut up!" Snape growled sleepily. "How can you be so damned chirpy this early in the morning when you're a bloody Dark Creature? Aren't werewolves supposed to be nocturnal?"

The boys choked back laughter as Lupin replied in an unperturbed voice, "Oh, don't be such a grump, Sev. It's Christmas, after all. Come on, let's go open our presents!"

"Oh, all right," Snape grumbled, "since it's clear that you're not going to give me a moment's peace. But you can't open presents until Mother gets up."

"Do you think she's still sleeping?"

"Not likely, with all the bloody racket you're making."

A few minutes later, Lupin and the boys trooped downstairs, followed by a sleepy, grumpy Snape. Except that although he made a big show of yawning and glowering at Lupin, Dylan didn't think that Snape was really as grumpy or sleepy as he pretended. Still, like a good Slytherin, he kept that observation to himself.

It turned out that they didn't have to wait for Lady Selima to wake, because she came down the stairs about a minute after they did, looking as elegant and composed as always, without any sign of sleepiness or having dressed in haste. "Good morning," she said pleasantly. "You're all up early."

"Merry Christmas, Lady Selima," Lupin said cheerfully.

Vorcher hastily scuttled forward, looking a bit anxious and flustered; apparently he hadn't expected everyone to be up this early, either. He bowed and said, "Good morning, Mistress, Masters. Shall Vorcher prepare breakfast?"

"Shall we have breakfast before opening presents?" Selima asked, just a touch too innocently. Snape was the only one who seemed to notice the faintest hint of amusement in her black eyes.

The boys covered up their disappointment well, fixing polite smiles on their faces, and Theodore said, "As you wish, Grandmother." But Lupin looked so dismayed that Snape almost burst out laughing.

"I fear that the anticipation would give Lupin a stroke, Mother," Snape said with a grin. "Or else he'll choke trying to rush through breakfast; he's worse than the children. A Gryffindor trait, I suppose."

Lupin pretended to glare at his lover, and Selima smiled. "Well then, I suppose we would not want Professor Lupin to perish of anticipation. Presents first, and then breakfast. But you may bring some tea to the drawing room, Vorcher."

Lupin and the boys tried not to squirm or look too impatient while they waited for Vorcher to bring the tea; Snape and Selima exchanged amused, almost conspiratorial looks. Snape suddenly wondered if hell had just frozen over: he was here at Snape Manor with his werewolf lover, and not only was he happy about it, he was actually getting along with his mother! And even more miraculously, his mother was getting along with the werewolf! He wondered if he ought to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Just then, Vorcher returned with the tea. After everyone had taken a cup of tea and added their preferred amounts of sugar and cream--Selima and Snape deliberately took their time about it, as Lupin looked nearly ready to burst and even the boys' impatience was beginning to slip through their polite masks--Selima finally instructed Vorcher to start passing out the presents. The house-elf read the tags and passed them out one at a time, and everyone waited and watched politely as the recipient opened his or her gift. This was Lady Selima's idea of Christmas: civilized, dignified, and orderly, with no chaos or indiscriminate ripping into presents as seemed to take place in the Weasley household. Still, Lupin and the boys didn't seem to mind.

The first box Vorcher picked up happened to be Lupin's. "Ah yes," Lupin said as he accepted it, "this is from the Slytherins." He opened the card and read, "'To Professor Lupin, this is from everyone in Slytherin. We thought you should have this, as you are now an honorary member of Slytherin'." Snape snorted, and the boys grinned at Lupin. "So what is it?" Lupin asked them. "Come on, give me a hint."

"Open it and see," Dylan said eagerly. "We can't ruin the surprise for you!"

"Oh, just open the bloody thing, Lupin!" Snape snapped. "This is what you woke me up at the crack of dawn for, after all."

"Put some more sugar in your tea, Severus," Lupin said serenely. "Perhaps it will make you less grouchy." But he tore off the wrapping and opened the cardboard box that lay beneath it, and pulled out a green velvet robe. It was a formal, floor-length robe, with a high collar, silver fastenings, intricate silver embroidery around the edges, and the Slytherin crest embroidered across the breast. "Oh!" Lupin gasped.

"Do you like it?" Theodore asked eagerly.

"I love it!" Lupin exclaimed, his eyes filling with tears, and hugged both of the boys. "Thank you so much; it really means a lot to me that the Slytherins consider me one of them now."

"It was really Pansy's idea," Dylan admitted.

Selima raised an eyebrow as she watched Lupin, then turned to her son. "Sentimental, isn't he?" she observed mildly.

"Indeed," Snape said, taking a sip of his tea. "It's a Gryffindor trait." But inwardly, he was also surprised and touched by his Slytherins' gesture. He made a mental note to award some extra points to his House when he returned to school.

"It's beautiful," Lupin said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I'll wear it to the Ball tonight." Theodore and Dylan grinned proudly at each other. "By the way, did Aric really contribute something towards the gift?" Lupin asked.

"Yes," Theodore replied, still grinning. "Everyone in Slytherin gave something."

Lupin gave him a wry smile. "I won't ask how you managed to achieve such a miracle, although somehow I suspect it involved blackmail."

Dylan and Theodore looked startled and a little guilty, and Snape laughed, in his low, wicked voice. "You really are starting to develop a Slytherin sensibility, Lupin. My students chose well for your gift."

"Perhaps there's hope for him yet," Selima said dryly, and Lupin chuckled good-naturedly.

Vorcher continued passing out presents. Snape received the usual Christmas bribes from the Slytherin parents, mainly expensive imported chocolates and liquor. The Zabinis showed a little originality by combining the two and giving him a box of liqueur-filled chocolates. Selima opened several gifts, some addressed to her personally, and others to the Snape family in general. There were more boxes of chocolates and bottles of expensive wine, but also a few gifts that had obviously been chosen with Selima's fondness for tea in mind: a box of petit fours from her favorite bakery, a set of delicate porcelain tea cups and saucers, and a tin of what Selima assured the others was a very rare and expensive type of tea imported from China. There were also small pieces of artwork and bric-a-brac, some tasteful, some not. Selima held up a chubby-cheeked, round-eyed porcelain angel from Elaine Baddock and frowned at it distastefully.

"Another piece for the attic," she sighed. "I thought that Gryffindors were the only ones who liked 'cute'. Sometimes I think there is nothing in Elaine's head but air!"

"It would be a pity, wouldn't it, if a certainly clumsy werewolf accidentally dropped and broke it?" Lupin asked, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "No one can expect a beast to have proper manners, after all."

Selima flushed slightly, having said such things often enough herself, a reaction that surprised Snape; he had not expected her to feel guilty about insulting a werewolf. But she quickly recovered and asked politely, "Would you like to look at the angel, Professor Lupin?"

"Indeed I would, Lady Selima," Lupin replied, just as politely. As she handed it to him, he let it slip through his fingers, and it fell to the floor, and the tinkling sound of breaking glass filled the air. "Oops," Lupin said, an exaggerated look of dismay on his face. "How clumsy of me! I'm so sorry, Lady Selima!"

Selima heaved an exaggerated sigh. "It cannot be helped, I suppose. Vorcher, clean up this mess."

"At once, Mistress!"

The house-elf quickly swept up and disposed of the broken glass, then continued passing out presents. Dylan received many boxes of candy from his female admirers, and one of Cassidy Sinclair's magical music boxes from Goewin and Math. He and Theo also received gifts from their male friends: Quidditch books and posters, decks of Exploding Snap cards, and keychains shaped like tiny Golden Snitches. The latter were from Blaise and Allegra; Blaise's card said that Allegra had picked them out.

They found out that the wings of the Snitch would flutter when you pressed a hidden button on the keychain, and Dylan said with a grin, "I'm afraid it might fly off with my keys!"

"Sounds like something Fred and George Weasley would invent," Theodore joked. "Besides, you don't really have any keys. Neither do I, come to think of it." Lupin's cottage and the Donner mansion were secured with warding spells rather than conventional locks, the "key" to the Rosier mansion was Dylan's ring that had once belonged to his father, and they always used the Floo to commute to Snape Manor.

"Well, we'll have to find you some, so you have something to put on your keychains," Lupin said with a smile. "I can give you keys to the cottage, although you don't really need them."

"Speaking of the Weasleys," Snape muttered, as Vorcher handed him a large package addressed to "Severus Snape and family, from the Weasleys" in Molly's handwriting. He opened it without enthusiasm, but his expression brightened when he saw what lay inside. "Mince pies; no sweaters this year, thank Merlin!" He passed around the box, and they munched on the small, tart-sized pies as they continued opening presents.

"She really is a good cook," Selima said, sounding a little surprised.

"Her one saving grace," Snape replied. "It almost makes up for all the havoc her sons have wreaked at Hogwarts over the years. Almost."

"Then I'm glad I gave her that trifle dish for Christmas," Selima said casually.

"What?" Snape asked, not sure that he had heard right.

"A trifle dish," Selima repeated patiently, "made of cut crystal, very expensive, along with a bottle of good rum, since she was so keen on that Raspberry-Rum Trifle recipe we were talking about when the Weasleys came over for dinner." She gave her son a less patient look. "You cannot think that I would not send a gift to the Minister's family; that would be an unthinkable snub."

"Of course not," Snape said, still a little dazed at the thought of his mother currying favor with Molly Weasley. He decided not to point out to her that she'd had no problem with snubbing the Weasleys before Arthur became Minister; Selima would probably only see it as irrelevant, anyway. One flattered the people in power, and ignored those who were not; that was the Slytherin way.

"I'm sure that Molly will like your gift," Lupin said with a pleasant smile, although the same thought that had occurred to Snape had occurred to him as well. Molly Weasley was a generous person, and would not hold the past against Selima. Besides, she had seemed quite charmed by Lady Snape at the dinner.

"And Mrs. Weasley will be flattered that you remembered that conversation about the trifle," Theodore added shrewdly, and Selima smiled at him approvingly.

"A true Slytherin," Lupin said with an amused smile, and ruffled Theodore's hair affectionately.

"Maybe she'll make us some trifle," Dylan said hopefully.

There was also a gift from Fred and George, a set of deluxe fireworks. Selima raised her eyebrows a little at those, then said, "Well, I suppose it would be all right if you set them off on New Year's Eve." And there was one more Weasley-related gift, a box of Canary Creams for Lupin that Harry and Ron had bought at the twins' shop.

"Oh, please don't eat any of those, Lupin," Snape groaned, as Lupin eyed the Creams eagerly. "God only knows what you'll turn into--a canary with fangs, or a wolf with yellow feathers!"

"Oh, don't be silly, Severus," Lupin chided. "I'm a normal human when the moon isn't full." Which was not entirely true, as he still possessed heightened senses and had a certain wolfish nature to his personality, but in any case, he left the Creams untouched, with a little sigh of regret.

Theodore didn't fancy turning into a giant canary himself, and he doubted that his grandmother or Dylan did, either. "We could give them to Allegra," he suggested, then explained to Selima "My friend's little sister. She likes those things, for some reason."

"Maybe we could serve them to Priscilla Parkinson the next time she comes for tea," Dylan snickered.

"I see that you do indeed take after your father, Dylan," Selima said with a wry little smile. "It is a most amusing thought, to be sure, but alas, would reflect poorly on the Snape family's reputation." She held out her hand. "You may give them to your friend's sister, but I will hold on to them until you return to school." Lupin grinned and handed the box over to her.

Professor Kamiyama sent Snape a Castella cake, a rectangular, honey-sweetened sponge cake that his card said was a specialty of Nagasaki, where he had recently gone on some business of the wizard's council. It had been placed in a box that had a preservation spell cast on it, so it still smelled fresh-baked and delicious--which made everyone hungry as they'd had no breakfast but the mince pies yet, so Snape passed the box of cake around as well. Kamiyama's grandchildren sent Lupin more of the Japanese comic books that he loved.

Dumbledore gave Lupin several pairs of fuzzy wool socks striped in Gryffindor and Slytherin colors--red and gold, and green and silver--as well as a couple of matching stocking caps. "As eccentric as ever, I see," Selima muttered under her breath. Snape opened his own gift from the Headmaster with trepidation, expecting more socks, but what he found was even worse: green flannel pajamas printed with a design of cheerful, smiling, cartoonish snakes. Selima's eyebrows shot up into her forehead when she saw them, and Lupin doubled over with laughter, nearly falling off the couch. The boys looked as though they were trying very hard not to laugh.

"This is all your fault," Snape snarled accusingly at Lupin. "You suggested this to the old man, didn't you?"

"I did no such thing, Severus," Lupin said, feigning a hurt look. "I assure you, Albus is more than capable of coming up with such...er...original gift ideas all on his own. And it's not really respectful of you to refer to the Headmaster as 'the old man'--you need to set a good example for your sons, after all. Vorcher, will you pass me that box there, that one with the silver ribbon? Thank you. Here, Sev, open my gift now."

Lupin smiled at him sweetly, and Snape gave him a suspicious glance, but unwrapped the box and opened it, revealing a set of black silk pajamas. His face instantly turned red as he recalled Lupin's casual comment during the summer, when they had been staying at Grimmauld Place, that they needed to replace Snape's plain gray nightshirt with "something sexier".

Lupin was grinning unrepentantly. "I honestly had no idea that Albus was going to give you pajamas for Christmas too, but they do say that great minds think alike!"

Theodore coughed and hastily took a sip of his tea, while Dylan looked like he was going to choke from the effort of trying to suppress his laughter. Lady Selima just sat there, her eyebrows still raised, staring at them in disbelief, while Snape seriously contemplated strangling his lover on the spot. He managed to restrain himself, but glowered balefully at Lupin, muttering, "A wolfskin rug," under his breath.

Vorcher quickly continued passing out presents in an attempt to distract Snape, or at least to deter him from flinging Unforgivable Curses around the room. Sirius gave Lupin one of Cassidy's recording spheres, "so that you can record Dylan's and Theodore's Quidditch matches," and Branwen gave them books: Potions texts for Dylan and Snape, a book on protective circles for Theodore, and a Shakespeare anthology for Lupin. Hermione gave hand-knitted scarves to Lupin, Snape, and Theodore: red, black, and green, respectively, with their initials embroidered in gold, red, and silver thread.

"How many scarves does the girl think I need?" Snape grumbled. "And besides, she ought to be spending her free time studying for her N.E.W.T.s instead of on nonsense like this."

Lupin smiled, ignoring his tirade. Theodore was surprised that Granger had given him a present, and despite the fact that he didn't much care for the Muggle-born girl, he felt a surge of pleasure at seeing his initials on the scarf--"T.S." for "Theodore Snape" instead of "T.N." for "Theodore Nott". The thrill of being addressed as a Snape, in knowing that he was the Professor's son, had still not worn off, and it made him feel a little more kindly towards his foster brother's girlfriend. "Why'd Granger give me a present?" he wondered out loud.

"Because you're my brother now, you git," Dylan replied affectionately. "She wouldn't give presents to me and Remus and the Professor and leave you out." He opened his own present from Hermione, which looked much too small to be a scarf. It turned out to be a silver pendant shaped like a Japanese kanji character, similar to the one she had given him for his birthday, except that one had been the character for "friendship" and this one was...

Dylan's eyes widened; his Japanese lessons with Lupin had progressed far enough for him to recognize the character, but as he was temporarily rendered speechless, Lupin obligingly named it for him. "It's the character 'ai,'" he said cheerfully, "which means 'love'."

Snape snorted and Selima looked a bit sour, but neither of them said anything. Theodore just smiled, still admiring his monogrammed scarf, and Dylan grinned and added the charm to the "friendship" necklace he was already wearing.

Lupin smiled at the two silver charms that were now hanging from a length of black cord around Dylan's neck. "The best sort of love often blooms from friendship," he said, and Snape flushed. Theodore ducked his head, letting his dark hair fall forward across his face to hide his own blush, as he pretended to be preoccupied with wrapping the scarf around his neck.

Vorcher handed Selima a large package that was from the Bashirs. It turned out to be a tapestry embroidered with the Bashir family tree. "It's very pretty," Lupin said politely, and it was, gold thread on black velvet.

"It is my mother's way of making a point," Selima said with a humorless, ironic smile. "She is quite cross with me for supporting Cyril's claim to the Diggory title, and she wishes to remind me of my duty to my family, and that I am a Bashir as well as a Snape."

She set it aside, but the boys looked at it curiously. "Hmm, I guess Mr. Bashir isn't related to Ali Baba after all," Dylan said after examining the tapestry.

"Of course not!" Selima said, rolling her eyes. "Is Ali still telling that old story? He's been doing it since we were children. Ali Baba is a fictional character; the two of you should know better."

The boys smiled sheepishly, and Lupin pointed out, "But many stories have a grain of truth in them, Lady Selima--like the tales the Muggles tell of Merlin and King Arthur."

"In this case, I assure you, it is pure fiction," Selima replied. "Besides, I cannot see that Ali Baba is someone that people would wish to emulate. He gained his fortune by stealing it from thieves, and it was only the cleverness of his slave girl that prevented the thieves from killing him in revenge." She sniffed disdainfully, and Lupin grinned, because it was obvious that she was familiar with the stories in "The Thousand and One Nights". He was amused and encouraged by the fact that cold and proper Lady Snape apparently liked to read fairy tales. "Do you find something amusing, Professor?" Selima asked him coolly.

"No, Lady Selima," Lupin replied innocently. "In fact, I quite agree with you. But for most people, the name 'Ali Baba' merely conjures up an image of exotic adventure, which I assume is what your cousin wishes to convey."

"You are correct," Selima conceded. Then she told Theodore and Dylan, "My cousin is a charming man, but you cannot trust anything he says--not without verifying it first, at least. He is fond of telling outrageous tales, partly to sell his wares, and partly just for the sheer pleasure of it."

"Yes, Grandmother."

"Yes, Lady Selima."

It turned out that Ali had sent presents to everyone in the family, even Lupin and Dylan. He gave Selima a bolt of beautiful silver-brocaded green silk "to be made into a dress that befits your loveliness, my beautiful cousin," his card said. Lupin's gift was a tiny carving of a wolf made from turquoise--a Native American piece, according to Ali's card; Lupin was quite enchanted with it. Dylan and Theodore received small Turkish carpets similar to the one in the library upstairs.

"I'm going to kill him," Snape growled, then said in a less menacing tone to the boys, "I'm sorry, but I can't allow you to keep--"

"Don't worry, Professor," Dylan reassured him. "They're ordinary rugs." He held up the Christmas card that had come with the gift. "But Mr. Bashir says that he'll enchant them for us if he can get the Ministry to revoke the ban on flying carpets."

Lupin laughed, and both Snape and Selima sighed and shook their heads. Snape's gift was a book on Potions, but it was written in Arabic. "I can't read more than a few words of Arabic," he said regretfully. It was his mother's first language, of course, but after initially being snubbed as "foreigners," the Bashirs had been careful to assimilate into British wizarding society. They always spoke English in public, and mostly at home as well. It was practical for a merchant to learn to speak many different languages, but since her son was not going to be a merchant, but the heir to the Snape family, Selima had raised him as a proper pureblood heir. She had taught him Latin, because that was the foundation of the spell incantations that the British wizards used, and a smattering of French and German, because the pureblood elite considered it genteel. But she had taught Snape only a little Arabic, just enough to exchange polite greetings with his Bashir grandparents. He had never regretted the lack before, but he now he was disappointed that he was unable to read what was probably an interesting Potions text. It looked very old, and he suspected that it contained some recipes that did not appear in the English books he owned.

"I can translate it for you, Severus," Selima offered, "though it will take some time."

"Thank you, Mother," Snape said, surprised but sincerely grateful. "I would appreciate that."

Selima opened the present from Snape and Lupin next: an ivory carving of a dragon with a coiled, serpentine body. It was very small, and fit neatly in the palm of her hand with room to spare as she lifted it up to examine it more closely. "A netsuke," she said with obvious pleasure.

"Ah, you're familiar with netsuke, then?" Lupin asked. "A friend in Japan obtained it for us."

"Of course," Selima replied in answer to his question. "The Bashirs deal in all sorts of artwork, and the Snapes own an art gallery, after all. Sometimes they get in netsuke; this is a very nice piece." She hesitated, then added, "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Lady Selima," Lupin said pleasantly, then nudged Snape in the side with his elbow.

"You're welcome, Mother," Snape said.

Dylan's face lit up when he opened his gift from Snape and Lupin. It was a black velvet dress robe with a design of roses and thorny vines embroidered in silver thread along the hem and cuffs. "Thank you, Professor, Remus," he said. "It's beautiful; I'll wear it to the Ball tonight."

"You've grown a bit over the summer," Lupin said with a smile. "I noticed that you were outgrowing the robe you wore to last year's Ball and Branwen's wedding."

There was also a second gift, in a much smaller box. Dylan laughed out loud when he opened the lid to reveal a quill made from a peacock's tail feather.

"Don't look at me," Snape said. "It was Lupin's idea."

Dylan wasn't offended. "Hermione will like this; she told me once that I'm a bit of a peacock," he said good-naturedly.

"That's what everyone in Slytherin calls him," Theodore said, grinning. "The boys, anyway."

Selima also gave Dylan a dress robe, this one made of shimmering silvery-gray cloth, almost the exact shade of Dylan's eyes. "Thank you, Lady Selima," he said delightedly. He laughed and added, "I wish I could wear them both tonight!"

"I am sure you can find another occasion on which to wear it," Selima said, "especially since you are so popular with the young ladies. If not, we can create an event for you to show off your robe at."

Snape groaned, "You promised, no parties until after Theodore graduates!"

Everyone else laughed. "Then I will wear it to your graduation party, Theo," Dylan said, grinning at his foster brother.

Selima also gave Theodore a robe in Snape colors: black velvet, embroidered with a serpentine pattern in red thread along the edges. "Thank you, Grandmother," he said politely.

She handed him a small box, saying, "This is a key of sorts, although I would prefer that you not put it on that flying keychain your friends gave you." Curious, Theodore tore off the wrapping, revealing a small jewelry box. Nestled inside the velvet lining was a wide gold band; the front of the ring was flat and etched with the Snape crest, a snake curved into the shape of an "S". It was similar to the Snape Lord's signet ring, except that it was less ornate and the crest was carved in bas-relief, not high enough to be used as a seal as the Lord's ring was meant to be. "This a new heir's ring I had made for you," Selima explained.

"A new ring?" Theodore asked. "Didn't the Prof...I mean, didn't Father have one when he was still heir?"

Selima sighed. "Yes, but he sent it back after his father disowned him, and Severin destroyed it in a fit of temper. But I thought that you should have a proper heir's ring, so I had a new one made, and cast the enchantment on it myself. It will allow you to bypass the locks and wards on the Manor and estate."

"Thank you, Grandmother!" Theodore repeated, with much more enthusiasm this time, feeling very pleased. Like the monogrammed scarf, the ring was a welcome reminder that he was a Snape, and moreover, it was a sign that Lady Selima had truly accepted him as part of the family. He slipped the ring on his finger; it was a little too large, but it magically contracted until it fit snugly on his finger. He looked up, eyes shining, and smiled at her warmly, his face open and vulnerable, without that hint of guarded reservation that was second nature to most Slytherins, and especially to someone who had been the son of a sadistic Death Eater.

Lady Selima's expression of cool dignity thawed slightly, and she gave him a small smile that was almost affectionate. Snape lifted his hand to his face, regarding his mother with a thoughtful look as he absent-mindedly traced his lips with one finger; he couldn't remember ever seeing such an expression on her face before. Was Lupin right? Had she really changed? Strictly speaking, the ring was more symbolic than anything else; the wards could be set to allow family members to Floo or Apparate into the Manor without using a magical key like the ring, but it was a nice gesture, and it obviously meant a lot to Theodore. She had even given Dylan, who was technically not part of the Snape family, a gift--one that was obviously expensive and custom-made, that must have been ordered well in advance. Then Snape jumped a little, startled out of his reverie when Vorcher said, "Master Severus?"

Snape took the present that Vorcher was proffering, and opened it. As it was from his mother, Snape was not surprised to find that it contained a robe--a black velvet dress robe embroidered with a pattern similar to the one on Theodore's robe, except that the embroidery was black not red; no doubt his mother knew that he refused to wear anything but unrelieved black. The black-on-black design was difficult to see unless one looked closely at it, but was elegant and attractive, in a subtle way.

Lupin apparently agreed, because he said, "It's very beautiful, Lady Selima." Then again, Lupin's taste was questionable, because he thought Snape was beautiful, too--not that Snape was going to argue the point. He'd finally stopped questioning Lupin's love for him, even if he didn't always feel worthy of it, and simply accepted it, and was grateful that Lupin loved him, for whatever reason.

"Thank you, Mother," Snape said, with a little more warmth in his voice than he usually used when addressing his mother. He was not so much thanking her for the robe as he was for Theodore's ring, and the way she seemed to have accepted Lupin and Dylan as part of his life.

"You're welcome, Severus," Selima replied.

Selima also gave Lupin a robe, one made of rusty, red-orange velvet the color of autumn leaves. It was a color Snape had never considered when buying Lupin robes in the past, but it actually went well with his fair skin and golden-brown hair. Lupin draped it over his shoulders to see how it looked, and laughed, "I'm becoming quite the clotheshorse, myself--soon I'll be giving Dylan a run for his money! Thank you very much, Lady Selima; it's lovely. It makes me think of the way the woods look in the fall, when the leaves are turning color."

"You're welcome, Professor," Selima said politely, then added, somewhat less politely, "If you are to be associating with my son and grandson, I cannot have you running around in rags. If I cannot make you respectable, at least you shall be respectably attired."

"I greatly appreciate it, Lady Selima," Lupin said, his eyes sparkling with laughter.

Theodore and Dylan opened each other's presents next. Dylan gave Theodore a green-and-silver fountain pen and a silver letter opener with a handle shaped like a serpent; Theodore regarded them with only mild interest until he saw that they were both engraved with his initials. Then a wide grin spread across his face and he said, "Thanks, Dylan!" Dylan was equally pleased with his gift, a black cloak with red roses embroidered around the edges.

Dylan burst out laughing. "Thank you, Theo, but maybe I should be a little worried that everyone seems to think that I'm such a peacock!"

"Well, I was thinking of getting you a mirror instead," Theodore teased, "except that I was afraid your head would swell up!"

"Like James Potter," Snape whispered to Lupin, recalling a certain prank that he and Evan Rosier and Lyall Wilkes had played on James back in third year that had involved a little Swelling Solution and some Valentine's Day chocolates. It was a bit petty of him, Snape supposed, but he still took pleasure in the memory of Potter's head literally swelling up to match his oversized ego. Lupin just smiled.

 

Part 85