The Severed Prince

Paupers and Princes

The following week was awful for Severus to bear.

Each morning, his mother would quietly enter his room and helped him apply the bruise salve and tending to his new pet, who mostly stayed silent after the fiasco. His back was entirely purplish-blue and even after taking a three-day break he had a hard time hiding his pain from the eagle-eyed Mrs. Davis.

As Eileen applied another layer of the salve, Severus pondered about how she recently never protected him or herself from the brute he was forced to call ‘father’. Why couldn’t she just fight back? Was she bounded to the wizarding marriage law? It might also be due to the Statute of Secrecy, but Severus felt there was something else in play. Something… sinister.

And for that, he needed to find out more about his mother’s family.

“This looks more potent than usual,” Eileen broke the silence, somewhat astounded that instead of taking a week for the bruises to disappear, the concoction her son had brewed simply took about four days.

“Scarcity makes up for creativity, Ma, and I still haven’t perfected it yet,” he mumbled, twitching as the pain in his body suddenly flared up. He had made a few changes to the original recipe so he could hide the marks much faster, though he also hoped he could find a way to relieve the pain in a quicker pace too. But wouldn’t that be hazardous? Just how much magic would be dangerous to wizards? He certainly had a lot to think of this summer.

Two weeks had passed since his father beat him up over a stupid raven (which he now loved dearly), and Severus was fully healed with only a few spasms. He was busy arranging books in the Psychological Science section when he heard Mrs. Davis calling for him. “Just a moment!” he replied, glancing at the giant clock hung above the entrance. It was nearly closing time. Wincing for a bit as he straightened his back, he then looked for the librarian, finding her at the back section of the building. She beckoned him to go outside and being curious, he followed her to the woods behind the library.

There was a small cottage barely hidden inside the forest, and Severus found himself feeling giddy about what the old librarian wanted to show him. So, imagine his surprise when Mrs. Davis unceremoniously put a key in his hand.

“This used to be my shack,” she reminisced.

Severus looked at her and the given key in shock. “But…!”

“Some people just need a comfort space, and I can tell your home… wasn’t pleasant. Just think of it as your second favorite place. Or your secret hideout, whichever you’d like.”

Severus gulped; he surely thought she wouldn’t notice but before long, he pondered on the thought for a while. Yes, the old oak tree by the Cokeworth River was certainly his safe location, and he really admired on how despite never having much leaves on its branches for the past few years, it still stood strong and must had seen many things in its life. He really wanted to test his ‘final memory’ spell on it soon.

But the shack was much secluded, providing him shelter and warmth while also protecting his many, many secrets.

“I…” he blinked away some of his tears before looking at her with grateful eyes, “Thank you, Mrs. Davis.”

The old lady only smiled in return.

It was a Saturday on early July when Severus finally got the chance to go to Diagon Alley in the pretense of meeting his schoolmates for lunch. As soon as he hopped off the Knight Bus and tapped the three bricks to enter the magical town, he immediately made a beeline to the Gringotts Bank and per the usual proceedings at the goblin-governed bank, he drew some of his blood onto the identification test and smiled as the Prince family tree appeared.