The Redemption of Severus Snape

Part 60

Months passed like slow-moving decades. Lindsay was now in her ninth month and was getting very uncomfortable. Her energy levels were still high and she'd never felt healthier, but the loneliness and boredom was taking a great toll on her mood. She cried often and later felt guilty for potentially making her baby miserable. Then a thought struck her as a bolt of lightning: what if her little Niketas had his father's depressive temperament? Lin sat upright in her bed. She hadn't considered this problem before and just assumed that her child would be happy because he'd be loved.

Lindsay rose and began to pace the floor. This new anxiety occupied her mind wholly. She didn't mind if her son had a peculiar temperament so long as he was a well-adjusted, secure, and happy child. She thought of Severus and his brief moments of relatively good cheer. She really didn't know if Severus was dour by nature, or if he'd been made miserable by circumstance, or if he'd cultivated his personality for espionage purposes.

Lin was not so blinded by her unexpected and inexplicable love for Severus that she was oblivious to his faults. He could be jealous and controlling, and he had a cruel streak in him that Lindsay despised. His poor hygiene thoroughly annoyed her. But he had many good qualities too: he was very protective, at least of her, and he had a good sense of humor when he chose to employ it. He was reliable, hardworking, and dauntless. He could even be kind at times; an austere sort of kindness, but kind nonetheless. Hopefully little Niketas would inherit more of his father's good qualities than bad.

Lindsay's anxious ruminations were interrupted by a distant sound outside. She stood stock still and listened hard. The unearthly silence in the cottage made it easy to focus on outside noises. It was a clanging metallic sound and Lindsay assumed a cow had wandered near her cottage. It wouldn't be the first cow that had wandered away from the herd, but they usually did most of their wandering in the daytime. Lindsay put on her shoes and slipped her coat on over her pink lounge clothes and wandered outside to see if the cow was in distress.

She followed the clanging sound with her lit wand in her left hand to light her way. Lumos maxima would've been very handy to use, but Lindsay feared that some of the native inhabitants might see it and come rushing to locate the source of all the light. The moon was bright, but the many tall trees cast long shadows. Trudging down the path hurt her back. She stopped to rest and to listen for the clanging sound. She could tell the clanging sound was nearby yet it sounded muffled. Perhaps a cow had caught its collar on something.

The next sound Lindsay heard made her wish she'd stayed in her cottage. The muted clanging was followed by a mooing sound that was clearly not being made by a cow. Lindsay looked around and saw the green eye-shine of many cows far up on the hillside. They obviously weren't moved by the bad imitation of cow calls and were resolutely staying where they were. Someone was obviously trying to lure one or more cows down the hillside, but for what purpose? Why would someone try to lure cows down to a spot that was so close to a crag in the middle of the night unless they were trying to do something unspeakably cruel?

Lindsay extinguished the light from her wand with the intention of going back up the hill, but it was too late. She'd been spotted. She was grabbed from behind by one of the German men she'd met at the market some months ago. He called to his friend, who appeared almost instantly holding a cowbell in his hand. They spoke to each other in what sounded like Low German to Lindsay. Her German wasn't good enough to fully understand the conversation, but she grasped enough of what they were saying to know that the two men were no longer interested in tormenting cows. Lindsay's obvious pregnancy wasn't a deterrent to their plans. She let the two men think that they had the upper hand and did what she did best. She began to converse with them. She spoke to them in French and chatted in her most amiable and disarming manner.