Severus landed in the living room of Silver Cottage in a swirl of colors, a plume of dust rising around his feet as they his the wood floor of his new home.
Dropping his trunk the young Fae collapsed onto it, his legs feeling like jello.
Severus clutched at his chest as his heart beat seemed to race his running thoughts.
"What the bloody hell just happened?" The young man whispered, taking slow breathes to steady himself.
It wasn't Black's behavior that was bothering him. Black had always acted like he was in heat around anyone who was a little more then decent.
No, what bothered him was his own behavior while dealing with Black, it confused and angered him.
He had been so, so, ugh!
He could hardly think around his childhood tormentor and had basically been reduced to an invalid!
Growling, Severus ran a hand through his hair in frustration before scowling and forcefully pushed the encounter to the back of his mind until he was ready to deal with it.
Composing himself, Severus finally took in his surroundings and found himself being very satisfied with what he saw.
While simple and coated in at least three inches of dust, everything looked well preserved.
It was not extravagant, but quaint and had a rustic charm to it that the young Fae found he liked.
After some thought Severus decided to start cleaning the cottage as he was still way to restless from meeting Black and his strange reaction to the bully.
He needed something to keep him busy, distract him, and manually cleaning his new home would help with just that.
Standing, the young Fae opened his trunk and opening one of the side compartments, took out the cleaning products he had stashed to clean his bathroom and bedroom when he lived with Tobias.
He didn't want to live in filth just because the bastard didn't want to waste his money on a freak, so he had bought them himself and kept them in his trunk.
Taking out a broom, Severus opened all the cottages windows marveling for a moment at the beautiful forest that surrounded him before getting back to work.
First thing Severus did was drag all the furniture outside onto the porch and gave them a good beating to get most of the dust off then did the same with the rugs, curtains, and any tapestries in the cottage.
He then, starting from the ceiling down, used the broom to brush the dust off of everything, making sure to tie one of his bandanas around his face to keep him from chocking on it.
Once done, Severus swept everything out the back door so the dust would be scattered by the wind.
Testing the pump over the wash basin in the small kitchen, Severus was pleased to see it worked as water came out.
Getting a bucket from his trunk he filled it, adding soap and cleaner before grabbing a rag and started wiping things down.
Even after getting rid of most of the dust the young man still had to change the water many times before he was satisfied that things were clean before moving on to mopping the floors.
By the time the sun was setting he had cleaned the living/bedroom area and the small kitchen and bathroom.
He decided to leave the furniture out overnight to air out and unpacking his blanket and pillow, set up a sleeping area before going to sleep.
All his worries pushed away by exhaustion.
When he woke up, Severus was tired, but noticed by how bright it was outside that he had slept in.
Getting a packet of biscuits from his trunk Severus nibbled on them.
It seemed that although his body had been healed, his shrunken stomach was not so easily fixed and he only ate five of the biscuits before he couldn't eat anymore.
After doing his usual morning rituals, Severus got back to work.
He first and foremost cleaned the fireplace, it had been chilly last night and he had decided to get it done first thing that morning, so that night he could light a fire for warmth.
Looking around, Severus found that the fireplace had a self cleaning rune, which he was thankful for and pushed his magic into it.
While that worked Severus went outside to check on the furniture and found that he would have to clean them by hand.
Signing, he drew water and began to scrub.
By noon he had everything done and once again left them outside to dry in the sun.
Eating a small packet of jerky Severus looked around in relief as he realized he was almost done.
The outside work could hold for however long he felt like, it was only the inside he had needed to finish immediately.
Severus was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of tapping on the window beside him.
Looking over he saw a brown barn owl sitting on his windowsill waiting patiently to be let in with a Gringotts sealed portfolio under it's feet.
Opening the window Severus let the owl in and gave it a bit of jerky with a cup of water.
Sitting on the floor the young Fae opened the portfolio and discovered a note.
Heir Lunar,
Enclosed in this portfolio is a magical record of your holdings at Gringott. Is shows your monies as well as stocks and will update when anything changes in connection to them. It will also track any investments you choose to add to it and any transactions in relation to your vaults. I have done what you have asked and it is in the attached folder.
May your gold grow numerous,
Flinthammer, account manager.
Seeing the mentioned folder Severus decided to take a look to give the furniture more time to dry.
Opening the folder the young Fae found twenty listed businesses and settling down he began to read the information attached to each one.
It took him five hours to get through the stack and at the end he had chosen his three investments.
One was named Silver Silvings, it was a fashion company, that was quickly gaining traction in France with their fresh styles and appealing designs.
Droca Inc. a company that specializes in collecting rare and everyday potion ingredients willingly and unwilling.
And Grotto, a string of wizard clubs and bars that looked promising.
He was going to invest 12% to Silver Silvings, 19% to Droca Inc. and 16% to Grotto.
Writing a missive to Flinthammer to inform him of this, he sent it off with the owl and went back to his cleaning.
Replacing the now dry furniture Severus started to unpack his trunk, placing things where he wanted them and putting the food away in the cabinets.
Once that was done Severus started a fire in the fireplace with some wood he found stacked on the porch and matches he had in his trunk.
Taking a step back Severus looked around at his work with satisfaction and no small amount of emotion as it finally hit him.
He had a home.
A real home, one where he didn't have to watch his back every second of everyday.
One where he could be himself and not risk a beating just by breathing.
He was safe here.No one could hurt him and he could do whatever he wanted, be whoever he wanted.
Severus had to sit down as all that had happened really hit him.
He was free.
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1257 words
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Blood Moon
FanfictionWhat if Severus got desperate enough to call the Aurors on his father when Dumbledore refused his request to stay at Hogwarts yet again? And what if they came only to be sent away by the headmaster who somehow caught wind of it, telling them he was...