Severus Snape: The Becoming

Lesson One

The sun shone through his window. Six months left. Living a life that wasn't his own. Again. In a home with someone who hated him. Again. He didn't want much but it seemed that he would never get even the small pittance for which he strived. He focused on the snowflakes falling to the ground outside his window.

He loved fresh fallen snow, it hushed the world and quieted his thoughts. Christmas would be soon.

He stood up slowly, stretching his long frame. Upon reaching the door he found a piece of paper with child's handwriting and a drawing. A larger man with dark hair and a small child stood beside a cauldron. The word scratched out asked "potions?" beside two boxes "yes or no."

A strange sensation flittered through his chest. A bit of levity in this heavy life. Solomon didn't understand that he was not the kind of adult worth being around. That there were others who were more suited to children. But, there wasn't much choice who they all had to be around for the foreseeable future. And Solomon didn't seem like a typical child. Sighing, he colored in the yes box with his wand and made his way out to the kitchen.

"Hi Severus!" the little boy jumped up from the table where he was eating oatmeal, reaching out his hands to retrieve the paper

His face lit up at the check mark beside the "yes" box.

"Mum! He said yes!" he ran back to the table and opened up a book of what looked like beginner potions for children while he shoveled food into his mouth

"Perfect. Slow down before you choke to death please. Severus, can I talk to you?" Aysel motioned for him to follow into the other room

He fought back an eye roll. He didn't want to start off the day with a battle...For Merlin's sake he hadn't even had a cup of tea first.

"Look, I know I've been an ass to you. Maybe I haven't always been fair. I am struggling with who to trust right now. And I'm awful at relationships of any sort. Just....dreadful. As I've shown. Solomon is so excited to learn, and I don't want to get in the way of that if you are willing to teach him" she explained choppily, twisting her fingers and forcing herself to look him in the eye.

That was a twist. Perhaps this move had her spooked. There had been threats after all. He was used to having his life put on the line, but most people weren't.

"Of course I'll teach him. Anyone with such excitement should never be turned away. We don't have to enjoy this arrangement. Just get through it. Then we can both get on with our lives" he replied back, too proud to acknowledge her apology

He couldn't trust her either. Head of the Unspeakables, she knew how to save face and lie. Get information on him that no one else knew. Hold her own against an enemy. Possibly use Occlumency.

"Thank you. He's already mentally surpassed me and I don't want to kill us by trying to mix up a potion, it was my worst subject at school" she laughed nervously, tossing her long plaited braid behind her shoulder as she walked back to the kitchen.

"What was your best?" he asked, almost out of rote politeness, but knowing underneath that before she blew up at him he had enjoyed their discussions. 

"Arithmancy. Working with numbers and predicting the next move always came second nature to me. I thought I  could transfer that skill to people, but they've proven to be much more unpredictable..." she shrugged up at him, almost shy with a small grimace before entering into the kitchen again.

She wasn't wrong. Any plan or plot could be immediately curtailed by one person's impulses or rash decision. He thought himself to be something of an adept judge of character, but when it came to emotions and values, there was nothing that followed a rule book. People were fickle and self serving. People needed to be looked at for who they truly were, not what they potentially could be.