Knowledge is Power

Chapter 14

"Yes, yes," Raislen said with a sigh.
"Back to Severus...I suppose so that you understand the choice he made which served to end our friendship, we should back track a little. You see, when Severus was six years old, his father Tobias was killed by Voldemort."

Mag felt her jaw drop. That, she had not been expecting. Her father continued before she had time to ask why.

"Severus's mum, Eileen, was ill with some sort of stomach bug, and sent her husband to a wizarding potions shop to pick up a few things she wanted to mix up into a quick heal tonic. Apparently Voldemort came into the shop at the same time and killed Tobias Snape for being a Muggle and actually daring to enter a wizarding potion shop. You see with Voldemort, it doesn't take much to get yourself killed," Raislen said gravely.

Her father's usually laughing green eyes were somber and distant as he spoke. Mag was shocked and horrified. She continued to listen wordlessly to the story unfold.

"Severus and his Mum had to go and live with Eileen's father after that. Severus's dad, as I said, was a Muggle, and his Mum was a pureblood witch. Her father never approved of her marriage to a Muggle and likewise he did not approve of her half blood son. As you can imagine, Severus and his grand father weren't close.

For this reason, Severus was eager to escape his grandfather's home and begin a new page of his life around other wizards like himself at Hogwarts. Unfortunately he began being bullied by Sirius Black, James Potter and that lot before he even got onto the train that first day. That was why he was so suspicious when I spoke to him on the train as it turns out," Raislen said.

Mag hadn't known that Severus was only a half blood and though it was surprising, she didn't care. Hearing that someone would be brave enough to bully him was more of a surprise.

"Sirius Black," she repeated.
"Isn't he the one who escaped from Azkaban?"

Raislen nodded grimly.
"Yeah. He richly deserved to cool his heals there for more than one reason."

"And James Potter? Is he related to Harry Potter?"

Mag's parents knew all too well how she felt about the mediocre Potter being allowed by Dumbledore to attend Hogwarts, putting all the other students in danger with his very presence.

"Well he was related to Harry until he died. James Potter was Harry Potter's father."

"Oh," Mag said, nodding in understanding.
Of course it was common knowledge that Voldemort had killed Harry Potter's parents. She just hadn't known or cared to learn their names.

"Well if he was mean to Severus, I'm glad he's dead," she said.

"But why would all that end your friendship with him?"

"I'm getting to that," Raislen assured.

"After your mum and I graduated from Hogwarts, Severus still had two more years to go. As I said earlier, she and I would protect Severus from the bullies as much as we were able, and once we were gone, it became harder for him. No one else helped him, at least no other students. Flitwick tried, but having a professor defending you when you're being bullied only makes it worse in the end when the bullies catch you alone."

"Your dad was always kind to the underdogs," Heather said, giving Raislen a fond smile.
"That and his amazing library were his two redeeming qualities."

"Hey! What about my stunning good looks," Raislen asked, mock pounding his own muscular chest.

Heather rolled her eyes, but smiled.

"So as I was saying," Raislen continued the story.
"Once we were gone, Severus eventually heard about Voldemort's dark doings from older Slytherins in their sixth and seventh year who were already little death eaters or who planned to be. Severus was carrying around a lot of anger and resentment by that point and in the end he put all of that on Voldemort for killing his father. He believed that had Voldemort never killed Tobias, his life would've taken an entirely different turn. He'd have grown up happier and as a result may not have been so obsessed with dark arts and defensive magic at such a young age. That was what originally got him bullied. The little Gryffindor gits were frightened of the dark arts and took their fear out on him."

"And they're supposed to be so brave," Mag sneered.
"I always thought their version of bravery was more like stupidity than anything else."

"Exactly," Raislen agreed.
"Severus wanted to avenge his father and in doing so, avenge himself as well. He started taking up with those older Slytherins so that he could get in with Voldemort.

"But why," Mag asked.

"That's where it starts to get stupid," Raislen said darkly.
"Severus's plan was to get into Voldemort's inner circle and use his skills to help take the crazy bastard down. Once Flitwick discovered his plan he insisted Severus at least work with Albus Dumbledore."

"Why Dumbledore," Mag asked.
"He seems so soft and ineffective," she couldn't help but add scathingly.

"Be that as it may, he was, and still is, the only one with any true power who is fighting back against Voldemort in any way," Heather said grimly.
"That's how weak and messed up the wizarding world has become."

"That isn't comforting," Mag muttered half to herself.

"When Severus told us what he was doing, we'd just gotten married and Heather was pregnant with you," Raislen said.
"We couldn't risk associating with a Death Eater. Not even one who was a double agent. The last thing we wanted was to draw Voldemort's attention to our family. Severus didn't want to understand that being his friend put us at risk. I told him that Voldemort could easily check into the personal lives of his followers and if he noticed some had friends who weren't into following him, it may look bad. Many were forced to follow Voldemort and we weren't interested in taking such an obvious risk."

"So that's the entire story," Heather said with a sad shake of her head.

"So you stopped being his friend just like that," Mag asked flatly.
"You just stopped caring about him because he did something you didn't like?"

"Of course not," Raislen practically shouted.
"We never stopped caring about him and when we heard his plan we begged him not to be so stupid. We tried and tried to talk sense into him, but he was having none of it. So in the end we had no choice but to look out for our family, Magritte."

Mag scowled. She hated being called Magritte and everyone who used her entire first name only did so when annoyed with her so it made it even worse.

"Of course Severus believed we stabbed him in the back rather than seeing that he'd chosen his revenge over the safety of his friends and himself," Heather said with a sigh.

"Wow," Mag said, having no better words for what she was feeling.
Though she logically understood what her parents were saying, she thought there had to have been a better way to handle it than ending their friendship with Severus all together.

//That's just because you're obsessed with him and love is blind and all that shit,// Nightshade thought from where he sat on the back of her chair.

//Who's side are you on anyway,// Mag thought back peevishly.

//I'm good...We're good. I don't honestly give a shit either way,// the owl assured.