Severus and the Thunderbird

Seren's Summer

May

"Seren, who are you talking to? Is that a special friend?" her mother, Gwen, called from the kitchen where she was fixing dessert and coffee.

"What do you mean by special? Is he like me?" Seren called back, flipping shut the pocket watch, appreciative of her mother's delicate nature when asking about magic.

Gwen was very respectful of the Statute of Secrecy given Seren was the only witch in their bloodline for hundreds of years; since Salem when their whole family clan was slaughtered. Not that anyone knew that. She had done some digging when she attended Ilvermorny, lo and behold to find a family of witches who ran their own business selling brooms. Murdered at the height of hysteria.

"Yes dear, like you, not like me and Eadoin" she called back, walking over a tray of cookies and coffee.

"He is. He's a teacher at a school, for kids like me" she answered smoothly

"Is he that one you spent Christmas with?" her sister interjected innocently, eavesdropping on the conversation, helping herself to an oatmeal cookie

"You spent Christmas with a man?! Seren Anne!" Gwen exclaimed, mouth agape

"Shut up Eadoin!" she exclaimed, rolling her eyes so hard they threatened to pop out

"Will we get to meet him?" Gwen asked curiously, shocked no doubt to hear that she had broken her vow of never being with a man again after her debacle of a marriage.

"I don't know. We've got a weird relationship. If you can even call it that" Seren skirted around the subject, not knowing how her mother would take to hearing the clandestine details of her voyeurism.

"What's she mean Eadoin?" Gwen asked her other daughter, eyebrow raised

Knowing that her sister couldn't resist stirring the pot and raising hell, Seren closed her eyes and braced for the impact.

"It means they're just having sex. Sometimes breakfast" Eadoin stated gleefully, taking a big bite of dessert and flipping her auburn waves behind her shoulder

Gwen paled, then straightened her shoulders as she processed the new knowledge

"Well...As long as you both agree that's what it is...And you're happy with it....Fine"

Seren gave her a hug, impressed that her mother's brain hadn't begun to ooze out her ears.

Gwen hadn't dated seriously since Eadoin was a baby and she was almost two. The love affair between her mother and their father Stephen was rather juicy; impregnating Gwen at fifteen, and then again at seventeen. He swore they would get married but one morning he was just gone, never to be heard from again. Good riddance.

The three of them grew up together, thick as thieves, more like sisters than mother and daughters. She was glad for their close relationships, not many had a home they could gladly return to whenever they wanted.

"What's he like?" Gwen persevered, determined to get blood from a stone.

Knowing that she was notoriously closed mouthed about her personal life, Seren decided to give a little to her mother. She would be gone most of the summer tracking down the lost chronicles of Kai Nim, an author of many fairy tales written to magical children in the early 1700s. She would compare him to the Muggle Grimm brothers.

"He's tall, thin, long and dark hair. He makes potions and is super intelligent. But also incredibly reclusive. I met him at a pub actually, both of us wanting to hide away in the midst of chaos...That is all you get" she told them both, holding back a laugh at how invested they were at her story, leaning forward on their knees while sipping their coffee