Innocence | Severus Snape x Reader

27 - Family Ties

I sat by the window looking outside at the rain while Severus was sat in his chair doing puzzles that were in the newspaper. 

I watched as the raindrops ran down the glass of the window, and I imaged two of them were having a race to get to the bottom, but one of them joined with another and fell to the bottom. I shifted my focus to the outside and watched as a few kids played out in the rain. One thing about Spinners End was that it rained a lot all year round. 

"I want to do something today," I said, breaking the silence between the two of us. 

"What is it you'd like to do?" He asked, I couldn't tell if he was looking at me or not. 

"I think I want to go home. I mean, this is my home. But I want to see my mother, it's been a year." I spoke softly, as did he. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Severus saying this prompted me to look at him, and he was indeed looking to me. 

"Yes, and I want to go alone." 

"The last time you saw her she was trying to break down your door." 

"She was drunk, Severus." I excused my mothers behaviour. 

"I don't want you getting hurt. At least let me come with you." I could tell he was desperately trying to keep me safe from the pleading look in his eyes alone. He never had to be expressive with his voice, or even his body language. I could always tell by his eyes.  

"Fine, you can come with. I just hope her reaction isn't to go batshit crazy again." I chuckled and looked back out the window. 

"Language." 

"We're really still doing that? Even after all the thoughts you read of mine?" I raised an eyebrow and looked at him again. 

"I haven't done it since then, I hope you know." He reassured me. 

"It wouldn't bother me if you did. I have nothing to hide." I got up and walked to our room and shut the door, getting dressed. 

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜

Severus and I stood outside the house. I looked at the door and took a deep breath in. I knocked on it and got no answer. I reached down to the doorknob and turned it, finding the house unlocked. I stepped inside and looked around, finding things slightly diarrayed. 

"Mom?" I called out, but got no answer. I walked further into the house and proceeded to find nothing.

"Y/N. This house hasn't been touched in quite some time." I looked back at Severus who wiped his finger across a small table and collected a thick layer of dust. 

"It would seem so." I made my way towards the staircase and walked up them, this time I didnt hear Severus behind me. He either went to venture for himself or was waiting for me.

I walked into my dad's study, or what used to be his study before he up and left.

I sat down in his chair at the desk and spun back and forth before deciding to go through the drawers.

They were all filled with unimportant papers, except for one that had been locked. It seemed my dad didn't think anyone would use the Alohamora spell on it, because that unlocked it.

I opened it to find a journal, I opened the cover to see a tree, it looked like a family tree. I locked it over a million times before I figured out what it meant.

I was on it, so was my mother and we were branched off from my father, except the name said Lestrange, not L/N. There were three men under the main branch of Lestrange. From it, there was a man named Rudolphus who connected to the one and only Bellatrix Lestrange, who connected that to the Blacks, who connected to the Malfoys.

The tree showed everyone I'm related to through blood and marriages. It felt like I was uncovering quite the large secret. I looked at all the faces over and over again.

This meant my "Aunt Bella" was Bellatrix. I was related to Lucius and Draco Malfoy, and even more so, Sirius Black.

I turned the page and there was an entry.

I started this journal as a simple diary for family matters only. I am now a new man, disowned from the house of Lestrange for marrying Alisson, only because shes a muggle-born. I didn't mind really. The way she acts youd think she was a pureblood. Much better than my older brother, Rudolphus, he married that crazy Bellatrix Black woman.

I stopped reading and sat back in the chair, staringbat the book like it was cursed.

"Y/N?" I looked up to the door and saw Severus come in. "Everything alright?"

"My real name is Y/N Lestrange...." I said quietly.

He seemed confused so I stood up and handed him the journal, flipping it back to the inside of the cover.

"This is..." he finally said after looking at it for as long as I did.

"I know." I looked up at him as he set the book down.

"This is your reputation. You could expose this and bring it to the ministry, or cover it up. Like most people would."

"You mean you dont care?" I asked him. I was almost expecting him to be upset by this.

"Of course not. You have no direct correlation with them. I love you no less."

In that moment everything felt like it froze. I looked at Severus with wide eyes.

"What?"

"I love you no less, Y/N."

I smiled, very lightly. I leaned into him and wrapped my arms around him. He seemed to know why I was acting in this way and didn't question. It had been so long since someone had told me they loved me, I almost forgot how it felt.

"I love you too Severus." After saying that, I felt his arms wrap around me even more tightly. It seemed he had forgotten what that felt like too.

⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜

In the days that followed, I went with the unthinkable thing. I decided I'd expose my lineage.

A story ended up being put in the paper about it. It was hidden off to the side, not exactly worthy enough to be a huge, bold, headline, but really nothing was currently.

Lucius Malfoy threatened me at first, to have it taken down because it looked bad for the entire family. But it wasn't something that someone couldn't have easily figured out if they out in the efforts to know.

Nobody really cared but it was odd, some people might acknowledge me as a Lestrange while others say I remained a L/N.

To Severus, I was me. And he made sure I knew that.