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To Die for Rebirth

Chapter 6

New Life (Part One)

One week passed in a flurry of activities. During certain moments, Sebastian felt that time passed by like a snap. This was usually when he was reading, cooking, and surprisingly when he was lounging with the severe potions master. They still did not talk much but the young man really appreciated the silent company his newfound father had given him. He was never forced to talk about the incident or even to make small talks.

Sebastian had started rereading Hogwarts textbooks in the subjects that he had had taken the OWLs as Harry Potter with the exception of Divination which he delightfully decided to follow his father's advice to abandon. The textbooks he read belonged to Severus, placed neatly subject by subject in the bookshelves lining the living room. Severus had a peculiar habit of writing his thoughts on the subject matter at the margins of the book. From reading these, Sebastian had grown a substantial amount of admiration and respect for the older man. Even at eleven when he first started Hogwarts, Severus had been meticulous and detailed in his thought process.

Other than being meticulous, apparently young Severus Snape had been very vocal in expressing his emotions in doodles, a habit Sebastian himself unknowingly copied when he was Harry Potter. Previously when he was irritated by Draco Malfoy (and sometimes Ron Weasley), old Harry would doodle away ridiculous things, such as Malfoy falling on his face and Ron spitting slugs. Young Severus had doodled of the Marauders in weird embarrassing poses throughout his Hogwarts years. These absurdly out of character drawings were typically found in books of less demanding courses such as History of Magic and Astronomy and they continued throughout the years. Another type of drawings he would often find was of a lily flower. Every time Sebastian came across the lily, he would pause his reading, smile softly, and run a finger over the inked flower, Lily, his mother.

Currently Sebastian was lounging in the living room during the mid afternoon, lying down with his back on the fluffy carpet in front of the fireplace. He was reading the fourth year transfiguration theory and just stumbled upon another of his father's drawing of the lily flower. It was rather different from the previous ones he had come across. This version seemed to be inked rather fervently with pressure, leaving the paper carved on the next few pages. Even more impressive was the subtle watercolour like white and green gradient colouring on the lily flower. Smiling softly, Sebastian gazed upon the most marvellous drawing he had yet to find. He then started to doze off, letting the book fall softly on his chest.

The slight tapping sound brought Severus Snape out of his focused work on the following term's lesson plan, making few adjustments to the curriculum to include the latest updates in the Potions field. He stretched from his sitting position at his work desk at the corner of the room and looked to where Sebastian was. He could only see a mop of black hair, not unlike his own except for the few crimson highlights, peeking out of the couch seat.

"Sebastian?" he called.

There was no reply.

Standing up from his desk, he made his way to the centre of the living room quietly and found his son dozing off with his old transfiguration textbook opened with the spine up on his son's chest. He could not resist a relieved sigh while looking at Sebastian's peaceful expression. He was glad that even after the ordeal and the frequent nightmares at night, there was time when his son could have such an expression. A silent spell later, Sebastian was moved from the carpet to the couch with ease. He then quietly took the book and the spectacles off and put them on the end table.

Sitting down on his armchair, Severus gazed over his son and thought back of the previous week with mixed emotions.

After lunch on the day Severus brought Sebastian to move in to Spinner's End, his son retired to his room with a random fiction book of his choosing from the bookshelf. Severus took the solitary time to grab a bottle of local-brewed dark beer and casted a spell to instantly chill the beverage. Contrary to popular beliefs, he did not adapt the stuck-up pureblood custom of drinking only wine and expensive spirits. Beer was great for summer. When the weather warrants it, his preferred poison would be cognac. He headed over to the living area and sat on the armchair with his right hand clasped around the beer bottle and his left held the potions periodical as he tried not to think about his latest ordeal. He had yet to look into the memory that his childhood friend took from him secretly. He did not even know if he dared to. He took a big gulp of the beer and started reading.

Latest Trends: Stirring Angle and Speed

Master Tiberius Geoffrey, 40, ordained to the guild in 1990, recently proposed a new theory that brewing potions with a more detailed direction of stirring, that ladle being angled at 64 degrees at a speed of 46 circles with 14.6cm diameter per minute will increase the potions efficacy by 0.14 percent. Mr Geoffrey stated that…

Severus scoffed. "What a shit-load of useless bull crap," he grumbled irritably, wrung the periodical on his left hand and threw the wrinkled book to the coffee table at which it impacted with a smack. Only Ravenclaws would go to that kind of details with limited results. Even more irritating was that the article had passed through the journal selection process. In the past few years, the quality seemed to decline pretty badly. Sighing, he had another swig of beer, looked up and rested the back of his head flat on the top of the armchair's headrest.

Sebastian. Lily. Nowadays his mind always seemed to wander to the same thoughts that he wanted to avoid. Sure, Occlumency was useful but such topic of huge magnitude was not so easy to conceal and forget. He hoped the incident would not trouble the boy too much. He knew it was impossible to get away from such event mentally unscathed. Sebastian would probably need some coping exercises soon. Hmm. Meditation seemed to be a good place to start. Sitting up, he finished his beer and went to the rows of bookshelves lining the wall to look for a book in meditation. Severus took two basic beginner books, and was in the process of reaching for a third when his Dark Mark burned.

He cursed.

Swiftly, he dropped to two books on the dining table and briskly walked to his room upstairs to get his Death Eater garbs. With a deep breath, he put his ironclad Occlumency shields in place and put on his mask. He then took a quill and scrap paper, and scribbled a message for Sebastian.

DE business. Cook yourself dinner and eat if I am not back by seven.
~SS

He exited his room to the common area in the second floor, banished the message to his son's room, and gave a rap on the door. With all preparations and precautions done, he disapparated to where the Dark Lord would be waiting.

Severus Snape apparated to the designated apparition point of the Dark Lord's Headquarter, which was currently a designated wing in Malfoy Manor. Two Death Eaters were waiting by the archway, one on each side.

"Yaxley, Goyle," he greeted passively.

"Snape. Our Lord requested for your presence in His chamber. Malfoy Junior is with Him," replied Yaxley while Goyle just grunted.

Giving them a terse nod, he glided to Lord Voldemort's chamber with familiar ease, keeping all stray thoughts on what motives the Dark Lord might have had to call him to his chamber in such sudden manner.

His arrival and knock were answered by Draco Malfoy.

"Come in," the young aristocrat's voice echoed and the door magically opened under a silent spell.

Severus walked inside and observed that the Dark Lord was sitting on a throne-like armchair facing the doorway he just crossed, with Draco Malfoy standing unsure on His left.

He dropped to one knee in a gesture of respect and reverence. "My Lord," he greeted silkily.

"Leave us, Draco," the Dark Lord commanded.

Out of the corner of his eye, Severus saw the young Malfoy who was also his godson gave the Dark Lord a bow and walked out with slight tremble. He saw his godson giving him a pained and meaningful look as he exited the room and closed the door. He worried for Draco staying in the manor as a host to the Dark Lord, especially with his father imprisoned in Azkaban. He would probably need to meet with his charge soon to find out how he was doing.

He felt the shift of magic as the Dark Lord applied several complex privacy wards.

"Come closer, Severus. Kneel before me."

He silently made his way to the most dangerous wizard in Great Britain with quiet ease, betraying any fear and nervousness he certainly felt and shoved behind his Occlumency shields. Once he was close enough, he dropped to both knees, bowed, and kissed the hem of the Lord's robes. Afterwards he passively waited and kept his eyes on the ground until his Lord addressed him.

An eternity seemed to pass but the Dark Lord had yet to say a word. Instead, a bony hand made its way to Severus' face and held his chin with the thumb and index fingers. Clamping down his Occlumency shields, he followed the direction of the disgustingly bony and pallid hand. His onyx eyes met with the Dark Lord's red. He felt the probe.

"Show me!" The Dark Lord harshly commanded.

The emphasis on the 's' vowel that gave the Dark Lord's a snake-like quality as well as the critical nature of his request almost made Severus tremble in fear. Almost. He had a contingency plan ready for such an occurrence. In his mindscape, Severus had built a second shield buried deep down under irrelevant facts and thoughts. He shoved sensitive information under those shield and opened up his peripheral one.

The probe started. It was unlike Dumbledore's gentle non-intrusive Legilimency. The Dark Lord's probe was like a violent hound-dog, trying to detect the smallest hint of disloyalty. However, Severus was probably the best Occlumens on earth right now. He had been subjected to such probes countless times yet he was still alive despite having things to hide.

Not finding any trace of disobedience, the Dark Lord ended his probe and let go of Severus, who let his head dropped and kept his eyes on the floor once more.

"What do you know about Potter's death, Severus?"

"Not much, My Lord. I was informed only after the house burnt down in ruins. Apparently, his uncle, Vernon Dursley, went manic from losing his job and decided to set fire to the house. They only found Potter's remains from the aftermath. Closer investigation revealed that Potter's aunt and cousin left the house for vacation paid for in full a few days prior by Dursley before the incident. The wards that Dumbledore set around the house alerted him of a breach but when he showed up he was too late and Potter had died," he recapped his prepared answer with the monotony of a reporter, something he picked up throughout the years of acting as an Intel.

The Dark Lord let out a noncommittal hum and fell silent once again.

Because his knees were starting to feel numb, Severus shifted his position and sat on top of his heels. Still keeping his eyes on the floor, he was careful not to make big movements as to not disturb the Dark Lord.

"You have permission to look at me," Lord Voldemort began again and relaxed onto his armchair. Severus looked up to him from his sitting position.

"I am in need of your expertise as potions master."

At a quarter to seven, Severus Snape apparated back to his residence at Spinner's End. After banishing his Death Eater mask and robes to his room, he approached the kitchen where he could hear sounds of food preparation. Sebastian was cooking dinner with ease, something he did not quite expect. The boy looked up from behind stovetop to him and they exchanged nods of acknowledgement. Then Severus sat down at the dining table, which had already been set.

"Good evening, Sir. Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine. I will tell you the details together with the headmaster when he comes later tonight. I will floo-call him after dinner to request his presence. What's for dinner?"

"Okay. I am preparing beef bourguignon with mashed potato and steamed vegetables. I just need it to simmer for a little bit longer."

"Is there something I can help with?"

"The sides are ready to be served. Here," his son gestured to his right where indeed, two dishes were ready to be served.

Severus swished his wand and let the two dishes float over to the dining table. Sebastian looked a bit startled when the dishes magically rose and his son gave him a small shy sheepish smile. Evidently, he was not used to the presence of magic in the kitchen. The spell was lifted from the dishes once it touched the table.

He frowned a little after seeing the uniformly cut steamed vegetables. They showed superior knife skills that could only be learned from years of practice. He wondered how Harry Potter had never showed such aptitude in ingredients preparation during Potions. Was his son underperforming? Or was it he that had been too blinded by his biases and hatred to see objectively?

His eyes moved to gaze over his son, observing but not to the point of staring. The teenager in question was stirring the stew slowly, clearly revelling in the mundane activity if the humming of a cheerful-sounding melody any indication. It was clear that he had been cooking for at least three years. However, considering his being in Hogwarts for nine months each year, he must have started cooking at a much younger age. He mentally grimaced at the thought of his flesh and blood being forced to cook by Petunia. Oh how he would love to strangle that damned woman personally.

Soon, his son's joining him at the dining table put a stop to his sadistic musings of ten ways how Petunia would die. Sebastian placed the tantalizing smelling stew pot at the centre of the table and sat across him.

"Impressive," he praised and commenced to take a few spoonful of the stew to his serving plate. He noticed Sebastian fidgeted at the praise before thanking him and copying his previous action of taking a serving of the bourguignon. While they ate, Severus attempted to make small conversations. His son admitted to have started cooking since he was eight, but he did not elaborate further. He suspected that at his early ventures to the kitchen bad things happened to him should he made a mess or burn a dish. They talked about different recipes and compared some of their favourites. The excitement in his tone when talking about cooking further solidified his deduction that his son enjoyed cooking.

After dinner, his son offered to do the dishes while he went to the living room to floo-call the headmaster.

To be continued…

A/N: Wow it has been almost 4 years. My apologies for not updating any sooner due to writer's block. I revisited this story multiple times but my brain simple did not come up with anything, until 2 days ago when I decided to reread the story from Chapter 1 and ideas started forming in my head.

So what do you think of Chapter 6? I personally find the scene with the Dark Lord to be the hardest to write so I hope it is realistic enough. Do you think Severus' POV is in-character enough? Tell me in your Review.

At first I planned for this chapter to start with Sebastian and Severus' recalling the past week, flashback to the start of the week, and return to Sebastian waking up and getting his wand. It is supposed to include the conversation with Dumbledore about Snape's meeting with the Dark Lord, a plan of what Sebastian will do during the 1 year sabbatical from Hogwarts, as well as Sebastian getting a wand. But, as I typed the word count seemed to add up real quick. So, those events will happen in chapter 7.

I am 90% sure right now that in this story there will be no horcruxes as it certainly complicates things. With horcruxes I will probably need at least 40 chapters to complete the story; something I can't imagine doing right now.

A little update on my personal life: currently I am no longer studying but I have a full-time job. Updates will be intermittent, depending on how much time I have on my hand, but the plot is pretty much set. Send me a howler if I start slacking off again please!

~Jollybird (2 Dec 2015)
.Reuploaded 3 Dec 2015 with revisions