Chapter Text
Things were not going well for Peter. Wormtail. Frail and thin, a reedy man who’d gone more than days at a time without food. Peter couldn’t say he didn’t deserve it. No, he certainly did. And no, he didn’t feel remorse for Lily or her death.
Severus had named her first in his letter. Then his father. The thought of him made Peter’s lip curl with disgust. It was too late by then, Tobias Mathias Snape was long dead by the next school holidays. There was no need to go after him. Peter knew, he’d checked.
It wasn’t always like this, curiosity at first. Curiosity until Evan. Severus' boyfriend, the first of them. But certainly not the last. Severus had a type, Avery, Mulciber, Evan. Each one, worse than the last. Older too.
~~~
Peter followed Rosier along the halls and out into the inner courtyard. There under the light of the stars, Rosier was wrapped up in the arms of some nameless girl. He’d heard the rumours. On the 5th of December, Evan had asked Snape out. Well, that’s what he’d heard through the grapevine.
It didn’t make sense. Snape wasn’t hideous, just a bit unfortunate looking. Greasy, lanky, under-fed and ghostly pale. Yesterday, on Saturday, Snape sat alone in the Three Broomsticks with tears in his eyes. So? Was Rosier pulling a prank?
Despite what Peter thought, Evan Rosier and Severus would date approximately four weeks. The break up was loud and violent. Peter didn’t get it.But Severus would go on to date two more Slytherins after that. Each break up, very, very different.
~~~
It took some time, 1 year to be exact. Tracking Severus down wasn’t easy. At the end of fourth year, after the letter, Peter had made a stop by Cokeworth which was rather far out from his home. That’s when he’d discovered Tobias was already dead, almost a year at that point. That summer, Peter had ransacked Severus' run down, childhood home. Save for the furniture and broken beer bottles, there was almost nothing there.
But Peter found a floorboard in the master bedroom, creaky and old. Peter once loved detective movies, so without a care in the world he pulled it up and what do you know. A journal belonging to Eileen Prince was stuffed inside. The journal was old, when he flipped through the pages detailing her life, the final entry was August 9th, 1973.
That was his saving grace. A clue. Peter didn’t need to look far, Professor Slughorn was like putty in your hands if you played your cards right. Peter had the best cards. Slughorn adored James and Sirius, well he adored their pristine families.
‘Eileen was such a brilliant girl, yes. Such a shame she threw it all away for a man,’ He’d said. ‘A muggle too, so sad.’ Peter put it all together quickly. Snape was a halfblood and in his home, discarded by time, Eileen’s journal yellowed and dried. So she was Snapes’ mum then. If only Professor Slughorn knew. He would have paid Severus much more attention.
So yes, it took Peter until the end of fifth year to find Snape. France, with his mother’s relatives. Oh how they kindly took in their bastard grandson. He was safe there, away from Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and himself. Dumbledore couldn’t touch him either. Snape was safe.
But Peter had it on great authority that Severus had returned. Severus wasn’t safe here. He needed to go back to France or anywhere else. Peter would have to do something about it, only Peter could do something. No one else knew what Peter did. Not even Severus.
Which was why Peter had found himself back in Spinners End. It wasn’t great but he had nowhere else to go. With his parents dead and his assets frozen, Severus' run down childhood home was the best he could think of. It wasn’t ideal, no furniture or food, an empty shell of what Peter could remember through Azkaban tarnished memories.
It would be fine, of course. Peter could get food anywhere, rats were common, right? Furniture didn’t really matter, he’d slept in a cold and wet cell and now Peter had the comfort of four walls and insulation. No more ratty stone walls, glass-less windows or rain flooded floors. The only thing he needed to do now was find Severus Snape.
—
Lucius scrubbed a hand down his face, checking his calendar, he sighed. Sunday, 2nd of August. Draco had been home for three hours and he had already caused a ruckus. Draco had smashed Narcissa's favourite vase twice in that short time, scared the peacocks to within an inch of their lives and babbled poor Severus half to death.
Draco was currently in his room on time out. Lucius loved Draco, he did. But there was time and place for over-exuberance, it wasn’t his son's fault of course, it was that damn James Potter. What kind of animal feeds cake and chocolate to a twelve year old for breakfast.
Lucius understood that the children were excited from Neville and Harry’s sleepover but goodness gracious. Sometimes, it was ok to tell children, no. So yes, while normally too old for time out, Draco was unfortunately being punished.
Lucius' thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his name being called from the flickering flames of his floo. Rufus Scrimegour’s visage appeared, his brows furrowed and his mouth pulled in a downturned frown. Lucius straightened in his seat at his appearance.
“Head Auror Scrimegour, to what do I owe the pleasure on this fine day?” Lucius asked as he kneeled in his fireplace, his voice perfectly cordial.
“Aah, yes. Lord Malfoy. Fine day to you sir, I was calling about a wizard residing in your home?” Rufus spoke succinctly and clear.
“I believe I know of whom you speak, is there trouble in regards to that?” Lucius didn’t want to say anything about Severus on the off chance there was trouble, Rufus was a good man, but was known to jump for a fight at the drop of a hat if there was a chance.
“I am not at liberty to say as of yet, however it is most decidedly urgent. We require Mr Severus Snape’s presence at the Auror’s Department, post haste.” Lucius did not visibly react.
“I see, I will alert him, Head Auror. I’m sure he will join you shortly.” Lucius answered, but Rufus only shook his head.
“I apologise, Lord Malfoy, we will need to send an Auror or two to accompany him,” Rufus said and Lucius quirked a single brow at him.
“We believe he may be facing some danger in the future, we do sincerely apologise.” Rufus spoke calmly, Lucius knew from that alone that Rufus Scrimegour was not planning anything untoward.
“Give me a short moment, I shall retrieve him. I will allow entry through my family's public floo room.” Head Auror Scrimegour nodded his assent and disconnected from Lucius' private floo. Throwing his head back and heaving a deep sigh, Lucius stood.
Too lazy to walk from the family wing to the guest wing, Lucius floo’d over. Lucius made his way through the guest wing, checking every room for his friend. Severus was brewing in the guest (read: Severus personal) potions room.
Despite having been sent to his room, Draco sat atop a stool, watching his godfather work in silence. Severus was *far* too lenient on the boy. Lucius cleared his throat, Draco stiffened upon seeing his father and flushed. Severus only smirked easily, shamelessly.
“Draco, return to your room as you had been instructed.” Lucius said firmly, Draco began to sputter.
“B-but da-ad!” Draco whined and turned wide eyes on his godfather,
“Now, young man. We will be discussing this later.” Lucius took no joy in being firm with Draco, especially not as he pouted looking so much like his lovely mother.
Draco hopped down from his seat and shuffled shamefully from the room. Severus turned off the heating and set the cauldron aside for cooling before turning to Lucius. With a tilt of his head, his brows shot up in question.
“What’s up, Lucius?” Severus asked,
“Can’t I just swing by to see a friend?” Lucius asked back with a smile on his lips.
“You could, but you didn’t have to send Draco away for that. So what’s really up, Luc?” Severus asked again. Lucius could never keep things from Severus.
“Head Auror Scrimegour needs you at the Auror Department.” Severus began to stand at Lucius words, but the blonde man put a hand on his shoulder,
“They’ll be sending an escort for you,” Severus frowned but nodded anyway.
“Ok? I don’t believe I’ve done anything escort worthy, I swear.” Severus said in confusion, to which Lucius smirked.
“I know, I just wanted to tease you a little. Think of it as *your* punishment for letting Draco out of jail early,” He said with a laugh
“No, no. It’s for protection, they said.” Confusion only seemed to deepen on Severus' face. Severus stood and pulled on his robes.
“Ok, I’ll go wait by the floo then.” With that, Lucius walked him to the public floo room.
He might have been too lazy to walk from his office to Severus, but now that he was here, he decided it would be wise to escort Severus there. Head Auror Scrimegour was many things, but paranoid was not one of them. Lucius also remembered the stalking fiasco of late 1973 to early 1974.
It would be an absolute headache if that unnamed assailant had returned.