Chapter 2: Summer After Second Year

A/N: Thanks to Ferporcel for beta-reading this chapter in the middle of the night; dear Keladry Lupin is very busy mentoring new writers for the Live Journal SS/HG Exchange. MagicAlly Brit-picked for me, as she always does. I must also thank sshg316 and DeeMichelle for alpha reading for me as I write.

Unseen

Chapter 2: Summer After Second Year

Pepper sat quietly under the spreading oak tree on the far bank, ignoring the numerous acorns digging into her bum. The Kingdom bridge arched over the stream bed, which was currently all but dry. When first they had discovered it, on that day the summer before, the weeds, brambles, and vines had so overgrown the banks that the trickling water had been hidden from their view. She, Lily, and Severus had been so enthralled with their discovery, they had spent the whole of their summer holiday clearing out the tangled growth and neatening up the marvellous, hidden world they had found behind the undergrowth in the clearing.

Severus had perhaps been fanciful in likening the lichen-covered stone bridge and what lay beyond it to King Arthur's Camelot, but the discovery had seemed to them utterly enchanting. The bridge led across a small stream, beyond which the overgrown shrubbery of a once-formal garden could be found. When they had struggled through the dense undergrowth amidst the eight-foot-tall hedges, they had found an old, crumbling in-ground swimming pool. They had been able to descend the concrete steps at the shallow end and on down the sloping interior until the sides of the pool had risen fifteen feet over their heads. The shape of the pool was an irregular one, looking like no man-made swimming pool they had ever seen. Some of the cracks in the surface had grown so large that weeds and wildflowers grew in the interstices.

A winding path through a stand of rowan trees led to a small lake, which might, once upon a time, have been stocked with fish for sport. Now, it was a place to dangle one's feet in the cool water on hot days or to place one's drinks in the water to chill.

The remaining days of that summer had been ones of excitement and exploration. It had become obvious fairly early on that they had stumbled upon the ruins of the estate of a once-rich family. With the combined lack of curiosity and blind acceptance of the very young, they had not puzzled further over the provenance of their discovery. They had not wished to find reasons why they ought not to trespass upon the property of another person; obviously the place was no longer cared for by anyone, and they were fully prepared to remedy that negligence to the best of their ability.

Beyond the swimming pool was a particularly dense stand of trees which grew so thickly, with branches hanging so low and so entwined, the sun scarcely shone through. They had dubbed this haven El Castillo del Viento, which Pepper had insisted was Spanish for the Castle of the Wind. Severus had snorted and rolled his eyes, but Lily had loved the name, so Pepper had got her way about it. Severus had taken to stashing his Muggle clothes there; upon his almost-daily arrivals, he would secrete his broom and his robes, don the jeans and tee-shirt, and embark upon the task of the day.

He had taken the project very seriously. Pepper and Lily had been intrigued by their find and had spent many hours whispering together about the possible history of the place, but Severus had behaved almost as if he were obsessed with it. He had toiled energetically to clear away the undergrowth from the bridge and the stream banks; he had paced the area of their small Kingdom from the bridge north, south, east, and west, establishing the likely perimeters of the property. Now, in the second summer of their rule of their small Kingdom, he had devised small traps at likely points of entry; not for the purpose of ensnaring intruders, but for the purpose of detecting them.

'What is the point?' Pepper had asked, watching him meticulously tie a long piece of twine about the trunk of a tree and stretch the string across the ground.

'The point is to know if we've been discovered,' he had replied, with more patience than he often displayed toward Pepper.

Pepper had laughed. 'It's not as if we've any real right to be here,' she had said.

Severus had glared at her from his spot on the ground, where he was carefully dispersing dust and grass to cover the presence of the twine. 'Are you saying you wouldn't care if other people were mucking about in our Kingdom?'

Pepper's face had clouded. 'Not other kids – not anyone, really,' she had been forced to admit.

Severus had only smirked at her and continued to play with his twine.

Now Pepper frowned at the sketchbook on her knees. She and Lily had agreed during one of their late-night discussions of the Kingdom that they ought to have a flag. Lily had insisted that Pepper be the one to draw the design, since Pepper was the artist. She was struggling over a coat of arms, attempting to incorporate the elements the three of them had decided upon. Severus had suggested with a suspiciously innocent air that their icon be a serpent; Pepper hadn't understood Lily's furious refutation of the suggestion until the two had fallen into a right squabble over it. Honestly! Sometimes they acted as if that stupid school of theirs was the entire world. Well, it wasn't. Pepper had never been there, and she never would be there – from what she understood, she wouldn't be able to see anything of it even if she were standing right in front of it! – and she couldn't see any reason for the stupid rivalries of the stupid school to have any bearing in the Kingdom.

It had been a rainy afternoon when they had decided the name of their realm. Unable to work at clearing undergrowth or to walk the boundary of the land, the three of them had huddled in El Castillo del Viento.

'It should have a beautiful name,' Pepper had said dreamily, sitting with her arms wrapped about her legs.

'It should have a strong name,' Severus had retorted, sprawled on his belly and playing with a tattered old pack of Exploding Snap cards.

'I don't see any reason why the name can't be both beautiful and strong,' Lily had interpolated, keeping the peace. 'Camelot was the most beautiful kingdom is the history of the world – and King Arthur brought peace and unity to the people.'

'You may not have noticed, Evans,' Severus had drawled, 'but this is obviously not the real Camelot. This is entirely the wrong part of the country for that.'

'It doesn't have to be the real one for us to call it that!' Pepper had snapped, coming promptly to her sister's defence.

Severus had shrugged. 'If you have no imagination to think up your own Kingdom name, then call it Camelot.'

'You've got an idea!' Lily had exclaimed, cutting off Pepper's angry reply before it could be uttered. 'Tell us!'

Severus had glanced at the sisters through his stringy, oily hair; seeing that they were attending to him, he had abandoned the Exploding Snap pack and sat up.

'Do you know what "wyrd" means? W-y-r-d,' he had spelled.

As if responding to the same brain impulse, the twins had shaken their heads simultaneously.

'It's fate. It means the past – everything that has already become – and it also refers to how past actions continue to affect and shape the future.' Severus had kept his glittering black eyes on the girls as he spoke, evincing an intensity at odds with his usual studied indifference. 'The Kingdom of Wyrd,' he had intoned, 'a realm where magic and fate are woven into a brilliant destiny.'

Pepper frowned over her drawing, erasing her attempt at a horse. In the end, they had compromised on the elements of their coat of arms, each of them choosing an animal representative of themselves. She had drawn Lily's lioness and Severus' serpent, but she was having difficulty determining her own emblem. Lily had made suggestions, the chief amongst which was an eagle; Lily believed that Pepper would have been placed in the House represented by the eagle, had she gone to Hogwarts. Pepper had angrily rejected the idea; truly, when had Lily become so narrow-minded? She behaved as if she were no longer capable of thinking beyond the wizard's world.

'Pepper!'

Pepper looked up and saw Lily pushing her way through the undergrowth. In the summer sunlight, Lily's hair shone dark red; she wore it loose and as she ran it flew behind her like a sheet of copper. Over the last year, Pepper and Lily had both started their periods. Lily had been so excited when it happened to her, during her first term, she had sent a school owl to Pepper with the announcement. Pepper had been jealous for less than one month before her body had followed suit, succeeding her older twin in the acquisition of her menses just as she had done by following her into the world, with Lily the older by a scarce three minutes.

With their menses, had come budding breasts, for which their mum had procured bras for them over the Christmas holiday. In a break with tradition, Pepper had insisted on a plain garment, minus the lace and little pink rose which Lily had found indispensable. Mum had chuckled and said it was just another sign of them growing up, to be choosing different clothes. Pepper noted now that Lily was obviously not wearing her bra today, judging by the way her chest jiggled like jelly as she ran. Oh, it was barely noticeable, but Pepper noticed small things – how could one keep control of one's life if one did not heed details?

Pepper kept her side of the bedroom, her drawers, and her wardrobe in impeccable order. She had been known to take a straight-edge from her desk to determine that the stacks of knickers were perfectly aligned in her dresser. She had never allowed anyone to see her do it, knowing instinctively that such a practice would be looked upon as odd. But she had the private satisfaction of knowing that her belongings were in perfect order, as were her bedroom and her bathroom – except, of course, when Lily was home from school.

Lily skipped across the stone bridge and flopped down beneath the oak tree beside Pepper, panting lightly from her exertion.

'Where's Severus?' Lily inquired, leaning over to look at Pepper's progress on their coat of arms.

Pepper snorted. 'How am I supposed to know?'

Lily frowned. 'What's got up your nose?'

Pepper shrugged. 'I'm here. Isn't that good enough for you?'

Lily rested her forehead briefly on Pepper's bare upper arm. 'You're my sister, Pep. No one will ever be closer to me than you.'

Pepper felt a warmth flood her body, seeming to spread from her heart outward to her fingers and down to her toes. A giggle burbled up from the depths of her sudden cheer. 'Mum's got her meeting with the Ladies' Auxiliary this afternoon – let's go home and listen to our Osmond records as loud as we want!'

Lily giggled in response. 'Severus can come and find us at the house, if he wants us,' she agreed, springing up. 'Remember the last time he came in whilst we were listening to Donny?'

Pepper made her voice gruff, doing a credible impersonation of Severus. 'He not only sounds like a girl – he looks like a girl.'

Lily snorted as she and Pepper headed back across the bridge. 'His hair is longer than Donny's is!'

'No one would ever mistake Severus for a girl! With that nose?'

'Pep! Don't be mean!' After a moment, Lily giggled again. 'Not that you don't have a point....'

'Isn't Donny cute?' Pepper said breathlessly, giving voice to her most heartfelt emotion.

'Dreamy,' Lily averred.

In perfect amity, the sisters made their way back to their home, Pepper's looming disquiet laid to rest on the common ground of their friendship.

Dinner that night was lamb chops and sprouts, with an apple pie bought from the bakers for afters.

'I just didn't have time to prepare anything, Clare – the meeting went on until late this afternoon,' Mrs. Evans explained to her husband.

Clarence Evans grinned conspiratorially at Lily as he began to put slices of pie onto small plates. 'Salty and I don't care, do we, pet?'

His wife looked with disapproval at Lily, who grinned and passed the dessert plate to Pepper.

"I wouldn't care for any,' Pepper said, watching her mother's face.

Elsie Evans smiled at Pepper, who rose and went to stand beside her mother. The two were strikingly similar in build, both with sharply defined bone structure in their rather long faces, with comparably thin arms, which they now crossed whilst looking at Mr. Evans and Lily.

'I hope we won't have to buy all new clothes for you next term because you've got too big for the old ones,' Mrs. Evans admonished Lily before placing an arm around Pepper and leading her from the room.

Pepper could not resist the temptation to look over her shoulder and smirk at Lily. Lily stuck out her tongue.

'Am I fat, Daddy?' Lily asked, poking at the apple pie with her fork.

'Not a bit!' Mr. Evans assured her, taking a large bite of his pudding. At forty, Clare Evans was losing his hair and gaining a slight paunch, but looked quite distinguished when he dressed in his three-piece suits to go to work at Grunnings Drill Company, in Harrogate. 'Your mother is a touch thin, as is Pepper – but you're perfect as you are, Salty. Don't you fret about it.'

Lily sighed and pushed the pie away from her. 'I can't fit into Pepper's jeans, anymore.'

Mr. Evans spoke with great delicacy. 'Pepper has time still to grow out of her skinniness,' he said. 'But you girls are growing up now, love, and you may be different-looking women. There's nothing wrong with that.'

Lily pushed away from the table, leaning over to kiss her father's bald spot. 'Thanks, Daddy. I don't think I'll have any pudding tonight. Mum says a girl can't be too careful, and that no boy would want a fat girl.'

Mr. Evans watched his daughter as she exited the room, reflecting to himself that she was quite perfectly proportioned for a thirteen-year-old girl. With a shake of his head, he pulled over the abandoned plate and began to eat hers as well. No need to let good pie go to waste!

Saturday dawned with a steady rain which did not let up. The girls irritated their mother with their incessant complaints and frequent opening of the front door to see if it was really raining that hard. It was therefore a comfort to them all when Elsie Evans took up her handbag and her umbrella that afternoon for her weekly appointment at the hairdressers'.

'Lily Anne, I expect you to have your half of the bedroom tidy when I return,' she admonished. 'Can't you learn to keep house as tidily as your sister? No man wants to marry a slovenly girl, let me tell you!'

The door closed behind their mother, and Lily rolled her eyes. 'I'm the tidiest girl in my dormitory,' she objected darkly.

Pepper looked up from her drawing tablet. 'You lot must live in a sty,' she said frankly.

Lily shrugged. 'It might be a little cluttered, but not dirty. The house-elves see to that.'

Pepper gripped her lips tightly to prevent herself from uttering a question about what a house-elf might be. Honestly! Lily dropped the most outrageous things into perfectly civil conversations now – and it was obvious to Pepper that her twin wanted to be questioned about the odd world in which she lived ten months out of the year – but Pepper had no intention of gratifying that type of show-off behaviour. She sniffed audibly and lowered her face again to the sketch.

'Of course,' Lily added, 'Alice is a bit of a mess, but the others just leave their things lying about.' She popped up from her chair and went over to look out the window. 'I hate being inside – I want to go to the Kingdom.'

'Think of all the mud,' Pepper advised, wrinkling her nose distastefully.

An oddly staccato knock at the back garden door brought Lily's head around, a smile lighting her face. 'It's Severus!'

'I didn't need you to tell me that,' Pepper said snidely, carefully tucking her drawing away from sight. She didn't want him to see it until she was satisfied with it. If he belittled it.... No, she would definitely keep it secret until she was ready to show it to him.

She trailed down the hallway and found Lily putting the kettle on to boil; a rain-drenched Severus was rubbing his hair dry with a tasteful Wedgwood-blue bath towel.

'That's one of mine!' she screeched, darting forward to snatch it from unworthy boy-hands. She turned angrily on her sister. 'Why couldn't you give him one of your towels to rub his greasy head in?' she snapped. 'I bought this set out of my own pocket money!'

Lily stepped up to her sister, her face dispassionate. 'I'm ashamed of you, Petunia Anne Evans,' she said flatly. 'I never thought I would see the day you would behave in such a way to a guest in our home.'

Pepper felt her face burn, and she knew she had flushed in embarrassment. It was fine for Lily to talk; she didn't care for nice things. Yes, Pepper had seen the mortified humiliation on Severus' paper-white face – but her towels weren't Lily's to use!

She stood in mute anger, one shoulder hunched against Severus, smoothing the expensive towel in her hands. Lily left the room for just a moment and returned with another towel. She walked past her twin without speaking, and pulling a chair right next to Severus', she reached up and began to dry his chagrined face with her own hands.

Stubbornly, Pepper did not leave the room. She didn't know what to say – how to say sorry to either her sister or their friend – but she was determined not to be left out of what was likely to be the only entertainment on offer that afternoon. Feeling awkward, she stayed where she stood, a few feet from the table, and tried not to fidget – but desperately wished to hear what the other two were whispering. Were they making fun of her?

Severus, deeply embarrassed, moved his face away as Lily reached to dry the water from it. Gently persistent, she moved closer to the edge of her chair and stroked the plain white towel over his throat.

'Don't mind her,' Lily murmured. 'She's just in a foul mood.'

'I'm not dirty,' he muttered, his eyes averted.

Lily stood and laid the towel about his shoulders, lifting his hair from beneath it, then she crouched on the other side of him, away from Pepper. 'I know you're not dirty,' she said. 'Pepper doesn't mean it.'

He would not look at her, but she waited patiently, ignoring the increasingly restive movements of her sister on the other side of the table. At last, he raised his eyes to Lily's face.

'I thought you were going to make tea,' he said, striving for a normal tone.

The smile which Lily bestowed upon him made his breath catch in his chest. With an impish gleam, she took her finger and lightly touched the tip of his hooked nose.

'Bleep!' she said, laughing.

Severus knew she was playing with him – her green eyes were so warm, so fond as they rested upon his face – he never doubted her. Putting on his best scowl, he demanded, 'Are you making fun of my nose?'

Lily popped up, a puckish grin upon her face. 'No! I was only bleeping it.'

Continuing as if she had not spoken, he said, '... because my nose is one of my finer parts.'

Unable to contain herself, Pepper burst out, 'Oh, right. Your big honking nose is one of your finer parts? What does that say about the rest of you?'

Lily seemed to freeze, her anxious glance travelling from Severus' face to Pepper's and back again.

Severus' head swivelled smoothly to pin Pepper with his black eyes. 'At least it stays out of other peoples' business,' he quipped nastily.

At this immensely Severus-like behaviour, both sisters breathed audible sighs of relief.

Turning back to Lily again, he said, 'Haven't you always wanted to be an only child?'

Pepper's outraged squeal and Lily's burst of laughter were simultaneous and clearly indicated that the three friends were back on familiar ground. Discarding her carefully folded towel upon the top of the dresser, Pepper helped Lily to put tea upon the table. Severus pulled out the pack of Exploding Snap cards from his robes, and they settled down to play a three-handed game.

Soon, Lily and Severus fell into one of their usual squabbles over the rules of the game.

'That was an illegal play!' Lily said, outraged.

Severus raised an eyebrow at her. 'Are you questioning my game-playing integrity?' He turned to Pepper. 'Is she saying I cheat?'

Pepper rolled her eyes at him, but Lily's hand shot out, picking up his card and thrusting it back at him. 'Take it back!'

Severus glanced at the card, then at Lily's face. 'No,' he replied, smirking.

'Oh!' she said slapping the card onto the table top. 'You – you Slytherin!'

He inclined his head graciously. 'Thank you.'

Lily's further enraged gasp brought his laughing eyes up to her face. Unable to resist the urge to prick her Gryffindor sensibilities, he lightly touched the tip of her perfectly average nose. 'Bleep,' he said.

Thus it was that Mother Evans found her two well brought-up daughters wrestling a scrawny, straggle-haired, ill-favoured boy to the floor of her orderly kitchen when she came in from her appointment in a puff of cool air, carrying with her the scent of the lacquer which had been used upon her new hair-do.

'Girls!' she said in the tone that required immediate obedience. 'Get up from the floor this instant!'

The twins scrambled to their feet and promptly straightened their jeans and tops, each of them feeling quite a bit wrong-footed to have been discovered in such a tussle by their very particular mother. Severus stood as well, his expression immediately closed, his eyes moving to the door as if to judge the distance and whether he could move fast enough to get past the adult and through the door before she could grab him.

Bravely, Lily said, 'Mum, this is my friend, Severus Snape, from school. Severus, this is my mother, Mrs. Evans.'

Elsie Evans studied the bedraggled boy from head to foot. 'How nice to meet you,' she said, her tone implying words other than the ones she spoke. 'You know, there's a break in the rain now – it would be an excellent time for you to return to your home without getting any wetter.'

Severus dipped his head without uttering a word, moving past Lily's mother as quickly as possible. Lily followed him, saying, 'We'll see you Monday,' for they never played in the Kingdom on Sundays.

'Oh yes,' Elsie said, a speculative look in her eye. 'Tomorrow is Sunday. Then Severus must come eat Sunday lunch with us. Shall I write a note for your mother, Severus?'

Severus paused at the door, looking imploringly at Lily before he spoke to Mrs. Evans. 'No, ma'am; I can tell her,' he said, the hated change in register in his voice occurring at that instant, completing his utter humiliation. It had been happening for weeks now, but had never happened before in front of the girls. Merlin, how he hated puberty.

'Then we'll see you tomorrow, if your parents can spare you,' Elsie said, turning and walking out of the room.

Pepper hastened to stand with the other two at the back garden door. 'You've got to come,' she said urgently. 'If you don't, she'll start making excuses for why we can't hang around with you anymore.'

Lily nodded. 'Please come, Severus – once she sees that you're a nice boy, she'll be all right.'

Severus scowled at them. 'Being around you lot is turning out to be hard work.'

Neither girl knew what to say, so they stood in the doorway as he stepped out into the rain-wet garden, where he retrieved his broomstick from beneath the edge of the rose bushes. Without another word, he mounted and kicked off.

'I love it when he does that,' Pepper breathed, watching the broom rise into the sky. 'But why can't I see it after he rises above our heads?'

'There's a Muggle-repelling charm on the broom,' Lily said, continuing to watch the figure on the broom until it was out of sight. 'It's the only way he dares to fly it into Muggle-inhabited areas.'

Pepper made a disgusted noise and pulled her back into the kitchen, closing the door behind them.

Sunday morning found Severus standing morosely before the age-spotted mirror in his bedroom, looking disconsolately at the too-short trousers and too-small shirt he had unearthed from the wardrobe to wear to the Evans' for lunch. Grandfather bought what Severus needed, and Grandfather decreed that Severus did not need jeans, or trousers, or any other Muggle clothes. Grandfather said that pure-bloods wear wizarding robes and that Severus would dress as befitted a Prince.

Severus snorted derisively. Of course, the robes Grandfather saw fit to purchase for Severus' use were from the charity shop. If Severus was dressing in a manner fitting a Prince, then the Princes were a poverty-stricken lot. He looked around at the decaying grandeur of the room in which he slept when he was not at Hogwarts. It did not compare to the opulent furnishings in the rooms used by Grandfather. Prince Glen was a venerable old wizarding dwelling – it was Severus himself who was apparently unworthy of Grandfather's notice – except, of course, when the sadistic old bastard was feeling in need of amusement.

He stared at his reflection. At least he wasn't sporting a black eye or other facial disfigurement today – not other than the usual. He had not known until he had gone to Hogwarts that he was ugly. He had his mother's black hair and sallow complexion, but it was from his Grandfather that he had inherited the Prince nose. He didn't look at all like his dad – Tobias Snape was a fair-haired, hazel-eyed Muggle – and from what he had seen of old pictures of them together, his dad had always been much better-looking than his mum.

At Hogwarts, he had learned about love potions, and he wondered if his mum had used one to make his dad love her. But Professor Slughorn said the love potions were not long-acting; they had to be re-administered on a regular basis to maintain effectiveness, and they did not actually create love. Anyway, he knew his parents had loved one another, once upon a time. He had seen them when they were happy together. He could remember them taking him to the London zoo when he was very small; they had strolled along, hand-in-hand, as he had run from one exhibit to the next, exclaiming over the exotic animals. Having now seen older students at school behaving in that mawkish way, he knew that it betokened attraction – affection, even. Of course, that had been before Stephy.

Ruthlessly pushing the recollection from his mind, he determined to go to his mum. He almost never disturbed her, and for that reason, he seldom saw her – but he needed her help. He had to look presentable for Lily's parents. Going to Harrogate – spending his free time in the Kingdom – being near Lily – those things were more important to him than anything.

Stopping before his mother's door, he rapped his signature staccato beat – he wanted her to know it was him, not her father, who wanted to see her.

'Come in, Severus,' a weak voice called.

Severus entered the room and immediately saw his mother lying in her bed. Keeping his eyes fixed resolutely on her pale, pinched face, he crossed the floor and stopped by her side.

'Hi, Mum,' he said, taking the hand she extended to him.

Eileen Snape seldom left her room, and she spent many of her days in her bed, being served and waited upon by the house-elves as if she was an actual invalid. On rare days, she got up and dressed, and on even more rare days, she left her room and ventured out to sit at meals with her father and her son. On those occasions, Severus was never far from her side; Grandfather had never laid a hand upon his mum that Severus had seen, but he used his vicious tongue on her with the efficacy of a medieval scourge. Severus could not bear to see her taunted so mercilessly; invariably, he pulled the old man's attention to himself, taking the consequences with a stoic lack of emotion, enduring silently the vitriol as it was translated from vile words to cruel hexes and physical violence for his benefit.

Eileen smiled mistily at him, the love in her expression piercing her son like a blade. 'How is my big boy today?' she said, clinging to his hand.

Severus closed his eyes briefly to block out her pitiful face; he needed to focus on his errand. Opening them again, he looked in her black eyes, so like his own, and said, 'Mum, I need your help.'

Eileen's gaze faltered for a moment; Severus knew she was afraid he would renew his entreaties to leave this place, to go back to their home, to find his father – didn't she remember that he had ceased to beg her for those things long ago?

'I have an invitation to a luncheon,' he persisted, using language he hoped would pique her curiosity. 'The family of a girl I know from school – she's Muggle-born, so her family are Muggles. I can't go in robes.'

He released her hand and stepped back from the bedside. 'See?' he said, holding his arms out from his body. 'These things don't fit me anymore, Mum.'

'Bring my handbag to me,' she said, her head falling back onto her pillow. 'It's in the cupboard. I have some gold – but you'll have to go to Diagon Alley by Floo; I'm not well enough to come with you.'

'No, Mum,' Severus said firmly. 'The invitation is for today. I need something now. You'll have to transfigure something.'

Heedless of the moan she uttered, he turned resolutely and strode across the room to the highboy. 'Where is it? Where is your wand?'

'Severus – I'm so tired –'

He began opening drawers at random, keeping his attention solely on the contents of the drawers, ignoring the framed photographs, both wizarding and Muggle, which decorated the surface of each piece of furniture in the room. Ruthlessly, he dug through undergarments, scarves, belts, robes, until he felt a ridge beneath his fingertips. Hah! He jerked the silken scarf to one side and found himself confronting a wood-framed photograph of a laughing, tow-headed toddler. The chubby hands were reaching out – reaching for him – and he slammed the drawer closed again.

'Bloody buggering hell!' he cried, stumbling back and nearly falling over a poufy footstool. As he stumbled, he reached for the back of a chair to steady himself, and so doing, he lost his focus for a fleeting moment – and with no warning, he was ambushed from all sides by the same cooing, smiling, laughing face, topped by yellow curls and warmed by tawny eyes, from frame to frame to frame.

Without speaking another word, he rushed from the room, slamming the door behind him and fleeing down the corridor.

When he returned to his bed chamber, after pacing wildly through the never-used rooms on the second floor, it was to find a pair of black trousers and a white dress shirt, perfectly laundered and starched, lying upon the counterpane. He donned them swiftly, achingly relieved to find them a perfect fit. He raised an eyebrow at himself in the mirror – he didn't look half-bad, really – it must be the Prince half of his blood showing through, he thought to himself sarcastically. With the resilience of youth, his spirits rebounded, the little face in the photographs once again safely buried in his mind.

'Thank Merlin,' he murmured to his reflection, before turning and picking up his broomstick.

'You'd best thank your mother,' the mirror replied as the door closed behind him.