FIC: Shit Husbands (PG)
Title: Shit Husbands
Type: Fic
Age-Range Category: Two
Characters: Severus, Eileen, Tobias, OFC, Lily
Author: iulia_linnea
Rating: PG
Click to View [Warning(s)]For minor character death.
Summary: Severus spends his summer hols worrying about an abandoned wife.
Mrs. May is a sweet old lady who sleeps all the time, well, most of the time; she does murmur occasional requests to Severus or his mother when they come by to feed and care for her.
Mrs. May's husband left her when she became ill. He just walked away from their house and never looked back. One night not long after that when Da had gone down to the pub, Mam had slipped out of the house and down the street. She'd done something to the door. She'd gone inside. Severus had followed her.
The house felt empty, but there was a smell. Severus followed his mam, who was following the smell, the sickly sweet smell of decay, until they found Mrs. May crumpled up on her bathroom floor.
"I know you're there, boy. I want you to go home and bring my little bag from the shed. Do it. Now!"
Severus ran.
When he returned, he saw that Mam had cleaned up Mrs. May and moved her to her bed.
"Give me the blue phial from the pocket, Severus."
He did so, and Mam poured a bit of thick liquid into Mrs. May's mouth, working it and rubbing her throat until she'd swallowed it all.
"Eileen."
"Yes, indeed, Mary. You've had a fall."
"He, oh, he left me, Eileen."
"Why?"
"I have cancer."
"Curable?"
Mrs. May didn't reply.
"When was the last time you ate?" asked Mam.
"I'm not hungry."
"Get a jar of broth from the fridge and come right back."
Severus did as he was bid even though he was worried about what he'd be eating that night, but disobeying his mam scared him more than an empty stomach.
"-and there's none left to care for me. I don't know what to do, Eileen."
"Should I heat it up?"
Without turning to him, Mam replied, "Yes, Severus. And bring biscuits if there are any. And tea."
"Oh," said Mrs. May, "there are plenty of biscuits and tea and a chicken, roasted yesterday. You'll find bread and butter, too. What . . . what did you give me, Eileen? I feel ever so much stronger!"
Severus, his relief great, skipped downstairs to the kitchen and prepared what was for him, an absolute feast. In the middle of his preparations, his mam walked into the room.
"That's good. We need some sort of veg, though."
"Thought she, er, Mrs. May wasn't hungry."
"She's not, but the potion I gave her stimulates her appetite in any case-she has to eat."
"Was it all right, then? My making us food?"
"You heard her. Of course. Now, I'm going to eat with Mary, and you are going to eat here and then sleep on her sofa, shoes off." His mam picked up the plates and put them on a sheet pan. "Someone will have to look after her until . . . . Well, someone will have to look out for her, and while we're doing that, we'll eat a little better."
"Mam?"
"Severus?"
"Is Mrs. May going to die?"
"Yes. Yes, but I'll do what I can to ease her pain."
The chicken is good, but Severus has a hard time swallowing it. He knows his mam isn't stealing from Mrs. May, and he knows that Mrs. May won't mind feeding them in exchange for being taking care of, but he's never known anyone who was dying before. He doesn't like it. It's sad. And he feels a little bit guily to feel happy about getting some extra food under the circumstances. It's almost like being back at Hogwarts, sitting in Mrs. May's kitchen. His belly is never empty at school.
~*~
"I know this isn't the summer holiday you imagined," Mam tells him, a week or so later as they are giving Mrs. May's front room a good dusting.
"She hasn't felt well for a long time, I think."
"No, I don't think so." Mam hands him the duster. "Next week, I'm taking Mary to the doctor. We'll go by bus and then by train, and you'll be left on your own. Perhaps you should visit the girl."
"The girl" is Lily. Mam disapproves of Lily because she is well off and "spoiled," or so says Mam, who believes that his friendship with Lily will give him "ideas."
What it gives him is food more often than not, something that last summer, in the absence of Mrs. May's generosity, Severus needed a great deal of.
"I'm sure Mrs. Evans would welcome me."
"Harumph."
"Well, it's what you wanted."
"Severus, what I want is-"
"Eileen!"
"Fuck."
Severus and Mam say it as one, and Eileen reaches into her apron. "Take this to your father. Tell him I'll have supper for him after the pub."
"Did Mrs. May give-"
"Do it."
Severus does. His father barely glances his way when he sees the money. He goes on his way without a fight.
I hate you! Severus thinks.
And he's not sure what to think of his mam.
"Did you steal from her?"
Mam turns. She slowly rises to her feet from where she'd been dusting the baseboard. She glares.
"Well, we never have any money, so-"
"I am not a thief. Mary pays me."
Mam's eyes are liquid. Severus realises that she has tears in them. He is ashamed.
"Go upstairs and see if Mrs. May wants her tea."
"I'm-"
"Go, Severus. Go now."
His feet feel heavy as he drags one after the other up the stairs. The scent is gone, the rotting smell. Mam chased it away. It's too bad her magic isn't strong enough to Heal Mrs. May.
But what does she have to live for, anyway? wonders Severus. "Hullo."
"Hello, there, dear." Mrs. May pulls herself up a bit against her pillows. "Your mother?"
"Oh, er, she's cleaning."
"And she did the shopping? You'll stay for supper?"
"Yes, thank you, Mrs. May. Would you like a cuppa?"
"Yes, dear, but please, would you open my window? I hear birds, but only just."
Severus opens the window. A flood of song flies into it.
"I don't know that bird."
"I don't, either, Severus, but he's sings prettily enough. I like listening to him."
"Lily sings."
"Oh, the sweet girl with the red hair?"
"You've seen her?"
"I have. And you. She's your friend?"
"She is." Severus smiles. "I like everything about her."
Mrs. May smiles. "It's good to have friends. You and your mother are good friends to me."
Severus flushes because he's not entirely certain of that. "I'll, er, be back with your tea."
"Lots of sugar, dear," says Mrs. May.
When Severus enters the kitchen, his mam has a tray ready. It has a cup of steaming tea, three biscuits, and a spray of flowers, as his mam would say, sitting on it.
"Take this up to her. Come right back. We've more work to do."
~*~
"Mother says that you're looking out for Mrs. May."
"Yeah."
"She seems like a nice lady," presses Lily.
"Is it wrong?"
"Is what wrong, Severus?"
"I think Mam's taking, er, accepting money from Mrs. May to take care of her, but she's dying!"
Lily sighs. "Your mother isn't stealing, Severus. Mrs. May is only paying what's fair, especially since she knows."
"Knows what?" Severus asks with suspicion.
"That you haven't enough money to look after yourselves and her. It's only fair, and it isn't wrong. You know your own mother, Severus."
That's the problem, he thinks. He does know his own mam, and she does whatever she can to feed them. She takes in laundry, she sells "love potions," she cleans, and she plays games of chance down the pub when all else fails.
And his mam never loses such games. Da is always so very proud of her, so proud as he puts out his hand to collect her winnings-which of course, he only ever half does, but he's not going to tell Da that.
Pillock. Sot. Bastard.
Severus doesn't like his father, no matter that he often wishes that Da liked him.
But I'm not a bottle.
No, Severus is not a bottle, and apparently, his mam is not a thief, at least, he hopes that's so. Still, it feels odd to take any sort of advantage off the dying of a nice old lady.
"Severus?" asks Lily.
"Yeah?"
"Mother packed us a picnic, a double picnic, so we can stay out all day."
A double picnic. It's as close to Heaven as Severus will ever find himself, he knows that.
~*~
"Severus, dear."
"Hullo, Mrs. May. Are you all right?"
"It's my time, sweetheart. Get your mother."
Severus' heart sinks. He's really enjoyed the extra food. And he hates himself for thinking about things like that. So much.
"I'm not a good person, Mam."
Eileen stills over the cooktop. "Oh, I see. Bag."
"You don't have to-"
"It's up to Mary, Severus. It's not up to us. She's been in mortal pain for weeks."
Mam's eyes are dark and glittering, and Severus again feels guilty. "You like her."
"She's my friend. Of course I do."
"I didn't, er, I-"
"Dish yourself up some stew, and butter your bread. There's juice in the fridge. Eat as much as you can. I'll return in a bit."
Birdsong greets his ears. "Mam?"
"Yes?"
"Open the window for Mrs. May. She likes to hear the birds."
Eileen nods.
~*~
The sun has gone down when Mam returns. She stands under the lintel of the kitchen door, murmuring to herself. And then she smiles a small, tight smile.
"Mary's gone. Peacefully. I've called the, er, I've done-"
Severus guides his mam to a chair and prepares a cup of tea for her, which she drinks slowly.
"Da will be late tonight, I think."
"Yes."
"So there's time."
"For what, Severus?"
"She doesn't have any family, so-"
"I told you. I'm not a thief."
"No one's going to expect any food. We can pack up the food. Da won't notice what he's eating."
"Oh," says Eileen.
It's odd to look at his mam and see Eileen Snape, a person, someone more than just a mother.
"You took good care of your friend, Mam. She was happy you were here."
"That husband of hers."
"I know. Husbands aren't worth the pots they piss in."
A bark issues from his mam, almost a laugh. "Well, see you never take one, and you'll be fine."
"Even if I wanted a husband, I wouldn't want a husband, Mam."
"Severus Snape, what do you know about-"
"They get handsy outside the pub, you know, when they're pissed, some of 'em."
"Whose hands do I need to remove?"
"No one's," Severus says, quickly. "Da punched someone once."
"Who?"
"Don't remember. You all right? We need to-"
Eileen swishes her hand. A hamper floats to the table. The fridge opens. Food fills the hamper.
"Take that and go home. I have to stay here."
"You'll be all right?"
"I'm not a-"
"Didn't say you were," Severus interrupts. "Sorry, Mam. I, er, I lo-hope you'll be all right. See you at home."
He is out the door before things can become any more awkward than they already are. He has too many things on his mind, and he doesn't like that one of them is ham, for his Mam did levitate ham into the hamper.
Severus loves ham.
He's sad about Mrs. May. He feels guilty that he's as hungry as he is. He hopes his mam isn't a thief. But she did give an old lady assistance and peace, and that's a lot more than many people get, especially ones with shit husbands.
If I'm ever a husband, he tells himself, as he puts everything but the ham and bread away, I won't be shit.