Chapter 1
17 August
1993
Spinner’s End
Albus,
Should you think to ever owl me information any time prior to only but a month in advance, I dare say I would turn up to the new term underprepared. However, given the circumstances, and how frequent you seem to engage in contact, this is an accommodation I can afford to help you with. Do be advised, Headmaster, the children’s safety is of the utmost importance. With this in mind, I look forward to what one can only describe to be an incident-free term come september.
With Regards,
Severus
The rustling of paper could be heard faintly from all angles of the large room that accompanied the home on the very corner of Spinner’s End which was surrounded by lush vegetation. The faint distant crackle of the fire drones out the noise slightly as the taller man sifts through his belongings at his desk for a blasted envelope.
Once located, he as elegantly as possible, seals his message.
‘Flooing should be easier’ he muses to himself, tossing his floo powder gently into the orange flames. They flick the colour green as the fire eats up the floo powder. Tossin in the letter, he mutters, “Hogwarts.”
It would reach its destination eventually. Damn that headmaster and his inability to actually keep an active correspondence with his professors. Old daft bat.
He deserved a drink. More like two. That sodded old bugger put this man through hell on a daily basis, and all he can do for him is continue to demand of him such tiring tasks? No wonder students call him mean, the man is most unhappy! Day in and day out, his tasks grew incredibly daunting.
The fifth glass of wine practically fills itself by now. The professor grabs a small leather bound book off one of his many ceiling high shelves and slumped over onto his sofa wearily.
The small antiquated home was adorned with tall gray walls, haunting creaks, and memories that plagued the dark haired man's every moment spent there. Yet, he couldn’t afford to live anywhere else, and the home was in his name, under an arrangement where he, thankfully, didn't have to put any money towards it.
Thoughts of the upcoming term were currently swimming around in his mind as he read, a classic of course, Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein.’ He felt very connected to the text. Most wizards couldn't understand the concept behind why the tall brunette man busied himself with the writings of an “ill, misunderstood, and unhappy muggle woman.” But Severus would pay them no mind. Though clearly not in the same circumstances as she, he found solace in her characters and the way she constructed her words. The carefully crafted character of the creature was one he would constantly review and analyze. Now more than ever he would see more of himself in such a character. Villainized while everyone else gets to live with what he never had and always wanted. A true pity.
The building was so old he had as close to an original copy of the text as he could. It being too late, and his mind growing more tired. His efforts to read the page without his glasses or a simple charm, were subsequently worse. Eventually, the sweet dark subliminal unconscious took over his mind as he was forced into a deep sleep, something he hadn’t allowed himself often.
The start of the new term hung low in his mind as sleep overcame him. This year’s challenges would prove to be a bit more difficult than he anticipated, nothing he couldn’t handle. New challenges barely phased him anymore, after all, the worst is yet to come, this he knows.