Snakes and Sanguine

Summer: Scorpius I - Fuzzy Socks

CW: Description and mentions of domestic violence

I had received another letter from Delancey last week. I read it of course, as I did with all the letters she and Al had been sending me. She mostly wrote about how it had been James' birthday on Thursday but every now and then she would stop whatever she was in the middle of writing and ask if I was ok, phrasing it differently each time so it probably didn't sound repetitive. I did not bother to send a letter back though.

Mother was doing better for a while, but for the past two weeks she had become worse then I have ever seen her before. As a result, Father stayed with her constantly but did not allow me to be in the room with them. It was bollocks.

Until Father would decide to leave the bedroom, my grandparents were in charge of me. I kept silent around my grandfather, avoiding him as best as I could. I saw the way he treated Father, how he treated Mother,  and I was sure that he would treat me no differently.

I sat in the sitting room on the black leather couch, filling out the electives form for third year. Since I couldn't possibly decide between Ancient Runes, Care of Magical Creatures, and Arithmancy, I decided to take all three. As I checked the boxes with my quill, my grandfather walked in and took a seat on the couch parallel to me. He aggressively opened up his copy of the Prophet, revealing the front page.

"Cepheus Arcana found dead in Knockturn Alley just days before trial."

My eyes grew wide. Intrusive thoughts started to fill my head immediately. Ideas like, was Del's father a murderer? I knew he and Del's mother had been missing for quite some time. I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut to wash away the thought that so horribly tainted my brain.

"Submitto." I said quietly enough that it would not disturb my grandfather. The sheet of paper disappeared and was probably now on the desk of Professor Slughorn.

"Absolutely embarrassing." my grandfather said aloud, his eyebrows curled down in disgust, creating more wrinkles on his forehead then he already had.  "I hope you are not associating yourself with any Mudbloods." he grumbled as he jerked his head up to look at me, his t's and d's sharp, not slurred like mine. His icy grey eyes felt as though they could pierce through my soul. I looked down at my feet, careful not to make eye contact with him as I answered.

"No sir." I replied truthfully. It's not like I had not been hanging out with any Mudbloods on purpose, I think they all just assumed I held the same sort of prejudices that some of the other Purebloods did. I never could really find reason in my grandfather's prejudices, it all seemed like a waste of energy to me. Del, Al and I would sometimes make prejudice remarks against the Muds but that was only because it was an easy insult. Besides they were always quick to come back with a typical...Death Eater remark.

I hated being called that. It compared me to my grandfather, who was also apparently my worst enemy, which was not much of a surprise. Ever since I was a child I feared him. I did love him at one point in time, but that all changed when I was five years old when I caught him doing something that I will never forget.

I remember, it had been Christmas eve and I had decided to stay up so I could meet Santa Clause, every five year old's dream. I was huddled up in an armchair in the corner of the second sitting room, my eyes fixated on the fireplace. Thoughts of what would happen if someone had their fireplace lit and Santa wanted to come, and does Santa use floo, crossed my mind. My eyes only left the fireplace when I heard the sound of ceramic colliding with hard floor and shattering. I was debating whether I should stay seated or not until I heard another crash...and then a scream.

I slid off the chair, threw the blanket that was double my size on the ground, and grabbed my stuffed animal. I walked in the direction the sound had come from and I don't know whether to be grateful or not that I had been wearing white fuzzy socks that created no noise as I walked on the marble floor of the foyer. I stood by the slightly ajar door of the butler's pantry and peered through the crack.