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Welkin in the Wizarding World (COMPLETED)	By : welkin_cooper Category: HP Canon Characters paired with Original Characters > Het - Male/Female Views: 14600 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters in it. I don't benefit financially from the production or display of this work of fanfiction in any way.

Chapter List
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Falling Apart Together

Severus and Welkin are in hiding following Dumbledore's death. Severus lies to Voldemort about Sullivan. Welkin mines Violet Murdoch for gossip that relates to places and people with whom she is no longer in direct contact.

Welkin walked in random patterns over the threadbare, dingy rug covering the dull wooden floor. Her mind paced endlessly in restless sympathy with her feet. It seemed as if she must have been alone in this depressing room for hours.

No need to worry, she told herself again. He's done what the monster wanted done. There's no need to worry. He's just reporting to him, as usual.

Regardless of her constant pep talks to herself, she did worry, and she could not seem to stop. Why is Voldemort keeping him so long if everything went the way we planned? What if he didn't believe Severus about Sully? What if he discovered that Albus had asked Severus to kill him?

There was nothing here to distract her unsettled mind and churning emotions—no books or magazines, no music, no food or drink. If she was a smoker, at least she could calm herself a little that way, but she had never taken up that particular vice. She could not even step outside to breathe the fresh night air or look at the stars in silent meditation for fear of discovery. Trapped here without Severus, she was stuck in a loop wondering if anything awful was happening to him and praying that it had not.

He's okay. Nothing bad is happening to him. He always knows what he's doing. He's been outsmarting Voldemort for a long time. There's no reason to believe that anything has gone wrong. She repeated the familiar mantra in her head, simultaneously willing it to be so. Severus will—

A crackle and a soft popping sound made her jump as Severus finally materialized in a corner of the dim room.

"Severus!" Welkin greeted him in relief. She rushed to cling to him. "I should kick your ass for leaving me here alone!" she said happily.

Snape smiled his crooked smile at her. "I am pleased that I am able to once again afford you that opportunity, my love. If I had a Galleon for each time that you have threatened to kick my arse since we met, I would be a wealthy man," he observed wryly. "However, since Voldemort did not specifically request your presence, I cannot pretend that I am disappointed that I was obliged to leave you behind. The less contact you have with him, the better."

"And if I had a Galleon for every time you've fucked me since we met, I'd be a thousand times wealthier than you," Welkin replied immediately. Her quick quip elicited another amused smile from Snape.

"Is that an invitation?" he asked, prolonging the tease.

The natural ease of their banter with one another helped to dispel the tension of all but his worst moments of concern about their future survival and helped to fill the unanticipated void in him left by the departure of Sullivan. Who would have expected that he would miss the constant pestering by his son so much?

"It's more of a bald statement of fact than an invitation, I'd say. Did Voldemort question you about Albus? Did he ask about Sully? Did he buy the cover story? What's in the bag?" Welkin fired off the questions in rapid sequence without giving him time to answer one.

"Yes, yes, and yes," Severus answered when she finally took a breath. "Our supper is in the bag," he said, thrusting it into her hands. "Although, I am afraid that it is a much more meager repast than we have been accustomed to at Hogwarts. I would also advise Scourgifying any surface in this rancid room which might come in contact with it before we allow ourselves to partake."

"Don't worry about it. Maybe starvation will make me angry enough to spit in Voldemort's eye the next time I get the chance. I'd say punch him in the nose, but the motherfucker doesn't have one," Welkin said. She changed the subject before Severus could lecture her on the inadvisability of pursuing either of those actions.

"It might not look it, but I've already Scourgified every inch of this dump at least three times since you've been gone. Sit down," she urged. "You must be exhausted," she added, leading him to a thinly padded chair that looked like a Salvation Army reject.

Actually, a Salvation Army chair would be a step up from this pitiful thing, she thought crossly. Voldemort and his damned horcrux ring was the real reason that Albus was dead—that and Albus's boneheaded mistake in putting it on in the first place. But it was Severus unfairly carrying the guilt. They had not even been able to attend Dumbledore's funeral. She knew how hard that had been on Severus, although he acted as if it did not disturb him for her sake.

Now, Voldemort was living in luxury at Malfoy Manor, while Severus, his supposed valued servant, was reduced to living in these conditions as an outcast and a fugitive. Every day she hated the monster more for what he had done to them all.

"I really tried to make things nicer for you here, but my charms didn't work that well. I guess I should have paid more attention to those glamour charms Professor Flitwick tried to teach me. They just didn't seem as important to me as dueling did at the time," Welkin admitted.

"It is of no consequence, Wells," Severus assured her calmly. "Tomorrow, we shall check on Sullivan's welfare with your brother, and then we shall make things more comfortable here for the both of us. We shall do it together."

"That would be wonderful," she said, smiling at him more cheerfully. "I know you miss Sully as much as I do. It seems strange for it to be so quiet now in the evenings."

A spring from the dilapidated chair was digging into his posterior, but Snape barely felt it. News of Sullivan, and whether he was adjusting himself to his new situation, was uppermost in his mind. When did I stop being uppermost in my own father's mind? he wondered a little bitterly before he brushed the self-pitying thought away.

Welkin's wide smile heartened Severus, and he was more grateful for her mere presence than he ever could be for the material trappings of personal comfort. News of Sullivan would hearten him even more, he realized. He was a little astonished at this new insight about himself as a father.

"Tell me everything," Welkin said as she deposited the linen bag of food on a rickety table, opened the drawstring, and examined the contents while she listened expectantly for his report. She glanced back and forth between him and their modest supper as she arranged it on a plate she casually transfigured from pieces of a broken ceramic figurine of a swan she had found while cleaning the room earlier.

Maybe I should have used Transfiguration instead of attempting those glamour spells, she thought belatedly. Transfiguration was easier for her because Minerva was such an exacting teacher and expected so much of her. She was fond of Professor Flitwick, but she had found it a little too easy to get around him at times, and her tutelage in things that did not interest her in his class had suffered as a result.

"Despite my lengthy absence from you, there is comparatively little to tell," Severus reported. "As we expected, as the agent of Dumbledore's death, I have risen another notch in the Dark Lord's esteem and increased his level of trust in me. I believe that he has accepted my version of Sullivan's death as an unanticipated but negligible casualty during our flight from Hogwarts. Indeed, he almost seemed... relieved to hear of it," Snape told her hesitantly.

"Relieved?" Welkin stopped what she was doing and returned to him, sinking to the floor to kneel at his feet. She placed her hands on his knees and looked up at him. "Relieved, how?"

"Perhaps relieved is not the appropriate word. It was only a fleeting impression I had. He spent time assuring me that Sullivan’s death was for the best, as a child would only be a hindrance to my ability to execute his plans at this time. Although he did not state it bluntly, my impression was that he wished to... discourage any future plans we might have to replace Sullivan with another child."

Snape covered her hands with both of his. "I think, under the circumstances, that we must delay our wishes in that respect. We are fortunate that you have been unable to conceive in the months since you relented to me."

"Well, at least the heartless bastard bought the lie that Sully is dead, I guess. But... why is he so interested in whether we have another child or not if he doesn't know about my ancestry?" Welkin asked thoughtfully. "It doesn't make sense. The cover story about Sully was only to keep him from looking for him in case he wanted to use him against us. He practically has the whole Malfoy family hostage now. He has them all under his thumb over his threats to Draco. I wouldn't even wish that on Lucius Malfoy, and you know how I feel about him."

"Indeed... we could not allow Sullivan to be used against us in such a fashion should the tide turn against us," Snape agreed. "The workings of Voldemort’s mind are difficult for even me to comprehend at times. I must always avoid being too obviously intrusive or inquisitive with him. At the moment, I am only concerned that we not target ourselves by doing anything which he might disapprove of," Snape said.

"Agreed... still... Albus said if Voldemort knew I was descended from Morgan le Fay that he might try to found a dynasty through me. There's no way he could possibly know that about me, is there? It would make me feel a lot better to know what the twisted logic is behind his interest in keeping us childless and that it has nothing to do with that. Is he as adamant about it with the other Death Eaters? Most of them have families and children. It doesn't make sense that he would single you out for no reason. Particularly when Albus said it's likely that Voldemort wants to expand his base of loyal Death Eaters by any means possible, including rape and forced breeding."

"Do not worry on that account. I am of the opinion that he knows nothing about you other than what we have told him. Whatever his perverted reasoning, we shall resume taking precautions to prevent you from conceiving. It is the most sensible course of action for us in our current situation. I see that clearly now. I should never have pressured you to relent to me. Sullivan is safe now, and if we are to be reunited with him, we cannot risk our own safety as well as the life of another child, based merely on my selfish whim."

"It's not a selfish whim, Severus," Welkin said more gently. "I never, ever thought it was selfish of you. I want another baby almost as much as you do. I just was worried about the timing in the beginning, and I agree with you now that we should wait. I only mean that it seems odd to me that it would concern Voldemort at all. It's strange because all of his other, more important plans seem about to be realized," Welkin said. "You would think he'd be focused exclusively on that instead of the results of our sex life," she observed. "I know you don't necessarily believe in my dreams... but, it makes no sense to me, and it worries me," she repeated, frowning at him.

Severus cupped a hand gently against the side of her face. "Do not expect reason from a madman, Wells," he told her.

Everything was falling apart for them in spite of them trying to hold it together. At least, it seemed that way to Welkin. Everything good in their lives not already destroyed by the harsh blow of being forced to engineer Albus Dumbledore's death was slowly being siphoned away. It was as if they were surrounded by Dementors trying to drain the remaining traces of their optimism. They were forever battling despair, and they clung to each other even more fiercely in response.

Sully's nanny, Violet Murdoch, had been heartbroken to learn of the child's death. Although she was strained and formal with Severus after Dumbledore's death, she did not call him a murderer or give Welkin unwanted advice that she should leave him. For Welkin's sake, Violet kept her thoughts to herself and treated Welkin just as she always had, in sympathy with her loss as a mother.

Welkin had hated lying to Violet, but she agreed with Severus that it was necessary to maintain Sully's safety. No one else must know that he was still alive.

The concealing spells that Severus had cast over Violet's home when she became Sully's caregiver made it one of the few places that Severus approved Welkin visiting without him being with her. It was through Violet that Welkin learned that Minerva McGonagall had broken off her relationship with Aberforth Dumbledore. The budding unlikely romance was another victim of Albus's death.

"Aberforth says she's changed. She misses and grieves for Albus. She's carrying a lot of anger over his death, and she resents Aberforth for not seeing his brother in the same light of perfection that she does. He said she used the excuse of her increased duties as temporary headmistress of Hogwarts to cut ties with him, but he sees through that," Violet told her.

"I don't think he does see it clearly—at least, not completely. I guess her loyalty to Albus and his memory really is stronger than her attachment to Aberforth," Welkin said, "but her devotion to Hogwarts trumps them both. It's a shame that she can't be installed as permanent headmistress. She loves that place so. She'd make a damn good protector for the school."

"I would think that she will be given the post. Why wouldn't you think so?" Violet asked. Her nostrils flared slightly as if smelling the fragrance of possible new gossip wafting among the roses that decorated the parlor.

"No reason," Welkin lied quickly. "Maybe she will be given the post."

"She's a good woman, I'm sure, to have earned the regard of so fine a man as Aberforth Dumbledore, but I think she must also be a bit of a fool to toss him over like she has," Violet said with a distinct air of disapproval.

"Oh, reeeeally? You do, do you? Do I detect a little personal interest in Aberforth?" Welkin grinned at her mischievously, thankful for the opportunity to draw attention away from the subject of who would be the next Hogwarts headmaster. Severus would verbally eviscerate her unmercifully if she let that particular Boggart out of the bag.

This keeping up your guard stuff is exhausting, Welkin conceded to herself. Severus is a lot stronger than even he thinks he is, to be able to do it for years at a time. I'm getting better at it, but I'll never be as good at it as he is.

The older woman blushed furiously at Welkin's question about Aberforth. She put down her teacup and suddenly became tremendously interested in rearranging the remaining biscuits on their delicate, floral-patterned plate.

"Not at all... not at all," Violet protested. "Don't even think such a thing at my age!"

"You're only in your fifties. Besides... what's your age got to do with it? Or his? You know what they say... just because there's snow on the rooftop, it doesn't mean there isn't still fire in the furnace," Welkin advised.

"Codswallop! It's been too long since my Angus passed away—bless his soul—for me to be thinking about poking at any fires!" Violet smoothed a lock of hair away from her face self-consciously, tucking it primly behind her ear.

Welkin laughed, enjoying Violet's blushing reaction to her teasing. She was definitely on to something. Violet had been lonely with her children grown and out of the house. She was used to having someone to take care of. She might be an even better choice for Aberforth, Welkin considered.

"So... how exactly have you come to be having these deep conversations with Aberforth Dumbledore about his love-life if there's no 'poking' going on?" Welkin asked casually but directly. She leaned back in her chair comfortably, balancing her delicate teacup in the palm of her hand like it was a saucer.

"It's nothing improper, if that's what you're thinking. He's been coming to visit Persephone is all, to bring her little treats and the like, and we naturally got to talking about his other goats. When I was a lass, we had lots of chickens and cows, pigs and goats, and I've always been fond of them. And then, he seemed to need someone to confide in about other things, and it was only natural that we'd develop a bit of a friendship."

Welkin's toothy grin seemed to fluster her again.

"There's been no 'poking' with Aberforth or anyone else! In my day, we learned to have a little self-restraint concerning such things," Violet informed her. "I suppose that's something you and your mister can't understand and think is a bit prudish on my part, seeing as how you're both as randy as all of the billy goats in Aberforth's stable put together. Well, it might be prudish of me, but it's just the way I was brought up. For me, having a little taste is fine, but there's no sampling certain goods until a purchase is made," Violet concluded.

"At last... the truth is revealed. You think Severus and I are both really nothing but a couple of perverted sex maniacs.” Welkin narrowed her eyes and tried to look stern and insulted.

“Oh, merciful heavens, no! That’s not what I meant at all! Please, don’t tell him that! I meant no disrespect to you or to Professor Snape,” Violet pleaded, her face now as scarlet as Red Riding Hood’s cloak.

Welkin burst out laughing. “I was just teasing. I know you didn’t mean it that way. It’s your life, Violet, and you've got the right to live it by your own rules as long as you're not interfering with anybody else. I'd be the last person to ever try to tell you differently," Welkin said. “If you want to just stay friends with Aberforth, more power to you.”

Welkin reached to grab another biscuit from the plate. "Do you mind if I take a few of these with me for Severus when I leave?" she asked. “He really likes these with the nuts in them.”

She laughed again in a good-humored way as she pictured the image Violet had conjured up in her mind. She could easily see herself and Severus as a couple of horny, cantankerous goats. She really could not argue with that assessment at all.

Maybe that’s the happy thought I should use the next time I have to conjure up my Patronus, she considered.
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Welkin in the Wizarding World (COMPLETED)

Falling Apart Together