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Why He Hates Muggles	By : OddDoll Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 2848 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Why He Hates Muggles

Chapter 8

By Odd Doll
Wednesday, June 16, 1976
On Wednesday Charity came with a paper sack full of blueberry muffins
tucked under her coat. She rushed up the steps laughing as she fought
the wind with an umbrella. When she stepped into the hall, with her
cheeks flushed with exertion and laughter, and her hair windblown, she
looked more beautiful than ever. Severus put on his chivalrous manners
and helped her with her coat and umbrella.
�We were in the kitchen. Come on back,� he told her.
Baskets heaped with strawberries covered half of the long oak table,
filling the room with their sharp sweet scent. Brenda Snape stood
at the big stove, wand in hand, watching a batch of jars boil in a cauldron
that covered most of the black iron surface.
As Severus and Charity walked into the room a voice shrieked, �It�s
time! It�s time!� and did not stop until Brenda Snape said in her quiet
way, �Hush. I hear you.� Mrs. Snape flicked her wand and murmured
�wingardium leviosa� and canning jars began levitating from the boiling
water to rest upside down on clean towels that were lying nearby on the
granite counter.
Charity watched the jars, her eyes wide and said, �That must be safer
than using tongs.�
�Hello, Charity,� Mrs. Snape without taking her eyes off the flying
jars. �It�s strawberry day, as you can see.� The last jar settled
on the towels and she turned to smile at them. �I was wondering if
the two of you could help me.�
�Mum, there�s spells to do this stuff,� Severus said with the tiniest
bit of annoyance, but Charity spoke at the same time.
�I�d be happy to, Mrs. Snape,� she said.
�Thank you, Charity. It�s important for young people to keep busy
with useful tasks,� she said with a smile, while raising her brows at Severus,
who was sighing. She pointed to the strawberry-laden table.
�Have a seat.�
�I brought some muffins,� Charity said.
�That was sweet of you, dear. Should we have some now?�
�I�m not very hungry, but go ahead,� Charity said.
Severus, who had been hovering by the stove said, �Not me.�
Mrs. Snape sat down at the end of the table, and Charity settled to
her right. Severus plopped down across from Charity and took up a
paring knife.
�Where do you want them, Mum?� he said.
�You fill the preserves pots, Sev. Get some nice pretty halves.
You have such good hands for these things. �
�It�s not much different than potion-making,� he said.
�They�ve been rinsed, but we need to remove the leaves and halve them,�
Mrs. Snape said to Charity. �Have you done this before?�
�Yes, but I�ve never seen so many strawberries out of one garden.
How do you do it?�
Mrs. Snape smiled and winked. �We use magic, of course.
Just put the halves in that copper cauldron there,� she said, pointing
to a big cauldron that sat on the table to Charity�s right. �And
please don�t eat them,� she said as Severus stuffed a large berry in his
mouth.
�It was funny shaped,� he said, and was gratified to hear Charity giggle.
He glanced across the table and saw her smiling up at him.
�What do you do with all these?� Charity asked.
�I make preserves, and a few pie fillings. A lot of this will
go into strawberry-scented soaps and lotions that I sell in town.�
�Is there anything magical about the things you make?� Charity asked.
She addressed Mrs. Snape, but her eyes were on Severus. When she
was sure that Severus was looking, but Mrs. Snape�s attention was elsewhere,
she slipped a big strawberry into her mouth. She grinned at him,
her cheeks bulging out around the fruit.
�No. We aren�t allowed to sell magical goods to the muggles.�
She glanced up and caught Charity chewing, and gave her a mock frown.
�But I do use a little magic to make them, and they are unlike anything
a muggle could make.�
It became a game then, each trying to claim the other�s attention when
they stole a strawberry, but evading Mrs. Snape�s occasional glances in
their direction. All the while, they chatted and pared berries.
�Charity, what does your family do during the day when they leave you
at home?� Mrs. Snape asked after a time. �And if you two don�t think
I see what you are doing, you are sadly mistaken.�
Severus smirked at her last comment, but he saw that Charity�s fell,
and she lowered the strawberry in her hand to the table.
�Well, my mother is working at the building site. We have a small
number of the community that came with us. There is a lot of work
to do there.�
�Are they building it themselves?� Severus asked.
�Partly,� Charity said. �The original compound in Oregon was built
by Father Jim and the early followers. My parents did a lot.
But here the environment isn�t as wild and they don�t have as much freedom
to do want they want.� She shrugged. �They want the young people
to be as self-reliant as possible, so they are doing everything they can.�
�Why here?� Severus wondered aloud.
�The property was donated, and Father Jim decided to use it rather than
sell it.�
�So, are you survivalists?� Mrs. Snape asked.
Charity thought a moment, absent-mindedly putting a strawberry in her
mouth. �Some of us are,� she said after she had chewed and swallowed.
�It�s not the what the community�s for, though. They really wanted
a place where they could practice the faith without influences from the
outside.� Charity had her knife in one hand, and a berry, but she
was no longer cleaning the fruit.
�What do your father and sisters do all day?� Mrs. Snape asked.
�Chastity goes with my mom, and Dad takes Faith and Hope out to convert
followers.�
�Where do they go to do that?� Severus asked.
She looked at him. He could not read her expression, but he thought
she might be embarrassed.
�They go to colleges and universities. On the weekends, sometimes
the whole family will go to a rock concert or music festival. Those
kinds of things.�
�So they are targeting young people?� Mrs. Snape asked.
Her tone was deceptively light. Severus glanced sharply at her face,
seeing she wore a thoughtful frown.
�Yes, I guess so,� Charity answered. �But we have quite a few
families with children. Enough to have our own school.�
Brenda Snape pursed her lips and seemed to study the strawberry in her
hand. Severus recognized her pensive expression as the one she wore
when she needed to say something important to her husband, but he was in
a very bad mood. Severus� dread warred with his own curiosity about
Charity.
�It sounds an awful lot like a cult,� she said.
Charity did not say anything at first. After staring at the strawberry
in her hand for several seconds, she stabbed the knife into and started
paring again.
�We are not a cult,� she said in a quiet, firm voice. She turned
her head away from them as if she could not face their accusations.
�Everyone is free to leave if they want.�
There was an uncomfortable silence. Severus watched Charity, who
was paring strawberries with a studious air. The drum of the rain
against the windows suddenly seemed very loud and Severus tried to block
it out of his mind as he groped for a change of subjects.
�Do you go to school at the compound?� he asked.
�Yes,� she said.
�What do muggle kids study in school?� he asked.
They talked for a time about Charity�s schooling, but this led to yet
another difficult subject.
�How big is your school?� Severus had asked her.
�There�s about thirty of us,� she said.
�How many are your age?� Mrs. Snape asked.
�I�m the only one,� Charity said with a forced smile.
�But, what about your sisters?� Severus asked.
�They go to the high school in town,� she said in a voice so soft it
almost could not be heard over the clatter of the rain.
Severus and his mother exchanged glances, and he could see her normally
placid features growing sharp with a mixture of anger and concern.
�Is that because you are a witch, Charity?� she asked.
�Oh, no,� Charity said with a vehement shake of her head. She
blushed and shrugged. �I got into a bit of trouble and my father
thought it best if I stayed in the Christian school.�
Charity glanced at her watch. If he did not do something soon,
Charity would become so upset that she would leave. It would not
be until much later, as he lay in bed thinking about the events of the
day, that he would wonder at just how much that mattered to him.
�Can we have some music, Mum?�
�Only if I pick it,� she said. She took her wand from the table
and pointed it over her lderlder and what appeared to be an old-fashioned
wireless set. �Soft classical,� she said. The sound of Vivaldi�s
Four Seasons filled the room.
Severus sneered. �Ear candy for pseudo-intellectuals,� he muttered.
�I seem to remember that you like Vivaldi, Sev,� his mother said.
�This is alright, but if they play Tchaikovsky, I�m turning it off,�
he said.
Charity giggled at him. It was a sweet, feminine sound to Severus�
ears, like the trill of a small songbird. He wished he knew something
to say to keep her laughing.
�I wish I knew what was so funny,� he d upd up saying, turning cross
at his own ineptitude.
She giggled harder, and his mother laughed, too. More than anything,
Severus hated to be ridiculed, particularly by his peers. He permitted
his parents to tease him, because he had no choice, but Charity�s laughter
stung. He shot out of his chair, gave her a cold look, and stalked
out of the room.
�Severus! Stop being a baby!� Brenda Snape called out after her son.
Charity was watching him walay, ay, her mouth open wide and her eyes big.
�I�m sorry,� she whispered. �I didn�t mean to hurt his feelings.�
�Don�t worry, Dear,� she told her. �Severus is awfully thin-skinned
sometimes.� She cocked her head to the side for a second, wondering
how much to tell Charity. hinkhink the other students don�t treat
him very well at school, and he doesn�t know how to react any more to normal
teasing.�
�Should I go apologize?� Charity asked. She cast an uneasy glance
at the doorway.
�No. If anyone needs to apologize, it is Severus.� She gave
Charity a little wink. �Besides, he�s probably kicking himself about
now. He likes you a lot, I can tell.�
Charity blushed and said, �Should I go, then, or wait for him to come
back?�
�If you have the time, why don�t you wait a little while? Besides, I�ve
been wanting to talk to you myself.�
Mrs. Snape pared a few more strawberries while deciding the best way
to draw Charity out. She believed the girl had a story. Charity�s
family had isolated her from the mainstream of society, that was clear,
but she suspected it went deeper than that. Her placid demeanor was
like the deceptive stillness of a lily pond. Occasionally a bit of
mischievous humor bubbled to the surface, but what she detected most of
all was an undercurrent of fear.
Charity stared at the strawberries with her hands in her lap, a troubled
expression on her face. Mrs. Snape decided to ease into the subject
that concerned her most.
�Have you had a chance to see much of England?� she asked.
�A bit,� Charity said. �We went to London and saw Buckingham Palace
and a lot of other things. We are going to Stonehenge later in the
summer.�
�And your whole family goes together?� She had her head lowered toward
the knife in her hand, and peered up at Charity through lowered lashes,
not wanting the girl to realize how closely she was being watched.
WellWell, yes. My mom has to take time off to go, but she comes,
too.�
Mrs. Snape absorbed this and decided not to press yet. �What
did you like best?�
�Probably the parks. They are so big. We went down to the
New Forest and I liked that. It was neat to see something so old.�
�I guess to Americans, there are a lot of old things in England.�
�Yes. In the west, anything over a hundred years old is really
ancient. Unless you are Native American, of course.�
�Do you like the outdoors a lot?� she asked.
�Yes, I do. I walk a lot when it�s not raining.� Charity
hunched her shoulders and flashed an impish grin. �And sometimes
when it is.�
�What about your sisters? Do they walk with you?�
�Chastity does sometimes. This cauldron is full, Mrs. Snape.�
Mrs. Snape got up and went to the window where clean cauldrons where
stacked in small s.&ns. She waited to ask her next question, because
she did not want Charity to use the break as an excuse to bolt. When
Charity held her knife once again, and was paring her third strawberry,
Mrs. Snape started in with a tougher question.
�Do you get along well with your sisters?�
Charity shrugged. �I suppose I do.�
�Because Severus said you told him they hate you,� Mrs. Snape added
in a leading tone.
Charity blushed a little. �Welaybeaybe Hope hates me, but the
others justjust kind of uncomfortable around me since they found out I
was a witch.� She made another small shrug. �I get along with
Faith pretty well.�
This answer led to so many questions that Mrs. Snape wondered where
to start. The knife sat idle in her hand, while Charity, for her
part, pared berries with a fixed determination.
�Why would Hope hate you?� she asked.
Charity�s hands paused for a moment, and her body grew very still.
She resumed her work with a jerk of the knife and said, �Well, we�ve never
got along, but I think she is mostly jealous because I have my own room.�
Mrs. Snape knew she was on to something by the false note in Charity�s
voice. �The other girls share?� she asked.
�Faith has her own room, but Chastity and Hope share. I have a
room that my dad finished in the basement for my twelfth birthday.�
Mrs. Snape led her on. �And Hope is older, isn�t she? And thought
she should have her own room?�
�Yes. She got really hateful about it.� Charity relaxed
a little, and Mrs. Snape decided that her problems with the separate room
had nothing to do with her sister�s jealousy. From behind her she
heard Severus� soft footsteps in the hallway. They stopped at the
doorway, but he did not enter. Charity, absorbed in her own uneasy
thoughts, seemed not to notice. Like his mother, Sev nee needed to
be attuned to subtleties of voice and demeanor to survive in a household
with an abusive man. She hoped he would remain quiet.
She pressed further. �Why did your father do that � build a whole
room just for you?�
�Daddy told them it was because I was a witch and he didn�t want me
around the other girls so much.� Charity�s voice, always soft and
sweet, dropped into the light, pouty tones of a much younger girl.
Mrs. Snape studied the girl, who sat with her head lowered and her hands
once again in her lap, and wondered where the truth lay. She did
not believe that Charity would deliberately lie, but neither did she believe
her incapable of hiding the truth.
�Is that why you don�t go out with the family during the day?� she decided
to ask.
Charity turned her attention to the cold, gray light coming from the
rain-spattered windows. She seemed to be thinking of what to say.
�No. I�m just not allowed to do the church work anymore.�
She looked back towards Mrs. Snape and started when she saw Severus standing
in the doorway. She blanched and tears came to her eyes. He�s
probably scowling again, Mrs. Snape thought. The poor girl doesn�t
realize that he isn�t really angry with her. A glance over her shoulder
confirmed her suspicion. She placed her hand over Charity�s forearm
and gave her a little squeeze.
�Don�t worry. He�s not angry with you. Are you Sev?�
She gave him a meaningful look, and he rose to the occasion.
�No, um, of course not.� He had been leaning one shoulder against
the doorframe, his arms across his chest, but now he stood up straight,
his arms at his sides. He flexed his hands in a little display of
nerves.
�Why don�t you sit down?� Mrs. Snape said.
Severus crossed the room and settled into his chair with his usual graceful
movements. He seemed to be taking extra care, as if Charity were
a sleeping baby he did not wish to awaken. Charity stared at him,
and it occurred to Mrs. Snape how they might have much in common, but dealt
with their issues in their own ways. She thought that Severus� occasional
outbursts of sarcastic rage might be a bit healthier than the shy, calm
face that Charity habitually wore. These tears might be a good thing,
she decided.
�They don�t allow you to do church work?� she said. �Is that also
because you are a witch?�
Charity tore her eyes from Severus� face to glance at Mrs. Snape.
�Sort of,� she said. �It�s because of the accident.�
�With your magic?�
�Yes.�
Charity was almost wringing her hands now, and Mrs. Snape knew she needed
to press. �Tell me about it, Charity,� she said in a voice that was
both kind and firm.
�Well, sometimes, even before I knew I was a witch, things sometimes
happened.�
�When you were scared or angry?� Mrs. Snape asked.
�Yes. Things would shake and fall, and sometimes things would
start to burn.�
Mrs. Snape exchanged glances with Severus. Firestarters were extremely
rare, and if left uncontrolled, could be quite dangerous. Nothing
good could come from leaving a firestarter uneducated in witchcraft.
�Once,� Charity went on, �my first grade teacher told the whole c
th
that I had peed in my pants. I was so embarrassed, and angry with
her, too. She had one of those beehive hairdos,� she said, circling
her head with her finger to describe the tall, fluffy hairstyle.
�And all of a sudden it was filled with real bees. She got stung
so many times she had to go to the emergency room. I felt so bad.
I didn�t want to hurt her. At least, I don�t think I did, but everybody
knew I did it.� Her voice trailed off. Tears streamed down
her face, and Severus reached across the table, his handkerchief in his
hand. She took it with a soft �thank you� and wiped her face.
�Those things happen to wizard kids all the time,� Mrs. Snape said.
�Especially when they don�t know that they have the power and need to control
themselves.�
�When I was five I broke every crystal goblet in the china cabinet,�
Severus said. He grinned a little, but Charity was not looking.
Mrs. Snape watched her for a moment and then asked, �Is that the accident
you were talking about?�
She blew her nose and then said, �No, that was later.�
Mrs. Snape sensed that Charity wanted to unburden herself, but was also
afraid of their censure. The story was coming out at a glacial pace,
but she would persevere until she heard the end of it. She took Charity�s
hand and clasped it in her own.
�Why don�t you tell us? It might make you feel better.�
�After I got my school letter, my parents were very upset. Well,
at first they thought it was some kind of evil joke, but then a wizard
came and talked to them. They didn�t know what to do, so they went
to Father Jim and asked him for advice. Father Jim was really mad,
but Mom is an important minister in the church and he said that I could
remain in the church if I committed myself to Christ.� Charity was
shaking now, and Mrs. Snape gripped her hand tighter. �And he said
that they needed to drive the Devil from me.�
Mrs. Snape closed her eyes for a second, as if to block out the images
that arose in her mind. She heard Severus� angry grunt. �How
did they intend to do that?�
�They prayed over me in the meeting hall. A lot of people were
there, but they were doing other things, because Mom and Dad didn�t tell
anybody else what I was. pra prayed over me for a long time, and
then Father Jim put Christ�s mark on me to drive out the Devil and commit
me to Christ�s work. I got so scared and��
She broke down. Mrs. Snape moved her chair closer to Charity and
put her arms around her heaving shoulders. She let her cry for a
while.
�Charity, I think you want to tell us. Don�t you?� she said.
�You�ve kept this inside you for a long time. It will make you feel
better to get it out. And we are people who really understand.�
Charity shuddered and nodded. �I started a fire,� she said in
a calmer voice. �A big one. I had started little bits of paper
on fire before, and set the couch cushions smoldering, but this was a lot
more than that. The walls were covered in curtains for the acoustics,
and I set a whole wall of them on fire.� She looked at them with
horror in her eyes. �It was Saturday night and everybody was gathered
to socialize. There were whole families. And little kids.
People were burned and had smoke inhalation. A bunch of people went
to the hospital. No one was killed, but a few people have permanent
scars. After that, Father Jim said there was no hope for me and he
did not want me in the church or doing church business.�
Charity was sobbing again. �I don�t want to be evil. I pray
and try to do good works, but I am just the same. I wish I weren�t
a witch.�
Mrs. Snape held Charity and stroked her hair. Severus stared at
Charity, his mouth set in an angry line and his eyes smoldering.
She let her cry for a very long time, her sobs drowning out the rattle
the windowpanes made as the rain beat down on them. In time she wiped
her nose and struggled to take a calm breath.
�Charity,� Mrs. Snape said in a very soft voice, �what did they do to
you that made you so frightened?�
�What?� she asked in a shaky voice.
�You have a rare type of power called firestarter. It is not uncommon
for kids who are firestarters to start little fires when they are anxious
or frightened.� Charity nodded, but her eyes were glazed. �But
to set a whole wall on fire you had to be in either extreme pain, or afraid
for you life. It couldn�t have been just a prayer or two that did
that. What did they do to you Charity? How did they �put Christ�s
mark� on you?�
For a moment she thought Charity would not answer. She stared
at Mrs. Snape, her face blank. Then, to her amazement, she raised
her hands to her collar and unbuttoned the top three buttons of her blouse.
She grasped the center of her bra and pulled it down, exposing the milky
white skin in the space between her breasts and a small red scar where
the shape of a cross had been burned into her chest.
- 7
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Why He Hates Muggles