HP: It's a snake, not a badger.

Chapter 40 Extra: What if Ellie took Siever away?

(Hehehe, here's the bonus part, a place to store my thoughts. I'm thinking of writing this side story as a mini-novel, and I'll ship both older and younger women.)

In the dirty and dilapidated Spider's Tail Alley, a child wearing ill-fitting clothes squatted on the ground, hugging his arms as if seeking some warmth.

"Da, da, da"

"Hey there's a poor little thing here. Would you like to come with me? If you don't say anything, I'll take that as a yes."

Eighteen-year-old Emeric picked up eight-year-old Severus and left the dark corner, walking towards the light in the distance.

He didn't know why he suddenly wanted to go to this place, or why he wanted to take this cub home, but he felt he had to have it.

Emeric touched the cub's burning forehead, left a letter on the spot, and without further hesitation, took it home.

"Wake up, let's drink the medicine, okay? You won't feel uncomfortable after you drink the medicine, good girl."

Emeric gently soothed the cub in his arms and fed it a special cold medicine. Soon the cub's temperature dropped, and the coma caused by the high fever turned into normal sleep.

He breathed a sigh of relief, placed the cub on the bed, and as he got up, he found a tiny, delicate hand clutching his clothes. Emerick simply lay down, hugged the poor little thing, and tried to make him sleep more peacefully.

They slept until dinner time, when Emeric woke the still-sleeping cub and took him to the living room for dinner.

The long sleep and the unfamiliar environment left the cub somewhat bewildered; he didn't know when he had moved to a different place.

"Sir, who are you, and why am I here?"

The cub, who was momentarily stunned, immediately regained his senses. With a mixture of wariness and curiosity, he craved the warmth of the body.

"I am Emeric Thaddeus, you can call me Emeric or Allie. This is my home. I saw you squatting on the ground with a fever, and I thought you were lost, so I brought you back here."

"Shall we go eat first? It's dinnertime now. How about we talk about anything while we eat? Little one, you still haven't told me your name?"

"My name is Severus Snape. You can call me Severus. Thank you, Mr. Emeric."

Severus pursed his lips, unsure how to respond to the stranger's kindness, and obediently followed behind Emeric.

"Shall we wash up before we eat? We feel all sticky after sweating. These are my old clothes, I don't know if they'll fit you. The underwear is brand new."

After saying this, he pushed Severus in front of the bathtub, told him that the shampoo and shower gel were on the shelf, and then left the bathroom, leaving behind a blushing cub.

"Grandpa Albus, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be traveling with Gellert at this time?"

"My former student, Erin Prince, had her 8-year-old child taken away from her doorstep. She begged me to help her find him. This is the letter the kidnapper left behind."

Emeric took the letter from Dumbledore with a puzzled look, opened it and saw that it was left by him.

"Is this Eileen Prince implying that I stole her child, and that he's still at her doorstep? Severus has a high fever and is squatting at her doorstep, and no one took him inside, yet she's blaming me for stealing him? An 8-year-old looks like a 5-year-old, and he's wearing hand-me-downs. Albus, are you sure you want to send the child back?"

Emerick took a breath and continued, "And Severus's back is covered in bruises, and his arms and legs are covered in wounds. He'll definitely get beaten up when he gets back, and he might even die."

"But Airi, children always need their parents. Perhaps we could ask for his opinion?"

Dumbledore looked at Severus, who was hiding around the corner, and beckoned him over to join the discussion.

"I miss my mother. It wasn't my mother who hit me; it was him who hit me when he was drunk." Severus rolled up his sleeve to show Dumbledore, not wanting his mother to be misunderstood.

"Why doesn't Ms. Prince come to me herself, Grandpa Albus?"

"She has to go to work, otherwise that Muggle will beat her and the child. Sigh, that's why she begged me to come." Dumbledore was also helpless about his student's choice.

"I remember the Prince family's potions are very famous. In that case, Grandpa Albus, I'd like to trouble you to make a trip here. I'm hiring Ms. Prince to manage the herb garden. The base salary is 5 Galleons a week, and double that if she lives with me. It's safer for the children to stay with me than to go home."

Severus's eyes lit up when he heard he could stay here and see his mother every day, plus he wouldn't have to go back to face a drunk Tobias.

"Mr. Emerick, I've already troubled you enough today, you don't need to do so much for me." But he felt that everything needed to be exchanged, and he had nothing to exchange with Emerick.

Emeric pinched the cub's mouth shut in anger; he didn't want to hear a single word come out of it.

"Grandpa Albus, it's a deal then. Are you staying for dinner?" He made the decision directly with Dumbledore, then turned to Severus, whose mouth was being pinched. "I brought you back, not so you could go back to suffer. Look how big this house is, and it's just me and Fufu. I need someone to keep me company. Severus, would you like to stay with me?"

The desolation and bitterness in Emeric's eyes pierced the cub's heart, and Severus promised to stay with him until he no longer needed him.

Soon, Eileen moved to Aldrickson Manor to manage the herb garden, while Severus became Emeric's little follower, always trailing behind him.

"Ms. Eileen, if you want to brew potions, you can use the herbs from the herb garden. You'll need to give me one of the ten potions you brew as payment."

Emeric lay on the deckchair with Severus, and as he saw Eileen weeding in the distance, a series of mischievous ideas popped into his head.

"Severus, do you want a stepfather? My father's butler is about the same age as Ms. Irene and is still unmarried. I heard he likes gentle witches. Should I arrange for them to meet and see how it goes?"

Severus's little head was filled with big questions, but Emeric wouldn't bully him, so he nodded, indicating that he was fine with it.

Seeing that his ingenious idea had been approved by the person involved, Emeric picked up the cub with one hand and hurried to the study to write a letter, asking his father to send the butler over.

If it's true love, then you can't break up a relationship. But he's determined to break up a domestic abuser's relationship. Emeric was afraid that a housekeeper wouldn't be able to take down Tobias, so he simply had his father compile a list of unmarried men. He just didn't believe that the domestic abuser was that good.

For the next month, Severus saw different types of men coming to the manor every day and bumping into his mother. He tugged at Emeric's sleeve and quietly asked him, "Do these men really like Mom?"

"Don't worry, I already told them about Ms. Eileen's photo and that she was a victim of domestic violence but didn't get a divorce. These people are just concerned for her or think she deserves better. No one was forced into this situation, so don't worry."

Eileen was exhausted every day, managing the herb garden, playing with Severus, and having to deal with the distraction from the group of people.

Several months passed before she remembered Tobias; the man had been out of her life for a long time. Holding Severus, Eileen began to doubt her love; she didn't seem to love Tobias as much as she had thought.