JACG Chapter 64 ( Protege)

“You know me?” Petunia asked hesitantly as she fidgeted. I could not exactly blame her for not realizing who I was. My aging and drug abuse had me looking completely different. Usually, those two combined meant that a person would look even worse, not what I was. Magic is glorious and no one could tell you other wise. 

I hummed lightly at her as I contemplated. In this moment she was not looking at the sick bastard that I used to be. Now she was seeing someone that walked off of the cover of a magazine. My sudden good looks would not save this conversation when she discovered who I was. Lying about my identity was out of the question. I was trying to mend bridges, it would be a useless effort if I lied to her from the get go.

So I was going to have to stick to the truth. Even if said truth was not something she wanted to hear.

“You know me Petunia.” I spoke quietly, I was having difficulty approaching this subject. I might as well stall for a bit. She gave me a confused look as she tried to figure out who I was. The thoughts in her head might be spinning quickly but she was probably far off from the truth. 

“I don’t blame you for trying to forget me. I’m fairly certain you hate my guts.” I spoke out with a light teasing smile on my face. The sight of my smile had her blushing up another storm. Then she took in my words. She was red as a tomato but the sheer confusion coming off of her was apparent.

With my hint she should arrive at the inevitable conclusion. She probably did not have a large list of people she despised. On the other hand, she was a teenage girl so maybe that list was larger than I thought.

I could see the moment she reached the only answer. The infatuated glint in her eyes faded replaced with a swirl of emotions. The prominent ones being anger and betrayal.

“Great it’s the Freak.” She spat out with a glare on her face. Hurtful, not that I could blame her reaction here. Her emotions were a swirl of conflicting thoughts and feelings. So she chose to lash out at the person who was never all that kind to her. 

“That it is.” I let out with a sad smile on my face. This was the reaction that I was expecting so I was not that thrown off. I would be more surprised if she was happy with my presence. The foundation of our relationship had long since been laid.

She might have thought she was wrong before but now with my confirmation she lashed out more. The anger burning brighter her face contorting in an ugly snarl. She looked like she wanted to hurl as many words as she could at me. Yet, she held herself back. Instead, she turned around and started walking away from me. 

I was not sure what she was feeling but she clearly wanted nothing to do with me. It made sense but it did not feel good.

“Petunia wait,” I spoke out as I walked towards her. She was angry but she was not in a rush to leave. I would reach out to stop her if I did not think that would lower her already poor opinion of me.

She ignored my words for a bit but hearing me follow her she spun around. The anger was still clear on her face.

“What!?” She snarled out. She wanted nothing to do with me so I should have taken the hint and fucked off. That was what she wanted but it ignored the root of the issue and it would solve nothing in the long haul. Seeing that hate I let out a deeper sad smile. The emotions dyeing my face must have disturbed her as the anger faded from her eyes slightly.

“I’m sorry,” I spoke as sincerely as I could. I really was, I ignored this girl and all her woes because I could not be bothered to even look. She may have been suffering in a completely different manner than I was but she was still in pain. I should have recognized that she was in pain and reached out. 

It’s what I wanted when I was hurt, so it should have offered her some comfort. I was just so hopelessly devoted to Lily that anything else was not important. Not my own pain, nor anyone else’s.

She took in my apology with confusion on her face. I was apologizing but I was not exactly being clear on my reasons.

“I’m sorry for treating you so poorly,” I spoke out softly deflating her anger further. It was still not completely gone but it was fading. My sincerity might have been coming across but my looks probably was a part of why she was taking this well. My tone, words, and looks were enough to have a heart pumping wildly. A fantasy that filled the entirety of a teenager’s head.

“I was just so infatuated with Lily that I never bothered to even try to treat you well. I think my feelings were rather clear with me following her around like a lost puppy. It does not excuse my actions but I am sorry that I still did them.” I spoke out quickly with a small sad smile on my face. Her eyes started to switch to different emotions. Never sticking to any one emotion for too long.

“It’s fine, everyone likes Lily.” She spoke out absentmindedly. She no longer wanted to storm off but she also did not want to listen to someone singing her sister more praises. She was already insecure about her sister she did not need to hear her number one fan boy talking.

“It’s not fine. It was callous and rude, You deserve to be treated better not like how I was treating you.” I spoke out softly with my tone hiding the steel in it. She may have thrown sharp barbs at me but I was the one who started our dynamic. She was just a girl that I hurt because I was hurting. My treatment of her was in no way justified. She was not like those old geezers who rejected my existence, she was not like my peers who laughed and jeered at me, she was not like Lily who was willing to betray me.

She was a girl that was hurt by the rejection of the fantastic.

Her eyes widened as she looked back at me. That glint of infatuation came back for a moment before the other emotions swallowed it. I may have been laying it a bit thick in my choice of words. It was how I felt but I was not here to seduce the girl, I just wanted to mend the bridge I burned for no good reason.

“Thanks.” She mumbled out as she looked at her shoes. The blush returned but not nearly as intense as it was before. I was surprised that I was able to get that reaction from her. I suppose I should not be my words were rather intense even If I did not mean them to be.

“Again I’m sorry about my behaviour. It might not be able to make up for it but I can teach you some magic.” I spoke out with all the regret that I could push into those words. It took a moment for her to take in my words. Her head then snapped up and looked at me with an intensity I was unfamiliar with. Her eyes shone in hope but that faded quickly, it was soon replaced with more anger.

Betrayal seemed to overwhelm all the positive emotions that once were in her eyes.

“That's not funny!” She all but snarled out. The fury that was broadcasting from her was clear. She was taking my words in the worst possible way. She was assuming that I was taunting her, that all my words from before were lies meant to bait her. Now that she had bitten the bait I sprung the trap. My actions hurt her pretty badly as she trusted my words for a moment.

She walked towards me as if preparing to get physical with me. She was a rather skinny girl so she was never going to win a fight with someone my size. Yet, she was not going to back down at the threat of my size. I managed to hurt her in a truly special way. There was not exactly an easy way to open up that topic. I could have just kept it as a simple apology but I really did want to help this girl.

“I’m not joking,” I spoke out seriously as I tried to placate the irate girl. She was not buying my words which I should have expected. 

“Look how about I prove I’m not lying. I’m not sure if you know about this but it should be pretty obvious what it means.” I spoke out quickly as I backed away from her and raised my wand. She froze at seeing the wand, the emotions once more surging at the sight of it. Yet, she backed off as she knew that it was something that could be incredibly threatening.

“I Severus Prince swear by magic that I fully intend to teach Petunia Evans a magic that she can use,” I spoke out as my voice reverberated with power at my oath. My wand glowed a bright white as it bound the vow that I made. I could have used the Snape last name but Prince resonated closer to the person I really was. 

Making a binding vow to prove my innocence was probably a bit too far. I was going to follow the vow and I should be able to get out of it soon but it was still something a wizard usually did. We were not willing to lose our magic so easily after all. Worst comes to worse I could break the vow, I was able to negate it due to my eyes after all.

Petunia took in the scene of my vow and stood still for a moment. Lily was a walking talking encyclopedia that liked to hear the sound of her own voice. So she might have blurted out about binding vows at one point. If she did not the words I used should have caused some hesitance in Petunia’s anger.

The anger was still there but it warred with hesitancy. What if I was actually telling the truth? She could not risk taking her anger out on me if I was seriously going to teach her magic. The anger was bound to lose, her long-standing wish to be special would not allow her to give up this opportunity.

“You better not be lying to me.” She spoke out angrily with a small amount of pain in her voice. She looked straight into my eyes to convey how she would disembowel me if this turned out to be a set up.

“I’m not lying, I just need a little trust,” I spoke out softly as I held out a hand towards her. I could not exactly teach her potions in the middle of the fucking park. So I was going to pop to a place more secure.

Again she looked hesitant to take my hand.

“You're not doing this to get into Lily’s pants are you? Even if I put in a good word that’s never going to happen.” She spoke out bitterly with a wary look on her face. I wanted to roll my eyes at the girl for bringing up her sister but I refrained. She had every reason to think poorly of me after all.

“It’s not. I promise this is all about making it up to you.” I spoke out sincerely. I really did want to make it up to her and it had nothing to do with her sister. 

Hearing my response that light blush returned to her face and she took my hand. Right time to pop off to a safe spot. I wonder if Ashley and Andrew would mind me commandeering a room to teach my new student? Fuck it I paid for the house I could pop in when I wished.