Chapter Twenty Nine: Rafe
Severus unstuck himself and his trunk from the doors of the bus, relieved to see Uncle Rafe there to help him carry his trunk the few blocks back home.
It hadn't been too bad getting the trunk from the Hogwarts Express to the Muggle train to Manchester. He'd had a trolley and there was actually a place for luggage on the train.
But the bus from Manchester to the borough where Spinner's End was located had been a nightmare. No trolley, no place for luggage on the bus. The trunk had ended up taking an entire seat on the bus, which had earned him glares and not-so-quietly muttered oaths. Severus had glared right back. Maybe his trunk had the seat, but he had stood up, hadn't he? He hadn't taken two seats. Then, the mad attempt to manhandle the trunk out of the bus at his stop, before the driver decided to go on. For a moment, Severus had thought the man would take off while he and the trunk were still stuck in the exit.
Since his mother had died, getting to and from Hogwarts had gone from quick and easy to an endurance test. The Princes had fetched him at the end of his fourth year, but he'd been left to himself since then. Well, the bus was the only really bad part and it was only from Manchester to the borough. And he had only one more trip to Hogwarts to go before he'd be able to use magic himself, since he'd turn seventeen during January of his sixth year. That would be a relief!
Uncle Rafe picked up one end of the trunk as Severus took the other and they set off to Spinner's End.
"Toby tells me you've been seeing a girl at that boarding school of yours. Redhead, isn't it? Lily?"
"Black hair. Florence. Lily's a friend, not a girlfriend." Severus was relieved to have a name to give him. Dad and Uncle Rafe and his cousins and the Princes had all seemed intent on misconstruing his relationship with Lily. It was as if they'd never heard of a bloke being friends with a girl before.
"Oh? Florence? Nice name. You going to bring her around here? You and her could go out to the Wigan Casino with the kids. I think they're planning on going out there a few times this summer."
"Zeke and Jenny are out there every time they've got the cash," Severus observed dryly about his cousins, then added, "which I haven't got, by the way."
"That reminds me. Mr. Holt's arthritis is acting up and the McKellan clan all have colds. And Mrs. Ghanchi over at the Kyber Pass wants at least a month's supply of your migraine remedy. That should pay for at least one trip to Wigan." The Kyber Pass was what they called the area a few streets over mostly settled by immigrants from India.
"Thanks," said Severus, calculating. "I've been getting ingredients while I've been away. Should only take about a week." Severus earned his Muggle pocket money making various "herbal" remedies for people on and around Spinner's End.
"A word to the wise. Raise your prices. You charge only a few pence more than Boot's and your stuff actually works. You could charge double and they'd count it well worth it."
"Double? That's a bit of a hike all of a sudden, isn't it?" Severus liked the idea, but he didn't want to get his customers mad at him. The last thing he needed was for someone with a grudge to report him to the Muggle authorities for making homemade drugs. Not to mention what would happen if the Ministry of Magic ever found out he was selling potions to Muggles.
"Would be. But I've been preparing folks for it. Said your "special ingredients" have gone way up in price and you weren't sure you could continue making your remedies. Said you might have to triple your prices. They'll be relieved to hear the price is only doubled."
"That's brilliant, Uncle Rafe," Severus said appreciatively. "I owe you one. Anything you need? It's free."
"Toby says you're not making the cough medicine anymore."
"It's no better than his prescription from the pharmacy. At least that's what he told me." Severus stopped and looked directly into his uncle's eyes.
"That's right," said Rafe. "But isn't there anything else you can make? On a bad day, it wears your da out just to breath."
"I could give him something to ease his breathing, but the bronchial dilator would be just as good," said Severus, "and he can get that already paid for. There are other treatments, but I'm not a trained doctor yet. I've got two years left at my school before I can even start the training program at the hospital."
"What about that special hospital? You said they could cure him there. When can you get him in?"
They had reached the house, but Severus didn't want to talk about this inside. He motioned for his uncle to set the trunk down in the front garden.
"I won't be able to get him in until I start the training program at the earliest. Won't that be soon enough?"
"Two more years!" Rafe paused. Then he continued, "He'll live, but they'll be two long years. See for yourself when you go inside. I know you've been wanting to wait, but can't that Malfoy chap get him in earlier?"
Severus grimaced. "Malfoy owes me nothing," he said bitterly.
Rafe grabbed him by the shoulders. "What do you mean, he owes you nothing?! What did you do?! Toby needs that hospital!"
Severus jerked angrily out of his uncle's grip. "You don't know what he wanted me to do!" Severus hissed.
"I know that my brother is more important that your pride, boy!" Rafe snarled.
"It had nothing to do with my pride," Severus snarled back, but said nothing further.
Man and teenager glared at each other in the hostile silence.
"Fine," said Rafe and walked away towards his own house, leaving Severus to maneuver the trunk from the front garden into the house by himself.
*****************************
A/N:
I am using Bolton, a borough very close to Manchester, as my model for where Spinner's End is located.
The Wigan Casino was a very popular dance hall very close to Bolton which was famous for "Northern Soul" music between 1973 and 1981. It was closed in 1981 and burned down in 1982. Despite the name, it had nothing to do with gambling, as far as I can tell. "Northern Soul" is danceable Motown style music, mostly from the 60's, as far as I can tell.
http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/exh/ART24971.html
http://www.soulfuldetroit.com/web02-northern/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/going_out/clubbing/2003/08/21/wigan_casino.shtml
Bolton has perhaps the "largest single group of people from one village in India." They started arriving from the village of Barbodhan in the late fifties and early sixties. The area where most of them settled was called the "Kyber Pass" by locals.
http://www.barbodhan.org.uk/