The Price of Pride

In a cottage surrounded by farmland, A dark-haired middle-aged woman with sharp features and pale skin fondly stares out of the kitchen window at her son and husband. It was dusk and the shadows were long with stars appearing overhead. Slender, but broad-shouldered Roderic Filch cradled Roderic Jr, mostly known to all as Roddy, who is carefully held in his father's arms. Roderic in a doting voice pointed out the stars appearing in the sky to his son, who stared at the sky in rapt attention and babbled to his father.

Eileen glances away from the heart-warming scene and returns to wash the dishes. The smile on her face quickly fades away as she recalls the letter, she had received earlier that day. It had been delivered by Dawn, but the house elf had not even once looked her in the eye, before apparating away. And it hurt because once upon a time, Dawn and she had been close.

With a sigh, Eileen closes her eyes for a second as she recalls the contents of the letter in her father's handwriting.

"To Mrs. Filch,

I, Reginald Prince, would like to settle this matter forevermore and make it abundantly clear once and for all. I have no intention of corresponding with Mrs. Filch nor much less allowing my grandchildren to receive correspondence from one such as yourself. In addition, I have no intention of permitting my grandchildren to meet with Mrs. Filch ever again. They are Prince's and you are a Filch, and that decision was made abundantly clear before the start of their second year by your own hand.

That being said, a belated congratulations on the birth of your firstborn, Mrs. Filch. I am certain that he will make the Filch family proud, which has nothing to do with the Prince family. The child is a Filch, nothing more and nothing less.

In addition, it is with great wariness and resignation that I inform you of the death of the father of my grandchildren, Tobias Snape. He was murdered in his cell by vile villains. The funeral will be this very afternoon. But as there are no ties between Tobias Snape and Mrs. Filch, Mrs. Filch need not attend nor is her presence desired.

Without further ado, goodbye Mrs. Filch.

Reginald Prince."

Eileen lets out a pained gasp causing her eyes to flutter open as she tried to repress the sharp, knife-like pain in her chest. Her beloved papa not only ignored her letters but would not even acknowledge her child nor much less permit her to meet with her children, Rowan and Severus. Any hope of reconciliation with her family had been utterly trampled by her father's words.

Hanging her head down in shame, she washed the dishes by hand. It was a habit that Eileen and not been able to break after all the years having lived as a muggle. Drying the dishes one by one with a tablecloth, her mind strays to Tobias Snape.

She had once loved him with all her heart, and a part of her still did, and always would. Tobias was her first love, her first kiss, her first, everything really. And even now, she couldn't quite believe nor understand just how everything had gone wrong. But that was a lie, she knew the reason that the trouble started in the first place was because of her lies to Tobias, which in turn broke his trust and their marriage.

Putting the dishes away in the cupboard, Eileen can recall just how they met. She had been angry and ashamed the summer after her seventh year. Her grades were rather mediocre for a Prince, and unlike the rest of the Slytherin pureblood girls, she was not yet betrothed.

That morning, Sirsa had accosted her daughter during brunch and sharply said, "Eileen, I know that you are better than this," as she held up the N.E.W.T. results in her hand. "Have you anything to say for yourself?"

"I did my best," Eileen huffed furious that her mother did not seem to believe her. Though a tiny piece of her had felt a trace of guilt. She could have studied more, but she hadn't, being too busy trying to win the gobstones championship.

Aunt Georgine, her father's sister, had crisply remarked in an aloof voice, "Sirsa, we both know the girl has her head in the clouds. Why even I find those novels of her offensive!"

Eileen winced, before glancing with pleading eyes at her father, Reginald, who calm as always had flashed his daughter a faint, but warm, doting smile. "Leave her be you two," Reginald gently said causing Eileen to beam at her father, but her father's following words filled her with dismay.

"And besides, she will be betrothed soon enough. And as I've said before, I rather like Alphard Black for Eileen even if he is a Black."

"He's younger than me!" Eileen shrieked in protest.

"What are two or three years in age difference to a witch or wizard?" Reginald arched his brow at his daughter in firm reply.

"Why won't anyone listen to me!" Eileen sullenly roared, before rushing away in a fury. She did not hear her mother and father call out to her to intent on her injured pride.

Eileen physically cringes as she recalls flooing away to Diagon Alley, before storming out into London. It was rather childish of her to do so, but she did, and to her shame found herself lost. Wandering around aimlessly, and hungry, she finally found a café. To her sheer mortification, she did not have any muggle money on her except wizarding currency.

However, to her surprise, and the other customers, a dark-haired man in clean, but simple clothes stood and said, "I will pay for the Miss."

Eileen flushed in embarrassment, but was quickly saved as he says, "Please have a seat, Miss. Tobias Snape's the name."

"Eileen," she murmured dropping her surname although.

Wary of the muggle man, Eileen still accepted the invitation to lunch. The two of them begin to chat as he says, "And what brings you to London?"

Eileen blushes and mutters, "Er, an adventure."

"Same," Tobias replied. "I'm currently working in a factory in Cokeworth, but my dream is to come here to live in London. I'm earning enough to buy a flat and open my own shop here."

"That sounds lovely," Eileen honestly replied having never thought about working or leaving Prince Manor. In fact, it was rather exhilarating to think that she could forge her own future with her own two hands. All her life, she had been told to be a Prince, but what if she didn't want to be a Prince anymore?

They chatted for so long that by the time she looked up, it was already late afternoon. Tobias accompanied her out of the café as he awkwardly rubs his head, before nervously saying, "Er, if you don't mind my asking, I would love to see you again, Eileen."

Eileen could not find it in her heart to say, no. Flushing for some reason and hearing her heart pounding in her ears, she shyly murmurs, "I wouldn't mind, really."

"Great!" Tobias said delighted, before flushing in embarrassment. "I'd love to see you again, next week on Saturday. It's my next day off."

"Mm," Eileen flushed prettily despite her usual gloomy demeanor.

The two of them promised to meet up in front of the café again by noon on the following Saturday, and the rest was history. Eileen kept seeing Tobias for the rest of the summer until she finally eloped with him. They were married in a tiny office in London, but it was all legal, and at that time, she didn't even regret a single thing.

Eileen loudly snorts to herself as she closes her eyes again and sighs. Selfish, proud, and spoiled, that is what she had been. She could have at least tried to invite her parents even if they had refused to attend. She could have at least tried to write to her mother and father, but she did not. Not even once did she ever send her parents a single image or portrait of the twins.

In fact, she had once more repeated that same mistake again with Roderic for an entirely different set of reasons, but in the end, the final result was the exact same. Even if she had the best intentions at heart for her children, Rowan and Severus, Eileen knew that she should have had the courage to face her parents. They would have certainly fought her decision, but in the end, they would have allowed her to take her twins as she was their mother. And she would have been able to reform her family again.

However, it was much too late now. Her mother was gone, and her papa would not forgive her, while her firstborns were lost to her. And all for what, her pride? What had her pride brought her? Nothing but pain and regret.

Eileen opens her eyes and hears the sound of the door opening. Clearing her face of any emotions, she hears her husband, Roderic say, "Love, I'm putting Roddy in his cot, he's fast asleep."

"Thank you, love," Eileen said as she quickly finished putting away the rest of the dishes, and then poured two cups of hot tea for both of them and sliced a still-warm sponge cake for them to enjoy.

After a few minutes, Roderic comes down and takes a seat across from his wife. Noticing her pale face, he asks in a concerned voice, "What is wrong, love?"

"I am feeling just a bit tired," Eileen lied, before changing the subject. "I'll be running some errands tomorrow dear."

"Perfect," Roderic beamed. "We're running out of things for the shop."

"Ah, yes," Eileen dutifully murmured not including the true reason for her errands. She at least wanted to visit the grave of Tobias Snape just this once. They had parted on bad terms, but she couldn't lay the entire blame at Tobias's feet for their failed marriage.

Perhaps, if she had been able to be open with Tobias from the start, she could have been a Tailor in the wizarding world as she was rather talented at weaving and sewing via her wand. But those were only what ifs, and what was done was done. There was no turning back the clock now.