"Tobias! The boy didn't do anything wrong! I'm the one who threw out your damn beer. When you threw 'em in the fridge they broke and made a mess. I cleaned up your goddamn mess. not the boy. Stop blaming him for everything! He's eight years old for Merlin's Sake!"

"There you go with that Merlin crap again. What you think your better than me 'cause of your wand. Tell me, Eileen, did your wand stop me from hitting you last night? Or are you just a stupid bitch? Whoops I meant witch. Either way you can't even save yer own son."

Tobias's words started to slur as he turned on his son. "Come 'ere boy. Let me show your mother what it takes to make you a man."

Severus cowered in the corner where he had gone to after his father had stopped yelling at him. The little eight year old boy still had an bruised rib from the last time his father went out to the pub.

He couldn't wait until he got his Hogwarts letter. His dad would never be able to hurt him again. He'd have his own wand and he wouldn't be afraid to use it like his mother was. It was only three more years and he would never be afraid again.

"BOY! I SAID COME HERE!"

Severus moved out of his corner towards his father. He closed his eyes waiting to be beaten, but it never came. Instead there was a knock on the door. Eileen went and got the door and Tobias backed away from his son. There were two little girls there and an older woman one would assume to be their mother.

"Hello! I'm Rose. These are my daughters Petunia and Lily. I know this is highly unconventional, the new neighbours bringing treats over to to the old neighbours, but I just had to start break in the new stove. So here are some cookies.

We are the Evans' by the way. My husband Timothy is still at work but the girls were just so excited, especially Lily, when they heard there was another child living here. She insisted we come and visit. I told her that would be rude as we didn't know you but she wouldn't drop the idea. So we compromised we would come to say hi but we wouldn't stay.

Oh look at me, I'm being such a chatty Cathy. This is your house and I didn't even ask your names! I know you are the Snapes, correct?" Rose Evans rattled on.

"Thank you very much. I'm Eileen and this is my husband Tobias and my son Severus. Tobias, would you mind bringing these to the kitchen? Just on the counter please and if you could bring out some wine and some apple juice, that would be lovely."

Tobias did not listen to Eileen however. Instead he decided to turn on Rose.

"You think you are better than us? That we can't bake some goddamn cookies of our own. If we wanted some goddamn cookies we would have made some goddamn cookies.

Really, Eileen, you want me to give this bint some of my wine, give her spawn some of the juice that I slave away for to put in our ungrateful son's mouth? All of you just go to Hell!"

With that Tobias stormed out of the house, most likely heading back towards the pub. In his place he left a very distressed Rose Evans and her two silently crying daughters.

"Well, Eileen, I guess I'll be going then. It was a pleasure to meet you." the woman left as awkwardly as her goodbye had been.

Eileen didn't know what to do with Tobias any more The only reason she hadn't left him was because she didn't have a high school diploma, having gone to Hogwarts, and so couldn't get a job in the muggle world. If it came down to a custody battle she would lose her son and would be dubbed incapable of providing for him.

She didn't want to think what would happen to her baby if left to that monster. She was glad of his accidental magic, even though it meant beatings, because that would mean he could go to Hogwarts. He could leave this hellhole. He could be safe most of the year.


Eileen was thrilled when Severus came running in the door from the park later that summer and told her.

"I have a friend, Mother! My very first friend! That Evans girl, Lily, doesn't hate me and she's magic! We are going to go to Hogwarts together and do magic and be free from everything! She is my favourite person in the whole world, besides you, Mother!" exclaimed the finally happy little boy.


Severus came off the train after his fifth year at Hogwarts and ran into his mother's arms for the first time in years. He didn't care about appearances, he would be humiliated and teased no matter what.

"My world has ended Mother. She left me. My whole world was built on her and I ruined it. I don't what to do any more. My Lily, my friend, my world, is gone."


Written for The Fanfition Tournament Competitions with the prompt "A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world"