He thought he'd be used to it by now. He should have been used to it by now...the fighting. His parents got into some sort of argument almost every night for as long as he could remember. It was old news...ordinary. This time, though, it was different. He'd thought he'd heard it all. They fought over everything, from whether to make the move that his mother so desperately wanted (it never did happen...his father rarely lost an argument) to where someone's shoes had ended up at the end of the day. It wasn't until now that he realized that he had never before been the subject of one of his parents' arguments.

"We agreed on this Eileen! We both agreed that he wouldn't turn out this way!"

"WE AGREED?" his mother was already at the peak of her fury, screaming at the top of her lungs, "YOU CAN'T AGREE ON THINGS LIKE THIS!"

He listened closer and heard his mother take a deep, slow breath, calming herself down. Feeling a bit safer, the boy poked his head out from under his filthy, ragged quilt so that he'd still be able to catch every word.

"Tobias, listen to me. I know you didn't want it to happen, but-"

"OH, AND I SUPPOSE YOU DID, THEN?" Now, it was his father's turn to become hostile; he quickly pulled his quilt back over his head, "I KNEW IT! I GODDAMN KNEW IT! YOU WANTED YOUR SON-"

"Our son," Eileen whispered so that the sound was barely audible.

"What did you say?" Tobias' voice had transformed into a menacing murmur.

"He's just as much your son as he is mine."

There was a long and painful silence that followed. The boy hidden beneath his quilt did not need to see that scene in the next room to know what was going on. His mother had shut her eyes tight, unwilling to watch her husband as he paced back and forth across the room...slowly, very slowly, both his teeth and his fists tightly clenched. The boy also knew exactly what Tobias was thinking...he was deciding whether his wife had gone too far, whether she deserved it this time. Well, as it turned out, apparently, she did...

Several hours later, his bedroom door creaked open, and his mother stepped into the room.

"Severus?"

Severus...? That was unusual. Neither of his parents ever addressed him by his name. He was used to answering to the call of You! or Boy! Not to give the wrong impression! Severus Snape did not hate his parents. What child could? It was...complicated. He simply didn't know how to feel when he looked at his mother, as he had so many times in the past, after his father had briefly lost his mind. This time she looked particularly gruesome, blood pouring from both corners of her mouth, her face virtually covered in bruises...and she was slightly doubled over in pain, suggesting that she had some sort of wound in her stomach. If Severus hated her, the sight of her in this state would have caused him pleasure. It didn't.

"I know you're awake, boy."

So much for Severus. Heaving a heavy sigh, and relenting, he sat up and looked anxiously at his mother. Eileen took a deep breath herself before continuing.

"Do you know why I'm in here?"

This was it; he was really in for it now. Earlier that day, when Tobias Snape had been in an unusually good mood, he'd decided to take his wife and son out for a family picnic. When he'd come in to Severus' room to tell him, Severus had been more excited than he could ever remember being in his life. In all his ten years, neither of his parents had ever made an effort to create time for family. He'd thought that, just maybe, things were about to change. As he made his way downstairs to the kitchen with the little picnic basket his mother had told him to pack, he felt as if he could fly the rest of the way...and that is precisely what he did, and he hadn't stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He'd floated right into the kitchen and remained hovering as he gathered food from the refrigerator. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that his father entered the room, whistling some Irish folk tune that had been on the radio that morning. The whistling came to an abrupt halt as Tobias' eyes fell on his son, hovering three feet in the air, happily loading a picnic basket with eight jars of blueberry jam.

"You!"

"Hello, Father! I've packed all the blueberry jam for you! It's your favorite, right?"

Tobias continued to gape. He opened and closed his mouth, unable to speak. Severus' heart sank in dread as he saw his father's face slowly turn red with unspoken rage. Hastily, he began putting the jam jars back into the refrigerator.

"You don't like blueberry jam anymore, do you, Father? That's alright! I could pack strawberry...or maybe grape?"

"You...y-you. Boy, you're not standing on the ground!" Tobias choked out.

"What are you talking about, Father, of course I'm-"

Severus stopped short as he looked down on his feet, which were, in fact, suspended in the air above the floor.

"Get down from there. Now," his father ordered in frighteningly soft voice.

But as Severus' heart sank, so did his body. It seemed that the happy feeling he'd had was what caused the floating, and now it was gone. He felt tears in the brims of his eyes as his feet hit the ground, and he immediately put his head down. Father had no toleration for tears.

"Get to bed, boy," his father growled.

It was hardly noon, but by now, Severus knew better than to contradict his father.

Now, it was well past midnight, and his mother stood before him, having just asked him why she'd come into his room.

"Mother, I'm sorry! I couldn't help it; it just...happened!"

"I know. This time, it's not your fault. Look."

Eileen took what looked like a long, thin, wooden rod from beneath her deep red bathrobe and gave it a gentle flick with her wrist, while at the same time murmuring something under her breath. Severus was confused until he turned around to see what his mother had been pointing the rod at. He gasped as he saw his dresser float higher and higher toward the ceiling. Then, with another flick of her wrist, Eileen brought it gently down again.

"Wow," Severus breathed, unable to contain his amazement, "How'd you do that?"

"Magic," she said simply, "I am a witch."

"Does that mean I'm a witch, too?"

"No, you're a wizard. It's more or less the same thing. Here," Eileen placed a large stack of books in her son's lap, "Read these. It's everything you'll need to know before we send you off to Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts?"

"Just read the books, boy."

As his mother left the room without another word, Severus eagerly looked down at the pile of books in his lap. The first was entitled Hogwarts: The Wizarding Child's Haven. As he flipped through the pages of the enormous book, his eyes grew wide with wonder and excitement. He read of classes in Charms and Potions and other exciting components of a magical curriculum. He read of enchanted staircases and ghosts wandering the halls, of secret passageways and paintings that came to life, all concealed in a castle on the water only visible to the wizarding community...Hogwarts. The last page of the book contained nothing but a picture of the school building itself. It was utterly magnificent...breathtaking. Severus carefully tore the page out of the book and tacked it to his bedroom wall. Then, laying back down on his bed, he turned to face it.

The book had told him that children were admitted to Hogwarts when they were eleven years old. Severus had recently turned ten. One more year. He had only one more year to wait until he could leave his lonely existence behind and start a new life at Hogwarts. He closed his eyes and tried to picture it, walking down the hall with his best friend on the way to his favorite class.

His best friend...he'd never had any friends before. He'd walked around the neighborhood plenty of times before and saw a number of children his age. He'd wanted so badly to speak to them, to make one friend, but he never worked up the courage. Besides, what would he say? It was useless.

At Hogwarts, though, things would be different. He'd have magic on his side, and even if he couldn't use it, it would give him the strength he needed. Plus, it was something they would all have in common. That's what he liked best about the idea of Hogwarts. Everyone seemed to be the same. They wore the same clothes, had the same ability, took the same classes...he wouldn't be different at Hogwarts. He would finally fit in. He would belong.

With a longing smile playing on his lips, Severus drifted off to sleep.

A/N: So what do you think? I know I only dealt with Severus in this chapter, but fear not! Lily will make her appearance in the next one! I'd like to know your opinions so far, so by all means, leave a review! The next chapter should be up tonight, provided I have the time. I'm leaving in an hour because I'm in a play, but I should be back at around ten to finish writing. If things don't go according to plan, though, I will definitely get it up by tomorrow!