Hello my lovelies! So another chapter is here. Trigger warning: this one contains domestic violence, spousal abuse, and child abuse.

Not much else to say in forewarning here.

I wish to thank my readers and reviewers once again. You are all wonderful for your feedbaack :)

If Someone Cared Enough

Chapter Ten: Homecoming

"Are you sure you don't need help?' Mrs. Evans asked for the hundredth time.

Gathered with her family in the hospital room, she hovered worriedly over Severus as he worked at getting a simple green t-shirt on.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Evans," Severus assured her. He was slowly becoming used to moving around again, as the numbness in his limbs faded after the healer's finally stopped administering the pain potions. Now stiff and still a tad sore, he could do basic tasks like dress and feed himself without assistance. However, he still swayed if he stood in place too long and wobbled when he walked, which was why Lily's family was so wary.

Lily stood by Severus's side, a gentle guiding hand on his elbow, "He's got this, mum." She toed Severus' shoes over to him, allowing him to step into them on his own, something she knew he appreciated.

"I can't believe they're releasing you already," Mrs. Evans continued to fret, "You nearly had your throat cut out just days ago."

"To be fair the skin has closed up, mum," Lily pointed out, "It doesn't take as long as muggle stitches do. Now there's only a scar."

It was true, where there once was a open, bleeding cut, now all that remained was a jagged scar running horizontal across Severus' throat.

"As long as I take it easy and stick to soft foods for week more, I should be fine while the inside of my throat heals up," Severus explained, accepting the small bag of get well cards that Lily had gathered up from the room for him. It was an unspoken agreement by Lily's family that Severus not strain himself carrying anything too heavy, so he was being put in charge of the cards sent by his friends.

Severus didn't want to tell them that he would probably get very little rest at home. His father was a steadfast believer that only the worthless took it easy and that bed rest was a term invented by lazy people to take the day off while hard working folks like himself pulled twice the work. Of course it was a hypocritical mindset as Tobias spent much of his free time not working around the house but rather drinking away the family food budget. Still, he made it very clear on more than one occasion that no son of his would ever be caught in bed resting from a cold or an illness when there was work to be done. So it was doubtful he'd go easy on his son now that Severus was injured.

As for steering clear of heavy lifting; Severus didn't have the heart to tell Lily that he would be dragging his school trunk up the stairs himself when he arrived home.

Speaking of which, "Lily what happened to my things from the train?" Severus asked. He recalled Lily saying the trunk had come to her in the train compartment, but at the time he hadn't thought to ask what was done with it when the authorities arrived to help. He could only hope his things hadn't been confiscated by some grabby hand Auror for investigation.

"We have it all," Lily informed him.

Mr. Evans nodded, "We had it at our place since the day you arrived here. I just put it in car before we came over today. It's all ready to go home with you."

Inwardly, Severus breathed a sigh of relief, "Good."

Heading down the hall, careful of Severus and his uneasy steps, the group approached one of the desks to check out. They were not surprised to find Healer Parish waiting for them.

"Ah, ready to go?" Parish asked, looking up from her notes.

"More than ready," Severus muttered.

"Hm," Parish handed her clipboard off to a lower ranking healer—what muggles would consider a nurse—advising him to continue salve treatments on a different patient, "Well, I must say, you have made a rather fantastic recovery considering the state you were brought in here."

She walked up to Severus, handing him two small vials with stoppers in them, "Take a teaspoon of the blue one every morning until the bottle runs out to treat any lingering anemia. As for the green one, rub a dollop to the scar once in the morning and once at night for the next week and a half."

"Thank you," Severus said, examining the vials.

"Try not to lose them. These mixtures aren't cheap so replacing them is costly. Considering you won't be needing them for long, I talked my supervisor into letting me give you these trial bottles. Normally we use them on the go for any emergency Healers are called to, but we made an exception."

"That's so nice!" Lily beamed.

"Yeah...nice," Severus grumbled. He hated to be pitied.

"Thanks..." he said again, pocketing the bottles.

Parish smiled, "Think nothing of it, I swear the prices for salves these days are practically roadside robbery." Giving the family a friendly wave and biding Severus to take care, Parish returned to her papers.

{page break}

The car ride to Spinners End was spent in easy silence with some light conversation. Lily's parents asked the teens about their school work, how they thought exams went and the like, interspersed with small talk about the traffic and the weather.

Lily was all too happy to fill her parents in on hers and Severus' school lives, but Severus stayed quiet whenever a question wasn't directly posed to him. Instead, he looked out the window at the houses and town cars passing by. The houses in many of the neighborhoods were scenic, lovely little places, fit to be in paintings or made into puzzles that grandmums would build with their grandkids on lazy Sunday afternoons. They radiated cozy, warm thoughts and welcome, a stark contrast to the neighborhood Severus himself had grown up in.

Severus wasn't looking forward to returning home, but then again he never was. Every summer was noting but yelling and screaming, harsh words and hard fists. Accusations were thrown around just as often as dinner plates and the remains of his mother's wedding china. The only things that made his time at home bearable was all the time he spent with Lily.

As the picturesque cottages gave way to uniform houses with peeling paint and factory smoke on the horizon, a familiar unpleasant churning grew in Snape's stomach.

Lily watched Severus carefully. "Sev," she began, "are you sure this is what you want?"

Severus nodded, "I just need some rest and I'll be back to normal in no time."

Lily shook her head, "That's not what I'm talking about, Sev. Look...it's not too late to stay with us."

"I don't need charity, Lily," Severus replied, not looking at her.

"It's not!" Lily insisted, keeping her voice down so her parents wouldn't hear, "I'm just worried about you. Don't think I don't know what goes on in there."

Severus grit his teeth, "I don't know where you get your information, but I'm fine."

Lily grabbed a hold of Severus's hands, "You're not—"

"We're here!"

Mrs. Evans beamed back at the pair, "Glad to be home, Severus?"

Severus nodded, "Yes ma'am." He gently pried his hands out of Lily's grip.

"Sev," Lily called, following Severus out of the car.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore, Lily," Severus told him, circling round to the back of the car for his things.

"But, Sev..."

"Here we go," Mr. Evans pulled Severus' trunk out of the car, "No worries, my boy, I've got this."

"I really must insist," Severus began.

Mr. Evans laughed, "Nonsense, I can carry this. You're in recovery after all."

"Sev, please talk to me," Lily pleaded as she walked with him up the stairs, Mr. and Mrs. Evans following behind them.

"There's nothing to talk about," Severus said firmly.

Lily huffed. Why did Severus have to make things so difficult? Couldn't he see she was trying to help?

As they reached Snape's house, the front door creaked open slowly. Someone peered out at them for a moment or two before the door shut. The sound of several latches being undone was heard and then door swung open to reveal the thin, bony frame of Severus's mother.

Eileen Snape was not someone people could say was ever pretty in her youth, though she was never ugly. Plain faced and lacking in curves, she was a slim and straight as a broomstick, her stringy hair just as brittle as a broom in her later years. Her eyes were dull and did not sparkle nor shine, but could fix you with a beady stare that would leave a grown man feeling like a properly chastised child. Her colorless lips were always pressed into a hard, firm line and the only reason she had so little wrinkles on her face was because she had hardly any skin hanging on her tiny frame.

She stared down at the group crowding her doorstep, her disdainful gaze a ghost of reminiscence from her noble heritage. Only when her eyes fell on Severus did her stern face soften a little.

"Severus," she said in a high, raspy voice. She reached a bony, knobby fingered hand out to him but stopped short. Clearing her throat she brought her hands back down, wiping off her dingy apron, "You're home," she observed.

"Obviously," Snape drawled.

Eileen's eyes narrowed, "Watch your mouth boy," she looked back over her son's companions, "I thought they would send word to me when they were releasing you."

"And how would they do that? An owl?" Severus scoffed, "Da would sooner stuff the thing and mount it on our door as a grisly reminder to any other owls."

Eileen took a step towards her son, her mouth pulled back in a sneer, "You best watch how you talk to me."

The Evans family stepped back warily, Lily's hand wrapped in a fistful of Severus sleeve. Even frail and next to nothing in weight, Eileen made for quite the intimidating picture when she was mad.

Eileen stared her son down, her eyes narrow slits.

Severus stared back unblinkingly, an unimpressed eyebrow raised.

After a moment, Eileen smirked. Chuckling she stepped back into the house, "If you're in the mood to piss me off, you must be better. Well, come on, get inside. You'll let a draft in if you linger."

Mr. Evans set Severus' trunk down inside the entryway, "Where do you want this?"

"Just leave there, we'll deal with it later," Eileen ordered crisply, making no move to invite the Evanses in. It was clear she had no intention of bringing them into her house.

"Sev," Lily caught Severus' arm as he went to step inside.

"Lily?" Severus raised a brow questioningly.

Lily bit her lip, casting a careful glance at Mrs. Snape watching them from the hallway, "Listen, if you need anything, call me okay?"

Severus didn't respond, an internal struggling warring on his face.

"Hurry up, boy," his mother called out, "You're father will be home soon and I want to have dinner ready before he gets here," she started heading for the kitchen, "now that you're here I have to make dinner stretch twice as far."

"Let's hang out tomorrow," Lily continued, "we'll get ice cream or something. Or read at my house. Just say you'll come see me."

"I will," Severus agree.

"Boy!" His mother called shrilly.

As Severus went to pull his hands away, Lily brought her arm up and caught him around the neck, pulling him into a hug.

"If you need anything, call," she repeated.

Stepping back, she went to join her parents who were waiting by the car.

"Bye, Severus," Mrs. Evans called, waving at the dour young man.

Lily waved as well, climbing into the car and peering out the window at him as they drove away. She continued to watch Severus until the car turned and she was out of sight.

Taking a deep breath, Severus went into his house closing the door behind him.

"Wipe your feet," his mother scolded harshly from the kitchen.

"Yes, mum," Severus replied, doing as he was told.

Eileen reappeared in the hallway, a ladle in hand.

"Well hurry up," she said, pointing the ladle at Severus' trunk, "Get that thing upstairs before your father sees it and gives me hell for it."

Severus sighed, grabbing the trunk to begin his long trek upstairs.

It was going to be a long summer.

{page break}

"Get up, boy!" The thunderous voice of Tobias Snape carried up the stairs, "I ain't calling yew twice."

Giving up on tidying his room—the place had not seen a broom or dust rag since he left at the end of last summer—Severus sighed and left his room. Carefully making his way downstairs, he was greeted by the sight of his father slumped back in one of the chairs at the kitchen table while his mother busied herself with dinner.

Already fisting a bottle of piss warm beer since their ice box was on the fritz, the Snape family patriarch was a tall man wrapped in olive colored skin weathered the consistency of burlap. He had cold piercing eyes peering out from a face of sharp edges and sunken features. The lines of his face were deep set with bitterness and disappointment and he had a perpetually five O clock shadow full of razor burns for lack of a decent razor and using water instead of shaving cream.

"Yew've spent enough time lazing about yewr room all day," Tobias said, pointing his bottle at Severus.

"I'd hardly call recovery 'lazing about'," Severus said sardonically.

Tobias looked close to throwing his bottle, but decided against it, not wanting to waste his beer, "That's enough lip out of yew. After suppa, yew can get to putting the house to rights. Yewr Mum's lousy at it."

"Well excuse me for not having time to do everything around here!" Eileen snapped angrily, "Maybe you could help out some; it isn't like you are doing much at work anyway."

This time the bottle did fly out of Tobias hand, hitting the wall over Eileen's head, causing her to yelp.

"Shut it yew!" Tobias shouted.

"Look at yew," he continued, "what are yew good fer? Nothing! Yew can't cook no decent meal, can't keep this place looking nice, all you do is run yewr mouth. Yewr lucky the boy came home when he did. Another week of this stye and I might have up and left yew. Now at least between the two of yew maybe things will get done."

Eileen sent a baleful glance at her son, but Severus didn't let it bother him. The cycle had begun again; same old story.

Tobias stumbled to the counter, reaching under the sink for a new bottle. On his way out the door to the living room he called out "Get me when suppa's ready. Don't go giving it to me cold."

Eileen swept up the broken glass, beer dripping from her hair and onto the floor. Picking up the dustpan, she passed Severus with a contemptible glare. When she had thrown away the broken pieces, she turned to Severus, her eyes hard, "If you're so good at cleaning, why don't you make yourself useful and set the table?" she snapped, turning her back on him to tend to dinner.

Severus did as he was told, not in the least bit phased. It had been years since things at home phased him. It was always the same routine. His father would have a go at one of both of them, his mother would end up getting the brunt of it because of her need to yell back, and when all as said and done, she'd take it out on him. It had been like that for years.

There was a time when Severus honestly hoped for his mother to stand by his side and maybe defend him from his father, but those days were long past as youthful daydreams and wishful thinking. He learned long ago that his mother would not fight for him. If anything, she blamed him. She'd blame him for Tobias' anger or, when Tobias was mad at her instead, taking her resentment out on her son with biting words and cold, reserved distance.

Severus recalled a time as a small child when he fell very ill. His mother had insisted on him taking cod liver oil for it. Severus had protested very strongly but he was forced to take the oil anyway. However, rather than help him, the stuff only caused him to vomit. Eileen tried to make him take more, much to Severus' protests and tears. It went on for so long that Tobias, in one of his only defenses of his son, took the bottle from Eileen and smashed it against the nearest wall, shouting about how she wasn't going to give 'the boy' anything that would make him sicker. He then proceeded to yell at Eileen for two hours, while Severus lay upstairs in bed with a fever.

Later that night, after Tobias had passed out, Eileen had come up to her son's room, with red, puffy eyes and a red mark across her cheek. In a hoarse whisper she told Severus she didn't want to hear any more sick talk from him ever again.

From that day on, Severus hid every illness he ever got.

So on and so forth did life go for Severus in his home. His father would take out his anger on his wife, who in turn would take it out on her son as a means of having some semblance of control in her life. Severus knew he should be upset with his mother but frankly he could only pity her. So far had a once proud witch fallen to be constantly demeaned and overpowered by her pitiful muggle husband, a man who was three sheets to the wind most days.

The times when she turned on Severus were the times he could see the pureblood his mother used to be. It was the way she carried herself when she ordered him around. When she would belittle his efforts in cleaning or turn up her nose at him when handing out criticism. Clearly she was a woman who grew up used to reminding her lessers that they were as such. There was a layer of hypocrisy in it as well; how she would pick at Severus for his appearance when she was one of the parents failing to provide him with soap or proper clothes.

Her vindictiveness was that of a purebloods as well. When Severus was ten, he got into a particularly nasty yelling match with her over some nonsense he could no longer recall. It wasn't that unusual for he and his mother to bicker; his whole family fought regularly. But on this particular day Severus had apparently struck a chord of some sort within his mother, for her eyes had narrowed into tiny little slits and she uttered something that made Severus heart fall to his stomach, ice cold.

"You're just like your father, you ungrateful brat."

Severus had been stunned. He didn't know what to say to that. Instead he just stood there staring at his mother in open mouthed shock. He can still recall to this day how her mouth twitched in somewhat of a triumphant smirk before she turned on her heel and strode from the room.

They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day.

Severus thought the matter was over and done with as most arguments were, but the next day, Eileen had called him into the bathroom. What followed would forever be seared into Severus' mind for the rest of his life. His mother took a pair of scissors and cut his hair short. So unmercifully short. She had started off saying she only wanted to give him a trim, but as each strand was snipped, Eileen claimed something was off or uneven and would clip even more. Pretty soon, Severus was sitting among the scattered clippings of hair looking into the mirror to find a very unpleasantly familiar face looking back at him.

She had cut his hair eerily reminiscent of his father's.

Eileen said nothing as she patted his head and sent him on his way, but on that day, Severus knew this about his mother: she was a proud woman who would do anything to have control in her life, and she was willing to take any bit of control where she could get it, even at the cost of her own son.

That wasn't to say Severus hated or even disliked his mother. On the contrary, the feelings he held for her were the polar opposite of the frigid cold he felt for Tobias. No, he didn't hate Eileen. He recalled times of lullabies and bedtime stories. Of tales of years at Hogwarts long since past, promises late at night of what a wonderful world he would be a part of once he came of age. He remembered sitting on his mother's lap while she would regale him in secret about the prestige of being a wizard, of being magical.

Eileen had introduced Severus to the magical world and open his eyes to an escape from his life, a way out of being the mere son of a drunk in a house that constantly fell down around them. For that he would always love his mother. Those memories were precious to him and nothing she did now could take them away. For in those memories of early childhood, Severus saw the woman his mother could have been, all that she was and had lost. He saw the kind, loving mother she had the potential to be, if her bastard of a husband hadn't stripped it all away from her.

Severus glanced at his mother as he put down one of the plates at the table. Standing with her back to him, the frail figure stirred listlessly at a pot of stew, a far cry from the potioneering she once performed. Hair falling out of her bun and hanging limply in front of her face, Eileen was a shadow of the mother he once knew, the one who's smile was so vibrant and warm, who laugh filled the afternoons of his early life.

In truth, Severus blamed his father for everything. He made Eileen into the bitter, sharp-tongued woman she was now. Tobias took her pride and broke her spirit, and left in its place a woman too afraid to lift a wand in defense of herself or her own child and yet capable of bullying her son in order to feel powerful again.

Sometimes Severus would hear his mother crying at night, Tobias hissing something at her, low and menacing. Severus wasn't naive, he knew what went on in there at night, how Tobias was after he got good and drunk, but Eileen never seemed to resist him, no matter how obvious it was that she wanted to.

The one time Severus attempted to intervene earned him nothing but some bruised ribs, belt blows to his back and is mother later scolding him for getting involved. She told him a boy had no business sticking his nose into adult matters and that it was a woman's duty to serve her husband. She claimed that by butting in, Severus had only made things worse for both of them that night and he should learn to mind his own damn business.

And so Severus took on a new strategy: complacency. By keeping his head low and his nose clean, Severus managed to keep his father's ire at bay, for the most part at least. His summer breaks were spent cleaning and doing chores whenever he wasn't with Lily or doing his summer schoolwork. He took the insults in stride, kept his head down and eyes to the floor when a bottle was thrown at him, answered questions when asked and above all, tried to curb his tongue. It wasn't easy to not talk back to his father, hence his earlier slip up, but he did try. By being obedient, though it went against everything in him, Severus managed to stave off most beatings for he and his mother.

A pot clinking down onto the table pulled Severus from his musings.

"Get your father," Eileen ordered tersely without looking at her son.

Severus resisted the urge to roll his eyes, heading for the living room. When he spied his father slumped over on the sofa with a beer in hand, eyes fixed blearily on a futbol game on the tv, he sighed. The man was truly a sorry sight.

"Who's winning?" Severus asked casually.

"Eh?" Tobias sat up with a start, "What?" he squinted at the screen, "Dunno. The ruddy announcer can't tell me a bloody thing. He's a right Tosser, I tell yew! Dinner ready?"

Severus nodded.

Staggering to his feet, Tobias fixed his son with a bloodshot glare, "Yewr mum better have made something decent tonight. I ain't slaving at the mill all day just to come home and eat slop."

Severus made no comment, keeping to himself the fact that Tobias slacked off most days in a menial job only to spend his paycheck at the pub. He drank so often that he left them with barely enough to afford what it takes to make a passable dish.

Following his father out into the kitchen, Severus joined his parents at the rickety table that held most of their hostile, silent meals.

"How are things at the mill?" Eileen asked her husband as she began to ladle stew into their mismatched china bowls.

"Same as always," was Tobias gruff replied, digging into his food. He tore himself off a hunk of stale bread from the basket in the middle of the table and dipped it in the stew, "The foreman is going on about making some changes to 'increase productivity' again. Fat lot of good that is going to do; nothing will make that job any better."

"Maybe he should consider hiring some better quality workers," Eileen suggested snidely.

Severus gave his mother a look of exasperation; why must she always antagonize him?

Tobias scowled, "What are yew trying to say, woman?"

"Nothing dear," Eileen replied sweetly, sipping the broth from her spoon delicately.

"It better be nothing," Tobias mumbled.

Severus breathed a quiet sigh of relief; dodged that bullet.

The family sat in semi-comfortable silence for a bit, the only sounds being the clinking of dishes and slurping.

"So," Tobias said after a moment, "Am I going to get to hear just what it was yew did to piss someone off enough they'd tried to kill yew?"

"Tobias," Eileen warned.

Tobias cut her off, "Yew be quiet. I'm talking to the boy," he pointed his spoon at Severus, "So what's yew do, eh? Being a smartass again? Mouthing off to someone and they decided to clean yewr clock? Good on them."

"That's not what happened," Eileen tried futilely to explain.

"I thought I told yew to be quiet, woman," Tobias snapped, "Don't yew go making excuses for this one here. He's always been a smart mouth; about time someone put 'im in his place."

"I was trying to protect a friend," Severus said tightly.

"Oh yeah, I bet I know which friend it was," Tobias smirked, "That pretty redheaded one that yewr always running around with. Am I right? What happened, someone flip her skirt or something?"

"Not quite," Severus bit out through gritted teeth.

"Hell, I'd do it," the elder Snape admitted with a leer, "She's growing up into a fine looking bird, isn't she?"

Severus dug his nails into his palms.

"Tobias!" Eileen cried shrilly.

"What? I ain't allowed to admire a fine pair of legs when I see them?" Tobias challenged.

"Just stop talking," Severus said softly.

"What was that?" Tobias growled.

"I said that you don't know what you're talking about so stop talking!" Severus shouted, slamming his fist down on the table as he stood up.

Tobias snarled, "Why yew little..." he leaped up and grabbed Severus by the collar of his shirt, "Talk to me like that will yew? I'll show yew!" He struck Severus in the face, "Think yewr so tough now?"

Severus said nothing, he only glared defiantly at his father.

Tobias slammed Severus against the wall, his son's head colliding with the wall to make a satisfying thunk, "Answer me!"

"Tobias, put him down!" Eileen cried, trying to wrestle her husband away from him, "He just got out of the hospital, for goodness sake!"

"Well maybe I should send him back," Tobias threatened, giving Severus a shake. "Let go of me, yew bitch!" Tobias threw off Eileen's grip and backhanded her, his wife falling against the cupboards with a cry.

"Mum!" Severus cried, struggling out of his father's grip.

"See what yew've gone and done now?" Tobias spat, circlng the table to round on Eileen, "I told yew this was between me and the boy." He dragged Eileen up by her arm, "Why can't you just stay out of it?"

"Leave her alone," Severus ordered, coming between his parents.

"Ah, shove off," Tobias growled, giving his son one good push.

Because he was still shaky on his feet, Severus fell over like a bag of hammers, crashing to the floor with a clattered.

"Yew all aren't worth it," Tobias said spitefully, glaring down at his family hatefully, "I'm heading to the pub." He gave Eileen a good slap before releasing her and storming from the kitchen, the front door slamming shut moments later.

Eileen kneeled whimpering on the floor, a hand to her cheek.

"Mum," Severus called softly, crawling over to her. He reached out and titled her head up to him, forcing her to meet his gaze, "Mum?"

Eileen looked at her son sadly, placing her hand over his own on her cheek. Something soft passed across her eyes, but it was gone as quickly as it came. Gaze hardening, she jerked away from Severus.

"Make yourself useful and clean up the dishes," she bit out harshly, getting to her feet. Without looking at Severus she left the room, arms wrapped tightly around herself.

Severus sat on the floor watching after her as she left. He listened to her footsteps across the floor, creaking up the stairs before the door to his parent's room shut softly.

Sighing, Severus sat back down at the table and finished eating, grimacing as his stew had gone cold.

At least he had seeing Lily to look forward to tomorrow.

Can I just say that writing perpetually drunk Tobias is not easy XD

Well there you have it, another chapter down.

Now, about Eileen's behavior here. In many stories I read she is portrayed as one of two ways: the first, a victim through and through with no courage and completely beaten down by her husband. The other, a woman bitter and just as abusive as her husband. I wanted to cover a third common behavior of abuse victims, one based off of my own step grandmother. My grandfather beat her mercilessly and in turn, to feel powerful again, she beat her step child, my mother. She physically, emotionally and psychologically abused my mother in order to regain some sense of power and control in her own life. She was both a victim and an abuser and in ways she did more harm to my mom long term than her father (who abused EVERYONE).

The way I see it, Eileen is both bitter about her lot and life and fearful of letting severus grow up to be like his father, so she tries to stifle his potential to stand up to her early.

Thank you all for reading. Don't forget to review!