The Bleakness of Spinner's End

Two trunks, two instruments, and four people had been squeezed into a tiny Austin Morris. Severus couldn't help but smirk a little at the car's violent shade of orange, which he so typically connected with the seventies.

'Good thing Petunia didn't come with,' said Lily. 'Otherwise this never would've fit.'

After warming up the engine, Mr. Evans started driving.

'Petunia is thinking about pursuing a typing course in London,' Mrs. Evans said with a disappointed undertone.

'Why would she want to do that?' asked Lily.

'I'm not sure,' Mr. Evans responded. 'I've always hoped that she would warm up about going to art school. She hasn't been painting much lately.'

'Oh no,' Lily whined. 'I don't want Tuney to stop painting. She's way too good to just abandon her talent like that.'

Severus wondered if he had ever bothered to look at Petunia's creations, as she was usually quite clear that she didn't appreciate his presence at their household. He couldn't recall any, so he probably hadn't.

'Thank you for driving me home Mr. and Mrs. Evans,' he said. 'I truly appreciate it.'

'Oh no need to be so formal, Severus,' Mrs. Evans said. 'Just call us Erwin and Arnica like you normally do. And it's no trouble, really.'

'Thanks,' he said softly.

Severus noticed that Lily was drifting off to sleep against the window. He hesitated for a moment, but decided that pulling her in so she could sleep against his shoulder would be more comfortable than a cold window. It seemed like a good excuse to have her close to him at least.

Her big bush of red hair tickled his nostrils, but it was worth sensing that musky scent that he had grown so familiar with.

'How has school been for you, Severus?' Arnica asked him softly enough not to wake Lily.

'Quite interesting,' he answered in a low voice. 'Preparations for our exams this year is a drag, but our stance against the uprising war is growing bigger.'

'What war?' Arnica asked him curiously.

Shit. Had Lily never told her parents a thing about the Dark Lord? Had keeping them in the dark been a way for her to keep them safe?

Severus's eyes grew wide. 'What I mean is, well—our ministry might get overthrown.'

'You mean like political warfare?'

'Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Nothing to worry too much about though, but we can expect some changes in our world soon.'

'Could be worse,' Erwin said. 'There's always a way to move back to our world in case it turns out badly.'

Relieved that the Evanses bought the lie, he relaxed a little and felt himself grow tired.

Not much was being said until they reached Cokeworth, as they were all worn out from the long journey home.

Cokeworth's factory was dominating the skyline in the distance. It was a strange sight to behold for him, as he only went back to Cokeworth during the summer holidays ever since he set foot inside Hogwarts.

Spinner's End looked even more dreadful in the dark and cold than it already did when the sun was out.

'It's the corner house at the end of the street isn't it, Severus?' Erwin asked him.

'Yes, it's right over there,' Severus said as he pointed at the shabby looking house.

Severus would've given all the gold he had earned with his and Lily's potion making to stay in the car with her than to go inside the house.

'Would you like to come over tomorrow so you and Lily can tell us all about school?' Arnica asked him.

'I'll come over. Lily,' he said while gently pushing her up, 'it's time for me to go home.'

Lily blinked a couple times and looked up at him with watery eyes. 'We're already back?'

'You've been out for a while, I'll come over tomorrow okay.'

Severus opened the car door, making everyone shiver as the cold air entered the car. With his trunk and bass in hand he stood by the front door of his house. 'Thanks again,' he said, and the Evanses drove off to another part of town. Although entirely unnecessary, he felt the occlumency shield inside of him rise up like a wall. It was the only way to keep his emotions under control if a situation with his father would run out of hand.

Before he got to knock on the door, the door already swung open, revealing a sour looking man, with a beer in his hand.

'What brings you home this time of year boy?' Tobias's cold voice said to him.

'I promised mother I would be here for Christmas this time,' Severus said without looking his father in the eye.

'Well don't just stand there. Get in,' Tobias ushered him inside the house.

Severus quickly glided past his father and headed for the staircase. 'Not so fast boy.'

He forced himself to look in the eyes that matched his own. 'I'm tired, and I wish to go to sleep,' he said dryly.

'You're not going to sleep until I tell you to go.'

'Why? Is there something that you need me to do?' Severus sneered back.

'Your mother hasn't told me anything about you coming home for Christmas. Nor do we celebrate it, so what is the actual reason you came back?'

'As my presence in this household is already considered irrelevant whether it be summer or winter, I don't believe I owe you an explanation.'

'Don't get cheeky with me boy!' Tobias snapped. 'Are you here for your mother or does that little redhead friend of yours got something to do with it?'

Severus balled his fists around his trunk and case. 'Leave Lily out of this,' he said darkly.

'Take some advice from your old man boy,' Tobias said as he took a swig from his beer. 'Don't make the same mistake I did by knocking up a girl when you're young. The last thing I want to be is a grandfather at this point.'

Severus didn't want to respond to what his father had just told him. 'Where's mum?' he asked with restrain.

'Asleep so don't bother her.' Tobias didn't seem to want to argue any further, as he stumbled off into the kitchen, no doubt to grab a new beer from the fridge.

Severus made his way upstairs as quickly as he could, flung his trunk and case into a corner of the room and crawled under the blanket of his bed without bothering to change out of his clothes.

Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough. Despite feeling tired from the journey, Severus couldn't help but lie awake.

Lying in the bed in which he had arisen from the dead made him feel slightly uncomfortable, as if he somehow expected to die again if he fell asleep.

His mind was flooding with memories from the past…well…has it only been nearly four months?

So much had been changed compared to his previous life. Surrounding himself with different people had been a major advancement, as was shunning Malfoy's influence on him, but all of that fell into nothing compared to Lily.

He couldn't help but grin as he pressed his face into his pillow. No matter where the war was going to take him this time, he was going to stay by her side. Where Potter had failed, he was determined to succeed.

Sleep started to cloud up his mind, and exhaustion started to drag him under.

In his previous life he had never quite chosen a side of the war. The only side he ever felt like he belonged was hers.

...

A loud banging on the bedroom door awoke him the next day. 'Mum,' he heard a soft nasal voice say.

Severus rolled out of bed to open the door for her, she immediately flung her arms around him. 'Tobias said you came home last night,' she signed happily after she let him go. 'How?'

'Lily,' he signed back with a flick of his hair.

'It is good to see you son. Want breakfast?'

Severus nodded. 'I will come down after I change. I fell asleep wearing this,' he said while pointing at his shabby muggle clothing.

Eileen left with a smile on her face and went to work in the kitchen. After changing himself into cleaner clothes, he went downstairs, and found his father sleeping on the couch.

He stomped on the floor to get his mother's attention. 'Need me to wake him up?'

She waved it off with a flick of her wrist. 'Leave him. He is a better man when he is asleep than when he is awake.'

At that, Severus walked into the kitchen and stood beside her to help her cut up peppers for omelets. 'How has everything been now that he has lost his job?'

'Bit of a struggle,' his mother signed back after she handed him over the knife. 'But we're on the dole for now, so we manage.'

'Mum, I can help you financially if you need any.'
Eileen gave her son a sharp look. 'Look at me Severus,' she signed with her fingers pointing at her eyes.

Severus looked into her eyes, knowing he was about to get a lecture.

'How are you making money, exactly?'

Lying to his mother was not an option. 'Lily and I are making potions in a private lab and we sell them to students.'

Eileen shook her head in disapproval. 'You are just like your mother.'

'What is that supposed to mean?'

'Because I used to do the same thing when I went to Hogwarts. Professor Slughorn knew about it. Never said a word.' She formed two antennas above her head at the name "Slughorn", like a snail.

'Professor Slughorn is the one who gave me the lab.'

'Well aren't you special,' she signed in a sarcastic way. 'But Severus, I'm being serious here. I am your mother and you are my son.'

'I've understood that for quite some time now, funny enough.'

'What I am trying to say is, is that you do not have to carry the burden of responsibility for me. I am your mother, it is my job to take care of you, not the other way around.'

At that, Severus fell silent.

'Son,' she signed as she tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear. 'My troubles here are not your burden to bear.'


A/N The Austin Morris is an adorable British car manufactured roughly between the 60s and 70s.
A/N The 'dole' back in the day is the British equivalent of being on welfare.