Written for Round Thirteen of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition (Season Nine),

Keeper, Chudley Cannons

Prompt: [book] The Surface Breaks — Louise O' Neill

Word Count: 1485

*.*.*

People Like Me

There it is again. The door opens, there's the shuffling of a coat being taken off. His mother says something in a quiet voice, and it's followed by a few sharp words from his father that Severus cannot make out. But he knows. Give it a few more minutes, and he'll hear the sound of china cracking, his father shouting, and not a lot of sound from his mother.

It is almost like clockwork, and there isn't a time Severus doesn't remember it happening. One time when he was four years old, he'd burst into tears right in the middle of the kitchen where his parents were fighting. His father had rounded on him then, and Severus now knows that it's better to disappear and pretend he does not exist.

But by now Severus has programmed himself to shut it out. He can lock the door of his room, and sit in the corner with a couple of books. Even though he knows what is going on outside, it helps if whatever he is reading is interesting or he has the Muggle wireless playing loudly enough.

But then an hour later his mother calls him out for dinner, and he sees her eyes red and puffy. Dinner is always the same — awfully silent except for the occasional sniffling or grumbling. Severus tries to eat as fast as possible so he can go back to his room and try to forget about the evening.

It is pretty lonely, where they live. Almost in the middle of nowhere, with a creek some distance behind the house. When it rains, there are frogs croaking up a whole symphony and Severus listens to it because it helps drown out the fighting in the other room.

"Noisy pieces of filth," his father murmurs at dinner, stabbing his food with the fork like it has personally offended him.

Severus isn't allowed to go out. His father despises any kind of magic like the plague, and he believes that if he keeps Severus in his room all day he might be able to squash the magic out of the boy.

"I'm sorry, my love," his mother tells him when his father is away. "I know you hate us fighting all the time. And you don't get to go outside. You're getting so skinny."

"Don't be sorry, Mum," Severus says, giving her a tiny grin because he loves her very much and hates seeing her frowning. "It's not your fault. And the window in my room is pretty nice, I can see the creek from there."

His mother scoffs, and Severus curls his arms around his mother's shoulders when she kisses the top of his head. And for a moment there it's only him and his mother and Severus lets himself enjoy it even though he knows his father will come back in an hour or two and he'll have to go back to his room.

Severus thinks he's used to it, but sometimes he really just wants out.

He wishes he could turn eleven quickly and leave the house, but knowing his father, Severus might just be stuck in the dingy corner of his room for a lot longer.

*.*.*

Out comes sooner than he expected, in a way, Severus thinks happily when his mother tells him that they are going to move to a new neighbourhood.

He doesn't ask why, partly because he doesn't care and partly because he knows it has something to do with Severus himself. His father wants to keep him around Muggles, because he thinks that way Severus can learn to keep his magic under control. Apparently, keeping Severus away from 'normal' humans is giving his magic free reign.

"He is eight years old, Tobias," he hears his mother say. "You cannot control a child's magic like that."

His father ignores her. Severus feels his hair rise on end and the tingling under his skin, and he hastily tries to calm himself down before he breaks another lamp or snaps his bedpost in half. He doesn't do a very good job of it, because the book he's holding falls apart in his hands. But he can deal with that.

One afternoon a month and a half later, Severus finds himself in his father's rickety black car, seated next to his mother. Their stuff was moved earlier that day and some of it will be moved in the evening. Severus presses his nose to the window and stares out as though he's never seen houses before.

Which he hasn't, if he's being really honest. He's only ever seen his own house and whatever few buildings that could be seen from his window in that house, and one time he remembers visiting his father's aunt.

He wonders what it will be like living with so many people around, especially so many Muggles. What if he isn't able to control his magic and he ends up exploding something?

Maybe I'll learn, he tells himself. He has to. That is what his father intends him to do, and he'll be in deep trouble if he doesn't.

*.*.*

Severus likes his new room. It's bigger than the first, and there is a flight of stairs curling down to the tiny garden below. When he is done helping his mother, he tucks his own things into his old cupboard and plops himself down on his back on the bed, only getting up and leaving the room when his mother calls him for dinner.

It is strange living with neighbours, but Severus also likes it in a way. His parents fight less, but only because his father comes home only a few minutes before dinner lately. At the table, he complains about how they're a risky family and his reputation is threatened because of his wife and his son.

So it's only his mother and him at home most of the time, and Severus will admit that he likes it that way.

On Thursday afternoon, their sixth day in the new house, his mother taps his shoulder and smiles fondly at him.

"Do you want to go outside, Sev?" she asks him.

"Can I?" Severus asks, not daring to hope.

"Of course you can," his mother says. "I've spoken to your father. Go outside, but remember, be careful, alright?"

Severus grins up at her and nods.

"Thanks Mum!" He throws his arms around her neck and kisses her cheek. "I'll be back soon."

And that is how Severus finds himself on the street behind his house. It is next to a park, and he spots a couple of little girls giggling and chasing each other.

He smiles to himself, wanting to go and say hello. But he doesn't. What if he accidentally reveals his magic? His father would murder him and his mother.

So he stands hidden and watches them play. When the sun is about to set, they go back, and Severus finds out that they live in one of the houses on the other side of the playground.

He comes back again the next day, and the next. He admits that he would find him very creepy if he were in the girls' shoes, but he really wants to be friends with them, but he's terrified. But at least he's a lot happier than he used to be.

A week later, when he arrives, the girls aren't playing anymore.

Well, they are, but something seems to be wrong. He peers closely: the younger girl — who looks to be about his age — seems to be enjoying herself flying off the swing when it's high up. Her sister looks alarmed.

"Lily, no!" she yelps, quickly moving out of the swing's way. "Stop it."

"But Tuney!" Lily shouts. "It's fun, why won't you try it with me?"

"It's not safe."

"It is, Tuney."

It is not, but Severus takes one look at the scene and knows that it's really not easy to take off from a moving swing and land as gracefully as Lily's doing.

Maybe she's just built like that, Severus thinks, but a part of him also wonders if Lily is like him.

It happens again, only confirming Severus' suspicions. And then one evening he sees her making a flower open and close on her palm, and Tuney looking at Lily like she's just sproute ten heads.

"What are you doing?" she asks in a hollow voice.

"I don't know," Lily says, amazed herself, but she's grinning. "Isn't it cool, Tuney?"

"It's not cool, it's freaky," Petunia hisses, looking absolutely disturbed.

Petunia turns and begins to run back home, and Lily chases after her. Severus grins to himself, even though the word freaky reminds him of his parents' fights.

Lily Evans is a witch, and the thought makes something warm bloom in Severus' heart. She's like him, and he makes a decision.

Next time he sees her, he's going to tell her.