Severus and his mum passed a peaceful afternoon in their room. As she knit, he told her more about his first term at Hogwarts.

It had begun with her asking him a lot of questions, and he realizes just how much had changed while, at the same time, how much had remained unchanged.

"Will you tell me more about your first term, honey?" his mum asked, her needles clicking together cheerfully.

Severus gave her a tentative smile. "What would you like to know, Mum?"

"Start with your roommates. You all are friends?" she asked.

He nodded. "Yes, we're friends. James and Sirius are best friends, but we all get along and spend most of our free time together."

"And Lily?" Eileen pressed, with a smile.

"We're still friends, but she spends most of her free time with the girls in our house," Severus explained.

"That's to be expected, especially in the beginning," she answered, a bit consolingly. "Did you send her anything for Christmas?"

"Yes, a stuffed lion that was charmed to cuddle and growl with preselected people," Severus answered, with a bit of a grin. "When I saw the picture and the description in the catalog, it seemed like something she would like."

"I'm sure she will. It sounds lovely, Sev," she said, still smiling. "You've mentioned the first names of your friends, but what are their surnames?"

Severus had expected this question. His mum was a pure blood, after all.

"James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew," he recited.

Her eyes widened. "Sirius Black? You're quite sure?"

"Very. I know, Mum," he added, quickly, "he's the first in his family to be sorted into Gryffindor."

Eileen chuckled. "His mother and I were not the same age, but we attended school at the same time."

"What was she like?"

"Very sociable and amiable unless you ended up on her bad side, and then an utter terror. Had a dark streak, that one," Eileen remembered. "What's her son like?"

"We didn't start off on the right footing," Severus admitted, "but we mended things after ending up in Gryffindor together. He's very kind."

The memory of Sirius seeing the scars on his back came to mind, and his fury on Severus' behalf. And they had not be friends for very long, then.

"I expect he's the type of person who would fight with you if he heard you were being bullied," Severus added, softly.

She nodded, then reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder for a moment.

Severus thought now might be the time to ask her the hard questions about his father, but the words wouldn't form in his head, much less his mouth. He swallowed and turned the subject back to his roommates.

"Sirius and James are both of wizarding families, and best friends. Did you ever know the Potters?" he asked.

Eileen withdrew her hand after giving Severus' shoulders a squeeze, then pursed her lips together. Depending on the context, this could mean she was upset or thinking hard. He thought it was likely the latter.

"I believe Fleamont developed the hair potion? For taming wild hair," she recalled. "If that's the same person, he likely attended Hogwarts well before me. I never met him."

Severus nodded. "James hasn't said much about what his father does. I only know that he's an only child and his father was also in Gryffindor."

"Knowing what I do about the Black family, it was likely a shock that Sirius became a Gryffindor," Eileen mused, smiling slightly.

"His mum sent two howlers. One to Sirius, and it went on for at least a quarter of an hour. Later, to Professor Dumbledore," Severus recalled. "She demanded a resorting."

His mum chuckled. "Wouldn't do any good. Even if Sirius agreed, the hat never changes its mind." After a pause, she added, "How did Sirius handle the howler?"

He shrugged. "He wasn't pleased, but I don't think he was too surprised."

"No, I expect not," she said, shaking her head. Looking at him, studying him, his mum added, "Were you worried that I would send one?"

Severus shook his head. "No, but I thought you would be disappointed."

Especially since he had begged the hat to place him there, but he wasn't going to admit to that yet.

Maybe ever.

"I was a bit surprised," Eileen answered, softly. "After you left, I went through the options the hat would consider for you, or so I thought. You are extremely clever, and I thought you might do well in Ravenclaw. I rather thought that, in spite of your loyalty to Lily, you might dismiss Hufflepuff. I didn't consider Gryffindor because I hadn't had any friends there, and Slytherin and Gryffindor are generally rivals. I believed that if you didn't end up in my old house, you would be in Ravenclaw. Receiving your owl and hearing your disappointment in your placement was rather painful."

"You were disappointed," Severus repeated.

He'd known it, but this confirmed it.

"Not in you, but for you, Sev," Eileen corrected. "I knew that you felt let down."

Severus glanced down, his face warm. He couldn't lie to his mum, not about this.

"I asked for Gryffindor," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Eileen stared at him, uncomprehendingly. "Why?"

She didn't sound angry, or even disappointed. Just confused.

He told her everything, then. He started by speaking quickly, telling about the encounter with James and Sirius on the train, and the argument that followed. Then, the much more pleasant rest of the ride with Remus, who had also wanted to go to Gryffindor (Severus could tell, even then), but hadn't been so brash or rude about it. How, when he arrived at school, his name came the last, so he'd seen everyone else's sorting. And even though James and Sirius might try to make his life awful in Gryffindor, there was the chance that they would do so anyway, wherever he ended up, and he thought that he would have a better shot against them being in the same house as Remus and Lily.

"So, when it came to be my turn, I told the hat I wanted Gryffindor, and it placed me there," Severus finished, his voice hitching a bit. "The next day, James and Sirius said that as we were going to be living together for the next seven years, we ought to try to start over, and I agreed."

Eileen stood then, and for a moment, Severus was afraid that she would strike him. She never had, not in his memory. She'd never laid a hand on Severus, never even threatened to. Perhaps, on the occasion that he acted up, she thought that Tobias had abused him enough that she had no right to hurt him. Or, perhaps, she just didn't believe in corporal punishment.

But as her hands reached for him, he stiffened, waiting for the blow...until Severus realized she was hugging him, and then taking him in her arms, holding him next to her in the oversized chair she'd been sitting in. Arms still around him, even rocking him as though he was a small child.

"I'm sorry. For not telling you everything before," he whispered, his breath still hitching.

"Sevvie, I don't blame you," she murmured, still holding him. One hand rubbed his back in small circles, and the other held his head close to her. Then, fingers carded his hair. "It was very, very brave of you to ask for Gryffindor. I am proud of you, wherever you would have been placed, but especially now." She tilted his head so he was looking at her. Chuckling a bit, she added, "It was rather Slytherin of you, to ask for Gryffindor to keep an eye on potential enemies."

Severus chuckled a bit at that, and hugged her tightly. "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"And then, they became your friends," Eileen murmured, a hand still making small circles on his back.

It felt so nice, and he sighed. Eileen chuckled and placed her other hand on her back, moving her hands in a circular motion.

"I am very, very proud of you, Severus," she told him.

He smiled, warmth filling him.

Everything, it seemed, was turning out all right.

Author's note:

Next up--Eileen would do a lot for her son, Severus realizes...and an unbidden memory emerges.

As always, constructive feedback is most appreciated!