Chapter 2: Eileen's Tale

Severus looked on in shock. The witness who saw his father fall to his death was a wizard? This couldn't be just a coincidence. And what was this wizard doing holding his mother's hand?

Eileen looked rather sheepish as she snatched her hand away.

"Severus..." she murmured quietly, "are you okay? You look very pale."

"Mum…what is this?" asked Severus in a throaty voice, as his mouth had become dry in the last ten minutes.

This was too much at once for a nine-year-old child to comprehend, even though Severus was forced to maturity early due to his stressful and painful upbringing. The memories just flashed into his mind all at once, and it nearly completely overwhelmed his already fragile mind. And now he was staring at his mother and this witness, whom Severus began to suspect, was not just a witness, sat together holding hands and looking rather edgy at his unexpected arrival.

Eileen sighed and asked the man sat next to her for some privacy.

"Of course, dear. I'll have a cigar." He said with dignified respect. He rose and exited.

"Severus, I think you should sit down." said Eileen gently, patting a space on the settee next to her.

Severus paused for a moment; did his mother pay this wizard to kill Tobias?

He eventually took his seat that was indicated to him and sat as calmly and quietly as he could muster, while Eileen struggled to get her words ready.

"Um, Severus…a few months ago…I received an owl with a message. Your father was out with McDonald and Smythe again…he didn't know. It was a letter from…"

"From?" asked Severus with a sharp pitch, wondering what this letter had to do with anything that was currently going on.

Eileen was going pale herself, but knew she had to explain quickly before Severus' distress boiled over into a lost temper.

"From your grandparents. From my mum and dad."

Severus stared. He knew of his grandparents, Septimus and Desdemona Prince. They had been from a pure blood family for centuries, but when Eileen had married a Muggle, they disowned her on the spot, and until Eileen's husband turned into an abusive drunk, she had not regretted her actions in the least, even though it had hurt her to know that she was no longer wanted by her family.

"What did they want?" he asked contemptuously.

"They had decided not long ago that they wanted to attempt to rebuild some bridges with me and therefore, with you." explained Eileen. "It turns out that my mother had always regretted hers and my father's actions towards me after marrying your father. It took her all this time to try and make him see sense and to forgive me."

"Forgive you?" snapped Severus in disgust. "You only married the man you loved. Even if he did turn out to be a filthy, drunken animal, there is no crime in falling in love, Mum! You were blameless! There was nothing to forgive!"

"Severus." said Eileen with sternness in her voice, forcing him to stop.

She continued. "So, when that letter came, you have no idea just how ecstatic I was, how happy. I saw a way out for us at last. Out of the clutches of Toby and into a happy family again. You and me. Mother and son, loving. No fear. No harm. Independence for me. A punchbag to no one for you."

She began to tear up and instinctively, Severus embraced her, fighting the urge to cry himself, especially after his ordeal which he had not yet divulged to his mother, wanting her to finish her story first.

"I wrote back to my parents." she said at last. "Your grandfather was furious when he read what you and I have been through. Since then, we have corresponded to your father's drinking out with friends schedule…and we devised a plan. Your grandfather came here the night your father died, and he looked at the photos of him and viewed a memory of a recent beating I received by him to establish who he was. Then in some Muggle clothing, he went to the Clarridge Inn where your father was. He followed him into the toilets and Confunded him so that he would fall to his death, and make it look like an accident."

She fell silent.

"I didn't realize my dad would do that." she said after a long pause. "I really thought that my dad was going to Obliviate Tobias so that he would forget about you and me, then he would use his lawyers to scrub our marriage records and then we'd be legally divorced. But when he saw that memory…my dad lost all control of himself and planned the abuser of his daughter's demise. Hence all this." She gestured to the now clean, alcohol-free house.

Eileen then shuddered herself into tears again and Severus just sat, stunned.

As Eileen pulled herself together once more, Severus spoke up again, with a calmer but shell-shocked voice.

"That man outside…is my grandfather?"

Eileen nodded.

"Septimus Beresford Prince." she murmured.

"He freed us from that swine?"

"Yes."

Severus sat silently for a moment or so longer, when the door slowly opened again, and his maternal grandfather slid cautiously back into the room and Eileen gestured him to sit in a chair opposite.

Severus looked at the man who dishonoured and disowned his mother, at the man who condemned her for marrying a Muggle, the man who never showed the slightest interest in his only grandchild's existence in all his nine years. But he was also the man who came to find his daughter and grandson, the man who saved them both from a lifetime of domestic violence and degradation, and the man who was clearly showing remorse and concern towards both the people he neglected and should have kept in his life all along.

Severus wasn't sure how to feel.

"Severus, I know you probably have no wish to know me." said Septimus in a deep, dignified voice which was also laced with regret. "But I do want you to know how sorry I am…as is your grandmother, and I will endeavour in all my power to atone and to fulfil any needs you have in the coming years."

Severus looked down to the clean, wooden floorboards and said nothing. He then rose, still staring at the floor and sat at the dinner table, which was marked all over with rings and stains which were the tell-tale shows of beer parties. He didn't know what to say, what to do. But he knew that if he spoke in his current state of mind, nothing that came out would be good.

Septimus bowed his head in understanding and rose to his feet once more.

"I shall leave you be for tonight to sort things out with your son, Eileen." he said quietly.

"Thank you, Dad." replied Eileen.

Once Septimus was gone, Severus and Eileen cuddled again. They decided to let some time pass before the subject of Severus' grandparents came up again. And Severus knew he had to let out to Eileen what had just occurred at the playground now, or he would surely go mad.

"Mum, there's something I need to tell you." he said fearfully.

"What is it, Severus?" asked Eileen, holding his hands softly.

"I…I have been watching a girl at the park recently." explained Severus guiltily. "I think, well, know that she is a Muggle-born witch."

Eileen hid the expression of comprehension from her face. She knew who Severus was referring to: she had been waiting for something like this to occur ever since her son turned nine. It was at that age when his life had changed forever in his past life.

"She and her sister were on the swings and I tried to tell the girl that she was a witch, but then…but then…"

"Yes, dear?"

"I saw my past. My memories…and I think, cos of what I saw in the last few memories…that you know what I'm talking about." he said nervously.

Eileen stared at him for a minute and then nodded in confirmation.

"When we came back to life in this alternate universe, I heard this message in my head…to not tell you the truth of our past until the time came that you would meet the girl, Lily Evans again. The girl in this photograph."

Eileen drew out the picture that Severus took with him from the Ancient and Noble House of Black so long ago. The piece of the picture that once held the Potter family together, until Severus tore it to just show the love of his life. His memory of the pain of his loss of not just her, but of his rage that she settled with James Potter and had expressed joy at birthing the swine's spawn, filled him and he couldn't fathom how a nine-year-old child could harbour such cold and soul-wrenching emotions that his former thirty-seven-year-old self once knew.

"We were reborn in this universe but it was like I had been revived just as I was giving birth to you. It was magic I could not even begin to decipher or understand." continued Eileen. "After you were born, and Tobias and I brought you home, I found that picture in my coat pocket. I knew you might need it one day, as concrete proof that you had indeed lived in a different universe once."

"But…if you knew about us reliving our lives in this new universe…" murmured Severus, "…why didn't you end things with Dad before he could harm us?"

"Partly it was because I was afraid of what he'd do to us if I tried to leave him. Partly because I feared leaving him would alter your future hopes of reconciling with Miss Evans in this new life too much…and partly…it was because I foolishly hoped that this Tobias Snape was a better man, a man who would always love you and I, no matter what our heritage. I was wrong. I'm so sorry, Severus!" she cried.

Severus realized now that his mother had now been heartbroken twice by the same man, and in two different timelines. She had been so desperate to have the man she once knew and loved back, only for the same result to take place. And she put up with it until Severus reached the age to meet Lily, all because she loved him and wanted him to live a better life.

"It's okay, Mum." he whispered, cuddling her tighter than before.

Mother and son cuddled for quite some time. And not long after, they got down to the subject of all that Severus went through after her death. He remembered it all now. His mistakes, his sins and his life of servitude and loyalty to Albus Dumbledore, and to Lily.

"I can't go through all that again." he said simply, but with hidden emotion.

"You likely won't have to." replied Eileen. "Not everything that happened in the last universe will happen in this one. Toby's death is proof. And this time, we have your grandparents by our side."

Severus looked rather stiff about that.

"I don't forgive them, Mummy." he said coldly.

"Well, I hope that one day you will, but until then, Severus, please be civil and polite to them. Your grandfather particularly wants to see you do your best in all your endeavours."

Severus knew he had been a skilled Occlumens, Potions Master and duelist in his past life, but he wasn't sure if that would once again be the case now.

Eileen sighed and spoke.

"I know at your new age, it's hard to fully contemplate all the possibilities, Severus…but how about you take advantage of this second chance in life, and start off with two things?"

"What?"

"One: How about you stop sneaking peeks at my books about the Dark Arts. They'll just give you new ideas that could result in you pushing Lily away again. Two: Go to her again. Find her, tell her all about her future as a witch at Hogwarts. Tell her that she is special and will do wonderful things…and between you and me, with a longer stretch of life than the last."

Severus knew his mother was right on both ends.

He always told himself that if he could go back and choose between Lily and the Dark Arts, he would have chosen Lily. He already had a full set of memories containing knowledge about the Dark Arts, and he never felt the urge to use it after Lily's death, so he could easily quit reading Dark Magic books.

However, Severus felt more apprehensive about finding Lily again and telling her about her destiny as a witch.

He knew what the consequences were for Lily. Her parents had been very supportive and even ecstatic to learn about the world of magic. However, Petunia went on to become incredibly embittered by Lily's magic and not having any herself, and was never able to let go of her jealousy and hatred, even after Lily died. Worse still, Lily becoming a witch, and a powerful one at that, got her parents killed during the First Wizarding War against Lord Voldemort.

Severus then realized that with his memories, he could prevent many disasters, save countless lives…he could save Lily's parents.

He wasn't sure if he would be able to save Lily's relationship with his sister though. And he didn't know if he could let go of his hatred for Muggles so quickly, that he would be on amicable terms with Petunia next time they met.

But as he only lives twice, he decided to give it all a try under his mother's advice. He went to bed that night with a lot to think about for such a young boy…and he knew that his new life was truly beginning here and now.

Here's Chapter 2! Sorry it's not longer, I am hoping they will get longer as the story progresses over time. Hope it's to all your liking! Chapter 3 coming soon.