Written for Writer's Month 2022. Prompt #2: Chance.

TW/CW: Mild domestic abuse.

Happy reading!

He was looking out the window, amusing himself with looking at the sparkly mounts of snow, shaped by the cold, winter wind. It was a freezing day, the likes of which one could hardly be surprised at, given the date. There was no crowd on the street; only those who absolutely had to run an errand were out, and even those walked briskly, with their heads bowed in an attempt to stop the swirling snow from getting in their eyes, and grunted short greetings at each other at the very most. It was a day most awful, one which no one could like, except for the boy looking out the window – he was overjoyed.

It was the morning of a cold, January day, yet the boy in question had a perfectly understandable reason for being happy – it was his birthday. His eleventh birthday, to be exact, and his father had promised to take him to town so they could celebrate his mature age in a serious restaurant, instead of the children arcade dinners he celebrated his previous birthdays in. It was to be the confirmation of his being grown up now, a little kid no more, and he was very excited.

Having been staring out the window for the past 15 minutes, he was just about to turn away and go to his parents, when he saw something moving on the sky. Intrigued, the boy turned back to the window with renewed focus, and fixated on the moving object, wanting to find out what it was. After all, with the weather being as cold as it was, anything moving outside the window was worthy of attention. Looking out, the boy realised that the moving object was in fact a bird, an owl to be exact. This confused him; weren't owls birds of the night?

He barely had time to ponder on this before said owl started descending from the skies, and moving in the direction of his window. It came to the window sill and stared into the boy's eyes, cocking its head to the side, as if asking 'What are you waiting for?'. The boy was confused, yet something made him reach out and open the window, just a bit. He thought he had seen the bird nod approvingly at that, but he must have been mistaken – after all, owls didn't nod at people, did they now? Shaking his head a bit, the boy looked at the owl once again, and saw the bird sticking a leg through the window in his direction. He lowered his eyes to the bird's leg, and saw something tied to it. A letter.

Getting more and more confused by the moment, he slowly reached out to the bird's leg and started untying the strings holding the letter attached to the owl. A couple of moments later, he had in his hands a hard, thick envelope with a great, red seal. The address was written in green, curvy, cursive letters, and the letter was addressed to him. Him, a boy of just eleven years! Before he had the time to further read his address, or the name of the sender of the letter, or to even wonder at the strange manner in which the letter was brought to him (after all, he had heard of pigeons delivering messages, but owls carrying letters? Not really), the door to his room opened and his father came in.

- Where is my birthday boy? Come on, Severus, it's time to cut the ca...

Mid-sentence, Severus's father caught sight of the letter in his son's hands, and the smile he had fell off his face right away. He scrunched up his eyebrows, clenched his fists and roared at the top of his lungs.

-EILEEN!

While Severus's mother was running up the stairs in order to get to her son's room, Severus's father, Tobias, was stalking towards his son, his face growing redder by the second.

-Dad? W-what's going on? – Severus was trying to move away from his father, but he was already pressed into the wall next to the window he had been staring at. He was confused, and a little scared – his dad had never acted like that. Sure, he had had his moments of being angry with his son, like every father had, but it was never like this, and never without a clear reason why. However, Severus's words seemed to have made no difference at all; if anything, Tobias seemed to be even angrier.

Eileen came up, flustered from the running up the stairs, and took a look inside the room. One glance at Severus holding the oh-so-familiar envelope in his hands told her all she needed to know, and she quickly came between Tobias and their son.

- Toby, please! Calm down, you're scaring Severus!

Tobias looked like he wanted to say something about that, but couldn't make himself speak, being so furious.

- Come with me, Toby. Let's talk about this in our room.

Eileen took him by the hand and led him out of the room, across the hall and to the bedroom they shared, leaving Severus alone in his room. He looked at the envelope, reading the address of the sender of the letter – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He tore the envelope open and took out the paper inside.

Dear Mr. Snape

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...

Just as he was about to read the rest of the letter, he heard yelling coming from his parents' room.

- How dare you make the boy... that?! We made a deal all those years ago, that you would leave all those horrible things behind!

- Toby, I know, and I did leave it all, but...

- But what?! No buts, Eileen! You were to turn your back on it, and never return to all that!

- And I did, Toby, I did! But he was born this way, no one can change that!

A crash could be heard from the room. Then another.

- No one can change that?! NO ONE CAN CHANGE THAT?! Are you trying to tell me that you plan to let him do... do that under my roof?!

And another crash, along with a pained groan, coming from Severus's mother. Severus started shaking, terrified.

- Toby, I-I can't s-stop h-him... If he's l-left without learning ab-bout it a-all, he could get o-out of c-control... Hurt s-someone on accident...

His mother's voice showed that she was crying, both from emotion and pain. Severus hugged his knees to his chest.

- On accident, you say! I knew it was dangerous! I knew that, no matter what, all that awful business would come and bite me in the ass! Why the hell I ever married you, I don't know! Blasted woman!

Tobias's words were punctuated with thuds and crashes coming from the room, clearly signaling to Severus that his mother was getting hurt. His father, the warm, loving man who promised to take him to town that evening to celebrate his birthday, was beating his mother in the other room, consumed with rage. With one last thud, he got out of their room, slammed the door, trudged down the stairs and left the house.

Severus could hear the sound of his mother's steps ringing in the hall, as well as the screech of the bathroom door she closed once she went inside. Water running could be heard, and, a couple of minutes later, the door screeched once more, and his mother was back in the hall.

The footsteps were getting louder and louder, letting Severus know his mother was on her way to his room. He wanted to get off the floor - after all, he was a big boy now, he shouldn't be cowering on the floor – but couldn't muster up the energy needed for that. He was still shaking, his movements uncontrolled and tense.

The door to his room opened, and his mother slowly walked in. Her face was blotchy, her eyes bloodshot. A bruise could be seen beginning to form around her left cheekbone, and her hair was messy, showing she only made a few strokes with a hairbrush after the fight with Tobias.

- Severus, honey?

She walked up to him and sat on the floor by his side. Gently, she put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer to herself.

- Severus, I'm sorry you had to listen to all that. It's just, that letter... It reminded your father of something from the past, something he thought he'd never have to remember again, and... It was a bit too much for him.

Severus raised his head and looked at his mother's face. She had a faraway look in her eyes, tinged with sorrow.

- Mum? What is it about the letter? Why did Dad react so badly?

The eleven year old was confused. He hadn't yet read what the letter said, and what little he did read, did not provide much insight into the whole situation. Witchcraft? Wizardry? What could all that mean, and why would it cause such a severe reaction in his father? Finally, where did his father see this letter before?

Eileen turned her head towards her son, and addressed him in a tired, yet gentle voice.

- Why don't you open that letter again, so we can read it together?

Slowly, Severus complied, and opened the letter once again.

Dear Mr. Snape

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

Along with this, the envelope held another paper, a list of sorts. Only, this was the strangest list Severus had ever seen – cauldron, vials, robes, books with strange names written by people with even stranger names... He raised his eyes to his mother, confused beyond measure.

- Mom, what is all this? Is this... Is this real?

Like all children, Severus had had his dreams of magic being real – hearing the usual fairy tales, it was no surprise for a young child to believe that fairies, witches and magical spells were real. However, all that stopped at an age much younger than eleven. Still, this letter was... Strange, at the very least. And, if it had been a prank all along, why would have his father reacted so strongly? On the other hand, it was quite difficult to believe all that to be true. He had no idea what to believe any more, and looked to his mother for answers.

Eileen smiled a small, tired smile, and nodded at him.

- It is real, Severus. Magic is real.

Severus was still reeling from the onslaught of information, so he could only mutely stare at his mother.

Eileen rose from the floor, and went to the door of his room.

- Wait here for a moment, Severus. I'll be right back.

Severus could once again hear footsteps echoing in the hall, following his mother's trek down the stairs.

He wondered what she could be doing. Wasn't she supposed to explain more? However, he didn't have much time to ponder that before he could once again hear his mother coming up the stairs.

She walked into the room once again, holding an old, dusty box in her hands. It was a plain box; no engravings or colour adorned its lid. Still, it was obvious from the way Eileen was cradling it to her chest that the box held a precious place in her heart. She retook her place on the floor next to Severus, and laid the box in her lap. With shaking fingers, she slowly removed the lid and laid it on the floor on her side.

Severus could see various papers, notes and letters most likely, strewn around in the box. Various trinkets were laying around it as well, as was a small, leather bound notebook, or maybe even a photo album. Pressed to one of the sides of the box was a wooden stick of a sort. His mother looked at the contents of the box with a melancholic expression on her face, as she shifted things around, clearly searching for something.

Eileen moved some of the papers around, plucking out an envelope much alike the one Severus received that very morning. She opened the envelope with care bordering on reverence, taking out two sheets of paper from it. She opened the first one, and handed it to Severus. With great curiosity, he read the offered letter.

Dear Miss Prince,

We are pleased to inform you...

It was the exact same letter! Only the name was different – his was addressed to a Mr Snape, while hers had the name Miss Prince written on it. And even though he had no contact with his grandparents on his mother's side (his mother had had a falling out with her family even before he was born), he knew that his mother's maiden name was Prince. So, that had to mean that...

- You got a letter like this as well?

His mother nodded at him, a gentle smile playing at the corners of her lips.

- Indeed I did. And I can assure you, magic is real.

Severus's eyes got even wider at that confirmation, and they followed his mother's hands as she reached into the box once again and pulled out the strange wooden stick he'd seen inside a few moments earlier.

- This, Severus, is a wand – a magic wand. It's used for casting spells and the like. It's the one I got when I was your age.

She twirled the stick – wand – between her fingers for a few moments, treating it like an old friend she hadn't seen for a very long time. Finally, she gripped it and gave it a wave. Green sparks flew out of the tip of the wand, dancing around in the air and startling Severus at the same time. He huddled closer to his mother, yet watched in awe as the tiny sparks slowly disappeared from his rooms. He looked at his mother, his eyes gleaming with questions and childlike wonder.

- That is only a small example of what magic can do. With magic, you can make things fly, transform one thing into another, repair, hurt, heal... You can make potions with the most varied effects; the magical plants and animals are a completely different world from the nature you know now. People who know the most about magic can go back in time, or predict the future, or transport from one place to another in a moment, or become invisible. It's a whole world of possibilities...

His mother's eyes were glistening with tears and, once again, she seemed to be far away in her memories. A moment passed, and she looked at him again.

- I was a part of that world, and I left it. I turned my back on magic because of your father, and now I can't go back. But you can. You have a chance, Severus – don't give it up.

The eleven year old was startled by the ferocity his usually soft-spoken mother showed now. He looked at her face.

- But what about dad? If you gave up magic because of him, won't he expect the same from me?

Pain clouded Eileen's eyes at that, and she took a deep breath before answering her son's question.

- Your dad is afraid of magic. Hates it, even. Yet you are a wizard. Whether you go to Hogwarts, and learn how to do magic, or you stay here and pretend you never got the letter, you're still a wizard. The choice is yours, but know this – no matter how much you pretend you're not magical, it's always there. You have magic coursing through your veins, making up the very cells your body is made of. If you push your magic too deep, trying to make it go away, it's going to push back. You may lose control of it sometimes, or your health might suffer, or a whole other number of things can happen. Most importantly, the world of magic is your world, Severus – the one you were born to belong in.

She looked at her son, fire burning in her eyes.

- You have a chance, Severus, a chance that you get once in a lifetime. Take it.

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I wish you all the best, and hope you have a lovely day!