The year went quicker yet slower than the previous ones. It was already hearing the summer holidays when Lily told him she and her sister would spend a week at their grandparents' and that her parents would be out of town as well, meaning he would be left to fend for himself.
This obviously wasn't what Severus had been looking forward. He wasn't fond of holidays to begin with — even though there were people being mean to him at school, it was better than being stuck at home 24/7. He was glad his mother cared less and less about what he did the older he got. When his father wasn't home, he could do pretty much anything he wanted. And his father wasn't home often. He was always out at the pub, wasting his mother's money on alcohol.
The first day of the summer holidays, he was invited to the Evanses for dinner, and he gladly came over, knowing his mother wouldn't care (Severus rarely saw her anymore because when she wasn't working, she was in bed) and his father would be at the pub until closing time, like always.
He was greeted by Mr and Mrs Evans in an ever getting friendlier manner. They seemed to be warming up to him, except for Petunia. Petunia still hated him. She was the kind of Muggle his father was. Bad, unworthy. But Mr and Mrs Evans were nice. At least they were trying.
The dinner itself was grand. It reminded him of the other time he had eaten here, breakfast, the breakfast had been just as good. These people sure knew how to cook.
"So, Severus. Tell us more about this school you say Lily will be attending next year," Mr Evans stated halfway through the dinner, revealing the couple's true intentions behind letting him come. They were just taking advantage of him, like his mother had told them to.
But at least this way he could come over, so it was better than nothing.
"It's a boarding school," he started with. "A very good one. The best in the world! The headmaster is professor Armando Dippet, who is more than 330 years old! There are four Houses, Slytherin — the best one, my Mum was in Slytherin and I'm sure I'll be, too! — Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor."
"I'll be Slytherin too then," Lily said. "I want to be in your House."
Severus smiled. "I'm sure you can be in Slytherin, and I really hope you will be! Slytherin is great. It's the home for the ambitious, brainy students."
"That sounds right like our Lily," Mr Evans said, seeming proud.
"She'll do well in Hogwarts, won't she?" Mrs Evans asked.
"Of course she will, Mrs Evans. She's got loads of magic," he said, looking at Lily. "The amount of control she has over her magic without wands or nothing, it's amazing."
He watched as her parents looked at her in pride while Petunia looked disgusted. She didn't deserve to have Lily as a sister. Petunia was a terrible girl.
"What about me, then?" The terrible girl piped up. "You were never that excited when I left primary school last year, and she's still got a full year left!"
"We were very proud of you too back then. You did wonderful on your eleven-plus and you're still doing great in grammar school and we tell you this, often enough. But now it's Lily's time to shine. Because she's special, she has these powers. You know that."
Severus was glad he didn't have a sibling. From what he had seen with Petunia, they were annoying and demanded a lot of attention. Or maybe that was just Petunia.
The topic was changed from schools to the food, a safe choice, and Severus lost interest in the conversation, instead focusing more on the delicious food he was eating.
After dinner, Lily took him outside.
"You can't do this," she hissed the second they left the house. They were headed for the playground.
"Can't do what?"
"Eat like that. You eat like you're starving, like you've never seen food before in your life."
He scoffed. "Do not."
"Do too! You eat with your mouth open and you talk with your mouth full. Those are bad."
He was silent as they reached the playground and he went over the dinner in his mind to think of if he had indeed done that.
"Yeah okay I did. But still. So what?"
"So you're a guest here, you're expected to behave well!" She sighed in frustration and sat down on one of the swings, seemingly deep in thought as she stared into nothingness.
"I'll try to get better at it, alright?" He mumbled, taking the swing beside her and staring ahead, watching the town.
That summer, every time he ate, he would pay attention to his manners, his eating with open mouth and talking with full mouth being the top priorities of his. He wanted to show Lily that he could do it.
The week Lily was gone was long and made him feel terrible. He didn't leave the house and focused only on his eating habits and his magic, practising spells and curses and anything in between in the privacy of his bedroom. He had moved all his mother's books there months ago, he was getting too big to comfortably fit in the attic.
He hadn't really thought his mother would care, or even be awake. But when he was testing some curses — nothing major, just some simple ones — his bedroom door flung open revealing a furious Eileen Snape.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked as she walked up to him, snatching her wand from his hands. "Don't you know how dangerous this is?? Those spells I hear you saying, that is Dark Magic, child! You shouldn't be messing about with Dark Magic!"
She lectured him on Dark Magic and how it was bad, how he shouldn't be using it, how it would corrupt his soul and destroy his mind but he didn't believe her. He had used it for years and it hadn't corrupted or destroyed anything at all. She was just being annoying.
But his mother had taken the wand away from him for the rest of the summer. To teach him a lesson, she said.
But Lily soon returned from her visit to her grandparents, and he didn't even really miss the wand. He spent his days out, talking to Lily or playing on the playground with her. Life was good and before he knew it the summer holidays had ended and he was back in school. His final year before Hogwarts.
It was strange to be in the last year. Suddenly you were among the oldest of the school. It had been only days ago that he had stood there on the playground, not knowing where to go. And now here he was.
Most of his classmates sat the 11-plus test in September, but he didn't. He had no need for it, with Hogwarts being his destination regardless of his test scores. Lily didn't take the test either. She had the same destination. They would go to school together.
The school year went by like always, him avoiding everyone except Lily, the other children in their class making fun of him. He wondered if he would miss that, the making fun of, when he was off to Hogwarts.
He wouldn't be made fun of there. He wouldn't be the only wizard in the school there. Muggles were horrible and made fun of others, not wizards. Wizards were too good for that.
It took until November for him to get another invitation to the Evanses for dinner. His mother had long ago returned her wand to him, and he didn't go anywhere without it, including this dinner. He was thrilled for the opportunity to show Lily he had listened to what she had said at the start of Summer, and that he had really practised.
They were eating homemade spaghetti. Mrs Evans had taken up a cooking class over summer, he learnt during the dinner, and ever since she had insisted on making everything at home. Every single thing was handmade.
Severus didn't like spaghetti, and this spaghetti tasted worse than normal spaghetti, too. But he was the good guest and didn't complain. He even complimented her food, saying it was the best spaghetti he had ever had. A little white lie hadn't ever hurtled anyone.
Except him. Because Mrs Evans gave him seconds. He had tried to decline but she wouldn't have it, so seconds he ate. At least he wouldn't be hungry tonight or tomorrow, he thought.
After dinner he went outside with Lily again.
"How did I do?" He asked eagerly.
"Do what?"
"Eat! How did I eat? I've been paying attention to how to eat like you said."
Lily frowned, and he let her think. It had been months. But he was a little disappointed she hadn't remembered. He had worked so hard to get it to improve...
"Oh!! Severus you did great! I didn't think you would actually do something with it."
"I did. It's important to you so it's important to me too."
"Have you been practicing magic, too?" She asked, changing the subject. "Petunia still doesn't believe it's real. Maybe if you could show her..."
"And get called a freak? Get made fun of because of my clothes? Lily, she's terrible! She uses any excuse she can to harass me. I'm not giving her extra reason."
Lily glared at him. "She's my sister," she hissed, and marched back to her house, leaving Severus alone.
The coming weeks their relationship was strained, but as always they made up after a while and it was as if nothing ever happened. He showed Petunia some magic, and as predicted she didn't take it well. But it mended his relationship with Lily, so he was still glad he had done it.
His 11th birthday was a big deal. It was such a big deal that even his parents did something for it. Well, his mother. His father was out at the pub like always.
She had baked him a cake with 11 candles. And as he blew them out, he wished for someone to save him from this place. For someone to give him a better home.
The cake was hardly edible, but he ate it without complaining so his mother wouldn't get mad.
The school year progressed and soon enough it came to an end. The children in his year all would go to different places after this long summer holiday. Some would go to vocational schools, others to comprehensive schools. The happiest were the children who got into grammar schools.
But Severus wouldn't go to any of those kinds of schools. And neither would his best friend, Lily Evans. They would go to a much more special school. They would go to Hogwarts.