PART I

Chapter 2: Another Owl

Three doors down the street from the Evans' in a small two story brick house, a thin woman with a long pallid face was standing at the kitchen sink in her nightgown washing the dishes from the previous night's dinner. She wasn't particularly pretty with heavy brows and a tired complexion the color of the gray dishwater in the sink. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail that limply draped her small tense shoulders. She sighed quietly, set a white dinner plate on the counter and look suspiciously from side to side to make sure she was alone. There was a glimmer in her black eyes as she reached into her nightgown pocket, pulled out something that looked like a polished twig and made a few simple swishing movements with her hand. The plates, saucers, pots, and pans all flew into the air along with the soap, sponge and dishtowel and began washing themselves.

The woman sat down at the small breakfast nook, put her feet up on a nearby chair, and had just begun to relax when she spotted something out of the corner of her eye at the kitchen window.

Checking behind her, she crept across the room and peered suspiciously through the glass at what was outside. It was exactly what she was afraid it might be. Careful not to make too much noise, she cranked open the window and beckoned the dark brown owl inside. The bird teetered around the dishes suspended in mid air and perched itself on the counter next to the coffee machine. The woman gently untied the ribbon around the bird's foot and withdrew a fancy envelope with emerald green writing on it. Her chest tightened when she saw the name written on the outside.

As she reached down to conceal the envelope in her pocket, she felt a strong hand grab her arm and spun around to see her husband's face burning with fury. The owl squawked fearfully and flew out the window. The levitating pots and pans fell into the sink splashing soap suds and water on the linoleum.

"Eileen, I thought you understood that you are not to do magic in my house," roared the man grabbing her arm even tighter. Tobias Snape was a lanky hook-nosed man with dark hair and pale, slightly bloodshot eyes. Although his wife could have him begging for mercy with a few well-placed hexes, she was terrified of him.

"I'm sorry," Eileen whimpered, "I was tired and I…please-"

"What is this?" He pried open her clenched hand and seized the crumbled envelope she was trying to hide from him.

He released his wife's arm and tore the note open. His eyes narrowed as he read the message scrawled on the parchment and for a moment, she thought the reaction might not be so severe. But she was wrong. Tobias looked at Eileen with complete and utter disgust and slapped her hard across her face. "No son of mine will be going to a bloody wizarding school," he muttered resentfully. "Have I not forbidden you from maintaining contact with these people?"

"Tobias, please, I didn't contact anyone. The owl was sent here by the school."

"No excuses! Do you want our boy to turn out to be a freak like you are? I know you have been teaching him how to…do things behind my back and I won't stand for it. I will not tolerate such disrespect." Eileen was crouching behind the table and her husband was towering over her trembling with anger.

Trying not to provoke him any more, she averted his gaze and stared off behind his looming figure into the dark hallway at the staircase leading to the second floor. At first she didn't notice the small dark-haired boy sitting on the bottom step huddled in the shadows, but when she saw him, her heart sank. Eleven year-old Severus Snape was watching his parents with silent tears streaming down his face.

"What are you looking at?" Tobias hissed. "Why can you not pay attention when I am speaking to you?"

A single tear streaked Eileen's cheek which was hot and swollen from the blow it had sustained. This was not the family she imagined when she married Tobias. She thought he would offer her a simple life free of the complications of magic, but over the years he had become resentful of his wife's abilities and ashamed of his own failure to achieve his dreams. Although she spent a great deal of energy trying to pretend that things would one day get better, she knew that he was destroying not only her life, but also the life of their only child.

Her hands were shaking with fear, but gazing at the helpless form of her son, she mustered the courage to slowly reach down without Tobias seeing and procure her wand from her nightgown pocket. "Expelliarmus!" Eileen cried. She pointed the wand directly at her husband and he was blown backwards against the kitchen wall.

Eileen rushed across the room to where her son was sobbing and put her hand soothingly on his back. She snapped her fingers and a pair of suitcases flew downstairs from the bedrooms, neatly packed for a trip. With a wave of her wand, her own nightgown and her son's pajamas were instantly replaced by street clothing.

"What do you think you are doing?" screamed Tobias who was pulling himself up from the floor. He had a large gash on his head and his eyes were full of rage.

Although her heart was pounding and she was more nervous than she had ever been in her life, Eileen felt a new sense of determination.

"We are leaving," she said plainly staring right into his pale eyes. "My child deserves better than you and I deserve better than you. Severus will receive a magical education and he will not have to be afraid of you any longer. Come on, Severus." With that, she grasped the boy's hand in her own and there was a loud CRACK. Mother and son disapparated leaving Tobias Snape slumped against the kitchen counter, shocked, confused, and from that moment on, alone.