Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or concepts of the Harry Potter universe.
A mild warning of some more harsh language than usual and suggested violence contained in this chapter
Severus looked down at the kitchen table, trying in vain to make eye contact with his mother. He thought it was impossible for the broken woman's stature to shrink anymore than it already had, but Eileen shivered and tilted her head downward at the sound of the rumbling of the car's engine.
"S-severus...you'd better get upstairs. I don't know what kind of mood Tobias is in, but-"
"Enough!" Severus snapped, causing his mother to look up at him in surprise. "I don't give a damn what kind of mood he's in; if he knows what's good for him, he'll mind his own business! There will be NO MORE HIDING! For either of us!"
Eileen merely sat in silence, dread building on her face once the car stopped and a few moments passed before the door was unlocked. In walked a person that Severus would have been content to never see again. Tobias Snape was a well-built man, given his years working at the local mill. His short, brown hair had begun showing hints of receding, and his blue eyes, which had once upon a time held the warmth of a father, had long been glassy and cold. It was obvious that his darker mood had led to a slightly more careless approach to his appearance, as there was a thin layer of a stubble on his face. A face that Severus had inherited from him, minus the eyes and hair that closely resembled Eileen's, not to mention the hooked nose that he had broken.
Tobias stepped through the door of his house before stopping, looking up and down at Severus' form with obvious disdain. "Oh. You. Home already, are you?" his gravelly voice spoke with a cockney accent. "Those band of freaks kick you out or did you just feel like darkening my house a tad early?"
Severus snorted in defiance, refusing to break eye contact with his father. "I can't say I can ever resist the opportunity to bring a little misery into your life. Return the favor and all."
Tobias' eyes widened a bit before shaking his head with a scoff. "A little early for your cheek, isn't it, boy? We'll sort that out later. For now, I have a hard day of work to relax from, something you lot could never understand. Sundays are always a chore. Make yourself useful and help your mother fix supper." He shoved past Severus and made for the refrigerator, taking out a cold bottle of beer. Snapping off the bottle cap, he took a quick drink before making his way into the living room. "I'd better smell it before I'm done with this bottle, or there'll be hell to pay!" he called out.
Reflexively, Eileen immediately got up from the kitchen table and quickly made her way to the stove. Her shivering hands made a pitiful attempt to gather pots and pans to get dinner started, but Severus gently grasped them and shook his head. "Go sit down, Mum...I'll take care of this…" he sighed, before drawing his wand.
The woman's eyes widened at the gesture, shaking her head frantically, trying to stop him without alerting Tobias, who had just turned on the television. Severus, on the other hand, just sneered in the direction of the living room and closed his eyes.
His mind was focused on the food from a family restaurant that he remembered in downtown London. He could envision the taste of the food, the beckoning smell, as well as the smiling faces of the Evans family that had brought him there the night before leaving to Hogwarts in his third year. It was one of his happier memories of growing up, being surrounded by Lily, Jasper and Dahlie Evans, as well as plates full of good food that rivaled that of the Hogwarts kitchens. Once Severus was fully immersed in the memory, he flicked his wand. Immediately, a large, carved turkey was summoned to the kitchen table, complete with mashed potatoes, freshly-baked dinner rolls and a bowl full of corn on the cob. It was a dinner unlike anything the Snape household had seen since the family had self-destructed.
"I believe dinner is served…" Severus called out, which led to a confused mumble from Tobias as his reclining chair creaked and he came back to the kitchen.
For a brief moment, the man's eyes lit up in pleasant surprise, but it was only fleeting. It didn't take long for him to understand what had happened, before turning to Severus in anger. "And just what the hell is this?! When I say I want food, I mean real food!"
"That IS real food." Severus said bluntly. "Delivered fresh from London. We can't create food out of thin air, you idiot. If you have a problem with it, I suggest you fend for yourself, as it will be perfectly fine for both me and Mum . It's better than anything YOU could possibly provide for us anyway."
"Severus, please!" Eileen squeaked with all the strength of a mouse, her heart racing as she was unwilling to see her son be hurt again. "It's okay, Tobias, I'll clean this up and fix din-"
"YOU ARROGANT LITTLE SHIT!" Tobias bellowed, slamming his beer down onto the kitchen table before marching menacingly towards Severus, who had his back against the refrigerator. "You've always thought it was funny...haven't you?! Throwing your freaky, godless antics into MY HOUSE!" The man's tan face was starting to turn red as his anger exploded, towering over his son by several inches. "Apparently you've forgotten. I guess fixing that can't wait after all!" he snapped, throwing a hard punch toward Severus with his right hand balled in a tight fist.
A sharp crack was followed by a quick thud and a snap against the refrigerator. Severus had apparated behind Tobias an instant before the punch struck true. Within seconds, the larger man was kneeling on the floor, his voice seething in agony as he looked at his hand, the fingers twisted and contorted. Obviously, several bones had been broken upon impact with the refrigerator door, and it was quickly starting to bruise.
"Does it hurt, Tobias?" Severus whispered coldly, barely audible over the agonizing cries of his father.
"Does it hurt?! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, YOU MONSTER?!"
"Oh, piss off...you did it to yourself, you stupid fool." Severus sighed. "I could mend it, but...I'm afraid that would be a little too...godless of me, wouldn't it?" he asked, a hint of a smile emerging before he reached over the fallen body of Tobias, opening the freezer door. He took out a few ice cubes before wrapping them in a dishrag, tossing the makeshift ice pack to him. "What was it you always used to say to me? It builds character?"
In response to his son's mocking, Tobias brought himself to his feet, a face mixed with rage and pain. His knees were shaking, obviously struggling to keep himself up despite the agony of his injury. "YOU STUPID LITTLE BASTARD! You've broken my hand! I'll lose my job for sure because of this! GET OUT! YOU AND YOUR LITTLE SPIDER OF A MOTHER! GET OUT!"
Before the man could rant anymore, Severus drew his wand, and put it to Tobias' throat, hushing him immediately. The only noise that was audible in the room was the quiet droning of the program on the television in the next room. For a few moments, it seemed as though nobody was willing to speak or move a muscle; the young Slytherin's eyes were obviously struggling against a great amount of rage.
Finally, Severus broke the silence. "Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to break a promise I made to somebody...and cut you up, to torture you in all the ways that you deserve for everything you have done to me and Mum. I have dreamed, for so long, what it would be like to turn the tables on you like this. Every fantasy has ended with you being eviscerated...by a spell I no longer choose to cast.
"Do you know what that's like?!" The steadiness in Severus' voice was beginning to crumble as his anger for Tobias began to surface. "This time...ten years ago...we were actually a family. I couldn't wait for my magic to surface, so my 'beloved' father could be even more proud of me...Can you believe that I once had dreams of seeing you in the stands, cheering for me at a Quidditch game? Back when I foolishly thought you'd give a damn what Quidditch even was..?! You ripped away everything I needed to stand on my own, and for what?! Your pride?! Your zealotry?! YOU, Tobias Snape, stole more from me than ANYONE in this world ever has! Losing a job should be the least of your worries!"
In an instant, Severus' wand was pointed at Tobias' broken hand, and for a fleeting moment, the young man once again felt the urge to break his promise to Lily and sever his father's hand. His voice bellowed one word.
"EPISKEY!"
The unnatural contortion of Tobias' hand quickly shifted as the shattered bones mended and set themselves back into place, though the healing spell did not come without pain. Once again, Tobias' knees buckled and he was sent to the ground, breathing heavily and wincing, but his hand was good as new. He looked back up into Severus' eyes as the pain started to subside. And for the first time, Severus could see an emotion start to take shape in his father's expression that he had never seen before. An emotion that he recognized all too well as the very same one that hundreds of first year students had shown him when he marched into Potions Class.
Fear.
Once more, Severus pointed his wand at Tobias, his teeth clenched as if it were all he could do to hold back any more hostility. "The only one who will be getting out of this house is you. Healing your hand was the last token of goodwill I could ever give you. Go rent a hotel room, keep your bloody job, leave the country, I don't care. You no longer have any right to be here. And if I ever see you again, I promise you this. Today was just a glimpse of how powerless you really are. If you ever tempt fate and try to harass me or my mother again, everything you have ever done to us will be paid back double."
The young wizard flicked his wand towards the staircase, and a luggage trunk flew down to the bottom of the steps. "Take your filthy clothes; I no longer need nor want your secondhand garbage." Another flick, and all of the football memorabilia around the living room flew into the trunk, which obviously had an extension charm put on it in order to hold everything. "Your ridiculous infatuation with muggle sports can leave this house too. Everything of yours can vanish with you. Not because it belongs to you, but because we could do without the reminders."
Once the whirlwind of flying objects was finished piling into the trunk, it snapped shut. Severus motioned his head towards the door, while still keeping his wand trained on the dangerous man.
To his credit, Tobias seemed to maintain his composure despite the magic that was being cast all around him. But once Severus had demanded that he leave, the older man was obviously shaken, looking down at the trunk that his son had packed with a mixture of hostility and fright. He turned a begrudging eye to Eileen, who had remained silent, her hands covering her mouth as she stared at astonishment at her son. Severus had displayed far more skill than an ordinary fifth year student could possess, with all the magic he had just effortlessly performed, and it had been capped off by a startling ability to apparate despite being underage.
"Well, Eileen?! Are you just going to let this little brat talk to me like that, throw me out of MY house?!" Tobias growled, though with none of the scathing tone he possessed earlier. It almost seemed like the man was pleading for mercy.
Tobias' words shook Eileen out of her trance, as she looked down at the kneeling form of her husband with startling clarity forming in her black eyes. "Are you...seriously asking me for some form of clemency, Tobias? Asking me to...put a leash on my son now that you've lost yours? You heard Severus...get out." she hissed, finally free to look at Tobias with all the pain and hatred she'd been forced to hide for years.
It had taken little time for Tobias to hastily grab his trunk and leave the house, the roar of his car's engine quickly fading into the distance as mother and son both sat down at the kitchen table. Eileen let out a great gasp of relief, a tearful smile gracing her features as she looked proudly at her son.
"You've grown...so incredibly strong, so quickly, Severus...Thank you."
Severus merely gathered a bit of everything onto a plate and handed it to Eileen. "Eat...you can't have been well taken care of, Mum...you need to take back your life, and that starts with a good meal to at least regain some of your old strength."
As Eileen started to eat, she quickened her pace, feeling that unfulfilled appetite beginning to awaken before setting down her utensils. "You eat too, Severus...we both have reason...to celebrate." Her onyx eyes were glittering beautifully with the tears of joy that she was shedding, as she mirrored her son's gesture of filling a plate and handing it to him.
The boy looked into his mother's black eyes with his own, as if he were looking at Eileen Snape for the very first time. He smiled a bit once he started to eat, feeling a great weight lifted off of his shoulders knowing what he had done. He could still remember, vividly, receiving a letter during his sixth year at Hogwarts, despite the twenty years that had passed for him since that fateful day. A letter from the local police department in Cokeworth informing him that Eileen had killed herself. A tear fell down Severus' cheek, feeling an incredible sense of relief that his mother's tragedy had been averted this time around.
Author's Note: A slightly shorter chapter, but there we go. The big, somewhat anticlimactic showdown between Severus and his abusive father. There was a lot of emotion that I needed to convey in this chapter, and I hope it came across well enough.
Regarding Severus, it's obvious there was a maelstrom of anger for everything that Tobias had done, both to himself, and maybe even more importantly, to his mother. The revelation at the end of the chapter is the cherry on top of all of the things he has done so far in this new life.
Eileen is another matter entirely. The whole theme of this story so far has been rebirth, both literally and metaphorically, and there isn't a character that I want to convey that with more than Eileen. I want to properly pace and set forth this scenario that leads to her finally getting her life back now that the monster that ruined her life is finally gone. She's going to learn a lot in the coming chapters from her son, and see Severus in ways that she never would have in the original timeline where she tragically sought an end to her suffering.
As always, thanks for the response and the feedback, and please, leave those reviews! The more detail, the better I can gauge what my readers want more of! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and hopefully I'll be back soon with another!