Redemption from the Past

Chapter One: When Worlds Collide

Spinner's End, July 1970

She was hot, tired and upset. Leah Wainwright was sick to death of moving and her new home was one of the worst she could remember living in. Her mother was still carrying in boxes, humming to herself happily, while Leah had taken up most of the front stoop, sitting and scowling.

"Mom, I want to go home!"

Sarah Wainwright looked up from the trunk of her car and pushed her blonde hair back from her eyes. "Then get up and turn around. You walk through that door and you're home."

"Not this home! Our old home."

"Well," Sarah picked up another box, "we can't go back there, sweetie so you better get used to this. Besides, once all our stuff is in there, it'll look more like home."

"Why can't Dad come with us? He doesn't know where we live. How can he come visit?"

Sarah set the box down and crouched down to her daughter's level. "Leah, listen to me. Dad can't know where we are, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because what he did to us was not right. Me putting up with it is one thing, but I won't let him do it to you."

Leah tugged at the hem of her t-shirt. "He said I did something wrong and had to be punished."

"If you don't hear anything else I say for the rest of my life, hear this: no one has the right to hit you till you're black and blue. No one has that right."

Leah wanted to say that she remembered many times her mother had to hide bruises and wanted to ask her what made it right then? If it hadn't been for whatever she had done they wouldn't have had to move from their nice house to this one and Dad would still be there. But her mum was waiting for an answer so she nodded her head saying that she understood even though she didn't. As she was staring at the ground, two pairs of feet in very worn shoes appeared on the cracked sidewalk. Leah looked up to see the shoes belonged to a grown woman and a boy. The woman smiled slightly but it looked forced, like she didn't smile that often. The boy looked like her, except his expression was anything but forced as he looked extremely disagreeable. Leah took a slight liking to him immediately: he looked how she felt.

"Hi," Sarah said, straightening up. "I'm Sarah Wainwright and this," she placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "is Leah."

The other woman held out her hand as if she expected Sarah to slap it away. "Eileen Prin-," she coughed slightly. "Snape. Eileen Snape and this is Severus."

Leah held out her hand towards the boy. "Hi, Severus." But he looked at her with distain and turned towards his mother with a "do I have to" look. Apparently he did, because he briefly touched her hand before shoving his into his jean pockets.

"We saw you moving in," Eileen was saying, "and wanted to help you."

Leah gave Severus a surprised look and realized he was being forced into this just as much as she was forced to make this move. It was the bond between them, she could feel it in her heart, even if he didn't feel it yet.

July, 1971

"That's her, right there."

"The brown haired girl?"

"No, no…the red head."

Leah peered through the bushes at the two sisters on the swings. Severus had brought her up there to show her the girl he had a crush on. She had to admit, at first she felt hurt that he had set his sights on someone else, but she wanted him to be happy. And if the cute little red headed girl made him happy, then that's what she would work towards.

"Well, Sev, why don't you go introduce yourself?"

Color rose to the his pale cheeks. "I can't. I can't do that."

"Why not?"

He held out his arms and she took note of his wardrobe. It was true that his sense of style wasn't very stylish but she had come to know him, not his clothes.

"Once she gets to know you, clothes won't matter."

"They're from the nice part of town. Clothes matter to them."

"But you're really nice and that's what they'll notice." Leah had enough of talking. "Come on, I'm going out there."

"No, wait-"

Leah pulled her arm out of his grasp and stepped out from behind the bushes. She glanced down and Severus looked like a trapped animal. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Leah looked up to see the two girls had stopped swinging and were staring at her. She waved. "Hi."

"Hi," they answered in unison.

Leah looked back down and Severus was wringing his hands and watching the two girls avidly. Leah turned back to the girls. "Sorry, I was just looking for my ball and thought it was up here."

The red headed girl got off her swing. "I'm Lily and this is my sister Petunia. Do you need help looking for it?"

Leah turned around and looked down towards Spinner's End. "Oh no, thank you." She pointed back down to the street. "My mom found it."

"Oh, okay then."

Leah started off back down the hill and when she was halfway to the row of homes where she and Severus lived, he came running up behind her.

"Wow, that was great!" he exclaimed.

"It was nothing. I chickened out."

They had come to the front of his house since it was on the end. He grabbed her and gave her a quick hug. "Thank you."

"For what?"

He stepped back with a huge grin. "I didn't know her name till today."

Leah watched him go inside, all the joy of seeing him happy dissipated quickly. She walked back to her house which was only two away from his and found her mum standing in the doorway.

"It looks like someone just stole your best friend."

Leah tried not cry but she knew she was going to be unsuccessful. "Someone did."

June, 1976

Leah had just finished her last day at school and had the entire summer ahead of her. Normally she would be terribly delighted for the summer holidays but ever since Severus went off to that boarding school, it had seemed Leah ceased to exist. She knew that Lily Evans went to the same school and slowly Leah was being replaced. She had her own group of friends, sure, but she missed her childhood friend.

"Leah!"

She looked up to see Severus walking up the sidewalk. They were still a couple streets away from their homes. "What are you doing here, Sev?"

"I was going to meet you over at the school but you had already left."

"Is something wrong with my mom?"

"No, not that I know of. I just wanted to see you."

Leah tripped over her own feet. It had been five and half years since he had "just wanted to see" her. But she wasn't about to tempt fate and drive him off. "So you're done with another year of school, huh?"

"Yeah. Was today your last day?"

"Yes. The whole summer lies before me with not a whole lot to do."

"I was thinking maybe, we could find some things to do this summer."

"You and me?" Leah gave him a skeptical look. "What about you and Lily?"

His face contorted into a grimace. "She, uh, she's found some other friends to hang out with."

Leah tried to stay mad at him but for some reason, the lanky, pallid sixteen year old boy had a chunk of her heart. Sure, there were better looking boys in her class, a couple of them even asked her out, but she liked Sev. "Suddenly, the summer seems so much better to me."

Thoughts of Lily's refusal of his apology rushed through his mind and the pain started afresh. There were so many things he had done that he would love to do over again. Picking out friends would definitely have been one of them. He had gotten himself into a deep mess and he couldn't really find a way to dig himself out. He had hoped that Leah still lived on Spinner's End and she would still want to be his friend. He had been doing a very good job of ignoring her these past few years.

"Suddenly, the summer seems so much better to me."

Severus felt himself break into a smile and was surprised how it felt so unnatural to him. Leah smiled back him and he realized she was right. The summer did seem better now. She didn't know about his humiliation at the hands of Potter and his mates. She didn't know how he ruined it with Lily. She really was the only one that knew who he was deep down inside, even if he had forgotten. She loped her arm through his.

"It's good to have you back, Sev."

He tried not to choke on the words. "It's good to have you back too." If Lucius or Mulciber found out he was friends with a muggle he could be in serious trouble, especially since Lucius was making arrangements to have him welcomed in the Death Eater ranks by graduation next year. Or worse, they could come after Leah. He would have to be careful this year but also enjoy every minute of it as well.

She had grown up in the last five years into a very pretty girl with sparkling blue eyes and wavy gold colored hair. She was wearing tight fitting jeans and a sleeveless shirt and he realized just how curvy she ended up being. He wondered why he never noticed the girls at Hogwarts but realized the robes they wore never showed anything curvature wise. He wondered what Lily looked like out of her school robes.

"What's the matter?"

He looked down at Leah who had a concerned look on her face. "Why?"

"You looked upset. Everything alright?"

"Yeah," he forced a smile back on his face. "Everything's fine." Except the fact that her hair wasn't red and the eyes looking at him weren't green.

June, 1978

Eileen wasn't sure what she was going to do. Severus had just graduated Hogwarts, he was eighteen and of age. She had concerns about his group of friends but he had remained friends with Leah for so long she wondered if he really did buy into the Death Eater school of thought. She secretly hoped he had not. But she still had a dilemma.

Once Severus was out of the house, she no longer wanted to be here. Tobias was drinking more and speaking less. She knew Sarah had run away from an abusive relationship so she knew how it could be done. Once Severus left for his potions apprenticeship, she would go down to have afternoon tea with Sarah and make her plans then.

She could hear Tobias snoring in the front room and was thankful she wouldn't have to put up with any of the yelling tonight. Severus had gone to bed early so she was looking forward to a night of reading. There was a book Severus wanted her to read. Maybe he hadn't gone to sleep yet and she could get the book from him tonight. She headed up the stairs as quietly as possibly and stopped at her son's door. It sounded quiet, no page turning or scratch of a quill on parchment which meant he was probably asleep. In case he was, she opened the door slightly and peeked into the room.

He was asleep, but he wasn't alone. The moonlight was the only light in the room and it light up the pale skin of Severus and Leah. Both were entwined together and that didn't bother her as much as the skull and snake marking on his left arm that was carelessly thrown over his head. Eileen slowly closed the door and went back downstairs.

She sat down at the rickety kitchen table and waited for the sun to rise. She didn't know what to say to him but Leah needed to be protected from the likes of the Death Eaters. They had kept the secret of magic from her and Sarah the entire time the Wainwrights had lived on Spinner's End and she would be damned if teenage hormones were going to ruin that secrecy.

It didn't seem long before the first touches of red and orange touched the sky. When the sun finally made it's appearance, she got up from the table and put the coffee on. She would have done everything in the house by magic but Tobias forbid her to do magic in the house. She really missed it but she was thankful for something to do with her hands at the moment.

She heard Severus' light footfalls come down the stairs. Tobias' snores were still coming from the front room. She didn't even look at her son as he came into the kitchen but spoke softly so her husband wouldn't walk in on the conversation.

"You have to forget her, Severus."

"What?" His voice was still hoarse from sleep. She was going to miss him.

"Leah. You can't drag her into your life now. When you leave Spinner's End, you leave her here."

"She's my friend. I can't just stop talking to and seeing her."

Eileen looked out the small window into the equally small back yard. "Then you should have thought about that before you received the Dark Mark."

He started coughing on whatever he had pulled out the refrigerator to drink. "What-"

"If you love her, leave her be now. The Dark Lord is not forgiving when it comes to muggles." She turned around and fixed her surprised son with a steady gaze. "Why do you think I've lived here for all these years."

"To protect him? Come on, Mum."

"He's your father. I can't do anything to save you from the fate you've locked yourself into but I can do something to protect him and Leah. And I will, Severus. If you won't, I will."

"It'll break her heart if I drop off the face of the earth."

"Like I said," Eileen said, walking out of the room, "you should have thought about that before."

Her mom thought she was upset over Severus leaving and not telling anyone where he was going, but Leah knew it was something more than that. She had thrown up every morning for the last week. After each time she would crawl back into the bed and wrap her arms around her stomach. She didn't know what to do but she knew she couldn't let go of the only thing that Severus had left behind for her. And then, always, she would cry herself to sleep for the rest of the morning.