Author's Note: In this story, after Snape decides not to call Lily a mudblood, he has no recollection of his previous life. I hope you all are enjoying this! Thank you for reviewing and adding yourselves to update/favorite lists!

Chapter Three

Severus Snape was very similar to both of his parents. Like them, he was tall, thin, and prone to bouts of silence. Before his parents stopped fighting, he had had enough in common with his father to keep them from attacking each other. Just last summer, for example, Severus and Tobias had gone the entire month without speaking. Neither of them had minded; it was just easier that way. His mother could also be rather quiet, though she was more timid than introverted. She rarely spoke up unless things were about to get violent. That's why Severus found it quite strange when there was hardly a moment of silence during the ride from King's Cross to Spinner's End.

"That was your friend Lily?" asked his mother, more enthusiastic than Severus had ever heard, the second they were settled into their squat brown car. "Goodness, she's getting pretty! She's Harold and Lynda Evans' daughter, right?"

"Harold Evans? The banker?" Severus's father did not often take drives with the family, but when he did he usually resorted to a stony silence. This friendliness was new.

"The same one! Your father's just started work with him, sweetie," she said, twisting around to smile at Severus, who was quite sure she had never called him "sweetie" before in his life.

"They've another daughter, don't they Sev?" And his father had definitely never called him "Sev."

"Petunia," his mother responded for him. "I guess they must like flowers!"

"They must!"

Severus let them go on with their overly-cheery chatter while he focused on the floor of the car. Neither of them, his father especially, had ever sounded so upbeat. Even last Christmas when they told him about the therapist they had been somber and calm. Now they were laughing, bouncing words and phrases off each other like he'd never seen, yet every so often his father's voice would grow tight or his mother would falter and silence would fall. It would last for less than a millisecond, sure, but it still made Severus wonder whether or not this was all an act.

He did not, however, have too much time to dwell on it. Maybe because this ride wasn't haunted by uncomfortable silence or maybe because Severus was trying so hard to distract himself, but the car stopped much sooner than he Severus had planned, at a home he only slightly recognized.

"Where are we?"

"Home!"

Severus recognized the houses on either side of their destination. They were the same dilapidated slums they had been last Christmas. The center house, his own, had changed. The lawn had been trimmed neatly, the front repainted, and the shutters replaced. It looked warm and inviting, and was perhaps the nicest home on the street.

"We've had some work done," his mother explained when she saw his shocked expression. "We figured it was time, with your father's new job and all." Severus could only nod numbly. "You need to see your room," she said as they left the car. "The ceiling doesn't leak anymore!"

Severus followed his mother into the house, trying his best to soak up all this new information. His parents weren't fighting, his father was talking, the house was clean, the roof didn't leak…he felt like he was drowning. Still, he trailed his mother, not making a sound until she opened his bedroom door, and he let out a small gasp.

"You said you liked green," said his mother.

"It's…wow." His old, dank room was gone. In its place were cream-colored walls, a green plush carpet, and a fluffy bedspread the exact same color as Lily's eyes.

"I'll let you settle in."

Severus was still trying to make sense of the fact that last summer he had lain in this room and shot flies down from the ceiling that was now patched in clean when his father came in.

He cleared his throat and placed Severus's trunk in the doorway. "Do you like your room?"

"Yeah," said Severus absently, gazing around.

"I'm—I'm glad. Listen, Sev," Severus turned around, "I—I know—things have never been…" He trailed off, looking confused. "I'm glad you're home, boy." Then he patted him gruffly on the shoulder and left.

The quiet that Severus had so carefully cultivated last summer had completely dissipated. His father now spoke to him before and after work, and he said more than his typical brusque, "Get a haircut." His mother, too, was not content to let him hide in his new bedroom, and she found many activities for them to do together, everything from doing the dishes to tie-dying clothing. Even though he was happy his parents no longer fought, he was already finding himself looking forward to Hogwarts, where he could finally get some peace and quiet.

Such a thing would not be attainable this summer; he realized the Sunday after he had returned home. He was sitting in his room, reading his new book on the Dark Arts, when the doorbell rang. A clatter of female voices rang out from the floor below, and he wondered if he would need to invest in earplugs. But his mother called, "Severus!" and he closed the book, giving up on reading today.

Downstairs were the last two people he had expected: Lily and Lynda Evans. Lily was already sitting with Tobias, chattering on about being a Muggle-born at Hogwarts. His father actually looked interested, or at least he didn't look angry. Lynda was smiling broadly, her green eyes twinkling.

"Hello, Severus." She pulled him into a quick hug. Lynda Evans ran a successful salon downtown, and she was anything but standoffish. "Look at you! All you boys, you keep getting so tall." Severus noticed his mother looking on fondly. "It's a shame about your hair, though. Don't they have rules for these things at Hogwarts?" Severus's hair was indeed breaking the Hogwarts rules; it nearly reached his collarbone.

"Can't be past the neck, or McGonagall will slice your ears off," said Lily, taking a brief break from her conversation.

"What?"

"She'll put them back!"

Mrs. Evans didn't seem to have heard her daughter; she was surveying Severus's head. "You know, you would look great with some fringe, and my things are just in the car…"

"Mum," said Lily warningly. "That isn't why we're here."

"I don't mean to be rude," Eileen said quietly, "but why are you here?"

Lily suddenly grinned. "Well, Mrs. Snape, I invited Sev to come stay at my house while you and Mr. Snape are gone, but he hasn't gotten back to me and I didn't think he would—because he's so shy—" her grin widened, "so I thought we should just come over to chat!"

Severus's parents looked completely bewildered. Severus knew he hadn't mentioned this before, and Lily had spoken a bit quickly.

"Stay—at your house—with a girl?"

"I think it's a great idea." To his surprise, it had been Tobias who had spoken. Eileen looked on, shocked. "Honestly, what trouble can he get into there," he added, "that he won't get into when he's on his own for three weeks?"

Eileen pursed her lips and said, "Well, we'll discuss it later. And Lynda, you don't need to feel obligated about this or the haircut."

"Oh, Eileen, I'm hardly obligated," said Mrs. Evans fondly. "I just think Sev would look so nice…"

"You really don't have to," Severus protested weakly.

"But you'd look just like a young John Lennon!"

"Oh, he's cute!" said Lily.

"I'll do it."

So he let Mrs. Evans cut his hair, and his parents hashed out an agreement. He could stay with the Evans family, as long as they weren't sharing rooms and there was no "funny business" (Lily had burst out laughing at that point). Severus felt his heart soaring, and he couldn't help but smile when Mrs. Evans showed him his reflection. He wasn't sure he looked quite like John Lennon, in fact, he was almost certain that he looked just like himself with shorter hair. Lily, however, had said "cute" when it was finished, so he was sure that counted for something.