CHAPTER: Going Home/ Coming Home

Severus stopped at the front door of his home on the outskirts on London. In the air he could smell the stink of the river that flowed from the city. The street where he lived had been abandon during WW2 when every one thought London was going to be hit. When it came true they never returned. Even weeds refused to grow in the dirt that that was covered by black soot emitted from the factory.

He dug in bag quickly and took out his wand and opened the door. He generally tried not to breath in the air for too long. It was best to get in the house as quickly as possible. He pushed it open and peered inside. From the looks of it his father wasn't home, the TV was off. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

His mother peaked her head out of the kitchen to see who had just come in. "Oh it's you Severus. I thought it was your father."

"Will he be home soon," he said going to the kitchen with his mother. "Should I go up to my room?"

"No I don't think he'll be back for a while." She took out a metal pot from the cupboard and began to scrub it furiously. With out looking at him, she addressed her son. "So who is this friend of yours you stayed by."

"Why?" he asked quickly. "Did he ask where I was?"

"No I don't think he even realised that you weren't home."

"Right." He should have expected no less. This was his father after all. This was the man who's best friend's name was Johnny Walker. He was probably in drunken stupor when he came home anyway.

"So who was this friend," Eileen pressed on. "Is he in Slytherine.

"No," he said plainly. He took out his wand and in a wave cleaned the pot his mother was scrubbing furiously.

She gave him an appreciative nod and walked over to a small round table that was in the kitchen and sat on one of the chairs around it. "You have friends in other houses, which house."

Severus did not consider the people who he talked to friends, they were just acquaintances. To have a friend it would mean that you could relay on that person or you could trust them with you deepest and darkest secret. There was no one on the face of the earth Severus could call a friend. He always felt completely alone. "Gryffindor." He said flatly

His mother got an expression on her face. "I thought you said that you don't get along with the boys from Gryffindor, that their intelligence is equivalent to that of a mentally challenged cave man."

He was surprised that his mother had remembered what he said. He must have told her that about three years ago. "It's not one of the guys, it's a girl," he said trying to sound like it was no big deal.

His mother's eyes began to glisten under the dim lights in the kitchen. He put her hand over her mouth and stared at him. "Oh... you never said that you... a girlfriend Severus... I'm so proud."

He didn't know if he should be insulted because his mother saw him getting a girl friend as an achievement or complimented because she thought that he had one. He just smiled at her awkwardly. "I never said she was my girlfriend."

"Oh but I can see it in your eyes, they lit up just now."

He seriously doubted that his eyes lit up. "She's not my girl friend. She's just a girl from school that I ran into in Liverpool, that's all."

But she wasn't listening. She was now reaching over to wrap her thin long hands around him and plant a kiss on his sallow cheeks. "I'm so proud... girls from Liverpool are always nice. Is she pretty?"

It was a rear occasion when his mother was this candid. She was often so depressed that she never had time to notice him. Sometimes he would feel like a sprit just watching everything go by. He had to admit that he loved the attention. "Yes mother, she is very pretty."

-o-o-o-

For the first time since they started talking, Lily visited Severus on work at the book shop. She came in her pink uniform around lunch time. The store was busy so he wasn't allowed to go one lunch just yet.

"I was wondering where you were, so I took my lunch break and came to see you."

He had never been visited by a girl before, at least not that he could remember. "It's just a little busy, that all." He said pointing at the customers who were all shoving book list at him. "I'll see if I can get this done quickly. He took all the book lists from the parents, remembering who gave him what and walked to the back of the store. He could see Lily browsing around the fiction section. He didn't want to keep her waiting. It was bad manners. He looked through all the lists quickly and collected the books. He brought them out stack by stack until the crowd had moved on to the cashier. The muggle work was beginning to get difficult.

He walked over to Lily who was still checking out some books. "Are you ready to go?" he asked. Lily seemed startled by him and quickly dropped the book she was browsing through. She looked very flushed.

Severus bended down and picked up the book and examined it. On the over there was a woman and a man in garden holding hands passionately. He opened to chapter later on in the books and began to read out loud. "David caressed her full breast gently... what the." He looked up at Lily who looked like she didn't want to be there at all. "What sort of vice is this are you reading?" he asked with a smirk on his face. He knew fully well what is was, drones of teenage girls would come and giggle over them. It was a very hot seller.

"It's just a Mills and Boon, I wanted to see what they are about. Petunia has them, and she never lets me read any?"

"I can see why," he said placing the book back on his shelf.

They walked out he store with Lily still feeling embarrassed but she eventually got over it by the time they reached to the restaurant they planned to eat lunch.

-o-o-o-

On that Friday Lily had invited Severus to spend the weekend at her house. She said she liked having company. So that Friday morning Severus packed a bag of clothes, some of which were new to spend the weekend with Lily. His mother planted several kisses on his cheeks before she let him leave the house. She was as tearful as she was when she first started to believe that Lily was his girlfriend.

They walked trough the front door and was greeted by her father and her mother who were both already home form work. "Nice to see you again Severus," Lily's mother said. Her father nodded in agreement.

"Nice to see you too," he said pleasantly. "I brought you all a little token of my appreciation for entertaining me again this weekend."

Petunia scoffed.

When they were at the dinner table Severus took out the books her hand purchased on discount form Whiteman's. "I didn't know what you all like to read so I asked Lily." He took out a Danielle Steele book and handed it to her mother. "This is supposed to be a new up and coming writer. They say she is destined for success."

"Thanks you Severus," she said examining the book.

"It's my pleasure." He took out another book from the bag and handed it to her father. It was a World War II drama about a family trapped in the Warsaw ghetto. Her father complemented her for his excellent choice. Then he reached in his bag for the book for Petunia, which was the sole purpose of the exercise. He handed the book over to Petunia. "Now Lily tells me that you just love these and you have a stack under your bed so I thought I'd buy this so you can add to your collection." He looked over to Lily was was suppressing a laugh and not doing a good job at it. He on the other hand kept a straight face.

Mrs. Evans leaned forward to see the book he brought for Petunia. "Petunia Evens, why have been reading Mills and Boon. You should be ashamed of yourself...a young lady... so much vice."

Petunia looked at Severus and glared. Her expression was priceless; she looked like someone had just smashed a pie in her face. This was exactly what Severus thought it would look like.