CHAPTER: OWLS.
Severus felt a strong pulling from his navel, everything was spinning. He had no idea if this was supposed to happen. He never attempted it before. It felt like it was going on forever, the spinning, the pulling and the breathlessness. But he felt his knees hit something solid and his body falling face down on a rough surface. "Ah," he gasped as his trunk landed heavily on his outstretched hand. He lifted his face form the surface and looked straight ahead. There was a neat how of street lights illuminating the front lawn of several houses.
"I did it," he said. He pushed the trunk off his hand with the free one and tried to pull himself to his feet. He immediately felt a jot of pain hit his knees. He must have bruised his knees on the landing. He managed to examine the rest of his body to make sure there was no splicing. He had actually managed to apparate in one piece on his first try. He pulled his trunk slowly out of the road and onto the front lawn of Lily's house. All the lights in the house were off; everyone must have been in bed. He left his trunk and limped to the side of the house. He looked up to Lily's window.
"Lily," he called the loudest he felt it was safe to.
He got no answer and after several tries he still got no answer.
He took up a small pebble from the ground near by and threw it at the window. He wanted it to hit the glass but instead in went right through the window. He picked up another pebble and tried again. He threw it glass this time and it gave the soft knocking noise he was hoping for. Another stone later, he saw Lily's hand out the window, indicating that the thrower should stop. He dropped the stone in his hands. Lily poked her head out the window shortly after, she was not pleased. She looked down at him rubbing her eyes at the same time, trying to see who it was. "Who's throwing stones at me?" she asked
"Sorry, I didn't mean it to go through the window."
She recognised his voice right away. "Severus, is that you?" she whispered.
"Yes it's me?"
"What are you doing here, I thought you went home?"
"Can you come let me up?"
"Ah... yeah, just a moment." She disappeared out the window. He saw her lights go on and he went back to the front of the house and dragged his trunk with a little noise as possible to the front door. She opened the door slowly and quietly.
"Sev, what are you doing here?"
He didn't answer right away. He felt a tinge on embarrassment.
"What happened to your face?" she asked. He didn't even notice that there were areas of his face stinging in pain before she said it. "And where's your left eyebrow." His hands went to his brow. It wasn't there. So he did leave something behind.
"I apparated."
"You apparated here, what, how?
She looked down at his trunk and pulled it inside. "What's all this?" she asked.
"My stuff, can I stay here for a while."
"Severus, what's going on?"
"I got in a fight."
"With who?"
"My father."
-o-o-o-
She placed a band-aid over the bruise on his face. They managed to carry the trunk upstairs without making any noise and were safely in her room without awaking anyone. She was tending to his wounds while he sat quietly on her bed. "Did he do this to you?"
He snorted. "No, I got this from the fall. He couldn't touch me."
"What about these scratches." His forearms were coved in scratches that were glowing red.
He looked at it. "I guess he did those, but I pretty much won that fight."
She put the band aid away and took out a long piece of gauze. "Can I ask why you fighting with your father."
He sighed. "Because he's an asshole."
"Don't say that Severus, he is your father."
He shook his head. "That man has never been a father to me. He's not like your father Lily. He drinks, he hits, he never taken care of me or my mum."
He never talked about his family with Lily. On a few occasions, he mentioned his mother but he would never talk about his father. "Does he hit you," she asked with panic in her voice.
He shook his head. He was quiet for a moment. "He'll never hit me, he's a bloody coward. He hits my mum though, all the time."
"But she's a witch, can't she stop him."
She held out his hands and began to pick some of the tiny stones out of cuts in the palm of his hands. "She's a witch but she hasn't been able to use her powers for as long as I can remember."
"How?"
"Well that's what he does; he makes you feel like you are rubbish until you hate yourself enough. I think she must have stopped using for him, now she can't even use it if she wants to."
Lily sighed. He could tell from that sigh that she wanted to cry. She took out a bottle of clear liquid and opened it and soaked a piece of cotton in the liquid. "This might burn," she said. She patted the wounds with it. It burned like hell, but he decided that it wouldn't look too masculine to be whimpering. "So you left?" she asked, "Why didn't your mother come with you."
He snorted. "She wouldn't, she's in love with the bastard, no matter what he does she's in love with him. She'll never take me over him. I don't even think she loves me."
"Of course she loves you, it's just that sometimes it's hard to be strong and brave like you."
"I'm sure you would be." He replied.
She sighed and began to wrap the gauze around his hands. "But you don't worry. I'll take care of you." She said not looking at him, tears were in her eyes. He looked at her and kissed her on her cheek. She looked up and smiled softly at him with tears in her eyes.
The moment was broken by the sound of an owl swopping through the window. She went to it and untied the latter attached. She took it and opened it and read aloud.
Dear Mr. Severus Snape,
We have received intelligence that an illegal apparition was performed at this residence at ten minutes to the hour of eleven.
As you know, wizrdards under the age of the seventeen are not allowed to apparate. This is in breech of... bla bla bla
This is a warning...bla bla bla
She folded the letter and handed it to him. "I guess this was the first time you used magic out of school," she said.
He nodded. ". I do it at home sometimes, they can't tell if it's me or mum but once I'm away from home they'll know who did it. I don't know what I would have done if I had already gotten a letter."
She shook her head. "I still can't believe you apparated on the first try. You're so smart Severus,"
He knew that she was just trying to distract him from what was going on but he welcomed it.
She took his trunk and hid it under her bed. "My parents are going on vacation after my birthday, so Petunia and I will be alone. I'll just hide you here until they leave. I don't think they'll want to have a boy in the house unsupervised. "
Severus felt a tinge on guilt at the mention of birthday. He wanted to get her the best present ever but now he hardly had any money and it definitely wasn't enough to get the moon boots she wanted. He was the worst boyfriend ever.
-o-o-o-
Two speckled owls hooted at her window. Lily opened it and they both flew in. One letter was addressed to Severus and one to her. "I forgot, we get the results today." She said excitedly.
Severus was on the bed and not really in a mood to get excited about anything. He had been depressed whole day and he knew he wasn't being good company. He got up slowly and Lily untied the letters from the owls. She took hers and handed Severus his. He opened it, having a feeling like he was going to fail everything. But when he looked down he saw that he had nine outstanding and one exceeds expectations. "How'd you do?" he asked. He and Lily were among the brightest students in their class.
"I got eight outstandings and an exceeds expectations in Defence, you."
"Nine Os and an E in charms."
"You did ten owls."
"He nodded, just wanted to make sure that there is nothing that I can't do if I change my mind about being an Auror."
"Heavens, you really are the most brilliant person I have ever met."
"I know," he said lazily and went back to the pillow.
"I'll go show my parents. They weren't too pleased with Petunia's A levels but I think they'll like my owls."
Lily ran down the stairs and he laid on the bed thinking. As much as he hated to admit it, he was frightened for his mother. He had never left her alone with him is such an angry state; he could have been really bad to her when he left. The only comfort he had was that he was stone drunk and maybe would not be able to inflict any sort of harm.
NOTE: Okay I think I'll be finished by next week Wednesday. For some reason Severus stories always take longer than you want them to. Reviews pretty please.