Severus informed Professor McGonagall of his decision after his next Transfiguration class on the following day. Her satisfied smile made him somewhat nervous, like as it seemed to the look of a cat who'd lapped up all the cream in the house; but he couldn't for the life of him figure out just what she would be getting out of this arrangement, besides an annoying underage houseguest to be continually watched over. He didn't doubt the Professor had house-elves to care properly for her home and property, and so had no need of manual labor from a student; and he scoffed at the mere hint of the idea of such a notable witch of the Light wanting to use him in any Dark Magic workings. Granted, he might end up spending the holiday Transfigured into a lamp, or something...but she'd undoubtedly return him to Hogwarts in exactly the condition that he'd left it. All he'd lose as a lamp would be a bit of time, as the books all agreed that subjects of Human Transfiguration (which they wouldn't begin to study until the next year) didn't retain any memory of the experience. He hoped they were right.
At least, being a teacher, she'd most certainly let him finish any homework he might have; especially if he started in on it right away.
...Then again, he might somehow manage to unintentionally, royally tick her off so badly that she hexed him back to Hogwarts early. With his father out for his blood, it was at least vaguely possible that Severus could be taken from the school during the break, if the man should discover he was physically there. Blood did matter, in legalities as much as in magic - if you knew almost exactly where a person was. Tobias would hardly expect his quite disagreeable and unpopular son to be safely hidden away behind strong wards at a Professor's own home, and there wouldn't be enough time over the two week break for him to track Severus down once he realized the Headmaster wasn't about to point him straight to the boy.
Severus had no doubts about whether Dumbledore would give away his Deputy Head's home address. Minerva McGonagall would indisputably be wearing her ancestral plaid and that rather terrifying blue body paint in a trice and have the Headmaster's head on a pike, while dancing a wildly enthusiastic jig over his quivering remains, if he dared betray her like that - possibly literally! They didn't name her venerated ancestors "Bloodthirsty Scots" in jest, after all.
Severus planned on being on his best behavior; using the full courtesies at all times, and pretty much hiding in whatever room she assigned him as much as it was possible to do without causing offence. That didn't mean he wouldn't accidentally discover some action or behavior in himself that she just plain could not tolerate...
After all, his own father could barely tolerate him.
Even his mother hadn't quite cared enough to try to get him away from his father's abuse. She'd taken a full ten years to finally take any action, and even then it was something that she should've bloody well known was the wrong thing to do. If she would have taken her son and run back to her parents at the first Dark curse Tobias used on Severus, that would have been practical, and likely to actually work. Disowned or not, Eileen and her son would have been protected from Tobias' abuse, at the very least - her parents had been more powerful than Tobias in all ways, being purebloods of the ancient and venerable House of Prince, and would have savored the chance to rid her of her too-Dark husband.
Was the embarrassment of hearing frequent and snide "I told you so"s really so much worse than watching your own son be more and more badly abused; both physically, and emotionally? Had he truly been worth so little to her...?
It was no wonder Severus Snape wasn't exactly known for his cheerful demeanor.
Eileen Snape née Prince had waited until two years after her parents had died to do anything about her abusive husband, and then she never once thought to contact an Auror - or anyone else who might have done something to constructively help her and her son. Severus wasn't certain if his mother had been too ashamed to admit to her mistake in marriage, or too proud or scared to ask for help...and as she was dead and he was not, not yet anyway, it couldn't really matter to him anymore. If he lived to graduate Hogwarts, he might then allow himself the luxury of wondering about his mother's motivations.
He refused to entertain the idea that Professor McGonagall could possibly be cruel enough to send him on to his father, no matter how badly he got on her nerves. It was bad enough that just the thought of the long summer holiday kept bleeding into his nightmares, waking him just short of a scream in the middle of the night. He refused to think about being handed over to his father before then.
Thank Merlin he'd come up with that extra-strong silencing charm, Muffliato, or he'd soon be waking everyone within a half mile of him with screaming! He shuddered with mortification at the thought. He did have some pride left!
Professor McGonagall told Severus to pack his trunk like always on leaving-day, but instead of heading outside to the carriages with the other departing students, he'd wait for her in the Great Hall. The Professor would then walk him to the boundary of Hogwarts' wards, from where she'd Side-Along Apparate the two of them to her home. A nice, brisk walk was much more to her preference than stepping through an ashy Floo, especially when there was no need to rush. She was not behind in her preparations to leave the castle for the break, and if the Headmaster needed her for anything, she was only a Floo away. The bit of marking she would have to do after that last day of classes could just as easily be done at her home, and she was somewhat anxious to get her houseguest settled in as soon as possible.
She doubted the boy had truly registered that this would not be a one-time visit; that she was determined that he would not be going back to that abominable - so-called man! - ever again.
Truth be told, Minerva McGonagall was rather looking forward to having Tobias Snape set foot upon her property. She was certain Albus would assist her in cleaning up the...mess. Especially as she'd managed to get an admission from the old coot that he was working behind the scenes, as it were, to arrange for young Mr. Snape's liberation. Minerva planned on worming explicit details out of the Headmaster upon her return to Hogwarts.
Severus knew that if he took his time and trailed behind all the other students, no one would even question him about where he was going. The only people he wanted knowing anything about his business already knew as much as he did, and they'd be the only ones who would even consider bothering to look for him on the Hogwarts Express, anyway.
Having never Apparated before, even in tandem, Severus was understandably just a little bit nervous. He had always Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron to get to Diagon Alley for his school supplies, and really hadn't been far enough away from his home for anything else to need any other method than his own two feet. His father hadn't wanted to be publicly seen with Severus unless absolutely necessary, and his mother had been too timid to leave their home herself without Tobias forcing her to.
It was not that he thought Professor McGonagall would actually splinch them - she was much too experienced and powerful a witch to do something like that. He simply didn't want to throw up all over her shoes, or fall flat on his face, or have some other horribly embarrassing thing happen!
Lily had enthusiastically arranged an actual schedule for them to owl letters to each other, including Remus in the planned correspondence. Her parents had given her a tawny owl at the start of their third year, and they would all three use it to keep in touch with each other, as neither of the boys had an owl of their own. Severus was amused at her high-handed, dictatorial style, and shared a humorous look of long-suffering with Remus (that the boys were very, very careful she did not see!) before solemnly swearing to faithfully adhere to Lily's strict letter schedule. Though snickers did nearly break free when she actually handed them each a piece of parchment with the schedule written out-in colored inks. Severus barely contained a roll of his eyes that would probably have earned him a hex.
This would be Severus and Lily's first time being completely apart, without any way to sneak off to see each other even for just a few minutes, since they first became friends. Severus couldn't blame Lily for being nervous, especially when he was more than a bit skittish over the whole thing himself. It was the faint twinge of more than mere indigestion shooting through his chest at the thought of not seeing Remus Lupin until they came back to Hogwarts that had Severus more grouchy and short-tempered than usual, even for him. He'd never actually missed anyone before, except for the times he and Lily had to delay meeting each other by a day or two!
He'd never in his wildest nightmares thought he'd ever miss a Marauder!
Not that the feeling was in any way near as strong as the actual pain that stabbed at his heart with the mere thought of not seeing Lily for two. Whole. Weeks... Severus felt almost physically ill at that thought, and seriously considered a trip to Madam Pomfrey for a potion. Potions prodigy he might be, but some ingredients were expensive-and Madam Pomfrey was perfectly willing to dose him from her stock. He decided to brazen it out, instead of appear weak to one of the only people who truly seemed to care about his welfare.
He blamed Gryffindor House for rubbing off on him. Where had his practicality gone...?
The actual Side-Along Apparation went without a hitch. Severus was pleased to discover that he was not one of those in whom Apparation caused extreme sickness, or even disorientation; he felt the expected pressure, like his body was being squeezed through a small tube, then a sensation like his ears popping and it was done, with hardly a wobble on his part. Professor McGonagall gave a pursed-lipped smile of satisfaction after a quick once-over glance, then with a brisk nod was ushering him into her modest-seeming home, a flick of her wand causing his trunk to float along serenely behind them.
The guest room she showed him to was quite comfortable, with a nice big canopied four-poster bed, a secretary's desk with a suspiciously Muggle-like wheeled chair, and two comfortable-looking armchairs complete with footrests and even an end table between them, set facing a mid-sized fireplace just left of the door. Everything was in muted shades of green, brown, and blue. There were two big windows on the outside wall, letting in more than sufficient light for scholarly pursuits when their long green and blue plaid drapes were pulled back.
The Professor levitated Snape's trunk neatly to the foot of the bed, settling it down at a brisk flick of her wand with barely a thump. "Breakfast is at seven o'clock, Lunch at one, and dinner at seven in the evening. I naturally expect you to be prompt at mealtimes. The house-elves will always enquire first if you wish to take tea, and you may call for Nippy if you need something outside of mealtimes." Severus appreciated that she had done him the courtesy of not reminding him to clean up before meals, as one would say to a small child.
With a slight hesitation as she peered at him over the tops of her square-lensed spectacles, she stated more than asked, "I doubt you have any homework that needs to be done...?"
Her querying gaze was met with a bland shake of his head, "no." He'd actually finished all of it in a nervous spurt back at Hogwarts, since he'd been mostly unable to sleep anyway.
Satisfaction flickered over the Professor's face. "Very good." The corners of her lips twitched as she fought a smile when she said, "I hope you are able to continue influencing Mr. Potter's study habits as you have been doing - though I would have thought Merlin, himself, would not have been able to get that boy to do his homework in good time!"
Severus blinked, startled at having a professor seem to tease him, yet still wary. Until very recently, the only person who had ever teased him without ill intent of one kind or another had been Lily. He never had been sure just how to deal with teasing, malicious or not. The few times he'd tried ignoring taunts aimed at him, they'd simply kept at him with more and worse cruel words and threats, until they got the reaction they wanted. He'd taken to immediately sniping back with the worst insults he could come up with in an effort to keep anyone from picking at him in the first place. Not that it worked all the time, but it had actually helped keep the more minor annoyances away from him. Kind of like people usually not wanting to poke a stick at a sleeping bear that was not caged.
Though until recently, a certain pack of Gryffindors had taken that as a challenge...
The first couple days of his stay went rather well, Severus thought, in spite of McGonagall's insistence on personally escorting him about the grounds each day, supposedly to be sure he got enough fresh air and exercise. She didn't seem at all fond of the idea of him holing himself up in his room except for meals. She also seemed somewhat frustrated with his excessive politeness, though she was aware enough of its likely cause to not push him too much about it.
Yet.
She realized it probably wasn't time yet to ask him to call her "Minerva" when they were away from the school. She was rather tired of being addressed only as "Professor", especially in her own home. There was more to Minerva McGonagall than her job, after all! The poor boy obviously wouldn't be comfortable with that level of familiarity for quite some time, more's the pity.
The letters from Lily every other day inevitably brightened, and somehow softened the boy's black eyes, Minerva noticed. The change was subtle, but there-when one bothered to look closely for it. And Minerva had taken to looking closely at young Mr. Snape. The boy apparently bottled everything up within himself, only letting it out when he was with Miss Evans, or the pressure of an emotion had become too great for him to bear. As Minerva not only was not abusive towards him in any way, but had at some point managed to gain the boy's respect, if not trust - he did not explode in a temper while at her home. Of course, he barely smiled or laughed, either, though she was sure she saw signs of suppressed humor at times. As she'd suspected, their senses of humor were quite similar, and her concentrated efforts were making some headway towards loosening him up. Her comments on articles in the Daily Prophet could have him desperately stifling snickers before page two.
She hoped by the end of the break that she'd have learned how to get through that unnatural reserve of his and draw the "real" Severus Snape out, instead of the too-polite, near automaton the boy was currently impersonating. Honestly; she'd seen trees with more personality than he was currently allowing himself to display!
Five days into the break, however, Severus received some unexpected correspondence...
-.-.-.-
A mere three days into the break, Lily Evans discovered that she was bored.
More than merely bored; she was mind-numbingly, Petrifically, unendingly consumed with a sense of apathetic stasis. She couldn't ever remember a time when she'd been so uninterested in doing anything. Even her elder sister's derisive commentary, when their parents were safely out of earshot of course, couldn't get any kind of rise out of her. Which, naturally, caused Petunia no end of frustration, and did more to get her to leave Lily alone than anything else ever had.
The problem was simple: Severus wasn't there.
There was no one with whom Lily could share a magical viewpoint on Muggle news with; no one to brainstorm over holiday homework assignments with; no one to insult her sister so subtly that Petunia took hours to figure out she'd even been insulted...no one to meet at the park to talk with about things that mattered to Lily, but her family was clueless about and uninterested in. No one to go for casual walks outside in the evening, when her house became too stuffy and...foreign...to bear any longer.
Thank Merlin for her Grouchy! Lily thought she'd have gone spare in under a day, if she hadn't had her owl. The tawny owl was always rather scruffy looking, with some of his feathers bound and determined to stick out at odd angles no matter what anyone did to smooth them. The ones on his head and over his large eyes, especially, gave him a perpetually angry look. When combined with the single odd tuft sticking out sideways from alongside his beak that bobbed up and down whenever he made a sound, just like he was chewing on a cigar - well, it had led her in a fit of giggles to name him for Groucho Marx, her father's all-time favorite comedian.
She had sent Grouchy off to Severus shortly after she got home, the letter already half written in the car on the way from the train station. She'd mentioned everything that she would have said and pointed out had he been with her as usual, as well as nattering on about how nice it was to be home again for a while; but how she already missed Hogwarts... Thinking on it while watching Grouchy wing off into the night sky, she rather thought she might have babbled a bit excessively. Oh, well; too late now. She was certain Severus would simply grin and tease her about it.
The return letter from Severus arrived before noon the next day, and she could just hear his amusement at the five whole pages she'd sent him. The little animated doodle of his stick-figure self that he'd put by his signature at the end had a wildly spinning corkscrew over his head and swirling eyes. Lily rolled her own eyes and snorted in amusement; she'd known he would do that - he was laughing at her, the git!
Severus hadn't really told her much of anything, only that he was "settling in well with Professor McGonagall". Lily huffed at that; with Severus, "settling in well" simply meant there had been no bloodshed or excessive bruising. Her next letter to him would have to address his lacking skill at letter-writing - she wanted DETAILS! What type of house did McGonagall have? What was the weather like? The room he was staying in? Was anyone else there? What were the neighbors like; were there any nearby neighbors? DETAILS, MAN!
Scowling somewhat fiercely at the schedule she herself had set up, Lily had muttered and mumbled to herself as she plopped down at the small desk in her room to write her first letter to Remus. She brightened a bit when she realized that would give her a whole day to think up appropriate things to say to Severus about his faulty correspondence, rather than sending something off on the spur of the moment only to think up the perfect comeback a half-hour later. And maybe Remus might have something to add, too; Grouchy would be going from Remus to Severus and back to Remus before returning to her this time.
Those letters to and from her two friends were the only thing of interest that seemed to happen to her, though. By the end of the first week, not only had Petunia given up at picking on her sister for lack of a response, but their parents had started watching Lily in concern that she might be coming down ill. They'd never seen their normally lively and vibrant daughter so gloomy, dull - and quiet. Where was the incessant chatter about Hogwarts and the wonderful magic she was learning and the great friends she had and the remarkable quirks of the castle and denizens and even the furnishings...?
The elder Evanses were soon exchanging worried looks and using any excuse to feel Lily's forehead for fever. She simply must be coming down sick; why else would she be lounging with such apathy at various windows, staring outside with vacant eyes? The only time their youngest daughter showed any animation was when that silly owl of hers came with another letter. She came up with the most pitiful excuses for not going anywhere with the family, or even her old Muggle childhood friends; she never went anywhere on her own; she showed no interest in any television or radio show, or play, or even going to her old favorite haunt, the ice rink - she could not even be tempted from the house by a promised visit to the brand new video store that she'd become so enamored of over the last summer break.
Lily's mother was the first to realize there could well be another reason than illness for Lily's doldrums.
Her parents hadn't really been aware of what had happened to Severus at Hogwarts, not more than a rough idea that his father had shown up at the castle and caused him some sort of harm; Lily hadn't gone into much detail about that in her letters home from school. Her parents knew that Severus was now in Lily's school house, but they didn't know why - and they weren't aware that it was anything all that out of the ordinary. It seemed logical to them, after all, that if a student had a problem with the first house he was put in, then he should be moved to another. They'd never understood about the Sorting Hat, and the magic that chose the house for the student.
They did know that the elder Snape was not a particularly admirable kind of person. They had allowed young Severus to basically "hide out" in their house more than a handful of times, quietly supplying bandages when necessary, though he would only allow Lily to know for certain when he was wounded badly enough to need help. He couldn't hide every last trace of blood or bruising, though, especially those times he couldn't avoid limping for pain.
Finally learning that the boy had, for the first time, not come home over the break, sparked the germ of an idea in Mrs. Evans' mind. She knew her daughter hadn't spent more than a single day without setting eyes on Severus Snape since shortly after they met as little children. Their friendship was very close. Considering the onset of puberty, it was also possible that Lily had begun seeing Severus in a slightly...different...way, even if the girl hadn't quite figured it out for herself yet. It was certain that young Severus thought Lily hung the stars in the heavens...! He was quite firmly in her orbit, much to her mother's amusement.
Mrs. Evans had given her husband a rather sly sideways smile when the thought first occurred to her. Mr. Evans had caught his wife's look, glanced back at his daughter, then paled six shades to pure white as he easily followed her train of thought.
He was absolutely NOT ready to consider even the mere thought of his precious, baby girl - dating! No, no; definitely NOT! ...Where had he put his father's antique (but in fine working order) pistol...?
Lily, on the other hand, hadn't gotten to the point of consciously realizing that her best friend was even male, yet. The girl thought nothing of the way her day would light up just with his mere presence; or how he could make her heart beat nearly triple-time these days when she coaxed an actual smile out of him. She thought becoming depressed just because she couldn't set eyes on him for two whole weeks was simply normal separation anxiety, and nothing more. The way she doodled his name along with little hearts and flowers in the margins of whatever parchment or book she was working on didn't mean a thing, of course...
As Lily's father was obviously not a good choice of parent to talk to the girl about such important and delicate topics as Boyfriends and Dating, Lily's mother exiled her husband from the house that first Saturday and sat Lily down in the kitchen with tea and biscuits, to be absolutely certain her daughter was not completely clueless. Just in case. She had gone over the basics with Lily a couple of times before; once just before her daughter left for Hogwarts, and once after she came home suddenly sporting the first hint of real womanly curves (which somehow unexpected sight had nearly sent Lily's father into an apoplectic fit, as Hogwarts was obviously not an all-girls school!)...but they had not covered anything in the sort of complete details that Mrs. Evans now revealed to her daughter - whose face quickly became much redder than even her fiery hair.
There was no way in Heaven's name that Lily would ever share even a hint of that highly embarrassing Talk with any male of the species! She would spontaneously combust first - just POOF! No more Lily, just a puff of smoke...!
One unexpected thing came from this version of The Talk - unexpected by Lily, anyway. Once she got beyond dwelling on the...mechanics...of things, Lily's subconscious and her heart actually started talking to each other. Her conscious mind wasn't completely let in on the "secret" yet, as it wasn't quite ready; but the dreams now being fed to it to be chewed over during the day were blunt enough, she wouldn't be able to escape the obvious conclusion for long.
Her conscious mind just had to stop blanking out the face of the young man starring in those new, highly embarrassing, and rather...exciting...dreams.
Until then, she'd simply be taking a lot of cold showers. Every day.
Lily's correspondence with Remus was pretty ordinary, seeming hardly different than talking to him in person. He was also having a nice, quiet vacation at home, with nothing of real interest going on. Each of his letters barely covered a whole page of parchment - when he was writing larger than usual. His letters practically screamed BOREDOM. Lily's weren't much better; the only thing she really had to share with Remus was that Severus, who certainly had to be doing more interesting things than either of them for no other reason than that he was somewhere new - wasn't sharing any details. Hmph!
Lily could almost hear Remus laughing in his reply to that. She made sure to put a comically scowling lily by her name on her next letter to him.
Lily did have something unexpected happen at the start of the second week, though. A strange owl came with Grouchy that Monday when he brought the latest letter from Remus. Lily untied the parchment scroll from its leg with raised eyebrows, wondering who had written to her, absently feeding the stranger-owl a couple owl treats right alongside Grouchy - who glared at and tried to peck the big, sleekly handsome newcomer. It took off the moment it was done with its treat, Grouchy glaring death and dismemberment after it until the other owl had disappeared into the clouds.
The letter was from one James Potter.
After spending nearly five minutes debating with herself if she should open it or not, Lily finally shrugged and decided, why not. The prat had been acting decently to Severus lately; and he'd never written to her before. It shouldn't hurt to simply see what he had to say. Her curiosity would drive her insane until she did, anyway!
AN: SUVs are out to get me. I have now been rear-ended by the SIXTH ONE-always while I'm stopped like I'm supposed to be (this time for a train; and I'd been stopped there for a whole minute when she nailed me). Two times were in my bus, and so inconsequential; but four were in my personal vehicles. This is amazingly enough my first time with whiplash. ::makes nasty face:: Unfortunately, the injury didn't start sending determined pain messages to my brain for a full twenty-four hours. And the muscle relaxant medication my doctor ended up giving me does nothing to enhance writing ability, let me tell you! ::rolls eyes:: I couldn't WALK straight on that stuff, let alone drive, so I've had to miss work. Grrr! At least my car only has one miniscule inch-long scratch by the license plate.
Of course, once the whiplash was completely healed up, my little Ford Escort was body-slammed by a DEER at five-forty-five in the bloody AM. A DEER! From back and left of me, popping out of the extra-deep rural ditch and hitting just in front of the driver's door. New fender and headlight, dented hood...AAGH!
Someone reviewed that they thought James' attitude reversal in chapter 1 was unrealistic. I'm partially basing it off a real life acquaintance, though - it really can happen that drastically. If something hits a person with enough of a shock, their whole personality can change, not just an opinion; and quite radically. It doesn't have to be much of a shock to anyone else, either - it just has to hit them like a two-by-four upside their head, knocking something loose, so to speak. I figure James may be a spoiled brat used to getting his own way and not worrying himself about consequences to others, but at heart he's a good kid. Just rather...blind. I figured the horror of seeing the Cruciatus Curse cast, let alone by a father on his own son, would be enough to skew his world-view. Then, young as he is, part of his way of coping might well be to focus on the obvious victim (who he's been forced to notice was not behaving as he'd believed someone of that stereotype would!) as A Project. It's something he can do himself, after all - and this was probably the first time he'd ever considered Snape to be a Real Person. There's a lot of other psychological schtuff to consider, too - fascinating thing, psychology!
Besides, the human brain doesn't stop developing until the mid to late twenties. Heh - that certainly explains typical teenage single-mindedness! However much "software" we cram into them at school, they simply haven't got all the "hardware" installed to run it properly yet! =]