Cursed to Relive

Chapter 3

Fateful Accidents

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, nor do I own the Harry Potter Series, X-Men or The Archers.

'Well, I suppose that it's safe to say that whatever is causing this, it certainly isn't temporary.' Severus mused to himself while sitting alongside his mother as he listened to The Archers, one of her favorite radio Soap Operas. He had started to make a habit of doing so since he had little else better to do during his observation phase. He didn't actually pay much attention to it, but he was able to pretend he was well enough that his mother thought he had been intently.

He sighed, admitting the truth and crushing one of his fonder hopes. 'If it was a temporary hallucination brought on by a near-death experience...I'm pretty sure I would have gotten past it by now. At least, I hope that I would have.'

It was a rather saddening thought, as Severus had almost been starting to hope that he was truly dying. The thought of reliving his life again, exactly the same way it had been before...it was too painful to contemplate. It was one of the reasons that he had yet to even try to see Lily again, because he just wasn't ready to admit that this was real and that he couldn't do anything about it...couldn't do anything but watch as she walked slowly but surely into Potter's arms, no matter how much he had tried to impress her, albeit in the most foolish way imaginable...

Suddenly, his mother turned off the telly, causing him to realize that the program must have finished. Smiling at him, she spoke excitedly, black eyes flashing brightly. "So Severus, what did you think? Personally, I think that this 'Roger' character is such a fool for getting together with that Jennifer. I mean, she's already had at least one affair with the cowman..."

Eileen rambled on for almost ten minutes, during which Severus nodded when it was appropriate, still focused on his own situation. 'OK, let's assume that this is real. I've completed my observations, and with the exception of my mother's attempting to inflict her obsession with soaps upon me, nothing has really changed. So...what now?'

Turning over the situation in his mind, Severus quickly grew rather depressed at his lack of options. He was still without access to a wand, stuck in a nine-year old's body, and in a home with two irresponsible parents, his mother being obsessed with soap operas in order to avoid the problems in her own marriage, and his father being a drunken, abusive lout. 'Not that the first matters much... Even if I had a wand, I'm too young to make much use of it. It doesn't matter how much skill I have; I just don't have the magic to make it work.'

Still, he had been in far more dire straits when pretending to be Voldemort's puppet, in control of Hogwarts. A lack of options with no-one watching was far easier to deal with than a wealth of options with everyone staring straight at him for signs of disobedience or weakness. After all, the first might be possible to deal with via proper planning, but the second... He still didn't know how he had managed to survive for nearly a year under those conditions.

"Eileen, stop your infernal prattlin'. It's just on' of your bloody soaps!" Tobias suddenly interrupted both Severus' thoughts and Eileen's enthusiastic tale with an annoyed shout, giving his wife an angry look. Eileen responded to this by muttering something about the soup being burnt and all but running into the kitchen, causing Severus to sigh.

Snorting in contempt, the muscular mill-worker then turned his gaze on Severus, muttering, "Severus, I got some tickets from Bob Jarvis for the Intercont'nental cup 'tween Manchester United and those forign'rs, an' I think that it would be a good idea for the two of us to go there together nex' week. It'd have to be better than watching those stupid chic' flicks, eh?"

'Oh no, don't tell me...'

Suddenly unable to breathe, Severus said nothing, only nodding weakly. Luckily, his father took it as an assent and gave him a clap on the shoulder before retiring to the telly, bottle of beer in hand. The sounds of cheering crowds and annoying announcers soon echoed throughout the house.

Meanwhile, Severus could only stand there, rooted to the spot. He could still remember the disaster that had occurred at the Intercontinental Cup of 1969, even after nearly three decades. Manchester had only managed to tie, effectively losing to those 'forigners', something which normally would have had his father hopping mad. However, in this case his father had made a huge bet on Manchester a mere two weeks before the match, losing everything when the match had turned out to be a tie. 'And when he returned home, it was a disaster... If it happens again the same way as last time-'

Severus' eyes then widened, as a thought occurred to him. What if he did something about it? This time, he had the advantage of a lifetime's worth of forewarning. Maybe he could change it! At the least, it would be a good way to see just how far he could change this...reality from its original path.

Besides, if he could, then maybe... A flash of soft red hair and grinning green eyes ran across his mind for a moment, before Severus shook his head. No, Lily wouldn't be his even then.

No matter what, there were some things that were fated, that couldn't be changed...

Still, it didn't meant that trying to change this one thing was a bad idea. At the least, it couldn't hurt, right?

"...It's getting worse dear; I'm almost at wit's end with Lily now. She doesn't seem to understand that we're doing this for her own good, instead playing around like it's MEANINGLESS, like her 'abilities' are something that only matter for fun..."

Richard Evans quickly tuned out his wife's worried, nearly frantic rant, although he would never admit it for fear of being denied dinner...and nookie. The first few times this had happened, he had been at wit's end, but now... It was almost like clockwork now. Every two or three weeks, Marigold would get fed up at how Lily would blissfully ignore her rules about not using her...abilities. She would get into a state of near-hysteria, ranting to him for nearly a quarter of an hour, her favored way to calm herself down. It still confused him how exactly that worked...

Frowning slightly as he nodded at an appropriate level, the Evans family patriarch ruminated, 'I wonder if maybe those American comics might be onto something, what with their X-Men things. Perhaps Lily's one of those mutant things...' He had to resist the urge to snort, picturing his little nine-year old in a green spandex costume, named something absurd like 'The Amazing Petal!'.

"...ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?"

His wife's shout suddenly broke into his thoughts, causing the rather portly Mr. Evans to to whirl around so fast that his head seemed to spin. Looking into Mari's enraged emerald eyes, he did the smart thing: trying to head her off by turning the blame on her. "Marigold, we've had this conversation at least twice a month for the last two years. You don't have to remind me every two weeks when nothing's changed! I mean, Lily probably thinks that you're being silly about it, what with how you almost bite her head off everytime she does something even slightly out of the ordinary..."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, as the firey woman's glare intensified, shining nearly as brightly as the single tear that glistened in her left eye. Holding his hands placatingly as she stomped toward him, Richard tried to say calmly, "I didn't mean it like that, Mari'. I only meant that in spite of how Lily's been doing 'it' constantly, nothing really bad has happened. Perhaps it's no big deal..."

"No big deal? NO BIG DEAL!?" Marigold started ranting hysterically again, all but screaming as she paced around frantically, emphasizing each of her points with a punch in the air or into the palm of her hand, "Don't you understand just how bad this is!? I mean, what if she blows up her school!? What if she kills someone!? Or worse, what would the NEIGHBORS think if-" Suddenly she stopped mid-rant, taking a deep breath and seeming to diminish slightly, her fringe drooping over her eyes. She then walked over to the nearby kitchen table and sat down in one of the wooden chairs, rocking back just a little bit.

Exhaling slowly, she then turned back to Richard and said quietly, "Maybe you're right, Richard. Maybe...maybe I am blowing this all out of proportion. I just don't-I just don't know what to do! It's driving me mad... I mean, she's my daughter and I...I don't know what..." Realizing that Marigold was going to burst into tears if he didn't do anything, Richard quickly walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, the other making soothing circles on her back.

She leaned into his touch for nearly a minute, before turning and giving him a tremulous smile. "Thanks Richard, I needed that..."

"It-it was nothing, Mari'." Richard assured, continuing his stroking as he did so, not wanting her to return to her hysteria.

"It's just...it's just that I'm so worried. What if Lily's abilities hurt someone someday? You remember when she broke that glass of Jeremy's last week; what if he had been holding it at the time? Or worse, drinking out of it?" By now, Marigold's anger had completely dissipated, leaving only worry and fear. Richard really couldn't blame her for it much. What if that boy Petunia liked had been holding it when it exploded? The blast had been quite strong indeed, to the point that it might have put him in the hospital had it gone off...

Swallowing, Richard spoke quietly, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it, Marigold. Who knows? Maybe she'll grow out of it?"

The haggard housewife smiled slightly, snuggling against his chest as she did so, but her words still had worry coursing through them. "But what if she doesn't, Richard? What if she never grows out of it?"

Holding his wife tightly, Richard said grimly, "If it comes down to it, I'll do whatever it takes to keep Lily safe. I promise. Whatever it takes..."

Severus frowned grimly as he prepared for the football match taking place that day; his father had decided to spring for some good clothes this time, probably because he didn't want to be seen in public with his son dressed as a hobo. It was a good thing too, as Severus' normal clothes were unsightly for anything beyond mud-wrestling. Even then it was probably a stretch.

Still, he didn't spend much time thinking about it, as he had far greater concerns to deal with. This day was a very important one, being one of the worst days in his life...before Hogwarts and the 'Marauders' that is. In Severus' original life, after finding out he had lost a truly enormous amount of money thanks to his bad bet, Tobias had gotten good and roaring drunk before heading home in a state of absolute rage. He had then shouted at his wife, screaming at her for half the night, even slapping her once or twice when his fury boiled over.

It had been horrifying for the nine-year old boy to witness, hiding at the top of the stairs, unable to sleep with the howling noises that his father was making...

'However, I am no longer that nine-year old boy,' Severus reminded himself. 'Even if I am in a nine-year old's body, I am not helpless. I have some knowledge of the future, and I can plan to deal with anything...' He then abruptly pictured Lily passionately kissing her future husband at the age of eighteen, feeling ill as he did so. '...Well, almost anything. Still, this should make an excellent test of my ability to change this reality...or lack thereof.'

Luckily, although he no longer had access to the perfect recall granted by Dumbledore's pensieve, Severus had managed to piece together the order of events from his memory for the most part. It helped that the event was so awful that he had experienced nightmares about it for nearly a year afterwards.

First the two of them would drive to where the match was located, his father trying to psyche him and Severus up for the game during the ride. They would then get snacks, haggling with a frankly idiotic vendor and getting his father rather annoyed, then watch the game together. During this part, although aggravated, Tobias would be more or less under control. However, Tobias would be utterly furious at how the team proved unable to do better than a tie game, chugging one beer after the other during the match and slowly working himself into a fury.

After driving in a mad frenzy, barely avoiding getting pulled over by the bobbies, they would arrive home. Then the last binding on Tobias' restraint would snap when he found that Eileen had inadvertently overcooked the roast beef they were having for dinner, having been distracted by one of her soaps while she was preparing it. Tobias would then explode...

Using all of the subtlety and planning that he had spent an entire lifetime learning, Severus had already considered some of the ways he could prevent this from happening, taking a few steps already; he had made sure to suggest to his parents that they have sandwiches for dinner rather than the roast beef, subtly suggesting that it would be best to have something that would be perfect whatever time they returned home.

Additionally, he was going to be on his best behavior, not giving his father any reasons to be angry. Considering his temper was much like his father's, it would be tough, but he would manage. This was important, and so Severus had pulled out all the stops he could in his nine-year old's body. Just like with his potions experiments, there was little point in trying to do this half-heartedly. Severus needed, needed to know whether or not he was truly capable of making a difference...

And if not... Well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Regardless, Severus would endure. He always had, and he always would.

Looking himself over one last time, still mildly shocked to see himself with clean hair at this age--he had washed it as part of his anger-prevention preparations-- Severus nodded and walked out of his room...only to almost run into his mother.

Just barely able to stop himself at the last second, he backed up and looked at her in confusion; she rarely came over to his room, allowing him his privacy ever since he was old enough to take care of dressing himself, so what was she doing here?

As if to answer his question, Eileen gave a small smile and gave him a tight hug, squeezing gently as she whispered into his ear, "I made you a boxed lunch for the game today, Severus, your father too. I'm glad to see that you've been trying so hard to make this day with your father go so well; I was beginning to think that the two of you would never get along..." She paused, then pushed him away a bit, looking him over with a critical eye before beaming at him. "Now, don't you look so handsome, Severus? I'll bet that all the girls at Hogwarts will be throwing themselves at you when you go there the fall after next!"

Severus almost pitied his mother for her naivety; no matter how the match today went, he and his father would never get along, since his father would never accept him unless he gave up his magic--something he would never, ever do. Even then, Severus and the man had nothing in common. As for the girls at Hogwarts... Well, he had had a girlfriend for a few months in the sixth year, but that hadn't lasted past her O.W.L.s. Even now he couldn't be sure whether that was a coincidence or not... No-one else had even bothered to express any desire for anything at the friendship level or beyond, save of course for Lily.

Still, he forced a smile for his mum's sake, although he knew it made his face look positively ghastly. "Yeah, it-it should be a lot of fun..."

Smiling at him, Eileen gave her son one final squeeze, whispering into his ear, "Have a great day, son..." She then walked away, a small spring in her step.

Severus wondered whether or not his mother had been trying out cheering charms again... It was the only explanation he could think of for how she was acting.

Suddenly his father's shout broke into his thoughts, "Severus Tobias Snape, git your pimpled bum down here right this minute! We've gotta get goin', now!"

Not wanting to aggravate his father, Severus quickly hastened downstairs, saving his thoughts about his mother's strange behavior for a later date. 'OK, remember, Do. Not. Anger. Father.'

"It doesn't matter that Tuney's busy, does it Betsy?" Lily smiled at her rather ratty, brown-haired doll, an long-ago gift from Petunia; holding it gently, she brushed its hair tenderly, talking to it as she did so. Betsy liked playing over by the tree across from the playground, watching the other kids, and Lily liked the place for its solitude...even if her sister no longer came there anymore...

Feeling a sudden jolt of loneliness coursing through her, Lily whispered to her beloved doll, "We'll be just fine without her, won't we? We don't need her and her stupid new friends, do we? We're just fine, just fine..."

Over the past few months, Petunia had become more and more distant from her little sister, spending almost all of her time with her new friends and avoiding Lily. It had been nearly two months since the two of them had played house together, or gone to the playground, and Lily was feeling rather... 'No! I don't need her! I can have fun on my own! Loads and loads of fun!'

Still, she couldn't keep her eyes from stinging with tears as she thought about-

"Well, if it isn't the li'l freak of the family... How are you doing, Lilykins?" Jeremy Tibbit's voice suddenly broke into Lily's spot, causing Lily to jerk slightly, before her eyes narrowed. This place was supposed to be her sanctuary when she was at school, as most of the other kids preferred to play on the playground equipment, and now this bratty twelve-year-old was intruding. It was enough to drive a girl mad. "Playing by yourself because your sister's too busy with her real friends?" he taunted her, laughing mockingly.

"Stop bothering me, you jerk! This is my spot, not yours!" shouted the angry redhead, glaring at the boy standing on the playground's edge. He was smirking slightly, clearly amused as she tried to tell him off. "And stop bothering my sister! You...urgh! Leave us alone, you horrible, awful little boy!"

"But," Jeremy said with a grin, as Lily's face reddened with anger, "Petunia likes it when I'm hanging around with her, it's just you she doesn't want to play with."

Glowering at the stupid boy, Lily felt the sting around her eyes starting to return as he reminded her of how Petunia rarely played with her anymore. Feeling herself about to cry, she turned away so he wouldn't see her tears and whispered, "Just go away...jerk."

Seeming to know that he had gone too far, the boy muttered, "Sorry, didn't mean to... Stupid girls." For a moment, there was a silence, and Lily began to hope that he would leave her alone, but then he asked curiously, "What's that? What've you got there?"

Lily turned back, only to see Jeremy grabbing Betsy and picking her up by her frayed brown pigtail. Jumping up, Lily tried to take her back from the much bigger boy, shouting as she did so, "Don't touch that! Betsy's really fragile, and Petunia gave her to me! You'll break her if you keep holding her like that!"

Jeremy held the doll high above Lily's head, rolling his eyes as she desperately tried to take back the doll, which was just out of her reach. "'Betsy'? This little bundle of scraps has a name?" He then threw it to the ground and sneered at Lily. "No wonder Petunia gave it to you; it's absolutely disgusting! It would be better off in a dumpster somewhere!"

With that remark, Lily saw red; screaming a war-cry she had had heard on one of her father's telly programs, she leaped on the boy, punching him in the stomach. Clearly stunned, Jeremy fell back, almost landing on his bum as Lily kept hitting him with all the strength in her little body.

However, in spite of her fury, there was no getting around the fact that Jeremy was bigger, stronger and older. He soon got over his surprise and shoved her to the ground hard, growling as he did so. Lily gave a cry of pain as her knee slammed into a tree root, before turning and shoving him back with all her strength, feeling a strange sensation as she did so. This time, the boy didn't just fall back a little bit, instead he flew.

...and flew...

...and flew...

...finally slamming into one of the swingset bars with a sickinging 'crunch'! There was silence for a split second, then he started screaming, holding his leg as tears poured from his eyes, "Oh...oh that hurts! Help m-me! So-somebody help me!"

Almost immediately, everyone started to converge around the fallen boy, like ants on a fallen sandwich. Even the supervising teachers dropped everything as he screamed for help.

Meanwhile, Lily could only stand there watching, shocked into horrified immobility. How had this happened? She had just wanted to push him away, not hurt him like this. A vision ran through her mind of her mother warning her about her 'abilities', causing Lily to gasp in horror, looking at her hands as if they were monstrous claws. Had she done this? Was it her fault?

Jeremy screamed once more, and Lily found herself moving without meaning to, trying to go over and do something, something to help. Petunia was already there though, tears in her eyes as she tried put her hand on the boy's shoulder, but he wrenched it away. She tried again, but he shoved her back, shouting, "St-stay away from m-me! Just stay away! You and your little freak of a sister, both of you, just stay away from me! She did this, LILY did this to me! SHE'S A MONSTER!"

Slowly, everyone turned, silently staring right at Lily, eyes questioning. Almost whispering, she tried to explain, babbling, "I didn't m-mean to... It was an accident, really. I wasn't trying to-"

She was interrupted though by their grizzled History teacher, Mr. Andrew Johnson, who said coldly, "I'm afraid that you're going to have to come with me, Miss Evans..."

After one last look around the playground, looking at the terrified, staring crowd, Lily nodded and followed the man inside of the old wooden school...

"Father, you must be tired by now. Wouldn't it be best if you just grabbed a couple of sandwiches and went to bed?" Severus pleaded in a placating tone of voice, trying to push Tobias along quickly. Severus' attempts to not aggravate his father during the game had failed miserably; the man was drunk as a lord and as furious as Severus had ever seen him, and he didn't show any signs of calming down anytime soon.

Still, perhaps if he was quiet, careful and didn't anger the man, everything would be fine...

However, his drunk father only growled and wagged his finger drunkenly, glaring angrily at his son. "Stop tryin' to push me around, li'l freak! I can doa-dloo-do this myself! I dunna need help from a swotty little nine-year ol' boy!"

Severus was beginning to feel a bit nervous, as his father was a very large, strong man and Severus was unable to cast a spell to defend himself. Tobias had never laid a hand on him personally, but there had been a few close calls... Still, he tried to calm his father down, saying in a forced calm, "Father...please don't do anything foolish... It was just a game, not-"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Snarling in rage, Tobias grabbed the him by the scruff of his neck, lifting Severus up nearly a foot in the air and glaring at him with squinting little eyes. "Jus' a game!? YOU LITTLE ID'OT! I just lost nearly a two-hundre' pounds on that game! That's about a month o' me salary! So take your 'just a game' junk and CHOKE ON IT! You stupid li'l fool!"

Gasping for air, Severus nodded frantically, but his father only glared even more at him. Smelling his father's beer-stained breath and seeing the man's other hand clenching into a fist and back again, Severus started to wonder if today he would be the target of his father's strong fists instead of his mother...

However, after nearly a minute during of looking down at Severus as if he were pond-scum, his father let go, snorting in disgust. Tobias then shoved his son out of the way, walking drunkenly into the dirty, unwashed kitchen and leaving Severus on the floor, trying to regain his breath. 'Well, I suppose that could have gone worse. At least there's nothing much left to provoke the man now, what with how mother usually avoids him when he is in this state.'

After catching his breath, Severus walked inside with only a slight wince, peering around carefully to make sure he didn't run into his father. His thoughts were interrupted by his mother tapping him on the shoulder, somehow having managed to sneak up on him. Turning, Severus looked into her identical black eyes, which were examining him critically. Clearly noticing his twinge of pain and shortness of breath, Eileen said softly, eyes knitted with worry, "Severus, you're hurt..."

Severus tried to shrug her off, muttering "I'm fine.". He had far more important things to concern himself with after all; he needed to keep any provocations away from his father for a few hours, or at least until he went to bed. Besides, he had suffered under far more painful torments than something as trivial as what Tobias had done...

Still, Eileen kept fussing over Severus, patting him and looking over the already-bruising area as she said worriedly, "Severus, are you OK? Let me have a look at you... Ugh, don't tell me that you provoked your father... You know how temperamental he can get after he loses a little money." She said the last bit in an exasperated sigh, clicking her tongue disapprovingly.

"Don't worry, mum, I'm fine!" Severus said stubbornly as he pushed her questing hands away, feeling a dark surge of anger at how it was automatically his fault that it had happened...even though it was. It didn't mean he liked being blamed for it though.

However, Eileen kept trying to pull down his collar, getting a better look at his neck in spite of his attempts to get her off of him. In the end, Severus decided to acquiesce to her weird behavior, albeit with a cold glare at the woman as she muttered a quiet healing charm; it was a very weak one, Severus knew, but it was the only one she could cast while wandless.

Sometimes, Severus couldn't help but despise her for her weakness, giving up her wand on Tobias' say-so. Still, she was a rather accomplished witch when she wasn't acting like a silly little Muggle, and Severus could feel the bruises on his neck beginning to lighten with a slight burning sensation.

Smiling, Eileen nodded in satisfaction. "There we go, that should keep you until you heal up."

However his father suddenly shouted, having apparently noticed from the kitchen door where he was now standing, "Leave off the boy, Eileen! Stop fussin' over him!"

Eileen jumped slightly in surprise, not having noticed her husband either, before clamming up and nodding obediently at Tobias. Had Severus been a less consumate-spy or actor, he probably would have believed a sigh of relief at this, as it would have been a very bad idea to aggravate Tobias in this state and Eileen's being quiet was the best way to keep her safe...

Nonetheless, it was very lucky that the drunken man didn't seem to have noticed that his wife had actually used magic, or things would have gotten very hairy indeed...

However, Eileen didn't seem to realize the danger of talking, as after only a few seconds of silence she started excitedly whispering in Severus' ear, "Well then, now that the two of you are back from your game, would you like to listen to the radio with me, Severus? There's another-"

Severus' eyes widened in horror; this was NOT a good time for his mother to act like this,especiallyabout this topic. As he knew he would, the man stomped over to them and shouting angrily, making an angry fist and slamming it against the coffee table as he did so, "SHUT UP, EILEEN! I've bloody had enough o' your coddling of the boy! If you keep acting like this, you'll make him some bloody chit in a man's body! An' I won't stand for me son acting like some blasted li'l poofter! It's humi...hmui...humiliating!"

Eileen shivered in fear and shock, apparently surprised at how she had been overheard. However, instead of doing the smart thing and being quiet once more, she kept talking. Frowning as she said in a voice that almost seemed to be a murmur, Eileen stood her ground, "Come on, don't be stupid, Tobias. He's just a boy, he needs a mother's love, or he'll end up like one of those drug-pushers or male whores over by Clark and Silverton. You know what I mean, right?"

Even as he watched in horror while his father seemed to grow angrier by the second, Severus had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the 'mother's love' comment. He would bet at least five Galleons that she was just trying to score points with Tobias, and it was at the worst time she could possibly do so...

Glaring at her murderously for nearly a minute as Eileen continued her quiet tirade, Tobias finally balled his hand into fist and screamed, "How dare you talk back to ME like that!? WORTHLESS BINT!" The drunken, angry man then punched Eileen in the face as hard as he possibly could, roaring furiously as he did so. With a single, wordless cry, Eileen fell to the ground with a sickening thud, nearly slamming her head against the edge of the couch-side table on the way down.

For a moment, there was silence in the room as Severus' father looked down at his fallen wife; even he seemed stunned at how badly it had gone, and Severus suspected that the man hadn't intended to strike her so hard. Eyes not straying from the broken body on the dirty carpet, Tobias asked hesitantly, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself, "Wasn' my fault, she was askin' for it...Wasn' she? I...I didn't mean to..." He whispered the last, voice sounding frantic as he did so.

Meanwhile, Severus could only watch in shocked horror, a single thought echoing through his suddenly-empty mind, 'That...that didn't happen last time...'

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait people; I'm trying to make sure that I'm always more than a chapter ahead of what I'm posting before I actually do so. Also, it's almost finals at school and I have like four or five projects to do, so I'm going to be a bit slower than usual in posting.

Some of you might be wondering why Severus is reacting so stoically to the situation, why he hasn't either gotten particularly furious or happy in quite a while. Well, the reason is pretty simple: he doesn't really believe that it's real...and he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. After all, nothing in his life in ages has brought him good without some great cost, so what's the point of getting excited? You'll see some more excitement, for good or ill, in the upcoming chapters, but don't expect too much from our dark hero.

For those of you who might be wondering, the characters of the primary pairing of the story might be a couple of chapters before they actually meet, and Lily's trials will likely be as bad as Severus' are...

Also, for readers of some of my other fics, 'The Law of Unintended Consequences' Chapter 55 is about 50% done, but I'm running into some writer's block. Sorry!