Two chapters in one? Psh, who am I kidding, I should be posting like fifteen hundred for how long it took me to even return to this wondering site. Oh yeah, I don't own anything. Forgotten Disclaimer... please don't sue me. I don't own a single character.

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Tiny. Weird. Scary.

Those were the better adjectives that described his person or at least that's what the neighborhood kids and their parents said behind their hands. It… confused him if he was honest. He hadn't actually done anything to deserve their words, not that they hurt him. It was just confusing as to what problem they had with him and if they really thought that he didn't hear them or see when they crossed to the other side of the street.

Severus wasn't stupid, in fact he was called a genius by several doctors. He amazed the doctors with how much he observed with a casual glance around and his impeccable memory was something to be feared according to his mother. Severus frowned deeply and strode into the kitchen as he heard humming coming from the kitchen. That was odd. His mother was actually in there, mixing a cauldron of liquid that he was sure was meant to be a calming draught.

"Hello my little Severus!" his mother cooed upon noticing him in her domain. Severus quirked a brow but said nothing. It seemed that his mother was in another one of her moods but he found it much better than the times where she would collapse in a chair, body twisted and slumped into an odd position, not moving a single inch except to breathe. Those days saw him spending more time outside and hardly eating anything as he wasn't really hungry normally and she wouldn't accept food in that still, still state.

Hm, he supposed that now was the time for her to come out of it but she seemed to be ready to enter another collapse. Her movements were jerky and quick. Her humming, though light, was stilted in places as she continue to look over both shoulders as though hearing something that she just couldn't quite see. He stepped further into the kitchen, glad when her attention snapped to him for a brief moment before returning to her task. She hadn't attacked him yet.

Severus silently grabbed a stepping stool, dragging it over to the stove where his mother hadn't noticed that the potion was slowly bubbling over with each stir she made. He gently grabbed her hand in his smaller, paler one. Her skin had a gray tinge to it and Severus wrinkled his nose as he noticed just how bad she smelled. She hadn't bathed in weeks and he could see it in her tangled, greasy hair and equally dirty face.

"Mum, you are stirring it too fast," he murmured. She jerked in his hold but didn't lash out. Instead she blinked and looked at the overflowing potion to realize that her little boy was correct.

"Thank you little Severus. That entire batch would have been worthless but oh, I have so much work to catch up with! The Ministry wants truth serums, antidotes, and quickening elixirs. The hospital is no better with their lists that continue to be longer and longer," the woman threw up her hands in exasperation and began to pace the floor, her legs and arms jolting unnaturally. Severus sighed and turned down the heat so the potion wouldn't be burned on the bottom seeing as she had forgotten.

Even though she was talking properly, it was obvious that she was still out of it as she had been for the better part of a month. This was the first time she had said nary a word to him, even when he was hand feeding her once he came to the conclusion that she wouldn't feed herself and definitely wouldn't cook. It had been rather hard but he wouldn't complain because he had enough money to make it by and he knew that she would eventually come back to herself.

"I already made your potions for the Ministry and St. Mungo's and I have started on your new list and only have two batches of burn ointments left," Severus told the woman, stepping into her path. The potions were actually solidifying in his room which he had barred his mother from with a simple lock she wouldn't be bothered with when she was having an episode.

Alyssa pulled herself to a stop and looked down at her son with calculating, cruel eyes that actually reminded Severus of his own eyes but then she was smiling and pulling him into a hug tight enough that he suspected he would have bruises for the next day or so. Of course he didn't pull away because it wasn't often she remembered that he was there to be her child and not her caretaker so when she did remember…

"You are too good for me little Severus, too good for your crazy ole mum," she murmured into his dirty hair. Severus didn't reply, instead he shifted into her hug until he could see her at least partially enough to look into her dirty face.

"Why do the other kids fear me?" Severus inquired to get off the topic of insanity. If they stayed on it too long, his mother would lash out and begin to believe that he was against her and Severus didn't want that, not now. Alyssa stared at him for several moments, simply studying his face before she laughed loud and deep, pushing him away from her almost too roughly.

"Did you know that when you were a baby, you didn't cry little Severus?" she tilted her head, "Not to say that you smiled either. You never cried but you were always frowning. You are always frowning little Severus and that's the problem! See you have to smile—smile nice and big for mommy!"

Alyssa demonstrated what she wished from her son by pulling her lips back from her teeth and giving him a huge… snarl. It wasn't pretty and he was sure that that would only make the children think him insane. Besides she was wrong—there wasn't a way that the children and parents of this neighborhood were frightened of him because he chose not to make stupid movements with his mouth.

Suddenly his mother was back in his personal space, her fingers hooking into his mouth to yank him forward, nails ripping into the inside of his cheeks. Severus let out a hiss of pain and it was only by a single stroke of luck that his mother didn't find herself flying backwards but it was close call. He could feel his magic trying to protect him but he wouldn't allow it to hurt his mother. No, never but he couldn't stop it from warning her with slight sparks along his skin. As though she couldn't feel the crackle of young magic grazing her body, she pulled the corner of his lips until they were in a rather bad parody of a smile.

"C'mon little Severus. There you go, a smile for mummy!" Alyssa grinned harder and thus pulled at the corners of Severus's mouth to match hers, "Little Severus you're SMILING! Smile, smile, smile!"

"You are hurting me," Severus gurgled through her hold but still did not fight her. She blinked her dark, dark eyes at him as though she wasn't too sure who he was or, more likely, what she was doing. He released a pained whimper as one of her nails pierced the wet flesh and immediately realization dawned on her. Her eyes widened and she threw herself away from the small boy, nearly braining herself on the table top then she was scrambling back on her knees, pulling him into a hug that was tight but not enough to add to the bruises he would already have.

"I am so sorry Sev," she whimpered into his neck, moisture landing on his neck singling that she was crying. Her body shook with great sobs as she mumbled apology after apology into his skin. Severus sighed deeply and swallowed the blood welling into his mouth as he gave her a sharp pat on the back.

"It is all right mother. Go upstairs and take a bath while I start dinner. It'll be your favorite, Shepard's Pie," the boy encouraged and he attempted to move his lips into a smile but it fell before it could even begin to bloom.

Alyssa sniffled and slowly released her son, guilt making her footsteps slow and careful. She didn't remember much from the past… well, she wasn't sure how much she actually remembered and how much was simple imagination but she hadn't meant to hurt her little boy either physically and mentally! But she was, she was hurting him even if he didn't say anything against her.

Deep in her heart, Alyssa knew that her son had been working himself to the bone during her time of mental absence, had probably gone as far as doing her work for her so that they could continue to have money and she would still have her job but no kid should ever have to do that. She was the mother and yet it was her that had to be comforted and her son that had to be the adult and 'get over it'.

If only her former husband could see her now. Alyssa let out a disgusted snort—he would kill her and sneak Severus away so quickly she wouldn't know what hit her but… Alyssa played with the water surrounding her and quickly becoming dirty. She would do better by her baby, she would. She wouldn't let anyone take Severus away from her because he meant the world to her. She loved Severus more than anything in this entire world, would give her life just to be perfect for him. Alyssa bit her lip to hold back the tears… she only hoped that her somber little boy knew that much.

Downstairs, Severus waited until he could no longer hear his mother's footsteps before he turned to the stove and lugged the large cauldron off the small flame. It was done although would be a bit strong so he would have to write a small note to St. Mungo's and the Ministry before sending it off but that would have to wait for a bit because he had dinner to start. Perhaps if his mother was finished early with her bath, she would help him.

Severus used his step stool to reach the sink, wanting to cook with clean hands and caught sight of his reflection.

"Smile, big and nice." A voice whispered, sounding much like his mother's. Severus frowned deeper and turned away from the window.

He had dinner to prepare.

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To Be Continued

This chapter was short but I found it important enough to not make it seem like a side chapter.