A/N: For Lizz IX 'One day in the life of an eight year old...' challenge! Also for my own challenge 'I Love You Mommy.' ENJOY!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Love. It has no time limit. It's endless. It can stretch on for years, decades. Even a life time. It doesn't just come in one form ether. It can be the love you feel for your pet cat. The love you feel for your new broomstick. It can be for a place, like Hogwarts, or Diagon Alley. It can be for your girlfriend, or boyfriend. Your family. Your brother or sister.

Severus Snape didn't know any of those. He was allergic to anything with fur, so a pet was out of the question. He was afraid of heights so he would never want a broomstick, even if his father did allow it. He was only 8 so he had yet to start Hogwarts, but he was counting down the days on his small calendar he had until he was 11. His mother only went into Diagon Ally when they need something important, and she never brought him. Again he was only 8 and he couldn't even think of a single reason why he would want to hold a girls hand. His family never visited, his mother once explained to him that was because it made his father nervous. He had no siblings, unless his mother was keeping something from him.

The only love that Severus Snape believed in was the love he felt for his mother. She was beautiful and strong. An endless supply of smiles and laughter. Or she was. Lately all his mother had done was sleep and cry. Severus hadn't a clue why.

Usually he was woken up with the smell of her cooking breakfast and her loud beautiful voice singing along with the radio. Now he woke up to his father screaming at his mother. He would shout horrible things, things about her being 'untrustworthy', and 'manipulative'. Severus couldn't remember a single time when his mother had lied to him; she even told him that Santa Claus wasn't real. He didn't know what manipulative meant, but the way it seemed to make his mother cry he knew it couldn't be a good word.

The mornings used to be his favorite because of all the yummy pancakes his mother would make; now it was because it meant his father would leave. After he would leave Severus would tiptoe down the stairs as quietly as he could, so he wouldn't disturb his mother, who usually fell back to sleep, and attempt to make breakfast. Attempt being the key word. Anything he made seemed to make him feel sick or would just burn in the pan.

Before his parents started fighting he would usually spend the remainder of the day out of the house with his mother. She would take him everywhere, to the Muggle Theaters down the street, to the park—which was his favorite-, to the zoo—he loved the elephants' best- and she even took him ice skating once! Now he would spend his days sitting in his room reading, coloring, or he would venture to the park by himself. None of these things were really fun without his mother beside him, making him laugh and smile.

He longed for the days when his mother would read to him, or draw with him. Some days he would knock on his mother's door, she would come out and tell him she wasn't feeling well and that they would play another day.

"Today will be different," Severus told himself hopefully. He took out his pens and the rest of his paper—he had used a fair amount to perfect his elephant drawing—and began to draw.

He drew everything that reminded him of his mother, trees, snow, Santa Claus, tigers, cats, snakes, and even drew a small picture of them eating pancakes together on top of an elephant. He stood back and admired his work; if this didn't make his mother smile again he didn't know what would.

He stood in front of her door for a few minutes, listening to see if she was up. He couldn't hear anything—even when he pressed his ear to the keyhole—so he gathered his courage and knocked loudly. After twelve minutes he was sure his mother was sleeping, he began to walk dejectedly back to his room, back to another day of finding ways to entertain himself.

Severus had just reached the door of his room when he heard his mother call his name. "Severus? What do you need sweetheart?"

He turned around and took in his mother odd appearance. It was midday and she was still dressed in her pajamas, and her hair was wild and tangled. Her eyes were swollen and Severus suspected she had just finished another round of crying.

Severus beamed and held up his picture proudly. "I made this for you. Please stop being sad."

To his horror, his mother's eyes began to water. She took the picture from him and he watched as the tears poured silently down her face.

"Oh, Severus!" His mother sobbed pulling him into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry."

Severus was completely lost for words. He had made his mother cry, just like his father had, but she was comforting him.

"M-mother," He stammered, "Please, stop crying."

This only seemed to make her cry harder; it was a full three minutes before she had calmed down enough to speak clearly.

"Severus, my love," She began petting his hair down lovingly, "How about you and me get out of this stuffy old house and go to the park?"

He beamed up at her. "Really?"

A few more tears leaked out of her eyes as she nodded. "You'll have to give me a minute to get ready. We can have a picnic, with blueberry pancakes, and ice cream."

"Strawberry ice cream?" He asked timidly.

"With sprinkles and cherries!" She said enthusiastically, smiling down proudly at her son.

Severus raced into his room and began throwing on the first thing his hands laid on. He sat downstairs by the door waiting patiently for his mother to appear.

She came down with her best summer dress on, and a basket overflowing with goodies. She took one look at her son- he was wearing a sweater that she had gotten him for Christmas three years ago and a pair of swim trunks- and she burst out laughing. Severus grinned at her, slightly unsure of why she was laughing, but glad that she was laughing and not crying.

"I love you mommy," Severus said, not caring if he sounded childish.

She smiled fondly down at him and patted his head. "I love you too, Severus. Don't you ever forget that."

They grasp hands and walked into the sunlight, both equally happy to be away from the gloomy house. They both knew the happiness would only be for a short while. But for now it was perfect.

There is no love quite like how a mother loves her child. Or how a child loves his mother.