A/N: This story stemmed from an idea I had - changing one very key element of Severus Snape's life. The rest of the story is how I feel it could have gone had our dear Potion's Master been raised, at least partially, by a family that loved him. Before that happens, though, there are some rather unpleasant things that occur in the first two chapters or so, and I'm terribly sorry that I had to write them. Nothing goes into detail, and it's all very brief in mention.

This chapter has gone through quite a bit of editing, and I fixed some of the britpicking. I hope it's better now!

Even more edits, as of April 10th! Just some minor stuff here. To clarify a point, though, the story has been brought forward twenty years, which is why it starts in '86, not '66 (thank you, Sithtar, for pointing that out).

~May 1986~

17 Spinner's End was home to a rather… unhappy… family.

Tobias Snape was the man of the house, if one could be bothered to call him such. He was a tall bastard, with his gut starting to hang over his trousers. Lank hair hung about his face, the dark brown strands sticking to his face more often than not. There was a crooked nose in the not-quite-center of his face, accentuated by deep bags under his eyes and a permanent furrow in his brow. He was a drunkard - constantly out of the job, with his money was constantly wasted on liquors and beer. If not wasted on frivolities like the new color telly sitting on a stack of crates in the living room, that is. The telly was angled perfectly in front of a threadbare couch, so that Tobias would be able to throw himself onto it and watch whatever nonsense came on while half lying down, usually already on his way to a drunken stupor.

Eileen Prince was his wife, and quite regrettably so. She was tall - but not quite so tall as Tobias - and haughty - but fair enough to look at. She never did fit together with the image of Tobias. Maybe it was the way household care came so easily to her, or the way the decrepit house was eerily devoid of dust and dirt, or maybe it was just the way she carried herself - as if some unknown noble amongst commoners - but the consensus was that she had no true place at the side of Tobias Snape. Her eyes were as dark as her hair, set atop a perfectly aqualine nose that would undoubtedly come to be mirrored by her son's in the future. She was fair enough, but her face and quirks could not detract from the fact that she was a coward. She had been seen, on more than one occasion, manipulating blame so that it fell seamlessly away from her. She wasn't one for owning up to her mistakes and wrongdoing, simply shoving them onto the next plausible culprit. In short, Eileen Prince was what the neighbourhood boys called a 'bint.'

The pair had a single son, whom Eileen had named Severus. He was short for his age, scrawny, and had a tendency to show up with odd bruises and the most fantastic excuses for their existence. He was a nervous child, flinching and jumping at nearly everything. No one thought that they'd ever really seen him relaxed, despite his constant smiling. He was a bit meek, if anything else, lacking the rambunctious spirit of boys his age. Those that knew him were certain something was wrong with him, but no one could really identify what it was that sat niggling in the back of their minds whenever Severus explained away a new bruise.

They should have looked into it.

~x~x~

That fateful May morning was like any other that Spinner's End had ever seen; It was grey and dull, the street looked dingy, and Severus Snape was looking quite desperately for a place to hide.

"Damn, damn, damn," he muttered under his breath, ruling out many of his usual hidey holes. His dad would be coming home from an interview soon, and he wanted to avoid detection, especially with how his day at the local primary had gone. Tobias would have started on the drink by the time he arrived, and hearing about that day's events would not make him any less volatile. His mum, passed out in front of the telly, wouldn't be much help either. No, she was more likely to just sell him out.

There!

Severus tore himself from his thoughts, dark eyes lighting up at the sight of the dumbwaiter in the kitchen. He hadn't hidden there before, so his dad would never expect it! His trainers squeaked loudly against the linoleum tiles as he scrambled across the kitchen. From the look of the door, it would be old and worn down, but time was getting short and he didn't have much choice now. Dust flew out as he pulled the door open, making him cough. He climbed in anyways. The bottom creaked in warning as Severus' small body settled on to it, but time was out now. He closed the dumbwaiter door just seconds before the front door slammed open.

There was a deafening silence in the dumbwaiter as Severus held his breath. It was cramped and hot in there, and the air was rank with the smell of rot. He couldn't leave, though. He could hear his parents' muffled arguing, and it seemed to go on forever. Damn, he probably woke her up. She'd definitely sell him out now. Damn!

"WHERE IS THE BOY?!" cracked through the house, and fear sank into his bones. His mum must have told him what had happened today. The thought didn't linger for long. Instead, he focused on the resumed arguing from the front end of the house. Whatever it was his mum had said must not have been good enough, as it was cut short with a resounding CRACK!

There was a deadly, silent moment before his dad's voice filled the air around him again.

"SEVERUS TOBIAS SNAPE! GET OUT HERE, BOY!"

Severus hated how the word 'boy' sounded like a curse coming out of his father's mouth, like it was some dirty word only to be used to label the lowest of the low.

Every nerve in his body screamed at him to run, to let his feet carry him far, far from the reach of his father. But he couldn't. Severus Snape was stuck in place in that tiny dumbwaiter, all but holding his breath as he prayed that he would stay hidden. Listening carefully, he could hear his dad thunder around the house. His footsteps were as loud and harsh as his tirade.

Seconds stretched into minutes that he soon lost count of. His back and shoulders ached, and his knees were throbbing their protest in a steady rhythm. He couldn't move, though. He didn't know if it was safe. Severus looked at the bottom of the dumbwaiter door, trying to see what sort of light was coming through. It was yellow, like the kitchen light was, but something was off about it. It was only coming in through the two corners. The middle length of the crack was dark, almost as if… His breath caught in his throat. Every single fibre that was Severus Snape froze, and a long minute passed.

The dark strip didn't move, and he was close to panicking. The dust and mould and rot of the old wood were starting to get to him. His nose stung, and he found his eyes watering in protest. He held his breath, praying - no, begging - that he didn't sneeze. But the gods listened today about as well as they usually did.

Severus couldn't hold the sneeze in, and the sheer force of it shook the dumbwaiter. The door snapped open. Light flooded in, creating a sinister halo around Tobias Snape. Severus found himself crying almost immediately as his dad reached in, hands closing painfully around his thin arms.

"You hush up, boy! I heard what you did today!" he shouted, spittle flying in Severus' face as he was roughly pulled from the dumbwaiter. His skin stung where it was quickly dragged across the old wood.

"I didn't do it! IwasagoodboyIwasagoodboyIwasagoodboysirIpromise!" The words spewed from his mouth in a huge rush, violent sobs following soon after. There wasn't much more of a reaction to be had from the way his father looked at him. His dark eyes, so akin to Severus' own, were swimming with hate and drink. Not like they ever weren't.

"You can't lie to me, boy!" Tobias shouted, shaking him roughly by the arm before nearly tossing him to the floor.

Severus continued his protest as he was dropped on the floor. His father stood there, watching as he cried. Terror continued to force its way through him for a good five minutes before his father did anything else.

As his sobs died down, Tobias leaned down to whisper in his ear, voice filled with venom. "You bloody freak. I should have dropped you and your mum years ago." Tobias straightened back up again, before lashing a kick out at Severus' exposed back. The was a snap that seemed to fill the entire kitchen, and his dad's face lit up in glee.

"Worthless boy!" he shouted. "Stupid, ungrateful, weak, snivelling, freakish, mess of a son!" Every word punctuated by a kick.

Pain bloomed like a vicious flower with every strike, and he was powerless to defend himself. He couldn't do anything but cry out as he was pulled up from the floor by his collar, or when he was thrown up against the wall. The look in his dad's eyes terrified him, largely because he couldn't name it. He didn't know what it was, but it reminded him of maliciousness and something… worse. He screamed as he was slammed against the wall a good number of times, until he could no longer protest his treatment. He could do no more than whimper as he was dragged from the kitchen through the rest of the house.

His dad tossed him over his shoulder in the living room. His screams were reborn again as pain shot through every single nerve he had - pain that was more searing agony than anything else. The most horrible sounds he could make ripped their way through his throat the entire way as his dad carried him up the stairs, every step jolting his injuries again and again. He almost sobbed in relief when his dad set him down in the master bedroom, but that sob was cut short.

Things he didn't want to see, didn't want to remember.

Hands reaching for him. Undoing the buttons on his shirt.

The draughty house raising Severus' skin in soft goosebumps.

Being led towards the bed.

"I'll teach you what happens to freaks" whispered against his neck.

Things to forget. Things to forget. Things to never see again.

Severus wondered where his mum was the whole time. Why wasn't she helping him? Why didn't she save him? Wasn't that what mums were supposed to do? No... she wouldn't help him. She never did.

The last thought he had before pain took him was a single, desperate wish that some day, be it near or far from now, he would have a family that loved him. A real family.

Both father and son missed the soft whirl of wind that teased the edges of everything briefly before disappearing, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.

~x~x~

Eileen Prince disappeared after that first night, as if she had simply ceased to exist. Severus couldn't know, but it was close enough to the truth. Tobias merely shrugged off the fact that his wife was missing, saying that she'd probably just run off with some other bloke.

Severus was pulled out of school by Tobias the day after the incident, giving the two plenty of time to set up a routine. Severus would wake, cold and alone, much like he did that very morning.

It had been a month since that particular day had come to pass, and he was starting to lose hope for ever getting away. His lost hope probably had something to do with the chains and collar that Tobias had put on him. He fingered the collar gently, cheeks flaming at the memory.

It had been just a few days after that first one. His father had come home with a bag from the local pet store, and he'd been confused. They didn't have any pets. Tobias had pulled out the collar - black leather with silver spikes on it - with a sadistic grin spread wide across his face.

"Strip, boy!" he'd ordered.

Severus had hesitated to comply, but the sight of Tobias reaching for something to beat him with had set him to the task. He'd unbuttoned and stripped the way Tobias had shown him how to, his face and neck red with embarrassment.

"Get on all fours and crawl over here," Tobias called out lewdly.

And he'd done it, eyes hot and pricking with tears as he made his way over. His knees complained every time they hit the carpet, but he'd kept going.

Eventually he was there, on all fours in front of Tobias, head hung in shame.

"Look up at me boy."

Tobias was ready for him, collar in hand and just as stark as he was. He'd leaned over and closed it around Severus' neck.

"You're mine boy, and don't you forget it."

Hot breath in his ear.

Things to forget. Things to forget.

Knees behind his.

Things to forget.

The keening scream that forced its way from between his lips.

Things to forget. Things to forget.

Severus shook himself out of the memory. The collar was still clutched in his hand, his knuckles white. He wanted, so badly, to be free of the stupid chains and stupid collar and that stupid father of his. His face contorted in pain and he lashed out, kicking against the side of the bed.

He was only six. He couldn't run away. Six year olds didn't run away. So instead, he resigned himself to household duties, trudging downstairs to get started on the cleaning.

There was a small gust of wind in the room shortly after Severus left. When he returned that night, he couldn't remember the bed ever having been that comfortable.

~x~x~

Severus' days continued much like that, with very little deviation. His father went to work for some odd construction company or another, leaving Severus about 10 hours to do all the house chores. When Tobias came home, Severus serviced him as needed, and Tobias would give him a beating if he cried. Then Tobias would pass out drunk, leaving Severus to take care of himself.

As the days passed, Severus curled in on himself, plotting and planning an escape. He just had to hope he'd have the energy for it. His skin had started to stretch thin, and his cheeks and eyes had begun sinking in. He was easier to startle, prone to jumping and yelping at the slightest thing. He was hyper alert, everything catching his notice and scaring him.

Tobias slowly worked to make Severus more obedient, showing him exactly how far his displeasure could go. He still had the scars to remind him that, for now, Tobias was to be kept happy.

It took nearly a year for anything to change.

~April 1987~

17 Spinner's End, Cokeworth, England had become an even more unpleasant place than it had previously been. Their neighbours had long since moved on, eerie wails in the night playing on old superstitions. They moved on, houses left to continue on in disrepair.

17 Spinner's End needed its fair share of work, too. It was dingy and the shutters were falling off. The yard was long and overgrown, with weeds running rampant, but that was exactly what the small seven year old - the one currently hiding between the weeds and the kitchen wall - needed.

Severus was struggling to put his shoes on without shaking the chains too much. He knew his dad was looking for him - he could hear Tobias rummaging through all of his old hidey holes. Tobias wouldn't find him in a single one of them, though. Not once this bloody trainer got on his foot. A smile lit up his face for the first time in ages as his foot slipped into the too-small trainer. He didn't even wait to tie it. He just tore through the yard, straight ahead, as if the hounds of hell would soon be on his trail. It was a close enough analogy.

He heard Tobias run out the front door. He was yelling after him, threatening him, stumbling down the old back stoop. But he wasn't coming back.

He would never come back.

~x~x~

Severus' malnourished and underfed feet managed to get him about 3 miles away from home before they tripped him up. He went flying face first into the patch of grass that marked the entrance of a park, skidding gracefully across it. He knew the grass would be stained into his black tee and his jeans, but he didn't much care right now. He was away from his father. He still had that blasted collar on and those stupid chains, but they lost all of their meaning without Tobias and his threats.

He got to his feet shakily, stumbling as he stood. Looking around, he knew no one would be here. It was well after dark now, and the park was illuminated by lamp posts.

Severus wasn't ready for how weak his body was. His hands were shaking and his knees trembled as he tried to walk. It was one long, wobbling step after another after another, just trying to get into the park. He was tired, exhausted, and starved. Running away, while letting him escape, did not do much to remedy that particular problem. Tobias and his bloody cheap arse, telling him that he couldn't afford to waste food on an ungrateful whelp like Severus.

Tobias.

Thinking about him made bile rise up in Severus' throat. He held it back in desperation, and he succeeded until he hit the treeline that separated that park from nearby housing. Then it outright refused to be contained, forcing him to double over as it evacuated his mouth. His eyes burned with non-existent tears as he heaved and heaved until he had nothing more to give.

Severus nearly collapsed then and there, his body ready to give in to the months of abuse and malnourishment.

One more day, he told himself. Just one more blasted day.

He managed, with the last of his energy, to drag himself to a different tree, away from the bile. He fell over in a heap when he reached it, curling up as sleep took him.

~x~x~

Silver.

Jingling, jangling, clanking.

Heavy and cold.

Burning him with welded on links.

A collar.

Hands exploring with gross familiarity.

Revulsion.

Whiskey laden breath.

Forget. Forget. FORGET.

~x~x~

"Tuney, Tuney, look! I found a boy!"

What?

"Lily, he's dirty! Get away!"

Who?

"But Tuney! He looks hurt!"

"That's none of our business, Lily, now get away!"

"Tuney, why's he wearing a collar?"

Why is that voice closer…?

"A coll-?"

Ahhh… silence again.

"Lily, go run and get mum. Now!"

And Severus woke up just long enough to dry heave all over Petunia Evans.

~x~x~

Warm.

That was the first thing Severus could think of. Blessed God, he was warm. Uncomfortable, but still warm.

Discomfort turned into pain soon enough, though. It didn't take him long to realise that he was being carried, and that every step was jolting every injury he had. A hiss of pain escaped him when he started trying to wiggle out of the stranger's arms.

"Calm down now, son. You gave my Tuney and Lily a right fright, you know."

Severus noted that the breath had a distinct lack of alcohol. Couldn't be Tobias, then. Actually… the arms around him smelled rather pleasant. Like pine trees and leather. That voice was nice, too. It was low and rich. It sounded the way he thought home was supposed to feel. He almost didn't notice the arms tighten against his struggling.

Severus gave up struggling to try to look around, only to realise that his entire world was out of focus, and he couldn't quite get up the energy to focus on the man carrying him, or the hand holding his a little too tightly.

~x~x~

Severus woke up screaming, a nightmare still fresh behind his eyes. Every inch of him ached; His stomach felt like it was being pulled into his spine, and his head hurt something awful.

There was noise to the side of him, almost inaudible compared to his screaming.

And then, a soothing hand against his forehead. A gentle voice. "There, there. It's okay. You're safe now."

Severus' eyes shot open, instantly taken with the woman hovering over him.

She smelled like roses, he realised, and it was weirdly... comforting.

She looked nice enough. Her hair was a warm, almost golden shade of brown, tied up in a loose braid that seemed to suit her rather well. Her eyes were kind, so unlike his own mother's. They were the most stunning shade of green he'd ever seen, and they were overflowing with love and pain and confusion. She looked how he imagined a mother should.

Behind her, he could see that the wall was not his own peeling, faded wallpaper. Instead, the walls were painted a warm sage, and he could see that the furniture was all oak. Probably expensive, and definitely the kind of thing Tobias would never buy. He'd rather squander it all away on drink, instead of buying them food. He definitely wouldn't try and make a room look comfortable. If it was usable, well, that was good enough for him.

A scowl settled on his face. That bloody fucker Tobias. He could see the woman's lips purse in worry, but he couldn't stop the loathing that boiled up from deep within him. Severus didn't even notice when she got up and left, the door closing with a soft click.

~x~x~

"What are we going to do, Harry?" she worried, wringing her hands together. Her little family was gathered in the hall outside the guest room. The boy's screaming had woken them all up. "I don't know what he was thinking about, but I've never seen a child look like that. Harry, he can't be more than 5 by the size of him. He's smaller than Lily is, and he's got enough hate in him to drown a horse." Her voice was soft but riddled with anxiety.

Her husband, Harry, just placed a hand on her shoulder with intimate familiarity. "I don't know, but he looks rough. We'll have to let him warm up to us, Rose." His own voice was much richer than Rose's, but it was brimming with pain and conflict. He hated to see children suffering. It hurt his heart so much. There wasn't anything they could do for him, though, not until he decided it was time to talk to them, so he just ushered Rose and their children back to bed. No point in standing around a door before even the birds were awake.

The whole way back to her room, Lily kept throwing worried glances at the door she knew he was behind. She hoped he would be okay.

~x~x~

Severus woke up to gentle green light and soft singing. He jolted up, scanning the room quickly. There was a girl sitting in an oak rocker underneath the window across from his bed, but that was it. His shoulders slumped forward in relief. No Tobias.

"Oh you're up!" she exclaimed.

"Shhhh," he managed to whimper out. There were sharp pains all over his head.

"Sorry," she squeaked, and Severus finally got a good look at her. She had dark red hair that blazed like fire with the light behind her, and freckles all across her nose, and eyes just like the lady's.

Must be her mum.

"It's all right," he said, waving off her apology. A pang in his stomach gave him pause, and he would have ignored it if it hadn't been accompanied by the loudest rumble his stomach had ever made. His ears grew hot, and he knew his face was flush with embarrassment.

She just smiled, a warm look like her mother's own, before standing and heading to the door. "Do you like chicken or tomato soup better?"

He eyed her speculatively before giving her a hesitant "chicken."

"Alright! I'll be right back up, yeah?" And with that she was up and out, leaving Severus on his own in the room.

He pulled himself up so he was sitting fully, and looked around. He could see that he was right about the furniture - it was all oak, complementing the sage paint rather well. The window across from him was right in front of a large tree, letting blotches of green sunlight filter into the room. He was rather taken with it, and the nice creamy, cotton sheets he was sat on. The comforter was the darkest thing in the room, and even that wasn't very dark. No, it was just a very rich golden brown. He decided very quickly that he liked this room, and he couldn't wait to get his feet into the squishy looking carpet.

A few minutes later, the girl was back, with a whole group of people cramming their way into the doorway. The girl took her spot back in the rocker by the window, and an older looking girl leaned against the wall next to her. There was a stern man who simply nodded at Severus and took a seat at the foot of his bed. Finally, the lady he'd seen earlier came in carrying a tray with a bowl of chicken soup, some toast, and a pitcher of water. She set it down across his lap before taking a spot on the bed next to him.

Severus found himself fidgeting in discomfort. He wasn't used to being around this many people anymore. It took a bit of staring at his lap and fidgeting for anyone to realise what was going on.

"Any reason you're just staring at your food, there?" the man asked, and Severus recognised that voice. It had carried him before.

"No, sir," he mumbled quickly, head down.

"Well, why aren't you eating yet?"

"I just… uhm… could I maybe eat alone, sir?" He could feel red creeping along his neck and cheeks.

"Does kind of alone work for you?" came from the man.

"Kind of alone?" Severus looked up through his lashes, confusion etching itself in the middle of his brow.

"Well, it'd make me feel better if one of us could stay here with you to make sure you're alright." Severus nodded. "Well then, I should introduce us. I'm Harry, and that there little fiery beast under the window is Lily, and that lovely lady next to her is Petunia. The beauty sitting next to you there is Rose, if she hasn't told you her name yet."

Severus nodded a quick hello to them all before giving them his name under his breath.

"What was that?" Petunia piped up.

"It's Severus. Severus Tobias Snape." It was clearer than before.

"Very nice to meet you!" Rose told him, a breathtaking grin stretching across her cheeks.

There was a "Nice ta meetcha, Sev!" from Lily, with her sister giving him a simple "Hullo."

And that was that. Harry walked out, Petunia following him while Lily skipped right on out of the room. Rose was left as if by some unspoken decision.

She patted the bed before she got up, leaving Severus and his tray of soup for the newly emptied rocker. "I'll be here if you need me."

He'd never felt so reassured.

~x~x~

Down in the kitchen, Harry was having a conversation he'd never wanted to have with his youngest daughter.

"Daddy, why's Sev wearin' a collar? An' why's he got on chains? Why's his clothes so ripped? Don't his parents get him new clothes? D'ya think they put the chains on him?"

Harry just chuckled, picking her up and setting her on his lap. It was time to tell her a few things she wouldn't want to hear.

"Well, Lils," he started, getting himself settled. "We don't really know much about Mr. Snape, but we can probably guess some things. Like that his parents can't buy him new clothes very often. They probably aren't very nice to him, either, Lils." He made sure she was facing him when he said that, trying to make sure she understood how serious he was.

"But parents gotta be nice to their kids, daddy. That's how parents do stuff," she answered with painful innocence.

God, he didn't want to have this conversation.

"Not all parents are nice to their kids, Lils. Sometimes, parents can be real mean, and they do bad things to their kids. It's always different. You know how bullies in school treat people?" She nodded. "Well, parents can be liked that. They might say real mean things, or they might make them do things they don't want to do. They can make the kid think that they're a bad kid when they've done nothing wrong." Lily looked like she was following him, so he barged straight into the heart of the matter. "And sometimes, parents do evil things, Lily. Sometimes parents are very bad people, and they hurt their children. Maybe the starve them, or hit them, and some parents… some parents do very, very wrong things to their kids. And all of this is called abuse, Lily."

And now he could tell he'd lost her. "But why would a parent hurt their kid, daddy? Parents are s'posed to love their kids, daddy."

Harry just shook his head. "Not all parents do, Lily. Some parents never wanted to have kids, and they say that kids ruined their lives. Some parents are angry, and sometimes there's not a reason, Lily. Sometimes they're just very mean, bad people."

He and Lily sat there while she tried to comprehend what he'd just said. He knew it would be hard for her to understand, but he tried his best.

~x~x~

If anyone had bothered to ask, Severus would have never hesitated to say that the food he'd just eaten was the best he'd ever had. The soup was a nice, simple chicken broth that warmed him from the inside out, and the toast filled him up pretty quick. It didn't take long for his stomach to stop complaining at him. It traded off with something else, though.

He looked up at Rose with wide eyes. "Miss, may I use the loo?" he asked urgently. He really had to go.

Rose nodded, and he was out of bed like a rocket. "Second door on the right!" she called after him.

Severus shouted back a quick thanks that was punctuated by the bathroom door closing.

~x~x~

The next few weeks for the Evans family involved a great number of appointments and phone calls.

The NSPCC had been called and met with first. The meeting had been a bit terse, with Sev reluctant to open up about his past with the Evans family in the room. Eventually he had been convinced to show just Harry and one social worker. Harry had walked out with quiet tears, simply shaking his head when his family asked what was wrong. The social worker had removed Sev's chains - previously left on to prevent potentially disrupting evidence - and told them to call a lawyer and prepare a case. He carefully packed away his camera and notes and left, the chains clinking softly in the evidence bags.

Next had been the lawyer, a nice enough looking lady who had taken to Severus like a duck takes to water. She doted on him whenever he was present for meetings, and he would always duck away, not keen on having someone pay so much attention paid to him. The lawyer decided that using testimony from both the social worker and a very specific doctor she was close with would be their best bet. This would give them concrete and irrefutable evidence, ensuring a win.

The doctor was the last of the series of appointments that Sev had to worry about before the actual court cases begun. She was a kind, older lady - soft spoken with happy eyes, and gentle as could be with Severus. She explained, very thoroughly, what every single examination was and why they were doing it. She told him that they had to be very thorough and make sure to document everything, and he had to make sure to tell her the full truth. And he did. Harry had taken him to the appointment, and held his hand the entire time. He took to whispering reassurances to Sev whenever he tensed or started getting anxious. Sev was rather grateful for this, but he had to look away whenever tears started to rise in Harry's eyes.

Despite the constant appointments and influx of professionals, it didn't take too long for Severus to warm up to the Evans family. He learned that Rose was a gardener, and Harry owned a small artisan carpentry business the next town over. Petunia was an aspiring ballerina, though she barely ever danced around him. Lily wanted to be a doctor - not a nurse, a real doctor, she'd said. When Severus asked her why she had to make the distinction, her face screwed up something ugly and she muttered 'Grandma Ifans' like a curse before storming off.

It didn't take long for him to worm his way into the family, but he was still holding back, as if he was afraid that attaching himself to them would only bring him greater pain.

He still had regular nightmares and was easy to startle, prone to panic attacks, and couldn't stand to be around more than a few people at a time, but he was managing.

~1988~

Severus was officially an Evans. Their first legal battle would have been quickly won if Tobias Snape hadn't gone and drank himself to death shortly after the initial accusation. The body of Eileen Prince had been found in a shallow grave at 17 Spinner's End. Afterward, when the issue of where Severus would go came up, Rose and Harry had put up one hell of a fight to keep him . They had won custody of him rather quickly, and Sev was welcomed as an official member of the Evans family with open arms.

That had been months ago, overlapping with his and Lily's birthdays. It hadn't mattered to them, not really. Sev being family was more than enough present for either of them.

It hadn't always been the easiest thing. Severus still didn't like to be around too many people at once, but he and Lily had grown quite attached. Lily helped tutor Sev when she got home from school, and he would help her study in return. They became inseparable rather quickly.

Petunia had also taken quite well to the permanent addition that was Sev. As he had a less biased opinion, she would ask what he thought of certain dance moves put in a certain order to certain music. He was usually quite entranced at whatever little show Petunia put on for him, and had, in recent days, taken to asking her to show him how to do certain moves. She was more than happy to.

Rose and Harry loved Severus as if he had always been their own. Sure, he was stubborn, refusing gifts of most things, but it made sense to them. He'd been called a burden previously, why would he just start accepting them all in stride? And so they started giving him gifts of another kind. Whenever Sev was feeling down, Rose was there with an open ear and a mug of hot cocoa. If he accidentally hurt himself or needed some reassurance, Rose was there to help. Harry soothed Sev's nightmares every night, comforting him until he could finally sleep again. Harry was Sev's go-to when he had a problem or didn't understand anything, or when he really just needed silent company.

They made sure Severus was treated just as the girls were, in everything from bedtimes and playtimes, what he could and couldn't eat, and rinsing his mouth out with some awful licorice concoction whenever his potty mouth got away from him. That one was okay, though, because Lily got in trouble for it just as often as he did.

Severus didn't think a better family had ever existed.

~x~x~

Early June found Sev and Rose in a large department store, cart stacked high with every single clothing item Sev could possibly ever need. Just looking at them made him groan. He didn't see the need for a new wardrobe; His hand-me-downs were perfectly fine when Rose resized them, and he already had the few things that they had already insisted on buying more of. He didn't need more clothes.

Rose had stuck firm, though, insisting that he was one of her children, and as such all of his things would be equal to Lily and Petunia's. Lily and Petunia, who had quite the vast array of clothes, for any number of occasions one might come up with, which meant he would be getting his own wardrobe of equal proportions.

He was going to have new trainers, boots, a pair of thongs, more types of shirts than he cared to count, trousers and shorts and pants and slacks and anything else they could come up with to add.

The only problem, one Severus was quite vocal about, was that nearly all of the colors either made him look paler than he already was, or incredibly yellow.

Rose gave him a soft smile, which he returned in the form of a pout.

"We can always dye them if you'd like, Sev," she told him.

Dye? Oh, oh definitely not. He shook his head. "It's okay. They're just clothes."

His distaste at the thought of dying all of his clothes must have been obvious, because Rose shot a rueful grin his way.

.

Severus and Rose came back home to find all the clothes had gone dark - blacks, blues, greens, and purples galore.

While Severus had been confused, Rose had just shaken her head. "Oh, you, too?"

Severus started, swearing up and down that he'd done nothing.

"Oh, I don't think you did it on purpose, Sev, but you did do something," she chuckled. "We'll have to tell Lily, of course, she'll be glad to have someone around who understands."

Severus just stared at her. "Understands?"

"Oh, yes. Lily does this kind of stuff all the time."

"But… doesn't that mean she's a freak?" he asked tentatively.

"Sev!" Rose exclaimed. "Of course she's not a freak, and neither are you! I'll get you to understand that one some day, I swear I will. You two can just do things we can't." She settled down onto her knees to look at him. "Severus Evans, you never have been, and never will be, a freak. You have a very wonderful gift, Sev. Never be ashamed of it," she told him softly. "Never, ever."

Severus looked like Christmas had come early. He wasn't a freak.