Chapter Text
It was another 14th of July and the rain poured over Spinner’s End. The gray houses rose threateningly under the downpour. Streams ran down the avenue, flooding the road before spilling into the dirty river. The streets were empty and only the lights in some houses manifested the presence of life in the neighborhood.
Severus sat on the porch of his father’s house, his long nose buried, as always, in a book on the Dark Arts. Inside his mother was preparing dinner for the family, even though his father wouldn't appear, at least not sober.
“Dinner is ready” Eileen shouted from inside the house. Severus closed the book and entered the living room. His mother was waiting beside the table while serving watery soup into plates with a rusty ladle. “Come and sit, the soup will get cold” she hurried when she saw him. She also sat down and watched him expectantly.
“Won’t you have dinner?” Severus asked when he saw his mother wasn’t eating. Eileen attempted a smile and shook her head “I will wait for your father”
Severus said nothing more and re-started to eat, little by little, trying to make it look like more, cheating hunger. He had lost weight again and he hadn't enough supplementary potions to regain it. He couldn’t afford the ingredients to brew more. Every spare Knut had to be saved for school supplies.
He was nearly finished when the door slammed open. Tobias staggered in, too drunk to stand properly, clinging to the frame. He brought with him the stench of cheap whisky. Trudging he approached the table, and when he touched his soup plate and felt it cold an enraged expression crossed his face.
Severus prepared for what was to come and flinched when his father started shouting and cursing his mother. Always happened the same and he was tired of it all, he just couldn’t take it back anymore
“Stop! Leave her alone! Your dish is cold and now hers too, and it’s only because of you and your fucking stupid drunken activities father” and he knew he had messed out as the words were said.
His father turned to face him as he stepped back. He prepared to escape as Tobias put his hand up but the hit came first throwing him to the ground. His mother shouted as he was brutally kicked. Severus curled in on himself shielding his head. When Tobias paused to breathe, Severus twisted away, crawling toward the door. Eileen rushed forward, grabbing Tobias’s arm, shouting for him to stop. Tobias shoved her aside, but the moment of distraction was enough. Severus stumbled out the door and ran.
Outside it was still pouring, Severus ran until his lungs started to give out and the adrenaline ceased its effect and he started to feel the pain of all of his fresh wounds. The tiredness clouded his mind and he passed out.
___________________________________
Dark smoke covered the image,a mark, a reunion, the snake, his master. The images passed rapidly. He was running but there was no rain, something terrified him although he did not know what. He arrived at a house he didn’t recognize, the air was cold and the surroundings were deadly quiet.
He entered the house and climbed the stairs passing over a familiar corpse he didn’t pay any attention to. His breath nevertheless quickened as he entered the room where a child cried in the crib. In the floor a red haired corpse he immediately recognized lied. Lily. He felt as his world crumbled and he felt to his knees cradling the dead body in his arms as he cried the death of his best friend.
___________________________________
Severus woke up with the smell of fresh garbage, he was lying in a deserted street, half-curled beside an overflowing trash can. The rats were starting to circle closer, some of them had even gnawed at the edge of his shoe. He tried to move, to kick them away, but the world lurched violently. His vision blurred, the street tilting and spinning until he had no choice but to let his head fall back against the ground and he was left to lay there, skin burning with fever.
When he opened his eyes again he wasn’t on the streets anymore. Instead, he woke up beneath a ceiling that had probably once been white but had faded into an almost yellow hue, the paint was cracked. The sharp sting of disinfectant filled his nose, barely masking a deeper, sour odor—sweat, damp fabric, and something faintly metallic. A plastic IV line tugged at his arm, loosely taped, the edges peeling as if it had been adjusted too many times.
The next thing Severus noticed was a faded blue curtain that hung around his bed, not properly closed leaving gaps at the sides. Beyond it, the room stretched out in two uneven rows of portable beds. A few patients lay still, others shifted restlessly; quiet groans blended with the distant clatter of metallic trays and hurried footsteps. Somewhere nearby, a machine beeped irregularly, as if struggling to keep rhythm.
“He was tossed in the street” a woman’s voice said. “They said he’s from that block… Spinner’s End.”
The way she said it made his skin crawl, the disgust, maybe pity.
“Yes… social services have been called,” she continued. “They’ll place him with the others.”
The others. Severus felt something cold settle in his chest.
He forced himself upright, fighting the dizziness. Quick steps, he didn’t have enough time. With a quick move the IV line disconnected from his with a sharp sting. He barely noticed. By the time the curtain shifted, he was already running.