Author's Note: I have been wondering what Severus Snape's life might have turned out if his parents had divorced by the time he started Hogwarts and he was then raised by only his mother. Since the idea would not leave me, I have decided to write a fic on it, but it will be set in the same universe as my fics A Different Future and Saved from Darkness.

Eileen Snape returned home from her job as a potions brewer at Petrov's Potions, carrying a wrapped plate of sandwiches left over from lunch and three-quarters of her week's salary (changed into pounds) in her pocket. She sighed, knowing that her husband would end up spending it at the pub, which was where he spent much of his time since he had lost his job at the mill six years previous. If it weren't for the fact that her employer, Ilsa Petrov, provided lunch for her two employees and insisted on their taking the leftovers home, Eileen probably would not have been able to make sure that her son, Severus, didn't have to go to bed hungry. As for the one-quarter of her salary she did not bring home for her husband to waste on drink, she used to pay the utility bills and buy clothes and other needed items with some saved to pay for school supplies once Severus started Hogwarts.

Eileen had no sooner entered the kitchen when she dropped the plate and gasped in shock. She immediately rushed over to where the curled-up body of her son, Severus, lay next to the stove. Her lips tightened when she saw the black eye and bruise on his cheek, and no doubt he had other injuries hidden underneath his clothes. His eyes were shut in a grimace of pain. Several torn pieces of parchment lay scattered next to him, one of which had the Hogwarts crest on it, providing a further clue as to what had occurred.

She was about to get her wand to cast a healing spell when loud and heavy footsteps sounded behind her. She turned to see her husband, Tobias, walk in the room, smelling of alcohol and with bloodshot eyes. "What did you do to Severus?" she demanded icily, though she strongly suspected that the arrival of Severus's Hogwarts letter had something to do with setting him off.

"Just taught him a lesson," snapped Tobias Snape. "I'm not having a freak son going off to a freak school to learn nonsense. He's going to a normal school. And he had the nerve to talk back to me!"

"And if he doesn't go to Hogwarts and learn to master his magic, then it'll just start breaking out and cause even more trouble!" retorted Eileen. "He's going whether you like it or not, Tobias!"

"What good do these freaky powers do us? You couldn't use it to get my job at the mill back, much less let us live like swells."

At that point, Eileen snapped. She had put up with her husband and his drinking problem for the past six years, hoping that he would change and go back to being the loving man he was when they first married. She had also done her best to protect their son from his rages, which mainly why Severus hadn't suffered anything worse than some slaps and punches until now. Tonight, however, it was abundantly clear to her that Tobias would never change, and her heart almost broke at the knowledge that she hadn't been around to protect her son today, so that he had suffered greatly.

"If you don't like the fact that I'm a witch and Severus is a wizard, then why did you marry me in the first place? I told you that I was one after we got engaged and you had no problem with it. You are an idiot, Tobias Snape, and it's clear that you will always be a drunkard and will never change. Severus and I are leaving you and we never want to see you again."

Tobias raised a hand and struck her hard, on the cheek. Before she could react to this, he then kicked Severus, who let out a moan. Tobias drew his foot back for another kick, but Eileen grabbed the frying pan sitting on the stove and hit him in the head with it, knocking him out. She then cast a temporary healing spell on her son, which would last until he got proper medical treatment, helped him get up, and Side-Along Apparated him out of the house on Spinner's End and to the front door of Petrov's Potions.

"Eileen!" exclaimed Ilsa Petrov in surprise when she opened the door. "And Severus! What are you- oh dear, what happened?" Without waiting for an answer, she quickly moved to one side to let Eileen and Severus inside and then shut the door. "How did you get that black eye and bruise, Severus? Never mind, I can guess. Eileen, I take it that you have finally decided to leave your husband?"

Eileen nodded. "Today was the last straw. Severus got his Hogwarts letter today, and Tobias reacted badly to it. If only I had been around to protect him."

"You didn't know something would happen to Severus, Eileen. Well, the guest room is the second door on the right. I'll go get some healing potions, and you can ask Lise to see what healing he needs. She's in the dining room across the hall."

Eileen led Severus up to the first floor (1) and into the guest room, which was papered in blue and silver and the bed had a matching blue coverlet. "Mum, you're really leaving Dad?" he asked quietly once they were alone.

"Yes, Sev," she answered. "I should have done it years ago, but I foolishly thought he would change and be the way he was when we were first married. I'm sorry that you had to suffer under him, and that I wasn't around to protect you from him today."

"Mum, you have to work," pointed out Severus. "Otherwise we'd have been out in the street. So it's all right. All that matters now is that you left him."

Eileen gave him a tiny smile and then went across the hall to get Lise Romanov, who immediately grabbed her healer's bag and wand and rushed into the guest room. The first thing she did was cast on diagnostic spell on Severus. Her eyes flashed when she saw the results. She cast a more permanent healing spell and at that point, Mrs. Petrov came in, a few bottles and small jars in her apron pocket. After a quick and hushed conversation with Mrs. Romanov, she took a jar of bruise balm and gently smeared some on the black eye and bruise. She then gave him a dose of Pain-Reducing potion.

Mrs. Romanov conjured a basin of water and summoned a towel from the bathroom, which she set on the dresser. Mrs. Petrov handed Eileen a jar of medicated salve and whispered something that Severus didn't catch. The former then turned to Severus and said, "Your mother will tend to the rest of your... injuries, since I don't think you want somone you barely know to do it, Severus. I'll bring the two of you some dinner in a few minutes, and we can discuss your future plans, Eileen. If you don't mind taking a small reduction in your salary, you and your son are prefectly free to live here."

"Thank you, Ilsa," said Eileen gratefully. When the two other women had left the room, she turned to her son and began tending him, fighting back tears when she saw the welts on his back and silently cursing her soon-to-be-ex-husband. When she was done, Mrs. Romanov returned with a tray of food for the both of them and Mrs. Petrov had a small stack of clothes in her arms.

"Here you are, Severus," the latter said, handing him a set of forest green pyjamas and navy blue robes. "My son Nikolas outgrew these." The rest of the clothes, consisting of a nightgown and another set of robes she gave to Eileen. While Severus had dinner, Eileen and Mrs. Petrov had a discussion in the kitchen. When it ended, the result was that Eileen and Severus would live with the Petrovs, in a small suite of rooms on the second floor, with meals included, and her salary of twenty-five Galleons a week was reduced to fifteen. After that, the two went upstairs to the top floor and got settled in two bedrooms with a connecting bathroom between them.

(1) I am using the European labeling of floors. The first floor is the ground floor in Europe, the second floor becomes the first floor, and so on.