Severus' Life

Chapter 1

16-year-old Severus walked into the small Bed and Breakfast he had found walking through the small town, hoping to find a warm place to sleep on an unseasonably cold July night. He walked into the house and looked around waiting for someone to come. It was fair size house that appeared to be old but well kept up.

Eventually an elderly lady who looked to be about mid to late fifties came around the corner. The lady smiled at him taking in the young boy in front of her, and her mother instincts kicked in. The poor boy was so thin and looked like he hadn't had a decent nigh sleep in quite some time judging from the circles under his eyes. She smiled a warm loving smile at him.

"Hi, how long do you need place for sweetie?" She kindly asked.

Severus pulled out a little wad of cash and quickly counted how much he had, which wasn't much, "I think I only have enough for one night."

She laid her hand over his and said, "I didn't ask how much money you had child, I asked how long you needed a place to stay?"

He looked up into her kind eyes and shrugged. He had no idea when, if ever, he would go back home.

She walked over to him and took both of his hands in hers. "Come along dear, I have just the place for you."

She led him up the stairs down a hallway and through to her most comfortable rooms out of the three she had available, "Here you are sweetie."

"Thank you ma'am," Severus said as he stepped into the room, "But I don't think I can afford this," he said looking down.

"None sense child, stay here as long as you need, it's on the house," she said with a smile.

"No I can't," Severus said not wanting to take advantage of her kindness.

"Okay then you can pay me by helping out around here," she said, "My youngest just moved out not that long ago, and now since all my children have moved and I lost Hector, I find that I need more help around here."

"Okay, thanks again," Severus said gratefully, now he didn't have to worry about finding a warm place to sleep anymore, and besides there's no way his dad would look for him here in a small muggle village of all places.

"Don't mention it Sweetie," she said as she patted his cheek and made her way out the door, "Have a good sleep, I'll see you in the morning," she closed the door and was gone before Severus could say anything.

Severus sat his bag down on the bed and looked around the room. It was a fair size room with a bathroom attached. He pulled out a pair of pyjamas from his bag and made his way to the bathroom to have a shower. After he was all clean and ready for bed he got between the clean sheets and sighed, it was nice to have a warm shower and clean sheets. Luxuries that he didn't realize he had until they were gone. Less than a week ago he had run away from home, more specifically his father.

It all started with him befriending a muggle born, Lily Evens. She was in his grade and spent lots of her time in the library, just like him. He always had people following him around to make sure he was 'okay' and not in 'danger' or getting into 'trouble', it was so annoying. So often he went into the library to study, or even just to get away from everyone for a while. That's where he met Lily, they talked and eventually became pretty good friends. They kept it mostly hidden due to house rivalries and such, and in Severus' case, he didn't want news of this getting back to his Dad.

But eventually dad had found out, and words were exchanged, all leading up to him running away. If Dad was going to be unreasonable then so was he. Every night he used the same logic to talk himself out of going home. He rolled onto his side and fell asleep.