"What are we doing back here again?" Harry asked as the younger Severus combed his hair and dressed from a tattered brown school trunk.

"It is Christmas holiday. He came back to spend it with her."

"Oh," Harry said, wishing he had been allowed to spend the holidays with Ron and his family.

Gripping his ribs he stood up using the bed he lay next to as support. "What happens here? Is it a good Christmas?" He was hopeful, but Snape's face was unreadable.

"Pray the memory changes before the end of the holiday," was all Snape said as he followed his younger self from the room.

In a few hours they flew through days of pleasant memories in which hot, homemade meals were served, Christmas carols were sang, and presents were opened. Severus had gotten a hand knitted green and silver scarf, several new books, and a kiss on the cheek from his friend to a sneer from her sister Tuney.

It was two days after Christmas when things changed.

"This doesn't seem so bad," Harry was just commenting when the doorbell rang. Tuney's father opened the door to reveal Tobias Snape.

"Mr. Evans. I heard me son was here. We were hopin' to spend the rest o' teh holiday wit' him."

"Of course, of course. Severus! Come to the door please!"

Evans? Tuney Evans? Harry turned with question in his eyes to Snape, who was now visibly pale, and staring off into nothingness.

"Evans? This is my family? That's my mom and aunt... and, and grandparents? Why didn't you tell me?"

Harry frantically searched for is mother as he was forced to follow Severus to the front door where Tobias stood out in the cold. He caught a quick glimpse of her and aunt Petunia standing in the kitchen before they were out of sight and he had nothing to focus his attention on but Tobias and Severus.

"Hello son," Tobias said. "Yer mother's been worried abou' yeh. Yeh didn' write or nothing and... well, we'd like fer yeh to come home fer teh last two days."

Severus seemed unsure, but Harry's grandfather had placed a hand on his shoulder then and given him an encouraging look. "Go on son. We'll keep most of your stuff here and then take you back to the train on Sunday with Lily."

"Oh. Ok, thanks."

With no other choice, Severus followed his father out into the cold and down the street.

They sky was gray and the air chilled. Harry remembered what Snape had told him about praying for the end of this particular memory, and got a bad feeling about going back to Spinner's End.

Nothing seemed to be wrong yet however as Tobias seemed to be calm and far from angry.

As they neared the front door to the small, worn house, Severus slowed his pace, and Tobias said, "Come on boy. Yeh belong at home."

They walked up the steps and through the front door, and as soon as the door was closed, Tobias was shoving Severus down to the floor.

"Ow," Severus said as his elbow smacked the hard floor. "Why-"

"What teh hell do yeh think yer doin? They ain't yer family! We are! Yeh've never once come home for Christmas and the one time yeh do it's fer them!? He kicked Severus hard in the side and he whimpered before his father picked him up and threw him towards the stairs.

"Where's mum?" he asked as his father kicked him again until he moved up the stairs of his own free will.

"Out. She wen' teh spend teh holiday with her mother."

"But why am I here?" he asked as his father pushed him down the hall to a door at the end.

"Because yer goin' teh pay fer bein' a miserable wretch!" Suddenly Tobias was angry and shouting, and pushing Severus into a wall, and hitting him over and over again in the face and stomach.

Harry tried to turn away, but Snape was there, eyes glossed over, and he couldn't face him any more than he could face the scene in front of him. All he could see was a flurry of black hair and a larger man beating him... it was him and Uncle Vernon. And then Uncle Vernon was pushing him into the bathroom and running the icy bathwater as he pinned Harry to the floor of the tub. Harry couldn't breath, and he tried to shout to stop, that he'd be good, but it was no use, he was drowning, and there was no one there to stop it.

"Potter... Potter, look at me."

Breathing heavily, Harry began to realize that he was huddled on the ground with his arms over his face, completely dry. Well his body was dry, but his cheeks were wet with tears.

"Potter, look at me."

Harry slowly dropped his arms and squinted into bright sunlight. The memory had changed and they were out on the grounds of Hogwarts now. Young Severus was lying on the grass by the lake reading a book a few yards away. Elder Snape was kneeling before him on one knee.

"Look at me." Snape's voice was calm and concerned. By the look on his face, Harry had obviously frightened him.

Harry looked up slowly and met his eyes.

"What happened?"

Harry swallowed hard. "I- I don't know," he lied.

"You collapsed on the floor and started screaming and flailing your arms."

"Oh," Harry wiped his eyes on a sleeve and let out a deep breath.

"You were obviously not in my memory. Where were you?"

He swallowed again and looked away, down at the lake. After a few moments he said quietly, "At the bottom of the tub, drowning."

If not for the panicked episode he had just witnessed, Snape would have thought Harry had been making fun of him.

"When?"

Harry shuddered, not wanting to think about it anymore. "A couple times."

"Someone in your family?"

"Uncle Vernon."

Snape looked away across the grass for a few moments, and then asked, "What else have you endured?"

Harry shrugged. "Same as you I guess. Cooking, cleaning, shouting... severe punishments." He shuddered again.

"Why have you not told anyone of this?"

"I tried. Every year. I was in Dumbledore's office trying to tell him again... asking if I could stay here. But he won't let me. He doesn't believe me. Nobody does. Everybody thinks I'm pampered and spoiled. Nobody knows I come back to school each year with broken bones that I can't let Pomfrey heal ‘cause she'll ask too many questions."

Snape eyed the boy's ribs and asked, "How did your ribs get broken?"

"I burned the eggs."

Snape sighed and said, "I do not know how to mend broken bones."

"I usually wait until the first Quidditch practice and pretend to fall or something."

Rubbing a brow in consternation, Snape eyed Harry again and Harry pretended to be watching as his younger mother came and sat down on the grass by Severus. He had not realized until now how alike he and the boy were. He could not deny that the statement Potter had made was true, because he himself had previously believed him to be a spoilt, pampered brat. And now here he sat watching him in a new light. He had always thought the boy had been blessed with a fast metabolism when he came back to Hogwarts each year as thin as he had left, perhaps thinner. But now he knew better.

"Did you try telling McGonagall about your... home life?" He tried to imagine what he might have felt like if a teacher had asked him that question when he was fifteen, and wasn't sure if Harry would want to talk about this anymore.

"Once. She thought I was just trying to get her to sign my slip to go into Hogsmead."

They were quiet for a moment, and Harry was actually starting to enjoy being out in the warm sun when he pointed to the memory Snape and he said, "They're moving."

"Inside to lunch," Snape told him. He helped Harry stand up, now that he knew the boy's ribs were broken and he must be in a lot of pain. Just as he helped him up, the memory changed again, and Harry found himself grateful to be supported by his professor so that he didn't end up on the ground again. Snape barely managed to hold him as they continued on through the memories.