Spinner's End (2) [Revised Version]

[In the original work, the relationship between Tobias and Eileen was only depicted through their arguments. Snape only said they fought bitterly and never mentioned violence, but because I didn't read the book carefully enough at first, I wrote a plotline in which Tobias committed domestic violence. By the time I discovered that wasn't the case, I had already finished writing the story.

Because revising it would be very troublesome, I only changed some parts of the plot. This was my oversight; the original work takes precedence in all respects.]

If he really had to say, Snape didn't think his life was so terrible that it was unbearable.

His parents argued every day, and they were so poor that, as a child, he hadn't even had proper clothes to wear. Much of the time, he had to wear oversized, ill-fitting clothes and hide in the shadows to escape other people's looks of disgust.

But his mother taught him spells and told him how to brew potions. His father had a violent temper and sometimes got carried away enough during arguments with his mother to hit her, but occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would give Snape some money to buy food and make life a little better.

Yet Snape would rather their relationship had been worse.

If their relationship had deteriorated to the utmost, they wouldn't have had to keep tormenting each other over that tiny, ridiculous scrap of love they still had. If Eileen had ignored him completely, he could have hated his mother without reservation and complained about her running away from home. If Tobias hadn't had those pitifully rare moments of gentleness, he wouldn't have had to suffer such conflicted feelings.

His hatred had never reached its fullest extent, but there wasn't much love, either.

Long ago, his parents seemed to have been very much in love. It had been so long that he even doubted it had really happened. For as long as he could remember, there had been endless complaints and arguments, and he had always heard his mother stifling her sobs.

Two failures lived a life of poverty, and anything could start a fight. From something as significant as Eileen being a witch to something as trivial as why the rubbish on the table hadn't been thrown in the bin-

Even over the smallest things, they could scream themselves hoarse, dredging up everything that had happened before and cursing each other for it. Sometimes, by the end, he almost forgot what they had been arguing about in the first place.

He wished Eileen would actually divorce Tobias, so he could go somewhere new. But before long, they would inexplicably make up again and even go for walks outside hand in hand. Eileen said that was love. Snape was only confused.

Was that what love was like? Could it turn people into such terrifying monsters? Could it make people feel happy even as they were being hurt?

Today was no different. He had been about to go out, only for Tobias and Eileen to start arguing again over a jumble of things. Nothing had changed in all these years, and sometimes he grew sick of it.

He didn't want to get involved while they were fighting, so he deliberately waited a while. But neither showed any sign of stopping, and as time went on, they seemed increasingly likely to start dredging up old grievances.

Knock, knock, knock!

Just as he could stand it no longer and was about to leave regardless, someone knocked at the door. It hadn't been shut properly, so the knock pushed it open. Lily apparently hadn't expected that. Her hand froze in midair as she looked awkwardly at the chaos in the living room.

"What do you want?!" Tobias demanded gruffly, still in a rage.

"I, I'm looking for Severus..." Lily said nervously. "Is he home?"

The living room was already a mess. The family's pitifully few bowls lay shattered all over the floor, and the vase Tobias had bought for Eileen after their last fight had also been smashed to pieces.

At that moment, Snape felt all the blood in his body rush to his face. Having the person he liked witness such an embarrassing scene was like having his pride thrown to the ground and trampled. He had always wanted Lily to see him as clever and powerful, not-

"I'm here!" he shouted hurriedly, afraid his parents would say something else. "Ignore them. They're like this every day-"

"You're going out again, aren't you?!" Tobias shouted. "All you ever do is fool around outside, or stay in your room doing nothing. You're just as irritating as that mother of yours!"

"He can't stay at home all the time..." Eileen murmured. She shrank back when Tobias glared at her, then turned to Snape with an ingratiating smile. "It's nice at home, isn't it? Don't you love learning those spells?"

Somehow, her words struck another nerve with Tobias. His face darkened at once. "What did you say?!"

Eileen's voice dwindled, and she hunched her back. Startled by the sight, Lily instinctively stepped forward to intervene, but Snape quickly grabbed her and pulled her behind him.

"Leave them alone," he said in a low voice. "They're often like this."

"Are you sure they'll be all right?" Lily looked deeply worried. "They look like they're about to start hitting each other..."

"They won't." He frowned in disgust. "No matter what happens, after a while they'll make up as if nothing happened. Those two-"

Although he had kept his voice low, Tobias still heard him. He looked over in disgust, then noticed Lily and sneered, "I never thought you'd be able to make a friend like that. Or is she the same sort of thing as you?"

Most of the time, Tobias was a man of few words. He seemed to hate everything in the world; even the rare sight of a clear sky could set him complaining. Snape knew that perfectly well, but he still couldn't suppress his anger.

"You should take that back," he said darkly. "No matter what, I'm far better than a thing like you-"

His words cut off abruptly, and a trace of bewilderment appeared on his face. At that moment, he suddenly realized that his tone was exactly like Tobias's.

"Just let them go out," Eileen ventured after a hesitant mumble. "It's not as if he can do much at home anyway-"

Still furious, Tobias turned and snapped his gaze toward Eileen. Frightened, she took a step back and raised her hands over her head in panic. At that same moment, a noise came from the cupboard, and a plate fell, shattering at Tobias's feet.

Crack!

Eileen's expression changed completely, and Tobias's face went from green to white. Shards of pottery were scattered at his feet; if the plate had been even a little off course, he would probably have been lying on the floor.

"You want to smash my head in, don't you?" Tobias said angrily. "You've always looked down on me for being an ordinary person, and I haven't even complained about you being a monster!" Looking at his arm, which had been grazed in the incident, he found his anger increasingly hard to contain. His breathing quickened with rage.

"No, my magic went out of control, I-" Eileen tried to explain, but as soon as she moved, another piece of furniture hurtled toward Tobias. Snape couldn't be bothered with their chaos anymore. It had always been like this, every time, for all these years. He didn't want Lily to see any more of his family's chaos, so he pulled her toward the door.

"Wait-" Lily still wanted to look back, but before she could finish speaking, a head appeared in the doorway.

"Why have you been gone so long?" Merlin asked curiously. "I heard a lot of noise. What happened?"

Lily's eyes lit up. She was just about to speak when Merlin's expression suddenly changed, and he drew his wand and rushed toward them.

"Protego!"

Before she could react, Merlin pulled her behind him, and Snape, who was holding her hand, stumbled back with her. She only had time to turn around and see Eileen clutching her head and screaming as the uncontrolled magic slammed straight into Merlin's Shield Charm.

Bang!

Casting a Shield Charm as a first-year was already a challenge for Merlin, especially against an older witch like Eileen. Merlin's barrier was quickly torn apart, and the backlash made her cough up a great mouthful of blood as she was flung backward.

Bang! Bang!

It wasn't just her. Snape and Lily were also hit hard. Lily fell to the floor, her arms and legs aching terribly. Even so, she instinctively looked up to check on Merlin first, but as she struggled to get up, the scene inside the house stunned her.

The cupboard had completely collapsed, scattering its contents everywhere. Tobias had fallen into a pile of furniture, and Eileen's head was covered in blood from the debris that had struck her.

Lily stared blankly, then suddenly noticed Merlin stirring where she had fallen. She rushed over to her in a panic, nearly incoherent at the sight of her injuries. Overwhelmed by fear, Lily lost her ability to think clearly. At first, she tried wiping her with tissues, but quickly realized it was pointless.

"We have to get you to a hospital as soon as possible!" She hurriedly searched her memory. "This is magical damage, so I remember it's-St. Mungo's? Yes, I'll go right now-"

"W-wait..."

Merlin got shakily to her feet. Her expression turned grim when she saw Lily's injuries, but when she saw Eileen lying on the floor, she couldn't help sighing.

She hadn't had much contact with Eileen before and had always thought she was simply blinded by love.

Now it seemed their lives hadn't been that terrible, and Eileen hadn't grown accustomed to living this way.

If she truly accepted everything as it was from the bottom of her heart, why would her magic have gone out of control?

Forget it. This was a convenient opportunity. She had barely crossed paths with Eileen in the previous loops, so why not try? At worst, she could still cause the Prince family some discomfort.

Besides, if things went on like this, they might get out of hand. Could an adult witch become an Obscurus from suppressing her magic?

"Mrs. Prince, can you hear me?"

Eileen, covered in wounds and seemingly unconscious, raised her head slightly at the sound of that surname. She saw a girl whose face was covered in blood, and her eyes widened.

"I've heard your name, ma'am." Dizziness from blood loss had weakened Merlin's voice, and her body was swaying unsteadily. She slowly crouched down until her eyes were level with Eileen's.

"You're the younger daughter of the Prince family, and you were once president of the Gobstones Club. When you married, the Daily Prophet even reported the surprising news."

Lily froze and looked at the woman lying on the floor. She had never imagined that Snape's mother had such a past.

Blood stained Eileen's face, making her look every bit a pitiful woman crushed by life and poverty. She bore no resemblance to the witch with the illustrious past Merlin had described.

"Why are you saying all this?" she asked, her voice hoarse and dry.

"Do you regret it?" Merlin asked.

Those were the words Snape heard as he got to his feet. His hands paused, and he instinctively looked around the dilapidated house.

"Although life is unpleasant sometimes, I don't regret marrying your father and having you one bit." Sometimes, after a fight with his father, Eileen would hold him and talk to herself, an exaggerated, almost insincere smile on her face. "Life like this is already quite good."

Was it really so good?

Eileen said nothing, as though she had lost consciousness.

"Do you regret it?" Merlin repeated. "Leaving home, marrying a man like that, and living this kind of life?"

"I-" She might have shed tears that stung the wounds on her face, for her whole body began to tremble.

She thought of her life in the Prince family, of being constantly ignored and excluded, of her parents' still largely unfeeling faces when she ran away and their accusation: "You'd better die out there and never come back to disgrace the family!" She thought of long ago, when she had just fallen in love with Tobias and he had said, "I don't mind that you're a witch." She had once thought she had truly found a love unlike any other-

"I don't regret it," she said. "And I can't go back now, either. The Prince family won't accept me."

"What would be the point of going back? Was there ever a place for you in that family? Even if your brother died, you still wouldn't be the one to inherit. What would going back accomplish except getting laughed at?"

Lily was somewhat surprised, and Eileen was stunned too.

"Do you think enduring it and deceiving yourself does any good? You, Tobias, and Snape are all living miserable lives, and now other people have been caught up in it too-"

Merlin coughed twice, and the movement made her wounds start bleeding again, leaving Lily terrified.

Even so, Merlin held out her hand to Eileen.

"It can't get any worse than it is now. Get a divorce. It'll be better for everyone."

Eileen stared at Merlin for a long time. Her face was full of resistance and terror, as though she resented her and yet was grateful to her. After a long while, the hand resting on the floor moved slightly, as if she were about to raise it-

Merlin staggered and collapsed into Lily's arms.