Early in the afternoon, a thin, pale boy stood in front of the doors of the Broken Wand in Hogsmeade. Severus Snape was a little apprehensive about spending his first summer on his own, but anything would be better than another two months as a burden to his family. With some trepidation, he approached the entrance. Inhaling deeply, he pulled open the door and crossed the threshold, not knowing how much his life would be changing.

Lyria MacLaren looked up as the door opened. Oh no... someone from school... and from her house, at that. Well, there was nothing for it. The inn was, for all intents and purposes, her responsibility now, and she'd best handle business. "Hello, Severus."

"Lyria!" Severus was surprised to see his housemate at the inn. He had not realized that her family owned the establishment. He assumed, reasonably, that Lyria helped one of her brothers run the Broken Wand. He frowned thoughtfully, wondering if perhaps it would not be better to stay elsewhere. However, he was here now and he would just have to make the most of it. "I'd like to rent a room for the summer," he requested in a voice that betrayed his nervousness, despite his best attempt to hide it.

"Well, welcome." She smiled, but it was not a genuine smile. It was the professional smile that she'd learned from helping out around the place. "Come on upstairs."

"Thank you," he responded softly. Adjusting his small bag, which contained his few personal possessions along with his shrunken trunk of school supplies, Severus followed Lyria to the room that he would be inhabiting.

"If you need anything just let me or my brothers know... if they're around."

Severus nodded. "Yes, of course. Is there anything that I need to know, rules and such?"

"Not really. The top floor's off limits, is all, because that's where we live. Unless it's a late night emergency."

"Very well," he responded. A light blush stained his sallow cheeks as he looked down at the floor. "Is there any work that I could do?" He looked quickly up at Lyria before turning his eyes back to his shoes. "To... um... help offset the cost of room and board?"

"Absolutely," she replied. "There's always plenty to do... I'll find something suitable for you to do and let you know in the morning."

Breathing a small sigh of relief, Severus nodded his thanks, then set about getting his room in order. Though it had not been a particularly long day, he was feeling worn-out. He just wanted to straighten up and relax.

Lyria made her way back downstairs. It was strange, for her two worlds to collide like this. People from school had come to the inn on occasion, but never anyone from her house in her year. She didn't much want to fuss around with balancing the two worlds... not right now, with everything else...

"Lyri, Mrs. Cooper's toddler made a mess in room sixteen, and dinner starts in an hour," Dylan told her by way of greeting.

Lyria cursed under her breath and went back upstairs.

Severus heard the thumping of feet up the stairs. Sighing deeply to himself, he opened the door, wondering what was going on. What he saw was a rather annoyed Lyria stalking toward the room two doors down from his own.

Lyria pulled open the door and made a face. Saying the toddler made a mess had been awfully generous... she was glad Mrs. Cooper was out.

The Slytherin boy had a naturally inquisitive mind and in this instance, curiosity got the better of him. He crept silently from his room and stood behind his classmate as she surveyed the war zone that was room sixteen. Had he seen her expression he would have laughed at how closely his owned mirrored it.

"If I ever have kids, I'm teaching them to behave themselves..." She knelt to wipe up a spill of something while she muttered to herself.

He chuckled softly at her vow to the fates. "If you figure out how to do that, you should write a book." Taking a rag from the bucket she had set in the doorway, Severus walked past her and began to clean as well.

"My parents seemed to manage alright," Lyria replied, but there was just a hint of a smile on her face. "Honestly, wait until you see this brat, he's horrible."

"Is he spoiled?" he asked as he righted over turned furniture. He wrinkled his nose at an unidentifiable spot before bending to scrub it out of the upholstery.

"Disgustingly spoiled. I've never heard his mother tell him no, and she's in here with him a lot."

Severus nodded. He sounded like Lucius or Potter and Severus said so.

"Give him a few years," Lyria agreed. She tossed the last of the scattered toys into the open trunk and looked around. "Thanks for the help."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "It was nothing, really." He dropped the rag back into the bucket and smiled at Lyria. "Any time you need help with something like that, I can do it."

She smiled. "Don't offer that, you'll wind up spending the rest of your summer with me trying to keep order around here." She picked up the bucket.

"Well, I'll be here for the whole summer anyway. I can't spend all of my time studying."

She was still grinning. "I'll keep that in mind. I've got to run down to check on dinner. Speaking of which, we start serving dinner at five."

"Thank you. I'll not miss it." He nodded once before returning to his room to clean himself up, now that the other room was taken care of.

Lyria put away the cleaning supplies and ran down to the kitchen. It seemed things were under control; she might even have time to go clean up.

A few minutes later, refreshed and changed, Severus ventured down to the kitchens. He was hesitant to just make himself at home, but he wanted to prove himself useful. Standing just inside the doorway, he watched as Lyria bustled around checking on the meal. "Can't you just use magic to do that?" he asked, curious.

"Hopefully I'll be able to soon... we're waiting for official permission," Lyria told him. "We've only just opened again a day or two ago after... everything."

Severus nodded and stepped into the kitchen proper. "Is there anything here that I can do?" He almost felt like he was pushing himself upon her company, but he did not really feel like being alone at the moment.

"Yes, you can mind that pot. If it boils over we'll have a bit of a grease fire which probably wouldn't be very well received around here." Truthfully, Lyria still didn't like being by herself in the kitchen. It had been her mother's domain, and she wasn't quite ready to be here by herself. Besides, she only had two eyes.

Without a moment's deliberation, Severus situated himself before the large pot. This was second nature for him, to be in front of something boiling. It brought a small smile to his face.

"How do you think the OWLs went?"

"Fairly well," he replied, stirring absently.

"I'm quite sure I'll break the record for lowest score on Herbology, and I think I'd have done better on Runes if I'd held it upside down to translate, but besides that I think it went well." She scowled. "Not that I planned to study either of those two anymore anyway."

He chuckled lightly. "I think I did well in Herbology, Potions, and Defense. My Transfiguration and Charms could have gone better though."

"Defense was really a bit fun," she replied. "It was a gorgeous day, though, to be cooped up inside studying."

"True," he acknowledged. The spring had been lovely this year. "Still, it is nice to just have the tests over with."

"Agreed. At least no one we live with had a breakdown over them."

Severus sighed in resignation. "Why would they break down? Half of them can buy themselves into any job regardless of scores and the other half is too stupid to worry about it."

"Well trust me when I tell you no one in the girls' dormitories was terribly fussed over their scores. It's a miracle half of them bothered to show up for the tests at all."

"Oh I don't doubt it." He had heard Narcissa and Bellatrix fawning over Lucius and Rodolphus. It was sickening, really.

"So much for ambition, I suppose."

"They have ambition." Severus snorted. "Their ambition simply differs from that of normal people."

"I just think it's a bit sad when one's life goals consist entirely of getting married and sitting around the house."

"I do agree," he smiled sadly. He felt almost bad for those young women. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into by pining after the boys like they did. Severus had to live with them. He knew what they were really like.

"It makes me a bit the odd duck, really," she said. It was a strange moment, admitting that to a boy she knew only as a classmate. It seemed to her, though, that there was something a bit different about him, too. Certainly no one else in her house would be standing in the kitchen helping her with dinner.

"Odd?" Severus questioned. "Perhaps, but it certainly makes you more sensible than the other females."

"Agreed," she replied. "It also has the advantage of eliminating four people who we'd usually have to compete with in our year."

He smiled and chuckled at her candor. The ease he felt around her made him wonder why they had not become friends sooner.

She grinned a bit and flicked off both of the stoves. "I do believe we're done."

Severus agreed and pulled the spoon he had been stirring with from the pot. "What shall we do with these?" he asked.

"I'm going to make my brother do dishes today," Lyria decided. "Just dump the spoon in the sink." She took serving dishes down from their closet.

Nodding, he tossed the spoon in the sink. After he wiped his hands, he took the stack of serving dishes from Lyria. He set them on the counter and emptied the contents of the pot he had been watching into one of the bowls. While the young witch worked on the other dishes, Severus began to prepare the place settings. "How many do you need?" he said to Lyria, holding a stack of plates.

Lyria did a bit of quick math in her head. The Coopers, the Wainwrights... "There's twenty five guests right now, and it being the weekend my brothers will be around... so we'll need six at the table in back. Seven, if you want to eat with us. You can't sit all by yourself."

Severus pulled down more plates and set them into two piles. Six for the back room and twenty five for the main dining room. Holding the odd plate in his hand, he stood quietly for a minute, trying to decide where he would eat. Finally, he set it with the six. "Thank you," he said, smiling softly.

"You're welcome," she told him. "Just don't mind my brothers."

He snorted incredulously. "I doubt they could be worse than mine." Collecting the dishware for the main dining room, he set the tables there, first.

Lyria finished filling bowls and began bringing them out, carefully balancing the enormous tray. "Hopefully Dad will have heard and I'll be able to do this magically now. It'd be quite a bit easier."

Severus looked up from setting the tables. "I do not doubt it. Though I imagine there are worse things you could have to do without magic." To him, housework was not that bad, though he knew most of their housemates would shudder at the thought of standing over a stove.

"There definitely are worse things," she agreed. "Without it, though, there's too much for anyone to do themselves."

"I will give you that." He conceded, grinning at Lyria as he suddenly received a mental image of Bellatrix holding the tray. His eyes screwed shut and he had to set the glasses he was holding down on the table before the laughing fit caused him to drop them.

"What's funny?" She asked, setting the tray down.

"Bellatrix," he gasped out. "Carrying that tray."

She burst out laughing as well, grateful she'd put the tray down already. "She wouldn't be able to figure out which end was up in a kitchen."

"I know!" Severus clutched his sides. Tears of mirth rolled down his cheeks.

She sat down in the nearest chair to try to compose herself, but she had very little success.

Of course, the though of Bellatrix in the kitchen led to the images of Narcissa, Lucius, and assorted other Slytherins in various stages of housework. Severus doubled over and sank to the floor, unable to stop laughing.

Lyria wiped at her eyes. "I c-can't even imagine it," she managed.

"Lucius, in an apron!" He could not resist sharing that image with Lyria. It was hilarious. The proud Malfoy heir in an apron and hairnet.

Lyria shrieked with laughter. "Mop in hand!"

"Well that's nice to hear, laughter," Angus MacLaren said from the door, smiling a bit.

Severus immediately quieted, not knowing quite what to expect. Standing quickly he turned to the man and bowed politely.

"Dad, this is Severus Snape. He goes to school with me... Severus, this is my father."

"Well. Nice to finally meet some of the people Lyria mentions." Angus extended his hand.

Severus shook Angus' hand. "It is nice to meet you as well, sir."

"Severus is here to stay for the summer," Lyria said by way of explanation.

"Good." The boy was as yet an unknown entity to Angus, so it was best to be polite to Lyri's little friend for now and reserve judgment for a while. "Welcome, then."

"Thank you, sir." Severus smiled politely at the older man. He was irrationally intimidated by Lyria's father. Or perhaps not so irrationally, given what he knew about the man. However, Angus had given him no reason to be scared, so Severus would just try to give the man no reason to dislike him.

"I'd best go clean up for dinner, then. Lyria, the boys should be here soon."

"Alright, Dad." Lyria waited until her father had left before turning to Severus. "He's a little distant around new people."

"No offense, but he frightens me," he admitted to Lyria.

She shrugged. "That's most people's reaction to him. I'm used to it. My brothers are less intimidating but much more annoying."

"Do you get on well with them?" he asked, looking at her askance. He walked with her to back to the kitchen to finish setting the family table.

"Mostly, yes. Some better than others, to be sure, but we get along well. They just like to joke and they can be a bit obsessively overprotective."

"That is good." Severus frowned a little. It seemed that Lyria had good relationships with her family. It almost made him miss his own.

"What about you, do you get on with your family?"

Severus looked abashed at the girl. He was not so much ashamed of his relationship with his family as he was embarrassed to tell it. "Well, no, not really," he replied, trying to sound indifferent. "I am just another mouth to feed. They are best off when I am not around."

She simply nodded, not wanting to press the issue. If he wanted to discuss it, he would. "I sometimes wish I had a sister around, instead of just all the boys."

"I wonder if it really makes a difference," Severus mused almost absently. "All I know is that there are distinct disadvantages of being the youngest."

"Agreed."

Sitting down at one of the tables as he finished setting them, Severus continued a little wearily. "There are eight of us, ten if you include my parents. Ten people and not nearly enough to go around."

"It happens. Nothing to be embarrassed about." Lyria had been through some of the tougher times with her family, and while it was unusual enough in her house, it had stopped bothering her ages ago. There were plenty of other more pertinent things that she could fight with the girls in her dormitory about.

"You are one of the few who think that way. My dorm mates think that poverty is one of the most repulsive things in the world... almost as bad as Muggles." He leaned his head on his hand and smiled at Lyria. "We are quite unlike them, aren't we?" He stressed the "them," indicating the vast majority of the other Slytherins.

She nodded. "It hits me sometimes more than other times, but we haven't much in common with them."

"Sometimes I think I was sorted into Slytherin only because it was expected of me. I most likely would have been happier in Ravenclaw. It is difficult, trying to live up to one's familial expectations knowing it will never quite be enough."

"My situation... isn't quite that bad. But I want more than this, more than just my mother's old slot as the innkeeper. It doesn't suit me." She sat across from him. "It doesn't suit me at all."

Severus nodded in sympathy and understanding. "You are... well not better than this, because there is nothing wrong with being an innkeeper, but you are more than that." He could not see her content running the Broken Wand for the rest of her life, cooking and cleaning rooms. "I, myself want to be a potions master. I want to experiment and create new potions that will help people."

"I want to be an Auror. I could see myself doing that; I'd be good at it. It suits my strengths and I'd be doing something... productive, worthwhile."

"I think you would make a brilliant Auror." He chuckled softly. "Remind me to stay away from dark magic."

"You'd better, I'd hate to have to crack down on you," she joked.

"With you as an Auror, dark wizards everywhere will cower in terror."

"Unfortunately I think people who know me already cower in terror," she said dryly. "I've got that reputation for a nasty temper, you know."

Severus arched an eyebrow. "Is there anyone who does not know?" he deadpanned.

"They usually find out pretty quickly, don't they?"

"Well, you have been known to break people’s noses when they irritated you."

"That's reserved for special individuals in particular."

"Like, say, Black?"

"Particularly him, yes, and his nasty little friends."

Severus snorted and agreed wholeheartedly. "Lupin would not be so bad except for his terrible taste in companions."

"He usually keeps his mouth shut, at least," she agreed.

Before Severus could again comment about the infamous Marauders, heavy footsteps approached the dinning room. "Lyri, is dinner ready yet? The guests are waiting!" Zachary sauntered into the room, grinning at his baby sister.

"Dinner's on trays in the kitchen. You should definitely know how to pick them up by now." Lyria smirked at him.

"But Lyri..." Zachary whined playfully, trying to get out of serving duty. He hardly even noticed the boy sitting across from his sister.

For his part, Severus sat quietly, observing the interaction between the siblings. He was quite enjoying seeing the banter between the family members.

"Go on. Two hands under the tray, bend from the knees."

"Oh, fine. Evil woman." Zachary grinned and trudged from the room to fetch the trays.

Lyria laughed a bit at his retreating form.

"Lyri, you planning to eat tonight?" Oliver asked as he entered.

Zachary returned carrying a tray and two more floating behind him. "Don't worry about me, I've got this under control."

Lyria looked at Oliver as if for help.

"I'll help with that, Zack. But first, little baby Lyri, who's your friend?"

She scowled at him. "Oliver, Zack, this is Severus Snape... Severus, these are my brothers."

Severus smiled weakly. "Hello."

Zack grinned. "'lo Severus. Don't let Lyri tell you any tales about us. We are charming and kind blokes."

"You're a pair of prats, you are."

"Nonsense, Lyri, we're two fine young gentlemen who love our baby sister." Oliver plucked one of the floating trays from midair.

"Why thank you, Oli." Zack grinned and placed the two remaining trays on a sidebar buffet against the far wall.

Severus looked from one brother to the other. Though there were many children in his family, he had never seen the casual interaction of twins before. The two played off each other as though they had a planned routine. Leaning across the table, he whispered to Lyria. "Are they always like this?"

"Oh yes," Lyria said. "All the time..."

"Hey, no whispering with your boy there," Oliver snickered.

Severus blushed crimson and moved away from Lyria, much to Zack's amusement. "Now what little secrets could they be sharing do you think, Oli?"

"I think Lyria's got something embarrassing to admit to, like how she still has her blankie neatly folded at the end of her bed..."

"ZACHARY MICHAEL MACLAREN, I'M GOING TO *KILL* YOU!" Lyria got to her feet.

Severus did not know whether to chuckle or hide under the table. As it was, he just sat there in shock.

"Don't yell at me." Zack pouted and pointed at his brother. "He is the one who mentioned the blankie... I was going to suggest the stuffed unicorn on the bottom of your closet."

"Says the boy who has his teddy bear under the bed," she snapped.

Oliver ducked behind Zack, peering over his brother's shoulder at Lyria with a snicker.

"I resent that." The mock pout was still firmly on Zack's face. "And you," he turned to Oliver. "Don't use me as a shield against her."

"Sorry, but I don't plan to get walloped." Oliver grinned.

Lyria scowled at them.

"Sissy," Zack muttered at his twin. "Lyri, we'd best let the guests in before they break down the door to sample your exquisite cuisine."

"Then go open the door," she advised. "And Oliver can put the trays out, while I'll get the one for in here."

Severus stood with Lyria. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Zack grinned and winked at Oliver, nodding toward Severus and speaking a language only twins understand. Saluting saucily to Lyria he barked out a crisp "Yes ma'am!" and marched out to let the patrons into the main dining hall.

Oliver, also grinning widely, left to set out trays.

"You can come with me if you like, but I think we'll be all set... I'm just glad I'm not doing it all myself today," Lyria replied.

"Whatever you want." Severus shrugged. "I am just glad for the company."

"So am I," she admitted, headed for the kitchen.

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