We only get a few hints dropped about Tobias and Eileen throughout the series through Snape’s mind and memories, a little snippet in the Occlumency chapter and then a little more in the Prince’s Tale. We see baby Snape crying in distress while Tobias is shouting, and we hear his characterization of his father as not liking much of anything.
Generally, it’s accepted by fans that Snape’s childhood was punctuated by poverty and parental neglect at best, downright abuse at worst. In many portrayals, Eileen is soft and caring but dominated by an overwhelmingly abusive, alcoholic Tobias. Personally I see them a little differently; the version that I prefer (through no canon support, mind, these are just my ideas) has Eileen paralleled with Voldemort’s mother, a witch who loved a muggle enough to pretend to be one. But things went awry after their hasty marriage when Eileen was scrambling for ways to excuse her family suddenly disowning her, and Tobias revealed a large drinking problem.
Then, out of the blue, there was a baby. A witch can hide her magic, but a baby cannot. A baby does accidental magic. A baby sets the curtains on fire and floats through the air and makes things fly around the room. I’m entirely certain that a magical baby would be a normal baby except worse.
Tobias had to know ~before~ baby Sev did something strange that his son was not going to be normal. And that was the first straw in the falling apart of their relationship. Tobias was a catholic, and he didn’t believe in witchcraft. It was a sin against god, when ordinarily he followed none of those rules. So he made it his quest to purge his son of the strangeness. Eileen was compliant.
We know that Snape knew about being magical, perhaps extensively, when he met Lily at the age of nine, but we don’t know at what point his mother told him that he was different. I doubt that Tobias wanted him to know; perhaps it was something she dropped to him on his birthday as an extra treat, when Tobias stole what she had saved up to buy him a gift. Or, since the Snapes were likely too poor to afford a television, young Snape took up reading instead and happened across some old school books like Advanced Potions Making.
But Eileen, being a pureblood witch, doesn’t strike me as the sort to be entirely present in parenting. Perhaps because I expect purebloods to treat their children the way royalty used to, hundred of years ago–passing the raising of the children down to the servants and maids. Eileen doesn’t have servants, but if she was raised a pureblood, it’s likely that she lets Severus run amok and keep himself out of trouble, not for lack of loving him, but because she has too much on her plate otherwise; trying to sate Tobias isn’t easy.
So that leaves Severus alone again. The beginning, middle, and end he spends alone.
I do have many headcanons about Snape’s parents, but each is more depressing than the last. It simply isn’t a situation that readers can (or are supposed to) make something positive out of.
you probably only screamed like that because holy water must have gotten into your eye, you swear. this is the thing that binds you together. you’re the reason they hate each other now. you sinned just by being born. that’s what God must have wanted though. that’s exactly what God didn’t want. that’s the human condition, lad. you’ve never felt more at home anywhere than here. you’re not welcome here anymore. the fourth commandment is impossible. all you want is to get away from here. you’re not worth anything there. nothing there is worthy of you. there’s no way to make up for your sins. God forgives everyone who repents. there are spots that never come off. the Virgin Mary never turned anyone away. hell is inevitable. if you haven’t redeemed yourself it’s just because you haven’t tried hard enough. you haven’t got a Church but you still remember all the words. there no hope left for you, except there always is.
(Credit where credit is due: it was @deathdaydungeon who first made me into a Tobias Snape apologist and @sneverussape who sealed the deal)
I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY?!!?
mate, first of all, this is BEAUTIFUL and i was actually just thinking of this piece the other day because you had posted a draft before and i was like, i wonder how snapescapades is getting on with that piece, im so curious about it, and voila!there it is on my dash!
i LOVE your tobias design with his wavy hair and in his undershirt! that’s a look for him i’ve not seen before and it suits him so well. sev is EXQUISITE, i love his lil smile, his sideward glance, your perfect shading! and the juxtaposition with tobias…the colors, the lighting. how they’re light and dark but also of the same hue and how they share shades between each other. and the bottles??? i never realized that is an element they have in common (potions vs liquor).
(ofc this is all my personal reading, it’s possible you had a different intention but… *flails*)
that poem…that poem is PERFECT because exactly. EXACTLY. that’s how i imagined the two of them to be. none of the snapes had easy lives and they all had to deal with their personal demons, but also chose to deal with them alone rather than together (as opposed to another 3-member unit, the malfoys, who are the polar opposite of everything the snapes were…maybe that’s what attracted sev to them too?). im not denying the likely possibility that tobias had abused his wife and son, but in the same way we always defend severus with “it’s an explanation, not an excuse”, i wager tobias had a LOT of skeletons as well in his closet due to circumstances beyond his control. and i can relate with that. the snapes are so, sohuman.
i also love your idea that the father (eventually) took after the son like, PLEASE give me an older tobias with an adult sev with both trying to work their shit out.
beautiful work, absolute chefs kiss, and i’m so chuffed to be have been mentioned alongside DDD! @deathdaydungeon also further deepened my being a tobias snape apologist and i will forever be grateful! love and light, my friends! you all are so talented. ✨✨✨
