One
Severus
The pain was tolerable this time around, but that was not a comfort to the thin, malnourished black haired wizard as he laid in the fetal position after the brute left him bleeding and bruised in a crumpled heap in his bedroom.
The coal mining plant had laid off its workers, and that included the young wizard's father Tobias Snape. But the boy did not care about such adult details. He only cared about the fact that he received his letter from Hogwarts earlier today.
His mother had given it to him privately, and said, "Severus, no matter what you do, please don't show it to your father. But know that I am very, very proud of you for being accepted, son."
Severus nodded, "Thank you, mum. I..I'm going to go take a shower now."
"Alright. Do you want a sandwich? I made egg salad," His mother said. He nodded, and she nodded back. Severus went into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He undressed out of the poor thrift store clothes that his parents could barely afford.
His ribs stood out and he knew that he was underweight for being eleven years old. But with barely one meal a day, he could hardly put on any real muscle. He was very pale, almost sallow in his complexion, but there was a dark intensity to his dark features that either repelled or fascinated people when they met him for the first time.
He had a rather long face with an angular jaw, rather thin lips, and a slight aquiline nose, which he inherited from his mother, as well as her black eyes. He had no notion of his looks at eleven, but he knew that most people didn't like it when he looked at them for too long of a time.
He washed his hair, and conditioned it, and washed himself off. He did not linger in the shower, even though it was the only place in his home that he felt truly safe. He dried off, and looked at his closet with dismay. The other kids would look down on him, and make fun of him, he just knew it. His clothes fit, thank Merlin, but they were ripped up and faded from many washings.
He brushed out his hair, and got dressed in holey socks, his trusty black Doc Martens, boxers, a black t-shirt, and tucked that into black jeans. He picked out one of his dad's old black blazers and threw it on, knowing the brute would be gone for hours at the local pub. He didn't know how the drunk was able to afford alcohol, they were practically destitute.
Their home, Spinners End, used to be this charming, grand Victorian home, but now it looked like a place only The Munsters would live in. There were still traces of his mother's Prince wealth in little nick knacks, and a silver tea set that was one of the few things that his mother Eileen was able to buy when she first married his muggle father, making him a half-blood. But Severus knew that she only was able to practice her magic when his father was out of the house.
His father feared magic, and Severus suspected, it was one of the few plausible reasons the black haired wizard boy could come up with to explain why his father was so abusive physically and mentally.
But at this moment in time, the boy didn't care about the reasons why, he only wanted to get out of this decrepit, old tomb, and go outside. He went downstairs and found his mother making high tea for herself, something she never did when her husband was home, of course. It was always clean up the house, cook, service me, and do anything else I command of you, freak, or whatever obscenity popped into the deranged muggle's mind, fill in the blank.
He sat down at the table, his posture perfect as his mother sipped her tea. He knew full well that if he just skipped outside like a normal child, she would demand that he do some chore later on to compensate for his 'lack of tact,' on his part.
She set her tea cup aside and said, "I shall have to endeavor to find some excuse to explain where we went to account for you going to Kings Cross Station to meet the Hogwarts Express."
Severus tried for frankness, since his mother appeared to be in one of her rare amiable moods this morning, "Mother, could you just not tell him that you sent me away to some muggle boarding school? I mean, they require trains to reach them as well. You don't have to mention it is Hogwarts."
Her black eyes regarded him over her tea cup, and sighed, "You and I both know what happens when I am not truthful about the wizarding world, son. I will take your advice under advisement, of course."
The boy fought the urge to tell her to just leave the brute. But of course, he kept forgetting about her skills as a legililimens. She narrowed her eyes and said, "It is not that simple, Severus. I wish it was. It is true that any love I had for your father died, but even the wizarding world is not kind to abused women. They believe that what goes on in a man's home should stay behind closed doors."
"That's messed up," The boy wizard said. "I would never treat my witch that way."
His mother favored him with a rare smile, and said, "Of course not. You have a good heart son," She looked at the kitchen clock, which was one of those black cat kitchen clocks where the eyes go back and forth. "You may take your sandwich and go outside for two hours. But no longer. I do not want you to catch a worse beating for not being home to help me cook dinner."
Severus flashed his mother a genuine smile. "Thank you, mum. I will try to be back on time."
"Yes, yes, now go."
A normal child would hug his mother, perhaps express some childish sentiment that would be looked upon with favor by the mother. But this was not a house where love thrived. No, this was a prison. A prison that he hoped that he would be able to escape via Hogwarts, and school work. But little did he know that as he headed out to the park that he would meet the one girl who would change the entire course of his young life...
