All Eileen Snape wanted in life was to have a little family of her own who she would love and protect, and they in turn would do the same for her. She had lost that when her parents disowned her for her love of the muggle world. Being disowned just fueled her fire, if the wizarding world wouldn't accept her fascination for something different, then she wouldn't accept the wizarding world. Eileen kept her magic a secret, she only used it to brew potions and clean her place. Eileen used her magic for one other purpose, in one night of desperation.
Eileen was sad that she flaunted herself to dozens of men in the pub she worked at. She spend endless nights wearing skirts that were too short and tops that exposed nearly all of her bosom, only to never attract the attention of any lad. Perhaps it was because lacked in the beauty department, or the ale she served was more attractive to the factory workers. So Eileen went against her moral judgement and the law of the land, and cast an irresistible charm on herself, to trap the first man she would come into contact with into spending one night with her in the alley behind the pub. She also brewed a potion to ensure that she would become pregnant, and she took extra care to modify the potion to ensure a baby girl.
The poor lad she trapped was no other than Tobias Snape. Tobias was one of her regulars, often coming into the pub everyday and spending his entire week's wages in one night. He was no Prince Charming, but Eileen was a beggar, she couldn't be picky. It was fate. Tobias blamed the incident on his drunken state and didn't suspect a thing, and promised to never come to the pub again. Eileen learned that this lad was a liar when he returned to the pub 2 days later.
A few months later when Eileen had evidence of the pregnancy she was giddy with joy when Tobias wandered into the pub well past midnight. Already intoxicated when he heard the women tell this news, he told Eileen that she was on her own. He figured that because the bastard was an accident and not his fault, and probably not even his, he should not be apart of its life. Besides, he had no money or time for a baby. All of his days were spent at a factory and all of his nights were spent to prepare himself for the following day, drinking away his problems.
Tobias was persistent on paying Eileen no mind until he noticed that she got bigger and bigger with each passing moon. It was these several months later when he finally spoke to the women again, "For fuck's sake woman, shouldn't ya be at home takin' care of yerself?" Eileen looked longingly at him, but continued to struggle to get the used mugs back into the kitchen to later clean them. "Answer me woman, all tha' moving around prolly aint good for the little lad."
Eileen was secretly pleased that Tobias was finally paying her mind. "Actually, it's a girl". Eileen could not contain herself any more and she exposed a smile for the first time in months. "You are going to have a daughter, Mr. Snape."
"Bullshit, no Snape in a hundred years has a had a daughter."
While half of him was in disbelief that the child was his not his because Snapes did not pass an X chromosome, the other half of him believed that it was his. He was drunk when he had sex with her and he was not the kind of bloke to have protection in his pocket for those spur-of-the-moment events. He sucked it up, and the next day asked her to marry him, but he was still sure he was going to have a son.
Tobias broke the family tradition when Septima Eileen was born on January 3rd, 1960. Eileen was so thrilled to have a daughter, someone she could dress up in dresses, ribbons, and bows, or at least as much as Tobias' paycheck could pay for. She figured she would have to make them from scratch, but Eileen was okay with that. She had a plethora of time now that she no longer worked because she had to be a mother.
Eileen's happiness soon weaned away as Septima grew older. No longer was she as enthusiastic for the dresses and girly things for her daughter, but Septima still wore them as those were the only clothes she had. Septima's room was painted pink and the furniture was enchanted to be a pristine white, the kind of room Eileen had wanted when she was growing up. Septima knew no other way and went along with it, at least for awhile. She didn't go out much.
Septima's fifth birthday fell on a Sunday, the only day of the week in which her father was home. Because it was her birthday, Tobias thought it was only fair to attempt to spend some time with her. Sunday was futbol day at the Snape house, and there was no way he would ever give that, but he invited and insisted that the birthday girl watch the match with him. Tobias spent limited time with his daughter, so right away he noticed some things he deemed odd. When Eileen sat on the couch, she often had her legs crossed or at leased closed. Septima had her legs spread out and open.
"Aye Sep, sittin' like that aint lady-like. If ya goin' to sit like that, you need to wear trousers. Sittin' like that, everybody here and all the way to Timbuktu can see your knickers. Sit like your mum." He looked at Eileen, who was staring into space at the kitchen table.
"Are trowsers what you wear, Daddy?", asked Septima with her innocent eyes looking right into his. "I want to wear what you wear, Daddy, I don't want to look like Mummy no more." Tobias didn't say anything after that and just patted her greasy head. Septima fell asleep leaning on him while he watched the game and he carried her up bed. He needed to talk to his wife.
Eileen was not happy when Tobias broke the news that their daughter was starting to develop opinions.
"They're just ruddy trousers, Eileen! Let the kid wear what it wants!"
"With what money, Tobias!? You don't leave us much after you are done drinking it all! I can't afford to go and buy the kid a brand new wardrobe. The kid doesn't know what she wants! She was just happy that you paid her some mind instead of drinking your night away!
Tobias was getting angry, "Are ya criticizing me woman!? I work my ass off at that damned factory everyday and all you do is sit on your skinny ass at home!"
Eileen was getting scared and she slunk back a little, "I do things here Tobias, I clean, I cook, I take care of Sep…"
"I know bloody well that you use witchcraft to clean and cook, Woman! As for taking care of your daughter, I'm not sure you do that either, considering you don't even know her needs and wants! When was the last time she took a bath, woman?" Tobias got angrier and angrier with every syllable"
"I...I'll bathe her", Eileen was afraid of what her husband would do next.
"Good, and fashion her some goddamn trousers from that goddamn witchcraft of yours", and with that Tobias slammed the front door and left for the pub.
When Septima awoke the next day, she found her mum in the kitchen scrounging up Septima's shampoo and conditioner. Septima hated bath day, she hated to be naked and she hated that her mum had to see her. "No Mum! No bath!", she screamed and ran all over the house in attempt for Eileen to give up the fight.
"Your father wants you to be clean." Eileen thought that by bringing up that wretched man, Septima might cooperate, especially because they had that special moment yesterday. Eileen was right, Septima had always had an urge to please the man she never saw, in hopes that she would attract his attention. Septima had her bath but afterwards, Eileen dressed her in the only type of clothing Septima had, a dress.
After her bath, Septima was bored; she had nothing else to do but look out the kitchen window, where she saw some neighborhood boys playing in the street. "Mummy, can I go play outside?"
Eileen sighed agitatedly. "No Septima, your hair is dripping wet and you just got clean." Eileen resumed her potion making and Septima dreamed of playing outside.
"Mummy, if you cut my hair, I can play outside because it wouldn't be drippy no more." Eileen felt stabbed in the gut with Septima's comment. "Septima, don't be ridiculous, go upstairs and read a book. Eileen felt ready to pull her hair out and before soon enough, Tobias came home from work with a gift for Septima.
On his way home from work, he had stopped by a thrift store and picked up a pair of child sized work pants. "Happy belated birthday, kiddo", he patted Septima's head and resumed to eating his dinner and Eileen gave him the evil eye for the rest of the night.
"She doesn't have a blouse she can wear with that!"
"I figured she could wear something of your's Eileen. Besides, it's probably just a phase, she'll grow out of it by Tuesday."
Septima did not grow out of it by Tuesday and it was not a phase.
Septima kept herself locked up for the next few years, instead confining herself to her books and her "journaling" as she called it. She felt that whenever she interacted with her parents, it just resulted in them fighting, and she did not like that, but it was nothing that she could help.
In her reading, she figured out how to change her room color from pink and white to green and black. She could change simple things like that, what she really wanted to do was transform her clothes into something she wanted to wear; the clothes her mum provided her were hideous. When she wore those clothes, she felt trapped in something that was not herself, but she didn't feel like she could tell her parents. She felt like she was the one that caused their fights and their marriage troubles; she didn't want to make her parents more miserable than they had to be, as miserable as her.
When Eileen was shunned from her parents' world, she brought very few things along with her. One of the things she had brought with her were some books from the Princes' vast book collection. Pureblood families that have had their skin in the game for a long time often had large literature collections, and as the Prince's were dying out, Eileen figured that this book collection would go to waste if she hadn't taken it with her.
These books ended up in the hands of Eileen's child, and Eileen had no idea how influential these books were on her. Through these books, Septima learned about all subjects from potion techniques to health, history and the lost art of occlumency. She was very interested in Ancient Roman history because that's where modern magic started to develop, especially by the Wizard emperor, Septimius Severus. Perhaps it was because Septima's name was so close to Septimius' or she was in awe how he controlled his empire, she felt a special admiration to him. She also started creating an alter ego for herself, using the second name, Severus; she felt Septimius' name was too close to her own, but Severus was still connected.
Her alter ego slowly started to take over who Septima was. In her mind, she was Severus Snape, although no one knew. Her parents still called her Septima and with each passing day, it because harder for her to instinctively respond to it. Luckily her parents now paid so little attention to her, if they did notice, they didn't say anything about it.
Once Septima/Severus finished reading the interesting history, she moved onto other topics, like potions and healing. The healing arts looked interesting to her because she felt like it was magic with a purpose. It was then when she first read about what it was to be transgender. For the first time, Septima felt like she was normal. She no longer had to be ashamed that she didn't always feel like the girl she had been expected to be. Infact, he wasn't a girl at all.
Septima, now determined to only be referred to as Severus, felt ready to tell his parents now that he had evidence that this was a natural and real thing, he felt that surely that his parents couldn't argue against Science.
"You're telling me you're a what now?" asked Tobias angrily as Severus told him his new name and that he felt that he was a boy.
"I'm transgender, father. See?", Severus pointed to an article in the healer book that explained it, "It says that some fertility potions can alter some things when the conceiving takes place, there's other things too…" Eileen kept her mouth shut, she felt like her daughter, excuse me her son was about to expose her. Tobias typically kept his head full of alcohol, but he wasn't stupid, especially when the proof was written right in front of him.
Tobias thought the thing was absurd, but he wasn't going to be the one to drain the happiness from his child, the child's mother had already done a fine job at that. "Thank you for that science lesson, Sept...Severus. It was very informative." Tobias shot a harsh look at his wife, who was cowering in the adjacent sofa. Severus recognized that glare and knew that he needed to retreat upstairs; he knew that his parents were about to fight.
"Woman, what was that ramble about special conceiving potions?", Eileen stayed silent as her husband continued to question. "Woman, did you trick me!?", Tobias' face was getting redder and redder with each word. "I can't believe you would sink so low, Woman! You and your witchcraft! I should have left you and that tranny bastard when I had the chance! You are not worthy of being my wife you demonic, whore!" With that, Tobias hit Eileen in the head with Severus' book, which knocked her to the ground. Eileen was left sobbing, too weak and shocked to get up and fight. Tobias continued to hit her. Eileen tried to apologize to him, but Tobias had never been a forgiving person, especially when he felt he had been betrayed.
Severus' heart sank as he sat on top of the stairs and heard the entire ordeal. He was weeping, he didn't mean to heart his mum. His mum never beat him, it wasn't fair and she didn't deserve it. He wanted to go downstairs and defend her, but he too was afraid of his father, especially now that his father didn't love him. When Tobias left the house, Severus made his way down the stairs to comfort his mother, who was still sobbing onto the carpet.
"Mummy, I'm sorry he did this to you. I didn't know that he would get so mad." Severus thought Eileen would accept his apology, technically it wasn't even his place to be apologizing as it was her fault for tricking Tobias and using the potions, but at age 9, Severus wasn't out for revenge. At this age, he already understood that you couldn't fix the mistakes you made in the past.
Eileen cried,"Get out of my face! Get out of my hair! Get out of my house! Get out of my life!", and with that Severus took the clue and left the house as soon as he could, grabbing his father's old trench coat in attempt to cover up his mother's smock that he was wearing. He wasn't sure where to go. He did not want to accidentally run into his father, so he walked in the other direction, away from the factory pubs, towards the nice, middle class neighborhoods. Severus did not want to travel too far from his origins, but with every step towards the middle class townhomes, he looked more and more out of place. Eventually he found a park with a nice shady tree he could lie under and read a book.
He thought he was alone until he heard the shriek of girls. Scared of girls and scared of being recognized, he hid himself. He was curious about how real girls acted though, so he made sure he could see them through the brush. The girls appeared to be sisters, the darker haired one looked to be older, around 11 or 12, but the younger girl with red hair appeared to be around his age.
"Tuney! Watch this!", said the younger girl as she flew off the swing, and actually flew! Severus could not believe his eyes. Was it possible that this girl could be a witch? He had never met another witch or wizard other than his mother, and a poor example of that it was, so Severus didn't know what they looked like, but it looked like she was showing magic. Wanting to be completely sure, Severus kept observing. Once he was convinced, he emerged from the bushes!
"I've been watching you for awhile! You're a witch!". The younger witch was startled and looked offended.
"That is not a nice thing to say to someone!" Said the younger girl in response. The older girl was ushering her to follow her, probably to go home.
"No, you don't understand! You're a witch and I'm...I'm a wizard!", Introducing himself as a wizard to this girl felt good. It felt right.
This caught the girl's attention. This kid in the funny outfit wasn't offending her, in fact he was complimenting her, almost calling her special. She moved in closer. "Hi, I'm Lily, and this is my older sister, Petunia.", she held out her hand.
"Lily, we need to go!", shouted Petunia scared and impatient. She had a bad feeling about this odd kid.
"Severus, Severus Snape", as he said that, he reached out to shake her hand and he smiled. It felt good to say his name to a new friend.