Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, the universe they're in, or the general plot motions that go along with our good friend Harry. I do own this Sarah Snape, so no stealing that idea, k? Thanks to JK Rowling for not suing this cute little fangirl for posting! xoxo

20 June 2007

by: Jade Aestas

The Snape Legacy

This is a story about a niece of Severus Snape named Sarah. Slightly alternate universe here- Sarah is at Hogwarts the same time as Harry. She finds out she's a witch just like her uncle Severus (who she's only ever heard stories about) and decides to run away from her abusive father to find him so she can go to Hogwarts (she's received the letter).

Sarah Snape stared in horror at the letter in her hands. All her life she had heard the snide and even dark comments voiced by her father about her Uncle Severus—a man she had never met. Her cousins spoke among themselves too- calling him a freak, a failure and telling stories of how Granddad Snape had tried to beat it out of him, but to no prevail.

Sarah knew all about beatings. The infamous Snape temper ran true in her own father and she had felt his heavy hand flash fire across her face and his belt upon her back more times than she could count, but the letter in her hands spelled far more trouble for her than a single back-handed strike if he ever found out.

If her father found out that she had the same abnormality (as he called it), the same disease as Uncle Severus, his fury wouldn't stop with a few lashes. She felt a chill crawl up her spine and flood her cheeks- he might kill her.

That thought goaded her into action. Stuffing the letter into a torn pocket in her jeans, she shot to her feet and began to throw her few possessions into a filthy bag she found underneath the old mattress that served as her bed.

A glance around Sarah's room would have shocked any half-decent housewife. Though tidily kept due to her innate sense of orderliness, it, like the rest of the house, was a decaying mess of mangy furniture and threadbare clothes. As Sarah snuck through the family room toward the door, hoping her father was too absorbed in watching the telly to see, she stopped to touch the cracked wall. Here a small patch of dried blood still marked the spot she had hit with her head the last time he had gotten angry with her. It had taken three stitches to put her head to rights. That memory closed about her now, pushing back all thoughts of hesitation or fear. She was going; she was not coming back. Not even the tale she had heard of how Severus had used his sorcerous powers against Granddad Snape scared her more than the thought of what her father would do to her if he found out that she too had magic.

Severus Snape sighed in vexation, a frown creasing his brow as he swept down the path away from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not even the joy of being away from that horrible Potter boy-- with his hateful smile just like James' and the eyes like beautiful Lily's-- for a whole summer could overcome the trouble Headmaster Dumbledore had laid at his feet.

The letter from Albus clenched in his fist, he strode out the gates of the castle and away to where he could Apparate home. Thinking of home, he clenched his fists again. Damn him, he thought as he paced. He had meant Dumbledore, but as the thought flashed in his mind, the face that came to him instead was that of his filthy, muggle father. The only thing Professor Snape hated more than James Potter (and now his son, Harry) was his own father. Being beaten by someone every day of your life will do that to you he reminded himself. The moment he had come of age at 17, Severus had broken all ties with his family, even from his mother- a witch herself. Why should he talk to someone who had let her husband beat her child all his life, he had thought. But now, the past was catching up to him.

Dear Severus,

I am pleased to inform you that your niece, Sarah Snape has been accepted to Hogwarts and will arrive next fall. I am giving you the responsibility of ensuring she arrives safely and with all the things she will need. As you well know, her parents will not be open to the idea, and it will be up to you to smooth things over with them, and take her to Diagon Alley.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Snape snarled and turned on his heel to face the castle. Why in the name of magic did Dumbledore have to interfere? Why was it Snape's lookout if this little girl had trouble with her family accepting her magic? He wanted nothing to do with the Snapes! But then he sighed in defeat. As headmaster, Dumbledore had the right to ask any staff member to help in locating and assisting any muggle-born student- Dumbledore had done it himself many times as a teacher. Tomorrow, he would seek out this Sarah Snape.

Turning around again, he strode the last few steps out of the castle grounds and vanished.

Sarah first look at her uncle was not promising. To start with, he looked far too much like her father to be at all comforting, and the deep frown on his face the moment he opened the door did not help matters. But she had come too far to go back, and so she lifted her chin as high as she could without wincing from the anticipation of a blow, and said, "Uncle Severus?"

She could tell immediately that it was the wrong thing to say.

"What are you doing here, girl?" he snapped.

"Please, Uncle," she said with a cringe, "I have m...magic"

"I know" he said more calmly, but with a look of indifference, "you received your letter, then?"

"yes, sir" she replied, holding it out for him to see. Was he not going to hit her then? A glimmer of hope sparked in her heart. Of all the strange stories she'd heard of this man, none of them had mentioned him beating anyone. She had always thought that was because it was to be assumed that any male of the Snape family hit, but now she wondered if she'd been mistaken. Any of her other uncles would have had her begging for mercy by now, provided they hadn't simply locked her up for her father to deal with.

"Please, Uncle," she tried again, a bit braver this time, "I have nowhere else to go." That was not a lie, exactly. If either of her parents found her now, and learned why she had fled, a beating was the best she could hope for, after which they would probably kick her out themselves.

"I have no desire to keep you here," Severus said in a hard voice, "I am a professor, not a babysitter. Tell Dumbledore I said no!" and he began to close the door.

"Who is Dumbledore?" Sarah cried desperately as she tried to stop him from shutting her out, "no one told me to come here, I ran away!"

Severus stopped. Opening the door again, he regarded Sarah for a moment. Finally, he said quietly, "Ran way? Why?"

Sarah stared at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted wings. Was he demented? "Surely," she said as if she could not believe her ears, "surely you're joking?" Before he could say anything she ran on, "Surely you don't mean to tell me that you don't know why a person with magic," she spit out the word like a curse, "would run away from a family of Snapes!"

"I..." he began, still looking indifferent.

"I've been beaten for sitting in the same room as my father, simply because his favorite team lost the football game!" she cried, her voice a bit shrill, "See this?" she pulled up her sleeve so he could see the long, wide scar that ran from her wrist almost to the inside of her elbow, "I got this when I was six because I tripped over his beer can and accidentally broke my mother's favorite vase! He locked me in his closet for three days that time, three days until he forgot about feeding me and I began to cry, and then he beat me for crying!" She stared at Severus. Tears she didn't notice were falling down her face.

"And the stories say you got worse," she whispered, "my cousins say it was only the mercy of Grandma that saved your life when Granddad learned you were going to Hogwarts."

He flinched then, remembering himself how his father, her grandfather had reacted when he'd found the letter. His mother had given up magic when she married a muggle. Severus gazed down at his niece in a new light. For all the beatings he had received as a child, he had never once tried to run away. Cowardly as it might seem, he had bided his time until finally, when he reached his majority, he had simply disappeared. But Sarah was different. Albeit, she had known where to flee too, but it had taken guts to just up and leave, with no preparation at all; she must have gotten her letter no more than a day ago.

"How did you get here?" he asked quietly, still thinking.

She blushed, "I got lost," she admitted, wiping away the tears she now realized were on her cheeks, "I stuck out my thumb to get a ride, and a magical bus popped out of nowhere and picked me up."

"The Knightbus," her uncle murmured and she nodded.

"Come in" he ordered her finally, "I'll get you some tea." Sarah looked startled for a moment, and then nodded. Picking up the dirty bag she'd dropped, she entered his house.

The entrance was small but in good condition, she noticed. Though the place seemed to be in the same sad state as her old home as far as things left laying about, the floor and walls were in good order, and the furnishings were used but well kept. Looking to her right, she watched her uncle as he put the pot on to boil and brought down two clean cups from a shelf above the stove. "I can help clean," she stated suddenly. The words fell out of her mouth without her thinking first, but as they did, she agreed with them. She would not be a burden.

"Beg your pardon?" he said with a small frown and she realized it must have sounded as though she thought he needed it.

"I just meant," she blushed, "I just meant I will help you. I am a good housekeeper, and I can cook a little," she repeated, "I'll help you in return for room and board."

"Very well," he sighed in resignation, "I will make up the guest room for now. You may stay until September and the start of school. After that," he paused, thinking, "after that we will discuss with Dumbledore what he thinks is best."

"Dumbledore," she mused, "you mentioned him before. Who is he?"

"Albus Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," her uncle told her, "and I am the Potions master there."

"You're a professor?" she asked him. When he raised an eyebrow, she blushed again, "all I know about you is that your life was," she paused, "that it was very similar to mine, and that you're a wizard."

"Yes," he replied, "I am a professor at Hogwarts as well."

"What is Potions exactly?" She asked him as he poured her tea.

"It is the fine art of blending objects, ingredients and magic, as well as will power and imagination, into new and powerful substances." he said softly, "Potions is a very powerful subject."

"It sounds wondrous," Sarah said in an awed voice. Then she yawned and Severus realized that it was nearing 11 o'clock- far too late for an 11-year-old girl who had spent most of the day running in fear of her own parents.

"It is," he agreed, "but now you must sleep, and we will speak again in the morning." Standing, he showed her the way to his guest room, and also where to brush her teeth before bed. Then, as she slipped into the room and shut the door, he went downstairs and took out a piece of parchment.

Dear Dumbledore,