Requiem for Snape
Chapter One
Murder
Severus Snape had no home, nowhere to go. School was out and he had purposefully cut himself off from his father and his mother was dead. Any relatives that still existed would never be, in his life.
He also had few friends. There were others from Slytherin House that were friendly to him, Lucius Malfoy for one. But then Lucius was friendly to anyone willing to tag along behind and worship him. The older boy had a certain amount of power in that he was rich, very rich. He was also engaged to a very popular girl he met at another school. Severus had seen them together. They could have been brother and sister as far as he was concerned. They both had blond hair, were fair and had the aristocratic demeanor of the pureblood.
Severus could not say that about himself. His father was muggle and a dreadful one at that. In the days before Hogwarts, Lionus Snape had used alcohol as an excuse to beat on Severus and his mother. The other reason for his abuse was the fact that Severus and his mother were wizard and witch; in other words, magical.
Severus learned of this at an early age. And behind his father's back his mother instructed him so that he would not be frightened by his newfound abilities. He learned that he could not use his magic against his father no matter how much he wished to- and there were many times he really, really wanted to- in fact he wanted to kill him. But his mother warned him that he would be able to escape to a new life in a new world that had nothing but witches and wizards and he would be seen as special in that place, as long as he didn't use magic.
He learned the penalty for doing underage magic would be his exile from that wondrous place. He could not afford to lose the only thing that kept him sane.
Up until he reached his eleventh birthday, he found that being away from home was the safest way to avoid his father. He also learned he could not help his mother. She told him that they would escape into the magical world the minute that he got on the Hogwarts Express bound for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. If, she survived.
In the meantime, Severus didn't join in any activities of people his own age, as they often found him too closed and withdrawn. He just did not know how to relate to them. But he did watch from a distance. In particular he watched a girl that went to the same play park that was close to his home.
She was the one that he could talk to because she didn't tease him or scoff at him or treat him badly. She was kind and friendly, and….funny. That's what he decided. He liked the fact that there was one thing in his life that made it worth living and it was this girl, Lily Potter.
She wasn't particularly pretty, at least not at the age of ten, almost eleven and she had a pesky little sister. But it hardly seemed to matter to Severus since he was well aware that he was not attractive either. And given the level of poverty and neglect he suffered he knew that he was rather homely if not ugly. This didn't seem to bother her either.
He also knew that she held magical powers and that she would most definitely be invited to the place his mother told him about. And so, he told her about Hogwarts and the magical world and at first she didn't believe it. But then one day they were sitting on a park bench. She was eating lunch and he was eating an apple he'd stolen from a neighbors tree.
He began to repeat some of the stories his mother had told him and then he described some of the magic he'd done, not intentionally of course, and he explained that you couldn't do intentional magic, but magic that was just natural to him.
She listened intently and then she told him about the things she'd been able to do. "My parents don't have any magic nor does my sister. Does that mean I can't go to this magical world?"
He shook his head vehemently. "No! You'll be invited. But you have to understand that your family can't talk about it, not to anyone. If they do that breaks an important wizard rule. No one can tell the non-magical world about our world. The people here who are non-magical are called muggle.
You are muggle-born and I am a half-blood. My mother is a witch."
"Ohhhh, really?" she asked, eyes wide with delight. "Oh please, Severus." She's an adult. That means she can show me magic. Right?"
He nodded, suddenly feeling a little concerned. If Lily wanted to meet his mother that would mean taking her to his house. And home was dreadful. It was in a bad part of town, a poor part and it was awful. If she hadn't teased him before, seeing his house would change that.
"I don't know Lily," he mumbled and got up to leave.
"Sev, please don't leave." She took his hand an pulled him back to the bench. "Look." She dropped her eyes and a blush colored her cheeks. "I know where you live."
"You do?" he said in astonishment. "But, how?"
"I followed you one day," she answered and raised her head and stuck out her chin defiantly. "I thought…well I thought you might live in the magical world. I wanted to see."
He shook his head, frowning. "No…no. I told you that we live in the muggle world, both of us. There are portals you have to go thru to enter the magical world." He pulled away from her suddenly aghast at the knowledge that she had seen where he lived.
"It's alright, Sev," she said reading his mind. "SO what if you live there. You're my friend aren't you. Does it matter where you live?"
He considered her and brushed at the trousers permanently stained from dirt and oil. He had a few summer clothes and they were almost rags from over washing. "I have to ask my mother first," he said, hoping that would put off the visit for a little longer. But he knew the girl was persistent and eventually she would have her way and he would have to take her to his mother.
"Of course," she said matter-of-factly. "Tomorrow then. Same time. I'll bring something for tea, cookies or something. My mum let's me cook you know." She brushed herself off and headed across the grass. "See ya, Sev."
He watched her until she disappeared around a corner and then got slowly to his feet. It was growing late and he needed to be home before his father got there. He could grab a quick bite to eat and then slip out through his bedroom window. He lived in an abandoned building behind their house. It was little more than a garden shed and had its share of spiders and mice. But it also held his books and his few private belongings. In the winter it was cold and in the summer, hot. But it didn't matter. The whole idea was to stay out-of-sight.
It was just days before his eleventh birthday. He and Lily had discussed getting their Hogwarts letters and he was looking forward to having an owl deliver his. He only hoped that his father would not be around when it happened.
His mother lived her life in isolation, staying in her room for most of the day and night. It had been that way for years. Severus knew that she kept in touch with people on the other side and that as soon as he received his Hogwarts letter, they would disappear into the night. He would rebuild his life from scrap and no one would know what his life was like, no one except Lily.
Severus went to his little nest and thought about how he might avoid introducing Lily to his mother, how he would go about it if he did and what Lily would do once they were no longer in the muggle world.
'Tomorrow,' he thought. 'I have until tomorrow.'
And then he heard the yelling, his mother screaming and he heard the word 'witch' in amongst it all and he cringed. They were fighting. His father hated the wizard world and anyone in it. That included his wife and the son who showed magical abilities from birth.
Severus rested his head on his hands and knees and sat in the shadows and listened. This time it seemed the fight was more virulent. He knew he could not and would not interfere. He could not help her. She was a witch and could use her magic, could even heal faster than normal women. But even witches could suffer.
There was one final horrific scream and then silence.
"Severus where are you?" his father demanded, coming to the back garden. "Come here! I know you are out here."
Severus jumped to his feet, knowing that he was going to be trapped in the garden shed. It was either run for it or get a beating. But when he emerged from the shed the sight of his father stunned him into inaction. The man was covered in blood.
"What…what have you done?" he asked feebly. "Where is mum?"
"I told you, you filthy brat. You and that stupid woman. You are not going to that magical school. And there she was hiding the letter, all packed and ready to sneak away," his father bellowed. "Well, I'll have none of that!"
His father advanced on him and Severus saw a knife in his bloody right hand.
"What did you do?' Severus demanded and then yelled, "Mum? Mum are you alright?" There was no answer. His father laughed at him and continued towards him.
"I don't think she's going to be answering very soon," his father said.
Severus was cornered. A tall fence circled the yard and the shed was in the corner of it. To get to the street he'd have to go past his father and he wasn't going to be able to do it. He knew from experience that the neighbors would ignore the sounds coming from the house. There were too many times when there was a ruckus at the Snape household. And sadly, some of the neighbor indulged in fighting as well.
"I hate you," Severus snarled and prepared to leap at his father. There was no other way. Fight and maybe get to his mother to see if she were still alive or stand his ground and get murdered.
There was a small part of his mind on the fact that he had already gotten his Hogwarts letter. That meant that if he could survive he could get away, far away here his father couldn't reach him.
He reached for something leaning against the shed and felt it's weight in his hands. It was a sledge hammer. The weight of it was dragging his arm to the ground and his father was laughing at him.
"You gonna use that boy? On me?"
Snape looked down at the tool and then up at his father who had stopped and then had taken another step forward. Without realizing it he heaved the handle up and held the head of the hammer in one hand and the handle in another.
Everything became slow motion. His father lunged and Snape raised the hammer with super human strength and swung. At the same time he was screaming at the top of his lungs, "No! Stop!"
But the swing was true and it had the force of many years of abuse behind it. Severus landed the blow in the middle of his father's head and the skull indented and held the hammer, pulling it from his hands. The man gurgled and fell to the ground at his feet. Dead.
Severus stepped back away from squirting blood and stared at the disfigured face of his father and them slowly looked up at the back of his house. He knew his mother was dead.
His only thoughts were: 'Will they take me at Hogwarts if they know I killed my father?"