"For the hundredth time, Severus, stand up straight and get that scowl off of your face. You're a Snape, and it's about damn time you started acting like one."

Severus forcibly turned the corners of his mouth up into what resembled a passable smile, or at least didn't give quite so much contempt for the world around him. He looked up at his mother, an overbearing woman of about 45, slender and conventionally attractive enough, but somehow still completely unappealing. As she rambled on about decorum and pride, like she always tended to do whenever she felt that Severus wasn't upholding his family name, which she almost always did, Severus tuned her out and looked at the other children around him.

Severus suppressed a snarl. Everywhere on the platform were happy families wishing their children the best of luck at Hogwarts, and his mother was already expressing her severe disappointment in him. She knew he was worthless, and she didn't mind sharing that fact. Stand up straight, stop scowling, come out of your room and say hello to our very important friends, why aren't you showing any signs of magic, why can't you control your magic, be social, be polite, be in control, stop crying...if he was doing anything at all, his mother would find a way to correct it.

He had long tuned out his mother when Severus heard her say, "You will, of course, won't you?" He opened his mouth to flatly agree with whatever shrewish demand she was making now, when crash! Another student's cart flew directly into his.

"I am so sorry! I got lost! I was rushing because I was worried I wouldn't make the train, and, oh..." cried a beautiful, red-headed girl his age as she helped him back to his feet. His unremarkably brown eyes met her sparkling, emerald green ones, and all of the sarcastic remarks he was about to make died in his throat.

"It..it's okay. Are you alright?"

"Yes, thank you. Are you going to Hog-...oh..."

Severus wondered what was causing her voice to trail off like that, and realized that his ever beautiful and pleasant mother must have been staring her signature cold glare at this innocent girl for daring to touch the belongings of a Snape.

"You should run along, child." She spat.

The red-headed girl squeaked out an affirmative reply, grabbed her books, and ran back to her parents for one last goodbye hug before stepping on the crimson train to Hogwarts. He sighed internally, knowing that she would most likely never speak to him again after this. Oh, well. He was accustomed to living without friends, if you didn't count the half-retarted kids of noble wizard families that his mother constantly tried to get him to play with, he had none.

Severus looked up to his mother, afraid of what lay ahead for the first time. He reached his hand out to hers, looking for a hug, a smile...anything. What he got was a handshake, and one last speech about representing his family with honor and dignity. She abruptly turned on her heels and strode away, leaving Severus scared and alone. He figured he better get used to this feeling, so he took one last look at the muggle world around him, and boarded the Hogwarts Express with fear and hope battling it out for dominance inside of him.