BONUS 1

Slytherin

Severus' Mother dies during his 6th year, and the Dark Lord ends up paying for her funeral, showing Severus the only true kindness he's ever known from adults his whole life, leading him to kill his muggle father and accept the Dark Mark in gratitude to the man who made him feel like he was worth something.

As usual, you must choose a prompt.

[Speech] "I never said I hate you. I do hate you, but I never said so."

[Speech] "Wait! Don't you want to know my response?" "I already know what you'll say."

[Object] A small box

[Word] Perfection

[Word] Oblivious

[Emotion] Admiration

[Weather] Cloudy with a chance of rain

[Last line] He/She/They never did know what happened to her/him/it.

[Event] Graduation

[Action] Dislocating a joint

Spinner's End is a street on which the childhood home of Severus Snape is located. It is stated to be one of several streets lined with deserted brick houses and broken streetlamps, near a dirty river and an abandoned mill with a tall chimney. It is located in Cokeworth.

Severus, clothed in his dark cloak and slacks blended into the tenebrosity of the night. Bracing himself against the cold wind, he wrapped his cloak around him as he walked along the grimy street of Spinner's End. He bore a mask of indifference that hid the crashing waves of uncertainty underneath. His mind drifted back to the funeral.

The day was actually quite calm, he'd noticed, completely contrasting his inner storm. His father, a sick excuse of human, had brought his mother to the point where she just broke. When the news reached Severus, he had bawled. He had stood in his dorm, never feeling more alone and just sobbed. Pain engulfed his mind like a black ocean of suffering, ruthless and unrelenting.

The taunts were public, private, everywhere. Those sadistic smiles he gave her, the things he wanted from her, just, simply the way he treated her angered him. If his father was standing in front of him, Severus had no idea what he would have done to the man.

He treated her as if she was a bird, caging her, asking her to get rid of her 'freakiness', the only thing that made her different. He watched her, her spirit slipping away, a slow, excruciating death. She had taken her own life, but there was only one man to blame. Tobias Snape.

Severus was utterly dumbfounded when he learned that Voldemort, Lord Voldemort, had agreed to pay for his mother's funeral. It was impressive and he could say with confidence that she had never looked more tranquil. Her eyes were wide open, emotionless and staring into his although the small, content smile of hers hadn't escaped his notice. She was happy, she was free and as long as she was happy, he couldn't have cared less. Her dark eyes stared back at him and he moved his hand in one swift motion, closing the eyes that mirrored his forever.

The funeral was grand; the whole of his town was invited and the Death-Eaters had arrived as well, the hundred people or so all dressed in black. It was sort of beautiful, in a macabre manner, hundreds of people who couldn't have cared less about her but had all come because "She was such a nice woman, that Eileen," and it just wouldn't do to miss the opportunity to pay her their respects.

When his mother's coffin was lowered into the ground, sealing her away from the rest of the world for an eternity to come, people began leaving, one by one, family by family until the whole graveyard was empty. Only then, Severus had let his mask slip. He'd talked to his mother's gravestone, all day and only once the sun had completely set did he leave to complete the job.

He was brimming with gratitude for the Dark Lord and was ready to do anything. So when Voldemort had asked him to kill his father as "proof of his loyalty", he couldn't have been happier. It was such a simple task; he would do it in a heartbeat. He couldn't have cared if he tried. And so, that brought him to Spinner's End, to his childhood home, where his good-for-nothing father still lived. When he reached the door, Severus paused, uncertain once again. It was not that he had the slightest ounce of pity for his father, it was the risk of getting caught. Severus rid his mind of the thoughts. He had the Dark Lord's protection, after all.

When he entered the house, the first thing Severus noted was the strong smell of alcohol. Tobias Snape sat on the couch, and he looked up when he heard the door.

"Severus? What the -"

"You did not attend your wife's funeral," Severus said cooly.

"I was at work!"

"How peculiar that is, when you have been unemployed for the past year."

"You ungrateful brat! Do not take that tone with me! I am your father! I raised you!"

Severus' voice was cold as he levelled his wand at the man. "I have no father."

"You - I - What is the meaning of this? Are you threatening me? How dare you!"

"You killed my mother!"

"She killed herself, foolish boy."

"No!" Severus cried, choking back tears. "You made her kill herself. You made her life a living hell!"

"I did no-"

"I saw you hit her, and scream at her, and-"

"She was a filthy freak, just like you. You say you hate me, but I made the world a better place, cleansing it of filth like her."

Severus was shocked into silence for a few moments before answering. "I never said I hate you. I do hate you, but I never said so. She was a wonderful woman, but above all, she was my mother," he said, his voice beginning to rise. "She was my mother and you murdered her! You never loved her at all, did you? You want to help make the world a better place? Allow me." Severus gripped his wand tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"Wait! Don't you want to know my response? Don't you want to know if your old man could love?" Tobias cried, desperately attempting to find a way out of his awful fate.

"I already know what you'll say," Snape answered, his voice icily cold. "You've told the world enough lies. Avada Kedavra."

As his father's body crumpled to the ground, Severus waited for the remorse and guilt to arrive.

They didn't. At least, at the start. He was almost proud of himself, to tell the truth. He had pleased the Dark Lord, and had been granted access to his inner circle, taking the Mark and acting as a spy from inside Hogwarts. The remorse stayed far away until Lily died, until the nightmares started and the feeling of self-importance ended. Then, it came and bled through the cracks in Severus' armor, eating him alive. One day, years after he became a spy so deeply invested in both sides of the war he wasn't sure which was his, he sat with Dumbledore in his office.

"Without you, we would lose the war," Dumbledore said. "You've saved so many people. You can be proud, Severus."

"Without me, so many people would never had needed to be saved," Severus said quietly, as a single tear fell from his eye.

House: Slytherin

Category: Bonus

Prompts: [Speech] "I never said I hate you. I do hate you, but I never said so."

[Speech] "Wait! Don't you want to know my response?" "I already know what you'll say."

Word Count: 1,133

AU, but I believe this could have fit into Snape's backstory somewhere.