Severus sat in his cold, dirty room. The small bedroom, enough to challenge that of a bedsit had stains upon the walls, containing onto a bed, wardrobe and studying resources. He hated the holidays; the Gryffindors were hell to live with, but nothing in comparison to his parents. He found that if he stayed in his bedroom in silence, nothing would happen.
"A… Accio… Accio?" the boy said, frowning slightly in uncertainty as he practiced his pronunciation, looking down to the book.
"SEVERUS! DO I HEAR VOICES?" screeched a voice from downstairs, a look of panic spreading over the face of the Slytherin.
"NO, MUM!" he shouted, hearing the sound of footsteps on the stairs. He stayed on his bed, trembling in fear as the footsteps slowly got louder, closer, until finally a woman dressed in fancy, and rather expensive clothing opened the door, a cigarette hanging loosely between her fingers.
"What did I hear?" she asked.
"Nothing, mum… I was just practicing my enchantments…" the boy whispered, looking towards his mother with distress, the woman slowly making her way towards the student. She smirked, putting out her cigarette on Severus' arm, causing a small whine to escape from the smaller. He whimpered, trembling slightly as he felt the sting of the burn on his arm, eyes fixated on the floor.
"Mum…" he snivelled, rubbing his arm. The tall woman opened her hand in front of him, a large kitchen knife appearing. At the sight of the weapon, Severus' eyes widened. "Mum! No... please…"
Eileen made a few stabbing motions towards the boy, yet not touching him, only to make him flinch and whimper slightly. She paused, gazing towards him and smiling maliciously. She grabbed his wrist, very slowly slicing a large, deep wound down his arm with the knife. Sobbing, Severus screamed at the intense pain whilst Eileen still kept a firm grip on his wrist.
"Keep quiet," she said simply, taking out a vial of a nasty looking potion, the contents being of some sort of magical infection or disease. She poured the potion into his wound, looking at his face in interest as Severus let out an ear splitting shriek of agony.
"Stay here," the woman said. "We'll go to St Mungos later." And with that, she turned on her heel and left the bedroom, shutting the door and locking it, trapping the Slytherin within the four walls. Collapsing back, Severus clutched onto his arm, staring into space as he shook with a mix of pain and shock.