Disclaimer: Everything Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling.

Chapter I

It had never occurred to Severus that his life could be any different than it was now. He lay in his bed, old springs pressing into his back making it ache, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling. Water stains graced the peeling roof making portions appear dark as they dripped occasionally. The segments that were not stained with wetness were rotting, the paper that had been laid down on it now crusting off to reveal the dank panels underneath. All around him dark, moldy red bricks were stacked high to form the walls. He imagined they had been put there in some hopes of giving the room color or perhaps liveliness; to him it made the place feel like a prison. It was a prison he longed to be out of once more. As always, though, summer seemed to last a lifetime.

From another room his ears picked up the muffled sounds of yelling. Deep thuds resounded as the raised voices continued. They were at it again, throwing things and bickering. Severus could only imagine that his father had once again stumbled through the doorway half drunk off his ass with an empty alcohol bottle in his hand keen on starting a rampage and picking a fight. It was usually his mother that took the brunt of the anger and beatings. Severus figured she did it to protect him, not that it helped much. Once her frail body had taken enough his father would teeter into his room only to slur accusations his way.

"I see tha way you and your mother sneak around...whisperin' behind my back...you two are plottin' against me. I can see it in your eyes..."

Severus used to give into his father's accusations when he was little, afraid that if he didn't he would be beaten harder. His father would hold his arm behind his back until his shoulder popped out of its socket or scrape his head against the rotting walls until half his face was covered in deep sweltering splinters until he would give into the accusations. As he got older, though, he stopped giving in. His father knew he was big enough and strong enough to put up a fight—the older man wouldn't be able to torture him as he used to. So Severus had found small pleasure in toying with the man.

"You caught us. How did you find us out? We've been trying so hard to keep it a secret from you."

The elder man growled. "I knew it! You and tha' slut are always talkin' when I'm not around, talkin' about me. Don't think I don't hear things. I can see it in tha' twisted sneer you always have. You freak."

It wasn't the first time Tobias Snape had called his son a freak and it wouldn't be the last. Ever since Snape was little his father had been a drunk, the abusing starting when he was at the tender again of eleven. It was when he received his letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy that his father started the mocking and disdainful remarks. No matter what he did, be it good or bad, Severus knew he would always be a freak in his father's eyes.

It was a few years after the beatings began when he met Ophelia Speller. She lived a few blocks down in a nicer neighborhood. She was beautiful with her brilliant cerulean eyes and glossy flaxen locks topped off with a smile that could melt the entire North Pole. To Severus, she was an angel.

It was a dreary morning when she first stumbled into Spinner's End. Severus was sitting out on the front steps to his house, his dark eyes cast downwards as he tried to forget about the beating he had just underwent. His left eye throbbed as blood pulsed to it, the skin around the occipital bulging and bruised. A short distance away he heard the small sound a bicycle bell, the ringing resounding through his hollow mind. He paid it no heed as he tried to blink his eyes without causing extra pain to the bruises. His ears picked up at the sound of the bell again, this time sounding closer. It sounded then again and again, each time growing closer to where he sat. Even still he did not look up. Finally the ringing stopped and he heard the clearing of a throat.

"Hey," The voice of the stranger was small and feminine, innocent and curious in nature. "What's your name?"

Severus had looked up with no prediction of the sight he was met with. He winced as his eyes widened some as he looked upon the young girl. Her gold hair was brushed back behind her shoulders, her azure eyes staring at him with curiosity and a touch of empathy. Small freckles were scattered across the pale skin of her nose as she scrunched it up some. She smiled softly as his eyes met hers.

"I'm Ophelia Speller. I live a few blocks down. I've never ridden over here so I thought I'd take a look around. Do you live here?"

He nodded.

"What's your name?" She asked again.

Severus ignored her this time, unwilling to play twenty questions with the petite girl.

"What happened to your eye?" This girl was straightforward; there was no doubt about that. Hadn't she ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?

He answered her with a sneer, his ebony eyes narrowing. He hoped she would leave, her presence alone causing him to feel uncomfortable.

"Did you get into a fight?" Ophelia asked as she dismounted her bike.

Severus scowled down at her as she came to sit beside him on the front steps of his house. Refusing to answer, he looked away from her. She was far too inquisitive for her own good. They sat in silence for a few more moments, his head turned from her as the heat of her stare stayed on his form.

"Are you dumb or something?"

"What?" Severus asked.

"Sorry," The girl said quickly. "I didn't mean to offend you. It's just, you were sitting there not answering me with this absent look on your face and I figured you either have something really deep on your mind or you're dumb."

"I'm not dumb." Severus answered calmly. "I'm a wizard and I was casting a spell in hopes that you would disappear and leave me alone." Well, half of that was true.

Silence encompassed the two and for a moment Severus didn't know if he had said too much. Had he scared the girl? He hoped so. Perhaps if he frightened her enough she'd leave and never come back to bother him again. A few more moments passed and finally the dark haired boy turned to glance at the girl next to him. His brow furrowed as he watched her purse her lips in an attempt to contain her grin. A minute later and the air was filled with her infectious laughter.

"Good one. You're funny, you know that?" She commented, her amused grin causing him to wriggle slightly.

"No." He responded with a glare.

"I'm a wizard too. Well, a witch actually. But Dad told me I shouldn't go around telling people that considering we live in a muggle neighborhood. Wonder what they'd think if they knew about us living right next door. They'd probably lose their knickers!" Another round of giggles erupted.

"What do you want?"

"To know your name," She shot back, her eyes dancing with giddiness. Was she not afraid of his dark demeanor or ominous black eye? What was wrong with this girl? "Or perhaps I could ask your mother. Is she inside? I could..."

"No." Severus cut in quickly as he saw the girl stand. "It's Severus."

"So how'd you get that black eye?"

"I was walking home and didn't see the lamp post. Ran into it is all."

"A lamp post? Wow, and you didn't break any bones?"

"No."

"You must have been walking pretty fast to have hit the pole hard enough to get a black eye."

"I was running."

"Running?"

"I was being chased."

"Chased? By what?"

"A ravenous lion. It escaped from the London Zoo last week and had been feasting on anything it came in contact with. I was walking home that day when it darted out from an alley. I was running from it when I hit the lamp post."

A moment of silence and then the girl was laughing again, her hand slapping her knee as she buckled back in mirth.

"You're a real hoot." She giggled, her blue eyes on Severus as she smiled widely.

"Severus, are you out there? Who the hell are you talking to?" Severus glanced back at his house, the shadow of his father reflecting in the second story window.

"You better go." He told the girl next to him, watching as her smile faltered some. Finally she was reacting appropriately.

"Why?"

"My father just woke up from his drunken stupor and probably wants to polish my other eye off."

The girl glanced at his good eye, her expression changing from amusement to concern. "Severus..."

"Just go. And if you know what's good for you, you won't come back over here again."

The golden haired girl hesitated for a moment before gracefully hopping on her bike and riding around the corner she had come from once more. Severus watched her go, his dark eyes burning with the hue of her flaxen tendrils. The front door slammed open behind him.

"Did you not hear me just now? Who the hell was out here?"

"No one."

"Don't be a smart ass to me, boy!"

Severus remained quiet, his being used to the usual taunting from his still half drunken father.

"Did you hear me? Listen to me when I'm fucking talking to you!"

He still refused to answer as Tobias rounded on him.

"You ungrateful little bastard!"

It was a week before he could see out of his eyes fully again.

It was only a few short weeks later when the freckled girl came riding into his neighborhood again. He had been inside reading a potions book he had procured from Diagon Alley during his last trip to the shopping center. It's pages where worn and the seam was tearing. He wasn't surprised—it was his tenth time reading it that summer. He had desired to buy more books to occupy his time, but his family funds were insufficient so he had sufficed to reading the potions book repeatedly. He was so familiar with the text by now that he was actually correcting recipes he found needed perfecting.

His eyes flashed to the door as he heard three loud thuds. He rose a thick brow, the book in his hands lowering as he set it upon the table he sat at. He waited in silence to see if he had been imagining the noise. A few moments later and the thuds resounded again. He hadn't planned on answering it, but when he heard the rustling from the room upstairs he quickly darted towards the doorway. No use enduring his father's insatiable wrath if he could avoid it for a bit longer.

He opened the door a crack, his dark eyes falling upon the small girl. Her bike was left leaning against the curb as she stood fidgeting in the doorway.

"I see your eye is better."

Severus was slightly taken aback by her observation, though he didn't show it as he scowled down at her. "What do you want?"

"I wanted to see if you're free."

"Well, I'm not."

"Dad's gone for a few months on one of his adventures researching some new potion so I figured you could come over for some tea or something. Do you like tea?"

"Your dad researches potions?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, he writes books on that kind of stuff. I hardly see what fascinates him so much about it. You know, he's lost two toes and nearly his right eye because of his potions. Trust Dad to never give up. He spends the whole year away from home. I don't mind, though. Gives me my freedom so it's worked out for the better. Mum doesn't particularly like the situation, but she doesn't have much say over how Dad raises me ever since she ran off with that penniless artist."

"What's your dad's name?" Snape asked, unamused by her rambling.

"Edmond Speller, why?"

"He's the author of—"

"Potions and Elixirs for the Advanced Witch or Wizard. Yeah, that's him. You've read his book?"

"Once or twice." Severus lied, his body moving to hide the crumpled book that still lay opened on the table.

Changing the subject the girl quickly asked, "So you want to come over?"

"No."

Her face fell just a tad. "Why not?"

"I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Things."

"Oh, come on. It'll only be for a little." Grabbing his arm, the girl yanked him from behind the door to stand out on the steps next to her. Keeping her hold on his arm she managed to pull him down the street and around the block. Half of him resisted, yet the other half let her drag him along. Tea was a welcome escape from the beating he knew he'd be receiving if he had stayed around his house much longer.

The first time he had stepped in her house he hadn't been surprised by the tidy, elegant manner in which the decorations were placed. The entire building appeared as if it hadn't been occupied in some time. The golden haired girls' room had been on the second story, third door on the left. Boxes lined the upper hallway, a somewhat stark contrast to the clean interior of the first floor. Severus had caught sight of what he had assumed was Edmond Speller's study. Books and scrolls lay scattered around the shadowed room, various potion ingredients used as weights to hold down the numerous parchments.

The girl had shown him her room, the interior appearing as he had expected. The walls were a soft egg shell white adorned with small girlish trinkets and foreign objects.

"Dad always brings me a souvenir when he returns from his trips." She had explained.

Once done showing off her room the girl had moved them to the downstairs parlor. It was just as the other rooms were downstairs, tidy and appearing uninhabited. Severus sat silently as the girl disappeared into another room before scurrying back in with a shaking tray in her hands. She smiled eagerly as she set the teakettle and cups down upon the small table in front of him.

"Do you take sugar?"

Severus shook his head.

She poured the tea carefully, her hands calm as she set the kettle back down before handing the filled cup and matching saucer to him. He held it in his hands, but didn't lift it to his lips just yet. Severus' calculating charcoal eyes watched as the girl poured herself a cup of the hot liquid before putting the pot aside. Her dainty hands reached for the sugar. She preferred two lumps he noted as she began to stir them in with a silver spoon. Lifting the small silver utensil to her lips, her pink tongue darted out to lick at the surface of it before she placed it down upon her saucer. She smiled up at him before sipping at the brewed tea in her cup.

"Aren't you going to drink yours?"

Severus didn't answer as he lifted his own tea to his lips before taking a gulp. The bitter drink slipped into his mouth before burning a path down the back of his throat and into his stomach. He sighed, almost forgetting how welcome the taste of the tart leaves were. It had been months since he had had tea. His mother never received company and so she hadn't found a need to make it. His father preferred whiskey.

"I hope I brewed it to your liking." The girl offered with a hopeful glance at his cup. "I haven't made tea in Merlin knows how long. Dad's been gone since February so I haven't had much company over to entertain. You're the first guest in months."

"It's perfectly adequate."

The girl grinned.

"When Mum used to visit she'd always tell me I make it too bitter. She likes her tea a golden brown." Her freckled nose wrinkled a bit. "But Dad always preferred his black so I had gotten used to making it that way. Mum used to scold me for not making it right, but it's the only way I know how. Plus, I like the taste better. If you don't let it brew long enough it just tastes like water and what's the point in that? 'If you want to taste water then just have water,' I used to tell my mum."

Severus watched her talk. The girl could ramble on for days it seemed. He figured her overabundance in speaking was due to not having anyone to spend her days with. She probably found the absence of company to be lonely; Severus would trade anything to have solitude as she did.

"She used to get mad that we didn't keep a house elf. 'Tea is to be made by the elves, not you,' she'd tell me. What good is a house elf if I can do the job myself, though? Poor things work all day without a penny paid to them. It's not right if you ask me, so I told Dad I didn't want a house elf. He didn't fight me. In fact, he rather liked the idea of me doing the chores. 'Builds character,' he had said."

"Don't you ever stop talking?"

The girl let out a soft laugh. "Am I talking too much? I haven't had a guest in so long I guess I just got carried away."

Severus rose a thick brow at her as she sipped eagerly at her tea.

"So you go to Hogwarts?" She paused as he gave her a questioning look. "I just assumed you do since you've read my dad's book and all. I think it's a required text for sixth years, but of course you're not old enough for that. You can't be over thirteen."

"Fourteen, actually."

"Fourteen? Wow, a fourth year!"

"You don't go to Hogwarts?"

The girl shook her head. "Dad always thought it'd be best to teach me himself. He used to be pretty good at it until he started traveling a lot. I would be at a third year level if he hadn't been gone so much this last year."

Severus didn't respond. He both envied the girl and found her lack of education pathetic. She was lucky she didn't have to endure the bereavement of being mocked by idiotic classmates, yet her absent teacher was an unfortunate downfall to her educational situation.

"So what's Hogwarts like?"

"Bland."

"I hear that it's absolutely magical." Severus couldn't help but scoff. Her choice of wording was just so very ironic. "Don't they have feasts at the beginning of each year? And the headmaster, I hear he's a real loon. Some say he's the most powerful wizard alive, though. And what about the ghosts? Gilbert, the little boy who lives two blocks down, told me that every house has one. I've never seen one before. Are they real scary?"

"Hogwarts is nothing special." He reprimanded. "The students are simpletons who don't know how to produce spells even infants could perform in their sleep. The headmaster is a loon and a half-witted fool as well."

"If you don't like it so much then why do you go?"

Severus hesitated. "Anything is better than being near this pitiful muggle town." He didn't mention his father. He didn't want this girl's pity.

"Well, I think it'd be absolutely fantastic to be able to go to a school like Hogwarts. Maybe Dad will let me apply next year, as long as I get my grades up. Wouldn't that be neat, Severus—us going to the same school?"

"No."

"It'd be a ball, I think. We could play pranks on the other students and you could help me with my potions. It's my weak subject, you know. Funny isn't it? Dad's an expert at the stuff, yet I can't seem to even make a simple first year concoction. Guess the gift doesn't run in the family."

Severus had spent the rest of the evening listening to her chatter away about pointless nonsense and subjects that interested him little if at all. He hadn't planned on befriending her—really, it was she that had befriended him. Yet for the rest of the summer she had gone out of her way to bother him until he'd spend the day with her.

Her father, who so conveniently returned a few weeks before the next term, denied her wishes of going to Hogwarts in the fall. Severus didn't have the opportunity to meet the man before he left for school. The acclaimed author was known for locking himself up in his study for days on end, according to the cerulean-eyed girl. Severus couldn't help but admit himself rather disappointed, his copy of the man's book nearly destroyed with frayed pages and scribbles in the margins by the end of summer. He had rather hoped to discuss some recipes with the potions master, his ideas he deemed worthy of recognition.

Severus eventually found himself to be the constant summer companion of the girl down the street for the next few years. It was always the same; she would come knocking at his door only to drag him to some odd destination she deemed worthy of an adventure. He never truly found the escapades anything close to fun, but gradually he had grown used to the giddy company of the young girl and found that he couldn't deny her wishes whenever she would call upon him.

It was the summer after his sixth year when things seemed to take a turn for the worse.

Authors Note: Hey everyone! I hope you liked the prologue to this story! In case you're confused, this is a Snape/OC fanfic. I've decided to put my own little twist on his childhood (which was left pretty vague by Rowling). In doing so, I've left out Lily Evans and his love for her. I haven't quite decided if I'm going to put her in the story somewhere, but for now she's not included. Anyways, I should have the first chapter up in the next few days so be on the look out for it. I hope you enjoyed this first little installment and let me know what you think! Do you like Ophelia? Hate her? Do you find her original? Mary-Sue? Let me know, I'd love to hear your feedback! :)