author's notes: written for hogwarts (challenges and assignments). prompt(s) will be at the bottom.
family in pieces
Eleven year old Severus had been at Hogwarts for just three months, but he was already dreading Christmas hols. There was nothing for him at home other than a perpetually drunk father and an apathetic mother who'd had her magic beaten out of her by the monster she called husband.
Just the same, though, there was nothing still for him at Hogwarts. Lily was going to a new friend's house for the break, and the tightly-knit gang who called themselves the 'Marauders' were all staying at the castle.
There really was no place for him anywhere, Severus thought bitterly as he boarded the Hogwarts Express. He managed to find an empty compartment and tossed his bag up on the luggage rack before sinking onto the seat and slumping down. The train let out a blast and began to move.
Severus watched gloomily as they pulled out of the station and Hogwarts shrunk into the distance.
•
He was met at Kings Cross station by...nobody. It didn't surprise him. According to his father — Tobias, Severus corrected himself; the man may have sired him, but blood meant nothing, as Tobias proved time and time again — he wasn't worth the energy.
He had no money, so he wouldn't be able to catch a cab — even if he did have money, it would be demanded by Tobias as soon as he got home, to be spent on more booze — so he resigned himself to walking home.
Holidays were not a big thing in the Snape household.
•
When he arrived, the dilapidated house was oddly silent. Severus toed off his worn boots, dropping them and his bag just inside the door. There was no use trying to hide his belongings; Tobias always found them anyway.
"Mum?" he called softly, padding through the house. He tried to step as quietly as he could, but the floor creaked with every tiny shift of weight. Remembering which places on the stairs made tons of noise, Severus made his way upstairs.
He pushed open the door to his mother's room. The thin curtains over what Severus knew to be cracked windows were drawn shut tightly to keep intruding light out. "Mum?" he whispered.
"Severus," came a small voice from the bed in the corner. The blankets moved and his mother's wan face was uncovered. She lay propped against a ratty pillow, and tears sprang to Severus' eyes at the sight, though he pushed them away as he moved closer to the bed, determined to be strong for his mother.
"Oh, Mum," he managed in a choked voice. He perched on the side of the tiny bed — it was more of a cot, really — and took the thin hand that was offered. "How've you been? Has father —" he spat the word as if it left a bitter taste in his mouth "— hurt you since I left?"
"You know Tobias," sighed Eileen Snape. "Of course he has, Severus. But it no longer bothers me."
"What?" The force with which Severus had spoken nearly propelled him off the edge of the bed. "How can you say that? How have you let that — that monster abuse you for the entirety of your marriage and it no longer bothers you?"
"Hush," reprimanded his mother. "Tobias may not be the best father —" Severus snorted quietly, but Eileen ignored him "— but he is still your father."
Severus didn't argue with his mother. There was no use. Fifteen years of marriage and she still didn't see Tobias the way she should given the way he treated her. "Yes, Mum," he said resignedly. He bent to kiss her cheek. "Happy Christmas."
•
Severus had only four Christmases more with his mother before she died. He came home the summer before sixth year to the news that Eileen Snape had passed naturally and peacefully in her sleep only days prior. He didn't believe it; Tobias may not have physically murdered her, but his mother had been worn out years before by her abusive husband. She had nothing left to live for.
Tobias didn't even come to his wife's funeral. He didn't turn up for weeks, actually, almost until the summer was over, and when he finally did, he reeked of cigarette smoke, marijuana, and alcohol.
"Boy," he slurred, despite the fact that Severus was clearly not a boy anymore. "Bring me a cuppa."
Severus knew that "a cuppa" in Tobias's language did not equal a mug of steaming tea. It was a tumbler of whatever liquor the cabinet held. He did so, then escaped the house as Tobias sunk into a chair with his alcohol and turned on the telly.
It was as if he hadn't even realised his wife wasn't around anymore.
•
Tobias was the only family that Severus had left, but the dark-haired teenager admitted to himself as he sat on a park bench that he truly couldn't care less if he was suddenly gone, too.
word count: 832
prompts
assignment 10: muggle music — "fairytale of new york" task three — write about the effects on a family torn apart by alcoholism and/or drug addiction at christmas