Chapter 1: Spinners End
From the day Severus Tobias Snape was born, his parents knew he was special. The first time Severus laughed on that cold January day, he made it snow indoors. His mother Eileen thought it charming but his father was not pleased.
"Make that ridiculousness cease at once! What would our neighbors think if they saw it snowing indoors Eileen?" Severus' father Tobias growled.
They lived in the most normal part of Midlands, England. They lived on a cozy street named Spinners End. Spinners End was located in a small town named Cokeworth. The town was so small that it wasn't located anywhere on a muggle map. Tobias had no idea he was living in a magical neighborhood.
Tobias Snape was a gruff man who hated anything to do with magic. No one thought that he'd have ended up marrying his wife Eileen, had he known that she was 'one of those magic folk'. He hadn't discovered that she was a witch until after they were married. She broke the news to him after she had found out they were expecting their first child. How could he avoid noticing that strange things happened whenever his wife sneezed, belched or passed gas? At one point, she sneezed bubbles out of her nose. I won't even go into detail about the incident when she passed gas.
Severus sprouted like a weed. When the time came for his first birthday, Eileen ran to Diagon Alley to purchase his first broom. He was not a very good flier but he would not stop trying. Watching Sev fly was one of the only magical things Tobias took pride in. He would crack a smile whenever he saw his son zoom past.
The years that Severus saw his father smile were few and far between. It seemed that a grimace was perpetually stuck on his fathers face. He tried so hard to please Tobias. Before his parents knew it Sev had grown into a four year old boy with jet black hair that always seemed to look greasy no matter how many cleaning spells they used on it. His eyes were curiously black as well.
Everything was fine until they took a trip to an underground aquarium on his 6th birthday. Severus accidently made a hole in the glass while trying to pet the fish. Eileen noticed right away and knew just how to fix it without the surrounding muggles noticing.
"Reparo." She muttered. The hole instantly sealed itself leaving only a few droplets of water on the floor. Sev giggled and reached out to touch the glass again only to have his hand smacked.
"No." Tobias chastised. "Do NOT touch."
Sev looked up at his father perplexed. He didn't understand what he had done. His lip began to tremble.
"Tobias. A word please?"
Eileen glanced down into her son's face and at his quivering lip with tear filled eyes. She began to feel a burning hot rage ignite in the pits of her stomach. How dare this pitiful man make her son cry?
"Now." She growled at her husband.
Tobias met her steely glare with a cold look of his own. Slowly, he turned and stalked through the crowds of people back to their car in the parking lot. He unlocked the doors and got in without a word.
Eileen buckled Sev into the backseat, kissed his forehead, wiped his eyes and shut the door.
"You listen to me Tobias Alan Snape. You EVER lay another hand on my son, I will do things to you that are unimaginable in the muggle world. I will hex you into oblivion. My great grandmother made a man into stew for less. Are we clear?" Eileen's eyes flashed like lightning as she waited for his reply.
"I will not have that boy doing such dirty things, Eileen."
"That does NOT give you the right to strike him! Ever!"
Severus was puzzled as to why his parents were arguing. He glanced over and saw the blue stuffed squid his mother had purchased from the aquarium for him. He grasped it and shut his eyes wishing that time would stop. The sound of his parents yelling at each other was scaring him.
Slowly, He opened his eyes to see his parents facing each other. He glanced up into his mothers face and cried out in fear. She looked really angry. Peeling his eyes away from her, he looked into his fathers face and saw a look he didn't understand. Was it anger? Was it something else entirely? He didn't know.
He unbuckled himself with some difficulty and climbed up into the center console. He reached up to touch Tobias' cheek and strokes it savoring the warmth.
"Daddy." He mumbles when he pulls his hand away. "I wuv you daddy."
Sev climbs off the center console and into his fathers lap. He yawns hugely and curls up against his fathers chest. His eyes begin to drift shut.
"Please don't fight Mummy and Daddy." He mutters just before falling asleep. The sound of their arguing comes back for a second and then falters.
"Severus wha-?" Tobias and Eileen say at the same time.
"He loves you Tobias. He loves you so very much and I don't even think you realize it. He knows that you're ashamed of him. He's trying to win your love and you're too bloody blind to see it."
"I don't mean to be ashamed of him. I don't want to be ashamed of him but my father ingrained in me that anyone or anything magical was freakish. I realize he's my son but I just can't get my father's voice out of my head calling the magic folk a freak. He was one of the only ones in our family that was not magical. He hated the magic folk because the witches and wizards in our family were vile to him about his being a muggle. When I was born they completely cast him and my mother out. My mother was also a muggle. I've never met either of my grandparents on my dads side. My mothers parents looked down on the magic folk as well. I was raised in a very anti magic family. I've never told you Eileen because I hated myself for being ashamed of Severus and being ashamed of having married you." A tear leaks out of his eyes.
Eileen casts her eyes down on Severus and sees the disgruntled look on his sleeping face.
"All he wants is your love." She whispers tearfully.
Tobias gently picks him up off of his lap and climbs out of the car around to his car seat. He sets him into his seat, buckles him back up and places a blanket over his sleeping son. He leans down to kiss his son on the forehead and feels the boy's small arms wrap around his neck.
"I wuv you daddy. Pwease say you wuv me." Sev mumbles sleepily while rubbing his eyes.
"Sev. I do love you. At least I'm trying to. I'm sorry for being horrid. I hope one day you'll understand when you're older."
That was the only time Severus could remember his father saying the words I love you. He kept trying to win his fathers acceptance and love but it seemed to fail every time something magical happened.
