Prologue...

The seven-year-old Severus Snape had undoubtedly just done magic for the first time. Green and purple fireworks had risen and exploded out of nowhere with a bang in his living room, and flames were now engulfing the antique furniture. Tobias Snape stood, frozen, in the middle of the room. He had just been yelling at his son as he usually did, but this time he realized he'd gone too far. He had always known deep down that it was a possibility Severus would inherit Eileen's magical abilities, he just never expected it to happen so early in the boy's life.

"EILEEN!" Tobias shouted with absolute fury. Eileen Snape came running into the living room, looking haggard and exhausted. She gasped and stared at Severus, who was shaking with rage. His long, black hair was in his face, and he looked up at his parents through narrowed black eyes, giving him the appearance of a demon child. Eileen withdrew her short black wand from her pocket, and with a swish and a flick, the flames threatening to burn the room to ashes disappeared.

"Up to your room—NOW!" yelled Eileen, pointing up the stairs and glaring at her son. Severus, not knowing what else he could do, followed the direction of the pointed finger and ran up to his room. He slammed the door as hard and quickly as he could, so he would not have to hear even a second of the screaming he knew was coming. But it had already started before he could reach his bed and throw a pillow over both of his ears.

"I don't want any more bloody wizards in this fucking family!" Severus heard Tobias say, along with the sound of a chair being thrown across the room.

"Tobias, he has the gift of magic, what do you expect him to do, stay here? If we send him to school at least he'll be out of the way!" Eileen exclaimed fiercely.

Severus pushed the worn out pillow even harder against his ears and looked up at his bedroom ceiling. The painting was chipped white, and a big fly was walking along one of the cracks. It took off into the air after a few seconds and then flew out the open window next to the bed. Severus wished he could be a fly on the wall; then maybe his parents wouldn't have so many problems.

Severus had always suspected that there was something different about him, something that set him apart from the other kids at his elementary school. Sometimes when he was in his seat during class, and one of the other children started to tease him about his strange clothes and even stranger features, he would feel a tingle erupt and spread in his body, making his blood hot. Then a certain force would surround his hands, threatening to explode into something Severus could not even imagine. But he would hold on tightly to his desk and hold in the explosion, because he knew that whatever happened if he let go would not be good.

When he asked his few allies at school what happened to them when they got angry, he would always get the same response:

"Well, I usually just feel...angry. I don't know...its just a feeling, I can't explain it."

"So, you don't get a tingle and a sort of force field around your hands that's gonna explode any second?" Severus would ask.

"What? Mate, the nurse is right down the corridor...er, you may want to give her a visit."

So after awhile Severus stopped asking others about this weird feeling he was getting when he became angry or overwhelmed. And he never told his parents about it either, but he never really told his parents anything anyway.

As Severus lay on his bed recalling that strange tingling that he got so often and had just gotten in his living room, he finally realized what he was. That thing that had stopped the fire in the living room was a wand. And the force field that he had felt surrounding his fingers was magic. Now he understood. He, Severus Snape, was a wizard.