CHAPTER TWO: ANTOINETTE PURTWIN'

A/N: I'm writing short chapters at the moment, but once I get into it they'll be a lot longer. This chapter explains Snape's mother, who might make an appearance later, I haven't decided yet but even if she doesn't she'll still be heard of. R&R!

CHAPTER TWO: Antoinette Purtwin'

In her first year of school at Beauxbatons she was the top student. In her last year at school she decided to transfer to Britain for more of a learning experience. Instead of attending a school over there she was home tutored. When she graduated she had become so used to Britain that she decided not to return to France. When looking for work she met a man on the streets named Samuel Snape and her heart went out to him. She invited him in to her home and took care of him.

She and Samuel got together but Antoinette never really wanted him. When their first child Severus was born, she decided to do the traditional thing and she married Samuel. That was her ticket to hell. Samuel became cocky that she would be around forever because of the kid that he had given her so he started to beat her. Samuel made Antoinette's life a living hell. He was nice to her on a VERY rare occasion. On one of those rare occasions he confessed to her that he'd been expelled from Hogwarts because of an incident with a fellow student called Darcious, and that he had killed him. Antoinette didn't believe for a second that it had been an accident what Samuel had done, even though it had.

As Severus grew up Samuel started to beat him as well. Antoinette would beg for hours for Samuel to leave "Sev," alone and just beat her instead. If he was in a good mood he would do just that. Severus started growing up to be afraid of his own father. Samuel's biggest fear was that Severus would go to Hogwarts and when he came back he'd be strong enough to kill him and save Antoinette.

Antoinette tried on several occasions to find out what was wrong with Samuel but all she ever found out was that he was bitter and twisted because he never had an education.

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When the woman with the goodies trolley came and asked Severus if he wanted something to eat, he was forced to say no. Of course his parents hadn't given him any money for snacks. It would have made his father beat him if he'd asked for any. Severus sat holding his knees and looking out the window. He was glad to be away from home. He was a bit worried about what his father would do to his mother, but he'd always been. At that moment the door to Severus's compartment slid open and in walked someone. It was a tall boy with messy black hair and a pair of glasses. He sat down next to Severus.

"Hi," he said, extending his hand, "James Potter."

"Severus Snape," he said, extending his own.

James opened his bag and took out some sweets, offering some to Severus. Severus took some with a polite thanks, wondering if James would be his first friend. The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes, then James asked Severus a question.

"Pureblood or muggleborn?" he asked.

It took Severus a minute to understand what he meant, then he replied "Pureblood."

"Same here," said James, "I've heard that some of the houses are really unfair towards all the muggleborn students, like Slytherin. My cousin told me that Slytherins are all racists towards muggleborns and that if I had any sense in me I'd stay away from them. I don't know how my family would react if I was sorted into Slytherin, but I don't think I will. For four generations my family have all been in Gryffindor. What house do you think you'll be in?"

Severus chose his words carefully so as not to lose James as a friend before even gaining him, "My mum went to school in France and my dad was expelled from Hogwarts around the time he was 13, but before that he was in Slytherin and so were the rest of my family."

James gave him a strange look, "Why was he expelled?"

Severus didn't want to tell James, but he wanted to gain his trust, "Attempted murder my mum said."

James's jaw dropped, "Then shouldn't he have been sent to Azkaban or something? I mean it would mean he's a criminal if he tried to kill someone. Is he in Azkaban?"

Severus shook his head, "Don't really know what happened to be honest. My mum said she found him when he was living in the streets and took him in."

James was still looking at Severus in a funny way, "Well ok."

For the next few minutes the trip passed in silence. When James decided to talk again, it was about Quidditch. He bragged to Severus that he was a champion Seeker and Severus told him that he'd never played Quidditch because he lived in a muggle area. James told him all about it and Severus memorised the rules from listening to him talk. Finally a conductor came in and told them that they should start changing because they were due to arrive at the castle soon. James and Severus changed into their robes and then headed down to the main area of the train.

They heard a man's voice calling the first years, so James and Severus exited the train. The boys were told to climb into boats with all the other first years so James and Severus got their own boat. Seconds later they were joined by two other boys. One was also tall with messy black hair and the other was tall with neatly combed blonde hair. The boy with blonde hair extended his hand to Severus.

"Lucius Malfoy," he said.

Severus shook it and introduced himself, his mind elsewhere. Malfoy? Something about that name sounded familiar to Severus, where had he heard the name Malfoy. The other boy who had just joined them also introduced himself to Severus, and his name was Sirius Black. He also introduced himself to James and Lucius. There was no conversation for a minute, then…

"Anyone like Quidditch?" asked Sirius.

Another short chapter, but thankfully it was longer then the first one. I'll have Chapter 3 up soon. Now that you've read, please review!