Thicker Than Water

Disclaimer: We do not own them nor do we make any money off of this.

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Chapter 2

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Severus slept soundly but not dreamlessly. There was too much on the young wizards mind to sleep without dreams, though the dreams he had where a bit more like memories.

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"I'm sorry son." The chubby medi-wizard said as he stepped out of the hospital room and into the waiting room where the young child of only ten sat waiting.

"S-sorry?" Severus asked.

"There was nothing more we could do, the disease was spread too far to contain. We did all that we could, I assure you, but we are not well versed in this sort of thing. Cancer is not seen everyday around here as it is in the muggle world and we do not have the means with which to deal with it." The medi-wizard explained placing one plump hand on Severus' shaking shoulder. Even in the muggle world where cancer was seen with much more frequency, the diagnosis still most likely would have been a death sentence.

"NO!" Severus yelled and pulled away from the medi-wizard running into his mother's hospital room.

He ran over to his mother's lifeless body and sobbed placing his head on her chest, his ear over her heart in a desperate attempt to hear a beat, to feel a breath, anything.

Her body was still warm but most definitely without life and Severus wept bitter tears of loss into the white cotton hospital gown his mother wore.

Severus could feel two hands come out and grab him but he could not tell you whose hands they had been… he felt himself being led out of the hospital room but he could not tell you to where.

He was pulled into the floo and could vaguely hear whomever it was that hands had grabbed him calling out "The Ministry" but it sounded muffled and distant to him as if he had cotton packed tightly in his ears. He was brought to the ministry's department for child welfare but he could not recall how long he had waited while they attempted to locate his next of kin. Time had seemed to stop and begun to spin out of control, all at the same time, for the little boy who had lost his entire world in one afternoon.

He was then carted off to the small rather shabby muggle neighborhood of Spinner's End and dragged up to the door of a small house with unkempt front yard. The ministry official knocked on the door that seemed to have more paint chipped off then was actually left on.

The door opened to reveal a hung-over looking man with three days worth of stubble curly blond hair that stuck out in every direction, red tinged blue eyes wearing nothing but a pair of boxers that had definitely looked to have seen better days and was reeking of alcohol.

"Tobias Snape I presume?" The ministry official asked.

"Indeed." The man slurred.

"`n dis musstt be my freak of a soonn." He managed mumble out.

"Yes, this is Severus." The official said pushing his way into the house pulling Severus by the hand behind him.

"Where will he be staying?" The man asked Tobias.

"Thiiss way." Tobias said stumbling over in the direction of a run down old room with a small bed that looked to be a cot with the bars taken off. The mattress was thin, worn and lumpy and looked to be several inches to small for Severus' to get his entire frame on but the ministry official said nothing about it he simply placed several shrunken pieces of luggage on the ground and resized them.

Severus crinkled his nose as he looked at his father, really, it was barely two in the afternoon and the man had already been drinking. And by the look of it, quite heavily.

"Your mother's things are in those two suit cases over the Severus; those are the things she wanted you to have." The ministry official said pointing to the two green and silver bags.

And then he left him there, left him there with his drunken father in the small dusty dank building the man dared to call a house.

Upon the other man's departure Tobias brought back his right arm and backhanded Severus hard across the face.

"Unpack and then make yourself useful and start cleaning the parlor." He demanded before leaving the room in the search of more whisky.

Severus' brought his hand up to cup his slowly bruising cheek; his tongue darting out to lick over his swollen lip and the coppery taste of his own blood filled his mouth. He could feel a few unwanted tears slip out of his eyes and down his cheeks.

He quickly set about unpacking his things, he didn't have a lot but it was enough. He then placed his mother things all the way in the back of the small closet in his room, he couldn't bear to look at what his mother left him and he wasn't sure he ever would be able too. He had no idea what was in those suitcases and he wasn't sure he would ever have the heart to find out.

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Severus let out a little whimper in his sleep and he tossed onto his other side, his arms wrapped tightly around his pillow.

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Fifteen-year-old Severus stood in the empty potions lab at Hogwarts. It was midnight, one week before the end of spring term and there was no way he was going back to Spinners end and that drunk that passed himself off as his father.

He added the last of the stolen ingredients to the ancestry potion he had been working diligently on since just after curfew.

He bounced on the balls of his feet as he watched the finished potion simmer on the fire. He had to let it simmer for the next twenty minutes and then it would be ready for him to add a few drops of his blood and to give him the answer to the question he needed answers for desperately.

The small timer on the desk went off and Severus ladled a portion of the potion out into a waiting vial before taking out a pin and running it through the fire to sterilize it before pricking his left pointer finger. He held the finger over the vial, squeezing it a bit he forced two drops of blood out of his finger and into the potion.

Pouring the contents onto the sheet of parchment, the black swirling liquid shot out, branching outward, names and connections began to appear.

He looked over the Prince side, next to each name was the state the person was currently in. He perused it for any viable relatives. He shook his head, deceased, deceased, incapacitated, deceased, ill, incapacitated…

The list went on and not a single relative was in any sort of state to take him in.

He then turned to the Snape side of his family tree. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the paternal family tree again…

Riddle?

That couldn't be right; he was Severus Tobias Snape, SNAPE not Riddle.

He rubbed his eyes again but the image stayed the same, under the place for his father it said Tom Marvolo Riddle and it indicated he was alive and well, all other names on that family tree said deceased and Severus sighed.

But who was Tom Riddle?

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Severus whimpered again in his sleep but the hand that rubbed his back soothed him and he calmed back down settling back into a deep sleep.

When Severus' body relaxed Voldemort stopped rubbing his back and went back to his own bed in an attempt to catch some more sleep.

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Well, the potion had been a total waste of time.

Well, that wasn't completely true. He had found out that Tobias Snape was not his father. But finding out his only free living relative was a mystery wasn't particularly helpful.

He couldn't even find the man, so there was no way he could go up to the man and say 'Hi, you're my father can I come live with you?'

Needless to say he had arrived back at Spinners End the night before and had been greeted by a wasted Tobias Snape who demanded dinner and then fell into a drunken stupor.

Now, Severus sat in his closet, the door closed, the only light was from a single flashlight (he dare not use his wand) to see what he was doing.

He opened both of his mother's suitcases and started going through them. Old photos, his birth certificate other trinkets there where of little value save for sentimental and then he stumbled across it, a stack of age warm parchment tied together with an elegant green and silver ribbon it was apparent whatever the parchment contained had been of great value to his mother.

Running his hand over the bow he took a moment reveling in the fact that it had been tied by his mother's hands before pulling at one end releasing it.

He looked over the parchment, they seemed to be letters.

"Dearest Eileen,

I wait with bated breath until we can be reunited at summers end. I miss you with every breath I take but it wont be too much longer, summer is coming to a close and my torment here will be through for another year.

Love always,

Tom"

So it was true, his mother had been with Tom Riddle, but then why did she leave him? Severus had no way of knowing the answers to his questions and even as he read the last of the letters he was no closer to finding out.

It was apparent his mother loved this Tom Riddle very much to have kept these letters but why then did she leave him? And when she was pregnant to boot.

At the bottom of the letters were photos, several photos of his mother and Tom smile and happy and Hogwarts and Severus felt tears in his eyes as he saw his mothers smiling face again. He quickly tucked the letters and photos away before turning off the flashlight, curling into a ball and falling asleep on the floor of his small cramped closet.

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'My name is Tom. What's yours?'

Severus stared at the small book slightly baffled.

He had retrieved it from his mother's possessions; he had found a folded note inside of it.

"My dearest Eileen,

I may not always be able to be with you in body, but with this a little piece of me will always be with you in spirit. When you write in this book, it will be as if you are talking to me.

With Love,

Tom"

Eager to find out his mother's thoughts, he opened the book. Only to find it blank! He could not help the wave of frustration he felt, when he flung the book across the room. It wasn't until much later that he found the book under an upturned inkwell. He had thought the book would be ruined, but no, here it was looking no different than when he had first found it. Inspiration struck, and he penned in.

'Hello?'

Upon seeing the response, he was overjoyed. That was what Tom had meant by being with his mother in spirit! The book was an enchanted object to represent Tom when he couldn't be there for his mother! And thus began the correspondence between Severus and the book.

Eventually the topic of Eileen came up.

'So, Eileen was your mother?' The book asked.

'Yes and your real self is my father?' Severus answered. 'Although, I have never met him and cannot find any reference to him, outside of the special award trophy in Hogwarts. It is as if after graduation, he just disappears!"

The book soaked in the words but remained unresponsive for a few minutes. Finally, when Severus was about the write some more, the book responded.

'Did you ever think that he might be using a different name?' It asked.

'Why would he go by another name?' Severus questioned.

'Even when I was going to school, I sometimes used a different, more powerful sounding name that I had fashioned out of my birth name. Tom Marvolo Riddle.'

Severus watched in fascination as the letters rearranged themselves to spell out 'I am the Lord Voldemort'

The book dropped out of his nerveless fingers. Voldemort was his father?!?

Severus sat on the floor of his room, overwhelmed by this new information.

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Severus woke with a start, he wasn't on the floor of his tiny room on Spinners end, no, he was in a bed in his fathers chambers and across the room Voldemort sat watching him with a fond smile on his face, he wasn't sure he had ever seen that smile on his face before.

"Oh, good your awake, I want to talk with you." Voldemort said

Severus mumbled something incoherent as he sat up on the bed. His bottom immediately protested to contact with the mattress that mattress may have been soft but Severus' bottom was quite sore

"Try that again in English son." Voldemort said not unkindly

"What do you want to talk about?" Severus repeated this time without the mumbling

"I want you to take down your occlumency shields and let you into your mind. You are my son and should not be hiding things from me."

Voldemort said gently but there was no mistake that it was a demand

"No." Severus said simply, there was way too much in his mind it was still unsafe for his father to know and it was really just too early in the morning for this line of inquisition.

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. "No?" He asked a bit surprised. "Have you forgotten yesterday's lesson so quickly?"

Severus cheeks pinkened at the reminder of his humiliation but firmly stood his ground. His father may always be his father, but he served the Light! He could not, would not willingly betray them.

"Take down your shields now! Or you will get a reminder on the consequences of disobedience!" Voldemort commanded.

"No!" Severus said, trying to sound firm and manly, but ended up sounding like a five-year-old.

Getting up, he quickly made a break for the door, but Voldemort was faster. With a wave of his wand he had closed and locked the door before his wayward offspring could reach it.

"Wrong choice Severus. Now come here and bare your bottom."

Severus shook his head his eyes wide and pleading with his father, Voldemort searched in those eyes only to find the shields still up, displaying nothing but fear of his upcoming spanking.

"Severus come over here right now and bare your bottom, I will use Imperio if I have to, but if that becomes necessary you will be one sorry little boy." Voldemort says firmly and as if he was talking to a small child instead of a grown man.

'Little boy?' Severus thought raising a single eyebrow but not making to comply with his father. He was no 'little boy'!

Severus fought furiously with the urge to stomp his foot like a petulant child, locking his knees to prevent himself from such an indignity. After all he wasn't a little boy!

Knowing that there was no other way of getting his son to obey, he pointed his wand at Severus. With a sigh, he said the incantation "Imperio".

Once again Severus found himself walking to this father's side and baring his bottom. Severus fought the spell even as it forced him to lie over his father's lap, but to no avail. Getting Severus situated Voldemort quickly brought his hand down on the slightly pink bottom.

SMACK! Severus was just realizing how much a spanking could hurt over an already sore bottom. Voldemort landed the spanks at a furious pace, covering Severus' entire bottom, and paying extra attention to the sit-spots. It was when Severus' bottom had reached a uniform dusty pink that Voldemort started lecturing.

"You will NOT disobey me! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! When I tell you to do something, you do it! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! You do not keep secrets from me! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! I consider it the same as lying! SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! Which I don't abide by, is that understood, young man?" Voldemort questioned, his lecture was heavy laden with hard spanks.

"Yes! OWWW! I'm sorry!!! OWWW! Please! OWWWW! Father!" Severus cried out.

Voldemort paused for a moment before summoning a slipper from across the room. Hope swelled in Severus' chest as the spanking stopped, that hope was viciously dashed as he felt the sole of the slipper tap softly on his reddened bottom.

Craning his head to see what was touching his already sore bum, he cried out. "No, Father! Please not the slipper!"

"If you had obeyed me, this would be over. But for your disobedience you are going to get a session with the slipper." Voldemort said sternly before he brought the slipper down on the upturned bottom.

Bringing the slipper up and down, Voldemort painted his son's bottom an even darker red. Severus squirmed, twisted and kicked his legs out, but nothing could stop his father from landing the spanks right where he wanted them.

After Severus' bottom was an acceptable shade of red, Voldemort raised one knee and tipped Severus forward for better access to his sit-spot.

"No! Father! Please!" Severus cried out.

Voldemort ignored his son's pleas as he landed the last ten blazing strokes on the younger man's sit-spots. Severus went quite limp after five and was sobbing heavily by the end of it.

Finishing up, Voldemort threw the slipper to the other side of the room and then proceeded to rub gentle circles on his son's back.

When Severus' hiccupping sobs turned to random tears and sniffles he righted him in his lap. Taking advantage of his son's emotional state Voldemort put two fingers under Severus chin and forced him to look him in the eyes and began to mentally probe him.

Severus tried to pull away but couldn't. He struggled to strengthen his occlumency shields but the spanking made him a bit weaker mentally for the moment and Voldemort was able to skim the upper most level of his memory finding the very thing he wanted him to know the least.

Voldemort pulled away from his son and glared at him.

"I am very disappointed in you young man, hiding something so important from me!" Voldemort scolded.

"How dare you!" Severus exclaimed pushing away from his father. He got tangled in his shorts and pajama bottoms that were still bunched around his knees and fell to the ground with a hard thud right on his sore bottom.

"Sodding, bloody hard floor," He yelped out.

Voldemort waved his wand again and Severus scrunched up the harsh features of his face in disgust as the bitter taste of soap flooded his mouth.

"Check that attitude and language Severus unless you fancy some more with the slipper, or maybe my belt." Voldemort warned him.

Severus frowned and shook his head vehemently he had no desire for more spanking let alone with the belt.

Voldemort waved his wand again canceling the soap spell and when Severus stood and went to fix his boxers and pajama pants he swatted the hands away.

"You leave those where they are." He demanded before grabbing Severus by the arm and hauling him off the ground.

Severus dug his heels into the ground in an attempt to find purchase as he felt his father start to drag him out to the common room where there were already a few Death Eaters gathered. There was always a small group on hand to guard the Dark Lord at all times.

"Father, no, what are you…" Severus started his eyes going wide, his face red as he realized they were headed right to the corner closest to where Voldemort conducted all of their meetings.

Voldemort placed Severus with his abnormally large nose right in the corner.

"No, father! You can not mean for me to stand in the corner in the middle of the common room!" Severus exclaimed pulling at his pajama shirt in an attempt to cover his modesty as he tried to turn away from the corner and go back to the room.

"Severus I mean just that. You will stand there with your nose in the corner, naughty red bottom on display while I call a Death Eater's meeting in order to solve the little problem that has come to light involving the memory I saw." Voldemort said firmly.

"No, I will not!" Severus said and he bent over to attempt to pull his boxers and pajama bottoms up once more.

Bending over was, in hindsight, perhaps not the brightest move on Severus' part as it presented his bottom most spectacularly to his fathers displeasure and Voldemort used that to his advantage.

While Severus was scrambling trying to get hold of his pants Voldemort wrapped an arm firmly around his waist and holding him tight he landed five hard swats to the well-presented bare bottom.

"You" *SWAT* "most" *SWAT* "certainly" *SWAT* "will" *SWAT* young" *SWAT* "man!" He scolded as he brought his hand down.

Severus let out an undignified yelp and as soon as his father let go he jumped up and rubbed at his bottom rocking up and down from the balls to the heels of his feet as he attempted to relieve some of the terrible sting.

Malfoy, who to Severus' luck was one of the few death eaters already gathered, let out a small chuckle. Severus face went a red that could almost rival that of his bottom and he quickly stilled pulling his hands away from his bottom.

He turned his head to look at his father, leaving the rest of his body still facing the corner.

"Please father at least allow me to replace my clothing." He pleaded in a whisper only Voldemort could hear.

"No Severus and that is final; I don't want to hear another word about it. You will stand there quietly until the meeting is finished and then you will get dressed and spend the rest of the day in your room, thinking about why it is not wise to disobey me. We will talk tonight about your further punishment for keeping such a secret from me. Now be advised if you move so much as an inch from the corner I will not hesitate to take your bare bottom back over my lap for another spanking right in the middle of the meeting." Voldemort warned.

Severus gulped audibly, more at the thought of more punishment then at the threat of being hauled over his father's knee in front of the Death Eaters again. Make no mistake, he knew his father would do it but there was no way he could be more embarrassed then he already was and it could be avoided if he stood still, and he planned on staying still, very still, if he did maybe then no one would notice him.

The prospect of further punishment that night was just far scarier especially if it took the form of another spanking.

Voldemort cast a specialized silencing spell on his son, he would be able to hear every noise Severus made, but Severus would not be able to hear the meeting. Voldemort surveyed the room, and picked out one quivering mass from the crowd, he beckoned. "Come here Wormtail."

Singled out, Wormtail made his way to his Voldemort. "Yes, my Lord?" He asked as he bowed.

"Hold out your arm." The Dark Lord commanded.

Wormtail bit back a sigh, he hated it that his lord always chose him for this. Obediently, he held out his left arm. Voldemort held out his wand and touched it to Wormtail's dark mark. Wormtail writhed in agony.

Seconds later the room was filled with the sounds of 'pops' and the room became more crowded as more Death Eaters arrived. All of them took note of the red bottomed, stifling Severus in the corner. Some even chuckled under their breath. Their attention turned to their leader as Voldemort addressed them.

"My friends, I have a secret to share with you. Around sixteen years ago, I took a wife in secret, not wanting my enemies to find out, only one person knew. My most faithful follower, Brakus Grommet, gave me his daughter, Candida as my wife. She bore me a child, who I named Marvolo Salazar Slytherin, reclaiming the Slytherin name that had died out. But tragedy struck! Somehow that blasted Order of the Phoenix found out about him and in the raid, both Brakus and Candida were killed, and my son was missing. Until now, I had assumed that he was dead, but Severus has brought me new information. He is alive and living under a different name and appearance. His name is now…"

The Death Eaters were unsettled by the tale, here was another competitor for their lord's favor, but they couldn't help but wonder who this second son was.

"Harry Potter!"