And here's chapter two for you :) Please read and review!
Ten minutes later and Severus could still feel his father's hands striking him over, and over, and over. He was lying in his bed reading the new book he had bought, 101 Dark Curses for the Highly Advanced Wizard. Severus knew that there was no way he could do the curses at this point, but it was still nice to learn. After all, this time next year he would able to do magic. Granted, it would be supervised magic, but then again, no one had to know he did in the common room late at night.
His mother wasn't going to come and talk to him tonight; she never did after they got caught. This was a familiar routine. They would get caught, his father would go crazy and beat them, and then Severus would run up to his room so that his parents could scream and fight. His mother wouldn't come up and talk to him about 'their world' for a week or so, and then it would start again.
It was times like these, when he was doing his best to tune out his parents screaming, that he couldn't want until Hogwarts. He would be able to actually see Sirius more than once or twice a month. He wouldn't have to deal with screaming parents and the thought of all the books that would be at his disposal was enough to bring a smile to his face that would put the Cheshire cat to shame.
Severus was about halfway through his book when he could hear heavy footsteps stomping up the stairs. His father was coming to talk to him.
He quickly shoved his book under the mattress and lay back on his bed, pretending to be asleep.
Not two seconds later, his father burst into the room, almost knocking the door off of its hinges. "What were you thinking, boy, defying me again?"
'I was thinking I wanted to get away from you,' he thought as he curled up into a ball on the top of his bed. He had learned long ago that it was best to stay quiet and let his father blow off some steam. It was less painful that way.
His father began pacing in front of Severus bed, his fists clenched at his sides so tightly at his sides they were as white as paper. "I have told you never to go back to that place. Why do you constantly disobey me, Severus? Do I not have your best interests at heart? For nine years I have busted my back trying to clothe you, shelter you, and raise you, despite the fact that you turned out to be one of those freaks. I would have suspected that you would treat me with at least a little respect!"
As his father continued to talk, Severus uncurled and stared at his father in slight shock. 'Why hadn't he started to beat me again?' he thought as he stared at his father, searching his brain for some possible answer. Then as he gaze passed over his father's hands once more, he understood. They were bloody and not all of it looked to be his mothers. He had hurt his hands too much already. He didn't want to hurt himself anymore.
If his father hadn't been yelling at him at the time, Severus would have laughed. But he would have to save that for later when his father wasn't in the room and pacing angrily at the foot of the bed.
He held his tongue and avoided his fathers' gaze until he yelled himself hoarse and eventually left the room. The moment he heard the door to his parent's bedroom slam shut, he cursed his father and spit at the door. It was petty and somewhat childish, but it made Severus feel better. Still glaring at the door, he pulled the book out from under his mattress and began memorizing the curses with renewed vigor, imagining using each every one of them on his father.
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Severus woke up with the sun as he always did, cursing it for daring to shine so bright so early in the morning. He had never truly been able to sleep in and he hoped that it was something that would eventually come with age. He had always hated waking up earlier than everyone else. The house was too quiet and even the smallest noise seemed deafening against the cold silence.
Stretching his sore body, Severus rolled out of bed and stood on shaky legs. Walking over to his dresser, he didn't spare a glance at any part of his anatomy to check for bruises. He knew they were there after all, why should he need visual conformation?
After running a hand through his shorter hair, his mother had cut it two days prior and it was now a mere three inches in length, and gave a half hearted smile at the ease. A quick smelling of the underarms deemed him clean for the day and he quietly crept down the stairs, past his parent's room, and into the kitchen. He looked longingly at the fireplace, wanting nothing more than to be able to floo Sirius and stay with his family for the day.
Severus had gone over to his best friends house a number of times when his father was away on business. Sirius' family had never been too warm or welcome to him, but then again, that was to be expected. Even though he was nine, Severus was all too aware of what his blood meant in the wizarding world, something that made him resent his father that much more. But Sirius' parents, much to his surprise, hadn't kicked him out. Perhaps it was because they had overheard one of Severus' rants to Sirius about how much he hated his father and all muggles, or perhaps they respected his mother's blood so much that they were willing to overlook his regretful father. Either way, Severus didn't care; he was simply happy to be able to see his best friend and dine with one of the more prominent and respected wizarding bloodlines.
Shuffling his feet over to the cupboards, he eyed his meager choices and remembered the fine dining enjoyed at the Black household. 'If only mother had married a proper wizard, I wouldn't have to live with this,' he thought as he grabbed an off brand box of cereal and took a bowl out of the cabinet. He poured the honey coated rings into the bowl and added milk that looked as though it would turn sour at any moment, and stirred the contents of his breakfast with very little interest.
Two bites later and Severus was glaring icy daggers at his breakfast. The rings were stale and the milk was a bit to chunky for his tastes. He poured the rest down the sink and walked over to what his mother liked to call 'the family board.' It wasn't much, just a standard chalkboard with a list of things needed. He grabbed the chalk that hung on a string attached to the board and wrote in his almost illegible scrawl milk and cereal. He stared at his handwriting a moment before shrugging his shoulders.
His father had always called it chicken scratch and claimed he couldn't read a word of it. Severus had learned to write at the primary school for muggles when he was young and while he excelled at spelling and arithmetic, he always received low marks in penmanship. He remembered being brought into his teachers room late one afternoon and having to sit through a parent teacher conference about his horrible handwriting. He had been five at the time and had found the situation hilarious. His mother had even caught him smirking whenever his teacher would complain about his "rushed and horrible style," secretly enjoying the fact that few could discern his unique scrawl. While the subsequent beating wasn't something Severus looked back on fondly, it had certainly been something he marked as one of his favorite memories.
He let go of the chalk and let it hang freely on the wall, occasionally making faint marks on the wallpaper. He leaned against the kitchen counter where his empty bowl now lay and found he had no desire what so ever to put it in the sink. As he stood there contemplating the pros and cons of such an action, a faint whisper met his ears. He looked around, forehead scrunched in confusion, as he tried to identify the source of the noise.
His face lit up into a bright smile when he looked over at the fireplace and there, engulfed in green flames, sat Sirius' head. He glanced at the hallway leading out of the kitchen, checking for any sign of his parents, and walked over to the fireplace. He knelt in front of his friend and asked, "What are you doing? I didn't think you woke up until half past noon."
Sirius laughed quietly and shook his head. "Not today. My mum and dad left early this morning and wanted to tell me goodbye, then I couldn't get back to sleep."
"Where did they go?" he asked curiously.
"Who knows?" Sirius replied nonchalantly, "They are always going to one thing or another. I think there is something going on down at the ministry where dad works. Either way, they didn't take Regulus unfortunately."
Severus shook his head and extended his sympathy. While he found nothing personally wrong with Sirius' younger brother, his best friends loathing of his younger brother was no secret.
"So," Sirius said after a small pause, "do you think you could hop over for the day and save me from the impending boredom?"
"I don't know," Severus began, "my father is already angry at me and mum. I don't think he would like the idea of me spending the day with you."
"Oh come on Sev," Sirius said, beginning to pout, "I'll let you grab a couple books from our library if you come over."
Severus' glared at his best friend, knowing that his decision was now made. He was never able to pass up an offer to look through the Black's library, something that Sirius was all too aware of. Sighing loudly he agreed and after going back over and writing a message on the chalk board for his parents, I'm going out to the park with David and I'll be home later, he ran through the green flames of his fireplace completely unaware of his father walking up right as he passed through.
