Author's Note: I have absolutely no ownership whatsoever on the Harry Potter characters! Never have, never will. I just like to play with them. Okay, that sounded so, so wrong... However, I do lay claim over original characters that are from my own imagination.

I kind of realised that I messed up in the last chapter with the Hippogriffs, I got my weeks and times mixed up a little.

Dojoson41: Thank you for your review. Yes, I think she would, too.

Chapter Four

Way Too Far

The next day didn't go any better, nor the next, or even the day after that. Whenever Snape or any of the other Professors weren't paying attention Elijah, Victoria and Gabriel were given some really rude and nasty comments by some of the students, and it wasn't just from Gryffindor.

It wasn't all too bad, some of the students were actually accepting of the Snape children and would stand up for them whenever they could. But it just felt as though it didn't seem to matter, for the taunting just wouldn't let up, and it was starting to escalate. The only break they were getting was at night, for Elijah didn't have to stay in the Gryffindor Tower, he stayed in the apartment with his Uncle and siblings.

For the duration a good number of weeks, all four Snape children, yes even Ainsley, were targeted. Anyone who attempted to be nice in some way to the children – and there were a good number who truly wanted to be friends with these children, were also vilified. Why? All because of whom their Uncle just happened to be. They didn't just insult them and Snape, they were not too afraid on jabbing at their deceased parents, either.

Everything was taking its toll on the children. Differently, yet the same. Ainsley started to become more clingy to her Uncle, as well as McGonagall and Lupin, (ever since meeting each other, the children had become rather fond of Lupin, and Lupin in turn, and volunteered to help alongside with the Deputy Headmistress), and lashing out. Gabriel was having trouble getting to sleep, and whenever he was able to get any form of shut eye, he was getting nightmares and wetting the bed. Victoria simply just didn't eat, or if she did, it wasn't much, she was teased mercilessly about her weight, even though she was practically a twig, and started believing that maybe they were right, not that she was admitting it. Whereas Elijah was bottling whatever emotions, shoving them down and trying to pretend that whatever was being said and done wasn't having any affect on him, he was getting his schoolwork done, and making time for his siblings and even helping his Uncle.

Snape, McGonagall and even Lupin were suspecting something was going on, but none of the children spoke up. At first they believed it was grief and realisation of their parents no longer being around setting in, as well as the possibility of homesickness, as the rest of the staff of Hogwarts had also noticed something was off, but with no one speaking up...

"It is okay, Uncle!" Elijah tries to convince Snape one night, after hard questioning; "Really!"

Many a time, the children were trying to do how they were raised, try and be nice, without being pushovers. They kept mostly to themselves as a result.

Then one Saturday afternoon, something finally snapped; it all started during breakfast in the Great Hall, when the owls were delivering the morning mail. Elijah, Victoria and Gabriel were all sitting at the Gryffindor table, alone to themselves, when a nice decent sized box, carried by several owls, came and landed right in front of them.

"Woo! I wonder what's inside!" Victoria says with great interest.

The three eagerly open the box, it is Gabriel who retrieves the card from right on top and opens it to read out loud;

"G'day Eli, Vicky, Gabbo and, of course, Little Ainsley; we all got together to put this package together for you. Many things to remind you of us back here, in Australia, where you will always call home. We also ensured something for each of you, that we know you would give you great joy. From the entire gang you call mates!"

He showed his brother and sister, so they could see all the names who signed it.

"Ha ha! Mick! Damo! Izzy!" Elijah grinned, showing Victoria, who beamed at; "Kylie, Rachel, Holly and Nikki! Hey, Gabriel, your friends' names are on here, too!"

They then had a better look inside; to their greatest delight they saw packets of Tim Tams, a couple of jars of vegemite, Cadbury's Freddo Frogs and Caramello Koalas, several packs of Allen's branded lollies, including red frogs, killer pythons and chicos, and a few others of their old favourite foods that was able to be packed;

Victoria's beam turns into something more when she sees Elijah pulling out a mug sized trophy cup that had black and white ribbons tied to the handles, with a plush magpie wearing a striped Guernsey inside it and a small golden plaque at the bottom that read 'Premiership winners of 2010, Collingwood Magpies'.

"Collingwood won the premiership! Yes!" Victoria shouted with glee, hands up in the air, almost jumping from her seat.

Many heads turned their way. Ainsley squeals with cheer, putting her own arms up at the sound of her big sister's voice... and throwing some of her porridge into Snape's face.

"That means the Tigers bombed again!" Elijah slumped a little.

"Aww!" says Gabriel. "That'll be right; the insignificant Collingwood supporter gets to brag after her team takes just 20 years of drought, while our boys of yellow and black are yet to get out of theirs after 30!"

"Which was against the Magpies," Victoria reminded gleefully.

Gabriel playfully pokes his tongue out, Victoria returns the same gesture, and Elijah just chuckles at them.

"You two are so much like Mum and Dad!"

"You're just as bad, Eli," says Victoria, still smiling.

Next was a small cricket bat with signatures on it, gifted to Gabriel.

"Oh, wow! They managed to get Michael Clarke, Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle!"

Next was a very large poster for Elijah, he unrolled it to reveal a tiger high in the air, going for a Sherrin over human players that was clearly of a different team, with a note attached, 'We found a near replica to the poster you've been eyeing to steal from my wall, mate, Damian'. Elijah couldn't wipe the grin from his face.

"They got Ainsley Possum Magic and Wombat Stew," Victoria says, showing them the children's books.

"Since she likes her bedtime stories, I'm sure they'll go nicely with her growing collection," said Elijah.

"Is that all?" Victoria then asks, giving the box a bit of a sweeping glance over.

Elijah places his poster aside and goes for a better look, moving the treats aside to see. Right at the bottom, now being uncovered, was a beautifully framed photo containing a petite looking woman with dark brown hair tied up in a tight bun, hazel eyes and high cheekbones, and a tall man standing beside her with clean cut black hair and hooked nose. Both were proudly wearing their uniforms, bearing their medals and ranks.

Attached around the frame in special casings that had glass windows were the very medals, slides and name badges that were shown in the photo. A full written letter was with it.

Elijah read it to Gabriel and Victoria, by the end of it, bittersweet tears were either threatening, or had happened, depending on who it was.

"Let's take all this to the apartment," Elijah suggests.

They put whatever items that were taken out back in, except for the framed photo and medals, because Gabriel virtually clung to it against his chest and yanked away when Elijah went to take it, understanding his younger brother's want to keep a hold of it, the eldest Snape brother didn't push it, just telling him to be careful with it.

They had managed to get a fair distance away from the Great Hall, walking toward the dungeons in the Entrance Hall. They were halfway, when they were suddenly knocked into from behind, and the framed photo was snatched from Gabriel.

"What do we have here?"

They turned to see Ron Weasley, Seamus Finnigan and several of the others who sought to make life difficult for Snapes.

"No! Don't that's special!" Gabriel cries with anxiousness, trying to get it back.

Ron was looking at the photo, making a face at what he was seeing.

"What on earth are they wearing?"

"Ceremonial dress uniforms," says Victoria, just as anxious.

"Ron!" Harry speaks up rather firmly. "Knock it off! Give it back!"

"Why are you still defending them for?"

"Because I don't like what you're doing! Now give it back!"

Ron goes to give the frame back, but just as Gabriel goes to take it, Ron throws the frame down to the hard floor and stomps his foot several times, smashing the glass and ruining the photo.

"That's what they for having the name Snape!" one of the other students spat.

The three Snape children were beyond mortified. Elijah stared at the ruins, before looking back at Ron, drops the box and punches the redhead hard in the jaw. Causing a whole gang to gang up and attack right on back. Harry and a few others who had either befriended the Snape children, or just didn't agree with the hell they were being placed under, tried to get the gang to back off.

Elijah, unfortunately, gets knocked unconscious, when he was placing himself between the gang and his siblings, trying to keep them shielded from the mob mentality that was happening.

"Eli!" Victoria screams out.

"What in blazes is going on here?" a voice booms, followed by a thunder like sound that causes everyone to stop.

Snape was at the doorway of the Great Hall, holding a now crying Ainsley, because of the thunderclap sound he had made from his wand, with McGonagall, Lupin, Sprout and Flitwick close behind.

Everyone parts away to give a clear view. Snape was quick to go over to where Victoria and Gabriel were both in tears, distraught and scared for their brother, who had a nice gash to his head.

"Eli, wake up!" says Victoria.

"Ee-ee," says Ainsley, who didn't understand why Elijah wasn't responding to her pats.

Snape felt someone taking Ainsley from him, so he could carefully move Elijah from his front to his back, then just as carefully, picks him up from the ground. In doing so Snape sees the destroyed frame and photo; even a couple of the medals had escaped, including one of the name badges.

There no hiding the genuine hurt and anger on the Potion Master's face at the sight of it.

"All students are to go to their Dormitories at once!" McGonagall's stern voice rings through. "We will deal with whoever is responsible later."

Everyone knew to not question this and did as they were told.

"Severus, you take Elijah to the Hospital Wing," McGonagall then speaks to Snape, stepping closer to the spot.

"Are you two hurt?" Lupin asks Victoria and Gabriel, he was the one who took Ainsley.

Both shook their heads.

"Does Remus have your okay to take the children away from here?" McGonagall checks with Snape.

Snape doesn't seem to question this, he just nods and gives a strained "yes" and tells Lupin to take the children to the apartment, before taking Elijah to the Hospital Wing.

Flitwick magicked anything that had fallen out of the box, back into it, and he also repaired the photo and casings, making it as though the damage had never been done.

"I'll help with this," he says in his squeaky voice, catching up with Lupin and the children.

"I don't understand, Minerva," Professor Sprout speaks to her long term friend. "What's been going on?"

"That is what I would like to find out," McGonagall replies, having a feeling she was not going to like what she is yet to discover.

Author's Note: I wrote and rewrote this chapter a good few times to try and get it right. I still don't know if I even got the mark or not. Only that I had the visual of Elijah going unconscious after so many weeks of unrelenting hell from the other students, and had to figure how to get it in, as well as how the other children were being affected as well.

I am still looking on how to get the Snape kids to happier days.