Hello! Slowly getting there, thanks for all the reviews (thanks for the link Andrea). I've been working, and writers block doesnt help. I'll try and update quicker! Many letters from many people in this one. Enjoy.

Oh, and apparently I said Lily Potter in the last chapter. Sorry! My mistake!

All recognisable characters belong to JKR. I just like twisting their little universes. mwahahahahahaaaa!

Snape jolted awake, his breath frosting immediately in his cold room. He shivered, hugging himself tightly. He scrambled out of bed and closed the windows, wincing as his cold limbs began to warm up. He felt filthy, and numb. He needed to get away from the house, away from his family. He noticed a pile of letters that had accumulated over the night, and he numbly opened the first. It was from Ama:

Hi Sev, Ama here.

Sorry if I missed you last night, I came home late,

Muggle transport can be so infuriating.

I was invited to Lucius' Christmas Party, did you get an invite?

I heard your time at Sluggy's party was fun.

Do you want to catch up over the holidays?

Love lots. Amaryllis.

Snape looked over the letter briefly and shook his head in annoyance. Over the…incidents…that happened the night before, he had totally forgotten about contacting Ama. He flipped to the other letter in a green envelope. Snape looked at the seal with a small smirk; the Malfoys always indulged in the most flamboyant luxuries and their family crest in pure silver ink was no exception. He ripped open the envelope for the invitation:

Severus Snape

You have been invited to the Malfoys' Chirstmas party

By invite only

RSVP to the Malfoys before 24th December

This invite is a portkey

Do not destroy

The portkey will be activated on 8pm, 25th December

Formal Dress only

He folded the invite carefully and placed in his trunk. There were three more letters; one was a scrawled note placed inside an envelope with an ornate Black coat of arms.

Sev

Mother's lost it at Sirius and he left the home; he says he's not coming back. Mum's gone and blasted him off the family tree and I'm really scared.

Can you come over? I need someone to talk to, and I'm afraid that mum will hex me next. You know how my DADA scores are like, and she won't do anything when others are around. Wilkes, Avery, Nott and the others are coming over later.

Regulus A. Black

Snape cursed, he knew something like this would happen in the Black household concerning Sirius. However, he pocketed the letter, fully intending to go. He wasn't going to waste his time in dingy shack he called home with the word 'Rape' spinning around his head faster than a whirlwind. The next letter was clearly from Lily, addressed to him in neat cursive script:

To Sev

Hi! Missing you already. My parents are giving me the hardest time about having a boyfriend, especially my sister Petunia (she doesn't like magic much) oh well, I expect you'll meet them all later. By the way, the party starts at seven, but I've only just remembered that you live all the way in the north (I'm in the south, as you might recall) so you can stay a day or two at my place. You know where I live

Love Lots

Lilly Evans

Snape also pocketed that letter snugly into his breast pocket before turning to the last letter.

Snape

Don't you dare hurt Lily.

R. J. L.

He looked at the letter, a frown appeared on his face. He didn't have a clue who RJL was. He was thinking along the lines of Rastaban or Rudolphus Lestrange and wondering why they wanted anything to do with Lily. Then he rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead: it was Lupin!

"Why would Lupin be sending me hate mail?" Snape asked himself, making sure the card wasn't cursed. Perhaps Lupin also cared about Lily. Snape's heart did the unthinkable: it softened for this young man. Shaking his head, he pulled out several pieces of parchment and a quill.

Lupin

I don't plan to.

S.S

He wroteLupin's letter with some bizarrely strangesatisfaction.

Regulus

I'll be there as soon as I can. Is it possible for me to stay a night or two? I'll explain later.

Severus

He wrote hastily.

To the Malfoys

Thank you for your generous invite, I'll be delighted to come.

Merry Christmas

Severus Snape

He wrote a quick letter for Lily.

To Dearest Lily

Thank you for your letter, and I also miss you greatly. I'll take the opportunity to stay at your place. It is very generous and I hope no-one minds if I stay a few days. I shall talk to you soon.

Lots of love. Sev.

Finally he quickly scratched a letter to Amaryllis.

To Ama

I'll love to catch up with you sometime. In fact I was wondering if I could stay at your place after New Years until the end of the holidays. There have been issues at home I would desperately like to get away from. I'm going to be cutting across the country for a while, so I might not have time to speak with you often. I am coming to the Malfoys' Christmas party. I'll see you there.

Sev

He gave his letters to his owl, Silas, who was grumpy for the amount of letters he had to post.

"They're all urgent, Silas. Please send them as quickly as possible. Send the one to Regulus first." He told the owl. Silas hooted wearily and ghosted off into the early morning. Snape then turned and stuffed everything he owned into two trunks. With a quick tap of his wand, he reduced the size of one trunk and squished it into the other, and then made the bigger one very light. He knew it wasn't exactly legal, but the Ministry wouldn't really know if the magic came from his mother or him.

Carrying his trunk down the stairs quietly, he saw no-one around. His father was obviously working in the factory nearby. His mother was not in the house as far as he was concerned. Snape brushed back his black hair and searched the drawers and found the key to the Gringotts vault in London and several gold Galleons, and he stuffed those in his pocket and began to creep outside.

"Are you leaving Severus?" a sad voice asked behind him. He turned at saw his mother, ghost-like on the stairs.

"Yes." He said sharply, reaching for the doorknob.

"Before you go, can you do a few things for me?" she asked, dark circles around her eyes were visible; whether they were for physical abuse or lack of sleep Snape didn't know.

"What?" he asked, stopping briefly.

"Make me a potion. A simple potion." She said, handing over a scrap of paper. On it was the name of a poison which gave the drinker a quick and painless death.

"Mother?" he asked, looking up with terrified eyes, "I don't think I could do that." He threw the paper away.

"Please," she said flatly, "once you go out those doors, you will never see me again. Just do this for me, once last act as my son." Snape's eyes were wide, but soon they turned cold and steely.

"Why?"

"Please! Sevy dear," she started to sob, falling to her knees, "I can't do it myself." Snape looked at her mother in disgust, then dropped his trunk. He knelt down next to her.

"Yes. I'll do it." he said. She looked up with a wild and savage happiness.

"Thank you." She said, falling completely on the floor as he went looking for a cauldron and a few ingredients.

-o0o-

Snape looked out the window of the purple Knight Bus, his eyes empty. He never found out what the potion was to be used for: suicide or murder. He didn't get the chance to look into her eyes. As he left, she told him that the house was his, along with the money in Gringotts. She kissed him goodbye, and the door closed with an ominous clack. He didn't say a word through all of it, only communicating once with the conductor Steve Shunpike.

"'Ere we go Mister Snape, 12 Grimmuld Place. Oo bet'er 'urry up, we've got a busy day today," Steve said, not unkindly. Snape despondently left the bus and walked into the midday sun. He walked towards the gap of the muggle homes 10 and 13, watching the Black family household appear from apparently nowhere. Regulus was already waiting outside, bouncing a ball against the wall. He stopped when Snape approached.

"Sev! Thank goodness you're here. Mum's totally flipping out. Inside and up to my room quickly, before you stand still long enough to become a target. Be careful of Kreacher, he's moody when mum's moody." Regulus explained quickly, his voice a little higher than usual. Without a word, Snape was rushed through the staircases into Regulus' room, which was painted a dark blue and had a fully enchanted roof which contained the planets moving silently moving against a black void.

"You can stay here for a while, we'll just get Kreacher to bring our food up here," Regulus breathed, safe in his own room, "mum shrieks every time she hears the word 'family'."

"I feel like shrieking at that word myself." Snape shrugged, setting down his trunk.

"You'd said something had happened." Regulus said, sitting on his very large bed. Snape began to detail the events of the night before, excluding his unwanted discovery and the events that morning except that he vowed not to go back for the rest of the year. The grandfather clock in the hall chimed two o'clock, and Regulus looked at his watch.

"The others will be coming soon," Regulus stated, "along with their fathers. We're going to have a few guests staying tonight, and all those that are of age will be in the meeting hall downstairs. There's an important man coming: did you ever hear of Lord Voldemort?"

Dun Dun Daaa! To Be Continued.

VoldyVoldyVoldy!