A/N: Just a side note, in an earlier chapter, 'Six Little letters Part 1', there are moments that connect to this chapter in Snapes section if you want to refresh your memory.

Proud To Be A Prince

'Severus?' A small voice spoke in a cracked voice. 'Severus, please wake up. We have to go now.'

Severus opened his eyes to find his mother kneeling at his bedside. Her black raven hair had been scraped back into a bun and she had dressed herself in some muggle clothing that they had bought at a charity shop down the road.

'Mum, where are we going?' Severus asked sleepily. The frantic look on his mothers face as she looked to the door of his room in panic set alarm bells off.

'Away.' She replied as she stood grabbing articles of clothing off the chair in his room. 'Please get dressed. Do it quietly.'

Severus threw back his duvet and grabbed the pair of jeans and a top his mother had tossed to him.

'I thought you said we couldn't leave. It's dangerous.' Severus asked. Countless times he had asked his mother why the simply couldn't leave Tobias, his drunken abusive father. His mother had always told him that it was safer with him.

'I know what I said. But I don't know what he'll do to you.' Eileen spoke as she quietly pulled off items of clothing out of his wardrobe. 'My mother and father have offered to take us in.'

Severus stopped changing and stared at his mother. What he knew about his grandparents was very little. His mother hardly ever spoken of them. She had told him once that they had been the ones they were hiding from, the reason they were forced to put up with Tobias.

'I thoug-' Severus began.

'I know what I said!' Eileen said in a harsh whisper. Severus looked down at his hands, his mother hardly ever raised her voice.

'Severus...' His mother spoke in a softer tone as she put the bag with their clothes on the floor and kneeled in front of him. 'I know I said they where the one's that we were running from. It's true. When I first met your father he was a different man. I did love him. Then one day I found out I was pregnant and I knew I had to tell my parents.You have to understand, I come from a family that is very...traditional. They believed that muggles and magic blood should never mix. When I told them about you and your father, they tried to get rid of you both. I loved you too much, so I ran.'

'My parents were furious, I was their only daughter and I disgraced them. They tried to find me, I thought that if they did, they would take you away from me. So we stayed with Tobias, with the muggles.' She explained.

Severus tried his best to keep up with what she was saying. He had so many questions.

'But we're going to them now?' Severus asked.

'Yes. I thought they had disowned me, but I think they might help us. I can't watch you be here another day.' Eileen spoke as she reached up and lightly grazed her finger on a black and purple bruise that had blossomed on his cheek.

Severus nodded as he finished getting dressed. He, for the first time in months, felt happy. His mother was finally going. He could finally leave behind his dark past in exchange for a new beginning.

'Severus, I need you to be quiet. Not a sound, do you understand?' His mother said as she grabbed his hand.

Severus nodded as she pulled him out of his room. Their front door was only down the stairs and through the kitchen. As the made their way down the steps, Severus watched his mother wince every time the wooden slats creaked under their weight. They had made it to the bottom of the steps when a chilling voice rang through the house.

'Leaving are we. What? No goodbye?' Tobias growled as he stood at the top of the stairs.

Eileen pushed her son behind her as she slowly backed towards the kitchen.

'It's not as though you would miss us.' She spoke in a even voice as she watched Tobias slowly descend the steps.

'You don't think I'd miss the wife I love and my only son?' Tobias said, each step he took becoming increasingly faster.

Eileen quickly spun around and scooped Severus up as they ran towards the door. They had been in gripping distance of the handle before Eileen had been yanked back. Severus flew out of her arms and smacked into the wooden tabled. He felt his eyes flutter as he tried to stand. He could hear his voice screaming out and his arms reached for his mother but the pounding in his head made him slowly drift out of consciousness. He struggled to fight it as he watched his mother fight against Tobias. His mothers frail body was thrashed around their kitchen. Severus watched as his father smashed her into the counter yelling at the top of his voice. As much as Elieen fought back she was overpowered at every turn.

He lay their watching, helpless, until his mother finally slumped besides him. They watched each other as the darkness slowly fell over each other.

Severus didn't know how long it had been but when he finally awoke he could see the darkness begin to fade away as the sunrise slowly filled the kitchen. Severus looked around him until his eyes found a figure lying on the floor.

He slowly crawled towards her and reached out his hand to touch her cheek. His hand flinched at how cold she seemed under his finger tips.

'Mother-'

xxx

'Severus, you better get dressed. Where pulling into the platform.' Lily said as she shook him awake. 'Are you alright, you're really pale?' She said worriedly as she rested her hand on his forehead.

'I'm fine.' Severus said as he tried, unconvincingly, to smiled. He looked at daily prophet Lily was reading and couldn't help but read the front page. In big bold letters, the front page read:

THE FIFTH UNEXPLAINED DISAPPEARANCE: MINISTER UNDER PRESSURE

The Minister of magic, Eugenia Jenkins has reportedly been subjected to pressure from ministry officials. New information has leaked from inside the ministry that Aurors are baffled by disappearances of Harold Orpingtonand and Gesell Lufkin. Both Muggle borns who disappeared just before Christmas. There has also been report of Muggle attacks by an unnamed wizard currently being questioned by the ministry-

Lily folded the paper in half and tucked it under her arm. 'I said that I'd meet Amelia and Margo before we catch the carriage to Hogwarts. I'll leave you to get changed.'

'Thanks.' Severus answered as he watched her leave. That was the third report he had read in the Daily Prophet in two weeks about disappearances of wizards. Severus recalled the last article last week announcing the death of a famous muggle born witch Alexia Hawsthorp. She had been interviewed days before her death about the peace march she ran for the rights of Squibs. The protest had been ambushed by a group of Purebloods, Hawsthorp had disappeared that day only to be found dead a few days later. There had been reportedly no suspects as of late.

Now they had approached Hogwarts, Severus whipped out his wand and flicked it a the blinds pulling them down. He dressed quickly as the train slowed down. He tried to shake his dream away as best he could but still felt emotionally drained.

He always seemed to have his mother on his mind during the holidays. He tried to spend as little time in his home as he could. That's why Severus cherished Hogwarts, it cleared his mind of everything that bothered him.

He rubbed his hand across his face and opened the door to his compartment. He walked with the other students to the carriages. When he had first ridden the carriages before Christmas he had marvelled at the sight of the almost hoarse like creatures.

He had immediately felt a pull to them as he outreached his hand to feel the ruff skin beneath it. The other students that he had found himself travelling with had laughed and asked why he was petting the air. He had been so embarrassed that he waited until the last carriage to go so that he could ride by himself.

However now, he was careful to look and gaze at the creature but not touch them. He was certain that they were real. But for the life of him couldn't figure out why only he could see them. He had tried looking in books in the library but came up blank.

Severus looked through the crowd of students hoping to catch Rosier or Wilkes but their where so many students he couldn't pick them out. He eventually decided to catch them at the great hall and board a nearby carriage.

Severus found himself situated on a carriage with a three Ravenclaw girls and Two Ravenclaw boys. The chatted merrily between each other, discussing the new Wingborn Flowers album. Severus felt himself drift off as he waited for the carriage to pull away.

'Conalway. I suggest you and your friends find a different carriage.' A silky dangerous voice spoke. Severus looked up and straight into the grey eyes of Lucius Malfoy.

'No way Malfoy, we got here first!' The boy, Conalway snapped back as he scowled at Malfoy.

'Oh there's no need to be like that.' Malfoy chuckled. 'But if you really do want the carriage, I would be only too happy to enlighten your friends of a certain incident that took place over this Christmas.' Malfoy said with a toothy grin.

Conalway continued to glare at Malfoy, his face slowly turning redder.

'How is your father? I do hope he's recovered.' Malfoy spoke in a mock concern.

'Fine!' Conalway snapped as he hopped off the carriage. His friends trailing behind in a mix of confusion and hatred towards Lucius.

Severus was about to get off as well when Lucius directed himself towards him.

'Not you Severus. I got rid of those Ravenclaw scum so we might have a chance to catch up.' He said.

Lucius climbed the steps to the carriage and sat down, he was flanked by Nott who was in the same year as him and a boy named Mulciber who he remembered was at the meeting when Severus first met Lucius. As he recalled Mulciber was in the year above him.

Severus smiled at Lucius slightly. He couldn't help but admire the older boy. He envied the power Lucius had, to just tell people what to do. As long as Snape had lived he had always been under the thumb of someone else.

'How was your Christmas?' Lucius asked with a, what some would call charming but Severus knew was entirely fake, smile.

'Uneventful.' Severus answered back. 'Is there something you wanted?'

Lucius's smile seemed to fade away as he gazed at Severus. Severus saw no point in idle chit chatting, he preferred people who where direct about what they wanted.

'You should treat your superiors with more respect-' Growled Nott, but was cut off by Lucius holding up his hand, never taking his eyes off Severus.

A much more real smile crept on Malfoy's face. It was less toothy and more sinister. 'Very astute of you Severus. There is something I want.' Lucius spoke.

Severus sat showing a outward indifference to Lucius's words. On the inside, he was on the edge of his seat. He was eager to get closer to Lucius and to impress him.

'I want you to read something, perhaps you might find it engaging.' Lucius said as he reached into his bag and pulled out a book.

Severus took it and read the title, 'The Pure-Blood Directory' By Cretaceous Nott.

'Obviously, the book was written some time ago and situations have changed. But perhaps you might find a name in there that will interest you.' Lucius fished.

Severus thanked him eager to get started but found the carriage slowly coming to a halt. It would have to wait until later now. He shoved the book into the bottom of the bag and made his way to the castle.

It was nice to be back at Hogwarts. As Severus made his way to the great hall he ran his finger across the stone walls and smiled to himself feeling as if he was home.

xxx

The second week back at Hogwarts proved to be more hectic than Severus had imagined. Once settled into his day to day routine he found it being disrupted by the announcement of upcoming exams. In three months time, each student will be tested on each subject over the course of a month and graded accordingly.

Severus himself shrugging at the news, he was confident he could pass all his subjects. His class mates, however, where not as confident. He had heard ridicules gossip floating around the second years that only seemed to add to the stress. He had heard a Hufflepuff girl tell her friend that if you failed your exams they would snap your wand. Severus even heard that you would have to repeat your first and second year if you got a failing grade.

Severus was sure that everything they had heard had been pranks pulled by the older students. He was happy to find that Lily had also come to the same conclusion as they met for their first study meeting of the new term.

'It's ridicules! Honestly, I had Mary McDonald whining all though Charms that she was sure she was going to fail everything and her parents disown her. I mean, she's in Ravenclaw, I thought they were supposed to be the smart ones.' Lily laughed.

'You're not worried then, for the exams I mean, not the rumours.' Severus asked as he walked with Lily around the Library picking up books to take back to their table.

'Not really. I'm good with potions, transfiguration and defence against the dark arts. I suppose I could do a little more studying with herbology. The only subject I am worried about is History of Magic.' Lily said as she unconsciously brought her fingers to the mouth and bit her nails.

'Why?' Severus asked as he placed another book on the pile he was carrying.

'Professor Binns is so boring, everything he says just goes through one ear and out the other.' Lily smiled and Severus couldn't help but smile back. 'Here, give me some of them.'

Lily scooped up half the books Severus was carrying as they made their way back to the table.

The worked for the next few hours, completing the two feet of parchment Professor McGonagall had asked for. The essay on rat tails for Slughorn and the passage on Mandrakes for Professor Sprout.

Severus closed the book in front of him and sighed. He was completely exhausted but at least this left the weekend open.

Severus walked Lily to the staircase before saying his goodbyes. He watched as she climbed away towards her common room and not for the first time did he wish that she had been placed in Slytherin.

Severus finally found himself alone. There was distant chatter of student laughing and playing exploding snap, but soon the curfew would be in effect and the hall would be silent and empty. Severus made his way to his own common room down the dungeons. He had heard a lot of students complain about having to go down there because it was "Creepy" but Severus liked it. He thought the other students failed to see the beauty of it. The dungeons was situated under the lake, the part of the castle always seemed to dip in temperature. But if you walked along the dungeons when the sun was setting, the green stained glass windows that held the water out created amazing dark and light green shadows. Severus always thought that it made the dungeons more magical than creepy.

xxx

Severus sat in his dorm studying. He read and re-read books on everything he could think of being in the tests but found himself becoming bored with the material. He was itching for his third year, then he could choose, for the most part, subjects he wanted to do.

Severus threw the herbology book to the end of his bed and leaned his head back gazing at nothing in particular. It was then the door to his room swung open and two boys came crashing in. Severus wrinkled his nose in annoyance at being forced to share his room with the two oafs. They had thought Severus was weird from day one and had gone out of their way to annoy him and make life just a little bit harder.

But ever since he had befriended Lucius and the others he found his run ins with the two boys to be less and less frequent. When Severus eyed them as they tumbled in they shot equally disdainful looks back at him but said nothing. They simply grabbed a few of their belongings and left without another word.

Severus smiled to himself before once again succumbing to the dreaded boredom that plagued his mind. Lily was at Quidditch practice. Rosier and Wilkes had landed themselves in detention again and the majority of the older students he found himself hanging around where prepping for NEWTs. Severus couldn't even go see his new friend, Mulciber. Mulciber was a third year and with the majority of his year, had visited Hogsmead.

Severus turned to his side and glanced at the plethora of books that were stacked on his bedside table. He glazed over them knowing that he had gotten everything he could out of them. His eyes trailed down to the floor where he had left his dirty school uniform and finally landed on a bag next to his school truck.

Severus shot up and gazed at the bag. He felt the memory of Lucius in the carriage ride up to Hogwarts play in his mind. He scooted forward as grabbed the bag yanking out the book that had been lost in his memory.

He eagerly sat on his bed and brushed his fingers along the pages. It was then he saw a small piece of paper sticking of the book. He flipped to the page and gazed at the picture in surprise. He had seen this picture many times. It was his mother as a girl, sitting on a stool with her mother and fathers hands on each of her shoulder. It was a copy of the photo Severus had in the box under his bed back home. He immediately began reading the text beside it.

Lost Purebloods

Name: Prince

Origin: United Kingdom, around the South East sector

Earliest Recording: Argon Prince, 1727

Status: Remains Pure, no known offspring tainted by Non-magic blood

Motto: Proud to be a Prince

Over the years, we find the magical line of pureblood family stray and mix with the tainted blood of muggles. The Prince family where once considered one of the most powerful of all purebloods, alongside the Malfoys, Avery and Crouch families. But found their status crumble overnight as their daughter, Eileen Prince, shown in the picture on the left, to be disowned as she ran away with a muggle.

The pureblood lineage unfortunately ended with Mr and Mrs Prince as they abstained from producing another child of Pureblood Status. Although not the first Pureblood family to lose their status, It is noted that Abernathy and Mary Prince upheld their traditions and live with dignity in the wizarding world.

The blood of the Prince line remains untainted as any offspring of Prince line has not been revealed.

Severus read and re-read the entry. In the back of his mind he wondered how Lucius had know about his connection. He wondered if Lucius knew more. Severus himself never knew anything about his magical side. His mother had never gotten the chance to explain.

He felt as though a door to his true self had been opened ever so slightly. He recalled the day he and his mother had attempted to escape his father. He had remembered feeling as though he was ridding himself of his dreadful life in exchange for a new beginning. All at once he felt like that again.

Severus noticed the paper that had bookmarked the page and the faint sight of ink on the other side of it. He grabbed the paper and examined it. On the other side he noticed Lucius had scribbled something on it.

'Half a Pureblood, you should be "Proud to be a Prince"

A/N: And there we have it. I always find it difficult to write about Severus. I personally think that he's a very complex character. I think that he's smart and wouldn't immediately join the death eaters, that it would happen slowly over time. Hopefully that sort of thing is coming across.

Also went in a bit further into snape's mother, I'm not quite finished with her story but I hope you liked what I have reviled so far.

Anyhow I hope you enjoyed and please review and tell me what you think. I will try and get better at my interpretation of Severus (and also try not to rush the development of his character). And thank you to everyone who had told me their thoughts! There will be some Jilly in the next chapter.

I also had a quick question, do you prefer me to update chapters at a certain time, for instance every Friday or can I continue like I am? I tend to write the chapters and post when I'm done (but there will always be at least one a week)