A/N - Thank you for reading! On occasion, you may notice I screw up on tense. As an avid text roleplayer who does so in present tense I sometimes slip up. I will edit this all eventually to ensure everything is in the proper tense.

Chapter 3

Tobias Snape, a man of little to no consequence, sat silently in his cell, his arms crossed across his knees. His greasy black hair fell in front of his eyes, and though he had had ample opportunity to wash his hands, the dried blood remained between his fingers, under his fingernails.

He heard a metal clinking sound as a door opened, and looked up to see none other than the Minister for Magic, Eugenia Jenkins, striding down the hallway, alone.

"Mr. Snape." She said quietly.

Tobias did not know who she was, but given her clothing, understood that she was one of them. He spat onto the floor of his cell.

"How endearing." She sneered coldly. "While you are a muggle, you have committed an atrocity against the last of a pure-blood wizardry line. I do hope you understand that out of concern for the security of the magical community, you will not be allowed such freedom ever again."

Tobias could feel a rush of coldness overwhelm him; he could hear Eileen scream in his ear as the knife plunged into her heart. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears and face.

"Why did you do it, Mr. Snape?" A vial of veritaserum appearing in her hand.

He shook his head violently, but she opened the cell and stepped inside. She gripped his hair and pulled his head back, pouring the potion into his mouth.

"Why did you do it, Mr. Snape?" She repeated, forcefully.

"She was going to leave me." The words spew out, his fists clench. "She was going to take everything. Kill me, probably. So, I did it first. Witches can't be trusted."

The Minister frowned. "How utterly... mundane."

She backed up and nodded to someone out of sight. An obliviator stepped into the room and began to work on the man who would forget everything he had ever known about witches and wizards. "Your privilege to this knowledge is hereby revoked, Mr. Snape." She stepped out and let the obliviator do his job.

Pandora and Xenophilius gathered their dinner and left the Great Hall, and though they were stopped and interrogated briefly by Professor Edgecomb, their excuse was ironclad. As severe as she absolutely was, even Cosima couldn't tell them, "No, you may not comfort the grieving first year." Xeno, as soon as they were outside of earshot, murmured to Pandora, "...we are going to have to milk this opportunity."

Pandora grumbled slightly, giving him a disapproving look. Disapproving though it was, you would bet your right arm that yes, she had been thinking the exact same thing.

The two walked into the side room, greeting Mary, Lily, and Sev cheerfully. They sat down.

Xeno pet Sev's arm comfortingly and stuffed his mouth with a dinner roll.

"I am sorry for your loss, Sev." Pan said graciously. "If you need any help in the next coming weeks navigating schoolwork or your professors, just let me know."

Sev nodded. "Thank you." His voice was hollow and quiet. He sat between Mary and Lily, who both appeared pale and concerned, but without much to say.

"You know Sev, if you want to spend Christmas away from here, my mum and dad wrote me to invite you... if you want." Lily piped up.

Mary smiled and elbowed him gently. "And if not, you'll have to deal with me through the holiday. Either way, you won't be alone."

Xeno peered at the first years and then back at Pan. "That's pretty forward thinking, isn't it? We've only had one class-"

Pan kicked him under the table and he shut up quickly. "I stick around the school during the holidays myself." She shrugged. "I like to spend the time in the library, or practicing spells in the relative quiet. Plus, the house elves make a far better Christmas ham than my mum."

Xeno shrugged and rubbed his shin. "We go on adventures during the holidays, this year my dad is bringing us to Unst to search for Selkies."

"What's a selkie?" Lily and Mary asked, in unison.

"Imaginary." Pandora smirked, before Xeno could say anything.

He shot a grimace her way before clearing his throat. "Selkies are like merfolk, but seal-folk."

"Ah." Lily returned to pumpkin soup.

Mary, on the other hand blinked. "I read about them, I think, in a muggle book of Scottish folklore."

"The muggles know about them?!" Xeno exclaimed, looking at Pandora with a smug grin. "Any chance you can get your hands on that book again? I'll write your first History of Magic essay for y-"

"Xenophilius." Pandora warned with a very particular look.

"N... no problem Xeno, no need to uh, do that." Mary chuckled awkwardly. "I'll see if my mum still has it."

Sev sipped his water quietly, listening to the conversation go on about various real or imaginary magical creatures. He was certainly grateful that he had people here who were willing to spend time with him, even when his first instinct was to run away and hide in the dark. Logically, he knew also that he could do that tonight, when everyone was asleep. He struggled, though, because he couldn't quite pinpoint how he was feeling, how he was supposed to grieve. He couldn't feel much, honestly. He felt guilty about the relief he felt, that he wouldn't have to go home for the holidays or for the summer. That he wasn't ever going to have to stand in the way of his father hitting his mother again. But won't I miss her? He asked himself. He couldn't decide. They were never that close, but he loved her. At least he thought he did, he had to. She was his mother. But whenever he tried to find that piece of himself that surely must be bleeding internally, he couldn't. It was hollow.

A group of students passed by the door to their side room and the Prefect Lucius Malfoy poked his head in to see Severus. His cruel silver eyes locked with Sev's, and then looked appraisingly at those who surrounded him.

"I suppose this is what happens when you trade blood with muggles." He smirked and walked away.

The group went quiet and still, the shock of such a statement washing over them like a bucket of ice water poured on their heads.

Sev watched the doorway, even after Lucius had left. His expression was unreadable.

Pandora looked back at the empty doorway and yawned dramatically. "The purest blood in the world and absolutely no class. Shame." She downed her pumpkin juice and looked at the two muggle-borns and Sev, poor Sev. "You three will exceed them, this I am certain." She took out a deck of shimmering cards and summoned three. "East, austr. Worry not; a new dawn is breaking. Let go of the old, and embrace the new. Flow forward without heaviness. New ways of being are calling to you; speak up with a clear voice. do not resist change." She turned the second card. "Mountain, fjall. There is an advantage to looking at things from a higher perspective: you are too close to something to see it properly and clearly." She turned the third and final card. "Wind, vedhr. Resisting change is useless. Be prepared for a change in direction. You have been warned of change, so believe it." The cards hovered near the three of them before returning to their deck. Pandora places the deck away, and returns to her food.

Lily and Mary glance at each other, and then at Xeno. Sev regards Pandora silently.

Xeno shrugged. "She's a seer." He said nonchalantly. "If she says it, I trust it. She told me once that I was going to trip if I didn't tie my shoes correctly, and well, that was true."

Pandora's lips curl into a slight smirk. "Xeno, I tripped you."

"But you were right." Xeno shrugged.

The room filled with laughter, even from Sev, who couldn't help but find the sliver of light shining through his darkness.

"Hey, Lily," A cheerful voice said from the door. The young Sirius Black took a step inside. "We were going to watch the Quidditch practice, if you wanted to come. The team may let us try riding their brooms after..."

"Oh, um..." Lily looked at Sev before answering.

"No no, you go, I will probably go back to my room to go over those notes..." He said with a half smile.

She smiled at him and gave him a gentle hug, standing up. "You let me know if you need anything..." Before running out the door.

"Be careful!" Mary called.

Xeno stood up smirking. "Oh, unsupervised first years on brooms, I'm not going to miss that." He gave a slight salute and followed after them. Sev was merely glad he wasn't going to be the first one to fall off the broom and get sent to the hospital wing this year.

The next morning came like a blur for Sev. He had gone back to his bedroom and had slept a deep, dreamless sleep before being woken up by the sunrise. He sat up and leaned his head back, wondering if yesterday had been a dream. He looked at his nightstand and took a short breath. There's one way to find out, I guess... He reached over and opened the drawer, to see the broken wand still there.

He closed the drawer and stood, moving to his chest to get his clothes before walking to the baths. After washing and dressing for the day, trying to tame his hair in some way, and gathering his books for the day's classes, he walked down to the common room and out the door.

"Charms..." Severus murmured, looking over his schedule for the day. "Broom practice. Study hall." He folded the piece of paper and placed it into his bag, entering the Great Hall.

Looking around, he wondered if it was his imagination, or was everyone staring at him? Had it just gotten quieter? Hushed?

The Ravenclaw table seemed to put something away before he sat down, Mary quietly staring at her porridge. Xeno peered at Sev while Pan held her head up with her hand.

The white haired Lucius walked behind Sev with a few other Slytherins speaking loudly as he read from the Daily Prophet.

PURE BLOOD LINE EXTINGUISHED BY MUGGLE HAND

In the early morning hours of 2 September, last of the pure-blooded Prince line, Eileen Snape, nee Prince, was stabbed to death by her muggle husband after he snapped her wand to prevent her self defence. The wizarding world is held in shock, disbelief, and mourning, as the loss of one of its own to the hands of a murderous muggle leads us to question so-called muggle acceptance. Why are muggles so violent? We ask our readers. The wars they rage destroy lives, their own and ours, and harm the world we all live in. Can any parent feel comfortable in risking their children's lives by allowing them to wed into muggle families?

Lucius tossed the paper in front of Severus, chuckling as he walked away. The photo on the front page was a few years old, a family photo of him and his parents. His mother looked gaunt, and his father drunk. He remembered he had been crying right before the picture was taken, his jacket covering bruises on his arm.

Pandora murmured, "Incendio." and the paper went up in flames, turning quickly to ash. "No class, no poise, no etiquette. Shame." She sighed. "Sorry, Sev."

Severus shook his head and stood up, the ashes from the paper filling his porridge and juice. "It's fine. I'm going to go early to Charms." He took his bag and walked out.

Malfoy stood against the wall waiting for him. "It's a right shame you weren't placed where you should have been. I admit I did not think that one muggle could sully the blood that much."

Severus stopped and peered at Malfoy, his expression unfeeling and empty. "Can I help you?"

"Can you?" He mocked, but stepped close, muttering quietly. "If you're interested in avenging your mother, I can arrange that." He passed him a piece of parchment.

September 10 - 11PM - Dungeon

Severus looked at the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. He walked away without another word. He felt a shadow, that enticingly familiar darkness, prodding at him throughout the day. In Charms, he stared at his wand, distracted by whirling thoughts of anger, sadness, indifference. He felt pulled toward a need for aggressive release. Punching something, screaming. He felt powerless in his seat, with a wand capable of far more than he was. He didn't know any hexes. He didn't know how to hurt or how to kill. Maybe Malfoy could teach him? Then he could return to Spinner's End, to Cokeworth, and kill his father for what he did to her, for what he did to him, all these years. Or was that too kind a punishment? To simply die, rather than rot away in a cell?

"Mr. Snape."

Severus looked up from his book, and the others in the class had already left. The young Professor Flitwick stood at the front of the class. "Class is over, dear boy."

Sev stood and apologized, moving to the doorway quickly. Mary was waiting for him outside, and they began their walk to the Quidditch pitch for broom practice.

At this point, everyone knew his name, knew what had happened. There were whispers whenever he was near, looks of pity from most, and mocking derision from others, generally the Pure Blood cliques. It hadn't been that long since the Pure Blood Riots, and it was still a fresh wound in the wizarding community. Sev tried to ignore it, but there was only so much that he could pretend to not hear, only so much pity he could take from strangers. After half of the broom practice, he had had enough, and excused himself. He was not stopped, given the circumstances. He placed his broom away and walked back into the castle alone.

He retreated to the dungeons, for some reason it felt more like home to him than the Tower. He took a spare cauldron and ingredients to begin practicing for the potions class the next day, finding solace in the distraction for several hours before cleaning up and returning to Ravenclaw Tower, having forgotten to eat that day, and passing out in his bed.