Chapter One
Hogsmead
May, 1976
"Freedom, finally!"
Those were the most heard words that afternoon. After a lot of insistence, the 5th year students from Durmstrang and Hogwarts got their well-deserved weekend off before their finals. Their chosen destination: Hogsmead.
"It was supposed to be our weekend off. And now all these people are here, ruining it!" said one dark-haired boy from Hogwarts to his three friends, all of them sitting at a table inside the crowded Three Broomsticks.
"If it's not to your liking, get out." said a female student from Durmstrang as she walked by their table.
All four boys acted like they had been stupefied by her words, not even the dark-haired boy, James Potter, said anything back.
When the boys came to, the beautiful Durmstrang girl and her friends were no longer in the bar.
Four Slytherin boys were sitting at a table nearby, laughing hard at the stupefied Gryffindor teens.
"Who is that?" asked a really blond teenager named Lucius Malfoy.
"She's from Durmstrang." said Avery.
"Oh, really, Avery?" said Malfoy, sarcastically. "Thanks for telling me that, otherwise I'd have never known she's not from Hogwarts since she's wearing the Durmstrang uniform!"
"Yeah, they came here to visit Hogsmead and they'll have dinner at Hogwarts tonight, before going back to Durmstrang tomorrow morning." said Nott.
"How do you know that?" asked Avery.
"If you paid attention to what the Headmaster says you would know it too." answered Nott.
One of the boys, with long dark-hair, dark eyes, taller than the others, only listened to his friends and looked at the Durmstrang girl that was passing by their table to go to the exit door. She was gorgeous. Long, brown curly hair, dark green eyes, as dark as the darkest emerald. When she walked close to their table all the teens there felt stupefied.
"Wh-what was that?" asked Malfoy once he came to.
"She's veela!" exclaimed Nott.
"Veela? So she's French." said a confused Avery.
"What would a veela be doing in Durmstrang?" asked Snape.
"That's really weird, isn't it?" asked Malfoy.
"Really weird." agreed Snape.
By the rest of the day, and while walking back to the castle, Snape couldn't stop thinking about her. The Durmstrang girl. The way her eyes shone in that briefly moment they met his. And the sweet perfume she left in the air when she walked by their table. There was no way to forget her.
That night, at the Great Hall in Hogwarts...
"Good night, children", started Headmaster Albus Dumbledore. "Before we begin attacking our food, I want to invite our guests for tonight to enter the Great Hall. Please, welcome the students from Durmstrang who will enjoy dinner with us tonight."
And the big oaken doors opened and 42 students, in line, all wearing Durmstrang uniform, got into the Great Hall. Among the few girls, there she was. The beautiful girl who talked down to James Potter.
The Durmstrang students sat at the four big tables. The veela girl sat at the Slytherin table.
"I hope you enjoy our feast!" said Dumbledore, looking at her for a moment, thinking who she reminded him of. "Let's attack!"
And lots and lots of beautiful fragrant food filled the tables.
"So, we must agree that's impossible to compare Hogwarts to Durmstrang, right? There you really learn things." said the super blond boy, sitting in front of her.
"I'm sorry, Mr…?" she said, in a melodious voice.
"Malfoy, Lucius Malfoy."
"Mr. Malfoy, enlighten me, please. Why are you here, sitting with the students when you're not wearing their uniform?"
"I've already finished school." said Malfoy, pompously. "I was visiting Hogsmead with my father when the Headmaster invited us to come dine at the castle. My father declined it but I decided to accept the invitation."
The beautiful girl just stared at him, not saying a word. She turned around, looking at the teachers and the Headmaster. In her mind came her father's voice, repeating all the things he used to say about Dumbledore: Powerful but senile, muggle-lover. A liar and an exceptional manipulator, but too weak to embrace all his powers. Well... he doesn't seem to be right in the head anyway... I was expecting more from the famous Dumbledore. She thought.
Aside from the disappointing Headmaster, Hogwarts was magnificent. It wasn't that she disliked Durmstrang, on the contrary, she really loved everything she learned there: Dark Arts, Poisons, Duels. But she was totally taken by Hogswarts's castle, by the huge and beautiful grounds, by the peace and serenity that seemed to exist inside those walls. And peace was something she hardly knew, peace didn't exist where she came from. So she made a decision. She would come to Hogwarts. She was going to be a student in that beautiful castle.
After she finished eating, she got up and walked toward the big oaken doors. Right behind her an interesting dark-haired boy was walking. She had already noticed him earlier that afternoon at the Three Broomsticks. Reaching some big moving stairs and not knowing what to so, she turned around and asked him:
"Excuse me, to whom may I talk to be able to use the Floo Network?"
Snape stopped, looked at her and answered:
"I believe any of the teachers can help you.", then he left quickly, hiding his trembling hands.
She waited for a while by the oaken doors, until a teacher came out of the Great Hall.
"Excuse me, I'm from Durmstrang and I'd like to know if it's possible for me to use the castle's Floo Network."
"If it's urgent, you may follow me and we'll go to the Headmaster's office. His fireplace is the only authorized one." said the stern-looking female teacher.
Opening her eyes, waiting for the usual dizziness she felt when using the Floo Network to go down, she looked around the living room and noticed that the house seemed empty. All the lights were off, no noise could be heard and no elves could be seen. She walked toward the stairs but lights from the room she called Training Room caught her attention.
That room was never used, as far as she knew. Her father only used it to teach her advanced spells and dueling techniques – what he called "things no school will ever teach you". The door was a bit open so she looked inside the room; and what she saw there changed the whole course of this story.
Inside the big, usually empty room, there was a big table, and around 20 people were sitting around it. Silence. Absolute silence. A big wooden chest was in one corner of the room, near the huge fireplace. In front of the fireplace there were two people, one of them was seated on an armchair she had never seen before. The other one was standing by it, and he was the first one to speak:
"Don't worry, My Lord. Hogsmead won't be checked tonight." said the man, in a shaky voice.
"So I expect, Avery. Make it so you deserve the Mark that was given to you." answered the man on the armchair, in a soft, chilling voice.
The girl recognized that voice. That was her father on the armchair. She had the impulse to scream to all in that room to run away for their lives because it was never good when her father spoke softly like that.
"Now, open the chest behind you, Avery. Your friends did you a favor and got rid of that muggle whore of yours. Find some place to dump the body, will you?"
Chilled to the bones, Avery opened the wooden chest as ordered and what he saw there broke his heart and tears fell down his face.
"Crucio!" her father cast. And Avery was screaming on the floor.
"I'm sorry, My Lord." cried Avery, folding into himself on the floor.
"Don't ever get your hands dirty with a muggle again", said the girl's father.
"N-never, My Lord. Never again!" Avery raised his shaking self up from the floor and took the body from the chest. He was walking to the door when he heard the soft voice again:
"Before you get yourself killed and die without knowing, the muggle bitch was pregnant." and the voice paused for a moment, looking at the others in the room. "I don't need to remind you all what our objective is, do I?"
Murmured 'Nos' could be heard.
Avery kept walking slowly to the door with the corpse in his arms.
The girl jumped away from the door. She ran to her bedroom, her heart in her throat, beating madly. She sat on her bed, trying to understand all that she had heard, what all that meant. Her father was the-one-who-shall-not-be-named. Her own father was that monster. He had never been a loving father but that didn't mean he was a murderer. Well, apparently, after what she'd heard, a murderer was exactly what he was. Her whole body was shaking. What will I do now? She asked herself. Hogwarts! Her mind supplied. That was her only choice.
She gathered as many things as she could and threw them inside a suitcase. She shrank it and put it in her pocket. She got into the house without anyone seeing her, she was going to get out the same way. She reached the first floor, walking as noiseless as she could; she passed by the Training Room, got to the living room and ran to the fireplace. With a handful of Floo powder she entered the fireplace and whispered the name of the one place nearest to Hogwarts she remembered:
"Three Broomsticks."
And among the green flames she disappeared.
Author's note: This is my gift to Snape. I gave him something J.K. was cruel enough to not grant him: happiness and a family.
In this fic, there are a lot (and I mean A LOT) of horrible, bad, cruel, mean, heart-wrenching, upsetting moments. This is Snape we're talking about, I won't mischaracterize him or make his life easy.
This is also my explanation for some Florence girl mentioned in the 5th book by Berta in Dumbledore's Pensieve. Florence "has been seen kissing someone behind the Greenhouses last Thursday".
Also know that English is NOT my first language sooo... get yourselves ready to see some (or many) mistakes. Oxford Dictionary for Advanced Learners is helping me here but we all make mistakes. Please don't focus on my mistakes, try to enjoy the story. I'm trying my best here. Reviews are more than welcome.
Most dates mentioned here are the originals. I haven't changed any important dates (for example the night the Potters died, when Voldemort came back, the Golden Trio's years in Hogwarts, they are still the same, as are so many other important dates).
You'll find many sex scenes here. Just warning you.
This story is separated into three parts and an Epilogue.
First Part: from May, 1976, to November, 1981 (chapters 01-36).
Second Part: all in December, 1981 (chapters 37-45)
Third Part: from August, 1991, to August, 1998 (chapters 46-86)
Epilogue: July 2002 (chapter 87)
Everything you recognize does not belong to me, it's all J.K. Rowling's or WarnerBrother's. NOT MINE (wish Snape were though).
