AN: This one is Severus at about 14. After his mom died but before he was adopted by Albus and Minerva.

WARNING: There will be depictions of child abuse in this one-shot. Please don't read if that could be triggering for you. I would rather you skip this one altogether than read something that you're not comfortable with!

Day 10- Misunderstanding

Severus stood on his front porch between his father and one of their very irate neighbors. He had been brought home after the neighbor caught him stealing apples from the tree in his backyard.

That wasn't true, not that anyone was going to bother asking for his side of the story. In fact, it was actually just a misunderstanding. The older man's wife had told Severus weeks ago that he was welcome to take from the tree whenever he liked, but she wasn't home now and couldn't come to his defense.

Not that it would have done much good anyway.

Severus kept his head bowed as Tobias Snape continued to listen to his friend and when their conversation had ended, Tobias waited for him to leave before roughly grabbing Severus by the arm and shoving him into the house.

"Dad, please I—" Severus immediately tried to explain but it was of no use.

Tobias let go of Severus's arm and instead took hold of his ear, wrenching it hard and causing Severus to cry out.

"How dare you?" Tobias growled as he pulled his son towards the sitting room and over to the fireplace.

His father's strop sat atop the mantle and though Severus had known it was coming, he couldn't stop the fear that welled up inside him when he saw it. The leather was long and thick with a metal buckle on one end.

"I didn't! I swear it!"

"Don't lie to me, boy!"

Tobias picked up the strop, the metal end dangling near the floor as he held the other end in his hand. He raised his hand high and brought it down quickly. Severus heard the whistle of the strop through the air a millisecond before feeling it connect with his lower back.

He gritted his teeth to keep from crying out but he knew that he would only be able to remain stoic for so long before he inevitably broke.

"I'll teach you to steal, you ungrateful whelp!"

Another blow landed, this time wrapping around his slender hips and sides. Tobias gripped his upper arm tighter as Severus attempted to move away from him and when Severus made the mistake of trying to turn away completely, Tobias let go of him and let the strop fall across his chest. Severus howled in pain as the leather bit into the flesh near his collarbone.

Severus fell to the floor and tried to cover his face with his arms. He knew it would only be worse if he tried to run. He had tried that before and it only served to anger Tobias so badly that he stripped Severus and continued the beating while he lay naked on the floor.

He lost count of the blows after the first couple of dozen. He could barely breathe and his entire body ached with each frantic beat of his heart. Tears and snot fell unbidden down Severus's face but he didn't care. He just wanted it to stop.

When at last it did, Severus didn't even notice. He simply continued to lay there on the floor between the fireplace and his father's chair.

Tobias replaced the strop and went into the kitchen. A moment later, Severus heard the back door open, then close.

Severus gingerly pulled himself up, careful to not move too quickly and hurt himself further. He made it to his bedroom and lifted his shirt up to see that he had several cuts and welts that he would need to clean and he could already see the bruises forming along his torso and sides. He knew there were more but he didn't have the energy to check further.

Instead, he lowered himself onto his bed. It would be very late before Tobias came home and he wanted to get some sleep while he was able.

Everything else would have to wait.