His parents had been so excited when his letter arrived, although it was not at all unexpected. Severus had shown signs of being a great wizard from a very early age and it had always been expected he would follow in his parents footsteps and attend Hogwarts.
Drawing his eyes away from the enchanting view of the castle, Severus surveyed the other first years, and was glad to note some looking more terrified than him. At least he wouldn't be alone here. He'd never fitted in at the muggle school his parents had sent him to.
"Now son, don't be so difficult. It'll do you good to spend some time amongst the muggles. Give you a better understanding of how they think and live. It's important for a wizard to understand non-magical folk. It gives him a better understanding of himself."
Oh he'd learnt how they think and live alright. From the moment he stepped into the classroom it was obvious he didn't belong. He'd got lost in the halls and was running late. He had hoped no one would notice when he slipped in a little late, but of course someone had.
"Miss, Miss, this boy's late!" a girl in the front row cried out as he was quietly closing the door behind him.
"Thank you for pointing that out Miss Gillies. Now, you boy, what is your name?"
Severus glared at the girl in the front row who poked her tongue out in return.
"Severus Miss"
A snigger went round the class.
"Severus? Well then, you're lucky this is your first day. Step out of line again and you're in big trouble. There's a seat over there by Colin, now go sit down."
Severus pretended not to hear the titters of laughter still clearly audible around the class as he moved toward his seat. It wasn't his fault he didn't have a normal muggle name. He came from a long line of pure-blood wizards, all named after their grandparents, so he'd hardly end up with a name like John would he. Any thought Severus would have had after that was interrupted by the impact of his face hitting the
floor.
"Whoops, better watch out for that nose of yours, you don't want to trip over it again" smirked a rather nasty looking boy called David as he pulled his foot back in under the desk.
It had never got better after that. If it wasn't his nose that they picked on it was the greasy look of his hair, his boney shoulders, the yellowing of his teeth or just the way strange things seemed to happen when he was around. All Severus could do was try and ignore it. He studied hard and ended up top in his class for most subjects, while he also studied magic in secret from the books in the attic his parents thought he didn't know about.
The gentle bump as the boat arrived at the shore brought him out of his thoughts. Screw the stupid muggles! He was better than all of them. He was a wizard, he knew every spell in his first year textbooks by heart, as well as quite a few he was sure he was never meant to learn, and most importantly, he had just arrived at Hogwarts.
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If anyone is actually unfortunate enough to read this then feedback would be appreciated. I already know I should be arrested for over use of the word muggle in that top part.
I'm just writing this for me to try and get my own view of Snape's past out of my head into a form where others can see it. Unfortunately the written version doesn't seem to be doing the mental version any justice so it won't be finished any time soon.
