Disclaimer: Severus Snape is Rowling's. Amanda Snape is mine.

Thank you to my so very kind reviewers. This is for you.



Ravenclaw

Severus was on his hands and knees, rubbing the floor on transfigurations classroom. He had to get it sparkling without the use of magic. As if he could make rough stone sparkle, just with a rug wet in a bucket of water and 'Belinda's all magic spots remover'. The dirt in the room was the result of dirty shoes and dust and not magical substances. This seemed to be detention for life. He was starting to understand Jen's fear of grounding.

Mr Filch came inside the room. Severus was certain he had came to check on his progress and did not deign to raise his eyes from work.

"Severus."

Ops! Mum? Here? Shit! He got up so quickly; the bucket rolled and spread its contents all over the floor. "Oh no..." Not only he would have to clean this now but he had messed up right in front of his mother. The one who already did not wanted him.

Instead of giving the expected lecture, Amanda Snape performed some quick spells and forced the water to return to the bucket. Plus, the room really got sparkling.

"That's cheating!" Said Severus.

"I don't think they'll take points from Ravenclaw now." She answered sitting on a bench.

"Of course not. They'll take them from Slytherin. I'll get a beating for losing more points today!" He said, hotly. What the hell was she doing here? Couldn't she just stay cuddling James Potter's baby brother or whatever she liked to do?

"Why? How many points did you lose?" She asked.

"Twenty!!! There! Are you shocked?" He screamed, "As far as I know Jamie Potter didn't lose any!"

"Twenty?" She asked again.

"YES!"

"That's nothing."

That stopped his fury.

"Come again?"

"I won't tell you how many points I lost at once in my time here. It would not be good for your education."

"Though! My education is not in good shape anyway."

"It was more than twenty."

"From a Ravenclaw? How much more?"

"More. And what are you thinking? Ravenclaws are not saints."

"Not saints." He agreed. "Just perfect. And expecting everyone else to be also."

"Is that an indirect?"

"I was quite direct." He stood his ground.

"Severus, sit here with me." She patted the bench next to her."

"Why?"

"So we don't have the whole class room between us. Will you sit?"

Shrugging he advanced and seated beside his mother.

"Now, why did you run away? Your father and I were mad with worry about you."

Severus folded his arms over his desk and hid his face on them.

"Severus, answer me. Why did you run and why didn't you go home with that Weasley man? Why did you come straight here?" She touch his dirty, oily hair and thought, as so many times before it needed a trim and a good, thorough wash, but kept her thoughts to herself this time. "I need to understand..."

When Severus raised his head, there were tears all over his thin cheeks but his expression was of fury.

"What do you need to understand?"

"Don't you love us? Me and your father?"

"You got it all wrong!" He accused. "It is YOU that don't love ME and my father!"

"Severus..."

"Don't lie! I heard you say it yourself! At the Potters' house! YOU wish you could trade me for one of the Potters' boys! YOU wish you had never had me. You hate me because I am like my father! Because we're vampires!"

"Don't say that!" She pleaded.

"Well, I am!" He screamed. " And I'm proud to say I'm a Vam..."

Mandy Snape put a hand firmly over Severus' mouth and looked around the room trying to check there was no one listening.

"Silly boy! Do you want to be heard?" She asked without releasing him. "Do you know how they would treat you?"

Severus freed himself.

"What do you care?" He asked lower this time.

"I love you. I care and your father cares."

"Sure."

"I'm so sorry you heard me that day." She tried to touch his face but he did not let her. "You'd have to understand, adults are not perfect..."

"Oh, I know that!"

"Parents aren't either..."

"Of course. Especially, when they don't wish to be parents at all."

"Will you let me finish?" She was getting impatient. "Merlin! You got my temper!"

"Well, it couldn't be everything from my father."

"You're a damphir, not a vampire. Your father is a damphir..."

"I know that! I do study!" He cut.

"Not in these last months... Sorry! I didn't mean to sound accusing."

"What did you mean then?" He asked, angry.

"I... Let me explain and please just listen. When I married your father, I was not in love with him..."

Severus bit his lower lip but could not help himself from saying; "I don't think you were coerced."

"I wasn't exactly. Don't interrupt. I liked your father and had feelings for him. You'll understand when you're older. The thing is, passion alone doesn't held a marriage when love isn't there."

"Did you divorce? Three lousy months! You were quick!" He rose shocked.

"Sit down! We didn't divorce. Ironically, we are better than ever."

"How come?" Severus sat.

"I'm getting there. If you'll be so kind as to listen..."

"Go on!"

"Thank you. Your father's ancestry was a big part of what attracted me to him when I first met him."

"I already heard you saying that to Mrs Potter. And all the rest; you got tired of him when you found yourself with a vampire baby in your arms."

"You don't know how it was. I was scared. My family stopped speaking to me when I married Stiller, so I had no one to share my fears. Your father was getting more distant every day... He says I grew distant from him. We didn't talk anymore. I started hating him, he was always travelling and I wanted to leave him but couldn't get myself to do it. Because of you."

"I disappeared. You could have left him."

"Well, it didn't work that way. When you runaway I was mad with worry! I suspected you had heard me talking with Beatrice but I could not face that. I went home in a rampage and accused Stiller that it was his fault that you had runaway. For being an absent father and an absent husband and for not supporting your dream on being a mediwizard."

"What did he say?"

"He accused me. He said that it was my fault that I spend more time at the Potters' than with you and him and so on and so on."

"You didn't divorce." He pressed.

"No."

Severus sighed in relief. He had not known it had meant that much to him.

"I was sure you would."

"You set us talking. Screaming at first, but then we got tired and talked. So I got to know your father is the interesting person I thought he was when I met him."

"How did you meet him anyway? You're not interested in politics; he didn't studied at Hogwarts; he's from Germany with Romanian ancestry; you're from here. Hardly a match made in heaven."

"I met him here."

"How come? He studied at Durmstrang. There are no student exchanges."

"Actually, it's possible to exchange school." She corrected. "But that was not what happened. Stiller broke in on Hogwarts and was even able to snick around for two days unnoticed."

"Merlin! Really?" He could not imagine his father, of all people doing such a stunt. A new form of respect for the man sprang up inside him. "Dumbledore didn't notice him?"

"The headmaster then was Dippet. He was a good wizard and competent but was not Dumbledore."

"What happened?" Severus could not help being curious.

"Dumbledore did notice him. Unfortunately for me, it was after I had noticed him. I was trying to get him out unnoticed."

"Were you punished?"

"Those points I told you." She confirmed.

"Why did he do such a thing?" Wondered Severus.

Understanding Severus was not talking about Dumbledore or house points, Amanda answered the next possible hypothesis.

"Stiller came after me. He had seen me in Schwarzwald."

"Where?"

"The Dark Forest. In Germany. During some vacation with my parents. My last holidays with my parents. We never talked there, but what can I say? I'm unforgettable." She gave him a smug smile. "Your father hates Hogwarts since this incident, but we still got married. During the seventh year."

"During the school year?" He was shocked.

"Yes."

"Did you quit school to get married?" He was growing horrified.

"Of course not! I finished the year already married. Don't look so stunned! I'm almost afraid to tell you, you were born the next August."

"Merlin I'm appalled. All the myths from my childhood are melting in front of my eyes! I was told Ravenclaws were supposed to be smart!"

She smiled.

"If it's any consolation, I didn't open a precedent. Situations like this one have happened many times all over the centuries. In facts someone told me then, Hufflepuff's founder was pregnant when Hogwarts was founded and she never told a soul who the father of her child was."

"She was a Hufflepuff." He said as if that explained everything.

"So?"

"So, who cares about Hufflepuffs?"

"Severus, we'll have to continue this talk when you come home. I love you baby. I'm sorry I took so long to tell you, but I do."

"I don't ride a broom like Jamie." He reminded her.

"I don't care."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure. Can I hug you?"

Severus looked around to check if there was any ghost snooping on them.

"Okay, quickly. I have a reputation to keep."

His mother hugged him but not as quickly as he had intended. She would not let go.

"Mum."

"Just a bit more."

"Mum, I have something to ask and I can't do it if you choke me."

She let him go.

"Why." He asked. ".Did you put a reward on me all over the country?"

"Why? Because we were desperate and wanted to find you."

"All over Britain?" He pressed.

"We didn't think you could be in China."

"What a kind answer. Why didn't you just look in London?"

"Weasley said you were in London, but how did you expect us to know that?"

"Mum, I'm twelve and I'd have asked at the Floo network. Of course I could have used a different stove at Knockturn alley but it was a start."

"The floo? You used the fireplace to get away?" She asked sternly.

"Y-Yes." He swallowed hard.

"Merlin! How many times have I told you not to mess with the floo network?" She demanded.

"I was running!" He justified his behaviour quickly. "I was already breaking the rules!"

"For sure! Knockturn Alley!"

"That is just a detail! Do you want to hug me again?"

That stopped Amanda Snape. Then she started to laugh.

"Boy. The floo. You used the floo."

"Yes."

"That's not possible." She stated.

"What?"

"The fire place was clean."

"THAT is not possible. I did use the floo powder that was in a phial over the firestone. I went to Knockturn Alley; then I steal away to muggle London. Honest!"

"Okay! You're honest about a bunch of transgressions."

"And it eats me from the inside, having to admit all of this story. But this is important."

"That you used the fire place."

"That someone cleaned it after I used it."

"It can't have been on purpose."

"Why can't it?"

"No one at the Potters."

"Wrong!"

"Severus."

"You're wrong, mum. The Potters are NOT the angels you paint."

"They are good people."

"They, or at least one of them hid all traces of my escapade."

"You say that as if someone has fault in your actions. YOU ran away, Severus."

"I did." He raised and started pacing. "And I didn't want to return. Sorry but that's the truth. Still it is a criminal act that someone hid all traces of where I went."

Amanda did not answer.

"Someone did this." He pressed. "And if it was not for an impoverished bloke with greed for your reward, you might never see me again."

"It was criminal action." She agreed. "But how can I say that? This was three months ago. Who do you think might have done that?"

"James!"

"Do you have proof?"

"No."

"You can't accuse someone without evidence."

"I can accuse. I'm just never believed." He said hurting.

"I believe you. And your father will believe you too."

"Where is he? Is he mad at me?"

"Yes he is. He's talking to Dumbledore. We brought your things."

"He doesn't want to see me?"

"I Thought I should see you first. We had decided between us, that if you came back home, you'd go to Durmstrang as Stiller wanted from the first time. Instead, you came straight here. He is a bit disappointed."

"Oh."

"Why did you come here?"

That was dangerous terrain. Severus decided for a half-truth.

"I thought it was a good idea. I thought you didn't care."

"We do."

"Still. I don't want to go to Durmstrang."

"Don't tell that to your father tonight." She warned.

"Okay."

"One more thing. What have you been doing alone at London all these months?"

Tricky question. Lying, stealing, killing drug dealers. Those were not secrets he was willing to give up. And not to his mother, of all people.

"I don't think I should tell you. It would not be good for your education." He mimicked her.

Amanda Snape smiled and quit pressing. For the moment.