Disclaimer : I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters. They belong to JK Rowling.
Claimer (if there's a disclaimer, there should be a claimer, right?) : I own the plot.
A/N : By writing this, I'm actually assuming that the radio and tape player had been invented about thirty or forty years ago. If they hadn't, forgive the mistake and ignore it. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!
Prologue
"Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer," he sang merrily, "had a very shiny nose…" His hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, turning it every now and then.
"What's that funny song you're singing, Dad?" asked a young dark-haired boy sitting in the back passenger seat. He looked no older than seven.
"Oh, just some Muggle song I heard when I happened to pass by a Muggle home… Blimey, you won't believe what I saw – they just popped a thing-a-magic with two small rolls of tape in it into another thing-a-magic, pressed a button thingy, and sound came out! Bit complicated and inconvenient, of course, but I just can't imagine what those Muggles will think up next…"
"That's not the worst yet, Ren," commented a woman on the front passenger seat – his wife. "Just the other day, I saw this Muggle in his house, sitting at a table with a box with buttons and long things sticking out of it. There was sound coming out of that box, and I swear I'm not loony. In fact, it sounded like someone talking. The voice was saying something so fast, I couldn't catch it, but it must have been a good thing, because the Muggle started throwing his hands in the air and whooping. Now I happened to stare at him – dumbstruck, I was – and then he looked back at me like I'm the weirdo."
The man chuckled. "Now you know why I work in the Department of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, eh, Sev?" he said, turning to look at the boy. "Because I get to work with a lot of Muggles! They're damn fascinating, I'm telling you. You don't know what they're going to do next."
The boy smiled comprehensively, looking at his father with a certain spark of interest in his dark eyes. The father looked back on the street in front of him, swerving barely just in time to avoid a truck, and the boy's eyes travelled onto the streets and buildings around him. Wow, he thought with awe.
There were lights everywhere in every possible colour, though mostly in red, green and white, twinkling in every direction. Christmas trees seemed to have sprouted all over the place, decorated with silver and gold tinsel that reflected the orange streetlights, illuminating the buildings around them. The spirit of celebrating was in the air, and there wasn't a single road without a 'Happy Christmas' banner hung up above it.
Severus could hear the faint echoes of Christmas carols, and he suddenly felt drowsy, as though voices of angels were resting him to sleep. His eyelids began to droop when –
Clunk. Clunk. Wham. Bang.
Even though he had never really listened to Muggle songs carefully before, he knew that they didn't sound like that. He opened his eyes. There were people in black masks, jackets and trousers surrounding their car, banging and kicking on it; on the windows, the bumper, the doors. His father was panicking and his mother looked nothing short of petrified.
He didn't know what was going on, or who the men were. Robbers, was the first thought that came into his mind. Muggle robbers.
Suddenly, there was a very loud bang, followed by a crash. Something had cracked one of the windows. Severus looked down, and saw something small and shiny among the glass splinters; something that was the size of an elongated pea, but pointy on one side and metallic. He recognised it at once with horror – his father had shown it to him once. It was a bullet, a little device invented by Muggles that could easily pierce through anything when shot with a very strong force.
He looked up at the dark-clothed man nearest to the broken window. He was holding a – a gun. His father had shown him that too. It was a device that could shoot a bullet several distances accurately, given proper aim. He looked around, and saw that the other men were holding guns and knives as well. Every once in a while, there would be another bang, and tiny shards of glass would burst from one of the windows.
His father's wand was out, although it was clear that he was not intending to cast any spell. He knew better than to reveal his identity as a wizard in front of Muggles. His wife was sobbing, begging the men to stop. Instead, the masked men just kept banging more and more, demanding them to get out of the car.
After a few more minutes of banging and smashing, one of the men was able to push his hand into the driver's window and open the lock. With that, all of them charged at the car as one brute force and opened all the car doors, forcing the Snapes out. Severus could feel several rough hands handling him, pulling him out.
He could hear the sound of people screaming now; people screaming and calling for help. The men with guns took no heed of them and kept struggling to get his father and mother out of the car. He could see his mother fighting to be let go of, and his father threatening one of the men with his wand, although it resulted in nothing more than a burst of mirthless laughter coming from the masked man.
One robber was holding onto Severus tightly, dragging him painfully out of the car and onto the pavement nearby. He struggled to be free, punching and kicking at whatever he could, but still the robber gripped his arms tightly.
"Stay still!" the man growled, as he reached one of his hands into his jacket, pulled out a gun and pointed it straight at the small boy's head. Severus trembled with both fear and anger – he couldn't decide which.
"Let go of me!" he shrieked, frustrated. The masked robber simply ignored him.
"That will teach you not to be so stubborn!" someone snarled.
It was definitely coming from one of the masked men. It wasn't the one holding onto Severus, or the one struggling with his father. Then his eyes rested on his mother.
One masked robber had one hand around the frail woman's neck, pining her against one side of the car. The other hand was holding a bloody knife, and stabbing at her non-stop. Patricia Snape's screams of pain reached her son's ear, and seemed to stay there. He was frozen. He was dumbstruck. He was shocked. He was shaking with fury.
Wham. Soren Snape's head smashed onto the side of the car, knocking him unconscious. The masked robber standing beside him looked down of him triumphantly and spat at him with obvious relish. Severus's wrath grew steadily warmer, shaking him from head to toe.
Suddenly, there was a wailing sound behind them. Muggle police cars and one ambulance raced towards the robbers. The masked men looked terrified, and all of them rushed to squeeze into the stolen car.
"Sorry, gotta go, kid," the man holding Severus said as he released his grip, as though he had just been playing an enjoyable game with the Snapes.
As the last of the masked robbers got into the car, the driver immediately started the engine, and raced off, skidding onto pavements and knocking off pedestrians; the police cars followed them in close pursue. The ambulance stopped just in front of the Snape family – two of them lying helplessly on the ground, one of them staring at the other two in disbelief.
Paramedics, doctors and nurses got out of the ambulance, attending to Soren and Patricia Snape. One of them walked up to Severus and put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"You all right, kiddo?" she asked, looking concerned.
He nodded absent-mindedly, unable to say anything. His eyes were fixed on his parents.
"Don't worry," the nurse said reassuringly, "your folks are going to be just fine."
The nurse lied.
A/N : I just hope it didn't sound too stupid. Please tell me if you think it's stupid. *points to 'submit review'*
