The house lay still and quiet. Severus was cleaning the front room windows until they

shined. His mother was out at Diagon Alley getting groceries and other needed items. Sean had

left for school the day before, and Regines was at work. So the house remained Severus' for the

rest of the afternoon. But this was how he liked it. He liked the quiet, the stillness, the

concept of being alone. It was in this time that he was free to think to himself without being

interupted. He was able to do what he wished.

He walked up the stairs to the second story, and stopped in front of his father's study.

The windows were perfect to his satisfaction, so he now had the rest of the afternoon to mess

around as he wished. Every book was placed on the shelves with care. There was too many to count

exactly. This was Severus' favorite room in the house although he was never allowed in here with

any one's knowing. He had to sneak in here when the time was right so that he could get a glimpse

of his fathers life.

Severus ran his fingers along the desk. He came to a stop and sat in the big leather

chair that had accompanied his father on long nights of business work. A few books lay scattered

over the desk's surface. One laid open. Severus sifted through them until he came upon one that

caught his interest. It was a book of spells. He leafed through the pages. Picking a page at

random he opened to a page that contained spells on self defense. This is what he had been

looking for.

Although he was still underage, he had a wand that his mother had gotten for him when he

was first born. It was put up out of his reach until he was able to attend school. He had only

touched it once. And that was when he had stumbled across it. He had never done magic, or even

thought of doing it while he was still out of school. But it had come to the worst of situations,

and he felt like it might be wise for both his mother and he if he learned some self defense

spells to use against his father. Seeing that she herself would do nothing about it.

Findind the right one was almost easy. He found one that was effective enough to keep his

father away, but wouldn't hurt him in the process. Now he needed to get to his wand. He returned

the books to their original condition before getting down from the big leather chair and going to

get his wand. He knew exactly where it was. His mother was almost certain that he had no idea

where it was, but she was very wrong. Spending the long days at home by himself, he had managed

to find it.

It was out in the shed out back up on a top shelf. It had been wrapped and put into a box

with a charm to keep it safe from the weather. Severus went out into the back yard and opened the

shed door with some difficulty. Him being so small and fragile made the door seem twice as heavy

as it really was. At once he spied it up on the shelf, out of reach. There was a bucket that had

been turned up-side-down. It had held a bunch of baby flobberworms that had been so carelessly

left on their property.

It made a perfect step-stool for reaching up to the top shelf. Severus stood on his tip-

toes and was barely able to reach the shelf. He reached as far as he could until he felt the box

touch his hand. He quickly grabbed it right before he fell off of the bucket. Sitting on the

floor of the shed he opened the box carefully. The 13 and a half inch Purpleheart wand with

dragonheart string core, lay in his palm. This was the key to defending himself against his

father.

***

His mother returned late with supper that she had bought from the leaky cauldron. She

said that she had not felt like cooking and thought that it was time for a change in food. In

two brown paper bags she had brought home a couple of sandwiches which had been fixed by the

cooks at the resturant. Regines got home at his regular time, in his usual grumpy mood. His black

hair had been ruffled severly by the wind whcih had picked up outside.

Sitting in the dining room eating, the wind whistled as it went around the corner of the

house. Everyone ate quietly without a word. Neither one of the parents knew that their younger

son sat amongst them with his wand hidden up his sweatshirt sleeve. After dinner, Regines went

with his fire whisky to his study to work. His mother had taken a seat on the couch in the living

room with a book that she had been in the middle of reading. Severus went out on the front porch

and sat waiting to see if anything would happen that night. And if it did, he was prepared.

He had practiced the spell in the back yard. To do it he had thrown a rock at a bee hive

that was hanging in a tree. The bees all came out and started to swarm around the yard. Severus

pointed the wand at himself and said the spell loudly and clearly. Around him a type of bubble

had formed. He was certain that it had worked. So he walked up to the swarm of bees. They were

flung from around him, unnable to come within three feet of him. As soon as he was finished, an

owl swooped from over head and dropped a letter at Severus' feet. He knew exactly what it was at

once. It was a warning letter from the ministry. But they couldn't scare him. If he was to use

the spell later on against his father, it would be only to protect himself and his mother, and

that alone was a good enough argument against the ministry.

Sitting on the porch step he listened to the crickets begin to chirp as the sun started

to set. The last rays of the day shone through the trees making the sky look a mixture of purple,

blue, and pink. The wind that was making the evening colder than it looked, made Severus shiver

and realize that he better get inside before it got too cold. Entering the house he heard his

father's voice come down the stairs. "Marianne, will you come here a minute?" The words were slow

and somewhat slurred. He was getting drunk.

She did as she was told and made her way up the stairs, but Severus followed right behind

her. When they got into the room, Regines was stading behind his desk looking down into a book.

"Will you tell me why you were up in my study today?"

"Regines, I was in Diagon Alley all day. I wasn't any where near your study."

"Don't lie to me. Some one was in here today. Someone was looking up a spell or two on

defense." Severus looked at the desk and saw that the page that he had gotten the spell from was

still open. He had forgotten to put it back. Right away he knew he had to do something.

Severus took a step out from behind his mother. Regines' eyes went right to him. "What

are you doing in here?"

"I-I just..." His hand felt for his wand taht was up his sleeve. He knew that he was

going to have to pull it out any second now. "I came up here with mother in case you wanted to

yell at me as well."

"Don't get smart with me boy." The look in his eyes told Severus that he wasn't

completely drunk yet, but close. "Were you at home today while your mother was away?"

"Yes, sir."

"Were you in my study when you know you are not to come near it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come here boy." Severus did as he was told and went to stand in front of his father. He

was grabbed up by the collar and brought close to his father's face. The smell of the whisky was

strong on his breath. "What were you doing in here?"

"Nothing. L-looking."

"Don't lie to me." Severus was thrown to the floor. But he quickly regained his balance

and got onto his feet once more. Looking to the other side of the room he saw his mother, and ran

to her. Regines moved torwards them with an evil look in his eye. "I ought to beat you and your

mother both silly."

"No. You will not harm neither one of us again."

"Oh, is that so? And how do you figure? You can not stop me. You are too weak, and

underage for a wizard. There is nothing you can do to me." He moved to make his first move. But

Severus was faster.

"No more!" And with that, in one smooth movement, he removed his wand from his sleeve and

yelled the spell he had looked up earlier. There was a forcefeild created around his mother and

him. His father went to strike but his hand could not come close to Severus' face.

Frustrated, Regines took out his wand as well and said the countercurse. Suddenly Severus

realized that he had been so foolish as to think that his father owuld not know the countercurse.

"That was a bad move my boy. A very bad move."

Never within the past few weeks could Severus ever remember being beat more than he was

that night. He was beat into unconsciousness, which saved him the trouble of crying himself to

sleep. When he awoke the next morning, he was covered in bruises and every muscle in his body

ached. He winced at the pain as he made an effort to sit up. He was in the middle of the hallway

floor. Appearently no one had felt the need to move him from where he lay.

Getting up he went into the kitchen to find his mother sitting at the table staring into

space. She looked up at him with a smile and a black eye. "Severus. Come here Sev." Severus did

as he was told and went to his mother, who embraced him in a hug. "It's okay. I'm here." She

smoothed out his black hair, which had been mixed in with the blood that had emerged from the

deep cut in his head.

Severus pulled from his mother and looked into her eyes. There were tears there, but she

fought to keep them back. He culd tell that she was hurt in more ways than one. "Why? Why does

he do this to you?"



"He's just stressed honey. Work strains him immensly. We just have to let him take out

his aggressions."

"But by hitting you? Mum, this has got to stop." Severus was clever for his age. He

understood the way things like this worked, while most boys his age hadn't a care in the world

except for the stats of the last professional Quidditch match.

"Sev, what you did last night was brave. I won't say that it wasn't foolish, but it was

brave. I thank you for trying to protect us. I'm afraid there's just no way that we can stop

him."

Severus' black eyes found their way to his mother's blue ones. "Leave him, mum. We can

leave. Get away from this. It's not fair for you. Daddy shouldn't do that to you."

"Shh... it's okay." She pulled him close again. Severus felt the wetness of tears soak

through his shirt, and onto his shoulder.