This is just the product of too much music video watching, fic reading, and staying up till 4:00 AM. I wrote this in about 3 hours but DON'T WORRYING! I proof-read it. Any mistakes, I'm sorry for! R&R Please!
Disclaimer: Hmm… do I, a lowly 13 year old girl, own the rights to not only Harry Potter and whatever, but also the song "Walk a little straighter"? I think not! They belong to J.K. Rowling and Billy Currington, respectively.
Walk a little straighter, Daddy…
I remember looking up
To look up to him
And I remember most the time
He wasn't there
I'd be waiting at the door
When he got home at night
He'd pass me by to go to pass out in his chair
Eight year old Severus Snape stood by the window facing the street, waiting for his father to come home.
Severus was a pureblood from a magical family. Unlike most magical families, the Snapes lived in a muggle village in England.
His mother had died the year before. She'd been attacked by a dark creatcher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she worked. The medi-witch hadn't made it in time.
His father had started drinking a few months later. Mostly muggle stuff. He wasn't the type who was violent when drunk; he'd just pass out in his chair, and most of the time, his father would just walk right by Severus.
It was ten o'clock PM before Christopher Snape came home that night. Severus opened the door for him, and grabbed his hand and led him tripping and stumbling into the living room.
"That's a good lad, Severus," Christopher slurred in a drunken manner as he collapsed in his chair by the fire, "Help your old man pull off his shoes, would you?"
Severus untied his father's shoes and yanked them off. He put them by the door and then went over to his father and gave him a hug.
"I love you, Daddy." He whispered, even though he knew his father was already passed out.
And I'd say
He walked up to his room and got ready for bed. As he claimed into bed he whispered,
"Walk a little straighter daddy
You're swaying side to side
You're footsteps make me dizzy
And no matter how I try
I keep tripping and stumbling
If you'd look down here you'd see
Walk a little straighter daddy
You're leading me."
Ten years later, on Severus's graduation day at Hogwarts, he stood by James Potter, most defiantly not his favorite person, in front of the 7th years' parents and relatives. But Christopher Snape wasn't there.
(James Potter used to be one of Severus's worst enemies at Hogwarts, him and Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, but after James got together with Lily Evans, Severus's best friend, they made a truce. Not a big one but they stopped trying to hex each other. And when James stopped, the rest followed.)
Severus glanced around for the umpteenth time and sighed. Headmaster Dumbledore was about to start reading off the names. His dad still hadn't shown up. 'He said he'd be here.'
Twenty minutes later, just after "Black, Sirius" got back in line after being called to get his Graduation certificate, the doors to the hall opened loudly as a blatantly drunk man staggered in.
Dumbledore paused in reading the names off the list and looked at the man, as did everybody.
He had pale skin, dark brown, short, mused up hair, dark eyes, and was carrying a bottle of some sort of alcohol.
He stumbled in the gym
On graduation day
And I couldn't help but feel
So ashamed
And I wasn't surprised a bit
When he didn't stay
He stumbled out before they called my name
The man sat in an empty chair in the back and grinned drunkenly at Severus.
Severus couldn't help but feel ashamed, but even so, he smiled at his father. 'At least he came.'
After a minute or three, Dumbledore continued and the parents turned their attention back to the front, still glancing back every once in a while.
And I thought
After about an hour (Dumbledore had just called "Nott, Thomas") Severus's dad stood up again and staggered out of the Great Hall. Severus shook his head, gaining the attention of some of the graduating students near him, and said softly,
"Walk a little straighter, daddy;
you're swaying side to side.
It's not just me who's watching [this time];
you've caught everybody's eye.
And you're tripping and stumbling,
[but now], even though I've turned 18,
[please] walk a little straighter, daddy,
you're still leading me."
Twenty years later
"Let's go see Grandpa! Can we go see Grandpa?" Samantha Snape, seven year old daughter of Severus and Emily Snape, said excitedly.
Severus, now 38, smiled and said, "Let me flow him and see if he's busy." He walked over to the fire place and threw in some flow powder. "Christopher Snape's home!" he shouted in to the flames. "Dad?"
A sober voice said, "Severus? That you?"
"No, it's the Queen of England," Severus replied sarcastically, "Who do you think?"
A graying head appeared and said while chuckling, "Hello, Severus. How've you been?"
"Fine. Just fine, you?"
"Better. What's up?"
"Sam wants to come over and visit her grandpa. Do you mind?"
Christopher waved his hand at Severus and said, "Of course not! I want to see my favorite granddaughter!"
Samantha jumped into the line of vision and said, "I'm your only granddaughter!"
Severus and his father laughed and the elder said, "More the reason to spoil you rotten! Come on over! Emily out?"
"She's at Hogwarts visiting Albus. We'll be over in five. Love you, Dad."
"Love you too, kid."
The old man's still like he always was
But I love him anyway
If I've learned one thing from him
It's my kids will never have to say
Christopher Snape was still a drunk but he was getting better. He loved his granddaughter, son, and daughter in-law very much. On the day Samantha was born, he had promised that he would stop drinking before she went to Hogwarts. And you know what? He did.
Walk a little straighter daddy
You're swaying side to side
You're footsteps make me dizzy
And no matter how I try
I keep tripping and stumbling
if you'd look down here you'd see
Walk a little straighter daddy
You're leading me…
A/N) Gets ya hits ches t right there, don't it? people shake head No!? Well! Humph!
Alternate-Self: Ignore the emotional writer. R&R!