A/N: Some people out there may not like this development in the story. It isn't a particularly gruesome section, but it's hardly what one could call pleasant. However, this is a key part of the story, and I hope, that if you've enjoyed the story so far, you will be able to enjoy the rest of the story to come.

Chapter 15: The Whole Truth

Rosie woke up the next morning in bed with Severus; she could feel that her legs were entwined with his. She smiled to herself – she and Severus were together again. She couldn't think of a reason in the world why she would ever leave him.

They had been through so much Rosie thought, certainly more than she had been with any other past boyfriend. Severus came with a lot of baggage, and it wasn't children or sick relatives, it was all emotional. Rosie felt that she knew him more than anyone else did, she hoped that he trusted her more than anyone. Rosie was certainly not under any doubt as to whether she could trust him. The man couldn't even express his own feelings – let alone hers.

She turned her head and found Severus' black eyes staring at her.

"Good morning, Rosie," he said softly. Rosie smiled. She didn't fully know why but at the sound of those particular words Rosie felt her heart swell. She liked the idea of waking up every morning to those words from his mouth.

She turned over on her side so that she could look at him properly.

"Thank you, for last night," Rosie said resting her head on his chest. She draped her arm across his stomach only to find that she could feel his ribs.

"You're skin and bone Sev."

"I always have been. There's not much meat on me I'm afraid."

"I'm sure we could fatten you up a bit!"

"Whose this 'we' – is this your imaginary friend again?" Rosie laughed and smacked him.

"I just meant that I could cook – don't look at me like that, I'm not that bad!"

"You ruined baked beans!"

"They were already bad," Severus nodded in agreement. "I know what, I could cook you a full English!"

"That's a bit greasy, dearest," he said sarcastically. "And we know where all the grease would go."

"Why is your hair that lank anyway – you wash, in fact you are a beacon of cleanliness!"

"I have some overactive gland. It secrets too much grease. I usually wash my hair and by about lunchtime it's unclean again."

"Does it annoy you?"

He nodded and said, "But it's not important."

"No," said Rosie and she sat up and then straddled him in the bed. He smiled benignly; this was certainly the most relaxed that Rosie had seen him since she had met him.

"Oh," he said, "and what, pray tell, do you have planned for me?" he stretched luxuriously and put his hands behind his head, showing off the underneath of his arms.

Rosie saw the Dark Mark gleaming on his skin. It was a dark, vivid black, burning against the pale white of his flesh. It was the first time that she had ever seen it, and now that she had seen how bright it was she didn't see how she could have missed it before. Severus frowned at her look of concentration and glanced sideways.

Rosie got off him. She lent against the bed head and propped herself up on some old pillows. "Did it hurt?" she asked softly.

Severus looked at her, "Yes."

"Can – can I touch it?" she whispered. Severus swallowed but nevertheless extended his arm and brought it closer to her face. She took a deep breath and gazed intently at the tattoo. Her hand came forward and gently touched the skin of his arm. Severus tensed as her fingers ran over the blackened skin and traced the outline carefully. Then she did something that caught Severus by surprise; she brought her head down and kissed the Mark ever so gently. Severus recoiled.

"Sorry," she murmured.

He shook his head, "Don't be. It's my mistake – and I'm paying for it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You clearly still aren't sure – about me."

Rosie looked at him before answering, "I might be sure if you told me everything-"

"Oh no, Rosie. Not now, please," he turned slightly away from her.

"Why not? Today is as good a time as any."

"I – I, you're right. I know you are. I just don't think I can." He looked up at her.

Rosie put her arm around his shoulder and moved him so that his head was resting on her chest.

"Just tell me from the beginning."

He sighed resignedly and mumbled, "All right. I'll try."

"You know about all there is to know about how I joined the Death Eaters, there were 'friends' at school who were entering into the Dark Arts. I didn't know where I belonged; I never fitted in anywhere. I was this freaky loner. Nobody took pity on me, not even fellow Slytherins.

"I found it very hard to make friends. I'm, I don't know," he stopped briefly and sniffed. "I find it – hard to talk to people. Some people – like Potter and Black-"

"Sorry," Rosie interrupted. "Who's 'Potter and Black'?"

Severus looked at her, shocked, "There wasn't a single person in my year that didn't know who they were," said Severus, a wry smile on his face. It seemed to fall off as he said, "Ironically it was the same with me – for different reasons … obviously." He looked at her. "Potter and Black were the two people who bullied me the most."

"Oh," said Rosie, remembering that night when he had told her briefly of his time at school. "They were the ones?"

"Yes they were," he said heavily.

"What – what did they do?" Rosie asked tentatively.

Severus looked round at her quickly and pursed his lips. "They – I – nothing," he finished lamely.

"Nothing," said Rosie. "I see. Just tell me."

"There was this," his voice faltered and he shook his head. "I can't tell you, Rosie."

"Why?" she asked.

"Because it's so embarrassing!" he moaned.

"Please," begged Rosie. "I won't think any worse of you. How could I?"

He smirked and looked at her, "I didn't mean it like that," Rosie added.

"There was this one – occasion when," he paused and took a deep breath. "It was after my Defence Against the Dark Arts OWL. We'd been dismissed from the hall and I went out onto the grounds with the rest of the year," he shuddered. "I was sitting, reading my exam paper under the shadow of a clump of bushes when – I got bored. I don't really like the summer heat and I decided to go back into the castle." He looked at Rosie pleadingly, as though asking her to stop the story. Rosie, however, refused to grant him this easy way out. She wanted to know why he was this hurt by Potter and Black.

"So," he resumed. "I got up from my little spot and moved out into the sunlight. I was making my way – my way across the grass when I heard a call of 'All right, Snivellus?'-"

"Snivellus?" questioned Rosie.

"It was my nickname," Severus stated glumly.

"I'm guessing that you didn't start it."

"Of course I didn't," he said bitterly. "It was them."

"Sorry," muttered Rosie quietly. "Carry on," she urged.

"One of them cried 'Expelliarmus' and my wand flew out of my hand. I dived to get it but," he breathed deeply. "But they knocked me off my feet. All these kids – my schoolmates – had got up to watch. They put the Impediment jinx on me, Rosie," he said almost pleading with her to understand how hard this was for him. "I felt like I was bound."

"Bound?"

"Tied up! Wrapped up! Constricted!" he burst out angrily, gesticulating widely. "Whatever you want to call it!" He closed his eyes and breathed heavily for a few moments before carrying on with his story. "They – I shouted some curses at them, amidst swearing and blaspheming – Potter just told me to – er," he paused, apparently thinking, "what exactly did he say? Something along the lines of 'Wash out your mouth' and then I felt like my mouth was full of soap. There were these suds climbing up my throat, burning me from the inside. I felt like I was being gagged, I choked and all these pink frothy suds formed around my lips," he looked down sadly. "I was scared. I couldn't breath – I thought I was going to die."

"Really?" asked Rosie, shocked. "It was that bad?"

"It was horrible. I was so desperate to get away from them – all these people watching me, laughing at me."

"Did they do anything else?" he shot daggers at her as he faced her. "I didn't mean that that wasn't enough!" she added quickly.

"Yes, they did more," he continued heavily. "This girl – Lily Evans as she was then – came over and tried to stop them, but they wouldn't listen. And then I finally managed to shoot a spell at Potter, I cut his face," he smirked, a satisfied look on his face. "There was blood all over the smarmy git's robes."

"I bet he didn't like that," Rosie laughed weakly.

Severus' face fell. His jaw was set and he looked positively stone-like. He spoke again, though his voice sounded laboured and Rosie noticed a dull red flush creeping up his neck. "He didn't," he said quietly, though she could hear every word. "He – whirled around – and – and turned me," he didn't seem to want to tell Rosie. "He turned me upside down in mid-air. My robes fell over my head and all that was on display were my skinny little legs and – my," he stopped, "my greying underwear," he spoke the last part in little more than a desperate whisper, his face burning.

Rosie looked at him. He didn't look at her. Though she felt so incredibly sorry for him, being embarrassed like that, she also felt anger coursing through her. How could someone do that to another person? Didn't they realise what it did to the people they bullied? It must have been over twenty years since Severus had been picked on but he still hadn't got over it.

"Everyone thought it was hilarious," he spat bitterly. "These kids cheered," his lips were twitching. "They let me down – after Evans had told them to – but then they just did it again – once she had gone. I was so humiliated," he said, leaning heavily on every word. "So utterly humiliated. And I had to face these people every day – for the rest of my school life. Even years later people still thought it was one of the funniest things they'd seen."

Rosie felt tears in the corner of her eyes and hugged him to her. "I'm so sorry Sev," she murmured. "I had no idea."

"It's not your fault," he said. "It was theirs."

Rosie smiled gently, "Do you want to stop? You can let this all out another time."

"That was it," he said glumly. "Unless you want me to get a diary – I'm sure I could find some interesting things in there."

"That's not what I meant – I meant what you were going to say before I interrupted."

"What was I saying before you interrupted?" he asked distractedly.

"You were just saying that Potter and Black – then you stopped. You were saying how hard it was to make friends," she said, nuzzling him with her nose.

Severus was so taken that she had actually remembered what he had said that he cleared his throat and said, "I'd like to carry on, if you don't mind," she shook her head. "Well – Black and Potter. How else can I describe them? They were the life and soul of the party. I admit that I was jealous – I could never even start a conversation – they could make friends as easy as breathing and they were so popular and well liked. My lack of social skills left me isolated – with no one to protect me or tell me that I was doing wrong. If you think about it Rosie, you have so many people to confide in. When we – you know – broke up, you told Alina, she gave you advice. I had no one, I had to make my own mistakes and my God I've learned from them."

"But," said Rosie feeling slightly saddened, this was clearly going to be a sorry tale. "But – surely at home – surely there was someone at home that you could talk to?"

He snorted. "Not really. I have one sister, called Leticia. She's six years older than me and a hell of a lot more beautiful. She always considered me to be inferior to her. She used to make me do things for her – oh no! Not like that! There wasn't any incest in the Snape family – thank God, we're insane enough already.

"No, she – I can't explain it. She bullied me a bit but it was nothing that I couldn't handle or indeed dish straight back at her. She used to shout at me a lot, I suppose that it was her way of venting her frustration about mother and father."

There was a pause. Severus had tensed ever so slightly as he mentioned his parents. This was obviously a big part of the making of Severus Snape. Home life has an enormous effect on a person; Severus' parents were clearly a symbol of misery for him.

"My parents," he laughed briefly and mirthlessly. "They were the worst. They were a pair of loveless fools. I don't quite know the history – all that I know is that the Snapes and the Hammels were close. They thought that it would be a good idea to match their respective children to each other. I know that my mother, Edith Hammel, was in love with another man but she was pressurised into matrimony with my father.

"He – my father, was a strong man. Physically, I mean. He was tall and broad but for all of that strength he was a coward and – he was furious that my mother did not love him – though I doubt he felt any attraction towards her, it was just a smack in the face for him," he grimaced and said, "How ironic." Rosie didn't understand the comment but she felt that it had something to do with his choice of words previously. He continued. "They constantly argued. Every day, and night if you were lucky. I remember as a child-"

He broke off. Rosie was faintly surprised. His story was flowing so well. Rosie stroked his hair in what she hoped was a comforting way. He cleared his throat and continued.

"I remember as a child listening to them shouting and ranting and raving. It was always over something stupid and trivial – like the evening meal or my mother not moving to let him sit in his favourite chair. But that regardless I hated hearing them shout.

"I knew at the time that my mother was not well. It wasn't until later that she told me that she had post-natal depression – after she had had me, of course. My father was an idiot. He saw her as being insane just because depression isn't a physical disease. He would not let her have treatment because he feared that he was married to a madwoman!

"Arguments raged about that topic for years, even after she felt better – though she never fully recovered. She was always very melancholic. Then I got brought into the arguments. My father hated me because he said that I was the reason that my mother didn't love him. It was crap of course and I knew it, but it's hard to say that to a six foot two man when you are six."

He stopped again and sniffed loudly.

"What was your father's name?" Rosie asked quietly.

"Maximus Snape," he said and she heard the resentment in his voice.

"Do you want to talk about this another day?"

"No! I'm in full swing now!" he said derisively and started up his tale again.

"Maximus, as far as I can remember, wasn't always unkind. But it changed when I was very young. He started drinking when I was about five. He used to go out and come back drunk, it was terrifying. He used to stagger into the house stinking of alcohol and cigarettes."

Severus' voice had become quieter and quieter since he had started talking about his father. This was obviously one of the most vivid parts of his life. Rosie thought of how she would react if her father staggered into the house pissed. She couldn't even imagine it.

"At first he just shouted at my mother – and at me. But then he got more aggressive. He'd come into the house and he'd scream at mother – she was a witty woman and could hold her own in a verbal battle but Maximus was a violent man. When he'd had enough of shouting he would hit her. I used to sit outside the door and listen to them just waiting for the blow to come.

"The worst part was that there was nothing I could do. I was weak – I was a child! If my mother didn't stand a chance neither did I.

"Then his violent tendencies changed. He got drunk on a more regular basis, about once every week and he started to turn on me. I was about six years old when he first hit me."

"He hit you?" asked Rosie, there were tears in her eyes from the horror of what she was hearing.

"Yes, I can't even remember why. I think I'd knocked a plant pot over or something," he let out a laconic laugh. "He just turned to me and said, 'You ugly imbecile!' that was it – and then he slapped me with the back of his hand straight across the face."

Rosie winced and kissed him softly on the cheek. "How often did he hit you?"

"Whenever he felt like it really," Severus said frowning deeply. "It was a common occurrence. He hit my mother more at first and then he turned on me. I used to go to Hogwarts black and blue. Nobody even cared," he spat out bitterly.

"Was there a reason that he did it?"

"To this day I don't fully know. My mother got depression which annoyed Maximus and he blamed it on me. That's the only explanation I have."

"Did you always refer to him as Maximus – when you spoke to him?"

"I tried not to speak to him, but if I did – I suppose that when I addressed him as a child I called him 'father'. As an adolescent it varied – depending on my mood," he smirked. "I certainly don't refer to him as 'father' now. And anyway, he never felt like a father to me. He might as well have died for all I would have cared."

There was a silence for a number of minutes. Severus didn't know how to continue and Rosie didn't know what to say. She held him for that silent amount of time and stroked his face gently. He did not back away or withdraw from her touch, quite the contrary, he lent into her hand as if to encourage her.

"I missed you when you weren't here," he murmured into her hair.

"I missed you too. And I will miss you when you go back to Hogwarts. When does term start?" said Rosie latching on to the change of topic.

"On the fifth, it's four days away."

"Right. When can you come back?"

"I have no idea," he said stretching. "Not for a while I expect."

"Oh?"

"Yes, Minerva will insist that I abstain from any sexual relations until an appropriate time."

"She said it to you before?"

"No, but can't you just hear her? The Immaculate Conception commanding me from on High!"

"Don't you start. You know that you love her."

"I love you more."

It took a few seconds for Rosie to realise the significance of what he had said. She glanced at him and saw that he wore an expression of shock, his eyebrows were slightly raised and his mouth slightly open.

"Did – do you mean it?" Rosie asked, she wanted to know whether it was a slip of the tongue.

"I – I find it hard to express my feelings – you must know that by now!" he said dryly.

"But do you love me?" Rosie persisted.

He looked at her seriously, his black, fathomless eyes boring into hers. She stared straight back, not daring to blink. Then he said, "Yes. I love you – very much."

Rosie's heart leapt. Of course that she knew that deep down, but to hear it from his own mouth, from his heart was a lovely experience. She kissed him passionately on the lips. He sighed ever so slightly and opened his mouth. Rosie was just beginning to lose her perception of where she was when she remembered what she dearly wanted to know.

She broke off, Severus looked at her enquiringly. "Sev, how long has it been since you saw your family?"

His face fell, he hadn't been smiling before but he had looked happier. Rosie wondered whether she had gone too far. He flopped back down onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

"Not since I was nineteen."

"Nineteen? But – that's practically twenty years isn't it?"

"It is indeed. I hadn't realised how decrepit I was," he said.

"But why haven't you seen them in all that time?"

"Maximus banished me from the house, he told me that I was no son of his and that I should never return. My sister never contacted me either."

"Why did you get thr-"

"He found out that I was a Death Eater – the irony was that I had just left."

"I thought he would have been the kind to support Voldemort."

Severus jumped. "Don't say the bloody name!" he hissed.

"It's only a name," Rosie said, slightly affronted.

"He's more to me than a name," said Severus acidly. "Just because you got off lucky."

"Okay, calm down," I shouldn't have said anything, she thought.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I just don't feel like talking about him or Maximus at all."

"Can I ask one last thing?"

"I'm assuming that I don't really have a choice," he said with a slightly raised brow.

Rosie smiled gently and then said, "Why did you leave the Death Eaters?"

Whatever Rosie had expected it was not this. Severus became totally rigid. He didn't move a muscle for at least a minute. His expression was suddenly very dark, his brow was furrowed and his eyes had a malicious yet strangely sad glint in them. He sat up in the bed and then put his head in his hands. He sat still for a moment and then dropped his arms. He breathed heavily as though calming himself and then after what seemed an age he turned slowly and faced Rosie.

"You're not going to like this," he said slowly and solemnly.

A/N: If you read, please review, and make my day. On such a large website, I'm sure that there are more than four (wonderful) people who read this story!

An Anti-Sheep Cheese Muffin: Cheers m'dear! And I have updated soon!

chitana: Aw, thank you! That review really made me smile; much appreciated!

snip-snippet: I'm glad you like Alina – and how did you spot that plot development!! Lol. That will all come in time, my dear. Glad you are enjoying it, and, although I don't usually take kindly to deadlines, I have taken heed of your request and updated, quick sharp!

tab-sempai: I really think you missed something. To put something in the fireplace is a phrase, and one which I commonly use – I don't really care who else uses it, but it is a phrase. A fireplace, as opposed to the fire, means that Rosie put the bowl down on the tiles, on the floor, that surrounded the fire in the grate. You can sweep fireplaces, so why can't you put a bowl down in one? I do it all the time, so forgive me for saying that last time I checked, I did put my china bowl down in the fireplace. Thanks for reviewing.