Eileen Prince awoke the next day not knowing how she ended up in this building. She found herself inexplicably drawn to the town, it was hardly a thriving place but there was something quaint and homely that attracted her and as she wandered through the town, she soon found herself bumping into a charming young muggle man Tobias Snape. She could not explain it but as their eyes met, she was instantly drawn to this kind young muggle man who offered to put her up temporarily.
She quickly forgot the wizarding world from which she came and soon the two found themselves falling in love, he quickly proposed to her, she accepted and the young couple were shocked and delighted to learn a few months later that she was several months pregnant. With this news, they hastened to make plans for their wedding and started looking for a house.
By the time the baby was born, they had found a small house on a road called Spinner's End, it was not in the best part of town and having been built years ago as a home for the mill workers was equipped with only basic amenities including an outside loo. It was what Tobias called a fixer-upper, which needed work doing but neither of them minded. The house had potential, Tobias had a good job working at the local mill and was looking forward to fixing up the house and turning it into a nice home for his wife and young child.
On January 9th, the young couple were delighted to welcome their son Severus Snape into the world. He was perfect with tufts of dark soft hair and brilliant brown eyes, he was a happy, healthy child constantly smiling and gurgling. Life was good the young couple were well known and welcomed in the neighbourhood and the neighbours were friendly and always stopped when they saw them out to chat or to admire and coo over their young son saying how he was so handsome and happy and well behaved.
It was not to last.
A few months after Severus was born they had a visitor. Eileen went to answer the door and recoiled in horror when she saw the face of the man who was grinning evilly, his eyes flashing blood red. She was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable fear as long-buried memories came flashing back to her and she stood frozen to the spot. The man pushed her roughly aside before striding into the room where her baby was sleeping. She shook herself out of it and hurried after the man as he made his way over to where her child was lying, sleeping peacefully in his crib.
She watched in horror as he ran his long, almost skeletal fingers over her boy almost as though caressing his cheek in a perverse facsimile of affection, the child frowned in discomfort, shifting to try and get away from the hand as the man smiled an almost feral grin. He removed his wand from his pocket and lifted it to point it at her baby.
She reacted instinctively rushing forward to try to protect her child "no please don't hurt him, not my baby" she pleaded crying out to him in desperation.
"Silence!" the strange man roared his eyes flashing red as he unleashed a wave of magic strong enough to send her crashing back into the wall before turning back to the baby "the boy is mine" he hissed menacingly before turning back to said child with a chilling feral smile. He looked down on the boy he had sired who would be the vessel for a piece of his soul and he was satisfied, he was strong, healthy and from what he knew of infants a good weight, perfect.
She slowly came back to consciousness watching helplessly as the man performed some kind of ritual chanting an incantation over her child before lifting the tip of his wand to the boy's temple. He grinned triumphantly as her boy cried in obvious pain, she longed to rush forward and comfort her son but was unable to frozen in place knowing the man would surely kill her if she dared interfere.
Suddenly she heard the door open and she felt like crying in relief, her husband was home he would defend them she thought although her joy and hope were killed almost as swiftly as she wondered what he could possibly do against this powerful wizard.
Tobias entered the room almost freezing as he took in the scene of the strange well-groomed man standing over his son who was crying hysterically and his wife clearly injured cowering in terror against the wall. The sight caused his blood to boil and he rushed in gallantly to defend his family
"Oi, you what do you think you're doing? Get away from my family!" he shouted angrily attempting to step in between the man and his wife.
"Foolish muggle, how dare you interfere with my plan!" the man hissed angrily, eyes glowing red as he unleashed another wave of magic to throw the man back off his feet "crucio" he muttered smiling evilly as the curse hit, leaving the man writhing in pain.
"Consider yourself lucky it serves my purposes to have you both alive or you would not be so lucky" he told them.
Satisfied that he had succeeded in placing the Horcrux inside its intended vessel he turned his attention away from the baby who would be his heir and switched his focus to the adults. He delved into the mind of the muggle first using Legilimency with ease to probe his thoughts. It only took a little manipulation on his part to bring to the surface the mans buried carefully controlled tendencies towards violence, to nudge him towards drink as a means of coping and to create the switch that would cause him to lash out at the merest mention of anything to do with magic.
Pleased with his handiwork he turned his attention to the woman. Pathetic, he sneered as he took in the once beautiful pureblood woman living in this hovel married to a muggle yet she was perfect for his purposes. It would only take a simple confundus charm and an enchantment to numb her to the world around her and drown out her son's cries. Again, he placed a trigger that would activate at the merest mention of magic after all the boy would need someone to teach him about the magical world, which would become his escape from the wretched muggle world.
Satisfied, he left the family with a dark cloud in his wake looming over Spinner's End. He had one last task to attend to, apparating out of sight at the end of the road he returned to the home of the senior Prince family. He ruthlessly obliviated the unsuspecting adults erasing all memories and evidence of their daughter, a few compulsion charms and a bit more manipulation convinced them that he was their closest living relation and as such should be listed as the sole heir to the Prince fortune. He would not risk having the girl's parents interfering with his carefully laid plans for the boy and his mother and influencing the child.
Satisfied with his work he left now all that was left was to watch and wait for his experiment to grow until the vessel reached an age where he could begin moulding and shaping him into the perfect heir.
Much as muggles raised plants in a sterile lab, taking and adding different elements such as food, light and water to produce the desired result, he intended to treat his vessel in the same manner.
He intended that by encouraging the father to abuse the boy while having both parents neglect him and raise him in poverty would bring out the boy's inner hatred of muggles just as his harsh childhood had for him making him angry, embittered and quick to lash out at a world that had rejected him.
In denying him proper parental role models, he imagined the boy starved of attention and affection would instantly crave his attention and approval when he revealed himself to be the boy's true father and in doing so this would make him the perfect obedient Death Eater and ultimately heir to his legacy.
