DISCLAIMER: Same as before

Note: Thanks for all the reviews. Hmm...I'm not sure about this chapter, a bit melodramatic. Anyways, hope you enjoy it. Review please. Oh by the way, I spell checked both the first chapters and this one. Forgive me for past mistakes (faithfate- I knew it sounded weird.)

Snape's hands were shaking even as he hid them in the folds of his robes. He heard the small sigh escaping the old man and bit his lip to retain one of his own.

'You might want to sit a bit more comfortably Severus, this may take a while.'

He shook his head forcefully in denial, though he did back a little in the chair, fearful of falling off in the middle of the ordeal. The thought of his mind being opened in that way was overwhelming and he could not suppress a shudder. The whole of his memories perused as though he were a book made his hands tremble more violently and he had to keep reminding himself to continue breathing. Dumbledore was still looking at him quietly. Snape lowered his eyes, he could not bear to look at those blue eyes, such silent judges. He longed to run off as soon as they gained eye contact. He rocked in his chair for a moment as he fought to stifle the moan of anguish that threatened to escape him.

'Would you like anything before we start?'

Dumbledore asked rather kindly. Severus could not frowning in incredelounce. He shook his head again, trying to dispel the pounding ache that had begun mounting in his head. The old man nodded, hesitantly it seemed.

'Legilemens.'

As the spell hit him he immediately set up the onyx walls around his head and his mind filled with nothing but black void. He opened his eyes as the spell was lifted and after a quick glance at Dumbledore lowered his eyes.

'Excuse me. It's the habit...'

Let's try again, shall we?'

He heard the spell whispered softly once more and hit him like a gentle wave in the moderate swaying of the sea. He raised the walls once more, then forced himself to bring him down. He could not abandon now, he had to do this. As they crumbled the rubble mounted at the feet of a tattered black veil- his first attempts at blocking his mind with Occlumency. He saw the Headmaster murmuring under his breath, but still staring at him unwaveringly. Slightly irritated and extremely nervous he let the old man part it and enter. Pain shot through his head as though he had been suddenly hit with a hammer but he forced himself to be still. He deserved this. Instantly memories rushed through his brain, so fast he did not know how Dumbledore would be able to sort them out. All those memories he had refrained from analyzing in years he thought sadly, fighting the tears that begun stinging his eyes. He blinked them away quickly and felt as a calm soothing sensation invaded him and his mind ceased reeling. He felt Dumbledore choosing a few memories and closed his eyes as the old man began perusing them at his leisure.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Severus rushed into the room, a big smile planted on his face as he hurried to his mother. Upon reaching her he tugged the silky robes to gain her attention and dropped a flower on her lap. Dirt fell on the costly cloth and the women around the tea table wrinkled their noses in disgust, exchanging glances with raised eyebrows. Persilia grimaced in embarrassment and anger and slapped the five year old's hands forcing him to release her.

Snape felt anger bubbling inside him, like a cauldron ready to spill. And yet a strange sort of sadness and melancholy filled him at the same time. He had always questioned himself as a child why his mother treated him thus, why she did not lavish him with kisses or hugs- at first he had thought perhaps that was the normal conduct of parents. But when he had reached the Hogwarts Express to leave for his first year he had discovered it was not so. Now he saw why she had hated him for he hated himself.

'I thought I had told you not to disturb me when I was entertaining my friends Severus.'

She said coldly, retrieving the flower with the tips of her fingers and casting it into the fire where was rapidly consumed by the flames. The smile vanished from the boy's countenance and as she grabbed him by the shoulders in a pincer like grip and dragged him out of the room he whimpered in pain. The woman paid no heed and simply continued to advance down the dark corridor, he heard the creaking sound of a door opening and gasped in surprise as he was suddenly thrown unceremoniously in, sharp edges of stairs digging into his sides and making him cry out. Persilia watched calmly from the doorway until her son landed in a heap at the bottom.

How many days he had passed in those filthy dungeons he did not know. How many times he had been thrown down the stairs until he had learnt to hold himself onto the rail quickly before falling down. The first time, he remembered. That was the first time she had locked him in there...

'If this is the use you will make of the privilege of going out to the garden then you shall have it no longer.'

And with that she closed the door behind her, leaving the dungeon in utter darkness. Going back to her friends she apologized with a forced smile and a roll of her eyes, though her words dripped with disgust.

'I am most sorry, these children are truly annoying. You are so lucky not to be hindered by such insufferable creatures!'

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

Snape parted the thick curtains and cast a glance outside, the sun was shining merrily in the garden, it's golden rays glittering on the morning dew. He let the curtain down, eyes dead as he remembered the warm sunshine while he played beneath it's light. It had been more than a year since he had been outside, for his mother had been quite serious when she had removed that privilege after that incident with her friends. Sighing he returned to the table where he sat reading a book by the dim light of a candle.

He stared fascinated at the text, his mind spinning with images so carefully and accurately described by words. The curses were extraordinary, though he could not imagine circumstances in which anyone would wish to collapse someone's internal organs completely; or to make them sprout several rotten and putrid arms; or crush their eyeballs or make them feel a sensation of burning without any flames...

Severus could not help smirking as he remembered how ignorant he had been then- innocent, according to Dumbledore. He had discovered the uses of those curses later, yes indeed.

'What do you think you're doing reading one of my books?'

Snape looked up as he heard his father's rude and coarse voice break through the room. As he turned he saw his father in the doorway, his countenance a mixture of anger and malice. The man stormed in and the young boy could not help backing away from the wave of ire that seemed to radiate from him.

Thank you father, Snape thought grimly as he remembered all those times his father had startled him in that way. Until he had installed a paranoia which was now deeply set in him. Though it had, after all, come to be quiet useful in later years. Well, it never should have been...Things might have been different if he hadn't been blessed with that trait.

'Who gave you permission to take any book?'

His father asked in a rough whisper.

'I-it was in the library I n-never thought I c-'

Sibilius struck his son across the face, his lust for causing pain growing as he felt the blood of the child's split lip on his fingers.

'Don't reply back to me!'

He shouted, spittle flying from his mouth.

'You saw fit to my books, didn't you?'

Severus panted slightly, recovering from the sudden assault. He shook his head, eyes widened with as confusion as his father grabbed the book and began ripping it's pages. He could not help uttering a small cry of dismay at seeing the book thus ruined in such way. He watched the pieces fly to the floor in their silent fall. When the book was sufficiently ill-treated his father grinned at him, such evil alight in his eyes he shuddered.

'So you not only took my book but you broke it also!'

The young boy shook his head vehemently, 'B-but I di-din't...'

He crashed against the floor as his father gripped his arm and flung him down, following by a forceful kick in the abdomen. Snape cried out in pain and was rewarded by another kick.

'You shall repair the book. And from now on you will begin learning all my books by memory instead of simply reading them leisurely.'

His father stated and left the room, conjuring a magical glue and setting it on the table before exiting. Severus stared at the broken pages from the floor, tears coursing silently down his pale cheeks.

He watched with some distaste as his former self cried and felt ashamed that he had ever been so weak. Yet a small part of his heart knew he had not been weak then, that it was only natural for a six year old to cry it he was treated like that. He had learnt afterwards, and not in a pleasant way, that screaming, crying or begging got you nowhere.

sSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

He was not sure how many days he had been there, uniting piece by piece, out of pure memory and logic of word order. His stomach had stopped protesting loudly to mourning in silence in a constant ache. But it was done, he was finally done and no traces of the incident remaining due to the powerful magical glue which sealed without any marks. His father arrived a few minutes later, bringing as he had these last days a glass of water and a few crackers.

'I see you're finally done.'

Sibilus said reaching for the book and beginning to flip through the pages, he stopped without warning. A leaden weight dropped on Snape's chest, making breathing suddenly laborious.

'There is a missing piece. A corner is missing. How am I supposed to read my book if words are missing?'

The man backhanded his child and watched mercilessly as the small boy crumbled to the floor, blood running anew from the old wound in his lip, a dark bruise forming in his face. Powerful large hands grabbed him by the greasy hair and strided towards the door, Severus moaning at the pain. He heard a door bang open and knew were he was heading to. His father pushed him in so forcefully he only just managed to hold to the rail and not fall down the stairs. The door closed behind loudly. Crawling to a corner he sat down against the stone wall, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light and shivering in the damp cold. He passed his hand through his aching ribs and felt a rough spot, clinging to his robes was the piece of book he had failed to find and had hoped his father would not notice. Sobs escaped him as he sat in the darkness, and weeping was how sleep found him when it came.

The first time he managed not to fall down the stairs he remembered with a small measure of pride, though such a bitter feeling was growing in him that he felt suddenly nauseous.

sSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

A small child waited impatiently standing by the door, watching as his parents ate their breakfast. He had done it again, so foolish and rude, he reprimanded himself harshly. His stomach grumbled loudly as the smell of toast and sweet tea reached his nose.

'Please mother. I won't do it again.'

He begged in spite of knowing it would be of no avail, but his protesting hunger took over the past knowledge that had forged the boy's twisted logic. The woman lifted her eyes from the plate and raised two finely penciled eyebrows, her clear gray eyes cold as she surveyed her son.

'Severus we must educate you properly. That a nine year old should sit down at the table before his parents is outrageous and I cannot permit it. You ought to know the rules already; you will wait and then you shall have your own.'

The pale boy lowered his head and hid his face with his curtain of greasy black hair.

Snape pursed his lips in anger, that little habit had won him quite a few laughs at Hogwarts. And her eyes...the sky had been the same gray the day she had left. The sky had been weeping, a rain of tears- tears he had never seen in his mother's eyes.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSs

Persilia levitated her luggage in front of her easily and walked to the door, a snarl and a frown disfiguring her otherwise handsome appearance. Her hair was uncharacteristically disheveled and her face was red from shouting, hands curled into fists and trembling.

But there were no tears in her eyes. Never. Any. Tears.

Ten-year old Severus ran down the stairs, tears in his eyes as the door opened.

'Mother! Where are you going?'

The woman turned around and crouched for a minute as her son crashed into her and pressed himself to her bosom. She gave him a small pat and a quick hug.

'I'm leaving Severus.'

'Where? Why?'

'Somewhere far from here. Mother doesn't love father anymore and I can't stand living with him.' The child sobbed and tears soaked her dress. ' It happens Severus.'

'A-aren't you t-taking me with y-you?'

He asked, face still burrowed against her chest, eyes swollen with tears.

'No. You'll be better here.'

'Nooo...Mom-mmy pl-please.'

She squeezed him to herself one more moment and then disentangling herself swiftly stood up and strided from the house without looking back.

No tears even when she left me, Snape thought, angry at himself for finding he still cared.

Persilia got into a car and smiling slightly waved farewell to the disconsolate child who was running after her. The car began moving at an extraordinary pace yet Snape continued to pursue it, weeping bitterly. Sibilius hurried from the house as the child reached the gates and grabbing him by the wrist dragged him back home.

'M-mommy...'

The man smacked the child who continued sobbing, tears running down his cheeks in an unceasing torrent.

'Shut up you idiot! She's left and she's not coming back.'

'M-m-mommy pleasee...'

Seeing himself there Snape wondered if his tears had been more from the foreboding of the horrible years that had succeeded her departure than because of her actually leaving. She'd never been a good mother he reminded himself. He had to hate her.

Sibilius hit him again and Snape collapsed to the floor, still weeping. His father kicked him. He seemed in some sort of frenzy, his eyes were bulging and his face had colored to an angry red. Tears and spittle ran down his face as he shouted.

'YOU DON'T BEG! I gave that bitch my pride and dignity and she threw it in my face! You don't beg!' he continued madly, punching and kicking alternately, all sanity seeming to have left his eyes.' You don't beg unless your opponent is on top of you, pinning you do the ground and there is no escape. Until you feel your body can no longer take any more blows and every breath might be your last. THAT'S WHEN YOU BEG!'

No. No. Snape felt something warm trickling down his chin and cheeks but he could not make out what it was. His father's words were echoing in his mind. No... He didn't beg anymore, he didn't. No...I hate you. I hate you.

Severus was still crying, blood running down his face and bruises blossoming as the sensitive tissues of his skin broke. The grown man left the room pulling his hair and still screaming in anger and grief. Snape could hear him breaking things in the next room though he remained lying as his father had left him, tears coursing silently now down his face until his eyes closed and unconsciousness took over.