"Mr. Wonka?" Severus called as he exited the flying glass elevator and entered the Inventing Room.
"Severus, is that you?" Wonka's voice was coming from some other part of the room.
"I need to speak to you alone!"
"Well, that won't be hard. Those Ministry workers are gone."
Severus began running towards Wonka's voice. "What happened to them?"
Severus heard Wonka give an amused snicker. "Dolores is a bit under the weather."
Severus felt a rush of panic. "What did you do?"
Wonka emerged from behind a machine. "Ah! There you are, Severus!"
"What happened to her?" Severus asked in dread.
"Well, it turns out that our fine lady from the Ministry shares Violet's need for jaw movements," Wonka explained, "so I offered her a three-course gum."
"Why? Umbridge is the most trouble of those three."
"Exactly," Wonka agreed, "that woman is the last thing I need in my factory. You should have seen her, vowing to snatch my factory."
"Did she?" Severus asked, without the slightest hint of surprise in his voice, "I have a feeling she'll want us in Azkaban."
"Well, she's in the Juicing Room with the turban man," Wonka suddenly noticed that Severus was alone, "where is Cornelius Fudge?"
"Possibly dead," Severus replied grimly, "he went down the garbage chute."
"How?" Wonka asked.
"He wanted to collect your squirrels and thus was attacked by them. Fudge boasted that he wanted Dumbledore, myself and you in Azkaban before he fell."
Wonka frowned. "Doris should be in the Nut Room right now. Did you speak to her?"
Severus nodded.
"Well, than everything will be fine. You can wipe Umbridge's memory. In the meantime, I have this for you to sign."
Wonka pulled out a document. The top words where extremely big, but the words shrunk the further down you went. The bottom was impossible to make out. Severus thought Wonka was waving off the issue of Umbridge to quickly, but he accepted an eccentric shaped pen from Wonka and signed the document.
"Well, that's that," Wonka announced, "you are now my heir. Now, let's go to the Juicing Room!"
Severus and Wonka climbed aboard the flying glass elevator, and in no time they reached the Juicing Room. They could tell this even before the elevator fully stopped by the loud roar of "FILTHY HALF-BREEDS!"
"I see her experience hasn't changed her too much," Severus observed dryly. Wonka snickered in agreement.
"YOU!" Umbridge glared at Snape," I should have known you were involved with that freak."
Dolores had been juiced, but like Violet, was still purple nonetheless.
"I find the term 'freak' to be very totalitarian and unproductive," Wonka responded.
Severus pointed his wand at Umbridge. "Obliviate!"
Umbridge's enraged face turned to a confused expression. "What a lovely room. Where am I? And who am I?"
"I'm afraid I can't answer that," Snape answered, "speaking of which, where is Shacklebolt?"
Wonka giggled. "Follow me to the Television Room."
Oh, no, Severus thought. "What have you done? And what do we do with her?"
"I'll mind my business," Umbridge promised, "why, it appears my hands are purple! I wonder how that is?" Umbridge began skipping around the Juicing Room.
"I wonder exactly what age the woman was when she became a psychopath?" Severus thought out loud. Wonka shrugged and returned to the glass elevator.
The Television Room was as white as it had been. Only, this time, there was a five-inch tall Kingsley Shacklebolt in the hands of a Oompa-Loompa.
"Severus!" Kingsley squeaked, "the man is verifiably insane!"
"Why are you shrunken, Kingsley?"
"I thought that the machine was fascinating. The nutcase tried to stop me, but I went in the machine and those workers played an anti-Ministry song and nearly killed me. Then -"
"Well, well, Kingsley," Severus tone was full of contempt, "I am not surprised that those Ministry fools meet gruesome fates, but I expected better of you. I thought you had respect for Dumbledore."
Kingsley's miniscule face went red with fury. "How dare you! I have spent every day risking my life for the Order of the Phoenix -"
"Until today," Severus interrupted harshly, "when you prefered your reckless selfishness. Well, I doubt you'll be in the Order when Dumbledore hears about this. I always thought Tonks was smarter than you, anyway. If your lucky, maybe you can move in with that mutt Black."
"You dare speak this way to me?" Shacklebolt roared, though it sounded like a squeak.
"Actually, your right, that was excessively harsh," Severus apologized, "nobody is sick enough to deserve that mutt."
"I suppose we'll have to take him to the Puppet Hospital with Umbridge," Wonka announced, "well, Severus, the tour is over. I'll see you tomorrow and we'll talk more about the factory."
"What about Fudge?" Severus asked.
"We'll have found him by tomorrow. You need rest. Good night, Severus."
Severus waved the chocolate magician goodbye and a Oompa-Loompa took him to the front door. Severus ignored the reporters who flaunted their disrespect for his privacy by attempting to entrap him as he walked out the factory gates.
Severus was back at his cold, damp, filthy, inappropriate home in Spinner's End. Hopefully, Severus could demolish the house now that he was the heir to the great Wonka empire. Severus had never quite had a day like this since Lily wiped her hands of him.
Severus looked at the picture of his parents. They had both been cruel to him, and Severus couldn't decide if he held more rage toward his father or his mother. It was quite a competition in wickedness those two had-and both had been very talented in the art.
Tobias Snape was a mere drunken bastard, who had a tendency to beat his wife and son without mercy. Severus had been physically safer in the hands of Death Eater's than that man. Severus had to think back very, very far to recall time to remember that Tobais had once been an honest, loving father who wouldn't raise a fist. He wasn't sure why that changed, but he must have been about seven years old when it did. After that, Severus only saw Tobias on the few occasions he had spent the night at bars. Several years after he left Hogwarts, his father died of his own idiocy when he liver stopped.
Eileen Snape was not as physically violent as her husband, but she had been very cold and spiteful. Severus concluded at a young age that the woman was the most selfish, hateful, vicious soul to ever walk the earth. Severus occasionally wondered if she had led his father to drink. Tobias beatings had not weakened Eileen, who spent her time tormenting her neighbors, but only made her more hateful. Eileen's relationship with Severus was like the one he had with James Potter, though despite telling him every day she thought he was worthless, she reluctantly feed and clothed him.
Eileen was still alive-or at least, Severus had not heard of her being dead. Not that Severus cared; they hadn't spoken in fourteen years. Eileen had fled to some Caribbean nation for a vacation and never returned, and Severus had better things to do than determine what shameful activity she was engaging in at the present time.
Severus was awoken from his reflection by a ring at the doorbell. Severus assumed it was Wonka, but was surprised to see Scarlett instead.
"Hello, Severus," Scarlett flashed her bright teeth, "I came to see how you are doing."
"In Britian?" Severus asked skeptically, "what about your daughter?"
"Oh, Violet's in the factory with her grandparents. I'm actually on a business trip in London, so I thought I'd stop by," Scarlett, in fact, had no business in London, and took the first available flight simply to see Severus.
"Is she still a blueberry?" Severus asked.
Scarlett sighed. "Yes. The other three were cured, but Wonka said he would need more time to reverse the effects of the gum."
"Well, as long as she can compete," Severus snarled.
Scarlett frowned. "You mean what I said in the Inventing Room? I was furious at Wonka, Severus, so I babbled random things. I can assure you that I place nothing above my daughter's safety, and if you feel otherwise, prehaps I should leave."
"I apologize," Severus responded, "please come in." Severus wasn't entirely sure why, but he liked Scarlett. She had been the only person that had been kind to him on the tour, and he admired her fire.
Scarlett entered the home, and her eyebrows rose. Severus knew she was thinking it was a rubbish pit.
"Are those your parents?" Scarlett asked as she saw the picture Severus had looked at earlier.
"Indeed," Severus answered," they previously owned this home."
Scarlett nodded in understanding.
"I hate this home," Severus muttered, "I will demolish it once I move into the factory."
"Why didn't you leave before?" Scarlett asked, surprised at the bitterness in his voice.
"I did. Dumbledore convinced me to return," Severus explained, "why he thought I belonged here I'll never know."
Scarlett returned her gaze to the picture of his parents, and had the courage to ask "where they cruel to you?"
"Oh, yes," Severus answered. Usually he would dodge such questions, but he felt Scarlett was trustworthy, "My mother made it clear that she hated me every day until she finally left town. My father was a drunken bastard, and died of it."
Scarlett was shocked. "I'm sorry, Severus. I shouldn't have asked -"
"No, it was a decent question. One nobody else bothered to ask all those years."
A awkward silence emerged. Finally, Scarlett broke the silence, "my mother was cruel as well."
"Really?" Severus asked in surprise.
Scarlett nodded. "She was a spiteful woman that never did anything but insult me. When Violet was born, I vowed I would do everything to make her feel she belonged, though based on today, I probably went too far..."
The two began reflecting on their lives, and wondered how they might improve.