Author's Note: To anonymous reviewer Alex- I completely agree with your points, but at this point in time Severus Snape has a rather low self-esteem in some areas, and after hearing what other people underwent in the Holocaust, he feels that his experiences don't really compare. However, he is going to be set straight, and realize that the bullying and abuse he went through is really quite horrible. As for Lupin, Snape hates him for not doing more to stop his friends, but does acknowledge that Lupin did very occasionally try to stop James and Sirius. As for the whole Whomping Willow incident, at this point, Snape feels that Lupin had nothing to do with it, but after years in which to brood over Lily's death and feeling that the Marauders were partly responsible for it, he could very well forget that and think that all the Marauders were in on it, not just Sirius.

One evening, after dinner, I went to the tiny room where the Petrovs kept their 'library' to get another book to read. While perusing the shelves, I came across one that had no title on the spine. Curious, I removed it from the shelf and saw that the red cover had no title on it anywhere. I flipped it open to discover that it was in Mrs. Petrov's handwriting, and everything in it was not in English, but instead in what I suspected was either in the Roma language or an Eastern European one. I looked back at the shelf and saw another three books, also with no title on the spine. I replaced the book I was holding and took down the other three. The blue one was in Mr. Petrov's handwriting, and appeared to be written in the same language as in the first one. The other two, one with green covers and the other with yellow, were also written by Mr. and Mrs. Petrov, these in English, and I had a feeling they were a translation of the first two books.

Since the Petrovs had given me permission to read any book in their library, I started reading the English one that Mr. Petrov wrote. However, after the first couple of pages, I realized that it was an account of his experiences in the Holocaust. I quickly flipped through the one that Mrs. Petrov wrote, and as I thought, it turned out to be about her experiences. After some hesitation, I picked up the green book again and resumed reading. However, after reading about Mr. Petrov and the other males with him being forced to remove their clothes, getting their hair shaved off, herded into the showers, and after the shower given clothing and shoes without any regard for size, I set the account down, feeling rather ill. I immediately thought back to the incident a few weeks ago, where I had lost Lily's friendship. After I had called Lily the unforgiveable word and she had strode off, James had held me upside down and asked if anyone wanted to see him remove my underpants. If Niko hadn't appeared on the scene right then and put a stop to it, I suspected that James really would have removed my pants.

Mr. Petrov found me there a minute later. "Are you all right, Severus?" he asked. Then he spotted the book in my hands. "Oh. My children and Sarah had the same reaction when they read the accounts Ilsa and I wrote about out experiences in the concentration camps." He sat down on the other chair in the room.

"How did you put up with it?" I burst out. "You were humiliated upon arrival, and I bet the women also had to strip and get their hair shaved off before entering the showers. And Mrs. Petrov said that people were worked or starved to death, or died of disease or got sent to the gas chambers because they were so sick. Nothing I went through-"

"Severus Snape, do not think like that," interrupted Mr. Petrov firmly. "What you went though is quite awful. All right, you may not have been in any danger of death, as far as I know, but you were definitely abused and humiliated. Niko said that he caught one of the Marauders hanging you upside down and threatening to remove your underpants, and if he hadn't put a stop to it, your pants probably would have been taken off. And I am sure there are many incidents that Niko didn't witness and put a stop to."

"Yes, but Lily also rescued me from some, and Lupin would occasionally keep his friends from going too far," I protested.

"And just what is 'going too far', Severus?" snapped Mr. Petrov. "Losing a limb? Being paralyzed and unable to walk? Being subjected to the Cruciatus Curse several times? I understand that you might think that what you went through doesn't compare to what I or anyone else that were in the camps suffered through, but you need to stop thinking like that."

"But-"

"No buts, Severus. Do you want the Marauders to remove all your clothes and hex your hair off? Do you want your father to become so drunk that he takes a knife to you or beats you until pass out? Because those with evil or cruel minds have done things like that. Without your mother to protect you, I wouldn't put it past your father to do exactly what I said. I'm not saying that you should go around wallowing in self-pity, but neither should you think that others had it worse, when your situation is already bad enough."

I didn't say anything, but I nodded slowly and remembered the Whomping Willow incident. I wasn't about to tell Mr. Petrov about it, but I had to admit that at that time, I had been in danger of death (or being turned into a werewolf), and only escaped it because Potter had rescued me. Of course, he probably did it to save his own skin, since I had no doubt that he was in on the prank, even if Black had been the one to reveal how to get past the Whomping Willow and into the secret passageway it concealed. Black should have been expelled for it, or at least suspended, but all he'd gotten was two weeks of detention and a hundred points taken from Gryffindor. Professor Dumbledore had been very angry over what had happened, but he had also seemed to be more concerned in making sure that I wouldn't reveal that Lupin was actually a werewolf.

Mr. Petrov patted me on the shoulder and then left the room. A few minutes later, Mrs. Petrov appeared, a concerned look on her face. Without saying a word, she quickly strode to my side and enveloped me in a hug. After a minute, she moved one hand to stroke my hair like my mother used to do when I was little. I closed my eyes and imagined that it was my mother holding me for a moment. Finally Mrs. Petrov broke the silence.

"You mustn't ever think that you are in any way lesser than anyone else, Severus. You have suffered things no person should ever have to experience. You shouldn't have been abused by your father or bullied at school. But you have remained strong through all of that and survived it, so try to move on past it."

I simply nodded, unable to say anything else. Well, I could have protested again that she went through worse, but like her husband, Mrs. Petrov would just tell me not to think like that.

She continued, "Look, Severus, Jews and Gypsies do not have a monopoly on suffering, even if we have been discriminated against for centuries previously. Other people have also suffered awful things. Blacks, for example, were once slaves. Britain abolished slavery in the early 1800's, but the United States, or the southern part at any rate, still had them. After they fought an entire war over it and the fact that most of the southern states decided to seperate and form their own country, slavery was abolished, but even then, blacks still were treated unequally to whites. Or look at how Britain treated the Indians when they had control of India. And there are any number of children who, like you, are being abused by their parents or guardians. The best that can be said for you was that you only had to experience physical abuse and some mental or emotional abuse, and not anything worse than that. Er, you didn't experience any other forms of abuse, did you? Because I don't think I can really help you with that, since I've never gone through it or know anyone who has."

I understood what she was getting at and hastened to assure her that I hadn't been sexually abused in any way. Mrs. Petrov sighed deeply after that. "I suppose we must be thankful for that, but honestly, you really should have had a perfectly regular and happy childhood. But things happen for a reason, and we just have deal with it. Are you feeling better, Severus? I don't mind staying longer with you, but I do have to check up on our Polyjuice Potion before going to bed, and Ana can't do it because she's helping Sarah with the wedding."

"I'm fine," I replied. "You can go check up on the Polyjuice Potion."

She managed a wan smile, then patted me on my arm and departed. I replaced the two books back on the shelf, for I had little desire at the moment to read any further, and went to my room to write in my journal.

The next morning, my O.W.L. results arrived. I had received an Outstanding in all my subjects, except for an Exceeds Expectations in Arithmancy and Herbology. Mr. and Mrs. Petrov were very pleased when I told them my results, and told me that I could have whatever dessert I wanted for a week as a reward. Niko commented that I had done better than him, for he had gotten an Exceeds Expectation on his Astronomy, Ancient Runes, and History of Magic O.W.L.s in addtion to his Herbology one. Ana added that she had only gotten Outstanding on her Potions, Charms, Divination, History of Magic, and Transfiguration O.W.L.s, and an Exceeds Expectations in everything else.

Two weeks later, Sarah and Niko had their wedding ceremony, which was a mix between Jewish and Romany traditions and held in the backyard of the Romanov home. It was fairly small, with only family and friends present. Ana and Stephan were the maid of honor and best man, and to my utter surprise, Niko had asked me to be a groomsman with a close friend of his, a Gryffindor named Frank Longbottom that had been in the same year as him. Frank's girlfriend, Alice Prewett, who was a friend of Lily's and friends with Sarah due to the fact that the older girl had tutored her in Transfiguration and Defense Against Dark Arts, was a regular bridesmaid. Alice looked very surprised when she saw me, which was quickly followed by a look of distaste, for she had never really understood why Lily and I had been friends, and no doubt hated me now for what I had said that had ended the friendship. However, she didn't say anything to me, probably as to not cause a scene, and after Ana had whispered something, which most likely was an explanation as to why I was there, Alice nodded in understanding.

Sarah looked beautiful in a white gown with gold and scarlet embroidery made in the Romany style. Her dark gold hair was braided and and was covered by a white lace veil with gold and scarlet threads running through. Niko didn't wear dress robes, but instead wore a fine white shirt with gold embroidery, a crimson sash, and dark gold trousers. A wedding canopy, which I later learned was called a chuppah in Hebrew, was held over the couple. A rabbi, who also happened to be a Squib, conducted the Jewish portion of the ceremony, which involved an exchange of rings, a reciting of seven blessings followed by the bride and groom drinking from a cup of wine, and Niko breaking a glass at the end. The rabbi then moved to one side and Mr. Romanov, who qualified as a Romany elder, stepped forward and took over for the Gypsy part.

In this part, Sarah and Niko vowed to be true to each other, then their wrists were tied together with a white cord. In the old days, the two were also supposed to make a small cut in their wrists and mingle the blood together, but they had decided against it. After that, they exchanged bread and salt and ate it. Apparently this was to symbolize their harmonious future together. There were other customs too, but most of them were rather old-fashioned and the two didn't bother with them. Finally, the cord around their wrists was untied, cut in two, and a half given to each. The custom with that was that the cord had to be kept for two years, and after that, if they wished to divorce, it would have to presented to the elder that performed the marriage in order to dissolve it.

A feast followed the ceremony, with great quantities of food and plenty to drink, though I stuck with butterbeer and fruit punch and only had a very small quantity of wine to drink a toast to the married couple. As was customary in Romany culture, Niko and Sarah were mostly given gifts of money. I gave them a small pouch with two Galleons (all that I could spare from my very small hoard of coins), and a rose-scented perfume that I had made.

Mr. and Mrs. Petrov presented the two with a beautifully made caravan of dark green with white trim, which I found out was called a vardo in the Roma language. The vardo was for the two to use on their honeymoon, since they obviously weren't planning to spend their life traveling around like most Roma. After the feast, Niko shrunk the vardo to the size of a toy for easy portage, and then he and Sarah took a Portkey to the location in Ireland where they were going spend their honeymoon for two weeks. When it ended, they would return and settle in the second floor above the apothecary for the time being, since it was also custom for the couple to live with the husband's family until they had their first child, though Mr. and Mrs. Petrov didn't insist on that and said that Niko and Sarah were free to move out once they could afford a place of their own.

I changed out of the green and silver dress robes (that had once belonged to Niko and were still quite new, since he had only worn them twice) that Mrs. Petrov had given me to wear, and went to bed, having thoroughly enjoyed the wedding ceremony.

Author's Note: I did some research on Jewish and Romany wedding customs before writing this, so the wedding ceremonies described in this chapter should be accurate. If there are any errors, I apologize.