Chapter two

Snape was assaulted twice by clumsy muggles as he tried to depart the train. They had no sense of order or circulation. He gathered his bag that held everything he owned inside of it and walked briskly through the front doors of the station. He was finally here. Sadly.

He looked around to find somewhere private where he could Disapparate to his house, but before he could he was stopped by an elderly man.

"You must be Severus Snape." Came a crackly old voice behind him.

He turned and had to glance down at the man with horrifyingly wrinkled features and hair white as snow. "Excuse me?" He watched as the elderly man took in his robes and dark features.

"Name's Ben Bishop. Albus asked me to meet you here and take you to your house. Also wanted me to tell ya something." The little old man scratched his head. Snape just stared at him, waiting. Recollection brightened his pale eyes. "Ah, told me to tell ya that he wanted ya to do things the normal way." Confusion crossed his features as he thought about what he had just said. He shrugged, "He said that you would understand what that meant."

"Indeed." Snape was angry. Do things the normal way. Sometimes he truly hated Dumbledore. Dumbledore was a great wizard in the sense that he could control and yield great magic. But like many others he befriended muggles, which Snape thought was a waste of precious energy, especially if they knew nothing of the wizardry world. Don't misunderstand, Snape didn't hate muggles, he just wouldn't count them as people he would be friends with.

Snape scowled, he didn't need friends, muggle or otherwise.

The little old man raised a brow. "Shall we be off then?"

Snape offered him a curt nod of the head and followed him to a car. He didn't have anything to do with muggles because it was too much work. Many people in the wizardry world ignored muggles completely for many reasons. Firstly there was the world difference between them, secondly the culture barrier and thirdly the technology. As wizards and witches they don't pay much attention to what the latest electronic is created because they would have no need for it. But to exist with these muggles or "normal" people, as it were, it would bring knowledge of their existence if they didn't know what a car was used for. Can you imagine how to explain you lack of knowledge of something to someone who uses it every day? Even worst, what if they saw someone yielding magic? Cults would form, they would all be hunted, it would be the Salem Witch Hunt times the thousands.

"You shall probably have to help me with the directions, lad. My eyes and mind do not see or recognize what they used to." The crackly little voice jarred Snape from his thoughts.

"Indeed they wouldn't." He didn't mean it to be rude, just to agree.

But either the old man's ears were just as useless or he didn't mind, for all he said was, "You're a man of lesser than few words Mr. Snape."

With that, the ride into the forest was accompanied by silence.

Just the way Snape preferred it.

If Snape had ever been angrier, he couldn't remember.

Standing right next to his house was another. He had only kept the place for it was miles away from the nearest town and he would have no neighbors. He had thought that no one would ever venture out this far into the woods unless hunting, so he had not bothered with a spell to disguise the house from the eyes of the world. Yet there it stood. He would have never thought that a house could look so opposing, but this one in particular was just a few meters from his own. They had the whole forest to choose a plot of land from. Why in heaven did they build next to his!

The elderly man, after noticing how angry Snape had gotten, had explained that a couple had built the house almost five years ago. After a tragic accident, leaving them both dead, two years ago, the home was left to a relative.

"Indeed." Was all that he could manage to respond.

"Value you're privacy, eh?" The little old man offered him a less than toothy smile that wrinkled his face even more. "Dumbledore has notified me that ya don't like company. Truly sorry," he said pointing a thumb at the ominous building, "So enjoy yer stay anyway."

With that he was off.

Snape finally took his narrowed eyes off of the house sitting innocently to the left and looked at the house in front of him. In the last ten years nothing had changed. It still looked like an empty old house that didn't bring any memories to life for him. The only difference was that the yard around the house was overgrown with plants and weeds. His mother had placed a grounds keeping spell on the land when she had still lived in this house. But along with her the spell had died. He looked into the dark windows not expecting to see anything, so wasn't surprised when they were just dark windows.

Snape walked to the front door which at his order opened before he even reached it, and he stepped inside.

Off to the left there was the kitchen which, since his father was a muggle, had all the essentials. He placed his bag on the floor next to the front door and walked into the kitchen. He flicked on the light. Obviously Dumbledore had called ahead of him and put on all the electricity. Two lights, after shimmering a moment, came on at both sides of the room. He looked from the kitchen to the dinning table that was to the back of the room. He couldn't remember ever eating at it during his childhood, least of all sitting there with his parents.

Turning on his foot he gathered up his things and stepped back into the hallway. He followed it the short distance to the living room. He could not remember ever sitting in there with his parents either. They had fought so much that neither had ever stayed in one room together longer than was needed. He did however remember, as he looked around the small room taking in the couches and fireplace in the far side, that his father had often slept in this room. This was another reason Snape had never really stayed long down here.

Off to the side there was the staircase leading up to the two bedrooms. Once upstairs he ignored the room to the right and the door to the left sprang open. Stepping inside he locked the door behind him looking forward to never leaving the room again for the duration of his stay.

Or so he thought.