A short one-shot that was niggling at the back of my head and was begging to be written. Please read and review, flames welcome.
A World Of Dreams
"I'm sorry, Father!" he cried out desperately.
WHAM!
Another strike hit his cheekbone. He could hope for another black eye, at the least.
"YOU SAY SORRY NOW? YOU UNWORTHY ANIMAL!" he roared back.
Tobias Snape was a violent drunkard.
WHAM!
Yet another blow struck him across the face. Blood spurted out of his mouth, and he fell back.
"Please…" he plead, the words an unworthy whisper to his attacker's ears.
"T-Tobias…" the small female voice quivered from behind him.
SMASH!
The final blow came from the empty beer bottle that had been dangling from his fingers. The dull, green crystals flew around the victim, leaving a deep gash at contact.
"WHAT?" he turned on Eileen Prince.
"W-would you like another bottle?" she stuttered feebly.
"No, LEAVE me to… rest… in silence!" he slurred, too drunk to respond with violence. He slumped into an armchair and almost immediately fell asleep.
Severus Snape was quivering and sobbing silently in the corner, beaten, bruised and bleeding.
Eileen Prince rushed over to him, glancing over to the fat, drunken Muggle in the armchair. She hugged him to her chest, before glancing back at her horrid husband once again, hesitating, and then taking out her wand.
"Mother…," he whimpered. Severus looked up at her, one eye sore and swollen; the side of his forehead glistening with blood; unruly, black, greasy hair matted to his tear stained cheeks.
"Shh…hush, Severus, hush," she whispered, healing his wound with a gentle tap of her wand.
"Hush, my brave little boy, it will be alright," she picked him up, jumping as the horrible, pig-like man snorted behind them.
"Mother's here, Mother's here for you, sweetheart," she'd whispered in his ear, as a tear trickled down his cheek. His Mother placed him on his bed.
The bed was cold.
It had no mattress.
The bed was cold.
It had no blankets.
The bed was cold.
It was beginning to mould away.
The bed was cold.
There was nothing anyone could do.
Eileen Prince was a limited witch. She had been, ever since she gave vow to obey when she married the bastard. Impregnated at an early age, two months after the marriage, with a child she had not wanted, but grown to love.
It was during her pregnancy that Tobias Snape dropped his sickly sweet manner and showed his real ass.
When he had found out the baby may have inherited magic, after all he had done to make sure his wretched wife would stop practice, he'd done everything in his power to ensure the baby was a miscarriage.
Little did he know, Eileen Prince had performed a protection charm, with the allowance of two spells a day that a limited witch has. And protected her baby. And had given birth to young Severus Snape.
Eileen doubted the foul man even knew his son's name.
But she could only regret.
"Mother…," he whispered again.
"Yes, Severus?" she knelt at his side, stroking away the hair, stroking away the tears, stroking away the pain…
"It hurts…," he mumbled, "My eye… it's all blurry…,"
Eileen Prince took out a small glass bottle and a soft cotton swab. She silently moistened the swab with the liquid within, and gently daubed his eye.
"Close it, close your eye… there's a good boy," she cooed, as the swell flattened at contact.
He sighed, and gave a little whimper.
His mother shifted onto the cold bed alongside him, and put a soothing arm around his back, a place where a belt often found contact.
Severus curled in close to his mother, seeking rarely found comfort. Eileen Prince gathered her abused, ten year old son closer to her chest.
"One day, Severus," she whispered, "One day, when you're a strong, grown man, everyone will respect you. You must respect women and children, Severus. You must give respect to earn it," a tear trickled down her cheek.
Severus was tired and hardly aware of his surroundings.
"Yes, mother…" he murmured back.
And before he knew it, he dipped into a new world, a good world, without hurt, pain and betrayal.
A world of dreams.