A Prince Discovered

Break to the Boardwalk

Alex and Sophia hadn't ever been as happy as they were now, except for when Eileen was small. Severus was a dear child, but there was something underneath it that was bothering Alex to no end. He was still nervous around him, but Severus was fine around Sophia, there was a distrust of the male gender that he suspected would need to be aired out soon.

Alex sat in bed with his wife reading a novel from the library downstairs, when Sophia tapped his shoulder.

"Do you feel that?" she asked softly

"The magic?" he asked, he had felt it coming from down the hall, whoever cast it had a strong mark that was easy to notice by an experienced mage.

Sophia nodded,"Mmhmm,"

Alex asked,"Should we end it?"

Sophia nodded and with a flash of his wand, Alex ended the spell, the minute he did, a scream filled the air.

"Severus!" they said simultaneously.

They ran to their grandson's bedroom and flung the door open, revealing Severus flaring and kicking in the large bed. He kept moving his head from side to side and muttering things that sounded like,"Father, stop."

"It has something to do with that monster!" Alex thought to himself, "Oh, I could kill him!"
sadly that had already been done.

Sophia shook Severus by his shoulder,"Sev wake up! Come on wake up!"

Slowly Severus returned to the world of the living. When he looked up and saw his grandparents standing over him he thought,"How did they hear past the silencing charm?"

Severus asked slowly,"W-what is it?"

"We heard you screaming," his grandmother said softly

"I had a silencing charm up,"

"We took it down," Alex said,"Do you want to tell us about your dream?"

Severus shook his head, he didn't want his grandparents to think he was weak and throw him back into the hands of the dementors.

Sophia tucked a piece of hair behind his ear, "Talking helps Severus, it really does. Please tell us what you dreamed about."

Severus stammered,"O-ok, I guess,"

"Do you want me to put some tea on?" Alex asked. Severus nodded and Alex left and came back several minutes later with three steaming cups of tea.

"Ok," Sophia said,"Start from the beginning."

Severus shuddered,"I was in a room, it looked like the kitchen at Spinners End, I was sitting reading when the door slammed open. My father walked in, he was drunk again and he was dragging something behind him. He threw it in the closet and went into the bathroom, as soon as the door closed I went to the closet a-and opened the door and i-it w-was my m-mother's body!" Severus started sobbing as Alex pulled him close, cursing the name of Tobias Snape. "I-I turned around and Father was standing over me holding his belt. He pulled me away and started whipping me and he said,"This is what happens when you poke your nose where it doesn't belong, you worthless brat," and then I woke up."

Alex was outraged, but also very sad, "How many times was Severus subjected to that?" he wondered. He turned to his distraught grandson,"How many times did he do this to you Severus?"

His grandson looked at him through teary eyes,"It happened every time he was drunk, which was almost every night, he beat me with whatever he could get his hands on, sometimes mum tried to stop him, but most times she just cowered in the bathroom, trying to ignore what was going on." He looked at his grandparents,"Are you going to throw me out?"