Cold seeped in through the door and windows of the last house on Spinner's End. The overcast sky merged with the blackened snow caused by the perpetual cloud of smoke that came from the factory chimney and the constant coming and going of its humble inhabitants. That Boxing Day morning, Severus found his mother sleeping with her head resting on the rickety kitchen table, next to her an empty bottle of sherry and the plates still containing he remains of the Christmas dinner that she had taken pains to prepare with the few ingredients she could afford. The plate served at the head of the table was untouched and cold. Despite the ramshackle tinsel tree that had been donated years ago by the town parish and the paper garlands little Severus had spent making the day before, the house looked dingy and unkempt; just as unkempt was the appearance of the child who at that moment sat in front of the window and amused himself by drawing figures with the mist of his breath against the dirty pane.

"Mummy, Dad's coming!" - He yelled when he saw the tall, stocky figure of his father staggering down the narrow street.

Eileen sat up slowly and looked scornfully at the mess on the table and the pots and pans waiting in the tiny kitchen sink. She averted her eyes from Severus who had risen to his feet and ran to the door, opening it and letting in a chilly wind that carried with it the acrid smell of coal smoke.

"Close the door."

"But Dad's about to come."

"I'm telling you to close the damn door!" - Eileen's voice cut off and she ended up letting out a sob. - "Close it, Severus. Please."

Severus gulped in fear. His mother had never yelled at him like that. He looked once more at his father who had leaned against one of the streetlights and was vomiting in the middle of the street. The little boy felt the urge to go to his father's aid, but even before he could open the door far enough to get out, a sudden force made the door slam shut, almost knocking it off its hinges. Severus turned his gaze to his mother who had stood up and was pointing with what looked to him like a thin twig.

"Your father already knows. Now it is time that you also learn why you are so different from the other children."

Eileen walked over to her son and knelt beside him putting her eyes on the same level as the six-year-old's. She took his face with her hands and breathed hard trying not to break her voice, trying to hide her anger and anxiety. Growing up, Eileen never imagined that one day she would feel so much regret having to explain to her son the reason for his powers and his magic. Hailing from an ancient pureblood family, the magical ability that her son Severus had shown to possess from such a young age was something to be extremely proud of. She bit her lip at the thought of her own father, Vespertilius Prince, who had died cursing the name of his youngest daughter on his deathbed upon learning that she had run off with a despicable Muggle, the son of the owner of a miserable pub near his land. Surely, if her father were still alive, he would appreciate and encourage the abilities and skills of his only grandson, even if he were a half-blood.

"Mum, is that why you don't let me go to school anymore? Because I am different?"

Eileen angrily recalled the blows that Severus had come home with after his first day at the muggle school Tobias had insisted he go to, the children attacked him when they saw how he caused some bugs to grow disproportionately and then made them dance on the playground.

"You're a wizard, Sevy. Like your grandfather and your great-grandfather. Like all my family. A wizard like in the fairy tales".

Severus narrowed his eyes, looking suspiciously at his mother. He turned away from her and went to sit by the window again, hugging his legs and fixing the gaze on his threadbare socks from where the tip of his toe was poking out.

"You're lying. Wizards don't exist, just like Father Christmas. They are not real."

Eileen wiped her nose with her hand and stood up, ready to reveal her son why she insisted on keeping him isolated from the muggle world, why she had kept the secret of his magic even from her own husband.

"This is a magic wand." -Eileen sat next to her son, at the same time that she passed him her thin chestnut wood wand. – "Don't be afraid, shake it."

Severus took it and closed his eyes in fear as he shook the wand with a sharp movement. A wild blaze of bluish fire engulfed the hideous tinsel tree that began to melt over the dirty carpet and fill the room with poisonous gases. Eileen quickly took the wand from Severus' shaking hand who was staring at the flames with an expression of deep dread on his face. Whispering a couple of incantations, the flames died down and the black smoke immediately vanished.

"I hated that rubbish tree too." -She said with a hint of a smile and hugging her son who was still trembling. - "I'm very proud of you, Sevy. One day when you turn 11, you will have your own wand and you will go to a very special school where you will learn everything about our world, but you should never talk about this with anyone. Can you promise me? Other people would not understand it, they fear us, they despise and fear what they cannot understand."

"Is Dad a wizard too?"

"No, he's not like us... he's scared too, Sevy. Try not to mention any of this when he comes back ... and try not to do magic in front of him, I know it will be difficult to control it, but you are such a smart boy ..."

A loud knock on the door announced the arrival of Tobias, who stumbled upon entering the room and looked with watery and reddish eyes at the mess on the table, the remains of the burned tree and his wife and son hugging by the window.

"Come here, son." - He said as he staggered towards them and yanked little Severus out of his mother's arms. Picking him up with his huge hands and hugging him tightly as he sobbed, soaking his sweater in gunk and tears. - "You are a good boy, Severus. You are not a freak... You are not a freak."

Without quite understanding why, Severus burst into tears on his father's shoulder as well, inhaling the scent of alcohol and the acrid smell of winter that had clung to his coat.

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

The morning rain pattered against the windows and the room was still lit by the glow of a few candles. Laurel was sitting next to Severus, watching him as he slept with his head resting on the parchment where he had been making notes most of the night. She squeezed the cup of coffee in her hands, as she recalled the memory that Severus had shared with her. Despite the soothing effect and sweet taste of hot chocolate, it could not help the feeling of bitterness of thinking that she would never see her mother and sister again.

"You are lucky to still have a family." - He had said, trying to calm her in that withdrawn and rational way of his. – "Mine began to fall apart ever since I began to show signs of magical ability."

She imagined that scene as if it were a Charles Dickens story. Laurel was finally beginning to glimpse the moment the first cracks from the deep abyss that separated father and son appeared. It had ended up turning Tobias Snape into a monster and to her pain was also added to that of Severus's. She didn't mention it to him, of course, she knew it would backfire. He wouldn't understand, mistaking her feeling for pity and maybe he'd even feel guilty about inadvertently adding more sadness to Laurel's already laden spirit.

She left the cup on the table and approached Severus detailing the deep crease in his brow that was now blurred by the serenity of sleep. His skin, the same colour as the parchment he slept on, his large, pale-fingered hands still held the quill he had been writing with, and Laurel remembered once again the solid grip of his hands on her bare skin. She blushed when she realized that her thoughts were beginning to become entangled with improper desires as she imagined the marks that his strong fingers would be able to leave on her skin while he shagged her in an unrestrained way. Smiling cheekily, she continued to move her eyes slowly over his face until she reached his shapely mouth from which a trickle of saliva was escaping, staining his notes. Laurel giggled sweetly and patted his cheek gently.

"Good morning, you fell asleep a couple hours ago. I didn't have the heart to wake you up."

It took him a moment to realize where he was. He put a hand to his neck, massaging the stiffness caused by falling asleep over his work as he followed Laurel with his gaze. She was walking over to one of the nightstands and poured a cup of coffee from a coffeepot that Severus would have sworn he hadn't seen before. He also noticed that her hair was damp and that her face was clean and less swollen.

"Enoby brought it." – She said seeing Severus' puzzled face – "She also helped me take a bath. She is a sweetheart, really. Except when I asked her if she could give me something else to wear. She almost smacked me in the face again."

Severus gladly accepted the cup of coffee and laughed with her.

"You would have well deserved it. There is no worse offense for a house elf than dealing with clothing items. They would lose their beloved life of slavery."

"Yeah, got it."- she said, sitting down next to him. – "She has also asked if you want to have your breakfast here or downstairs with the family."

He raised his arms, stretching and trying to make the sharp pain in his neck go away. He yawned deeply and dropped back into his seat.

"I have no appetite, much less have the time to deal with stupid formalities."

"You have to eat something, Severus. You didn't have dinner last night and you look famished." - Suddenly her voice turned into an authoritative command.

"It wouldn't hurt to take a bath either..." - she said as she combed his greasy hair with her fingers.

Severus' cheeks reddened terribly. Of course, Laurel found him repulsive. What an idiot he was! He had let his guard down with this young woman and allowed her to feel comfortable enough to have the audacity to criticize him. He had the urge to stand up and back away from her. He was searching for some hurtful word to throw at her, but before he could open his mouth, Laurel finished her sentence:

"A hot bath will help your neck pain."

The sudden feeling of humiliation was immediately replaced by an electric shock that ran through his entire body as he felt the warm contact of the woman's fingers gently pressing on the back of his neck. He couldn't help closing his eyes, intoxicated in the warmth of the strokes that Laurel drew with slow and precise movements, relieving, or rather, making him forget the tension he felt in his neck.

"You need to look after yourself better, Severus." – She whispered, while her thumb caressed the fine hair of his stubble.

Laurel looked at him tenderly, aware that Severus probably wasn't used to receiving kind treatment from other people, especially in that nest of snakes he was inexplicably a part of. She had given up on trying to get more information out of him. She could recognize Tobias's stubbornness and rigidity in Severus's personality, and she knew the best thing she could do was trust that at the end of whatever endeavour he was trying to accomplish. He would be able to set her free and take her back home.

She sighed and moved her eyes away from his calm face, looking curiously at the parchment he had been working on. Severus noticed how her fingers stopped moving and he opened his eyes, blushing at that behaviour so inappropriate of him, hoping to meet the sweet face of the woman. However, his heart stopped for a second when he realized that Laurel was trying to read the scroll on which he had been writing down any information that would be useful to carry out this titanic task that he himself did not think possible.

He had spent the night trying to find among his dark magic books some way to create a potion that would isolate the Akardos' particular resistance to magic. He had gone through hundreds of pages. Rereading ancient Egyptian and Sumerian rituals, had studied the anthropophagic practices of some South American tribes, the insane experiments that Herpo the Foul had carried out in his deranged attempt to achieve immortality, but he could find nothing that did not involve having to sacrifice Laurel's life, or failing that, having to cut off a limb.

"Which language is this?"

Severus took her hand, which had remained still on his neck, and gently pushed it away. With the other hand he took the scroll and held it out for her to examine it better.

"It's old Latin, a very important language for magic, I tend to think better in it."

Laurel stared in amazement at the words scribbled in his small, cramped handwriting. Between the paragraphs, there were also different alchemical symbols and diagrams with ancient runes.

"And what does it say?"

Severus sighed and took the scroll again from Laurel's hands, rolling it up and setting it aside along with the other volumes waiting to be studied.

"Nothing that can serve me so far. Unless you want to offer one of your hands as a sacrifice."

Laurel laughed nervously as she unconsciously rubbed her hands together, moving her eyes from the books back to Snape.

"You have a terrible sense of humour."

"Who says I am joking?"

Laurel looked at Severus's serious face in horror. She wanted the truth, and Severus was being honest with her, he was not sugar-coating anything. She was there, as a test subject, as a curious specimen worth studying, and Severus was the investigator in charge of figuring out how to take advantage of her rarity. Even if they were being kind to one another, they were both trapped in their respective roles. Laurel could not wait to get on with it and start the damn experiments once and for all.

"Then you better find a better way to make it work, Severus, because I am not willing to sacrifice even the tip of my pinkie finger."

"I will find another way." – Severus replied with his usual velvet voice. – "But one way or the other it will not be pleasant. I want to warn you now."

"I know that. I was not expecting it to be a field day when you took me here. As long as you can assure me it will not be as bad as the lashing..."

"It will not." – Severus cut her off – "Do you think I'm as wicked as that bitch Bellatrix?"

"What if you cannot make the potion?"

"I will do it."

"But what if you cannot?"

"We will both die, Laurel."

Laurel clenched her fists and tensed her body, flustered by what she was going to say next:

"Let's run away."

"What?"

"Let's run away. Let's get out of here, Severus."

He snorted, shaking his head without understanding. Run away? Run away from the most powerful dark wizard of all time? Abandon Dumbledore? Set aside his mission as a spy for the Order? Never, he was not a coward. Severus Snape would never run away from his duty, from his promise to Lily.

"That can't be, Laurel." – He said in a low tone. – "They will find us. There is no running away from the Dark Lord. I would have done so a long time ago if I could. But I got trapped here, same as you."

"Not the same as me. You are his right hand, are you not?"

Severus' face darkened with a scornful expression.

"I am not here for the thrill of being a Death Eater. I have learnt the wrongness of my ways years ago. The price I had to pay; you can never understand. So no, you are trapped in here because you do not have an option. I am trapped in here because of my own stupidity."

"She?"- Laurel's voice trembled at the realization he was talking about his lost love.

Severus nodded so imperceptibly that Laurel had the impression that she had imagined it. She took his hand, and squeezed it tight, as she had done at his house in Cokeworth.

"I don't want to die."

"I will not let you die, Laurel."

"I don't want you to die either, Severus."

Severus clicked his tongue and gave a smug chuckle that hid the feeling of attachment that was starting to ignite like a small flame in his chest.

"Trust me, it is not in my plans to die."

"But you will never be able to leave the Death Eaters, you will never be free."

"My life has never been easy, Laurel. But I ended up here by choice and now I am trying to make up for my mistakes. I am just a chess piece in a much larger scheme, I have to play my part."

Laurel raised her eyebrows not clearly understanding what Severus was saying, but she could tell from the tone of his voice that remorse was haunting him.

"I know you don't deserve being in this place, I was the one who..."

"I'll help you." - Laurel interrupted him. - "To make amends for your mistakes, to do whatever is necessary to create that bloody potion. Anything, I just want us to get out of here alive, you and me, Severus. Even if you think otherwise, no one deserves to suffer what happened to you."

She let go of his hand and recovering her authoritarian poise she finished:

"Now, go freshen up a little. And please have something to eat, brains don't work without food, and yours is the most precious one at the moment."

≫ ──── ≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫ ──── ≪

Laurel had sat up in bed with a huge book propped on her lap, trying to make sense of the words written on the old and overused paper pages that they had become as tender as the chamois. The sound of the rain was mixing with the sound of the running water filling the marble bathtub and the heaviness in her eyelids did not take long to come.

Her eyes wandered through the rich room, and something caught her attention. Severus' black wand was resting over the working table, and she could not resist the temptation of holding it in her hand. She stood up slowly and grabbed it with a smirk on her face. She turned back to the bed with stealthy steps, proud to have captured her prey.

She moved her fingers through the smooth wood, felt its lightweight, and noticed the richly decorated handle. She held it firmly and Laurel could now feel the same fear and apprehension that little Severus had felt. She closed her eyes and raised the wand high wishing with all her might to be with her family again, wishing she was free of Death Eaters and the crippling pain in her back. She also wished to feel the gust of icy wind against her face as she flew in the arms of that wizard who had turned her world upside down. Biting her lips, she dared to flick the wand.

Nothing.

Laurel opened her eyes, not really surprised by the lack of a miracle. She waved the wand a couple times more, imagining all the power that wood stick was able to perform in the hands of magical people. Letting out a resigned sigh, she opened the book again and decided to continue with her reading, while she fiddled with the wand between her fingers.

Severus found her a while later, the book had fallen to the ground, and she was curled up on the bed, sound asleep. He slowly retrieved his wand from the tangle of her fingers, and he tucked her in as he best could, being careful not to wake her up.

With a flick of his wand, the candlelight extinguished. He took one last look at the woman lying on the bed before exiting the room, leaving behind him the fragrance of cologne, which he had not worn since his time in Hogwarts.