When All is Lost One is Found

Chapter 5: A Place to Belong

When All is Lost One is Found

Author: Rinoaebastel

Chapter 5: A Place to Belong

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and gain no profit from this fanfiction other than writing practice. Harry Potter is owned by JK Rowling.

AN: This story may contain scenes taken from the Harry Potter movies and books, but it's not exact dialogue, just rewording of dialogue or omission. It is not marked.
Note: Took liberty with when Snape heard the prophecy. Several timelines say it could possibly be in late 1979, but a date in early 1980 or spring 1980 is more likely. So I picked Feb 1980 after looking at weather averages for England and Scotland.

February 1980

Several years' worth of dust covered filled bookshelves in his childhood house, Spinner's End. The place was dark, filthy, wet and half rotten. It was a small house in a poor neighborhood, but it was his now that his father was gone. There were too many unpleasant memories there for him to be able to call it a home. In every section of the squarish house, he had a memory to loathe. His father drunk on the sofa, his mother bleeding in the kitchen, his father attempting to drown him when he was in the bath.

He spent two years perfecting the skills he'd need for his future, but now he had nowhere to go, to call home.

His body fell into a chair behind him. Even after all of his efforts, he'd achieved nothing. He served the Dark Lord, but he was still a low rank Death Eater. He spied in all the years of his apprenticeship and now that he was a Master of Potions himself—after only a year and a month—he felt useless and discarded. He was still labeled as a Half Blood, and because that, he was more disposable than the others.

His face relaxed, his scowl disappeared, and he lowered his eyes to look at the object he held between his fingers. He caressed it and felt a mild ache in his heart. She could have been with him. Now, she was Potter's and was going to have a child with him. She even dared to invite him to her wedding to that bastard. His stomach turned, and he closed his hand, hiding the silver ring. It was the only remnant he had from his Pureblood line. His mother's family ring.

It was tempting to follow in his muggle father's habits, but he wouldn't lower himself to the level of a despicable alcoholic. Instead of dwelling in self-pity and jealousy like that bastard, he would get himself out of it. To do that he needed to secure a position in Hogwarts.

He wanted to remodel the house so he would have a place to get away at times, but funds didn't permit it. The only money he had was what his mother left in Gringots, and he preferred to leave that for food. He used magic to fix the putrid floors and the cracking walls, but he couldn't create miracles.

The glass in the window nearest to him began to vibrate. His gaze darted to it but he showed no outer signs that he was adversely affected. His spy training taught him to hide every trace of emotion. Fortunately, the cause of the vibrations was a ball of feathers looking at him with impatient eyes. He picked up his wand and with a wave, the window swooshed open, letting the animal inside. Severus untied the paper and opened it, ignoring the fat bird pecking around his dirty furniture. It couldn't make it look any worse.

"I Albus Dumbledore, accept the request for a job interview with Severus Snape.

Present yourself tomorrow, in room 8 at the Hog's Head at 18:00.