Disclaimer- I don't own anything...And I don't want JKR to send her army of Heliopaths after me!

Author's Note-This fic was inspired by the song of the same name from Sweeney Todd. Enjoy! Also, I'll send my army of Wrackspurts after you if you don't review!

Nothing's gonna harm you…Not while I'm around

Severus absentmindedly glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall beside his bed. Each morning, he would wake up bleary-eyed and groggy to stare at the tiny little boxes with a deep sense of loathing. He had put it up the moment he returned home from Hogwarts for summer holiday, and every morning he resisted the urge to burn holes in the tiny boxes of days gone by. But then he would probably be expelled from Hogwarts because he was underage. Frankly, it was cruel enough that Hogwarts sent him 'home' for summer holiday. To be expelled would be Severus' demise.

He sighed with boredom. There was just about a week and a half until September the first; though August was taking its sweet time getting there. Nevertheless Severus had made it this far, he would make to the end; he always did. His eyes roved to the small window. The curtains were drawn, keeping the room pleasantly dark, although slightly dank. Severus rubbed his eyes sleepily. Blinking several times to refocus, he scanned the room in search of something to occupy himself with.

The room was bland; some clothing hung awkwardly upon makeshift hangers in the closet, though a substantial amount lay in a heap in the middle of the room. There was not a single layer of dust about, yet the room was poorly maintained. The closet door was mostly loose of its hinges, hanging open uselessly. The room itself no longer had a door.

The frame stood wide open and gaping. Though Severus tried, there was no hiding from the general noise within the small dwelling. He stared intently at the side of the doorframe that had once held the door. There was an ugly brown stain and deep scratch marks. Severus shuddered, though he never really knew why his door had been removed. It was already gone when he had returned home for summer holiday. The lack of door made him feel incredibly vulnerable; he had taken to sleeping with his wand for protection.

The bed was the only piece of furniture and it took up most of the room. There were no pictures or decorations on the wall, except for the calendar.

Severus stared at the calendar, thinking of his Hogwarts trunk, tucked away, behind the enchanted bookcase. He had already completed his summer assignments, which left him with exactly nothing to do, yet again.

Pulling the thin sheets to his head, Severus felt miserable. Usually summer holiday was tolerable at best. Now it was depressing; Azkaban was probably more preferable. But Severus had to accept this as the new norm. He had no choice. Lily Evans was never going to speak to him again. Summer holiday wasn't as dreadful when he had her to go spend the day at the park with. Severus closed his eyes, relishing those memories.

"MUDBLOOD!"

Severus snapped his eyes open, the word still resounding in his eardrums. The sound of his voice using the word, made him sick. He closed his eyes and fought the all too familiar feeling of wanting to vomit. Not today, not again. Severus felt tiny tears begin to well-up. He wiped them away furiously, nearly taking his eye out. Sweat began to bead on his forehead. Bits and pieces of the worst day of his life began to resurface.

Lily's face sprang up in his mind, the pain and frustration etched deeply around her eyes and mouth. Severus could hear the roar of Sirius Black's laughter. The smirk on James Potter's face showed his deep satisfaction about how things were playing out between Lily and Severus. Not only was it easy for Severus to blame himself for losing Lily and ruining their friendship, he also knew it was his doing that would drive Lily into James' arms. He knew that the contempt for James, Lily had once held in her eyes was now the look she graced Severus with; if she graced him with a look at all.

"Severus! Wake up! He's going to be home soon! Wake up!" Eileen Snape shook her son, lightly, a deep sense of urgency in her tone. Her nerves on edge; the front door would open any moment.

Severus opened his eyes to the woman's voice. For a moment all he saw was Lily, though her image quickly dissolved, revealing his mother.

"You've been sleeping all day." Eileen stiffened, "Your father will be home soon."

Severus froze. He wasn't dressed. His father would kill him if he found out, though his father had never actually touched him, his threats were scary enough. Severus felt his stomach knot; Tobias often tortured his mother more after he threatened Severus.

Severus stared at his mother. Her face was pale, her hands felt clammy and she looked like the slightest wind might tip her over. Taking a deep breath Severus gave his mother an even, warning look, "Mum stay clear of him tonight, you look ill."

"HUSH! I'm fine, now get dressed, quickly! The table needs setting for dinner!"

Severus' stomach grumbled, from not eating all day. Usually he didn't have much of an appetite. The sound of the door opening sent chills up Severus' spin. His mother silenced him with a look and stood up.

Loud, thumping and staggering drunken steps, met the stairwell. Tobias Snape stormed into Severus' room. He glared at his wife and son, eyes whirling in their sockets trying to focus. Severus detected the drunken rage that was escalating.

Suddenly without reason or warning, Tobias flung his hand up and wide and slapped Eileen across the face. Her weak body fell to the floor. She crawled to lean against the wall behind Severus, holding her cheek as tears flowed freely, burning and stinging on their way down.

Severus stared at his father, all the anger he was harboring boiled within him. The image of Sirius and James doubled over with laughter flickered in his mind. Severus could hardly control himself as he pulled out his wand and pointed it defiantly at his father, "What the bloody hell was that for?!"

Tobias stepped back at the sight of the wand, but smiled viciously, "'ho the 'ell do you think you are boy? Put that blasted thing away and prepare for a whippin' you won't sure forget!"

"You weak, vile man! How dare you attack my mother so brutally!" Severus was feeling murderous.

Tobias grinned tauntingly, "What you gonna do wif dat boy? Eh? Gonna save your Mama from me? Why bother? The ol' hag is a filthy, bleedin' slut!"

"SHUTUP ABOUT MY MUM! She's a better human being than you'll ever be! Hell Dementors are better human beings than you'll ever be! I wish one would swoop down and kiss you!"

Tobias chuckled, "A kiss boy?! That the best you got? A kiss ne'er hurt no one!"

Severus' wand hand shook, but he kept his eyes on his target. Repressed tears tugged at him and he was worried about his mother. Her usually harsh breathing was silent and there was no hint of any movement. Severus closed his eyes praying she was alive; it was too risky to look at her. He focused on his father, Severus wanted to cause his father all the pain he had ever caused his mother; if she had died just now, it was his fault.

Severus' voice came in a low, deathly whisper, "You've hurt my Mum over a kiss! You're the one who sleeps around! A-And when you haven't had enough you go after her! I've heard her scream! I hear what you do to her! I bet that's why I don't have a door anymore! Is that why? Did she try to stop you? Did you take the door down and slam her against the wall with it? Is that why there's dried blood all over the frame? IS IT?"

"SHUTUP! That's enough from you boy! Now come over 'ere and take it like a man!" Tobias removed his belt as he spoke.

"YOU COWARD!" Severus screamed. He felt the words spill from his mouth, uncontrollably. He had had enough of all this. He had already lost a friend; he wasn't going to lose his mother.

Focusing carefully on his father, Severus stepped toward him, his wand pointed right at his throat. His hate urged him on. Thinking hard, he tried to get his mouth to move. No words came out. His father was thrashing the belt about, laughing at Severus' incompetence. This made things worse. Severus felt a heat graze his shoulder. There was a flash of green light and in the next moment, Tobias lay flat on his back, unmoving.

Severus felt dizzy. He had killed his father. The terror of his home on Spinner's End was extinguished. He had killed his father and he was underage. He was underage and he had performed magic. He had killed his father and now he was probably going to be expelled from Hogwarts. The room swam before him; Severus thought he heard a distant shriek. Thinking it was probably the Ministry owl arriving to expel him, he fainted.

As Severus regained consciousness a humming reached his ears; a comforting, loving humming. Wait humming? Only happy people hummed. Severus flicked his eyes open. Sure enough his mother was standing beside him, stroking his hair and humming. What was she so happy about?

The memory of the most recent event washed over Severus in a sickening wave. He made to sit up, but a hand pushed him back to his pillows.

The elation of knowing his mother was alive was quickly extinguished as Severus tried to take in the surroundings. His eyes roved to the door where he had last seen his father's useless body, it was gone. His mother was looking down on him, concern etched in every line of her face. Yet she looked more radiant than Severus had ever seen her. She looked…content…

"Shhh. It's over. I took care of it. Rest now, we're safe!"

Severus shook his head, "They're going to break my wand and expel me. James and Sirius will get the last laugh. I'll never get to N.E.W.T.S. level Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts, the education will be lost on my peers. Why did I have to kill him?"

Eileen glanced at her son and chuckled, "You didn't kill him."

"Yes I did! You were here, you saw! I pointed my wand at him and thought about it and then I-"

"And then you looked at your shoulder as my killing spell flew over it and hit him!"

Severus looked wide-eyed, "They'll send you to Azkaban!"

"Better then you getting expelled, no?"

Severus was in awe of his mother. He wanted to ask her so many questions. Why she hadn't killed him all the other times he had blackened her eye; raped her in the kitchen; thrown things at her; and once grabbed her hands and forced her to touch a hot iron? She didn't use magic often. Severus had no idea she even kept her wand on her. This was all so confusing.

"Mum, where did you put him?"

Eileen looked placidly at her son, "It doesn't matter. He can't hurt us anymore. I wrote to the Ministry, telling them everything. There's going to be a hearing, you may need to testify-"

Severus sitting up, forcibly grabbed her thin wrists, "I-I won't let them send you to Azkaban! I won't let anyone hurt you anymore!"

Eileen could only imagine the thoughts her son was holding back. She made him lay back down. Tears spilled down her cheeks and she spoke in a soft, chocked whisper, "Sleep my Prince. Nothing's gonna harm you…Not while I'm around."

Severus stared at his mother, blinking away the tears he wanted to cry. Without warning he hugged her furiously. Eileen returned the embrace, relishing her son's rare, uninhibited affection. Severus felt much younger; his years of living with the severe abuse seemed to melt away during that hug; Lily was but a distant memory for that instant. No amount of Sirius' or James' taunting would ever matter anymore. Reality was no longer cold and dreadful. He buried his face in her warm, comforting scent. Eileen's shoulders shook with more tears as the two clung to each other. They were finally safe, finally free…

…

"When did she die?" A cold high-pitched voice asked.

"The summer before my seventh year at Hogwarts my Lord-She took ill about a year before," Severus clenched his palms and choked back the tears. He was determined never to cry again; determined to rid himself of all his heartache; determined not to give Lord Voldemort any leverage over him because of his weaknesses.

"I see," Voldemort placed his long fingers together, steeple-like. Severus was momentarily reminded of Dumbledore. "So you have been living with the Malfoys since?"

Severus nodded, "The shack on Spinner's End is mine, but I no longer have any business in that muggle-infested town." Severus distractedly bit the inside of his cheek, remembering how during one of his stops at the Leaky Cauldron, he'd overheard some strangers discussing the recent Potter nuptial; Lily and James would be moving.

"Well then, it is most convenient that I came to visit, this evening. Don't you agree, Severus?"

"Yes, my Lord," Severus gulped.

"Lucius never mentioned your eagerness to join my cause. I can only assume you had no intentions of doing so. Is that correct Severus?" Voldemort spoke more evenly, though his red eyes blazed.

Severus kept his nerves at bay. He chose his words carefully, "I have always been interested in your cause, my Lord. I apologize for not being so public about my allegiance, my Mother's illness and then death, sidetracked me for sometime. I apologize profusely."

Voldemort looked pleased, "You, Severus Snape, are an excellent asset. I will be sure your talents do not go to waste. The next set of inductions will be on Halloween. Do not disappoint me Severus. I do not take infidelity kindly. However, if you prove your worth, this group can become as close as family and I can assure you, nothing will harm you…not while I'm around."

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