AUTHOR'S NOTES: this is my first Harry Potter fanfic. I love the Harry Potter books and movies to death; and after reading many many fanfics for it I have decided to write one of my very own.

Now there are some differences from my story and the way they're originally portrayed and shown Like Severus is a year younger than Lily and the Marauders. He is not in love with Lily but still loves her all the same, like a great big sister that's always there to comfort you when you need to cry. Another thing, James is still spoiled but he will not torment Severus, instead, since Lily is older and got to know James for a year ahead of Severus, he will be nice to her and be willingly to help Severus when he needs it. Same with the rest of them.

Now most likely this will be Dumbledore bashing since I just get annoyed with his character sometimes. This will have a semi-good Voldemort/Tom Riddle too. I do think he wasn't always bad, he was made into the monster (I don't care what anyone else says, that's what I think.) He will most likely be Severus' mentor or father figure. Also this will be slash, since I really do like certain couples of the Harry Potter universe. There will also be child abuse,so if you don't like any of these things no one is forcing you to read this. Soooo, beware!

Here are the Pairings for future reference, they are subject to change when ever I want them too: SB/RL JP/LE SS/? LV/TMR/?

Those are the only ones I can think of right now. If anyone remembers other characters in that age group then please tell me cause, even though I love these books and movies I have a horrible memory. I really really do. So yeah... on wards with the story! See you at the bottom.

Summary: Severus Snape is small for your average eleven year old. He wears worn out clothes and his hair is forever covering his face. what he wants to hid from everyone are the bruises that litter his body and face. He lives in fear every day of doing something wrong or making a false move, the threat of a beating from his father always hanging over him. Teachers at school ignore him and so do most other adult and children too. Only one girl has ever noticed his existence. With his mother gone and died three years ago and just a angry drunken father, Will anybody help him to learn that the world does not rest and his shoulders and that his father isn't always right? After a savage beating, will he finally realize that he deserves better than what is thrown at him? Now that he's eleven and off to Hogwarts, will his father let him go and discover how to live? Will new friend be able to help him and family be able to help him feel safe at home?

Disclaimer: I'm only going to say this once, I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters in any way. the world it's based in is not mine the only thing I own Is the computer this is written upon, even that is on loan.

Safe At Home

Ch. 1 - Broken

I am outside

And I've been waiting for the sun

With my wide eyes

I've seen worlds that don't belong

My mouth is dry

With words I cannot verbalize

Tell me why

We live like this

Keep me safe inside

Your arms like towers

Tower over me, yeah

Cause we are broken

What must we do to restore

Our innocence

And all the promise we adored?

Give us life again

Cause we just wanna be whole.

Paramore-Broken

Severus sat on a bench at the bench in the park. He swung his feet back and forth, enjoying the cool summer breeze that came by. It stung his bruised face but that wasn't anything new; he had his long black hair to cover any damage there. His tattered pants had rips at the knees from wearing them so often and constantly falling down and tripping. His thin t-shirt was starting to thin but it was great for wearing it in the hot summer. He watched the other children in the park play with each other end their parents. He could feel the green monster creep up on him. But he pushed it away as soon as it came, it wasn't his fault that the other children had loving parents and he didn't; but it didn't mean he had to like it.

He let out a slight sigh and continued to just sit there swing his legs. "Severus!" he looked up to see a red hair girl running towards him. Her bright green eyes caught his black and he let a soft small smile grace his lips. He didn't get to smile often, but being around this girl always made him smile. She stopped right in front of him smiling down and then plopping herself down next to him. "Hey there Sevy, how ya doing today?" he made sure to keep his head down so his hair covered his face. He nodded not trusting his voice completely. "Wow, talkative as ever it seems. I'm gone for one school year and you turn into Mr. Social." That earned a soft giggle from the younger boy. She nudged his shoulder with her own, "Come on talk to me a bit. Big sister Lily's ear and shoulder are always open for business for you Severus."

Silence from the child next to here was all she got. She let out sigh as she watched him swing his legs back and forth. "I'm okay Lily Flower. I missed you though. Tunney isn't very fun, she wouldn't play with me when you were away and Daddy didn't let me out when no one was with me. I'm going with you this year though so we can play together all the time right? Like before?" there was eagerness in his voice. He still had not looked up at her, still staring at his old shoes.

"Of course Severus, you're going to Hogwarts this year too. Oh I can't even explain to you how beautiful it is. We can play all the time by the lake and they even have a huge library. You'd love it there, no one even bothers you 'cause the librarian is very strict about keeping it quite and you're always so good at keeping quite." She brought her arms around his shoulders and drew him in close. Even though they were only a year apart from one another it always seemed like he was younger than eleven. He could pass as a seven year old on a good day, he was small in height and his larger clothes seemed to only make him look smaller sometimes.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and pulled him against her side. She loved having him curled up against her. It was as if his small warm body relaxed her in a way, she liked to be able to feel his slow breathing to show he was still there and alive. She knew that secretly he liked to be cuddled too. He leaned his head on her shoulder and kicked his feet out and stared at a hole in his shoe.

Though he didn't know she saw, Lily caught a glimpse of the bruise that marred the side of his face. She had no outward reaction, knowing the boy would more than likely run away from here if she called him out on it. But inside she was steaming. 'How dare that man! How dare he! He should never been given custody of Severus! I swear one day, one of these days I will make him pay for all he's done to this child. And he will regret the day he laid hands on him.'

She was snapped out of her thought of revenge when she felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked up and saw Severus giving her pleading eyes. "Look Lily Flower, the swings are open! Can we go play on them? You can push me then I'll push you. Can we?" he pleaded with the older girl who smiled at him. She nodded and stood walking with him towards the swings. "Race you there," she said.

Severus got there first and sat on it with a little help from Lily, why the hell did they make these things so high sometimes. He loved being on the swings, they made him feel weightless. Almost like he was flying; like no one would be able to hurt him if they tried. He reveled in this feeling, pumping his legs as he rose up and fell back down. He giggled as Lily pushed him higher and higher. "I'm so high Lily Flower!" he exclaimed excitedly. "You sure are Sevy." She said back.

This went on for a few more minutes until Severus heard his name being called from a distance. He slowly came to a stop and saw his father standing on the other side of the play ground. His eyes grew wide with fear of being in trouble. He jumped off the swing when he got close to the floor. He looked back at Lily who seemed to be glaring daggers at his father. If looks could kill, he was sure that his father would be six feet under already.

"Bye Lily Flower, I'll see you soon." He said moving closer to where his father was walking towards. "We can get our school stuff together." Lily stated, not leaving any room for argument. Severus just nodded and waved as he ran over to his father. She waved back until he turned his back was turned to her and he couldn't see her. She sighed and started to make her own way home. She hoped he would be okay until they could see each other again; but more than likely they wouldn't until they got their school things or maybe even September 1st. she said a silent prayer for her little friend, vowing to every god, saint and deity that she would find a way to save him. She would be his guardian angel if she had to be, cause only god knew that every adult in his failed to do so.

Severus reached his father after running to where he was across the park. He was grabbed roughly then by his small shoulders and dragged closer to his father. He was shaken hard; fear began to creep up on him, gripping his heart tightly and squeezing the air from his lungs. His father leaned down to him, practically pressing their noses together.

"Where the hell have you been Severus?!" he whispered harshly. Severus just stared wide eyed at him. "Answer me boy or you will be sleeping on your stomach tonight. Where were you?"

"I-I-I…" he pointed towards the play ground behind him. "I-I was a-at the p-play ground with Lily Evans. I told you this morning Daddy. I left a note on the table when I left." His voice was pleading, he wanted his father to believe he wasn't lying to him. He had told him in the morning when he had woken up and had left a note when he had left.

"Don't lie to me Severus Snape, tell me the truth. You know that I don't like you going to the park or anywhere else without me there." His whispers got harsher; he brought his hand up and slapped the small child across the young boy's face. The child gave a gasp of shock and pain; he would've fallen to the floor if his father wasn't still holding on to him. His father looked around and no one had seen or heard them. All the parents in the park were weather far too concerned for their own children they were just pretending no to notice. He scooped the shocked boy in to his arms and began to head back home. "You should not test me child, you know you will always lose. It's your fault that I'm mad, you have to deal with the consequences now."

The terrified child let out a lose sob, his breathe came in gasps. His head rested on his father's shoulder as he stared out at the people walking by them. His little shoulders shook as he sobbed. Tears ran down his cheeks, landing on his father's shirt. Had he really done something so bad that it earned his father's wrath? What had he done? He was sure he had said something to his father about going out today, hadn't he?

He felt his father shift to open the door to their home. He sniffled into his father's shoulder again. His daddy didn't smell like liquor right now so he must be sober, he wouldn't be too mad with him tonight, but best be on his best behavior for now. He felt himself being carried u the stairs, was he being taken to his room? What was going to happen to him? He couldn't stop his tears anymore, was going to the park really this bad?

Severus noticed they passed his own small bed room and were heading for the master bed room, why? His father set him down on the bed so he was lying down. He began to remove his son's shoes, let them fall away; he continued to undo his shirt and pants. He lifted him up from the bed to get the last article of clothing off. Severus stood there in only his white briefs and socks staring wide eyed at his father. The man walked over to the dresser and brought out a large over night shirt. He buttoned up on his son, it reached passed the boy's knees brushing against his shins.

He was once again laid on the bed; his father brushed away his long hair from his face. He saw the large bruise that laid there, he had hit him in the same spot twice already, the dark purple bruise had once again turned red and swollen. He sighed as he made his way to the bathroom, that was joined to the room. "Stay there Severus." He pulled out a small wash cloth and ran it under cold water. He came back and began to wipe the boy's face from the tears. He gently whipped the bruise, and settled the cool cloth on it. "I'm sorry Severus. I didn't mean to hit you so hard. I just got angry. You know not to argue with me, why do you always like getting me mad?"

"I'm sorry Daddy. I didn't mean to, please don't be mad at me anymore, I promise to be good." He moved to sit up but his father stopped him my pushing him down onto the mattress again.

"No, just stay there tonight. I'm going out for a moment and you're going to stay there, if you leave this bed then you will be in really big trouble. Please don't piss me off more Severus." He kissed his child on the head and moved out of the room.

Severus sat up on the bed and looked around his father's room. Did he mean not getting out of bed or not leaving in the room? How would he know anyway? He listened intently, trying to hear whether or not his father had left the house or not. He could hear the front door open and close. Where was his Daddy going?

He brought his knees to his chest and placed his head on top of them. His hair fell over his face, covering his eyes and bruises. The large night shirt felt weird to him, the only time his daddy dressed him like this was when he had felt sorry or when he was not mad but worried about him. When he was in his daddy's room it usually meant that he would spend the night and most likely the next few days in here; his daddy would be out drinking and no one would be home with him.

He loved his Daddy, he really did, but sometimes the man scared him. He would shift through emotions like you would when you changed the channel to the TV. When he was happy he would play with Severus and make him feel like he was the most important child on earth. But when he drank; that's when he scared him the most. He would switch from the kind and good father to a man that would beat him senseless and gloat about it while he did it. The next morning was when he would be sorry. He would always say that Severus needed to be good; he couldn't do bad things to make Daddy angry. He had been bad so Daddy hit him.

Ever since his mother had died, his father had got worse and worse. She had been dead for a few years now, almost three. He had met Lily Flower a year after that. Since then though his Daddy had started drinking more and more; he would get very angry when he would drink. Every morning and when he got home from work, he would drink some form of liquor. He would hit Severus some times; Lily Flower really didn't like that though, but he knew his Daddy didn't mean it.

He would always apologize afterwards and sometimes he even took him to get a treat to make up for it. It was his fault anyway for getting hit. He knew to stay away from his father when he drank and not to be bad, but sometimes he would come home late or he didn't do what his Daddy said fast enough. If he was a better son and listened to his Daddy then he wouldn't get hit, simple as that really. At least that was what he believed.

Sometime his father would be really nice to him, he would take Severus out and they would go to town and look at the little shops. He would make him feel very good in himself and would even tell his son that he loved him. This would last for a few days at a time then it would all fall away, cause he would always go back to the bottle, every time.

He laid down on the bed and pulled the covers over himself and up to chin. When his head hit the pillow he was quick to fall asleep. He let out a small sigh as he closed his eyes. he didn't know how long he stood asleep, only that when he woke that it was still really dark outside. He heard the front door open and slam shut, he jumped at the loud noise. He pushed the covers off the bed and slowly made his way towards the door, his hand slowly reached for the door knob. He could hear his heart beat in his ears; why was he scared though? His breathe started to become shallow as it caught in his throat. He swallowed the lump in his throat when his hand touched to door knob. Just when he moved to open the door he was yanked open and he stumbled forward.

His father stood in the door way looking down at him. He smelled like beer and whiskey, along with sweat and after shave. He bent down and without a word he picked up Severus and laid him on the bed again. He sat on the side of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. He didn't really say anything but stared down at his young son. Severus just stared back, the strokes through his hair helped him to relax and soon his eyelids were growing heavy and he began to fall asleep again.

When he was sure Severus was asleep, Tobias moved away and made his way to the bath room. He looked himself in the mirror and sighed. His blood shot eyes stared back at him, he couldn't even remember the last time he was completely sober it was so long ago. He knew if he really loved his son that he would stop and be the father that that boy deserved but the call to the bottle was always so strong. God he missed his wife, she was always able to keep his demons away.

He just sighed and knew that he would never really be able to completely give up drinking. He shook his head and continued to wash up for bed. He didn't feel like showering so he just washed his face and teeth. He went back to the room and pulled on some pajamas. He moved to the other side of the bed and laid down to sleep. He looked over to his sleeping son and let out another long sigh.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: So there's the first chapter, I'm sorry for the slow beginning but it had to be done. The next chapter might have more action or what not in it, but you know, where ever the winds take me. Please Review, favorite, and follow. I take any sort of suggestions really.

And I want you to remember, Severus is still very young and naive. At eleven, he still doesn't know that what happens in his home is truly bad; he knows it's different but thinks it's his fault that he gets hit. He's never had it any different. His father still loves him, but can't really stop himself either, they're caught in a never ending cycle of hurt and pain. Because his Father tells him so, Severus believes it to be his fault, because his father told him. I don't know about you but all the kids I know, including myself, believe what our parents say is true until we reach about thirteen or fourteen. And I know boys that call their fathers Daddy way into their teenage years. I still do, call my mother mama or mommy too.

So on an ending note, please review, have fun live life and read my stories. Cause you know, you haven't lived until you've done that. (JK) Hope to see you soon, I'll update when I can. For now, *Pumps fist in the air* FIGHTING!

Summerstar is signing off. Bye Bye.