Cursed

SS/LE, AU, Marauder Era

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

PROLOGUE, 1945

That Tom Riddle was the devil himself, and this only proved it all the more. Eileen knew the Head Boy had not invited her, an unattractive fifth year, to Hogsmeade to play gobstones, but the pain, blood, and shame made her swear never to let another wizard near her ever again.

She had tried everything short of shoving a dagger up herself to get it out. It was created with a magical binding so it was in there good and tight. The only thing that would kill this demon spawn would be to kill herself with it.

Eileen could tell. Of yes, she could tell. However, there was no benefit to telling. None at all. First and foremost, everyone loved Tom Riddle. Prof. Slughorn foresaw him as Minister one day. Besides, Slughorn had hitched his star to Dumbledore's and they were off celebrating. Maybe in Paris this week, Prague next week and so on. The substitute transfiguration teacher might be interested, but she was only here temporarily while Dumbledore accepted his thanks from all of wizarding Europe. And Dippet, well Dippet loved Tom Riddle so much, he might as well adopt him.

What would result if she told and someone cared? They weren't going to expel Tom Riddle. He'd only claim he was doing what blokes normally did. Jolly good for him. It was her reputation that would take the drubbing. Even if he wanted to do 'the right thing' and married her, Eileen Prince never wanted to become Mrs. Tom Riddle. Suicide would be better than that.

And lastly, there were no pregnant students at Hogwarts. Eileen would be chucked out. Her parents weren't young. She was an only child, not exactly doted upon, but they did have some expectations for her. Getting pregnant at fifteen, well, her life would only go downhill from there. Her dishonor would be their dishonor too.

Without being able to kill it, there was not much she could do. The likeliest spell that could help was this charm to halt its growth temporarily. It was for use by betrothed witches who got a little eager before their marriage, and ended up with a potion in their cauldron before their nuptials. It had drawbacks. It was temporary obviously. Eileen did not know if she could cast it indefinitely, or at least until she graduated. The other problem was that magical birth certificates revealed the name of the father. The real father. That last bit wouldn't be a problem since if it came to that, Eileen would find some sea cave somewhere, spew this cursed refuse forth, and then leave it there for the tide to wash away.

Chapter 1: present day October, 1976

Lily was frowning at a letter from her mother. Although she was no longer friends with Severus Snape, and her mother knew that because her no longer best friend was not welcome at her house all summer holiday, this was rather shocking news. No matter how it turned out. People were dead.

There had been a bad fire down at Spinner's End, where Severus lived. His house was untouched, but the smoke had been so bad that the town had attempted to do a door to door head count. It made sense to Lily, especially when some residents who were normally seen every day, such as Tobias Snape, seemed to be missing. From what her father had found out from his friend in the constabulary, the Snape house was locked up tight, and no one could break in.

Her parents could not tell them it was pointless due to magic, so her mother let Lily know that she had written to Prof. McGonagall at the address she had given them years ago, when she first visited to let them know that Lily was a witch and accepted to Hogwarts. Lily was not sure how the ordinary sounding post office box worked, but doubtless magic was somehow involved. Petunia's letter got through alright.

Lily looked over at the Slytherin table. Severus was reading a book, like he did at most meals. A bunch of those evil boys, Mulciber, Wilkes, Avery, were joined by Regulus Black and some of his young friends and were carrying on about something, but he only looked up, sneered, and then returned to studying. Rosier leaned over towards Severus, putting his hands on his book. From the way Sev had his lip curled, he didn't care for whatever Evan Rosier suggested.

Turning her gaze to the head table, Prof. McGonagall was in a lively conversation with Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. Flitwick. Lily bit her bottom lip in thought. It was not her place to say something to Severus. If his parents were alright, which was likely the case, she'd … well, she'd probably cause him unnecessary worry. His parents may not be likable, but they were his parents. It would also mean speaking to him. Severus had attempted to speak to her since he apologized and she refused, and since then, Lily ignored him completely. There was nothing he could say that would change who he was.

Severus had his Slytherin friends, books and Dark Arts to keep him company, and that was just dandy with her.

Severus sneered at Rosier when he jostled him causing the pain in his side to flare up. He did not like being touched. Why were they getting touchy feely? He had never noticed them doing that among themselves, and Severus certainly did not invite anyone to get physically close to him. After a miserable summer, he realized that the only ones that might speak to him were the Slytherins. September went well with him getting on speaking terms, if he ignored how idiotic normal teen males were.

He had not told them anything. It had gotten much easier not to talk. He had wanted to tell Lily so many times. Severus even gave her very broad hints so he would not technically say anything. He never thought of Lily as thickheaded, but she only had ears for what the Gryffindors said. After not telling Lily, it was somewhat easier not to say something to his mother over the summer. What could she do anyway? Help get him expelled? She couldn't do anything to Dumbledore.

Not that him attending Hogwarts or not truly mattered. For the past four months he had been friendless, and for longer Severus was considered worthless. Well, not entirely worthless because Potter was once again a hero. That must mean he saved something worth saving. If one were to apply any logic to the situation. So if he had worth, what was he worth? His life was worth less than … educating a werewolf, who transformed at a location accessible to those from Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.

Educating a werewolf was important to Dumbledore, who could not be bothered with minor matters such as others' deaths, becoming afflicted with lycanthropy, or receiving wounds that were cursed, as in Severus' case. Painful wounds that would not properly heal and that burdened Severus with unnatural cravings. Tell someone he was attacked and injured by Dumbledore's pet werewolf, and he'd be expelled. Expulsion would be a relief to Severus since he had reached a point where school was a prison sentence, but that would only be the beginning. Dumbledore knew a lot of people, even if he forgot who he knew, Slughorn would remember them.

The wounds were not necessarily healing, but they were no longer bleeding after coating them in cornflour and binding ground yarrow to them. Their horrible appearance meant little to him since his back was a melange of old injuries. They were still painful and gave him a crawling itching sensation that sometimes got so terrible when he was trying to sleep, it felt like something was burrowing under his skin. Craving rare meat and wanting to bite small animals to feel them twitch madly in his mouth until they went still was also driving him mad at times.

The idiots around him were talking about quidditch. Why would he want to stop reading to talk about quidditch? Severus was aware of the rules, the different teams and such, but debating over the merits of one team over another with the changing rosters and standings was really for someone who liked quidditch.

With a sigh, he closed his book, and left, rather than getting drawn into the daily quidditch nonsense.