Making friends
Petunia Evans looked at the home for at least the next five years, South Lodge boarding school in the home counties for disruptive girls, in fact the school and other similar ones around the country were seen to be one level below reform schools.
The school’s intake was for vulnerable children that needed to be taken into care, but couldn’t for numerous reasons allow its pupils to be either fostered or adopted as they were to traumatised by either the abuse at the hand of their families or from living on the streets and all that encountered.
Petunia had been found prostituting herself around Manchester, after running away from her abusive parents. To Petunia obtaining money for selling her body around Manchester was far much better then coping with the abuse from her parents. Many a night both her and her younger sister had comforted each other after a day of their parents abusing them, it had been a blessing when the odd boy Severus had befriended them and taken them to his home.
Severus father Tobias had taken one look at the girls and the bruising on Lilly her sister and cane stripes upon the back of Petunia thighs, he had then gone to her parents to stop the abuse on them. The physical abuse stopped but the verbal abuse just got worst. It was laughable really that the Snape family coming from the poor and wrong end of Cokeworth town loved their only son Severus unconditionally. There was always food on the table, the rent was paid and the pride that the Snapes had in Severus and his accomplishments shone through in everything he did.
In the upper middle class Evans home, love was conditional on the Petunia and Lilly living up to the impossible standards that their parents had. Beatings and verbal abuse was the norm for their lives until they had met Severus, with the occasional sexual abuse that their father liked when their mother was out at a social gathering. The Snapes had included the friends of Severus into their home and treated them like their own children.
It had been Severus who had suggested that Petunia write to Headmaster Dumbledore to see if she could attend Hogwarts with Lilly and Severus, but worse was the physical abuse that Lilly and Petunia received after their parents had received the letter from the headmaster outlining what the children had written. The cold and unfeeling letter that Headmaster Dumbledore sent back had made Severus angry and Lilly fearful of what would happen when she was safely at Hogwarts with Severus. It had been a tearful farewell at Kings cross station between the three friends and sisters, it was two days later when Petunia had run away to Manchester taking her chances with child prostitution and the streets rather than having to endure her father’s sexual abuse on top of the other abuse heaped upon her from her parents. The police had picked Petunia up from the Manchester streets and the social services had become involved in her life. This had led to Petunia now being standing outside a old nunnery that had been adapted to become a boarding school and her home for the next five years.
It was late in the evening when Petunia arrived, she was led into the schools dinning room where she had her first meal with the rest of her school companions. Afterwards she was briefly shown around the school and into her bedroom which she was sharing with another girl, Petunia laid down on her bed and just cried her self to sleep missing her support network of friends, siblings and her adopted family the Snapes.
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Two self adopted siblings sat in the railway carriage of the Hogwarts Express, the boy was reading the advanced book for the defence of the dark arts, his adopted sister Lilly was worriedly looking out the carriage window at the retreating platform of Kings Cross.
“Severus! Petunia will be okay wont she?” Lilly asked in a strangled voice “I don’t know Lilly! I hope Petunia knows to go to my parents if it gets to rough at your home……… but she might be stopped from going….since she hasn’t got our ‘accidental’ magic to aid her, and nobody will believe that the good and noble Dr Evans and his wife would even lay their hands on their children” Lilly then wrapped herself into Severus clothes crying into them and taking comfort from her ‘brother’. The carriage door burst opened and two dark haired boys barged in, with the apparent leader a messy haired boy stating “Can we sit here please, everywhere else is full “ Severus nodded yes at them, they had at least asked if they could sit in the carriage, the boy continued “I am James Potter and this is my best friend Sirius Black” Severus did a quick recon in his mind of the history lessons his mother had drummed into Lilly and himself, the two boys were from powerful wizarding families, he knew from the advice of his father that he had to tread carefully with them as to not make enemies of them this early in their Hogwarts career.
Severus responded “I would shake hands with you both Heir Potter and Heir Black, but as you see I have my hands full with my adopted sister Lilly Evans a mundane first born witch, I am Severus Snape, my mother was Eileen Prince the squib, my father is Tobias a mundane”
Sirius blurted out “Why is your sister crying? Isn’t she exited to be going to Hogwarts!” Severus was amused to see James face palm his hand at his friends unsubtle question. Severus was also glad that the two boys had rightly come to the conclusion that severus and Lilly relationship was a sibling and not a romantic relationship.
Severus answered the question he thought diplomatically “Lilly is very happy to attend Hogwarts, but she is leaving our sister in a very difficult situation at home”, “Oh Severus! Tell the truth, my parents will make Petunia life unbearable…especially now she wont be able to escape to your parents!”
James asked Severus “But don’t mundanes love their children unconditionally, according to Dumbledore all mu…..”
“DO NOT SPEAK REVERANTLY ABOUT THAT ARSE HOLE IN MY HEARING!” yelled Lilly, who finally entered the conversation “We asked him to help us protect Petunia….what did he do, he sent back a letter to my parents informing them that Petunia had asked to be removed from her situation, the only reason that we ate some days was because Severus parents fed us….”
“Look Heir Black!” Sirius looked at Severus and Lilly and stated for himself and James “Please call us James and Sirius” Severus nodded, reasoning that at least he had made acquaintances of the heirs of two powerful magical families and responded with “Please return the favour! Severus and Lilly at your service…..mundanes, like magical parents can abuse their children! For the supposed esteemed Headmaster Dumbledore to believe otherwise, perhaps shows that he is not totally invincible”
Sirius looked at James and seemed to silently communicate with him about something, James nodded and then asked “What Hogwarts house do you want to be sorted into?”
Severus looked far away as he answered the question “I want to be in the same house as Lilly of course, seeing as she is my sister…..but my mother’s family has always been sorted into Slytherin and I think that Lilly will be sorted into Gryffindor. What about you two then?”
James answered for both himself and Sirius “Welllll we want to be sorted into Gryffindor house, but Severus there is no way you can be sorted in Slytherin no matter your mother’s family Hogwarts history!”
“Why ever not?” Severus asked perplexed, his mother had always been proud of her heritage and the fact all her family had been sorted into Slytherin house, Sirius came to James rescue by explaining “Severus! Sorry to break it to you….but Slytherin house under the currant head of house Slughorn is full of pompous and powerful pure blood children….they will tear you apart or at least make your life hell for the next seven years!”
“And then the rest of the school will make your life hell for being a (James embarrassingly pointed to Severus clothes) poor member of Slytherin house and Slughorn will not help you and Dumbledore and the other professors will ignore the bullying I am afraid”
“Look Severus!” Sirius interrupted “Although I want to be sorted into Gryffindor to suck it to my mother….perhaps all of us can be sorted into another house……………..a neutral house….perhaps Hufflepuff house”
“Hey that’s not a bad idea Sirius” James added, Severus looked at the two boys with a questioning raised eyebrow, James continued “Look, my parents don’t care where I am sorted as one went to Gryffindor and the other was sorted into the Snake house. Sirius can still suck it to his mother by being sorted into Hufflepuff….And you and Lilly as being a mundane witch and half blood will be excepted into the house…and best of all we can all be friends!” James finished.
After a few minutes Severus and Sirius both held their hands to James starting their friendship for ever between them. It just after that moment a sandy haired thin boy entered the carriage, smiling nervously asking the new group of friends “Hi I’m Remus Lupin is it alright if I join you, it seems that everybody else is with friends and I seem like a spare wheel at a party!” Severus just laughed good naturally and James motioned the boy into the carriage. By the end of the train ride to Hogwarts, Remus had joined and become friends with the four other first years in the carriage.