Innocent Blood

Summary: Severus’ half-sister has a huge secret, and when the Ministry passes laws lifting privacy for Magical Part-Humans, she’s in for hell. At least there is one person at Hogwarts who doesn’t think she’s a monster, fangs or no. RL/OC (Half-Vampire) Minor SS/LE.. AU.

A/N: Okay, I lied. I know I promised no more new stories until I finished my current one, but… trust me, it’s worth it!

Chapter One:

The little house in Spinner’s End rocked and rattled from the sounds of violence within. An extremely drunk Tobias Snape stumbled around in his ire, lifting and throwing every object that happened across his path. He kept up a slurred diatribe as he made his obscure, winding route through the living room, or what was left of it.

“Good for nothing woman,” he shouted, kicking aside an end table, “I oughtta kill you. I told you not to do any of that… that shit in my house. It’s the devil’s goddamn freakshow, Eileen, and I won’t stand for it.” As if to illustrate his point, he tripped over the cord of a floor lamp, grabbing the base of it to try and support himself. He and the lamp toppled over next to where Eileen Prince Snape cowered in the corner of the room. The lightbulb shattered and pieces of it rained down on Eileen and Tobias like tiny silver knives. Tobias swiped at his face, cursing as shards of glass scratched his cheeks.

“Bitch,” he growled, and slapped his wife a ringing blow to the side of her face, as if it had been she that had sent the lamp hurtling towards the floor in the first place. Eileen cowered and whimpered, murmuring something about waking the children.

“You think I give a fuck about your goddam kids, Eileen? I don’t. I don’t give a fuck!” he roared, pounding his fist on the floor next to her. He had probably been aiming to hit her, but whiskey’s aim mercifully diverted his assault. “That… that snot-nosed little boy of yours and the little wench…” he spit out the words, his face purpling. “She ain’t even mine, Eileen. You think I give a fuck? She shouldn’t… she shouldn’t ain’t be even living in my house…”

Tobias struggled with his slurring speech, and pulled himself upright, dragging Eileen with him by the arm. “In fact,” he said evilly, “Let’s fix that right now. Let’s go upstairs,” he stumbled into the coffee table and kicked it in anger. He didn’t feel any pain, but knew he would in the morning when the stupir ran off, and it infuriated him even more.

“Let’s go upstairs and tell that wench she can get the fuck out right now. Just get her the fuck out. You can explain to her that it’s ‘cause Mummy’s a worthless whore that can’t keep her legs shut—,”

“Please, Tobias,” Eileen begged, not daring to resist him as he tugged her up the stairs to where her two children presumably would have been sleeping had the battle on the ground floor not been raging so loudly. “She’s sleeping, they’re both sleeping. It’s not her fault. It’s not my fault, either, I—,”

Tobias cut her off with a wild swing towards her head. The heel of his hand connected with her jaw, and she stopped speaking abruptly with a whimper. “The fuck it ain’t,” he said darkly, his softer tone somehow more frightening than his previous roar. “You can cry rape all you want but no one rapes a woman who ain’t asking for it. You were asking for it, Eileen. Admit, you were asking for that goddamn freak to fuck you. You wanted him to fuck you, and to come to my house and bite me, turn me into one of them goddamn freaks, too.” Tobias’ voice rose again. He could barely hear it over the roaring in his ears.

“And if that ain’t bad enough, Eileen, you gotta get knocked up by the freak and bring that wench into my house. A houseful of goddamn freaks, Eileen, and I won’t have it under my roof! I tell you, your bitch of a daughter is just waiting for me to sleep at night so she can sneak in my room and suck my blood. I gotta keep a gun under my pillow because of that freak, you understand that, Eileen? Do you?!” He shook her, spit flying from his mouth as he screamed in her face.

“And I’ll shoot her, ‘f she comes near me,” he yelled, “God damn me, I will. In fact… why wait? I’m gonna shoot them both right now. Both of your little fucking freaks. You too, if you don’t smarten up and fast.”

xxx

Upstairs, at the end of the narrow, dingy hallway, both of the children in question sat huddled on the bottom bunk of a set of stacked bunk beds. The younger of the two, a skinny girl with messy, dirty black hair was crying, her hands pressed over her face to cover the sound. The older, a similarly thin and dirty-looking boy with greasy hair, had his arms wrapped protectively around the girl, his chin on her shoulder. Tears filled his own eyes, but he fiercely held them there, not letting them fall. He wouldn’t let his father make him cry.

Then boy heard a sudden thump and then several loud, jarring snores that meant Tobias had finally passed out. He unwrapped his arms from the little girl and grabbed her arm instead. “That’s it, that’s enough. Let’s go, Sacia. We’re out. We’re done.”

Still sobbing, the little girl followed her older brother. It was clear that she trusted him implicitly, and the two children approached the door of the room side-by-side. The boy poked his head around the door, and looked back at his sister.

“He won’t be doing anything for a few hours at least. Let’s get as far away as we can.” The children walked with trepidation down the narrow hall for what they hoped would be the last time in their lives. At the top of the stairs, their father lay crumpled in a heap. The boy paused, gauging the force needed to push him down the flight, but then Sacia squeezed his hand. “I’m scared, Severus.” He tugged the little girl along with him, leaving his father where he lay. Neither one of them spoke again until they were out of the house, and had walked far enough for it to be completely out of their view.

When he judged they were a good distance away, Severus let go of his sister’s hand and knelt in front of her. Even though she was only two years his junior, he was already much taller and lankier than she was. “There’s nothing to be scared of, Sacia,” he said solemnly, locking his dark eyes on the ice-blue of his sister’s irises. “We’re never going back there again. He can’t do anything to us. Besides, we have magic. I could get rid of him easily.” Severus drew himself up to his full height, inserting a bravado he didn’t quite feel into his words. The younger girl seemed convinced, but she tilted her head and intoned, “What about Mum?”

Severus’ young face hardened. “Mum can run away if she wants to,” he said, taking her hand again. “Come on. Let’s find somewhere to sleep. I’m tired.”