Valentina, however, spent most of her time with Severus. The two of them loved each other very much; they where insepartable. Eileen felt Severus was thinking of Valentina as his mother instead of her. This was her own fault of course because she ignored him, but she just couldnt bring herself to change that. She finally made her way to work and left all her thoughts about her childern in the far corner of her mind.
Hours later Tobias awoke and left to go get drunk leaving the three childern alone by themselves. The first one awake was Valentina; she knew Severus would be hungry when he woke so she started to make him breakfast. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. There was never a lot of food in the house so whenever Tobias wasnt eating all the food and shareing a little amount with Eileen and giving half to Acheron; Valentina would make something for Severus and herself. Tobias always "forgot" to feed his two other childern or as he liked to call them 'the two little monsters' or 'two little shits.' She knew she would never be able to prove anything to her father and she was fine with that. Why should she have to prove herself to a drunken bastard who raped her in the dead of night and her six year old brother help? Why should she respect an abusive bully who liked to pick on people who where younger and smaller then he? She also wondered why she should show any respect to her mother. Her mother was weak and made no move to defend herself from her fathers assualt. She was a wizard for Merlins sake! She heard someone behind her; she spun around, grab the person by the throat and threw the person against the wall.
Acheron let out a sherik of fear when his sister threw him up against the wall. "Valentina! Its me!" She looked at him with an indifferent experssion and tightened her grip.
"Val, I cant breath!"
"Good." She squeezed his throat once and then let go. "What do you want?" she asked as Acheron fell to the floor trying to catch his breath.
"I would like something to eat."
"Since when do you ask me for something to eat. Doesnt Tobias feed you enough?" she sneered.
"Dont call daddy Tobias! You should call him daddy; like me and Severus!" Acheron spat.
"Why would I call that man my father! He beats and rapes me and doesnt take care of me like a real father should! Severus shouldnt call him father either for the same exact reason!"
"Daddy only does that because the two of you are bad!"
"We do nothing wrong! You shouldnt talk about things you know nothing about!"
"Shut up you stupid bitch!" Acheron yelled and swung at his sister.
Valentina caught his arm, shoved him to the ground and yelled, "You little brat who the hell do you think you are talking to! I am older! You will do as I say or I will lock you in your room and you will have to wait for the bastard to come home and let you out! That is if he is sober enough to do so! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Acheron looked up at her with tears in his eyes and ran out of the room.
"Val'ina?" Severus asked.
"Severus, why are you awake? I thought you wanted to sleep some more?" she asked kneeling in front of him.
"Your shouting woke me up. Why were you yelling at Ac'on?"
"Sev, Im sorry I woke you up. He was just saying mean things about us and I wanted him to stop."
"You sounded like daddy when hes mad." Severus said starting to cry.
"Oh, Sevvie, I am so sorry." Valentina said and hugged him close. "Shh, Im sorry I scared you. I would never, ever hurt you, you know that right?"
"Of course Valliy!" Severus cheered.
"Valliy?" she looked at Severus confused.
"You called me Sevvie so I called you Valliy." he stated matter-of-factly. Which caused Valentina to laugh.
"Okay, ya little booger, do you want something to eat?" she asked picking him up.
"Yeah, when was the last time we ate?" he asked.
"Well lets see, today is the twenty-fifth of Decemeber and I remember eating on the seventheen, because I was still at school. So that means you ate last on the first of this month. Am I right?"
"No, daddy fed me the night before turkey day." Severus admitted and Valentina became angry. She had to do something about this.
"Severus have you ever told anyone what mommy and daddy are doing to you while I am away at school?" she asked placing Severus at the table and giving him all of the eggs she had cooked.
"No, Im never aloud out of the house. Arent you going to eat, Valliy?" he asked with his a full mouth.
"No, Sev, you need it more then I do. I think we should tell someone. How about this, while mom is till at work and when Tobias comes home and falls asleep we will pack a bunch of stuff and leave here." she said. "Would you like that?"
"Just you and me?" Severus asked with wide eyes; Valentina nodded. "YES! I WOULD LOVE THAT!"
"WHY ARE YOU TWO OUT OF YOUR ROOMS! ANIMALS LIKE YOU SHOULD BE LOCKED UP! AND WHY HIS THE SNIVLLING BABY EATING!" Tobias yelled as he entered the kitchen in a druken rage.
"Oh sod off, bastard!" Valentina yelled. Tobias walked over to her and slapped her across the face.
"You little bitch! Who do you think you are talking to? I am your father!"
"Well, I wish you werent!" she yelled grabbing Severus and walking out of the room.
Instead of taking Severus to his room, which he shared with Acheron, Valentina took him to her room. She got out a suitecase she hid the back of her closet. She had filled it with clothes for her and Severus. It also held what little muggle money she had. She could no longer stay in this hellhole and she would not leave Severus behind if she was going to leave. Acheron would be fine here; Tobias and Eileen wouldnt even notice the two other kids where missing. When it came time to start school again she would take Severus with her and explain to the Headmaster about their home life. She would see if there was a way for Severus to stay at the school or with one of her friends. Finally after a few hours Tobias went into his room and fell asleep. She threw the stuff out of her window and went to wake Severus; who dozed off a little while before Tobias went into his room.
"Sev, hey, Sevvie, wake up. Its time to go." she said softly.
"Really, where going to leave?" he asked.
"Yes. Lets go." Valentina and Severus made their way towards the door. When they where half way to the stairs Severus tripped over his shoelace and knocked over a flower vase on the table near by.
"YOU LITTLE SHITS! HOW DARE YOU WAKE ME UP!" Tobias yelled.
"Sorry, sir, I had ran into-"
"I knocked over the vase. And who do you think you are calling little shits!" Valentin yelled. "Your a jobless bum who is afriad of magic! I can not wait to go back to Hogwarts!" Tobias who was drunk, like always, had picked up Valentina and threw her down the stairs. Severus watched as his older sister fell down the stairs; he heard cracking nosies as she fell. Valentina landed on the floor with a sick thud seconds later. Her eyes where open and staring at Severus. Snape looked in her lifeless purple eyes.
"Valentina! NO!" little Severus yelled.
"Go to your room, Severus!" Tobias yelled. Severus listened to his father, not wanting to meet the same fate as Valentina. He waited until he heard his father's bedroom door shut; then ran out of his room and down to his older sister's body. Severus sat with her body until his mother came home. Even though she was upset by her daughters death, Eileen did not comfort her son or get rid of the body.
'This is the worst Christmas ever!' Four year old Severus thought as he hugged his older sister and only protectors body.