Drying in the rain

Hogsmeade

"Goodness is something chosen. When a man cannot choose he ceases to be  man." ~ Anthony Burgess

"My reader, it is most agreeable to see you once more. You must wonder who it was that opened myself." Expressed the book sitting within her hands.
"Well, yes I am. Could you tell me?" She wrote.
"How about a riddle Miss Hollows?" It responded, the page almost seeming to jeer at her.
"Fine, go on."
"The half blood hidden found the fondness of angels, hero unearthed from the ashes of war the price to pay loyals, raven skies and the dementors kiss, he who lies but cannot miss." Replied the book, her mind racing to try and solve the riddle.
"Thank you, but may I have a clue?" She asked, penning in her words as respectfully as possible.
"The prince, the prince is where your answers hide."
"Thank you. Could I ask you about my father? Or would that be too much to ask for in one night?"
"His heart still beats, he who serves. That is all. Goodnight dear reader." The book pretended to yawn as she carefully closed it right, pushing it back underneath her. She was barely tired, if anything she was terrified by the fact that someone had been in her chambers.
She laid solace, her eyes wide open as she thought and thought, time endlessly continuing, every hour the chime of Snapes grandfather clock rang throughout their corner of the dungeon. Annoyed she covered her face and ears with her pillow, curling up into a fetal position with striking frustration. How could he sleep through such a godawful noise?
He too spent this night sleepless, fuming over how he could possibly handle this newfound book. He had watched many other wizards find it, and he'd watched them all flounder, ultimately marking them for the curse of the Tome of Fryers. He had watched her very father fall victim to it, though he would never tell her that. In fact she probably already knew.
The only person that could know how to handle something as dark as this would be the new dark arts professor and auror Alastor Moody. He had arrived late alongside the two competing schools, but his expertise and wide range of experience could surely take on such a daunting task, or so he hoped. The very thought of her meddling with something so evil without even realizing it made him almost sympathetic to her, he pitied her naivety, her ability to throw away reason and sign her name away as if it meant nothing to her at all. He was once like that too, when he joined the death eaters and took on the dark mark, he saw his past written all over her face, like she was some adjacent storyline of his that strayed out of place. She hadn't felt the pain he had or lived the way he had, for most including her the thought of childhood home is one of joy and fond memories, but for him it was a testament to all he had experienced, it was hell on earth.
When he caught himself thinking of death and where he would be sent, he often pictured spinners end, that was in fact his purgatory, his devils lair. He had never known heaven the way Anna had, all he ever knew were demons, especially the demon that took shape in his father. He was cruel, beyond evil. Tobias Snape was a figurehead to snape of what was wrong with the muggle world, Tobias himself being a muggle. He never forgave his father for the torment and mental strangulation he forced upon his mother, but he also struggled to forgive her given that she let Tobias abuse him.
Severus had stared down the front of a barrel gun by the age of eight, experienced his first broken rib at twelve and first knocked out tooth at fifteen. Perhaps that was why he was so eager to join a family, any family, even if that family belonged to the dark lord. Severus himself being a half blood already felt out of place within his Slytherin house but Lucius Malfoy changed all of that. He was older, stronger, smarter and one of the most influential students in Slytherin. He too detested James Potter, Sirius Black Remus Lupin, Peter Petigrew and their other obnoxious gryffindor friends.
Even at Hogwarts snape was abused. He was bullied daily by the so called marauders, they would trip him, hex him, pants him and sometimes physically harm him. Snape tried and tried to stay with the light Lily Evans provided him, but one to many blows and he cracked. He became a monster. The worst part happened to be the excuses he made, excuses being just that. He pretended it was right especially after everything he'd been subjected to, he believed it too, he believed his hatred was justified. For so long he had never felt he belonged, and here he was serving the dark lord, and it was perfect.