The Potions Master's Apprentice {Severus Snape x OC}

Prologue

A flash of green light and a sickeningly agonising screech filled the room as witch, an auror, and a mother drew her final breath. Her body crumbled in on herself, dropping with a thud right next to her daughter's immobilised body. The young woman's eyes were fixed on her mothers lifeless body, unable to look away. The masked men crowded around the two, a feeling of victory developing among them. A sigh of relief left each of their bodies individually, before one by one disappearing into a cloud of black smoke.

The girls heart felt as though it had been ripped from her body, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to go after the monsters who had killed her mother. Yet, all she could manage was a single tear escaping from one eye, as she felt a rush of rage build in her body. She was in extreme physical pain from the beatings and the torture, however none of that mattered now and it paled in comparison to the pain she felt in her chest and the huge ball she felt in the back of her throat, blocking her breathing, stopping any sound from escaping her lips.

She had no idea why they had left her alive; did they just completely forget about me? or were they satisfied enough by my mother's death? She'd never know, She'd thought, but in this moment She didn't even care. She was not thankful they had spared her life, She had nothing now. I wished they killed me. I wished they killed me and not my mother. 

Another tear escaped her eyes as she thought of her mother. Her warm blood circling around her body, draining from her mother just as her life had moments before. Finally the girl closed her eyes, sobbing inwardly and uncontrollably.

She could have lay there for hours like that, she probably had. She didn't even bother to check if she was able to move again, if their spell had worn off her. She guessed that maybe if she didn't move then she wouldn't have to face the reality that all of this was real. Or maybe she had hoped that if she lay there long enough eventually the life would disappear from her too and she would once again be reunited with her mother. However this did not happen and she was forced to face reality when she felt her body being ripped from the ground, her mother's blood dripping from her, as she was forced to stand up right. Her eyes were unfocused and hazed, her head was not thinking straight, and her body was simply going through the motions without actually showing any signs of life. She had dissociated; mind and body. 

*

It wasn't until the next day that she fully returned to her body and she became aware of her surroundings. An ancient, greying wizard stood at her bedside, softly stroking her head as she awoke. The light from outside reflected off his half moon spectacles, momentarily blinding the girl. Regaining her vision and sense she recognised the figure watching over her.

"Dumbledore." She gasped, once again breaking down in tears, thrusting herself at the old man, embracing him tightly. "Grandfather." She corrected herself, sobbing into his soft purple robes.