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Severus Snape hated Fridays. He disliked school at the best of times but on a Friday Morning, he dawdled along towards school, putting off the moment of passing through the school gates 'til the last possible second.
For school dinners on Friday they had fish, not just on the odd Friday, but EVERY Friday. His stomach churned, the stink of the fish seemed to waft out into the playground. He disliked fish but when it stank worse than Jimmy the Tink then you knew you were in for something horrid. What made it worse was that his class teacher, Mrs Cameron paced up and down the small dining room and poked you in the back with her stubby finger and urged you to eat it all up and not let it go to waste. He had to use his sense of cunning to get one over her, it was if she had eyes in the back of her head.
He had learned on his first Friday in the school at the age of five that you must clear your plate, and that no matter the contents on your plate you had to sit and eat it up. He was usually ravenous and ate enthusiastically, enjoying the food as it was so much better than his mams cooking. All was fine until his nose twitched as the smell hit him, then his stomach churned with disgust as he saw fish being dished out by the dinner ladies. Severus disliked fish of any form.
On that first Friday when he was faced with the fish, he thought if he ate up all the mash, peas and the cheese sauce he would get away with not eating the dreaded fish. He was only five years old after all. But no, he was firmly encouraged to eat it up because he was swiftly informed by the Headmaster, that there were plenty of hungry children in the world who were less fortunate than him who would be glad of it. Severus had stared at the grey skin and white flesh of his fish and wrinkled his nose, thinking he would be very happy to get rid of his fish to the starving children.
He was nudged in the arm by one of the elder boys who sat at his table as dinner monitor. He nodded at Severus' fish and then patted his trouser pocket. He frowned unsure what the boy meant, the boy rolled his eyes and mimed hiding the fish in his pocket. Severus soon clocked on to the idea and when the coast was clear of teachers or nosy beaks watching, scooped the fish into a dirty handkerchief and popped it into his trouser pocket to dispose of later.
Severus groaned in pleasure, today's pudding was a small pot of chocolate dessert with a piece of pear in the middle, it didn't matter that the pear was slightly unripe and the mousse was grainy, it still tasted like heaven after the horrid smelly fish.
As the weeks flew past, Severus became quite creative in how he managed to dispose of unwanted food from his school dinners. Fish remained the number one food he disliked, the rest of the food wasn't that bad, especially considering his Mam's efforts!
He was now ten years old and Fridays were still his worst day. Now even more so due to the handwriting lessons on a Friday afternoon after lunch.
Severus was aware that his handwriting was fairly legible when using a pencil, but at the beginning of the new school year Mrs Cameron had announced that they all would be learning to write in joined up writing instead of just printing the words, she'd also insisted that they all would learn to do this not with a pencil but in ink.
Severus had hated his first lesson in real writing, the pen he'd been given felt too fat and foreign in his hand slipping from his thin fingers as he could not hold it in the proper grip. When he had finally tried to copy what was on the board and put pen to paper the ink just splattered all over the place, he had ink smeared over his jotter, his fingers and there were even droplets of blue ink on his face. Mrs Cameron glared at him and swatted him on the head with his writing jotter at the end of the lesson when she collected in their work.
"This is a disgrace Mr Snape, although I don't know why I'm surprised given your lack of effort in my class." She told him with a sneer.
His fellow classmates snickered but no one had gotten off scot-free from Mrs Cameron's disapproving look, as most had ink blots on either their face, clothing or jotter. The only exception being Severus who had left ink stains on all three.
Every Friday was a challenge for Severus, he'd begun to even enjoy the dinner better than real writing lessons and that was saying something.
Severus could not figure out how to get his pen and ink to flow and to match the examples that Mrs Cameron had placed up onto the board. His writing jotter had blocks of three lines that were to be used to guide him to write correctly, he'd even repeated the little mantra inside his head that the teacher had used to try to assist with their handwriting efforts.
"Up to the top, down to the bottom and back to the middle."
Mrs Cameron stood beside the big blackboard in front of Severus. He was in the front row this week, due to him having been in a fight earlier in the week, so he could not hide from her stoic stare and he was first in the line of fire when she let loose chalk or dusters towards students that misbehaved. The projectiles had made him wince on more than one occasion when hit, he often thought she may be an old bag, but she had a great aim and could accurately hit any of the class, no matter where they were seated.
Severus concentrated on his handwriting, unaware that his tongue was caught between his teeth. His lank black hair fell across his face and he was continuously brushing it aside. He was so deep in thought he never heard Mrs Cameron walk up to stand at his side, she stood there for a full minute glaring and tut tutting at him under her breath. Then without warning she caught Severus by the hair and dragged him up and out of his chair.
"No wonder you cannot write properly Mr Snape! These rats tails you deign to call hair is in your way." She gripped his hair and tugged him hard. This was not the first time she had done this to her pupils and Severus was a regular victim. "I have warned you to get this mop cut, but no, you and your parents seem to disregard my letters. So, now..." She moved him to her desk nearby and still hanging onto his hair with one hand used the other to open her desk and remove the pair of sheers that she used in craft lessons.
Severus tried to tug free but she held him in a firm grip and his hair hurt if he moved. Tears and snot soon covered his face as he sobbed as the sheers began to slice through his hair with abandon. His classmates had laughed at first as locks of hair began to flutter down onto his Grey jumper.
The class soon became completely silent. You could hear a pin drop, as hair began to pile up around Severus' feet and strewn across the floor.
"There!" Exclaimed Mrs Cameron with delight, she looked proud of her achievement.
Severus had been shorn like a lamb. He no longer had long locks that could get in his eyes, the hair cut was shoddy but to the children at his school it was not unusual as many parents cut their children's hair themselves because they were too poor to pay for an expert cut.
Severus sniffled, wiping his nose on his sleeve and then sniffing back the snot resulting in a disgusting noise. His eyes were swollen from crying and as the bell rang for the end of school he was more than glad to be heading for home.
As he exited the classroom, he had to keep to a walk as the headmaster was watching them leave as he did every day. Severus broke out into a run as soon as he was through the school gates. His ratty school bag over his shoulder, a old hessian green piece bag of his da's, it slapped against his hip as he ran.
He tripped up more than once not watching where he was heading. He reached the swings and stopped to draw in a breath and to rub away the snot and tears from his face once more.
He hated Fridays.
His Da got paid on a Friday, so he knew his father would be in the pub. Severus slowed his pace as he reached the shabby front door of his home and tried to clear the snot from his face as he entered, dropping his schoolbag down onto the floor.
His Ma was in the kitchen and he hesitated seeing her shocked look, he was unsure if he was in trouble.
His mother had turned, took one long look at him and shook her head. She knew Muggles were strange but due to not being allowed to use magic she had been forced to use Muggle habits from time to time. Despite her husband's objections Eileen had been adamant about not cutting her sons hair. He was a Wizard and in her family male Wizards never had their hair cut short, they all wore it long. She huffed and opened her arms to him seeing how upset he was as well as the dried in tears and snot stuck to his face.
She thanked the gods it was Friday and knew Tobias would be in the pub drinking away some of his pay packet before she saw any of it, they would be on their own for tea tonight as Tobias never got home until after last orders at the pub and was physically thrown out.
Severus wrapped his arms around his mum as she fussed over him and knew she would make things better. She knew how much he hated Fridays, Severus also knew his mam hated the day as much as he, the only difference was his mam liked fish
She cleaned him up and kissed his cheek, then sent him up for a bath after trying her best to tidy up his hair.
On Fridays they would have tea together and if the telly hadn't been taken away for non payment let him choose a channel to watch on their tiny box. Severus would sit in his pyjamas in front of the fire, even if it was warm outside as the sitting room was always cold. They would have their special supper together with hot buttered toast and if she had some money left at the end of the week a bite of cake.
When they were done, his mother would take a writing pad out of the kitchen drawer and fetch the quill pen and ink from the box she kept hidden out of sight of her husband, Eileen would then teach Severus how to write the magic way using a feathered quill.
Severus found the thin stem of the quill easier to handle and he made less mess, his writing was scratchy but he rarely left ink blotches on the paper or on himself. He could not wait till January when he'd turn eleven and he would get his Hogwarts letter.
With the quill in his hand and a smile on his face he looked up at his mother and announced.
"I am so glad I am a Wizard mam. I will get my letter on my next birthday? Wont't I?"
"Yes, Severus you will." She assured him. "Your father may be a Muggle but you are descended from a long line of Pure Blood Wizards, you will get your letter."
And he did!
End.